Another quick and simple scrapbook layout using My Minds Eye Antique Floral papers. I’ve embellished my page with die cut shapes from Spellbinders.
Designer Papers
I’m a big fan of the Antique Floral paper stack form My Mind’s Eye. It contains an incredible 180 sheets of designer paper. The patterns are mostly quite small scale which I personably really like, there’s a few larger scale designs like the one I’ve used for the main page on this scrapbook layout. Mostly I prefer the smaller scale designs are I feel like they let the focal images take centre stage.
The photos feature neutral tones and the deep mustard colour that the walls were stained with. I think it must be some very old wallpaper adhesive that has discoloured the plaster. Regardless, the brown and mustard colour scheme appealed to me so I ran with that.
Distress inks add such a lovely distressed effect to the edges of paper panels. I use a blending tool to sweep the ink onto the edges of the designer papers. It really makes them pop against the plainer background.
On this scrapbook layout I’ve used the Brushed Corduroy shade of Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.
Plastering Scrapbook Layout with My Minds Eye
Embellishments
I wanted to leave this scrapbook layout quite plain and simple but it did need a little bit of something. I’ve used my favourite Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes die set. I love how versatile this die set is. The flowers are the perfect size for cards and scrapbook pages.
Plastering Scrapbook Layout with My Minds Eye
On this scrapbook layout I’ve also added a couple of the die leaves. I think they really frame the flowers nicely. I’ve stuck a large button in the centre and threaded a little bit of organza ribbon through the centre.
The opposite side of the photos needed a little embellishment to balance out the design. So I added a little flourish which is also from the Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes die set.
Plastering Scrapbook Layout with My Minds Eye
Scrapbook Page Title
When I don’t have any alphabet stickers that seem suitable for my scrapbook layout I often reach for one of my alphabet stamp sets. This is an old one from Papermania.
I used the small circle from one of my XCut Circle die sets to cut a circle shape for each letter. Then I’ve inked the stamps up with my trusty Momento Rich Cocoa ink pad and stamped each one centrally onto a circle.
To make each letter stand out I’ve inked the edges with more of the Brushed Corduroy shade of Distress Ink by Tim Holtz.
Plastering Scrapbook Layout with My Minds Eye
Products I’ve Used
Most of the products I’ve used on this layout have long since been discontinued. But I’ll include the images I have for them.
MME Antique Florals Paper
Spellbinders Jewel Flowers and Flourishes
Papermania Alpha Stamps
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest scrapbooking layout. Please feel free to use my scrapbook pages to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Plastering Scrapbook Layout with My Minds Eye
A Little Bit About Me . . .
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
My Merryweather tops have become a wardrobe staple and my go to pattern for comfortable tops. I love the shape they give me and the fit is perfect. I’ve worn them so much I’m sewing myself some more.
It’s a super simple jersey top with optional colour blocking. I’ve not tried the colour blocking yet as the line sits right on the bust and I feel like this would draw attention to my ample bust. But actually now I’m looking closer the line is at the top of the bust just below the V neckline so it might actually flatter my figure. I’ll have to try it at some point. It would be very useful for putting large scraps to use.
There’s the usual long, short and three quarter sleeve length options. It’s nice to have the versatility. I wear the short sleeve for summer, the long sleeve in autumn and spring. For winter wear I layer two of them together.
I’m particularly fond of the neckline options. I think a V neckline is the most flattering on my figure. There’s a simple round neck line too. And a turtle neck which I haven’t tried because I don’t find them comfortable to wear.
I almost forgot about the dress option. I’ll have to give that a try at some point, I think it would make a lovely comfortable casual dress.
Merryweather Top & Dress
Fabric Choices
I love this soft and stretchy cotton Lycra. It has fabulous recovery so it hugs my figure in all the right places and skims over all the bits I want it to.
I have sewn this pattern in a buttery soft organic cotton jersey and it’s very comfortable but the recovery just isn’t up to the job. It’s become baggy and shapeless so it’s now a lovely pyjama top.
Stitch Upon a Time’s Merryweather Long Sleeved Top
Sewing the Neckline
The only vaguely involved part of sewing is the neckband.
For the round neck option it’s a super simple looped neck band. I always sew the two ends together with a straight stitch and press the seam flat. This reduces the bulk in the neckband.
I also like to add a row of top stitching with a twin needle. This secures the potentially irritating seam on the inside and leaves a neat finish on the outside of the neckband.
