Whole family day out

I have what people tend to refer to as a "spread-out" family. My children range in age from 18years down to a recently turned 5 year old. So trying to find an activity that everyone is happy to be involved in can be tricky. However, yesterday, a picnic by the lake was suggested and much to my joy, everyone put their hands up to come! Cynically I do think my 16 year old son was eager to find a way to avoid his avalanche on homework but... I'm not one to indulge in too much cynical thinking so I was just very pleased he was with us.

It was a gorgeous day.

And I cooked up a storm in the morning, lemon slice from a cookbook I borrowed from the library and a very delicious smoked salmon quiche.

I use the simple but effective quiche lorraine recipe from here but instead of using bacon I lined the base of the pastry case with smoked salmon pieces and slices of brie before pouring the egg and cream combo over the top.

It was the perfect picnic menu on a truly perfect Canberra autumn day.

It's Good Friday...

...and I should be showing you some delicious homemade hot cross buns and other such goodness but instead I've been busy in the sewing room stitching a hole in my finger. Yes, I stitched through my finger. And its sore. Very sore. So rather than working with these pretties:

And rather than meeting a tight deadline, I am sitting, eating brie on toast, drinking tea and planning:

What are you doing today? How are you celebrating this Easter/Passover/long weekend? Does it matter that I've not made the buns for today? Can I make them tomorrow instead?

Jules

Fun with Stamps

I didn't actually need to add any new crafts to my rather sketchy craft skill base but when I was given the opportunity to go to a Stampin Up party by my Playgroup friend, I couldn't resist.

There are a lot of cool things you can do with stamps, making gorgeous cards, boxes, party bags, party invites... Stamping is also fun, not too messy, and if you have a small person in your life they can be incuded. If said small person is constantly curious about what you are doing, this last point is a big advantage.
So we got out all the equipment:

and got stampin'

In the past I have used scraps of fabric, as decoration, small buttons can also look cute. I tend to cut my card stock into quarters and I don't fold it like a normal card. It ends up looking like a large palm card.

Anyway, the small's looked like this:

and mine looked like this.

Pretty simple but it's always nice to give something handmade and they are a darn sight cheaper to produce than buying one at the shop plus....entertainment for the two of us for a good hour or so.