Before I had my real babies...

...I had many surrogate children. Now, take a deep breath, oh ye of faint heart. For what I am about to tell you may shock you to the core.

I like rats. Pet rats, fancy rats that is... rattus norvegicus, rather than the black rat of the "carrying the fleas that carried the plague" fame. They are truly delightful, similar in temperament to dogs, and just as easily trained! I'm giving you fair warning, there will be a couple of photos later, that you may well not want to see - I fully understand that some people think that they are pretty foul.

As I was looking for photos for this blog post, I came to the realisation that I've not scrapbooked about any of the rats so far, hence this post. Here's hoping it doesn't send you reaching for the close tab.

I've had the pleasure of knowing 22 in all, mostly in batches, and mostly females. Female rats are inquisitive, intelligent, friendly and very sociable. Our first big group were 6 girls named after 50s film stars, of which Dot (Doris) was my favourite. She was tiny, but by far the bravest of them all.



(notice I'm easing you in by not showing a picture that shows her tail!)

At one point, we had 13 - due to a pregnant pet shop rat. We gave all the females to good homes, but kept the males, 6 in all, named after Liverpool FC managers. If I could remember the names or thought you'd be interested, I'd list them! *sexism alert* They pretty much behaved as stereotypical male animals - sat around stuffing their faces with food, peeing everywhere and didn't move much. Working on their fat storage, presumably. They were still delightful, but much less interesting to watch than the giddy girls.

I shan't go on any more, but shall leave you with a photo of another glamorous rat Mazz (named after Marilyn Monroe). She was an albino rat, the ones with the pink eyes, and was a grumpy little sod. Unsurprising though, seeing as she couldn't see past her whiskers. The head-scarf is due to hair-loss, the story of which I may well share another day...


So, tell me. Do they make you cringe? Or do you want to reach out and stroke?

The thing is...

that it's been an inordinate amount on time since I last dove into the world of blogs. It's all been a bit busy due to the birth of the bump (E.T.A. it's a girl! Heather, you are forgiven, I should've stated that she looks like her dad :) ). And I can't believe I didn't even post about it here. So hello to anyone who's wondered back to take a peek, and I'll try to do better this time!

However, I'm taking an opportunity to reactivate my blog (and hopefully my energy for it) for at least the next three weeks. Three weeks because that's how long Shimelle's "Blogging for Scrapbookers" class is. Which I signed up for this time last year, but never did anything about. But that's the best thing about Shimelle's classes is that once you've signed up, you get to play again each year, free of charge.

So, my intention is to post a pretty picture each day, and try to fill in some more meaningful words a minimum of once a week. I hope you'll be with me, and I hope I'll make you smile at least once.

Sarah

P.S. I've missed you guys x

With love from me to you

Good evening folks. It is a special day today, one which you will always look back upon with fondness. Today, I shall be sharing with you my most favourite recipe, for raspberry chocolate brownies. And for this, you will either love me or hate me, but either way you'll love the brownies! I didn't get a chance to photograph today's version, so here's one that I made earlier!


So, are you ready? Here goes...

(from Donna Hay "Chocolate")

160g plain flour, sifted
200g dark chocolate, chopped
250g butter
205g brown sugar
4 eggs (I usually use medium)
1/4 tspn baking powder
40g cocoa powder, sifted
1.5 cups raspberries fresh or frozen (I reckon frozen is better, not worth wasting the fresh on this, better to make cranachan...)
Oven preheated to 180C. Put choc and butter into a small pan over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Put in a bowl together with the sugar and eggs (I usually mix the latter two first). Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa and mix to combine. Pour into a 23cm/9 inch square, greased cake tin lined with greaseproof paper, top with the raspberries and bake for 45 mins/until set. No need to defrost the raspberries.
I make half this mixture, and use a loaf tin to bake it in. It takes a little less time to cook though. It also freezes very well, though may not get a chance depending on how many people are about!
And why am I sharing this with you? Well, it's my birthday, and it seems to be the tradition that on your birthday, people expect you to give them cake. I've almost managed it :) Enjoy x

More baked goods!

Today, I've been mostly eating cake. So, I'll post a couple of healthy breakfast muffin recipes that have been developed in an attempt to make me feel less guilty about needing said cakey things to fuel my baby bump (which, just in case you're wondering, is rather large and starting to be uncomfortable at 25 weeks/6 months). They both stemmed from the fact that I didn't have certain ingredients for a recipe that I'd found on-line, and I improvised with what I had in the cupboard/fridge. The basic recipe was this:

• 300g plain wholemeal flour
  
• 50g rolled porridge oats, plus extra for decoration
• 3 heaped tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp mixed spice
  
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  
• 100g raisins
  
• 50g pecans, chopped
  
• 50g caster sugar
  
• 100ml sunflower oil
  
• 150ml natural yogurt
  
• 150ml milk
  
• 1 medium egg, beaten
  
• 2 medium bananas, mashed
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 small apples, grated
  
• 1 medium carrot (100g peeled weight), coarsely grated

To Decorate
Sunflower and pumpkin seeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Lightly oil a non-stick muffin pan with 12 large cups (or two six-cup pans) (Or use muffin cases, like I did!)

