Home Is Where The Heart Is

Posted on May 3, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I am very proud of myself – I have remembered the reason I started this blog and have now taken photos of three journal pages – not to mention the half dozen or so photos of cards that are now on Orlando’s pinterest page! My photography skills are questionable, but I am thinking that if I keep at it I have to get better, so now I am keeping the camera ready to go, on the table at all times. [I’m also following KBT’s advice and trying for shots in the morning light] It appears to be a good thing to do as I snapped a photo of Orlando watching the latest antics of Maru on You Tube through the TV screen yesterday morning. He was sitting up tall and straight and blinking furiously and warbling at him in a friendly kind of a manner as Maine Coons do [they are on the whole very chatty in a non-annoying kind of way] hoping to get the cat’s attention and have a new friend……. so cute!!

[Maru’s ears are back as he’s just realised the water has got his tail!]

But that’s not why we are here. Back to the page you are about to see.

I follow a couple of great artists on You Tube Claudia Rossi and France Papillon both are really inspiring and have great videos – France regularly and Claudia now and again. You will find them by just typing their names into the YT search engine.

I’ve been playing with a theme of ‘happy houses’ for some years now – I used to paint smallish canvases with individual houses or groups of them – all slightly wonky and looking very happy and pleased with themselves. All the canvases sold and I never took photos of them. When I saw Claudia’s journal page of houses a few months back, I decided to have a go too. A chance to move from working with paint alone into mixed media with a familiar theme. I didn’t feel brave enough to stay with my original style working in such a confined space as a journal page so I pretty much copied what I remembered seeing in her tutorial.

I sprayed the top half of the pages liberally with Dylusions in shades of blues and purples and the bottom half in yellows. I used a mask to create the full moon and stars, a white gel pen to outline the moon and stars and a Tim Holtz stamp supplied the curve of birds across the face of the moon.

The houses were cut from card which I had coloured with a two or three shades of Tim Holtz stains and then dry embossed with one of my favourite embossing folders which features a woodgrain on one side and brickwork on the other. I think it’s a Spellbinders.

I cut out the window shapes, attached some tracing paper and scrawled in the dividing lines and the window frames with a Sharpie. The doors were made using left over scraps of paper from the ‘scraps’ drawer.

I ran a ton of red stained card through the die cutter using a narrow lace die and layered them on top of each other, cut to roof type shapes and bunged ’em down on top of the house rectangles. .

The fence was added in and the little flowers were also used as they had been annoyingly sitting around for years and I needed to use them up once and for all!

Voila – light filled houses on a moonlit night!

Thanks for stopping by ~ and have a very happy day!

The Heart Is Ever Young

Posted on April 30, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

Secure in the knowledge that no-one now reads my blog except my eldest daughter I can happily post photos of the journal page that appeared after the events described in one of my previous blogs, so endearingly titled ‘You Old Bitch!’.

I managed a few hours in my play room and, not liking to be left out, had already decided to have a go at a half face, something I have never previously done, but which is all the rage right now.

I worked on that first, using a raw piece of canvas so that I had to work the colour into the texture. I hoped that might allow me to layer and blend seamlessly – and it pretty much did. I gave her white hair as that is my natural [hidden] colour and I’m working on a vision of myself as I want to be at 70!!

With that done I turned my attention to the double page – previously gessoed up and doilied, and sprayed dylusions colours liberally. I used yellows and blues to make the spring green on the right side and added reds and browns to the left side. It was all too much so I applied a whitewash over the whole lot and when that dried I crackled the left side with clear crackle paint rubbed over with some ‘vintage photo’ ink to get an aged and weathered look.

I used various stamps and staz-on ink to add texture to both pages. I’m not that happy with the left side [age] but love the spring green that appeared on the right. The doilies represent me – my girls will tell you that I love anything with lace and bling – the more the better really……… I’ve just got no taste!!!

I cut the face out of the canvas and glued it onto the prepared double page and voila –

It may transition onto a canvas one day……..

Here’s another random thought – written in the hope that someone may read this some day – I’m not a very good photographer and always feel dissatisfied with the results of my aim and click style. I use Adobe Photoshop, but really don’t understand it, [despite a 6 week course a few years back] any body got any tips?

Eight Weeks Later …… An Update

Posted on April 29, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I started this blog at about the same time I decided to improve my life style – the two were not linked, purely coincidental …….. My reason for starting [the blog] was to make myself keep track of what was coming from my craft room, something I was – and am – notoriously shabby at!

