• book review - film review - vintage

    Monday happy things

    I’m so late with my weekly Monday happy things post. With half term in sunny Devon and my husband’s 40th birthday today we’ve been really busy, but in a good way. – I finished The Miniaturist (which I loved) and have just started reading The Secrets Sisters Keep! by Sinead Moriarty which is looking promising. – I came home to my sweet new acrylic prints which I had ordered from Truprint as a Mother’s Day gift to myself. I chose two of my favourite photographs of the children and turned them into acrylic prints which, at 6×4″, fit perfectly on my…

  • book review - film review - vintage

    Monday happy things

    It’s half term and I’m enjoying lovely family time therefore I am keeping my Monday Happy Things post short and sweet. – The view from our window is rather spectacular as we are lucky enough to be spending some time by the seaside. – We watched The Theory of Everything, the film based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking, Stephen Hawking’s first wife. We’ve watched a lot of films recently and this is one of my favourites. Physics, Cambridge, Eddie Redmayne – what’s not to love. – I’ve been Charity Shop shopping…

  • baking - Uncategorized - upcycling - vintage

    Monday happy things

    Monday again, where did the weekend go? – I’ve been having a huge de-clutter and tidy which is ongoing and never ending. During the week I finished tidying our bedroom. You can finally see the floor and it feels like a lovely place to fall asleep – the Tempur mattress probably helps 🙂 Over the weekend I managed to read 4 years’ worth of Mollie Makes magazine. I took out any projects I want to make and have stored all the free cover gifts in a box – I think I’ve only ever made one! This has given me a…

  • homestyle - vintage

    On my mantle – January

    It has taken me a while to sort our living room out after the festive period. Would you believe I’m still finding Christmas decorations and have a big box of things to go back up in the loft this weekend? This week we finally watched the Advent candles burn down too. We had lit them a couple of times during December but they still had a good few hours left in them. This week I also took down the children’s New Year decorations, I just needed to reclaim a little space for me. If you saw the rest of the…

  • Orla Kiely

    Monday happy things

    The weather has been a little wet and wild lately which means I’m thankful I write this weekly post to remind myself of the good things that have happened. I bought the latest copy of Pretty Patches. Although I resolved to buy less magazines in 2015 and stop my expensive subscriptions I saw a few projects I would like to try in this issue. I’ve added a new limited edition Orla Kiely print jute shopper from Tesco to my collection. Now, I definitely didn’t need another shopping bag but I really like this print. The bags are strong, I have…

  • crafts - Recycled crafts - tutorial - upcycling - vintage

    Vintage Scrabble tile decorations

    I picked up a couple of vintage Scrabble sets at the weekend and thought I would upcycle the tiles and stands into Christmas decorations. They are so simple to make and work out quite cheaply. I’ve signed up for a couple of Christmas swaps so have been making some as gifts too. Today I’m going to share my simple way of upcycling vintage Scrabble tile decorations. Equipment you will need to make vintage Scrabble tile decorations: Vintage Scrabble tiles Vintage Scrabble tile holders (the wooden ones work best) Glue gun How to make vintage Scrabble tile decorations: Lay out your…

  • homemade - homestyle - vintage

    A place to dream

    We spent the weekend doing house stuff. We are hosting the family for Christmas and had a panic that we didn’t have enough seats for everyone so spent the weekend choosing a new one. This meant we started thinking about choosing a colour for the living room, buying a new rug and putting up some shelves so my collection of vintage yachts can finally go on display. We also promised my 4 year old that after he started school we would buy him a new bed. He’s been in his cot since he was 6 months old and it converted…

  • Christmas - Halloween crafts - Handmade gifts - vintage

    Monday happy things

    Do you like Mondays? I’m coming to the conclusion that I love them. There’s something comforting to me about the start of our weekly routine and my favourite weekly post. I finished my ticker tape doll quilt and it’s now hanging up on our quilt gallery wall. It only took me an hour to finish the binding so I’m mentally kicking myself that I let it sit around unfinished for so long. Somehow I have over twenty three thousand followers on Pinterest! I’m not sure how that happened but I’m happy as I love Pinterest and Instagram too. I find…

  • Dolls quilts - vintage

    Another vintage dolls bed

    I’ve been naughty and bought another vintage dolls bed for my daughter. We were out shopping in Pinner last week and I spotted a beautiful vintage dolls bed in an RSPCA charity shop. I have to admit that my daughter already has a couple of doll beds. In fact she has two she plays with, and there’s another two waiting to be painted in the spare room! Another vintage dolls bed I was trying to be good so I looked at it, thought it was very sweet in its original state, then walked way. We had lunch and I thought…