Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life....

I have been a little out of sorts lately, been a little under the weather, and with the house the way it is, am kind of getting used to these ups and downs I keep having. We take one step forward with the building work, things look pretty for a while, then more building work, 10 steps back and we are back in a building site once again.

I do feel a little brighter, the weather helps I know it, as does pretty fabric, and like so many of you, enjoy bringing new ones to my stash. Am already thinking of what pretties to make with it, no more fondling of the fabric here, need to be cutting and getting on with it :)








One little thing I enjoyed making was my first Morsbag I even made a little brooch to pretty it up, and I think looks really sweet. I love the ideas behind these Morsebags, I know I would rather put my groceries in one of these handmade pretties than an old tatty plastic bag. The one I made is going off to a lovely new home, hope you like it.





I have also been spoiling the children with little gifts. Computer games? no, new shoes? no, squash buckling DVDs? no, CDs? no, crocheted cushions? yes, however did you guess ;)

They shall look perfect in their pretty attic bedrooms and go so wonderfully with their CK wallpapers. Thank you so much Aunty Wainwright's Treasures for making them so lovingly, please do pop over to see what pretties there are on offer.


Master Poppins' shall look so sweet on his little bed.





And Miss. Poppins' looks like one of those delicious swirly lollipops and looks good enough to eat, it goes wonderfully with her Paris Rose wallpaper.





Am I the only one who adores getting little parcels in the post, especially when they are from a lovely friend who seems to know exactly what would light my eyes and bring a huge smile to my face. I had a little inkling that a certain someone had seen something that would be right down my street.





I was overwhelmed with how pretty they were and how special and loving of my friend to send them to me, knowing that I would love them, and boy did I love them :)


How sweet, how very, very sweet. I have fallen in love.





It is the eyes, like little pools of loveliness, I want to dive right in.





And look at the wonderful handmade button heart with baby blue ribbon, maybe this person knows I am thinking of someone very close to my heart at the moment, whose special anniversary is coming up, and maybe she also knows that this year I am finding it harder than ever before. Thank you dear friend, I shall treasure it :)





What fun and enjoyment I shall have learning from this wonderful Ann Ladbury's BBC 1976 Dressmaker book. Mitmot helped me when I was struggling with my first dress for Miss. Poppins, I am keen to make clothes for all of the Family and this fantastic book is exactly what I need.





Look at the wonderful fashions, I love the clothes form the 70s and would happily wear any of them in the book. It is a very thorough and brilliant book for a beginner like me, and I know shall be very well loved and used.




Thank you so much Mitmot, you are a very kind and thoughtful person, who seems to know me so well and who I really, really hope to meet one day :)



Is it me or is everyone going a little CK crazy. I am finding Ms CK everywhere I look, on TV, in magazines. I am now doing my best to slowly wean myself from buying as much CK as I do. I am realising that there are far better, cheaper alternatives out there. And dare I say it, and never thought I would, but when I hear the words CK, a rather long yawn befalls me. Ohooo dear, is someone going to jump out and tell me, " It was only a phase my dear "





Are you all as excited as ever over CK, or, like me, do you think the sparkle, originality and rawness that once was, has gone a little. I do love the odd little splash of her yumminess here and there though my purse isn't too fond of it ;)


I was glad therefore when I saw these little pretties in Mr TK Maxx, and all for a little over a fiver :)





I love Mr Maxx, and always seem to come away with something when I go there.


Pretty books. This one shall come in very handy, now I am a Great Aunty :)





Anything with the word floral in, and in the shopping trolley it goes.





What pretty little spoons.





Talking of pretties, look what a lovely friend gave me, knowing my love of all things shabby chic, and her not having any use for it anymore, I am now the new mummy/owner of a delightful little shabby chic plate rack. I have been looking for one for yonks and was so happy and delighted to have been given a very special gift from my friend. I treated her children to a couple of pretties which they thoroughly loved.





I am happy to announce that I have now finished my FRIENDS swap for you A Day In The Life Of A Krafty Gal and its on its merry way to you. I hope you like everything, I reckon I may not be the only one who has found this one a little tricky, I and D had me stumped for ages ;)

Enjoy your little pretties. If you would like to see what I sent do please visit the Krafty Gal, and keep your eyes peeled for the big unwrap ;)





Right, better get making the popcorn for I say Britain, you say talent, Britain's got talent, it's the DJ talent. :) :)


X

And The Winner Is....

So in the pretty Bonne Maman jar you went, big sister gave you all a good shake, closed her eyes and pulled out a winner.




And here the winner is, congratulations :)







Well done Greentwinsmummy over at A Life Full Of Blessings your Sarah Smith cloths and a couple of pretties are on their little way to you.

Hope you are all enjoying the pretty weather we are having in some parts of the country, we have spent a very pretty day here.





