Blackberry Crafts

Welcome!

I'm Molly, & welcome to my website!

Enjoy your stay & don't forget to bookmark me: www.blackberrycrafts.co.uk

It's been a while...

It was such a beautiful day in Cambridge yesterday; cold and sunny - I love autumn. For the first time in weeks I felt happy. Properly happy, not just "alright". Spent a lovely lunch hour wandering around the market with a mango & pineapple smoothie. Bought a pretty black cardi made from a gorgeous thin cotton to go with my Witchfest outfit. It smells of incense from the stall I got it from - tried to bargain the man down on price (not because of the incense) but he wouldn't budge; wandered around a bit more and then bought it anyway. Had an incredibly delicious falafel wrap from Taste of Cambridge; warm tortilla, falafel, houmous, rocket, carrot salad, tahini dressing, harissa paste. Divine! Gave some change to a Krishna for a food charity and got a book on meditative yoga in return. The monks are always so friendly, and they usually have a pretty crafty way of getting your attention - better than the usual, "Hi, do you have a few minutes?" most of the tabard-wearing ones use. This guy said 'there you are!' which of course made me turn round. Like I said, crafty. Bought a couple of Anita Shreve paperbacks from the second hand book stall (not the one I usually frequent, as he wasn't there today) but this guy had quite a good range. More expensive than the other chap by a whole 50p per book!


Today, I got up late having decided to forgo any alarms and just wake up when I felt like it. My plans so far are to have a lovely long shower (with Karma Komba shampoo & soap from Lush), eat an indulgent breakfast of porridge with almonds, and start making my top for Witchfest. :)


Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Love,
Molly x

P.S. this is my first blog post sent my email, so we'll how it goes! It doesn't seem possible to put pictures at the top of the entry, so I might do a mix of text and photo only entries and see how that works. :)

White....

I'm finding myself increasingly obsessed with the colour white, particularly in relation to bedroom decor. I certainly don't want a bland, plain home, but the bedroom in our new house has lavender walls, and I would love to have a calm, serene space to relax. The below images are all from Lavender Room & The White Company.

 

Well, what a long time it's been...

It's been an absolute age since I updated my blog, there's lots to tell!

In July Sam & I had a lovely day trip out to Mountfitchet Castle, where we fed sheep, had a picnic, sat on a necessarium & wandered about in the sunshine. We were lucky enough to see the baby fallow deer that had arrived just a few days before; they were safely in a little wooden barn, being bottle fed and stumbling about on their skinny legs - so very cute!

 

 

The bunnies, Forinn & Grey, have been enjoying their indoor adventures; they were in quite a lot while I was on my holidays from work (2 whole weeks!) Here is a little video of Forinn dashing & hopping about the living room on their new rug.

They've been cooling down....

... relaxing...

... & eating dandelion salad.

The biggest news I suppose is that The Boyfriend & I are moving house! At the end of the month we'll be moving into a really fantastic bungalow, with a huge garden and conservatory... I can't wait to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse, plant up some big tubs of herbs & greens for the buns, enjoy cooking in the massive kitchen and generally having a lovely time! I'll be sending out some change of address cards to my "real world" folks, but if I forget you, or you want to write & receive proper paper letters, just send me an email. :)

Attempting Positivity!

An up-and-down couple of weeks for Blackberry; as I write this, I've been off work today & yesterday. Fortunately, my cold seems to be almost gone, and the stomach cramps are submitting to the painkillers. I feel generally more myself than I have in quite a while, so I'll be back to work tomorrow with renewed energy. I hope...!

The weekend was lovely, although I felt like a rotten egg. My best friend came to stay from Edinburgh, and we had a great time just hanging out watching telly. :) On Saturday we went to the Cambridge Town & Gown Country Fair (and got sunburnt!); sheep, sparkling elderflower, piglets, vegan food, sunshine, ducks....

As for today, The Boyfriend is upstairs having a sleep... I have never known him to have a daytime nap, ever, and he's had three in three days.... he must be ill, poor thing. I suspect a cold in addition to hayfever. So, we've had a bit of a rubbish week aside from the visit from The Earl. Hoping that tomorrow will be the start of a better one. Beginning with this deliciousness I've discovered...

Saturday Six: 30th May 2009

 

strawberry brooch by nickynackynoo

monogrammed wax seal pendant by RitzyMisfit

 

'fraise' necklace by GUGAW

red tulle petticoat by Annabella Designs

 

red wool wrist warmers by Helen

 

Morello Earrings by LazyGiraffe

What a lovely day!

