Allsorts

Count down here till the end of the week when our school breaks up.  I worked out that the boys' are at school for a grand total of 9 days this month!  Jack's off today with a nuisance cold and cough.  My throat's a bit scratchy....really don't fancy catching it.

I hope everyone had a lovely, restful Mother's Day.  For once Toby's football was on a Saturday so we had a rare Sunday off and to make the most of it we trotted off to a NT which was beautiful.  On the way I spotted a rather large car boot which got me excited.  I've never seen so much tat in one place.  There wasn't even a hint of a bargain.  Never mind, early days.

Hughenden Manor used to be the home of Benjamin Disraeli and where Queen Victoria used to visit.  It always amazes me when walking round places like Hughenden that such iconic people walked where we were.

The gardens were glorious, in particular the kitchen garden - oh to have a walled garden!

I was very lucky as for my Mother's Day treat I was bought Mr and Mrs Salt and Pepper from CK.  Almost too good to be used, but are now full ready to go.

Right, off to knit some more bunny egg cosies and be nurse for the day (wish me luck!).

Two types of gardening

I don't want to tempt fate, but here in my little spot of the world, we've been enjoying some great weather, and there's no better time to do a spot of gardening when it's like this.

Not having managed any at the weekend, I thought I'd use half an hour yesterday to do a spot of planting.  At the back of the garden is an area where the grass has died due to the overhanging trees, so rather than grass seed it which we've done previously, I added a few colourful plants which all being well will survive in dappled shade.

Forget me knots, primroses and something else which I can't remember.  I've also got some wildflower seeds which apparently I can just scatter (my sort of planting!).  The mix is great for butterflies which is always good.

The blossom in the front is finally falling - it looks like pink snow.  In previous years I've always swept it up but this year I think I'll leave it.  The bumble bees must like it as the tree is buzzing with them.

Onto gardening of a different kind - I've had this miniature greenhouse (as in dolls house size)

for a few years, and I got round to painting it about a year ago and purchased a couple of little items.  Since then it's been neglected on my shelf so I think it's now time to bring it back to life and add some further little pieces to it.

What do you think?

You can't beat

it being Friday (especially after having a pesky week)


finally spotting something worthwhile in a charity shop

watching seeds popping their little heads through soil

making homemade roasted red pepper and sundried tomato bread

winning a lovely pair of earrings from Mimi and Tilly

being awarded the Liebster Blog award from the lovely http://prettyatheart.blogspot.com/

picking a fragrant bunch of hyacinths from the garden

and looking forward to a nice glass of cold white wine later this evening

Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday

dear Toby, Happy Birthday to you!

11 today and I'm sure he's grown even more in the night.

What a shame to go to school today - having said that, he did have a very embarrassing (but nice) incident this morning.

Whilst waiting for the school gate to open, the children normally stand and chat which is what Toby and all his friends were doing this morning.  There was a shriek behind me from a group of girls shouting Happy Birthday to him - one of the girls walked over and gave him a card and present.  Of course that provoked lots of hilarity from the group.  Poor old Toby (who is quite shy) went completely red, gave me the present and walked off down the path.........what a lovely thing to do though.

I can only imagine how embarrassed he was!  I'm sure in a few years time it'll all be different.

I'll leave you with a photo of our cherry tree which is full of beautiful marshmallow blossom.

Have a good day everyone.

Fake v Real

Hi Folks, I can't believe it's a week since my last post........how has time passed so quickly, and within that time there has been huge devastation in Japan of such magnitude.  It's so sad, and does make you re-think your own concerns and gripes.........


Life here has been moving on, we have another birthday to celebrate on Tuesday, Toby will be 11 (teenage years approaching!).  He's off Go-Karting with a friend and hubby - any excuse!

Jack and I have had a nice morning feeding the ducks along the river, and then the obligatory nose round the charity shop!  More of that next week.

Back to my title - fake v real - of the leafy, flower variety.  As much as I love having real flowers in the house, I can't always justify the cost.  At the moment it's OK as daffs are so cheap and cheerful.  It dawned on me a while ago that I've actually got an awful lot of faux plants and flowers - I think they've come an awfully long way since the days where they were just 'naff'. (or maybe you still think that!).

I love having them dotted around as they brighten up a room day in day out.  My latest addition is this pretty floral garland which I've draped over the dresser.

(click to enlarge)

Here's a selection of some of my other's

What's your opinion on fake v real?

Finishing off

Thank you all for your lovely comments regarding Country Living - they were all very much appreciated.

In between the excitement of that and of the secondary school place, I have actually managed to finish off a couple of 'things'.  If you remember, I redecorated our bedroom a little while ago and there was a huge empty space above our bed which needed filling.  As I have on previous occasions purchased some prints from the London Transport Museum, I thought I'd take a look online to see if they had anything new in.

I wasn't disappointed - they've got a whole 'Spring' collection range which is such a feast for the eyes.  It was difficult to know which to purchase, but here's what I chose as I thought it went well with the colours in the room.

Another finished project was from this

to this - my Puff-Ball Flower Wreath as I've commonly named it!

I've now got to muster up the enthusiasm to complete all the other WIP's before starting anything else!

Have a good weekend!

Not one but two

Any free press when you have your own business is always brilliant, but when I got 2 pieces of publicity in the same month, I couldn't believe my luck, one of them being Country Living Magazine!

Back in December I had an email asking me to submit my bunny egg cosy to potentially go in their Emporium pages for the April issue.  I dutifully fulfilled the request and then dismissed it as sometimes it doesn't always happen.

Around the same time I had another request for the same product to be placed in Making magazine.

I followed them both up in January and yes, I was/am lucky to be in both magazines!

Here's Mr & Mrs bunny which appears on my website

Here are the 2 magazine photo's



I'd better get knitting!!