Out With the Old and In With the New. Words, That Is.

Hello Dear-hearts

Happy New Year! It's time for those resolutions to be made and eventually dropped. For me, it's where I say goodbye to the word I chose for 2014, Adventure. I may not have continued blogging about it (like resolutions, this tended to fizzle out) but I did live by it all year.

I didn't throw myself off any cliff faces or climb Kilimanjaro. Adventure, for me, is something less ambitious. I defined it as any new experience I tried. Whether it was a holiday in Switzerland or eating Grouse, it all counted. And trying to find something new to do all year round kept life interesting. My photo album for 2014 definitely makes me smile with all the memories made.

So how about 2015? Well I think I knew what it was going to be a while ago. But then I had a wobble and other words popped into my brain as candidates. All good ideas, I hasten to add but after some deliberation, my original idea remained strong.

So my One Little Word for 2015 is....

VIBRANT

It's one of those words which not only pertains to colour but also to energy. I don't mean just in crafts and creativity either. I want to inject vibrancy into as many areas of my life as I can. After all, isn't that the idea behind One Little Word? So I'll be bringing a vibrant theme to my clothes, health, lifestyle, career, home, food, sketchbooks, photography and wherever else I can conjure it up.

I'm not planning on a regular check in on here. That doesn't last. What does work is if it seeps in and I post about it at intervals. Every so often, I'll hopefully have something to post about and I'll refer it to my word of the year.

So how about you? Are you thinking about a word for the year? Is this something you do every year or will this be your first time? Or is it a bit too esoteric for your tastes? Whichever it is, I hope you'll enjoy seeing how my year pans out, with the one I've chosen.

A Card & A Trip to London

Hello again my lovelies

I've blown the dust off my inks recently and started to re-educate myself on how to stamp. Or rather, how to stamp successfully. I'd all but forgotten that there was a knack to it. Mind you, I recently flicked through a craft magazine and all the projects had appalling stamped images. Lots of missing patches of ink. I don't rate myself as being that proficient at it but a blindfolded chimp could do better than this mag's contributions. No wonder the publishing industry is having problems. I am subscribed to blogs which showcase crafters who are so brilliant, it makes me want to weep into my stash. And I can get that humiliation for free. I foolishly paid cold hard cash to see badly executed stamping.

Oops, slap hand and remind myself not to be such a grumpy sod - It's like that old joke goes - you know the one - "Oh you have a blog? And what do you complain about?"

So why don't I zip it shut and show you the card I made and let you all rain down a thousand judgements upon me instead lol

Since my last post, I've been out and about meeting friends and strangers and pretty much enjoying the aspect of being busy and doing nothing.

In the spirit of this year's "word"  - Adventure - I took a trip to London to meet up with my talented artist friend  - Richard Pettitt (Quick promotion! If you're looking for a beautiful Christmas Gift for someone and they have a pet - dog or cat - send Richard a photo and have him produce a gorgeous drawing from it - his website's here! - he did my cat a while back and it's stunning).

Anyway, when I met up with him - I dragged him off to the 02 to have him (and myself) strapped into a harness (which was as tight around the crotch as you could imagine, before ascending the outside of the dome on a rubber treadway.

Here we both are on the viewing platform at the top where we were treated to a 360 degree view of London.

Once we descended, we hopped off to the Tower of London to take a quick look at the ceramic poppies - not that we could see many as there was a hee-yooge crowd obstructing the view.

I think that, as I type, they are now being removed. So I was pleased to have seen them whilst they were still installed. I can't add anything to what has already been said by everyone else who has seen them. They were, as my American chums would say, awesome!

Digging It: Kohlrabi from Garden to Plate

We've had a lovely weekend entertaining a guest. One of Nick's closest and dearest friends. Whilst the pair of them went off on excursions together, I relaxed at home and made headway with a couple of DIY projects (which I will share when complete). Yes, my normally pristine hands have been sanding, priming and painting. On top of that, my nails have had further insult to injury by being plunged into dirt to harvest these lovelies

Our Kohlrabis were now all grown to the size of tennis balls and in need of harvesting. As you can see, we produced two varieties, purple and green. And because we planted the seedlings all at the same time rather than staggering them, we now have all twenty to eat up in the coming couple of weeks.

