Whoops a daisy!

Haven't we been a bit pants at updating the blog! There's sometimes just not enough hours in the day. I know I don't speak just for myself when I say it's been a busy few months.

Nicki's been a good girl and has been getting up to date with paperwork and other important (read boring lol) jobs. There's talk of a 2012 calender though so that's something to look forward to!

Sarah Leigh has, as usual, been taking some gorgeous photos. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing this one

The Camille's Appeal t-shirts are available to buy online now.

Me? I'm in the middle of a refit at the shop. I'm starting to see an end to it now but we've got a fair bit to go. My stock room/office has been moved and I'm getting new pigeon hole units built and they look fab. I keep looking at this picture and thinking "wow! I look like a real wool shop!"

So, ladies, I've got the ball rolling again. Who's next?

Do you still need a 2011 Calendar?

Just a quick blog to let everyone know the Camilles Appeal calendars I wrote about in November have almost sold out! I'm down to the last dozen and these have been reduced to just £5 incl post.

All profits from these calendars go to a very worthwhile charity www.camillesappeal.co.uk, a charity close to my heart.

JANUARY SALE - 50% OFF original selling price of £10

NOW ONLY £5

BUY HERE

Size: Double A4

JANUARY

(c) Nicki Macrae  http://www.nicki-paints.co.uk/

FEBRUARY

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/ 

MARCH 

(c) Lisa Pucknell

APRIL

(c) Katie Shires

MAY

(c) Sara Hazeldine  http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

JUNE

(c) Sarah Leigh   http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/

JULY

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/

AUGUST

(c) Sarah Leigh  http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/

SEPTEMBER

(c) Mim Owen  http://www.mimowen.co.uk/

OCTOBER

(c) Sara Hazeldine  http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

NOVEMBER

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/

DECEMBER

(c) Sara Hazeldine http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

If you would like to buy a copy at this great offer price,
BUY HERE
 or visit The Camilles Appeal Calendar page at www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk

Camilles Appeal is the children's brain tumour charity specifically focussed on the support and welfare of children under the age of five.  More information about the charity can be found at http://www.camillesappeal.co.uk/

I'm busily noting all of my bookings and appointments on mine right now.  I'd be completely lost without a calendar.  If you don't have one or know someone who still needs one, why not buy one of these?  It's only £5 and is helping to make money for a great charity.

______________________________________________________________________________

http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/ a children's portrait photographer based on the Norfolk Suffolk border in East Anglia.
 
Proud to support http://www.camillesappeal.co.uk/

______________________________________________________________________________

AFTER A BIT OF A BREAK, A WOMANS WORK BLOG WILL PICK UP AGAIN FOR 2011.  WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT?

Get organised for 2011 with a new calendar...and make a real difference too!

I wanted to tell everyone about a project some of us have been working on - a 2011 calendar.  It's been so much fun working with other photographers to come up with the best design and photographs for the calendar.  The best part, though, is that it's all been for a brilliant cause.  All photographs, development time, design work and admin etc has been donated without charge, so 100% of the profits will be going to http://www.camillesappeal.co.uk/, a charity close to my heart.

We're at that exciting stage where the final design has been approved and we're waiting for that knock at the door when the printer delivers them.  In the meantime, we started taking pre-orders for the calendar this week.  At just £10 each and they are literally selling like hot cakes already. 

Buy here through paypal

Here is a sneak peek of how the calendar will look:

Layout

Size: Double A4

And here are the photographs we have chosen to represent each month.

JANUARY

(c) Nicki Macrae  http://www.nicki-paints.co.uk/

FEBRUARY

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/ 

MARCH 

(c) Lisa Pucknell

APRIL

(c) Katie Shires

MAY

(c) Sara Hazeldine  http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

JUNE

(c) Sarah Leigh   http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/

JULY

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/

AUGUST

(c) Sarah Leigh  http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/

SEPTEMBER

(c) Mim Owen  http://www.mimowen.co.uk/

OCTOBER

(c) Sara Hazeldine  http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

NOVEMBER

(c) H. Greenwood  http://www.greenwoodtreephotography.co.uk/

DECEMBER

(c) Sara Hazeldine http://www.sarahazeldine.co.uk/

You'll notice some of these photographers are other A Woman's Work contributors and others are friends who know the family (al-be-it through cyberspace) and want to do anything they can to help this charity.  Every little helps...

Project managing this has been really interesting.  Everyone's been so keen to help and some of the photographs were even taken specifically for this project.  I think it's great, particularly as we only started a few weeks ago.  It just goes to show what a few 'mums with camera's' can do when motivated by such a worthwhile cause.  The calendar design and print company http://www.thecalendarcompany.org/ has been great too, providing the layout for free and often working with me late at night to get the design just right.

If anyone would like further information about the calendar or if you would like to buy a copy (or two or three...), visit The Camilles Appeal Calendar page at www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk

Some suggestions I've heard so far is that they would make great gifts for relatives or those you would usually buy a bottle of wine for, or even for teachers.

Camilles Appeal is the children's brain tumour charity specifically focussed on the support and welfare of children under the age of five.  More information about the charity can be found at http://www.camillesappeal.co.uk/ . Even if you're not interested in a calendar, it's worth looking at the website.

Now all I need to do is buy a copy for myself so I can get organised and start making a note of my 2011 bookings.
______________________________________________________________________________

http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/ a mum and children's portrait photographer based in Suffolk, East Anglia.  Proud to support http://www.camillesappeal.co.uk/

Camille's Appeal

The extremely talented Nicki MacRae has launched a greetings card in support of Camille's Appeal.

