• days out - mindfulness - Orla Kiely

    Monday Happy Things – Week 70

    I hope you all had a great weekend. I don’t think we sat down once, it was a busy but fun weekend. Time once again for my weekly Monday Happy Things post. This week I have been singing along to Faure’s Requiem and Haydn’s Te Deum. Last year I joined a local choir and I am looking forward to performing these two pieces in March. On Thursday I went to the Hobbycraft Spring/Summer Press Show and came away with lots of inspiration. They had some lovely products and I was able to try my hand at stencilling, came away with…

  • mindfulness - sewing

    Monday Happy Things – week 69

    Time for my weekly Monday Happy Things post. My son has joined our local Beavers group and went along to his first session. He really enjoyed himself so I’m hoping he’ll stick with it.  This week he also started Maths Club and Football Club. Both of these are only for a term but he was happy with the first week. I wasn’t so happy with the additional trips to school so I’m grateful we live close to school. I’ve been decluttering magazines, part of a wider tidy up of the house which seems to happen every January. I was amazed…

  • baking - crafts - Kids crafts - sewing

    Monday Happy Things

    It’s been a beautifully quiet week. The children only went back to nursery and school on Tuesday and we all enjoyed a short week. After school clubs start this week so I’m glad we had a slow start to the year.   My 5 year old has discovered hot chocolate so we treated ourselves to a loaded hot chocolate in a new cafe on the high street. I’ve spent the evenings working on my Liberty rainbow quilt. I’ve finished the top and backed it with a gorgeous Liberty print. This week I’ll be hand stitching the binding and hope to…

  • Cath Kidston - Christmas - days out - sewing

    Monday Happy Things – Week 67

    Happy New Year everyone and welcome to my weekly Monday Happy Things post where I record the five things which have made me happy in the past week. I’ve really enjoyed the Christmas holidays. I’ve had plenty of time to indulge my hobbies, written some long overdue blog posts and loved not receiving too many emails.   One of my favourite Christmas presents was The Year in Stitches Calendar Kit from The Draper’s Daughter. I enjoyed stitching the first month and will look forward to making each one every month. On the way back from spending Christmas at my mum’s…

  • Christmas

    Monday Happy Things – Week 65

    Welcome to my not-very-festive edition of my regular Monday Happy Things post. Everything is winding down for Christmas which I am insanely grateful for! We started the week by watching Tim Peake launch into space. It seemed a really historic moment and I was pleased to have someone to share it with, even if that person was my 4 year old. I posted this pic on Instagram and I think a few people thought I was showing off our Christmas decorations but I was just trying to show we were excited to be watching Tim Peake! We’ve just started watching…

  • Christmas - days out - swap

    Monday happy things – week 64

    I have to admit that things have felt a little flat lately after a few busy weekends with friends and family. Not to say it hasn’t been another one of those weeks! On Tuesday my 4 year old had her Christmas performance at her new nursery. Last year she sat and didn’t join in with anything  so my expectations were low for this year. Fortunately she was really excited about it and joined in with every song. I loved seeing her so happy and surrounded by her new friends. My 5 year old had his Christmas play on Thursday. They…

  • Christmas - days out - Lego

    Monday Happy Things

    I can’t believe I’ve managed to keep posting the 5 things which make me happy for well over a year now. It’s a great way of marking the passing weeks which are going so quickly. This week has been busy with a big birthday and the school Christmas Fayre, which I helped organise. I’m not sure how I managed to do anything else – but I did! We upcycled a wooden crate into a sleigh to hold our Book Advent. I painted it in my favourite Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Emperor’s Silk which is a gorgeous, deep red colour. You…

  • Christmas - homestyle - subscription box

    Live Happy with the Happy Paper Club

    I’ve been feeling rushed off my feet lately. This is a busy time of year for everyone but several things are being squeezed into the next couple of days and I’m looking forward to a break over Christmas. Today a lovely little package landed on my doorstep which definitely cheered me up. I love subscription boxes and the Happy Paper Club is one of the best. Everything is neatly packaged inside a slim cardboard box which should fit through your letterbox. I think this is an important part of subscription boxes as there’s nothing worse than making a special trip…

  • Christmas - days out - London - swap

    Monday happy things

    I’m sure I’m not the only one finding life exceptionally busy at the moment. In the next couple of weeks I have two birthdays, two weekends away and the school Christmas Fair which I’m helping to organise. It’s time for my weekly Monday happy things post before I face the week. On Saturday I enjoyed a trip into London for the 4th annual Mumsnet Blogfest. I missed last year but went to the first Blogfest in 2012 and the second one in 2013. I have never hung out on the Mumsnet forums but Blogfest is amazing. It’s more about good…