When you are hosting an event where gifts from your guests are very likely, it is always nice to be able to send them away with a small gift in return.

With this in mind, I decided that for my baby shower I would make some favor bags for my guests.

We used some clear plastic gift bags measuring 21 x 9cm with a base (gusset) measuring 5cm. We filled the bags with a selection of retro sweets that I hoped my guests would recognise and love to nibble once again.

I designed the label for the favor bags myself using a photo I had taken and adding text over the top of it. I then printed the labels out on card to make them more sturdy, I also designed the size of the label so that it was just slightly wider than the width of the bags as this made the overall appearance of the favor bags look neater. My tags measured 15.5 x 10.5cm

The writing on the tag was positioned a third of the way down, so the top of the tag could be folded over the top of the bag.

The bags were then securely sealed with a couple of staples at the back of the the bags.

The sweets went down very well, especially with the children who attended my shower.

A fun way to show your appreciation of your guests.

I placed my favor bags on a large table in the sitting room, and then moved them to a table closer to the front door when my guests started to leave.

Have a great day peeps.

Love Cherry

x

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With Easter fast approaching I thought I’d show you, in bite sized chunks, what I’m doing in my home to get ready for this delicious looking celebration. I say delicious looking because I really love the colours that are about at this time of year. I have some hyacinths coming up in my garden that are a very similar colour to the pink in the picture above. And the willow tree by the pond is finally getting its lime green hue before it bursts forth with the green it will keep for the rest of the Spring and Summer.

With that in mind, and because my family are coming for lunch on Easter Monday, I have decided to work on an Easter table that incorporates the colours that occur naturally at this time. And over the next few days I’ll take you through exactly how I’ve done it.

Today I’m showing off the place settings that I’ve made.

A very simple idea and something that anybody can do and to great effect as well!

• Starting with white crockery – always a cracking place to start as food looks great on it
• Adding a side plate in a colour that sits brilliantly within the overall effect that one is aiming for. In this case Powder Blue in colour
• Placing a tiny basket on to the side plate filled with something, anything, that will give a clue as to what is in store for the guests you have invited. I’ve filled my baskets with Quails eggs as one of the dishes on the menu contains them. You could of course fill the baskets with chocolate eggs or another tiny gift.

• The basket itself has been trimmed with a simple but bold flower and finishes it off well.

But how do the guests know where they are sitting? There is nothing wrong with having traditional place setting cards on display but these decorated tags are just as effective.

• Taking a simple parcel tag, decorate it with a vintage Easter image
• Add a tie to the top as the string they come threaded with is nothing short of ugly
• Write the name of the guest on to the back of the tag

Here’s another one. Using yellow in the shade of the plate (yellow is a SUPER Easter colour) and of course Bunnies have to appear at some point, so I’ve popped one on to the place tag.

Bunnies are appearing everywhere around these parts. Most notably at the sides of the country roads surrounding my house. If you are a bunny and you live near my house I’d like to give you two pieces of advice.

1. Please stay away from my raised beds as the peas and the salad have now been planted and if I see any of you near them, nibbling them as they grow, I can’t be responsible for my actions. Although I think the rabbit proof fencing my brother recently installed will keep the furry (and undeniably cute) brats out. I’ll show you how it all looks in a couple of days. I’m very excited about this area of the garden and intend to live in it ALL SUMMER LONG with my two new babies.
2. My second piece of advice for the bunnies is this – If you hang out at the side of the road then please don’t leap out in front of my car. As I don’t want to kill myself or another driver coming the opposite way then I will absolutely have to keep driving in a straight line and will invariably squash you. I have never killed anything on the roads, to my knowledge, although I was in the car when a deer ran out and hit the windscreen as Robert drove us out to get some supper. But if I had to kill a bunny, and a very tiny one, at this stage in my pregnancy I really don’t think I would ever get over the grief of it all. Grey’s Anatomy should officially be made illegal for all pregnant women to watch as even when all the cast are happy and getting along it sends me down the route of “OMG, life is just so astounding, look at the beauty of it all” and the ‘Sofa Sobbing’ begins in earnest.

Speaking of Sofa Sobbing, I’ll be back tomorrow with the latest installment of my Pregnancy Diary…………………..FUN!

