Happy Easter and Hello April :)

I love the month of April.  Even though Spring is always late in arriving here in Nova Scotia especially down in the valley, there are promising signs that it is thinking about it.  

A few little snowdrops and crocuses have bravely dared to make an appearance, struggling through the remnants of snow clinging to the ground and it is lovely to see a little colour here and there.

With Spring approaching my wedding cake topper orders have been flooding in at such a rate that some days I have been struggling to keep up.  Most buyers plan well ahead with weddings scheduled in July and August but I have had a couple of rush jobs for those early Spring dates that need to be made up and sent out, to arrive in under two weeks!

I think adding little legs was a good call,  even though the birds were popular standing on their little felt heart shaped ones the new design is more versatile and means they can stand on top of softer icing as well as the fondant iced cakes.  

I was recently sent a few photos of the creative way my customers have displayed their little birds; in nests, on top of archways and underneath tiny bunting flags, which I am considering offering as an addition to the birds.  I have made the fabric bunting flag cake toppers before but only sold them on their own.

These little blue and silver grey birds are so shabby chic and pretty in pastel shades of blue and pink.

The traditional dark grey and white birds.

Our home is back on the market too this spring and with a very much reduced selling price we are hopeful that this will be the year of downsizing to a home with no barn and a garden instead of some fields.  The property would be much better suited now to a family with young children and perhaps a couple of horses or alpacas.
Whether we are going to be spending summer in the valley or moving closer to the city it is a time of year I really look forward to.

A Chocolate Treat

When it comes to cooking, I am not really in my comfort zone.  I do have the occasional moments of genius or luck, but generally I tend to stick with what I know best when it comes to meal preparation, always a little scared to experiment as many recipes seem to have a long list of ingredients, more often than not missing from my pantry or fridge at any given time.

However, two, or rather three things have wet my culinary appetite recently and inspired me to be more creative in the kitchen!

The first was being presented with a mini birthday cake last weekend made from scratch by my youngest daughter Amber.  This was a surprise in itself, given the fact that she not only took time out of her busy University schedule but she also got together with her friend who is studying food nutrition and they concocted a sugar free recipe for a chocolate cake with a soft walnut topping!

I have a health condition called GSD3, which means my liver can't process refined sugar, so I have to really limit how much I can have. I don't like to use artificial sweeteners but do use stevia which a natural sweetener.  Amber made this cute 3inch cake using a little natural maple syrup. 

The second source inspiration came from the vivacious and talented chef Jess Pike, a Scottish lass who runs cooking demonstration classes at my local superstore.  She also has a website called A Pear of Tarts. I have been going to Jess's what's for dinner classes held on a Monday lunchtime for a few weeks now.  While watching her expertly cooking she also entertains us with some hilarious stories thrown in.  At the end of the class the students or viewers get a little plate of her creation to try out and a copy of the recipe and a gift card to spend in the store too.  I really look forward to these classes and am gathering a few recipes to try out at home.

Jess Pike 

Last, but not least was coming across a great blog called 'can you stay for dinner' written by Andie Mitchell.  Her story intrigued me and I enjoyed reading it.  She writes well and has some great food ideas and a healthy outlook on life which I really admire, there are so many recipes on her blog that I am going to have a go at making.

Have I made you all hungry yet??

New improved Wedding Cake Topper Birds

With February out of the way we head into March and I am now a year older!!! 
Having just had a non-birthday (being a Leapling) I am never quite sure which day is best to celebrate, the 28th or 1st March, I suppose it doesn't really matter.
My husband surprised me with a lovely sterling silver Eternity ring he spotted on my  Etsy favourites. I was not expecting it at all and thanks to some jewelry box investigating by Jem comparing it to the vine ring she brought back from Korea, the ring fits me perfectly and I love it!  

Two parcels arrived in the postbox on March 1st. A Birthday gift from my friend Keriann in New Zealand, this colourful notebook from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  Being an avid list writer this will be very useful.  My latest batch of felt came just in the nick of time from Jenny , my new felt supplier in the US.  

Today Jem and I drove to the mall and enjoyed a cappuccino, we chatted, did a bit of people watching and had a little look around the stores.  

This week in my shop after many requests for my birds to be made with feet I decided to experiment with some wire and get bending!  I tried out three different wire types and found a nifty pair of mini pliers and am now happy with how their new little legs look. 

I also discovered that I can actually post my shop pics on pinterest so have uploaded a few as we head into the Spring wedding season.

