things to brighten

Oh my goodness, today is one of those days that reminds me why I do not like this time of year, I really don’t think it got light at all today, roll on pre-spring!!!

I have received some happy mail recently and I thought I would share it today to try and brighten your day and mine!

First up some beautiful sunflower cards sent to me all the way from Australia from my lovely Facebook friend Terry of Terry Cards. So very thoughful and so very welcome. Terry does all her own photography, you can find her on Facebook here where she shares her lovely images. Thanks Terry, sunflowers are my favourite flowers and just the tonic for a grey day.

I have shared some of Beth’s from The Linen Cat’s gorgeous makes here before, I do love her creations. When she posted these lovely birds on her blog recently, I just had to have one. Beth’s packages are always lovely to receive. You can find her fabulous work here and here.

Now another lovely package which was a joy to receive was this one from Debbie of The Crimson Rabbit. I ordered the little blue rabbit star for my daughter and the red one for me, amazing, aren’t they!! You can also find Debbie on Etsy and Facebook. Do check out Debbie’s shop to see her beautiful creations!

This is little Monty Mouse the creation of Sue McLearie of Paws by Sue McLearie. I first spotted him on Sue’s Facebook page and knew I had to have him.

Monty has been printed on to a transparent sticker so that you can place him wherever you want.

And here he is happily living in the skirting board in my craft room! Cute or what!

So hopefully I have provided you with some new places to visit and maybe tempt you away from your pennies, it happens to me all the time.

So what have I spent this dismal day doing?

Well I have baked some wheaten bread and cinnamon roll scones ( recipe can be found here).

And I have also been making my ‘Christmas Girls’, excuse the photo, blame the grimness!!!

Have a great week, fingers crossed for some more brightness!

Thanks as always for dropping in. 🙂

 

october days

October has generally been quite a good month so far, yes we have had a few blustery wet days but there have been lots of lovely autumnal days and it has been very mild. On Saturday we were out and about without coats in a very pleasant 18 degrees!

I have managed lots of garden time, tidying up summer bedding and planting bulbs for next spring, one afternoon last week I planted 65 bulbs mostly tulips and some crocuses too, my shoulders and back weren’t that pleased with me the next day though!!!

I also have planted up my pots and window boxes with lovely little pansies and violas, heathers and cyclamen to see me through the dark days until springtime.

Inside I’ve been making sweets from the lovely book ‘Sweets Made Simple’ by the wonderful Hope & Greenwood, I’m sure many of you in the UK watched their fabulous TV series.

Last week I made some Cinder Toffee and the previous week I made Coconut Ice which unfortunately didn’t get photographed before it was all eaten. There is so much more in the book I want to try.

I’ve also been autumn bunny making, I’ve not quite finished them all yet but I hope to have an autumn bunny parade to share with you all some time next week.

I would like to thank all of you who left comments on my two French posts, I’m so glad you all enjoyed having a look around those two marvelous homes with me.

As a little thank you to all my very loyal blog friends I decided to have a secret giveaway.

I brought back some lovely Provençal lavender from the Marche de Fleurs in Nice along with some lavender soap with a giveaway in mind, I’ve also added a little spool of lavender spotty ribbon which although not from France looks lovely along with the other two items.

So if you left a comment on either French post you were entered into the draw and if you left a comment on both posts (thank you) you had two entries.

So with every entry being allocated a number and the random number generator used the winner of my secret giveaway was Simone!! I’ll get it posted off to you soon Simone.

Thank you to all of you who take the time to pop by here and leave a comment, I really do appreciate it!

I just wish I had a bag of lavender for you all!

Wishing you all a wonderful new week. 🙂

 

the little things

It has been such a beautiful day here today, what a way to welcome April.

It’s a day like this that makes you appreciate the little things in life.

Like sweet pea seedlings shooting up in a very warm greenhouse.

Little plants waiting to be potted up.

A pair of buzzards circling and calling out, high above my garden.

Blooming flowering currant.

Almost blooming cherry blossom.

Lily catching a few rays.

Freshly baked wheaten bread.

A blue sky through the ‘almost blossom’.

