FLAG BUNTING BANNER CHILDREN'S ROOM DECORATION

VIA ETSY

A lovely banner made of a beautiful selection of vintage fabric. Very shabby chic. It looks great as a banner on a wall, hanging along the staircase or tied in the garden. 

It is also a great foto prop and adds that little special touch to a room or a party.

CHILDREN'S SOFT TOYS

VIA ETSY

I made a new soft toy family and PIPI LONGEARS was my little daughter's favourite.

 He is a big cuddler. He likes nothing more than to be hold tight when it is time to sleep. He always carry around his soft little heart, and is happy to lend it to any child who wants to play.

I made PIPI from natural undied cotton and a lovely selection of vintage fabric. As he proved to be so popular I made another one for my etsy store.

SUMMER LUNCH

The summer came in big way. We are having a huge heat wave and the last thing I feel like doing is making our house even hotter cooking meals. Here is a quick receipt for a fulling summer pasta dish I rustled up today. It only needs 8 min cooking.

for 2 people you will need:

250g pasta
2 lrg tomatoes (diced)
1/2 cucumber (peeled and diced)
250g of fresh or frozen peas
a bunch of chopped fresh spinach leaves
a big bunch of fresh mint
some more fresh herbs (I used dill, oregano, basil, chives)
a large pot of well salted boiling water

for the dressing:

2 thirds of oil
1third of balsamic vinegar
a large pinch of salt
2 dollops of mustard

you put pasta to boil, adding peas for the last 4 min if they are frozen. While you wait for it to be done you chop all the other ingredients and put it into a bowl. You put vinegar, oil, salt and mustard in a small jar, screw the lid on and shake it till it is all combined.

When the pasta is cooked you toss it into a colander, cool it down with some cold water and drain it well, then mix with other ingredients in a bowl, adding the dressing and some extra salt if required...

This pasta can be done just with any kind of veg you have left in the fridge and mix with all sorts of herbs, but fresh mint really gives it that special touch...

PRINTING FAMILY PHOTOS

I decided to do a backlog of family photos printed today... it added up to 300 photos, and I have not managed to get completely up to date yet...I want to make albums, but have a sneaky feeling that might take almost as long as it took me to get them printed... I decided it is time to take a new approach to printing:

• make time to select and print photos once every year
• have an album ready to glue the lovelies in there straight away 
• put the notes next to the photos, so you remember why you took them in the years to come - i.e : fave first toy, first few steps, really nasty fit of stubbornness ...

SUMMER BLISS

FUN APPLIQUÉ FOR CHILDREN

My little girl tore up some trousers the other day, and I had a very unsuccessful rummage through the shops to find a nice applique that I could iron over it... so...I sat down and designed some of my own...Here are the samples I made using vintage fabrics I had lying around the house... I love the way they turned up, so I shall make more and you will be able to find them soon in my Etsy shop.

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

I went picking elderflowers with my daughter to make this delicious cordial. It is really simple to make. I serve it with ice, a slice of organic lemon and some fresh mint. You will need:

30 large elderflowers

3kg sugar

20g citric acid or juice of 4 lemons

Now all you need to do is to put elderflowers in cold water (I take a large salad bowl and cover it with plate), leave it for 48 hours, then strain (I take the flowers out, then use a gauze to strain the rest). Once you are left with just the liquid, you stir in the sugar and citric acid and mix till its all dissolved ( I put it in a rum pot and leave it on the window sill for a day or two, mixing in between to make it easier). You can then pour the syrup into bottles, mark it up with name and date and store it for up to a year.