April 2010 – Jennifer Michie

April 29, 2010 / 1 Comment

Berries & Cherries

I’m in love! And what am I in love with other than my adorable red-head you ask? I am in love with Bonne Maman’s Berries & Cherries Conserves. When we went grocery shopping last week, they were out of the usual strawberry and apricot and raspberry jams that I keep in, but there was a jar of this sitting on the shelf; and anything topped with red gingham ought to be good! Right?

Well, it was better than good, it was downright delicious! I can’t stop putting it on things; toast, bagels, blueberry muffins, my fingers…This will add a new dimension to my turnovers. I cheat when I am in a real rush and want to make turnovers for dessert.

I use my left over puff pastry and instead of making a fruit mixture to put in them, I put jam in the middle instead. They always come out deliciously tasty with the right amount of jam that has always oozed out a little, making one corner a crunchy sugar encrusted sticky jam bite!

I usually make a quick runny icing mixture and just do a little drizzle on top. I am afraid to make my turnovers with this jam though, I might not be able to stop eating them….

April 27, 2010 / 0 Comments

Sock Monkey

This picture made me smile this morning, when I was getting caught up on my Blog reading today. It is from the Nie & You Blog. I like how he (or she?) has been casually set on his little perch, waiting for someone to come back and play with him.

It is so lovely outside today, I wish I had someone to go run and play with. The sun is streaming down, the wind is lightly blowing and it would be a wonderful day to walk down to the park and play on the swings.

Maybe tonight after dinner we will do just that! A little ice cream and getting pushed higher and higher on the swings, never hurt anyone! You are never too old to bring out your inner child and just have fun!

“Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth.”
✤ Mark Twain

(Sock Monkey image copyright The NieNie Dialogues, Swing Time Fun by Jennifer Michie)

April 25, 2010 / 2 Comments

Heidi

I have always loved this story by Johanna Spyri. I especially loved watching the Shirley Temple version when I was growing up. Seeing her play with Schwanli and Baerli, her two little goats. Running through the gorgeous Alps, picking flowers and eating her lunch of crusty bread and fresh cheese out of a little pail lined with gingham fabric with Peter by her side.

But, most of all, I loved her little bedroom. Being tucked up in the eaves of the house, her window overlooking the mountains, the smell of fresh air and warm hay around her as she drifted off to sleep.

Yesterday, I felt just like her. The day was just so perfect! A Spring day that gives you a taste of Summer yet to come. I stripped the bed and washed the duvet cover. I let it finish drying over the airer and it was slowly baked in the warmth of the sun, as its edges rippled from the breeze coming through the window.

I fell asleep last night to the gentle pitter-patter of rain and the smell of the sun and fresh air against my cheek. I felt just like Heidi nestled in her little loft with the sweet smell of hay surrounded by the beauty of Spring.

April 23, 2010 / 0 Comments

Happier Than A Bird

It is beautifully sunny today and might get up into the 70’s. There is a delicious breeze blowing, I have beach music playing on the radio and as the voices of The Platters drift over me, I can only think of being little; the window rolled down, the wind whipping at my hair, my fingers catching the updraft as the smell of pluff mud fills my nostrils, the beach is on the horizon and the diamond dazzling reflection of the sun off of the water makes me squint and very soon I know my toes will be in the sand…

So today as the sunshine sinks into my pores and nourishes my soul, I am more than content! I hope there is something making you happy on this beautiful sunny Friday!

April 21, 2010 / 0 Comments

Light Box Happiness

I am covered in little pieces of felt at the moment and busy sewing away. I have another bear and bunny order.

So I have steadily been cutting and sewing and marking on little bunny whiskers and bear faces and this process has been made all the more easier by my new light box.

My adorable ginger was tired of seeing me use the lamp as my light box and one evening I came home and sitting on the table was a shiny new light box just for me! Now that, to me, is l♥ve! It has made my life a million-bajillion times easier! I am now, quite happily nestled in my little corner of the room I’ve carved out as my studio space, working away and listening to music.

