Just incase you haven't noticed, this blog has been quiet for rather a long time. Life just seemed to get in the way and 2014 was particularly busy with moving into a new house that needs a huge renovation, planning a handmade wedding, getting married and then a lovely long honeymoon in Australia.

I am starting 2015 with much more focus but it means some changes are afoot, the first is that I will no longer be updating this blog, instead I have a shiny new blog as part of my new website which will launch later this Spring. The blog is up and running and I would love for you to come and join me..

My future family-in-law seem to appreciate my baking, especially my future father-in-law who loves cookies.

Sadly this bank holiday weekend I am not able to join them for a family gathering as I have a lot of things to be doing for the wedding but I wanted to send along some cookies and so late last night I whipped up some lemon and poppyseed cookies for their morning tea.

These cookies are super easy to make and so I wanted to share the recipe. This recipe will yield 15-20 cookies depending on the size you go for.

To make the cookies you will need:
1.5 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppyseeds
120g unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 large egg

And this is what you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a small bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and poppyseeds together.
3. In another bowl cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the lemon zest and egg to the creamed mixture.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients with a spoon until just incorporated.
6. Drop balls of dough on to the baking sheets about 2" apart and bake for 9-13minutes until the cookies start to go brown at the edges.

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It has been quiet around here I know, and I have been a bit behind in making updates to Butterfly-crafts.com
but its because we are *finally* moving house! This process has been dragging on and on, we had problems with the Land Registry to sell our flat and had to have CCTV put down the drains of the house we are buying but finally, after a lot of stress, moving day is this Friday.

Most of our evenings are being spent packing up boxes and moving things to our storage unit so there isnt too much to do on moving day. It has been hard to pack up my craft room as I am not sure when it will be unpacked again - we are hoping to build an extension and part of that is a dedicated craft room.

I have a week off of work soon and by then our internet will have been connected and I am scheduling myself a couple of days to catch up on business and list some lovely new cards I have been making so watch this space!

I've been toying for most of the day about writing this blog post but I think *not* writing it goes against the purpose of today. Time to Talk Day is 24 hours in which to start conversations about mental health, raise awareness and share the message that mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, neither is talking about it.

I think a few people close to me (and some in the online world) know that I struggle with anxiety almost every day, some days are better than others. Its not something I can help and its not something I can just turn off. In fact one of the most irritating things is to be told to "just get over it" or "just stop worrying".

Rather frustratingly for me, recently I had to admit to myself, and to those close to me, that my anxiety has got a bit worse and developed into "Anxiety Depression". On the surface of things I am meant to be all happy and excited because I am getting married and planning what I hope will be a wonderful wedding (I have a huge anxiety that people wont like what I am planning), I am in the process of buying a lovely house which with my future-husband we will renovate into our future family home, I have family who love me and an amazing honeymoon to look forward to.

But that's all on the surface, depression can run deeper than that, and mine does, I have been ignoring certain feelings that started about 4 years ago now, I closed the door and threw away the key, and it is only as I am coping with a rather hectic schedule at the moment, combined with my back problem, that these emotions are resurfacing and overwhelming me. I've tried to ignore it, I've tried to tell myself I'm just being silly, but that's not right either. When I read a blog written by Shiny Pigeon I realised that I needed to ask for help. And that is exactly what I did and I am pleased that plans are being put in place for me to get the help I need and the simple act of telling someone I needed some help was a weight off of my shoulders.

If you know someone dealing with anxiety or depression and you don't know how to be of help to them, this TV advert from Time to Change is a really good pointer. The best thing is taking the time to talk to someone, to listen beyond the "I'm fine", to spend an hour of your day with them having a cuppa and a slice of cake, to send a text or an email, maybe even pick up the phone.

If like me you love papercrafting, it is quite likely you have a lot of pens of one brand or another and you need to find the best way to store them. It can be frustrating and time consuming when you have to search around for the colour that you need because of lack of organisation.
I dont have a lot of room for craft storage (this will change in our new house!) and so I took to searching online for different ideas for storing my ProMarkers.

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This fabulous storage tower has been handmade using cardboard and mount board, it must have taken ages to make and to have all of the colours in the right place. I like it for easy access however it does seem to take up un-used space whilst a collection grows and what if more pens were added in the range?

