Ellie's Treasures

Sharing this Patchy with you ...

2012-01-25T11:30:00.001Z

even though it sold within about half and hour of listing (yay - isn't it great when that happens?).

I've noticed that since adding some kind of enclosed pocket into my wallets they have been selling better. This makes obvious sense, as it's an added bonus of a pocket with a bit more security. A big thank you to a fellow crafter for suggesting this idea to me in the first place and now it's going to be taken one step further!

I had a message from a lady asking if I could put a zipped section in one of my wallets. Big gulp - the one and only time I've sewn in a zip was to replace one on my favourite, and now rather scruffy, blue fleece. That was pretty straightforward as the zipped section was quite big and I put in the new one in stages as I took out the old one (if you see what I mean). It's still working about 2 years after putting it in, so I must have done a thorough job of it! Anyhow, I do like a challenge, so that's to be my next project. I'm guessing they make zips that small, but we'll see - perhaps I'll even change the wallet design a bit. It's time to expand and folk seem to like the idea of something totally unique in fabric combination and decoration, so an updated design may sell well.

As it happened I was about to list a new Patchy at Ellie's Treasures anyway. This one was cut from denim (hand sewing denim is not pleasant, I have saw finger tips) with two different blue/white check fabrics to go with it. It took me an afternoon (yes, I do take that long) to decide on the prettiest decoration for it and was very, very pleased with the end result. Putting a little buttoned pocket on the cover was a good idea too (taken from an unwanted top my daugher had - recycling is my thing) - my lady with the zip question came back and bought it!

New brooches

2012-01-15T18:59:00.001Z

My 2012 plan to list new items at Ellie's Treasures far more frequently took a nose dive within the first few days of January! As is usual in this household, life came first and sewing came second. By the evening, my usual sewing time, I was completely exhausted to lift a needle, let alone plan something new, cut it out, and sew it all together with care. I have, however, managed to make and list a new owl brooch which I think is rather lovely:

and am now in the process of making a new Patchy Pockets wallet.

Having said all that, I didn't put my sewing kit away entirely. We had a bit of fun (easy to say now) with Jay a couple of weeks ago in that we decided to load him in the trailer and bring him home for a nice hack up to the marsh. We have done this before, no problems, and on this occasion he loaded well to come out to our home, but refused to load to go back to his own home after his hack. After 2 1/2 hours of very stressful "encouraging", we had to keep Jay in our garden over night! Typically, it was the night the wind decided to blow, pretty strong actually, which couldn't have been pleasant for the poor chap. He survived and seemed to be quite happy roaming the nooks and crannies of our garden, sticking his nose over the fence and the gate to get a good view of the surrounding area (you should see the state of the lawn!). We were at a loss as to what to do to get him into the trailer. We'd called his previous owners for help and they offered to come over to assist us, weather permitting. The wind in the morning was even worse, with hail storms too at times. Luckily, around midday, it died down completely, and they came over complete with feed bowls, haylage and lunge lines! It took us (well them mainly) an hour (which was their available time slot) to load him and get back safely to the yard. I couldn't have done it without them and was extrememly grateful for their persistance, calmness and for just being there. It was also pretty amazing that the weather stayed relatively calm for that hour, picking up again once we were back at the yard. Someone must have been watching over us!

We've started trailer training him now, as we'd like to move to a new livery yard very soon. So far we've had no luck. It is very tiring and frustrating when a horse that once loaded decides enough is enough.

As a thank you I sent the ladies some special chocolate biccies to have with their tea and coffee and I made these little brooches for the yard owner's two children as they were brilliant, sitting and waiting for an hour in the car.

Quite like the little horses with the jumps - may make something similar to Ellie's Treasures.

Chilli Jelly

2012-01-15T13:10:00.000Z

I've never really been a huge fan of chilli peppers, although I've grown them a couple of times as hubs is pretty fond of them. He always has a bit of a go at me for not growing or buying really hot chillis so, with his birthday this week just gone, I decided to surprise him and use Scotch Bonnet chillis (they're hot, believe me!) to make Chilli Jelly.

The process is rather painful, and I'm not talking about the usual getting chilli seeds under the nails or rubbing your eyes after handling them (even after washing your hands, several times). The pain was from the first process of the making - dissolving the sugar in the white wine vinegar over a low heat. The fumes were unbelievable and lingered around the house for the rest of the day! Everyone in the vicinity of the kitchen left coughing and rubbing their eyes - you have been warned! It is worth the pain though. This jelly is amazing. Spread very thinly on crackers, crostini or whatever you desire, the heat from the chillli is warming with a lovely undertone (of what, I cannot say!). Enjoy.

Makes 12 x 175ml (6 fl oz) jars

2kg (4lb) granulated sugar
500ml (17 fl oz) white wine vinegar
200g (7 oz) Scotch Bonnet chillis (you can use long red chillis - for a milder taste)
1 large red pepper, deseeded and sliced
250ml (8 fl oz) Certo apple pectin (from the sugar aisle at the supermarket)

As I didn't fancy having 12 jars lurking around, I used the following measurements which made 2.5 small jars instead:

500g granulated sugar
125ml white wine vinegar
50g chillis
1/4 red pepper
87.5ml Certo apple pectin

Sterilise jars and lids in the oven at a low temperature.

Cut the chillis in half and deseed. Zap in a blender until finely chopped, add the sliced pepper and re-zap.
Pour the sugar into a large preserving pan or heavy saucepan, add the vinegar and place on the hob over a low heat stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar. Turn up the heat slightly and boil until the mixture is syrupy and clear (the recipe says 20 mins (for 12 jar quantity), but for most reliable results use a jam thermometer - boil until it reaches 105 degrees C).

Add the the zapped chillis and pepper to the dissolved sugar and vinegar solution. Bring it back to the boil over a medium heat until it again reaches 105 degrees C (recipe states 3 minutes for 12 jar quantity).

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 15 mins (12 jar quanitity) then stir in the Certo apple pectin. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken and the chillis are suspended in the mixture.

Use a funnel or jug to pour the mixture into the clean, sterilised jars. If the chillis rise to the top of the jelly, pour it back into the pan and stir over a low heat until they are suspended. Once jarred, seal tightly and allow to cool.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T16:17:00.001Z

Wishing you all a super 2012.

Have you made any resolutions? I'm not usually one to do so as I know I'll not keep them going for long, but this year I've decided that I'd really like to push Ellie's Treasures a little further.

I'm hoping to really get going on the making and listing and also make enough stock to do a couple of craft fairs this year, perhaps at Easter and Christmas. The biggest thing I'd like to get started on is setting up Ellie's Treasures on it's own, online. It's a big thing but I've been noticing, thanks to Google Analytics, that more and more people are finding my shop directly, rather than through Folksy itself. I'll probably start by selling in both outlets and then gradually branch away from Folksy as time goes on. It's going to be time consuming too, so it'll take some working out from my end as I'd also like to concentrate more on the family this year!

I've found it very difficult fitting everything in - and I'm feeling a little exhausted doing it all too. I know I'm not the only one to say that time flies, but really, the months do seem to zoom through quicker than they used to, don't they? Fitting in the all important school work, horses, looking after the day-to-day running of a family home plus making and selling for Ellie's Treasures is hard work and I often feel it's all a whirl-wind and I haven't spent quality sit down and chat time with kids or hubby (other than round the dinner table in the evening). I'm going to try really hard to change this. Family life is so important, and the children are growing up so fast (I can't believe Katie will be 15 in a couple of weeks) - I don't want to miss a single second of it!

I'll keep you posted on how it's all working out! However, to kick start 2012 I've made and listed a new fairy toadstool brooch for the shop. These are certainly my best selling item and I love making each one a little different keeping them unique.

Gingerbread houses ...

2011-12-23T12:27:00.000Z

are becoming a tradition in our household - they're good fun to bake and cool to decorate. The recipe that we use doesn't actually have ginger in it (which is fine by me as I'm not a particular lover of the taste), it does have mixed spice, almonds and hazelnuts, making the gingerbread very moorish to eat. Decorate with a selection of goodies from the home baking and sweets ailes of the supermarket and plenty of royal icing (you can buy this in powder form and add water and plenty of whisking).

This recipe made 3 houses and a batch of biscuits too.

Gingerbread:
225g runny honey
2 eggs
175g caster sugar
500g plain flour
Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
50g ground almonds
50g ground hazelnuts
4 tsp ground mixed spice
Pinch of salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Toffee:
112g white caster sugar

Gingerbread:
Heat the honey gently. Beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy, add the honey and then combine the wet mixture with the remaining dry Gingerbread ingredients. Fold them gently together, knead into a soft dough, wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 24 hours (it'll keep in there for up to 4 weeks) - we actually only kept ours in the fridge fore 1/2 a day before using (we're impatient folk!).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (gas 4). Roll out the dough thinly (about 5mm) and cut it into the shapes using the template below (if you can, cut a few spares too, just in case). Put the sections on a greased and very lightly floured baking sheet. Bake for about 10 mins until golden brown, leave to cool on a wire rack.

Toffee:
Use a plate or cake board for presenting your house. Make the toffee to use as glue. This is the hardest part, and most dangerous - I burnt my finger quite badly - please don't do the same. Melt the sugar slowly in a pan, stirring continuously, until it starts to brown. Take care not to let it burn. Turn the heat to the lowest setting and work quickly glueing your house together - the toffee hardens once it cools so we found it best to use a spoon to brush the toffee onto the edges of the sections close to the heat of the pan then stick each section together directly on the plate/board. Remember, it is piping hot, take care and do not touch the toffee. Leave to harden.

Decorate:
Make up the royal icing using the packet instructions. Spread over the house to resemble snow, and have fun decorating your house with sweets, chocolate drops and buttons.

The template:

Here are the sizings of the house parts (if you cut out a template to the actual sizes written on the house pieces (in inches) you'll make one big house).

Roof: 7 x 5 cm (cut two)
Side Wall: 6 x 4 cm (cut two)
Gable End: 4 x 4 cm (with additional gable of 4.5 cm) (cut two)
Small door and chimney

Deck the halls ...

2011-12-20T20:23:00.000Z

Yes, it's that wonderful time of year again, when the Christmas decorations are sourced from deep in the understairs cupboard. It's always a joy - not just because it's the season to be, etc., etc., but because the decorations have memories (and smell fabulous). Each year we buy a few new decorations for the tree, and each year we look back at our past choices. The oldest decoration that we have goes way back to my infant school days where I used to read a book called Twigwidge. I have imagined that one of our decorations, way back then, was the little Twig man himself as he looked a bit like a twig (a Father Christmas made from red pipecleaners with an oversized ball shaped head and felt pointed hat). From that day on, he's always sat inside a plastic silver basket and hung on the tree. Christmas would be seriously unlucky without Twigwidge to take care of things! He doesn't look at all like a Father Christmas now (or a Twigwidge for that matter), just a load of pipecleaners with a head - but all the same, he's special.

Here's some photos I've taken this year of the tree, a few decorations (including one of my dolly peg Santas from last year and of our gorgeous Dragon lights).

Jingle bell, jingle bell ...

2011-12-14T16:25:00.000Z

jingle bell rock....

Just love that festive tune and, to be honest, only got to know of it a few years ago (a few? I'm talking the 80s?) when I do believe it featured at the beginning of one of the Die Hard movies!

Well the reason I've bought this up is not just because Christmas is now approaching at break-neck speed, but because I was cheekily tagged by a fellow Folksy seller and lovely twitter mate, Reddskinbags to blog about my favourite festive tune and tag others to do the same. I'm not really into tagging, but hey, it's Christmas!

When I started to think about my favourite tune, so many others sprang to mind that I now don't think "Jingle Bell Rock" is my favourite. I'm sorry, this does seem to happen far too often these days - I really should spend more time thinking about far more interesting and pressing problems!

So, I'm changing my mind, it's got to be "It's beginning to look alot like Christmas" because I found myself singing this the whole year round! But then again, I do love the Karen Carpenter one, which is on my Ipod and so gets frequently heard too. Hang on, what about Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry? Don't know why I love this, just reminds me of my childhood (no, I wasn't born in the war or anything!!) and Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas reminds me of the time my dear hubby went home to his parents and took our cat with him (long story, cat refused to go to the cattery) and he was stuck in traffic jams with himself and the cat both desperate for a toilet break! OK, promise one more, one more - It's a most wonderful time of the year.

OK, I'm putting my hands up, I've cheated big time - I'm sorry, I just can't choose a favourite, they're all fab and all put a smile on my face and make me think of the big man himself (in true Coca-cola style). I adore carols too and could happily sing out loud in my best voice, if only the kids would let me.

I hope you enjoy listening to my picks :0)

Now for tagging - Trinket Box, Audrey's Cat, Dab and a Dash and Swirly Arts - let's read about your favourite festive tune - if you have one (or more, of course!!).

Happy Christmas!

"Have a Crafty Christmas"

2011-12-10T19:16:00.001Z

as suggested by Printed on Ribbon - the printed gift tags shown in the photo were given to me as a freebie with a ribbon order I placed last week.

And why not have a crafty Christmas? Have you been watching Kirsty Allsopp's craft series, Homemade Home, on television? The last episodes in the series have been dedicated to making gorgeous things for Christmas. I especially loved a little heart garland she made last week, it was so simple but looked perfect and very Christmassy when finished. Click the link above to see the episodes and links to instructions - try something crafty!!

In my photo I've also featured a couple of my items, a dolly peg Santa for the tree (and for keeping safe your Christmas wish list) and a little fabric gift tag I've made for my Dad similar to this hanging decoration available to buy. Also displayed is a very elegant hand made Christmas card, another freebie that I was given, along with some gift tags, by Ali Dufty. She has a shops on Folksy and Etsy - well worth checking out.

The toy shop ...

2011-12-06T20:45:00.000Z

window on my 42 year old advent calender is for the 5th day of December. It's still one of my favourite windows, even after all these years, so I thought I'd photograph it to show you. I've also chosen a few lovely toys from Folksy to showcase. Hope you like my choices - just click on the photo to go straight to the shop.

Medals and trophies

2011-12-05T19:15:00.000Z

Here's Ben with his winnings from the annual Ju-jitsu competition held last weekend at the dojo that he practises. The competition was between his school and another who had travelled from Wales and it's held as a fun event to raise money for Children in Need. Alongside the many classes there's a raffle and loads of yummy homemade cakes on sale to help boost the charity pot.

Ben decided this year to enter four classes, competing with quite a few others in some of them. He did a two move self-defence class, individual kata and bo kata plus a group weapons class with his mate.

As any parent would be, I was mega proud of him. He was so nervous in the run up to the big day and although he felt a bit jelly-fied on the morning he knew he'd practised lots at home and between classes and was bold enough to announce his self-defence moves and perform everything confidently.

The beam on his face each time his name was announced as a winner was fabulous. He got a medal for taking part, a bronze medal for team weapons and bronze trophies for self-defence and individual kata.

What a star!

Little gifts ...

2011-12-04T15:12:00.002Z

at great prices are the top of most people's lists, especially with the financial problems that so many are experiencing.

Sourcing well made and individual perfect presents, whether for your child's teacher, friends, Secret Santa or to fill a stocking or two doesn't have to be too difficult. Save traipsing around the high street, getting hot and bothered, stay warm at home, grab a cup of your favourite beverage (or glass of your favourite tipple!) and start browsing, at your leisure, online.

