30 December 2013

my homemade christmas wreaths





Hello, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are perhaps still enjoying a bit of a break. My intention was to post these before Christmas, to link up with Lou and her nature in the home series, but the build up to Christmas proved a busy one and today is the first chance I've had to take the pictures from the camera and post them here. I made two wreaths this year, one to hang above our hearth and the other for mum and dad's front door. I'm really pleased with how they turned out and proud too that everything in these wreaths came from our own garden, nothing bought other than the metal rings from which they hang. I padded the backs with moss I pulled from the lawn, and then made umpteen little bunches of greenery to cover the fronts, adding the poppy heads I collected at the end of summer for a finishing touch. 

9 December 2013

decorate the table





I'm linking in with Lou and her series Nature in the Home. I made this little centre piece for the table using what I could find in the garden, nothing bought, nothing fancy. I decided to use this little circular vase, filled with water, moss, red berries from the cotoneaster cornubia, the last of the blue campanula bells and a few tiny pinky white blossoms from the cherry tree.

8 December 2013

museo reina sofia madrid








I seriously loved this place the art collection perhaps my favourite of any gallery I've been. We spent a whole day here - it's vast and there is so much to see, too much for just one day (especially when your shoes aren't as comfy as you thought they'd be). The architecture is something pretty special too, old meets new, we climbed as high as we could, took in the view and marvelled at the glossy surfaces, the reflections and the vertigo inducing drops. 

4 December 2013

peeking in the spare room






Finally this room is ready for guests. It's taken ages, Dad did all the decorating which didn't take too long, the time consuming bit was finding a bed we liked with storage. I do like the one we've chosen - it is ridiculously high off the ground and takes up loads of room, but it's comfy and that's what you want if you're staying in a strange bed. The only thing that bothers me now is the old melamine wardrobe, it's a creamy colour with green edge, I'm now wondering if we should paint that the same colour as the walls or wallpaper it - can you do that, I wonder? 

3 December 2013

garden moodboard - november 2013


I'm joining Karin and Åsa with a monthly moodboard for November - a collection of seasonal flowers, foliage and fruits from the garden. The garden is filled with the golden hues of autumn, a little green here and there, berries, seed pods, but hardly a flower in sight.

2 December 2013

goodness from the garden



Over the weekend we spent some time out in the garden, catching up with chores; tidying the vegetable beds, clearing away the dead, digging over the soil and making room for next years crop of onions. We are still harvesting herbs, beetroot, chard and cavolo nero and we have a little supply of pumpkins and potatoes stored away. I saved these nasturtium seeds, which I'm hoping to sow again next year.

And you'll be pleased to hear I've drawn a winner for my little giveaway, the lucky lady is Sarah. So Sarah, do drop me an email and let me know your address, meanwhile I'll gather together as much bubble wrap as I can lay my hands on!

1 December 2013

a home made advent calendar

[ No peeking D, you'll spoil the surprise x ]





I made this little advent calendar for D years ago, it makes an appearance again most years. It's made from match boxes covered in tape, a little glitter round the edges and some beads stitched on to the fronts of the draws to act as knobs. The backs are numbered 1-24 and each draw contains a sweet surprise.

28 November 2013

round ours



Not much excitement happening round here lately, just everyday stuff. I'm addicted to these sweet clementines, we have presents to wrap for posting overseas in time for Christmas. But mostly I'm looking forward to the weekend, it's been a busy week at work.

Don't forget my little giveaway closes on Sunday (Did you notice I stupidly said the 31st, of course there isn't a 31st in November, so it will close on the 1st December). 

26 November 2013

museo abc



A few weeks back we visited Madrid. We were only there for a few days and it wasn't until our last night that we read about this place, the museo abc with it's geometric facadeThe following morning with just a few hours left before our flight home, we made a speedy hike across town to take it in, we didn't have time to visit properly - to venture inside and look round, which really we should since the museo abc is a museum of drawing and illustration. But then it's always nice to have a reason to go back for another visit.


NB - When we visited Madrid was in the midst of a rubbish collectors strike - I doubt there would normally be all this litter floating around.

