It's begining to look a lot like C.........

Afternoon all,

I have to say, my body is getting very confused by this changing weather, last week I had to put the heating on and now this week it's sunny and really warm!!  The cold turn last week and the flurry of Christmas posts on my Facebook feed prompted me to start thinking about Christmas (look away now if the thought of Christmas planning in September turns you cold!!)

Picture courtesy of vimeo.com

It's my aim this year to either buy handmade gifts or make them myself so you can see why I wanted to start early!  Last year I created some handmade gift guides and this year I want to do the same but with more of an emphasis on actually making the gifts as I know there are a lot of DIY crafty people out there.

I asked on my Facebook page who you would like to see a gift guide for in order to get some inspiration and the first (and only!) response was gifts for men, so watch this space....  Our first handmade gift guide for the festive season will be for those difficult to buy men. 

Just as a caveat - the tutorials I link to are not necessarily ones that I have tried, but part of my online searching and pinterest stalking!

Picture courtesy of Pixels and Company

Good luck crafting and if there are any other gift types that you would like inspiration on please leave a comment.

Until next time...
Amanda xx

A way to spend a Sunday... pick your own fruit and making jam!

Afternoon all,

I have been meaning to write this post for a week or so but had not gotten chance to take pictures of the final product!  A couple of weekends ago we went to Parkside Farm in Enfield to pick enough berries to make some jam, it's been perfect weather for it, sunny but not baking hot that our fruit went mushy on the way home!

Hubby picking fruit!

Views across the POY fields

Me forraging for the good ones!

Such a lovely day

I had originally wanted to make raspberry jam as their website said they had a plentiful crop, however when we got there they also had blackberries, red currants and black currants, so we picked a mixture so that we could make Summer Fruit jam.

Here's how we did it...

Ingredients:

1kg of fruit
Juice of 1 lemon
1kg of jam sugar

Method:

1. Put a small plate in the freezer (this is for testing your jam)
2. Sterilize your jars by putting them through the hot cycle in your dishwasher (no detergent)
3. Tip half the fruit and the lemon juice into a pan and mush up using a potato masher, once mashed heat on a medium heat for 5 minutes
4. Pour mashed fruit through a seive so all the juice and pulp goes through, leaving you with a seed mixture
5. Add the pulp/juice back to the pan and combine with the sugar
6. Once combined heat gently and add the remaining fruit and bring to the boil.  Allow to boil for 5 minutes 
7. Drop a teaspoon amount onto the chilled plate and if it wrinkles and feels like jam consistency then it's ready.  If you like your thicker, return to the heat and boil for a few minutes longer.

And this is the finished result.......

Homemade mixed summer berry jam

It sure tastes yummy!!

To make the labels I used a free designer called Jam Labelizer, there are a handful of different designs you can choose from.

We've also made red currant jelly and chilli jam so I will blog about those another day.

Until next time...

Amanda xx

A trip to Norfolk lavender

Evening all,

Wow it feels like it's been a busy and long week!  So much so  I didn't get change to blog about my trip to Norfolk Lavender at the weekend with my family.  In the lead up to the wedding hubby's family did a lot of touristy things in Norfolk, things I've never thought to do and I lived there!  I mentioned this to Mum and she suggested next time I was home we'd do something, cue the trip to Norfolk Lavender.

Given that I am surrounded by the city most of the week, it was great to be outdoors and get some genuine fresh air, and here are some pics from our afternoon out....

Beautiful butterflies all around

Gorgeous day calling for ice cream

Norfolk Lavender

  And finally on the way back we stopped by an actual lavender field so I could capture this... 

Lavender field

Can't wait to explore more of the Norfolk beauty (and hopefully other places in the UK!)

Until next time...

Amanda xx

Stationary love!

Hello everyone!

Hope the lashings of rain that seem to have hit us hasn't dampened any spirits, I'm hoping it takes away some of the muggy-ness in London so that when the sun comes back it's nice and fresh!

Anyway, today I wanted to tell you about two deliveries I have received recently as I simply love them!!  Both these providers have super friendly staff and products that are of great quality. 

The first is a company I stumbled upon by accident, they will also be interviewed on the blog very soon, they are Bread and Jam (what a great name!)  They create beautiful stationary, among other things and whilst I can't show you what I bought just yet as they are presents for people and they might see it on here, I can show you the lovely packaging it arrived in, it was like getting a present from the postman!