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It’s Oscar weekend. I love the Oscars. I would sit up late at night as a kid and watch them and then when I was at drama school my classmates and I would discuss the winners with such passion the morning after as we waited for classes to start. I remember being so passionate about who I thought should win and when they didn’t I was distraught for the rest of the day. Such was my passion for films, film making and performances.

So, if you’re having friends over to watch the event on the television I have a free download for you to add to their popcorn!

Click the photo above or this link here and you’ll be taken to a download that you can print out on to card.

• Cut out the four Oscars
• Add them to buckets of popcorn,
• Tie them to bowls of chips
• Give them out to loved ones as tokens and a testament to the fact that you love and adore them more than your favourite movie star.

Being preggers means that I will be celebrating with paper buckets overflowing with popcorn and not silver buckets overflowing with ice and champers.

But that’s OK, Oscar season will roll around again before I know it!

And besides, I LOVE popcorn and have absolutely gone off booze. So this bodes well for a fun time.

One of my favourite films is Forrest Gump. I loved its simple story but loved even more the epic proportions it was told within. It made the character of Forrest even more believable and even more like somebody it would be beneficial knowing. The bit at the end where he sits and waits ALL DAY LONG for his boy to come home from school gets me every time. That and the fact that I watched this movie for the first time in a cinema in Burbank, California.

Good times!!

Glam times!!

And we all need a bit of glam from time to time. Even if it is experienced vicariously through the television!

Hello World!

I’m not an obsessive when it comes to statistics. I don’t look at them that often to be honest as I go by the principle that if you build it they will come. But I do have a great website stats tool. As well as telling me how many visitors I get also tells me exactly where they visit from.

I was absolutely bowled over when I saw where some of you reside. So, in true ‘Oscar Style’ I’d like to say a GIANT “Hello” to the following places…….

Russia, China, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Turkey, UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Egypt, Algeria & Japan.

And this isn’t an exhaustive list.

The Internet is often criticized for making the world too small, eliminating real human contact and making it all too easy for people to commit cowardly acts. This may be the case but when you get an email from Pakistan with someone telling you they like what you do it makes your day……week even. Thank you for reading. May we continue to create ‘the stuff of life’ that you all enjoy reading about!

Lots of love for a truly glamorous weekend and don’t forget to pop back on Monday. On Monday I’ll be showing you how to make the most adorable gift for Mother’s Day. It really is the prettiest present and super easy to make.

Cherry & the Gang!

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Bright colourful corners are so welcome in my house right now and for the past week I’ve walked past this table and it’s cheered me up no end. Not only can I smell the candy and the sweets wafting up but it’s so cheery that I cant help but be cheered by it.

Creating a table or a display like this one is great if you have a birthday, a wedding or an event in this month that you want to make a bit special. The Favor Bags from the other day are quick to make and so is the rest of the table.

We created the tree by using branches of Hazel and a variety of Pussy Willow. It was placed in to a rather appropriate red polka dot pitcher and the branches were stuck in to a piece of oasis at the bottom.

We sewed together some very simple stuffed felt hearts to dangle from the trees. These types of hearts are very lightweight and hang from the tree without pulling the branches down. This type of decoration are also great for Christmas trees.

Let’s move on to the candy!

I found some great retro style lollipops in a shop nearby and knew they’d be right for my table. They were popped in to a hobnail milk glass vase to lighten the table up a touch.

I used my old trick of placing a liqueur glass on to an upended espresso bowl and filled it with chocolate filled hearts. This idea would make great individual table settings if you were hosting a supper. Add a name tag and you’re all set.

Another way of presenting sweets and chocolates is to almost fill a glass or dish with shredded tissue paper and place bon-bon’s on top of the paper so that they appear as if they’re spilling out over the top.

More sweeties hanging from the hazel branches. I remember these well from being a kid. I’d make my sweetie necklace last for days as I liked to accessorize from an early age.

Another rather cute idea is to use bud vases for smaller lollipops. Just remember to add some oasis/florists foam to the bottom of the vase if you’re having trouble making them stand up straight.

And here we have the first of my gifts to you today. I’ve designed four Valentine’s Gift tags and you can download them for free.

This is the first one. A simple message.

A very sweet tag to tie to a gift.

