Berwick Arts and Crafts Festival

From Friday 3rd until Monday 6th August the Berwick Arts and Crafts Festival will be running at Dewar's Lane Granary.  There will be lots happening throughout the long weekend and the full timetable of workshops, demonstrations and craft stalls can be found here.  I'll be running a 3 hour workshop teaching basic wire wrapping and how to use the technique with found sea glass and pebbles.  

The picture shows my workshop at last year's event where I look utterly shattered and ready for a holiday! I fear I may look similar this weekend! The Festival has grown and will be in a great new venue of The Granary which recently opened after a major restoration project which brings Berwick new gallery space, youth hostel, bistro and meeting rooms.

You can book workshops directly through the website or at Berwick Library tomorrow, July 30th between 10am and 4pm.

Looking forward to it!

Bracelet Chain

Today's work in progress, all scruffy and ready for the pickle pot.

Looking forward to seeing how this cleans up with the combination of silver and copper.  Again I'm playing with the shapes of seaweed and in particular the lovely rounded pods.  I was really hoping to get this completed today but soon it will be revealed in its finished form.

New Jewellery: Recycled Ring

Good evening!


Since coming back from honeymoon it has been tough to get time at the bench for all sorts of reasons but today I was free to crack on and it felt great!


I've had designs brewing for a good while now, echoing shapes of seaweed pods and strands.  These first came to me when I was melting copper just to see what happened and on our trip around the Scottish coast I saw lots of seaweed and it all sparked off in my mind again.  I even got the chance to introduce my beloved to childhood seaweed games my siblings and I inflicted on each other; mainly tangling seaweed around the legs of whoever you are paddling with!

So, back to today and the first image of the pod range.  It's not actually called that yet, ideas are still formulating and a rather interesting chain is half done, but for now a little stacker ring.  It is made using recycled sterling silver and copper.  Even the solder is recycled which pleases me greatly. This little one is ready for a tumble and final polish to bring out the sparkle in the hammered surface. 


Both time for my own work and the sunshine have been seriously lacking these last few weeks and it is great to have them back.

Wedding Stationery

My very talented husband designed all our wedding stationery . . .

and he did a very fine job! So much so that one friend clutched the RSVP to her and said "Can I just tell you I'm coming so I can keep this and put it in a frame?" The very same lady who transformed my wedding dress as a most generous gift.  We have been surrounded by such kindness and love in the run up to and over the period of our wedding and feel truly blessed.

Hello World

Over the last two months I have fallen off the blog orbit thanks to problems with redirecting when I renewed my domain name and not having enough time to deal with it as we were drawing ever closer to our wedding day.


I have still been taking lots of photographs although I freely admit the photo a day for my first year of being thirty has suffered and I will just have to refer to it now as the lots of photos in a year project!


My domain name problem is not yet quite resolved so I have reverted to the old blogger address in the hope that somebody out there will actually be able to see my blog.  Hopefully, both addresses will work again soon.  If the nice people who flogged me the domain name in the first place will help me. 


So, since my last post lots has happened!

Lots more sea glass collecting and we even found a lovely, rusty old spoon.

 The fluffy one continues to be endearingly fluffy.

Some grand salads have been consumed.

Beautiful tulips enjoyed.

Sport Relief mile ran.

The cat got a cave.

The Re-Dress Exhibition at Paxton House was launched.

     I had a laugh wearing a bum roll.

My hair was cut and curled and put up in many ways to see what an indecisive bride wanted.

Our Museums at Night event at Paxton House involved tales from Morris, Music and Myth.

and there's more!

Re-Dress: Fashion Unpacked

On 5th May, Paxton House launches Re-Dress, an exciting new exhibition of recently conserved 18th Century costume, coupled with stunning contemporary fashion inspired by our collections from students of the School of Textiles & Design at Heriot-Watt University.

There is much excited activity in work around the launch of this new exhibition; it is going to be fantastic!

Woodpecker, River and Frock

Hello lovely readers, how are you all?  I've really been missing reading all your blogs regularly so today I had a wee half hour with a cup of tea for a peruse and an update here. 2012 is continuing at a brisk and busy pace with jewellery making, workshops, Paxton House and planning our wedding!

Day 237 - woodpecker in the garden.

Day 238 - Molly explores the mini greenhouse. It's not usually there and she has been looking at it for a few days until at last she conquered it. Nothing to fear here.

Day 240 - St Patrick's Day and opening day at Paxton House! My first taste of working at Paxton when it's open to the public and it was great to see families enjoying themselves and see the reaction of little people to Paxton Ted! More of him later!

Day 241 - Regency costume for Mother's Day at Paxton House and yes that is face paint on my hand, there was a rush of tigers to be painted just before closing time!  I think this was the week of four different costumes! Whew!