The reason for changing my lifestyle was to get out of my own way and do something about the state of my overall health.

If you have read previous posts – about 6 of you I believe – you’ll have a bit of an idea of what I’ve been doing in the kitchen. I thought I might do a couple of days and then quit – missing bread and sugar too much – but I didn’t.

So I said to myself ‘Well, I’ll finish the week and see’. I did and carried on.

I said ‘Well, I’ll do it til I can’t any more’ [which statement can only come from a place of deprivation]. And still I happily continued.

Somewhere along the road I realised I wasn’t deprived – I was eating more than I did before – now partaking of delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners whereas previously I had often not eaten all day and found myself on the verge of keeling over about 4 pm. At that point I would head for the fridge and start grazing, often continuing until late in the evening…… Now I happily potter about in the kitchen creating great tasting food which heals my body and feeds my soul.

Now I’m not a person who likes to share her aches and pains with the rest of the world. If you ask how I am I will smile brightly and chirp ‘Just fine thank you – and you?’ Or if it’s a person I know will share all their woes with me and I’m in a ‘can’t be bothered’ kind of a mood I’ll chirp ‘Why, just a box of fluffy ducks thank you’ and continue on with a change of subject or bustle busily away.

But now that they are all gone I think it is time to list the reasons why I needed to do something. Her’s how it all began back in ’99:

Me and a stressed out, exhausted, workaholic lifestyle
Me, a steep flight of concrete steps and an ambulance
Me, a left knee and a right hip – neither of which worked at all any more
Me, a cigarette and a heart attack – or three
Me, no cigarettes and a box of chocolates stuck in bed due to points 2, 3 and 4
Me and a greatly increased girth due to all of the above points
Me and the passing of 10 years with not a lot changing except point 1

General health liabilities included unstable angina, stiff and painful joints, hip problems, knee problems, difficulty walking due to hip and knee issues. Obesity – and an inability to lose weight. Low functioning thyroid, unstable cholesterol rates, high blood pressure or low blood pressure depending on the weather I think…… Add into this panic attacks and agoraphobia, sadness, depression, and loss of motivation and interest in life.

I worked my way out of that last part of the litany of horrors and learned again to look for the sunshine, I spent years peeling back layers to get to the bottom of the issues and learn again to take responsibility and to forgive others and most importantly, myself. Learning and relearning – no wonder I ended up as a life coach!!

My health would improve, then take a dive again for no apparent reason. Eventually I came to see that certain types of food might be the issue and I tried various diets and fasts and all that – none of which I stuck to for very long [due to the deprivation issue.]

Then we arrived at the timeline of 8 weeks ago and little did I appreciate how very much would change! Here is absolute proof that our wellbeing is defined by what we put into our mouths – who knew??!!

Look back at the paragraph below the points and at every comma or new sentence add in another word in parentheses [ GONE ]

But here’s the big thing – I wake up every morning with a vague sense of elation, a feeling of joy, of excitement, of expectation that the day will bring something good.

And it generally does!!!

You Old Bitch!

Posted on April 13, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

‘Beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart’

~Rumi~

The other day I was in the supermarket and must have needed a reminder of how awful life is for some folk as I had – ta-da ‘An Encounter’!

A woman had left her cart parked in the middle of the aisle and as I was having difficulty trying to manouvre around it I gave it a wee push to the side, which, it appears, made said woman mad as all get out…… and I was the sudden recipient of a shot of venom that could have felled a lumberjack! While I stood frozen in stunned silence she finished her tirade about my general incompetence as a human being with the words “……..you old bitch!”

Now I’m a woman with some understanding of the human condition and I know that when you scratch someone and reveal such raw hatred you have met a very unhappy being. One should be filled with compassion at such misery – but this One wasn’t. This One reared up and said indignantly “Excuse Me?”

She was tall and I am not, so there must have been some authority in those two words as she kind of backed off, not making eye contact and muttering under her breath.

I stood staring blindly at the assorted sweet potatoes I had been reaching for, trying to remove the venom that had been hurled at me and calm my indignation. It took a few moments.

I pondered my role and took responsibility – lesson learned – never touch the shopping cart of an unhappy woman! But still I was rattled and indignant. I couldn’t shake it off.

A couple of aisles further on and I bumped into YD also doing her shopping and the encounter was poured out to her. She knew immediately who it was and reported that she had also had an encounter with the same woman moments previously – ‘murderous’ was her description. “And she has a child with her” said YD “he’s pale and thin poor kid.” So it wasn’t just me, it wasn’t personal – it was all about this poor unhappy person. We just happened to be there.

