skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Look at this amazing glass jar my Mam got for me at her local Emmaus in France. It cost about €3! I can’t wait to go collecting moss to make this into a terrarium.
She also got me this weird cone-shaped jar. It's not the original lid, this is a candle holder from a sconce I think. Unless I can find a giant cork, I don't think I can make a terrarium out of it. I've filled it with artificial ivy leaves, it looks really pretty.
I woke up to this beautiful display on Valentine's Day morning.
Patrick's a little sweetheart isn't he?
Have pancakes!
Here is my foolproof pancake recipe.
You will need:
100g plain flour
1 free range organic egg
about 20g butter, melted
50ml milk and 50ml cold water mixed together in a jug
This serves about 1 person, so to serve more simply multiply the ingredients by how many people there are. I always multiply by four, but then I'm a greedyguts!
Method:
Sift flour
Beat in eggs until you have a big, sticky paste
Slowly pour in milk and water while beating slowly
Keep beating until you have no lumps and batter is consistency of double cream (but a bit thicker or thinner is fine too, depends how thick you like your pancakes. I like mine quite thick)
Pour in melted butter and beat until it has been mixed in
Leave for half an hour with a damp tea towel over the bowl
In a hot frying pan, brush some more melted butter
Cook a test pancake to see if the heat is right
Cook all the batter
Scoff!
The last but one pancake turned out like Queen Victoria!
I have been hit by the terrarium craze. Oh my goodness I love making them!
Glow-in-the-dark Fimo rocks. I made mushrooms for the terrariums (what's more than one terrarium? Terraria?) out of Fimo, and I built them on little metal pins. So they're easy to stick into the moss.
A moss terrarium I made for my lovely, crafty friend Sarah. The little mushroom glowing in the dark is too cute! I used a Bonne Maman jam jar (which was strawberry flavour I think) because I wanted the mushroom to match. It was quite hard giving this one away!
Close-up of the little glow-in-the-dark mushrooms I made for Patrick's birthday terrarium.
His jar came from Ikea. His bedroom is quite modern, so I wanted a modern jar to go with it. The mushrooms are growing on a tiny little hill!
A little fairy ring! It's straight out of Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree stories.
When I was back in West Wales a few weekends ago, I was telling my Mam about my plan to make terrariums and she found me this old sweet jar. It was in a cupboard and was covered in cobwebs, proper old!
They're about a fortnight old now, and the moss is growing lush and green. A few insects have appeared, there must have been some eggs hidden in the moss. I've left the jar outside with the lid off to give them a chance of flying away; I don't want them to starve in my terrarium. I'll try and take some more pictures to show the moss looking lovely and cushiony.
My pinwheel blanket. I started it when Mam Llanelli went into hospital, and finished it after she died. I've always used knitting (and now crochet) as a way of meditating, switching off from the outside world. This blanket helped me relax when Mam was ill and I was worrying; and it helped me to grieve for her. Even though she never saw it, or even knew about it, it will always remind me of her last weeks on Earth - and also of the huge gap she has left in the world. Having said that, it's a very happy blanket. I think she'd have liked that.
I love making tiltshift pictures! The original images aren't mine, they're found on the web. I just blurred them up a bit.
This is my favourite, it looks proper tiny!
I’ve been reading about birds’ nests, they are fascinating.
Male bowerbirds make elaborate bowers that they decorate with brightly coloured objects. These can include shells, flowers, coins, pieces of broken glass and sweet wrappers. They make these to attract females, and the males with the best bowers are the ones who stand a chance of procreating. Some hummingbirds make nests that are only two or three centimetres across.
There are nine different types of nest: Scrape, mound, burrow, cavity, cup, saucer, platform, pendant and sphere. A cup nest is the one most people will be familiar with, and a model I’ll be following.
A nest is, by definition, a safe, warm place to keep your babies out of harm’s way. This can be extended to mean somewhere that you yourself feel warm and safe, almost like the Welsh word ‘cwtsh’ (which has no exact English translation. It can mean, variously: a hug or cuddle; a safe, warm place; as a verb – ‘cwtsh in’ means to wrap up warm in blankets or bed; it also means a dog’s basket or sleeping place. It rhymes with the English word ‘butch’).
I’ve made a list of all the houses and flats I’ve ever lived, and all the places I’ve ever called home, such as my grandparents’ houses. I plan to crochet a nest to represent every house, and take photographs of them with on a wooden floor or board, with printed labels - just like a Victorian ornithologist.
I can crochet circles now. Whoop! I want to keep making loads in all different colours and sizes to eventually sew together into a throw.
In other news, look at this beautiful card I bought last month while Patrick and I were out having coffee:
I'm going to frame it. Rupert Annuals were a big part of my childhood.