A boy tag. I believe they print out a little bluer than the picture is allowing you to see.

A simple tag.

These four tags can be printed out as many times as you like on to white card. I used various pairs of scissors to create the edges but you can just as easily use regular scissors.

Click the picture of the tags and this will take you to the .pdf download for them.

Have a rockin’ weekend love bugs. Get up to lots of mischief, glug glasses of Prosecco and eat all the soft cheese, seafood and carpaccio you like. And then I’ll live vicariously through you all!

Love, Cx
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The snow has gone (for the time being), the sky is brighter and what’s that??? The nights are drawing out by a few minutes each day! This means that inspiration is flooding in and far be it from me to stop it so I look forward to showing you all of my current projects over the next four or five weeks.

I was preparing a small Winter lunch for four people the other day and wanted something other than large plates to put the food on to. It was a light meal that would be suitable for eating whilst talking and one that wouldn’t leave the guests feeling too heavy afterward.

I gathered up several of the wooden chopping boards and bread boards that I own and placed all of the food on to them for them to act as servers.

Wanting to create different levels and heights to show the food off I used espresso bowls….

…and even candlesticks to raise the boards up.

Ah, and a cake stand or two.

We had a simple salad.

Lots of Winter fruits that included pomegranate seeds served in measuring spoons.

The boards served me and the foods well.

I placed cooled Parmesan crisps alongside other cheeses, figs and olives. My guests could see the food clearly and it was easy to get to and pick from so I wasn’t too surprised when most of it went.

I also placed a whole bunch of fresh coriander on to one of the boards. Mainly for decoration but also to see if anybody would pick from the bunch of fresh herb and add it to their plates. They did. So I can clearly see many more bunches of fresh herbs in my ‘entertaining future”

Have a wonderful day and don’t forget my current giveaway, details below. Today is a busy day that sees me starting to prepare my series on Breakfasts, sowing some seeds ready  for the Summer and prepping the fabric for a quilt I’m starting to make. It’s a huge quilt so there is a lot of fabric to cut. It’s a good job it’s still pretty miserable outside as I’m more than contented to be holed up and working from beside the warmth of my radiator. Gotta keep the meatballs warm!

Cherry x


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It’s the eternal question? Do we have Turkey for Thanksgiving/Christmas or something else? Some folks, my Dad for instance, would never let us hear the end of it if we served anything other than Turkey on Christmas Day.

A fictional conversation now takes place…

“Do you remember when you served that other thing on Christmas Day, Chel?”

“What OTHER THING, Dad?”

“You know, the thing that wasn’t Turkey”

“Goose?”

“Is that what it was??? I had the shock of my life. Never before had I had a Christmas without a Turkey and to be honest Chel, it troubled me a little”

“There, there, you’re talking in your sleep again. Toddle off back to the armchair like a good Dada and I’ll get your tartan blanket. Is that dribble?”

Others are not as bothered. They’ll try Duck, Goose, Ham or Beef. So the recipe I’m featuring here today is either an alternative to Turkey or a dish that you can serve on another day such as Boxing Day or New Years Day. It’s still festive, still allows you to carve at the table and is still tasty and mightily filling.

This sized joint will certainly feed eight adults. You will find a weight conversion chart here if needed

• Place your joint in to a snugly fitting pan

• Pour two litres of Cider in to the pan

• Then add the rest of the simmering ingredients
• Bring the pan to the boil
• Lower the heat and allow to simmer with the lid on for 2 hours
• Turn the joint upside down after one hour
• Keep cider topped up during this process keeping as much of the joint immersed in water as possible

• After 2 hours simmering, with the lid on, remove the joint from the pan and place on to a chopping board or suitable surface
• Remove the string if it has any
• Taking a sharp knife slice off the layer of fat
• Discard both the fat and the cooking liquid

• Score the top of the joint diagonally making pretty  diamond shapes that remind you of Kanye West’s sweaters
• Drizzle olive oil over it and rub this in to the joint
• In a pestle and mortar grind up the rub ingredients (see red ingredients box) and smear them all over the top and ends of the joint
• Place the joint in the oven for twenty minutes at 200c

Serve with roasted veg….