There's a huge amount of choice once you start to look. Many, many designers and crafters are selling their wares online and you'll be purchasing items that have been lovingly made and quite unique. You'll come across people who will bend over backwards to ensure the item you buy has been beautifully packaged and swiftly dispatched. Overall, a far better service than in a high street store.

At Ellie's Treasures, all my items have been carefully made right from the very beginning. Hand cut, hand sewn and each one just a little different in some way.

My selection of brooches, which I am constantly adding to, will make fabulous little gifts. Also the two remaining Union Jack key fobs, an ideal present bearing in mind next year's patriotic celebrations - the Olympic Games and Jubilee.

Make a change this season, shop from independent sellers, I think you'll be pleased you did.

A(nother) new member of the family!

2011-11-28T19:46:00.001Z

Oops, I seem to have seriously broken my 2011 resolution of "no more pets". Not only did we buy Katie a horse in September, but we seem to have acquired a darling little kitten too.

A few weeks back an adorable and very shy tortoishell puss began to visit the stables. She was constantly miaowing, asking and asking to be fed (she'd steal the chicken food) but was very wary of coming to close to us humans. Naturally we (Katie, me and the yard owner) gave in to her constant pleas and fed her. She obviously appreciated our kindness because a couple of nights later she decided to come back with her two adorable little kittens!

The yard owner's husband (who opens up in the mornings) found them snuggled amongst the hay - what a cute (and surprising) sight that must have been! One's ginger and white and the other is a beautiful tabby. As soon as we saw them we'd decided that the tabby would be ours (which was rather lucky as the yard owner had taken a shine to the ginger and white - now called George).

Tilly and George a couple of days after we found them.

During the couple of weeks following their arrival, we had a few ups and downs with the kittens. Tilly (or Kitty Eden as she's often called) - our tabby kitten, would go missing - sometimes falling behind the wooden panels resulting in us having to prize them off to leave drafty big holes around the backs of the stables and hay barn! Mum cat actually took both kittens away for good for 24 hours which left us completely devastated. The yard owner found George in the ditch, but no sign of Tilly at all (she continued to look until 9.30 that night). Luckily Mum sauntered back with Tilly in the morning. As Tilly seemed to be so accident prone, we decided she was probably old enough (as neither were suckling) to take her home. Mum was happy with George and after the initial miaowing protests towards us as we drove off with Tilly, she settled down and seems set to stay as a yard cat.

Tilly's settled in so well at home. Allie has treated her to an all over bath and Kan has stared and growled at her a few times. Pepper, being Pepper, just runs away in total fear! Poppy initally thought the new arrival was a rabbit. Lots of heavy panting and nudging with her big nose, but now, although still excitable around her, she hasn't shown any signs of hurting her. This week we've decided to let Tilly roam the house as she was crying to be let out of Katie's room (where she was staying). Let's just say both dog and kitten get worn out eventually and sleep very soundly!

Tilly, probably about 7 or 8 weeks old.

The Christmas shop ...

2011-11-20T12:26:00.003Z

is now open at Ellie's Treasures.

Due to the success of my dolly-peg Christmas decorations over the last couple of years I've once again made some Santas, just perfect for the Christmas tree this season.

This year's doll has been hand painted in red with smart black boots, fluffy white beard and red fleece pointed hat. Each Father Christmas carries a small hessian sack with labels that read "Christmas Wishes". The sack is ideal to pop a small wrapped chocolate inside or tiny gift, and wonderful for the household to place their written wishes inside ready for Father Christmas to receive and (hopefully) fulfill on Christmas morning.

There's six Santas available at Ellie's Treasures. Three have their legs split to make them perfect to slot onto the branches of the Christmas tree, and three have their legs split in order to sit on the tree or use as a peg for cards, on tinsel or bunting.

Also available this year are a couple of hand sewn hanging decorations. Cut from felt and Christmas fabric they each have a tibetan silver charm as their centrepiece. The first has the most detailed stag/reindeer charm, standing in the snow beside the trees. The little clear seed beads falling above his head look like snow flakes.

The second is a Christmas tree with a delicate fairy at the top. The tree has tiny seed beads in a variety of colours, strung together with fusia cotton to resemble a string of fairy lights.

My final hanging decoration is a pretty hanging heart. Cut from neutral cotton with a central red and white check rectangle and spotty ribbon trim, it simply says "Christmas". Very shabby chic and homely, it's filled with a generous amount of crushed cloves and wadding to give the room a gentle, seasonal perfume.

The colours of Autumn

2011-11-09T16:44:00.001Z

My favourite seasons have always been Spring and Autumn. True, I can't help but love the warmer weather that hopefully arrives with Summer and I can't help but enjoy a good covering of snow in Winter, especially if I don't have to travel too far and can wrap up warm snuggling next to the fire. However, Spring and Autumn are, to me, calming times of the year that are full of hope with Spring greens and beautiful Autumn oranges.

I enjoy using Autumn colours in my work too. My previous post featured my little owl brooch, using oranges, browns and yellows in the design, well there's also this very hand Patchy Pockets, aptly named "Autumn". I used deep chocolate corduroy and a two other fabulous fabrics featuring patterns in deep reds, browns and dull greens, all perfect of this time of year. The front and back covers have been decorated with a row of tiny blue seed beads further adding to the overall tactile feel of the wallet. Inside are six internal sleeve pockets, ideal for keepsakes and nick-nacks, business cards or as a general handbag storage wallet.

Enjoy the remaining Autumn days before Winter kicks in!

Twit Twoooo

2011-10-29T16:53:00.000+01:00

My Mum has loved owls for as long as I can remember. When I was a little'un I remember her having a ceramic owl on the kitchen wall, right next to the sink, that held string and scissors (which were the owl's spectacles) - I can picture it in my mind now - she treasured that owl and every owl ornament that she has received since then.

As a little thank you for being ultra special (as all mums are of course), I recently made and gave to her a little owl brooch as she likes to collect my felt brooches! I was so happy with it that I decided to make one for Ellie's Treasures too - slightly different of course, as I endeavour to make every item unique in some way. I like all the Autumn colours in this, perfect for accessorizing hats, scarves, coats and also bags.

Here's some other gorgeous owl goodies that I've picked for you from Folksy. If you see something you like, click the relevant photo to whizz straight to the correct shop.

September was busy too!

2011-10-16T15:54:00.000+01:00

Hoping things will slow down a little now, but I think we've been hoping for that for most of this year!

Katie has loved all things to do with horses for about 8 or 9 years now. She started with riding school lessons, as many do, in various establishments, riding a good variety of lovely, wonderful horses. She's always favoured the slightly speedy, quirky and unpredicatable ones - zippy little Welsh ponies, and unpredicatable and beautiful Arabs. The last riding school she attended saw her also competing there. The most memorable times being her coming 2nd in cross country, 1st in dressage (and over all 2nd in competition) on said Arab. Then, as luck would have it, she began to ride a local pony every day, learning so much about stable management, horse care, jumping and generally having a nice time with him. During the last 2 1/2 years of local pony riding, we began to think more and more seriously about buying Katie her own horse. Fools we may be, especially as she practically had a free pony to ride. Unfortunately, this isn't always as brilliant as it may seem. The pony would always belong to someone else, and therefore the final decision on everything was the owner's decision, which could at times, become a little frustrating. As it happens, in September, we decided the time was right to buy a horse, and as things progressed we were asked not to return to ride the local pony. It was quite upsetting and out of the blue - 2 1/2 years of getting to know a friend and then suddenly no more. We were quite prepared to have continued riding the local pony for a while rather than just leave, and the owner was aware of that. In hindsight, this would actually have been quite time consuming (and I'm not sure we'd have enjoyed mucking out twice every day!). We said our goodbyes and will always have our memories (like his ears pricking up when we approach his stable, the whinnying when we turn up unexpectedly at his field).

We now have Jay. He's a handsome 15hh horse. The beam on Katie's face the times she rode him at the try outs said it all. He comes with his own set of mini problems (hopefully mini anyway), as all horses probably do. He hasn't been ridden steadily for months, as far as we're aware, and needs his top muscles building up. Exercises, being ridden and a correct fitting saddle will all help with this. He's jumping, but at present only straw bales, and I don't feel we should rush him into too much strenuous work just yet - build things up gradually. He seems to love being ridden, ears pricked, attentive, and at times excitable (which Katie seems to find fun (there's me with my heart in my mouth)). He's quite sensitive too - but responds well to calm and gentle words. We've had Jay 4 weeks and are bonding with him very quickly. Not only that, Katie's confidence in her own riding has grown tremendously in this short time. So far she hasn't been fazed, taking things in her stride and plans what she's going to do to improve not just Jay but her own riding as well. Next step - lessons, then back to the shows I guess. Here's to the future of Katie and Jay.

Check this out - I won!

2011-10-13T19:00:00.002+01:00

Came across a little giveaway on Reddskinbags' blog the other day, thanks to a post on Twitter and I was over-the-moon to find my name was picked out of the lucky hat to win some of her beautiful bunting.

Karen was celebrating her daughter's 21st birthday and asked blog commenters to reveal a celebration that was forthcoming and special to them. Paul and I will be celebrating our 22nd anniversary of being together as a couple as the end of this month, it's a date that sticks in our minds probably more than our actual wedding anniversary - it's very special to us. Paul was extra excited about winning the prize because he absolutely loves bunting. His eyes lit up when we opened Karen's package this morning - all those colours and patterns - so cool.

If you haven't already checked out the gorgeous bags and accessories available to buy in Karen's shop, you really must (after you've read this post of course!!). She uses the most gorgeous fabrics in her work, so colourful and stunning.

Thank you Reddskinbags xx

A summer catchup ...

2011-10-11T15:44:00.000+01:00

We've had a very good summer, fun and, at times, non-stop. August especially seemed a month full of "happenings". There was a very special lunch time event at Hambleton Hall along the banks of Rutland Water celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Paul's parents. Words cannot describe how delicious the meal was. Without wanting to sound like a snob, "normal" food will never seem as appealing after witnessing the combinations of flavours carefully put together in the menu we had that day. Even the fish and chips that the children had was superior to the chippy with the accompanying peas being surved in a tiny little copper saucepan which was a big hit around the whole dining table! Presentation and friendliness of the staff made everything so relaxing and enjoyable. Gushing over - but you get the message, it was truly a memorable occasion.

A week later, my sister's annual family get together was just as fabulous and great fun. It's lovely to all get together for a long natter, lots of grub, lots of fun games and to see how the children have all grown and developed in their personalities over the year.

Earlier in the month we took a trip to Yorkshire for another family do - a garden barbeque. Lots more catching up and an all round fab relaxing day.

Katie had friends to stay from Wales and Skye - a couple of noisy nights where Paul and I decided to camp outside rather than wait for them to all go to bed! The second night they fell asleep on the sofa at about 4am, so a wise move on our part don't you think? Busy days too with me being a bit of a taxi driver. Lots of shopping, lots of chitter-chatter, lots of pizza eating (and bbq as I recall - the weather was very kind).

One of the biggest days in August for us as a family was Thursday, 25th. Katie, along with her home ed friend, at the ripe old age of 14, had taken her GCSE maths foundation earlier in the year. It was a tense time waiting for the results (for me, more than her I think). Throughout our HE time, maths has always been a bit of a problem for Katie. Not that she was incapable of doing it, just she couldn't see the need. We'd finished the KS3 maths course in a year (as had Ben) and so from September last year until her exam we concentrated on the foundation course. It was touch and go, especially when we hit algebra! Say that word to her now and she'll raise her eyebrows! I couldn't fathom it out at her age either, although in the end she was able to, but having worked alongside her learning it all I got very into it - loving it actually - which would naturally drive Katie up the wall! Anyway, the exam came and went, with much "do you think this was the right answer" popping up several times afterwards. Then 9 a.m. on the 25th August I got the "ping" on on phone saying the result was through. I had to keep checking it (and zooming in) to make sure but she'd passed. She was extremely happy, I was in tears through happiness and relief! We'd heard over the years of successes in exams from HE children, now we have added to that stat. She'd worked hard and solid through those months (but not without some hassle and arguments I have to say), but she knew as time grew closer that the result was important for her future and she worked as hard as she could. One under her belt and now working on GCSE English with a science and hopefully art to follow. Way to go Katie!

Harvesting the lavender

2011-09-24T11:15:00.000+01:00

The utility room smells fabulous now that I've had a chance to cut all the lavender from the front garden ready for storing and using in my heart lavender bags. It's amazing how much lavender is needed to fill each bag and I'm not too sure how far this year's crop will go but I have my eye on a neighbour's very large lavender bush - just plucking up the courage to ask if I may give it a bit of a cut!

Following on from my previous post, life still seems to be manic (you'll see why in a bit - I'll post about what's been going on very soon, promise) - but I do believe I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel - for now! Due to this manicness (if that's a word), Ellie's Treasures hasn't been restocked in while, but I do have plenty of lovely things just needing to be finished off ready to list. I've very aware that the "season of goodwill" will soon be upon us and judging by my shop analytics, folk are already looking for my dolly-peg Santas. I have six in the pipeline, just waiting for their Santa sacks, but I probably won't be listing anything Christmassy until October - oops, that's next week :0) - where does the time go?

I'm also working on a few custom orders (I love doing these) so have naturally been concentrating on these more than anything else. Here's a custom lavender heart that was sent out this last week. The lady asked for the two dogs to resemble her sister-in-law's little terriers. She sent me some photos to distinguish their colourings - luckily it was fairly simple as they're mainly white with one little patch of colour on their tails. Also, the brief was to use Leeds United colours - she's a big supporter apparently! Rather cute I thought.

Craving some ...

2011-09-11T14:12:00.004+01:00

Ha ha, don't we all!

It's been a manic couple of weeks and unfortunately sewing has had to take a bit of a back seat as I just too exhausted by the evening to pick up a needle and thread. However, whilst sitting around and waiting for folk (I'm very quickly becoming the family taxi driver) I have been able to find some time to sift though the inspirational and extrememly helpful Folksy blog posts. I thought I'd put a link to one particular post that's made me seriously update the way I promote my shop goods. Obviously some of the content is referring to listing items on Folksy itself, but there's plenty of up-to-date info for everyone else too.

SEO tips - how to grow your network

Happy reading and thank you Hilary for providing your help to all us folk needing SEO guidance!

Cats and baskets

2011-08-30T14:06:00.000+01:00

It's not the first time this has happened in our family of cats, but I was lucky enough to have the camera to hand this time. Kan has managed to squeeze into this small basket for a comfy(?) nap!

Cats find comfort in the strangest of places don't they? We've found them curled up in the empty sink when it's been very hot, inside the airing cupboard and behind the washing machine to name just three. Where's your cat's favourite sleeping place at the moment?

A nature post

2011-08-25T18:00:00.001+01:00

I've been busy clicking with the camera around the garden. Here's what I've taken:

Such beautiful colours (apart from the baby toad, but he's still beautiful). While I'm at it, here's a pic of the potatoes we harvested this year and the first of many excellent sized carrots (they taste so much nicer than shop bought ones). I'm ever so pleased with the carrots. It's the first year ever that I've grown them directly in the ground rather than in a large pot (resulting in tiny baby carrots, which are lovely, but not quite the same). I'd been put off doing this before mainly because our soil isn't completely stone free (by a long way) resulting in wonky and stunted growth. Also I dreaded the thought of a ruined crop thanks to carrot fly (apparently this is more likely if you disturb the tiny seedlings too much at replanting time), but we seem to have been spared. The only pest upsetting the carrots has been Kan who seems to enjoy hiding, playing and sleeping amongst them!!

