Foraging for harvest chutney

 So after filling both my freezer and belly with foraged plums and blackberries last week I thought I had had enough (I mean HOW many plums can one woman eat.....about 4lb is the answer!!!).  But no, the weather forecast of rain and heavy winds meant I was concerned the foraging bounty may get damaged so off I went on a few more walks and topped up the blackberries in the freezer and SO many more plums.

I decided to make some chutney.  I have foraged plums and apples and added a pear from our veg box and some rhubarb from the garden and made the rest of the recipe up.

 I have been making jams, cordials and chutneys since I was a child so I was confident the flavours would go well.

What I wasn't prepared for was how little it made!!! One large jar and one small.

A bit of a disappointment as I tend to use large jars for us and smaller jars ready for Christmas presents, but with such a small amount there won't be enough to gift (or have I just found another excuse to go for another walk this week for more supplies-though the plums at Kyla level are thinning so I may have to walk with a ladder!!).

 

ATCs, homemade pickles and even a few cards

After a holiday in Devon (since when did a holiday in this country become a 'staycation' we always had holidays in this country as kids, we couldnt afford anything else, it was just known as a holiday, surely a 'staycation' is when you stay at home, in your home town or do day trips? ). Anyway, back home and I had a nice surpise, I forgot that the CB Forum ATC swap was due on the theme of 'No White', and I received 3 great ATC's from 2Belle, Cleene and Catherine Harper, thanks ladies they are lovely.

My return home saw lots of chilli's on my plants, so I have now pickled them! Lovely, sweet pickled chillis-blow your head off but great with cheese.

We had some good news when we were away, my brother-in-law and his wife completed on their first home! Congratulations to you both. To celebrate I made a selection of homemade goodies: Elderflower cordial, pickled chillis, pickled nasturtium, spicy rhubarb chutney and spiced sugar to welcome them to their new home.

I also managed to get some time card making, a leaving card for a Nightmare Before Christmas fan:

I also made a couple of girly cards and a shaker card.

I also finally took out a subscription to Craft Stamper magazine. I have been waiting until they had a subscription gift i liked-this time some goodies from Paper Artsy, a great company with a full angel policy-so I am off to buy some U-mount and get stamping with my new stamps-watch this space!

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

Cards, bag for life, scrap pages and a bit of a pickle

Finally I have had a chance to do a bit of crafting, with all this wet weather I'm spending a lot of free time at home, mind you I would rather a little sunshine now and again!

The dark brown flower on this card is actually a white fabric flower from a Hawaiian fancy dress garland dyed to which ever colour I need at the time with felt tip pens-so much cheaper than "proper" crafting embellishments.

The cupcake card was for my niece's 10th Birthday and I have used the stamp with last months Stamper magazine and I have included a homemade phone charm as she got her first mobile phone from her parents, so she needs a bit of phone bling now!

In an effort to be a bit eco friendly I thought I would start crafting on my rapidly expanding "bag for life" collection. I used a couple of cloth dye ink pads (only 20p more than the usual pads I buy, so made sure I bought 2 in colours I dont have as inks) and used a mexian style skull with 2 "sailor Jerry" style swallows and glued on some black sequins (I really cannot sew, hence the fabric glue!). It's already turning heads at the local shops, though I dont think for the right reasons! Never mind, I just tell people I'm a trend setter (and just pray they never find out the truth!).

So, not only time to do a bit of crafting but also something in the mail that isnt just bills! The next 2 ATC's from the lovely ladies on the CB forum arrived. The rose is from Snaggles and the Bluebird 2 is from beckp87, thankyou ladies they're lovely.

What with all this crafting I am so pleased that I have joined Jill's Crop, it means that at long last I am getting round to scrapbooking my last holiday, I was so lucky to go back to Singapore and New Zealand but what with life generally getting in the way of crafting its been over a year since we went! So at Jill's crop I have managed to do about 5 pages so far! ~Hurrah! So I thought since I haven't blogged any scap pages I would show you them-hope you like them. I'll post a few more piccies of them over the next few days.

Well, one final piccie before I retire for the night, and that is my make for today-pickled nasturtium seeds! They have self seeded all over my garden and last year I pickled some and about 1o months later, they taste just like capers-fantastic in pasta and all it cost was the price of some white vinegar, so I decided that I would make some again this year, hopefully I will be able to make enough to add some to the homemade food hampers I am hoping to make for Christmas, try them, they are really nice, but they do take 10-12 months to pickled properly. All you need is for each pint of vinegar, 6 peppercorns and 1oz salt poured over them in sterlized jars-enjoy!

Any-hoo, Futurama has jus finished and my bed is calling (you can only ignore its call for so long).

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge