Yesterday

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday. It was a crafty day (Stanley was born), a shopping day (trip to C & H with Mum in Tunbridge Wells), a snuggling day (making sure my hexagon blanket works properly) and a view taking day (an evening drive to Firle Beacon).

As part of the crafty bit, I finished, packaged and sent off my Vintage Kitchen ATCs...

I found this swap really really hard and have been completely lacking in inspiration. Finally, on a visit to The Bead Shop in Brighton, I came across these really lovely beads/buttons/charms which sort of spurred me on. These are very simple cards with just a few bits and bobs which remind me of a vintage kitchen- an old fashioned apron, a tea pot and a bird cage (because every kitchen should have one!). I chose the background fabric because it looked quite shelf-like, almost like those old dressers that you display plates on.

So they are simple, and possibly quite a tenuous link to a vintage kitchen, but hopefully the recipients will like them and just go with it. I am dying to see what the other ladies came up with!

In the evening, after tea, I managed to persuade 4 fifths of the family (including myself) to go for a drive to Firle Beacon. I've told you about this place before, as we visited it in April when I was home for the holidays. The weather and timing was slightly different this time around though, and we sat and watched the sun go down over the hills and the moon appear.

The colours in the sky were really lovely- it looked like the next valley over was on fire! I bet the cows had a good view.

As the sun went down, some large buzzy critters starting flying around much to the fascination of my Dad, who at one point, leaped out of the car and swiped one out of the the sky in a spectacular fashion (he's been hanging around with the cat too much) to see what it was.

As far as we can tell, it is a Cockchafer (I kid you not, that is the actual name), or more commonly known as a May bug. Having researched it on Wikipedia, I think they were forest cockchafers because they had rounded bottoms rather than pointy ones.

We sat in the car until nearly dark, watching the clouds scud across the sky, the lights of the houses begin to flicker on, and the moon rising behind us.

And then we drove home for some hot chocolate and snail painting! A fab end to a lovely day.