I didn’t feel any better though and felt ashamed to admit that I had not noticed the child in my encounter – that’s how rattled I was.

The incident stayed with me, I put it down to the intensity of unhappiness in that woman and it was not until the following morning when I woke that the real reason made itself known.

She had called me ‘an old bitch’. And it wasn’t the ‘bitch’ bit that mattered – it was the ‘old’.

I lay in bed giggling – she’d caught me out! My inner picture of myself as eternally young was crushed – she had looked at me and seen ‘old’. And that one word had sent me spiraling out of self-confidence into panicky ego-driven indignation. Ah!

When I was a young woman in my 20’s, my favourite aunt had told me of her struggles with her aging appearance. She was in her late 60’s at the time and yet felt herself inwardly to be a young and vibrant woman. She was strolling down the street one day and saw the reflection in a shop window of an old lady bustling along, walking towards her. She noted the woman was wearing a similar coat and was thinking how much nicer the coat looked on her than the old lady. As she got closer to the mirrored shop window she realised it was herself and was horrified. She said, “From that time on my self confidence was eroded – I had to work very hard to remember I am more than what my outer appearance says.” She was thoughtful a moment then added, “And wise people see that.”

Now I know what she meant.

So I now have a sense of gratitude for the encounter with the unhappy lady in the supermarket [while hoping she gets some help for her anger issues!]. Yes I am getting older, and if you choose that is all you will see. But my world is a rich place made of a life time of experiences, adventures, lessons learned and non-material wealth gathered. It is a place full of love and contentment.

Come visit me here sometimes and share it!

Link

It’s been a while since I posted – if you have read previously and are waiting to hear more about the new life style, all I can say is it is going well – I still spend more time in the kitchen than I have for years and am still experimenting happily with recipes both old and new.

More important though is how I am feeling [within my body and health and well-being generally]. At the end of week five I am pleased, proud and happy to report that all is going very well…… for the first time in over a decade my body is pain-free, the inflammation has subsided substantially – I can now touch my toes while keeping my legs straight – something that had eluded me for some time! And I feel good – that ephemeral feeling of general well-being and ease within the physical translates into a sense of greater contentment.

I’m sprouting [mostly alfalfa and a seed mix known as ‘Energy‘], making yoghurt, cheese and oat cakes [ see a previous posting for the recipe]

and chicken broth [which becomes a yummy soup].

Did you know that when you put a dash of cider vinegar into the water it helps to pull out more of the vitamins and minerals from the chicken so that your broth becomes an even more potent cure-all. There is wisdom in the old-wives tales and folk medicines!

My window sill is full of fresh herbs and regenerating bits and bobs such as celery and spring onions and my freezer is full of pureed pumpkin, chicken stock and soup, spicy nuts [for a quick pick-me-up snack] and bags of activated walnuts and almonds just waiting to be added to the next meal.

I’ve even made my own salad sprinkles – a tasty mix of various activated nuts and seeds mixed with dried karengo [a nutrient rich seaweed] and crisped coconut flakes. This has been a great favourite and even though summer has given way to autumn, and salads are being replaced with hot dishes, I feel confident they will be just as tasty sprinkled over vegetables!

Now, just in case you think I’ve become a health nut, let me hasten to reassure you, all the old cravings for comfort foods are still being satisfied. Why just last night I prepped up a couple of parsnips and sweet potatoes and rubbed ’em down with some oil and peanut butter [homemade, she said proudly] popped them in the oven with good sprinkle of salt and enjoyed myself some hots fries and watched a movie!! It was just that kind of night!

I think what I’m enjoying the most about this change in life style is that it is not a ‘diet’ – it is really a chance for me to enjoy good wholesome food without the crap that factory made stuff is liberally covered in and because I use home-grown or organic wherever possible I know it is good for my body and health too. I’m enjoying finding out what my body likes and what it doesn’t like – perhaps for the first time ever I am really paying attention to the messages it sends me…….. a little later in the day, but hey, better late than never!

Now apart from all this, I’ve also been busy in the craft room – lots of stuff underway, lots more ideas waiting to be trialed in the art journal but here is a quick pic of the latest card:

Front Inside

Made for my eldest daughters mumble birthday.

I’ve also popped those photos onto Orlando King’s pinterest page if you want to have them.

Thanks for popping by – leave me a note to say you’ve been, I enjoy hearing from you!