Look what I found ....

2011-08-23T19:19:00.001+01:00

I find the residents of our hamlet are often chucking away perfectly good household goods with their black bags each Friday. Over the last few months I been lucky enough to pick up (having asked the owner's permission first of course) many useful things that would otherwise end up in landfill. To date we have an ironing board (left out with a sign "to a good home" - it replaced my 25 year old board and I suddenly realised it wasn't my iron at fault, it was my threadbare board not doing a good job!!), a good size mirror (now in Katie's bedroom), a Z-bed (perfect for Katie's friends for when they stay over) and, my latest find, a set of drawers on wheels.

Before ...

This latest find was quite an exciting one. You may remember some time ago a post I wrote about a box that housed the majority of my sewing stuff. The particular box had started life as a baby changing box for my son and had always had a use (it's now in the Landrover for holding our flasks and picnic goodies). The box was beginning to overflow with sewing stuff so much so that it became a mega task to find anything. The chest of drawers on wheels is a crafter's life saver. I came across it, thrown out with the black bin bags, a few weeks ago. It looked in perfect condition so I knocked at the relevant house and asked if I may have it. The lady was more than happy for me to take it away but said it was all broken up and probably of no use to anyway. After a clean up and quick inspection, the only breakage I could see was a tiny split on the runner of the bottom (of 4) drawers. As all my sewing stuff is relatively light this wasn't going to cause a problem at all. Now I have drawers full of on-going work, felt scraps, new felt, buttons, gems, beads and ribbons all together in one place that I can wheel around from room to room, and my sewing box sits nicely on top - perfect.

and after.

Pass on your congratulations in style

2011-08-17T17:55:00.000+01:00

Exam results are ... tomorrow (and next Thursday for GCSE) - eeek! That awful wait is finally coming to a close and I'd like to wish all my readers who are either waiting for results for themselves, their children or a close friend or relative, all the very best. I hope the results are what you expected and need to move on to whatever you wish to do.

As I mentioned at the end of my previous post, I've been working on making some fabric gift tags. The first two that I've listed at Ellie's Treasures are perfect for exam congratulations. Slightly padded to make it easy to write the names on the reverse, these tags are made from felt with a fabric topping and say "Yay, you've passed! Congratulations". The labels have been printed on fabric paper and can be easily written on with a standard biro (as shown in my previous post). They're just a little different and more personal than normal gift tags I think and are ideal as a keepsake for after the event. Hope you like them.

Of course, these tags are wonderful for any test congratulations - like a driving test. I've also made a shabby chic style layered brooch with the "Yay, I've passed!" label - for those who want to tell the world their news - and why shouldn't they!

Purrrrfect puss

2011-08-15T14:48:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite shops on Folksy is Dottery Pottery - I could buy so many pretty things from here, it all looks so fresh and gorgeous.

I have a little bird in a cage necklace (very similar to this one) that is hanging in my kitchen and gets so many comments. The colours blend well together and it really stands out as an unique piece of work.

Dottery Pottery is one of the first shops I look at when present hunting, and so for my mum-in-law (a lover of cats) I couldn't resist this darling puss. It was actually listed as a brooch which wasn't really what Mum was after so Sarah, the shop owner, said she'd make one as a necklace for her.

Here it is. I love the little personal touch on the business card - for a button lover like me, this was an added bonus!

I decided to use my first ever fabric gift tag for this gift too as I was so pleased with it. I have a couple of specialised ones in my shop (for exam passes) and am in the process of making a set for general use, like the one below. I use printable fabric for the "to" and "from" section and as you can see, you can write on it perfectly well with a normal biro. Just a little different to card tags and something special the recipient can keep to remember a special day or present.

New brooch at Ellie's Treasures

2011-08-04T12:20:00.000+01:00

I was so pleased that my fairy toadstool brooches sold so well that I decided to try making something else using Tibetan silver charms. As is usual for me, the idea of making an apple tree came to mind in the dead of night (I wonder why this is!?), and as I had a few pussy cat charms left over, thought one of these would sit very nicely under the branches.

I hope you like it. I have to say, the cat's expression is rather sweet - I think he's actually a bit worried about the possibility of one of those apples falling on his bottom!

Printed on Ribbon - perfect finish for gift wrapped goodies

2011-07-28T13:06:00.002+01:00

I recently replied to a request to "test drive" and feature some printed ribbon supplied by John of Printed on Ribbon, a shop on Folksy.

Printed on Ribbon offer a variety of coloured ribbons with your own choice of words, choosing from six fonts and 4 lettering colours. Orders are mailed 1st class and are usually dispatched within 24 hours of receipt of payment.

My sample was standard 10mm width satin ribbon with "handmade by Ellie's Treasures". I chose yellow to coordinate with my lemon business cards, with black lettering in the font "Worstveld Sling". The 10mm ribbon is ideal for tying around gifts and absolutely perfect for promoting your business, making any parcel look beautifully finished and very professional.

I was lucky enough to have a couple of sales so I took the opportunity to use the ribbon and ask the recipients for their comments on how they felt their purchase looked when it arrived.

Just under one metre of ribbon was used for this package tied in a traditional way.

Each of the items was wrapped in white tissue and had my business card slotted through the ribbon. I used just under one metre of ribbon to tie my first package in a traditional way and considerably less to just circle my second package (as you can see from the pictures). Personally, I like the second way of presenting purchases better and obviously it is more economical, still looks pretty and still gets the word out there! A good tip to finding out how much ribbon you'll need to order is to tie your parcel with string or wool and then measure it - you'll be amazed at how much you do actually need!

Using a small amount of ribbon on my second package.

Comments from my two customers were both very complimentary - that the package looked professionally presented, and that it was an unusal and a thoughtful touch.

Having purchased many handmade items over the last few years through internet shopping, it is the goods that arrive neatly presented with a little thought and attention to detail that are remembered by me. By choosing ribbon in this way, customers will feel touched that a little extra attention has been put into the item you've made and sent to them.

At Printed on Ribbon you are able to buy a variety of ribbons in different sizes, from one metre upwards, so please do check out their shop. I'd certainly recommend them and will definitely be buying more ribbon from them in due course.

A big thank you to John of Printed on Ribbon for letting me try a sample.

Love this photo

2011-07-23T19:40:00.001+01:00

of Poppy, taken a couple of weeks ago at the Peterborough Festival by Katie's friend Cloe.

Felting workshops by ...

2011-07-20T19:58:00.001+01:00

The Felt Works
Catch Mary Griffiths of The Felt Works here:
Folksy, Facebook

Mary is based in Derbyshire and has been crafting on and off over the years. She owns The Felt Works, a shop on Folksy. Recently she has focussed more on the wonderful art of felting - transforming a bundle of fluffy wool into a bag, slippers, necklace or brooch has become a bit of an obsession for her! Mary's friends became interested in her obsession and after a fun evening (including a bottle of wine or two), and much elbow grease, her friends successfully produced some lovely items that they were proud to take home.

This spurred Mary on to run workshops for others, holding them at a ceramic painting studio in her local town.

There are fun and friendly workshops available for adults and children. Sessions shown in the photographs are of children painting a ceramic egg cup and then adding a felt egg cosy to sit on top and of adults making a fabulous felted handbag.

Mary's way of felting makes it very easy for her clients to go away and continue with the process - there's no specialist equipment needed. Often people will come back to the studio to show her what else they have made at home.

There are felting workshops planned right through Summer and into Autumn. These will include making slippers, scarves, Autumnal home decorations and Christmas crafts, all for adults and children. Keep an eye on The Felt Works' Facebook page to catch the latest news.

Today

2011-07-19T19:59:00.001+01:00

I thought I'd post up three photos that summed up today for me.

Isn't the box lovely? Think I'm going to have to keep this one. The contents were pretty lovely too.

Watched a storm brewing over the Lincolnshire marshes this afternoon. Fabulous lightening strikes coming from those clouds, just a shame I couldn't capture any.

Here's Mrs. Tiggs our new ex-battery hen. We picked her up on Sunday and she's beginning to find her feet! As is usual with ex-battery hens, she's looking quite the worse for wear, but those new feathers should grow back in a few weeks and I know she'll look a stunner when they do.

Knitting lessons by:

2011-07-15T19:31:00.001+01:00

The Sequinned Sheep
Catch Alice Wright of The Sequinned Sheep here:
Etsy, Folksy, Facebook, Twitter

The Sequinned Sheep is an online shop based in Guildford, Surrey selling glamorous, sparkly knitted and crocheted items stocked by Alice and her sister. Alice's love of knitting stems back to childhood with her Nanny teaching her, at a young age, the fine art of using wool and a pair of needles!. During her teens she started to make intricate and delicate items which eventually lead her to opening an online shop in 2009.

Knitting lessons are informal, enjoyable, productive and completely geared to what the customer wants, working at a pace suitable to each particular client. One lady had been taught to knit as a child and asked to re-learn. Over a course of several lessons, the lady was taught the very basics to begin with (casting on, knit and purl stitch and casting off), progessing through to following a pattern and eventually knitting a tea-cosy as a Christmas present for a relative. She was delighted with the result proving that lessons helped to build not just a skill, but confidence too.

Lessons are one-on-one, in the client's own home, although they can be held in a coffee shop accompanied by a hot chocolate and good natter! Alice also requests her clients to practice their new skill between lessons encouraging them to remember what has been taught so they quickly become independent in the art of their craft.

Contact Alice through the links above if you'd like more details on taking a course of lessons.

My current best seller ...

2011-07-12T18:25:00.000+01:00

happens to be my rather sweet Fairy Toadstool brooches. I've got another two available to buy at Ellie's Treasures. Each one is slightly different, keeping them unique. With different coloured beads or flowers and the mushroom top slanting perhaps a slightly more than the other, the only things that's the same is the pretty tibetan silver fairy.

The perfect gift to accessorise clothing or bags, and absolutely spot-on as a end of term gift for friends or teacher.

Workshops by:

2011-07-11T16:59:00.003+01:00

Patch Fabric and Haberdashery
Catch Claire of Patch here: website, blog

Based in Lowestoft, Suffolk and established in 2010, Patch Fabric and Haberdashery was purely an online business until very recently. Their new shop not only stocks a fabulous selection of fabrics, but trims and ribbons too and caters for the serious quilter and dressmaker as well as those that like to dabble with wonderful fabrics.

Patch offer a choice of 6 brilliant workshops all run from their premises. There's something to suit everyone from Beginners Sewing - learning to make a cushion, fabric bag or children's clothing to morning craft workshops for children throughout August.

Learn the art of freehand embroidery using your own sewing machine. This is a great workshop for those that are confident using their sewing machine but have a desire to learn something new. A day's tuition, which includes coffee and lunch, will give you the knowledge and skill to produce something creative to take home. Patch provide all the necessary materials needed for the day, just bring along your sewing machine (details of what's needed can be found here).

The art of sewing log cabin patchwork blocks is taught on a Saturday evening. This is another workshop suitable for beginners who are confident enough to sew a straight line using a sewing machine. Bring along a selection of fabrics, sharp scissors and thread (and your sewing machine - although there are some available at Patch to use) and produce a wonderful array of colour with end results ideal to use for cushions or quilts.

Details of all the workshops currently available to book are listed here. But that's not all, on top of all these exciting workshops Patch also run a regular Jewellery Workshop every Tuesday.

Waddington Air Show, 2011

2011-07-11T15:35:00.000+01:00

Paul and Ben went along to Waddington Air Show a couple of weekends back. As big aircraft lovers we've been meaning to go along as a family for many years. The weather forecast for this year's show seemed set to be very good so the lads decided to go along (us girls had other commitments - boo). Apart from the very long queues to get parked, it seemed to be a huge success - I was mighty envious on having to miss out - but there's always next year!

Paul took loads and loads of amazing pictures - here's just a tiny selection of my absolute favourites:

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

The graceful "Sally B"

Chinook

Red Arrows

I really like this pic as it shows off the Vulcan's huge wing span of 99 or 111 feet (depending whether Mk1 or Mk2).

The beautiful Vulcan

Workshops by:

2011-07-05T18:49:00.003+01:00

Jo Lucksted Ceramics
Catch Jo here: website; Folksy

Jo runs workshops and parties for complete novices in the art of button making using clay. They are held once a month in a boutique haberdashery called Millie Moon on Catherine Hill, Frome, Somerset (a beautiful part of town with lots of Artisan and Vintage shops). She also runs workshops at her own studio, Town Street, Shepton Mallet - these are arranged to suit the participants - daytime or evenings.

All the equipment and glazes are provided and fired buttons are usually returned within 2 weeks. There are three different decorative techniques, scraffito (the glaze is drawn through to reveal the clay underneath), impressed patterns (where interesting objects are brought to the session by the client and pressed into or rolled onto porcelain) and abstract waste buttons (formed from using scrap off-cuts of clay and rolling them into speckled stoneware clay to form abstract patterns).

About 35- 45 buttons can be made and any masterpieces can be turned into brooches or fridge magnets if desired. Those that have taken part in one of Jo's workshops go on to use their buttons in their own sewing or needlecraft projects, to make jewellery, to sew on cards or even to make their own wedding bunting.

Button making parties are for up to 10 people. The cost of the workshops are £30 for 3 hours with parties getting a reduction for bulk booking.

Learning a new craft the friendly way

2011-06-30T21:42:00.001+01:00

When flicking through a friend's copy of the first edition of Molly Makes I came across a small advert for a knitting group that gets together over a cuppa somewhere in London (I think it was Liverpool Street, but could possibly be wrong). It made me realise how fashionable and sociable crafting has become recently and how it would be nice to feature on my blog a few crafters who run small, personal workshops teaching their particular craft. To kick start the post I thought I'd post a couple of links - first to this article I sourced from The Independent and also this comprehensive list of knitting circles which take place around the country in cafes, pubs and even cinemas!   It certainly screams out that you don't need to be a loney knitter (or crafter)!

The crafters that I'll be featuring over the next few blog posts are: Claire Mackaness of "Beautiful Things by Claire Mackaness", Jo Lucksted of "Jo Lucksted Ceramics", Mary Giffiths of "The Felt Works", Claire Davidson of "Patch Fabrics" and Alice Wright of "The Sequinned Sheep".

Beautiful Things by Claire Mackaness
Catch Claire here: Website; Folksy; Facebook

Claire is a professional craftsperson based in Brentwood, Essex making and selling gorgeous gifts from vintage or vintage inspired materials through her online shop and on Folksy.  Her items are also available to buy at a small selection of carefully sourced retail outlets as well as from craft fairs and vintage shows throughout Essex.

Claire offers numerous classes and courses teaching a whole range of crafting subjects from basic card making to more advanced craft techniques and sewing. Arranged in a group setting or on a personal one-on-one, her training can take place in your home or workplace and be tailored to your needs. Fancy having a crafty girlie night, hen party or baby-shower? Claire's definitely the person to get in touch with!

Here is a prospectus detailing all the workshops currently available - there's a large selection of wonderful classes - corsage making, crafting with your children, making a personal boxed canvas to name just three.  Also available are classes in social networking, something that's very important to many in today's world, especially those that sell online and need assistance in promoting their ideas and goods.

