Moving and waiting

Hello! I'm afraid I don't get broadband in my new house until the 10th of December so you will all have to wait for some photos for a little bit longer! 
Love Becky. 

Upcycled pegs tutorial and life lately!

Hello peeps. Another little tutorial for you today. This one is super easy and very cheap!
We're going to make some cute, decorated magnetic pegs to use on your fridge.

They will look something like this:

What you need:
Wooden pegs
Yarn or embroidery thread
Magnetic strips
Buttons
Glue
Nail polish!

Your method depends on how you want your peg to look. Some I painted with nail polish, some I wrapped embroidery floss around one half, others I decorated with buttons and some cat stickers I had from Paperchase!

When you have made your design, simply stick your magnetic strip to the back and start pegging!

Pretty easy, huh? You could make a set and put them in a gift box as a Xmas gift. A nice, 5 minute craft.

In other news, I have been helping my housemate decorate my old room....we saw in the Dulux catalogue a picture of a dark grey wall with a funky orange band across the middle so we tried it out!



Martin was not impressed!

However, it was waaaay too dark so we have started to paint white over the top! Chickens.



Homebase one coat white paint!

I've also been moving house this week and looking at decorating ideas for my own place. I've found some lovely wallpapers recently....



Wallpaper £30 a roll: John Lewis

And coming up soon, I will be collaborating with a gorgeous online decorating boutique so keep an eye out for that! They stock ALL my favourite brands - Jan Constantine, Pip Studio, Missoni, and my latest discovery: Mulberry home! I can't wait....

My last very exciting bit of news is that Marks and Spencers have started selling mini macaroons/ macarons in the chiller section. My lovely Mum bought me some to keep us going as we shifted boxes:

Mini macaroons from Marks and Spencers - £5.49 for 12.

The vanilla flavour is to die for!

Not sure if I'll be posting for a couple of days as it's my birthday on Friday (going to London) and I'll be moving my furniture on Saturday. See you soon!

How to make a "yarn wrapped Xmas wreath" tutorial

Evening! I have a cute, little tutorial for you today. I've got the week off to move house so it's nice to have some time to craft.

This wreath is based on one I saw in Ikea for £10. I had already planned to make a yarn wrapped wreath but when I saw the Ikea one, it gave me the inspiration and the motivation to do it! I'll show you the Ikea one at the end and you can judge whose is better!

So, this is what you are aiming for:

Yarn wrapped wreath!

You will need the following:

A polystyrene wreath shape.
Some wool or "yarn" as the Americans' call it!
Some felt pieces.
Some buttons.



I took apart some old crochet work for the wool.

My wreath shape was from Hobbycraft and cost about £2.20.

The first thing to do is cover your shape with wool. Wrap it round several times until it covers the polystyrene. If you are using two or three colours, wrap them evenly over the top. I didn't glue mine on, I just wrapped the end into the wool.

Make some heart shapes by sewing around the edge of some felt. Leave a gap so you can turn them inside out and then stuff with some wadding.

Attach some ribbon to the top of each one and then tie that ribbon around your wreath so they hang underneath.

To jazz up my wreath, I sewed some buttons on to my hearts and cut out some letters to stick on with a glue gun. I also cut out some bunting shapes out of felt to go through the middle!

(In this picture, the letters are not stuck on as I'm waiting for my mum to bring me a glue gun!)

I was going to write "Merry Xmas" on it but then I wouldn't be able to use it all year round! If you look on Pinterest or Instagram, you can find loads of inspiration on how to decorate your wreath. Simples!

Here is the Ikea version:




They are pretty cute, but mine only cost about £3 to make as I had everything apart from the foam shape! If you give it a go, send me your photos :)

Happy 2nd birthday!!

Today is a very special day. Today is my blog's 2nd birthday! Happy birthday little blog.

If you had told me that after 2 years I would only have 34 followers, I probably wouldn't have started it. But if you had told me that after 2 years, I would have had nearly 40000 page views, then I would definitely have started writing! That might not be much in the grand scheme of blogging but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside :)

My blog is my little space on the internet where I can express my opinions, where my family can feel connected (even if I haven't rung them lately) and where I can talk endlessly about my love of retro furniture, fashion and cats.

So what do I want my blog to be in another years time? I'd like more followers, obviously. Some collaborations with companies I love would be a bonus. Mostly though, I want to want to blog and not feel like I have to blog. And that can be challenging. But I like a challenge.

Coming soon!

Aloha! I feel like I have neglected my little corner of the internet over the last week or two......but fear not! I'm working on some D.I.Y's for Xmas ornaments (copies of ones you can buy in the major shops but for a fraction of the price) and in a couple of weeks you will be able to see my new house with all my retro, G Plan furniture in it!

I'm currently watching a teak TV unit on Ebay and surfing for Scandinavian style fabrics to cover my chairs with.......and lusting after some birdcage print wallpaper. Did any of you watch Kirstie's Vintage Home the other night? I literally drooled over the tv! The family on it papered their entire bedroom with some blue, birdcage print wallpaper which I have since found to be by Rob Ryan - and is unfortunately £50 a roll. Sob. So I will instead be saving for the version from Next which is only £15 a roll. And just papering one wall.

Here's the Rob Ryan one:

Rob Ryan wallpaper in Sky Blue
£50 a roll

And the Next version:

Birdcage wallpaper from Next £15 a roll

And oh gosh! I just found some swallow printed paper and some stag printed paper (on the Next website.) Which would you go for?? How many rooms do I have.....?

For now though, I'll leave you with a picture of my amazing Mum sanding down one of my G Plan dining chairs!!

Ha ha! She's going to kill me.....

Provide more than everything

Hola! I've been wanting to blog for a few days now but most of my posts have been started and then deleted. I've been thinking about the things that I would want to read about, and at the moment that isn't a whole lot!!

My main life focus right now is planning all the bills I have to change the address on, where to put the sofa in my new house (I get the keys on the 21st) and trying to work out how much money I will have by payday at the end of the month.

I gave in today and let the boy sign us up for Sky tv, including £3 extra a month for the HD channels that apparently women can't actually see. Joy. I see the tv as a bit of an investment as we don't tend to go out much, but we do spend hours on the sofa watching various sitcoms, documentaries, films etc. What can I say? I'm getting old!

The only things I can share with you right now are a quick snap of my o.o.t.d and my joyous Festive Starbucks lattes - buy one get one free today! Oh, and my current obsession - dove grey walls....enjoy :)

None of these clothes are current except the dress which is Dorothy Perkins!

Toffee nut latte and eggnog latte (with cream!)

Dove grey walls and a grey felt sofa

 

 

What could be more chic than neutral grey walls? They go with literally any colour!!

I even have that chair....

 I literally can't wait to move! I'll miss my house, of course, but I do love to decorate! And I will finally get to use my G Plan furniture!!!! (Note to self: don't start a sentence with the word "and.") 

 

What is your current winter obsession?