Link

…. in the kitchen particularly……

After years of not being overly interested in spending time in that room, I have, thanks to my wonderful ED’s gift and Sara Wilson, [author of the gift, a book called ‘I Quit Sugar’] re-discovered the joys of creating tasty foods that feed the body and the soul. [I should probably also add that Sara Wilson doesn’t even know I exist just in case you mistake this as an advertisement for her.]

When I began this new adventure – about two weeks ago now – [really is that all, it feels like forever!] I decided to give up on wheat as well as sugar – may as well kill two birds with one stone I thought [such as odd saying courtesy my parents generation] – so was looking for something affordable and tasty to replace that lunchtime sandwich with.

I’m not a recipe follower, never have been, probably never will be – and as I mentioned in my previous post I was experimenting with something I call Cheese and Oat Cakes which I have been making on and off for the last forty odd years – mostly off in the last ten years – I knew though that if I was going to record this in my blog I would have to have, at the very least, an accurate record of the ingredients.

That was a challenge!

Luckily its a pretty easy recipe to remember. The proof lies in the fact that after pretty much a decade I pulled that recipe from my memory pretty much intact and started fiddling about with it. Now I’ve had three attempts at making something just right for my lunchtime taste buds. And today I got it just right!

And I was a good girl, I remembered to jot down what I was mixing in and I even remembered to take a couple of photos – well towards the end which is better than nothing!

So here’s the recipe to make 12 cakes: [I don’t know why they are called cakes – really they are more a patty-like creature. Maybe I should call them Cheese and Oat Patties from now on??] [Oh, and another aside, everything is free-range and/or organic wherever possible – but if that’s not your bag use whatever you have to hand]

Toss all this into a large mixing bowl:

3 cups rolled oats; 3 cups grated cheese, a good handful of chopped fresh parsley; 2 tsp Zesty Garlic Herb Blend*; sea-salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Mix this all up enthusiastically then add in 2 eggs and about a half cup of cornmeal. [If you don’t have cornmeal use flour]. Add in a small amount of milk to make the mixture damp, but not soggy.

I use my hands now and strongly insist that a good palm full of the mixture becomes a ball – if it won’t and keeps falling apart, add in a bit more milk. You have to be quite firm with the mixture or it won’t bind. So now you should have 12 nice round balls all lined up neatly on your board. [I did, she said proudly!] I let them sit there for 10 or 20 minutes and then put my nice big heavy bottomed fry pan on the element and heated it through. I don’t add any oil as my pan cooks beautifully without it – but use a little if you need to.

I put 6 balls into my pan at a time, flattening them out somewhat so that they resemble cakes – or patties – rather than balls. Turn the heat down and cook for 2 – 3 minutes before turning. If they brown too quickly turn the heat down further. Cook the other side for 2 – 3 minutes also.

You can see in this photo there is no oil in the pan, yet the cakes are still browning nicely.

And that’s it they are done and ready to eat!

Yummy!!

Enjoy!

*A quick note about the Zesty Garlic Herb Blend, which is for me personally, a prime ingredient in the success of this recipe. It is made by Bittersweet Herbs & Spices who do a great mail order service. Find them on the web at http://www.herbsonline.co.nz

If you make these tasty treats do drop a line to say what you think.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks ………

Posted on March 23, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

here’s a quick lead in:

The book ‘I Quit Sugar’ by Sara Wilson arrived [a late Christmas present] I read it and found myself nodding my head in agreement and really excited about the fact that this could be the road I’ve been searching for.

Now I’m a ‘mature’ woman [chuckle] hell, I’m 63 heading fast towards 64. I will add, however immodest it may be, that on a good day I look at the very least 10 years younger and feel timeless. But for the past ten years I’ve been struggling with weight gain despite a relatively healthy diet – my only weakness is for salty foods, I can devour a large packet of crisps in a day when given the opportunity ……………

I’m mostly vegetarian, can’t eat large quantities and don’t have the income or the wish to make fast foods part of my life style. Yet my body is inflamed, often sore and stiff and various attempts at dieting yield at best a loss of up to five kilos before zooming back up to, or beyond, where I started. My daughter, a very clever trainee alternative nutritionist, has always thought the problem was inflammation and gave me Sara’s book as a possible way forward.

And what an excellent gift it has turned out to be.

I have been catapulted back to the 70’s when I was a novice ‘greenie’ and almost everything my children ate was grown and/or made by my fair hands. I belonged to one of the first co-ops in the country, ‘Culpeper’s Herbal’ was my bible and Monday was baking day.