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This storage box has been made from a travel CD box with smaller individual boxes made to go inside so that colours stay in rows. I think this is a good option as the pens are stored with the ink flowing into the nibs and it is easy to transport around if necessary.





Thinking about the different options for storage that I have, I decided that my ProMarker collection is not huge (because I also have Spectrum Noir) and so a couple of clear boxes would be plenty for me. Something I have picked up on from looking around Pinterest for Craft Room ideas is that it is a good idea to put coloured dots on the end of the pens so it is easy to work out what you are looking at.

So I got a couple of packets of small white labels and then coloured them in and popped them on the fatter pen lid. I have two boxes arranged in colour schemes - one for blues, greens, greys and the other for pinks, purples, reds etc. Ok so I can't see the pens instantly like these two examples above, but it does help more than just randomly being in a box!

How do you have your pens arranged?

With Valentine's Day approaching and Mother's Day not too far around the corner why not make your mum
or loved one a jar of Lavender Bath Salts so they can relax at the end of a hard day. These bath salts only have a few ingredients and so they are super easy to make!

First of all you need to find a suitable jar - it needs to be airtight once sealed, I love the Kilner style jars from Ikea - and sterilise it (I do this in the dish washer)

Judging from the size jar you have you need to add roughly 1/3 oatmeal, 1/3 Epsom salts and 1/3 dead sea salts to a food processor bowl and give it a good whizz until it is the consistency you desire. I have mine fairly powdery but so that you can still make out the grains of salts and oatmeal.

Once it is blended, add in your fragrance. I have used lavender but you could add what ever you choose, and just keep adding a few drops at a time until you have the scent you would like - take it steady here, you can always add more to make it stronger but you cannot take it away!

To make these lavender bath salts even more "lavendery" I added some dried lavender flowers which I grow in my garden, when added to the bath the dried flowers float and enhance the scent.

Once all mixed, cover the bowl with a tea towel or cling film and leave to sit for a few hours, then spoon into the jar and seal.

I think these bath salts would make a great gift for Mother's Day or for a guy to give his girl at Valentine's Day along with a big box of chocolates to enjoy in the bath!

Way back last year I learned about the Craftivist Collective and their #imapiece project with Save the Children. 

The #imapiece project was put together to help Save the Children in their quest to tackle hunger, which remains the biggest cause of child death globally, killing 260 children an hour. The idea was to ensure that David Cameron used his G8 presidency in 2013 to push world leaders to invest in life-saving interventions that will save millions of lives.

Since the launch in October 2012 and until March 2013, craft lovers across the UK got busy stitching hundreds of handmade jigsaw pieces with their messages about why tackling hunger and malnutrition is so important to them, this is my #imapiece above.

On Friday 1 March last year, Craftivists Collective held their first #imapiece installation at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. Over 600 hand-stitched jigsaw pieces came together as a breath-taking installation- a clear message to the Government that the craft community wants them to take action on hunger.

I can hear you wonder why I am posting this months after the project finished - well, the #imapiece project may have ended but the Craftivist Collective is an ongoing organisation which "exists to facilitate and encourage craftivism across the UK and around the world." Their manifesto is simple: “To expose the scandal of global poverty and human rights injustices through the power of craft and public art. And so if you are a crafter and would like to use your craft skills in a positive way, why not take a look at the various projects which are currently running, you can read all about them on the Craftivist Collective website or their Facebook page.

 
This Christmas gone I made up some jars of cookies for family as gifts and one of the cookies included were Oatmeal, Choc Raisin Almond cookies and I have to say, they are my favourite cookie to bake...ever! I thought I would share the recipe here with you all for you to enjoy and if you need a lovely handmade gift that is quick to make why not make a batch up and put in a nice jar or gift box.

This recipe will yield around twenty five cookies depending on the size you make.

You are going to need:
1 1/3 cups of plain flour (all purpose flour)
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1cup of cookie oats
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flaked almonds (if you want nut free cookies, substitute the almonds with sultanas)
1tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1/2 cup slightly melted butter

And this is what you need to do:
1. Combine all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and stir well to combine,
2. Add the slightly beaten egg and stir,
3. Add the vanilla essence and the slightly melted butter and stir well into a dough,
4. Divide the dough into balls about 5cm in size and place on a parchment lined baking tray,
5. Bake in an 180c oven for ten-twelve minutes

I like to think of myself as an organised person, the 'to do' list is my friend and I feel lost without a notepad in my bag and staying organised helps me feel in control when life spins out of control.

