Two Angels - angels & petals AND crafty angel

Pretty in Porcelain

Recently I came across a lovely lady who makes the most beautiful porcelain Hearts & Pebbles.

She refers to them as 'touch stones' - and you do indeed feel the need to touch & caress them.

Each heart or pebble is moulded from porcelain and then decorated with inlay

Impression or screen print.

Although they look very fragile, they are in fact frost proof

But surely far to lovely to put outside.

A unique gift suitable for just about any occasion I think. Made in Devon too.

Hearts £7 Pebbles £16
 
 
  
   

No peace for the wicked

Yesterday afternoon there was the most awful noise coming from outside the shop. It sounded just like one of those animal sounding toys that children have.The one where you tip it one way and then the other and it moo's or bleats. Anyway, it went on, and on! So I opened the door ready to have a quiet word with a small child perhaps in the square, when I spotted a Land Rover parked opposite.

On further investigation I found it was full of protesting geese & ducks. Their owner was having a lovely leisurely lunch in the Tally Ho, and they were well and truly fed up!

So cute yet SO noisy!
 
 

St Blaise

Every year I turn my very dubious flower arranging skills to creating something for the Flower Festival.

I am no flower arranger and quite honestly I'm surprised they keep asking me. But I do love doing it.

Every year we have a theme. This year it was Patron Saints. Not being very well up on my Saints I turned to the internet for inspiration. That's when I discovered St Blaise - Patron Saint of Wool Workers. Well, it had to be didn't it??

However, unable to create a sheep out of my flowers! I did, what I hope is a country style arrangement that might do the job.

Loaded and ready to go.

In situ, with it's props.

The Flower Festival really is worth a visit. It smells gorgeous & some of the arrangements are stunning. It runs from Thursday 8th to Sunday 11th July, in the church.

Entry is free. Any donations are going towards the repair of the bell tower. A worthy cause if you ask me - I miss those bells.
 
 

From Bodmin with love

Not one to be sucked in by advertising or media hype, Jane is rather sceptical of most new products so when she came to me recently singing the praises of a pot of Rose & Honey moisturising face cream she has been given as a present, I was very interested. It certainly smelt gorgeous, and on further investigation it was indeed a lovely nutritious face cream.

I contacted the company and was delighted to find that they are a family firm from Bodmin. All their products are natural, containing no parabens, lanolin or artificial fragrances. They don't test on animals and their creams are made to tried & tested old country recipes starting with a base product of beeswax.

So, having tried and loved some of their samples, we now stock B Skincare.

 

B Skincare - handmade & natural.

Mmmm - smells like Provence

This morning a delivery driver arrived relaxed and chilled out. He hadn't a care in the world!

Why? I hear you ask. 

Because he'd just brought me this years delivery of gorgeous lavender.

 
Jolie Lavande pour votre maison.

A few of my favourite things

On Saturday afternoon, 2pm in the shop, we are starting a journalling class. I say class, but really it's just a get together of people who have always promised themselves they would keep a diary, make a scrapbook, or at least put their favourite snippets, quotes, photos etc, in some assemblance of order. We will bounce ideas off each other as we take baby steps on the road to producing our own Journals. Do join us if this is something that appeals to you. Bring your own book and bits for inclusion. We'll have glue, pencils etc and we'll take it from there. Cost will be £2 for a drink & biscuit.

Today I'm showing you a random bunch of things that have made me smile this week. Maybe there will be something in there to give you an idea for your journal.

The roof on the George is taking shape. It's such an important part of Hatherleigh it'll be great to have it back.

The way Lewie loves Rosie. It's mutual - thankfully!!

Home grown strawberries.

 
The gorgeous soft yellow of this Foxglove.

Morning sunlight on the pond.

The peace and tranquility of the Buttercup strewn moor.

This beautifully knitted patchwork cushion that "I'm not a very good knitter" Debbie, brought to show us at K&N last night. Debbie you ARE a very good knitter!!

Perhaps some of these pictures have made you think about journalling your week? I hope to see you on Saturday then.

