Another Dress Card - Do you Like it?

Here is another card, the first dress on a hanger card was met with a lot of approval so I decided to have another go, do you like it??

You can find more at www.folksy.com/shop/mamoo

New Cards

Here are the three new cards that I made at the weekend.

Inspired by fashion - New Dress

Inspired by the Prom Season

Inspired by love of handbags

If you would like to see more of my cards, or purchase any please go to www.folksy.com/shop/mamoo
If you would like to leave a comment on my work please feel free to do so, thanks for looking!

Another busy day

Having lost an hour this morning due to the clock changes, it has felt like I have been playing catch up all day. Hubby hasn't helped either as he wants his Sunday Roast early today as he needs to go to choir practise early tonight.

Spent a lot of time today in the rabbitry, checking all the babies and stock. I am glad to say all are doing very well and it is so amazing how quickly they grow. I am really pleased with the does they are doing a great job of rearing their young.

Unfortunately it was necessary to say good bye to two of the old bucks, to make room for the younger generation, not something I enjoy having to do (although its not me that does it thank goodness), It is a shame that people don't want adult rabbits as pets but I cannot find anyone to take them of my hands.

No time in the garden today either, I will try and get back in there tomorrow. After dinner was cleared away I decided to go to my work room and make another three cards to replace the three that I sold last week.  I am quite pleased with the results so I will post the photos tomorrow when they have dried.

First of many days in the Garden

The first of many days to come spent in the garden, the clocks change tonight which means I will be able to do a bit more in the evenings as the days start to lengthen. Normally I am a little more ahead of myself than this year, but never mind I've had a good day today at least I have made a start!!

Hubby rotavated the veg patch so the spuds can go in tomorrow, and I have sown the salad crops along with cabbage, cauli, broccoli, spinach, Swiss chard and leeks. I have tried some carrots although they never seem to work for me and yet my daughter has a great crop each year.

Now tomorrow is cleaning the rabbit shed day and having a bit of a sort out!! if I have time I might go and prune the raspberries and currant bushes. The patio and the pots will have to wait I am afraid there is only so many hours in a day even if it is lighter.

Tonight I have resurrected an old favourite for breakfast tomorrow morning, instead of bacon and eggs we are going to have pukkola (this is what I call it not sure if the spelling is right). Basically it is muesli in a bowl with a grated apple a whole orange squeezed and natural plain yogurt mixed until all the muesli is incorporated. It is then covered with cling film and put in the fridge overnight. That with a fresh coffee will be delicious!!

As I put the yogurt back in the fridge I also remembered how I used to make my own many many years ago, as there wasn't much left i thought why not!! so I heated up some milk in the microwave until blood warm and added it to the natural yogurt which acts as a starter culture. Place this in a thermos flask and leave overnight.

I will let you know if they both work tomorrow!!

Struggling

I am struggling today to believe that I can succeed in marking out a place for myself, selling my greetings cards. Don't get me wrong, I am not going to give up, anyone who knows me would tell you I am a fighter and very contrary, say I can't do something and I will prove you wrong! That's good isn't it?

My problem at the moment is, I want it all to happen quickly like yesterday or at least some feedback/criticism would be nice so I  know I am onto something or a little encouragement would be even better.

I was so enthusiastic at the beginning of the week, having been on my marketing course, I then set up this Blog, my websites where done a few weeks ago,  I still have to do my facebook page which I hope to do this weekend.

My products have been listed on Folksy and I am like an idiot checking them several times a day to see if any of them have sold. I am getting people to look at them but as yet no sales.

I have asked for feedback but not received any, then this morning I read an article about niche products for niche markets . This sounded great, as I believe I do have a niche product, but what it didn' say was how long to expect your first sale, or how to make people know it was different from the rest.

I think I need some sort of strategy or plan to keep me focused as there are so many things whirling around inside my head, I think about one and off I go like a train full steam ahead into that thought, and forget what I was supposed to be concentrating on.

I will take a few minutes sometime today in my busy schedule to organise my thoughts and write out my strategy, I will let you know later how it is going!!

Call yourself a Farmer?

Well I had a lovely surprise when I got home tonight, hubby and I where feeding the livestock when he shouted me over to come and take a look!!
I followed him across the field to the adjoining fence and I could see to 2 ewes but there was something extra, 2 lambs. Where on earth did they come from? Call yourself a farmer!!
Apparently the ewes where taken to a ram the otherside of the village last autumn but the farmer told him that they had not been served. He had taken him at his word and hadn't bothered to check, so they had litterarlly taken us by surprise.

It is all happening now, litters of rabbits, chicks hatching and now 2 lambs, the family expands! what next?

new arrivals

new chicks

one of the litter

Baby rabbits

Beautiful Day

What a beautiful day it has been here in North Wales, glorious sunshine and mild weather just what we need to make us feel so much better and blow the winter blues away.

