My Life's Ingredients

No resolutions here, just aspirations, which I may post tomorrow or Saturday - whenever I find the time. Just a quick "Happy New Year and all the best for 2016" for anyone who's reading my blog. ;) I hope to post a bit more again. ;)

Earlier this year I read on Rinda's blog about the Winter Photographic Scavenger Hunt hosted by Eileen (in my playroom) and Joy (Daisy Row) and I loved the idea (actually toyed with the idea in the past to set one up myself a couple of years ago).  Sooo, to add to my already full list of things to do in December I thought one more thing won't hurt!! ;) (Silly me!).  HERE IS THE LIST A robin Redbreast Tinsel Outside lighting A Star A snowman A puddle Berries and/or nuts A wreath A tree that has lost all its leaves A windy day Your favourite pudding A fancy button Street Art Afternoon Tea Candle Light A Chimney A ladder An arrow A fountain Cutlery Your own handwriting (this one is compulsory and cannot be substituted) If you find any of the above hard to get you may substitute one or more from the subjects below, except No 21, which is compulsory. Alt A: A supermarket Trolley or basket filled with shopping Alt B: An animal statue Alt C: Metal

Welcome to the annual "OH SH... Sugar, it's only 10 days to Christmas and I haven't done ANYTHING yet!!!" post ... ;) Well... the 2 packages to Germany have been sent in time at least (that COULD have been prevented, had I started the presents maybe in November???! Then I could have taken the presents with me on our trip (and sent one internally there and hand off the others)). And we baked one batch of cookies (well... I made the dough, the girls did the mixing, started helping with the cutting out and then both got evicted from helping due to not following instructions despite being told 3 times each)... I've got 2 to 4 handmade presents to do (depending if the girls get their Disney Princesses PJs now or for their birthday). And maybe some cards for family and maybe for (crafty) friends (at least I had the foresight to obtain their addresses). Also was hoping to make at least 2 more batches of cookies (might be more) and a Stollen (this year o

We're still having an unbroken record of homemade Halloween Costumes for the girls, 4th year running!! :) The girls only told me middle of September they wanted to go as Tigger & Eeyore instead of Supergirl & Miss Martian (the costumes from the Edinburgh Comic Con would have still fitted fine!!)... So, trying to figure out how to make the ideas work I opted for tutus and hoodies (given Scottish weather around Halloween). We'll keep the tutus for visiting Mickey (and hopefully Eeyore & Tigger will make an appearance, too!) next year, but will change tops to T'shirts instead of hoodies (given Florida heat! ;) ). Eeyore's costume was finished on Wednesday, and I decided to omit the tummy patches due to the hoodie pockets and the fact that I went with grey and should have gone with light pink & light yellow (for Tigger). I bought Tigger's tutu from my friend Elaine as she still had a Halloween Witch's one left over (and colour scheme fitted

We had a bit of a slow day today, given the Hobbitses decided to take 1 hour for eating porridge. That was okay with me, as I'm quite choked with the head cold ... again... still... whatever! We took the car and parked in Belgrave Gardens to pop to the Wee Shop, to finally make our first purchases in Störtebäcker's physical shop. :) Got some pretzels for lunch (1 Salty for Supergirl, 1 Cheesy with Salami for Miss Martian and 1 cheesy for me ... errr... not pointing them ... just know that I probably have to halve my weekly points!! ;) ), cinnamon buns for the whole family and 2 slices of pear & almond cake for Doug and myself. :) Then off to the UPS collection place to pick up my parcel from a Craftster Swapper with the "Back to Hogwarts" items for me. Hobbitses decided we're having lunch up at Corstorphine Hill, so they can look for more autumn leaves (current obsession to bring home ...besides feathers, stones, acorns, beechnuts and branches...) and I

