*Rain, Rain go Away*

It has been another rainy day today, and it was our towns carnival today!
This weekend is a special weekend here in town as it is the official opening of the new town centre which has been completely done up and pedestrianised!
Anyhoo there is a big market on tomorrow which I am attending with my stall, but I'm not hoping for much as I think the weather forcast is for more down-pours! But on the up-side the stall is free because of the opening ~ hurray!!!
There are to be lots of street performers and lots of shops that aren't normally open are opening so if the weather was to be nice, I think it would be a good day, but we will see!
Anyhoo I will try and take lots of photos to share next week!
*Happy Saturday everyone*

*Butterfly Bag*

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week, have a craft market coming up on Sunday so I've been trying to get some new crafty lovelies done for then!

Anyhoo I wanted to share with you this fab bag I bought for my niece. It her 15th birthday tomorrow and I got this as one of her pressies! I absolutely love it, so I hope she does too! She had admired one of my canvass book bags and said she would like one for the summer, and then I happened to come across this lovely of a bag a few days later!

I bought it from George at Asda and it was such a bargain at £3.00!!!!! I love it and nearly kept it for myself, as I tend to do when I buy bags for people as I'm such a bag-a-holic!!!

I love it's cute shape and I'm such a sucker for anything with Butterflies on!!!

I hope she loves it as much as I do!

*Fruit Scone Recipe*

This is an old 'Stork' recipe book my mum picked up for me a few years ago from a charity shop for 10p!!! Another great bargain, and I love this picture on the back, very Shabby Chic!
Anyhoo, this is where I got the recipe for my scones that I made on saturday, so for you Jennifer here is the recipe:

All-in-One Fruit Scones

2oz/50g of Stork margarine (or any!)
8oz/225g self-raising flour (sieved together with ~)
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
2-3oz/50-75g sultanas
1oz/25g caster sugar
7 tablespoons fresh or sour milk
milk to brush

Pre-heat oven to 425F/220C. Gas mark 7.
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough.
Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead till smooth.
Roll out to a thickness of 1/2 inch.
Cut into rounds.
Knead trimmings together, roll and cut into rounds as before.
Place on baking sheet.
Brush with milk.
Bake on second shelf from top of pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Makes 10 scones.

I always put the max amount of fruit in, don't want to be skimping on the fruit in a fruit scone do we! I roll the dough out so that it is a bit thicker than 1/2 inch as my scones never seem to rise that much, so I always do it a bit thicker, and they are still never huge!!! So if anyone has a tip on how to get nice big scones I would love to know!



When I first got this cook book it has this little 'tear out' of a fruit scone recipe that someone had took from a magazine and I have always kept it in the book! It's strange as it is a Stork recipe and so it's exactly the same as the recipe in the book! Odd! But I love little finds in books like this, I think it's cute!
*Happy Baking*

*The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts all on a summers day ...*

It was a lovely morning this morning and I decided to do a spot of baking, so I popped on my apron and got to work! I did a mature cheese and red onion quiche and had some pastry left over so did some little heart shaped jam tarts, then did some cheese scones and finally some fruit scones.

I was just popping the quiche and tarts into the oven when another huge storm arrived, it rained and it poured and it flooded, there was thunder and lightening again & it was crazy dark! What is going on with this weather!?! Isn't it June? Shouldn't we be having lovely summery, warm weather by now?!?

Here some of the scones I made with a wonderful tea set that I absolutely love! I picked it up a couple of years ago from a charity shop, it has a full set of 6 cups & saucers, 6 sandwich plates and a large cake plate, and it only cost £3.99!!!!



Oh and whilst I'm talking about baking, here is my flour shaker that I love too! My mum bought it for me a couple of years ago from a second hand shop. Here it's stood on my apron, which is fab too, it really cheers me up! I picked this up from a charity shop for £2.49! Such a bargain, and very much like the Cath Kidston 'Pop Flowers' range.

So today I had a fab lunch, I had a yummy scrummy homebaked goodies, whilst watching one of my favourites 'Hart to Hart'!!! Yes, that's right I confess I *love* 'Hart to Hart'!

Oh and update on the door, it didn't arrive yesterday and so James went to see them today and they haven't even cut it yet!!!!!! Arrgghhh!!!!! So it's going to be next week when it arrives, but I promise pictures!

Anyhoo, 'Happy Saturday' to you all!

*Hmmmm, still waiting ...*

Ok so I'm still waiting for this door and I have a feeling it's not coming at all!

Plus I think I spoke a bit too soon about the lovely sunny weather!!!!
We have just had a huge storm, really dark and wintery, rain pouring down and thunder & lightning!!!!
Apparantly my mum, who only lives across town, had big hailstones too!!!!
And now the sun is peeking out again!!
Hurray for the English weather!