Good job I've found plenty of interesting recipes. The first of which we trialled on Saturday. Kohlrabi Fritters.

After peeling and grating them, they are drained of their moisture before adding to a mix of egg and breadcrumbs, plus a few chilli flakes. They are rolled into balls as you can see here

Flattened in a frying pan of hot oil, using a spatula

And voila, delicious, if ever so slightly naughty, fritters. And yes, it's like you've heard from everyone else who's grown their own produce. They do indeed taste better when you've gone from garden to plate. It's the smug self satisfaction that you've successfully grown and harvested organic vegetables and not killed them off or had them snacked upon by slugs and snails first.

Previous to these, my only other gardening success had been growing salad cress in an empty egg shell, decorated and filled with cotton wool. I was about six or seven. Is this a sign that I'm now well into my middle age? :D

Quick & Colourful plus a Little Adventure

Just a quick post today - no bells and whistles, showing a card I made whilst the web was down temporarily this morning (something to do with BT Broadband)

I sponged two colours of Distress Ink onto watercolour paper, Picked Raspberry (which I always read as Pickled Raspberry) and Salty Ocean. I used a stitched Lil Inkers Die to cut it out. I then used another die to cut out the sentiment in yellow card. I backed it all onto a glittery green base and stuck the whole lot onto red card.

Oh, I almost forgot. Though I'm not posting about it as regularly, I'm still incorporating Adventure into my life and yesterday I attended something for the first time which Nick had arranged. It's an adventure I would never dream of doing - Go Karting! At an indoor centre in Manchester called Karting 2000.

(Not a photo we took. It's from their website)

Up front I'll say I'm happy to have tried it once but it really, REALLY wasn't my thing. Nick had a great time, which makes me more than happy enough to have attended. But I am not the most ambitious person when it comes to speed. I even have little old ladies overtake me on the motorway.

For 15-20 minutes, I stayed in the left hand side, pootling along at the slowest speed possible, cringing whenever I hit a tight bend. Everyone else happily squealed their tyres, threw themselves round the course and overtook me, many, many times. Oh and the noise! Those karts don't half make a racket. I was relieved when the chequered flag was waved to indicate the end. I am so glad there weren't any photos taken of me in shabby overalls, complete with a hair net and racing helmet, gagging on the taste of petrol that seemed to be permanently in my mouth.

If I hadn't come across exactly as a petrol-head to Nick before, then I think it sunk in afterwards. Boxing, I can do. Boys' toys, I don't. My normally pristine palms, had blisters. I was in danger of developing callouses!!! I couldn't wait to go home, run a bath, add lots of smelly salts and wash any evidence away that I had been near oil and grease.

Today, inking up a card in bright colours, I feel more at home.

A Mini Adventure with Birds of Prey

As hinted at in yesterday's post, I had a mini excursion which I had booked earlier in the year as part of my one little word - Adventure.

There's a bit of a history to it. Many, many years ago when Nick & I first knew each other, he bought me an "experience" for my Birthday. It was for a day having birds of prey, especially falcons, land on an outstretched arm etc. Back then, I certainly didn't relish the idea. Horrid big birds flapping around my face? No thank you! So the gift was exchanged for a pair of good quality and much-worn and loved walking boots.

Cut to the present day and I open my email to discover that there's a deal on offer for a local Hawk Walk. Remembering the kind but nevertheless spurned gift back then and my resolve to have adventures this year, I went ahead and booked it.

The place: Stockley Farm Birds of Prey Centre. And we couldn't have picked a better day to go. We have been so lucky this year. Again, we were blessed with sunshine, blue skies and fluffy white clouds.

I must admit, I'm still not keen on giant Birds of Prey landing on my arm and though that's what we all had turns with, I was happy to let Nick have the pleasure. Me? I was there for the owls.

Now isn't this Tawny Owl  - Darwin - an absolute sweetie? I could have happily tucked him into my coat and taken him home.