Hope you have had a lovely day too.

X

Hoarding, The Dress, And My Giveaway Win....

The Hoarding....

Well I have been busy sorting here at Home Sweet Home. I have come to the realisation that I am an habitual hoarder, like my mother, I must also have the hoarding gene. I can take days and days to sort out one little corner of my house and I spend ages mulling over whether I really wish to separate myself from any of my so called junk.

I am so sentimental, and keep every little scrap of paper my children have scribbled on, all greeting cards, old toys, newspapers, baby clothes anything in fact that I think would enrich my life. Well actually, my love of hoarding if anything, could be making my life a whole lot worse. I have been very inspired by this moving post, it has really helped me see the light, I have now filled 12 bags and am slowly getting there, and already my soul feels a little lighter.

The Dress....
I never thought I would be one of those women perusing over the pattern books, far too clever I thought, something I could never do. Well I was fed up of thinking I would love to have a go, walked over, and found myself like them, flicking through the books. I went for a Burda dress pattern for the little girl in the house and a Simplicity smock top pattern for myself.
And so I began with making the dress.

Mmmmm not sure I knew exactly what I was doing.

Well I made a couple of mistakes here and there, and can't say I followed the pattern perfectly, but this is my first attempt at making a dress. I think it looks charming hanging on the pretty hanger.

It even goes with Miss. Poppins' wallpaper.

I thought she would laugh when she saw my first attempt, and say....

" I am not wearing that! "

Well Mummy couldn't be happier as she simply said it was beautiful and that she would like to wear it for the school disco. How chuffed was I. Here she is looking pretty in it.

The Giveaway Win....
I have to say a heartfelt thank you to Sian at Diary Of A Tinyholder for a wonderful giveaway I won. I couldn't be more delighted, they are such special and pretty gifts. The colour looks very like one of my LA favourites, Chalk Pink and a couple of pieces of furniture in my house are painted in this charming colour. Sian obviously knows my taste very well.

Here take a look.

Some charming hand painted HOME letters with beautiful floral transfers on them, they are so pretty.

And the most adorable hand painted mantel clock, it is exquisite and has the most wonderful floral design on it.

Thank you so much Sian for your precious and beautiful gifts.

Talking of giveaway's, if you haven't already, please feel free to enter my little one, you can read about it on my previous post.

X

Sarah Smith, A Giveaway, And Pretty Pink....

Whilst perusing the lovely Sarah Smith Add A splash Of Colour Blog , I stumbled across a couple of my favourite blogs listed on their Things We Like sidebar. The very serene Vintage Heaven and the wonderful Lavenderhouse

As I scrolled down looking for some more familiar lovely faces, there, with a little exclamation mark, was little old me, ha ha did make me chuckle, I nearly spat my coffee out ;) After my little woe is me story, to see that the wonderful Sarah Smith and her brilliant team thought my little olde blog was something that they liked, I found very sweet.

So sweet in fact, that I have decided to do a little giveaway, of course a Sarah Smith product has to be one of you little gifts along with a couple of surprise pretties.

So, if you would like to enter, please leave a comment telling me what you would make craft wise with your beautiful Sarah Smith cloths. Obviously if you were the winner you don't have to make them into something pretty, you can use them for their intended pupose. A winner shall be picked from the pretty tin on the 24th of May.

Please do visit Sarah and her team's blog for inspiration. And good luck, Ohooo and tell me your favourite colour too, as then that would give me a better idea of what Sarah Smith product to send you with your goodies. Don't worry if you forget, I shall have a good guess at what colour you would like.


Seems to be many a painting going on here at the Poppins household, if you don't like pink, best look away now.

The paint is a Dulux Gloss in Rock Candy. They mix it for you. My pretties are not in their rightful place, as you know is a tip here at Home Sweet Home, what with the 8 week refurbishment, ha, more like 8 months, but I know shall look so pretty when they are in their proper little spot.

You can imagine what the before's were, think orangey pine. I need to touch them up a little, and they have mostly only had one coat.


One before I have.





I sort of quite liked it as it was, £2.00 from a car boot last summer, though the pink in me took over.





Ohooo not quite finished off painting the pitched ceiling in the attic room.


I love these pretty towel rails, and would love one for every room in my house. Was £2 from the reclamation centre.





A lovely bargain matalan mirror, was white, though being a Pink Person wasn't moved, so the pink paint came out.





And a lovely little shelf from a CS, was £1.99.





Well I have more furniture to paint, going to be like Barbie Land here, good job I have an understanding husband.

I know is not everyones cup of tea but they shall be spread out, even to me looks somewhat too much when you see them all like that together.

The mirror is going to go in the main bathroom, the shelf is going in Big Sister's bedroom, the little shelf is going in the kitchen and the towel rail is going in my, oops, our bedroom.

