Happy Birthday to you!

Congratulations on two years of WOYWW? I bet when you first came up with the idea Julia, you had no idea of what it would grow into! Such a simple idea, but so utterly fascinating to anybody as nosey as me.

Did you know that one of the reasons I wanted to have my own blog, was so that I could join in with the weekly peek into everyone’s crafty corner of the world. I shared my desk for the very first time only 10 weeks ago and now I’m hooked.

Sharing my craft space has had an unexpected side effect. I put things away when I have finished with them, which means when I feel like making something there is always room to do just that. Unless of course my daughter gets there first!

I have been more creative in the last couple of months, than the last year and that has to be a good thing. It has been wonderful to find new and inspiring blogs and a whole bunch of lovely people to meet out there.

Here’s to many more years of desk hopping. Thankyou Julia for masterminding the whole marvellous plan. Happy Birthday WOYWWers!

Peanut Butter Cookies

It’s been a little while since I shared a recipe, so I thought it was time I put that right. I baked a batch of these cookies yesterday, which gave me a photo opportunity and here they are in all their golden chewy loveliness.

For a dozen large cookies you will need:

4oz butter

7oz light brown soft sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4oz crunchy peanut butter

6oz plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2oz plain chocolate, chopped

Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.

Beat in the peanut butter, followed by the flour and bicarb, until you have a nice smooth dough.

Stir in the chocolate until evenly spread through the mixture.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and put 6 on each baking tray, leaving plenty of room for spreading.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170 C for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Leave the cookies to cool on the tray for a few minutes before placing on a cooling rack.

Enjoy with a glass of cold milk or a nice cup of coffee.

You could use smooth peanut butter if you prefer, but I like the texture that the little pieces of nut gives them. The plain chocolate could be left out, or indeed doubled if you like lots of choc chips in your cookies, for me that amount gives the right balance of flavours.

Let me know if you give them a try.

 

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

Well here we are again, another week, another desk shot!

I’ve been playing around with the ipod case from Mollie Makes and made a few changes to the design. The cream piece of felt in the kit wasn’t big enough to go right across the width of the case, so I picked a blue from my stash to use instead.

I decided to scallop the strip and cut the circle to match, using a Nestie die. I cut the wing as an extra piece, instead of a cut out and made the bird face the other way. I’m quite pleased with the way it looks, so now just to sew it all together.

If you fancy a peek at lots of other lovely desks then head on over to Julia’s place to find them all. I remembered the link this week!

Introducing Mollie Makes

I happened across this new magazine quite by accident, while roaming around in the blogosphere, one day last month. I’ve been eagerly awaiting its launch ever since. I finally got my hands on a copy earlier in the week and I’m loving it so far.

 

I spotted in on the shelf in WH Smith and I must admit I was slightly put off by the front cover. I would love to learn to crochet, but jackets for apples? Really?

I was won over by the cute felt kit, which my daughter has already laid claim to for her ipod touch.

 

The kit was very simple to cut out and I’ll make this one up for her, once I’ve bought some matching thread and then use the pattern to make a few more as gifts.

There is lots of lovely inspiration among the magazines 100 pages and what sold it for me was being able to have a little flick through them. I hate it when mags are sealed inside plastic bags and you can’t have a look, before deciding whether or not to buy. If you fancy a peek then have a look at these sample pages.

Looking forward to next month’s issue. Keep up the good work Miss Mollie.

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

Can it really be Wednesday again already? I’ve been a very bad blogger these past few weeks and I do apologise for that. It’s been a pretty tough month, but I hope to get back into the swing of things very soon.

What’s on my desk this week? Not very much in the way of crafty projects! The desk was cleared yesterday, to make way for paper and ribbons, to wrap birthday presents for my daughter, who is 12 today.

I managed to track down a copy of the new Mollie Makes magazine, which is looking very promising, but more on that tomorrow. My next job is making chocolate ganache for the birthday cake. Gotta run!

What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

I had an entry to finish in a Circle Journal at the weekend and this is what was left on my desk afterwards. It’s still there!

If you’re wondering why I’m showing you a selection of dirty stamps and a very inky craft sheet then head on over to Julia’s blog, where all will become clear.

I’m off to see what everyone else has been up to.

And the winner is…..

Two weeks ago I posted a poll and 24 lovely readers took the time to vote. The overwhelming conclusion was ‘A bit of a everything’ is what most (twenty) people want. Only 4 people picked a specific topic and their votes went to Crafting/WOYWW and Five Things I’m Loving This Friday, which got 2 apiece.

Thankyou to everyone who voted and/or left a comment.

As we count down to my daughters 12th birthday in a couple of weeks of time, I thought I would share this page with you today.

The Dress

There has been much speculation over the last week as to what the dress would look like, so I thought I would share a dress story of my own.

A very dear friend of mine had a black tie party for his 18th birthday and although the cry may often be heard, I really did not have a thing to wear. I have always been a jeans wearing kinda girl and could think of nothing suitable in my wardrobe for such an occasion.

I knew that the sort of dress I had in mind would be beyond my limited Saturday girl in a shoe shop budget. There was only one thing for it, I’d have to make one. My Mum rolled her eyes at the very thought, no doubt remembering a school report entry for needlework saying, “She shows little interest in the subject and makes very little effort.”

Undaunted, I chose a pattern and a length of silky purple taffeta, dragged out my Mum’s old Singer from where it languished at the bottom of her wardrobe and began. It was not an easy task and possibly a crazy undertaking for my first attempt at a piece of clothing. I cursed that slippery fabric many times, but I persevered and ended up with a dress I was proud to wear to my friend’s party.

This picture was taken a couple of years later, in my halls of residence, when the dress had its third outing, to a Summer ball. It still hangs in the back of my wardrobe, although I can no longer shoe horn myself into it! I just couldn’t bear to part with it, even after 25 years. Maybe one day my daughter will want to wear it and continue its story.

After enjoying all the other stories that were shared as part of Sian’s Storytelling Sunday last month, I decided to take the plunge and join in today.