Stitch Upon a Time’s Merryweather Long Sleeved Top
Sleeve and Body Hems
Being someone of a shorter stature I typically need to shorten sleeves an inch or two. It’s difficult to get the sleeve length just right without a second person to help. I generally fold the sleeve cuff and try it on, adjusting the fold until I’m happy with the length.
Instead of cutting off the excess fabric I decided to make an extra large cuff. I like how it looks and it fits perfectly.
Stitch Upon a Time’s Merryweather Long Sleeved Top
I use a twin needle on my hems too. I love the professional looking finish it makes.
Stitch Upon a Time’s Merryweather Long Sleeved Top
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest sewing project. Please feel free to use my handmade crafts to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Stitch Upon a Time’s Merryweather Long Sleeved Top
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
A delightfully girly card for this week. I’m loving the combination of teal and chocolate shades.
Digital Stamping
The Digi image is from Polkadoodles, part of their Winnie Sunshine Delights range. It’s called Busy. I think shopping would have been a better name but hey, she’s still utterly adorable!
I print my digital stamps onto Winsor & Newton Bleedproof Marker paper. It’s bright white so my colours really pop and it also helps to stop the inks bleeding into each other.
I adore this paper stack form My Mind’s Eye, it’s called Antique Florals. It’s full of beautifully distressed papers with small scale patterns in floral designs and natural colours.
It’s a huge stack of 180 sheets so it’s long since been discontinued and I’ve still got plenty left to play with.
MME Antique Florals Paper
Die Cutting
I use dies to make frames around my digital stamps. I always colour my image first in case I make a mess of it then I use a glue stick to glue my image onto a piece of plain printer paper to make it thicker and more stable.
Then I choose a die shape and size that suits my image and run both papers together through my die cutting machine. The pressure forces them to stick really well together.
This is probably my most used combination of frame dies. The outer scalloped shape fits perfectly onto my favourite 6×6 inch cards. The inner oval frame nests perfectly inside and is the perfect size for most of my digital stamps.
I think the images look a little plain with just a white background so I like to use distress inks to add a bit of colour around my images. I use a Blending Tool to sweep the ink onto the edges of my die cut shape. For this card I’ve used Iced Spruce.
A Little Embellishment
I’ve also used my favourite embellishment die set. It’s called Jewel Flowers and Flourishes and it’s from Spellbinders. I spent ages choosing this die. I often want to add a bit of something to the corner of a card, my favourite designs are flowers, butterflies and flourishes. This die set includes at least two of each. I really do use every single die in this set over and over.
Polkadoodles Winnie Sunshine Delight Busy Card Making Project
I love to add just a teeny touch of sparkle to my cards and I usually do that with a little set of three gems in one or two corners. I love how it adds a little bit of interest to an otherwise plain corner.
Polkadoodles Winnie Sunshine Delight Busy Card Making Project
Take a Peak Inside
I think it’s such a shame to receive a beautifully decorated card only to open it and be faced with a blank page. So I use more of my designer papers to decorate the insides of my cards. I mostly use scraps leftover from the main design and a 10cm square of plain paper to write a nice message onto.
Polkadoodles Winnie Sunshine Delight Busy Card Making Project – Inside
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest card making project. Please feel free to use my handmade cards to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Polkadoodles Winnie Sunshine Delight Busy Card Making Project
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a veg patch update. I haven’t done much work in the garden but there’s been a lot of changes and loads of growth at the end of the summer.
Vegetable Garden Bed 1
A lot of the summer salads have gone to seed and been pulled out. The parsley here is barley clinging on and could really do with pulling. I’ve succession planted some mustard and rocket for some fresh leaves in the last few weeks of summer.
This is my first year growing radicchio. I just planted the one row as I had no idea if we would like it or even how to cook it. I tried frying the leaves in bacon but it was for too bitter. I’ll wait for it to heart up and then try it again.
This bed could do with some more compost during autumn. I’ll plant some winter lettuces to give some fresh leaves over the winter. I think I’ll move one of my mini polytunnels to this bed and cover it with plastic to keep some of the heat in and help the lettuce along a bit.
Vegetable Garden Bed 1
Vegetable Garden Bed 2
I’ve pulled most of the beetroot from this bed. It made a lovely big bowl of beetroot salad. There’s the last few radishes of the season which are getting a little on the woody side now. Lots of them are running to seed before really producing anything so I think I may not bother sowing radishes so late next year. Although it may be because it’s been so hot in these last few weeks.