Just a quick update on crafty things... ;) I've signed up for another swap on Craftster ... :o But hey ... it's for a great person and fab crafter and I'm looking forward to making items for her (edited - that's already finished and sent - "Back to Hogwarts Swap" for Ant Bee). Whittling down the lists Nursery teachers' presents for when the girls leave in less than 2 weeks (pinterest to the rescue ... I have now found an idea I quite like and hopefully get sorted!)  -  DONE An order placed with  Kat'sGeekKrafts   for bags .     DONE Crochet summer hat for wee Erica Crochet summer hat for wee Finlay (re-do as the wee boy has a bigger head than anticipated!! ;) )  2/3 Done!! YAY Instead of the Wooly ghan below I'll make a FiS inspired something in time for DH's birthday Wooly ghan for hubby's Christmas (?) Wooly ghan for big sis (that will be most likely for Christmas if not next year, not her birthday) OAHPT Swap for Ginny (got

... well... in a crafting kinda sense. One person in our OAHPT (One Awesome Harry Potter Thing) swap (where I made the paper pieced blocks on a tote) flaked and because the swapper who lost out lives in Scotland I decided to jump in to make her something and then she wouldn't have to wait too long for the postie to deliver it. :D I had been toying with the idea of making another paper pieced item, but she stated that she likes Amigurumi ... and she likes Buckbeak (the Hippogriff in HP). Soooo ... in my infinite wisdom I decided to make something fairly new to me (I've only made 1 amigurumi before, for yet another HP swap), and the pattern was a bit of a problem for me, too (the "toes" and the wings in particular ... had to ask several friends on help what the foundation stitch is!!)!! But here he is ... Baby Buckbeak, ready to "wing" his way to Stirling tomorrow!! ;) The pattern can be found here .   I should be safe to post this, as my swap

Ok.. not the most inspired title for the blog entry today, I admit. But I'm still a bit tired, and brain's still not 100% back to working order (lingering migraine since Tuesday). So that's my excuse, and I'll stick to it. ;)  Well... the Hobbitses will start pre-school nursery a week today. And that means I have 1 more year to look into part time work for myself to fund holidays for us (and my crafts, I suppose).  Sooo ... in a dash of madness I decided yesterday after Body Balance to look at some of the job sites online. Just out of interest.  My CV mostly shows Customer Service... in telecoms and Finance. Joy! Some rebellious voice in my head screams against going back to either field, and even is against going back into admin.  Now ... that little rebellious voice wants to do something more creative. Or something in the medical field / research. For that, admin would be allowed again. ;) Or working at a school/university (but most unlikely teaching

Another busy week again ... really can't wait for the nursery to start up! :) On Friday the girls were "camping" ... downstairs in the living room, with daddy on the airbed beside the tent. That was the easiest solution for us to have their bedroom ready for the replacement of the old Velux Window on Saturday morning. ;) They liked it a lot, and who knows, maybe next step is sleeping out in the garden for a night ... next year? ;) Of course we had an early morning, not only for Niz to come and replace the window, but also because the girls were due to go to yet another (!!!) birthday party! Seems since nursery broke up they've been to 1-2 birthday parties each week!! And we still have 2 more to go! ;) I myself was very busy last week finishing off my first Kat's Geek Krafts order (!!) of 25 custom bags. I will post a photo after the event, just in case the organisers want to keep the design a surprise. Just can say it's "Shiny" and inv

A quick update ... Doing ok so far with  Rinda's Scavenger Hunt , me thinks! ;)   A bouquet of flowers We've been invited to a friend's wedding evening do, and I managed to take a photo of the table decorations. An ornate door knocker A person walking a dog (or other animal) People playing a board game or card game Architectural columns Edinburgh Council Building - that's where hubby registered the birth of the Hobbitses 4 years ago!! And then I came across this print at the Camera Obscura ... and I just LOVED it (and the way it kinda fits this prompt!!) A metal bridge A turtle Someone "plugged in" to social media A tent A tent at the "Wild Wednesdays" event. I'm sure I can find more during Festival Time though! A college or university A cellular tower or television satellite dish A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet A merry-go-round or carousel The Carousel is back in Princes Street Gardens A traffic signal Quickly taken a