Springer Spaniel Paper Shredder

Caught in the act!…

Bin raker and paper shredder extraordinare, Chunky, my Springer Spaniel caught with the evidence in between his teeth, the other giveaway was the aftermath of what was a Galaxy Chocolate Wrapper which surrounded him!

Halloween

I hope everyone has a great Halloween tonight.. We are going out to a halloween party which will be great fun…

 I always remember going to the local community hall halloween parties when I was a youngster, they held one every year.  They used to turn out the lights and all the older women in the community (usually the committee members) would put on their witchey hats, masks andcapes and ride around the hall on a broomstick / old broom … but before they arrived they used to get all the kids to sit down and say this rhyme to make the witches arrive (they terrified the life out of us but we all thought they were real lol)…. here it is..

 “This is the Night of Halloween”

“All the witches are in the green”

“Some are red and some are green”

“This is the Night of Halloween”

Here are some halloween Superstisions that I found whilst browsing around online…

• Going in for dumb supper, meaning that nobody will talk while having supper, encourages the spirits to come to the table.• It is believed that if an unmarried girl keeps a rosemary herb and a silver sixpence under her pillow on Halloween night, it is quite likely that on that very night, she would dream of her future husband.

• It is said that if you hear someone’s footsteps behind you on the Halloween night, you should not turn back because it may be a dead following you. And if you commit the mistake of looking back, it is likely that you might join the dead very soon.

• People believe that if on the Halloween night, a girl carrying a lamp in her hand goes to a spring of water, she will see the reflection of her life partner in water.

• People have a superstition that if an unmarried girl carries a broken egg in a glass and takes it to a spring of water, she will be able to catch the glimpse of not just her future husband, by mixing some spring water in the glass, but also she can see the reflection of her future kids.

• There is the old saying that “black cats are bad luck”. It was once believed that black cats were the devil, or consumed by evil spirits.

• People used to believe that Satan was a nut-gatherer. Nuts were also used as magic charms on the day of Halloween festival.

• If you put your clothes on inside out as well as outside walk backwards on Halloween night. At midnight you will see a witch in the sky. People used to believe witches were the devil, or that they were consumed by evil.

• There is also an old saying “if the flame on your candle goes out on Halloween celebration; it gives you the meaning that you are with a ghost”.

• If you ring a bell on Halloween it will frighten evil spirits away.

• Many people used to consider that owls would dive down to eat the souls of the dying on Halloween. They used to think if you pulled your pockets out, and left them hanging, they’d be safe.

• It has been said if a bat flies into your house on Halloween, it is a sign that ghosts or spirits are very nearer, and maybe they are in your home and let the bat in.

• People used to believe that if bats are out early on Halloween, and they fly around playfully, then good weather is to come.

• If a bat flies around your house three times on Halloween, death is very soon to come

• To ward off evil spirits on Halloween, you can bury all the animal bones in your front yard, or even put a picture of an animal very close to your doorway.

• People used to believe you could walk around your house three times backwards before sunset on Halloween, and that would take care of all evil.

• It could be the spirit of a dead loved one watching you if you watch a spider on Halloween.

 

Have a great night tonight everyone :o)

Spidey!!!

I got in from work this evening and let the dogs out as they usually bounce all over the kitchen when I get in …lol

Anyway… at the side of the back door on the house wall was this spider.. it was HUGE! i;d say about two and a half inch’s in diameter.. I wasnt taking any chances so wheeched it away with the broom just incase it came galloping across my lounge floor later on tonight.

Handmade Hugs

2nd attempt at poking holes in card effect… looks ok but could do better :o)

Handmade Hi Card

I’ve been experimenting this evening, and tried out pricking a border of holes around a piece of card… plus I used sakura pens to colour in part of the flower peel offs..

 I think the effect would be better with a white card… will try one out and see what it looks like and display the results.

Card Making – On Your Day!

I made a couple of cards this afternoon and this is one of them.

Grey, Silver, black and white… makes a lovely combination :o)

My Springer Spaniels

Over the last few days I have noticed a significant rise in searches on springer spaniels.. so I thought I would include some pictures of my two.

Above is Mitsy our 4 yr old female and she is extremely camera shy!

Whilst this is chunky who seems to know how to pose for the camera!

This is our dog chunky on his first birthday.

Nigella’s Indulgent Choc Chip Cookies

 

 

  

I made these cookies after seeing them on Nigella Express the other week.. god theyre good!  …. The change I made to these… I made them totally organic!

Ingredients

125g/4oz dark chocolate
150g/5¼oz plain flour
30g/1oz cocoa, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
125g/4oz unsalted butter, softened
75g/2½oz light brown sugar
50g/2oz caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 free-range egg, cold from the fridge
350g/12¼oz dark chocolate chips 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.
2. Break the 125g/4oz dark chocolate into pieces and place into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until melted.
3. Place the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and mix well.
4. In another bowl, cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and stir well.
5. Beat in the vanilla extract and crack in the egg, then mix in the dry ingredients. Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Scoop out 12 equal portions of the mixture – an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are the best tools for the job – and place onto a lined baking sheet about 6cm/2½in apart. Do not flatten them.
7. Transfer to the oven and bake for 18 minutes, then test with a skewer – it should come out semi-clean and not wet with batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.
8. Leave the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 4-5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.

Moonlight Hedgehog

HedgehogOriginally uploaded by Towniesmallholder

Its a full moon tonight and this wee hedgehog was running around in our neighbours driveway. We popped out and took its picture… what a gorgeous wee creature it is too :o)

Thinking of You Card

I’m really into making floral cards at the moment, I seem to go through wee phases, last one I had was with pee wee glitters.

This is tonight’s effort, and now that its made and i’m looking at it on here i’m not that happy with the sentiment sticker, so i’m going to remove it and replace with something that looks better….

I’m now happy with the card, I dunno what it is about stickers, I just dont seem to like working with them, I dont think this one gave a satisfactory result on this card, much happier with my revised option :o)