First thing made of felt...

My very first thing from felt was made in England, under a careful supervision of my friend G.F. who showed me how to sew stuffed hearts from felt. This is exactly the one, so far the only felted heart that I made which went as a present to my Mum on the Mother's Day (which, in case you are wondering, we in Slovakia and Czech republic celebrate on the second Sunday of May, along with Bahamas, Croatia, Malaysia, Malta, Switzerland and many other European and non-European countries - see the full list of dates here).

I made a very simple card for it, only punched a hole to pull the ribbon of the heart through and stamped lots of flowers on the front side (with the stamps that I got fot my birthday from A.H. and which I think are awesome) in two different shades of blue and wrote something (I'm afraid too simple and silly) inside. Then posted it to Mum along with a birthday card for my brother (not handmade, as I do not possess the level of "handmade intelligence" necessary to make cards for males yet).

A few days later a message came that said: "All were nice, but mine was the prettiest. Mum" Successssss... :)

A home-grown present

I have been growing succulents since I bought a little Lithops at a succulent exhibition when I was fifteen years old. However, with constant moving and living in different dorms and flats during my uni studies and with a threat of moving again, and to a smaller place, I decided to get rid of a bit of clutter and also some plants. 

A perfect opportunity has come in form of a friend who has just moved into a new flat. So I repotted, decorated, made a card - and she loved it! :)

Now my planties are in good hands and I will make sure that they are well looked after during my regular visits :)

Christmas madness in summer - again!

Yes, again! Last summer in August, I couldn't stop myself from making the simple Christmas decorations using transparent glass beads and this year I discovered some colours as well!! :)

A few weeks ago a friend in the UK showed me a star like these that she made some time ago and I was lucky enough to be able to use it as a template for my own stars (and even luckier not to forget it by the time I got back to Prague).

Most interest in crafty things comes when I have LOTS of other things to do - e.g. three final uni exams and a thesis to write. And all my head thinks is "You could go out right now and buy some new beads!" Is this normal? However, in the times when I am working on something that only gets done slowly, it is still nice to sit down with beads for a while and have something small, cute and pretty finished with half an hour and be happy about it.

They are all 4.5-5 cm in diameter and I will list them as soon as I stop renewing the more summer-themed things.

Rhubarb and Chocolate

My favourite cake, it is very simple and one of the first cakes that I learnt how to make. It is one of those "cup" cakes, so no measuring and weighting ingredients, which is really great and useful when you live in a dorm without a proper kitchen :))

Recipe:

3 cups of flour (all-purpose)

1 and half cup of sugar (either caster sugar or powdered sugar)

1 cup of vegetable oil

3 eggs (with really small cups you could use two) 

baking powder (here they come in packs of 12g - I tried to make one in the UK with one little spoon of the UK baking powder and it was an absolute fail, so if you are in the UK, definitely use more)

some milk to make it runny enough to pour into the baking tray

and finally - whatever you want to put on the top! This time I found som rhubarb leftovers at the supermarket and mixed them with chocolate, but peaches, strawberries and plums are my favourites as well.

Pour it into a deep baking tray and bake on 180°C until the top is golden-brown.

You can also mix cocoa into the mixture or its part to make a two-coloured cake. I also tried to use little cups for cupcakes with this mixture, in which case maybe use more baking powder, but they are great. Go experimenting, it is great fun (and yummy!!)

Rockpooling in Weymouth

A few photos of our rockpool adventure in Weymouth, during which we nearly fell into the sea, got swept away by the waves, created a mermaid out of shells and watched shark babies move inside their eggs at the Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park.

Oh yes, and I also had my first cream tea and the best scampi and chips ever.