Hello winter

Jack frost has been up to his old tricks again. I am hiding for a few weeks in the countryside, away from the traffic and noise and general madness of yuletide consumerism. But he has found me. And he is relentless.

 The little valley around me hasn't thawed for days. Neither have my feet.

There is half a mile between me and civilisation. A beautiful, crunchy, crispy, slippery half a mile. The little kid in me loves to trudge through these leaves. I feel like a giant ploughing over a carpet of frosted flakes.

But the artist in me wants to preserve these little gems. Discarded leaves dusted in ice transform into something quite beautiful.

The sensible part of me knows that they will soon start to melt, so I find a happy medium. The artist gets out her camera and snap snap snaps, then the kid gets her wellies on and jump jump jumps!

That old Jack is a handy little decorator though isn't he? Who'd have known I'd want to cut a bramble and stick it on top of a Christmas cake? Maybe I need to make some sugar leaves before I start munching on a hedge on my way home!

You Get Rainbows When it Rains

The sun is shining but autumn is nipping at the door . I am currently wrapped up on the sofa with a hot water bottle feeling particularly sorry for myself. I'm on my third course of antibiotics for a nasty bladder infection. Today is the first day in a week that I've felt well enough to do a bit of sewing (I have a hexie project on the go - pics to come!). Fingers crossed I'm on the mend now!

But I can't really complain. Because someone made me a rainbow cake...

... and it was delicious.  :)

I dream of Origami

Small and intricate and delicately folded, I am feeling the need for Origami in my life.  I don't have any projects on the go to keep my hands busy of an evening, so I'm off to find some paper and to start folding! Who's with me??

Love Lace

Hello hello!

Well guess who finally got a land line sorted? Clever little me, that's who!

It was a rare and beautiful day yesterday and I could feel my soul smile a little as I sat in the sunshine, soaking up some much needed vitamin D. We haven't had enough light filled, airy summer days this year, not by far. Here's hoping we get another couple before those dark winter nights creep in!

Stamp me up

I've always fancied making my own stamps. At work we have little birdy and leaf stamps that we use to mark off drinks on our loyalty cards, and there's something so satisfying about squishing the tiny little blocks into the ink pad! Here's some monday morning stampy inspiration for us all:

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Hello Birdy

So I first met Eve O'Neill on the dance floor of my local live music venue. It took me a while to put two and two together and realise that she was the proprietor of Fforestfelt, and creator of these beautiful felted birdies!

I never cease to be amazed by how realistic Eve's felt sculptures look. They're absolutely stunning.

You could easily mistake this guy for a real life visitor to the garden!

Eve's business is flourishing, and she was recently featured in Country Living Magazine too! Quite deservedly I think you'll agree.

If you'd like to see more of Eve's work visit her website, or facebook profile.

Crafty Storage Solutions

So, I have somewhat of a space issue when it comes to crafting. I live in a teeny tiny little shoe box of a flat and as renting workshop space isn't really an option for me at the moment, I am going to have to be ridiculously organized in running Crafty Jemima from home (Yes those of you who know me may well be laughing right now!). My only saving grace is that I have beautiful high ceilings and so plenty of wall space. So I'm looking out for some creative storage solutions, and here are some inspirational pics that tinterweb has to offer:

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I wish wish wish I had a closet like this!!

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I have a ton of empty jars and bottles so something like this will do me fine.

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There's a great little tutorial goes along with this pic - click on the source button and hop on over.

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Magnets are the way to go me thinks!

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I literally don't have enough space to do this, but the shelving is inspired. Anyone of you lovely crafters have any tips / clever storage solutions in your craft spaces??

Hi!

Hello Strangers! Oh how I have missed you! I am sat in the window wishing the sun would rise high enough to warm me a little, waiting for two loaves of onion thyme bread to prove and listening to the gurgling of fermenting hop wine. It's time for a cuppa, but I thought I'd drop in and say hi before I whack the kettle on.

I haven't had an Internet connection for a fair while now, and I'm struggling to keep up with my online craft community. But I've decided to bite the bullet and install a land line, so hopefully I'll be cooking with gas again soon! So lovely ones, you'll be lucky enough to see a lot more of me soon!

Another decision I've made recently is to re-stock my folksy shop and hopefully open up on etsy too. So watch this space within the next couple of months for lots more crafty goings on! How exciting! Right well I'm off to put these loaves in the oven and make myself a warm cup of tea. Happy crafting!

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