I did it again didn't I!!!

I must be the worlds worst blogger!!!! I have had a few nags (not mentioning any names, you know who you are mother of Jess, Jamie and Matthew) so I thought I would do a quickie update now.

We had a fab Christmas, Santa brought us a wii which included wii fit, which is fab, I have lost 3lbs since Christmas!!!
I am still working everyday at school and will be until about Easter, Avon is also crazy at this time of year with a book every two weeks!!!
My Grandad was taken into hospital just before Christmas and won't be going back home now, he has dementure and Altzeimers (sorry my spelling gets worse) and got very violent towards my nan, so he is now waiting on a place in a home. Its very sad as he was always so full of life and fun, he is definately not the man he was when me and my sis were kids.

Then, yesterday our new computer turned up wooohooooo!!! its about bloomin' time we have had the old one for 10 years, it is soo super speedy fast and I am having fun :)

I will try and be back soon with some pics
Trish xxx

More Blackberries

Long time no blog!!! well not that long, but nearly 2 weeks. Firstly I would like to thank you all for the lovely comments on my last post about our wedding, you helped to make my day xxx

On Sunday afternoon we went up the lane blackberry picking again, got a good 3.5lbs this time and some were real juicers, so I saved about 1lb for pies and used the rest to make jam, blackberry and apple, it turned out lovely (even if I do say so myself) got 7.5 jars and now 3 pies too, 2 in the freezer and one, nearly gone with hot custard last night!!! YUM!!!

Its a little more fluid than shop bought, but very nice, I have done the recipe on It's a Creative World today, we also have 2 new design team members too Jo and Paula both girls are fab designers and lovely too.
I have been out in the garden this morning, hoeing, raking and planting daffodil bulbs, so can't wait to see them in the spring, they are one of my fave flowers.
Thats it for today, thanks for visiting

New Look

Do you like my new banner and colour scheme??? my wonderful friend Tracy did my banner for me using a picture of my lovely angel that I made a while ago.

Its so busy here right now as we have my step daughter staying for three weeks, but I thought it was about time I updated again, although updates may be few and far between until the end of the month. So here is a picture of my candlesticks and cheap charity shop find pictures (in IKEA frames) on my vintage sideboard/chest of drawers in the dining room.


I also thought I would give a sneak peek of my post on IACW on Sunday, make sure you pop over and have a look.Trish xxx

Painted Shelves

At last these shelves are finished and I love them, they are in my dining room above my computer, with 2 of my tea sets on, the top one is what I got from a car boot a couple of weeks ago for £2 (bargain) and the doily was 25p the other day from a local hospice charity shop.

We are hopefully going to finish the chest of drawers tomorrow, a few bits need gluing back on!!! I am happy with it though and it is the perfect size for putting the towels in, in the bathroom.

Recently on the Shabby Chic forum someone asked if anyone knew how to make stuffed boots, well yesterday I had a play and made one for me and one for Gracie for her bedroom, which she loves, I am really pleased with them and may make a few more for gifts for Christmas (yes I know its only June)

Anyway, thats enough from me for today

Trish xxx

Bargain Shopping Day

yesterday I had to pop to B&Q for some more paint and thought I would have a little look round the shops as well, it has to be done!!! Well I am so glad I did, I went in and out of a few charity shops and nothing to be had, so last, and certainly not least I popped to the local hospice shop and found the bargain of the week (possibly even the year really) A gorgeous embroidered tablecloth, its so pretty all floral and summery, for the grand price of........25p!!!!! what a bargain.

It has a tiny stain on it that doesn't seem to want to go, but its not very noticable, and I am sure once its been on the line in the sun a few more hours it will bleach out. I also got a pretty pink floral pillowcase for 25p and a crochet doily for........ yup.... 25p, the pillowcase will be used when I do gracies patchwork quilt and the doily is for my shelves which have been started, just waiting for coat 2 to dry to see if I need to do another one, pics will follow when finished.

Trish xxx

Something old

I haven't taken any pics of much the last few days, so thought I would show something I did about 18 months ago, I had taken part in a jigsaw swap on UKScrappers and really enjoyed playing, so thought I would do one on my own. I bought a set of four puzzles from a local £1 shop and used the nine piece one, I wanted something for Graces room, that would stand the test of time and that she wouldn't grow out of, I had an ATC pad of vintage children images so used that, along with lots of cream paint and some lace and this is the result.

Grace loves it and so do I, it has pride of place on a shelf in her bedroom.

Trish xxx

Show and Tell Sunday

Today I am playing for the first time in 'Show and Tell Sunday' hosted by Analise of Sugar Sugar, today its all about china, crystal and silver, well I don't have any silver or crystal but I do have china. I love tea sets, I have four that I would call complete or semi complete, then I have 1 trio. This is all my tea sets together including the trio.The first one I bought was this gorgeous Blue Roses one by Royal vale, I have had it about 15 years, it cost me much more than I would be prepared to pay today.

This beautiful yellow one I picked up from an Oxfam shop about 6 months ago, its a ridgeway design and so summery.

I also got this autumnal one from the same Oxfam shop about 2 weeks ago, its another Royal vale one, but only came with the plates, cups and saucers, no milk jug, sugar bowl or cake plate.

I think this one is my favourite at the moment though, I bought it yesterday from the Willow Wood Hospice shop, its our local hospice, it only cost £4.99 and came with the milk jug, sugar bowl and cake plate, another Royal Vale and its so pretty, the blue doesn't look as lovely in the pics but is a gorgeous perriwinkle blue.

And finally, my trio, I got this from (yet another) charity shop, I think it was Marie Curie about 2 weeks ago, when I had finished my shelves, I wanted something pretty and pink for them and it was only £1.99 too.