Sprinkle with oats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (or not), and bake for 20 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then cool on a rack. Eat when still warm.

You can prepare the dry and wet ingredients the night before. Combine the two in the morning and you'll have a fresh-baked breakfast."

The ingredients are many, but I love the fact that you just sling them all together and give them a bit of a stir. The first time, I didn't have apples, so I put pears in, and substituted the raisins and apricots for dried dates and figs, chopped into tiny pieces. I didn't have pecans and didn't want the seeds on top, so I just put pine nuts into the mix. I also left a bit of the sugar out. Ta da!


These were really lovely, and inspired me to think of what else I could put in to up the "healthiness" factor. Have a guess. Go on....

Change the carrot for beetroot, and keep the apple. Swap the raisins and apricots for figs and dates again, and all the seeds and nuts for the pine nuts, and you get these:


Even more delish. I promise! If these are a bit too healthy for you, just wait two ticks, and read on...

August is a manic birthday month for me, with 10 all in the first two week, and four of those are in my direct family! As well as the birthday party for the first-born next weekend, Mr Love_Crafts has also requested various chocolatey treats in order to celebrate his birthday, which is this weekend. So, after my little cupcake adventure a couple of weeks ago, I found a buttercream recipe that fitted my concept of icing much better than the cream cheese abomination that curdled (see here if you have no idea what I am on about). I perked this and the cake base up with a bit of fairtrade cocoa, and le voila as they say.


I also made jams and rocky road, but seeing as those are neither baked nor as pretty, I shall leave them out!

So tell me, if you're still here... does the thought of beetroot muffins appeal to you?

Let them eat cake!

Well, cupcakes, to be precise. It's fast approaching the day where I sweat and toil to make my darling daughter's 3rd birthday most memorable. It's also the first birthday party I have ever organised. It may only be 6 toddlers and their respective parents (hopefully just one half of the full set), but I am a bit concerned.

So I've been practicing. DD has requested cupcakes. And I've never made them before. Plenty of muffins, pies, quiches, cakes, blah de blah, but never cupcakes. And seeing as the only bit she ever eats is the icing, then I need to get that right! So here is our joint effort:


I thought I'd get the guests to decorate their own cupcakes with sprinkles etc. This might give the 3 boys a chance to escape the pink-fest that the party shows signs of becoming. I swear I have been as non-girly, colour-neutral as I am myself with DD, but she still professes that pink is her favourite colour. I blame society. And Peppa Pig.


And the taste test?


Believe it or not, that's a happy grin. She just had a mouthful of the icing and didn't want to swallow it too quickly!

But my favourite one is this (perhaps because it looks most like pictures of other ones I've seen):


The close-up shows that the cheese/butter icing thing has curdled a little, not sure what I did wrong. It did taste lovely though. But I'd like to get it smoother, so any tips would be gratefully received.

What did you get up to today? Do tell ;)

Yes, yet another project...

...but this one was planned before. I just could not resist when I found this yarn at £1.99 a ball, half price. £1.99, for cashmere/merino/silk!! (and I rarely use two exclamation points).

I have decided to make the DD a bedspread for those oh so chilly nights that will no doubt be upon us by the time I've finished it (though having said that, it is coming together rather quickly). I just couldn't resist these colours:


and Iz was pleased too, when she saw them. She said she liked the colours, and then, without prompting, she said "and I like the pattern too". (Warning: Proud parent alert) And she's not even 3 yet.


It is a wonderful ripple/zigzag/wave that I found here. It only took me two nights to crochet 6 inches of about 5 foot width. I figured if I crocheted a cover for a single bed, then it'd last her a long while. Even though the yarn was cheap, it still cost £56 to purchase. She's worth it :)

I've nearly finished the new pastel cotton baby blanket of granny squares, I've been commissioned to make a scarf for a blog reader (you know who you are, I've got the yarn and will start it soon!), and THAT bedspread is still lurking. I've discovered a new way to sew the squares together, and I'll blog about that in the next few days or so. Promise!

