The summer holidays are rushing by very quickly. I enjoyed looking back at the first week of the holidays so thought I would do it all again. Big Brother and I attended our last The Creation Station session. I’m not sure he realises he won’t be going again (due to starting Reception in September) but we’ve had a great time and enjoyed spending time together too. He also had a fun playdate with a friend from nursery. The weather was really hot so they played in the paddling pool and I think he enjoyed a little time away from us.…
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If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know I am constantly on the look out for old Scrabble sets to stock in my Etsy shop. The letter tiles are perfect for crafting with, such as this fun Scrabble bathroom sign I made. Well last week I found a couple of sets, but they weren’t the sets I am used to seeing. The first was an Australian version, published and distributed by T.R. Urban & Co., Sydney under licence from Production & Marketing Company USA. There aren’t many differences from my English versions, except obviously where it was made,…
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A couple of days ago I wrote about my collection of vintage board games, all picked up at local charity shops for a few pounds. The game tokens will go into my Etsy shop as soon as I have time to list them and this weekend I finally persuaded my husband to let me hang them on the wall. Last weekend was spent painting and decorating our bedroom and we just have a few final touches to make. We obviously got bitten by the bug as we also went out and bought the things needed to decorate my daughter’s room…
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I’ve been obsessed with vintage board games for a while now. Part of it is trying to re-create the games my grandparents kept in their wardrobe which we were allowed to play with when we visited. They had a great collection which included Tell Me, a metal wind up car racing game made in East Germany, a magnetic fishing and more, all stored in a green enamel bread bin. When they died I really wanted to take all of those with me, just to preserve the memories, but I couldn’t and I suppose I’ve regretted it ever since. What a…
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This week we’re enjoying a sunny break in Devon at our favourite cottage. The front door of our cottage opens out onto the beach and the children have been perfecting the art of sandcastle making and hunting for pirate treasure. pirate treasure straight from the beach There has been plenty of time for me to browse round the local charity shops. I was imagining discovering armfuls of vintage games, linens and quirky seaside souvenirs to brighten up our home. However, despite much looking, my bag is pretty empty. I lucked out on playing cards, picking up a pack of the…
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We’re a bit spoilt for shops selling furniture where we live. Our new house is bigger than the old one so when we moved we needed more furniture. Sitting in my lounge and writing this, almost everything I can see is new, and we definitely didn’t budget for it all in our moving costs! We shopped around, and looked online too, and found everything we needed. It should out last us too, unless wooden furniture goes horribly out of fashion! Anyway, as all the large pieces of furniture have been bought and paid for, I’ve started to buy smaller pieces….…
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A new book recently landed on my doormat which combines my love of upcycling and home-making. Creating the Vintage Look by Ellie Laycock encourages you to discover how to make unusual and unique homeware through 35 gorgeous step-by-step projects. What I’m reading: Creating the Vintage Look Upcycling is about taking something old, vintage, treasured, or possibly even broken and giving it a new lease of life by trying it into something new. It’s a thrifty way of decorating and enhancing your home that avoids waste, but is also stylish, and Ellie Laycock shows you how you can make truly beautiful…
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It’s been months since I’ve written about my favourite hobby but this weekend we’ve been away in Wiltshire which means fresh charity shopping hunting ground. The pickings have been pretty slim although I did find a Playmobil take along modern dolls house. We have a growing Playmobil addiction and I knew this would be great for storing our Playmobil and taking away with us. It was empty but only cost £4 and we have plenty of figures and furniture to fill it. I was surprised to see it’s still for sale and for a lot more than we paid for…
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I can often be found scouring my local charity shops for vintage Scrabble sets. I don’t collect them to play Scrabble, which is a shame as it’s a great game, but I use the Scrabble tiles for crafting! Take a look at my latest post about Scrabble tiles over on PinAddicts if you need some inspiration. I thought it was about time I actually made something with them, other than my Scrabble-inspired tile biscuits. When we moved into our house the most noticeable thing was the number of empty picture hooks around each room. The place had been covered with…
