Elf on the Shelf

Meet Mr Elf - he is our visitor all the way from the North Pole and will be with us until Christmas Eve! He sits on the shelf in the kitchen to encourage the Children to eat all of their meals but in the night he gets up to all sorts of mischief!  #elfontheshelf

Changing Rooms

We are having a bit of a change around upstairs at the moment. We have put our two Children into a bedroom together (with the aim of keeping them close). Which means the small bedroom is now spare, with an intention of turning it into a study. However we are getting a new bed delivered next week so its been very handy to have the spare room as we have put our bed in there and emptied our room to fully decorate.

I actually quite like our bed in the little bedroom and think we may leave it in there over Christmas for when my Sister visits, then who knows after Christmas!

 

 



Magazine addict!

Everybody has a vice, for some its smoking, drinking, chocolate, bags, shoes? But for me its buying home magazines!! I can't get enough of them, I get so excited at the beginning of the month and the shelves are full of new magazines - sad I know! But with two small Children I don't get a lot of 'me' time so when I do, I like to spend it with a magazine, a cuppa and a biscuit or two.

My absolute favourite is 'Ideal Home' and I buy this religiously every month!

 

Turning the garden shed into a Playhouse ~ Part 2

The Playhouse was a huge hit with the Kids over the Summer! See here for part 1 of turning our ordinary garden shed into a playhouse for the Children.

The playhouse has been locked up now for the winter and filled with all the large garden toys so I can't show you the inside, but here is the outside looking lovely in the Autumn sun:

 

The run up to Christmas

Good morning, another glorious crisp sunny day here today! Perfect day for a long family walk but there is housework to be done so hopefully it will stay dry for the weekend!! The school run will have to suffice :)

I absolutely love this time of year, the decorations are up in town, the Christmas adverts on (John Lewis...enough said!!) and that excited feeling in my stomach! My Son's pre-school are starting to prepare for the Nativity, we asked him what he was going to be...a king...a shepherd? No he said, Superman!! Of course!!

Before and Afters ~ Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

My dining table resembled an Annie Sloan workshop over the Summer, anything and everything was getting painted!

 

 

My Daughters Knitted Patchwork Blanket ~ Part 2

Hello there, my Daughters blanket is finally complete, just in time for this cold weather too!!

See here for Part 1 of the blanket.

One of the lovely ladies at our 'Knit & Stitch' group showed me how to do a crochet edge and I love it, it really finishes it off. I enjoyed the crochet much more than the knitting so might have to give it another go. I am going to do the same to my Son's blanket too, I was worried it would be too girly but I kept it quite simple so think it will be fine - will show you a pic when I get round to it :)

Here is the finished blanket:

 

A visit to Dagfields Crafts & Antiques, Nantwich

I have been wanting to visit Dagfields for over a Year and yesterday we finally got to go! It was definitely worth the wait, so many gorgeous stalls - or as the leaflet says 6 giant emporiums and 200 sellers!!

I thought I would share with you some pictures of the inspiring and unique stalls:

Before and After ~ Garden Planter

Good morning, looks like another glorious day doesn't it? I could so get used to this!!

As you may know, I have been trying to turn our ordinary garden shed into a playhouse, its pretty much finished, the children are playing in it and love it, but I just want to finish off a few little details before showing you.

I was recently giving this very dull wooden garden planter and knew instantly it would make a great window box for the playhouse.

Tutorial ~ Paper Bunting

I recently showed you the Easy Peasy Fabric Bunting I made for the outside of the Playhouse, so now I thought I would show you my Easy Peasy Paper Bunting for inside the Playhouse.

Tutorial ~ Easy Peasy Fabric Bunting

Hello, sorry its been a while! With internet problems and this absolutely gorgeous weather I have hardly opened my laptop! I have been spending all day, everyday in the garden with the Children and we have loved it! It does mean that the garden is looking pretty good, and the playhouse is pretty much finished (hooray!) but the house is an absolute wreck!! Oh well, plenty of time to sort that once the weather goes back to normal.

Anyway, in my last post about turning the Garden Shed into a Playhouse, I said I was going to use oilcloth to make some bunting for the playhouse. But that would have cost money, so instead I went through my fabric stash and got out the sewing machine and whipped up some easy peasy bunting!!



