Our summer is over and a new start

So it seems our summer is officially over and so the weather is trying to tell us too. This is the horrendous weather our back garden suffered last week, non stop heavy rain followed by thunder and lightening and then huge hailstones!Lovely! Emily starts at a new nursery on Friday she's doing mornings at the primary school nursery where she will attend in a years time. So uniform and new shoes are ready waiting.I just hope that she will settle in well and be happy there. I have everything crossed for no tears and upset. It should be good for her they try and include the nursery as much as they can with the school so hopefully when she starts school it won't be such a huge experience for her. I have been reading about everyone's little people starting at school in blog land and I'm very aware that this will be me next year so I plan to treasure every moment of my last year with her at home. That's why I have a very special surprise for her next week were having a mummy and daughter night out so will blog about that soon!

Looking back at our summer holidays we've all enjoyed each others company most of the time. Of course there's been tears and tantrums and pulling my hair out moments but all in all we've kept ourselves very busy and the summer has passed us by very quickly.

We've had jigsaws,games,building blocks dancing,singing,reading,biking,paddling pool fun,baking,playing with friends,painting,drawing,chalking on the patio,donkey rides, swimming picnics and lots more.

Daddy's had a bit of time off so we've enjoyed some fun days out to the Sea life Centre and Alton Towers. Also walks in the peak district this is Dovedale about 30 min's drive from our house it's a very beautiful valley with a river running through it. The fun bit is crossing the stepping stones. It was very busy so unfortunately there are lots of people on the photos.

I've also won a award. thank you so much to Jane from the blog http://jane-petticoatlane.blogspot.com/ Jane is quite new to blog land and her blog is a great read and she never fails to tickle me go check her lovely blog out.
I'm a bit late with this award and I think it's been passed on quite alot so I'm going to pass this on to everyone who reads my blog as you all really make my day.

Quick update on the summerhouse sorry no photos I don't think pictures of soil and wires would please you! We have been plodding on with the electrical side so I won't bore you with that. I have picked up a junk shop chair for it which I am making a loose cover for so will keep you updated when I have something to show.

That's all for now be back soon with news of our girly night out!

Sarah x

Painting, painting and more painting................

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my summerhouse and garden it has just reminded me of what a lucky lucky girl I am to have a space of my own and has really motivated me to crack on with the painting. We have a fab garden but to honest it really has to look after itself this year and it really is looking a bit dull and unkept. We were very lucky to inherit lot's of mature plants and trees when we moved here I do have high hopes for my garden when the children are a bit older I hope to devote more time to it.

This week I've started the painting and what a mammoth job it is! I've been painting every evening after I've put the little one's to bed and have painted until dark in all weathers sheltering under the veranda in the rain! I do enjoy painting and find it quite relaxing I love to see the end transformation but this is going on and on and some nights I've had to force myself to do it. Anyway enough of the waffle here's some pics what do you think?

Less posh shed more nice summerhouse me thinks!
I love the little veranda I'm looking forward to taking a break on here with a cuppa and a magazine!

this shows the side of the summerhouse where there is another window.There's still I reckon another weeks work of painting to get the outside completely finished. Then we can crack on with the inside. My minds been buzzing with what we are going to do with the inside. Here's what the inside looks like at the moment. It's really hard to photograph as it's quite small! Oh dear not very inviting is it there's a huge amount of work to do in here were going to insulate everywhere to make it warm and line the walls in tongue and grove. It's all going to be done on a shoestring budget so I will be searching ebay and freecycle for furniture. I've managed to pick up a heater on freecycle so far. I'd like an old comfy chair to reupholster and I'm after an old table to use as my desk, there is a handy shelf in the roof space where a plan to stack my material out of reach of little hands!

As for the decor I've decided to go out of my safe zone of pastel colours and go for bright bold colours . I've been really inspired by colour since starting blogging especially by two of my favourite blogs http://attic24.typepad.com/ and http://lavenderhouse.typepad.com/ who both use colour so beautifully in there homes. I'm hoping to inject some real fun colours into my summerhouse the tongue and groove will be white but all my accessories bright colours. Here's some pages from magazines that have inspired me.I love the chair in the above pic and have searched everywhere for something similar but nothings turned up. I've also picked up these folders I love them they were great value to from Asda. I have heaps of paperwork to sort out so these will be ideal.Hope you all had a good week the weather has been miserable hasn't it but I hear that it's going to clear up and we will see some sunshine this weekend I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Hope whatever your up to this bank holiday weekend it's a good one!
Sarahx

Weve just bought a ...................

