Hello everyone. Hope you are not too busy in the run up to Christmas. I am on my holidays from work these days and I am enjoying my time off.  Below are some images of the decorating I have done for Christmas. First up is our new Christmas tree which I have put in our good living room. I also tried drying some oranges for their scent and decoration in the house. This was my first time trying to dry them and they worked out alright. They took so long in the oven that I gave up. Instead I dried them on top of the wood burning stove which took far less time than the oven. The smell was lovely in the room though as they were drying up on the stove. I also made some pretty paper doily snowflakes. They are now hanging over the double doors into my sun room. I'm thinking of adding some red to the centre of them to make them more festive. You should try and make some of these doily snowflakes they are so simple to make and look cute.

Below is just one more  photograph of my tree. The lights are a bright white so they match well with the grey/blue colour scheme in my living room. Today I made this flower arrangement to sit on my kitchen island. All the items were free as I just picked them from the hedge. Three of the hydrangea were already dried and one of them is a fresh one from the garden. All the foliage is fresh from the gardens. The final photo is just me deciding where to put the fairy lights, I haven't left them here and have yet to decide where to put them. I have a lot of dried hydrangea so hope to make some more arrangements.

Hope you like having a look around my home and also at my homemade/handmade items. Have a go yourself or if you have some items you have made, I would love to hear about them and see them. Until next time.... 

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I had an extra long one as I took Friday off and today was a bank holiday. I spent Friday with my parents and Saturday with my sister in law. Yesterday I did the shopping and today I just chilled out and did some housework.
Below are a few images from around my home if you would like a nosy. First up is my growing stack of pretty towels in our bathroom with a few Cath Kidston items thrown in too... The wee lotions I got for 50p in a charity shop, I will probably never use them as they are too pretty. As you may have noticed before my bathroom is very vintage style with lots of florals.

Here are a few more photos of the dresser in my living room. Some of my books are stored here including Selina Lake's Homespun Style, Lorna Sixsmith's Would you Marry a Farmer, Gisele Scalon's Goddess Guide, the rest of my books are stored in my library room in the attic. I also have lots of country inspired items. The card is hand painted silk from Swallow Yarn Barn. You might also spot my Rachel Allen Forget me Not candle and the pretty wildlife cards from Wrendale Designs.

And finally some more of my books in my library in the attic...

So I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek around my home...

On our trip to Wicklow we visited Avoca  Mills and the Avoca shop at Powerscourt House and Gardens. Avoca Mills are Ireland's oldest weaving mill. Their products are really pretty, particularly their blankets- they are really soft and cosy! Avoca Mills is really quaint and interesting to visit too. We arrived too late to get anything to eat in the café however we did have teas and scones in Avoca in Powerscourt on Sunday. I will post some photos of Powerscourt House and Gardens in another post. If you are not aware of the Avoca brand, you can visit their website here. They also sell a range of homewares, books and gifts!

Last Sunday I had a lovely day out with my husband, he treated me to dinner out and we also went to a local Christmas Craft Fair. I bought a few things but couldn't leave this Amy Butler fabric handmade bag behind- Isn't it beautiful? I love all things blue and this pattern really stands out. Do you like Amy Butler fabric? I love the patterns. Here are a few more Amy Butler patterns below....

At work last week I had to go to the National Ploughing Championships which is a showcase of Irish agricultural and rural industry. You can see all types of ploughing at it but some people go to it and never see any ploughing as they just visit all the stalls and exhibits. Last year around 180,000 people visited this three day event and it is now in its 80th year. It is one of Europe's largest outdoor exhibitions and agricultural trade shows with around 1,000 exhibitors. If your looking for anything agricultural related you'll see it there! I bought a few handmade items including one of these lovely handcrafted contemporary jugs by Thomas Diem in the food and craft village. It will look lovely on my new dresser!

I have a plan got for my kitchen and having googled images on the internet I came across these images below from Woodale Designs that are very like my proposed kitchen. The cooker hood will be almost the same except I will have an oven underneath and spice drawers at the side of it. My island will be straight not curved as my budget won't stretch that far. I will also have a built in fridge and some presses at the end wall rather than the full presses here.

The plasterers are finishing off inside the house these days, we put an undercoat of PVA sealer on the walls, so it's time for painting at the weekend :) Yes, progress at last....

