Little Gem's Diary

My Weekend In London

2012-01-17T21:34:00.000Z

Two weeks ago I had such a lovely weekend, that I wanted to pop some photos on my blog to record it.

Firstly, I managed to take an outfit photo (I'm not sure if anyone actually likes seeing my outfits?!) but I liked what I was wearing, so I took a few snaps.

I was channelling 'The Railway Children' with my cream tights and new boots that I got for Christmas. They are soo comfy, and quite pretty yet hardwearing!

I had arranged to meet the BF at Camden Town, so I got to the Tube station and waited on the platform. It was freezing! When I met him we headed off to get something to eat at The Diner. Its a great American style diner and the food is sooo yummy. Also, as you know I love anything retro, so The Diner is definitely a winner with me!

I had the Blueberry Pancakes with maple syrup and a Cherry coke!

I neeeed to learn how to make pancakes that taste and look as delicious as theses.

I love blueberries, and the blueberry compote was gorgeous! The BF went for a burger with trimmings!

After our meal we had a nice walk around the stables market area. They had some gorgeous fairy lights up left from Christmas, it looked really magical, especially as it started to get darker.

I love the markets in Camden, but the stables especially, as they have a lot of vintage goodies and some gorgeous dress shops too. I was very restrained though, only browsing and didn't buy a single thing, which makes a change for me!

On the Sunday we decided - spur of the moment - to go to the National History Museum, as there was a pop up ice rink set up in front of the museum, and so we decided to give it a whirl!

As we first walked in we saw this stunning carousel, which looked so pretty lit up in the dark.

The trees all around the ice rink were draped in fairy lights and there was Christmas music playing (a little late, but still nice none the less!) it was really lovely, and very busy!

We were really lucky with our timing, as it was the last day before the rink closed, and as we got off the ice it just began to rain! We had been outdoor skating once before, in our first year together, at Somerset House, which was also lovely, but we both agreed this rink was nicer, and that it was good to have the museum near by to visit after the skate!

It was a lovely end to a really lovely weekend, and something I think we will make an annual tradition.

I love having this new year, for new ideas, experiences and creating memories and traditions.

What are you enjoying about 2012?

Baking Days

2012-01-11T22:05:00.000Z

Inspired by my lovely Christmas gifts (the baking books) I decided to do a spot of baking the other day.

I went for some simple oat cookies - I did half a batch with raisins and cinnamon, and the other half white chocolate chips and some cocoa thrown in!

I use Lucy's easy peasy recipe and just adjusted it to suit my families tastes (some of us like raisins, some of us hate them!) I urge you to give them a go!

The other thing I baked was my Blueberry and Lime Drizzle cake (linky to my recipe) I used blueberries that had been in the freezer for a couple of weeks - its absolutely fine to just throw them in frozen :)

It is such a lovely recipe, soo light and moist with a delicious flavour combination too.

I very much enjoyed sampling my baked goodies. My mum took some of the cake to work and it was very popular. It is a definite favourite of mine, but I can't make it too often or I'll eat the whole lot!

Lots of warming cups of tea have been enjoyed along side the baking. Well, you have to don't you? I bought this mug for my mum for Christmas, yet of an evening you will often see me sitting snuggled up in my beautiful new pyjamas drinking from it! Its good to share!

Mmmm tea and pyjamas!

Also, I have been polishing off the last of the mulled wine (oh I do love mulled wine, don't you?) I like to drink mine in a teacup all snuggled up under my quilt with something nice on TV. This week, we have watched the box set of Miranda, and been enjoying the Great Sport Relief Bake Off. Some of it was filmed at Emporium with Angela Griffin, so do check it out!

And why not watch it, in your pyjamas, under a cosy quilt, with a teacup of something lovely?

Go on! :)

P.S: yes I am championing pyjamas this week!! :)

Gifts Given & Received

2012-01-10T23:07:00.000Z

Hello lovely readers and Happy 2012 to you!

Sorry I have gotten a little behind with my posts lately, I wanted to do a big yearly round up of 2011 but it seems a bit silly to do that when we are two weeks into January now!

Instead, I thought I would just do a little catch up post showing you my lovely Christmas gifts.

It seems appropriate to start with this diary, a gift from my sister - who knows me so well.

I love a new diary, I love love love writing! Give me a notebook and a nice pen and I could just keep writing. I love planning, making lists and jotting ideas. Thats the plan for this diary; I don't want it to be full of appointments and nothing else. It is going to me more like a journal, with notes, ideas and thoughts for each week and month. I am planning a little break in February so this will be perfect for jotting down things to do and places to see!

Another gift that was just perfect was this manicure set, which, let me tell you, is much needed at the moment. My nails are so weak, and yes I have been biting again, which is not good, but I have been stressed! So I need to give my hands and nails some TLC with this lovely set.

I got a lovely Christmas sweetie bag from the BF from Hope and Greenwood (kind of funny that we both bought each other sweets from here, we love the shop!) sadly no photos of the sweets, I left them at the BFs, but I took the bag home as it was so sweet! There is nothing nicer than an attractive bit of packaging I say!

The BF also bought me some gorgeous pyjamas (which are possibly the best present anyone could ever buy me) I LOVE pyjamas, I love buying them, wearing them and snuggling up in them. I pretty much put my PJs on as soon as I get home if I'm not going outside again. I love to be sooo cosy! Cosy socks also a bonus with me!

I used this pretty pastel green cup to display the Cath Kidston manicure goodies in my room. I like that they match well too! Who says you can't use tea cups for other purposes?

I was lucky enough to receive this gorgeous writing set (Cath Kidston, again!) which I can't wait to use! The person who gave this to me didn't even know how much I like Cath Kidston, so it was a real surprise, but a lovely one :)

Moving away from the floral theme - I got these bright red "Converse" style shoes... I know everybody loves a pair of Converse trainers, and maybe its just me, but Converse hurt my feet soooo much! The shoes are just tooo narrow! Does anyone else have this problem? I now buy the lookalikes as they fit so much better and look practically identical anyway, so I'm not fussed! Anyway, I have been wearing these with my red spotty scarf and blue Cath Kidston handbag. I think they go quite well together.

My mum gave me this pretty sheer nude coloured shirt which I love and have been wearing non stop. I like that the collar is a slightly different colour, and that it is smart, yet pretty too!

From my mum and dad I received this beautiful smelling gift set by Philosophy. I had never taken much notice of the brand before, but when I came across this perfume I fell in love! If you haven't smelt the amazing grace range I recommend that you do, it is so clean and fresh smelling. It is certainly my new favourite, and I haven't had a new favourite for about six years so it has made an impact!

(I still love you 'Lovely' by Sarah Jessica Parker!)

From the BF I received the Mary Berry Cakes & Bakes book, and the Leon Baking and Puddings book. His mum gave me the Vintage Tea Party book, which by the way is completely beautiful throughout.

I was soo lucky and so spoilt to receive things that were so me. I didn't make a list, yet every gift I received was lovely, and had a lot of thought behind it.

I can't wait to try some of the amazing ideas in this book, it really is beautiful.

I am really proud of the Leon book, as I was assistant to the designer, as she was designing it! Its so nice to see the pages in real life after seeing them on her computer screen, and it really is a wonderful book too. There are soo many things I want to try - especially the breakfast pancakes!! :)

Enough about my gifts, but a little snapshot of some of the things I gave:

To the BF for his van as he always forgets to bring a drink with him! I found it in Wilkinsons if anyone was wondering where its from!

The teatowel on the right went in my mum's stocking, and the one on the left went in the BFs stocking.

I found them both in Primark, and they are really lovely!

For the BFs mum, as I know she loves the saying...

I made a little sale purchase too, just for home. This adorable tealight house!

Oh its just so sweet! Not too Christmassy, I plan on having this out for a few months yet, it was stuffed full of fudge, and only £3!

Ahh sadly, everything else in these photos has been packed away with the decorations, but I was adamant that the house stayed. Its a seasonal item I said, not a Christmas item :) I'm right aren't I?

Anyone else clinging on to Christmas, or are we all full swing, head first into 2012 and oncoming Spring?!

Foodie Gifts

2011-12-30T12:11:00.000Z

I am the sort of person who likes to make gifts of the edible sort, so this year I thought I'd make Homemade Peppermint Creams to give out as presents. I had wanted to try making these for a while, as the recipe seemed so simple and easy, and luckily, it was!

The recipe I used:

450g icing sugar

2 egg whites

peppermint flavouring

food colouring & dark chocolate optional.

Basically you whisk the egg white til it forms soft peaks, then sift in the icing sugar and mix til you have a dough that is kneadable. Then you can add your flavouring and colouring if you wish to do so. Then roll out the dough, cut out into shapes and leave to set on a lined baking tray for 24 hours. Then I added melted dark chocolate to them.

I made one batch and added a few drops of blue food colouring to half of it. I left the other half of the batch white. I used four different shaped cutters :

star :: heart :: circle :: flower

The chocolate part was the most fun, although I ended up ruining a few (so they had to be eaten, of course) I put them in the fridge for a couple of hours after doing the chocolate to help it set.

Then I packaged them up in these cute little celophane bags with a label. These went down really well as they taste exactly like shop bought peppermint creams, only they looked sooo much prettier!

I did a little handmade/homemade hamper for my aunt - some homemade strawberry jam, handmade heart, some chocolates, a pretty teatowel, crackers, cheese, homemade chutney and some homemade peppermint creams. The hamper basket was £2 from Tiger and I wrapped it all in celophane. It cost hardly anything to make but it was made with lots of love!

The chutney was made by me in November but I didn't get around to prettifying it up until last week. I picked polka dot red for the men and floral print for the ladies. Its Delia Smiths Christmas chutney recipe and the little jars are in fact spice jars from IKEA, which are the perfect size for gift giving.

I am so chuffed that I made this chutney, it was one of those things that I really wanted to make, but I thought I would never get around to doing. I ended up making it with two lovely friends, so we split the cost of the ingredients, the jars, and shared all the chopping and cleaning up! It turned out to be so much fun and worked out a lot cheaper than if I had made it on my own at home.

It also meant that the girls got to use up some of my extensive fabric stash for their toppers, which I was pleased about too, as its far too big and I'll never manage to use it all.

Now not a gift as such, but I made a couple of deserts to take round to my brothers on Boxing Day, and this one especially was soo delicious! Its a Raspberry and Chocolate Tart, made with shortcrust pastry.

I lined my dish and blind baked the pastry. Then added a layer of delicious raspberries.

The rest was 250ml double cream and 250g dark chocolate poured over the top of the raspberries and decorated rather messily with some chocolate curls!

The best way to do the curls is to warm the chocolate by leaving it somewhere warm, then use a vegetable peeler to shave the curls off!

Lastly, my blueberry baked cheesecake. Sooo yummy and went down a storm.

I must experiment with other fruits and flavours too, I like the idea of some sort of compote on top. I think that would be even yummier!

Hope you enjoyed my foodie treats!

Christmas At The BFs

2011-12-29T18:10:00.000Z

Hello All!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying that little slump between Christmas and New Years. As I usually spend Christmas day at home, I tend to spend that "slump time" at the BFs.