Last year I set the aim to make as many of the gifts I needed myself, or to buy handmade where possible and this extended to my Christmas gifts. I don't have a huge amount of gifts to send and so I thought making them would be a good challenge.

I didn't make everything, Barbies are rather difficult to hand make, as are picture books for my nieces, but aside from those and a couple of t-shirts, everything else was made by my own hands. You can see here what I got up to, I plan to write a few tutorials over the coming months for some of the gifts in case you would like to have a go yourself.

Cookie Jars, Oven Gloves and Apron Set, Car Tidy

Lavender Scented Hearts, Padded Coat Hangers

Decoupaged Tea Box, Lino Print Tea Towel

Decopatched photo frame, Tea Cup Gardens

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Like many bloggers I am jumping on the band wagon of reviewing this year which is hours from being over and looking ahead to the new year to come.

Back in January I wrote about my aims for 2013 and what I hoped to achieve. You can read all about them here but I can say now, I have not been able to meet my aims. Has it been that I set the bar too high? Possibly. Has it been that I have been sidelined by other activities. Possibly. Or has it just been that life got in the way? Probably. I cant help but say I do feel disappointed to have "failed" in meeting my aims, I have not achieved the number of sales I had hoped for in my dedicated website, but, I have set up an Etsy shop this Christmas and received lovely sales there and I have plenty of plans for this coming year. I have not completed my thirty before thirty challenge (a case in point at setting the bar too high?) but I have bought a gorgeous bike, Betty, and am slowly exploring Cambridge, and I have been successful in mostly giving handmade gifts throughout the year, something I intend to do in 2014 too.

Despite feeling sad that I have not achieved my original aims I set out, I did find a new job in Cambridge which has improved the quality of my life by not having to commute for over three hours a day into London, I have been the President of the Puckeridge WI group in my old village, begun to make new friends at the WI groups I joined in Cambridge, had some lovely holidays (Scotland, France and Ireland) but more importantly, and something I may have hoped for but didnt expect it to happen, I got engaged.

Our Save the Date (I've removed the date for now)

And so 2014 is going to be a very exciting and crazy year. We are in the process of finding a new house to buy and move out of Cambridge a few miles and now we have our wedding to plan and I might blog a little about the handmade plans we have as the year progresses, only ten months to go! I think the main aim I have for the year to to keep all of the plates spinning and try and keep my anxiety under control. The past few weeks in particular have been awful in terms of anxiety and im not ashamed to admit there is a dark cloud hanging over me of late and it is not floating away but I am pleased to have the support I need from family to try and manage.

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So what for my list of aims for this coming year? Well, there isnt one. I have decided that moving house and getting married is enough for one year, I dont need to be sitting here in a years time comparing what I have or havent done. Instead however, I have decided to pick seven words and to try and incorporate them into my daily life as "aims". The words are:

1. Fun / Laughter - it is so important to laugh every day and have fun.
2. Make / Handmade - I want to be more creative and will continue to give handmade gifts
3. Save - With a house and a wedding this one is obvious!
4. Finish / Declutter - I have *so* many toiletries, stationery etc, I want to use them up before buying more which will in turn reduce the amount of clutter.
5. Blog - The only business aim I am setting this year is to blog more and I have plans!
6. Care / Relax - As mentioned my anxiety is taking control of me and I need to work on caring for myself and relaxing to get through the year,
7. Time Management - my overall word for the year, I need to manage my time well between my job, running Butterfly Crafts, wedding planning, house decorating and just life!

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of my lovely customers, supporters and readers a very Happy Christmas and holiday season. I have appreciated all of your support over this past year and I am so excited as to what adventures 2014 will bring in terms of my wedding, moving house and plans I have for Butterfly Crafts and I look forward to sharing them with you all.

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If you're like me and you love a Christmas tree that really sparkles when the lights are all turned on and it's dark outside then consider treating yourself to beautiful handmade Christmas decorations from Butterfly Crafts. 


These handmade Christmas Decorations not only look fantastic on the tree but would work really well tied into a handmade garland. But they are also perfect to buy for friends as an extra special stocking gift and work really well if you make your own crackers for the table at Christmas lunch and want to include something beyond the mini pack of cards or plastic ring!


