Just a Quickie :)

I'm determined to try to blog regularly so I'm probably just going to be waffling for a while until I get in the swing of it!

Had coffee with my Mum's friend Diane on Saturday and took delivery of her latest bunch of watercolours. The light was lovely for photographing them but I haven't had chance to process them for publishing yet. This pair of old style beach prints go well together and I sold some prints of these at work recently (although without the copyright logo of course!).

We've decided to offer these as notecards in the future - I'm just trying to find a reliable source of printable notecards - I've found glossy but not so sure watercolour prints should be done in a glossy finish. I'm going to run some test prints just as soon as my inks arrive so watch my shop for new additions soon :)

Winter Blues

I've never really noticed the Winter Blues in previous years but I have so many things I should or want to be doing and suddenly a whole winter has disappeared and I've achieved nothing. I honestly don't think I've even picked up my camera since mid-Sept :(

Looking back, I think it started in late August - I had almost 2 weeks of emergency babysitting to do, so to stop any little accidents, I put my tabletop studio away. Not a big thing in itself but we then had a death in the family in September and as the nearest relatives, we had to sort everything out - so the studio stayed packed away. It was October before we could have the funeral and November before the bulk of the estate was sorted out.

I'm one of those bah-humbugs who dislikes Xmas intensely so December is always an irritating month and I was ill through much of January. So now it's almost the end of February but we've had a week or so of bright (but very cold) sunshiney days and I can feel myself coming alive again.

But now I'm more aware, I can see how much everything has slipped. Adding a post to my blog is my first attempt at kicking my own butt back into gear.

I've updated my blog list and added my own places around the web so if you want to have a look at some of my more extensive portfolios, you can :) I've been trying to chat a bit more in the UK Etsy Sellers thread and adding comments on various Flickr but it's all a bit half hearted at the moment. It's a start though :)

Etsy Shopping - Again!!

I've been very remiss in keeping this blog updated but I've had some pretty good reasons which I won't bore you with (too depressing). But I have had a few minutes here and there to get some good old Etsy shopping going and I signed up for my second UK secret swap.

First up is this beautiful bracelet by the lovely lady that is Kezzaroo and a mini ninja escorted it all the way from Scotland for me :D


Then I had some cash come in from my stock photography just as Seaurchin listed this gorgeous unique pendant in one of my favourite colours. I just had to have this so I snapped it up without thinking too hard - I'd only have talked myself out of it or someone else would have got there first!!



Then this stunning pendant by DichroicDazzle - the photograph doesn't do justice to the vibrancy of the colours but believe me, it's a conversation starter :D



So I'm a happy bunny and my neck looks pretty too.

Tagged!

Thank you Coldcell for tagging me :)

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So here goes - 7 odd/random facts about me

1. I've been reading since I was 2-3 years old - averaging a book a day until about 2 years ago. But only fiction - I hate factual books/autobiographies etc

2. I have a small scar in the middle of my forehead where I was hit by a pickaxe as a child!

3. I have freckles, 4 birthmarks and one dinky little tattoo

4. I can say hello, please and thank you, how are you and order coffees in about 12 different languages - including Swahili, Thai and Dihevi.

5. I love Maths - I used to find solving quadratic equations relaxing!

6. I talk to strangers - at bus stops, on trains, on holiday, in shops - my hubby says my day isn't complete unless I've had a chat with someone new :)

7. I collected postcards as a child and still have boxes of them I can't bear to part with.

I'm tagging the following lovely peeps (I know, I need 1 more!!)

Domino Effect
LAM Designs
Aria Images
Not That Jaded
One Eye Open
Risamay

Oooh er - There's a man in the house!

We have a new UK member who's rather put the cat amongst us pigeons! Not only is he a male (obviously) but he's into photography (so I like him) and what I call weird music (although Kezz likes the same stuff too). It's a bit hard to keep up with some of the unusual names he talks about but then I'm feeling pretty old and frumpy these days anyway so I just put it down to youthfulness and say 'yes, dear' ! So I thought I'd welcome him to Etsy with a little shoutout on my blog - 'helllooooo Coldcell'

Here's one of his lovely scenic images - wouldn't you just love to be in this beautiful shady riverside place on a warm day, with the insects a-buzzin and the fish lazily popping the water surface?

Look what Miss Bunny did!

A few posts earlier, I mentioned that I had swapped some lovely black high heel shoes with Bunny on Etsy. Well, she's finished customising them and listed them in her shop. Skullerflies! Who would have guessed! But how gorgeous are these?

I can't believe it's been nearly 2 weeks since I last posted - can't really stop and post a long one now but I'll come back tomorrow and fill in some spaces!! I've got some new prints, reworked some old ones and am thinking about a second website so I have been busy - at least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

Peanut Butter Scrumptiousness :)

There's a rather nice lady on Etsy called Marmalady who makes the scrummiest, moistest, most delicious flapjacks I've ever tasted. Many of the girls in the UK Street Team are, to put it politely, addicted to them and keep Marmalady busy sending out food parcels.

Well, she only went on holiday for two whole weeks - the withdrawal symptoms got so bad, I had to make my own. I dug out an old baking recipe book but before I got to the flapjack recipe, I found our old favourite - Peanut Butter Cookies. During the usual mayhem chat that is the UK thread, someone asked about them so here is the recipe I use for those who want to give them a try.

5 oz (140g) plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 oz (115g) butter (at room temp)

5 3/4 oz light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

9 1/2 oz crunchy peanut butter

Oven temp. 350F/180C/gas4 - makes 24 large cookies

The original recipe says to cream the butter and sugar, then add the peanut butter, egg, vanilla essence, mix then add dry ingredients. Mix well then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up. Grease up two trays and use a teaspoon to gather a small blob of mixture, roll into a ball between your palms, plop on tray then flatten slightly with a fork. Put in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool on tray for 2 or 3 minutes before transfering to a cooling rack.

I, on the otherhand, used self raising flour, no bicarb and a butter substitute, threw everything in together and left it to chill for an hour! Then I used baking parchment on 4 trays, rolled out small balls indeed and flattened with a fork as instructed.

Unfortunately, I have a narrow cooker so in putting 12 on a narrow baking sheet, I didn't leave them much room to spread even though I had made the balls smaller than last time (due to a scribbled note in my book!) so I ended up with nearly 40 smaller cookies.