Mashed potato with heaps of black pepper…

..and a table adorned with berries, lights, candles, wine and those you love ….don’t put actual people on the table as humans are not commonly used as table decoration.

I placed a cosy blanket on the back of each chair to try and induce a sense of being in a ski lodge. Don’t ask me why but these little touches are the things that guests LOVE. The blankets are all inexpensive fleecy numbers and make hard backed chairs a darn site more comfortable.

I can’t explain the ski lodge thing further I’m afraid except for the fact that my Mum and I were having a convo yesterday while watching Deck the Halls on Sky Movies. We were saying how much we’d love to spend Christmas at the Ahwahnee and dreaming of how lovely it would be. Here’s my mini version of what I think it would be like. And all I had to do was pop to Ikea for some blankets!

Yay!

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This I like.

Seasonal colour.

Berries picked from around the garden and hedgerows.

Yellow, red, green and deep blue.

Plonked in a jam jar that used to contain pasta sauce or jam and tied with odd lengths of ribbon that had been sitting in the drawer.

I use this idea on my tables all the time so if you’re reading this and muttering “she’s done this before” you’d be most correct.

But the colours, the foliage and the materials have changed with the seasons.

Where once there were roses and sweet peas now there are berries.

Of course some berries are not edible so don’t eat anything that you are not sure about. But the real warning in this post comes in the form of ‘berry drop’. If you have carpets or tablecloths that you love and try to keep as clean as possible beware of berry drop. And if you do happen to tread a berry into the carpet with your feet…..my sincere condolences.

I’ll be back a wee bit later on and I’ll prepare you now for what is to come…let’s just say it’s started.

But if you like that kind of thing you’ll be super happy.

Cherry xo

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I still have a glut, a glut I tell you, of sweet peas. This comes from picking them almost daily and not letting the seed pods develop for too long. They have kept my vases filled for weeks, grown very tall and created a wall of sweet peas along one side of the fence. This is something I was aiming for but had never tried. And although they are starting to look a little tired now I’m so proud of them and intend on doing it all over again next year in the paddock. The whole world will become a tangle of Sweet Peas if I have my way.

This coming weekend is a three day weekend in England.
BLISS!
I get to see my husband for more than twenty minutes in the evening before I skulk off to bed (not good at late nights) and it also means that we get to have a wee gathering of family and friends before we all head in to the months of autumn. This is the last three day weekend until BOXING DAY, so we’re making the most of it.

With this in mind I decided to use some of my glut of sweet peas (glut I tell you) to make a wreath to hang on the gate for our gathering this weekend.

Take some florists wire and fashion it in to a wreath-like shape.
Securing the ends well and making sure that no sharp bits are sticking out by twisting the ends around the wreath.

Cover the ugly looking wire by tying strips of fabric around it. This is an awesome way to use some of your scraps up.
The scraps I used were about 2 cm’s wide and approx 12 cm’s in length.

When you have finished covering the wire wreath it should look someyhing like this.

Cut some more strips of fabric, same length as before, as you’ll be using these to tie the flowers to the wreath.

Fold a strip in half lengthways.

Tie it loosely around the wire, leaving a gap.
Poke the flower stem through the gap and tighten the tie around the stem, securing the flower in place.

When you have covered the wire wreath in flowers it should look something like this.

Cut off any long flower stems or loose bits of fabric as this neatens it up a little.

I fastened my wreath to the garden gate with some more florists wire.

It’s not a heavy wreath so this wire worked out well.

I’m pleased with it. It’s a celebratory decoration and one that reminds me of an awesome summer in the garden.

Of course you don’t have to put the wreath on to the gate……. you could wear it on your head.

And look as ridiculous as I for the WHOLE day!

See you later on with another corner from my home.

Lots of love,
Cherry xo
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I think it’s safe to say that we’re still very much in summertime. Nighttime’s are warm and the duvet is regularly substituted for a cotton sheet.

But when you have guests to stay sometimes an old sheet just does not cut the mustard. And you can’t even think about boiling your guests as they sleep in your guest room. Having a stash of summertime bedding is really useful and it doesn’t have to be strictly ‘bedding’ bedding that you use.

The floral sheet that you see here is actually a duvet cover. Soft to sleep on and pretty.