Mainly Molly

There is yet another yawning gap in my project 30 pics.  I know there are more and one day I'll find the memory card they are on.  Recent days have been very full and some photo gaps are also explained by the fact that they feature wedding things which I'm keeping hold off until after the big day! 

 Day 218 Moll cat looking fluffy and snoozy on her cushion.

Day 224 - We went to have a chat with a caterer over in St Abbs where we will be celebrating our wedding after the ceremony. We are getting RSVPs back now and it's all feeling very close and exciting!

 Day 225 and a mahoosive breakfast cooked after I spotted both potato bread and soda farl in Aldi.  An Ulster Fry for a veggie is a bit dull if you don't have the breads!

 Day 229 just how pretty is this little beast, she's much chattier now and seems to miaow hello when she comes into the room or we come home.  This is an addition to the plaintive cries uttered by the cupboard which stores her food.

 Day 231 Paxton Ted badges! Paxton Ted is the big cuddly teddy mascot of Paxton House where I started working in January.  It's been a pleasure to meet the Ted himself and we made these new badges for visiting children.  The new open season at Paxton House has started and tomorrow I'll be photographing the action at the Jacobite re-enactment weekend in the grounds.  The weekend is a special event running in conjunction with the Prestonpans Tapestry which is being exhibited for a month.  I saw the tapestry for the first time when it was installed last week and enjoyed Cameron spotting! 

Day 233, ah wudja look at the wee cuddly fluff. Did I mention I'm tired?!

Day 234 she has lived with us since last November and finally Molly cat has discovered the cat mint.

Day 205 - 207

Day 205 sorting seeds. 

Day 206 Lambie relaxing in front of the fire; this may have been rugby related.

Day 207 we went for a frolic on the beach.

Day 196 - 202 Cook, Snow,Cat and Mouse

Day 196 saw my first school visit to Paxton House when a year 3 class came to experience what life would have been like for Victorian servants. This photo was taken by my colleague who played the role of housekeeper for the day whilst I was cook.  It was a very chilly day in the old kitchen and the children and I all had freezing hands after scrubbing the floor, pots and laundry!

Day 198 Snow

Day 199 Molly discovers the joy of being inside and outside at the same time; this will be fun in the summer but there was still snow on the ground so I soon closed the window.

Day 200 pink mouse has retired to the mantelpiece awaiting repairs.

Day 201 a homemade and healthy pot noodle; instant wok noodles are very handy things.

We've had a number of cat flap intrusions and so Molly took some persuasion to come downstairs to sleep. Sadly we're having to keep the cat flap shut at night now which means we get more mad Molly moments, usually around 5am when she'd rather be out but at least we don't get an uninvited guest peeing in the house. 

Day 202
Speaking of mad Molly moments she was a hive of leaping activity and it was only on closer inspection we realised she'd brought someone in to play.  Gloves were donned, mouse sized container found, furniture shoved around until finally a little mouse was trapped in a pot and released in the field.

Day 180 to 193

Hello everybody! How are you? In my January post I hinted at lists of exciting business, then I got hit with the not so exciting busy.  Last minute exam marking meant I disappeared for a few weeks but now I'm back at last! And so onto an gap filled project 30 update.  

Day 180 Molly in a box.  This is the preferred box as there are lots of holes to look and reach through.  Mainly a play box but increasingly a snooze box too!

Day 181 a wintry drive out and about over the Lammermuirs and home by the Whiteadder Reservoir.  I adore living here!

Day 184 had me photographing and fiddling with a copy book in preparation for my first Victorian School experience day with a local school.  I've been working at Paxton House now for nearly six weeks and love it!  So much inspiration and a joy to arrive for work at such a splendid place.

Day 186 and the mini daffodils are shooting up; these actually tripled in size and have flowered already, the scent is incredibly strong for such delicate blooms!

I do have photos from day 186 but they are plain black as I failed to capture the beauty of the northern lights when we were privileged to view it so I'm skipping that to a photo on day 187 in sunny North Berwick.  My lovely friend gave me a spa voucher for my thirtieth and so we were treated to a massage each at The Macdonald Marine Hotel and Spa. Amazing! We even had lunch out in a cafe to further the treats.  A lovely day out thanks to the Tottens!

Day 188 shows the shameful evidence wiped from our dirty stop out of a cat...

...followed by day 189's evidence that she doesn't give two hoots as, after a good muddy frolic she's perfectly content to come back to her house to rest in comfort.

I mentioned the marking didn't I? Day 190 shows that extra encouragement was required.

Likewise day 191.  If I marked all year round I would be a very hefty lady; it drives me to snacks.

Day 193.  He loves that cat.