New to the "Miaow mew" range

2011-06-30T20:35:00.001+01:00

Here we have a pretty brooch which I added to the new "Miaow mew" - transl. "lucky wishes" range at Ellie's Treasures. This rectangular felt backed brooch has a pretty pink and white tie-dye topping decorated with the special lucky black cat and his "Miaow mew" label as well as three pale blue (or may be green - you decide) heart buttons. Pink embroidery silk blanket stitch edging completes the look.

Brilliant as a special little gift for anyone needing a little luck sent their way and extra brilliant if they happen to be cat mad as well!

Blooming beauties

2011-06-28T16:12:00.001+01:00

I'm not a big gardener, although I do enjoy pottering around on my little vegetable plot. I keep trying to take a decent photo of it, but it looks far too orderly and boringly green, so I've given up. My veggie plot, I believe, is the only orderly thing in my life! I remember reading recently that you really don't need to sow vegetables in neat rows (I've done vertical rows and now this year I've done horizontal) but should just jumble everything up around a central column of, say, runner beans or peas. It sounded fun when I first read the article, but now, it just sounds caotic and I do crave a tiny bit of order once in a while!

Anyway, getting back to the point, the garden needed some attention. Last Autumn I went a bit mad pulling up weeds (or so I thought), and moving various plants from one area of the garden to another. I've finally planted up my new herb garden, which, once it's all bushed out and lovely, will fill a space directly under the kitchen window. At the moment, it's vary sparse with tiny herb plants itching to grown and take over the area, but the weeds keep coming back and swallowing them up!

Anyway, getting back to the point ... again! My moving bits and pieces around has paid off. We came back from holiday to a beautiful array of colour in the one and only flower bed and shrub area of the garden. Katie took some photos to show off the colours that greet us each morning from the kitchen.

Canterbury Bells

Rose

Marigold

Lavender - strictly speaking this isn't in my flower border, but at the front of the house instead. I cut it right back during the early part of this year and actually thought I'd killed it, but as you can see it's looking gorgeous and the flowers are bigger and darker than we've had in previous years. Obviously it likes the rough treatment! This is the lavender I cut, dry and store ready to use for the scented items at Ellie's Treasures.

Holiday in Yorkshire

2011-06-20T16:03:00.012+01:00

Town Head House, Cotterdale

We've just come back for a lovely relaxing week away in Cotterdale, a tiny hamlet close to Hawes in Wensleydale, North West Yorkshire. We found our cottage, Town Head House, through Cotterdale Cottage Holidays, and have to say it was a wonderful place with personal touches here and there to make our stay very comfortable. We'd checked out many holiday cottages before finally deciding on Cotterdale. We were quite surprised how many required us to take our own bed linen and towels. This would have been fine if we hadn't of been taking our Landrover and Poppy the dog, which meant very limited space in the back with her, Katie and Ben too. We were very good with our packing! One large box of necessary items etc. plus one small suitcase for Paul and me and a small bag each for Katie and Ben. Poppy's sleeping cushion went on top of the box and suitcase in the car, which she slept on, so she had a very comfortable ride to Yorkshire and back!

We loved the fact that there was an old butler's sink full of fresh herbs in the garden (which I certainly made use of), some little toiletries in the bathroom for emergencies, Wi-Fi (the kids were mega happy), a slow cooker (never used one so was thrilled to have to chance to) and the most comfortable beds and bedding we've ever come across.

Rearranging rocks in the beck

We spent quite a lot of time in the beck, rearranging the rocks to make a dam or to just see how the flow could be changed. Having had a quite a bit of rain one day we noticed how it had totally transformed the beck to very fast flowing water. Cotterdale Woods was just outside the door with pretty water falls (especially after the rain) and plenty of rabbits for Poppy to chase! Cotterdale has red squirrels in the area too and we were very lucky to have many sightings of them. One sat on the wall by the car as I was loading it up to go home - very pretty little thing.

Red squirrel

We went to White Scar caves and took the 80 minute tour through the cave over fast flowing water (we walked on a caged floor), ducking our heads a couple of times to avoid the very low ceilings. The final part of the cave revealed a white shape on the wall which, when pointed out to us, resembled a white witch with her white cat! Our journey home took us past the beautiful Ribblehead Viaduct.

Hard hats were definitely a must inside the caves - some very low ceilings!

Can you see the white witch?

Ribblehead Viaduct

We visited Hardraw falls hidden behind the George & Dragon pub (and stopped there for a nice meal too). Spectacular falls in a very pretty setting. Hardraw was a stones throw from Hawes, the local town, which we loved.

Hardraw falls

So many individual shops to have a nosey in and everyone seemed to welcome dogs and make a fuss of Poppy, which she enjoyed. We particularly loved Bear Cottage Interiors (could have bought everything from there) and Elijah Allen & Son, a wonderful food store selling not only the usual yummies, but plenty of special food finds too.

Not getting our complete fill of water we ventured to Aysgarth Falls which is split into Upper, Middle and Lower falls with a lovely restaurant, information centre and shop at the car park at the Upper falls. Apparently, the water fight scene from Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves was filmed at the Upper falls with Kevin Costner insisting that the water be warmed before filming! We had lunch at the restaurant which was delicious and very reasonable in price. Paul and I had a roast pork, stuffing, apple sauce and gravy (yes, gravy) baguette for £3.75) - big noms!!

Upper falls at Aysgarth

Heart shaped rose petals

Fabulous mangled tree roots

Wonderful shops and lovely market at Leyburn (plus the Little Chocolate Shop with it's free tour and video) - well worth a visit. We discovered these chocolate cigarettes on a market stall - remember them? These came from Holland and the guy behind the counter asked if I was 18 or over!! Yep, but only just!

During the week was also visited the Wensleydale Creamery. They weren't producing cheese the day we went but you can phone up in advance to arrange a tour and see how it's made. Lovely gift shop there with some wonderful cheeses available to buy.

As we had the Landrover we also did a couple of drives. one off road along a byway and another along a pretty, narrow and winding stretch of road from Redmire (close to Castle Bolton) through Grinton and down to Askrigg. Luckily we only came across one other car coming along in the opposite direction!

So, a lovely holiday, lovely location and we're all back rested and ready to resume life! Oh, and I even managed to do some sewing too - bonus.

A bit of good luck ...

2011-06-19T20:08:00.002+01:00

is a bit fitting for us at the moment! My daughter very bravely took her first GCSE this month, at age 14. She's been studying very hard for the last 12 months in order to sit her Foundation Maths before the syllabus changes to a three paper exam (a syllabus is updated every few years). Maths isn't her strong point and I'm extremely proud that's she worked so hard and progressed so well to reach where she has reached. It was also lovely that she was able to sit the exam with her best friend, as well as a few others from our local home ed group - made the whole thing a little more enjoyable.

With all the well wishers sending good luck cards it made me think about something I could make for Ellie's Treasures that would be suitable as a good luck gift. I'd bought some extremely cute hand made polymer clay cat head buttons from Pat of Pat's Paraphernalia on Folksy and immediately knew I'd use them to make lucky black cats!

We went away for a relaxing break in North Yorkshire last week (I'll blog about that next), and I packed some sewing to do while I was there. Here is my black cat item; a felt and 70s floral fabric heart generously filled with lavender picked from my garden last Autumn. The idea of "Miaow mew" (transl. "lucky wishes") came to me as I was lying in bed (this often happens) - I think it just adds a little quicky touch to the whole idea! Other lucky black cat items under the "Miaow mew" range will be appearing very soon.

Do you like it?

2011-06-12T18:14:00.000+01:00

I've finally had a chance to update my blog. All my blog posts will now be on this blog and no longer on all the individual blogs I used to have. That is, all craft and shop related posts that were on elliestreasurescrafts and posts about Poppy (the dog) that were here will all be talked about here, the official Ellie's Treasures blog! As I'm sure all you bloggers out there know, updating or setting up a blog takes alot of time, headaches and sore eyes. Please bear with me, it's taken me two afternoons to get this far, that is to say, the little tabs at the top of the blog aren't yet ready for viewing. I need inspiration to make them decent pages - that'll come after a glass or two of wine no doubt! It's been wonderful looking through all my favourite blogs on-line to get inspiration for my new update.

So, my first "new" post - I thought I'd tell you about the dandelion marmalade I made this week. I came across the recipe through Make it and Mend it and seeing as how we seem to be over-run with dandelions in our garden this year, it made sense to do something useful with them. I love making jam, but haven't always been successful! Strawberry seems to be my easiest to make, no mistakes with that yet, but I did make a batch of blackcurrent jam once that had turned to rock when I tried to spoon it out of the jars. It was a bit embarrassing actually because I'd freely given away jars of this jam to friends and family - they all probably thought I was trying to break their teeth. I've been a little cagey giving away homemade jam ever since this episode, always testing a pot first, which is why, sadly, I still have all four of my dandelion marmalade in my cupboard. It was an easy recipe to follow and smelt absolutely fabulous as I was preparing it. Many a scoop of the amber nectar went into my mouth as I was pouring it into freshly warmed jars. Two days later we opened the first jar to find it had all turned to sugar - 90% solid sugar - 10% liquid on the top. No idea what I did wrong, and I felt a little guilty having made dear Ben pick all the required dandelion heads - and there were an awful lot I have to say. Anyway, don't let me put you off, I'm sure, should I have had a jam thermometer to hand, all would have worked out perfectly.

Give it a go and please let me know how your jam turns out.

New at Ellie's Treasures

2011-06-07T12:25:00.002+01:00

I've been a busy bee lately making new stock for Ellie's Treasures. With everything else that's been going on (school work, revision for exams, and general everyday life), I'm quite impressed with myself for actually putting aside some quality sewing time most evenings (with the help of a few tweets too to keep me going!).

Do you remember the Patchy I made for a friend's pre-school raffle? Well, I thought it so pretty, I decided to make one for the shop. It's the first time I've used the same materials to make a Patchy that's pratically the same as another! I generally like to produce things that are one-offs but I so loved this one I just had to make another to offer for sale. The only difference with this Patchy is that I've used a button and elastic to secure it, rather than ribbon ties.

I've been making new brooches too.

Pretty bunting is all the rage at the momemt, and I'm not surprised. Little triangles cut from scraps of gorgeous fabrics can brighten up any room, garden, or in this case, brooch! I adore these little ceramic cat buttons; such cheeky grins! Size approx: 5.5cm wide x 5cm high.

Here we have "Apple tree cottage" - sunshine, green trees, rosy red apples - ooh how I'd love to live in this little cottage! Size approx: 4.5cm wide x 3.5cm high.

Moulton windmill

2011-05-31T17:34:00.002+01:00

A couple of weekends back, Paul and I decided to go for a short drive with Poppy to take her for a walk around the local village of Moulton. It's a really pretty little village, with some lovely older properties (which we always admire) and it has a wonderful 100 foot tall windmill - the tallest in the whole country!

As it started to rain during our walk we decided to drop by the windmill's coffee shop for a quick cuppa. The tour guys in there was all very jolly enjoying a (well earned?) break for traipsing up and down the mill stairs on their tours! They were quite grateful we'd only stopped for refreshments as they seemed contented to be sitting and chatting amongst themselves. Anyhow, they were proud to tell us the history of the mill, and that the mill's sails (which had been taken off in 1895 due to gale damage and never replaced) were nearing the end of restoration and were due to be put back on the mill this Autumn. Each sail had been built and finished by hand and they offered us the opportunity to add our signatures to one of them for a donation of a £1 each. Don't you think that's a great idea? They needed to raise a huge amount of funds and this way they were including the visitors and locals and making history too!

Moulton windmill has a website if you'd like to find out more about its history, tours and claim to fame through tv shows.

On the theme of windmills, I thought I have a little browse through Folksy for any windmill lovelies for sale. Was quite amazed to find just one page of crafts under the title of "windmill". Here's my picks, and as always, please click on the photo to go straight to the relevant shop.

Fairy magic

2011-05-18T12:15:00.003+01:00

There's always something a little magical and mysterious about fairies. Most children grow up believing in them, whether it's fairies at the bottom of the garden, a mushroom circle being the homes of the wee folk or the good old tooth fairy (who still comes to visit my 11 year old). Looking up the word fairy on Wikipedia bought some surprises - I didn't realise there were so many other variations in spelling or euphemisms either - I do like the term "people of peace" as that, to me, really sums up what a fairy symbolises.

Currently available to purchase from Ellie's Treasures.

I guess the form of Tinkerbell or the beautiful Flower Fairies is how must people imagine a fairy to look like, but there are plenty of other mythical creations that are grouped together with the fairy. I explored these with Katie and Ben a few years ago when browsing through the amazing Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide. Most of our learning books come from the library, but this was definitely one I had to buy to add to our book shelves - it's beautifully illustrated and really takes you on a wonderful journey.

When I came across some very cute little tibetan silver fairy charms recently (together with some mini cats and cottages), I knew I could use them to decorate the brooches I make. Making little felt toadstools, decorated with the proud silver fairy, mini embroidered flowers, seed beads and sequins has been great fun. The first two I made were snapped up very quickly which was fabulous, and I've just made one as a custom order and have another is available to buy at Ellie's Treasures. My only problem has been photographing them as the red of the toadstool is a nightmare to get right. Every photo, whether taken in different light or using different settings has produced a bright, in your face red rather than a calmer cherry tomato red. Such a shame, images should reflect the item as perfectly as in real life and at the mo, I just can't seem to get this. Any tips would be fabulous!

This was my first one and very similar to the custom order I've just made, although that has mini blue flowers rather than purple/lilac.

Beautiful buttons

2011-05-15T15:00:00.002+01:00

I know there's a huge community of button lovers out there and I have to admit, I am one of them! Most of the buttons in my collection have been given to me by my Mum - she was also collector. Like me, she used to take buttons off old clothes that were past there best and re-use them - very wise indeed as new buttons can be quite expensive to buy.

On a recent visit to see my parents, my Mum, bless her, decided she now longer needed the remaining collection of buttons and handed them over to me. How I love pawing through them, the different colours, sizes and patterns. There were some fabulous vintage ones in there too, still attached to their cardboard backs - far too precious to use.

Not only buttons, Mum also gave me some vintage needlework, wool and dressmaking instructions.

I couldn't resist doing a Google search for button collections and shops and came across these links that I particularly loved, thought I'd share them with you. I've included three shops from Folksy too.

Milomade - using buttons in jewellery
Simply Sequins - which sells wonderful collections of mixed buttons
Handmade and Vintage - vintage buttons collections
Jo Lucksted Ceramics, Folksy - handmade ceramic buttons
Mimsical Ceramics, Folksy - handmade ceramic buttons
Pats Paraphernalia, Folksy - fun handmade buttons

Patchy for pre-school and a 50th anniversary card

2011-05-14T16:44:00.002+01:00

I was very pleased to be asked, through a Twitter follower, if I'd like to make something for a raffle at Lawley Puddle Ducks Pre-School for the end of May - I made and gave one of my keepsake wallets.

As unique as every Patchy I've made, I started with the hardest part (for me), choosing the combination of fabrics. A good old rummage through my big bag of scraps or under my bed (where the larger materials are stored) - all recycled (I've only every paid for one piece of material so far!) and then away I went building it all up, hand sewing everything together. My favourite part was deciding on the embellishments. A long sift through my growing box of ribbons (the vast majority are recycled too) had me umming and ahhing over which ribbon or decoration to use for far too long! Ben came up with the final choice plus the idea of a heart, which I cut from felt in a stunning blue and added a mini tibetan silver cat charm and hand embroidered flowers. I have to say I was more than happy with the results (as I always am - I'd keep them all if I could) and have started to make another, for the shop, using the same fabric combinations.