 I have a range of decorations available including Boots, Baubles, Stars, Bells, Presents and the extremely popular Christmas Pudding - I could not get enough of these made last year and so have started early this year! I also have a range of colours available including the traditional reds, greens, golds, silvers and whites to the more contemporary blue, black, purple, pink and brown depending on the colour scheme you have on your tree.


 As I know that Christmas can be an expensive time of year, why not spread the cost a little of having beautiful handmade decorations with my pre-payment plan. You can order whichever shapes you would like and in the colours of your choice, pay a non-refundable deposit of £2 per item and then pay the balance (with postage) when they have been made for you. Find out more about my Christmas Decoration pre-payment plan here.

A couple of weeks ago I ventured into the outskirts of London to visit the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace. I have been to the show before, in April, and was in two minds whether to go in September because of a lot of things going on and already having enough craft supplies! But, as we needed to go to Ikea which is nearby, it made sense to combine the two, and so off I went for a few hours whilst Paul explored the coffee shops of Muswell Hill.

When I arrived I decided that the best strategy was to have a walk around first and just try and take everything in, and then have my lunch before shopping some more. The good thing about this show is the grid-like layout and with plenty of space between stalls - unlike the Stitch and Creative Craft Shows I have been to in the past. It is easy to navigate and there is also a vast amount of chairs and tables to sit and contemplate your spending or to eat a sandwich.

 What I like about this show is that there are so many demonstrations on the stands, and it attracts the "celebrity" crafters who demonstrate for the various companies - Sue Wilson, Leonie Pujol and Ali Reeve to name just a few.

I also love to see the new products and gain inspiration for ideas as I do love to stamp and wish I did more of it. One of the best things is being able to take photographs of the card samples when you buy products at stands.

This time around I purchased a multitude of supplies from "Every Craft's a Pound", brushes and stamps from Inkylicious, Stamps from Stamposaurus and other bits and pieces during the day. Now all I need is to get crafting!

Supplies purchased at the Big Stamp and Scrapbook Show

Things have become even more interesting in my life lately, there I was getting ready to start full time in my job and have all these Christmas craft fairs planned, starting to look to buy a house and now...


That's right! I now have a fiancee and am planning a wedding for Autumn 2014. People have been asking me what sort of wedding we will have and will it be crafty, the answer is yes, there will be a lot of craft elements but that is because its who I am. I could never justify buying invites and such like when I am able to make my own.

I do want to keep a lot of my wedding a surprise for our families and guests but I will share little snippets when its right to do so but I also don't want to bore everyone. But for now, let me introduce the man who asked me to marry him

I have to admit I do like to snack and chocolate is my weakness, if you are like me and are looking for healthy snacks but to help with the chocolate craving give these easy to make Banana and Chocolate Chip Muesli Cereal Bars a go. These bars are also a way to use up bananas you might have thrown away because their skins went a little brown or they got a bit bruised.

To make your muesli bars you will need:

* Three bananas
* 2 cups of rolled oats
* One cup of apple juice
* One cup of raisins or sultanas
* 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
* 3 tablsepoons of sunflower seeds

And this is how you make your yummy snack:

*Mash two bananas in a bowl with a fork then add another banana which has been chopped into small pieces,

*Add to the bowl two cups of rolled oats, one cup of apple juice and one cup of raisins (or sultanas if you prefer)

*Mix the ingredients together well and then add the 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips and the 3 tablespoons of sunflower seeds.

*Line a baking in with baking parchment and spread the mixture to about 2cm thick.

*Baked in the oven for 15-20 mins on 180C/Gas4

*Once cooled, remove from the tin and cut into the desired size bar and store in an air tight container. I usually cut them into 2" squares.

When I have made these cereal bars I find they need to be eaten within a week because of the banana in the mixture. If you had school children these would be a great snack to whip up ready for their lunch boxes the following day.


 

I have wanted to try out a few new crafts recently just to see if anything else takes my fancy and one of those was Lino Printing so when I saw local craft workshop Betty Makes, from Newmarket, was running an evening workshop I jumped at the chance to book. Being a bit of a nervous type I didn't fancy going alone and so Holly from Ilex Made This came along with me.