Oh and the best part? When I stroked his head and back. The feathers are unbelievably soft. It's like nothing I've felt before. It's what you imagine clouds should feel like. Soft, fluffy and delicate.

Yes I did have this handsome chap land on my arm and boy can it swoop down hard and fast. But you're not seeing those photos. My face is not as relaxed and composed as Nick's was.

After we had fun taking photos of the birds on our arms, we set off on the walk with a juvenile hawk, Stan (who names a hawk Stan?). He'd only been on two other walks so was fairly new to the experience. To everyones surprise, not least our falconer, Gary, our young feathered friend who was joining us on our stroll, instead of swooping down from the trees and onto our gloved hands, dove straight into a hedge in front of us and before our eyes, caught and devoured a live field mouse. And the speed he did it was astounding. Gary managed to call him back but no sooner had we got the hawk out of the hedges, he swooped and nearly caught another. And that rather spoilt him lol. The scrawny scraps of chicken we were tempting him with weren't nearly as exciting as the juicy fat mice in the hedgerows.

But we did get a rare glimpse at the hawks' behaviour in the wild and how they gruesomely capture and feed from their prey. Again, we have photos but you'll be thankful I'm not sharing those either.

It was a wonderful experience and I'd happily do it again and again. Looking after these magnificent birds must be a dream job. Especially if you can go into work everyday and stroke a tawny owl. Ahhhhh.

Adventure February 2014

Hello My Dear Readers

It's that time when another month rolls around and I review my words of the year, Clean & Adventure. I'll skip by on the Clean this time around. I'm still incorporating it into my life and I have great plans in the year regards it. However, nothing of note happened during February.

Adventure on the other hand was to be found aplenty in the shortest month of the year. Most of it occurring in the last ten days. I sneaked a scheduled post in last week to throw you off the scent but I've been away in Switzerland, surrounded by stunning snow-laden mountains and glaciers.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I began the month downloading and completely failing at the game, Flappy Bird. I deleted it the day before the inventor pulled it.

The beginning of the month also saw terrible floods in the UK but here in the North West, we had an evening of hurricane force winds such as I've never been in before. The devastation to the trees around here was quite something.

Then, for Valentine's Day, Nick & I between us, experimented with creating a pizza with a base made from cauliflower instead of the usual bready dough.

The rest of the adventures come from the holiday in the Swiss Alps. We did it all by train and it included a day travelling on the Glacier Express, taking us deep into the snowy mountains. The trains had panoramic windows to enjoy the breathtaking scenery and it may be a cliche but it really was.

There were several new culinary tastes to be had on the holiday but I selected for this page, the incredibly moorish cake, biscuit type things. It's like deep friend batter coated in icing sugar and they taste of doughnuts. I could have eaten the country's entire stock of them.

At one of our stops along the way, we stretched our legs walking across a frozen lake. For no reason better than neither of us had ever done so before.

Finally, as a lesser first, I bought a never-tried-before lip balm from a Swiss branch of the Lush chain. The staff were as lovely as they are in the UK. In the cold climate, it was a mistake not to have packed some balm. I was chapping where no guy should be. When faced with the array of different varieties that Lush sold, the girl at the counter pointed to the Honey version and told me that this was the one best suited to those who love kissing. In that moment, I was sold.

And that has been my adventurous month. I could prattle on for pages and pages about the holiday and I'm patting myself on the back for keeping this post so succinct. Between us there are well over a thousand photos to sift through and oodles of wonderful memories. So when I have a moment, I intend to create a slideshow of the best so that we can happily relive the holiday for years to come.

For now, there's only the grim reality of washing and ironing :)

One Little Word(s) - February

Blimey a whole month has passed. Which means it's time for my monthly review of my two words for 2014: Adventure & Clean.

Adventure

Not a bad start to the year. Most of the big  adventures were more in the planning and booking stage this month rather than the doing. Then again, part of the adventure is in knowing it's going to happen and having the exciting anticipation and build up.

I've initiated two holiday ideas which are now in our diaries and booked. One is something new for us and happening soon. The other is in the Summer.  I've also booked a surprise adventure for Nick & I. More will be revealed later in the year. I said Yes to something Nick wants to organise where I would have normally said No. All because of my One Word(s).