There’s a few carrots left to harvest. They’re still quite small so I’m leaving them for now. I also left the smaller beetroot, I’ll probably pull them in the next couple of weeks.
Vegetable Garden Bed 2
Vegetable Garden Bed Legumes
The peas have finished. My Little Dude developed a taste for them and ate the lot. I’ll definitely be planting more next year, I probably need to put in more beds for them too. We had 6 healthy bean plants and it wasn’t enough to sustain his appetite for them.
The broad beans are just about done, there’s just a couple more pods left to grow to a decent size and then I’ll be pulling them.
The runner beans have been enjoying the little heat wave we’ve had at the end of summer as well as the heavy rain that followed it. I’m still picking some quite satisfactory harvests and expect to do so for a another few weeks yet.
The French beans seem to be suffering more slug damage than their neighbours. The beans that are growing are typically eaten by the slugs before I get to them. I’ll be sure to add a jam jar of beer to this bed next year. Hopefully that will help keep some of the blighters at bay.
Vegetable Garden Bed Legumes
Vegetable Garden Bed 3 & 4
Beds 3 and 4 have given up their potato harvest. It wasn’t as bountiful as I was hoping for. I got a few kilos of first and second earlies and maybe another 2 kilos of main crop. The main crop in particular seems to have suffered from potato blight. I had quite a few rotten tumblers and the rest were very small, more like new potatoes. I reckon I got as many potatoes as I could have bought with the money I spent on seed potatoes. They taste better fresh so I’m calling it a very marginal win.
There’s a little spinach clinging onto life at the back of bed 4. It’s been heavily attacked by slugs. I’ve even resorted to using slug pellets just to give the spinach a chance at getting established. It seems to be doing better now although there’s some sort of fungal infection going on too.
Vegetable Garden Bed 3 & 4
Vegetable Garden Bed 5 & 6
The brassicas are doing really well under cover. They were suffering quite badly from slug damage earlier in the year. I had a really good clean up and took off loads of the lower leaves and pulled all the weaker plants. They seem to be doing much better now so I’ve got into the habit of clearing the lower and weaker leaves regularly.
My leeks are doing nicely too. All the onions have been harvested. There wasn’t anything like as much as I wanted. I had a few issues with overwatering onion seeds earlier in the year and it’s really put a dent in the harvest.
I filled the space with a couple of rows of radishes interplanted with parsnips and turnips. It’s worked perfectly, all of the radishes have either been harvested or gone to seed just as the parsnips and turnips are needing the extra space.
Vegetable Garden Bed 5 & 6
Vegetable Garden Bed 7 & 8
I should rename these beds slug city. I’m assuming it’s the overhanging ivy and the fence being so close that has created the perfect habit for the slimy little beggars. I’ll be clearing the ivy and possibly removing the fence over the winter when the garden dies back a little.
In the meantime I have a surprising squash harvest slowly developing. I thought all of my squash plants had succumbed to the slugs but it seems that two have just about survived. I’m not expecting them to be able to produce much of a harvest before the end of the season but a heat wave at the beginning of September seems to be giving them a chance.
I had planted two rows of beetroot in these beds but they fell victim to the slug invasion. There is some weak looking swiss chard that I’m hoping will grow strong enough to keep going through the winter. The only thing that’s actually performed well here is the parsnips. They seem to be coming along very nicely and I’m hopeful of home grown parsnips for Christmas dinner.
Vegetable Garden Bed 7 & 8
Fruit Patch
More failures than success in the fruit patch this year.
The strawberry patch was joyfully abundant in the spring. I was confused when my strawberries disappeared the moment they ripened. Last year I put it down to the birds and invested in netting. This year I reckon it was the rats. They appear to have taken up residence under the shed. I’m normally reluctant to put down poison just on the off chance that the children get hold of it That and I don’t like the idea of killing a living thing, even if they are stealing my strawberries! But this year the children were away for three weeks on holiday so I did put down some poison before leaving. I came home to a couple of corpses so presumably it worked. Unfortunately this wasn’t in time to save my strawberry harvest for this year. I’m hoping to build a sturdy fruit cage for next year.