We opened our gifts to each other on Christmas night which was lovely as it means its not all over so soon in terms of receiving gifts!

To make it feel lovely and festive we lit our Mistletoe and Wine candle, and I bought these gorgeous multi coloured vintage style baubles from Tiger to go on the glass cake stand (as planned!) I love vintage style baubles but never find any genuine vintage ones anywhere!

The candle smells amazing...one of those ones that really fills the room with scent instead of just claiming to smell but not really smelling once its burning. The little 5 foot tree was decorated (mainly by me!) and we stashed the pressies underneath.

I'd say about 80% of the decorations on this tree were made by me the first year we got it as I wanted to make it as handmade and homemade as possible. There were a few simple baubles and bits added over the years, but its predominantly handmade which I like :)

There has always got to be a mini Christmas pudding...

IKEA lights were strung up over this shelf and it all felt very festive and cosy.

I was very lucky and received some lovely lovely bits, which I shall post about. The BF did good!

We'll keep the tree up until New Years Eve is over and will probably take it down on Monday. I hate taking it down as everywhere always looks so bare. When do you take all of your decorations down?

Taking the decorations down will only remind me that we still need to finish the decorating throughout the flat and hang the collection of vintage mirrors we have accumulated!

Well, its something to blog about in 2012 at least!

xgx

Christmas At Home

2011-12-14T17:35:00.001Z

I love being at home during the festive season. I love being cosy and doing all those traditional things that you come to do every year. Wrapping presents, writing cards, making mince pies, eating mince pies!

I love opening each door of my advent calendar and feeling the anticipation of what is to come!

I also really love to see the house looking lovely and Christmassy with decorations that come out time and time again. The gingerbread house is a newer addition, by Gisela Graham. It has quickly become one of my favourites - although I also really love this little old fashioned Santa which has been on the tree for as long as I can remember.

The spotty and stripey decorations have replaced the gold stuff that we had years ago.

Now we tend to go for a scandinavian style colour scheme, thank you IKEA!

For my own tree one day I'd like a mix of vintage and handmade baubles and decorations, I love the brightly coloured glass ones you see on some beautiful blogs, I also rather like coloured lights too, as we've never had any I think I'd like to have some. Ooh and of course each year we would add one or two special decorations to build a special collection with lots of memories.

I found it really hard to take a nice photo of the tree, but I found a tutorial via Pinterest that helped me produce this image. There is a lot of 'noise' going on in the photo, but shows the lights rather lovely I thought. If anyone wants help finding the Pinterest tutorial just ask and I shall direct!

Cosy festive corners in the living room....

Bringing out the Christmas biscuit tin and a just a few more red coloured things into the kitchen. The flowers are not very festive are they? We need to bring in some holly or something!!

Indulging in a little warmed mince pie courtesy of Mr.Kipling! I will get around to making my own hopefully (as I still have loads of mincemeat left over from last years pies!) but I have to say Mr.Kiplings are rather lovely though.

I have just started writing out some Christmas cards, I've decided not to send too many this year as they can be so wasteful. I picked two packets from John Lewis, both of the designs are really lovely. The christmas pudding one is my favourite I think, very retro looking. The others are a sweet little design by Cath Kidston. Both of them are charity cards, which I am pleased about as its good to know the money goes somewhere important.

Oh, the pastel spotty jug... my mum spotted it at a Vintage Fair a few weeks ago, its rather sweet isn't it?

How are you getting on with your cards and presents? Any Christmas baking going on yet?

My Festive Touches

2011-12-12T17:46:00.000Z

I don't know about you, but I am love love loving Christmas time in blogland. So much inspiration, so many beautiful houses decorated, gorgeous gifts and lovely traditions. It really gives me a lot of ideas of what I'd like my Christmasses to be like once I have a family. A real tree is definately a must for me as we've never ever had one, and they are sooo pretty. And fairy light in abundance, you can never have too many!

Something festive that I've been up to this week is organising my Secret Santa present. The budget was £10, and I cheated a little as I spent £10 on these lovely Soap and Glory products (they are my fave, so I thought they would be a good gift idea!) I already had the pretty little green and red gingham IKEA box which came in a set of three, the idea is to do Christmas hampers in them, but we'll see how it goes! I also thought it would be nice to add a little handmade touch, so I popped in one of the mini jars of strawberry jam I made in the summer, they are a perfect size for gifting. I shredded up some old tissue paper and wrapped it in celophane and it was complete! I think my Secret Santa partner was pleased!

In Tesco I picked up this set of Candy Cane decorations for the tree, although I decided to put them in a jug instead as they looked cute! I think I will have to get some real candy canes though, as the tree could do with more decorations in my humble opinion....

Pretty, no?

On the sideboard in the living room I have set up a little festive display, some sweet red tealight holders - from Tiger - and the gorgeous Dots and Spots advent calendar in the background and some of my favourite cards too... the ones I love are the painted old fashioned style. Anything with a post box and a festive red robin and it stays here!

I really love to light candles when I get in, and turn on the Christmas tree lights. We try to keep all of the bigger lights off so as not to waste electricity. Candle-light is so much cosier and prettier anyway, don't you think?

One of my favourite decorations is this minature tree, which comes decorated with such sweet little decorations in red and white (those are our colours, and have been for several years, red and white with gingham, spots and stripes thrown in). This also sits on the sideboard looking very festive.

As I have been poorly today I thought I'd make a start on some wrapping, as I am so behind with it all. I have still got lots of people to buy for, and two items to return already as I've ended up buying something they already have!! Not my smartest move I must say! How are you getting on with your shopping? Please don't tell me you are all done and dusted!!!

Its hard to get a good photo of a lit tree isn't it? You can't really see any of the decorations, but I have blogged about them all in the past, and we hardly add to them, unless I have some handmade ones leftover from crafty fairs! So at the moment I am sitting in my PJs beside the tree watching the twinkling lights and blowing into a pile of tissues! Festive!!

Ooh, lastly, this MERRY CHRISTMAS banner, also from Tesco was reduced (as were the candy canes, and by the looks of it, all of their Christmas decorations) is up over the mirror in the living room, all we need now are some paper chains!

Merry Christmas Folks!

Loving The Lights

2011-12-10T15:23:00.000Z

One of my favourite things about this time of year is how beautiful everywhere looks at night, I love fairy lights, christmas trees and the fact that everyone makes an effort. We went to Covent Garden at the weekend and as gorgeous as it is, it never looks better than it does at Christmas time. This huge sparkly reindeer greets you as you walk down from the station, and there are lights absolutely everywhere!

Inside the old market was completely magical...music, huge baubles, holographic moving sparkling lights, bunting and lots of Christmas cheer!

Its rather lovely isn't it? I definately recommend a visit to Covent Garden at this time of year, you can't beat it for full on Christmassy-ness!

Yes, thats a word.

There is also this huge huge tree outside the market, decorated in red and white and after around ten attempts this is the best photo I could get of it!

This one - not so in focus, but still pretty none the less!

I had a problem with this all day, and have a lot of photos on my camera that look like this:

Well, any light is good light!

This beautiful building is the Covent Garden Opera House, which we admired as we walked past on our way to this sweet little sweet shop!

Hope and Greenwood is just the cutest little sweet shop I've ever been to. If you've never been or heard of it, I'd describe it as...

If Cath Kidston had a sweet shop, it would be like this.

The displays are gorgeous, the sweets are nostalgic and retro and beautifully packaged, and I made a little purchase for Christmas for the BF...

A jar of Frothy Blue Cherry sweeties!

On the way home I took a few more photos, as I just love this area...

These gorgeous lights are in Camden Passage in Islington, which is about five minutes away from where the BF lives, I drag him down here frequently in the winter, just to see the lights! Lovely aren't they?

I've been so late in blogging a thank you to Becky at the wonderful Dots and Spots for this beautiful advent calendar that I won in her giveaway. I had been wanting a keepsake calender and am so so pleased with it, I love opening up the windows to see what cute little picture is inside and I'm not even missing the chocolate!

More Christmassy-ness coming your way soon!

Ho Ho Ho!

Crafting For Christmas

2011-12-09T16:13:00.000Z

I can't believe how long its been since I last blogged! It feels like absolutely ages ago...everyone has been blogging about all sorts of lovely Christmassy things, and I am waaay behind! The reason for this, if you were wondering was due to the fact that I got talked into doing a table at a local Christmas fair, and well, I sort of left it a little late to actually start making things, so it was rather manic and I spent every minute in the evenings after work making things!

Something I have made three years on the trot are little felt Christmas puddings, and they always go down well, there is something very sweet and childlike about them, but I love them, kind of gutted they all sold out! The stars didn't do so well so they will be adorning my tree this year!

This was a progress photo below, I actually ended up making way to much, but I am happy to gift them out to family and friends, or keep them at home for decoration.

I made some cushions too, as I wanted some bigger bright items on the table, so I cut into two of my favourite fabrics - you know, the ones you want to hoard forever and never use? I made these and am quite pleased they didn't sell in the end!

I had a go at making some tea cosies too, as I thought they'd make nice gifts, I had never made them before, and pretty much just made it up as I went along. I was really pleased with them in the end, especially the little spotty tea pots on them.

Christmas isn't Christmas without some festive hearts. I really loved making these, they were so fast and all a little bit different. I will be popping the rest of these on our tree at home, as I still have a few left.

Would also look quite sweet decorating a prettily wrapped gift.

These are the three tea cosies, in some favourite fabrics of mine.

I also managed to source some pretty vintage goodies for the table, yes I bought this Johnsons Bros set to sell, not to keep for a change. I am really pleased that a lot of the vintage things sold, as it shows there is a huge love of old things out there, and that there definately is a market for it. I sold so much more vintage china and glass than I did handmade, which makes me wonder why I spent so many hours crafting. Next year will just be vintage, thats for sure!

This gorgeous green set came with two sets of trios and the jug and bowl, which are just soo lovely. I was very pleased to be able to bring one of the trios home after the fair though, as I really loved it.

So yes, the table..I shared my table with two lovely ladies from work who made lots of beautiful cakes, and my side was handmade/vintage goodies. To be honest I could have done with a whole table to myself as I still had a lot of things that I couldn't put out! I was pleased with how it all looked though, and although I didn't make as much as I would have loved to, I'm happy that I did it, and I am happy to keep everything that didn't sell.

I was able to swap some things around once a few bits had sold. The table is pretty jam packed, although I found it hard to display the cushions without taking over the table!

Hope you enjoyed a peek at my Christmas Crafting and my little table.

I hope to bring more festive loveliness to the blog over the next few days....

Christmas is coming!

Weekend Delights

2011-11-22T21:31:00.001Z

I am a little bit late in blogging about what I've been up to, and I do like to do this as I like the fact that I have a record of the things I do and its nice to read back on. Well, this particular weekend was a lovely one, and one that I was particularly excited about as I had booked tickets to go to the Country Living Christmas Fair in Islington.

I'd never been before, despite the fact that the BF lives literally across the road from it I had never got organised enough to buy the tickets! Anyway, I dragged him along, as he does like christmassy things!

It was really lovely, full of gorgeous (yet slightly pricey) things. I was truly inspired and now have loads of ideas for Christmas styling at home.

