freecycle fabric kindness and other stuff!!

I got some fabric off a lovely lady on monday night,from freecycle,
its really good quality and theres so much of it, i was dreading hubby coming back and fuming because he'd gone on a world round trip to pick up a scrap of material but no there was quite a lot of it in the bag so that was ok
i think im going to use it to make a roman blind for my living room,
but have the pattern facing outside and just have plain cream on the inside as it might clash with my wallpaper what you think!!



isnt it gorgeous, the lady who i got them off had used the material to make into curtains,
i think it will look lovely against the red of my curtains aswell..all warm and cosy looking ( completely the wrong time of year for warm and cosy i know but we are still getting cold nights!!)




what was really strange was as hubby went out to pick it up for me, i decided to have a laugh and watch 60 minute makeover ( never ever let these people into my house!!) on catch up, it was in warrington, which isnt to far from me but i didnt recognise the place were it was
when hubby came back the house were he had picked up the fabric was actually next door to the place that was being 60 minute makeovered!!!! how strange was that!!!


on my dinner hour yesterday i nipped to the nearest charity shop to me! ( i need my fix !) and picked up this little picture for £1.50!!.. its an original oil painting which i love, im going to paint the frame i think..




im trying to build up a few pictures now to put on my living room wall and create a type of gallery effect, at the minute its a blank wall which i hate "every surface must be covered!!" is my moto so to have such a wide expanse of blankness is driving me mad but i dont want to add a picture one at a time well not until i have a good few to go up!!!!

i mean look at the difference between the two opposite walls in my living room.. a bit extreme dont you think!!!





so there is a bit of a big space to cover!!!

well im off now, dont forget to watch the apprentice tonight and get ready to boo and hiss at Ben oo hes a nasty piece!!!...

new bits !

I love this time of year don't you.. OK its still chilly in the mornings and evenings and sometimes in the afternoons to!!..
but at the minute that spring sunshine is really making me smile!
I'm loving the fact that about a week ago most of my plants were looking a little bit bare but now they are starting to come to life
I only have a small back yard, but it gets the sun lovely so is perfect for that afternoon break when the babies are asleep and its just me, my book and a cuppa!!
i had a little walk around before when i had a spare five minutes ( it only took me about a minute all in all!!) and had to take a couple of pics



I'm not sure what this is called but i love the pink flowers on it, you cant really see them as much on here but they are very pretty






here is my rosemary.. i never realised that it would get flowers on it so was quite surprised arnt they lovely.. we haven't used any of it this year but last year we used tons of it when we had homemade lamb burgers on the BBQ so going to start using it again, the smell is gorgeous
the lavender is looking a bit bleak at the minute though. i think that could probably do with a water!!

I'm looking forward to all my other plants and flowers coming out .. its quite exciting really when you see the first shoots of things and then seeing how quickly they come on isn't it..

oh the in laws have taken my toddler away for the weekend ( i had a real nervous tummy when they drove off with him.. silly isn't it.. but i miss him already!!)
.. so i was able to nip out to town this afternoon with just the baby. ( i don't venture into town with the two of them, its far to hard work!!!) so was nice to have a walk down with my sister
i bought some clothes for the boys and some bangles and beads for myself

i got this lovely cuff style bangle its all different shaped leaves, i thought it was really unusual and would finish off an outfit lovely.. i love quite chunky accessories, they make more of a statement,i don't think the picture does it any justice but that is down to my dodgy camera skills!!!




