Life, the universe, everything - but mostly crafty stuff!

 I first decided to do this badge much earlier in the year. In preparation for this I started watching Happy Valley - and I watched it from the start - starting with series 1. I wasn’t particularly bothered when this first came out, but I do seem to remember people talking about there being an issue with the sound for the programme - that people were mumbling, that it was too quiet. I don’t remember that being so much of an issue, but as it was about 9 months ago that I watched it now, it is hardly surprising that I don’t remember. Certainly Happy Valley wasn’t something I would usually watch…I like crime programmes, but things like Bergerac, Midsomer Murders, Morse, Endeavour, Lewis…you get the picture! I watched Line of Duty either last year or the year before - simply because people were talking about it - and once again, I started at the very beginning. With streaming services it is easy to catch up on what you’ve missed. I’ve discovered that I quite enjoy binge watching series...

  One thing I love about Rebel Badge Club is the range of different activities to choose from. I also find that it encourages me to try different things, that I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. For example, I’ve never made a Christmas cake before, nor have I made royal icing, but I’ve done both this year! Chance happenings this year led me to doing several things that are clauses in the Farmer badge, and it just went from there! It was when I was looking at instructions for science experiments that I found something about making butter. I had a tub of cream in the fridge, so decided to give it a go. I put the cream in a kilner jar, along with a clean marble, and then I started shaking. It took maybe 15-20 mins to get the cream to turn, but it felt like longer! At first the cream got very thick, and then even thicker, and then I couldn’t hear the marble moving at all. It seemed that nothing more would happen, but I kept shaking, all the time believing in the process. In time t...

  In October I really got to grips with doing the Builder badge. Now, this is a badge that I knew I could do fairly easily, and would enjoy doing, but it still took me quite a bit of time to really get going on it. Heaven alone knows why, as I am lucky enough to possess quite a collection of Lego, with several sets that I have not yet made. When I got a set for my birthday for my sister, I knew that it was high time I worked on this badge. The first set I made was the one I got for my birthday - the Orchid set. I set myself a bit of time each day to get it done, and after a few times of making a few errors, I got it sorted! This was quite a fun set to make, although a few of the pictures were a bit tricky to work out what was required. Some of the colours were very similar, and it was difficult to work out the orientation of some of the sections. Working on a little bit each day certainly helped, and within a few days I had completed it. This is one orchid that I can’t kill! This f...