Today was spent playing at Dean castle Country park again.... We had a wonderful time!!! Katie was allowed to hold a rather big owl.... and we took loads and loads of photos of the park.... looking forward to hearing what you think of my snaps...

The first is of Katie holding a gorgeous Owl... he was very well behaved... unlike some of his friends who would sooner eat her than look at her!!!

The third is of a girl who does crafting from the medieval period.... she has agreed to come to my scrapbook group when i get it off the group.. and give us a demonstration... she was really helpful and taught me to lucet ( i have been struggling with this craft for a little while! ) and a few other twine making techniques....

there are some photos of Katie grinning and another of her running from a dog.... he was a sweetie but was bigger than she cared for! And my favourite photo of the day is the one of the river at Dean Castle.... im amazed my camera took such a pretty picture

the last one i think (depending on how the photos have uploaded is of Katie and a chap from the medieval re-enactment group.... he was a really friendly chap who told us that Robin Hood was actually Robert Boyd from Kilmarnock and Will Scarlett was actually William Wallace who was also known as William of Red.... very interesting!!

Next week is the medieval battle re-enactment at the castle.... so depending on how busy i am i will post some photos of that :)

I spent yesterday at Dean Castle country park.... literally a 10 minute walk from my front door...

As part of their programme they host different events, yesterday was Cooking at the Castle. A chef from a local hotel came to demonstate some rather lovely dishes.

There were people from the Farmers market there and i re subscribed to my Organic veg box.... Stairs Organic Growers provides a superb value box and delivers it to the door. I wanted to go back to cooking the way we used to in years gone by.... i have already cut down alot of my junk food buying.... and Katie benefits from a wonderful and healthy diet.

They converted from Latex glove usage last year after i had a lengthy discussion around the dangers of the product, and she also substitutes veg if i cant eat a certain thing!!!! I am soooo impressed with the friendly service i recieve and am happy to recommend her service to everyone i meet!

I also found much to my surprise a soap stall, the soaps there were spectacular.... There are NO chemicals and the likes just natural products and real essential oils. I bought the Lavendar, the chamomille and ginger and a lemon grass one. really big wedges for 3 for £10. They are located here and are WELL worth a look..... http://www.caurnie.com/ They are Scotlands oldest soap maker..... and i am a convert!

Oh and theeeeee most yummy yummy handmade chocolates (parma violet is my fave so far) I sat and spoke to the owner for a while and pushed the latex allergy discussion, they use mostly vinyl anyway BUT it was good to get across how dangerous Latex gloves can be..... their website is here.... and the chocolates are to die for !!!! http://www.threepwoodfayre.com/

I was thinking about how i got into crafting over 2 years ago. And i have to say that the blame lays fully with my friend Zoe!!! Hang your head in shame woman, you are responsible and you should hang your head in shame!!!

When i look at my living room which is crammed full of stash.. covered in glitter, floor patched with ink blotches and ribbons attached to backs of my dining chair, buttons in jars and more scraps of paper than the forestry commission would like to see!!!! I sigh and think of my wonderfull Aussie buddy and the fantastic hobby she introduced me too....

Thought i would add some photos of how my stash looks on a good day..... and then ......... well the chaos that is the aftermath of crafting!!!!

Katie and I love to go to Wesley Owens in Glasgow.... I was pretending to text a friend and was sneakily catching snapshots of her eating her scone!! She was less then amused :o

I was grounded when i got home !!!

Later on she fell asleep on the floor in front of the sofa..... lets just say that she was FURIOUS when i showed her the photo.... she was like that for a good 2 hours, her knees were killing her when she got up, but she needed the rest !!!

Oooooooo a nice new blog!!!

Hi everyone,


Im Karen mum to Katie aged 11... I love to make cards, scrapbook and learn new things :)

I will be blogging about random things in my life from my wee ones illness to my cardmaking, to complaints on my electricity bill...

Im looking forward to meeting new blog readers from around the world...