 
  
 
 
 
 

Citric acid

Last night at K&N there was a lot of interest in making Elderflower cordial but some concern over where to get Citric Acid. I have now put in the shop some 2oz packets of Citric acid (35p) if you want to have a go at making this very summery drink.

Sock it to them!

When I was away recently visiting my dad who is in his 90's I took it upon myself to change his bedding. Underneath his pillow I found various hankies, a very heavy torch, a map, some fisherman friends and a pen knife! All very useful stuff (though quite why you might need half of them beats me), for a man sleeping alone. However, nestled in amongst this 'manly' collection, was, what I later discovered was Mr Button. Mr Button was a sock creature. Pale blue with arms & legs and 2 huge button eyes. On further enquiry I discovered Mr Button had been made by my nephew Hamish, now 10, when my mum had died almost 3 years ago, to keep Granddad company. What touched me was that not only was this a lovely gesture but one that had obviously been really appreciated. Dad is not the soppy kind, he will cope admirably with whatever life throws at him, which can actually make it difficult to 'touch' him and where my sister and I may have struggled to let dad know we are concerned for him, Mr Button had indeed hit the button.

So, that got me thinking about sock creatures and wondering what there was in the way of books out there for ideas. I can tell you there are quite a few, of varying degrees of interest and enthusiasm. The one that struck a cord with me was this one

 
The main draw for me was the opening paragraph which reads: Forgive me if I stare at your ankles. forgive me if I hand you a business card and ask you to give me your socks'. Author and avid sock creature creator John Murphy has not only a talent for turning socks into amazing creatures, but also a very warm style of writing. With clear instructions and useful tips throughout he makes you want to go and pluck some socks off the washing line and start straight away.

 

 
Each creature comes with it's own personal introduction, warning you of any strange traits!

Lots of helpful tips & hints are scattered throughout the book.

 
 
 
A great book for a wet afternoon's crafting, but definitely too good to wait for rain, so perfect for making sat in the garden with a Pimms!

Perhaps you know someone who'd appreciate a 'Mr Button'.
 

A True Taste of Summer

A a hay fever sufferer I can honestly say that the months of May & June have been a bit of a struggle. But there is an annual up side. Every year we become hunter gatherers and collect Elderflower heads to make our own cordial. It is dead easy & delicious. So if you've never tried it before here is my Jamie Oliver style slap dash recipe - guaranteed to have you wanting more.

I should point out that I made double the quantity I am giving you because we have a lot of thirsty teenagers passing through! but the quantity I have given you will make approx 2 litres.

Send out a willing child to collect 15 large Elderflower heads.

In a large pan dissolve 3lbs granulated sugar in 3 pints of water over a medium heat.

Let the liquid cool & add 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar & 2 oz Citric acid (available from chemists) Stir to dissolve.

Cut up 2 lemons (I made double this quantity so that's why I've 4!)

Put unwashed flowers and lemons into large clean bowl or bucket

Pour the sugar/water syrup over them. Cover loosely and leave for 24 hours.

Remove the flower heads & lemons (I used mine for pancakes which had a lovely elderflower & lemon taste).

Strain the liquid through a jelly bag or piece of muslin (a pair of tights at a push) into a large jug.

 
 Bottle and enjoy! Keep refrigerated.

Incidentally the rather lovely bottle contained Samford Courteney Cider, which we can also recommend!
 
 
 

 
  
 

Con -fusing?

Whilst the class were busy making their dragonflies on Saturday  Nikki introduced me to a very natty little device.

The Microwave Glass Fusing Kiln.

This little kiln can fuse small amounts of glass in minutes. I made 2 small piles of blue glass with a hint of pink, and popped it all in the microwave for 5 minutes. When removed the kiln is red hot, and needs to be left for half an hour, then you can take a peep.

Inside, instead of the piles of tiny glass pieces were 2, almost the same, beautiful glass nuggets. When you put the glass in you have little idea of how it will fuse, which is all part of the excitement. I was however very pleased with my results and they were pretty close to how I had imagined.

We washed the nuggets, which removed the white powder and voila................

A pair of (slightly out of focus!) earrings.

What fun! I think I might have to invest in one of these little kilns. Nothing confusing here at all, very straight forward and exciting.