Good luck for the giveaway if you decide to enter.

X

Thank you....

Thank you so much to you for your very lovely and precious comments. I am not exaggerating when I say have been very, very moved. Some of you know that it is coming up to a very emotional time of the year for me, the anniversary of my little baby boy being taken into God's care and I think I have come to terms with the fact that he probably is the reason why I started this blog in the first place, to find some beauty and peace and to be taken to a pretty world of loveliness.

I do not feel as Gloomy now thanks to you guys, and have done a little thinking and have decided you won't get rid of me quite yet. I need, crave, love, enjoy, revel in all things pretty and I love the relationship I have with you lovely people. So if that chapter of my life was to come to an end it would actually for me, be rather sad, and I don't like to be sad I like to be happy, happy happy.

You may remember my little man caused this.





Well now there has been this.




My favorite vintage bowl that came with a beautiful matching jug, I don't know if you can tell from the photograph but it was really big and beautiful. Any idea on how I could recycle, it I would feel awful throwing it in the bin and don't feel excitement at the thought of gluing it all back together.

So now you may have some idea why I buy so many pretties, to replace the ones that get broken ;)


Thank you for your support :)



X

Time To Move On Perhaps....

Is it only me that is maybe, dare I say it, getting a little bored of Blogging and everything that comes with it.

Yes as you can tell I am having a little moment, a little quiet time of reflection. What is this Blogging lark all about. I have always been a little compulsive, obsessive even, and when I stumbled upon a lovely little blog way back when, I had to have my own little blog too. Though now feel I am perhaps, maybe, a little blogged out. The skies are getting warmer, the fields are greener and feel maybe my blog days are numbered.

Don't worry I won't make a big song and dance about it, I shall slowly float away like a little cloud in the sky :)

I applaud those of you who have been blogging for years and wonder if maybe my Bloggy energy can't keep up, is there somewhere I can go, Bloggy therapy perhaps, to regain my energy and enthusiasm. For me, like good stories, I like to have a good begining, middle and end. Well I have had my begining. For me, my middle was a long time ago so maybe it is only natural for things to come to an end perhaps.

I haven't even baked you a little lemon drizzle cake to apologise for my gloomy post, hopefully my pretty blossom shall do.

So Please do enjoy your Blogging, you are all so good at it, though methinks I am in the bottom set, I really can't keep up.


X

I Am An Olde Romantic....

Are you romantic, I think I am, or rather, I like to be romanced, and made to feel very special and told that I am loved every day. Now here at Home Sweet Home I am afraid romance left a long time ago. What with all the refurbishments that have been going on for months, romance and I love yous decided to up sticks and go walkies. Waking up to a big plastic sheet across the bedroom wall, half a tonne of plaster on the floor, unpainted walls, clothes in suitcases and plastic bags and bare breeze blocks doesn't entirely rock my boat and help me feel the passion. Looks like myself and Mr. Poppins have lost our mojo.

So I have to find my passion elsewhere and what better place than adding to my collection of vintage postcards, and 20 or so I chose depicting young lovers and romantic scenes. Are any of you in love with vintage postcards like me, I adore them I hope you like these, some of my favourites, too.

I think my first delightful couple have got engaged, what with the adoring way he is looking at her delicate finger.

Can anyone help me out with the translation.

Look at the way this fine fellow is gazing at her, my, how I wish to be gazed at like that again.

I wonder what this pretty lady is thinking, Ohooo I could think of some cheeky things ;)

A secret meeting perhaps, what wonderful and pretty roses.

Ohooo saucy.

Beautiful.

Maybe we could get our mojo back.

I adore reading the beautiful writing, though do feel am being a little intrusive on these people's lives.

Maybe that is what Mr. Poppins and myself need to do, write a little love letter to say why we fell in love in the first place.

So hopefully these beautiful images can help bring forth the romance and we shall find our mojo again hidden amongst the sawdust and paint. Do you find time for romance in your lives.

Talking of painting I have gone a little pink mad, no really pink mad. My mum came to visit and saw some of my newly painted made over pretties outside in the sun and declared,

'Ohooo those are nice, lovely for big sister's bedroom.'

Well no, they are not for big sister, they are for me, to put my pretties on. Now I know not all of you are a lover of pink, though I am not ashamed to say I love pink, it's for me, cheery and pretty and sweet and cute.

I couldn't say goodbye without letting you see a couple of newly bought second hand pretties.

I seem to be having a thing about trays and I fell in love with a delightful Michael March one.

The wonderful florals.

A sweet little boy, only 50p bless him.









A very special photograph frame.





What beautiful words and perfect for someone I know.





And a couple of good olde fashioned Enid Blyton favorites.

Right I am off to find something I can paint pink :)

X