I especially loved this christmas cabin, styled using stock from the stall holders, including Jan Constantine. It was so sweet and cosy!

It was full of gorgeously expensive things, so I just snapped some photos for inspiration (as you do!) I didn't manage to take many photos at all though as it was rammed full of people and its quite awkward trying to take photos when the stall holder is staring at you!!

So...what did we buy? Well nothing Christmassy at all, I found a lot of it more expensive than I was expecting, especially for generic felt Christmas decorations! But we bought this enamel 'egg' bowl from a lovely stall called the Old Potting Shed. I also bought two floral teatowels from her to gift to my mum and aunt for Christmas (it was two for £5 and they were lovely!)

From another stall I bought *ahem* another glass cake stand. This actually brings my total to four. There is another one I haven't blogged about yet! And no - I don't need another one, nor was I that bothered about them til I bought one, then obviously I realised how much I needed them in my life!

We also bought a 'Mistletoe and Wine' candle in a tin, which you can just see above which smelt gorgeous on the stand. One of those scents that really fills the room yet isn't sickeningly spicy or sweet.

Here is another close up of my cake stand. I am thinking for Christmas I am going to pile some baubles onto them and make a little display of them.

I was admiring these Jelly Moulds on the dotcomgiftshop stand and kept picking them up and putting them back down. I think I was annoying the BF with my dithering as he just grabbed them from the shelf and paid for them. I think they were about £2.50 and I cannot wait to use them, although they are not really a wintery thing are they? More of a summertime product!

Okay okay, I'll admit that I bought these glass bottles purely because of Pinterest. I don't know how many damned images of glass bottles with stripey straws I have pinned (click here to see what I'm on about) but it is bordering on an obsession. I don't have kids, there is no-one to use these tiny bottles, yet they were soo cute, and well I'll just save them for my wedding (not that I'm engaged!) or something!! Just look at that metal crate!! Sooo sweet!

The day after the Christmas fair I went to Fleetville Emporium in St. Albans (which I have blogged about lots before) and found some little vintage treasures to bring home too.

The blue melmex jug was purchased in Norfolk earlier in the year. I found it in a little antiques/junk shop. At the weekend I found a matching one in a green colour, which I love, and they are so handy for small quantities of things, custard, cream, gravy. Perfect for two!

I also spotted this blue enamel candlestick holder. It was a bit grubby but I've given it a good clean up and popped a matching candle in it. Perfect for getting cosy at night time.

As a fan of tins and enamel I have to be careful not to just buy any old tin, firstly colour is important when you are trying to smuggle it into a male environment, secondly, it cannot be too girly, and it must not be rusted to within an inch of its life. Luckily this old coffee canister fitted the bill. Its old, its blue, but its clean and its got a manly boat on it. Perfect!

It wasn't the cheapest weekend, but I enjoyed it, and brought some new and vintage goodies into our home. Im sticking to the charity shops for my vintage treasures for a while though!

Make Yourself At Home

2011-11-21T21:45:00.002Z

Make Yourself At Home

Isn't that such a lovely saying? I love cosy homely things and when I spotted this mug in John Lewis I decided to treat myself to it, I liked the sentiment behind it, and I had chipped a few older mugs the other week. I had been feeling a little down, and although I'm not one to go shopping to make myself feel better, I thought I'd pop some cheap yet pretty chocolates into my basket too.

I love love love turkish delight, I love rose flavoured anything, and these were so prettily packaged (and quite reasonable too) that I went for these. I have been having one every now and then as I don't want to eat my way through them, I want to savour them, and enjoy every bite! And rather perfectly, it turns out no one else at home likes rose flavoured things so they are mine all mine :)

Also rather enjoyable was this cake I brought home from work. Its a Lemon Drizzle with blackberries running through the middle and has a yummy lemon icing too. This is one of my favourites, not only to eat but to make too!

Cake and chocolate aside, I have eaten some salad this week, although we are no longer in 'salad season', I do like something on the side of my pasta bake! Comfort food :) We also tried some fancy pink lemonade this week which was gorgeous!

Lots and lots of cups of tea have been consumed, I love a mug of tea in the morning, but in the evening its nice to share a pot of tea in a dainty little cup.

Now I must bake something yummy and delicious to go on my new glass cake stand (its from the new Kirsty Alsopp for M&S range) and is waiting patiently for a pretty cake to top it off.

Any suggestions?

Things I Love...

2011-11-08T12:18:00.002Z

Seven things that I love about this time of year:

:: Lighting candles and getting a warm glow

:: Getting cosy indoors while its cold and rainy outside

:: Layering up thick pyjamas, socks, duvets , blankets and quilts and snuggling up

:: The colours outside : oranges, reds, yellows and browns

:: Drinking cups of tea and mugs of warming hot chocolate

:: Preparing for Christmas, yes! Its that time of year to get planning!

:: Yummy casseroles, soups and winter food...

What do you love about this time of year? I'd love to know as I'm sure I've forgotten some!

Cosy Cosy Cosy :)

Weekending

2011-11-07T22:10:00.002Z

I had such a lovely time this weekend, I went down to Sussex to see family, stay the weekend and enjoy some fireworks too. I decided to make a little something to take down with me but didn't fancy baking a cake late on Friday evening, so instead I went for a "throw it all together" Rocky Road. I mixed pink and white mini marshmallows, digestive biscuits, raisins and tiny little white chocolate star decorations - I thought it looked rather pretty.

I always think its nice to bring something with you when visiting others. Just a little homemade treat to show your appreciation. I love receiving something homemade or handmade, and am the sort of person who truly appreciates the time and effort that has gone into making something. I know a lot of people who just don't "get" the handmade thing, but luckily for me my cousins do "get it", and they know I love making things for them too!

I must say though, I thought it would be best if I just sampled a little piece before bringing it down with me. Just a tiny piece with a little pot of tea and a pretty mug. Went down rather nicely!

While staying in Sussex we went to watch the local fireworks display in Lindfield Village - this village is completely gorgeous, picture perfect. Just the sort of place I'd love to live one day. Ever since I was little we have visited Lindfield when I stay in Sussex. We have to have a slice of cake and tea in the little tea shop, then a walk around the village with the dogs and across the village green.

Now, living in London I usually go to the Alexandra Palace fireworks, which is brilliant, but it is just the display. In Lindfield they have a whole parade through the village with everyone carrying a flaming torch! They had an absolutely huge Guy Fawkes which went on the massive bonfire on the Green. I am a massive lover of fireworks, I get sooo excited for Bonfire Night, and took my camera along to capture some of the prettiest fireworks...

Big ones...

Small ones...

Falling ones...

And amazing glittery ones that fell from the sky and looked beautiful. I had such a wonderful night!

The next day my cousin presented me with this little bowl that I had hand painted the last time I was in Sussex at a pottery painting place called Fun Pots. I made it in May and had completely forgotten what I had painted on it, and what colours I'd used, but I was really looking forward to seeing it and am really chuffed with it!

Its quite small (trinket size) as it was quite expensive to do, but I love that it is one of a kind and completely unique! On the outside I hand painted it with pink and blue flowers and spots and inside I stamped some hearts in the same colours using little sponges. What do you reckon?

Emma Bridgewater eat your heart out!

Cosy Things

2011-10-28T17:19:00.001+01:00

Its been so lovely and Autumnal today, the sun is out but there is a chill in the air. Its perfect weather for a nice long walk. Sadly, I've been at work, so no time for walking! I have though been wearing warming colours of reds and oranges this week, I think it suits the weather. This combination below is one of my new favourites : sheer coral blouse with a nice thick vest underneath and a cosy scarf.

Its not quite got to the point where I need a huge jumper as I'm not outside much, so this blouse is really nice to wear, and I have been wearing it with this thrifted rose print skirt. The pattern is gorgeous and it feels really autumnal with the colours. I have been wearing it with nice thick tights and cosy boots though to keep my feet warm (always the first place to feel the cold!)

This afternoon I finished work early and had to pop to the Supermarket to get some bits for dinner. I decided to skip into the charity shops on my way, and was pleasantly surprised to spot this red enamel coffee pot up on the top shelf marked "damaged, £3". The only "damage" that I can see it that the hinge is broken, but the lid still fits and its in quite good condition too.

So I came home, gave it a little clean and scrub before popping it in the kitchen next to this pastel blue one, which I bought in Fleetville Vintage Emporium. I really love enamel things, especially for the kitchen, I'd love to start a collection, old enamel bowls, and utensils, jugs and tea pots. I also really love those little enamel candlestick holders you get in lovely colours. I think they make a room feel so cosy!

We have been doing a little bit of re-jigging at the BFs, introducing some pretty glass bits and bobs that I myself have been purchasing. I found this gorgeous vintage glass cake stand in Camden Market and decided it had to come back with me. Luckily the BF says its ok to keep it at his, and all my other junk too! The glass jars are waiting to be filled with sweeties, I am thinking sherbert lemons and strawberry bonbons would look nice.

This lamp is one of those clever touch sensitive ones (honestly, I've never been so impressed with a lamp before!) its nice, but I am thinking it needs jazzing up with some pretty fabric. But then again I am thinking I wont be allowed, it does give off a really lovely cosy light though!

I think cosy is my word of the moment, I have been lighting tea-lights every night, keeping the lamps on to give a lovely glow. This tiffany style lamp is my mums and gives off a really warming light. The clock is Laura Ashley but found in a charity shop! I like that it has a retro kind of look. Thats always what I'm looking for when I buy things for home, or the BFs. Retro/vintage style items that create the look I love, but on a budget!

Also keeping me cosy is a nice big mug of tea (in a Union Jack mug of course), a naughty little treat (I love Tunnocks products, so nostalgic and sooo yummy!)

The little tea plate is "on loan" I took something home on it from a tea party, and am slightly dragging my heels about actually giving it back! Its so cute and yellow!

I hope you have been keeping yourself cosy this week :)

Little Things...

2011-10-19T16:43:00.001+01:00

Sometimes its the little things in life that can change your mood, lift you up and make you happy.

These are the little things keeping me happy this week:

Thing 1: This gorgeous Candied Violette lip balm which was a lovely little gift from a friend.

Thing 2: Making and taking notes, planning things for the future, and forming new ideas for decorating.

Thing 3: Doing this using pretty notebooks and pens :)

Thing 4: Seeing my matching Johnsons Brothers jugs matching the wall!

Thing 5: Choosing which pretty little earrings to wear today, I went for pink roses (again!)

Thing 6: Wearing my all time favourite perfume, the bottles are beautiful and the scent makes me happy.

Thing 7: Being inspired to bake at home, well, if these vintage scales don't inspire me what will!?

Thing 8: Enjoying said baking, on a sweet little plate with a cup of tea :)

What has been making you happy this week?

Fashion For Fall

2011-10-01T12:26:00.001+01:00

As you will know if you are a regular reader of my blog, I love cute clothes, and I really LOVE Primark.

These days, I pretty much only buy my clothes from Primark.

Need a pretty dress? A tracksuit? Some tights? Go to Primark. I mean, the prices are amazing, the quality has increased dramatically since I first started shopping there, and more importantly the items are totally gorgeous and on trend. By the way, this isn't a sponsored post, I just LOVE Primark and I tell anyone who will listen about it! I think its perfect for someone like me who doesn't have a huge budget for clothes, yet wants to keep up with the latest looks.