Lovely wrapped presents from Bread and Jam

It was well packaged and the box is being used again to send on some pressies overseas!  I love the little freebie card too, takes away some of the sting of having to give the rest of the parcel away haha!

The next provider I'm sure many of you will know about, it's Moo

I have used them for post cards before and was impressed by the quality, this time we ordered our wedding thank you cards and I love them! We got 20 designs printed so we had a mix to send people.  We chose to pick them up from their pop up shop in London and they turned them around in 1 day, despite me not asking for rush delivery!  The staff were super friendly and I can't wait for people to see them land on their door mat.  Here's a sneak peak of them....

Our wedding cards fresh from Moo

Who doesn't love a bit of gorgeous stationery!!  I have a "refer a friend" link for Moo if anyone is interested in placing an order for business or personal reasons.  It will get you 10% off your first order and I will get Moolah points for my next purchase......  http://www.moo.com/share/gygd6j

Well, that's it for now, have a good evening.

Until next time...

Amanda xx

Featuring... "We Love Craft" sellers

Me again!

So you may have seen that we are attending the "We Love Craft" fair in Enfield on Saturday 13th July so I thought it would be a good idea to showcase some of the very talented crafters I will be selling alongside.

Little Owl Boutique

Beautiful sewing and paper crafts

Home Sweet Home by Little Owl Boutique

Craftee Fox

More beautifully sewn items, including some fun sock monkeys!! 

Oscar the sock monkey by Craftee Fox

CJ Creations

Intricate beaded jewellery

Bracelet by CJ Creations

Henna Sparkles

Stunning henna inspired decorated homeware

Decorated candles by Henna Sparkles

Les Anglaise Provencale

Unique home accessories including handamde Provencal lavender accessories

Lavender pounces by Les Anglaise Provencale

The Candle Cellar

Irresistible fragranced candles

Rose container candle by The Candle Cellar

Sparkling Bits

Lovely crochet accessories

Sweet baby booties from Sparkling Bits

That's all of them for now, as you can see there are some fantastic sellers attending!  For more details on the event please visit the facebook event.  This event is run monthly so if you can't visit in July then there will be plenty of other opportunities.

If I hear of any other sellers (as I think there are about 25 of us at the event) I will add them to this post.

Hope to see you there.

Until next time...

Amanda xx

We're back!

Hello all,

Well we're back from a mad fantastic time on our honeymoon, once we've sorted through the hundreds of photos we will post some of them on our photography page :)

Firstly though, I wanted to share some of the pictures we have from our wedding, I won't bore you with loads but it was such a fantastic day and it's a chance to showcase some of the amazing suppliers who helped bring the day together.

I also have some DIY projects for weddings based on the things we made, so they will be added over the next few months.  It was great fun making things for the wedding and definitely made it more personal.

So, without further ado, here are some of the pictures!

Introducing the new Mr and Mrs Hutchinson!

Dress - Sophia Tolli (Martina) bought from the lovely Sarah who runs Get N Hitched in Enfield
Make-up - the very talented Sarah Swain
Hair - Marie Boon from Eden Hair Design in Kings Lynn
Nails - Jemma Clifford, freelance beautician
Flowers - Swaffham Florist (more photos will follow as they created amazing center pieces from the greenery from Mum's garden and the origami flowers made by my sister - JewelOri)
Hutch's suit (and the bestmen/ushers) came from 1860 at Greenwoods

Of course there had to be an ice hockey reference to our wedding as that's how we met!

The amazing buttonholes - the roses were made by JewelOri and then the button holes were created by Swaffham Florist

The beautiful masterpiece of a cake made by Rosie (Hutch's Aunt), each layer was a different flavour and it really did taste as amazing as it looks!

Final photo for now.....  I loved our venue, it was great fun (although a little stressful at times) setting it up! 

The Red Barn, South Runcton -simply beautiful!

Once our photos come through from Tish and Andy over at Dreamcatcher Wedding Photography there will be heaps more but I will only share those that link with posts I promise!

Until next time...

Amanda xx

The results are in....

Hi guys and gals,

Well after running my very first online survey for two weeks I now have the results.  Rather than boring you with endless stats have pulled together an infographic.....

These are the highlights, but once I have figured out a way to add a pdf file to my blog with all the results I will add more in depth information for those that want it. 

So, what does this mean for Water Lily Wishes?  Well it was good to see that our pricing and focus on the type of cards was right, however what did surprise me was that none of those responding, bought their cards online and very few bought them at craft or farmers markets.  These are the two arenas that Water Lily Wishes cards are sold, so it's certainly triggered some thinking! 

