Mousy Brown's House-Creating, crafting and collecting. Enjoying Life.

Holiday Album - Simplicity update.

I am appreciating the simple pleasures in my life, even more, in these lazy days of summer. Simple pleasures like this bowl of homemade granola (recipe link on the side bar) and homemade apricot conserve that together with some soya yogurt made a simple but delicious breakfast this morning.

In an attempt to simplify things around me, I have been playing around here with the settings on my blog and have pared things down, so it is easier to find what is worth looking for. I would love to know what you think.....

I have a hunch that it's keeping things simple that will allow me to capture these feelings and retain the summer sunshine in my life once school starts back in September, possibly a little more doable than stopping the clocks?

 

A patchwork post....

I have a whole list of bits to tell you and photos to show that don't fit together in any organised way.  So I have decided to do a patchwork quilt kind of post and to stitch them together in a wonderful colourful jumble....My first square (or hexagon if you prefer?) is a very talented papercut artist and the giveaway I was lucky enough to win at Christmas.

 

I discovered Smoothpebble studio while clicking randomly around Etsy one day...I was immediately captured by her beautiful paper art and started reading her blog shortly after.  I tried my luck when she offered an original as a prize and was totally over the moon to win a little while later.  The papercut arrived cleverly wrapped and the package also included a fab origami crane made from a map, two gifts for the price of one!  I'd encourage all of you to have a peek at her blog which is full of fantastic images and good ideas, I am always so excited to find a new place to visit for inspiration!

While I am talking about inspiration, my next square revolves around podcasts and was inspired by Kate at Marmalade Moon.  My parents bought me my first ipod for my birthday and I am having endless fun discovering all the exciting new technologies available to me.  Kate's blog is always the place I turn to when I want to discover what is happening in the digital world (and also when I want a post to make me think!) so I was keen to take a look at the philosophy bites podcast when she recently recommended it. I instantly loved it and was also hooked on the whole podcast idea....what you are interested in, no matter how obscure, available to listen to at your own convenience, what's not to like?  I have subscribed to the BBC Radio 4 food programme and the friday night comedy, to Stephen Fry talking and to Never not knitting....I'd love to know though of anything else you would not be without?  I walk Snap for an hour everyday and a bit of interesting listening while I walk is such a pleasure! 

 

While on the subject of ipods - Anne has been a treasure when it comes to games and apps, recommending a few brilliant ones to keep me entertained. So far my favourite find has to be knit counter - no more need for a pencil and scraps of paper that I can never understand when I return to them....any other suggestions you'd like to share?

 

Never not knitting leads me to my next patch....handmade gifts.  The first episode I listened to had a lovely introduction about how much handmade gifts (in her case hand-knitted gifts) mean to someone who makes things for others.  The time and effort of creating something appreciated and understood.  Alana also talks of how rare it is to receive something hand-knitted when you are a knitter yourself (surely you would just make it yourself if you wanted it?) and so how special that gift is when you do receive it.  So I do want to show you two very appreciated hand made gifts I received for my birthday from two of my non-blogging friends.  While I loved every single one of the presents I received these do have an extra special place in my heart and deserve a bit of showing off, I think you'll agree!

 

My final patch for today is a link to Twigandtoadstool which I discovered via Cheryl yesterday.  I joined in with my post about my camera bag to her 'taking care of Mama Mondays'.  What a wonderful idea looking after Mama is and one that I know a lot of us Mama's forget - why don't you go and check it out and join in with making that change this year?  I think my quilt has got big enough for today but I will be back soon with an update on December's Snail Mail Swap and some proper pictures of the cardie I knitted to wear to my party....if you are impatient to see you can get a sneak peek here.

A special baby papercut .

This weekend we were invited to a Christening in the village church.  I wanted to take something 'special' as a gift and of course 'special' meant it had to be handmade.  I decided that a framed paper-cut with a personalised touch was the perfect answer - something that was suitable to be hung on a nursery wall but would still be treasured when that baby grew up and left home.  I think I managed to get the balance right and was very pleased with how my design ended up.

My initial ideas were inspired by the nursery rhyme 'Rock a bye baby' - I have always loved the idea of gently swinging to sleep in a tree. The bird singing the baby a lullaby just seemed to flow naturally and then I decided to try using some of that vintage music score in a different way from my previous experiments.  I used the recipients initials on the basket to add a personal touch and added the title and date beneath in pencil.

I framed it in a little box frame and glued it down the centre line, to retain some of the lovely shadows from the leaves, which gives it more depth.  I think you can get the feel of that better on this bottom photo. I have a few more ideas swirling around my head concerning this design and feel quite excited - I'll let you know more about what they are as soon as I make up my mind.... 

...on another note entirely, I have started a facebook page and will be popping things on there in between posts (I added a scan of this design as soon as I did it).  Please come over and take a look, it is early days yet but it would be lovely to see all your friendly faces in my new space.  I am hoping it will be a good way of letting you see some of the stuff that doesn't make it on here!

No pictures and an explanation!

My computer has done a melt down - no email, no internet access and a horrible message that says 'System restore can not help your computer!'  I find it kind of threatening!  My husband is a true treasure and assures me he has backed up everything very recently - so I am hopeful that this is not the disaster is seems at the moment.  In the mean time I need to apologise for not posting, replying to any emails or visiting any of your blogs, I really hope it won't be long until normal service is resumed.  Have a good weekend and I promise to return as soon as I can with lots of pictures of what I have been getting up to - every cloud has a silver lining, just think how much stuff I can be making without the distraction of a computer!  Em x 

Today I .......

 1 Upgraded my computer - added 1GB RAM bought here - did it all by myself and it works! (I for one am amazed)

2 Walked the dog - very fast, to warm up on this very chilly day.

3 Dyed Yarn and dried it in the sunshine.  Colours inspired by Maya (mine not as nice as it wasn't hand spun but still a pleasing colour for my hat) and the autumn leaves I'd seen that morning.

4 -50ish  Hoovered house, cleaned dog's bed, washed her bedding, cleaned out two lots of chickens and collected eggs, took a friend shopping and cleaned her windows, cooked tea, did washing up, caught up with friends, did school run twice.........

.........................................................................................................................

Tomorrow I.......am spending the day with a lovely friend, trawling charity (thrift) shops, drinking big milky coffees, laughing and having fun with absolutely no sense of guilt!  I think I deserve it don't you?