* Friday Treat Time! *

As the beautiful season of autumn is nearly over I thought I would cheer us up with some fun autumn-y activity sheets, featuring squirrels, Hobbes the Cat and Bert & Berta!

This is a fun project I started a while back - and its definitely a work in progress, learning lots along the way! The activities are from a black and white 'seasonal' magazine aimed at 2-5 year olds, including photo stories, making a coat for a sausage dog, autumn recipes and more! I guess I need to start a winter one now!

Just click on one of the images below to download the three activities.

Happy Friday!

x*x*

* Friday Treat Time! *

This week's Friday Treat Time is in honour of magical storytelling in this time of build up to Christmas - and my little sis, Cat Bean and her friend Sarah Neil, who I'm a big fan of!

Introducing: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, audio book, told by Stephen Fry:







If you want to continue listening to the rest of the story, just keep following the links that pop up at the end of Part 3.

Enjoy!

x*x*

* Illustrations in Cornwall *

Here are some illustrations I have been working on during my time in Cornwall - all of them inspired by what I have seen and felt here. Some may become stories, others may be pictures for a little fun booklet I'm working on and others are just for fun!

The Wandering Girl

Bunny

Deer

Knitted Dog

Sailing Bug

Fox

A Bunny Gentleman

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* Some Cornish Inspiration *

What wonderful teashops and crafty shops they have here in Cornwall - I'm getting lots of inspiration (and cake) on our jaunt to the fair land!

Here is what I've learnt so far:

* Teashop Essentials *

A sign

Lovely old rooms

Scrumptious cakes

Pretty tea things

Loose leaf teas

Frame teacups you don't want smashed

A full menu

A duck friend by your door

Bright colours and old squashy furniture

...and this crafty shop window wins the prize for making autumn look very exciting & magical...

Photo credits: Jon & Ros Bilbrough
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*Inspiring Collage Art!*

I was browsing through some blogs today, and found this lovely artist's work - her name is Harmony and you can find out more about her at her blog here.






Lovely and inspiring!

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Friday Treat Time!

An arty but hopefully inspiring treat for you today - a BBC Radio 3 audio drama starring Martin Freeman of 'The Unfortunates' by BS Johnson. What's inspiring about the original book is that it was published in a box, in 27 sections, to be read in any order, except for the first and the last sections.


Here is the official blurb below on the BBC Radio 3 audio drama:

"Adaptation of B.S. Johnson's 1969 novel in which a sports journalist travels to a strange city to cover a football match, only to discover it was the city where he first met his friend Tony who has died young of cancer. We follow the journalist from his arrival at the train station, through lunch, to the match and on the journey home, as different memories of his friend are triggered.

Listen as the author intended - in a random order.

Its structure is intended to mirror the arbitrary way that the author’s mind worked on this particular day – the random coming together of memories of Tony and the business of reporting a football match."

Click here to listen!

Enjoy!

x*x*

* Hobbes' First Day Outside! *

It was a momentous day in the Bilbrough household - for the first time in his life, Hobbes saw the outside world!

He is used to being pampered and carried around indoors...


...and watching the washing go round.


But today, he stood on his own four paws and sniffed and frisked in the great outdoors.

A tiny cat in a big world...

...it's a like a jungle out there (in our garden).

Eeep! Things got a little scary at times...

...but he soon settled down to his usual playful antics...

...And here he is - a professional prowler in the making:

After all that running around, he was content to chill out by the kitchen door...

...waiting for the next opportunity to see the outside world.

* The End *
(for now...)

* Pussy Cat Bleu's Feature *

Yes, Pussy Cat Bleu will be presenting all baking posts from now on, as well as featuring in a little children's magazine project I have started!

Her bakery / patisserie still needs some decorating - she's sourcing all the right fabrics and flowers to make her space look 'just so'!

Keep your eyes peeled for her next yummy offering...

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Friday Treat Time!

* The Good Life *

This Friday, let's get snug with a glass of Pea-pod Burgundy under a blanket and watch one of the best examples why its great to grow your own, wear dungarees and generally not let the whirl of city life get you down! Presenting:

The Good Life - The Wind-break War

Enjoy!

x*x*

* Friday Treat Time: Fairtrade Chocolate & Blackberry Cupcakes *

So, here's a Hummingbird cupcake recipe for you with a little autumn, ethical twist - just add some wild blackberries and Fairtrade cocoa powder!

Bert and Berta gathered some blackberries for me last Saturday, and I made these cakes for them (and other friends)!

Chocolate Cupcake recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Book with added blackberry twist!

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• 20g Fairtrade cocoa powder
• 140g Fairtrade caster sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40g unsalted butter
• 120ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Hand picked blackberries (8-10)

Frosting:

• 200g icing sugar, sifted
• 100g unsalted butter
• 40g Fairtrade cocoa powder
• 40ml milk
• Handpicked blackberries (12)
  

Pre-heat oven to 170/gas 3.

Put flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together until you have a sandy consistency.

Roughly cut your hand full of blackberries in half and add to the mixture, stirring so the blackberries break up into very small pieces.

Whisk the egg, milk, vanilla in a jug, then slowly pour into the bowl with the flour etc, stirring all the time. Mix until the cake mixture is smooth to get rid of any lumps.

Spoon the mixture into cake cases until two-thirds full and bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes.

When ready, leave cupcakes to cool on a wire cooling rack and make the chocolate frosting.

Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder together in a electric mixer (or just mix with a wooden spoon like me!) until the mixture is well mixed together.

Add the milk a couple of tablespoons at a time, whilst mixing. Once all the milk has been added, continue mixing/beating until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Add the frosting to your cooled cupcakes, with a blackberry on top of each one to finish.


Yummy autumn goodness!

x*x*