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. 

happy christmas to you

round ours

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.

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. 

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? 

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.

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!

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.