My Spring/Summer Garden 2013

All this rain of late may not have done much for my mood and motivation but the garden has flourished in it!! Its looking so pretty (even if I do say so myself), so I thought I would share with you some of the blooming lovely flowers :)

Beautiful Peonies

My second Knitted Patchwork Blanket ~ Part 1

After making a patchwork blanket for my Son, see here, I have now started a pink version for my Daughter. My Mum has knitted lots of patches for me, but I am pleased to say I have had another go at knitting and taken to it much better this time.

Here are my first few patches towards the blanket:

Dress a Girl Around the World Campaign

I go to a 'Knit & Stitch' group every fortnight at my local pub. Its been going now for almost 18 months, sometimes we just get on with our own projects but mostly we like to get involved in a combined project. See here for the knitted patchwork blanket we made for the East Cheshire Hospice.

When I saw the 'Dress a Girl Around the World' Campaign in the Craftseller magazine, I couldn't wait to get involved. The charity believes that every little girl should own at least one pretty dress and I wholeheartedly agree! All you need to make the dresses is pillowcases, elastic and bias binding.

We made 14 dresses in total and I'm sure you will agree they are beautiful:

Knitted Patchwork Blanket ~ Part Two

My knitted patchwork blanket for my Son is now complete! I am really pleased with it and so is he. The knitted patches were all knitted by my Mum and I then sewed them together, so a joint effort (although a lot more effort from my Mum).

The blanket sometimes lives on my Son's bed:

Paper Craft Ideas

I subscribe to Craftseller Magazine and every month each issue comes with 16 pages of free craft paper.

Growing Sweet Peas ~ Moving them Outdoors

The sun is out so I have taken a risk and moved my Sweet Peas from the kitchen windowsill to the back garden. I just hope we don't get another frost! I'm not sure how much longer I could keep them indoors though, they were getting out of control:

Yesterdays finds at the Treacle Market

Yesterday we wrapped the children up in lots of layers and headed off to the Treacle Market in Macclesfield. Its on on the last Sunday of every month and we haven't missed one yet. Its a great family day out for us, there is lots of fresh food to taste, live music playing, LOTS of gorgeous stalls including vintage items, handmade items, art & crafts and a great plant stall...everything you could want from a market really!!

Sometimes we go, have a walk round and something to eat and not buy alot but then other times, like yesterday we buy quite a lot! And don't think about how we are going to get it all in the car with the two children and the buggy too!!

Here is what we bought:

Before and After ~ Kitchen Tiles

Our kitchen doesn't get a lot of natural light, and the black kitchen tiles don't help matters, it just looks dark and gloomy. Ideally we would have like to have new tiles, but seen as we are trying to keep costs down I thought I would try painting them.

We bought Ronseal one coat paint in natural stone. Following instructions, I completely scrubbed down the tiles with bleach and thoroughly dried them - my arms were aching before I had even started painting!

The Shabby Chic Home by Rachel Ashwell ~ Book Review

Before and After pictures are my guilty pleasure, I can't get enough of them and I'm always on the lookout for new blogs containing lots of them! So, when this book arrived I was in my absolute element, it has lots of them from inside and outside Rachel Ashwell's home. I put the children in bed that evening and read the whole book from cover to cover, reading every word and soaking in every picture - its been a long time since I have done this, I usually just flick through looking at the pictures.

Turning the garden shed into a playhouse ~ Part 1

I was looking into buying a playhouse for the kids to have in the garden for summer, there are some really gorgeous ones around but they are also really pricey!! We have quite a large shed at the end of the garden with not a lot in, so I have decided to try and turn this into a playhouse. I started reading up on it and forums were talking about insulating the inside and boarding, new doors and window etc etc. but I don't think it needs to be that complicated. I just want somewhere fun they can play in the summer whilst I'm gardening, and then in the winter it can be turned back into toy storage.  

I want to paint it in fun colours, inside and out, and put some bunting up (which I'm planning on making with oilcloth). Then put their toy kitchen inside with a little table and chairs so they can have picnics in there!! Its a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it as I want them to be able to use it this spring/summer so I better crack on. 