Spring is definitely in the air, last night my other half put 12 goose eggs in the incubator, these were given to him by a friend as our own goose has decided she doesn't want to produce any more!! All though she should try telling that to the ganders who guard her so protectively at the moment. Anytime you go near them they come at you with their necks wound out as far as they will go. You can't count your chickens (or goose in this case) before they hatch as they say but it would be very nice to have goose for Christmas dinner this year as a change from turkey, mmm I can taste it now.

The bees are also doing well and are so so busy in the sunshine, we decided last year to keep a hive, i repeat a hive, but ended up with three.!! as it was our first year we were very worried that they wouldn't come through the cold winter. I am glad to report all three hives are very active at the moment and are developing their colonies well. I for one am hoping for some lovely honey this year, we had a small taster at the end of last year but couldn't take to much away from them in our first year so fingers crossed.

I had given one of my home made cards to a friend for her birthday very recently and she immediately asked me to make one for her to give to her son. So last night I decided I had better get on with it, 3 attempts later I finished at 12 o clock. The deed was done but being very critical of my own work, I was not 100% happy with it, so this morning armed with my cards already made and my new one I decided to get some feedback from the girls in work.

Everyone was so encouraging and loved my designs, I even sold 2 and had to remove them from my folksy site. However if anyone gets the chance to look at my site I would really like some honest feedback especially in answer to the following questions.

My cards are all individual due to the material used to make them, pressed flowers, grasses, bark and now feathers they cannot be massed produced. They take time to make from gathering and pressing the flowers to then design and finishing touches. I don't think you will find anything else like them especially on the high street.

Would you buy? if not why not?
In relation to the price, do you think it a fair price? if not what price would you choose to pay for one of my cards?
Are the subjects relevant to what you would look for in a card? if not what would you like to see?
Any other comments would be gratefully received, Thank you in anticipation for taking the time to respond.

I will post the pictures here later but in the meantime you can see them at www.folksy.com/shop/mamoo

Love Heart

Shughes



Shughes 3



Love to Shop

Shughes 4

Feathers

Scarecrow

How yellow is that?

I don't like waste, so when I was faced with a fruit bowl that had 6 lemons that were passed their best I decided it was time to do something about them. So I had a family recipe book somewhere I just needed to find it.
Found hidden underneath a pile of other cook books that only get an airing from time to time. The recipe I was looking for was Lemon Curd a firm favourite in the family. Unlike jam I don't make to much as it doesn't keep as long, however once the family knows its in the fridge it doesn't last anyway. Now all I needed was to go and collect some free range eggs from the hen shed. If you don't have your own hens please buy free range eggs, they do make a difference to the finished colour of your curd.


I have added the recipe for you to have a go, it never fails to please, it is not difficult to do but does take a little patience stirring!!


Lemon  Curd- Makes about 3lb


4 Lemons -zest and juice
8 oz Butter
4 Large Free Range Eggs
12 oz Castor Sugar


Place a saucepan on the stove with some boiling water in the bottom, then place a bowl that fits the saucepan on top and make sure the water does not come into contact with the bowl otherwise you will have scrambled eggs.
In the bowl add all the ingredients, and using a balloon whisk, slowly stir until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Keep stirring until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon - approx 10  minutes. It will thicken more as it cools down.
Place the mixture whilst hot into clean sterilised jars, cover with a greaseproof disc and seal. Label when cold. Will keep for approx 2 months if stored in a cool place (mine never lasts that long)


Mmm delicious on toast, crumpets or just plain bread and butter. Can also be used as a filling for cupcakes, lemon victoria sponge or a swiss roll, go on have a go.... I know you will like it.

New Start

Well, having been on a training course today about social networking and websites, I have decided to re-launch my Blog not that it really got started!!

I have recently been blogging on my website www.maelgwyn.webs.com which was primarily about my rabbits, but I have so much more I want to ramble on about. So here goes!!

In the rabbitry, spring has definately sprung, I have lots of new bunnies born this last few days and another doe due to kindle tonight, fingers crossed. The Ivory doe is now doing well, she has  5 babies, I was a little concerned about the mother as she was looking a little thin and stressed, the pregnancy obviously taking a lot out of her. I have now increased her food giving her double portion of my feeding mix along with an extra bowl of pellets, fresh water and hay. A tip I was given a long time ago was to feed whole milk to a doe that was stressed so I tried it yesterday and hey, it was all gone this morning and she was waiting for more!!

The 2 sable rabbits that are my does for making the coloured satins have also got litters, the first one had 10 babies 2 died leaving 8 but on checking them tonight I decided to cull another 2, now i know you may think this is cruel but it is to help the doe rear strong babies that will all get a good share of her milk. These babies in comparison to the other 2 does are considerably smaller and therefore weaker.

The second sable had a litter of 5 big strong babies and has not needed any interferance from me.

I love this time of year when you see the rabbits kindle, you hope and pray they will be good mums and you keep all your fingers and toes crossed hoping that you will have a little gem growing in one of those nests.

2 out of 5 can just be seen from Sable doe

Larger litter see how small they are?



7 days old Mum is the Ivory Doe