Clare Davis Etheridge

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December 2012 photo a day

Every day I take a photo using the prompts from Fat Mum Slim‘s creative brain. I am looking forward to having a whole year of them in 2013. I started doing it late this year, but it is a great daily creative challenge.

Day 1. 8 o clock. Opening the advent calendar.

Day 2. Peace

Day 3. Something you held. Found these gorgeous antique postcards at the weekend. I love to look through them, they are all Italian, British and other European sights. Mainly cathedrals.

Day 4. Black and white

Day 5. Looking up

Day 6. From where you live. I walk through these woods nearly every day from where I live.

Day 7. Stars. Trader Joes cookies!

Day 8. Someone you love. My boys in a plane, at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum at Creve Coeur Airport, St Louis.

Day 9. Out and about. I spotted this rain drenched thistle on the way home from the dreaded Walmart!

Day 10. Under. I walked under this decorated but bare tree.

Day 11. Sweet. Candy cane cocktails

Day 12. Hat.

Day 13. Lights.

Day 14. Something green.

Day 15. Outdoors

Day 16. Something you made. Nearly made!

Day 17. On the floor. Mammogram time, lovely pink ‘robe’.

Day 18. Something that makes you merry. Finding this little soldier in the woods on the way to school made my day! He has clearly been through the mulcher, but is still looking on the bright side!

Day 19. Something beginning with S. Bodhi needed a Christmas stocking, so I made him one.

Day 20. Weather.

Day 21. Tree. Messing about with a new ‘Bokeh’ app on the phone!

Day 22. Decoration. I saw this wonderful lady in an antique shop, she is a bell and I wanted to take her home. I resisted her and snapped a picture instead.

Day 23. Joy is… a home made mince pie and a coffee.

Day 24. Tradition. Every Christmas Eve we sprinkle ‘Reindeer Dust’ so that Rudolph and his gang know where to come! Reindeer dust is oats and glitter, in case you want to make some!

Day 25. Lunch. Pulling crackers, pulling silly faces and telling jokes!

Day 26. Mess.

Day 27. How you relax.

Day 28. Cold.

Day 29. Hot.

Day 30 Something that made you smile this year. Sledging in minimal snow!

Day 31. Self portrait. A little more snow for making a massive snow ball!

HNY!

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

H.N.Y…… Ha, who do I think I am? A teenager?! What I mean is Happy new year and let’s make it a good one! The last one was a good one and I want another, no, I want one better.

Resolutions? Made any? Do you keep them, or do you make them with a flourish, write them down and then ignore them until next year when you dig them out or turn back to the beginning of the diary (yes, this is me) and make various noises of recognition, surprise and snorts of derision at all of your first day of a new year wishes desires and motivations?

Exercise, that will be on my list I am sure. Do more, different, more regularly, more weight loss specific.

Of course another staple – loose some weight, muffin top, spare tire whichever inanimate object you no longer require around your mid section – be gone.

Eat healthily. Come on, that’s on your list for sure. Are you a cut out all sugar, fat, flour, chocolate, coffee, booze, cake, fun, joy from your diet in order to achieve the health you require? Or are you more a ‘eat more fruit and veg and maybe a glass less of wine’ kinda person? I have to admit that I can’t diet in any shape or form. I just don’t have the will power. I did the Rosemary Conley hip and thigh diet in the 1990s for about a week and that was that. Haven’t managed a diet since. So I have to fall back on resolution number one – exercise and lots of it.

Exercise and cake it is then! You know I like to bake, so cake is staying!

Also on my list is working on this blog which I love dearly, but still confuses me no end. You should see my little confused face whenever I have to add a link or work on the ‘behind the blog scenes’ on brainy stuff. But work on it I shall and I shall also overcome the confused face I so often wear.

I want to knit more, I can knit, but it is a slow and painful process! I want to knit good stuff, yes I like scarves, but I want more knitted wonders and I want to make them myself.

I aim to fill my Etsy shop with beauteous things and proudly stand behind my counter and chat to my customers as they browse my cyber shop!

Sewing, I am planning some sewing, yes, I have some ideas up my sleeve keeping warm and waiting to burst out when I bring out my lovely sewing machine.

