Tis the season...to blog!

Well, it's been a while but here I am blogging again.

With a good reason to aswell! It's advent and I signed up for the advent swap organised by Hookin With Laalaa 

I was paired with the lovely Claire

and I was delighted to receive a box full of goodies from her all beautifully wrapped and numbered

My first advent parcel from Claire contained a gorgeous beaded notebook and pen, which will come in very handy! Day two brought something perfectly Christmassy and tempting - chocolate coins! Cadbury ones at that!!

Day three was a bath scrunchie net poof thing and some lovely Champneys bath bubbles which were the perfect remedy for the aches that followed the Christmas work do Friday night!

Day four was some pretty Christmas ribbons to add to my rather extensive ribbon collection! (I have a thing for ribbons)

Day five and I received a gorgeous little cross stitch kit, although cross stitch isn't something i've done a lot of, this is small enough that I think i'll be able to tackle it without too much fear!

Day six (today!) and I opened up my pretty parcel to find a silicone chocolate mould, which I'm sure will get plenty of use before Christmas. (The husband and I took a chocolate workshop a while back and loved the process of making them nearly as much as the sampling afterwards!)

Thank you soooo much to Claire for my wonderful pressies, it makes getting out of bed on these cold December mornings much more bearable!!

So that's me all caught up on my advent swapping fun. Other than that I have been busy with a couple of crafting projects for our local church's Christmas Tree Festival, which was a wonderful weekend.

I decorated a tree on behalf of the choir...

I made the colour scheme navy blue to match the colour of our choir robes and I tried to include lots of musical touches!

Judith the organist (who is one of my crafting idols!) made the little choir people peg dolls, the details on them are amazing and totally match our robes!

I painted a sign for the santa's grotto in the church (and turned the vestry into a grotto for the weekend!)

I have also been busy making Christmas trees for the Christmas tree stall...

..from felt

and magazines!!

So as you can see I've been a busy festive Bea!!

Pretty French Things!! (or Christmas came early!)

Well blog peeps!

I am very excited today! All the lovely pretty things the husband and I bought in France have arrived!!

There was a little too much to travel in hand luggage with us on the plane, so we packaged it all up and sent it on the scenic route!

It literally was like Christmas this morning coming down to all these goodies to unwrap!

Now the fun begins finding places for them all to live!!

Some of my favourite items....

 

Glass jars with ceramic lids and a wooden spice rack/towel holder for the kitchen.

A large white Limoges porcelain tureen, which will grace my Christmas table this year filled with festive vegetables of some sort (Brussels, pancetta & shallotts maybe!?)

Two tiered cake/nibbles stands.

Four ceramic rose door knobs which are going to replace the plain ones on our wardrobes!

A large pretty canvas made up of smaller ones which I couldn't resist as it has the husband's and my initials on M & B!

A very large birdcage photo holder for the wall.

 

A birdcage key store (the husband and I really have a thing for birdcages!)

So as you can see I now have lots of things to arrange and find homes for!

I also have to mention the amazing Cath Kidston bargains I picked up yesterday..

It is definitely dangerous to live so close to a Cath Kidston factory shop!

 I'm in love with my new Cath charm bracelet and sewing box!!!

TTFN

Bea x x x

Room to Blog!

Hello Blog Peeps.

Haven't blogged in a week or so, as the husband and I have had a few days away in beautiful central France.

One really exciting thing is that I now have curtains up in my craft room! I wish I could say I had made them myself but alas no, they were courtesy of John Lewis!

I'm in love with the fabric design, it's called Magic Trees and is actually part of JL's childrens decor range!

I'm really happy with how my craft room is coming along, still looks a bit full up but i'm sure that is how most craft rooms are!

One thing I still have to do is paint something interesting in the fireplace! I'm thinking maybe ivy/trailing roses? Or perhaps a bird flying from its cage? Of course I could just paint logs and flames but that would just be boring wouldn't it!

Talking of paintings I have actually completed another canvas since my last blog, it was like many of the others done at the request of the husband!

 This one is of his prized bearded dragon Adelaide in a jungley scene with his snakes in the background. It is to hang in the hot room where the bearded dragon and snakes live in their vivariums!