.. and this cup which was only 29p and i thought had quite a vintage retro pattern to it!!



i love cups, I'm always on the look out for a cup when I'm out and about!!!

hope you all have a good weekend and pick up lots of bargains at any of the carboots you might get to..
im saving meself for the may bank holiday ones, theres got to be some treasures waiting for me there!!!

a pretty post

went for a little wander up to town yesterday when i was on my lunch hour, it was so nice being able to look round the shops with out my HUGE bag that contains 3 nappies, change of clothes for baby, bag of wipes, water bottle, snacks for baby getting in the way !!!..
plus crying baby and buggy!! ( although a pram is great for holding lots of goodies!)
instead i had my little gold slouchy bag and just myself for company!!

i bought a few things so thought id have a pretty post to show you

i bought this throw for our bedroom..its quilted and was only £2.50 which i thought was a bargain,
not sure if I'm that keen on the colours though.don't know if they might be a bit cold looking, you know what i mean??!!





i picked up this little round box which I'm going to keep my pins in as i keep finding them all over the place which isn't so good when you've got a baby learning to crawl!!


i picked up this wash bag as well which i thought i would come in useful for holding medicines etc i thought it was a bit CK'esque..don't u think!..


Ive been looking at this sampler for a while in the junk shop but at £4 i thought it was a little bit expensive ( honestly I'm so tight arnt i!)..but then when i thought about it yesterday, the frame is quite a good solid one, just needs a paint up and if i was going to make my own it would probably cost me more so i bought it
i think the picture is really sweet, and will probably look a bit brighter once the frames done up in either blue or red ( this depends on which room its going in!)


oh and here's the pillowcases i bought for 25p from the bank holiday car boot sale in situ on my bed ( they are the pink ones behind my white ones) i love the pretty edging on them, i wish i had bought a few more now as the ladies selling them had more,oh well maybe next time

question time

this is been on a few blogs that ive read now so im having a go!!

i am a bit of a saddo when it comes to these type of quiz/question thingies.. im the geek who always fills in the email ones and then sends them round to everyone even though i was the last to get it !!!

50 Questions...





1. Are you wearing a hat?
No.


2. Bottled water?
no just plain old corpy pop for me !

3. Do you have a crush on someone right now?
brandon flowers from the killers everytime ...oo and a little bit of david beckham to

4. What kind of computer do you have?
a dell pc one.. ( i think ..not so techy minded!)

5. Do you prefer writing in pen or pencil?
i love pen.. blue ink though . black ink always looks scruffy


6. Who was the last message in your inbox
from?
a freecycle offer


7. What’s your favorite season?
summer .. lovely sunny mornings and hazy evenings

8. Does your best friend have a boyfriend or
girlfriend?
A husband


9. Do you like Tea?
only when ive just given birth! and then its the one thing i want..other than that no!


10. Favorite radio station?
Q radio, lots of music hardly any talking!


11. Type your name into Google. What's the
first site that appears?
somthing to do with music publishing

12. What’s your favorite song at the moment?
use somebody by kings of leon

13. Coke or Pepsi?
coke


14. Favorite subject in school?
art and design


15. Last concert?
the killers


16. Next concert? v festival... a whole weekend of concerts!.

17. Last magazine you bought?
country home and interiors


18. Last book you read?
this charming man by marian keyes

19. Do you prefer cats or dogs?
neither!!
20. Is there someone you want to punch right
now?
nah.lifes to short!!
21. Favorite sports team/sports person?
liverpool/ torvil and dean (joke!)


22. Country you most want to visit?
greece...would love to recreate our honeymoon again as it was perfect

23. Are you a Blogger addict?
a little bit!!!!!!!!!


24. When do you shower?
morning and evening..

25. What’s your dream job?
interior designer or estate agent so i could have a good nose !!


26. What kind of car do you drive?
i dont!

27. What word in the dictionary best describes
you?
manic !

28. What’s your blog address?
dont know it off by heart..how bad is that!

29. Worst TV show at the moment?
60 minute makeover ..them people should not be allowed in your homes!


30. Are you a better talker or better
listener?
talker!


31. What your favourite color?
pink


32. What is your favourite animal?
dont have one!


33. Are you afraid of the dark?
a little bit.


34. Is there something lacking in your life
right now?
a good nights sleep..me and the hubs havnt slept for nearly 3 years now !