The snow is melting and we are already starting to plan our move back to the valley to open up the house and de-winterize it ready for Spring, so March is looking most positive all in all.

Tomorrow is our family lunch date at Darrells Bistro, our favourite restaurant in Halifax where they make a delicious spinach salad with a grilled chicken breast on top!  

Tiny bear in a bed

Hello,  
Having decided against telling you the depressing tale of my back molar which had to be extracted yesterday, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and get off the sofa from under a blanket and delve into my box of felt and fabric where upon I made this little bear from merino wool felt and a scrap of pink floral cotton fabric.  

Millie the tiny teddy bear in a sleeping bag

Using my regular tiny teddy bear pattern I made her a cosy sleeping bag and a matching wee skirt.  Listed in my shop today :)

Hello again and Happy (belated) New Year!

Well that was a long rest I hear you say, that is any of my followers who may still be around since I dropped off the blogging map back in December 2011!!!!

Long story short I have had a few months of non blog worthy things going on in my life both health and family related, so spending time on the computer has not been a priority for a good while.

However, I shall attempt to rectify this and put fingers to keyboard once again, now that things have improved.

Although our house has not as yet sold we are still hoping that it will and keep our fingers crossed and remain optimistic.  In fact we came up with an ingenious idea of vacating it during the very coldest months of winter this year and are staying in a short term sub-let apartment in the city of Halifax for a few weeks.  This was also to help Jemma after she returned from Seoul to complete her final year at University here in Halifax as she needed a place to stay until her graduation in April. 

My husband's commute to work is about the same time wise and he is able to work from home a couple of days a week too.

I am still doing my crafting as a small source of income, running both Etsy shops. 

The creative part of my brain is constantly trying to come up with new designs and ideas in a very competitive field that is full of many talented artists.

I have just found a new felt supplier and am eagerly awaiting my first batch of felt with anticipation of turning the soft merino wool blend into Wedding cake toppers and little miniature animals.

My stock of doorstops and cotton hanging birds is dwindling away at very reasonable prices this year so I can concentrate of working with felt.  

Christmas is coming ....

The month of December is well under way, it seems to come around faster every year - how does that happen??  
November was not the best month for me in terms of physical activity. I took a bit of a tumble on some black ice in my driveway at the end of October!  The heavy rain had frozen on the edge of the deck and as I headed out with the good intention of going for a brisk early morning walk around the walking track in town, my feet just disappeared from under me and I wacked both shins on the edge of the wooden deck and skinned my knees, hands and chin!
Craig came rushing out to rescue me when he heard the loud shriek expelled from my lungs and almost slipped himself but managed to regain his balance and help me to my feet.  I had deep bone bruising on my shins as it turned out but luckily no fracture or breakage.  Maybe the calcium supplements do work!  
The recovery time however I have discovered does take longer the older you get and it was almost 6 weeks before the swelling went down and my shins ankles and knees had gone through various colours of the rainbow.  It was nice to finally be able to walk properly again without feeling pain.  
November was on the other hand quite eventful in my shop and I was very excited to receive another lot of beautiful soft merino wool blend felt in the mail from BenzieBazaar. 
I had chosen colours for my most popular animals in earthy tones suitable for deer, squirrels, bears, hedgehogs, puppies and kittens.  Also some ivory white and dark grey for the wedding topper birds.  

The first order I made up in the new felt was a set of Alpaca's to be used as a wedding cake topper.  I designed the pattern to be slightly larger than my usual 2" size which is what the bride to be wanted.  Then I had a request for some birds in mustard yellow and golden brown, rainstorm blue and cream, with contrast stitching in silver grey.

I do enjoy making up these personal custom orders for weddings and am particularly happy to be taking on a project for three sets of mice and squirrels for a wedding planner soon.  
When I mention to people that I make up cake toppers in the form of animals they often look a little perplexed.  When you are in love and planning a wedding it is often the little details that make all the difference and to have a cute keepsake, especially if it has a special meaning (Craig and I have referred to each other as bunnies since we got engaged over 20 years ago!)  

 

The feedback photos are always lovely to get, you may remember this pair of deer I made a few months ago? 
Well, it's back to the land of felt and stitchery for me this morning, interrupted only by the need to put another log on the wood stove to keep my fingers nimble and the occasional mug of hot tea to warm my toes!
I hope you are all enjoying the run up to the Christmas holidays :)

Hazel x

Etsy Pre-Christmas Sales

Hello to all my followers :)
I have had a little blogging break while keeping busy sewing quite a few orders for my Blossom Hill Etsy Shop over the past few weeks.  It can get a bit hectic in the run up to Christmas. 
Here are just a small selection of the little felt animals I have been designing and sewing.