Yeah I'm so excited about it I've been wanting one for ages I don't know what it is but there's something so appealing to me about a tiny house a little hideaway to escape to. It's going to be my sewing room/office a place for all my paraphernalia all my piles of material, craft stuff, paper work that I have stuffed away in drawers and cupboards. The computer will be going in there too. I'd like to call it my studio but at what point do you call it a studio? Probably when you earn money from it that's something I would love to do in the future when I have more time on my hands. Hopefully it will be a little retreat somewhere to be quiet and be creative away from the chaos of the house and a place to blog till my hearts content!

We bought it off Ebay we were looking for a used one then stumbled across this one never been erected they were selling it as they were moving house. My poor husband begrudgingly drove all the way to Manchester a 4hr drive there and back as we got lost twice! When we got there we had to prize the top off it as it would not fit in the van don't ask!

This is what some of it looked like when we got it home-

So here's what we have done so far our old shed was on the slabs in this picture below

We have laid another base in the other corner of our garden and moved our old shed to here I did want to get rid of this shed all together as I thought it would look a eye sore but I'm really pleased it's quite hidden here and you can't see it at all, from the top of the garden. We desperately need it for all our tools and garden stuff anyway.

On Sunday Steven and my dad spent the whole day putting it up mum came to help with the kids and I made cups of tea, fed everyone and did bits to help. At the end of the day it looked like this:-

What do you think? In this picture it looks very shed like I need to transform it now into pretty summerhouse. It's quite small there's enough room for a desk, plenty of shelves and a comfy chair I really like the little veranda I'm thinking of putting a bench on there the view from the veranda looks back on our cottage:-

And from the top of our garden looking back at the summerhouse :-My job is the painting which I have started on an evening it's going to be Farrow and Ball Pigeon Green which is the same colour as our front door and gates. The paint in the picture is just an undercoat.

I'm going to bore you with a list of what's left to do! It's got to be cosy in the winter so there's lot's to do:

• Get electricity down there,
• insulate it,
• line it with tongue and grove ooh I love tongue and groove!
• put some flooring down.

I'll be back soon with an update and my ideas for the inside that's the bit I'm looking forward too.Here's what it should look like when it's finished!

Gosh I've a lot of painting to do!

Have a good week all!

Sarahx

Kitchen dreams and holiday fun

Here are my new kitchen shelves which I painted a few weeks back. Although I love my house I really dislike my kitchen it's tiny two people in there and it feels overcrowded! We plan to have an extension at some point with a large kitchen and an extra bedroom. I was desperate for a clear out so that's where the shelves idea came in on a unused wall. My food cupboard was unbearable to the point of a was scared to open the doors as often a tin of beans would come crashing down on my head! So urgent action was needed and I bought some cheap shelves from B&Q and set to work on painting them and in listed the help of my dad who is a retired joiner (very handy!) to put them up on the wall.I was surprised at how many storage jars I had being unused so now they are all filled up with various food and ingredients and have freed up an enormous amount of space on my cupboards. So I am now really enjoying this little area of my kitchen believe me it is a lot prettier then the orange pine cupboards behind it! My ideal kitchen would have an aga enough room for my pine farmhouse table and chairs and my old pine dresser (which are in my dining room) lots of shelves to display collected kitchenalia a pantry style tall store cupboard and would be part conservatory overlooking the garden I don't want for much do I! Oh maybe one day but until then I will have to dream!

Well it's been a while since I last posted and I have been enjoying having my Emily around in the house more. (she normally has 2hrs nursery in the afternoons). We have seen various friends and their children more often than we usually would and it's lovely to see little friendships forming. We have been to the swimming baths regularly and Emily's confidence has grown enormously and she no longer wants us to hold her and is happy to go by herself and Elliott has gone from being very scared and crying a lot to giggling and splashing around and really enjoying himself too!

This is when we had a really hot day a few weeks back and we had homemade lollies which made a right mess dribbling down their chins and clothes but the enjoyment on their faces made it all worthwhile and they both managed to finish them so more are in the freezer waiting for another hot day!

