Thank YOU

I would like to say a big thank you to everybody who took the time to respond to yesterdays post. I took on board the advice you gave and went for a brisk walk, bought a bar of chocolate and a couple of packets of biscuits, settled down with a magazine and rounded off the evening with a nice glass of red wine!

I did something else too. I did something on impulse. Now this will make you laugh! I started thinking about people who have an upbeat and positive attitude and the first person to come to mind was Uri Geller! Without further thought I sent him an email (never sent him an email before or visited his website) asking him how I could increase happiness in my life as I was feeling so down. Well, within 10 minutes he had responded to my email! He said I should think positive and inspire myself to help others. He also said to put myself into an 'attitude of gratitude' and recommended that I read the free book 'little book of mind power' on his website.

I was encouraged by his email and did indeed look at his book recommendation and found some good advice listed there. I recommend that you go and pay the website a visit if you are looking for guidance as I was.

Regarding the 'attitude of gratitude', I do believe that I am grateful on a daily basis. I know how lucky I am but sometimes need a gentle reminder. Sometimes my feelings of inadequacy are overwhelming and I don't trust my own judgement. Anyway, enough about me! In order to show my gratitude to all of you that regularly leave me supportive comments, I will be doing a giveaway very shortly. I don't know what it will be yet but probably something along the lines of what I have shown here. It may be some doggy or kitty cat tags, or some note cards, or some house gift tags or something I have cross-stitched, or something entirely different.

Thanks again for all your support. I truly am grateful. X

Happiness

I am struggling today. Even though the sky has brightened up the January blues seem to have set in. Anyway, I am determined to keep my positive attitude up. The first snowdrops have started to show and I can see new life emerging from the fallen leaves around the garden.

Yesterday the postman brought me this lovely bag that I won at Vivienne's giveaway. It is so beautifully made and I can imagine the hours of work that she put into it. She even added little beads to the hang tag. Her thoughtfulness made me feel very happy.

This has set me thinking about the things that make me happy or at least quietly contented!

• attention to detail
• Gizmo purring loudly
• a spark of inspiration
• an engaging book

OK, the list isn't very long but like I said I am struggling at the moment to find the positive! What makes you happy? Maybe your suggestions will make me happy too?

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 10

I have given you a choice today. First up are sultana scones. Light and fluffy.

We can have them warmed through later, split and buttered with a nice hot drink.

Or would you prefer some buttery melt in the mouth shortbread?

These are really crumbly!

I was lucky to win a prize over at Rosie's blog and received them during my birthday week too!

A lovely Cath Kidston strawberry patterned mug and some sweet little wooden heart embellishments.

Thank you Rosie they were packaged up beautifully!

The tulips are looking particularly good at the moment.

They will be adorning the table for this afternoons tea. Shall I reserve you a place? Would you like sultana scones or shortbread's ( I do have a few birthday cake bakes left too!) Have a lovely weekend, whether making and eating cakes or enjoying the garden and outside spaces. See you next week. x

Birthday Cake Bake!

Today is my Birthday!!! I was going to go to the Country Living Spring Fair but decided to stay home and bake myself birthday cakes instead!

I share my date of birth with Sir Alan Sugar (entrepreneur), William Morris (Designer and Social Reformer) and Steve McQueen (Handsome Actor). If only I had the combined talents of all three I would be a very successful lady!

Baking is one of my favourite hobbies (as if you couldn't guess that by now!)

Would you like a pink one with white chocolate stars?

Maybe a blue one with pink sugar crystals? Or how about the hidden tray of misshapes that didn't make the grade for the photo shoot!!!

So far today has been the best of days. I have been pottering about and baking, opening cards and receiving surprises. One of the best surprises was receiving a birthday card from Diana and Walter with Walter on the card! and a beautiful ginger kitty card and button heart gift from Lyn. Thank you so much! How did you know it was my Birthday until now?!!!

I was lucky enough to receive some money for my birthday too. What I buy with this will be revealed on here at a later date. I am so excited I can hardly keep the secret. I' d best go before I give anything away!

Belated Thanks

Back in December 2008 I did a giveaway and the winner was Funkymonkey.

She said she wanted to send me a 'little' something by way of a thank you for winning. Well, the 'little' something turned out to be a set of lovely tin Christmas tree decorations and the most beautifully made button necklace that she had made herself. The necklace is wired and includes an array of unusual buttons and beads and is fastened with a fine satin ribbon. Thank you Tracey for the time and effort you put in to making my gift. It was truly appreciated.

I would also like to say thank you to those of you who have put themselves down as followers of my blog. I know that I may not have the most riveting blog around but hope that it contains something of interest to you from time to time. I am hoping to feature a lot more crafty bits and pieces over the coming months. That is if I ever get around to actually DOING something rather than just THINKING about it!

An Abundance of Fruit

I've been a lazy gardener this year. The greenhouse is usually full of tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, basil and salad leaves. This year it is full of old tables and chairs, a lawnmower, a child's bike and a heap of glass around the point of impact from a firework. As the greenhouse was broken I didn't really have the incentive to grow plants in there so it became a place for storage instead (as does any empty place around here.)

I was feeling quite despondent that I hadn't made the effort to grow any fruit or veg this year and then good old mother nature provided me with an abundance of fruit from my own garden.

Firstly I noticed the (unripened) plums bending the boughs on the plum tree (see picture above). This is quite a feat in itself as usually by this stage they have been ravaged by slugs.




Next up I was aware that one of my blueberry plants was yielding fruit. Yum yum blueberry muffins will soon be gracing the breakfast table.

Clusters of tiny pearl-like grapes were hanging down all over the grapevine. These will be a deep purple colour by the end of summer.

Apples have cropped up all over the apple tree. The leaves are wizened and brown but I have apples. They will swell to double their size by the autumn time and will be sharing crumbles and pies with the berries below.

Oh the joy of blackberry picking! Especially when they are collected at the bottom of the garden. The blackberries seem especially early this year or perhaps I am always late in going to pick them. We usually have to make a special trip to pick them in the wild but this year I can pick them from the comfort of my garden.

This last picture is of the blackberries I collected this morning. I arranged them in a shallow dish with the blackberry leaves and my son artfully arranged his gardening gloves on the side of the dish. I think he has been watching me a bit too much.

Last but not least I would like to thank Sal from Sal's Snippets and Carol from Katherine's Dream for awarding me the 'Brilliante Weblog Award'.

Thanks Elizabeth!

I would like to publicly thank Elizabeth from my crafty mess for the giveaway I recently won.

The giveaway parcel included neatly folded squares of fabric, balls of wool and strings of unusual glass beads and a string of buttons. It arrived in pristine condition all the way from the USA.

This is only my second time of winning a giveaway in two years of reading blogs so I was particularly chuffed to be a winner. Go and check out Elizabeth's crafty blog. She keeps bees you know!