Andrea Fay's

Corners of our new home.....

2011-05-04T18:06:00.019+01:00

And also once again, an apology for being away for so long, we have had so much going on since the beginning of December last year, firstly I hurt my knee, the findings from an MRI scan following the tripping on a dog toy was that I have torn my Cartilage and ruptured a ligament...ouch, I am at last able to walk up stairs in a moderately normal fashion now, 5 months later!! But boy was it painful, I think that if I had broken a bone it would have actually repaired itself quicker then what it did infact do, but hey ho, I have got now around 90% movement now so I am nearly there!!

And during all of this pain and agony we moved house!! Oh, and in between that we had the huge amounts of Snow and so I was house bound for around two weeks as we could not get out of our lane, and as I was hardly able to walk on normal surfaces, there was no way that I was going to be able to make it outside with snow on the ground!

But, doom and gloom over, we are now here in the warm month of May and settled in to our new home, and I have just had 12 days off from work, which was really needed, and things are looking good!!

Guest bedroom has now been decorated, here is a corner of it.....

Hubby did some deliveries in the City this week and look at what he found for me.....

It's brill, and our bedroom is going to be decorated based on this bag, Crisp White Cotton Bedding and gentle Cath Kidston soft furnishings to co-ordinate!

Due to the fact that we moved from a little tiny two bed cottage to a great big four bedroom farmhouse, I did not actually have that much furniture to put in it, the first visit from Mother in-law came with this wonderful treat......

her friend gets tired of things easily and was going to throw it out?!!

I personally think it is fabulous!!

Yes, another item of stock that is meant to be listed on our web site to be sold, but I thought that it looked quite cute hanging in my kitchen window, I know that you will agree really!!

Now, this is not a item of stock, my son actually bought me this around two years ago, it was filled with Chocolates from Thorntons and I kept wondering what to do with it as it was far too nice to throw away, so here is my decision on what to do....

Quite brill I think, I do love recycling!!

The only thing about where we now live is that is a little close to Waitrose, having lived a little sheltered life I had never been to Waitrose before, until one day last week when hubby suggested that we went there to get some dips to go with a glass of vino one evening, Oops, I think that he may have made a BIG mistake, because look what I found, and purchased of course!!.......

Ah, day off tomorrow, oh I do love Thursdays!! Well, it is not really a day off because there are web site orders to be working on, we have now added some Handmade Cushions and Doorstops to our store, and tomorrows plan of action is for some cath Kidston fabric Heart cushions to be made, here is what I mean by the doorstops...

And the cushions....

Oh, and not forgetting the bags...

Anyway, must go now as hubby is just about to dish Dinner up, I will, be back very soon!

Take Care for now,

Andrea

xx

So much snow!!!!!!

2010-12-20T13:51:00.022Z

Monday morning,
Katy is moaning because she wants a wee wee, turn the outside light on and look what I see......(gosh that rhymes!!)

Well whats all that about then?! Sheer madness, thats what this is! It's everywhere!!

Up the lane...

Down the lane...

Our garden table!!!

Iccicles hanging from the shed, looking very pretty...

As annoying as it is, it is beautiful!

Our pond is under here somewhere? Poor little fish!

These are not happy hens! The run door is open, but they do not want to step outside, one half of the run has a cover over it and the other half does not and so is full of snow on the ground and they do not even want to step on that half, they are funny!

But this little one has been having the time of her life!!!!

Look, no legs!!!

Ah, time for a lie down me thinks...

Now I do not want to go indoors, shall I run off?! Best not, only get told off!

But now I think that it is time to go indoors as they are looking a little cold and wet, bless!!

I hope that you have all kept warm and safe today, there is not much sign of things getting any better here at the moment which is a little sad, I cant get to work, hubby tried moving our car today to get something out of the boot and away it slid with no control, luckily we live in a very rural lane so there was nothing else around, but it just goes to show, do not go out unless it is an emergency, like you need more wine!!!!

Tare care all of you! x

So sorry it's been so long.......

2010-11-07T19:55:00.028Z

Why do I always end up saying that every time I post?!

I had hoped to have posted some really nice Autumnal piccies but it almost feels like I have missed Autumn and we are in to Winter!

Out with the Blankies time I guess.....

