snow fun

Steph just downloaded these lovely pictures form his phone, i just had to share them it was such a great time. the other day i smelt spring in the air but now it is so cold i think we may have more snow.






ambika xx

adventures in bread making

j had the day off today so i had a lovely lie in and was awoken to the smell of freshly baked bread. what a treat. we've both been getting into bread making lately, partly as it is such a great activity for little stan to take part in especially the kneading bit! and of course because the bread tastes so good. so yesterday little stan and his dad mixed and prodded and waited and prodded some more and filled two tins to rise in the fridge overnight following delia's advice in this book. this is such a great thing to do as it means you can just pop the risen loaves in the oven first thing in the morning. so we sat down for breakfast, with our warm bread spread thickly with butter and jam. the crust had just the right crunch and the bread itself was light and slightly chewy. just delicious. this is the first white loaf we've made and it was a real success. i've been experimenting with wholemeal bread using a variety of recipes and adding sunflower seeds and walnuts (my favourite). but they usually end up too dense and heavy, so i'll just have to keep on practising until i find the perfect recipe. that'll keep us in bread for a while at least!

sarada x

a few things from the start of 2010 (and before)

hello again. it's been so long i don't really know where to begin. we had a truly lovely family christmas, i made this print for my mum as her secret santa.


and i received some really beautiful amazing handmade gifts myself, this hand turned bowl and rolling pin, and a lovely hand crafted wooden spoon. i felt incredibly lucky.


christmas was followed by a barrage of fancy dress parties, an 80's new year, a movie star 30th birthday, and another 1920's 30th birthday party. i decided to make a dress for the 1920's party, in hindsight it was a little ambitious but somehow i managed to pull it off, and the dress actually managed to stay together for the whole evening! i forgot to take a photograph which is a shame but i'm sure someone has out there.

we also had some snow which has now gone, and managed to get a little bit of sledging in, our chickens were very bemused by it all.









this is cattyfly (a cat who can fly) he landed on francisco's pillow one night causing much surprise and many tears. after a lengthy discussion, cattyfly has now become a friend and we have been awaiting another visit with much anticipation. i have copied franc's picture and made a toy one for his birthday. This is very organised for me as his birthday is not for a couple of months.

and lastly, check out the size of my parsnip. i dug up this beauty just before christmas. i cant wait to get the garden planted up this year.



ambika x

thank you's

hello again. i/we really didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging. i just can't believe january has been and gone already! after the excitement of christmas and being snowed in for two weeks, we're only just emerging from our hibernation and getting into a routine. tentatively venturing out into the cold world to meet up with old friends. it's nice to be back to some sort of normal.

a month after the event, we only just managed to send out thank you cards for all the presents that my little one got for christmas! he was a lucky boy. we chose a photo from the snowy holidays and then got them printed into postcards. stanley was aware of the whole process and i hope that gradually his input into giving thanks for this kind of occasion will increase.

talking of thanks, my sister and i would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by here in the last year. we really do appreciate all your comments and hope that you will continue to enjoy visiting us and perhaps get a little bit inspired too.

best wishes to all of you for a great 2010.

sarada x

alternatives to wrapping paper

we are down in cornwall for the christmas holidays staying with my little sis. apparently her local council don't recycle wrapping paper as a lot of them contain plastic and not so much paper. so she has asked us to think about using alternatives. you can read more about it here. recycled paper is definitely the way to go and check that what you're wrapping with is 100% paper so it can be recycled.

these are a few different ideas on what else to use -

we have been collecting the wrapping paper sheets from the guardian newspaper over the last week (above). each sheet is designed by a celebrity and some of them are quite nice.

the exotic paper company: recycled paper infused with tree seeds.

myfuroshiki: a japanese way of wrapping gifts with cloth.

acornpies: shows how to make origami boxes, good for smaller items.

you could also use pretty magazine pages.

or newspaper, especially coloured ones like the financial times. everyone likes pink don't they!

or how about a pretty piece of material that can be used by the receiver for a craft project.

tied up with a nice ribbon, i think these ideas would look lovely and make your gifts especially unique.

what will you be wrapping your gifts with this year?

sarada x

christmas traditions

we braved the bad weather this weekend and went out and got our christmas tree. dusted down the decorations tin and searched for the lights in the shed. we got our tree a bit earlier than usual as we are going away for the holidays so wanted to enjoy it a little bit first. when i was decorating the tree, it got me thinking about family traditions, the kind of christmases stanley will look forward to and what our part will be in creating these special memories for him. so much responsibility!

one of our traditions is to send my mum and j's mum a decoration for their tree. and they always send me something for ours too. so for this years decoration, stan and i made some hearts, birds and stars out of salt dough, inspired by the december/january issue of the green parent magazine, that we dried in the airing cupboard and threaded with ribbon and twine. we made a garland and put some on the tree. the others i will post. i just hope they survive the journey!

sarada x

a cosy day

we arrived home late last night, tired but happy after a long weekend away. it was cold and rainy today so a good excuse to stay in and get cosy. for lunch, we made bread rolls that we buttered hot from the oven and sweet potato and pumpkin soup. and i roasted the seeds too. i like to spoon them straight from the pumpkin onto the oven tray with the stringy bits and mix with oil and soy sauce. so i've been snacking on those all day in between making tents and inspired by one of little stan's favourite stories at the moment - we're going on a bear hunt, hiding from bears!

sarada x