Jo, who sent the original request, seemed mighty pleased with the donation - that put a big smile on my face too.

*******
I have been longing to buy from Zygote Gifts ever since I came across her fabulous things on Folksy some time ago and my chance came when my in-laws celebrated their golden wedding anniversary earlier this year. They are a very special couple, actually having two anniversaries; one for their original wedding date in March, which was overseas, and another for their British wedding blessing which was in April.

Paul and I bought them this very pretty card from Zygote Gifts with two little tags showing Golden Anniversary and their wedding date. Cards and pictures like this are from the "Good News from Bad" collection where newspaper is recycled and handspun to produce gorgeous and new items. Do check out Zygote Gifts shop, it's full of very special things.

Making movies

2011-04-19T17:48:00.000+01:00

seems to be the order of the day in our household at the moment. Katie's friend is really into writing short movies and involving Katie, Ben (and sometimes Poppy, the dog) in the filming. It's lovely to hear them upstairs in Katie's room shooting their work (so to speak). Katie often turns short clips of film of her riding AJ into longer length movies, putting them on You Tube and now Ben has got into the act producing this rather fun animated film of one of his toy soldiers break-dancing!

Just thought I'd ...

2011-04-14T11:59:00.000+01:00

post up this pic of a stunning sunset seen over the fields close to home recently.

Somehow, views like this make everything worth while!

Ben's Mexican meal and other things

2011-03-22T18:34:00.001Z

Remember Katie's Indian meal she cooked recently? Well, Ben decided he would also like to serve up a delicious evening supper and decided on a Mexican banquet. Just like Katie's it was fabulous, very moorish and certainly a meal to repeat. For the first course he cooked fried spicy Mexican potatoes with the most gorgeous Black Bean Soft Tacos as a main. This was such a hit, the recipe has been added to my scrapbook collection of yummy "grub to be repeated"! Dessert was Mexican Creme Caramel - wonderful. By the time we came to dessert we were all rather stuffed but somehow, in true family style, we managed to polish it all off. So it seems I have a household of very good cooks (so how come it's still me that ends up at the cooker?).

Science has been the choice of learning for Ben at the moment, especially after the Science Fair in London. He's been updating his own blog on the bicarbonate of soda crystals that he started a few weeks ago. We are all quite impressed with this as we've tried the experiment several times before with no apparent crystals forming at all. This time we decided to leave it on the windowsill for what must now be two or three weeks, and have watched as one jar of water evaporated, with crystals slowly forming along the wool, and now the other jar of water slowly disappearing too. Why one jar should evaporate before the other I just don't know, but it's looking lovely, a bit like soft snow.

With a bit of help (rolling up all the newspaper tubes) Ben constructed a very sturdy cube which we hung from the light fitting in his room. Looked fabulous until it collapsed after a bit of rough bashing (well, it would wouldn't it!). Also, on the construction front, he's made a spaghetti and marshmallow "building" strong enough to hold objects up to quite a weight, starting with a plastic toy car and finishing with a rather sturdy PG Tips toy monkey (called Kevin).

Although the building was made from rather brittle spag, we were surprised to find that it could hold a considerable load before actually breaking the strands. The marshmallows would take the impact with the building just tilting and reshaping to hold the necessary weight. It was good to eat the marshmallows afterwards, and, once cooked, the hen had the spaghetti strands - no wastage in our family!!

Finally, we've dabbled with electronics again. However, our trusty kit gave up the ghost this morning. It's done well for a 50p find from a car boot fair - now looking on ebay for a replacement as electronics are always great fun.

A full and fun week

2011-03-13T21:07:00.001Z

which started with Katie jumping at Sissons and ended with a day trip to see The Big Bang event at the ExCel in London yesterday. During the week Ben also had a sleepover with one of his mates which meant being out and about in the car for a couple of days, plus Katie learnt a new skill when giving AJ a hair cut using the clippers on his legs and mane!

So, Sissons then. It was lovely to have two of Katie's friends came along and watch, one of them filmed the two jumping classes and made up a great music video of Katie and AJ which is now on You Tube. They came away with a rosette for 4th in the first of the two classes, so all pretty good. Weather, was dry thankfully (but still very cold) - makes it all so much easier when it's not raining.

The Big Bang event at the ExCel was fabulous. We first got to hear about it through the HE group quite a few months back, and decided to go along, together with a few other families, to try and better ourselves, and our children, with the knowledge of science! We certainly weren't let down. This fair was all about science, and engineering too, and the number of exhibition stalls was overwhelming. We booked ourselves to see a couple of live stage shows too, Brainiac Live and BBC's Bang Goes the Theory. Both shows were brilliant, and we were fortunate enough to be seated in the second row for each performance so could experience all the flames, loud bangs and what have you close up (and there were plenty of them). Looking around the exhibition section it became very apparent very quickly how simple methods are so often used to demonstrate and practise science and engineering skills. Lego was used on many stalls as well everyday kitchen ingredients and it was lovely to see a whole section dedicated to shapes and models made from tightly rolled newspapers. It bought back good memories of an HE group session in 2009 where the children constructed a dome using these techniques.

Big smoke rings produced from a giant air bazooka during Brainiac Live.

Ben building an electronic car from Lego.

Bang Goes the Theory - demonstrating the power of methane.

Ben looking thrilled to hear there will be very loud bangs during the Brainiac performance.

Graceful flying silver penguins - don't ask me how they do it, lots of big brain stuff no doubt!

And finally ... here's Katie getting to grips with AJ's mane. It's amazing how quickly it grows, having only been trimmed about 3 or 4 weeks ago! She also used the clippers to trim the lower part of his legs and a few whiskers under his chin. For a first go she did brilliantly. I think if I got hold of those clippers I'd be giving him an all over shave - the power!

Been doing a spot of science ...

2011-02-28T18:09:00.000Z

and geography too. Ben has always been interested in science but a new spark of interest lead us to doing some experiments over the last few weeks. As he's keen on this subject I dug out an all-sciences workbook for him to look through but to tell you the truth it didn't have any "hands-on" fun, just loads of blurb, so understandably that was ditched in no time at all!

He's been doing experiments on pressure, surface tension and understanding crystals all using the Usborne books that we have. He's been following his chemistry kit work book to learn a variety of wonderful things and finally he's been learning (and have great fun and games) with his Science Museum magnet set.

On the geography side of things we came across an ad in the paper for a set of detailed cards on countries of the world together with a free world map all for 99p. This turned up during the week and Ben has been scouring the map for weird and wonderful countries (mainly those that are tiny, tiny dots in an ocean somewhere), looking up the facts about them and also finding out more through Google Earth. He seems to be fascinated by Greenland too (OK, so that's not a tiny dot of an island) and has completed a fact sheet featuring the things that he particularly likes about the country. All very informative.

You can read about some of the science experiments Ben's been doing on his blog, here.

Yummy things

2011-02-19T13:20:00.001Z

By just I came across this lovely recipe on Angel Eden's blog. Katie, being a lover of cooking and food in general, has made several batches of these since discovering them. They are so easy to make and so delicious too. Once baked, they don't stick around for long!

While we on the subject of grub, Katie and I also cooked an Indian meal the other weekend. Home prepared vegetable samosas for starter with mango dip, then chicken tikka masala (following Jamie Oliver's method), the scrummiest chicken korma (recipe from allrecipes.co.uk, highly recommended, and very easy to follow) and Bombay potato side dish plus vegetable rice. Yum!

Both Ben and Katie enjoy cooking, so we thought perhaps we'd do a meal like this each month. Ben's opted to do Mexican for next month and has already found all the recipes he'd like to try. I'll let you know how we get on.

Sharing this ...

2011-01-29T15:44:00.000Z

lovely pencil drawing Katie did the other day. She hasn't used her art tools for several months so it was lovely to see the sketch book out and a fresh drawing created.

Thanks to Poppy ...

2010-12-27T16:56:00.000Z

... Katie and Ben are getting some regular exercise!

We were given a fabulous fire guard recently which, once I'd got it home and tried to assemble the pieces, realised it is way to big for any of our open fires! I put it, folded up, to one side in the garden thinking perhaps it could be used to keep Billy the rabbit in one place when grazing on the grass. In the mean time, Katie's found a brilliant use for it - as a jump for Poppy! Before the snow and ice, she was taking Poppy out into the garden for a jumping session two or three times a day, previously using garden canes and my best ceramic flower pots as posts, but now using sections of the fire guard. Poppy's jumping has come on in leaps and bounds (excuse the pun), but snow kind of stopped play so... it's now moved indoors.

Because it's much warmer and the canes can be moved to a higher position, Katie and Ben have also started jumping on a regular basis. Guess it helps to keep them fit!

Snow - Y E S!

2010-11-29T19:16:00.001Z

Sorry, I just do so love the snow and I was a bit fed up last week when we didn't get any. As it happens, we certainly have it now. Not huge amounts (we can still see the tips of the grass), but it's enough to keep me very happy.

Today we snowballed and made a snow man, which later turned into a snow dog. I provided the two chunks of snow, Ben did the carving - pretty good I think.

Poppy seemed to love it all too, playing snow ball catch - not too much I hasten to add as eating huge amounts of cold snow isn't, I guess, that good for dogs!

Living in an area that's completely flat isn't particularly fabulous for sledging, so after lunch we drove up to the marshes where Katie and Ben were able to use the sleigh down the small banks by the marsh edge. It was freezing by now, and the wind had seriously picked up, with snow clouds on the horizon.

We headed back home to the warmth (warmth? It was 2 degrees in the kitchen) and we've had an afternoon of big snow flurries - brilliant.

More snow to come I hear!

Ben's jujitsu competition

2010-11-29T19:01:00.000Z

Ben took part in his first Jujitsu competition yesterday, run by the martial arts school that he attends (KSOMA). There were quite a few categories to take part in and another school, from Wales, also came along for the event. Ben decided to participate in three categories doing one selection of moves (called a kata) on his own, the same kata in a group with two others and another kata, called a bo kata (which uses a long pole) in a group as well. He, and his group members, practiced so hard, getting their timings just right, they deserved to do well on the day.

As Sunday approached the Ben's nerves were beginning to kick in, and I was a little worried he would fall apart on the Sunday morning. To top this, he didn't get much sleep the night before. As it was, we he was perfectly OK, although still nervous! With a careful drive through the snow to the venue and a long wait for his first class, his nerves where building even more. He was spot on though - not hitches at all, and once things got going he was really into it all.

With the two schools put together there seemed quite a few children taking part and the atmosphere was fabulous with everyone clapping and really taking an interest in the moves the children were doing.

Ben came away with a lovely medal for placing 2nd with his team for the kata, as well as a medal for taking part. He was pretty happy with himself and I was a very proud mum.

Let there be light

2010-11-29T16:44:00.000Z

Yonks ago I came across something, probably online as I seem to live on the PC, for turning tin cans into pretty tea-light holders.

All very simple. Fill an empty, label peeled and thoroughly washed can with water and place in the freezer until frozen. Try not to forget about them. Ours stayed in the freezer for months before we finally got around to finishing the task!

While still frozen, carefully use a bodger (or sharp ended tool) and a hammer to tap out a pattern of dots around the can. Please take care with this - especially with little hands and fingers. The can will obviously be extremely cold and slippery too. Ben placed his can between his legs to get a better grip - not really recommended though!

Once you've made your pattern, let the ice melt, dry the can and place your lit tea-light inside. Makes a cheap and very cheerful decoration around the home.

OK, a little blurred maybe, but you get the idea! Holding a camera while it does its "long exposure" thing is not fun!

Remember, remember the ...

2010-11-09T15:38:00.000Z

6th November (in this case).

We hosted a bonfire party for the home ed group, family and friends last Saturday and couldn't believe our luck with the weather. Watching the forecast for most of the week, it was hit or miss as to whether Saturday would be a wash out or not! As it happened the wind died down, it stayed relatively mild (for November) and we all managed to stay outside until 9 ish to enjoy the fireworks, bonfire and barbeque (and, for the children, the trampoline).

It was lovely to have so many people come along seeing as how we are in a rather remote area! Everyone brought along yummy grub and drink to share as well as food to cook and we had such a collection of fireworks it took a couple of hours to get through them all.

We were also able to witness a fabulous firework display from the pub next door, so a huge amount of bangs, whizzes and whirls were happening at that time around our little area. Luckily, and surprisingly, Poppy didn't bat an eyelid at any of it (probably too intent on trying to source food from the barbeques, ground, kitchen or hand!). After the firework display we had ample sparklers for everyone to enjoy at least three or four each!

I think we can safely say we all had a very enjoyable evening.

All the photos were taken on Katie's camera by her friend Sophie. I just love the ones of the sparklers - the patterns are brilliant.

Jumping at Elms Farm

2010-11-03T16:59:00.000Z

We took AJ out in the trailer to Elms Farm Equestrian Centre at Claythorpe last Sunday to take part in some jumping. It was an early start (not good), but luckily with the clocks going back it did give us an extra hour in bed, although it didn't feel like it, rising at 5.30 a.m.!

This is the second trip in the new trailer for AJ. Last time he was perfectly happy to travel in it, even though it is a slightly smaller model than the one he is used to. This time, he seemed fine getting in and, as always, fine for most of the journey until the last 5 minutes when he really started kicking up a fuss. It's not pleasant pulling a trailer that periodically bumps around! We weren't able to stop and check on him as the road was very narrow with no passing places. We hoped he was just have a bit of a paddy as we'd decided not to give him any hay for his journey as he'd had quite a lot before the trip and he would be going straight into the first class without much hanging around. When we got to Elms Farm and opened the jockey door to check on him, he was quite het up and had completely wrecked one of his back travelling boots - shredded to bits - and in the process had managed to cut his leg. After using several small bottles of water to wash the wound, and a quick phone call to his owner (and also giving him the hay to calm him down!), we decided he was still OK to enter the jumping classes. Needless to say, without his travelling boots on to go home (which he's always disliked), just his normal jumping ones, he was perfectly OK (oh, and he also had his hay). Two lessons learnt I think: (1) take some kind of basic horse first aid - you never know when it may be needed and (2) always give the chap some hay for his journey!

The classes were good. Clear Round was successful (Katie enters these as a warm up) and they also cleared the 65cm class meaning Katie and AJ were able to go onto the second, jump-off, round, which they also cleared (at a not very speedy 52 seconds!). She and AJ came 5th which means, as this class is a UK Riders Qualifer, they'll go on to the next round, the Regional Finals, which takes place in June next year. Lots of time to get his speed up - we hope!

Spain

2010-10-13T20:35:00.000+01:00

Oh my goodness, I'm so behind with blogging! We actually went to Spain about this time last month - yep a whole month ago - when it was slightly warmer in Britain than it is now and a wonderful 30 degrees in Spain!

Anyway, not really a lover of flights at all, but one thing lead to another and hubby persuaded me to holiday abroad for once, so that's what we did. The last vacation to somewhere hot with the family was when Katie and Ben were still at school - we went for 10 days to Portugal, so this hols was very much needed - I missed having a sun kissed tan!

