Craft Project-Embroidery Hoop

Hello all!

Although there hasn't been a huge amount of crafting going on around here recently, due to the children being on their school holidays (at least not much crafting that doesn't involve copious amounts of glitter or cereal boxes), I do like to have a little project on the go all the time.  I've been inspired by some lovely pictures on Pinterest of embroidered hoops, and I thought I'd give it a go.  This one is obviously a work in progress, but it's the sort of thing you can add a few stitches to as and when you get a spare five minutes!  

I got the hoop from a car boot fair - you must all be thinking 'crikey, does this woman ever shop anywhere else?!', the answer being no, not really at the moment!  I even got lots of lovely fresh vegetables, eggs and flowers from one at the weekend, they are just fab!  Anyway, you can get these hoops very cheaply on good old Ebay.  I'm not sure what I'm going to add next to this hoop, maybe some scraps of fabric, some more flowers and tiny vintage buttons.  It's just fun trying something new out, and being fairly relaxed about how it turns out.  I'll post some pics of the hoop when it's finished!

Tamsyn x

Vintage Lamp Shades

Hello all, I hope you had a lovely bank holiday weekend!

I thought I'd share some pictures with you of my growing collection of vintage lampshades.  I added the pair in the top two pictures to my collection on Sunday morning from a car boot fair, I almost sprinted across the field when I saw them!  They are pretty unfashionable at the moment, although I have noticed vintage and antique shops starting to charge ridiculous amounts of money for them.  I think they are absolutely beautiful, frou frou yet elegant, with their pleated chiffon and tassels - they remind me of 1950's prom dresses.  

I found plenty more wonderful car boot treasure which I will photograph this week to share with you!

Tamsyn x

Lovely Lollies

Hello everyone, I hope you've had a good week!

I made these lollies the other day with my son, who is five.  A distraction was needed, as the children were squabbling, and I'm starting to run out of ideas for entertainment as we are nearing the end of the summer holidays!  My daughter is less keen on kitchen based activities, but my son, who is a big fan of anything that can be munched upon, is an enthusiastic chef.  I'm not able to give you a coherent recipe as once I plonked the ingredients in front of him, he pretty much put lots of everything in - what I can tell you is that we used strawberry yoghurt, chopped raspberries, coconut milk and a little honey.  The lollies do taste a little tart, so I think we might try and find an actual recipe to use next time!  It was fun to do though, and kept us amused for twenty minutes or so.

I searched quite a few places for lolly moulds before finding these rocket shaped ones in the 99p Store in Norwich - my day was made!  For your 99 pence you get two sets of six moulds, which is pretty amazing.  They also come with brightly coloured sticks, which are fine, but being the fussy so and so that I am, I had a vision.  That vision involved buying traditional wooden lolly sticks, which you can get from Lakeland for a couple of pounds.

The fabric in the background is a gorgeous vintage duvet cover which I got from car boot fair last weekend - I adore the print!  

Have a lovely weekend!

Tamsyn x

My First Guest Post...

 Hello everyone, hope you're having a fab week!

I was lucky enough to be asked by the lovely Stacy at Style My Party to do a guest post over on her blog - my first proper guest post!  Here's a teaser shot, for the full post please do pop over and take a look on the Style My Party blog!

Tamsyn x

Car Boot Treasure

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Just wanted to share my car boot treasures from last weekend with you all,  I feel like the Car Boot Queen at the moment!!

First picture shows one of a pair of fabulous pink floral pillowcases.  I can't get enough of these pretty, retro prints.  I'm still undecided as to whether to keep them as pillowcases or to make them into something else...

Second picture show some lovely sparkle in the form of an old buckle which I paid £1 for.  Next is a funny little mirror which has seen better days - it looks like it has been shoved at the back of someones garage for years.  It needs a little cleaning up but I love the peeling, chippy paint.  

The next picture shows a sweet little teacup that was languishing at the bottom of a box, which I just had to have!

I had been looking on Ebay for Scrabble letters, as I fancied using them in some photographs and box frames, but wasn't willing to part with cash they were selling for, so I couldn't believe my luck when I saw a complete boxed Scrabble set for 50p.

Last but not least was this sweet Laura Ashley dress for my daughter for £1, the print is gorgeous.  She is pretty fussy when it comes to clothes at the moment, I still want to dress her in pretty dresses, but she has other ideas and is very strong willed!  She promptly put it on and then climbed the tree in our driveway, so I think it went down well!

Tamsyn x

The Old Bank Tearoom

Evening all, Happy Friday!

A few years ago, I took my daughter on a double decker bus (she was desperate to go on a double decker!) to a nearby market town, where we went to a lovely old tea room and had a pot of tea, juice and cake all round.  So I thought we'd do it again today.  It was raining, and by the time we got to the bus stop, there was more than a little whinging.  When the bus came, it was a single decker - cue wailing from my son.  By the time the queue went down he was happy to go with it, so on we hopped, and we sat at the back.  When we arrived at our destination, (Bungay, Suffolk) I soon realised that I had got it completely wrong and it was not the same place we had been before - goodness only knows where that was!!  

