Cards and more!

Hello all

Well I hope everyone had a good weekend and the weather held out - we were told it would be dull and overcast but it certainly didn't end up being that!  OK Sat wasn't too warm not really what you'd expect from the end of July but Sunday was a lovely day.

Got some non-card blurb today, so we will get the card posted first, and if you don't want to read any further that's fine!

So this is my card for a couple of challenges:

Image used is a Leanne Ellis one - Blossom, coloured with my Promarkers.  Highlighted with a bit of Stickles glitter and chalked background for definition.
The papers are all Papermania - Honey and Hugs.
The lace border is a Martha Stewart deep edge punch and the doily die was a very kind freebie from Tracey at Dies to Die for with one of my purchases so I'm not sure which die it is exactly.

I'm entering it into:
The Sugar Bowl - Challenge 64 - Kiki's Sketch (I know the optional theme was lace - does a Martha Stewart punched fake lace count?)
Totally Gorjuss - Challenge 90 / Punch or die

Now for the non-card blurb.

Saturday afternoon was spent picking a lot of apples off the trees at the bottom of the garden (there are even more waiting to turn ripe, going to be a bumper crop this year).

Then Sunday I made Apple Chutney, another first for me and it seems to have turned out fine.  I have to wait a month for the taste test but am hopeful!

It amazes me how these, plus a lot of spices and White Wine Vinegar:

Can turn into these:

I am a late comer to preserving (of the cooking kind - I've been doing the face kind for ages ;-) ) but am so happy in the kitchen chopping, measuring, boiling and bottling.  I don't know why I haven't done it before.  I shudder to think of the 10 years worth of waste there has been from our apples trees, but I still would've like a couple of eaters in there as well as all these cookers.

This year we are also growing tomatoes for the first time and next year I think I've finally persuaded the other half to let me grow some fruit!  So hopefully this time next year I will be picking strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and any other sort of berry we can get to grow in our garden!  In the meantime I'm off down the local pick you own soon to get some other ingredients for my jams.

So you have to imagine me in the kitchen in my pinny (oh, yes I wear a pinny) chopping and boiling and being super happy - that's my perfect weekend.

Hope you all had as good a one.

See you soon,

Sarah