3 things to smile about #6

I am not one to linger too long here about my personal life, but let's just say that February was like the worst.month.ever. But hey, everything being relative, I have decided to focus on the positive, smile again, and try not to be too much of a miserable cow. 'Cos goodness knows only bad things happen to miserable cows. I'm all about the karma, baby!
So here are some of the things I have been smiling about these last few days.

A rustic bunch of flowers waiting for us on the table we booked at Cedar Farm in Lancashire. Early March seemed like the right time to put February behind us (you don't say, hey!) so we headed North and reconnected with our roots a bit. I just loved that bouquet and the contrast it made with the bluey-grey wall behind: simple, effective. I would have never put red tulips with cherry blossoms, but wow, don't you think?

Putting old bits of fabric together. Always good therapy, and what better to do put together a mother-daughter collaboration? Half-way through the preparations I realised I wouldn't have enough of the red spotted fabric and had to change, but it was still a nice little DIY thing to do.

don't mind me while I take a quick photo with bed hair, no proper background, and let's not even go down the lighting route :(

Last but not least, this absolute beauty from Zara. A cheap-as-chips, sure to cheer you up kinda bag, aka the perfect little picnic basket bag. It will be perfect for spring, summer, and may even end up with mushrooms in it come Autumn! I simply loved it as soon as I saw it on a parisian website a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I didn't order it straight away, and it got sold out online pretty quickly. Luckily for me, the Oxford Street branch had ONE left. Yay me!

3 things to smile about #5

This time of year nothing makes me smile more than preparing for Christmas - well, it's only just around the corner isn't it? And before that, there's the advent calendars to think about, of course.
I've gone a bit mental with my advent calendar boxes business in the past three or four years, and although I am sure I'll come back to it, this year sadly, I'm not making any apart than for close family. The truth is, I've left it all a bit too late to get organised on that scale, and in any case it's good to leave things to rest sometimes. So one of the best things at the moment is browsing for my own advent calendar, and there is so much choice out there, it'll be hard to pick one.
 Carrying on with traditions, this year I will definitely be doing is homemade stocking fillers. So here are some of the easiest, lovely things that make me smile.

First up is the old classic - lavender bags. The is a really easy one to make, and a crowd pleaser, because you can always use a lavender bag to bung in a drawer or in the car for that extra fresh smell of Provence! I order my lavender online from the good people of Amazon, and any old bits of scraps will do for your fabric. That said, this series of fabric above is perfect as you can just cut up around one of the adverts.

Next up is great for little people, and although it's a bit fiddly it's a rewarding one. I make my life easier with this one by not turning any of the fabric over, I just shear it after sewing. You do need to get some small magnets, but again, my Amazonian friends are very resourceful on this one.

Finally, handwarmers. Who doesn't curse the cold when they go out on a cold morning? Those are so easy to make, and they're a cool, natural alternative to the ones sold in the shops for a fiver. You'll probably use them longer too. My one and only trick is to double-sew the edges if you're using rice like me. It just ensures your grains stay where they should, and don't end up in the bottom of your coat pockets!

Well, I hope I have inspired you to make a few stocking fillers with fabric scraps. I would love to hear more ideas from you. Do you make your own stocking fillers? Do you make and sell at Chrismas markets?

my little Brooklyn box

My Little Brooklyn Box arrived! And guess what people, it is spot on season and trend once more, I loved it at first sight. The blogosphere seems to have been filled with lovely pics from all the lovely people I follow this year, and it's kind of given me the urge to go myself - Mr Peony, if you ever read this post, yes, I've made up my mind and would love to have a look around ;)
The October box is such a breath of fresh air as the days gets darker, shorter and colder.

Our lifestyle goodies this month were a lovely tin mug ("coffee made me do it" is a nice touch, too) in an equally lovely box. I think I'll be using it with soup, kind of more in tune with the season.
The perk this month is a stencil for making fancy cocoa drawings on the top of your coffee - again, I am thinking savoury sprinkles, like sesame seeds on pumpkin soup maybe?
We also had three lovely pins (soooo retro!) with the modern twist of having a pair for your collars, as presented on the card. I love this idea.