35. What do you miss most about childhood?
being all together as a family


36. How many times did it take you to pass
your driving test?
have never taken one.. !


37. How many kids do you want?
I have two now..dont want 3 woudl have to have 4 but i couldnt face it just yet so we'l see!

38. Are you good painter?
not bad.. im getting better


39. Can you cook?
Yes in a fashion.. !


40. Are you a cheapskate?
a little bit . .hate paying full price for anything .


41. What would you do with a million pounds?
buy the 6 bedroom house that needs loadsa work doing to it that the hubs wont consider, and then have a lot of holidays whilst the builders were doing the major works!


42. Have you been to Disney World?
no ..would love to take our boys when they are a bit older though.. i woudl so suit minnie mouse ears!

43. How many days a month are you online?
everyday..im a bit of an addict


44. Last time you went bowling?
abouta year ago.. i hate bowling


45. Hot or cold weather?
hot..as long as im not in work


46. How many pairs of shoes do you have?

lots and lots..but never enough!!


47. Are you a shop-a-holic?
im getting better.. im only a shopaholic in charity shops now and junk shops that cant be so bad as being one on the high street!!


48. Where were you yesterday morning at 10:30?
starting my working day.. i work 10.30-7!


49. Are you afraid of the dentist?
not at all..

50. Were you bored or entertained by this
survey? Entertained. I love filling in surveys !!!

Rock-A-Bye Baby!!

hellooo there well not had much chance to write my little blog the past week!!

family life just takes over doesn't it and there never seems to be a minute to spare

this week the baby is really suffering with his teeth, he has bright red cheeks.. a wheezy chest and keeps being sick.. the poor little bubs.. hes having a little nap at the minute so thought I would use the couple of minutes break to come on here
I'm actually off work today because he goes to nursery now but theres no way he could have gone in.. ( its actually really nice.. being off though especially when its sunny!!) I felt so bad ringing into work and telling them though I wasnt coming in.. Ive only been back 3 weeks!!.. luckily I have a very lovely manager who is very understanding!!

haven't really bought much pretties this week, with being back in work i haven't had the chance to get to the charity shops as much, I did think id do a big shop at the weekend but didn't, well we went round a couple of charity shops on Saturday but as we were faffing around all day we didn't get out until about 4pm so most of them were shut!!..
i got this lovely little candle holder, its got lovely etching on the side.. which i think once theres a lit candle in there it will really look pretty.. I'm going to put this in my bedroom.were I'm trying to build up a nice glass collection




and i got this picture for my landing.. its quite modern really for me but i thought the pattern was lovely and it feels like its been hand painted, it probably isn't mind but it was only a pound so want really complaining!!








last night the hubby went to pick up this rocking chair that we had got from freecycle, we didn't realise it was SO big!!





originally we had got it to put in the boys bedroom for late night feeds, rocking them back to sleep etc but then we realised that they would just end up wreaking it, our 2 yr old is pretty heavy handed with things so Ive decided to keep it in the living room for now..
now the cushions have recently been re-covered and are very nice but the pattern is a bit dull for our room and the colours don't do anything for me.. so i think i may sand back the varnish of the wood and i might paint it a pale green ( surprise surprise!) or a dark red, and then make some over covers in perhaps a red gingham or ticking stripe, I'm not sure yet..
its very comfy though its a fab chair just look at the back of it..









