The Morningside Makers Market

The Morningside Makers Market is a monthly affair that takes place at the Columcille Centre in Edinburgh on the first Saturday of every month and accommodates around 30 stalls each featuring arts and crafts made by-and-large by the stall holders themselves, this in itself is a huge attraction, all the crafts for sale are created locally by the people who are selling them … so no imported crafts from the far east or elsewhere.

This was actually our first fair of the year, following the cancellation (through no fault of our own) of the events that were meant to precede this one.  The fact that we had a couple of fairs cancelled actually knocked our motivation quite badly, really taking the wind out of our sails, so it was good to finally get out to an event and speak with other stall holders and those passing through.

To be honest though we were fairly disappointed with the day, there were long periods when it was very quiet punctuated by spells when you would be forgiven for believing that people were arriving by the coach load.  In terms of takings it was probably the worst event we’ve had although from speaking to and watching other stallholders I don’t think we were the only ones and it seems from those who have attended regularly that the day was exceptionally and unusually quiet … I guess we just aren’t having any luck this year!

On the upside we met some really enthusiastic people, stallholders and customers alike, which made all the difference in terms of how we viewed the day and I think we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s an event we’ll maybe seek to attend on a more regular basis in the future, we’re back there in October anyway so we’ll hopefully get a better idea following that event and look to book up for 2011.

If we’ve taken away anything from this fair it was what people were interested in, the fabric finches proved popular, as did the plant pokes and the sock creatures, but I think we were both surprised to find that the most popular item by far was the hand-bound photo notebooks.  Jolene originally made these on a whim to use up some spare photo’s and yet people seemed to be fascinated by them and our limited stock was quickly depleted, later we’ll be poring over our photo collection to see which others might make nice little notebook covers!

I had hoped to get some pictures from the event to share with you but Jolene’s new camera (a long service award from her work) wasn’t really up to the job and there’s only really the one worth sharing, ho-hum, such is life!

Chocolate meringue torte

I made this cake at the request of my wee boy who wanted it for his seventh birthday, no doubt he wanted it due to the large quantities of chocolate involved and the extremely pretty picture in the recipe book which was all swirls and twirls of chocolate … not a finish I was able to achieve, although not for lack of trying!

We decorated the cake in the only way kids generally know how, with a range of sprinkles and a mismatch of candles, as things stand I’ve been referring to this, and I apologise for the crudity, but it’s ‘the cow-pat cake’!?  Not that it tastes like one you understand … not that I know what one tastes like!  Definitely one for the chocoholics out there though.

What you’ll need:

• 6 egg whites
• 220g caster sugar
• 140g slivered almonds
• 95g dried fruit
• 200g dark chocolate, grated
• 300g ricotta cheese
• 180g single cream
• 80ml Tia Maria
• 200g white chocolate melts
• 200g milk chocolate melts
• 200g dark chocolate melts

What you need to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 150C.
2. Grease a 24cm spring-form tin lining the base
3. Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl – if you are intending on eating the cake yourself you should probably do it by hand to burn off some of the calories you’re going to be consuming later – until soft peaks form
4. Gradually add the sugar beating it in every time you add some.
5. Fold in the nuts, fruit and half the grated chocolate.
6. Deposit mix in the greased tin.
7. Bake in the oven for around 1 1/4 hours until it’s firm, cool meringue in the oven leaving the door ajar
8. Meanwhile, beat the cheese and the cream in a medium bowl until there are no lumps, stir in liqueur and remaining chocolate, place to one side, in the fridge is good.
9. Melt the chocolate melts (in 200g gram batches) adding each batch to the cream mixture.
10. Mix the topping together well, as it cools it will begin to thicken.
11. Liberally spread the topping over the meringue centre.
12. Decorate as you wish, or not at all, and serve.

more flowers … less fairs

In the last 4 weeks we’ve had both of our booked craft fairs whipped out from under our feet, due to no fault of our own I hasten to add.  The first thanks to the council library failing to sort out the right licence from, well, the council; the second being cancelled for who knows what reason.  It’s not like it’s the end of the world but it is just a tad frustrating!

In fact the only ‘fair’ we’ve been to recently was the Rosneath Highland Games, although that was only to spectate, not that I would struggle to throw the hammer or toss the caber you understand but I wouldn’t want to put all those big burly blokes noses out of joint by showing them up …

… I didn’t even get any decent pics of the games that I would be happy to share on here, so – I’m afraid – that means more pictures of flowers!  This remains a craft blog, honestly, even if it does look more and more like a gardening one!!

It’s pink … what more can I say!

Marigold

Rocket (I believe)

They’re white, and flowery … very pretty!

It was the lad’s birthday a couple of weeks ago so there’s a cake post waiting to be written, coming soon I assure you!

Glasgow West End Craft Fair – Saturday 10th July 2010

Preparations are well under way for our first craft fair of 2010, which will take place in Hillhead Library in Glasgow’s West End this coming Saturday.

In the true spirit of leaving everything until the last minute, we have a list as long as both our arms of work to complete before Saturday morning and, in the true spirit of procrastination (something that we are very good at) Alasdair is currently rewiring the house and replacing the plasterboard, while I am busy redesigning and packaging my button pendants.

Going off on a tangent for a moment, these boards to hold my necklaces were made partially from the paper I made a couple of weeks ago.  I mounted the paper onto mount board and stamped ‘madestuff’ along the bottom, cut a couple of notches in the top to hold the cord and (in a later version) threaded a piece of wire through to hold the cord in place.  I’m so pleased with the way they worked out.