Bathroom Cabinet No2

My second bathroom cabinet, (please ignore the revolting tiles on the wall, we haven't decorated the room yet) its amazing how much brighter the room now looks just painting two orangey, yukky cabinets cream. I like them both, just need to do all the other orangey pins things too, shelf, loo roll holder and towel rail, I will need more paint though :)

I have been frequenting a new forum recently, those norty ladies are the ones giving me ideas about painting my furniture!!! I am involved in a swap there for June titled 'Strawberries and Cream' I have already finished making one thing for it and need to scour some charity shops/boot sales to find some other bits too now :) I am quite excited about it, finding out who my swap partner will be and getting goodies back in the post.

Trish xxx

FA CUP WINNERS

I am a very happy bunny today, Portsmouth Football Club won the FA Cup yesterday, I may live in the North West now, but am a Pompey girl at heart, we lived there from I was 3 years old until I was 33, Our house was so close to Fratton Park that when Pompey scored, you could hear the crowd. I have been to my fair share of Pompey home games (in my youth lol) and William went to his first match a few weeks ago at The City of Manchester Stadium, he loved it, unfortunately Postmouth lost to City, but after 69 years of waiting we got FA Cup back!!!!!!!

On another note, look what I got through the post on Friday, she is called purdy and is hand crafted by the lovely Elaine of mustard seed gift shop isn't she gorgeous, she is sitting in pride of place on my new shelves.

trish xxx

Bling a Little Birdhouse in your Soul

I have been doing a lot of blog hopping recently and found some lovely blogs and posts, one which really stuck out and inspired me was this one by Beth of Gathering Dust 'Bling your Birdhouse' as I scrolled through the pictures I found the gorgeous beaded one she had done, I thought to myself, oooohhh I like that idea, but with buttons, so, thats what I did, I had the birdhouse already, so painted it with acrylic paint in a deep red, then made a start on the buttons, now, I ran out of my faithful 'Glossy Accents' and because I didn't want to wait (very impatient I am) I used super glue, well I am sure you can imagine the mess I made of myself!!!! I used fabric glue to stick the pom pom braid and ric rac on and also the vintage flowers button on the apex of the roof. The image of the bird is one I have had floating around in my pictures for ages, I got it from a free site, but for the life of me can't remember which one (sorry) I used a faux optical lens over it which covers the hole that is there for the tiny mini birdys to get in!!!

The finished object isn't as 'clean' as it would have been with the glossy accents, but I love it just the same, it will sit on my dressing table now that its finished. I would like to say thanks to Beth for letting me use her idea and the link to her blog (you must have a read while you are there).

Trish xxx

More Painting!!!

I seem to have found a love for painting bits of furniture, I bought these shelves on saturday, they had been sanded, so i just gave them a wash and got started with the paintbrush, now like the muppet I sometimes am, I forgot to take pics before and before I put it on the wall, so this was the best I could do I'm afraid, as I have to get at an angle to take it :)

On the top is the angel I made using the pattern from Tona Finnangers Sew Pretty Homestyle
the middle shelf has an expresso set from AVON on it, on the bottom shelf is a piggybank that I have had for about 20 years and it was quite old when I bought it and my lovely new trio I bought from a charity shop this morning for £1.99.
Trish xxx

Re vamped bathroom cabinet number 1

For the last week I have been revamping one of my bathroom cabinets, rather than buy new ones as there is nothing wrong with them other than the yukky orangey pine colour.

Before AfterThese are the cabinet knobs I used, I bought a big pack of 10 from Wickes and painted them a lovely pale blue, then used a varnish over the top as it wasn't special bathroom paint.

Its up in the bathroom now and looks fab, just need to make a start on the other one now.

Trish xxx

Charity Shop Finds

Yesterday I went shopping in a local largish town just to go shopping in various charity shops, there wasn't a great deal but I did manage to pick up a few bits and a couple of new things too.

The rosey vintage style tea towels are from Wilkinsons, a bit of a bargain at £1.99, much cheaper than some of the designer ones you can get, the glass dish was 50p and will sit on my dressing table with my brooches in, the enamel tin was £1 I was hoping to be able to use it for pies but am not so sure now as it is a little rusty, unless someone lovley knows how I can bring it back to a useable state :) and the crochet doily was also 50p and is to sit under my bowl of pot pourri in the front room. I am happy with what I found, I also bought a really pretty brooch too, but that will be for another day. Take care and have a good day

Trish xxx

Productive Day

Hello, i have been quite productive today, made these 2 hearts, I think I might sell them at my next jewellery party, need to get a few more done too. We also popped to B&Q today too, I got some lovely vintage white paint and 6 lavendar bushes, the paint is for the bathroom cabinets that I am going to shabby up, they are both that horrible orangy pine (yuk) I have taken before pics, but you can wait til they are done till you see them and the after pics. The lavender plants are to go alongside the path at the house end of the garden, they are quite small at the mo but by the time they are fully grown we will have a full hedge along there.Oh well back to work and school tomorrow, I will be out all morning delivering avon also in the evening too, Martin is off though so I might get him started on the cabinets.

Take care all

Trish xxx

Back to School

Well the kids went back to school today, it was nice to have the house to myself for a while, then a friend popped round and we ended up going to IKEA (not much of a struggle) I was good though and only spent £24!!!

I have been working on a memory board for a while and was hoping to get it finished in time for the IACW blog, but unfortunately didn't, but its done now and here it is, it looks lovely in my bedroom with all my other red and cream bits on my dressing table, I want to do one each for the kids now.