What plans do you have brewing? Big ones, small ones? Do tell.

Happy 2013 to everyone!

December A-Z

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I did my first ‘a month of’ creative prompts supplied by Justb Australia this month. A letter a day, gives us the last week to figure out our own ideas! Here are mine.

Advent calendar/ Birdcage/ Christmas card/ Doll head/ Eccles cakes/ Flying / Gift/ Hat/ Indian food

Jewelry/Kisses/L/Making pom poms/Nest/Outdoors/Power ball/Quality Street/Rosemary syrup

Sewing a Stocking/Two bears/Underneath the ice/Vintage mystery (still don’t know what this is…)/White bear/ Xciting parcel/Yellow book cover postcards/Zommmmbie!

Merry Merry Merry!

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Merry Christmas!

We are having a lovely Christmas day and so far over the festive week, we have enjoyed peppermint creams, mince pies, Monkey Bread, trifle, cheese and crackers, Lego building, a whole collection of postcards, festive coffees, gingerbread houses made from Graham crackers and actual gingerbread, peppermint candy canes, jigsaw puzzles, gifts bought in September and completely forgotten about, secret santas and lots of bad Christmas TV.

Looking ahead today, we will be walking the dog in freezing temps, roasting a chicken, drizzling lots of gravy, eating fruitcake (maybe with a slice of cheese!), playing some new games, reading some new books, watching some new DVDs, staying in new pajamas and still building new Lego models, all while anticipating some snow tonight.

R is for Rosemary Syrup

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

I love this rosemary syrup in my coffee with a spot of frothed up milk. I am sadly missing my Bodum milk frother as I broke the glass part last week. Yes I know, I am a clumsy klutz, but washing up liquid makes stuff slippy and easily dropped….
On a brighter note, here is the Rosemary syrup recipe to share. I have Kaldi’s to thank for the idea! Their rosemary and brown sugar latte is divine!

Rosemary Syrup

In a pan, add 1 cup water, 1 cup brown sugar, a dash of vanilla extract and about 5 sprigs of fresh rosemary.
Simmer to dissolve the sugar and heat gently for about 10 minutes. Leave in the pan for about 15 minutes once the heat is off. Store in a jar you have emptied of jam or something else which leaves a pretty jar to refill. No point in buying jars when we can recycle a few.

Hopefully my rosemary plants will soldier through the winter inside, looking out the back window into the garden. They should keep me in lovely rosemary syrup all winter.

Talking of soldiers, look who we found staring up out of the mud and mulch in the woods this morning.

He has been through the chipper, but he has such a lovely little face when we brought him home and washed him up.

Pom poms into foxy tails

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

Pom poms, I made them endlessly at my Grandma’s house. Whenever we visited, I would be digging around in her knitting box to see what wool she had. I liked the remnants of part used balls of wool, some was the crinkly wool which comes from pulled down woollies. Another job I loved to help her with, I would wind the the wool around my hands off the woolly item, then Grandma would wind it from me into a nest ball of wool. Then I would make pom pom after pom pom! Now I have made a few pom poms, I want to pay the Upcycle Exchange a visit to explore the fabulous yarn range within!

So, when I found an article in the new Mollie Makes by Hannah Golding with instructions on making a fox tail, or any fluffy animal tail, from pom poms, I was in.

First I had to find an old cardboard box, a cereal box is about right. Draw two circles with holes at the centre and cut them out. I cut a length of wool as long as I could work with (longer the better without driving yourself mad with it). Wrap wrap wrap around the cardboard. Add new wool as needed, no need to tie a knot, just lay it on and carry on wrapping. The hole will be about half the size when there is enough wool wrapped.

Next to get some lovely sharp scissors and cut between the cardboard rings at the outside and cut all the wool around the edge. Grab a length of wool and wrap it between the cardboard, pull it tight and tie a few knots to secure.

Time to carefully remove the rings, you can rip them right off, but only if you want to cut out more circles with little holes in the middle. For the foxy tail, you need 3 orangey foxy coloured pom poms and one cream, all the same size. Now a long sharp, big holed needle like a tapestry needle is used to sew the 4 pom poms together, nice and tight, but in a nice row, tail like. Now the fun and messy part, the trimming of the tail. A visit to the tail salon for a nice shaping trim. I tied a ball chain on to hang my lucky foxy tail.