 A collection of these assorted birds to a boutique in Halifax. 

 3 tiny deer for a baby's nursery in the US 

  Scandinavian Christmas felted wool red berry heart decorations  

 Some little Japanese Totoro wood spirits !

 Unicorns and winged horses 

 A little peach bunny made from a new colour merino wool felt ordered from the US from Benzie Bazaar.  I am patiently waiting for another delivery soon with more of the popular brown shades that are running low in my sewing room.

This cute Pitbull puppy was a custom order for a lady who wanted a miniature version of her own little dog.


Plus of course the little bird wedding cake toppers :)

This particular pair are flying off to the UK!

Well Hello Autumn!!

Autumn is here, which is quite evident in the beautiful spectrum of colours of the leaves on our trees.  Craig couldn't resist  getting out the camera one sunny morning this week and taking a few snaps.
It's amazing how quickly it all happens from a tree full of green to varying shades of red and gold, before a few windy days come along and send them all falling to the ground.  
Don't you just love the feeling of stepping and jumping on crunchy autumn leaves? 
It's so satisfying :D  

Hazel x

Family Friday - Princess Amber

GETTING READY 

August came and went and the school holidays ended, which was a bit sad but all good things have to come to an end and although the sun didn't shine as much as previous summers, all the veggies and fruit still grow well.  We harvested spinach, lettuce, onions, carrots, beets, peppers and courgettes. The tomatoes were late but bountiful none the less by the end of the month and I managed to make a few batches of sun dried tomatoes and delicious chunky sweet tomato soup to store in the freezer for winter. 
Sometime in July Amber was asked (as she and Jemma have been every year we have lived here) if she would be willing to take part in the Morristown Princess Tea, where they choose a epresentative aged between 15 and 18 to take part in the Berwick Gala Days celebration.  Both my daughters have declined in the past due to the stigma attached to pageants generally.  
However this year Amber got more information and discovering that a Princess in the Gala Days festivities is more of an all round representative rather than a beauty queen, with emphasis being on public speaking, good morals, manners and work ethic. Having thought about it she decided to enter the event.
The local ladies in our community were delighted and she attended a special Princess tea where she got her crown and sash.  Some of the duties once she was chosen were to be in the gala days parade on a fund raising float.  This was decorated and prepared in our barn.  All 15 candidates from various villages in the valley got together daily and had a busy week visiting the elderly in a hospice, patients at a rehabilitation home, judging a local desert contest and meeting and greeting young and old at various other events.  The main function was a princess tea where Amber had to stand up in front of a room full of spectators, local politicians included and deliver a prepared speech on her chosen subject of being a good role model.  
The week was very busy and Amber was chosen as second lady in waiting, a title that she was more than happy with.  She found her experience to be a positive one, having fun with the other girls that took part and was happy to end the summer holidays with some great memories before starting her final year of high school.  
I am very proud of her naturally and since then she has started grade 12 and now has a part time job in the evenings and weekends so will have a busy year ahead while deciding on her future university plans.

IN THE PARADE ON THE MORRISTOWN COMMUNITY FLOAT

NINE OF THE 15 CANDIDATES TAKING PART

Family Friday - July in Montreal and a bright red car!

This is a small post for my extended family and friends, especially the ones who aren't familiar with facebook where I tend to write things on a more regular basis.  
Each Friday I am going to keep you updated on what we have been up to starting from the month of July after Jem left for Korea and there were just the three of us; Craig, Amber and myself for the summer holidays.
With Craig's new job we soon realised that we really needed another set of wheels as sharing one car was not going to work with his new job being over an hours drive away.  After looking tirelessly in the local classifieds etc. Craig came to the conclusion that a trip a little further afield was required and before I could say 'are you sure?'  we were boarding an overnight train to Montreal!!  
Armed with some felt, thread, stuffing and a few selected patterns I was prepared to make a few tiny animals en-route to list in my Blossom Hill shop when I returned in a few days time. I began sewing them together unaware that I was being closely watched by the gentleman in the seat behind me.  After I had finished a couple of them curiosity got the better of him and he asked me what I was doing.  I told him about my online business and he wanted the two little bears I had made.  When I had finished the fourth and final one he bought those too, so my train journey turned out to be quite a productive one!
Montreal is a lovely City and we managed to find a little car to get us back home again via Quebec City. The drive home took about 15 hours, which worked out well with the three of us taking turns at the wheel.  