The beauty stuff is pretty exciting too, with a gold Kohl pen by Terry (never had one of those before, and hadn't come across this brand either), a super pink gloss from Sephora, which instantly reminded me of Kinski in Paris,Texas for some reason, and the Little Beauty treat is a nail treatment, which again is so perfect this month!
I have to say I also fell in love with Kanako's illustration, I think it's possible the cutest of the year and once I find a nice frame for it it is going up on the wall for sure.
Overall a nice box again this month, and I am really proud of myself for not giving in to the temptation to look at Instagram and discover the theme before my box arrived in my pigeon hole in work. Every month, it feels like the best day of the month in work. I totally recommend getting it delivered there, nothinng makes me happier. Well, coffee and a nice biccie maybe? Nah, not even close.

log cabin cushions

 

I made this series of log cabin cushions a few weeks ago, using fabric I had stashed away for a couple of years. It seemed like the right thing to do with it.
I fear we might tire of the spotty pattern and owls quite soon, but for the meantime they will do just fine!

J'ai fait cette série de coussins il y a quelques semaines, avec du tissu que j'avais depuis pas mal de temps. Ca m'a semblé etre le projet ideal pour enfin m'en servir.
J'ai bien peur qu'on se lasse des pois et des chouettes assez vite, mais pour l'instant ca ira comme ca!

Paris...encore!

A few more pictures from beloved Paris. This time I went on a marathon day trip with younger girls (yes, two trips to Paris in a matter of weeks, lucky in a way, but with schoolgirls to shepherd all the way, not as nice...). The trip is normally a great day out with plenty of gorgeous sight-seeing but this year my mood was really tempered by the mountain of admin jobs I had to deal with before going. I swore it would be the last trip I would organise, especially given that it tears me away from Baby during a weekend. The only consolation I found is finding some cheap, really nice fabrics in the 30 minutes shopping time I allowed the girls to have. The bottom of Montmartre hill is great for that. Also, I totally fell in love with the Makower collection, so cute!

Encore quelques photos de Paris. Cette fois-ci j'y étais pour une journée marathon avec des filles de quatrieme (oui, deux séjours à Paris en quelques semaines, j'ai de la chance, mais avec un tas de filles à chaperonner, c'est moins drôle...) Ce voyage éclair est normalement super avec plein de jolis monuments à admirer mais cette année mon humeur joviale habituelle n'était pas au rendez-vous à cause de la montagne de papiers que j'ai dû remplir pour tout formaliser. Je me suis jurée que ce serait le dernier voyage scolaire que j'organiserais, surtout que je prends sur mon temps personnel donc je ne vois pas Bébé. La seule consolation a été de trouver des tissus pas chers au Marché St Pierre dans les 30 minutes de temps libre que j'ai donné aux filles. Montmartre est l'endroit idéal pour ca. Je suis aussi tombée completement amoureuse des collections Makower, des tissus craquants!

early March

 

Watching my daffodils open a little bit more everyday. Getting ready to redo my cushions for the lounge - I bought this lovely pack of fabrics at the Country Living fair a year or so ago, and had it squirreled away for just the right job. Making teacup candles- you can see my first one here, with vanilla scent but not too happy about its overall look. I made a new batch of them today, but I'm waiting for the wax to dry and see if there's an improvement. I found the lovely cups in my local charity shop, and the wax and co online. It made a good surprise present for my mother in law's Mother's Day present. As for me, I got the best present in the shape of a painting from Baby's nursery, and Mr Lavender has been full of lovely little attentions all weekend long. Bliss.
The other day it rained in the afternoon and then the sun came out just as the day was about to end. We had the heating on, dinner was in the oven, we were totally snug in our little home and for a moment watching out the window into the beautiful sunset lights, everything was just perfect, just right the way it should be.

Regarder mes jonquilles s'ouvrir un peu plus chaque jour. Se préparer a refaire les coussins du salon - j'avais acheté ce tissue adorable il y a un moment au salon de Country Living et attendais l'occasion idéale de m'en servir. Faire des bougies dans de vieilles tasses à thé - ici c'est ma premiere, parfumée à la vanille, mais je ne suis pas entièrement satisfaite du résultat. J'en ai fait de nouvelles aujourd'hui, mais j'attends que la cire sèche pour voir si ma technique s'est ameliorée. J'ai trouvé les tasses dans le magasin des bonnes oeuvres du coin, et le reste sur Internet. Ca a fait un joi petit cadeau surprise pour ma belle-mère pour la fête des mères (qui se fête en mars ici!). Quant à moi, j'ai reçu le plus beau des cadeaux de la part de la crèche Bébé, un super tableau, et Mr Lavande a été aux petits soins tout le weekend. Un vrai rêve.
L'autre jour il a plu dans l'apres-midi et puis le soleil est sorti juste avant qu'il ne se couche. On avait le chauffage, le diner cuisait au four, on était completement cosy dans notre petit chez-nous et pendant un instant en regardant le joli coucher de soleil par la fenêtre, tout était parfait, juste à sa place.