My special new place.

I know that to some (ok, most) people this will look like a room with a desk in it. It is, but it is also so much more than that.

Until now i have had to craft wherever i could find a quiet spot in the flat. I've ended up with piles of bits and bobs stashed all over the place, hiding out the way. Lawrence has not been happy about this and has moaned countless times about the mess i make and all the stuff i have. Which is fair enough, i do have a lot of stuff!

It's also meant that even if i'm halfway through something i've had to tidy it up at the end of the day which is annoying for me, especially when using my sewing machine. Not ideal.

So imagine my delight when Lawrence agreed to turn the guest room into my craft room. Yay!

We still have the spare bed in there but i now also have a massive table where my sewing machine can live and i even have drawers!

I can now happily make things to my hearts content. If i am in the middle of something i can leave it all out till the next day. It's now my favorite room in the house.

New cards with new designs!

I have been rather productive today. Yup. Have you? What have you been up to?

I've been at work all day (face meltingly busy) and then trundled home, made some tasty dinner, done three days worth of washing up and then sat crafting for the past hour or so. Phew, i'm knackered! Time for a cuppa i think. And maybe a biscuit.

I mentioned the other day that i am in the process of making new stock to sell in Manna. Well, i have made some new cards with brand new designs. I hope you like them.

Nice and simple and including gnomes. Because sometimes you need a gnome.

Paper cutting.

Now most people have heard of Rob Ryan (if you have not have a look here, he is fab) but have not heard of many other paper cutters. I include myself in that group.

Paper cutting is this intricate and delicate and seemingly impossible thing that other people did. Clever people. This was until a friend of mine started paper cutting (with a memorable wedding present for another friend of mine being one of her amazing creations). But could i do it? It looked too difficult if i'm honest.

But the more i think abut it the more i want to give it a go. The end results are very impressive and i'm always wanting to add strings to my bow.

So i though i'd start off by looking for a few templates that i could follow, to give me a feel for it. So far i have found these ones:

The PDF to download the heart card can be found here.

Victorinox (the makers of Swiss army knives) have gotten together with Rob Ryan to produce these stencils. They go in order of beginner, intermediate and advanced and are intended to be layers together. you can find the PDF's here.

Plus a lovely lady called Cindy Ferguson has a great blog, Scherenschnitte here with lots of free downloads of many many images, great for getting started.

I can't wait to give it a go, and will post the results on here (even if they look nothing like i intended!). Have you ever though about trying paper cutting? Or many you've ben doing it all along. Clever you.

I'll leave you with some paper cutting inspiration. Amazing

New Bear and Bug cards now on sale in Manna Tearooms!

Good afternoon, i hope you are well today.

I have had a funny old day. This resulted in me locking myself out of my flat and making poor Lawrence drive all the way home from work to let me in. Opps.

If you read my blog often you will know that i sell the things i make in Manna Tearooms in Old Portsmouth (and Etsy here, if you're interested). I can report that the selling in Manna has been going great guns.

This makes me really happy as i always worry people will not like the little bits and bobs i create. The only downside is that i now need to get a wiggle in and make some more. The Bear and Bug section in Manna is looking very bare. This is not good.

I have quite a few new things in the pipline, which i will of course show you when i can. In the meantime here are some cards that went on sale this morning:

What do you think? Do you like them? I haven't made coloured cards before but i think they have worked really well. I hope you like them. I do.

Craft it forward 2012.

Hey there, what'cha doing? Having a lovely Sunday? Relaxing, maybe with some toast and strong coffee? That's exactly what i'm doing. Chilling on the sofa and charging the batteries after a very busy (and long) week at work. Perfect.

I wanted to let you know about a 'Craft it Forward 2012' which i am taking part in. I stumbled across it whilst reading Ooh La Lapin's blog the other day. Lou, the author of the blog is taking part in this cute initiative and as one of the first five commenters on her blog so am i!

Lou will send the first five people who commented on her blog post a handmade goodie. We then write about it on our blog and then the first five people to comment on that get sent a handmade goodie by me.

This then hopefully goes on with more and more people being sent lovely things and then sending lovely things they've made to commentators.

I think it's a lovely idea (you just have to ignore the associations with that awful film Pay It Forward). I thought i'd give you a heads up so that when i receive my item and post about it you can be one of the first five!

Don't comment on this post but wait for the one titled 'My craft it forward 2012 goodie'. I promise my handmade goodies will be brill. What a fab idea to kick of 2012.

Ooh new stamps!

Good day to you, you lovely people. How are you finding 2012 so far? Good i hope. I am finding it cold and wintery with strong blowy gails, not good when you have to walk to work along the sea front! But weather aside, 2012 so far (all five days of it) has been lovely, long may it continue.

I am in a naughty spendy type mood today, and therefore had a browse around Etsy and ended up with these lovely stamps.

I'm thinking gift tags and other homemade loveliness. Except for the 'bear mail' one of course, i'll keep that for when i post things to people. A perfect find for Bear and Bug!

Spiced pumpkin soup.

I am in the mood for all things comforting and warming at the momnet. And soup is the perfect thing when feeling that way.

With that in mind a made a batch this afternoon and it is rather tasty. I make soups at work all the time, but never at home and though why is this? I couldn't come up with a good answer so out came the big blue saucepan.

I adapted a Delia recipe and made it my own. My spiced pumpkin (and apple) soup. And here is the recipe:

Anna's Pumpkin and Apple Soup.

- Half a large or one whole small pumpkin (ours was a large one left over from Halloween that had lasted till now. Unbelieveable) de-seeded, peeled and chopped into 1cm pieces.

- One white onion finely chopped

- Twelve cardamon pods

- Two teaspoons of ground cumin

- Two teaspoons of corriander

- Two teaspoons of cayenne pepper

- Two pieces of garlic finely chopped

- Two litres of vegetable stock

- One cooking apple cored, peeled and finely grated

- Salt and pepper

1. Heat a teaspoon of butter in a pan and add the cardamon pods and cook until the fizzle. Remove from the heat and crush, discarding the pods and keeping the seeds.

2. Add a bit more butter and add the onions. Cook for a minute or so and then add the garlic, cardamon seeds, cayenne, cumin and coriander and cook for eight to ten minutes on a low heat.

3. Add the pumpkin and give it a stir. Then add the vegetable stock and cook, with the lid on, on a medium heat for twenty or so minutes or till the pumpkin is cooked and soft.

4. Blend the pumpkin with a hand blender and then stir in the grated apple. Season to taste. Then eat. yum.

All i need now is a big bowl and a slab of bread and butter.