Book Tag

A little while back Gina from Gingerbread (see side bar as I still haven't figured out how to link to names within the text!), invited me to do a book tag:-

Here are the rules of the book tag;

pick up a book of at least 123 pages

open the book to page 123

find the fifth sentence

post the next 3 sentences

tag five people to do the same

The book I chose was 'The NEW Complete book of Self-Sufficiency - the classic guide for realists and dreamers by John Seymour. I had to break the 'rules' as I preferred what was on page 125 to what was on page 123! This is what I read.

'Now honey will do anything that sugar can do and do it much better. Not only is it a healthier food, for beekeepers it is also free. It is sweeter than sugar, so if you use it for cooking or wine-making purposes, use about two thirds as much as you would sugar.

Before the sugar cane countries were opened up to the western world, honey was the only source of sugar.'

If there are five people out there who would like to do the book tag then please go ahead. It is interesting looking through various books to see what snippet of interesting information you may find.

Crafting in the Shadows

I was inspired to create my own silhouettes after reading about it on Sal's blog (see Sal's Snippets on the side bar). That was a bit of a tongue twister!

I used a good quality cardstock for the background and black paper for the image. I drew the tree trunk free hand and cut it out. The hearts were made using a punch. I cut one heart out of holographic card to add a bit of interest. As you can see I got a bit carried away with the falling hearts!

I made a second tree using a good quality paper as a background. I made the flowers using a paper punch, again using holographic paper to highlight one of the flowers.

I can see that this is going to be quite addictive! This technique could be used for scrapbooking, cards, gift tags, pictures etc.

With a bit of practice I think I will be able to venture into more intricate designs. This really is such fun. Have a go!

Shona was a Happy Sheep.....

.....as you can see above.

And Daisy is a Groovy Chick!

It is school holiday time again and I wanted to do something creative with my son. Armed with a stack of old magazines, junk mail, some handmade paper and a glue stick we decided to make some collages. Firstly we cut out images that we liked from the magazines and assembled them into a pleasing arrangement on the background paper. I gave my sheep a rather fetching pair of Andi Mcdowell lips and a Boden dress! I thought my son was very creative in his choice of attire for his 'Daisy' collage.
After we decided on the arrangement we stuck down the images with a glue stick. We then chose some words to put on our collages.
I called mine 'Shona was a Happy Sheep' and realised later that I had used the past tense whereas my son had named his in the present tense; 'Daisy is a Groovy Chick'. That really illustrated to me that children really do live in the present moment.

We had a lot of fun making the pictures. My son liked the freedom of cutting out all the different fonts and not worrying about capital letters etc. It really was a 'no rules' crafting activity, inexpensive and fun to do.

When we finished after a couple of hours my son said 'can we do it again tomorrow?'!!!!!

The Visitor

This information came from my notebook dated 21st April 2007.

'We had a bit of a garden spring clean today. Old lawnmowers and bikes were shifted. Bottles for recycling, leaf mulch, cardboard boxes and bits of wood came out of their hidey- holes to find new hidey -holes. Our 'tidying up' usually means just a shuffle around a bit.

Anyway, whilst my other half was dismantling some trellis from a fence he could hear a noise coming from under a pile of 'junk'. He called for me to come and investigate. 'What do you think it is?' I asked him. He said he thought it could be a cat or a toad! I thought it would more likely be a rat and felt a bit vulnerable in my skirt and slippers. I gingerly started to dismantle a pile of bikes and bottles and there tucked up against the fence was a .....................................hedgehog!

I was particularly delighted as this is the second time I have seen a live hedgehog in all my life. The other occasion was when I caught a fleeting glimpse of one running along a street many years ago.
It wasn't possible for us to leave the hedgehog where we found him, so kitted out in my rubber gloves I picked him up and moved him to another sheltered spot in the garden. I do hope he stays. He is a great pest controller if all the empty snail shells nearby were anything to go by.'
I never saw the hedgehog again. Maybe I'll find him again this year when we do our annual garden clean up!

Sewing and Supper with Betty

This post is about Betty. Betty was a lady who featured in my childhood. I have no photo's of her. I tried to sketch her quickly with a pen in my notebook last night. The drawings are just a suggestion of what she looked like. I am glad that the pictures have come out hazy because in my mind I see her in the haze of a warm summer's day. The haze of a distant memory.


As a child I spent a few ocassions at Betty's. Betty was our neighbour. She had a hearty laugh and a smoker's cough. No matter what the weather was like, she went bare armed and bare legged. She always wore her hand made sleeveless cotton frocks and sandals even in the depths of winter.

I loved going to Betty's. She lived in a quirky corner house with tiny irregular shaped rooms. I remember one room in particular where every available surface was covered with plants. She had grown all of the plants from fruit pips and they had grown tall and leggy like huge beanstalks.
Sometimes I went to her house for the day. She would make me Corned Beef Patties served with a glass of cold milk. I used to sit on her stone scullery floor and use the seat of a chair as a mini-table. Nothing was formal and I felt very much at home.
After supper we would sit on the sofa in a room upstairs with Tina the old English sheep dog joining us. Betty would hand me some fabric and guide me through a simple sewing project. It was usually a small present to make for mum. When mum came to collect me I would show off my project with pride.
I believe that Betty inspired me to craft. She was an extremely talented lady who always had a craft or sewing project on the go.
Below is a recipe for Corned Beef Patties. I have not made these for years and the recipe comes from memory. You may need an egg to bind the mixture but I don't recall Betty doing this.

Corned Beef Patties

Ingredients

potatoes suitable for mashing, peeled and quartered

knob of butter

tinned corned beef

onion, chopped

seasoning (salt, pepper)

2 tablespoons of oil for frying

Method

Fry onion in 1 tablespoon of oil until soft but not browned. Boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and mash up with the butter. Add the cooked onion and corned beef and seasoning and mix well together. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in a frying pan. Shape handfuls of mixture into small patties. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with something green and healthy!