The netting intended to protect the strawberries from birds unfortunately damaged the lavender flowers. Originally I laid the netting loosely over the strawberries awaiting some hooks to hold it high and tight. The lavender grew through the netting and when I removed it a lot of the flowers came away with the nets. I’ve managed to harvest a couple of disappointingly small bunches. The lavender bushes are also fighting with the strawberries and an invasive ground covering plant that seems impossible to get rid of. I’m debating weather to let the strawberries win.
That same netting went up too late to protect my gooseberries. Despite a promising looking harvest it was gone in the blink of an eye. The bush closer to the shed didn’t produce a single gooseberry. I’m wondering if it is too shady here for the fruit patch.
Likewise my blackcurrant bush gave me no harvest at all.
I bought myself a blueberry bush to replace one I planted here a couple of years ago that never showed any signs of life. I did think long and hard about the position. Being next to the shed it is very shady, too shady certainly. But I don’t have any other space really. At least not at the moment. I think I do need to install some permanent beds along the sides of the children’s play area. I decided to risk wasting the couple of pounds I spent and see how this new blueberry bush gets on.
Fruit Patch
Herb Garden
My mint and lemon balm are both flourishing. I’ve already harvested vast swathes of lemon balm to keep the creepy crawlies out of my bedroom over the summer. Most of it went in the compost because there’s just too much to use. Lemon Balm tea doesn’t seem to agree with me so I’m on the look out for other recipes or use for this herb. I think I need to start cutting them back fairly aggressively throughout the summer rather than just at the end as I originally planned.
There was a little thyme bush which was overrun by the lemon balm and didn’t survive the following winter. I’ve planted another from seed but I don’t think it’s had chance to grow big enough to survive this winter. I’ll replace it yet again next year.
The chives are flourishing as always. It’s been a very hot summer and they flowered very early and started to die back. I cut the whole thing back to just a few inches off the ground. To my delight it has grown back and has given me fresh chives throughout the summer. Next year I’ll try to remember to cut the beautiful flowers as they arrive. They dry out perfectly in a vase without water and last for ages inside the house.
The sage got off to a late start this year. I was worried it wasn’t going to recover from last year’s pruning. But eventually it started flourishing again. I’ve harvested some already and it’s drying ready for the stuffing with Christmas Dinner.
I’ve got oregano and rosemary growing here too. I really need to get the oregano harvested and dried. The rosemary is a new addition this year and doesn’t seem to be doing well enough to give up it’s harvest just yet.
Herb Garden
Pumpkins
I had the inspired idea to plant my pumpkins so they could grow up the children’s climbing frame. They have done amazingly well and grew right to the top. I really should have got a ladder and secured them better. My one big pumpkin fell down and broke off the vine!
After putting it to one side to deal with later I noticed that it was starting to ripen. I’ve left it in the sun and turn it periodically. It seems to ripening up nicely. I’m apprehensive about it being edible but it will at least make a nice decorating for Halloween.
Pumpkins
Sunflowers
The play area occupies the sunniest position in my garden. My vegetable patch is relegated to the shady side of the house which is far from ideal. But the play area on the large open is lawn is perfect for the children and that’s more important to me at the moment.
I am however, open to the idea of planting some of the more sun loving plants around their play area. Particularly plants that I think the children will enjoy taking responsibility for or eating. (Oh that gives me an idea, I could put the peas here next year and then Little Dude can have easy access to his favourite summer snack!) So I have planted sunflowers growing up the sides of the children’s garden fort.
They have grown to amazing heights that I really wasn’t expecting at all. I going to have to find a way to pin the twine that supports them much higher next year. I think I’ll also do away with the pots and try to plant them directly in the soil to reduce the effects of dry spells.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
I love gifts that are practical as well as very personal. These galvanised planters will be useful in the garden or windowsill. They couldn’t be more personal as they’re covered in my kids art work.
The Kit
My childminder is an incredible lady. I am constantly in awe of how she never seems to tire of spending time with little children and delights in their little joys and new experiences. She genuinely adores the children in her care and has become like a grandparent to my children.
She is celebrating a significant birthday and kindly invited us to the party her family were throwing for her. A very special present was in order. I wish I was in a position to give this amazing lady a huge bonus but I have to content myself with finding other ways to show her how very much I appreciate all her hard work.
After raking my brains for a day or two I came up with the idea of buying her some nice new planters. She’s expanded her vegetable gardening efforts this year and now has a beautiful front garden covered in herbs and salads. She mostly plants in pots as this makes it easier to protect the plants from her young charges. I had noticed that she has been making use of creative planter options and so knew that some new planters would be appreciated.