On top are two tablecloths. One cotton, one linen. THIS IS OK. There are no rules when it comes to this sort of thing and having slept under this bedding myself I think it’s safe to say it’s lovely…..especially when it’s warm enough to get all hot and sweaty. Bleugh!!! There is NOTHING worse than waking up in a hot bedroom. Well perhaps dog poo is worse but ‘hot morning rooms’ are high on my list of ‘bleughness’

See? All fresh and clean and moonlit.

Laundered, pressed and waiting for a guest.

Dude, that rhymes!!!!!!

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See you later on with a BRAND NEW SECTION!

Yep, we’re going to posting more than once a day from now on so please drop by again a wee bit later on.

Lots of love, Cherry x

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Entertain & Celebrate – Saturday Morning in the Summertime

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It’s Thursday so it’s all about celebrating

Having & Front Garden Herb & Plant Sale

My collection of herbs and small plants is getting out of hand. I don’t have a gardener (which, unless you’re an MP, is a normal state of affairs) but I do have an addiction to garden centres. This means that I buy plants and then don’t have time to get them in to the ground quick enough, which is frustrating but also makes a great excuse for a front garden herb and plant sale.

Next summer I’m aiming to sell only plants and herbs that I have grown myself and not just present my surplus purchases. I’m well on my way to achieving this (in my head anyway) and its nice to have a wee goal to think and sketch out as the Autumn and Winter months draw in.

ANYWAY, on with the present moment.

We had apple mint and tarragon on show. Apple mint is so awesome and very pretty and I’m going to have a go at making a tea with it…..as well as adding it to many jugs of Pimms this coming summer.

I also had two lemon balm plants out. Lemon balm is great at this time of year as it goes very well in salads and salad dressings. I’m working on a salad dressing at the moment containing my own stash of lemon balm. This will be posted in the next few weeks here on the site.

These were my favourite part of our front yard table, the wee drawstring dried herb bags.
I KNOW that there are some of you out there that have a real problem with all of those ugly glass jars that the food stores sell their dried herbs in. The jars always face the wrong way in the cupboard and the one that you’re trying to find in a hurry is always at the back. I also find that I buy duplicates of these jars which annoys me as it’s a waste of money.

I know I keep saying this but I’ll be uploading all the instructions and details for these bags in a wee while. The website is going through some changes and I’ll have brand new sections and downloads soon.

Another friend that joined our yard sale were bunches of died & tied lavender. These have been with me for over a year and look at how the colour has remained. I’m not hugely into dried flowers & I have to admit that the thought of pot pourri brings me out in a nasty rash but I do love bunches of dried lavender and herbs. I may try this with my oregano and marjoram and I’ll be sure to let you know how I get on.

Bookending the table were two old butler sinks. These are so freaking heavy that Jodie and I had to breathe in deeply before lugging these about. My mother- in- law rescued these for me. They were being thrown out of an old chemistry lab and in to a skip (!!!!!!!!!!!). She had the men lift them into her car and she brought them down to me. They languished for a while in my old back garden but now they have come in to their prime. I have alpine strawberries in the other (see, I told you I had a garden centre addiction!!) and am very much looking forward to eating their tiny fruit.

The best bit about the day in the front garden was that it took place right outside my front door (obviously!). It was something that my house and home could provide for others, which is all part of this ‘open door’ dream for my friends and family that I have going on in my head as I drift off to sleep at night.

I think about one of those homes that constantly has folk milling about in it. Some peeps are making a sandwich, others are digging in the garden, while most of them are asleep in the sun on the lawn.

If you have these types of thoughts too then for goodness sake hang on to them. They are important and worth a great deal. They aren’t silly or boring or worth any less than any other type of dream or wish. And let me tell you, this yard sale thing is a lot of fun and something that I’d like to have another go at.

JUST THINK, I can provide soft fruits & corn at the end of summer, pumpkins & squash as autumn rolls in and hot soup and crafty decorations at Christmas time.

Whatever floats your boat, hang on to it……TIGHTLY!!!!!!

I’ll see you again tomorrow morning when I’ll finally be able to show you my completed patchwork piano stool cover that I mentioned here! It’s come out a treat.

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It’s Thursday so it’s all about Entertaining & Celebrating.