We stayed here in a perfectly formed little villa, right up in the hills. It was fabulous - very peaceful and just what we needed to chill and forget every day life. We hired a wonderful large car (upgraded) which had every bell and whistle you could ask for (except the kitchen sink I hasten to add) and it took us here, there and everywhere in such comfort

We stayed at the villa quite a bit, enjoying the swimming pool more than anything else. On other days we visited Marbella and Gibraltar as well as a couple of local towns. We also took a rather long and wet journey to Granada to hopefully visit the Alhambra, but sadly we should have booked in advance, no spare places on the day.

Here's some pics, much more interesting than reading my blurb!

View of the villa from top of the hill.

Little geckos visited us every night - the baby ones were minute.

Edible fruits from the cacti - although we didn't try any!

Eating out (a favourite pastime) in Marbella

The Barbary monkeys of Gibraltar were fascinating to watch - they were so funny and full of character!

This little dog visited us from day 1 and was being fed by the owner of our villa. He'd been thrown out of a car, outside the house, in the summer and had befriended the family staying at the time. He was so lovely and so quiet we thought he was mute until the last day when we heard a strange little bark to ward off a couple of other dogs!

A little catch up ...

2010-09-12T20:10:00.001+01:00

The summer hols seems to whizz by, as every day, week and month does these days! We started off well, continuing with our daily maths and some other bits and bobs, but that petered off towards the middle of August!

Katie had a week with my Mum and Dad and had a great time shopping most days! A teenager's dream I'd say. While she was away, we set too dismantling her high-rise sleeper, pulled apart the bunk beds in Ben's room and rearranged both hers, and Ben's rooms completely. Both look great now, and both are happy with their new beds. During this mega tidy up and furniture shifting (which resulted in several bags of rubbish - yippee), Ben rediscovered his love of maps and puzzles and put the two together, with me reading information from the atlas as he beavered away.

Also, during Katie's week away, Ben and I tootled down to Hunstanton to have a go on some of the fun fairground rides and also visit the Sea Life Centre there. We were so lucky with the weather, picking probably the driest and warmest day of the week for our visit. Had a super time and really enjoyed seeing the fish and other underwater creatures as well as the otters at feeding time and Ben's all time favourites, the penguins. We both endeavoured to take photographs (no flashes allowed), but naturally it was quite difficult capturing anything that moves rather swiftly! I've salvaged a few for you to see.

We have now bought a second-hand horse trailer to ferry Katie and AJ off to a few shows. It was going to become hard to get hire trailer insurance for the one we used to borrow, so it made sense to look for our own. We travelled a fair few miles sourcing the "perfect" trailer, and, with the additional cost of several evening meals out (because it was always late by the time we hit near home), it probably would have been cheaper to just buy a brand new one! Anyway, Paul and I could easily answer questions for Mastermind on the ins-and-outs of the Ifor Williams Horse Trailer from 1990 - present day and quite sadly we have been pointing out various ones (and other makes too) and naming their make and model number during our said trips - how sad is that!!

Katie competed at Sheepgate Equestrian yesterday doing dressage. There were quite a few in her class and although she didn't place (1st - 6th), she got quite a good score and rode very well. We're waiting to get her membership approved for Pony Club - she's very eager to take part in their fun activities and competitions.

I've been fitting in some sewing in the evenings, and am planning a few new items to sell for Christmas. Katie's done some sewing too. We found a lovely tutorial on Angel Eden's lovely blog to make this pretty flower. Here's the finished item - I love the material she's chosen. She's decided to sew it to a hairband, rather than make it into a brooch.

We're back to work now, with maths top of the list and history following close behind. Art always seems to feature too, and I'm hoping to throw in a sizeable amount of English as well. Katie and her friend are aiming to take their foundation GCSE maths next summer. Although they'll only be 14, I'm going to see if, by Christmas, I feel if Katie's ready for it. Having finished the KS3 maths syllabus with Katie and Ben within a year, the foundation maths doesn't seem that much harder, so I'm sure she'll be OK.

I've made up my mind ...

2010-09-02T20:42:00.000+01:00

I'm passing The Versatile Blog award to these five brilliant blogs (trust, me it's taken far longer than a day or two to decide!). Just check out the post before this for information on accepting the blog.

Classroom Free

Pipestrelle

Grit's Day

Hedgerow Ways and Fireside Days

Swirly Thoughts

The Versatile Blogger Award

2010-08-12T20:03:00.001+01:00

Ooh, thank you Lisa from Have Fun - Live Life blog - a fellow home edder with a lovely interesting blog and lots of wonderful links too.

The rules for receiving this award are that I have to name seven things about myself as well as list my choice of blogs to pass the award on to. Here's my list of seven things - as for the blogs to pass it on to, I'm going to have a think for a day or two as I follow so many wonderful blogs it'll be a hard decision.

(1) I like to sing and it drives my family up the wall. The older my children get, the more I get it in the neck for singing! I hum along to most tunes whether pop songs, musical numbers or classical lovelies.

(2) I like to make up silly ditties and silly rhymes (this must go along with the singing I guess). Sometimes the ditties are made up to help the children remember something during their learning - other times it's purely for fun and often a little rude!

(3) I love animals and would gladly open my house to every creature that needed a good home. Sadly, purse strings are only soooo long and have presently limited my house to 1 dog, 3 cats, 1 rabbit, 1 rat, 1 chicken and 2 fish - that of course could change at any time - the door is open.

(4) I love my family. I enjoy watching my children grow up and change, I love to see how comfortable they are with themselves, with their hobbies and their way of life.

(5) I'm a Taurian - born in May. I don't think I'm a "bull in a china shop", but I do think the notion that a Taurian is loyal, down to earth and just a little stubborn is very true of me. I don't really follow the stars, but do believe in the character traits of the 12 zodiac signs and like to work out signs of the people I meet.

(6) I believe there is "someone" up there that looks out for us. Many times a path has been laid for me and my family to follow - things happen by chance - it's truly amazing.

(7) I live in rural Lincolnshire and love it here.

Our learning... and more doodling

2010-08-05T19:46:00.000+01:00

Things have been quiet here on the "sit down and work" front, although in other respects we've been pretty busy! I thought this blog post over at Classroom Free about learning was interesting and thought provoking. This last year has probably been the most relaxed in our formal education since the children came out of school many moons ago. The only subject we look at on a regular basis is maths, purely because I've found any long breaks in this subject result in having to return to the basics, time and time again! However, the children, and I, have covered so many other things throughout the year and we've all been constantly learning, whether it's been at the desk, on the PC, through games, the great outdoors, with friends, child lead or me sourcing stuff for them. In my opinion this has worked well for us and I'll probably continue along these lines for the time being. The wonderful thing about HE is that you can change your teaching/learning style, not have to follow set curriculum, take a lead from your children and from what's around you. I love it, the children love it and I still feel this is the best way to learning for us as a family.

Now, onto doodling .... Sadly I feel I'm failing miserably at the challenge. As always there's so many other things that get in the way of sitting down and doodling for hours on end! Yep, I know, "get off the PC then and doodle" you say. "Not that easy" I have to reply. I enjoy PC time, chatting on Twitter, catching up on Facebook, finding out about things, updating my shop, etc., etc. As I browse I doodle or sew or learn. Life is just too busy isn't it? I'm doodling now actually - day 10 (way, way behind) but I'm enjoying it. I'm doodling about my dreams - snowy winters, Father Christmas and a tidy garden!

The children have done another doodle too - can't remember which day this was, but it was a pretty Patchwork. Katie did her one about the things she loves and Ben did his about life on Earth. They're lovely.

Hearing ...

2010-07-21T18:38:00.000+01:00

lots of these at the moment and seeing lots of these too (as catapillars and moths) but these little things (and they look horrible magnified) are absolutely everywhere!

Doodle Schmoodle 30 day challenge

2010-07-21T14:38:00.000+01:00

Found this brilliant challenge idea from Betty's Place blog - 30 days worth of doodling can't be bad. At least it gives me the opportunity to drink more tea and eat more biccies while I draw!

Katie and Ben decided to do the first day's doodle too, although they're not taking part in the complete challenge. I think their "me, me, me" doodles are brilliant.

The whole doodle thing gave me an idea for their project work - history of the world. We're looking at the very interesting Roman period and doodling about Roman soldiers, what they wore, how they fought, how long they had to stay in their army, etc., etc. has made it much more fun. I learnt today that injured soldiers dressed their wounds with vinegar soaked cobwebs! Love these little snippets of info., all thanks to "Romans Wore Togas" from the "I Wonder Why" series (Kingfisher). This fun dress a Roman soldier game has helped things along as well.

A couple of horse shows ...

2010-07-20T18:08:00.001+01:00

have taken place during the last couple of weeks. Our first was an evening show jumping competition at Sissons Farm which was really well attended. This is our first jumping show with AJ, and although we had a sneaky feeling he wouldn't get placed (as he's a little too slow), we went along for the fun and the experience.

Katie and AJ did extremely well. She went in for the clear round jumping first, purely so AJ could get a feel for the jumps that would be used for the actual 2' 3" class. He refused the double jump (two jumps close together) (which was to be expected as they had bright yellow wings), but he went over it second time around. Unfortunately this meant it wasn't a clear round, so Katie didn't get a rosette.

Loads of people went in for the actually jumping class and, big mistake on my part, Katie was first one in the ring. For this competition they had to go straight into a "jump off" of 5 jumps should they first get a clear round of all the jumps. They did get the clear round, which was fabulous, but sadly Katie forgot to jump one of the jumps in the jump off which was an immediate elimination. She hadn't realised her mistake at first, but was devastated when she found out. AJ's jump off time was pretty slow, so the chances are they wouldn't have placed anyway. Can only say, "it's one of those things" and hopefully a lesson has been learnt for next time, i.e. we won't put her first in a class and she should take more time to learn the jump off course (she only had about 5 mins warning of this before she went into the ring). Anyway, it was a good evening all round and we shall hopefully go again very soon.

Tacking up

Her second show, last Sunday, was at Sheepgate. This time she and AJ entered the 2' Working Hunter class. For this they needed to do a small course of jumps followed by a small show of walk, trot and canter in front of the judges. There were 7 in her class and she was over-the-moon to be placed 3rd. She looked stunning too in her new hacking jacket - bit of a story behind that, but I won't bore you with the details!! A professional photographer was on-hand to take photos for this event, and there's some lovely ones on his website showing Katie and AJ doing their stuff.

In the warm up ring

Happiness is ...

2010-07-14T21:22:00.002+01:00

The benefits of fluoride toothpaste revealed

2010-07-06T13:21:00.000+01:00

We receive the interesting and free "Catalyst - Secondary Science Review" magazines from SEP (Science Enhancement Programme). They make for fascinating reading and usually provide an article or two with simple to understand subject matter and experiment to try out too. The November 2009 issue had a piece about the pros and cons of fluoride in tap water with a simple experiment to show the benefits of added fluoride in toothpaste and how it can help protect our teeth from decay.

Ben's written all about it on his science blog - you can find it here.

Going back to basics

2010-06-26T20:51:00.003+01:00

It's been wonderful weather here (and probably for the majority of the UK too) so we've been out and about a bit enjoying the fine warmth of the sunshine. We've taken a trip to Old Hunstanton where the sun shone and provided us with lovely heat right into the evening. Poppy had a fabulous time - you can read all about it on her blog here.

We are s.l.o.w.l.y. progressing with our history project and have (hooray) managed to finish the Stone Age section! We're now looking at Iron and Bronze Ages which we're hoping to move away from early next week. Don't get me wrong, these are interesting periods in our history, but in my view, and certainly the views of Katie and Ben, there's so much more to explore once these have been dealt with!

Ben's inital mini fire was small and very good.

Poppy helped collect the sticks!

Anyway, we have been learing about making fire using this good interactive Iron Age site from the BBC. Ben wanted to make his own fire outside by rubbing two sticks together. Naturally this didn't materialise into much, let alone a wisp of smoke. We did build a small fire of sticks with a stone surround which he enjoyed, but he had to use matches to get it lit! Later, for our evening meal, we built a proper open fire using the (metal) wheelbarrow as a perfect and safe enclosure for it. Cooking sausages for tea with oven cooked chips and yummy baked beans was just perfect. The coals were hot enough for marshmallows and a pan of melted chocolate for dessert. Wonderful - learning at its best.

A roaring fire - the metal wheelbarrow made the perfect enclosure for it.

Ben, waiting for food. Poppy, waiting for dropped bits of food.

Marshmallows and melted chocolate for dessert.

Dressage and other Katie related things

2010-06-07T19:07:00.004+01:00

Once again I'm way behind with the blogging. I have a list of things I want to write about but I thought I'd start with Katie's dressage achievement first.

She's been taking part in the riding school's 2009/10 Accumulator Dressage season. This means she, and others, have ridden four different dressage tests over a period of time with the three best results being put forward for the accumulator. Katie rode Poppy for her first test and was really disappointed with her result. Luckily she was able to swap horses for the other three tests, riding Icy, her favourite, and she rode much, much better, coming out with much higher marks. A couple of weekends ago was the final test and the presentation of rosettes for those who had achieved a place (1st - 3rd) with their overall results.

For the class that Katie participated in, she came joint second. Katie, and all of us, were over-the-moon. She's worked really hard at the tests and at getting Icy to ride on the bit and not too fast with his canter. A proud moment for us!

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Other Katie things

Art features quite a lot when it comes to any form of work here at home. Katie is often doodling away or looking through art books for inspiration. She decided to draw some manga style faces for her art journal

and then moved on to drawing other faces which I thought were all lovely and full of character. I especially like the last one with the pigtails - she's been named Ruby.

Katie also came up with this fun little booklet all about looking after dogs:

A walk on the marsh

2010-05-30T14:41:00.005+01:00

Whenever I mention to people that we live very close to the edge of The Wash, they get very excited and imagine we live by the sea. Strictly speaking I guess we do, but certainly not the sandy beach and lovely rolling waves type of beach. Our beach is a big wide stretch of marshland with the sea in the distance!

Neighbours told us that walking across the marshes was a pretty dangerous thing and one should always have a knowledgeable local to guide you across the the safe parts so as not to end up in the quick sand (or mud) or get completely lost having followed numerous creeks on the outward journey, just to follow different ones on the way back.

Well, we've lived here 3 years now and during that time have only ventured across the marshes once, to see all the firing range objects permentantly places for the RAF to target shoot (obviously we went when the red flag wasn't flying!!).

During the lovely spell of warm weather we decided a trip across the marsh would be fabulous for Poppy. Every dog owner around these parts talks of walking along the marshes and, as far as I'm aware, none had experienced any dodgey happenings.

Our first trip was when the tide was in. This made the walk alittle damp underfoot, but nothing too squidgy. You could see the creeks filled and following with clear sea water and we weren't able to get to the actual edge of the sea at the far end - it would just have been too dangerous.

Our second trip was more successful. The tide was out and we were able to match towards our goal, the edge of the sea, with more confidence (having done it a little before). The kids loved it, the dog loved it even more (she certainly needed a bath afterwards) and Katie took loads of gorgeous photos. It is quite a stunning place, full of beauty and bird song, but I could see where the warnings came in. As we reach the edge of the water we could see that the tide was turning, the creeks beginning to fill and the marsh beginning to recede into the water. To start with our starting point seemed a very long way off and we were all a little panicky. But we needn't have worried, we did beat the tide (although it was, I must say, pretty fast).