After a little hunting I found this kit on Amazon. The planters are a good size and the kit includes paints as well as brushes and a lot of other unnecessary but useful accessories, such as a paint palette.
Galvanized Flower Plant Pots
Painting the Planters
The kids had a great time painting their planters. It kept them busy for a whole afternoon. All I needed to do was squirt some of the paint into the paint palette and give them an old jam jar filled with water, they did the rest. Apart form the clean up of course! It was raining otherwise I’d have set them up outside. But thankfully the paints were relatively easy to clean up. I’ve long since invested in a wipe clean tablecloth to make cleaning up after craft projects easy.
Painting the Planters
Six year old Little Miss painted the largest planter. She didn’t seem at all perturbed when her elaborate plans didn’t come to fusion. She just moved onto the smallest one and created a second masterpiece.
Painting the Planters
Three year old Little Dude is very proud of his rendition of the Batman Car.
Painting the Planters
Planting the Planters
I filled the planters with compost and sowed some winter salad seeds. Hopefully they will germinate and give my childminder a supply of fresh leaves throughout the winter. She can then re-use the planters for vegetable garden next year.
I’m very impressed with this kit. I was expecting the planters to be poor quality, or the paints to be cheaply made. But I was pleasantly surprised with everything included. I think the grandparents will be receiving their own planters for Christmas.
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest craft project. Please feel free to use my handmade crafts to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
This King Cole pattern features lots of lovely detailed cables which gives it loads of texture and warmth. It’s got the perfect mix of interest and mindless knitting, making it one of my favourite patterns.
Knitting Yarn
I’ve knitted this up in Robin Aran with wool which has unfortunately been discontinued. This is actually a second life for this yarn, it started out as a gents jumper but he didn’t like the fit so I ripped it out. Accompanied with much grumbling about what an ungrateful chimp he is – no I didn’t use the word chimp! I’ll leave the exact wording to your imagination.
I was really impressed with how well the yarn stood up to this rough treatment. It’s been worn and washed a couple of times in it’s previous life but there was no evidence of felting or bobbling to speak of. I balled up the knitting yarn and there it stayed for about a year while I worked on other projects.
When I came to knit it up into this coat for Little Miss the yarn was totally fine and knitted up beautifully. Thankfully Little Miss was grateful for my time and effort and loves her new hoody.
Knitting Pattern
The knitting pattern is taken form King Cole’s Aran Book 2. I bought this book not long after Little Miss was born. I was a bit disappointed that only the blanket and sleeping bag patterns were suitable for new born babies. Of course I quickly learned that babies grow in the blink of an eye so my disappointment did not last.
I think I’ve knitted something from just about every size in the book. There’s a plain and simple stocking stitch cardigan, good for mindless knitting when I was too tired to tackle a more involved project. I also knitted a cardigan and a jumper which feature a little bit of cabling detail, still an easy knitting project but with just a little interest to stop them from being boring. The pattern book includes a beautiful vintage style cardigan too, I love the design very much but it’s too feminine to pass down to my Little Dude so I’ve been sticking to unisex knitting patterns since he came along.
I think the Little Teddy Coat in my favourite knitting pattern from the whole book. It’s probably the most challenging because it’s the most heavily cabled. But there is some large areas of Irish moss stitch on the sleeves and hood. I tend to alternate between the cabled sections and the Irish moss stitch so I have a more challenging section followed by a bit of a break.
The dark navy yarn did make the pattern more difficult to knit up and I’m sure it’s contributed to the mistakes that I’ve made. I think one of the things I love about cabled knitting patterns is how well they hide small mistakes. As long as the larger cables are correct the little mistakes fade into the background. I’m definitely feeling a lighter colour for my next project.
Unfortunately this will be my last project from King Cole’s Aran Book 2. The knitting patterns go up to a size 7 years. Little Miss has just turned 6 so she’s in the largest size. This hoody will fit her for this winter and hopefully next – she’s wonderfully petite so her clothes can last two years if I make them with growing room. After she grows out out of the coat it will be passed onto Little Dude who should hopefully get another two years wear from my hard work.
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest knitting project. Please feel free to use my handmade craft projects to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
Warm weather at the end of summer has led to a bumper blackberry harvest. I made the most of it and collected a good sized haul. This is my first attempt at making my own Blackberry Jam and it’s delicious!!
