Carrot and Orange Loaf Cake

After watching The Great British Waste Menu on BBC1 on Wednesday, I was inspired to use up the last of the carrots that were languishing in the bottom of the veg cooler rather than throwing them away... and what better way to eat carrots than in a cake!

I used a Mary Berry recipe for a Carrot and Orange Loaf, which turned out OK, even if I do say so myself! The only problem  - which you probably can't see in the photo - is the fact it is far to small!

This is by no means the fault of Mary Berry - I can't imagine that she has ever had a disaster in the cake department - but rather my fault for underestimating the size of my tin! The recipe was for a 2lb loaf, and thinking I only had a 1lb loaf tin, I made only half the mixture. Alas, I realised my mistake too late!

Regardless of it's size, the cake tastes fabulous, and we have been consoling ourselves with the fact that as it is half as big as it should be, in order to have the correct amount of cake, we should probably have slices that are twice as big as normal!!!

Unfortunately this method of sharing means there is already not much left!

I'm sure it won't be too long before I make another, but in the meantime I will have to make do with this selection of carrot themed items from Folksy!

From left to right:

Woolly Duck, Natural Bubbles, Scarlet Bird

Folksy Friday - Rainbows

I have just returned from camping at the fabulous Greenman Festival in Glanusk Park in South Wales where I had a wonderful time - both because of, and in spite of the weather!
The setting was brilliant, with the main stage set in a natural amphitheatre with a backdrop of the Brecon Beacons, which not only looked amazing but the gentle sloping banks meant vertically challenged people like me could always see the stage!

The bands were great  - my special highlights from the headliners include Billy Bragg, Laura Marling and The Flaming Lips - but as always, Greenman excelled at providing a range of less well known performers including Coco's Lovers who managed to keep us entertained with a barn-stomping acoustic set when the power was lost in one of the tents due to the heavy rain!

And so...onto the rain...

I shall not dwell on the wetness of (some of) the weather we experienced over the weekend, or on the mud, or the very, very, very long walk back to the car carrying wet camping equipment, but focus on the fact that the sun did shine for some of the time and because of this we saw some amazing rainbows!

In honour of these cheerful wonders of beauty, I have chosen some rainbow themed items for this week's Folksy Friday. I hope they cheer you up and brighten your day just as much as the real life rainbows did for me!

From left to right

TOP: Little Miss Crafty, Nicknots, Dig the Earth

BOTTOM: Great Green Ltd, The Rainbow Room, Vintage Patchwork

Folksy Friday - Postal

The theme for this week is 'postal' as for one reason or another the postal service (or lack of!) has been playing on my mind!

I have always been a fan of getting letters, postcards and even bills through the post and couldn't wait to get home from work to see if a little something had been delivered for me that day! Usually this wasn't the case, and even if something had arrived it would be something trivial, mundane or just out of date - like receiving a MOT reminder for a car I hadn't had in years!

However, since I have been working from home, but more especially since we have been waiting for a number of important items - tax rebates, proof copies of books, confirmation of the start date of a new job... waiting for the postman has become something of an artform and more often than not, an exercise in managing disappointment!

Every day, around midday, suddenly you can't concentrate on what you are doing.
You just have to keep looking out of the window to see if you can see him.
The postman.
Then you have to wait for him to post to all the houses on School Street.
Then you have to wait to see if he will stop for you.
And then... if he does, what will it be?

Alas, for the past two weeks, it has not been what we are waiting for. So every day, after he has been you say to yourself 'oh well maybe tomorrow', trying to believe, but knowing that you have said that same thing every day for a fortnight!

From left to right
TOP: Crafty Dawn, Louise Originals, Rose and Raven
BOTTOM: Fancy and Fondant, Karen Hilton Designs, Little Silverleaf

I'm sure all of these items would be gladly received through the post - and even if they were delayed they are definitely worth waiting for!

From Blogger to Flogger!

Yes - I have actually written the world's corniest title! Feel free to groan!

Blame it on the fact that, in a desperate attempt to raise some cash for our forthcoming holiday, I have now started selling on Ebay! I've recently had a clearout and found all the lovely things that I no longer need that really do want to go to a new home - and in a shameless attempt at self promotion, I have decided to share a few of the items with you!

In my defense, some of the reasons I thought you may be interested are:

a) The bidding starts at very low prices so I thought you may want to bag yourself a bargain!!!
b) Gathering the items together it suddenly occured to me where the inspiration for my Midnight Garden collection (which heavily features the colours turquoise, pink and purple) may have come from!

If anyone does happen to be interested in any of these items you can find the details on Ebay by following this link soldbylolly

And now I'm off to obsessively watch the view counter on Folksy and the bid counter on Ebay! If anyone needs me I'll be busy repeatedly clicking refresh on my browser windows!

Folksy Friday - Home Holidays

The varied selection of items I have chosen for you today are based around the theme of 'Home Holidays'.
This theme has come about due to the fact that last weekend the parents-in-law were visiting and as they have our room (and the other bedrooms at made by lolly x HQ are too full of books and craft equipment to fit a bed in!), we decided that we would brave the changeable weather and set up camp in the garden!

Despite feeling a little silly pitching the tent in our tiny garden, and feeling even more silly creeping out there in our pyjamas at bedtime, I must say home camping was a success! The change of scenery - even if it was only our back garden - changed our daily routine and was rather refreshing. We enjoyed the experience so much we even stayed out another night after the in-laws had gone, fishing out the camping stove and cooking bacon sarnies al fresco!

We were lucky and didn't get rained on while we were in the tent, although there had been a number of showers over the weekend - we are only hoping that the weather is just as kind when we go camping for real in Brecon at the Greenman Festival!

From left to right
TOP: Tim Irving, Erin, Ich bin
BOTTOM: Glowbox, Hollie Lollie, A piece of Nature