PRINTING FAMILY PHOTOS

I decided to do a backlog of family photos printed today... it added up to 300 photos, and I have not managed to get completely up to date yet...I want to make albums, but have a sneaky feeling that might take almost as long as it took me to get them printed... I decided it is time to take a new approach to printing:

• make time to select and print photos once every year
• have an album ready to glue the lovelies in there straight away 
• put the notes next to the photos, so you remember why you took them in the years to come - i.e : fave first toy, first few steps, really nasty fit of stubbornness ...

SUMMER BLISS

FUN APPLIQUÉ FOR CHILDREN

My little girl tore up some trousers the other day, and I had a very unsuccessful rummage through the shops to find a nice applique that I could iron over it... so...I sat down and designed some of my own...Here are the samples I made using vintage fabrics I had lying around the house... I love the way they turned up, so I shall make more and you will be able to find them soon in my Etsy shop.

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

I went picking elderflowers with my daughter to make this delicious cordial. It is really simple to make. I serve it with ice, a slice of organic lemon and some fresh mint. You will need:

30 large elderflowers

3kg sugar

20g citric acid or juice of 4 lemons

Now all you need to do is to put elderflowers in cold water (I take a large salad bowl and cover it with plate), leave it for 48 hours, then strain (I take the flowers out, then use a gauze to strain the rest). Once you are left with just the liquid, you stir in the sugar and citric acid and mix till its all dissolved ( I put it in a rum pot and leave it on the window sill for a day or two, mixing in between to make it easier). You can then pour the syrup into bottles, mark it up with name and date and store it for up to a year.