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.

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.

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