Curry cooked by Katie

2010-05-18T20:53:00.003+01:00

Katie enjoys cooking. She often digs out the mixing bowl and necessary ingredients to make a cake should there not be one available to munch on for snacks!

This week she decided to cook an entire meal - an Indian - all from scratch. There was to be a main dish, two side dishes and some chapatis, but a trip to the library and brilliant find of a book all about India and some of the dishes you can cook lead her to also produce some delicious vegetable samosas which went well with the shop bought popadoms and chutney as a starter.

Photos of curry rarely look fabulous, and this one certainly doesn't look appetising, but trust me, it tasted fabulous.

so we have: chicken curry with rice, lentil dhal and sag aloo with a chapati too.

Dandelion

2010-05-14T21:42:00.003+01:00

All four of us enjoy taking pics with the camera and there have been some stunning photos produced at times. However, often we try and try to snap a particular shot and it just doesn't come out as we had hoped.

This was the case with Ben "telling the time" with a dandelion clock. I really wanted to get the little seeds flying off, which I have managed in the last two pictures, but not quite as I wanted. I guess I need a stand and remote and manage to focus on the flying seeds to get the pic just right.

Anway, I took a bundle and I thought these were quite nice:

It was 12 mid-day and Ben did manage to blow off all the seeds in 12 blows!

From the doggy's mouth ...

2010-05-02T19:33:00.008+01:00

The mummy and family have taken me out for a few lovely walks this week. The weather's been great for walks, none of that awful wind and rain, can't be doing with all that. The first walk was by one of the drains that leads to the Nene that flows into The Wash. The word "drains" sounds awful doesn't it? Actually it's like a big ditch and sadly there was hardly any water in it for a good old swim. Mind you, I wasn't even going to try and get down those steep slopes however much the mummy suggested I try! We all settled down with what the mummy called a mid-afternoon picnic. You call that a picnic! I thought there'd be a yummy selection of tasty morsels for me, but no, there was only chocolate bars and lemonade for them and an apple for me. I didn't complain as the ball came along with us too - I got lots of chase and fetch practise in. It was quite good fun running through the long grass to find the ball and I didn't even lose it.

Yesterday the mummy said we'd take a trip out to Sandringham park before visiting the V.E.T. for some chips. I liked the sound of that, although I've never had chips before, not here anyway, but I know they're food so chips must be good. The journey to the park seemed a long way and the sun was hot in the car. I kept moving all over the place so much that the mummy stopped the car to let me out for a wee. She didn't realise I was just REALLY excited. We made it there and had a great walk and ball play and I even found a fabulous oily swamp to wander through. The mummy thought this was fab as I'd changed from white to dark brown but then she suddenly realised about the V.E.T. visit and began to panic. I was itching to get to the chips place but everyone else wanted an ice-cream beforehand. I couldn't believe they'd forgotten to buy me one or even bring me something yummy for my snack. Instead I had to put on my gorgeous face and sit right next to everyone's ice-cream tubs just hoping for a smidgen of a morsel. I did manage to persuade the mummy to give me a tiny bit and I also got to lick the lids. After a hasty quick wash down with a couple of bottles of water we were off for the chips.

The chips place turned out to be some big store where my people went in and then came out again with a huge bag of dog food. I guessed it is for me, although I know Allie the cat has taken a liking to it too (perhaps that's why they've bought such a large bag). Then it was my turn to go into the store and see the chips person, the V.E.T.. I was such a good girl and didn't get side-tracked at all by the bunnies, the wonderful food smells and the squeeky toys. The V.E.T. lady put me on some funny runway thing and everyone seemed to want to fuss and pet me. Apparently I'm 17.5 [kg] although I thought I was only 7 [year's old], where did those years go? Then I met another V.E.T. who really seemed to take a shine to me. She had a large jar of biscuits for me to try. I kept spitting bits of them out which was my cunning plan to try a bit of each variety! After lots more fussing and petting she had the nerve to jab me in the neck, I've no idea why. I've now got this annoying green tag around my neck which jangles against my name tag so much I reckon Father Christmas will get woken by it. Apparently that was the chip - not tasty at all - in fact I think I've been lead up the garden path a bit. At least now I can be found if I decide to get lost at some point.

Quite an eventful day in all, especially as I got a bath out of it at the end and a sleep by a roaring fire.

Ball Buddies

2010-04-29T17:54:00.003+01:00

Ben got the filming bug after his little WWII episode the other day (see previous post), so he sat outside with me (while I was sewing) and made little creatures from Fimo which he called "Ball Buddies". Here's a pic of them, they are Spikeyguy, Fireos, Supersplash, Fireguy and Icyguy and they are all starring in a stop animation film that Ben's put together. As yet he hasn't put all the photos onto Movie Maker. He's tried twice and both times the system crashed, which he (like most people) is finding extremely frustrating. He'll finish it soon and I'll pop it on here for you all to see.

Katie has been busy designing and making a new stable and cross-country course for her model horses. I haven't seen it yet - she's hidden herself away in her room, but I know she's producing something great as she's leaving a trail of mess around the house that is all craft related!!

Bombing raid, by Ben

2010-04-26T18:15:00.005+01:00

Katie went along to a local horse show yesterday so Ben and I decided to stay at home and spend a lovely few hours together.

After playing one of those new Lego board games together, Ben decided he wanted to find out more about WWII bombing planes. He found two of his toy model bombers and used the internet to check out some facts. This prompted him to make a mini stop-animation film. Neither Katie or Ben have made one of these films for quite some time, so it was great to see him so enthusiastic about it. Whilst I did the ironing (huge, huge pile), he sat and made bombs and explosions from Fimo! Then the filming took place.

He finished it all off this morning, adding realistic sounds to his movie, which he's put on You Tube - Ben's version of WWII.

From the doggy's mouth...

2010-04-25T19:10:00.005+01:00

The mummy suggested I post my thoughts on life with the newbies so you can all see how I'm settling in and enjoying myself.

So far I don't seem to have given my family any trouble. I know this because I'm getting so many fusses and tummy rubs and lots of playtime too. The food's pretty good, although the mummy seems to be a little worried that it's coming out about the same colour as it goes in! The things these humans worry about, I don't know.

Anyway, the mummy and the daddy bought a few toys for me to play with, a couple of tuggers which are good fun, especially when I'm able to make them squeak - that just drives me loopy. My favourite game though is good old chase and catch. I could do this until the cows come home and really take advantage of the mummy and the daddy when they sit outside with cups of tea (which seems to happen quite a lot). I don't even get told off for shoving a slobbery tennis ball into their hands over and over and over again. I think it's good exercise for them to keep throwing that ball for me to chase and bring back to them anyway.

When the tennis ball is off the agenda (sometimes they go missing and the Ben has to get another one from his stash upstairs), I'll find a stick to chew instead. Small sticks aren't really my thing - they have to be really big so I can master balancing just perfectly. I know the mummy loves picking up all those soggy bits of wood when I bring the stick inside to chew.

New lady in our household - she's a cutie

2010-04-14T15:00:00.004+01:00

After having Buster, the gorgeous but rather boisterous Labrador X a few weeks ago and having to sadly return him, we, as a family, have seriously missed having a dog around place. We originally wanted to re-home a dog, rather than buy a puppy, and had looked at the Oldies website to try and find a dog that was settled with itself and would suit us, the cats and chickens!

By chance I came across this fabulous looking lady on the RSPCA website - 7 year old Poppy. She was a good 4 hours drive away, up in Manchester, but that didn't deter us. From the look on her friendly face and from the perfect description (used to children, cats and all round lovely and loving dog) I knew we should at least try to get the ball rolling, especially as she'd only just gone into kennels and was a "perfect" dog. The RSPCA were more than happy for us to come over and see her and once we'd had our home visit they were equally happy to wait for 3 weeks before we were all able to make the trip up there.

We took the trip Saturday just gone and were so lucky with the traffic on the way there. Motorways were clear and everything went smoothly, although a bad crash on the other carriageway, which remained closed for our return journey, meant we had to cross country on the way home.

When the lady brought Poppy through for us to meet she was so, so excited - all over the place with cuddles from everybody (that's the dog, not the lady!). I was a little surprised (and relieved) to find she was smaller than I imagined from her online photo. She certainly has lab in her and with the white fur and dotty ears, some dalmation along the way, but the kennels felt there was terrier in her - we shall never know.

We were offered to take her for a walk up the lane, which we did, and met a couple who regularly walk the kennelled dogs. They said Poppy was by far their favourite, so loving and friendly, and that everyone would really miss her. There was no doubting it, Poppy was certainly a great dog for our family. The only negative comment we heard was that apparently she didn't like cars. No one was sure whether this meant she would be sick in them or not! This was a bit of a downer as she would be travelling around with us in the car an awful lot and she had a 4 hour trip home! As it happened she was perfectly OK and continues to enjoy getting in the car and is really good and quite while she waits for Katie and me to finish at the stables each morning.

Anyway, no more nattering from me for now - but there'll be more in due course!

Easter weekend

2010-04-06T14:31:00.005+01:00

We've had a lovely few days over Easter. We visited my parents in Essex on Good Friday, taking a rather soggy walk through the woods and enjoying mum's best ever Shepherd's Pie for lunch.

Aren't these pretty? Not many flowers in the garden just yet, but managed to find these for the table.

Saturday we trotted off to Burnham Market International Horse Trials setting off after our trip to the stables and heading in the direction of Burnham thinking we'd find signs along the way. It seems my idea of taking a slightly shorter route was plain daft - all the signs where on the longer route and we ended up in an extremely crowed Burnham Market with no sign of any horses (just streams of cars and people). We battled our way back out again and headed back on ourselves eventually taking the "longer" route and finding our destination. Took about 2 hours in the end! Weather was dry (hurray) so we were able to walk part of the cross-country course, spot some horsey stars and watch the much loved show jumping. Katie did a spot of shopping too - lots of bargains being the last day of the event.

These tins are so pretty and contained eggs (notice the past tense - they were munched pretty quickly).

Sunday I cleaned the house (this seems to be the norm now for a Sunday), in preparation for Paul's parents visiting us on the Monday. They came for afternoon tea which was very pleasant indeed (and very filling). There's chocolate in the shape of bars, eggs and many other guises all over the house to keep us happy for several weeks. Yum!

It was still cold enough for a fire this weekend - when will the weather warm up?

Allie took the seat closest to the fire to keep his nose warm!

What's been happening

2010-04-06T13:54:00.003+01:00

Feels an age since I blogged about our daily life. Things have been happening, it certainly hasn't been quiet and life has been whizzing by at a rate of knots.

Ben has been following some of the projects on the Design Squad website first to build a rubber band car and then a mini boat that'll float on water. He's started a new blog to record his project work which is here.

We've started a new lapbook on the history of the world. I've been putting this off since September as it seemed so daunting - there's alot of history out there and I didn't feel confident about sorting it all, picking the right slots of history to record, etc., etc. One of our fabulous mums in the HE group did some history sessions, taking a section in time for the children to learn about and present to the group. It went down really, really well and as each child/family had chosen a different piece to record from that snippet of time, we all learnt quite a lot that perhaps we wouldn't have having read numerous text books or scoured the internet. I'd really like this lapbook to be exciting for Katie and Ben. We've done books like this before on many subjects and sadly, as they've got older, the "fun" element (making things, watching and recording, hands-on stuff really) has dwindled away. With this lapbook, I'd like to get back to all that - it helps information to stick, if you know what I mean. So far, we've looked at the beginning of Earth and dinosaurs. We've just started on early form of man - there's just so much info out there!

We've also been focussing on English this term too. I came across an out of date BBC booklet in the library about writing about yourself, so I thought it would be nice of Ben and Katie to write about something important to them during their short lives. Katie's chosen her life with horses and Ben has chosen being home educated. I gave them three weeks to complete their work and we've just gone through it all today. Ben's English truly amazes me. He came out of school at 6 and was nothing like his sister when she was that age. His reading wasn't as good, his writing certainly wasn't and he couldn't really write anything longer than a line or two (after a lot of angry words!). Now he reads as avidly as Katie and writes fabulous, descriptive stories on the PC each morning while Katie and I are at the stables. His written piece about himself flowed beautifully - what a difference a few years make. Katie's essay on her love and learning of horses just needed a few pointers showing her where to shorten sentences (to quit the waffling), and turned out another wonderful read.

Maths has been progressing more than any other subject. We're nearly done with the KS3 book which is about on target for Katie and way ahead for Ben. All of a sudden it seems the maths is clicking into place with Katie - a battle I thought we'd never win - so working through the exercises hasn't been so painful lately!

Katie has been filming another dressage test ready to send into Interdressage today. She's also been asked to exercise another horse at the stables on top of her daily AJ ride so she's thrilled about that. She has lots of shows planned with AJ for the Spring and Summer, the first hopefully being in a couple of weeks time.

Spring Hare

2010-03-29T12:11:00.002+01:00

We've been seeing plenty for hares running through the fields. It's amazing how quickly they can scoot and change direction in a split second. Here's Katie's hare that she drew and painted in her art journal last week.

More cat pics

2010-03-28T18:40:00.003+01:00

Spring was certainly in the air this week with the warmer weather, daffs bursting into colour and Pepper venturing outside to stretch and practise his yoga positions!

Allie on the other hand preferred to stay indoors where temperatures in the conservatory reached mid-late 30s. In this pose he's trying very hard to convince me that he has lost so much weight that he can now squeeze his large frame into a pretty small plastic basket! I think I need more convincing than that Allie!

Oxburgh, Norfolk

2010-03-25T20:35:00.003Z

Last weekend the National Trust threw open their doors (actually at Oxburgh they couldn't do that, there were far too many people, it must have gently creaked open!) to free visitors. Not too sure where I found out about this on the Friday night, but I'm glad I did, we headed off to Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk on Sunday afternoon with the sun blazing and all of us happily tucked safely inside the newer (of the two) Landrovers which we've finally decided to call Booboo (don't ask, it was Bessie, then Bertie (poor thing, is it a girl or a boy I ask).

So Oxburgh with its history of the Bedingfeld family. We were able to walk up to the top of the towers and see the stunning views - lucky it was a clear day. Interesting little priest hole at the entrance to one of the towers - designed to hide the visiting Catholic priests during the 16th century when religion was all up in the air. There's also a chapel to see and a lovely walk through the grounds but we skipped this in order to head off and find some green lanes to slosh through with Booboo!

We also discovered a promising water gardens and Iceni Village museum in the surrounding villages which we'll definitely return to in the warmer (hopefully) months ahead.

Decided to tip down with rain on the way home - the sun doesn't shine for long at the mo does it?

Quote from a card

2010-03-23T12:29:00.003Z

Saw this over the weekend and thought it summed me up very well!

It read something along the lines of:

"anyone can deal with a crisis, it's dealing with everyday life that's difficult."

Red belt Ben

2010-03-22T14:48:00.002Z

Ben achieved his red belt in Jujitsu on Friday. He'd worked hard for it these last 3 months practising various moves on the trampoline and with me too! He's looking forward to learning some new moves now aiming for his yellow stripe. Way to go Ben!