But what's made me smile much more than yarny loveliness is that Iz wanted to crochet with me. I can see I'm going to have to let her have her own hook to pretend with, until she gets to the stage where she'll let me show her how to do it the proper way. And then I really will be smiling!

What makes you smile? Do tell :)

What did you do last weekend?

I made this:

A real, honest-to-goodness book. With a ribbon bookmark and everything:


Totally from scratch. Well, from fabric, greyboard, paper, ribbon, thread, glue, and a few specific book-bindy bits. Including the stripey bit that protects the book when you pull it off the shelf...


Can you see it there? That's how you know it's a proper book. That, and the fact that I STITCHED the pages together, and glued them too, so that they fan out like this:


In a word, "amazing". It was the best £25 I've ever spent. 6 hours of a bookbinding course, and I can guarantee that this will be the first of many books that I make, in varying sizes, patterns, paper types and so on. And what will I do with them all, I hear you ask?

Why, line them up on shelves and look at the oh so pretty patterns on the covers.

I may even give a couple away. May.

Crochet stripes

At the moment, my most favourite thing to crochet apart from granny squares, is a scarf. Not just an ordinary scarf though, a soft bamboo loveliness that is a joy to make, and from the reactions I've got so far, a joy to touch and receive. This is the third one I've made, and it's so simple.


I know it's odd making scarves in this weather, but needs must (birthday presents for boss-type men).

Just in case you're wondering how to make it, I used a yarn that's mostly bamboo, as this is light and silky (for example, Rowan Bamboo Soft or Sirdar Flirt), 2 x 50g balls of the main colour, then one of each of the other complimentary colours. I then chained as many stitches as I needed for the length, then double crochet for one row, then switched to treble. Switch as many colours, and treble crochet as many rows as you want, then finish with a row of doubles.

I have my eye on a wave pattern (See here for a gorgeous example). I just need to get one more lacy scarf for a present out the way... and maybe do some more of those 384 granny squares for that bedspread. Oh and the cotton baby blanket I started, and the amigurumi book i've borrowed from my friend...

DId I hear someone say "UFO"?

So, the reason for the long absence was...

this:


It's due on or around the 5th November. So for the last 3 months, I've mostly been sleeping, when I've not been working that is!

I do hope you'll forgive me, now you know the reason. And I promise faithfully this won't turn into a baby blog *holds fingers in Brownie promise style salute thingy*. We're selling our house too so it's all a bit manic, yet depressingly craft-clutter-free in here.

Hopefully, I'll be back soon, with more tales from the crochet basket, or perhaps the sewing machine.

Late to the party

Ok, so get all the usual comments about how long it's been out of the way. It's been a long and tiring 3 months, more will be explained over the weekend. However, for those of you who spotted the references to the stay at the Hilton on my tweet feed a few weeks ago this photo shows you just how glam it was:



I was teaching my wonderful friend H how to crochet. And very therapeutic it was too. We did do glam things like bask in the pool, and nibble lovely things in the Executive Lounge, but we mostly caught up on each other's lives, since we haven't seen each other in nearly 2 and a half years. So I haven't been totally lazy, honest!

But mostly, I thought I'd get this quickie post in before the next one, just to let you know about the blog inspiration party over at Copy & Paste last weekend. I haven't had a chance to fully explore all the guest posts, but I can tell you there is some seriously amazing talent over there. Go see!

One of the party posts that has stirred my blogging bone is the "confessional" type list. If you're a reader of my blog, you'll have already seen the previous two layouts I've done on confessionals here, but I thought I'd answer the well-thought out questions.

1. Everyone knows that I .am a crafter.. , but you'd never guess that ...I am actually a scientist too.
2. I'm proud to admit that I like ....keeping busy... but my guilty pleasure is .... just sitting still, reading
3. I'm inspired by ...nature.....and it surprises me when ..I realise just how much!
4. I'm always ..wanting to learn new things.. but I'm never ..totally satisfied..
5. I've got lots of ..crafting stuff... but I've always wanted .....more crafting stuff :).......
6. I tried to ...stop buying more stuff on the internet.. and it ..has mostly worked so far....
7. If I never .. learn to make patchwork quilts.. it will be .....my own fault....
8. I didn't ...cut out cakes after I had my daughter.. and now ....I wish I had!
9. It's not that I ..don't like going out with people but I'd really rather ..stay at home with my family..
10. Doing .things with yarn. makes me ..relax...
11. Someone once told me ..every cloud has a silver lining..and then ...I kept looking for them 'til I found them.
12. I'm happy to say that ..I enjoy "meeting" new friends on-line.. and even .. if I don't comment all the time, I'm still reading and appreciating the sharing of lives....

Please let me know if you blog your confessions, I'm a nosy beggar!