Here are a few of the before and during pictures:

My Daughters Nursery

My Daughter's nursery is my favourite room in the house, its so calm and welcoming, and easy to keep tidy as its so small! It has changed so much already in a short space time, the changing table has been and gone and the cot has been lowered twice. As she is getting older, it is time for change again, I need to turn it from a nursery into a bedroom. She currently spends a lot of time in her brothers bedroom (where obviously all toys are his and he doesn't want to share), so it would be nice if she could play comfortably in her own room.

So, here is a tour of how it currently is:

Her lovely cot, which is a John Lewis cot bought off ebay.

Growing Sweet Peas ~ Update

It was less than three weeks ago when I told you I was growing sweet peas, and I can't believe how much they have grown in that short time! See the first post here. They seem to be very happy on my kitchen windowsill, I water them every few days and have picked off the first flowers (as one of my lovely readers recommended). 

As you can see the plants were starting to get out of control:

Knitted Patchwork Blanket ~ Part One

Remember the knitted patchwork blanket I recently showed you? (see here for a reminder). Well, it was at my house for quite some time whilst I was sewing together all the patches and my 3 year old Son grew quite attached to it, calling it 'my rainbow blanket'. He has a thing for blankets, if he is sitting on the sofa watching the tele he has to have a blanket, luckily we have loads around the house.

It got me thinking that I would like to make him his own 'rainbow blanket' but with the problem of not been able to knit, I roped in my Mum who very kindly knitted me lots of squares - 117 of them to be exact!

Growing Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas are my absolute favourite! They are so pretty and the fact that the more you pick them the more they grow is even better. A woman I used to work with used to put jam jars filled with sweet peas on my desk, and it was the most perfect way to start a working day! I have wanted to grow my own for a while but without a greenhouse thought I wasn't able too. Until that is, I spoke to a friendly guy on a flower stall at the weekend who said I could grow them on the kitchen windowsill, and then plant them out in April/May.

So, here are my sweet pea plants growing on the kitchen windowsill:

Crafting for Charity

A while back, I told you I go to a Knit, Stitch & Bitch group at my local pub every fortnight. We are always trying out different projects so that we all get to try out a variety of crafts.

Last year we knitted this huge patchwork blanket which we donated to the East Cheshire Hospice.

A Pretty Pair

My partners 94 year old Grandma kindly gave me some of her beautiful bone china teacup and saucers. Amongst the collection was this really pretty one, I just love the simplicity of the floral design:

House in France

My Parents have bought a house in France and I wanted to share pictures with you of the fantastic interior! Genuine retro interior design:

Garden Incinerator

After spending a few very boring hours sorting and filing all our paperwork/bills, I was not looking forward to the task of shredding the huge pile of old bills. So, my Partner suggested buying a garden incinerator - what is it with men and fires???

 

White Painted Floorboards

One of my latest obsessions is white painted floorboards! It seems that they appear on every page of every Home book or magazine I read (and I read a lot!!). So what to do about this obsession, bearing in mind I have two young Children should 'white' and 'floor' be combined???

Here are some beautiful inspiring examples I have come across:

(Selina Lake)

Before and After ~ Childs Chair

I recently posted to tell you I had been converted to Annie Sloan Paint! I just love it! I have been painting and revamping lots of items around the home, the first one I want to show you is this simple wooden Childs chair.

I bought this chair for a snippet at 50p from a carboot:

Selling on Etsy

I opened my Etsy Shop  a year ago in January 2012. It took a while to get my first sale on there, but when I did I was very excited, slight understatement!! I think with Etsy the customers like to see you have had sales and this gives them confidence in your shop, but getting those first sales is hard - its a chicken and egg situation!!

My Craft Business

My little craft business has been going just over a year now and has gone from strength to strength! I feel so proud that my Handmade Hearts are now decorating so many peoples homes and Children's bedrooms.

My most popular selling platform has been though my Facebook Page, I have built up a good following and get lots of orders and enquiries through there. I also attended lots of markets and craft fairs last year and made lots of sales, this was also a great way to engage with customers and find out which products sell (and which don't!).