There have been quite a few new recipes I've been trying out - and anything new has gone into my Book of Firsts. I've included two of my favourites in this list, the homemade beetroot soup with cream of Horseradish and a new technique for poaching eggs, popping them in clingfilm.

I've joined two new classes. Fitness and health, to reduce my waistline and a French Class, to brush up on my rusty pronunciation.

If you read my blog this month you'll know I was a guest designer for CAS(e) This Sketch. I also took a detour into new territory on a walk around New Mills.

Finally, there's the Murder Mystery Dinner we attended. A comedy James Bond thriller. An adventure but not as I had planned. It was DIRE! I turned to Nick after act one and asked if he wanted to go. He nodded and that was all the incentive I needed. We snuck out just as the dinners were being served. Standing up in front of everyone and grabbing our coats, certainly had the heart racing. I didn't wish to offend but really it was a toe-curlingly bad show.

Clean

Again, I was conscious of the word throughout the month and applying it to different areas of my life. Some were linked together. For instance, cleaning up my diet. I've cut out eating sugar, except for a couple of chunks of dark chocolate each day. I've also cut out all other carbs like bread and pasta. Along with Nick, I have also helped correct the portion of food we eat by buying a whole new set of plates and bowls which are smaller. To store the whole new dining service, I had to empty out the plate cupboard, declutter it and wash it down, before carefully filling it up again with all new china.

Whilst in kitchen mode, I also spent some time cleaning out and decluttering the cutlery drawer and the three below it.

Finally, regards diet, I cleaned up and improved the filing of healthy recipes on my Evernote software. I scanned in recipes from books and copied ideas from websites (Pinterest helped). Then I tagged them with labels for easy retrieval, including a "2B Made Next" which is always a useful shortcut.

In my craft stash, I spent time cleaning and filing. My ribbons were all over the place, hidden away in boxes. I sorted them out by colour and hung them up behind my craft room door. The 12x12 papers were sifted through, reduced and then what I kept, filed by colour. I made a start on my rubber stamp collection, buying a new storage system. Newest stamps have gone in first and slowly but surely the rest will go in too.

Finally, I started playing around with the design of my blog's header. The quick ten minute play soon turned into a whole evening.

And there I have it. I've made small inroads into both words. I've begun to clear the way and organise more adventure as well as pick away at the areas in my life which need a good clean, especially in my health, diet and craft room.

I'll report back again come March.

Happy New Year!!!! (and this Year's 'One Little Word/s)

Hey Guys

A Happy New Year to you all!

Yes, I agree, it's been very quiet on here over the festive period. I've been busy seeing friends and family as well as just enjoying some pure, unadulterated vegging around. I've not picked up anything crafty or arty at all.

But now the New Year is here and it's time to kick myself up the backside and throw myself into the world.

It all starts in 2014, with one little word. More precisely, it begins with the inspiration from Ali Edwards and her One Little Word project. I took her online class in 2013 and began the year with a blog post here. My word for 2013 was Firsts, with which I kept a Book of Firsts, recording all my new experiences.

I shall carry on with it this year too as it really focuses my attention on trying all kinds of new stuff. Also, it's not until I reflect on a week, that I realise how many Firsts I've actually had and just not consciously noticed.

So my word for 2014. Well, I say word. I mean words. I couldn't thin my list down to just one. I want two words this year. And what I want...lol

Drum roll please....

My words are....

ADVENTURE  and...

CLEAN

Well Adventure nearly made the cut last year and I decided to pay it more attention this time around.

And Clean is an ethos I want to play around with more in the next twelve months.

Both words can be applied elegantly to different areas of life. Their meanings and definitions  can be rolled around and played with.

And whilst I'm not taking Ali's class again this year, I'm going to use the monthly prompts saved from the last time around. I've applied each word to six different words and written a short paragraph for each. I'll pick and mix how I apply them throughout 2014. Hopefully, the plan will be to review how I've applied each word at the end of each month.

Well that's the plan anyway. You know what they say about best laid plans.

So, all that remains is to wish you all a prosperous and fun-filled New Year. Let the adventures begin :)