23 November 2013

making pom poms






I've been making a few pom poms, they're not perfect by any means but since I haven't made a pom pom since my childhood I'm quite happy with them for a start. I might still trim a bit more off here and there, but I want to make more - lots more. Not only is it a great way to relax and unwind I quite fancy having a load of them come Christmas, little white balls with a speck of colour here and there. 

Tip - I bought some fancy plastic rings, but turns out it's easier to just wind the wool round your fingers, as shown here.

I've also created a board of lovely pom poms on Pinterest, go take a look.

And don't forget to enter my little giveaway.

21 November 2013

an autumnal giveaway



Welcome to my little autumnal giveaway. Since the nights are drawing in and the cold winter weather is slowly encasing us (at least here in the northern hemisphere) I thought a little cheer was in order. I want to say thank you to you lovely people who read this little blog of mine and follow along. Since the garden is full of fallen leaves nothing seemed more appropriate than this pretty Arbour Harbour cake plate designed by Elisabeth Dunker for House of Rym. I treated myself to the bowl in the same series which you might remember seeing here. What would you do - eat cake from it or stick it up on the wall to admire? 


To be in with a chance of winning you'll need to follow this blog (with Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin') and leave a comment here, for an extra chance of winning you can tweet about this little giveaway and leave another comment with the link to the tweet below. 

Giveaway closes on 31st November 2013, I'll pick a winner at random, so make sure I can contact you should you win!

(I'll do my very best to package this up well, but take no responsibility for breakages in the post)

I'm doubling up today by linking in with Lou and her nature in the home series.

NB - Sorry! There is no 31st this month! The giveaway will close on the 1st December.

This giveaway is now closed, I'll draw a winner over the next few days.

14 November 2013

thoughts - mine and yours


I photographed these doilies earlier today. Isn't it frustrating the only time to take pictures, this time of year, is early in the day when the light is at it's best? It's annoying only having two days working from home a week when I can squeeze a little photography into my lunch break - and you see I didn't find time to press them! Of course there are weekends too but we're normally busy doing stuff that doesn't involve me faffing around with the likes of doilies and my camera! Sharing these few reminds me I must try and photograph some more of my collections of this and that, you'll find some I've shot in the past if you care to scroll through here. Part of the faffing around today was trying to photograph a small something I have to giveaway - a little autumnal thank you to those of you who keep popping back to this little space of mine, so do keep your eyes peeled for that coming up soon. 


This picture was an over from here, those two little berries - like eyes looking out remind me Christmas is coming and I'm not quite ready to think about that - are you? D's mum is forever asking what we are doing and I'm just not ready to commit! 

I had thought I might open a little online shop and sell a few cards and other things I've made, but after being on a payroll for a few years now the thought of getting involved with tax returns terrifies me. I always remember the thought of having to do it hanging over me like a cloud, for months on end. I'm sure if you make enough money it's worth paying someone else to do it for you, but I don't see that ever being the case here. Do you have any thoughts on that? Am I being silly? Is it really not a big deal, what do you think? Do you have any tips? Please do share.

13 November 2013

lately


  • spent time walking, exploring the streets 
  • looking up at magnificent displays of plants tumbling down
  • visited the grandest of galleries
  • drunk our fair share of good coffee
  • enjoyed tapas
  • drank cocktails


  • took in more art
  • more coffee
  • and enjoyed the geometry of this place

We visited Madrid, our first time to this beautiful city. 

Images from my instagram feed, I still enjoy hanging out there @nicekindofblue

11 November 2013

nature in the home



D and I spent 3 days and nights in Madrid last week. We had a super time pootling about, checking out the galleries and sampling the food and drink. We didn't bring much back, we were travelling light (otherwise I'd have stuffed our bags full with ham, cheese and olives) instead our only souvenirs a few postcards and a solitary olive leaf plucked from the courtyard floor at Reina Sofia.

I'm joining Lou in her weekly series, nature in the home.

7 November 2013

summer on film [2]








More of the out-of-date film we shot back in summer [here too]

NB. some of these were taken by D