Quick Catch Up

It has been a while since my last post. We've not been away on holiday here this year but been on a few days out and hopefully we'll fit in another this weekend. 

I've been trying to keep Little L entertained with crafting and baking but she is becoming bored now and can't wait for school to start. 

Nail varnish pendants

Bread making

I did intend on decorating our bedroom over the holidays but it seems to have turned in to a mammoth job just sorting the room out before we begin. I've even discovered clothes that I have no recollection of buying (that shows how often I sort though my wardrobe). Trips have been made to charity shops and I've spent a lot of time listing things on Ebay. We still need to be more ruthless with the clearing out though.

Dentist and optician appointments have been attended to over the holidays. It was when I went to pick up my new specs that we ended up with our new family addition. The opticians had messed up my order, we had an hour to kill while they sorted it out so went to look at the animals in our local pet shop. I don't know how long the shop has been in our town but remember going in when I was little and I prefer going there rather than a large chain pet store. In that time we had fell in love with a lion head buck which we have named Leo. He's a lovely little thing but he's a bit of a nibbler. Not skin though thankfully but anything fabric, plastic or wood.

Konica Pop Camera

At the weekend I received my first set of prints taken with my Konica Pop camera.

 I'm always delighted when trying out a new camera and find it still works. The film I used was Agfa Vista Plus 200 which I bought from Poundland ( I've not seen any other camera film sold there ) When shopping for film I do usually buy 400 film but for a pound I thought it was worth a go.

These first photos were taken on a day out to Southport

and were taken at Valle Crucis Abbey in Wales.

I didn't have so much luck with the ninoka nk-700 on its first go. When the film had finished I couldn't seem to rewind it and when I opened the back of the camera the film had completely come out of the canister. The photos taken were of the Abbey so I'm glad I had taken some with the other camera. Never mind I'll try it out again another day.

Japanese Cheesecake

Today I tried out a new recipe, Japanese Cheesecake.

My cake sunk a bit in the middle even though I had let it cool slightly in the oven before I took it out. Caleb was in the house to do the taste test and it got a 'wow' from him. I tried some and I had to agree with him that it was rather nice. The cake only uses three ingredients too so not much weighing involved. The recipe that I used can be found here.

Paper Cutting

Today I had my first go at paper cutting art. The design I chose was Squirrely Valentine from Little Acorn. 

I made the mistake of not changing my blade before I began to cut and because it was abit blunt it dragged along the paper. Even though the design is simple I still found it quite tricky cutting around the acorns. 

I'm not sure if I could spent much time paper cutting as my hands were becoming quite painful when holding the knife even for something this small.
While I was searching for designs I found lots of free ones on Scherenschnitte. Some of the designs I think could also look nice as silhouette embroideries.

First Raspberries

This afternoon I remembered to go and check on my raspberries.

 The raspberry canes were given to me by my Gran a few years ago and they have now multiplied so I should get a good amount this time. The thing is that I usually forget to check them and by the time I remember the birds have eaten most of them.

I checked for ripe ones and picked a grand total of 11. I did as my Gran does and popped them in the freezer. I'm determined to beat the birds this year.

Vintage Style Underwear Sale

This is a quick spur of the moment post just in case anyone likes this kind of thing and has missed it. At the moment What Katie Did are holding a sale. I managed to buy myself some items this week which arrived the next day, beautifully packaged as always in tissue and tied with WKD ribbon along with two pin up style post cards. 

 The photo above is of the Valerie bra and knickers which I bought this week. New items have been added and I'm torn now if I should ask my hubbie while he is trying to nod off if he fancies buying me new undies. I'm sure he won't mind .. too much. Items go very fast.

Chester Mid Summer Watch Parade

After seeing the Mid Summer Watch Parade last year by chance we visited Chester yesterday especially to watch the parade again. We almost didn't make it on time as on the way we got stuck behind a heavy load vehicle which added 45 minutes to the journey but we managed to arrive just as it was beginning.

Little L still wasn't too keen on the green men or any of the other large puppets and kept hiding behind us when she knew one was getting close. There were lots of people watching again and I just wonder how busy it gets when the parade is on the Saturday. We had a good day out and the rain even stayed away until we got back home.