We wandered up into the centre of Bungay and my disappointment very quickly faded when I saw The Old Bank Tearoom.  It looked perfect, so in we went and sat at a table by the window.  The building was lovely, very high ceilings and lots of wood panelling, all very old fashioned.  It was filled with vintage furniture, mismatched chairs and tables, lovely old crockery and pretty tablecloths.  There was even some old dance hall music playing in the background.  It made me want to put on a tea dress, wear some red lipstick and curl my hair into victory rolls!

My daughter and I shared a pot of traditional tea and the children chose chocolate and coffee & walnut cake whilst I had a scone - when the waitress offered to do it as a cream tea, well it would have been rude not to wouldn't it? ;)

Tamsyn x

Pebbles...

Hello all!

By the time our holiday was finished and it was time to go home, our caravan and awning were filled with buckets and buckets of pebbles. It wasn't just the children that collected them - I can't resist scouring the beach for a perfect, smooth, oval pebble. We put most of them back on the beach, the children painted pictures on some, and we kept a few as souvenirs.  I put them in this jar so every time we see them, we can be reminded of our seaside holiday.

Tamsyn x

A pop of colour - homegrown Dahlias

Hello!

We moved into our house nine years ago, and excited by the prospect of having my first proper garden, I promptly went out and spent a small fortune on every plant I could get my hands on.  The result was a little muddled to say the least and finally I have worked out what grows well with the least effort.  The garden is looking at it's best at the moment, so I shall try and take some snaps to share with you.  

One of the plants I bought, was a peachy coloured Dahlia.  Dahlias were seen as a bit of an unfashionable bloom a few years ago, and it's only recently that they seem to have become trendy again, and I'm seeing them all over Pinterest!   I love cactus and pom pom Dahlias, which are what you can see in the pictures above - -they make me feel nostalgic, as when I was little I remember my grandma always having a brightly coloured bunch in a vase during the summer.

I adore them for so many reasons - the divine colours, the fact that make the best cut flower ever, and you don't need an allotment or huge garden to grow them.  I get mine in tuber form (bit like a bulb) from QD, a cheap and cheerful home garden shop.  The tubers are around £2-£3 each, and it's so much cheaper to buy them like this and plant them in early Autumn rather than buying them already in bloom from garden centres.  Proper bona fide gardeners lift them out of the ground and carefully store them over the winter - I am very lazy and never bothered to do this, so sometimes they come up the next year, and sometimes they get taken by the frost.  

I grow mine in huge pots in my garden, as it's on the small side, though plants will grow much bigger with lots more blooms if they grow in the ground.  Slugs love them, and the slimy little blighters can obliterate a small plant overnight.  As my children are way past the eating everything in sight stage, I have to admit I do put some pellets around the base, and they know not to touch them.  I do move the pots out the way if we have any young children visiting.  Lots of water and a bit of Miracle Gro now and then, and you get the loveliest flowers to plonk in a vase, all the way through o the first frosts-I still had some flowers on one of mine last year at Halloween! 

Tamsyn x

Car boot treasure...

 

Hello all!

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.

Whilst on holiday, I noticed that there was a car boot fair a couple of miles down the road from our campsite.  So on the Sunday morning, armed with purses with pocket money, the children and I set off to find treasure.  They are just about old enough now to not get bored, and to enjoy finding things to fill their bags up - children of all ages love tat, and mine are no exception.  Very soon their little bags were full to the brim with all things sparkly, plastic, and just plain useless.  But in return it did give me a chance to have a good search myself, and I found some lovely bits and pieces.

I love beautiful hand embroidered place mats, doilies and table cloths, and this little bundle cost me £2.  Some of the doilies aren't in great condition, but I'll maybe use them for collage, or to make cushion covers.

I already have four Babycham glasses that my lovely mum bought for me from a charity shop a few years ago.  Whenever I've seen them recently, they are just too pricey, but this set of 5 cost £5.  They would be lovely for serving Prosecco in, adding a bit of retro 60's glamour!

I might re frame the pretty rose print at some point.

I bought a big bag of vintage cake decorations from a lady, full of silver leaves, cherubs and horseshoes...I have no idea what I am going to do with them,  I'm thinking they might be lovely for card making or scrapbooking, but I shall keep you posted!

Tamsyn x

Vintage lamp and roses...

Beach Holiday....

 Hello all!

Many apologies for the picture heavy post, but some of you may know me well enough by now to know that I'm all about the photographs!

We go home the day after tomorrow, and we have had such a lovely time.  We are on a little camp site near Pevensey Bay on the Sussex coast, in my parents caravan.  To sum up our holiday we have done the following (in no particular order!)

Eaten ice cream (lots of)
And fish and chips
Used the beach as our playground
Watched the sun go down
Bickered A LOT (the children)
Collected and painted pebbles
Been on a nature scavenger hunt
Swam in the sea (well, technically!  If two seconds counts!)
Been to A&E (my daughter, for a cut head after falling off a little sea wall!  Glued together, all fine!)
Lived in a caravan, just the children and I, for a week and survived!
Caught the sun
Eaten cockles
Had Pimms and lemonade from a can (wonderful!)
Been to bed late every night

I hope you are all having a wonderful week, I will be back to regular blogging from Friday-I have some more pictures from our holiday that I would like to share with you on my next post!

Tamsyn x