Watch this space for some new ideas and the look and feel of our "brand" will be changing slightly too. 

Until next time...

Amanda xx

Test post

Hi!

We're having a bit of a rebrand and refresh here at Water Lily Wishes, and part of the job list is to try and get the blog to feature as a tab on the facebook page!  Seems a lot more technical than my ability, so have the H2B having a look at it!

Will come back and post properly when it's working!

Until next time...

Amanda xx

All things photography...

Hello again!

I know this is my craft blog, but I wanted to talk a bit about photography... As some of you may already know, photography is a passion of mine, something I share with H2B.  Because of this we have set up a facebook page where we can share our favourite pictures, a sort of online portfolio but not as formal! 

I'd love for you all to have a wonder over and have a look, we will be continually adding pictures to it as we grow our "portfolio" and experience.  To keep it simple we've called it "Photography by Amanda and James"

Here's a sneak peek of some of the pictures we've added so far....

So as you can see, a mix of photos!

We'll also be starting up the photography challenge submissions again as we let that one slide a little bit.

Until next time...

Amanda xx



A crafty bank holiday

Hello all,

So I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend, I am loving the fact that it's already half way through the week and that it's now nearly the weekend :) 

Our weekend was spent with old friends and started with a damp but fun BBQ (what did we expect?!  No one books a BBQ for bank hol weekend, it is destined to rain!!)  However, on Sunday I had a go at some new crafts with "K" whilst the boys played golf.  Here's what we tried:

Book binding

Using some very detailed (and a tad confusing at times) instructions from Pinterest we created a hand bound fabric covered notepad each using some very pretty fabric I picked up in the Liberty's off cuts bin (love that place!) and decorated the outside

I have to admint, not bad for a first attempt... look forward to making more!

Glass engraving

After seeing a post by a fellow blogger The Pea Pod on glass engraved tea light holders I just had to give it a go and after seeing her designs thought it would be great if I could make 40 for our wedding next year (hmmmm!)

So I purchased an engraver and attempted my first "simple" dandelion design.  NB - need to buy some safety specs!!  This is the result.....

I think need I need to practice first before I attempt the more complicated designs for the wedding.

But anyway, it was good fun and kick started me back into trying new crafts and look forward to whatever I try next.

What crafts have you tried or shall I try next?!  Answers below greatly appreciated!!

Until next time...

Amanda xx

A bit quiet...

Sorry we've been a bit quiet of late, it's been busy busy busy with work and wedding planning!  I'll try and be better at keeping the blog updated, especially as I have new crafts up my sleeve and crafters to interview!

So, what have we been up to...... 

Photography

Well, the photography has been going well.....

Winner of the Going Digital Picture of the Month Competition!!

We (H2B and I) have also photographed two stunning weddings this summer

 

We have also joined Flickr and will be adding our photographs onto there as we build our portfolio...

Escape to the Country

I had a lovely few days in the countryside with family, it's nice to escape the hustle and bustle of London...

And swapping it for this...

Water Lily Wishes

 

We've taken a break from craft fairs for the time being as things are pretty busy, so we're focusing on our online sales at the moment.  We still have our SUMMER SALE going on over on our Facebook Page.

We're also now selling our cards and photography prints on Folksy - so please stop by and have a look, the collection is small at the moment but is sure to grow.

In other news...

The wedding plans are going well, I've bought my dress and am soooo excited to wear it!! I had a lovely day with my Mum picking it, and the fact that we both misted up shows it is the right one! 

We have been beavering away making the save the dates and these will be winging their way to our guests very soon.  

Plans are moving forward with accommodation, transport and flowers nearly sorted and have started the search for dresses for my two beautiful bridesmaids.  

All in all, a happy bride to be!

Until next time (and I promise not to leave it so long)

Amanda x

Craft fair photos and a big summer sale...

So, last weekend was our craft fair at Spitalfields Market.  It was a lovely day and so many great stalls, the weather even stayed dry for us! 

Here are some pictures from the day...

As I come across more crafts I realised that I needed to have a sort out in order to make space for exciting new materials.  As a result, I have a whole box of goodies that I am going to be selling in a big SUMMER SALE!!!

I will be adding some card designs to the sale too over the next few days, but to start you off, why not head over to our FB page to see what crafting goodies you could pick up at fantastic prices (click here for the link straight to the album)

Some of the things you can find are:

So what are you waiting for - get your craft on and buy some goodies!! Sales are first come first serve!

Until next time...

Amanda xx