I got these Ash trainers yesterday and they are the perfect go to Mama shoes that will brighten up the autumn days which are just round the corner. I already have a couple of pairs of shoes from Ash and they are so comfy. I’ve never been into sparkle much but lately I’m loving a bit of gold, when it looks classy and not OTT!
They were in the sale at Kate Kuba for £64 but I’ve found them online for £59.50 here. For extra coolness they have studs on the back, here’s another view:
Stay Comfy!
Baby E is almost five months old. Whilst packing away his smallest clothes I decided there are three things so special that they have to go on display. These are; The hat that the midwives put on him as soon as he was born – the first thing he ever wore apart from a nappy! The vest he wore and was dressed in when I first got to spend some proper time with him in his incubator, which was size newborn and looked huge on him. And some very cute White Company sailor pjs which were a present from our lovely friend O. I’ll see that he always has White Company pjs, I love them!
Once individually framed these will go on the blank nursery wall and form a picture gallery. I’ve been planning picture galleries in other rooms for ages but get stumped on what to frame and how to lay them out. For this I’m just going to start with the first few items I have and let it grow organically from there.
Last night I had some energy (a very rare occurrence!) and took the plunge and started with the hat. I had an Ikea Ribba shadow/3D frame in my craft stash which I repurposed and here’s the finished product.
The frame came with mount so I just lay the hat how I liked and chose a background. I have trouble committing so used double sided tape rather than the glue gun to fix the fabric in place. After playing with some lightly patterned scrapbook papers for the backing I settled on some oatmeal fabric I had lying around, which was actually a sofa fabric swatch (hoarding comes in handy!).
I’m looking forward to getting frames for the other pieces (below) and finishing a project for the first time in a while.
My wonderful friend T, has gotten in to embroidery over the last few years. It started after her beautiful daughter N, now three and a half, was born, and she put her days of hedonism behind her (well, mostly!).
Before Christmas she asked me and a couple of other besties what our favourite books are. Mine was, and always will be Roald Dahl’s, ‘Matilda’.
A little time after Christmas (as I said, she has a three and half year old!) I was presented with the most lovely and thoughtful gift which I will cherish forever. This embroided piece of work, which features a quote from my favourite book.
Such a brilliant idea. The embroidered fabric was given to me by itself so I could frame it as I liked. I decided to stretch it in an embroidery hoop, simple yet effective.
Baby E’s nursery was the perfect home for it, and here it is in situ…
My baby boy was due on the 13th March and I had my maternity leave lined up for 12th Feb, leaving me with (I hoped) at the very least two weeks to get the house straight and write some more blog posts before chaos pursued.
Well, baby (nicknamed through pregnancy as ‘Baby Moo’ and ‘Baby Pickles’) had other ideas, and was born five and a half weeks early, on the 4th February. Birth weight was great for his gestation (6lb 4oz) and after 11 days in the neonatal unit I took home my bundle of joy.
The emotion when he was first placed on my chest was just incredible, such a rush of love that I didn’t know I was capable of feeling. Every day that love grows and I feel so blessed to have my little family.
Things may be quiet on the blog front for a while, but I’m sure I’ll have a few adventures to fill you in on!
Lucy Ledger is an uber talented designer who’s won awards for her gorgeous wedding stationery and has her own Not On The High Street store selling her designs on beautiful cards, iPhone cases and key rings.
After seeing her beautiful designs in a magazine it’s no surprise that I just HAD to use her for my own wedding stationery. It was a perfect fit for my day and one of the elements that went smoothly and felt so right. It helped that she is a joy to work with!
As well as her main website Lucy also has a blog which contains her Bridal Files; an interview with Brides she’s worked with and a few snaps of the day.
Guess who featured as her first Bride of the year? Me!
She created the beautiful graphic below (images copyright source-images).
And you can read the full article, including what I had to say, here.
I love this! Happy Hump Day!
I was given these lovely side tables and wanted to lighten them up to suit my home.
Although they had been varnished I didn’t need to do any sanding as I used Annie Sloan paint which requires no prep work. I simply applied two coats of Old White, et voila! Shabby Chic in a flash!
I’ve been dying to inject some personality in to our new home, which is generally in good modern order, and a blank canvas, apart from the holes where the previous owners removed their own wall art.
I started with the Pollyfilla, a new skill for me and so easy, why didn’t we do that the week we moved in?!
I wanted art in the kitchen first, so after searching for a few hours, ordered some prints from Etsy, ones that meant something to me.
Then I ordered 10 x 8 frames from Dunelm Mill which have a lovely mount in them giving them an expensive look, at only £3.99 each! When they arrived it turned out the actual frames were 10 x 8 so my lovely prints wouldn’t fit unless I took the mount out. So I decided to put the frames to another use.
The dark wood gave me inspiration to paint the small down stairs loo a warming dark muted colour. Husband thought I was mad but then he’s not the one who’s read hundreds of home decor magazines from cover to cover. And he’s a boy!
So, on a Sunday I rushed to Homebase and in a few hours had a lovely sultry downstairs loo and some frames, but no pictures.
I remembered some beautiful Paris inspired scrap booking papers in my craft stash and decided they’d be perfect. Paris is very special to me after spending a magical girly weekend there in November 2012.
Et, voila!
The papers are from the Paris Nights 12×12 pad from GCD Studios.
After moving in to our first house in June, Husband and I made a few decorating/furniture choices which we regretted.
This included the really tall wardrobes in our bedroom which seemed to take away the prettiness of our peaceful sanctuary.
We do however adore the cream carpet we had laid as soon as we moved in. It was an unexpected cost as the previous owners took their fitted wardrobes with them(!!) revealing areas of nada carpet.
Once Husband finally got round to un-building the wardrobe and rebuilt it in the bedroom next door (dressing room/nursery to be) we were left with ugly impressions in the beautiful, less than 6 month old carpet. No amount of rubbing, hoovering etc made a difference.
Don’t worry folks (especially my friend ‘O’ who loves to lay on the carpet whenever she visits)… I found a trick and the carpet is as good as new!
See?! The difference is incredible and I couldn’t be more pleased. So, what did I do? I simply laid some ice on the indents and left to melt over night. Come morning the wet patches were dry and the carpet was fluffy again. I gave it a little zhoozh for a few seconds and hoovered over, although it didn’t really need it, and voila! Amazing, huh?
I found the ice tip online. Thank goodness for the internet!
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