A Note on Hot Water Bath Canning
I’ve been looking into preserving some of my home grown produce this year. It’s been quite a learning curve!
Old fashioned British jam making is just making the jam and pouring it into a clean jar. The jar is sealed to keep out dirt and bacteria.
Hot Water Bath canning is putting that jar in a bath of water and boiling it to kill most of the bacteria. Because some bacteria still survive the process this is only considered safe for high acid foods like jams, pickles and some tomato based recipes.
Pressure canning is the same thing but the bath is kept under pressure which effectively increases the temperature and kills more types of bacteria. This method is the only approved (by the FDA) method for preserving low acid foods such and vegetables, meat and dairy.
There’s a lot of miss-information on the internet. The American FDA has some quite strict recommendations and most of the reputable US information sources follow this guidance. Reputable British websites however ignore the issue completely and recommend the old fashioned method which the FDA considers to be highly unsafe. It’s confusing knowing which sources to trust.
Maybe if it was just me I’d risk it like many generations before me, but I couldn’t live with myself if I made my children ill from my cooking. It’s just not worth the risk for the few pennies I save.
I’ve decided to invest in an electric hot water bath canner (mostly because I came across one on sale) and stick to high acid foods until I gain some more knowledge and experience. I also decided to invest in the “bible” of canning the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It really should be called the Complete Book of Hot Water Bath Canning because almost all of the recipes in the book are for hot water bath canning, which is exactly what I wanted.
Complete Book of Home Preserving: 400 Delicious and Creative Recipes for Today
This Blackberry Jam recipe is inspired by the Choose-a-Berry Preserve recipe in the book.
Ingredients
550g Blackberries
500g Sugar
How much sugar!?!? I’m fairly new to jam making but that seems like a LOT of sugar!? The amount seems pretty consistent across other blackberry jam recipes so I’ve run with it. I think next year I’ll halve the sugar as the jam was a little on the sweet side for us.
Method
Put the fruit and sugar into a stainless steel pan and bring it to the boil.
Once it’s reached a full rolling boil keep it boiling for 10 minutes – I set a timer for exactly 10 minutes.
Ladle the jam into jars – I’m using old jam jars that I’ve thoroughly cleaned. I treated myself to a set of canning funnels to make this so much easier.
2Pcs Jam Funnel Stainless Steel
Process in a hot water bath canner at 100 degrees for 15 minutes and leave to cool.
Check the jars have sealed by pushing the button on the lid, it shouldn’t be possible to push it in. If any jars haven’t sealed use them first.
Tasting Notes
Oh wow, this jam is the best jam I’ve ever tasted. I left a jar in the fridge and baked a fresh loaf of bread for breakfast. The kids kept asking for more and more. I had to stop them from eating the whole jar so I could take the photos for this post.
I’ll definitely be making this again with next year’s blackberries.
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest recipe. Pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
A quick and dirty scrapbook layout from me today. I’m determined to clear the massive back log of photos – wish me luck!!
Designer Papers
The bright teal of the feature wall in the pictures really stood out to me, especially set against the black of people’s clothing and what looks like black accents in the room (they’re actually dark brown but hey!).
I’m quite partial to teal and black as well as other jewel shades so my stash of these is very much depleted. I’m so glad I remembered an old Gorjuss collection. I adore the distressed look of these papers and of course the jewel colours.
Gorjuss Birthday Karaoke Scrapbook Layout
Embellishments
I’ve had this big brass charm in my stash for forever. I’m glad to finally find a use for it. But it looked a bit plain just on it’s own so I popped a button in the middle. I didn’t have a button in a suitable colour so I selected a creamy one and coloured it in with alcohol markers. I’m really pleased with how it came out in the end. The ink has dried with a sort of distressed effect to match the distressed effect on the Gorjuss papers.
The bottom of the layout looked a bit empty so I added a little strip of glittery washi tape. I love this washi tape. It was part of the Forever Friends Black and Gold collection. It’s got plenty of sparkle but the glitter is sort of subtle, if it’s possible for glitter to be described as subtle! I think it’s because the colours are very dark and the glitter is very fine. I really like the effect.
I’ve mounted my washi tape onto a strip of teal paper and then onto a scrap of black with just a little border.
