It's been a while...

Apologies for my absence! It's been a long busy summer of weddings with a little holiday to Tuscany and the French Alps thrown in!! Definitely a much needed break! But I'm back with plenty of lovely weddings to share with you over the next few weeks! But for now...a few holiday pics...

Pisa...although not really leaning from this angle!

Inside the Duomo in Florence...

The view over Florence from the top of the Duomo!

The pained expression after climbing the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo!

Pizza...need I say more?

My gorgeous family at the foot of the Alps!

Hope you've had a great summer...come back soon!

New Treasure...

'I seat myself at the typewriter and hope, and lurk'

                            -Mignon Eberhart

I have to confess, I have a little obsession with old typewriters! When I was very young, my nana gave me her old typewriter, a vintage Royal...

I will always remember how excited I was to sit down and start to write...with the clickety clack of the keys...a noise which seemed to echo the jumble of ideas in my brain. I don't care what anyone says...it's just not the same on a laptop!! I always felt far more creative with paper and ribbon! I am still mocked by my family for writing all my ideas on paper before approaching my laptop!! I can't help it, I don't feel complete without my notebook and pen! Anyway, I share this as I couldn't contain my excitement when I found a new addition  to my 'old school' family of writing tools in a local charity shop...not too old, but lovely all the same! And in working order! And the most gorgeous shade of duck egg blue...

Totally in love with it...

And so is my dog I think, who decided to lie down in front of it while I was trying to photograph it! That or he is just jealous of my new love!!

But how could I resist those eyes...don't worry Bailey, you'll never be replaced...well at least not by a typewriter!

Happy Friday!

Birthdays, Bowling and Burgers...

We've had a great weekend in our house...2 birthdays...Abi turned the big 13 and Ethan 7...so in honour of the occasion I thought I would make a fun, flower birthday cake complete with tulips for candles!

 

This was followed by a family game of ten pin...which, for the first time ever, I won!! I don't think my husband has got over it yet!

To top it all off we had big fat birthday burgers...

Happy Birthday Abi and Ethan...love you both so much!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you've had a fantastic Christmas break and are ready for an amazing year ahead! Our house has been crazy...full of good food, good friends, family time and of course...nerf gun wars (my boys bought the girls guns for Christmas!) so it is all out war now!! So now the madness is over we are chilling before the kids go back to school and life returns to normality...when the decorations come down and the house feels so bare...I'm sure I'll find something to decorate  though!! But before we leave Christmas behind I thought I'd share a few piccies of my Christmas table as promised...I finally decided to go with mercury glass ornaments, glittery beaded twigs and silvery foliage for a very wintery table! You'll have to excuse the bare plaster wall backdrop...my dining room is my next project!!

 

I'm looking forward to sharing lots of wedding loveliness with you this year so make sure you come back soon!x

Where's Wally...or in this case the Christmas soldiers!!

So I thought we could play a little Christmas game today! I came downstairs this morning to find that my son  had provided some additional decorations on the Christmas tree...not decorations that I would normally use or class as Christmassy but funny nonetheless! My tree has turned into a war zone complete with my son's collection of toy soldiers...Toy Story..eat your heart out!! I must say that they are pretty well camouflaged, so your challenge today is to find them!! Your mission is a GO..GO..GO...

If I have counted right, you should have about 21!! Let me know how you get on...you may now stand down!!
'Sergeant...I think we've lost one under the tree.....'

'Pull him out...Pull him out...we never leave a man behind...'
Happy Christmas with the family!!!

Christmas Inspiration #11...Oranges & Cloves...

10 days to go...I get a countdown every morning from my kids, just in case I didn't know! We are in full swing of Christmas fairs, school plays, shopping, baking and all that lovely stuff!! I am trying to get my life a little more organised so I was impressed when I won a weekly planner at the school fair for a family of six...these things are never produced for a family of six!! Prizes are always for a family of four...holidays are always for a family of four...meal deals are always for a family of four...as you may be able to tell this is quite an irritation to me!!! Needless to say I am very happy with my new planner! The only thing I can't get organised right now is my Christmas table! I see all these lovely ideas and make lots of different things but now I can't decide what I like the most!! It's quite a dilemma! I'll let you know...

But in the meantime, here's another offering and it smells divine. Oranges and cloves arranged on different sized cakestands with a little bit of greenery make such a simple but effective decoration. Let me know what you think...you might want to use a skewer to make the cloves push in easier or risk a very sore thumb if you push them straight in like I did!!!

I'd love to hear how you're decorating your Christmas table! Happy Thursday!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

As you can probably tell...Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year...I love cosy evenings, twinkle lights, loads of decorations, time with family and friends and the excuse to cook lots of lovely food...although I do wonder why we wait till December for all these things...I had a friend in Canada who left a tree up all year and redecorated it for each holiday!! You could have a Valentines tree...an Easter tree...yeah, maybe not!! A little extreme but fun all the same! So I've finally managed to put all my decorations up...just the outside lights to go now!! I'll have to persuade my lovely hubby to help me with that one! I thought I'd show you some piccie's in case you need to get inspired to put up your decorations...although I'm sure you're far more organised than me and have been ready for weeks!! We have 2 trees this year...red and gold in the family room (to go with the newly painted red wall!!) and plum and glass in the living room!

How about putting some twinkle lights on a mirror? I added a cute little mitten and boot garland to finish it off...

Windowsills look great with a decorated garland...

My daughter made some gorgeous little red & white pom poms, so we added some polka dot baubles and stacked them in a cakestand!

I love decorating archways...for this one I made some fabric hearts in red and white fabrics...

Don't forget the bannisters!!

  

You'll find these little guys everywhere in our house...the kids love them...although the dog's not too sure! He walks past acting like they're not freaking him out and gives them an occasional sniff!

Vintage glass cake stands look great with baubles or beaded fruits like these...

Garlands, garlands everywhere!! I just can't resist!

My husband has been telling me for years that I have too many Christmas decorations and I think that this year I have to agree...I had about 4 boxes left over!! I'll have to start hiring out! I love collecting ornaments and these plum coloured fruits and glass ones have to be my favourites!

I know...more garlands...but I love them on antique furniture...don't stop me now!! Glass and mercury glass candlesticks are perfect too!

Simple greenery and a few flowers over the fireplace to finish it all off...perfect!

So there you have it...Christmas at my place! How are you decorating your home this year? I'd love to hear your ideas or send through your own pictures if you'd like to share them here!!