Anyway, I was in Primark at the weekend in Watford and I made two little purchases for my Autumn/Fall wardrobe. I loved the scalloped peter pan collar on this blouse and it also has scalloped edged sleeve cuffs too. Its sweet enough to wear dressed up or down, smart or casual and it goes really nicely with the rust coloured lace skirt I picked up. The skirt also came with the snakeskin style belt that you can see in the photos.

The skirt is a little bit long for me so I need to take it up just a bit for it to sit in the right place, but the colour and fabric was so lovely I couldn't resist! I'd genuinely love to hear what you think about Primark, do you shop there? Hate it? Love it?

With the above items I shall be wearing...

Black tights with these smart brown loafers, and swinging my floral satchel bag (both *ahem* Primark)

Small peach rose earrings - still in love with my rose earrings (nine months since this post!) and wear a pair of them daily. Need more colours though, as some of them have broken :(

I shall be painting my nails using one of these gorgeous colours, I currently have the one on the left on my fingernails and the middle one on my toenails. They were 99p each - yes just 99p from Tesco and are fab quality - four days in and only minor chipping!!

So what do you think of my outfit, and more importantly of Primark?

Do tell!

x gem x

Finding...And Keeping

2011-09-30T11:11:00.001+01:00

Just a couple of little thrifty finds to share with you today, I have not been in the charity shops much lately (I am missing them!) but I have still managed to bring home a pretty bit of china or two!

Firstly is this gorgeous little green glass jug, the size and shape is perfect and it has become my new favourite jug of the moment! It looks really sweet displayed next to this big Meakin Utility China jug which I got a while ago.

It has no makers mark, but it looks quite old to me, and art deco in shape. I'd love to find some in other colours as I really like coloured glass, and there is lots of it about to be found. I could see it becoming a new collection hobby of mine!

Last weekend I went to the Joy of Vintage Fair in Watford, which was lovely, although a little smaller than I had imagined it would be. Luckily there was a lovely stall which was selling my kind of pretties; floral and utility china, fabric and handmade goodies. I spotted this beautiful 'Greendawn' coffee pot and was expecting it to be really over priced, but it was £6 and in perfect condition so I went ahead and bought it. My mum was also standing next to me admiring a set of yellow 'Petalwear' plates, so we decided to get those too as they were only £4 for four plates.

I do like finding a piece of utility china in charity shops and think the thrill of the treasure hunting is great, but it is also rather nice when someone has done the hard work already and found those lovely things for you, and even better - will sell them to you at a reasonable price too!

What finds have you been keeping this week?

I really love to know what my readers have been up to, so please do let me know in the comments!

x gem x

Loving the Bake Off

2011-09-29T13:51:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you, but I am loving The Great British Bake Off on BBC2, I really enjoyed the first series too, but I think this years bakes have been even more impressive.

So imagine my joy when I was browsing the books in Tesco and spotted this for only £10! I have the book of the first series, and love it, but I didn't even realise that they had already made the book for this series. If you own the first book you will know how gorgeous it is, and this one is also rather lovely, although its slightly more "technical" as opposed to just recipes.

It contains all of the recipes of the "technical challenges" from this series along with step by step photos, it also has a huge range of recipes, a mix of ones from within the show and some new ones. The pies and tarts look especially interesting.

I'd love to know if you are enjoying the Bake Off and who you think will win/should win! Personally I would like Jo to win, but I think Holly will. Your thoughts please, as I am sure that you bloggers are watching it, why wouldn't you? Its major eye candy!!

So yes, that was a little gift to myself this week, along with a little bunch of flowers, also from good old Tesco, I find that their flowers really do last well. I am really enjoying the colours of these carnations and roses, the peachy orange is so pretty and a nice autumnal colour too. I have kept my personal promise of buying myself flowers regularly. Surprisingly, the other week the BF said "I thought about buying you some flowers the other day" (he didn't buy them, but the fact that he's "thinking about it" is better than nothing, no?

I'll keep you posted on the flower situation, I just know you are all on the edge of your seats!

x gem x

An Unexpected Break

2011-09-28T20:51:00.001+01:00

I must apologise for my little unexpected blogging break these last few weeks (not sure if anyone noticed or not!) but I have been super busy with work that although I have been taking lots of photos, I've not found time to sit and upload and type all at the same time, until today.

So I have lots of bits and bobs to catch up on, firstly we have had two family birthdays this month which meant that I have been doing a spot of baking at home (I bake all day at work, so home baking can sometimes feel like a bit of a chore, but once I get started I do always love it).

Firstly for my dads birthday I picked a coffee sponge cake which in the past has always been a bit of a failure, but I found a really good recipe and I was really chuffed with it, especially the icing.

As with all family birthdays we have a little tea party after dinner where we do the cake and candles and drink tea using my Utility China. Always nice to see it all being used and enjoyed rather than hidden away don't you think?

The recipe I used for the coffee cake was passed on to me via a bloggy friend of mine, and worked perfectly! I am a huge fan of coffee cake, I would say its my second favourite after chocolate of course, and I am so pleased to discover that I can actually make a good one.

The week after was my sisters birthday, and I wanted to do something a little bit fancy for her, so I decided to make a 4 tiered chocolate and vanilla cake with two different icings...

I just sort of made it up as I went along, I made one vanilla sponge and one chocolate sponge, and then cut both in half. Then I made a chocolate buttercream icing, and used a ready made "chocolate cake covering" icing for the other. I layered it up with alternate sponge and alternate icing and decorated it with buttons (always a cake decorating favourite of mine!)

As it was her 20th I bought these cute number candles, which was an awful lot easier than 20 individual candles! The cake was ok, a little bit rich for my liking, but she seemed to enjoy it, I think I underestimated how much bigger a four tiered cake would be, but it was rather pretty to look at.

Again, cake was enjoyed with a cup of tea from the pastel blue teapot and we each had a dainty floral teacup for our tea. After making these two cakes I definately feel much more confident about my icing, at work I deliberately shy away from things that have complicated icing, but I think I should challenge myself more and attempt something even fancier for my next family birthday cake.

Inbetween baking the cakes I also found time to rustle up some cinnamon oat and raisin cookies that I make using Lucy's recipe, I just add a teaspoon of cinnamon, cos I love it!

Delicious, moreish and so dainty that you can have two at a time without feeling guilty, and well, the use of oats and raisins make them practically a health food!!

What have you been baking lately?

Anything I should try for my more complicated birthday cake?

x gem x

My Week

2011-09-10T11:42:00.000+01:00

This week I have:

Painted my nails both of these Barry M colours

(peach and brown for autumn)

Organised my wardrobe and pulled out a few of my favourite things to photograph

(L-R: cardigan Tesco, blouse Primark, lace skirt H&M via charity shop and peach skirt H&M)

Moved some of my utility china to this shelf because it matched this frame

(and because some things are too pretty to hide away)

Worn a scarf :: because its cold you know!

(and for the fact that its pretty too)

Hung vintage plates with my mum in the living room

(a mix of yellow, pink and green - patterned and plain)

Made and eaten a gorgeous raspberry pavlova

(I had seconds!)

Can't tell you how good this was...

What have you done this week?

Doing Up The Bathroom

2011-09-09T14:29:00.000+01:00

I've been doing a spot of decorating with the BF at his flat and thought you might like to see what we've been doing. If I'm honest, the BFs bathroom was pretty ugly when he moved in. Sadly, when we first decorated we chose to accentuate the ugliness with a bad choice of paint colours and it never really worked or looked nice and it always felt dull.

As I had some time off we decided to paint the whole room cream which made such a difference, now it feels bright and clean and also a lot warmer than the blue we had initially.

After two coats of paint it was finished and that meant that we could put up shelves and I could play with pretty things. We took down these IKEA shelves from the living room and moved them in here as they never really looked that great in the living room and we didn't know what to put on them

The fun part was choosing what things to put on the shelves to make it look interesting and more homey.

We decided to prop a couple of signs up that had previously been on the wall, and I added the cream jug and vintage milk bottles which we bought in Norfolk. I bought a £1 bunch of fake flowers from Poundland and cut them into individual stems which I then popped in the milk bottles.

The lanterns were just hovering about in the living room too, and were never used, but now they will get used while I have my relaxing bubble bath! The soap bowl contains soaps and bath fizzers and I added the vintage style 'Fleurs' bottle that I bought in BHS for next to nothing.

The shelf above has another milk bottle and Home Sweet Home sign, which looks much better in here than it did in the hallway. The small glass jar was found in a charity shop, and the large IKEA one has cotton ear buds in it.

All in all it feels so much lighter and dare I say prettier too. The only thing I would like to add is a few more jars, maybe with things like cotton wools and soaps in. I spotted these gorgeous jars on the Love From Poppy blog and am in love! Sadly I have no B&Ms near me :(

Hope you enjoyed a look at the bathroom, I think it might just be my favourite new room.

What do you think?

This Weeks Finds

2011-09-08T14:09:00.003+01:00

Thank you for the lovely comments over the last few posts, and for the brownie reicpes too! I will be checking them all out and choosing the best one to trial out as soon as I can!

I must also say a huge thank you to everyone who follows and reads and comments on my blog, I have just noticed I have reached an amazing 400 followers and I am soooo chuffed :) thank you so much for following me and my little blog. I really feel these days that the blog is "me" and I am still really enjoying my blogging and reading all of your wonderful blogs too. I must organise a giveaway soon I think, its been far too long since I did one. I will be on the look out for things to add to my giveaway over the next week or so, so do pop back!

Now I'll be the first to admit that the last couple of weeks have been pretty slow on the old thrifting front.

Slim pickings indeed. But rather pleasingly things seem to be on the up this week as I have found some nice little bits to take home with me.

Firstly these plastic measuring cups, I spotted them as soon as I walked into the charity shop, and picked them up, then theres that awkward thing where you don't want to put them down incase someone else grabs them, but you also haven't looked around the rest of the shop yet and you need two hands to do that. Its almost as if you should have a shopping basket when you go in to protect your "stuff" from being snatched!

I decided to look round one handedly to avoid the risk of them being picked up by someone else, tell me you do this too and its not just me?

I didn't find anything else that took my fancy (or more like I couldn't rummage properly) so I made my way to the till and paid my £2.50 and skipped out happily.

On closer inspection I realised they are from M&S and are probably unused too, bonus!

I looked in a few other shops but nothing to be found, until I reached the last shop (this one is usually the one which never has anything nice in) and I spotted these cups and saucers. Only there was a woman standing right in front of them eyeing them up. I knew they were Johnsons Brothers because of the shape of them, so I had to stand there patiently looking at the other tat trying not to look interested in the cups and saucers.

Then she moved. And I moved. I grabbed.

And I ran to the till!

Hoooray!! They were mine all mine!

Three pastel blue Johnsons Brothers Greydawn cups and saucers for £2.99.

I gave them a go through the dishwasher to clean them up as they were pretty grubby, but when they came out they sparkled like new...

I'd love to know how you behave in charity shops, if its just me that feels awkward holding things around the shop or waiting for people to move. I mean its not like a normal shop where there is more than one of each item. Its now or never!

