My Creative Space

I'm a bit late with this weeks Creative Space post due to some Blogger nonsense! Problem fixed, I wanted to share a couple of handmade gifts with you.
Yesterday I was going to my friend Jean's for lunch and I wanted to take a small gift - usually I would take some wine but as it was lunch, not dinner, I decided to make some of Nigella's Sweet & Salty Chocolate Nut Crunch Bar and take that along instead. I have4 wanted to make this for ages and this was the perfect excuse. Also I am being rather frugal at the moment and this is an ideal frugal gift!
I keep all my old packaging for use in projects such as this so I chose a suitably sized box,  tissue paper recycled from a gift I had received and a piece of bias binding which was not a useful length.........

I put the tissue in the box first with a double layer of greaseproof paper on top of that and then filled the box with chocolate pieces......

I folded the paper neatly and put the top on the box using the bias binding as a bow decoration and Hey Presto! a lovely gift!

I also need a gift for my friend Laurence who will be dog sitting on Saturday while I do the Byres Road Makers Market. He has a very sweet tooth so this is a perfect gift for him too!
I made a paper 'poke' (pocket) from greaseproof paper, filled with chocolate............

and sealed up. I then wrapped with tissue paper and decorated with some wool and a recycled tag I made a while ago.

Another gift with the personal touch! I managed to get 2 x 12" circular trays of crunchy nut chocoate out of the ingredients I used so I still have 3/4 of a tray left to use as another gift.....if it lasts that long.....well one has to exercise some quality control now and again! Or maybe I should exercise some self-control!!

NIGELLA'S SWEET & SALTY CHOCOLATE NUT CRUNCH

200gms Dark Chocolate

100gms Milk Chocolate

125gms butter

3 tablespoons  Golden Syrup

250gms salted peanuts

4 x 40gm Crunchy bars

Melt butter and Golden Syrup in pan and add all the chocolate

Put nuts and broken up Crunchy bars in a bowl

Pour melted mixture over nuts and crunchy pieces and mix

Fill foil trays with mixture and put in fridge to set

When hard break into rough pieces and ENJOY!!

Very simple to make and totally delicious - it went down a storm at the lunch!!

More creative and crafty ideas found here

Scary Coos!

Where I live I am spoilt for choice as to where I will go for a walk - one of my favourite places is Pollok Country Park which is a 20 minute walk/5 minute drive from my flat. Early this morning I parked in my usual space and was greeted by these aviator sunglasses looking expectantly at me....

"How odd" I thought to myself. Minutes later I realised that they were the ones that have been knocking around in my car door pocket for months...they must have fallen out of the car yesterday! I love the way they have been placed like that.
I really enjoy being in the park early, probably because I quite often fantasise that the house and gardens actually belong to me - I have always done this when visiting stately homes!

 I love the river walk and Fly is obsessed with water so she loves it!
On the return leg of today's walk I decided to go a different way so that I could get a look at the Highland Cattle and calves that are resident in the park.

They looked so cute - well to me they did....

Fly wasn't so sure.....

maybe it is their smell/size? Whatever it was she was not impressed!
However she does have quite a soft spot for these gorgeous little Falabella ponies that are currently grazing on the recs (recreation grounds) opposite my flat.

They are on tour with Zippo's Circus and are here every year about this time. We have visited them every morning and evening for the past week! I first noticed them a couple of years ago as I drove past - noting how dinky they were. When I drove back in the opposite direction 3 hours later they had grown in size. I thought I was hallucinating! This went on for a couple of days until the penny dropped that there were 2 tiny ponies and 2 normal ponies of exactly the same colour who must be part of the same act that were put out to graze at different times!
Sadly when we went out for our evening walk last night they had moved on - where the Big Top was is now a muddy patch of grass being used as an overflow car park for Hampden Stadium which is hosting 'Take That' for the next 3 nights - with a prevailing wind I can sit and enjoy the gig from the comfort of my own kitchen!!

My Creative Space

Not much going on around here due to some intensive puppy training! The one thing I have managed to do is to finish the Noro Stripy Scarf that I started ages ago.

 

I have even sewn in all the loose ends - I can't even begin to describe how tedious it was! Many many thanks to Karen who showed me how to run both wools up the side of the scarf eliminating the need to weave in all the ends. Without her input this project would still be skulking at the bottom of my knitting basket! It is ironic that I have finished the scarf just as we are finally getting some good weather in Scotland!

The colour changes are gorgeous and it is a perfect length - looking forward to wearing it but hopefully not too soon. Noro is very expensive but I think it is worth it as the end product always looks so lovely - as my friend pointed out - it does all the work for you in terms of design!
Now I can turn my attention to the Babette Blanket - hopefully will have at least a coupke of squares to show next week.
Visit more Creative Spaces........

Fly!

My last post was about a floor cushion I had made from recycled jumpers but I must come clean - it is not a floor cushion but a doggie day-bed for my new flatmate Fly.

She is a whippet crossed with something but not sure what!
I collected her from the rehoming centre on Thursday afternoon. She has a touch of kennel cough which is making her a wee bit under the weather but that aside, she is settling in well and is very quick to learn!

It was a bit touch and go on the first night as she didn't want to sleep in her bed in the kitchen and howled so I spent a couple of hours persuading her that her wee den was a lovely place to be and eventually she went to sleep! Since then she is alot more settled and I have enjoyed 2 nights uninterrupted sleep although my day now starts significantly earlier!!

My Creative Space

Take assorted felted jumpers......

Cut into 30cm x 30cm squares and sew together..........

Add an envelope back with velcro opening and Voila.........

one 90 cm square floor cushion! I am still to make the insert but you get the general idea. I like the colour combos - the pink bit is from one of my own jumpers and the others have been donated to me by friends. The purple is a jumper that my friend wore all through her pregnancy last winter when it was bitterly cold!

A good bit of recycling - I feel very virtuous!
Be good to yourself - make a coffee and go and visit some more Creative Spaces - lots of inspiration to be had!

My Creative Space

Finally today, after having had the wool for this project for nearly 2 years,  I have started on what will no doubt become my new obsession.....

the Babette Blanket. I have chosen to make mine from a variety of colours of Colinette Jitterbug yarn - I like to buy British! The original pattern recommends Koigu but I have seen Babettes in every kind of yarn and colourway you can imagine and they are all delightful in their own way. I am loving the stitch definition you get with this yarn. This is the very first square - done in Elephants Daydream -

just gorgeous! I love the Colinette palette of colours and I especially love the names the colours have been given - in the top pic you can see balls of Whirly Fig, Lobster Pinch, Elephants Daydream and, my personal favourite, Salty Dog.
More Creative Spaces here.