Brain melt and ten on the 10th. December 2012

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

What a strange day today has been. Too grey to tell what time it is, felt like 4pm all day. Cold to the bone cold, cold legs through jeans, make your eyes run and cheeks freeze cold.
A lots to do and nothing done day, my list remains complete with no crossings out. I have done lots I needed to but also not done lots I wanted to.
I found a present bought about September, for Christmas. A bargain of bargains. And forgotten. I nearly bought another one! Maybe being organised for Christmas early is not such a good idea for me! I did manage to take ten photos on the 10th though!

YMCA for spin class this morning, my lovely purple locker. They are all purple, I have no special colour privileges.

Walk home through the park, still a cold gloomy day.

The almost missing Christmas present. My eldest was going on and on about it being half price way back, so I thought I would get it and keep it for Christmas. Great idea, but only if remembered. I was so close to buying another – at full price, as this is top of the Santa list! Thank goodness for flashes of memory recall.

Cards by the fabulous Lirio, traded for jewels! Business going down at the Y this morning.

To the Middle School to deliver ‘Reindeer Run’ registration forms for the 5k or mile run on Saturday morning.

I have had my photography eye on these roses for a while, so today I snapped them. Love how the colours have come out and no messing about with these, this is the actual photo with no app action!

Cabbage plant in our garden with an ice droplet.

This building is doomed to the dumpster tomorrow. Pretty cool place I think. Used to be a gas station in the olden days and then a print shop and soon a pile of rubble. In it’s place, a new generic box building with an insurance agent inside. It does look knackered but it is also a bit of the history of Brentwood. Knock old places down or keep? They seem very bulldozer happy over here.

I snuck this photo in if the building a couple of months ago, not exactly it’s heyday, but not bad in a vintage kind of way! Not part of ‘ten on the 10’, so I will carry on with that now.

Finally on December’s ‘ten on the 10th’ presentation….racing up a hill!

Oh wait, there’s more! Bodhi took 10 photos in 10 minutes, I know, you can take a theme too far…
10 in 10 minutes! He took the phone for the walk home from school which takes about 10 minutes and here is his take.
I could only get 9 in the frame, so here is his masterpiece created by putting his finger over the lens and removing it as he took the photo.

White! Is there a photo? Yes there is. Should I have framed it? Maybe. Is it art……?

Writing with Es!

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

E is for Eccles cakes, made with frozen puff pastry, I mean who makes puff pastry? Not me. I did make the mincemeat which I used to fill the Eccles cakes instead of the usual raisins. My only complaint is that I didn’t make them big enough! I am pleased I made mincemeat, followed a Delia Smith recipe and ta da, easy peasy squeeze a lemon. Two massive jars of mincemeat good stuff all ready for mince pies and I have a recipe for mincemeat cookies courtesy of Mr Jamie Oliver! It is going to be a sweet fruity fiesta!!

E is also for eggs in a nest pendant I am currently making whilst trying not to poke out my eyes with the pingy wire which springs about as I make the nest! I think this is one of my favourites, the mother of pearl beads almost glow, lovely.

E is for exhausted dog. Pablo the French bulldog of the house took a walk with me to make a jewelry delivery this morning and he was completely worn out by the time we got home! I am sure he loved his walk of sniffing and snuffling! Plenty of fire hydrants to occupy him en route.

B is for…blog, birdcage, boutique, Bloody Mary

Published by Clare at CatsEatDogs

As part of #amonthof, here is B. I have only started the a month of creative challenge in December and we are following the alphabet day by day, so on Dec 2nd, we are at B.

B is for birdcage, a vintage model I use for display. Today I have hooked it up with earrings for a holiday shopping Boutique I am selling at. A lovely luncheon shopping event at a local school. It has been a joy to work this one.

B is also for Bloody Mary. Of course $2.00 Bloody Mary’s help! I have only had one, slowly working my way down it. I have to admit that I can never work out if I even like Bloody Mary’s. I love the idea…sometimes I think I should stick to pancakes for brunch!