What kind of charity shopper are you?

Keep Those Flowers Coming

2011-09-07T13:50:00.001+01:00

I just wanted to show quickly, that I have been keeping up with my idea to buy myself flowers on a regular basis, and of course flowers make a blog a better place to visit don't they?

Still no luck with the "getting ones other half to buy one flowers" but hey at least if I buy them myself I get the good ones eh?

I am keeping them in my room and they are definately cheering the place up a bit, adding some colour and prettiness too.

They are also inspiring my choice of nail varnish colour (pink) and accessories too (rosey rings)

Although freesias are my favourite flower - I just love the scent of them - these roses and carnations are doing just as good a job and smell lovely.

Go on, why not buy yourself some flowers today?

You deserve it!

Tea and Cake and Other Not So Good Goodies

2011-09-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Sorry I've not posted in a while, I got a little tiny bit obsessed with Pinterest last week and sort of forgot to blog...oops! Must keep the balance better!

But I have been enjoying my time off from work and doing some baking and rather a lot of eating said baking, and other non baked goodies. Like these little millionaire shortbreads which are from Weight Watchers, which means of course, you can have two at a time!

I've been enjoying this Jasmine Green Tea from M&S, its really light and fragrant, and if you are not a huge fan of plain green tea I think this is much nicer and easier to drink. The packaging is also rather pretty I thought. See now that I have all this utility china I have been making sure to get it out and use it, especially the tea pot, which is not only saving on tea bags but just makes everything so much more "proper" I think. Sipping tea from a little tea cup is also rather dainty unlike a big mug - which I do still like to use, just not in the afternoon! I'm sure this all makes sense to you...

Also, the fact that its green tea makes up for the fact I'm having two shortbreads :) yeah, it does, I looked it up and everything.

I made a Victoria Sponge for my sister who has just come back from a holiday, and she loves cake, so I made her this classic. I also used my home made strawberry jam for the centre which was lovely, although it was a little bit runny.

Within five minutes of taking this photo most of the jam had dripped down the side all the way around the cake! But thats home made for you! It was still rather nice, if I do say so myself.

The next thing I tried my hand at baking was some brownies. I never make brownies at home, I never make anything that involves using a bar of chocolate, because lets face it, the chocolate disappears before I have a chance to make anything with it. If I left a bar of chocolate in my baking cupboard for spontaneous brownies, there would be no chance! So to make these brownies I had to go shopping, and I also bought some extras to add to the mix...

Fudge chunks and walnut halves. The fudge turned out to be a very big mistake as I'll explain further on...

I chose a recipe from an M&S chocolate baking book, it seems simple enough and I have all the ingredients needed for it now.

and some ingredients that I definately don't need..

By the way, how cute are these little bowls, they are such a sweet size for snacks or weighing my baking things out. They are from Dunelm Mill if you were wondering.

I love the colours, naturally.

Ok, so I made my brownies...I added the fudge chunks despite them not being in the recipe itself I thought I could just throw them in. Well no. What happened was they somehow destroyed the mix and produced rock hard brownies that were almost impossible to cut let alone eat. I think when they melted they must have formed some sort of hard shell around the tin. Disaster.

So I managed to cut a piece, plonk it on the plate for this photo, and well, lets just say I had to microwave it to soften it to actually be able to eat it. And it wasn't even that nice inside either :( so I am appealing to all my fellow bloggers for a simple, easy and fail safe chocolate brownie recipe. Please help me, or I think I will be put off for life!

Fruit Picking

2011-08-26T12:51:00.002+01:00

Up until recently, fruit picking was one of those things that I never really thought I'd get to do while I lived in London, just something that other people, who lived in the countryside got to do and that I'd probably never get a chance to do. Until I found Parkside Farm, its local, its easy to get to, and it was voted best PYO Farm 2011. We went last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, and on Friday I got to go again. Luckily the weather was gorgeous, and we spent a good couple of hours picking.

I picked a huge amount of strawberries because I wanted to make jam - some for us and some for gifts - I'm thinking ahead to that 'C' word! We also picked a smaller amount of raspberries, sweet corn and runner beans which have all been eaten and were delicious.

It took three batches in my largest pot to make about eleven jars of jam. I'd say the last batch made was the best, because jam making really is something that takes a lot of practice to master. Not that I am in any way a 'master' but I think I got my timings better with the third batch.

I bought a set of IKEA spice jars ages ago thinking that they would make great sized gift jars for jam, and they worked really well. They are cute, but not stupidly small, and you can get a nice amount in the jar too. I covered the tops with red gingham to match the Bonne Maman jars I used for the rest of the jam. There is just something so lovely about the Bonne Maman jars, there is no way you can throw them away is there? They are just too nice!

I used my ever handy Cath Kidston labels to pretty up the jars and have also labeled them with the batch number so I know which ones are from the best batches- just have to decide whether to give those ones away or to keep them for us! Is that bad of me?

I also filled the little china jam jar with the remaining jam for us to use straight away and have popped it in the fridge. The last little bowl of strawberries got eaten but I thought they looked so cute in this tiny rose pyrex dish I almost didn't want to eat them!

A couple of jars have already been pinched as you can see, but I have a nice little stash to share out...

Or maybe just eat all by myself!

Mmmmmmm!

I see a Victoria Sponge on the horizon!

The Rose Quilt

2011-08-25T11:18:00.000+01:00

Over a year and a half ago, I started this quilt. I chose the fabrics, cut out all the pieces and sewed the quilt top all in one day. Then I went out and bought the wadding needed to turn it into a quilt. I had the backing fabric chosen. All I needed to do was put it together. Sadly that took me a heck of a long time.

Last week I dug it out, laid it all on the floor and sewed it up like a mad woman. Mad because I seemed to have this feeling that I needed to really rush through it and get it done, because I wanted it finished! Just like the bunting that I finished, I also managed to complete this in an afternoon, so I can't understand why I put it off for soooo long. Luckily I still liked it (you know sometimes how you end up hating things that you put off?) and I am so pleased its finished.

Its a mix of Tanya Whelan and Ikea Rosali fabrics, and it has a proper layout (unlike my first and second quilts) and it looks like it was actually planned rather than thrown together. I backed it in the same rosali fabric as its so pretty and I also have the bedspread to match if I want to go completely over the top with it! The way I quilted it was different to before in that I sewed the front and back of the quilt together on three sides, turned it the right way round and then placed the wadding in the middle - kind of like putting a duvet cover on really, and oh my goodness how simple it made the quilting No layers sliding about, no need for hundreds of safety pins, just easy, fast quilting. Also, no need to use that fiddly bias binding - hooray!

Its not perfect, but its finished, and I'm naming this one

The Rose Quilt

If it hadn't been for my blog, or the incredibly inspiring people I've "met" online I would have never have thought I could have made something like this. To make a quilt from scratch and see it sitting on my bed makes me very happy and I am in awe at some of the incredibly complex quilting that so many people do. I know mine is simple, but I hope that it will be one of those things that will stay in the family and be treasured for years to come. The confidence I have in myself to be able to do these things all comes from being a part of this wonderful online community of lovely people who inspire me daily.

Sorry to sound gushy, but I just thought about it, and realised that I am really grateful to every one that comments and reads my blog, and lucky to have such brilliant blogs to follow and keep me inspired!

Talking of inspired...its almost as if these beauties were meant to be in the same room don't you think?

P.S I am now on Pinterest and totally hooked, are you on it? If so you can find me here.

Blueberry and Lime Drizzle

2011-08-24T17:38:00.000+01:00

I really love baking at home, especially cakes and sweet things, but there is a bit of a problem when it comes to blogging about it which is that I don't make the most attractive looking cakes. Meaning that I very rarely make cupcakes, brownies or anything like that, and I almost never ice a cake. I think I just don't like making icing, I've had a lot of icing fails before, so I tend to chose things like victoria sponge, or chocolate marble cake, or cakes with fruit in them, as there is no need to ice!

But this is one of my favourite cakes to eat, and it is kinda pretty, so I thought I'd share the recipe here for you to try should you wish to do so :)

Blueberry and Lime Drizzle Cake

Ingredients:

225g softened butter

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g self raising flour

grate zest and juice of 2 limes

25g ground almonds

150g blueberries (raspberries also work well, or a mix of the two)

For the drizzle:

grated zest and juice of 1 lime

140g icing sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (if using a fan oven)

Line a 20cm square cake tin (or a 20cm round tin with deep sides) with baking paper.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar, then beat in eggs and add the flour.

Zest the two limes and add to the cake mix.

Juice the limes, but only add 4 tablespoons of the juice to the cake mix and leave the rest for the drizzle.

Add the ground almonds to the cake mix, and finally fold in 2/3rds of the blueberries.

Pour the mix into the tin and smooth the top with a spoon or spatula.

Sprinkle the remaining fruit over the cake and place in the oven for 45 mins.

After 45 mins check the cake with a skewer, and if it needs longer, cover the cake with foil and cook for another 10 mins until it is firm.

While the cake is cooking prepare the drizzle.

Zest and juice the last lime and place in a small saucepan with the saved juice from the other two limes.

Add 140g of icing sugar and heat until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear.

Once your cake is out of the oven, leave it in the tin and pierce all over with a cake skewer/knife/toothpick and then pour the drizzle over the top.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin before removing.

Display your cake proudly and enjoy a hefty slice with a cuppa "just to check" its safe for consumption!

If you are a fan of lemon drizzles and fruity cakes I think you'll enjoy this, it has a subtle zing without being too sharp, and the blueberries add colour and sweetness too.

If you do make it I'd love to know, and to see it.

P.S the cake tin size is a bit of a pain, but I think these would also work well as muffins too.

Flying My Flags

2011-08-23T17:37:00.000+01:00

It seems like absolutely ages ago I started making some bunting for myself, I cut out the flags and then left them sitting unloved in my sewing bag for weeks, then I managed to find the time to sew the flags together. Then the double sided flags made their way back into the bag awaiting some binding.

So a few weeks ago, I decided I should just go and buy some binding and get it finished. I went for pink binding - of course - and found a spare hour to sew my flags onto the binding. Once it was done I couldn't believe how long I had dragged it our for, I mean just a simple string of bunting for myself, but for some reason I hadn't found the motivation to finish it. Don't you just hate that? When you've started a project and then it falls by the wayside. And it feels so good to actually complete something, to hold it in your hands, use it and display it as it was intended.

I knew I wanted to hang this along by my bed, so I chose colours that would go with my bedding (were talking floral here people!) the other day I had a little fiddle around with it, and I think it looks really pretty. I've used some of my favourite (and most precious) Tanya Whelan fabrics as I know I'll get to look at them and appreciate them everyday. I think it looks quite cute - what do you think?

I'm just glad I managed to finish it and get it on the wall. This is also one of the few sewing projects I've done lately, I just don't have that crazy sewing mojo I used to have, but I am enjoying making things on a smaller scale for myself and I am sure I will also be making for Christmas. I have seen something online which has really inspired me to sew again, so I am looking forward to starting a new project soon.

Do you have a project that you just can't seem to finish?

Maybe I should start a club for people with unfinished projects! I bet there is a lot of us.

