Archive for December, 2009

Shoes naturally

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Hello
Well, Christmas is pretty much over and if you are lucky and generous relatives gave you cash for Christmas, your thoughts may be turning to……shoes, naturally!
Here are some of my current favourites:
Mina Perhonen, I saw these in Japan, but they were way out of my price range, Im never certain about Western boots, but these had butterflies
minaperhonen3
More Mina I think
pm008_01
minaperhonen2
these are from Poti, very cute and extremely well priced
poti3
poti
Jeffry Campbell
jeffreycampbell2Gold shoes from Cledran
cledran
These adorable boots from Cocue, that I am struggling not to buy
cocue
and these strappy but Im hoping infinitely practical and comfy shoes from Birkenstock as seen at Clevernettle that I did cave in over and buy
clevernettlebirkenstocktatmi
and just in case any of these seem a bit tempting to you, they can usually be found by doing a search at Rakuten, which wonderfully allows for us international shoppers to get access to Japanese goodies.

Bandit Chef

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

banditchef copyHello
Not sure why, but in making a  picture for Pauls handmade chocolate packaging we came up with the idea of a little bandit chef.

Fairytale Wreath

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Hello
Well, this was new last year………….but as I havent made anything new this year thought I would put up pictures of it again.  It was the rather creeepy white faux wood wreath that set this all off
fairytale-wreath
Alice’s Tea Party
alice
teacup
teapot
and the white Rabbit
whiterabbit
Hansel and Gretel
hansel-and-gretel
swan
and things you would find in the woods
deer
heart
mushrooms
Red Riding Hood too, she really needs a wolf though I think, maybe just a quick sewing project for today……………………
red-riding-hood
Paul has comandeered my sewing table though to make filled chocolates, perhaps I should just document the messy chocolatey fun instead!

Merry Almost Christmas!

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

Hello
Paul and I are really getting into the Christmas spirit, we’ve had our first party, the house is decorated and the eating has begun in earnest
DSC04751much to the shock and dismay of this giant Chocolate snowman I bought from Koko Black today
DSC04755
Hope you are all having a lovely, fun and filling lead up to your Christmas!

Remember Dinosaur Designs?

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

Hello
I was going to post something else entirely this morning, but came across Dinosaur Designs as I was browsing about and got a very nice surprise.  Its been ages since I last visited.  I own a lovely deep red chunky rose ring and a butterfly in green, but they went a bit geometric for my tastes and Id basically forgotten about them, but look at some of these lovelies…..
from the bird collection
dinosaurbird2
dinosaurbird
My other favourite of the collections were the Fungi, just saying Fungi is nice too
dinosaurfungi3
dinosaurfungi4
dinosaurfungi5
dinosaurfungi
and they have mushroom lamps too!
dinosaurfungi2
for more mushroom fun you can go to their fungiverse and make and name your own mushroom.  There used to be a store near me, hope it is still there, Id love a little mushroom of my own.

More Max for Christmas

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Hello
Went a bit Max on the Christmas cake this year, just finished him off this morning
close
fullI suppose the big question is, will we eat him?

Gingerbread House making

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Hello
Paul and I make a Gingerbread House for Christmas each year and I thought I would share our funny old recipe and diagram of how to make it with you.  It came from an old set of Cookbooks of the World or something like that, but I have no idea the real name of the book.  Its a great tasting house though, sort of just a little cakey rather than the brittle biscuit type of Gingerbread.
ghousefront
Paul did the fancy icing line work on this one and added something a little different with an opening door and shutters on the windows.  You can add any kind of door or window that you like really.
ghouseside
The hardest part is not eating half the lollies you are supposed to be decorating with  and even eating the icing as well, you can end up on one Hell of a sugar high!
* Just a note, the only real changes to the recipe that Paul does is to beat the egg whites to the very stiffest peak forming consistency possible, then add the sugar in two parts instead of lots of little parts as it says in the recipe.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Creepy Christmas

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Hello
Its a bit of a re-run, but I was setting up the Creepy Christmas tree yesterday and thought Id share it with you all again, it always gives me a laugh.
group2
the cast of creepy characters:
Some kind of friend of Wednesday Adams, maybe Tuesday?
girlfull
Her Furry Friends, cranky cat
kitty
bad attitude bunny
bunny
and the despondent deer
deer
and all the decorations:
dead rats and double headed deer, spiders and decapitated angels, mummified bunnies and cats heads, actual sausage dogs and skulls with a snake and sad teddy bear.
deadratreindeer
cryspiderangel
mummyredcat
sausagedogskull
snaketeddy
Maybe next year I will get around to making that severed head I’ve always wanted!
Hope your Christmas decorating is going well.

We have a winner!

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Hello
Just popped over to random.org whilst having my breakfast and the winner is lucky number 87 Piccadilly!!  Ive sent you an email too  : )  Congratulations and thank you very much to everyone who entered and for the very kind and often amusing comments too.  I enjoyed this a great deal and will have to make it a tradition I think.

Paper Anniversary

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Hello
A little while back Paul and I had our first Wedding Anniversary.  We have two of them, the “when we met” one, which is eighteen years now and the Wedding, which was our first, traditionally the gifts should be of paper.
I knew exactly what I wanted to give Paul and I was so very, very lucky as to be able to get it.  I asked Amy Earles “Wool and Water” if she would consider doing paper dolls of Paul and me in our wedding outfits and she agreed!  I knew it would be beautiful, but it was so much more beautiful than I expected.
close
The detail is amazing and the cute little personal additions like Paul’s spotty socks and my doll carrying a little “Christina the Bride” Blythe doll were lovely.  I was blown away by them, wanting to touch but afraid to in case I damaged their miniature perfection.  I can’t say thank you enough Amy, they are so very special to both of us.
framed
I have been keeping this vintage black wooden frame with carved hearts for probably a good ten years now, waiting for something just right for it and now it has its perfect match.
I made a present as well, at last getting around to putting our Wedding pictures into an album:
frontcover
topper
socks
celebrating
registry
bonbonniere
There are photos of us in there……………but I hate showing pictures of me, we have all our cards and even the cork from the Champagne bottle as well.  I really like this two Anniversary thing, more presents, more lovely dinners.

Flickr

New broochespink bunny broochnew broochesnew broochesbrown bunny broochblack bunny brooch3 bunny broochsceramic bunny dolls