Ive always wanted a rocking chair from when i was quite little, if we went to someones house and they had a rocking chair i didn't get out of it until we were leaving!!

but i think it will come in very handy, i was sat in it before rocking the baby back to sleep and it seemed to do the trick
honestly aren't some people so generous with the things they give away,

well hope your'e all enjoying the sunshine, how lovely has it been the past few days, it just makes you feel so much better doesnt it!

bank holiday nearly up!

well this is a very late night posting.. having had a few hectic days I'm just having a few minutes "me" time before I go to bed so thought I would post about my bank holiday weekend..
well we had the great bake on friday which was very enjoyable! ( although saying that I did wake up with a huge bruise on the inside of my arm which must have been from holding the mixing bowl!!!)..
my postman brought me a lovely parcel on saturday morning which came from the lovely cathy from the shabby chic cafe, she got me a lovely heart candle holder from Au Naturale as the nearest one to me has shut down, its lovely and I cant wait to light a lovely sented candle and let it all light up
I've put it on the side of my curtains for now just to keep it out of sticky boys hands! isnt the green gorgeous of it aswell..




felt like being creative on saturday morning as well must have been somthing to do with the sun shining, so got to work on some bunting for my neices bedroom, I used the samples that I'd got from john lewis, their bedroom is pink so I used the material that had pinks and greens in.. was quite pleased with it..
they both have shelves above their beds so I thought that it would look nice draped over the shelves

I made two identical ones, here is one over my bedroom firplace


how nice was this weekends weather aswell.., the hubs took the boys over to the inlaws and I pottered around the house and then sat out side reading my book for a while,
spent an enjoyable evening at my sisters acting all silly and pretending we were on "americas next top model!".. now dont tell me you dont do this yourselves at all!
then onto sunday again another beautiful day,went to my inlaws were we had a lovely lunch sat in the garden.. mother inlaw had dressed the table beautifuly with pink tulips in lovely white pitchers,looked gorgeous,
then today we went to the carboot sale that is held every bank holiday in the spring/summer season.. I love this carboot as its so big..so there is plenty to look at..
I didnt get much today really as there seemed to be lots of stalls with childrens toys/clothes and I was after little gems for the home or garden really!!
I got this little jug which I think looks a bit like carlton ware ( in my dreams!) for 20p!



my mum bought me this picture for £3 I spotted the frame first as I think once painted up that will look really pretty, and I think it will look lovely in my living room




also got a pair of lovely pale pink pillowcases with a really pretty lace edging but they are in the washing machine at the minute so will take some pics when they are dry!
oh and we bought a little bbq for £3..so we had the family round this eveing for homemade burgers,
i have now gone through the house and gave it a good clean and it feels all lovely again.. ( was starting to feel pretty grotty with dirty floors urgh!)
right then its defo time for bed work in the morning ( i hate saying that !)

hope you all had a good weekend aswell
x

Baking Bank Holiday

well if only I could say it was the weather I was talking about and that we were in the middle of heatwave.. that would be good ey!...

sorry that I'm not though I'm just talking about how we've spent today..baking!.

it all started this morning with hubby going to the co-op and buying reduced strawberries and blueberries so he could make some jam!

I could then imagine the said jam on a lovely big ol Victoria sponge so thought I'd make one.

this then ended up with my 2yr old wanting to get in on it so we made some fairy cakes,

then I fancied making some butterfly cakes as well and I thought why not top it off with some biscuits as well..so we made double chocolate chip cookies which are gorgeous and sooo sickly!

my sister and bro in law came round to have a slice of cake and a cup of tea with us before as well.my niece and nephew weren't with them as they were at their friends so they didn't get to try the chocolate fairy cakes.. but Ive saved them some so they can have a treaty tomorrow!

then as hubby had made tons of jam we decided to give the bread maker a whirl as we still haven't used it and thought home made bread and jam would be very nice..

the bread is lovely, and because we used olive oil its got quite a sweet taste to it, so at least now we know how to use the bread maker as well!!!

wasn't this table made for baking though!?

As we had quite a lot of the Victoria sponge left the hubs has given it out to some of our neighbours! ( they'd better give me my plates back!!)

heres the last piece!!

