The great white north, America's hat, the motherland, Canadia!

I'm off to the motherland today, taking an incredibly long journey by bus, plane, metro, another bus, a ferry and then a car, to visit my family and brand new niece in Canada.  I'm very excited and can't wait to hold a sweet little baby!

I'll be leaving my Etsy shop open in the meantime, and like I did when I was gone this summer, I'm offering a 15% discount to anyone who purchases from me while I'm gone (between September 10th-30th)!

That Etsy shop address is of course -----> www.coryographies.etsy.com

This worked really well for me last time and I came home to a big long list of things to make for lovely people :)  I hope to do it again!

I'm making my little niece a baby blanket - I thought I'd share the videos with you here if anyone wants to crochet along!  Mine is pastel yellow and green, with a pink trim.  It's a really fun pattern and different from anything I've tried before... and really easy for this beginner:

Interesting Placemats!

Since I'm all moving into a new place with my husband, we've been decorating it up a bit and getting a few new household items!  One of those items we're looking for, but had quite a hard time settling on, was a set of nice placemats.  Naturally I turned to Etsy and was charmed to find these cute ones!

So sweet!!  Would I ever use these grass and flower placemats from SassyAlice?  NO, but they're cute and hilarious!

These pebble placemats from BritsBitsandBobs are very pretty and beachy :)

A little bit more practical, these burlap placemats from ruffleddaisy are rustic and pretty.

I thought these placemats from avrilloreti made out of paint chips was a great colourful idea!

So I ended up not getting any of these, and we settled on some plain acacia wooden ones.  Not as quirky as these perhaps...

New Item! ...sort of?

I've introduced a gift certificate option in my Etsy shop for people wanting to purchase a bookshelf necklace for someone, but not knowing what design they would like!  You can purchase it from my shop, where I will then message you a special code which you can gift to your friend (along with an address to my shop, which would be a good idea ;)).  They can then message me quoting the code, and which necklace they would like!

Check out my Paint skills with the gift certificate's picture:

I know, I know, I should go into graphic design.

Cory is a fan: AimeesHomestead

Alright, stop everything!  I have found a sheep shaped tea-cosy:

From AimeesHomestead on Etsy - this has to be owned!!!

Dust Bunnies...

...anyone know of crafts you can do with them?  Because I sure have a lot of them...!

Cory is a fan: ayarina

Here is a great polymer clay Etsy store: ayarina sells adorable polymer clay buttons with unique and beautiful designs that are sure to cheer up anything they are sewn on!  Wouldn't they be cute on a cosy blanket for instance?  Hmmm...

So sweet!  I just wish I could knit in crochet in shapes other than 'square' and 'rectangle', and I could make some adorable jumpers from these ;)

Packing up for the move! The psychology of sorting.

It's 6 days until the move in date for my huband and I!  We're packing up everything in boxes and giving everything a really good sort through - the type of cleaning that I actually quite enjoy!  My husband tells me I like to 'inventory' everything and it's true - I like to know what I own and where it is.  And sorting through everything and getting rid of stuff we don't need (or didn't even realise we had!) is a really nice feeling!  I'm sure it's not unusual, getting a really happy satisfaction that everything is in order (or in piles around the room, ready to be put into another flat... in an order).

So this is why I've not been writing very much since returning from France!  I plan to return in full force in October, as I'll be going to Canada to visit family during the last two weeks of September!

But being away for two weeks means I'm going to repeat what happened last time I was away in case you missed it - 15% off everything in my shop if you buy while I'm away, to make up for having to wait a little bit longer!  So if you've been fancying some teapot earrings or a bookshelf necklace, that will be a good time to purchase them to save yourself some pennies :)

50 Shades of bookshelves?

Gothic Bookshelf Necklace

I have lots of different designs of bookshelf necklace, and even a few with 'themes' - my Graduation Bookshelf Necklace or my Gothic Bookshelf Necklace for example.  But I never thought of making a themed necklace directly inspired by one book. 

Someone recently asked me if I would consider making a 50 Shades of Grey bookshelf necklace - I've never read the book myself (and I'm not to sure if I will.....), but I'd be happy to try, with some creative direction of course!!

But it's a good idea... a bookshelf inspired by a certain book.  What would a Pride and Prejudice bookshelf necklace look like for example?  Or a Lord of the Rings bookshelf?  Maybe even break out into comics... a Spiderman one would be kind of funny :)


Harry Potter Bookshelf Necklaces



Although I just remembered... I've done Harry Potter themed ones before a long time ago.  Perhaps I should resurrect the idea...

What bookshelf necklace theme would you most enjoy hanging around your neck?  And what would it look like?

I'm back!

I'm back from sunny France, and back to work in my little workshop!  I had a fantastic time doing archaeology for a month, and have come back tanned, freckled, muscular, and full of cheese.  Which equals pretty happy! 

But I missed my husband, so I'm glad to be home with him again, and of course I missed sitting at my little workshop making tiny bookshelf necklaces into the night.  But now I will be doing that quite a lot - I'm happy to say the 15% discount I offered in exchange for the extra wait to get an item was succeessful!  Not only will I be working hard, I'll be working REALLY hard because I want all the items to go out in my normal 2-7 days I quote for made to order items.

But I'll be back here regularly soon, we can get back on track and do normal things, like a giveaway....!

Delicious summer lentil stew

I know summer isn't really 'stew' season, but I love them all year round.  And this lentil one seems lovely for a nice flavoursome evening meal.

This one is particularly nice because it's mega cheap!  I make it when I want something nice and I feel like cooking, but nothing too complicated.

All you'll need is:

1 can of lentils (any kind are nice, though puy lentils are my favourite - you can use dried lentils, but make sure you've soaked them for 24 hours)

1 large onion (or a bunch of shallotts are also nice)

1 courgette/zucchini (or chopped mushrooms, or cubed squash, or even sweet potato!)

1 small can of tinned ham (...it's good, trust me here!)

1 cube of vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of flour
water (the amount equivalent to the can of lentils or thereabouts)
Spices (I use thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and a bay leaf)

Soften the onions in a pot with some oil.  Add the chopped vegetables, and add spices such as thyme, rosemary, oregano if you'd like, and some pepper.  Make sure if you're using sweet potato or squash you boil it first and then add it, as you dont want it to take forever to cook through in the stew.  Add the can of lentils, and fill of the can with water and add this as well.  Give it a stir, and crumble in the stock cube.  At this point you can add a bay leaf.  Add in the tinned ham, cubed.  Then sprinkle over the flour to thicken the sauce, stirring it well and until there are no lumps left.  Bring this to a good heat.  Taste and see if it needs more spices - I wait until here to add more salt, as there is already a stock cube and ham and it may not need more.  Put the lid on and simmer for 45 minutes or so (or until you can't wait any longer!), and make sure you stir it once in a while.

Yum!