get the london look

Don't you just love working on new things? I have a million and one things to do but when some new supplies arrived in the post so I just had to have a play. With the forthcoming the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympic Games I'm embracing all things London! I'm designing a little range of new product around the theme - all with a nellie dean twist of course!

I'll show you the new products once everything is finished and photographed. Can't wait!

easy valentine's tutorial

Here is an easy Valentine's Day tutorial to do with the kids. You don't need much in the way of supplies or equipment and it is quick to do. In only a few steps you will have this garland to hang on a shelf for Valentine's Day.

You will need pink and red card, heart template, pencil, scissors, hole punch and string or twine.

Lightly draw around the heart template with pencil onto the card.

Cut out your heart. I used deckle edged scissors to get a wavy line but you can use normal ones if you prefer.

Hole punch a hole on either side.  You could take more time than us and get the holes to line up of course. My 7 year old did the punching on this one.

Cut out 2 pink hearts and 2 of the red.

You are nearly finished, just need to decide what to thread the hearts on to. You could use thin ribbon, twine or string. I have used bakers twine in a beautiful aqua colour. I love bakers twine and it comes in loads of colours. It doesn't fray, so that is definitely a bonus! You can buy it from all sorts of places now, I bought mine from Etsy.

Your garland is now finished, all ready to hang!

I told you it was easy, and quick enough project for the kids to do without getting bored.  You could make it more detailed by embellishing each heart or writing 'L O V E' on each one. I left ours just plain.


Let me know if you make a heart garland, I'd love to see your creations.

Happy Valentine's Day!
xoxo

corners of my home

Come in, the fire is lit and the kettle is on! It is miserable weather out there so I thought I'd show you a few corners of my home. Coming up we have a Lego Minifigure display shelf DIY in progress, vintage French magazine adverts and a fab way to stop nosey parkers peering into your house.

Starting off with the woodburner stove. As you can see it is a proper stove which is used regularly so there's plenty of dust and newspapers lying around. In the summer it looks alot prettier when it is not in use! There's nothing better than loading it up and lighting it.

This rather abract photo is of one side of the bay window. As we have no front garden, the bay window is positioned right on the pavement for all passers by to nosey in. I'm not a fan of net curtains and wanted something to give us some privacy. I made some voile panels to hang but wasn't totally happy with them. I then found Brume film featured in a magazine. It is a great product - enter in your window measurements and decide what pattern or shape you'd like and they send you made to measure film to attach to your window. It was a bit hair raising attaching it, especially to the larger window as you have to ensure that there are no air bubbles at all. We attached the film to the 3 windows and I think it looks great. No more passers by nosing in on us in our lounge. Well, apart from one man who pressed his nose right up to the little squares and peered through. Cheeky so and so!

Moving up the stairs we have a series of vintage French magazine pages which we bought from a brocante street market in Brittany. They only cost 60 cents each and I have no idea what most of them say as my French vocabularly is somewhat limited. I really need to learn more French though because if I'm to visit another brocante again I need to be able to at least ask the stall holder how much things cost! I think the above magazine page is an advert for soap? This one is my favourite - I think these ladies look fab.

This is a project in waiting. A nic nack shelf bought from a car boot sale last summer for £2 which I'm going to paint and turn into a display shelf for my son's Lego. At the moment it is looking a little unloved and full of dust with a Lego Star Wars stormtrooper taking residence. There is also a pebble which my son has decorated to turn into an owl. He did loads of these last summer but not just owls, there were dogs too. I don't know where he got the idea from, on tv I expect.

Watch this space as I will post a photo of the Lego Minifigure display shelf when it is completed. One day, I promise!


So there we go, a few photos of my home which I wanted to share with you. I'll do some more once I have tidied up!

winter walks, thrifty finds and a burst of sunshine

Whilst the rest of the UK was covered in a blanket of snow, here in west Wales we had none. It rained all day Saturday and then on Sunday it promised to stay dry so we headed out to the local woods.

It was lovely down there, nice and cold with no wind or rain. Not many other dog walkers out either so lovely and quiet. After the walk we had to dash back home so the other half could watch the rugby.

Look what greeted us on our return? Yes folks, the sun made a rare appearance. Rather fleetingly it must be said but I have photographic proof that it happened. I also have photographic proof that the hallway was clear of piles of school paperwork, odd gloves and other random odds and sods of family life.

The mirror is a fab thrifted find: a vintage bevelled edge mirror and only £3 at the car boot sale. The chain is a little short though and the mirror hangs a little high for my short legs. I can only see my eyebrows and above when I stand in front of it. Maybe I should look for a little stool at the next car boot sale?

playing catchup

Well, what happened to January? I started off so well but then life happened and things went a bit wonky for a while. Various hospital visits, one general anesthetic and one overnight stay are thankfully behind me. I tried my best to carry on like everything was OK but I'm admitting defeat. I missed two days in the photo challenge so I'm officially retiring from the 365 photo challenge. It was good while it lasted!

So, not to dwell on negative things we are moving onwards and upwards! I've been relearning some settings on the camera and can now custom set the white balance. Cue one homemade blueberry muffin and my Desperate Housewife mug. I know, life on the edge eh? Now I need to save up for a new lens. I would like a macro lens, no idea how much they are though so I could be some time saving.

I've been venturing back into the workroom and catching up on making some items. This brooch is my latest creation, quite sweet I think. Just right for Valentine's Day.  I've got a shop order for some more coloured chalkboards and I'll show you those soon, they are awaiting some finishing touches.

And I couldn't resist making another felt heart. This one has some simple embroidery on it. I think I'll hang it on the mirror in the bedroom.

Happy weekend everyone!