Den Building Party.

How time flies! Rather a cliche I know but on my childrens birthdays it really hits home. It was little ones 6th birthday this week. Obviously he's not that little anymore though! He only wanted three best friends which was a comfortable number for a campfire theme.

Den building first so we dragged branches around the garden and climbed trees to tie on ropes and hang tarps. The children created perfect little hiding places for the nerf gun battle that followed.

We used a flint to light the fire and then cooked local sausages from Primrose Pork on the new grill.  The children wrapped bread dough around sticks to make dampers and then each cooked their own.We used a potato peeler to safely shave the bark off the green sticks.

 I made chocolate fairy cakes with flame coloured icing and then the boys turned them into campfires using flakes for the branches. We finished off dessert with a marshmallow toasting session.

We sandwiched the marshmallows between 2 dark chocolate digestive biscuits for our own version of smores.

At the end of the party the children completed a nature quiz that led to a final clue in the chicken house to locate their party bags. I buried them in a bin bag in the veggie patch and they had to work as a team to dig them out. Quite a lot of flying mud!

Continuing with the smores theme I made each child a tea light coaster with their name on, added a tea light, two cocktail sticks and a bag of mini marshmallows. Take home s'more! I made hessian bags to haul the loot home home.

I think they had a good time. They went home extremely dirty!

New product!

This week has seen the launch of a new product in my ETSY shop.  I have spent the long cold winter huddled close to my kiln experimenting with fused glass mini tea light coasters. The first pair were listed and sold within hours which was a great start.

I love the way the magic bubble mix has created a unique watery effect trapped inside the glass.

Most coasters will be sold in pairs but I have a few odd ones like this grid pattern. I had no idea that those bubbles would form in such a perfect pattern like a tic tac toe game. It was so difficult to get the round glass strings to stay in place and balance on top of each other but I think the effort was worthwhile.

I think these would match brilliantly to make a unique gift.

Handpainted decorative tea lights -
www.etsy.com/shop/MerriKitty

Each coaster measures approx 2in sq (5cm) and so they are perfect for use with tea lights.

I have added mini rubber feet to protect delicate surfaces.

These tea lights from www.etsy.com/shop/princessbuttercupsoy

are strawberry shortcake flavour and sound delicious.

These bright orange and yellow coasters make me think of sunshine.

  I am offering a new class to make coasters. You will make 4 mini coasters. You could make a set or try 4 different designs. We will be using stringers, glass chips, copper and wire to add some pizazz to your work. Please ask for more details.

Thursday 19th April – 8pm