Karting and the social thing

2010-03-15T13:11:00.004Z

It never ceases to amaze me that the usual thing that pops up when being questioned about home education is the lack of socialisation. I know it's the bug bear of most home edders when people in the street, relatives, friends etc always bring up something along the lines of "well yes, but they won't be able to socialise will they?" It gets to me everytime, and probably makes me laugh alittle, which I guess puts that person's back up! If only people could stop and think alittle before they speak and just think about life in general. Do they really think home edders are going to keep their children locked up in the house 24 hours a day? For one it would drive the parent(s) (and I would imagine the kids) absolutely mad and secondly, surely one really can't survive very long without stepping foot outside their homes once in a blue moon? The vast majority of us socialise at every opportunity, not just with the teacher and a bunch of others in our class, but face to face and MSN/facebook/twitter to MSN/facebook/twitter with people in the street, the postman, shop assistant, librarian, neighbours, aunts, uncles, grandparents and other family members, the kid on the swings in the playground - all socialising at different levels. We are also lucky that we are still able to get along to our old home ed group. We have a good number of friends there that are all different ages, backgrounds and cultures who all want to get along together and be supportive of each other.

This last term has been full of social activities for Katie and Ben. When it's not as socially manic, Katie gets to meet others at the stables every day, or at her riding stables when she has a lesson. She sees friends every Friday afternoon and has a large group of on-line friends that she chats to regularly. She goes shopping with others or goes to the library and is confident to speak to others when she needs to. Ben has tennis every week, as well as jujitsu. He too also sees his mates on a weekly basis and for both there is usually at least one group activity to get involved in.

Social problems - I don't think so!

This week, we had a very large group of home ed children go karting at the Peterborough Raceway. It was quite an expensive trip, even though the group was given a substantial discount, and many of us thought it would be a one off - I don't think so! It was absolutely brilliant. Everyone who took part got completely hooked on the racing, taking part and trying to better their scores and perhaps beat each others lap times. Several teams of about 5 or 6 each had two 10 minute karting sessions. This was once they'd been well briefed on the safety issues and got kitted out with racing suits and helmets. Ben was in the first team of probably the youngest bunch of children. Having come straight from the briefing they were very, very careful on the track with lap times of over a minute! Their second race cut this time in half - they just wanted to put their foot down and race. As the groups moved along through the ages it was interesting to see how the confidence and speed rose. The adult race was very fast indeed.

Can't wait to go again (I may even drive myself). I don't think I've laughed so much in ages and witnessing the determination on their young faces and the smiles as they got out of the cars itching to see their lap times was fabulous.

Art Journals and lovely pussy cats

2010-03-10T12:59:00.004Z

I often come across inspirational blogs and websites when it comes to finding project work and learning for the children, but Kathy Barbro's "Art Projects for Kids" is a site we return to time and time again when it comes to all aspects of art. This year, as our year long project, we've decided to do an art journal, similar in style to that shown on Kathy's site. Thought I'd show you just one of the pages Katie and Ben have done so far. Although this particular work wasn't featured under the journal pages, both children picked up on how striking its multi-coloured circles looked and wanted to have a go. I joined in too, also having a journal, and was amazed at how much thought was needed to make the circles and the colours look good together.

Right, now for gorgeous new Allie and Pepper pictures, taken a couple of days again when the sun shone and the conservatory heated up a little!

Allie, 13, big and fluffy and loves a lap, especially mine when I'm trying to sew in the evenings. He has a fabulous deep miaow, enjoys his food and has very occasional spurts of energy when the spring in his tail takes him by surprise and he'll shoot off across the garden at a pretty quick pace (given his size and age - bless).

Pepper, 2 in June, is always on the lookout for a play fight with Allie or Kan. He's learnt that Allie will just swipe him and Kan will roll over onto his back and hiss, but he'll continue to pick for a fight and will often make the other cat's fur fly! Enjoys constantly coming in or going out, usually through an open window and therefore likes to leave his dirty paw marks and paw slides as evidence on windowsills and down the walls. His main dream is to catch Meg, Katie's rat - but he'll just have to continue to dream!

Group trip to local scalextric centre

2010-03-04T20:41:00.003Z

What fun this was and we had a great turn out of children and parents so lots of catching up while the kiddies raced each other for a few hours.

The children were put into mixed groups and each group had time racing each other on each of the 8 tables. They kept score (with the help of a lap counter on the computer screen) of their laps at each table in order to total them at the end to see who, in each group, was the overall winner. Each track was different in size and layout to make it all the more interesting.

Just love the concentration on Katie and Ben's faces!

The sun is making an appearance ...

2010-03-04T20:36:00.003Z

finally! Perhaps Spring is about to, um, spring?

Made the most of our first warmish day on Wednesday with a cup of tea in the garden mid morning. It was still a little parky (I needed a coat) but I didn't care, the sun was shining. Obviously Ben didn't think it parky enough, going around in short sleeves!

He made his first den of the year and then had a good time on the trampoline.

Our book of special days and people, 2009

2010-03-04T20:27:00.003Z

You may remember last year we were looking at special events, cultural activities and key people for our "culture board" each month. Well, I've finally got round to making up the book to show the whole year of wonderful work. Pics of some of the pages haven't come out brilliantly, but you'll get the idea. I'm very proud to display it on our book shelves along with the nature book we did the year before.

Our two week house guest ...

2010-02-27T18:12:00.008Z

We'd been talking about having a dog since we moved to our current home about 3 years ago. Being a family of animal lovers already owning a selection of furry and feathered creatures, we knew that a dog would be absolutely fabulous. Since starting at the stables with Katie last year, we have got to know and love three dogs, a Great Dane, Labrador and long haired Alsatian so we were certainly used to having larger dogs around us.

We started by looking for an older dog as the sanctuary websites often stated they were more comfortable with children and cats. Unfortunately, we found kennel owners or foster carers wouldn't return our calls, so this path seemed to come to a halt.

As it happened the lady who owns the stables mentioned that her neighbour's daughter was eager to re-home her 15 month old chocolate Labrador x Doberman. She was out at work all day, often working late hours, and was having problems with a boisterous dog! We weren't too sure to start with, we'd come across young boisterous Labs before! However, being a great believer in fate we decided to go and see Buster, and then have him on a week or two trial.

Having never looked after a dog before, we found it a little daunting to start with, but we began to settle into a routine. As the days went by we decided to limit Buster to two rooms (kitchen and study) to keep him out of harm's way (and away from the stairs to the bedrooms which he loved to explore!). However, we still felt we needed to keep most of the other doors closed, just in case, as he was able to open the kitchen door out into the garden and we knew it would be a matter of time before he could open the study door as it has a simple latch!
Buster was absolutely fabulous in so many ways! He'd been so well trained in all the basic commands and could do brilliant little tricks like waiting for the "get it" command when placing food on his paw when lying down! He'd thoroughly enjoy his three walks each day, as we did too.
His midday hour long walk with lots of ball and stick play in the park must have been his favourite - he'd zonk out after it and we would be pretty exhausted as well! Getting us all out into the fresh air has been wonderful - real family time.

Last weekend we went along to Sandringham Park where Buster had a great run around in the snow. Paul found a brilliant log for the fire but it proved a challenge keeping it from Buster! We'd also walked along the marshes, where he found Hector, a black Labrador to play with and he also discovered the many muddy ditches - so he's had a couple of baths too during his stay! Yesterday we took him to Breckland Forest for a walk along one of the by-ways. We worked out we'd walked for about 3 miles, needless to say he slept most of the way home!

He's provided us with lots of laughs: one evening when out in the garden closing up the chickens and rabbit, Buster discovered the plastic watering can and made such a noice with it flinging it in the air and trying hard to pull it apart that all the neighbouring dogs started barking in protest! Playing hunt the treat was also good fun, and our end of evening calming cuddles were just adorable. He'd sleep well too, 8 ish bedtime until 7.30 next morning - not bad.

We'd also had some annoying times though - although in the end we'd actually laughed about them: Last Sunday I cooked a roast beef joint only to discover Buster has swiped the left overs (half the joint) for himself! I cooked a cake yesterday and thought I'd put it high enough out of his reach only to find a trail of crumbs half an hour later.

Sadly, there was also a side to him that made us a little worried. Yes, we were upset that our cats weren't so close to us. We missed them coming around and being with us, sitting on our laps during school time and being close in the evenings when watching TV. Buster's barks and sudden lurches towards them were scary. Allie, being quite a bit older than the other two was slower to get away and he experienced a couple of very close shaves. We'd been told that cats and dogs do eventually settle together, so we were prepared to battle on with this, but then we also found Buster could become feisty towards us very quickly and often without warning. He'd knocked Paul over during a play session and would sometimes go for Ben, I guess being a smaller and lighter frame. He'd suddenly jump up and grab your arm and the final deciding factor for us was when he actually tried to drag Ben along, first by the arm, then by his gloved hand (so luckily the glove came off). Trying to stop this all happening seem to result in more excitability and rougher play.

Sadly to say we had to make the decision to send him back. We are feeling quite miserable about it as generally he'd been such a brilliant dog to have around us, so loving and loyal and fun. But to put it bluntly, we didn't want to end up fearing him and we certainly didn't want any really nasty injuries happening to any of us or to others.

Buster will always be in our memories - those special moments and wonderful times we'd spent with him.

The book, "It's me or the Dog, Victoria Stilwell" has been a really helpful read.

Check this out ...

2010-02-21T20:33:00.001Z

I think this photo of a Typhoon Eurofighter with the birds in the foreground is super-duper. Taken in the garden by Paul just a couple of days ago.

Aren't these lovely?

2010-02-08T14:24:00.004Z

Katie made this little Polymer Clay teddy-bear face for her friend's teddy-bear's birthday!

She's been working alot with Polymer Clay recently, thanks to small collection of assorted coloured packages landing in her's and Ben's stockings at Christmas! A friend gave us "Making Doll's House Miniatures with Polymer Clay" from a bundle of books he was going to give away. It's full of inspiration.

Katie is always making things using so whatever she can lay her hands on! This last week she's been making miniature tack for a friend's model horse.

This wooden dolly peg lady which she made a couple of weeks ago and looks so carefree would be perfect for Mother's Day.

Our BIG day Saturday

2010-01-31T20:10:00.005Z

A sign of things to come? Washing line of horse boots and rider's gloves!

Saturday was a BIG day for us - it was the first time we'd taken Katie's share pony, AJ, to a show with us towing the trailer! I've been quite stressed about the whole thing ever since Katie first put the feelers out that perhaps we could borrow the yard owner's trailer and start taking him to shows by ourselves. Once the trailer insurance was sorted I wasn't quite so nervous, but then I wasn't driving!!

The amount of stuff we had to take with us was stunning! We'd taken the tack home Friday night and Katie spent a good couple of hours giving it a thorough clean. I'd washed all AJ's boots and all Katie's gloves (she didn't know which pair to wear LOL) as well as all the grooming brushes etc. on Thursday. Luckily all her show gear was clean and ready to go, but there were still two pairs of boots to clean (again, she didn't know which pair to wear, the long boots or the short, which also meant her chaps needed to be washed, just in case!).

Saturday morning fast approached and we left for the yard at 8 a.m. (as luckily her dressage test was 11:40) and we were away with AJ at the agreed time of 9:30. It was lovely that his owner Jo came along too, having an experienced person with us was great.

For his trip in the trailer, AJ wore tall travelling boots, which he was not at all happy about! I don't think he'd worn them before and initially he refused to come out of his stable. When he did take his first steps he was lifting up his hind legs as if he had splints on them!

The journey was fine, with Paul driving (apparently feeling very nervous) and we reached our destination - Sheepgate Equestrian - in very good time. We browsed their wonderful Tack and Togs shop and later Katie and her friend found bargain Joules tops in the sale section which they both bought. We could have spent an absolute fortune in there, they had such a huge selection of clothing, boots, tack, horsey gear and gifts.

It was bitterly cold and we were pleased the dressage was held indoors where we could sit in the cafe to keep warm. We spent most of the time in the cafe actually, lots of hot drinks and plenty of fast food to keep us going!

We were thrilled that Katie came 6th in her dressage test with a score of 61.20%. She was up against 9 others, some of whom were quite advanced. After lunch she did a couple of jumping clear rounds, raising the bars alittle between them, bringing home 3 rosettes in all.

We were back at the yard by 4 p.m., just in time of AJ's tea! We were all shattered mentally I think and needed a good night's sleep. But before we got that far, we treated ourselves to an Indian at our favourite restaurant.

Afternoon walk

2010-01-26T14:47:00.002Z

We saw the sun this afternoon, in fact, as we walked we also felt the sun's rays alittle - Spring is just around the corner. We took Katie's new camera and all had a go at looking for things to capture. Here's our choices (mouse-over to see who took the photo):

Puss-cat pictures - we are not impressed!

2010-01-26T14:38:00.005Z

Well, neither were we, especially as they had plonked their butts on the work tables just as we were trying to do a bit of learning!

The obviously weren't impressed with the subject:

Bon Voyage!

2010-01-26T14:22:00.005Z

We are just over half way through our KS3 maths work book and things were getting rather tedious, so much stuff to read through, remember and then tests at the end. Painful (more than usual) cries from Katie and Ben lead me to think of something more interesting for them to do that included all this new learning.

I decided to send them on a voyage. I typed out a sheet of things I wanted to them to, which started with finding two countries that they'd like to visit. They had to find out about that country, where it was on the map (and also which continent), the country's flag and which currency it used. I told them how much spending money they could take and they had to convert it into the correct currency (showing all the workings of course). They then have to find all transport links, times, prices etc., which could include car parking fees, travel by train, boat, car or plane. Then next was sourcing a hotel in the correct location (and at a decent price!) and finally visit two places of interest finding out the cost of those attractions. At the end of the trip, having deducted any spending money from their original pocket money they had to convert it back to Sterling. Along they way, they also had to work out a 27% discount on their chosen travel and 1/3 of their return money to put into savings.

I think they enjoyed that. Ben asked to do something similar for a couple of cars which he's just finished, working quite well by himself so hopefully the new maths has sunk in now. Katie continued with her world tour by designing a tourist leaflet for the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb.

The Sunshine Award

2010-01-23T14:45:00.005Z

Big thank you to Claire of Lady Luck Jewellery for giving me this award - how chuffed am I!

According to Claire's blog, "The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world. The rules for accepting this award are:

Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award."

It is always a difficult decision when choosing blogs for awards but after an overnight big think, I decided on the following blogs:

Classroom Free
Emily Whittaker - Illustration

Still Cutting Off the Tabs

The Bunny Maker
The Chicken Shed
The Crafty Crow

Top Floor Treasures

Indoor bowls

2010-01-21T21:47:00.003Z

We met up with other families from the local HE group here, the Peterborough & District Indoor Bowling Club, and spent 2 1/2 hours with some fabulous chaps all too happy to teach the children (and some of the adults) the basics of the game of bowls.

The players were put into three teams, each with a trainer, to be shown the correct technique for rolling the wood (the correct name of the ball). As most of the players are avid and regular ten-pin bowling fans, they all started off throwing the wood as if they were trying to knock over a pin! It just took a couple of practises to learn the new skill and they were soon all doing really well.

The trainers were so enthusiastic and encouraging that it was us mums and dads that suggested a quick break for lunch! After this, they played a game trying rolling the woods into numbered holes to score points. It was noticeable that the lads were far more competitive that the gals - keeping score and comparing!

It was a very active centre, lots of comings and goings of indoor bowling fans. Sadly thought of as a game for the older, retired folk, I think the centre were keen to welcome our youngsters and show them it can be a game appreciated by all ages.