Things that make me smile!

Well hello there! And how are you today? I am tired and a little grumpy. Tired is ok, but being grumpy is not fun. For me or those around me!

In light of this, i though i'd put together a list of things that make me smile. Things that get rid of the grumpus. And here they are:

Bear boy ink drawing by Bad Bird here.

Bear Hug greetings cards Poke The Dead Kat here.

We're All Mad Here necklace by Untamed Menagerie here.

You Are The Beez Kneez laser cut print by Julene here.

Two T-shirts by Mis Nopalas Art here.

Hotel Londres print by Mengsel Designs here.

Merry-go-Round onsie by Emillia Faith here.

Bird Teacups by McCheeks Mayhem here.

Hope you have a happy cheerful day. Me too.

I'll make mincemeat of you!

Good morning and hello to you! How are you this fine Thursday morning? I'm cheery although i am doing a long shift at work today so i guess it's a good thing i'm in a chipper mood!

I have been over run with plums and damsons in the past few weeks and have been trying to come up with new things to make. Which is hard. I have a lot of jam now so i thought it was time to think outside the box and try something different.

So yesterday i decided to try damson mincemeat, and it had turned out fab. Yup.

I based it vaguely on this recipe here. Although i used damsons instead of plums. I also added 200g glacé cherries, used white granulated sugar instead of demerara (as i didn't have any), used all spice instead of the cloves and nutmeg, added a teaspoon of cinnamon, didn't add the walnuts or the brandy/sloe gin. Just a few small changes then!

Most of these changes were because they were either ingredients i didn't have or one's i didn't like. Plus i really like cherries so added them.

I started it on Tuesday afternoon as the mixture has to be left for 24 hours before it is cooked in the oven. It looked a wee bit watery when i left it last night but by this morning it was lovely and thick and smelt of Christmas!

I now have to leave it until December to mature. I hope it ends up tasting as good as it looks, as it looks yummy. I might give it to people in jars or i might make some mince pies. Mmmm mince pies (i'm sorry, i'll stop talking about Christmas in September).

I still have lots of damsons left, and they won't fit in the freezer as there is already blackberries and plums in there. So i will keep on looking for new ways of using them. If you have any ideas, don't be shy, i bet they're goodies!

Charity shop treasures.

I popped into the charity shops near me yesterday to have a quick browse, and boy did i do well! I love days when the charity shop gods are kind and you find all sorts of bits and bobs. Do you like mooching about in charity shops? I've only gotten into it in the past couple of years, but now i love it.

I found these little crochet blankets. Snugly and warm and cost me pennies. Brill.

A vintage My Little Pony annual and Care Bear annual. I have all sorts of ideas for these, i think i might make cute parcel tags, cards and envelopes. Watch this space as i'll let you know what i decide to do with them.

A Richards Scarry book! I have been looking for one of these for ages and ages. They are quite hard to find so i was really pleased when i spied this one. I can't bare the thought of cutting it up though so i think i'm gonna have to add it to my rapidly growing collection of vintage books on my bookshelf.

And last but not least........twister! A classic and one we didn't own so i nabbed that too. I can't wait to give it a go. Hee hee.

Oh i do like to be beside the seaside.

Hello hello!

I am in the middle of my two days off for this week, and what a lovely two days it has been. Lawrence and i have had two friends to stay and it has been lovely.

I think have mentioned before that i live by the sea. In light of this we planned all sorts of seaside fun in the sun for our two days off. But alas the sun did not show. Oh well.

We still had a brilliant time. We eat cake and went to the cinema and played the Michael Jackson dance game on the wii after a few glasses of wine (thoroughly recommended, even if i was rubbish at it!).

We also went to the fun fair that is on the seafront by our flat. As it was a Monday and raining the funfair was closed. But the arcades weren't! Yay!

I love the 2p machines and me and my friend Harri got a little bit obsessed with trying to get all the pennies to fall (look at our serious faces!).

It reminded me of when i was little and my dad would take me and my sister to the arcade. We would spend all our 1ps and 2ps in the slot machines and then play air hockey. Whatever happened to air hockey?

Amy Butler.

Have you heard of Amy Butler? I only came across her wonderful fabrics the other day while wandering around John Lewis.

I think they are fab. A bright and colourful mix of psychedelic neon colours and traditional designs. I can just imagine the migraine inducing granny quilt i could make. Not for the faint-hearted, but sunny and wonderful all the same.

I bought this design (first one below), which i think is beautiful. I plan to buy a lot more, but with so much choice it's hard to know which pattern (in what colour) to get.

She has a great website here. There is even a section with free sewing patterns and paper craft ideas! I've got my eye on the sunshine and the bloom quilts. Do you like her designs? I've had mixed responses so far, people wither love them or think they are rather garish!

Paddington Bear.

Well howdy and good morning! I am so very tired this morning. I ended up doing a 14 hour shift at work yesterday as we were catering a wedding and i am knackered. I hope you have a relaxing and fun weekend planned. I'm working. Ugh.

Look at this lovely chap. I found him in a charity shop two days ago and i couldn't quite believe it. Definitely my best charity shop find so far (well, i did find some brand new moon boots, in my size, a while ago which i absolutely love. But most people hate them!).

He's from the early 1970s and is roughly 18 inches high. He even still has his original boots, hat and tag. He is really rather cute, with lovely little face. I wonder where he came from? (apart from deepest darkest Peru that is) and who loved him before me?

My mum had a bear similar to this which used to have pride of place in my room as a child. Hers had a purple coat and white wellies though.

Yay, a Paddington of my very own. What's your best charity shop find?

Damson in distress.

I have so far thought of a few uses for the damson and plums. Although i still have a long way to go though before i have used them all.

Thus far i have made:

1. Damson gin. Very easy and, hopefully, very tasty.

Just prick each damson three times with a folk (it doesn't have to be three, but this is the number of time i pricked each one). Fill a 2 litre bottle a third full with damsons, a third with sugar and a third with gin. Leave in a cool dark place for a few months or as long as possible (or till christmas!) and then strain. Yum, i can't wait to drink this! Hopefully some will make it to the hampers.....i'll have to be good.

2. Plum chutney. I used this recipe here.

This also has to be left for a few months before it is ready to eat. I chose this recipe because it looked idiot proof and i happened to already have all the ingredients to make it. So far it looks good, but i'll have to let you know in a few months how it tastes.

3. More of my plum jam (see previous post of details). Yummy yum yum.

I have put a lot of plums in the freezer as they wouldn't have lasted much longer. I'll probably make these into jam. I also have a massive bag of damsons left, but what do i do with them? More gin? (i quite like this idea!), jam? or something different?

I need to think of something as i don't want to waste them. I'll have to do some research. What would you do? Help!