Lino printing is a print making  technique in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife or V-shaped chisel with the raised (un-carved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The linoleum sheet is inked with a brayer and then impressed onto paper or fabric.

Betty Makes is a lovely little studio room run by Jean-Mary and it is such a pretty place to be with craft materials displayed and a big table for the students to sit around. Classes fit up to eight but at this workshop is was just Holly and myself which meant we had lots of space to get messy!

Jean-Mary started off by talking us through what we would be doing - drawing out a design on to paper, transferring it to the lino and using tools to cut it out, and then printing on to our blank tea towel. As it was just Holly and I we also had time to print a couple of cards and Jean-Mary explained the different paints to use on paper rather than fabric.

Now, I am the first to admit that I am AWFUL at drawing, I even struggle with stick men, and so I may have cheated slightly and took along some of my paper-crafting stamps for inspiration. Once I decided upon the butterfly I traced the design on the stamp packaging and used that, but I don't mind, I think it came out great!


I am pleased with the design around the tea towel and may use this as part of a Christmas hamper as a gift at Christmas. I also made two cards and prefer this one with two butterflies in the corners rather than the one big butterfly which is on the other card.


Holly did great drawing her baking utensils from scratch and I love the design she made in bright colours.

We both really enjoyed the workshop and I think we may both have a go at this technique again, but if not, I can still see me returning to Betty Makes to attend more workshops!

If you would like to have a go at Lino Printing why not take a look at the Betty Makes schedule?

(This is not a paid post, I just love what Jean-Mary is setting up with craft workshops)

If you're a keen baker I would guess you have a bottle of vanilla essence in your cupboard, but have you ever thought how easy it is to make your own Vanilla essence?

I hadn't, but last Christmas I was on a mission to make as many of my Christmas gifts as possible, because I love handmade and crafting but also because I think something handmade has more of a personal value and no time is this more prevalent than Christmas

I decided to make up some hampers for family and combine lots of handmade goodies and one of the elements I made was handmade vanilla essence. It was so easy to DIY that I also made up a sneaky batch for myself and I have been using it throughout the year in my cake baking as its much nicer than those tiny shop bought bottles and lasts longer.

If you think this might be something you would like to make as Christmas gifts I would suggest making it soon as it needs to steep for at least six weeks to get a strong vanilla flavour.

To make your own Vanilla Essence you will need:
10-12 vanilla pods per bottle - I bought mine here
250ml Glass bottles - I bought Kilner ones here
Vodka
Knife

The first thing to do is sterilise the bottles - I did this in the dishwasher with no detergent and then leave the bottles to air dry overnight.

The next stage can get a bit messy! You need to run the knife along the length of the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds, leave them on the pod but not trapped in side. As you scrape each pod put it in the glass bottle, its okay if the seeds fall off in the bottle.

Repeat this for all of the pods, I managed to get 11 in each bottle.

Fill with vodka, seal the lid and give it a really good shake.

Store in a cool dark place for at least six weeks or longer but each week give the bottles a gentle shake to mix up the essence. Eventually the vodka will turn a gorgeous shade of brown and smell delicious!

Like many crafters I love my Tim Holtz Distress Inks for papercrafting and I have collected quite a few from the various ranges.

I love Distress Inks because they are great for stamping but also painting with if you use a water brush.

The problem however with the inks is that you cannot get a true colour representation from the lid of the ink pad. To rectify this, I decided to make a colour swatch which I will keep with my inks and can reference when stamping but something that I could also add to as I purchase more inks - which I most definitely will! The colours all together just look so pretty!

To make a colour swatch like this one you will need:

• Distress Inks
• Distress Inks Blending Tool
• Blending mat
• Small rubber stamp
• White stamping card
• Shaped punch
• Hole Punch
• Ribbon
• Pen

1. First of all punch out the shape of your choice in the white stamping card for how ever many inks you have.
2. Using the blending sheet and the blending tool ink the card shapes making it darker around the edges and gradually lighter in the centre so that you can see the range of colour shades you can create with one ink pad. 
3. Using the rubber stamp, stamp the image in the centre of each colour swatch so that you can see what a stamp in each colour will look like.
I hope this will be a helpful addition to your craft organisation techniques and save you a little time with knowing exactly what the colours will look like!