Late Summer was the time when everything in sight was preserved or prepared for the freezer [I remember the immense feeling of satisfaction as I surveyed the gleaming rows of jars brim full with peaches, apricots, pears and anything else that had arrived into my kitchen]. I can see it all so clearly and I feel the sense of accomplishment, of pride and pleasure and satisfaction that young mother had …………… [the fact that those jars of preserves were laden with sugar shall be glossed over at this point – and I dread to think how much sugar all the hundreds of jars of jams and pickles and chutneys that came out of my kitchen contained.]

My kids didn’t eat sweets until they went to school and the real world intruded into my back to nature idyll. The years passed, and life happened and I gave up baking on Mondays and preserving at the end of every summer. I went back to work, got divorced, my kids grew up, more life happened and I woke up one morning a couple of weeks ago and flung myself happily back into the world of creating my own food from scratch.

It wasn’t completely straight forward though – first I had to sort the kitchen.

I moved into my little flat about two years ago, and so disinterested had I become in kitchen related activities that wherever items had gone on arrival, there they had stayed. For instance, for two years now I have rummaged about in three different cupboards when making my breakfast! So, obviously the first job was to sort all that out and find the whereabouts of the ignored appliances that would now be necessary to aid me in making pumpkin puree, nut butters, humus and other tasty treats. I also decided to remove any and all foodstuffs that could no longer be part of my personal food chain. That was interesting! I read labels – some for the first time – and out went a load of ‘healthy’ options. This process reawakened the impulse to be in charge of what goes into my food – also interesting this time I wasn’t doing it for the welfare of my children I was doing it for my own good. Yay me!

Clearing out meant cleaning too – so everything was scrubbed from top to bottom. Obviously once everything was rearranged and clean some new interior decor was also called for – I remade and re-purposed furiously – every activity lead me on to a new good idea and so it grew and grew. My open plan kitchen decor spilled over into the living area – which spilled over into my craft room……. which is now uninhabitable as it holds the remnants of curtain making, old or re-purposed cushion covers, rejected items from the old decor and a plethora of odds and sods that somehow turned up in kitchen cupboards that should never have been there.

I indulged my anal-retentive streak and labelled everything with my previously under used ‘Dymo’ label maker. I spent a happy evening sorting all the herb and spice jars – emptying out the stuff that was a gizillion years old and refilling with new and wonderfully aromatic spices required to make the delicious and moreish ‘spicy activated nut’ snacks and other goodies.

The frenzy of decorating was interrupted only by the kitchen activities of creating the pantry basics necessary for my new life style. The previously mentioned pumpkin puree and spicy activated nuts were joined by salt and vinegar almonds, chicken stock – one chicken

made a huge amount of stock, some of which made a very tasty and healing soup [chicken soup for the soul springs to mind] which got me through the two days of mild detox that hit mid week…..

I can’t even remember all the things I made, I know I have begun experimenting with versions of my oldie but goodie recipe of ‘cheese and oat cakes‘ which has accompanied me through the last forty years – as I’ve given up bread for now I need something to replace that particular comfort food. I already was growing my own fresh alfalfa sprouts and upped that out-put. I have a jar of spring onions in water [an idea found on pinterest] that gives an endless supply of fresh herb and I added in potted mint, parsley and rosemary to my windowsill.

Orlando has not been forgotten in all this make-over frenzy. His favourite perch is the windowsill at the back of the cooker where he could peer over the cafe curtain and keep an eye on the comings and goings of the neighbourhood. The cafe curtain has been removed and a space made so he can now sit on the window sill and not on the cooker [which has been an often fraught and frantic activity, of which more later if you are interested].

I realise I don’t care if I lose weight or not from this new lifestyle. I am full of energy and renewed interest in my kitchen…………….. and I just realised the operative verb is ‘life-style’ not ‘diet’ ……. my contentment grows and spreads 🙂

Time Out of Life – Creating A Vision Board

Posted on March 10, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

I’ve just emerged after an hiatus from the daily routine – my girls and I had six days together, just being, sharing, playing, eating and drinking…………. we do this from time to time. It’s our chance to just be together – we like being together for no particular purpose, just catching up. One of us lives a thousand Kilometres away. We Skype regularly, and one or other may travel to visit, but most of all I value the times when we are just the three of us together with nothing to do and nowhere to be. Often one or other of us is going through something at these times and so our time together can focus on the need. This time no-one was in crisis or need of support – which left us with hours of talking time unfocused and meandering!

So we decided I would lead them through a Vision Board exercise.