This is another day when we made Angel delight much enjoyment came from licking the spoons and I let Elliott feed himself his face was a picture so the camera came out again! More mess but it was fun.
I will leave you with a few purchases I've be meaning to put on here for a while


A posy of china flowers a pound from a charity shop.

My new umbrella it's cream with black spots

A garden lantern from the Laura Ashley sale.

Back in a few days with something special to show you that I'm soooo excited about!!

Have a good weekend!

Sarahx

My first award and the holidays begin!

I have been awarded the brilliant weblog award from Carol at 'Katherines Dream' it is awarded for text and photos. Thanks Carol for choosing me it is my first award and I was very excited to receive it! Carols blog http://katherinesdream.blogspot.com/ is lovely do visit her blog I always look forward to her posts.

The rules are I now need to pass this on to seven other blogs, so here's who I have chosen:

Natalie @http://summerbythesea.blogspot.com/ lives 5 mins from the sea has a interiors shop and enjoys knitting and sewing.

Vannesa@http://justoriginal.blogspot.com/has her own online shop which sells beautiful handmade home accessories and gifts all made by herself.

Sara @http://all-about-eden-saraeden.blogspot.com/ also loves to sew and has a wonderful online shop selling her handmade items, she loves Cornwall and enjoys photography.

Lisa @Periwinke http://periwinklepark.blogspot.com/ blogs about home life with her gorgeous boys and enjoys sewing and cooking.

http://lavenderhouse.typepad.com/ inspiring beautiful photo's lives by the sea with her family, I love her colourful creative style.

Anne @http://fabricandbags.typepad.com/ about her start up business designing and creating fabulous bags.

Faye @Country Chic http://thechiccountryhome.blogspot.com/ has her own online store which sells gorgeous french,country shabby chic style home accessories.

Sorry if any of you have already received this award!

Emily finished nursery on Tues and all the playgroups we regulary go to have stopped so were in full on holiday mode pj's on till dinner time ssshh don't tell!! In September she will start at the nursery where she will be going to school. She calls it BIG nursery !

While Elliott was having his mid morning sleep today Emily did some painting. Here she is getting stuck in.

This is her favourite activity stick a paint brush in her hand and she'll sit quietly for ages. She did ask me to join in and then said that mummy likes to paint walls and fences!!!! (I'm painting the picket fence in our front garden at the moment!) Then she said mummy can I paint the wall like you?!! Bless I love the little things she comes out with I did explain to her that this was a mummy only job with special paint out of a big tin not for little girls! I think I will let her have a go next time I do a bit of painting.

Weve had the 3rd barbecue of the year this evening it was lovely to sit in the garden on our deckchairs with a glass on wine!

Hope your all enjoying this warm spell of weather hope it lasts through the weekend for us all!

Sarahx

Bags of style

Look what arrived for me today a new bag I'd been eyeing this bag up for a while from here http://jojomamambebe.co.uk/

Isn't it lovely I think it's very Cath Kidston I just love the red with white polka dot's. I love red it's such a happy, vibrant. bold make a statement colour. Although my favourite colour is blue I think red is a close second. Anyway back to the bag it was a very reasonable £5 with free postage it's huge and has a zip. I'm going to use it as a laundry bag as my old pop up net thingy ma jig is broken. Or you could use it for storage or for your supermarket shopping. Just thought I'd share some bag love with you.

My other new love is this

Yes I've fallen head over heels in love with http://joulesclothing.com/ clothing. For ages their little catalogue kept arriving on my doormat and I would flick through it admiring their gorgeous clothes and put it to one side I never spend a lot on clothes if I spend it's always something for the house.

Whilst on holiday in St Ives I came across a boutique selling Joules clothes well I had to try some on and temptation got the better of me and I brought this dress for a just £30 I was surprised at the price thought it was quite reasonable.

Isn't it pretty I just love those seaside stripes and it's so flattering on. It's the same dress on the front of their catalogue I'd love the yellow cardie but I already have got a pink cardie that looks nice with it.

