Crafty As L

My card this week is a very special one, made for one of Mr L’s childhood friends.   What makes it particularly special is that Gav was found to have a brain tumour around 10 years ago and doctors predicted that it was unlikely that he would reach the ripe old age of 40.   Fortunately, many surgeries and drugs mean that he is still here with us and we had a great celebration.     Gav and his wife are into wine and cats so that was my theme. To make the base for my pop-up card, I cut two pieces of card 8½” x 7½” and on both, scored with the long side at the top, at 3¾” and 7½”.   On one, I rotated the card through 90 ˚and scored along the centre at 3¾”.   I trimmed down the score lines to the centre score line, cutting the 1” tab at an angle.   On the other piece, I rotated through 90˚ but only scored across one panel and the tab.   Again, I trimmed down the score lines to the centre score line, cutting the 1” tab at an angle.   I glued ...

My late Aunty Kathleen used to make wine and had won awards for her Elderflower Champagne.  Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get the recipe from her before she passed away but each year I see the elderflowers, I’m reminded of her so this year I decided to have a go at making some elderflower champagne. Now, it should probably be called pressé as it’s not technically allowed to be called champagne since it’s not made in the Champagne region of France from the appropriate grape varieties, but since it won’t be travelling any further than from my fridge to my glass, I think I’ll run with it! Whilst scouring Google for recipes, I also came across an elderflower liqueur recipe so added that to my picking list.  We have a Sambucus Nigra bush in our garden so I used the flowers from that for my ‘champagne’.   In the field next to our property is a large, wild elderflower bush, where I picked my flowers for the liqueur.  During my research, a couple of top t...