Anyway, I'd better go make a start on said husband's dinner!
I'll leave you with my favourite new purchase which is my crochet apple cosy that I saw on Giddystuff's Blog

It is from Etsy - The Fluffy Duck
Isn't it just adorable!

It really does stop my pink lady apples from getting all bruised in my handbag!

Till next time

Bea x

Cupcake Swap Blog!

Thank you to OhSewBeautiful  for organising a fabulous Cupcake Swap

I was paired with the wonderful GiddyStuff

She sent me a wonderful parcel full of cupcake themed goodies, 

all beautifully wrapped in her personalized tissue paper!

I was so excited as this was the first swap I had participated in, and GiddyStuff didn't disappoint!!

In my parcel of wonder I got some pretty polka dot mini cupcake cases (I do LOVE baking!)

A lovely Betty Crocker cake confetti flavoured lip balm 

(actually tastes more like Angel cake! YUM!!)

Some splendid cupcake fabric and a gorgeous selection of ribbon including some cupcake bias binding which I didn't know they made! 

(My bestie Sharon will be SO jealous!)

Also in my parcel were two utterly fantasic handmade pieces from the very talented GiddyStuff

The first is possibly the cutest crochet cupcake I have ever seen!

I'm smitten!

 I love all the detail and love that has gone into it's creation!

She also made me a beautiful Christmas felt cupcake decoration with pretty little buttons and beads for sprinkles!

As this week I have actually been thinking about Christmas 

(plans, themes, decorations etc)

It was lovely to receive a Christmassy item to get me into action.

So thank you GiddyStuff so very much for my brilliant parcel, I hope you enjoyed yours at least half as much as I did! 

Please head over to visit GiddyStuff

and see the cupcake parcel I put together for her

Until next time Blog Peeps

Much Love

Bea x

Bloggington

Hello Dear Blog peeps!

It was a busy working week last, busy but productively enjoyable.

The weather gods have been smiling on my little corner of the world
and during one gloriously sunny morning I happened upon the delightful
village of Barrington.

An idyllic haven of village greens and chocolate box cottages nestled in the East Anglia countryside near Cambridge.

I felt compelled to share some photos of the beautiful thatched cottages which make up this tranquil place.

So as you can see Barrington is simply gorgeous!

Even the village pub is beautiful, tudor style with pretty leaded windows!

I hope you've enjoyed my pictoral wander through Barrington, Cambridgeshire.

TTFN

Bea x

Blog Art...

Having been asked to do a painting for the church at the weekend, I realised how much I miss painting!
I really don't do it enough, considering how much I enjoy it, I even have my huge easel set up in the living room, so I have no excuse!
It's quite sad that I have more blank canvases than painted ones!

I think the last bit of painting I did must have been the Beatles picture I painted for the husband for his birthday...

 He is usually the one to encourage me to paint, ever since the first painting I did for him which was a tiger at his request.

Well watch this space and hopefully there may be a fresh new painting soon!


Bea x

Blogable

Hello again Blog Peeps!

Well the Teddy Bear's Picnic at the Rectory was a roaring success!!

Lots of little (and not so little) boys and girls bought their teddies in varying shapes and sizes (and degrees of thread-bareness!)

I took Teddy & Neddy along with me.

Teddy I have had since I was very small, and he is suitably threadbare, he has travelled the world with me! He was once pink but is now a comforting shade of grey (and has been as long as I can remember)

Neddy is a relatively new addition to my 'guy' collection, although he came to me definitely pre-loved!
The husband and I saw him in a box with lots of other cuddlies on a car boot sale, I couldn't believe it when I saw him there as he was so threadbare and forlorn looking, and he reminded me so much of Teddy, the 'well loved' worn look, the outstretched 'ready for hugs' arms, they are even practically the same size, as you can imagine, they have become the best of friends!

As promised I have some photos of the cake I made to celebrate the occasion

I made a Victoria sponge with buttercream and jam and then set about making it look like a teddy bears picnic!!
I was particularly pleased with the battenburg cake and the BLT sandwiches!!

I'm glad to say everyone liked the cake, and the little ones made short work of the poor sugarpaste teddies eating all their heads first!!

Well I'd better be going, I have a plum crumble (or 'plumble' as I like to call it) to save, the husband's first try at crumble, he usually leaves the baking to me and for a reason I think!

Thanks for reading

Bea x