The sun is shining, my bunnies are enjoying a new patch of grass having had their little house cleaned. I woke early to ride to the doctors in Willingham for 9am. 7 miles of exercise is a fablous way to start the long weekend. :) When I got back there was a lovely surprise waiting for me....

"Oh wow, look at this, oh wow!"... was all you could hear from the kitchen. My surprise swap parcel arrived while I was out, and it is the most incredible thing! From Chantal of Here Pretty Kitty, it's stuffed full of beads, papers, ribbon, yarn.... and smarties! I can't wait to get stuck into this tin of wonders and see what lovely things are inside. :)

Thank you Chantal!!
 

I've had a rather busy week with work, and generally been more than a little exhausted. I'm so glad to have the long weekend to get things done! I have the whole house to clean, and some food shopping to do as the lovely Sam & Chris are coming for lunch/dinner on Monday.

On my crafty to-do list is packing up things for PennyDog's Garden Swap, TrashyPrincess' Surprise Swap, Pay It Forward, and writing my postcrossing.com cards. I'm very much hoping that I can get this all done in time to get them all to the post office in the village before it closes at 12.30!

Pay It Forward....

The PIF entrants have been selected, and the recipients of free stuff are...

Lynne

Kerry

Jenny

If you email me your postal addresses, your goodies will go in the snail mail soon!

Blue Monday

It's an un-Saturday Six.... Monday's are dull and dreary, so here are some lovely things to make it better.

"Together" bracelet, from Made With Love by Kat

Spring Flowers cardigan pin, from MadAttic

Pastels in Peril bracelet, from PoorRobin

Pagan 'Bridal Tree' bouquet, from jamball

Knitted brooch in slate blue & teal, from JennyFlowerBlue

Vintage Button Cloud Brooch, from Milomade

Don't forget to comment to be in the running for Pay It Forward... 3 names drawn on Friday!

Pay It Forward....

Yesterday I received this beautiful ball of hand-dyed wool from Katrina (TomatoTea) as part of the Pay It Forward 'scheme' she joined in on her blog.

It arrived in a long skein and I made it up into a ball last night (while watching South Park, as it happens, and with the help of The Boyfriend's hands).

The colours are gorgeous, not that you can see them too well from the photo, taken on this very grey and wet morning. It's varigated shades of purple, and it's lovely.

Thankyou Katrina!

The PIF is a lovely idea; you get a handmade gift, and all you have to do to join in is to carry on the gift giving!

I'm going to follow Katrina's methodology, and have the 3 chosen at random from comments left on this post. I'll be picking the recipients next Friday (22 May).... so be sure to comment! :)

Global Village....

Feeling very international this week; my first Postcrossing.com postcard arrived safely in Toldeo, Ohio. Flushed with success, I requested some more addresses. The first was another in the US, so I decided to grab another, though I wasn't hopeful of getting anywhere more exotic, but excitingly the next two are for Finland and China!

Also, my boss' friend who lives in the US has sent her a paper Flat Stanley coloured in by one of the children she teaches, with a little note explaining their project on cultures. We're going to take pictures of Flat Stanley working here in the University, and send some typically British things home with him to Atlanta.

In crafty news, I made some fab wine glass charms last night while watching "Mirrors" with Jack Bauer Kiefer Sutherland. I mean, he was in the film, we weren't watching it together... that would be odd. Hopefully I'll get the charms photographed tonight, and possibly listed up on Folksy. They're not stirling silver, or with pretty silver charms on, they're quite simple coloured wire, with co-ordinating glass beads. They're designed to be inexpensive, and lightweight - perfect for BBQ's, picnics and parties with lots of people.

Does anybody else secretly enjoy writing complaint letters? I order some accessories from Evans Cycles for my new bike (helmet, lock, basket... the usual essentials) and paid through the nose for next day delivery (Saturday) - after waiting in all day, I called the company only to find out they hadn't even sent the stuff! Had to cancel any ambitions of a practice ride into Cambridge on the Sunday. The parcel should be arriving today, but I emailed them yesterday to complain and set out my demands! Successfully, I might add - postage refunded, redelivery for free, plus £10 gift voucher for the shop... not that I'll want to use them again!

Anyhoo, this evening  I MUST do boring things like cleaning the kitchen, and getting some laundry done. If there is time, I'll take some pictures of my latest makes. The beaded food covers are coming along well...