Tuesday, 4 March 2014

The Mutton Years

There was no blogging over the weekend due to birthday japes, curry and cake, coffee in bed and lazy times. With another year in the bag  I fear I have entered the Mutton Years.  That short skirt which seemed socially acceptable at 6.45 in the morning is not by 11.30. Now I am aware that I have reached a certain age, I shall make the most of my short skirts and wear them with defiant abandon - as long as my knees hold out.  Speaking of knees, the couch to 5K running programme is entering it's final fortnight with 3 runs per week of 25 mins and no walking or stopping.  None.  Just running. On the plus side, nothing hurts at the moment and I get to run past loads of snowdrops.


In addition to loads of lovely books, I received some wicker bannetons to help my bread making.  They support the dough as it rises and create the nice circles you see on artisan bread.

The finished loaf below with its circles and my clumsy cuts.  Next time I'll cut in a square shape round the top.  (You make cuts to allow the dough to open in a controlled way rather than just splitting.   There are other reasons too but I can't remember them.)
Another birthday gift was a jar of home made marmalade which is becoming a bit of an annual ritual and I don't know what I'll do if my friend gets bored with her Seville orange based activities each January!
On the creative front I've been planning what I'll get the girls to make when I'm hosting our crafting day in a few weeks.  I've been experimenting with some back to basics crafting, using minimal tools, paints, cards, papers, stamps etc.  Below are shabby chic flowers and leaves made without using scissors.  It's brown paper torn from one of my birthday delivery boxes, some pages from a 50p charity shop book, a white pencil and some buttons and string.
I like the effect and will use them to make a scrapbook cover.
Finally, THIS is a brilliant thing!  It's a puffy spritzer puff I got here.
It's great for using with felt pens or any marker pens you may have.  You push the pen in, lock it in place by turning the little screw, squeeze the bubble and....
Voila!  A nicely controlled spray of colour which isn't so wet it mushes up your paper.  Genius!

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