Celebration parties are so much fun!

I had a lovely conversation recently with a great friend about the joy of bringing together a family party and celebration and how creative one can be with the decorations and setting the theme of the event.  It reminded me of my parents Golden Wedding celebration party in May when I charged with the dutifull responsibilty of creating a replica of my mums bouquet from her wedding day in petal paste flowers to go on a 2 tier M&S pre-iced cake and the 15 Flower arrangements which where to be the centre pieces of the tables.

I loved creating this little bouquet from petal paste.....it really was such a pleasure!

 

The flowers were a bit stressfull as I had to dash out and pick up some more as we were running short....it was hard to guage it when you are not a florist.   Despite the last minute panick I got the job done and the flowers were delivered in plenty of time!

Although it was a party staged at my parents home it was a lovelly affair and in my opnion very professionally assembled considering the budget.   The best part was our family gift of a scrapbook meticulously put together over a number of weeks.....lovely!

Meet Millie our mad Beagle!

This is Millie our really sweet but totally mad Beagle.  She is pure....hard work but we love her all the same!!

and just to show she does sleep, albeit not much, here she is chilling out on her chair.

She is now settling down into a much calmer dog but still has bags of energy and is still looking to get the better of you....a very stubborn little girl...who likes to tell you she's boss....but I am....no really I am!!!

She is a real sweetie and training is going well.  If there are any other beagle owners out there who have had a hard time I would love to hear from you.

Blow out those cobwebs!

There is nothing better than a brisk blowy day, tugging at your lungs to gulp that fresh air as if to cleanse the stresses of the day.   Even better, a walk along the river with white horses lashing the coast and teasing your eyes to follow each wave.  Simply Joyous!

Of course there is always a compromise and that, in this occassion, was a hairstyle that was fit to be a nest for the birds to shelter from the wind!  The bracing feeling of the biting wind against my face brought a chilling sense of purity about natures force and the sudden change of the landscape around me.  Long tall grasses agressively swishing back and forth by the wind and the frought flight of birds forced to use the airstreem when it most suited them.   

Oh, life is good!  Life is very good...even if only for a short space of time when all ones troubles are blown away and a good blowy day is a wonderful tonic and really should be shared....so go on take a walk and be part of the bristling landscape.

Cottage Post Clearup Up-Date - Dinning Room

Well, here is another up-date of a tidy cottage after the big clearup from puppy proofing the house since January 2011.  Lovely and tidy but not decorated or how I really want it to be.  (Some of the messy photos are on the Autumn Cottage tab at the top of the page)

This is part of the dinning hall and just to the right is the wall where our gallery of Art is going to appear (I know I am a bit late with our Artwork of the month but its nearly finished just framing it now!)

The next room up-date will be the living room.

Post Cottage Clear Up Photos - Kitchen

A dear friend of mine took a quick peekie at my blog the other day and was mortified that I had posted "those dreadful photos" of the Cottage in a complete mess and was even more devastated that I had not put up photos of the post cleanup of the cottage  even though the renovation is yet to be done. (the cleanup was a next phase to the puppy proofing of the cottage and with Mille now behaving herself the time was right to get back to normal!)

Well, here they are  ....the tidy version of the cottage in stages.   Oooooh and I must say it does look so much better!  But, it is still in need of an injection of life and colour and all those lovely bits that I call the beautiful accessories but my husband calls clutter.

Its going to take me a while as I have so many things going on at the moment ....such as the Craft Studio step which I have just built with a little assistance of Adie and the Picket fence out in the back garden which is 90% finished and all done with recycled materials! (I'll post photos of the before and after when the weather here brightens up.....its grey and miserable at the moment.)

This is the clean tidy kitchen, the room that now needs the least doing to it.  Just a bit of tweeking!

I have to do a few bits to this room.  I have a small pine wall cupboard to go on the wall and a few hooks to accomodate my pretty hearts! The other area that needs a bit of work is the area by the tall fridge.  It just does't gel  at the moment.  As soon as its done I'll post some more photos.

Busy busy busy!

Well, I just can't belive where the time has gone.  My weekend just flew past in a blink of an eye....one minute, 3 great days ahead to ponder what to do and the next .....the weekend was over!....Saturday was going to be a baking day...but it just didn't happen......  because I found out that our local garden nursery was due to close and everything was going for a mere snip of the original price....Sad in one way that we were about to lose such a great store but grateful of an opportunity to buy some more basic materials for more of our outdoor projects at knock down prices.

This is how my weekend panned out:

Saturday: food shopping, bargain shopping at the nursery, off to the river to pick up some more rejected bits of driftwood, back home to build a step (with my recycled materials which were previously collected) for outside the Cottage Craft Studio (photos to follow), back down the river to take the dog for a walk, putting on a few loads of washing, cooking dinner and then an evening crashed out on the sofa!

Sunday: Breakfast, taking the dog for her morning walk, in the kitchen putting up a cabinet and some hooks, then out in the afternoon and evening for a family party!

Monday: Going back to the nursery for some more bargains (had a second thought on how much we needed) a bit of cleaning, out the front starting the front garden renovation....weeding, then out in the car to get some horse manure to  build up the flower bed....Hmmmmmn that was a smelly job!  Pressing Apples from our tree for lovely delicious juice and after a bit of blackberry picking. Ades dad came for dinner....then again a bit of down time chilling on the sofa.

Phew! a Busy weekend.  Most of this week has been spent tidying my Craft Studio again! A job which I really wished I never started but its one that just had to be done...and now it is I am really pleased at the result.

This weekend and next week is going to consist of some more crafty creative sessions for me I think! I have got plenty of things to do so hopefully I'll post lots of photos of what I've been making.

Wake up with a Smile!

There's always time in the morning to make something delicious and packed full of goodness!  Most mornings I create a quick thick fruit milkshake as part of my "five a day " fruit and veg consumption.  It always makes me smile when I drain the glass of this most scrummy liquid breakfast epsecially when it leaves that tell tale milky lipstick mark and you have to tidy yourself up afterwards....Hey I guess I must be drinking it too fast!

  

All you need is:       Frozen fruit, I used a mix of red berries, natural yoghurt, honey to sweeten and milk. (you can also pop in any fresh fruit you have too)

 

Just pouring the milk in!  Then take a kitchen hand blitzer tool and blitz until the fruit is broken up, the one you use to blend soup with, or you can also use a mixer blender.  (I use the hand held tool as it can go in any tall jug and blended in seconds.)  I don't over blend as the frozen fruit keeps that chilled thick shake consistency.

All finished off with a natural yoghurt heart.  Made with love!  Now thats gonna make you smile.

Have a great, happy day....enjoy and make new happy memories!