So, the list of things to do is still as long as our arms; however it’ll be alright on the day and if you would like to come along and meet us in person, and see some of the many other wonderful crafts on sale from numerous other makers, we’d love to see you there.

The details are on our events page.

even more GrownStuff and a give-away

… and still I’m gripped by an inability to craft, seized as I am between an unfinished poly-tunnel and the start of the school summer holidays.

Progress on the poly-tunnel is slow, although there is at least progress with the door-frames having been erected since my last update, leaving only the base-rail to attach, the cover to apply and finally the door to attach.  On the bright side I have discovered an aquilegia hiding under a willow hedge, I’ve wanted aquilegia in the garden for an age and knew that if I was patient it would make it’s way up here from the village below.

We also have one of these (below) in the garden although, I’m damned if I know what it is …

… in fact, it’s bugging me so much that I’m willing to give the first person who can identify it a £5 discount off anything with a price-tag of £10 or more from the shop.  All you need to do is convince me that your identification is correct by providing me with a link/s to somewhere that shows pictures with the correct name attached.  Just leave a comment at the bottom.   That should be easy enough if you already know what it is :)

Also today the lad has been playing with dung beetles …

making paper while the sun shines

Back in April I entered a competition on the Craft Scotland website to win a copy of Papermaking and Bookbinding: Coastal Inspirations by Joanne B Kaar and was delighted to learn a few weeks ago that I was one of the lucky winners.  I was even more delighted when I received my book last week to find that making paper isn’t the painful experience I remember it to be from my childhood attempts, where the paper ends up all pulpy and useless.  The book also contains all sorts of suggestions for jazzing up your handmade papers and what to do with all that paper you’ve made.  I particularly like the embossing from driftwood idea.

This Instructable describes the very method I used.

On a complete whim today (so wholly unprepared with any sort of shop bought materials) I made my first batch of paper, which is now handing merrily in the bathroom drying slowly – as directed in the book.

Tomorrow I get the iron out to flatten them out and decide what their fate might be.  I can’t decide between labels for my handmade photo notebooks or whether I should print onto them and frame them as works of art.  I kind of like that idea though…such ugly, unnecessary junk turned into art.

Just in case you think we’re really clatty, that grout is in fact pink and not dirty!  We inherited a baby blue and pink bathroom (complete with pink grout and, for some very odd reason, an orange shower tray) when we bought our current house and it’s not up there on the list of priorities to change, in spite of it’s very scary appearance.

Iris – rainbow sock creature

Iris thinks of herself as a Greek goddess with her lush lips and impatient stance … it’s why she always seems to have her hands on her hips, no doubt tapping her toes. The truth of it though is that she is more messenger than goddess, her purpose being to take those dreams that are lovingly whispered in her ear and help make them come true, she’s on first name terms with the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and, most important of all, the Fairy Godmother. Of course the more cuddles and love she gets the more likely she is to pass on your hopes and dreams.

Available from the shop.

The Events Page

We’ve just added an events page where we will be listing our upcoming craft fairs and any other events we are involved in … there are at least two more to be added in to those that are listed currently, although we’re waiting on the dates to be confirmed for those one.

Anyway, until then you can see the Events Page here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Carbon Neutral Blogging

We always try to be very nice to the environment.  We use mostly natural or recycled materials for our craft and reuse packaging when mailing, we drive a very efficient car and constantly lecture the kids to switch the lights off, but never turned a thought to how damaging to the environment blogging might be.

It’s not blogging per se, but the use of servers, routers, switches, computers and all that other technology, that enables us to blog and readers to view our blog, that makes for co2 omissions of around 8lbs a year for the average blog with 15,000 visits per month.  Luckily the average tree absorbs around 11lbs of co2 per year.  And even more lucky are we to find this programme that promises for every domain to sign up, they will plant a tree to offset the carbon output of your blog.  Now, we have planted a heck of a lot of trees and bushes in our garden in the past year and have plans for many more but these people plant them specifically to offset your blogging and we have many more activities we need to offset with our own trees and bushes…travel, electricity, heat, general consumption…

So, from this day forward, our blog will be carbon neutral as demonstrated by this rather splendid graphic…yippee!

If you have a blog, please join this programme.  It’s free and very easy to join and there really can never be too many trees.

Taking Inspiration: The Peacock

Peacock’s are well known for their fantastic plumage and for proudly strutting their stuff, they’re also an immense source of inspiration for a huge number of people; as you’ll discover if you type ‘peacock art’ into google and look through the image results.  It’s easy to see why they should act on the imagination and why artists and crafters alike should wish to include aspects of them in their work, I was reminded of that recently when we visited a local farm park – see here – with the kids and there was a couple strutting back and forth, all the while studiously ignoring each others existence.

Their arrogance and aloofness reminds me of ‘those people’ who have an arrogance born out of forever being told how handsome or beautiful they are, how wonderful they are, how perfect … at least the peacock’s have reason to believe it of themselves.  Here are a few pictures I took while we were at the park:

click to full view

I’d love to do a Bonnie Bird drawing inspiration from these birds although I think I need to carefully consider the execution of such an exploit. So, in the mean-time, here are a few samples from around the internet of what others have been up to recently:

by Deadpan Alley

by Jen Skelley

by Verabel

by Sally Boyle