Lavender's blue

Woke up with a horrid head yesterday and was feeling quite sorry for myself, however by the afternoon it had started to wear off and we went to explore a local lavender farm www.hitchinlavender.com 

You pay in the lovely gift shop/tea shop, they give you a bag and a pair of scissors and tell you to help yourself as you walk up the field! Fabulous! Just what I needed to clear my head and to fill some fabric and knitted hearts I'm making! So off we went, had a wonderful time and came home with armfuls of lavender which I think looks great in my fireplace!

I have also combined some with some dried rose petals (birthday flowers from my husband way back!) in this basket.

Nice eh? So, what with my new found passion to knit things, a habit of listening to The Archers and now a love of lavender; I must really remember how old I am not!

Bakey makery!

Been a busy mummy today! Led a craft session at our children's centre based at our church which went well, canvas painting, clay modelling, felt sewing, frame decorating and so on. Then lots of making and baking back at home trying to keep the girlies quiet while my husband sleeps off a night shift and it's too wet to throw them out in the garden! 

Anyway, I was too busy to take some photos so thought I'd post some other photos of our bakey makery that were flying out of our oven at the beginning of the summer for various birthdays, fetes and events. We do like to bake in the White house and one of my girlies is gluten free to so we also experiment a lot! 

Pink cupcake, our favourite and our best!

Chocolate cupcakes for my sister's 40th

Mini doughnuts for their friends at the end of term
(gluten and gluten free!)

All wrapped up and ready to go!

And I know that we're all a bit past the Royal Wedding now, but I was rather pleased with my first attempt at colour swirling! So please forgive me for sharing!

Well, I'd better sign off now before I'm tempted to turn the oven back on and make some more! Enjoy!

New chicks and a special request!

So, after a fabulous holiday we're back home again but amidst the unpacking and washing we had a rather exciting day!

Firstly, we collected five 8 week old chicks to join our brood! We have only got one chicken left who doesn't lay anymore so needed to replenish our egg laying potential! These came from the reception class at the girls' school! They seemed to have settled in very well, although cheep rather loudly! Let's hope they don't all turn out to be male as the girls are rather attached already!

Secondly today, my girls were asked to be bridesmaids next year to a very good friend of mine! So, even more excitement! They (and I!) are over the moon and we can't wait! We feel very honoured and I just know the whole wedding is going to be gorgeous!

So, lots of excitement here in the White house and a new found love for all things crafty, watch this space!

Teacher thank you gifts

So here's a little idea the girlies and I came up with to say thank you to all their teaching staff at the end of the school year (all 16 of them!). Homemade strawberry jam from the allotment, homemade strawberry shortbread biscuits (made by the girls with the cutest plunge cutter) and a lovely matching strawberry tin picked up in the bargain bit of a supermarket. All in a matching gift bag with tissue and a handmade card from the girls. Job done! Was fun to do, didn't cost the earth and went down a treat!

And in close up!

It said thank you with our time rather than our money which I always think is always more valuable. (Not that we have much of either!) Hope you liked it!

So this is the beginning of a new adventure!

Having spent the last few months really enjoying reading many different types of blogs, I decided to start my own and share some things with you all. So thank you all for the inspiration! Here goes......