Back from hols I had a big sort out of my wardrobe and realised that I don't actually like any of my clothes. I don't know about you but I'm actually rubbish at clothes shopping I'm always on the lookout for pretty little tops but can never find what I'm after so end up buying something that is totally not me. Usually it's is from the supermarket as this is the easy convenient place to shop for clothes with the little ones. It's usually something that's in one season out the next, throw away fashion! That's exactly what I've done with some of my clothes they have either gone off to the charity shop or gone on EBay to raise fund's for more Joules clothes!

I since purchased another three tops from the little catalogue and it's left me wanting more I just feel so much better wearing these clothes I have a smile on my face deciding which to wear instead of just grabbing some t-shirt. I just love their attention to detail little different coloured buttons, some embroidery here a bow there. Pretty tea dresses and lot's of 50's inspired clothes I love that style and their descriptions in the catalogue. For my Jo Jo dress ' you'll look perfect in this dress as you don the bunting out around the village green'! I know I won't be exactly doing that more like pegging the washing out on the line with Elliott tugging at my dress! But it's the lifestyle concept that they paint that's so appealing! Even the labels are nice!

Yes I am smitten I've never been interested in clothes shopping much I don't know what's come over me but I think it's worth spending a little bit extra on something that is going to last a lot longer in the long run and they have a 50% sale on at the moment if your tempted! Go on go look I know you want too!

Sarahx

Driving lessons, days out and antiques in the park

Finally I've got round to updating my blog. It's been on my mind- must do a post but time's been passing me by. Lots of things have been happening here since I last posted, amongst them the most positive thing that's happened is I'm now officially a learner driver and I've had 3 driving lessons to date! I've been putting it off for ages and it feels really good to have started and get over that initial fear. I'm determined to see this through to the end now. I did have a few lessons when I was 18 but that was 16 years ago so it's like starting from scratch. It really will change my life for the better being able to take the kids out wherever whenever instead of being stuck at home. I'll be able to go somewhere different instead of our usual walk to the village round the same old shops and back and this is a BIG incentive. I'll be able to zoom off to those car boots at the crack of dawn without feeling guilty for dragging Steven out of bed on his only proper day off!!

Other things that have happened are playgroup outings as we approach the summer hols, the playgroups all have a little outing before they break up for 6 weeks. Oh no what are we going to do with ourselves for six weeks? I like the usual routine of our get togethers I like to keep busy I'm going to have to find some other activities for us. We've just started swimming with them so that's a start. So far we've had a trip to the Monkey Forest this is the only place in Britain where you can walk amongst 140 barbary macaques roaming free in 70 acres of beautiful forest.

It was quite worrying at first to have a bunch of overly excited 3 yr olds to have monkeys come right up to them but luckily the monkeys were very laid back and not at all bothered by our presence and the whole place is overlooked by keepers to make sure there's no monkey business going on!

The second trip was to Happy Hens. We've been there a few times and Emily and Elliott love it there. It's a child friendly farm- they had a tractor trailer ride and fed the animals. This week I'm meeting with another group for a picnic in the park weather permitting!

On the thrifting front I spent a lovely morning at Kedleston Hall Antiques in the park this is a large antiques fair held in the grounds of the hall. I could have filled a car full with all the things I wanted but lots of things were quite expensive. I just got a few things including a wooden trug for the garden, some vintage wooden cotton reels with pretty labels. This £3 tray, I really like the decorative handles.

It's now been painted in Farrow and Ball Parma Grey. The tea towel was £3.50 in the Cath Kidston sale.

Some blue and white china, I love it's almost faded pattern the dish was £4 and the little jug a pricey £8 but I thought it was worth it as it's so pretty.

Two deckchairs one £5 from the fair and one £2 off ebay the following week, modelled by Emily and Elliott! I ordered some lovely deckchair canvas from Ian Mankin and set to work on painting them.

Mmm notice a bit of a blue theme going on with my purchases can you tell it's my fav colour! I've not quite got used to the deckchairs yet I keep gingerly sitting down thinking they're going to collapse on me, but they seem to be very sturdy I'm sure I'll get used to them if I ever get the chance to sit outside for more than five minutes without it raining!!

I've also been busy painting shelves for my kitchen but they're not quite finished yet. Not a lot of sewing going on in fact zero but I have lots of plans of things I want to make for an etsy shop so hopefully I'll be making a start on them soon when I put down my paintbrush! Bye for now,

Sarahx