All in all we've had a lovely day, it was nice doing somthing all together but now we all feel a little sick now and cannot face having any tea!!!

must do it more often!

well i must return to work more often!!, presents and jobs done in the house galore!!!

first i got the lovely flowers of hubby on my first day back, then the other day my mum bought me this lovely jug and bowl,

i think its just really pretty, the colours look lovely together,

i had seen this in the charity shop on my way to work ( well you have to have a quick look don't you!) but didn't have enough money on me, i asked the charity shop ladies if they would put it away for me but they couldn't as they just didn't have any room in the back ( even took me in to the back of the shop to prove their point!!) so i was telling my mum this later on and the next thing i knew she'd popped in and bought it for me anyways as a present!!!...

( when i was in the back of the charity shop there was sooo much stuff there .. i would have been like a kid in a sweet shop if they'd let me stay there amazing!!!)

so at the moment it is sitting on my bathroom window sill.. i had thought about putting it in my bedroom as the colours are perfect but i couldn't find the right spot for it.. I'm sure it wont stay here for long though!!

do you remember the little key holder i bought the other weekend that i was going to make

over?

well here it is.. painted and up on the wall.. its really handy for holding the post as well.. so I'm glad that i got it now.. still haven't got the mirror for it but couldn't wait to put it up on the wall!

then i finally bought a nice frame for the picture that id got in the charity shop a couple of months ago now.. it was in a real horrible cheapo frame that was falling apart, so has been lying under my bed for a while

so glad that i just got a nice plain frame for it as i think it goes really well in the hallway, it sort of matches the mirror in a way! i don't usually like this style of picture either but i like the colours that are used here, kinda muted a bit like myself ha ha!!

nice suprises and outsides

well I got today over and done with.. thank you for the nice comments . and also on the shabby chic cafe for the lovely thread there for me, it made me feel much better!

you know it wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.. i work in education and with it being half term it was pretty quiet so it gave me a chance to get use to my surroundings again,

it is strange though, i cant remember any phone numbers or staff names, but I'm sure in a week or so it will be like Ive never been away!!

the baby had a great first day at nursery, when we went to pick him up he was just sat on the carpet merrily playing with a toy, didn't look in any way fazed to see us!!

had a few nice surprises when i came home.. hubby had got me a lovely bunch of flowers and had put them in a jug and everything!!

i love getting flowers and i have to say he is pretty good at giving me flowers, be it a big bunch or just a little spray of flowers he does do it quite regularly!

here they are

Arn't the colours gorgeous.. i love the pinks, really pretty and summery,

then the lovely lalabibaby ( thanks sweetie!) from shabby chic cafe sent me a copy of this lovely magazine in the post which came today so i have had a little flick through before, and now cant wait to get set on doing my little yard over the next few weeks i want to recreate the front cover!!!



how gorgeous does that look.. all it is really is some bright coloured accessories and hanging lanterns.. Ive got this small space at the end of my yard that does get the sun.. this is what I'm going to do just with a smaller table and keep an eye out for the paper lanterns..anyone know were you can get them cheap!??..

i think i might have a go at making some bunting from my oilcloth samples to put outside aswell and some big cushions that can go on my rubbishy plastic garden chairs ( that are v comfy to sit on though..which is why im not rushing to get iron ones yet!)
anyone else got nice piccies of nice outsides that you may take ideas from for this year?

night before

Well this is it.. tomorrow I start back at work.. eeek I've been off since may 2008, nearly a year,
it feels soo strange.. getting my naff uniform out of the wardrobe having my "Sunday bath!!" getting that sinking Sunday evening feeling and generally preparing myself to go back into adult world again!!
I feel nervous about going in and also a little bit sad that both of my baby's now will spend most of the week being looked after by other people, luckily I do only work Monday to Wednesday so that does make it a bit more bearable!
but hey ho I'm sure once I'm there after catching up with my work emails.. playing a bit of solitaire on the computer, having a good old gossip and catch up with the girls in the office I will be fine
I'll let you know how I get on and if my baby brain will allow me to actually work!!!

is it a bird, is it a plane

or is just one of my funny shaped hearts..!!??

honestly after looking at other blogs and going onto the shabbychic cafe forum i am seriously suffering from homemade padded heart envy!!

just fancied making a little heart last night ( as you do on a saturday night!) so using some samples of material that i had got to work

well i just cant seem to get it to actually look like a nice shaped heart and my padding looks all bumpy!

i have made one before and that seemed ok but when i see pictures of what others have made they all seem to look so much better and neater!!!

what is your technique?? can you help me !!??