Daffodils everywhere!

Wrapping up springtime bunnies for their journey to their new homes.

Take time to enjoy the little things….happy Tuesday and happy April!!! 🙂

 

sweet things

There has been a bit of a sweet theme going on with my bunny making this week.

This is Lolly, so called because her skirt is covered in all sorts of lollipops and sweeties and her cardigan in knitted in what I like to think of as, jelly bean green!

This little lady is Callie Cupcake! Cupcake because she is covered in them and the name Callie comes from Greek meaning ‘beautiful’. Who wouldn’t want a beautiful cupcake??

I have one more little girl to finish and then they will all be listed in my Etsy shop next week. The last February girl will have a sweetness about her too!

As we’re on a bit of a sugar rush today, I thought I’d share with you what’s in my cake tin this weekend ~ Toffee Yogurt Cake, you can find the recipe in this post.
Simple, quick and delicious!

Thanks for visiting this week and for all your lovely, much appreciated comments.

I definitely feel this week that spring is just a little bit closer!

Happy weekend! 🙂

*Joining in with Chrissies CAL*

 

coconut cake & miranda

I really love a plain cake with just icing and coconut on top, there is nothing quite like it with a mug of hot tea!!!

The recipe for my cake is from this little book, one of the best baking books I own. The date inside the book is 1981, so I have had it all my married life!

As you can see, it has been very well used, its just a very practical no nonsense baking book and let’s face it Mary is one of the best. The book is open at the recipe for the cake I baked, now I was a bit wary of doing this because of copyright but this book can still be bought here and if you click on the ‘Look Inside’ you can find this recipe so I’m not showing you anything you can’t already look up! I would recommend this book and its very good value for money.

I’ll leave you with number six of the Valentine girls….Miranda, which means ‘worthy of admiration’.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Happy weekend, fingers crossed for some sunshine! 🙂

 

this saturday

Peruvian lilies on the table.

A sleeping Polly.

Millionaire shortbread in the cake tin.

A new girl called Juliet.

Pretty primula in the kitchen.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, thanks for your ‘visits’ this week and welcome to the new visitors too!

It’s my boys birthday tomorrow, sadly he won’t be home from Berlin to celebrate with us but hopefully he’ll be home next month and we’ll celebrate then!
Happy birthday son!!!

Happy weekend! 🙂

 

friday

Tulips on the table!

Lemon Drizzle in the cake tin!

And a new Valentine girl completed……… meet Teddie!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, thanks for visiting this week and for all your much appreciated comments!

Happy Weekend! 🙂

 

review of 2013

Well here we are at the end of another year…that was quick, wasn’t it!!

According to WordPress I uploaded 657 photos this year, so picking one per month was difficult but I tried to choose one that represented that month for me!

We had a busy year on the home front with our daughter getting married in July, so wedding preparations coupled with all the renovating and decorating we did around the house made for a hectic first six months. The wedding was of course the highlight of the year and what a wonderful day it was, the sun shone, in fact that was the beginning of the fantastic spell of weather we had this summer. Lyndsey was a beautiful bride and everyone had an amazing time, its hard to believe that it was six months ago now. She is very happy in her new home with her new husband and lives only four miles from me, so I see her all the time! My son on the other hand moved quite a bit further away at the beginning of August when he decided to go to work in Berlin. He has been home three times since then so although it’s not wonderful it’s not too bad, he just went back a couple of days ago after his Christmas break and hopes to be home again in January.

The second half of the year was at a much slower pace and in October we managed another trip to the south of France, our second visit this year as we were there as usual in May. It was lovely to get back again and it stretched summer by another week for us, you know how I like to cling on to summer.

2013 was the year that I eventually got my own craft room and I have to say I love my little space, it’s great having everything I need to hand and especially having my sewing machine ready for use at all times.

Throughout the year I enjoyed my garden time and I can’t wait to get back out there again, I’m already planning what I’m going to grow! I’m sure too that I’ll have the company of my many cat assistants as I did in 2013.

I have also loved sharing my outings and day trips and visits to ‘my park’ with you and hope to do all that again in 2014.

