This Week... Pretty Presents & Chocolate Pancakes

This week... I spent some time with two of my favourite ladies and Gayley gave me my pretty bridesmaid present - super cute right? I spent a lazy Sunday with Fubby, I made us chocolate pancakes because that's just how we roll. I've spent A LOT of time, measuring squares, cutting out squares and folding squares into petals, eventually these will be, yes you guessed it, wedding flowers - folding paper is my whole life right now :) My ginger has suddenly put a spurt on. You may remember I had a bit of ginger in our kitchen that looked like it wanted to grow so I put it in a pot. Nothing happened for ages and I mean ages! I was on the verge of throwing it away as a lost cause, but then found, after rummaging around and prodding the soil a bit, a tiny green point coming through. It stayed the same tiny shoot for about three weeks, I thought it might be done, but then this, alright, it's still only small - but it is kind of huge too. I've also been organising, unfortunately I wasn't organising my own life (if only), I've been organising more titles to be sent out for review for UK Handmade.

Found - Bookish

It seems the only secondhand bargains that are out there right now are books. We went to a car boot sale at our local RSPCA this week. As far as I can tell it isn't a regular one, but I did really enjoy it and thought there was a lovely range of items and sellers. I also liked that we were asked for a donation rather than an actual entry fee, not that we would object to supporting poor kittens and puppies, but I just think it is more polite. You can see the three books we picked up below - again to be used as props for our wedding, they came to a total of £1.80.

To celebrate this love of books, here are a collection of bookish finds available to buy online from UK sellers. As usual click the link below to be taken through to the item. Thanks!
Books 8 x 12" Print by Lola's Room
Wooden Book Necklace - Available in 8 Colours by Lucie EllenBooks poster print, Dr Seuss quote, 11 x 17in (A3), artists giclee print by Visual Philosophy
Enjoy a good book - Jane Austen Quote - Pen drawn poster by Chatty Nora

Hopeful - 16"x12" photograph of an altered book sculpture by Justin Rowe

Found - Everything Is A Bit Grey Today

What is with this awful weather? Well, as I'm sure you can appreciate, I wasn't about to walk into town in all that rain yesterday, so again there are no charity shop finds, but there are online finds! Yeay!! So to prove that not everything that is grey is bad and that some grey things are truly wonderful, here are a selection of items from artisans based in the UK. As usual click on the links below to be taken to the product page! 

Handmade Glass Beads in Etched Shades of Light Grey by Galloway Beads

Grey Striped Ceramic Pot - Sawdust Fired by Vanessa Bullick

SALE Bubblegum slate grey hand printed coin purse 20% off by Sarah Waterhouse - Sarah is currently raising money for equipment via crowdfunding, you can find out more here

Needlefelted Bird Grey Owl Baby Miniature Grey Owl by Felt Me Up Designs

Bracelet Bangle , La Rambla Porcelain Bangle With Delicate Flower Decoration, White and Gray by MaaP Studio

Coin purse wallet:Grey tonal fabric finished with ruffle by Curious Miss Clay

Grey Fish, limited edition giclee print by Eloise Renouf

New Items at dawn bevins design

Some new items have been appearing on my website this week, some you can see here. Hopefully, there will be a lot more activity on there over the coming weeks, with more products, and more changes. Fubby warned me, that once the site was up and running, it didn't mean that it was finished, that it would continue to evolve. He was absolutely right, I can already see things that aren't working for me, things that need moving, or in some cases, removing. Keep your eyes peeled! :)

Hello 30s - Day 289 - 302

It's back! Hello 30s! I have finally given out all the cards and presents, that I have taken photos of, so I can now continue with my daily photo challenge, without spoiling any surprises, yeay!!! I do need to get a wriggle on though. The project ends this month, and I already have over 50 photos stored up, that need to be posted. Spit Spot!!

Day 289:

Candied walnuts! I made these for a salad, possibly the tastiest salad, that I have ever eaten. 

It was also possibly the unhealthiest salad I have ever eaten. 

Ho hum! 

These walnuts were so yummy, that half of them didn't even make it into the salad. I found the salad on Shutterbean, make it, it has sweet sugary walnut goodness AND caramalised onions! 

Day 290:

Drawing chickens. Did you see the last Hello 30s post? The one where we looked after chickens? Well that gave me an idea. I had taken some photos of the chickens, so decided that I would try and paint them, for future sister-in-law's (Sandra) birthday. I haven't had to draw or paint anything in a while, so practice was needed. 

Day 291:

I also had to practice painting chickens (on paper silly, I didn't paint any real chickens). All I have at the moment are watercolours, which I find quite difficult to use. I am an oil, or acrylic kind of girl, a bit slap dash, and heavy handed. 


 Day 292:

Meet Floss. Yes she is a bit of an odd little chicken. She was a runt, that should have been for the chop, but Sandra saved her. Floss sometimes get a bit confused, and thinks that she is a cockerel. 


Day 293:

After an hour long walk, and feeling quite disappointed, that I had remembered to take my camera along, but had found nothing of interest to take a photo of. I came across these two swans, and their healthy brood of cygnets, right by my house. 

Day 294:

My Precious!! These are my thumb rings, I love them. They have been lost for so long. I had desperately searched high and low, in a Gollum like fashion, and had just about given up. That was until we decided to do some painting and decorating in our bedroom, and moved everything out. 


 Day 295:

As I mentioned above, painting and decorating, which, as always, turned the house completely upside down. 


 Day 296:

I went along to the first UK Handmade Surrey Artisans meet up, and as well as meeting some lovely creative ladies, I also came away with a stash of cake and biscuits - can't complain ;)


Day 297:

Oh the excitement! You know how it is, when your days are being governed by DIY, it just isn't THAT exciting... but parcels are exciting, even if your parcels are full of door handles. It certainly breaks up the monotony of door painting.


Day 298:

More cake!!! I had taken a cake along to the meet up, boyfriend was a bit put out, so I had to make him another. This is how I know, that this vanilla pound cake is quite good, as boyfriend isn't usually a big fan of of sweet things. Oh, and anyone that thinks vanilla pound cake is a plain cake, shame on you!!! 


Day 299:

Going through the family photos. This is my Mum and I... not that she is going to appreciate me putting this on here. I had spent the day getting her birthday present finished and ordered. I was lucky to have this photo, it was one of a group, that I had sneaked out of the house on one of my last visits. Even trickier was sneaking them back. My folks are planning on moving, and everything is packed away in boxes. I had to hide an envelope on top of a wardrobe, and tell my dad where to find it, so he could put them away. Very James Bond!


Day 300:

The Arty Street Party in Reading organised by Jelly. I went along with the lovely Anna from UK Handmade (and Sakura Jewellery) to help spread the word about UK Handmade. Had a great day, meeting lots of wonderful creative people. :)


Day 301:

It's those door handles again! Honestly, black door handles, hard to find and expensive. (Wickes and Homebase both do some, but do any of them do a matching bathroom privacy lock - noooo!). Oh and you see that door, that was brown... and now... it's not :)


Day 302:

Birthday card for Sandra. As well as painting chickens, I also made a chicken card. You can probably see a theme developing... it is a good job she likes chickens really :) 


Right, only so much blog you can put in one post, there will be another update soon! :)