Weekly Treats

2011-08-22T15:21:00.001+01:00

After my blogging the other week about how I never think to buy any flowers for indoors, and after some of you very cleverly suggested I add them to the weekly shop, I treated myself to a little bunch of pink carnations. I do love the look and smell of fresh flowers at home, but flowers can be pretty expensive, and there is zero chance of getting flowers from the BF. I received a bunch from him once, very early on when we got together, and not a single stem since!

Whats the best way to hint ladies? Any tips for getting flowers without asking!?

Anyway, for £1.50 I went with the carnations and I must say it is lovely walking home clutching a little bunch of flowers, something to pretty up my room.

I popped them in my little blue jug and onto my bedside table. They have made me ridiculously happy this week, and I would say a worthwhile investment, and they have lasted well too. I once read a tip about something you put in the water that helps the flowers last....can't for the life of me think of what it was though, something odd like lemonade or vinegar. Does anyone know?

So that was my weekly treat to myself. I was also given the treat of reviewing some teatowels from www.all-tea-towels.co.uk who stock a huge range of them, in a massive aray of styles. Personally I was drawn to the retro style ones rather than the modern ones, but there is something for everyone!

Because of my love of tea I chose this 'Tea Revives You' red and white one, which I just love. Its really bold and the saying is so nostalgic. The other one I chose was a Tunnock's Teacake wrapper print, which I chose, surprisingly enough because I also love these! I must just say thank you to Al, who runs the business for letting me chose these lovely teatowels.

Tea and a Teacake!

So the review, well I gave them a wash after taking these photos as I think they dry better once washed, and they have come out absolutely fine, no colour running or fading, and I have used them in the kitchen for drying up and they are doing a great job!

What treats have you had this week?

Happy Days

2011-08-17T22:21:00.000+01:00

Things that are making me happy today::

Eating yummy fruity snacks and enjoying a very "cool" book...

(nectarines and kiwis - a perfect match)

Organising my recipe folder...and faffing with pretty things...

(who doesn't love playing with china?)

Reading The Hummingbird Bakery book and spotting this colour match...

(I really must make some of these brownies too)

Admiring them as they grow...

(and trying to keep them strong)

Taking some time to do some pampering in the bathroom...

(Soap and Glory products are my absolute favourite)

Summer fruits in a bowl...

(having them in a Utility China bowl makes it even better)

Finding this beautiful vintage style bottle for £1.00...

(reduced in the BHS sale with lots of other lovelies)

Being in the sunshine and enjoying every minute of it...

(and figuring out how to actually wear this crochet waistcoat thing)

Snuggling with this little man...so cheeky!

(this is what he does all day long, when he's not playing outside)

What is making you happy today?

(I'd love to know)

A Date With The Beach

2011-08-16T12:37:00.003+01:00

If you've been reading my blog for a while you might have read about my trip to Norfolk in April, which was lovely, and I have since had a longing to go back. Luckily for me, I managed to hop on a train with a friend last week to go and stay in the same lovely house as before, but this time we were with the owner, which meant we were off to the beach!

This is her gorgeous beach hut, which I posted about before, and which makes life soooo much easier if you are by the sea. Chairs, tables, blankets (if it gets a little chilly), kettle and just about everything you need can be stored in here!

Although it doesn't look particularly hot in these photos, believe me it was boiling the day we spent at the beach - I got sunburnt - silly Gem!

Inside the beach hut....

Enjoying the sun and reading some magazines...

This is Sheringham beach, which is really lovely when the tide is out, I wasn't quite up for swimming though, but I should have paddled at least.

We enjoyed a lovely al fresco lunch - ahem and some chilled rose.

I picked up a little souvenir to take home with me ::

A print of an old train poster. I really love the old fashioned imagery and am so pleased I got it.

Next time I really must stay longer, its sooo lovely in Norfolk.

Making Rocky Road

2011-08-15T11:50:00.001+01:00

I was thinking to myself the other day that it was probably about time for me to do some baking, seeing as it is in my header at the top of this page, and claims to be one of the things my blog is about. So to ease myself in gently...I've not baked at home for months - shocking I know, but I was getting too cake happy what with the cakes I bring home from work too, so I stopped.

But I have some time off at the moment, and I decided to make some Rocky Road squares yesterday.

I don't put raisins or cherries (or any dried fruit for that matter) as we have fussy people living here who just wont eat them, and then it'll mean that I have to eat them all, and that is just not good for the waistline - good for the tummy though!

So my ingredients consist of some smashed up digestive biscuits - just broken up roughly, some mini marshmallows (because look how cute they are - how could you resist!?) and some maltesers, which is an idea that I stole from Vanessa at Coco Rose Diaries (thanks Vanessa!)

I just line a shallow baking tin and then chuck it all in, although you probably are not supposed to do it quite like this, I was being lazy though, and it worked just fine...

Personally I would have loved some raisins thrown in, but selflessly thinking of others, I left them out.

Then comes the chocolate, which is a mix of milk chocolate, unsalted butter and a few squirts of golden syrup melted down together. I scattered some extra marshmallows and maltesers over the top just to make it look pretty.

Popped them in the fridge for a couple of hours, whilst I happily decanted some of my smaller baking ingredients into these little Bonne Maman jars, you know the type - chocolate chips, fudge chunks and mini marshmallows!

Slice, and enjoy a square with a nice big mug of hot tea.

Mmmmmmmmmm...

Little crunchy, chewy, fudgy squares of loveliness!

P.S: What do you put in your Rocky Roads? Anything I should try?

Seven Facts About Me

2011-08-14T11:18:00.001+01:00

A very big thank you to Tales From Cuckoo Land for passing on the 'Versatile Blogger' award to me, the rules of the award are that you must list seven facts about yourself, so here goes....

1. I don't drink coffee at home, only English Breakfast, or sometimes Jasmine Green tea. But if I go out somewhere and order a hot drink I always order a coffee, or more specifically I go for a latte. I make coffee all day at work, so I think thats why I don't like drinking my own coffee, I like someone else to make it for me! Tastes better that way!

2. These days I only buy two magazines a month, I have completely curbed my house magazine addiction thanks to all the lovely blogs I read. I don't buy crafting magazines as they are far too expensive in my opinion, especially the Mollie Makes magazine. Beautiful it may be, but £5 for a magazine is pretty steep considering most of it can be found online for free. (Yikes, mini rant there!) I now only buy Prima and Essentials as they are full of things I actually sit down and read cover to cover, and I love the recipes, tips and the styling too.

3. I am guilty of buying shoes and never wearing them. When I buy them they seem to fit fine but a day actually walking in them they seem too tight!? I don't spend a lot of money on my shoes though - they are all mostly from Primark, so I pass them onto my sister who has slightly smaller feet.

4. I don't eat doughnuts, I just don't like the taste or the texture and they have always left a horrible taste in my mouth after eating them. Does anyone else dislike doughnuts or am I a freak?

5. I once accidentally threw my 16th birthday present over a brick wall. It was a beautiful silver charm bracelet that I was wearing while clearing up the garden. At the end of the garden is a high brick wall with bushes and nettles behind it. I was gutted, it was lost for a good year or two and my lovely mum bought a replacement for me. A few years later my neighbour went over the wall to find a lost football and found my bracelet! Its practically a jungle over there so I never expected to see it again, but I am so chuffed that I got it back, although now I have two!

6. I lived in Ireland for a year when I was 10-11. We lived in Cork and rented a little bungalow. I went after finishing Year 6 at Primary School in England, and then entered school in Ireland in Year 6 again as the ages are different, so technically I did Year 6 twice and never did Year 7.

7. I lost a day of my life once. Yes, I crossed the international date line on a flight to Fiji and lost a whole day. I think it was April 16th or something. I actually felt quite cheated! I mean imagine if that was your birthday!

So those are my seven random facts, and they really are quite random. Would love to know if anyone agrees on the magazine, coffee and doughnut thing? Or if I'm just a freak.

I wont pass the award on to anyone specifically, but if you'd like to list 7 facts of your own please do go ahead, I love reading things like this, I think it reveals a bit more of the bloggers personality too.

Home From Home

2011-08-13T11:58:00.001+01:00

Last month I finally finished the bunting I made for my room, and I also finished this "manly" bunting for the kitchen at the BFs. Of course I didn't ask if he actually wanted any bunting hanging in his already very-full up-with-stuff-gemma-has-bought kitchen.

So I made it anyway, and he let me put it up - well he put it up for me, I couldn't hammer straight!

Its only in one tiny tiny tiny corner, and its "manly", so its totally fine...

All of this...all totally fine...

Its that nice "just do whatever you want to the kitchen" attitude that I love about him!

Mr. New Enamel Teapot pride of place...

Then I bought this teatowel.

"Yes, you can put that in the kitchen, its ok, kinda retro"

And this one:

"No, take it home, its purple and it has hearts and its just too girlie"

Hmm I guess he has a point ;)

Shades Of Pink

2011-08-12T12:46:00.000+01:00

Just some snippets of pink from my day today:

My snack bowl of granola and yoghurt with honey...mmm

My Lovely perfume and Lavender hand cream.

Sipping tea in my new china tea cup.

My finally finished bunting for my room - yet to be hung up.

My vintage floral pillowcase (50p, carboot) and little stripey bear.

My notebook full of notes and ideas and my new book 'Meet Me At The Cupcake Cafe'

Whats pink in your world?

My Vintage Purchases

2011-08-11T12:26:00.001+01:00

As promised I thought I'd show you my purchases from the Vintage Emporium. I bought four things, and the smallest and sparkliest of them was this brooch.

I've never seen anything like this before, I thought it looked quite unusual, the blue floral part looks like it could be new, but the gold framework looks old. It says "Hollywood" on the back, which I thought sounded rather glamorous! If anyone has anything similar or knows about these types of brooches I'd love to know more.

I didn't spot this teacup and saucer on the first go round, but second time I saw it in a cabinet area, and I thought it might be quite expensive, being locked in a cabinet and all, but I asked and the nice man opened the cabinet for me to see the price: £3.50.

I was expecting at least £12 considering the condition and how dainty it is. The outside is a beautiful pastel pink and there is a sweet little rose sprig on the inside of the cup.

I don't need to tell you that I clutched onto this for dear life on my way to the counter!

I picked up the yellow side plate too as I thought it went well with the cup and saucer, and that actually both of them would match with my Utility China collection.

I think this could be the start of a new type of collection : pastel and floral china.

Sounds like a plan.

Lastly, this big old enamel teapot was £4, I bought it for the BFs kitchen - I know, nice of me wasn't it?

He likes old retro stuff, and not a flower in sight!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my goodies, I wonder did you spot anything on the shelves in my last post that you'd have bought?

Fancy Going Vintage Shopping?

2011-08-10T11:51:00.000+01:00

I though you might! ;)

As I mentioned yesterday I was going somewhere exciting, and that place was the Fleetville Vintage Emporium in St. Albans, but this time I remembered my camera and I happily snapped away the whole time - thinking of my lovely readers!

The shop is split into two parts, the front entrance and the back warehouse. These first lot are from the warehouse at the back as thats where the parking area is, if you were thinking of going.

They are divided up into small booths which are all owned by different vintage sellers, so the type and age of stock varies from booth to booth, and keeps the prices competitive and also keeps it looking interesting and eclectic.

