Nutty Cookies

I posted a photo on Instagram today and promised a recipe to go with it.

As you probably already know, I do my best to eat healthily  and most of my inspiration comes from Joy McCarthy and Ella Woodward ........I'm a big fan of their books 'Deliciously Ella' and 'Joyous Health'.

I'm also currently working through 'The Immune System Recovery Plan' by Susan Blum (and taking copious notes). 

The recipe for the cookies comes from Joy McCarthy's website here 

I have changed it a little and I use a variety of nut/seed butters, including almond, peanut, cashew and tahini. I also sometimes add chopped nuts. 

I love the fact that there's no wheat and no refined sugar (only maple syrup).

Here's another of my Instagram photos.....

The Anthropologie mug is my current favourite (a present from my sister :-) 

The magazine is another favourite....I look forward to the beginning of the month when I know its going to drop through my letterbox.

It's title 'The Simple Things' goes nicely with my word for this year which is..... 

less

I'm trying to cut back on everything......eating....buying....commitments.....new ideas....

The last one may seem odd....but I have too many bright ideas ;-)  (Thank you Pinterest :-p)

I take on too many classes and workshops.......I spend too much on art materials......I start too many projects. Enough is enough.

I have cleared my workbench and I'm sticking with calligraphy, drawing and photography.

No mixed media....no stitching....no felting....

We'll see how it goes.

Already my mind feels clearer.

I'm keeping it simple.........

How about you? Do you have a word for this year?

A Summer of Ups and Downs

Happy Autumn   And yes....I know....it's been a while  :-)
Summer came and went. Some of it was absolutely amazing......but there have been tough times too.

The amazing bits?

• Meeting my gorgeous friend Lynne Palazzo (from Canada) for the very first time and spending a few days with her in Cornwall. The four of us got on so well together; I didn't want it to end.
• Beachcombing in Norfolk......Wells, Brancaster, Holme, Holkham, Old Hunstanton  ......collecting pebbles, shells and driftwood. 
• Walking in the sunshine with Brian in our favourite places; Calke Abbey, Shipley Park, the Nutbrook Trail, Dale Abbey, Curbar Edge in Derbyshire, Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire.
• And spending time in our beautiful garden with Angel.

The bad bits?

• Ending up in hospital on my birthday because some chicken got seriously stuck in my throat (one of the hazards of having an oesophageal stricture). It was rather embarrassing as I was with my husband and friends in our favourite restaurant and they called for paramedics :-(
• Having to cancel our holiday to Skiathos because I wasn't really well enough (and the insurance company were being difficult). Haven't quite got over that yet.....
• No proper diagnosis for my balance problem (but ever hopeful).

I have lots more to tell; calligraphy, new photography classes, my Lightroom journey, more stitching, foraging, recipes.................but I'm aiming to keep my posts short.

Back soon......honestly ;-)

Be Still..... Day 3

This week in Kim's class we are thinking about creating our own individual style. This is a tricky one for me as I'm going through a period of transition at the moment......moving away  from my much-loved brighter colours and trying to achieve a more subtle, softer kind of art.
I think I may also moving away from textile art.
Whether this is permanent or not, of course, remains to be seen.... ;-)
So, I'm learning to love shades of white.....cream.....and grey. But there will always be a little purple and green in there. And maybe blue. (Probably not much yellow, orange or red though).
I'm also trying out a new art form involving collage, still life and photography. I still want to make grungy background papers....I also would like to add a few stitches here and there......and I want to use natural materials (apart from garden resources I have a huge collection of pebbles, driftwood, shells, seedheads, pressed flowers etc)
So, a work in progress.......

Back to my photo.
Kim gave us three prompts; round, white and minimalist.
I've kind of achieved the first two......but minimalist will always be hard for me!
I used a number of Kim's textures including 'magicscratches' which is one of my favourites and the text is from 'kkbeyond affirmations'.

For all those of you out there who (like me) need a confidence boost from time to time....... you are already amazing.
Thank you Kim.

Breathe......

Be Still 52 Week Two

This week Kim wrote about mindfulness, meditation and focusing on breathing ...... things I'm used to as a yoga-lover :-) We often practice a form of pratyahara which is a kind of sensory deprivation.....thereby helping us to focus on our inner sounds and breathing.
Try it by covering your eyes with your flattened fingers, at the same time covering your ears with your thumbs to cut out all sights and sounds. As you breathe deeply, the sound becomes very relaxing.

Ujjayi breathing is also useful for concentrating on the breath; it takes a bit of mastering, but it makes a lovely sound. In fact it's sometimes called 'ocean breath'. Here's how to do it.....
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5823/8-Reasons-Why-We-Use-Ujjayi-Breath-in-Yoga.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujjayi_breath

When I was teaching I often used to end the day with a form of meditation with the children. I'd put a drop of lavender oil on the back of their hands and ask them to gently stroke it into their skin whilst breathing in the smell. They loved it. And parents often thanked me for the calm and peaceful way their children left school.....bonus!!  ;-)
I daresay it would be 'banned' nowadays for all sorts of stupid reasons. I always asked parents' permission at the start of the year and no-one ever objected.....but times have changed and sadly, a lot of the fun has been taken out of school-life.

For my photo I chose lavender and rosemary....two of my favourite plants from the garden with lovely scents to breathe in.
I used Kim's textures 'magicscratches' and phoebe'. I may make this into a card and see how it looks.....

And finally.....what's on my desk?  

Planning new collages

Photo taken using Hipstamatic app on iPad.

(Lens 'John S' and film 'Dream Canvas')

Texture Tuesday......

A day late again....here's my contribution to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.
The theme is..... Black and White and Textured  (and a few shades of grey in my case).

I took the original using Hipstagram on my iPad and toned down the colour to almost black and white using Photoshop, then finally added Kim's texture 'Simple' at colour burn blend 76%.
You can see the original photograph in my previous post.

I have very few china, pottery or glass ornaments in my house......but lots of driftwood, pebbles and shells.
Not everyone's cup of tea I guess....but definitely mine ;-)

Be Still.......

I'm taking part in Kim Klassen's 'Be Still 52' which began last week.......that's a whole year of focusing on still life photography.

So here I am.....week one....reminding myself to stop, breathe deeply and just be still for a few moments every day.

For me, photography is about noticing the little things around me. These poppy seed heads from last year are so tiny; it would be easy to just dismiss them and put them in the compost bin.

But they are incredibly beautiful, like tiny minarets......or ancient writing tools :-)

The background is one of my mixed-media background papers.

Textures over the top.....Kim's 'Fully' and 'Februarymagicedges'.

Here's the link to Kim's class.....

And here they are again with a little Photoshop layering and altering...... and one of my inky background papers.

Thanks to my blogging friends, I've recently discovered the joys of Hipstamatic on my iPad and iPhone. 

(Thank you Lynn and Viv)

I downloaded it months ago but couldn't get to grips with it....but over the past week I have persevered and now it's my favourite app. Yes, even more than Waterlogue :-)

The basic app was free, but I have bought a couple of add on packages. Basically you can change the lens and the film to get different effects and build up favourite 'recipes'. Or you can just shake the camera up and down and get a random pairing! 

Very interesting....

These examples use 'Melodie' lens and 'Dream Canvas' film. My favourite combo up to now.

More to come soon......