*Waiting ...*

Well I know the name of the delectable bakery we went to in Helmsley now, (as my husband kindly reminded me last night) it's called 'Cinnamon Twist'! How cute is that, I knew it was something delicious!!!!

Well today is a beautiful sunny and warm day, and I'm stuck here waiting for a door to be delivered!!! We've bought a 'new' front door, it's an old Victorian door we picked up at an Antique/Salvage place last week and they were stripping it for us and cutting down to our measurements and it is meant to be delivered today. So here I am waiting for it ...
well I suppose I can at least get some crafting done!

Hope it is lovely, sunny and bright where you are.

*The Cocoa Tree*

This is The Cocoa Tree in Helmsley, we didn't go in on Sunday, but I loved the big ice cream sign outside so I took this picture!
I have only just found out today that there is a review of The Cocoa Tree on Delia Online, you can find it *here* if you wish to take a peek.

*Rather large keys*

We went to Helmsley on Sunday, which is a wonderfully pretty town, and we had a fab day! It was warm, the sun was shining and we found a wonderful bakery, with lots of gorgeous food, I can't remember what it was called though, I must pay more attention in future!
Anyhoo I picked up these keys whilst we were there, they were only £3.95, what a bargain, and I do so love a bargain! They are not really vintage, but they look so great I just had to have them. Not sure where to put them yet, but they have taken up residence on this corner in my dining room for the time being!

*Marilyn Monroe & Audrey Hepburn*

These are beautiful limited edition prints of Marilyn Monroe & Audrey Hepburn.
They are taken from original artwork by James Paterson ~ my talented husband.
The original paintings are oil on canvass and are sold and privately owned.

*Update*
Sorry these prints are now all sold

If you wish to find out more about James and his art please visit his website *James Paterson*

Thank you
x

*New Items*

Just wanted to let you know about a few new items added to my *e-bay shop*!
One of which is this lovely pink floral cake/biscuit tin, very shabby 1950's chic! Imagine how fab it is to store all of your fairy cakes or goodies in this pretty tin, it brings a little 50's glamour to any day!
Also I have added this pretty handcrafted rosebud hanging heart, it is made using dried rosebuds which have a lovely aroma. The wonderful smell reminds me of being a little girl and summer days spent picking rose petals to make my mum some 'sweet smelling perfume'!

*Going Gray ~ Gracefully*

Mmmmmmm, who knew that 'Going Gray' could be so lovely!
I love the look of this room, it is just so pretty and elegant.
I came accross it today whilst browsing over at Martha's! It is the New York City apartment of Martha Stewart Living Creative Director Eric Pike. You can see more lovely photos and the article *here*.
Not sure I'm so keen on the bedroom and kitchen, needs to be a little more 'girly' I think for my taste, but that's just me!

*A little about me*

Ok, so I thought I should really introduce myself , well it's only good manners isn't it!
My name is Alison, I'm 32, married to James, who's an artist.
I make jewellery which I sell on my website and I also make shabby, rustic, french, country style homewares & accessories which I currently sell on my stall at a montly craft market in my hometown, these are also available from my e-bay shop and maybe on my website soon!

I am so in *love* with the shabby old fashioned style it's so relaxed and homely, and it's so easy to make your home look beautiful without spending a fortune. Our home is full of things which I have given a new lease of life by just painting and shabby-ing a little, I find it gives a home a soft lived-in comfortable feel. But after saying this, I must admit I am one for drawers, cupboards, nice baskets and boxes where everything has it's place I'm not one for unorganised clutter or untidyness out on show, my clutter must be hidden in lovely baskets or a set of distressed drawers!
I do like to have what I call 'organised clutter' out on show though, I have a Cath Kidston book which 'lives' on top of a lidded square jute box in my dining room, and a Cabbages & Roses book and Country Living book that have taken up residency on an old Lloyd Loom ottoman which I use as a window seat in the dining room. The latest Cath Kidston catalogue can always tend to be found strewn on a old painted chair in our living room too, I find I like to have these types of books 'placed' around the home, I suppose in the same sense as our parents and grand-parents would place their treasured ornaments around their home. These are my treasures.
Plus when you have a spare minute or two it's great to just pick them up and flick through them. I also find that having these pretty books on hand with their delicous photos can bring cheer to an otherwise un-cheery day!

*New Blog*

Yay!!! The new Vintage Amethyst Blog, and no longer on my website either, blogs here always look supercute and I don't have to mess about with all the html buisness either ~ why did it take me so long to get one!?!