You can literally pick up anything from vintage mirrors to cutlery...

There is a mix of old and newer items as well as some handmade items, which is a nice mix.

If you enter through the front, you can also enjoy something yummy at the Tea For Two cafe, which is what we did. This little seating area is outside and is lovely and cosy.

As it was hot we chose to sit outside which was very pretty.

We ordered tea and sandwiches which came in this gorgeous china. Miss-matched, but very pretty indeed, especially that pink tea cup!

Back inside we continued browsing, which to be honest takes an awfully long time as there is just so much to look at and to rummage for!

So its not a beautifully organised store, its messy, but its full of treasure and if you have the patience to shop like this you can find some real bargains, although honestly nothing is ridiculously priced and is all rather reasonable. It helps that the sellers are all competing under the one roof too.

I loved this hamper full of china...so pretty.

Oh and this rose jug and glasses set, perfect for summer evening drinks - Pimms anyone?

Trust me, if you are anywhere near the area - go here! You will love it.

Having been here a few times now I like to work my way around, looking at everything carefully without making any decisions about what I would like to buy. Once I have gone round once I go round for a second time (there is always something you will miss first time anyway!) and then start to pick up the items that I'm going to purchase. This gives me time to make sure I am not just rushing round picking things up without thinking.

So these photos are just a fraction of whats actually there, but I hope it gives you a good idea of the Emporium, and I hope that you'll take a little visit there too! If you do go, please let me know, I'd love to hear about it.

I did spend a few pennies and I will show you my purchases tomorrow.

Pop back wont you?

When The Sun Shines

2011-08-09T21:50:00.000+01:00

Living in England, the weather is always on topic. Will it rain? Do I need a coat? Another layer?

So when the sun shines, and its guaranteed to keep shining for the rest of that day - you have to make the most of it, because it will probably be raining the very next day. I am usually reluctant to go bare legged unless it is a boiling hot day or I am on holiday abroad, but the other day it looked so lovely outside that I decided to brave it with this outfit!

My peachy H&M skirt got another outing, its such a comfy skirt and heavy enough to not have to worry about the dreaded gust of wind blowing your skirt up and revealing your knickers! Thats probably my number one worry when going bare legged!

I wore it with this mint green Primark top from a few years ago, which goes really nicely with the skirt, and I swapped back to the *ahem* genuine Cath Kidston handbag, because it felt more summery, and summery is what you need when the sun is shining!

I wore the pink swallow brooch too, which people always seem to comment on, its something a bit different too, and has that lovely vintage bakelite feel to it.

I also wore one of my rose rings, which are probably my favourite type of accessory to pretty up an outfit. I love the collections owned by these lovely ladies Vanessa at Coco Rose Diary here and Lisa at Bobo Bun here. Go have a peek if you are not familiar with these blogs, they are gorgeous!

Oh did you notice those? Those are my actual real nails which I have been growing for the last couple of months, because if you've read my blog before you might have noticed I've mentioned that I bite my nails (well, past tense now really) once or twice. So I am very pleased with myself for keeping them looking nice. Perhaps slighly over co-ordinated with the blouse though?

I always forget how pretty this blouse is, I especially like the button up front with the floral frills.

And here we have...Yikes! Some bare legs!

I just wore some simple cheap old gladiator sandals - need to slap a bit of tanning lotion on here though!

Just time for a little tiny cup of tea before I went somewhere rather exciting!

More tomorrow x

Pretty and Practical : Jugs

2011-08-02T14:38:00.000+01:00

I was lucky enough to be given some gorgeous flowers over the weekend and have really enjoyed displaying them in a few of my favourite jugs.

I am not a person who usually buys flowers, at least not for myself. I do LOVE receiving them, and enjoy seeing them blossom at home.

So for the purple and white stocks I picked the large pastel blue enamel jug that I bought from the Fleetville Vintage Emporium - which I am revisiting tomorrow by the way, and I WILL remember to bring my camera this time!

For these little - um, daisy type flowers (I am rubbish with flower names, so if someone wants to tell me the correct name for these I will add it in!) I picked the other jug that I got at Fleetville, which my sister actually dropped and the handle broke, but I managed to superglue it back together - phew!

These little pink flowers went in this Johnsons Bros Rosedawn jug and are now sitting prettily on the windowsill in the kitchen now.

I also took a few of them into my room and popped them in this teacup, it is one I bought around Christmas time with the idea of giving it as a gift filled with homemade chocolates, but I greedily decided it was too nice to give away, so found some different cups and kept this one for me!

Now not only does my room smell beautiful, but I have found a use for a small number of my overall jug collection :) I'd say that completely justifies the fact that I have so many, because, lets face it, they are doing a very important job!

Thanks for agreeing with me guys :)

Vintage at the Southbank

2011-08-01T14:48:00.001+01:00

I am so excited about this post today as I have had such a fab weekend down at the Southbank in London. Vintage at Southbank Centre was definately the place to be this weekend. Full of things to see and do and lots and lots of vintage shopping opportunities in the Vintage Village.

We hopped on the bus from the BFs and got of by the Hayward Gallery. Then we walked along by the river and I was actually amazed at the amount of people down there.

Bunting was strewn up everywhere, as you can see, and there was even a mini beach! Yes, actual sand down by the Thames. We meant to stop and sit "on the beach" but got completely carried away with all the other things to see. By the way, the bunting completely made my day. Just look how lovely it is.

I wore a thrifted lace skirt and pastel pink t-shirt - the leggings were a mistake as I was too hot, but it was actually quite windy, so I needed to protect my modesty if you see what I mean!

Along the Southbank there was also a replica of a Southend garden which was cleverly situated by the fake beach. The old style travel posters were lovely, and there was a rickety boat too.

Admiring some of the landmarks in the sunshine...

Theres that bunting again!

We almost went for some traditional style Fish and Chips but it was actually far too hot for that, so I opted for an ice lolly instead!

Then we came to the "Vintage Village"...

Oh my goodness you would not believe the sheer amount of people crammed in here! There were hundreds of vintage stalls, with clothing, china, furniture, vintage toys, music, and also some vintage style stalls such as Acorn and Will, where I took a ridiculous amount of pictures, and spent an even more ridiculous amount of time looking at all the gorgeous things. Its actually quite strange that I just blogged about Acorn and Will the other day, and here I was standing in their tent on Sunday!

Everything was beautiful at Acorn and Will, definately my favourite tent by far. I loved the way everything was pretty and pastel coloured and girly and floral. The way the items were displayed on (oh my goodness) lovely Utility China.

Thats the BFs hand showing me a mint green birdy brooch - which I just so happened to buy!

To be honest I could have spent soooo much money here. Its all my favourite style things, floral hairclips and earrings, rings and brooches as well as some of the stunning china which was also for sale.

Your not bored of the photos yet are you?

Didn't think so!

Anyway after the excitement of Acorn and Will we turned the corner...

...and came across the 'Pop Up Tearoom'

Which was so so pretty and beautifully laid out. I would have loved to have gone for afternoon tea but it was getting a bit late for that and we had dinner plans :(

The Tearoom was advertising this new range of Crown Vintage paints too which looked lovely, perfect if you are thinking of redecorating! They were serving up beautiful looking cupcakes with a pot of tea too. Look how pretty it was!

After gazing longingly into the Tearoom I had to keep moving and more importantly keep shopping!

The Homes and Antiques stall was really lovely too, with lots of nice looking furniture and cushions.

I loved this tote bag with the slogan

"Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area!"

Gorgeous china tea sets beautifully boxed up for some lucky people to purchase!

More china, yes I loved the china stalls, mostly because I don't have the patience to look through rails of clothing with no prospect of a changing room. I like to try before I buy!

After we'd finished browsing the majority of the shops we walked through the mini fair ground and snapped some photos. The helter skelter was the most impressive ride, the rest were a little bit too young for us! But it was certainly a popular little spot.

I love the old fashioned signs on the ride.

By this time it was about six o'clock and was still boiling hot and the sun still shining.

It was also still completely jam packed full of people, which just goes to show how popular the vintage thing has become. So many people were dressed up in beautiful 50s dresses and to be honest I felt just a little underdressed!

Last stop before we exited the Vintage Village was a "bits and bobs" tent full of funny old ephemera, plastic 50s toys and hair clips, vintage haberdashery items and some gorgeous buttons...

I didn't buy anything here, although I did really love looking at it all. Very pretty stuff and great if you collect vintage packaging.

So we headed back once we had finished looking, and I really didn't want to leave to be honest! I think they should run things like this all the time. It was so popular and I bet it made a rolling trade over the weekend. Its just a shame its not more of a permanent thing because I for one would love to go again!

Oh, forgot to mention the Cath Kidston shop, the Oxfam shop, Benefit and the Batiste salon. I bought two huge Batiste products for £2 each which is half the RRP. Batiste is fab, if like me you get greasy hair, just spray it and go!

So...my goodies...

Well I was quite restrained really. I bought a few little treats and spent under £20 which was really reasonable considering I didn't pay anything to get in, and it was a fantastic day.

I bought this jug, which I have just a moment ago spotted in one of Henhouse's photos! How funny!

Its Utility china but has no makers mark underneath but its really sweet and was very reasonable from Acorn and Wills

From another stall called Serendipity St I bought a gorgeous lavender teacup candle.

This was only £4 and smells completely amazing. Such a bargain!

From another stall I bought this little old fashioned sewing machine charm necklace. Its so sweet and perfect for me I thought, and was only £3! You can't buy anything like that in Accessorize for that price!

I didn't buy anything in Cath, to be honest nothing really shouted out to me, but I did grab me one of their Vintage Southbank booklets!

And lastly, from Acorn and Wills was that lovely mint green bird brooch.

So I am chuffed with my purchases and so pleased that I went. I will definately be checking out what they organise for next year too.

Oh, and the jug...look familiar? Yes it matches this little one I bought months back. I wonder who makes them...any ideas?

Hope you had a fun filled weekend too!

Lots of love

Gemma and the BF :)

The Secret Thief

2011-07-31T12:39:00.001+01:00

I bought this skirt the other weekend from H&M and wanted to wear it to work on Monday, but I was staying at the BFs house and hadn't brought anything appropriate to wear with it apart from some grey leggings. So you know what I did? I stole one of his t-shirts!

And I don't intend to give it back!!!

It just goes too well with the skirt, and if I can pass it off as ladies t-shirt then surely he shouldn't be wearing it at all should he? No, I didn't think so either. I should definately keep it. Yes...I'll keep it.

The wicker bag - if you were wondering, is from Cath Kidston, and came as part of the lovely present I recieved along with this washbag. Its a really great size for throwing things in (I have a lot of crap to lug around you know!) and would be an even better bag to take with you to the beach (all I've gotta do now is just book that imaginary holiday!)

The lining is really pretty, and it comes with a matching little purse too.

Please note the *crap* as mentioned previously was removed for this lining photograph - because I'm good like that.

I wore this rose necklace - a long time favourite and a perfect colour match too.

I also added my bargain £1 black belt from Primark.

I just wanted to also quickly show you this jug, which was gifted, not thrifted.

