Christmas past

Not a lot of posting got done in the run up to Christmas

and also not as many Christmas makes as last year.
I did revamp an ivy wreath I put together from a garland that was looking a bit worse for wear and I added some little salt dough cherubs which I made about 15 years ago!... I can believe I made them so long ago now and that they have lasted so well.


They look happy here even though it was a quick re-do, I'm sure next year I will spend a bit more time on it and perhaps add bigger bow.

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Charlotte and I made some gingerbread men, hearts

and tiny stars

I think it's quite sweet that she calls them ginger bear hearts,

we tied them to the garland that hangs over our dining room archway.

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My two older children David and April came home to stay for Christmas.

The template I used to make the stocking last week came in very handy when I couldn't find Davids.

(I vaguely remember it in workshop to do a repair on it last Christmas, now cant seem to find it)

I got some of the shirt scraps left over from the quilt I made him last year and stitched them together to make a new stocking :)

A little bit of felt holly & free machine letters add a festive touch!

I was quite pleased with the result.

Last year April decided to take her stocking away with her and forgot to bring it so her order is in for next year ;)

Santa did eventually come, not a great shot as it was taken at quite a late hour not as late as the time stamp though I think its about a couple of hrs out. I don't usually use the time stamp it got switched on by accident.

and a few hours later...............

a carpet of paper!......

I feel very proud that every toy item that we got for Charlotte was not a 'new buy' but thrift finds on Gum tree, charity shops and our local car boot sale, My older kids too got some items from the same and the 'new buys' that we did get were purchases made possible from selling things we already had and for one reason or another no longer required, clothes, toys, household and electrical items. Both Kevin and I agreed that it was a much more satisfying approach to Christmas spending.

Harry :)

I like to plough through the paper for a couple of hours before we clear up :)

Charlotte with big brother David enjoying her chocolate Santa.

This time stamp doesn't seem right as she was in bed about 8.30pm

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Boxing Day, a lovely shot of my girls,

 April and Charlotte in her beautiful fairy dress April bought her for Christmas

We had a family get together at ours on Boxing day and I was delighted that some of them took me upon the idea I had last year for the charity shop secret Santa. A lovely time was had by all with some great pressies  exchanged each costing no more than £5 from the boot sale or charity shop.


This was my gift

A lovely butterfly candle holder and heart bottle stopper from my nephew Dylan.

I hope you all had a lovely peaceful Christmas
Thanks for stopping by
Yvonne x

Black & White

I spent most of my creative time this week working on my Black & White quilt.

I used black poly velvet in strips between the squares and around the edge.

Side 1

I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out so far......

its not finished though......I hope to work on each of the squares to hand quilt around the flowers but that can be done as and when the mood takes me :)

Side 2

Now it sits on my sofa and I can cuddle under it in the winter evenings.

Just in time it seems as I think I'm coming down with a head cold and in need of a little comfort :(

sniff sniff

on another black and white note this is a little Zebra I bought last year for Charlotte's Christmas, she has now outgrown it

 (catching her toes under it on Monday while trying to have a go! :( poor wee thing)

Hes a lovely little wooden rocker, I bought him from a lovely seller on EBay.

now he needs a new home.

cute isn't he!

I was always going to fill the name in

but never got around to it. It kinda suits him anyway
So Clark is heading on to gumtree to find a new home, and
yesterday Charlotte and I went for a drive to collect a new rocker

needless to say shes delighted with him! she can just about climb up all by herself and as you can see, has had lots of fun already..... thanks to Gumtree, my favourite place at the moment.
The best thing about it is, it's free to list and sell, meaning the sellers gets to keep 100% Thats good for everyone :) I know its been around for a while now but I think its growing and more people are using it everyday worth a look for those who like a bargain.

Summer almost gone

However it was quite a lovely day here in Fife
I did pop out to the caravan to take some more pictures .....

retro door ribbon curtain .....

paper flowers to hide a little hole......

more little changes.........

before .......remember this.......

and after.........

I used hologram fablon on the worktop

this is what it looks like underneath now .............

 The cooker lid

and inside the cupboards............

I used a roll of water resistant tile effect wallpaper which was given to me by a fellow camper in the family.....he purchased two of them at a car boot sale for £1!.....no good to him.....not his colour..........perfect for our little Monza :)

This little pull out rack is for wine, but the bottles are too tall for it, so I will need to spend a little time altering it, for now it holds our 3 lanterns nicely.

our colourful selection of dishes.....

the wardrobe and privicy curtain, this gives us a little separate bedroom at night

blossom fairy lights fixed in place.........

 and the back fold down table, which I decided to decoupage with some origami papers and a few coats of varnish.

Had to show you this.....she loves to come out and site here while I potter about fixing things

shes looking at some caravan books :)

We did manage to get away in our little Monza for a couple of long weekend breaks.

with so much unexpected work to be done on the van we were lucky to get away in it at all!

Here she is with our new lightweight awning attached, its a porch awning, but quite big and almost covers the whole side of our little Monza

and doubles our space ......

breafast with a little singing thrown in .......

and a party....... Happy Birthday Harry!.......Chocolate cake for all :)

you can see my little kitchen set up in the background......we dont cook in the van we had this foldaway kitchen, which holds everything we need to cook and store our gas camping stove, electric frying pan, pots & kettle. There is also a larder for storing food items that dont need refridgeration.

Yes it did rain but look at those two wonderful rainbows which were so bright and a joy to see!

So we look forward to many more happy days in our little van

Thrifty finds and blogger

With blogger being down last week, it was difficult, I was itching to post, been busy with so many different things and thrifty finds to show

like these lovely little things!

Soap dish £1

Pink Lidded  dish £2.50

1 of 2 cotton embroidered pillowcase 50p for both!

I have some more things to show but no pictures as yet.

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 The little tutorial I posted earlier was sitting waiting to go when all the trouble started.

Unlike some I was lucky in that only one of my posts was affected and even then only a couple of minor things. On the other hand my draft post in my dashboard were multiplied by 3 in some cases, much better than being wiped out. I guess it was all down to timing and I have a habit of saving myself as I go along, just in case, I know they are saved every so often as we are writing but I'm a just in case kinda gal.

So I hope you enjoy the little tutorial I have written while playing around in my roses theme.
Yvonne x

Easter Flowers

I hope you all had a peaceful Easter Sunday

It was lovely and sunny here today in Fife.

 Our church alter was decorated with beautiful Easter Lillies. Spring green branches and daffodil bunches tied with white ribbon to the rafter supports added a beautiful simple touch.

After church our little one spent some time in the garden with daddy weeding and planting new things. It was lovely to see them both enjoying the sunshine.

This was a bunch of flowers which were showing signs of growing thin when I read Rhiannon's post about her flower table decoration I decided to do the same, I think it looked pretty.

I totally love this pale green vintage table cloth

 I picked it up at our local car boot sale last weekend for 50p!

Throughout the day I enjoyed working some more on my black and white quilt, but more on that tomorrow.