One thing I have noticed that is missing from my photos is the amount of cooking and baking I do, there is lots of it but for some reason I never get around to sharing it maybe I’ll try and share more of it in 2014. One of my missions in life is to convert everyone to vegetarianism, I’ll never do that if I don’t convince you all how good life is without meat!!!

I’m sure you must have noticed one thing missing from my 2103 collage….my bunnies, well I decided they needed a collage all of their own. Again it was difficult to pick just one per month as I made fifty-four of them this year, all of them happily living in new homes across the world. Thank you for all your encouragement, my stats certainly go up when I do a bunny post, I really can’t believe the amount of interest in them, I had to stop my waiting list as it was getting out of hand and start using my Etsy shop to sell them. My last group of ‘girls’ sold in two minutes, I am so very grateful for your support. I really enjoy making them, dressing them and naming them and the fact that others enjoy it too makes me very happy, so thank you! I am at the moment making my Valentine girls who hopefully should be in my shop at the end of next month….there are hearts everywhere! So lots more bunnies in 2014!

Finally I would like to thank all you lovely people who have visited my blog this year and have left so many wonderful comments, you make Green Rabbit Designs for me. I have made so many really good friends through blogging, who I would love to meet in ‘real’ life…..maybe one day.
Thank you for being here throughout 2013 and I hope you will return in 2014.

All that remains is for me to wish you all good health and happy times in 2014.

Enjoy what’s left of the month, the year and winter, I’ll be back soon with pre-spring…happy days!!!

Happy New Year! 🙂

 

flowers, fruit & veg

I still have flowers to show you, my little garden is doing its best to keep going and I suppose it will keep going until we get our first frost, which I hope is a not for a while yet.

Still lots of cosmos in bloom and sunflowers yet to open.

Long may it all last!

There has always been a bit of a debate over whether tomatoes are a fruit or a vegetable, personally I think they’re a fruit. I have quite a few of them ripening at the moment, so I’m finding things to do with them.

One of my favourite things to do is put them in a dish with onions, garlic, salt, black pepper and extra virgin olive oil and slowly roast them in the oven.

The aroma that this creates is wonderful, it always transports me to the Mediterranean! When they cool I liquidize them and add them to warm vegetable stock, I heat it all through and add cream to make my own cream of roasted tomato soup.

I’ve cheated a bit with the veg, it’s not real veg but a little bunny named after the vegetable that all bunnies love to eat!

Meet Carrie Carrot, who as I type is on her way to California to live in West Los Angeles close to the Pacific ocean!!
How lucky is that little rabbit!

Thanks as always for dropping by and leaving your lovely comments, enjoy whats left of the week and the weekend ahead! 🙂

 

bunnies, buns & blooms

Hi everyone, I feel that I’m not here very often at the moment and after looking through my photos I realised I hadn’t shared my latest bunnies with you. If you follow me on Facebook you will have seen them there but they never made it to the blog, such is life at the moment! I actually crocheted the bunnies when I was away on holidays and just had to finish them off when I came home.

This little one is June and with her bright colours and flowers she celebrates summer which did arrive with June but sadly seems to have escaped us again.

I’d also like you to meet Flossie Flowerpot who is a gardener at heart and loves nothing better that potting up her summer bedding plants!!

June and Flossie were both snapped up straight from Facebook and are now living with their new families.

Well as you know my daughters wedding is very close now (18 days) and there has been lots of baking this week as we have had lots of lovely people visiting and leaving presents and viewing presents and lots of tea has been consumed. The photo above is just some of the many cakes, cupcakes, pavlovas and pies that have been baked in the last few days, these cupcakes have been decorated with the lovely crystallized violets that I brought back from the south of France.

Some blooms to share with you too, my poor garden has been carrying on despite not getting much attention from me this week. Truth be told I would much rather be gardening than baking! The results last much longer too!!!

So busy times and I expect they may get busier over the next week or so!!

The sun has made an appearance here this morning again, I hope it hangs around for while.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and thanks ever so much for dropping in and for all your lovely comments! 🙂