Creating a Guest Bag for when Precious Ones Come to Stay

I’ve found it so encouraging since we moved in to the new house that so many family members have dropped by to offer help and check in on us. My dad has helped me get some rather sorry looking Sweet Peas in to a new flower bed. My mum has arrived with armfuls of food & Robert the Husband’s brother has volunteered to give up a weekend to help out with garden.

I’m happy with having guests milling about. I grew up with a dream of an open house and having the kind of attitude that welcomes family and friends dropping in. This attitude has had to grow in me as communities and neighbourhoods are not as they once were but I enjoy nurturing it.

Something that I have wanted to create for the LONGEST TIME is a guest bag & now that we have a housefull it seemed as good a time as any to get going. As you can see from the top picture I made a simple drawstring bag (pattern and instructions to be uploaded to a brand new section coming soon to my website, I promise) and added all the things that I thought were not only helpful but ridiculously PRETTY! Yes, there is lots of room for pretty.

If your guest is unable to sleep after a long journey then tie together a novella or a couple of plays for them to read. A story like ‘The Great Gatsby’ doesn’t take long to finish and you’ll have given your guest the opportunity to read a classic tale while staying with you.

Add some soap and a wash cloth. Travelling can leave you feeling stale and grubby and these items, along with one’s toothbrush, can often be the only thing that your guest will forget to pack. I know I’m always buying new toothbrushes!

Tea.
Herbal teas are super powerful and there are certain ones that I can’t touch with a very long pole. But when you’re travelling  there are things like a change in food, sleeping pattern and water that can play havoc with your guest’s tummy. Add some calming teas to enable sleep and a traditional English Breakfast for when they need an extra kick in the morning.

Chocolate. Pop this into your guest’s bag for no other reason than the fact that everybody likes to be given chocolate.

Now this is something that I thought about for a while. If you have guests that are very precious and you want to bless them with a gift then search out the thrift stores or online auction houses for a pillbox. I found this Mother of Pearl pillbox on ebay for an absolute steal and it is beautiful. If your guests do have to take medication this will help to remind them……….

……..but for the time being I filled it with strawberry lozenges. Another way of making your guest feel a little fresher after a long trip.

When making the bag itself I used the age old pattern that my mum would make my P.E. kit bags from. Using a floral and polka dot fabric for the front and back. These are super easy to run up on the machine or by hand and I PROMISE to upload instructions to the new section very soon.

Finally, I added a small note of affection in the shape of these tin hearts. I prefer them to a card.

This whole bag and it’s contents have been put together for less than the price of a bunch of flowers. Because of this I urge you to have great fun in picking out some odds and ends that will suit your guest perfectly.

If you DON’T want them to take the bag or the pillbox home with them then simply attach a note to the bag, using an old parcel tag, which states that this kit is for their use while enjoying their stay with you. They’ll understand.

I can’t tell you how good it feels to have finished off this project. It has set me up and I feel ready to keep the door open wide. The weather also looks GREAT for the weekend and I have a new BBQ shelf arriving so, lets be honest here, I can already taste the chicken and the chicken tastes GREAT!!!!!

I’ll see you tomorrow when I’ll have another treat in the ‘Bake Fest Friday’ series that your kids will LOVE and are perfect to make over the upcoming half-term holiday.

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It’s Thursday so I’m Entertaining & Celebrating!

Red & White Decorated Table

It’s St George’s day here in the UK next week and it’s also Robert the Husband’s birthday this coming weekend so I had two events, of sorts, that I wanted to design a new table for. Red & white seemed like a good tonic after the pastels of Easter and it’s also super patriotic, which can be nice occasionally especially when this little island has been experiencing so much financial woe over the last year or so.

It’s amusing to me that so many people are now waxing lyrical about the benefits and, to be frank, joy that comes from ‘making do’. The media and literary world are awash with books and television programs about how to thrift, refurbish, craft and decorate using odds and ends that have cost mere pennies. I’m not certain but haven’t you been doing that sort of thing for ages? I have. I found some old pictures the other day taken in the Summer of 1991 when I was sixteen years old. I remember it so clearly. My Dad had just been given lots of great old furniture that belonged to a lady that his mother (our Nana) had known. It was wonderful stuff with good bones but it was dark and had an awful varnished appearance. What did I spend that Summer doing? Stripping off the varnish and re-painting it in various bright colours before ‘shabbying’ it up with some soft grain sandpaper.

Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is more galling to me than spending money needlessly. Especially when the same effect can be achieved with a little foraging, imagination and nerve. I truly think that the ‘Make Do & Mend’ ethos that was crafted during times of war in the last century is in us naturally as human beings and as a basic survival mechanism. It’s also bloody good fun and a great skill to call upon when times are tough financially.

So, don’t be fooled by folk that tell you that this ‘making stuff’ is something that only other people can do. Each one of these table mats took less that twenty minutes to make and is sturdy enough to last for a very long time. They were inexpensive and can be tailored to fit your home and made in any colour scheme you wish. Pink and blue, yellow and green, whatever you fancy. I went for Red & White because they are not colours that I often use in such abundance. Which is another reason for getting crafty, it allows you to be frivolous and experimental.

If you’re partial to a wee bit of sewing at the weekend I’ll take you through how I made these babies tomorrow in my Crafting section, but having laid the table using nothing but Red & White items I have to say that it’s effective. It’s bright and cheery and if the weather is good and you’re outside it brightens up an old garden table no end.

I planted a mixed bag of tulip bulbs last Autumn and luckily enough more than a few came up red in colour. They were promptly picked and added to the table.

In white milk glass of course and placed next to the red and white Cherry Bakewells.

My red and white spotted coffee mug was there by accident as I happened to be drinking out of it at the time, but it got to hang out for a while because it matched.

The backs of the chairs didn’t escape the red and white invasion and were decorated with wooden and stuffed fabric hearts…..

….and one of my all time favourite flowers, Chrysanthemums (soon to be used in pots on my front windowsill) sat in a red pot (that housed a Poinsettia this past Christmas)  quite nicely as part of this two tone set up.

You can see how bright this red & white table is by comparing it to the dull, weather beaten table and chairs that are just in view. I’ll have to give them a once over before Summer gets into full swing but if they are covered up for the time being that’s really not so bad!!!!!!

I’ll be here again tomorrow and you’ll see just how easy those table mats are to put together.

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It’s Thursday, so I’m going to Entertain & Celebrate.

Decorating an Easter Table for Friends
It got to a certain point while I was uploading these pictures where I wanted to just stop and yell “OK, that’s enough, pastel overload. I feel nauseous!!!” But to be honest the table looked really cute in the flesh and if you don’t have the freedom (or a huge amount of pastel accessories) to do this in your own garden then I’ll simply have to eat my hat and go back to bed. All was bright and pretty and because of the GLORIOUS weather we’re having on the Surrey/Sussex borders in England I couldn’t let another day pass without having a pot of tea out of doors.

Linen was hauled out of linen cupboards and pressed to within an inch of it’s life. Crockery sets were dusted off and place-mats were placed.

Nests as gifts were compiled and presented on plates (these went down well last year too!). Both real chocolate and decorated plastic eggs were given out and it was truly difficult to remember where the spare bag of chocolate eggs got to…….*hic*

Seasonal teapots were taken down and rinsed clean. Ready for another season of being used whilst tea is taken in the garden.

And this years Easter Tree, decorated so simply with ties and bows,stretched up to a blue sky that was warm, warm, warm. An odd site as the trees are still bare but oh, so entirely welcome.

As I look back on last year’s Easter Tree (pictured above) and conjure up ideas for another one next year it makes me stop and think about just how many reasons we have in a calender year to entertain and celebrate. Mmmmmm, Thursday’s will be rather full from now on methinks.

See you tomorrow with something hot and delicious from the oven….. And if you’re having a get together this Easter feel no shame as you decorate with enough pastels to have them dripping like stalactites from the ceiling!

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Pomegranate Place Settings

You can always find better shades of colour within nature than you can within a tin/jar/fabric. This is why I use pomegranates whenever I can.

The pinky gorgeousness that resides both inside and out of this seasonal fruit is too wonderful to ever not use them.

I simply piled up a set of mis-matched china, added paper napkins which complemented the whole scene and plopped a pomegranate on top. This simplicity makes a divine place setting and moves us all away from having to use napkins with ridiculous looking reindeer on them!

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