Easter Market Cake Stall

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that I have been a busy bunny this week making lots of lovely scrummy things for a cake stall at The Shambles Easter Market in Newent. Indeed, at 10pm last night I was still decorating gingerbread men and printing off little price cards...

The weather was not promising - last time I checked the forecast it looked like a hat,scarf and fingerless mitten kinda day. When we woke up this morning it looked more like it was gonna be a wellies and umbrella kinda day.

Actually, if I'm really honest, it looked like a 'forget about the market and spend the day under the duvet' kinda day...

But all those muffins, gingerbread men, bags of  fudge and coconut ice were all packed up and ready to go. So go we did...

Silent Sunday explained...

Thank for all your lovely comments on yesterday's Silent Sunday post
So now, for all of you who enquired I will expand a little...
The OH has a shop in the market town of Newent, Gloucestershire. It's quite a large space with high street frontage that stretches back into the courtyard of the Old Shambles Village, a former museum of Victoriana now being redeveloped into a 'retail village' dedicated to small local business and particularly arts, crafts and gifts. He has created a unit at the back of the shop that opens onto the Shambles courtyard and there are also two units upstairs that would make perfect shops/studios for the right person...
The whole complex is a mish mash of original 'old' buildings and newer 'vintage styled' additions built using reclaimed  original features to create an authentic look. One of the upstairs units used to be a part of the main 'on the high street' house but at some point in the past it has been blocked off from the rest. A vintage conservatory has been tacked on to the back of this space to create a really nice, airy room that would make a fabulous interiors or antiques/curiosity shop...

 I suspect that, whilst the panels are all original they may not have all been together and have, rather, been collected and added to the conservatory as replacement glass panes. Thay are not in the best condition as I am sure any stained glass worker could tell you (yes, DiomoGlass, I am looking at you!!!) but they are a very pretty and unexpected find, hidden away where they are not even visable from ground level.
A proper 'Magpie' find I think you'll agree...

ps - if you know anyone who may be interested in renting this space please message me :)

#SilentSunday

 

#SilentSunday

I know it's here...somewhere...

I have a problem. I am not the world's tidiest person. I'm a lot better than I used to be - my mum doesn't shudder when walking through my front door anymore - but that is due to the fact that a: I am actually at home a lot more these days so I have TIME to tidy and b: I have a toddler and if I want to keep anything whole and usable I need to put it away before he tries to eat it. Or bury it in the garden.
To make matters worse I also have a memory like a sieve (I have a theory about that, but I'll save that for another time).

I lose my phone on a regular basis - it usually turns up down the side of the sofa although on one occasion I found it in the watering can in the garden... (Riley....?!). The OH suggested that I give it a designated spot on the book shelf so I know where to find it at all times, which is fine, until someones phones me or sends me a text and I take the phone into the kitchen, whilst I am making tea, and then the LM needs some attention and I put it down wherever I am etc etc...You see what's happening here?

Anyway my latest loss is quite a biggie. I have managed to lose a small piece of plastic about the size of a credit card that holds my camera's li-ion battery in the charger. It popped out when I fetched the battery to put it back in my camera the other day and I put it down, to sort said battery/camera, with the intention of popping it back in the charger when I was done. But the phone rang. Riley spilt water all over the kitchen floor, the post arrived, the load of washing in the machine finished so I hung it on the line... I completely forgot about that little bit of plastic. And now I can't find it!

It's here somewhere - I know it is. It really can't have gone far. I have to find it; the li-ion batteries last well but not THAT well and we have an Easter Egg Hunt to chronicle, a couple of new shops at the Old Shambles Village that need photographing and one of our biggest local events - The Coleford Carnival of Transport on Easter Monday.

The OH often tells me to slow down, do one job at a time, finish it before moving on to the next and then maybe things like this wouldn't happen. I wish it were that easy... 

An Autumn Walk Round Newent Lake.

Don't you just love this time of year? The weather today is horrendous - torrential rain, gusty winds that rattle our letter box and make the poor fir tree in our back garden sway alarmingly. It's proper 'staying-in-under-the-duvet-watching-tv' weather. Yesterday, however, was gorgeous.

Me and the little man went into Newent with Daddy and ran a few errands while he opened up the bike shop. Then, finding ourselves with some time on our hands we decided to get a bag of duck food from the local green grocers (30p!!) and go for a walk around Newent Lake, a tranquil spot just a stones throw from the Old Shambles Village .

The ducks formed and orderly queue...

...but quickly got stuck in!

It was warm in the sunshine but there was a definite autumn nip in the air and the signs of the changing season were everywhere. Fallen leaves, changing colours, berries and nuts and busy squirrels preparing for winter scarcity.

The water was very still and perfectly reflected the trees and sky...

In fact it was so still I had trouble working out which way up was the right way with this picture!

Riley loves the water and always stops at the bridges to gaze at the water running beneath...

How lucky we are to have such a beautiful place to visit so close by :)

Edited 28th May 2011

Whilst blog hopping (as you do) I stumbled across this lovely idea at The Boy and Me . An opportunity to show off a previous post that didn't do as well as you'd hoped, didn't get the views you would have liked and give it a second chance. This post was first published in October 2010 before I got involved in the mummy blogging community and Twitter. I chose this one mainly because I just love the photos so much. Hope you enjoy it this time round too :)

Where does the time go?

Once again I have been a bit lax in the old blogging dept but I do have an excuse...honest!

I have been working on my other blog The Old Shambles Village, visiting the new shops that have opened up and getting to know all the lovely people that are now based there. There are some great events being planned in the coming months including a Spooky Spectacular for Hallowen and a visit from Santa when he switches on the town Christmas lights. Subscribe to the blog to be kept up to date on this fabulous restoration and rejuvination project.

I have also set up a second shop on Folksy.  Forest Gems is a destash shop full of gorgeous semi-precious gemstone beads left over from my days as a jewellery designer/maker. Lots of lovely colours and shapes, including a few special one-off pieces to inspire your creativity. I am selling in small quantites: singles, pairs or packs of ten so they are ideal for those of you who would like to have a go and making for yourself or as gifts for friends and family but don't want the outlay of buying whole strings of beads (which is how many semi-precious beads are sold).

I currently have some lovely rose quartz, tigers eye, moonstone, mother of pearl, jasper, snowflake obsidian, carnelian and red goldstone on offer along with some very special, and quite difficult to come by, genuine Jet beads.  Lots more to be added soon including hematite, amethyst, jade, turquoise, pearls and - if I can bear to part with it - some fabulous Baltic amber!

So do pop by and have a look!

Also with the Christmas season just around the corner me and my sewing machine have been beavering away producing some festive lovelies for your delight... But more about that next time!