Hot Water Beach

Well THAT happened pretty fast. Things got a bit crazy after my last post and have only slowed down today! There were Christmas preparations, my parents arrived, Hazel got an inner ear infection that makes her feel really lightheaded, school finished, we went away to Hot Water Beach for a few days, I caught the cold from hell complete with a fever and then Mat got it, and then Mat's family came for Christmas and Boxing Day. Phew. Now that's all over summer can start!

Here's a few summery photos from Hot Water Beach. For those not in the know, it's called that because there are two hot water springs that come out on the beach (just at that little rocky outcrop in the middle of the beach) and at low tide you can dig holes in the sand, which fill up with hot water, and sit in them like a outdoor bathtub. Unfortunately the waves were too high at low tide for us to do that so we joined everyone else in the surf and wiggled our feet into the sand. Too deep and it was too hot, on the top was cold from the sea, so you had to wiggle to just the right spot :) To be honest I think I probably enjoyed that communal spirit more than all the digging and jostling for space with holes. You can see photos of the hole-digging on the link above, it looks a little less jolly than nearly being sucked out to sea with a bunch of strangers.

We stayed in a very basic (and dog friendly) bach up above the beach. It wasn't anything to write home about but the view certainly was! Here is my view from the deck chair - 5 minutes down to the beach, it was fan-tabulous.

Advent calendar for 2014

One day the first of December won't catch me by surprise, but at the moment it's like a yearly ritual, the last minute panic and arranging of daily treats the night of November 30th. This year, to make it worse, Hazel wanted a change from the one we've been using for several years, and I had to make up something new. She'd seen a very cute paper village in a magazine but it turned out to be quite expensive so I went looking to see if I could find a printable of some sort. We both really liked this free one from Mr. Printables so I set to making it. I think in hindsight I might have gone with the option of buying it ready-printed and cut but needs and no time for international shipping must so it was the free DIY version! The only issue I had with it, other than a bit of RSI, was having to scale it down by about 10% to fit A4 paper, which means the houses are a little on the small size but I can just put in paper clues to larger items.



 I love how bright it is, perfect for a summer Christmas, and it looks so happy on the mantelpiece.

Christmas thyme

Three years ago I was working on one of these gingerbread men up at a bach we were renting when I foolishly put all the pieces, the skeins of embroidery floss and my scissors into a paper bag that was then thrown out when we tidied up before leaving. It took me quite a long time to get over being such an idiot but I've finally gotten that monkey off my back. Hazel asked me why the brown one has white legs and I was forced to admit I had no idea but that's the way the pattern is. She thinks it looks a bit odd but I don't - or at least I didn't before she pointed it out! Maybe I should try a different brown and do brown legs as well. They do say things in three are more aesthetically pleasing...

I'm pleased to have kicked off Christmas so early, although admittedly this isn't present-related unless doing it for myself counts! The weather here has been rather dreary lately, warm and wet, but the bright side is that my herbs are going gangbusters and the thyme is looking rather picturesque between the sage and lavender (parsley and rosemary are off to the side 😉). 

The pattern is from the Fa La La Felt book. 

Clay gingerbread house

Growing up, one of my favourite family traditions was making gingerbread houses for Christmas. We baked the gingerbread and glued them together with candy glue, and then decorated them with as much icing and candies as we could fit in. When I moved down here I tried making them but the summer humidity made the gingerbread go soft and the candy colours ran into the icing and it was just horrible and depressing. I still long for them though!

In an attempt to ignore the fact it's the wrong season for Xmas here (apologies to native Antipodeans but it's true) I have recreated a scaled-down version in air dry clay. My first attempt can be seen here, this is my second.

It's not perfect - the clay still bowed a bit despite my best efforts* so there are lots of gaps and the eaves overhang the sides too much to see the windows well but it's cute! I like the back window best




I have to use an LED tealight in it as it gets too hot with a real flame. The flickering of the LEDs isn't quite right though, a steady light would be nicer. I'm now wondering about trying the Sculpey clay that you bake, maybe that would be better... The mental image still hasn't quite gone so I might need to play around a bit more and if I can get closer to it then it might go away.

I came across a great quote from Neil Gaiman on GoodReads yesterday that really described this process well

Normally, in anything I do, I'm fairly miserable. I do it, and I get grumpy because there is a huge, vast gulf, this aching disparity, between the platonic ideal of the project that was living in my head, and the small, sad, wizened, shaking, squeaking thing that I actually produce.

 I can't say I agree with him about what he produces, although it makes me wonder what even more amazing books live in his head :)

*Best efforts included keeping it in a cool spot, out of a breeze, turning the pieces often and pressing them down and putting a heavy cutting board on top of them overnight.