A pack of 10 cards with envelopes are priced at £5 and can be purchased here.
£1.50 from each pack will go directly to Camille's Appeal.

Speaking as someone who has the ability of cutting peoples heads off in many a photo, I take my hat off to the fabulous photos that have been taken for the Camille's Appeal 2011 calendar.


The calendar is £10 and can be bought here. 100% goes to Camille's Appeal.
For more info and month by month photos, please look at the Sarah Leigh Photography blog.

At Last!!!!!

She's got it! My daughter has finally sussed it.
I'm one step closer to retirement (I'm only 34 by the way!)

Not bad for a just turned 9 year old :)

Vicky x
The Wool Shop

I'm like a child at Christmas

I do get awfully excited when new yarn arrives........... even if it is 6 boxes at a time!

This is Can Can by Rico Design.

Granted, it doesn't look much when it's on the shelf...

But the finished item is fab-u-lous!

These are photo's from my phone. I'll get a better picture soon seeing as I've found my camera cable!

Deliciously Yorkshire Awards

I thought I'd let you all know about the Deliciously Yorkshire Awards.

Deliciously Yorkshire stand for everything that's great about Yorkshire food & drink and every year hold a competition to find the best that Yorkshire can provide.

This year Lippylicious Cakes have entered!

I'm putting it down to a moment of weakness, but the entry form has been sent in and, well, the proof will be in the pudding, so they say! I'm not going to say much about our entry, that information is strictly hush-hush until after judging has been completed.

Judging starts on 24th August and leads up to a fantastic awards ceremony held in November at Rudding Park, Harrogate.

Wish us luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Recent Wedding

Just a quick post to show off a couple of pics from a recent wedding.

Vanilla and lemon cupcakes with white butterfly wrappers, decorated with butterflies and silver balls and displayed on one of our acrylic stands.

Instead of a top cake we used a small arrangement of flowers with gems and sheer organza.

A proud Mum & Dad were very happy the day after,

a wonderful day had by all.

More creative kids ideas...

Following on from the creative kids post I did on Monday, my children have come up with another idea that I would like to share with you all. This is very easy & uses up all the annoying little bits & pieces that just seem to accumulate (like odd hair slides, broken necklaces, feathers, pipe cleaners, beads, hama beads, small lego bits etc). Basically anything brightly coloured and small that has no other use.

They're very simple to make & this activity keeps them entertained for ages.

1. Send them on a 'treasure' hunt, looking for all the little bits & pieces they can find. Under the bed, in wardrobes, in the bottom of toy chests etc. If they can't find enough then pasta or shells or leaves can also be used
2. Get them to sort them out into piles or pots of different coloured 'bits'
3. Get them to choose the colours they want on their frame
4. Get 2 sheets of strong A4 card & cut a rectangle out of the centre of one piece to form a frame shape.
5. Put loads of PVA glue onto the frame & let them arrange the decoration in whatever inventive ways they want to. Older children can even try making designs with a mosaic style frame
6. let it dry then find a picture to put in it.

Now I have two lovely frames, I just need two new photo's to go in them. What a good excuse to get my camera out :-)

________________________________________________________

http://www.sarahleighphotography.co.uk/

Portrait photographer based on the Norfolk Suffolk border, specialising in natural portraits of children and families

Fun with food!

Thanks to Sarah Leigh's suggestion I thought I'd share a little tip about having fun with children during the school holidays. My speciality isn't paint though - mine is FOOD!

As a household we do eat plenty cakes & cupcakes, well, I do need someone to taste everything, but I also let my children (aged 3 and 4) make decisions about meals and a very popular choice is pizza made with their own little hands. It's not as complicated as it might sound either as you can buy ready made pizza bases from the supermarket, both small and large. Also, it takes up more time than you think - a great way to keep children's attention for about half an hour or more without really trying!


Instructions:

Adult job: Chop, slice and grate lots of different toppings and pop them on plates and in bowls ready for little hands to get messy ;-)

For example: Ham, bacon, chicken, salami, chorizo, sausage, sweetcorn, pineapple, mushroom, cherry tomato, green/red/yellow pepper, herbs, mozzarella cheese, goats cheese and regular hard cheese. These are simply examples, if your children are like mine there's probably not a lot on that list that they'll eat! But then, this can be more about having fun than healthy eating...

Adult job: Score the top of the pizza base with a sharp knife, this helps the sauce stay on the base. (I place the bases on greaseproof paper on a baking tray).

If your little ones are able they can add a few spoons of passata (pureed and sieved tomatoes) or pasta sauce (there's really no difference but the pasta sauce comes with 'hidden' vegetables like tomato chunks, mushrooms and pineapple) on to the base, if not, this might be another adult job.

Push the sauce to the edge of the pizza base, this stops the base burning.



Right! Messy fun time! Let the children lose on the bowls & plates and let them make up their own pizza. I tend to give them one topping at a time otherwise you'll end up not being able to distinguish between the bowls as the contents get mixed up ;-)

You might need to give a little guidance about not putting all the toppings in the middle of the base and making something to rival the Eiffel Tower!!!

Cook, slice and serve! I cut the pizzas into small 1"x1" pieces which are easier to eat.



Tonight we made 2 pizzas, 1 with sliced hot dog sausage and cheese and 1 with sliced hot dog sausage, sweetcorn, cheese and tomato chunks....

And of course having fun with food doesn't have to be kept to the school holidays - getting them involved in food preparation is a great way for children to learn about food and at the same time learn about being independent! It doesn't have to stop with pizza either - tortilla wraps are also great but for little hands but it's best to half or even quarter the tortilla first. A great meal and cheap too!

Have fun!!!


Helen @ Lippylicious Cakes