A very lovely friend gave me this the other day after I had been admiring it for ages. Its a Johsnons Brothers Greydawn piece and is so gorgeous. A perfect size for flowers or just to look pretty.

I hope you are still enjoying hearing about my additions to my Utility China collection it has sort of become second nature to show new things on here. One of these days I might even do an updated complete collection photoshoot - please do let me know if you would like to see it in all its pretty pastel coloured glory and I will do my very best!

I'd love to know :: what are you collecting at the moment?

Rustling Something Up...

2011-07-30T15:22:00.002+01:00

The other evening at the boyfriends house, we decided to make some yummy wraps for dinner.

This was our little spread below...

He wanted chicken, I wanted haloumi (possibly my favourite thing to eat in the world) so we compromised and made both! Not just chicken and haloumi but we threw in some roasted peppers too for good measure, oh and a bit of greenery.

If you can't tell whats what in the photo, the haloumi has the griddle marks and the chicken has a southern fried coating...I just realised its pretty hard to distinguish them from each other.

A squeeze of light mayo...

and enjoy...

We also made some sort of milkshake/smoothie concoction from a ripe banana, strawberries and some apple juice...which meant we got to use our IKEA smoothie glasses for the first time. Anything other than a smoothie in these just wouldn't seem right.

What are you having for dinner tonight?

A Few Of My Favourite Things

2011-07-29T22:20:00.001+01:00

I'm sharing a few of my favourite things today, some little things that make me happy...pretty details from my bedroom...

I still love this clock, I've had it since I was about 10 and my mum bought it for me years ago. Its such an old fashioned style, but that pastel pink colour is just perfect, and even better than that, this is an alarm clock actually wakes me up! I keep it on my bedside.

Along with a rather lovely green provence rose Cath Kidston washbag which was a very generous gift from a couple of lovely ladies. My room is mainly pastel colours with a bit of red florals thrown in for good measure, so it sits looking pretty along with the clock, and it also handily holds some rather boring bits and pieces like moisturiser and deoderant...I thought it was a good place to hide them!

My two favourite nail varnishes of the moment are also on the bedside table. A pastel pink and pale brown, which I am wearing a lot these days, especially on my toes, although it would be kinda nice to break out the sandals again to see them, but the weathers just not playing ball is it!

I also keep this pink swallow bird brooch with the nail varnishes, I bought it from Folksy sometime last year I think, and up until recently had forgotten about it, so when I came across it I put it somewhere that I'd see it and therefore it would get more use, so far, its working. Its a really nice piece to pretty up a cardigan, and I have seen loads of other lovely pastel colours for sale at Acorn and Will, so do go and have a little look there if you'd like a brooch of your own.

Before the bedside the brooch was in this little floral china saucer of goodies - I keep my rings, hair clips, brooches and necklaces in here. The scrabble ring was made for me by the lovely Juli at Pretty Little Jewels, thanks Juli!

Lastly, in the bathroom I have this little enamel dish of Cath Kidston bath stuff. I found the dish at a vintage fair, and amazingly the Cath Kidston stuff was found boxed and unused in a charity shop a few months ago. Of course though, these things are not to actually be used, oh no just for display and to be admired from afar.

Does anyone else do this with nice products? You know, nice soaps that never leave the packaging...things that just sit on display because they are far too nice to be used.

Tell me you do the same!

A Good Hair Day

2011-07-23T21:15:00.000+01:00

So this morning I needed to be at work at 8:30, instead of nine. I usually wash my hair every day as its so fine and can get greasy within a day (I know its supposed to be bad for your hair, but sometimes mine reeeeeeallly needs it!) but today I sacrificed my clean hair for extra time in bed!

Good Move!

As a result I ended running late and just up pulling my hair into this messy side bun, which is now one of my new favourite ways to wear my hair for work.

What do you think?

I added a little bow hair clip to pretty it up and it ended up being a surprisingly good hair day!

So I'm thinking maybe more sleep and hopefully, more good hair days should follow...

Anyway, right now I am sitting and enjoying a lovely cuppa from this china (these are my favourite bits to use daily) and the other day I found a Greydawn plate for £1 in a charity shop, so although my Utility China collecting has slowed down a bit, I am still finding some lovely things for not very much money at all :) Happy Days!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

What are you up to?

Pretties For Pennies

2011-07-16T17:27:00.002+01:00

Its nice when you find something lovely for very little isn't it?

That moment when you decide that this is something you simply must have, kinda like this blouse I found on eBay going for 99p with seconds to spare. I couldn't bid fast enough!!

Its just a nude coloured bow front blouse with a black horse shoe print. Its a Primark blouse, which I guess is why it was priced so low, but I thought it was really lovely and for just 99 tiny pence it was definitely going to be mine!

My other treasure of the week :: this Meakin Glamour Celeste serving dish.

I was in a charity shop that was new to me, and I spotted it in the "back room". It was on a shelf and I couldn't quite tell whether it was what I thought it was, or whether it was plastic. I was hovering by the "threshold" of the back room, trying not to step over the line...wondering whether to ask if I could see it or not, when one of the volunteers walked in and I grabbed my chance.

"Excuse me, could I just have a look at something on that shelf please?"

Now I know it is sort of forbidden to enter the back room, but I went for it, the volunteer said yes, I picked up the dish..yes it was china and yes...it was in good condition. Grubby, but no chips!

I took it out of the room and over to the til to ask how much it was...

"Err, two pounds then"

Yippee!

Lastly, but by no means leastly, I spent one hundred pennies on this beautiful floral china plate the other day... I couldn't leave it on the shelf now could I!?

Today I...

2011-07-15T23:26:00.000+01:00

Here are some snippets from my day today.

Today I...

Strung up the oilcloth bunting I made for my mum. Possibly the simplest bunting I've ever made, just oilcloth cut into triangles then attached to some bias binding. The fabrics match the ones in the kitchen so I strung it up along the window.

Today I...

Wore my hair like this ::

A messy side bun with a pretty vintage looking hairslide.

Today I...

Had some cuddles with this little man and then watched him fall asleep on my bed! The cheek!

Today I...

Made Pitta Pizzas for dinner :)

Just take a pitta bread, spread with tomato puree mixed with a little ketchup, grate some cheese over the top and pop your choice of topping on! I went for yellow peppers and red onion.

Serve with some green beans...yummy, and I'm pretty sure it must be healthier than a pizza?

Tell me I'm right! Am I right?!

What have you done today?

Bake-a-Boo

2011-07-06T23:22:00.000+01:00

If you read my birthday posts last month then you will know that there was one part of my birthday that didn't quite go to plan, and something I was waiting to do. What I was waiting for was a trip to Bake-a-Boo bakeshop and tearoom in West Hampstead.

I planned to go on the afternoon of my birthday but it was completely fully booked and it was chucking it down, so I went home pretty disappointed that it didn't go to plan. So today I had a day off from work, and my mum and I went this afternoon.

The window display is lovely, all the homemade cakes, vintage style sweeties, flowers and china.

Cupcakes! Yum!

Its a really pretty little tearoom, quite small compared to where I work, but just as lovely inside.

I ordered a raspberry cupcake and my mum had Victoria Sponge. Both were really lovely, and a lot of the cakes are gluten and wheat free, so thats handy to know if you have allergies.

Tea was served in pretty miss-matched china, and in a sweet floral teapot.

Pretty isn't it?

I think my cupcake was gluten free, but I just picked it because it looked pretty - and yummy - of course, and it really was!

The tearoom is decorated with paper bunting and some very clever doily bunting too - basically just doilies folded over some string, so not that clever, but I'd never seen it before! I really liked the artwork on the walls too, nice cakey photographs.

There is a big table at the back of the shop, for larger parties, but it is really quite small and very quaint. Even the loo was pink and cute!

They also serve things like crumpets, teacakes, and ice creams, but nothing lunchy - if you were thinking of going for lunch!

Mmmmm

So all in all a lovely afternoon, great tea and delicious cakes in a really pretty and vintage atmosphere.

I thought I'd show you my £5 bargain dress I got the other day, and wore to Bake-a-Boo.

Its navy blue with a pink floral print and a lovely white lacey collar. I think collars like this are so sweet and vintagey.

A little bit house on the prairie maybe?

I wore my pastel pink rose ring and this daisy ball necklace.

Hope you enjoyed the visit to Bake-a-Boo, do check it out if you are in the area, but of course, if you are in the area you should really come to the gorgeous Emporium first! :)

Bag Lady

2011-06-24T21:02:00.000+01:00

So my birthday bag has become my favourite bag of the moment and I have been trying to compliment the bag with my daily outfits. If you've been reading my blog for a while (thank you if you have!), then you'll know that I like to co-ordinate my outfits and accessories. I think I once read that you should never wear more than three different colours in one outfit, and thats something that seems to have stuck with me somewhat!

So I went with this sheer blouse from Primark, which I have done a little post about before.

Tucked into some smart black shorts from H&M.

The shorts came with this cute little tan belt with a bow on the front.

With the weather being rubbish, the tights came out again and I popped on these black Primark pumps.

I am such a "bag lady"!

What do you think?

Am I over co-ordinating?!

Twenty Four I's

2011-06-24T11:47:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone

I did Twenty Three I's last year, and now that I am twenty four I thought I would do an updated one.

You can view last years list here if you'd like.

1. I am twenty four

2. I work in a tearoom

3. I like china

4. I swim once a week

5. I am on a diet

6. I love flowers

7. I never buy DVDs

8. I love going to the supermarket

9. I need a holiday

10. I wish I was taller

11. I like make up

12. I am trying to grow my nails (again)

13. I like to take photos of nice things

14. I have a little cat

15. I wear 'Lovely' perfume every day

16. I just had a spray tan for the first time

17. I'd like to go on a picnic

18. I collect things

19. I am a bag-o-holic

20. I don't eat mushrooms. Ever

21. I like to be inspired daily

22. I love bubble baths

23. I am thinking I could become a vegetarian

24. I like cake :)

If you'd like to do your own I's list I'd love to see it, so please let me know if you want to join in!

Happy Friday people!

x Gem

The Prettiest Pillowcase In My World

2011-06-23T10:27:00.000+01:00

For my birthday I received some lovely gifts, but unfortunately there was one item that needed to be returned. I took it back yesterday and then had £8 to spend on something to replace the original gift.

I dragged my mum around the whole of the store, upstairs, downstairs, back upstairs...

I didn't know what I was looking for to replace it, but I wanted to find something that I wouldn't have bought myself, but that I would have liked as a gift.

Then I came to the bedding section.

The bedding section with 50% off.

Everything in the Cath Kidston range.

Pretty, perfect pillowcases down to £7.

I chose the bouquet pattern and put it on my bed as soon as I got home.

So I am pretty pleased with my "new" gift, and am now wondering whether I should go back for the whole duvet set. What do you think?

Speaking of pretty things, I wanted to show these new china goodies my mum has added to our Utility China collection. Both are Woods Ware, the yellow cups and saucers are for tea, and are the usual size, but the green ones are much smaller, and I would imagine are for esspresso coffees.

I love the handle detailing, very art deco. These were £2 for two cups and saucers. The yellow ones were just a couple of quid more for two.

Do you think they are for an espresso?

They are pretty cute aren't they?