All images via Woodale Designs

I'm really excited, today I was the lucky winner of a giveaway over at Dots and Spots. I have won 12 wonderful card designs. Becky over at Dots and Spots has a beautiful range of bright, contemporary, stylish collage prints. Each design is created from a collage of different papers, the paper is carefully cut or torn and then layers of different paper built up to create a unique, original and vibrant image.  Dots and Spots showcased their beautiful designs at Top Drawer London a few weeks ago, the exhibiton stand was so pretty. You must all take a look at her website and visit her over at her blog Dots and Spots Design.

I stumbled upon this lovely website and indeed an inspirational business for you all to check out online or if you are in Ireland, you can go visit it :)

It's called Galerie Lisette owned by a mother and daughter team. Lucina produces a unique collection of original artwork, handmade prints, etchings, screenprints and greeting cards and Aida sources vintage prints, furniture and unusual home accessories.

 

Hello everyone, as you may be aware I have been trying my hand at crochet, but I am not progressing very well, I think it has something to do with the type of wool and size of my crochet hook as the hook is very small and it is difficult to see what I've done. So I had a few attempts at crochet and decided that I will turn them into christmas tree decorations and then I began making pom pom which I am also going to use for decorations on the christmas tree. Below are a few photos of my new style crochet :) and also my pom poms. Sorry there are shadows all over the crochet.

Last weekend I went to the local Pre Christmas Craft Fair, there was over 70 stands there and my, what a wonderful array of handcrafted goodies. I was in my element. What I noticed though was that alot of people were missing marketing material, for instance no tag or cards to say where they were from to try and get return customers. Thery really should attach even a little card with their name and contact details on each item. Here are a few of my lovely purchases

Crochet topped hand towel for my new home :)

Pretty felt corsage and handmade rose soap

Soap from Sean Nos Crafts

All my wee handmade purchases.

Yesterday I made this pom pom garland and put it in my bedroom with all my other treasures. I just used fishing wire and threaded it through each pom pom.

I'm thinking of changing the green and red pom poms into small christmas decorations for the tree, what do you think?

This week with work I was at the National Ploughing Championships which also hosted some rounds of the European Contest. While there I visited the Food and Craft Village, it was full of lovely delicious artisan foods and creative crafts. I picked up these two items which I thought were sweet.

Both items are from Shallow Yarn Barn based in Castleblayney County Monaghan.

AVOCA

Have any of you heard of the Avoca Range??? Avoca is an Irish family-run business and is one of the world's oldest surviving manufacturing companies and Ireland's most exciting stores. They export clothing ranges to boutiques around the world and have their own food label with dozens of delicious products. There are Avoca perfumes, glassware, ceramics, clothing, garden range, to name but a few. The hand weaving mill was established in a rural Irish village over 280 years ago. Avoca remains a family business with a mission to create joy and have fun!

To find out more and check out the AVOCA range, visit their website, it really is worth a visit!

While in Kilkenny we had to visit the Kilkenny Design Craft Centre which is full of jewellery, knitwear, celtic gifts, china & crystal, pottery & glass, home & fashion, accessories and stunning one off contemporary design pieces. Here are a few photographs to share with you...

Window with a selection of hand crafted goods

Another window with some textiles and knitwear

Nicholas Mosse Pottery, if you have never heard of it, you really have to check it out!

A view of one of the galleries, through to the courtyard area with lots of studios

Some studios and workshops in the courtyard

A factory shop with some fine Irish pottery

More display areas

A view from the inside..

Summer Time :-)

Yes it's Summer Time again, we all love Summer Time, when we long for warmer days, sunshine and brightness, beautiful flowers, the scent of fresh cut grass and everything alive all around us...

I was taking a look at Etsy today and came across these lovely Summer Time finds and thought I'd share them with you... Hope you like them..

{Original Art Work Karen Fields Gallery}

{Blue Lagoon Maxi Florspace}

{Butterfly and Bubblebee Blank Cards Pet Scribbles}

{Fabric Coasters Paisley Baby}

{Sunny Summer Day Fine Art Lori411}

{Here Comes the Sun Pendant The Garden of Dreams}

{Vintage Summer A Bushel & a Peak}

{Summer Blossom Planter De La Fleur}