How do you use yours!

well Ive been very lucky to get from freecycle, a brand new Morphy Richards bread maker!!

I'm so pleased as i have wanted one for ages


hubby went to pick it up last night for me, Ive been looking at it and to be honest I'm thinking it looks a little complicated.. I'm sure its not and once I get started using it it will get easier!!

it is rather large though.. not sure were I'm going to keep it.. as I'm not a big fan of appliances being out.. only pretty things!!.. it looks like one of Darth Vader's soldiers out of stars wars as well!

I just wondered if you had one, and how do you use it, do you just make plain old white bread or anything more exotic !!!!

Ooh I am going to become such a domestic goddess soon, my children will wake up to the smell of baking bread !!!!....( usually its burnt toast!)

here's a couple of other buys that i got yesterday from flea market

this is a little sweetie jar.. and when I got home and opened the lid , it did have little sweets in.. think I might take them out though as I don't know how long they've been there!!!

this sweet little padded heart as well for 30p, i asked the man how much it was and he said 50p, then his wife interrupted and said "don't be daft , 30p!" and raised her eyebrows to me..don't you just love a strong woman!!!

I'm loving hearts at the minute, in fact i think i might make another one later! ( well have a go.. just cant get mine to have neat edging!)

then when I had nipped into Wilkinson's to get a cheap gloss roller to do my little cupboard i spotted these mugs.. I think they are lovely, they are china as well .. and are quite wide really.. ooh imagine these filled with hot chocolate and a big pile of squirty cream on top!!!

right im off to have some breakfast, might pop in later aswell oo you lucky things!!!

From flea market to house in under 7 hours!

did you see what I did there with my witty title I was being the Marks and Spencer's ad.. ( never mind .. I laughed to meself when I typed it at least!)

well today seen as it was my last Wednesday off ( have I told you I'm back to work next week!!!!?) I thought I would take me and the baby off to the flea market, its only run on a Wednesday and Ive really got into going to it

didn't think I was going to come away with much really as I did get there quite late on and it was really busy so with having the buggy it was quite hard to get in there and have a good look

## although two old gentleman nearly had a fight with each other as one accused the other one of pushing him.. they looked like they were getting nearer to 80 if a day so it was slightly amusing to watch!! ##

when I happened to walk past a stall and this little thing caught my eye.. sat all on his own, I carried on walking but instantly started making it over in my head so back I went, paid for it and left it there until I'd had another look round

it was only a fiver as well so would have been rude to leave it!

i think it must be a sewing box of some kind as here's what it looks like inside,

it was quite heavy and I did have a buggy to push as well as get on and off the bus.. honestly as I was doing it i was thinking to myself "why didn't you just get a taxi!!"..

but then when I got off the bus, a lady was walking past and offered to carry it for me to the house, how nice was that at all so I really think I was meant to have it!

as it was a lovely sunny afternoon I got the baby fed and to sleep as quick as I could ( such a bad mother really!) and got to it outside..my other little boy was at the mother in laws so I had the time to myself to get on with it!

I already had the paint in and I used some left over wallpaper from my bedroom, so I just couldnt wait to start!

the paint dried really quick and I'd done 2 coats of emulsion and two coats of satinwood !!

I put it up in my bedroom before, I'm going to use it as a bedside table for now, its perfect for holding my big handbag which tends to get in the way

a bit of a dodgy closeup as well ..don't look to close !!

I want to line the inside of it and paint up the little wooden drawer, but time was pressing on so that is a little job for the future!!!