This is what I have playing in my ears at the moment from the Away We Go soundtrack. I really liked this movie. It is just about being, about finding who you are and where you belong and who you belong with, its story was sweet.

I have also been busy ironing away this morning, making more Jenny Wren labels to be sewn into little bear and bunny legs, so now, I am going back to stitching on fluffy bunny tales and putting teddy bear ears together….

April 19, 2010 / 1 Comment

Do You Remember?

Do you remember our Easter basket and this beautiful pink box from Rococo?

It was the one piece of Easter candy amongst all the others that I was saving till last! I opened it last night and here is what was inside:

It was divine! I think the chocolate just tasted better because it was in the shape of ducks and lambs and bunnies! I even shared, which was a very hard thing to do with such scrumptious chocolate in front of me!

Even the tissue paper was beautifully designed with images of vintage chocolate molds, I just love it! It was well worth the wait! I just knew it was going to be delicious when I saw it was wrapped with such a girly pink gingham ribbon! It is just happiness!

April 17, 2010 / 0 Comments

Lost Things

Angela Kohler directed this video and it is so wonderfully dreamlike, especially with a song by A Fine Frenzy. I love Angela’s photographs there is such a magic to them, like this one:

and this one:

the colors just seem to dance and the 1950’s-esque quality is dreamy. I found this video on the Bloom & Blossom blog and it made me smile! I love the whimsy of it all, especially the whale and the teacup roses in her sunset red hair!

I think there just might be a black hole hiding all of those lost things! One, surely must be in my purse because things go in there and sometimes they never come out, just like the socks the washing machine seems to eat….

April 15, 2010 / 0 Comments

Spring Fever

April 12, 2010 / 0 Comments

Candy Cakes

Well, Saturday took a different turn than expected. We headed out of our London burb and into the city center. Which meant a trip to Carnaby Street!

One of my favorite streets in all of London and a quick back entrace into Liberty’s where I got to see a good portion of the Target range that is being offered Stateside, oh, how tempting it all was!

On our way there we took a short cut/ detour down a side street and went past this building: “Oh, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden (in this case auburn) hair!” When you went up closer and peeked through the window the hair continued inside in this shell of a room, now completely filled with a cobweb of tangled locks. It was pretty interesting to see.

We also went past these cute painted drums, their faces made me smile! And then we headed onto Carnaby Street. I could hear the choir sing in my heart as we headed into Kingly Court, I thought this dress was Spring time pretty, standing in a shop window as advertisement for the vintage store upstairs. But, we kept right on moving so we could get one of the best cupcakes going, from Candy Cakes.

I got blueberry with a blueberry yoghurt topping it was heaven as always! I had a little rainbow colored marshmallow twist on top of my cake, which of course I shared!

My sweet red head was in the mood for cake and got the most wonderful piece of carrot & walnut cake, I could have just eaten a bowl full of the icing on that cake and have been happy for the rest of the day.

So, an unexpected errand brought me the cupcakes I truly desired and I couldn’t have been in more of a state of cupcake bliss than I already was. Hope you had a happy weekend?

(Click here to go to the Candy Cakes site)

April 10, 2010 / 0 Comments

1,2,3

Today is beautiful and sunny here in our little London burb. The air is slightly warm but there is still a chill in it. It is the perfect day to throw on a hat and light scarf, grab a coffee and go sit by the pond. We might just do that!

It would be a wonderful picnic day, those perfect days when you feel the seasons slipping into the next. There is always a magic in the air at this time. Maybe a cupcake will jump into my hands while I pick up my coffee.

These Martha Stewart ladybug cupcakes would be perfect to bring with us, and have a “ladybug picnic”! However, I know I won’t be able to find these in my town today, I will just have to face the hardship of settling for a decadently rich chocolate cupcake with a rocky-road topping, or maybe a vanilla cupcake filled with raspberry jam and a swirl of raspberry buttercream and tiny hearts on top. It will be difficult to bring myself to have to eat one of these instead, but I will suffer through and do my best! (he he he)

Wish you were here, you could enjoy a cupcake with me too!

(Ladybug Cupcake image copyright Martha Stewart-click on the image to get her recipe for these cute cakes)