Scrapbook Page Title
My stash of alphabets seems to be sorely depleted. I’m feeling a little splurge coming on!! I particularly like white alpha stickers that I can colour with my alcohol markers and have any combination of colours I want. I don’t like the idea of having stacks of alpha stickers , I’d still never have the right one! Or maybe I should invest in yet another alphabet die set?
Without a suitable alphabet sticker set I reached for one of my alpha die sets. This one is from XCut like most of my dies. I got myself the full set as they were only a couple of pounds each.
And yes it has indeed taken me almost 10 years to scrapbook these photos. All I can say is #momlife.
Gorjuss Birthday Karaoke Scrapbook Layout Title
Products I’ve Used
Most of the products I’ve used on this layout have long since been discontinued. But I’ll include the images I have for them.
Gorjuss Papers 12×12
Gorjuss Papers 6×6
Gorjuss Papers 8×8
XCut Alphabet Die A-I
XCut Alphabet Die J-R
XCut Alphabet Die S-Z
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest scrapbooking project. Please feel free to use my handmade crafts to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
The Declan pattern is great for using up scraps because the placket looks so cute in a contrasting colour but it doesn’t use a lot of fabric. I had just a little scrap of this deep burgundy lining fabric but it was plenty to line the hood and make the placket.
The actual top itself is really simple and straightforward. I love sewing patterns that are basic but have a little bit of detailing, something “extra” about them instead of a plain and boring garment.
Like most of Peek-a-Boo’s patterns the Declan has loads of options. This is my first time sewing it up with a hood, there’s also a polo or Henley option as well as long or short sleeves.
My favourite feature of this pattern is the fact that it can be made up in just about any slightly stretchy fabric. I have loads of cheap jersey that I bought because it was too cheap to walk away!! I should have known better, you get what you pay for! Mostly it’s perfectly fine fabric but it doesn’t have enough stretch to make into T-shirts or enough recovery to cope with any sort of stress on the fibres. Thanks to the placket opening the Declan doesn’t need to stretch over the head. The stretch fabric is simply to allow comfort and ease of wearing (aka rough and tumble play). I’ve sewn this pattern from old T-shirts, cheap jersey as well as fleece which worked really well. I’m actually planning to try to in woven fabric next but that’s another post for another day.
Peek-a-Boo Declan Pullover Sewing Pattern
Fabric Choices
For this sewing project my fabric choices were entirely dictated by what i had to hand. I was going through my stretch fabric stash to make some pyjamas for Little Miss for Christmas and this rather sad looking metre of fabric was left at the bottom of the box. I wanted to get it used up and knew that Little Miss would love the floral design on the fabric. It’s a bit lightweight and flimsy so I knew I’d need to make the placket in a contracting fabric and I found this perfectly co-ordinating burgundy lining fabric in my inherited stash.
Cheap Burgundy Floral Stretch Fabric
As I started cutting out the pattern pieces I realised there was going to be an annoyingly small scrap of fabric leftover so I figured I’d add the hood option. For once serendipity applied and I had almost exactly the right amount of lining fabric to line the hood with.
I did make a mistake and assumed that the hood, like the placket and polo collar would be fine in woven fabric. Unfortunately not, the hood does need to stretch just a little bit to fit the neck neatly. I’ve been left with some quite nasty puckers in the hood outer fabric as I’ve forced it to conform to the lack of stretch in the lining. Oh well, sewing is all about learning isn’t it?
Peek-a-Boo Declan Pullover Hood Close Up
Notions
Why is it that no matter how big your button stash is you can never find just the right button??!? Seriously, please tell me it’s not just me!?!
These pearly vintage buttons were the best I could do. I’m not too sure about them but I think they may grow on me and Little Miss will probably like them.
One of these days I will learn to measure the positioning of my buttons before sewing them in place. I always rush it and put them in the centre of my button holes which seems sensible but it never ever looks right when I do it like that. Another lesson I need to learn!!
Peek-a-Boo Declan Pullover Buttons Close Up
On the Inside
I love these little garment labels I got off eBay. I mostly bought them for selling my clothes on Etsy, it’s a legal requirement in the UK that the garment care instructions should be included. They can be added on a removable tag but having them on a garment label looks so much more professional.
This is the first time I’ve added the little size label too. I’m getting very tired of having to check my records to see what size a garment is when I sell my kids old clothes.
