Left Alone

This song Left Alone by Fiona Apple was first played to me by my lovely man over at Something for the CV. I'd say he has good taste in music as this song has stuck with me. I love its vintage feel. Hope you do too!

Bookcase re-vamp

This bookcase was in our living room, cluttered up and pretty boring. The best a famous Swedish furniture store can give. So I put my touch on it, I purchased some wallpaper and got to sprucing it up!

I used glue rather than paste to stick the wallpaper to the backboard of the bookcase. Matching up the patter properly of course! It took around 15 minutes which was way quicker than I thought it would be! Now I get to put all my nicknack's and books/vinyls on a beautiful piece of furniture.

X

Rocking chair re-vamp

When I first moved into my flat six months ago (wow, I can't believe it's been six months), we just bought things that we needed but never really made it ours. Being rented there is only so much we can do, and decorating isn't one of them. And with it being a very magnolia place, the colour needs to come from within. So I decided to re-vamp some of our pieces. Starting with a beautiful rocking chair that my friend gave me. A rocking chair was a piece of furniture that I grew up with, I loved rocking on it (and yes I am looking forward to having one when I am old and grey, with my knitting and a blanket).

I went to my local DIY store and got some acrylic eggshell in a beautiful duck egg blue colour. Three coats later its beautiful! I am thinking of putting in a proper cushion seat as its not the most comfortable base on a chair, but that's a plan for the future. Oooh... maybe a little yarn bomb!

X

Paint colour is Morris Blue. Similar Chairs can be found here, and here.

Snapshot of my week

 

Since Friday I have mostly been walking around in the Snow which gets deeper every day! I thought I would share a few photos that I have taken on my travels. :)

A bit of sparkle for a party x

Saturday night I have a party to go to. It's a bit of a posh number so I need some fancy head gear to go with my emerald green shift dress. I have made fascinators before here and here but this time I wanted something a bit special!

 
So I looked in my big pot of sparkles and found some green and black sequins and some white and green pearls. I purchased a fascinator cap from my local haberdashery and while I was there I spied some feathers and got my make on.

I really like it and I am looking forward to showing it off to a different crowd! :)

Homemade Bread and Soup

With Winter suddenly hitting hard here in the UK, it is time to crack open the good book of soup and eat some warm and hearty foods! Having a day off I decided to treat myself and spend some time making bread and some chunky soup to welcome my man home from work (aren't I the little homemaker). I followed my previous bread recipe here to make the bread. Starting last night, because some of it needs to be done and left overnight.

Then I searched my book of soups trying to find a really nice and chunky soup. I came across Ham and Pearl Barley. Sorted!

Things you need for the soup:
* 2 tablespoons of olive oil
* 1 medium onion, finely diced
* 30g green lentils
* 30g red split lentils
* 30g pearl barley
* 2 medium carrots, diced
* 800ml chicken stock
* 250g cooked ham - I used Spam
* 200g tinned haricot beans, rinsed and drains
* 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
* 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

What you need to do:
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan (a large one), then fry the onion for 10 minutes until transparent.

2. Rinse the lentils and pearl barley, then add to the saucepan along with the carrots, potatoes and stock.

3. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Shred the ham into bite size pieces, then add the ham and haricot beans to the saucepan. Simmer for a further 30 minutes

5. Check that all the pulses are thoroughly cooked, add extra stock or water to adjust the consistency if required.

6. Season to taste, stir in the parsley, then serve. Preferably with homemade bread!! :)

Scrummy!!

A lovely day :)

Today was absolutely lovely. It started with going for a quick visit to the Solihull vintage fair. I bought a beautiful real fur hat, and a gorgeous bag from a lady who runs a little vintage shop in Redditch. Then me and my man went out for the day into Birmingham city centre. I live around 10 miles away from Birmingham, and going is like a treat! I had to go and collect my new glasses and we decided to take a walk down to the Jewellery Quarter and visit the Rose Villa Tavern and have an amazing roast dinner. While we were there we walked past the Pen Museum, sounds a little different but it was great fun, and I got to make my own pen nib! Lately I have been thinking a lot about the home I would love to have and so I have decided to document any pieces of floor, or ceiling, or anything to do with the home in a scrap book for the future.

X

Where are we now?

Bowie's back!! Is anyone else excited? I do actually really like this song. Sometimes the old need to give it up (I am thinking of you Mick Jagger, those hips need replacing, not swaying about) but this is old school Bowie carrying on! I Love it!

Do you like it?

Long Skinny Scarf

Last year for Christmas I received some Colinette Point 5 yarn which I placed in my stash until I thought of what to do with it. One of my many resolutions for the New Year is to make my way through my stash, stop just buying things for the sake of it, or if it's pretty (well, that's what the plan is).

One thing that I have always wanted is a really long skinny scarf. I love seeing pictures of people with long boots, jeans a blouse and a long skinny scarf. I don't know why. So I got on it.

 What I love about the Point 5 yarn is that it goes from chunky to really thin so the texture is great. This colour is a beautiful dark brown with flashes of blues and burgundies. To make this scarf I cast on 10 stitches and knit one row, purl one row until I ran out of yarn. I used 2 skeins in total and I can wrap it round 4 times easily to make it short, 3 times for it to be long. Its beautiful!

I just added a couple of pom poms to each ends. Simple but great with jeans and a nice blouse X

Bringing me a Little Joy

Do you ever wish that you could own something just a little different than anyone else? Jewellery is something that I love, and always have, but I'm not one of those girls who thinks 'the bigger the better', in fact I say less is more. But what I do love is a handmade piece, because you know it's completely original!

And I have found the most wonderful little lady who brings great joy to me every time I open one of her packages. Her name is Little Joy and she makes bespoke jewellery and objects from a little workshop by the sea on the Isle of Wight;  her beautiful creations are made to bring you a 'little bit of joy in your lives!'.

Some of my pieces of joy...

Lauren Griffiths is the lady behind Little Joy. She manipulates silver, natural materials, ceramics and fabrics into fabulous jewellery pieces. She has a beautiful range of products on etsy, as well as commissioning jewellery and objects at great prices, from as little as £18, with more intricate handmade pieces costing in the region of £120 - £600. No commission is too hard, I should know, I have asked for some strange things to date. The process starts with a chat between Lauren and the client, then she draws up some images before starting on the piece itself. But she makes sure you are happy at every stage. 

Some more joy...

 

I'm not telling you all this because she gives me free stuff, I wish she did! But I am telling you because this little lady is genuinely amazing at what she does and deserves to get both her name and her beautiful pieces out there into the world! 

Even more joy...

X

2013

Happy New Year!!!!

I would just like to say Happy New Year to all my readers and followers! Thank you so much for coming back here over the past few months, and lets continue into the new year with more craft, food and loveliness than ever before!!

X