Rose Petal Confetti

We wanted to find a bird-friendly option for throwing confetti in the garden and found a great DIY solution - dried rose petals. They can be pretty expensive to buy for what they are, so I was happy to find that this method preserves the colour and scent beautifully.



Lay the petals in a single layer on a baking tray, use a sheet of baking paper as damp petals can stick to the tray itself. Place in the oven at 100 degrees celcius (210 degrees farenheit) and remove as soon as the petals start to shrivel, so that they're dry and not crisp.



Store in an airtight container. I'm using some silica gel that you find in some food packaging to make double sure nothing goes mouldy.

From the Rough Guide to Weddings (a good practical antidote to OTT wedding magazines!).

Sugar Roses

Although I've had lots of practice making polymer clay roses, I've never made roses out of sugar before... Theses are my efforts towards making some decorations for our wedding cake. It was harder than I thought, because the gum paste tends to dry out quickly in the air and you have to work fast or keep your work under cling film.



I was trying to make something like the ballet-pink spray roses that used to grow in my childhood garden. I loved these tiny roses, they were thornless and abundant, growing wild and unchecked beside the pear trees. My Mum is the real expert at crafting roses. I'm lucky, I'll have her (and my whole family) with me in a few month's time!

Little England

This Sunday we had our first overnight visitors over at our new flat. Chris and Sophie were intrigued by the sound of going to see the model village in Beaconsfield, which is close to where we live. Dave last visited Bekonscot when he was 10, and said it was memorable so we all hopped in the car and enjoyed being giants for the day. It's very English; with scenes of English life in times gone by and also includes a model of Enid Blyton's home in Beaconsfield called 'Green Hedges'. The house itself was knocked down and new houses built in its place, but there is a road named Blyton Close near to the site.



Maypole dancing Brownies!



A miniature zoo, just like London zoo.


Lovely detail... you can pick out a pair of tiny shoes from this shop:



Dave and every boy's favourite part, the trains:



Threshing time



The foxhunt - can you see the fox?



A tiny apple orchard



An airfield, including gliders of course!



You can attend university here.



A cricket game in full swing





I couldn't resist a Godzilla impression, hehe!

Ponyo

We watched Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo last night without knowing that it was a version of the classic story of the Little Mermaid... It's a beautiful but strange story of a goldfish who escapes from the protection of her sea-wizard father and has an adventure to the 'surface', falling in love with a five year old boy. The themes of nature and the human landscape, and the presence of tsunami waves were quite unnerving.

I felt so lucky that my family in Christchurch were safe and that our family home was mostly unaffected. We have been fortunate. I'm also proud that my little sister graduated last week, another allied health therapist in the family.

It has been surreal. About two weeks ago, my best friend sent me a message asking me if my family was OK; on Friday I messaged her the same question with bated breath. My love and thoughts go out to those in Japan... words cannot be enough but I hope that those affected will be safe and well.

Simple Pleasures

It's all about simple pleasures and nesting for me, at the moment. This is my favourite corner of the flat... the kitchen window. It has a great view for doing the washing up and my own miniature garden. The terrarium was a bit of chemistry kit, once re-used as a home for a land snail Dave kept under his bed at university! I made the terrarium with moss from the family garden after reading this tutorial. Dave's Mum gave us this lovely amaryllis bulb for a housewarming gift, and I'm now a huge fan. There are now two giant cheerful stripey flowers, so big that I needed to do some structural engineering with some chopsticks. We are really enjoying being in our own little home.

Yay, it's Friday

This catchy song has been in my head all day... love the beat!

The Big Move

We have finally finished moving into our new flat in High Wycombe. Our first unfurnished flat, we've been doing a lot of furniture buying. Our Ikea bed in particular took a lot of effort to get home, as the mattress didn't fit in the car and the rain just wouldn't stop. This was our solution:



We've now got a lovely flat in a new courtyard development. We're on the third floor though, so totally exhausted from carrying box after endless box up all those stairs:



And although at risk of this looking like an estate agent's website - we are quite proud of it all already! Still a work in progress, of course...





And our masterpiece - the fully assembled Ikea bed - all dried out again!