In my old life I ran workshops which included a process which culminates in the production of a vision board – it is the process which is important and exciting and the picture that goes home with the participant is unique and personal.

The process is not usually about material things, rather it is about the new aspects of the soul which are longing for expression.

The requirements are organised – paper and pens; scissors, paste, large base paper, roughly about 80 x 80 cm and a large assortment of magazines of all kinds collected randomly over a period of time. [And I mean random, the more random the better.]

With a glass of wine to hand we began the process, I began by talking about letting go of expectations and thoughts of material goods – such as winning Lotto, or the bigger, better car, house or job. The girls noted down what they wanted to gain from the process – thoughts like ‘clarity’ ‘a way forward’ and ‘hope’ were expressed. Next they noted down their thoughts on various questions I put to them – favourite time of year and why – people who had touched their lives and how – miracles that had happened in their lives – things they are grateful for and things they like about themselves. All these things were discussed and shared and we moved gently into a more contemplative state.

In this mood of inner quietness the girls began to look through some randomly chosen magazines. This process can be quite challenging, as now there is no control – the process must be followed so the subconscious can reveal its desires. Magazines are flipped through quite quickly, just looking at pictures and moving on. When time is up each participant may take no more than two pictures from each magazine. This too must be done quickly. When time is again completed, the magazines may be again be quickly perused to find a few words that speak to the person. When time is up, it’s up and this part of the exercise is complete.

Now the rustle and rip of papers from magazines dies away and an intense silence settles over the room as the creators cut out their pictures and pile them up. When all cutting out is finished, the pictures are laid out on the large sheet of paper along with any words that were also chosen. Now it is really quiet with long periods of stillness as they look over their creations and refine them.

I love this part of the process – it is intense – now for the first time they are seeing their wishes laid out before them in visible form – often it is a complete surprise for workshop participants, but these two are a bit more in touch with their inner worlds. Still they are quietly pleased with what they are seeing – the best of them revealed!

Next we shared, looking at one work and offering thoughts and questions about what we were seeing. As we know each other so well we can go deeply and help each other uncover the code hidden within the choices of pictures and lay-outs.

To anyone else the finished boards mean nothing – to the creator just looking at the picture reawakens the feelings associated with the process and reminds them of the way forward and focuses their intentions on what they want in their lives. It’s a living process!

All I can say as an ending is that both were extremely pleased with their visions – pleased, proud and happy! Which is a strong indicator that the process had worked for them and a new path way revealed and validated.

D’s Board – colourful, sensual, soulful and spiritual. A validation of all the work she has done over the last two years in discovering herself and being true to her own moral compass.

J’s vision board: a picture of her improving health and self-esteem. Water features a lot [which symbolises the unconscious]. Trees represent strength to her and the pathway at the top leads straight and true into the unseen future – lined with symbols of strength.

NB:- George Clooney seems to feature often on vision boards – in this role he represents the Ideal Everyman – fun, sexy, self deprecating, educated, worldly and 100% on the side of Every Woman! Cor!! We probably all want one like that…..

Orlando the Marmalade Cat Has An Addiction…….

Posted on March 4, 2013 by thecontentedcrafter

He loves his catmint [nepeta officianalis] and I try to keep at least one healthy plant available to him while the others recover or are used to provide stems for drying.

He has a small baggie of dried nepeta that he enjoys droolings over or playing cat football with – but best of all is fresh – I have no idea why, but a new plant freshly purchased sends him into ecstasy!

Recently however all the plants have died off, and Orlando has been without his fresh drugs for some weeks. Out shopping I happened upon a nice, well grown plant and decided to give him a treat

The following photos document the outcome – it was all over in about 15 minutes and he slept it off in his bed for the next few hours!
:

I cleaned up the mess and went off to purchase another plant …………

Easel Card Christmas 2012

Image

Easel Card Christmas 2012

I know its a bit late – or a bit early – but I just started a board on pinterest called ‘Christmas in New Zealand’ and loaded this photo of a card I made last December onto it.

I’m on a mission to encourage the true seasonal flavour of our Christmas time – no more cotton wool snowmen, robins on snow bent branches and happy families around the fire – I don’t want to be in stores any more that are sprinkled with fake snow and playing that ‘Sleigh Bells Ring’ song and others like it. We should be writing and listening to our own Christmas songs, about warm sun and blue skies and sharing picnics with our families and friends. We must really find and celebrate our own traditions now……………..

But enough of that rant – I’ll find more stuff to load both here and on pinterest and I’ll come back to these thoughts later on.