I keep changing my mind about the label placement. At first I put them in the left hand side seam, this is the standard position in manufactured clothes. Putting the label on the side means that it’s not irritating the back of the child’s neck and I’m all for avoiding irritating my kids. But then my kids kept putting their clothes on back to front because there wasn’t a label at the back of the neck to guide them. So I started putting the label at the back instead. But now Little Miss has told me they itch and so it’s back to the side seam. I’m going to have to find another way to show them which is the back of their tops and pants. School clothes are OK as I hand sew a name label into the centre back but there’s no way I’m doing that for all of their clothes!! I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any?
Peek-a-Boo Declan Pullover Inside Close Up
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest sewing project. Please feel free to use my handmade crafts to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
My Little Dude is starting to make his own friends and get invitations to birthday parties so I thought it was about time I built up a stash of handmade birthday cards for little boys.
I love, love, love using digital stamps! There are so many amazing designers all over the world offering quirky and unique digital stamp designs. I particularly like the stamps from Polkadoodles as they’re always so stinking cute without being too cutesy if you get my meaning!
Little Dudes Dragon Onesie
This digital stamp is a new addition to my collection but it was released years ago. I regret not buying it sooner as it was such a fun design to colour.
I print my digital stamps onto Winsor & Newton Bleedproof Marker paper. It’s bright white so my colours really pop and it also helps to stop the inks bleeding into each other.
Polkadoodles Dragon Onesie Card Making Project
I’ve coloured this little cutie with my Winsor & Newton BrushMarkers. Here’s the shade’s I’ve used:
Lush Green
Forest
Apple
Yellow
Soft Lime
Almond
Designer Papers
I’m a big fan of First Edition papers but this Grand Plans stack has been in my stash for a while. I don’t seem to have made many cards for boys lately.
Die Cutting
I use dies to make frames around my digital stamps. I always colour my image first in case I make a mess of it then I use a glue stick to glue my image onto a piece of plain printer paper to make it thicker and more stable.
Then I choose a die shape and size that suits my image and run both papers together through my die cutting machine. The pressure forces them to stick really well together.
On this card I’ve used two different circle dies to make a circle shaped frame around my coloured digital stamp. The outer circle is cut using my XCut X-Large Nesting Dies, Circle and the inner circle is cut using XCut Nesting Dies, Circle.
I think they look a little plain with just a white background so I like to use distress inks to add a bit of colour around my images. I use a Blending Tool to sweep the ink onto the edges of my die cut shape. For this card I’ve used Mowed Lawn and Squeezed Lemonade.
Polkadoodles Dragon Onesie Card Making Project
I’ve embellished my card with die cut stars. I love using my star dies for boys cards instead of flowers, they add the same “little bit of something” without being remotely girly. I’ve used the Star Flourish Die set from XCut.
A Little Embellishment
Polkadoodles Dragon Onesie Card Making Project
I love to add just a teeny touch of sparkle to my cards and I usually do that with a little set of three gems in one or two corners. I love how it adds a little bit of interest to an otherwise plain corner. I always use craft tweezers to make sure I get the teeny tiny gems perfectly positioned.
Happy Birthday Greeting
Polkadoodles Dragon Onesie Card Making Project
This is a new style of greeting for me. I’ve used a strip of washi tape and stuck it to a strip of scrap card. Then I’ve trimmed it to leave a little border and stuck it to my card with 3D foam pads so that it stands out a little bit. I think the fun lettering style goes well with this little boy’s card.
Take a Peak Inside
Polkadoodles Dragon Onesie Card Making Project
I think it’s such a shame to receive a beautifully decorated card only to open it and be faced with a blank page. So I use more of my designer papers to decorate the insides of my cards. I mostly use scraps leftover from the main design and a 10cm square of plain paper to write a nice message onto.
Sometimes I have some leftover die cuts like these stars. They’ve come from the insides of the stars I’ve used on the front of the card.
I do hope you have enjoyed having a peak at my latest card making project. Please feel free to use my handmade cards to inspire your own creations, pin it to your Pinterest for later.
Thank you so much for stopping by my corner little of the interweb. I’m Bridie, mum to two small humans, full time homemaker and full time craftaholic – which totally explains why I’m always short on time!
I’ve included links to my favourite retailers for the products I’ve used to make my crafts. Click on any of the product images and links for full details. If you decide to buy any of these products I may get a small percentage of what you spend. There’s no cost to you at all.