Above the City of Montreal

Amber in Old Quebec City

                                         The shiny red Honda Fit from Montreal
Our friend Dave came to visit us in July from New Zealand, in fact he gave the car a wonderful clean and polish, which was very kind of him!!
Next Friday I will tell you about Amber's involvement in the Gala Days celebration when she represented our village Morristown as their Princess.

Window Inspiration

A few weeks have gone by since I wrote this Blog Post introducing Silk Secret.  Whilst my new venture hasn't broken any records it has been ticking along steadily and with the Blossom Hill shop of little hand sewn animals in tandem it keeps me busy creating, sourcing new materials and vintage finds, photographing, listing and getting things wrapped up and in the mail to various destinations around the world.  
I admire other regular bloggers such as my friend Katherine who's blog Secret's of a Butterfly never ceases to amaze me with her endless stream of diverse and beautiful images and words, so skillfully put together in such a creative way.  My biggest downfall with blogging is that I tend to go off on a tangent aka 'surfing'.  Trying to concentrate on the reason I came on the computer in the first place seems to be something I rarely achieve and then I end up feeling terribly guilty and non-productive.  
I will be putting more interior decorating inspiration in my posts.  This week I have decided to focus on Windows.  I love unusual and beautiful windows, they can really change a room and are such a focal point, the ones below appealed to me the most in my search among so many images on flickr today.  All quite different but equally impressive.









Just wanted to share these with you.

Interior Decorating Diploma

It finally arrived!!  My Diploma for the Interior Decorating course I completed this year through the International Career School (ICS)  
It may not be a job, but it will give me the confidence to keep tackling those paint renovating projects I love to do and with the knowledge gained on the course I can put it to good use in our next home.  Of course this is all a bit premature as we still have to sell our current house and seeing as I have decorated every room here already I shall have to be patient.  
I am going to post some photos that appeal to my sense of style over the coming few weeks.  I was originally going to start a Tumblr blog as both my daughters have those, but instead decided it would make more sense to carry on with this blog and just make sure I include the links to my photograph sources.

Hazel x

My daughter in Seoul

I do miss my daughter Jemma so much now she is living so far away in Seoul. 
She is having a wonderful time and we are in contact on skype , telephone, facebook and email, so I can't complain too much :)  


She recently started blogging about her life there, which is of course so different to Halifax and the first two years she spent in University after leaving home. 
 Even though I lived in London myself and come from Manchester originally, It is quite different to the huge City of Seoul with it's culture and people.
http://jemmasseoul.tumblr.com/


I think of her often and am so happy she is living her dream.

Midsummer Madness

A busy few weeks has meant that my blog has been somewhat neglected so I shall try my best to get back into the swing of things.  
First of all our family became official Canadian citizens on June 2nd, it has been a long and complicated process as anyone who has ever immigrated to another country will know.  We attended the swearing in ceremony just a couple of weeks after completing our knowledge of Canada test and were presented with our certificates and Citizenship cards along with 47 other new citizens from 20 different countries.  

Taken outside the
Cunard Centre where the  ceremony was held in Halifax 

 

A few days following the ceremony we bid an emotional farewell to Jemma at Halifax airport, seeing her off on her year long student exchange venture to Korea!!  

Hugs from Daddy at the airport.
Our little girl is all grown up and independent now and is loving the many wonderful new experiences that the huge city of Seoul has to offer, certainly an exciting place to be spending her 20th birthday in just a few days.  She is making lots of new friends, adapting to the local culture and customs living with a sweet host family about an hour away from the University.  In September she will move into the campus dormitories which will cut out the travelling time and be more convenient during her study months.  Yesterday she found out that she has been awarded another scholarship by the University of Seoul. We are all delighted and very proud of her.  I am loving Skype these days when we can actually see her in her little bedroom as she gives us a weekly update.  
Our house is now on the market with Property Guys, we have decided to have a go at marketing it ourselves.  We have full control of the live site which is a much more accepted way of selling these days.  We don't anticipate a quick sale, but you never know.  With Amber still in high school for another year we can't move too far away until she goes to University.  
The garden is looking lush and green, the humming birds are back of course in huge numbers now that the fledglings have hatched, it's hard to keep up with filling the two feeders outside the window.  The hydrangeas are enormous as are the hosta's and we have salad ingredients coming out of our ears in the veggie patch!!  Wonderful and definitely my favorite time of year.
Here is a link to our listing if you would like to take a peek :)
http://propertyguys.com/property/index/id/59634