I hope that you are all well, and starting to think about Christmas I expect, talking of which....have you seen this months edition of Country Homes and Interiors? Well you must, it is just fab!!

We have been tidying around the garden, getting things battened down, covered over, chickens winter proofed.

The last of the apples had to be got down....

Out the ladders came....

(Hmmnn, not a bad view if I say so myself!!)

What we were surprised to come across was this little fella on the floor....

He's smiling at us....bless! Bet he bites!! And that red prong thing sticking out of his back end looks rather painful!

If you happen to know what it is I would be glad to here from you should we come across another!

Next job was to gather the walnuts....

So, up our lane we go....

In the tree they hung looking all lush and green....

Down they fell in their sappy protective coat....

A random one that has managed to shed it's coat and has not been whisked away by Sammy Squirrel....

The gatherings for today....

We went to Kingsbridge to collect a Table, advertised on good old Ebay of course!! But I needed it for my sewing machine, well, thats what I told hubby!

What a view....

Kingsbridge is gorgeous, if I could get my job transfered here I would certainly move, in the Farmers Market it was all warm and friendly, even the Charity Shops were posh!

Note to self....glad they have a large rubber ring at hand given that I can't swim!

Anyhow, look what we bought....

Just incase there are any of you that do like these little fellas, here is a fab recipe....

Mussels in White Wine and Garlic....

•1
Place the mussels in a large colander or strainer in the sink. Rinse the mussels well, taking care to remove any hairy growths on the mussels, sand, and other dirt. You may find it necessary to scrub mussels with a stiff brush to remove debris. Throw out any mussels that are already opened that will not close, as uncooked mussels that stay open before being cooked are a sign of being bad. Mussels are best for cooking still alive, or frozen while still alive.

•2
Mince the garlic for your mussels, and chop the onion. Fresh garlic will absolutely give the best results, but minced garlic out of a jar will also work well. Place both in a large pan with about a Tbs of butter over medium-high heat. Sautee until the onion is mostly translucent, stirring often. Add a few dashes cayenne pepper, or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.

•3
Add wine to the pan, and stir well. Chardonnay is a good wine to use for this recipe, as the flavors go well together. While a good vintage wine will certainly give excellent results, any decent white, excluding sweeter wines like Riesling, will work just fine. Let wine mixture heat through for a few minutes to properly incorporate the flavors.

•4
Add mussels to the garlic wine sauce, stir mussels to coat well, and cover to let mussels steam for about 5 minutes. Uncover, and stir mussels again. Repeat this process until the vast majority of your mussels are open. Any cooked mussels that do not open are bad, discard those. You will be cooking mussels for about ten to fifteen minutes total.

•5
To serve your mussels, place mussels shell and all into bowls, or over a bed of pasta. Ladle several spoonfuls of garlic wine sauce over mussels and / or pasta. Garnish mussels with chopped fresh parsley. You can use either appetizer forks or just your fingers to get the mussel meat loose from shells, and a good crusty bread will ensure you don't miss a drop of the fantastic garlic wine sauce.

Well did I have the shock of my life whilst doing a spot of weeding the other day....

Why is it that we are humongous compared to them but they scare us to death? I think that it is the shear shock factor that you do not expect them to be there, starring you in the face, what a beauty he is though! Even though he has got a bit of twiggy/stick stuck to his nose!!

On to other random things....

Strange isn't it, I was standing in the kitchen the other evening cooking our evening meal, come to think of it, this is becoming rather a regular thing, me cooking?! Hmmnn, need to have a re-think about that, anyway I happened to look up, and I thought to myself, well woman, that looks pretty up there! So I thought I would share my views with you too!

What is perched on the top of my freezer....

Whilst having a Ladies that Lunch day on Thursday in Topsham with my mum, I purchased (besides other things which I will show soon!) a new twiggy heart for my staircase, my plan is to have a selection of different twiggy hearts in a selection of sizes and colours winding all of the way up through the stair way, and this photo is just the start, note, I still have not managed to get hubby to actually hang the new heart as of yet, old heart No.1 is still hanging awaiting the presence of heart No.2....watch this space huh!!

Anyway I am afraid that I have to say goodnight now, have to be up early tomorrow, Monday, oh I hate Mondays! Moan, Moan, Moan!

I will be back, I know, I know, I always say I will be back sooner next time and then never do!! But, I will!

Here is a sneak preview of my next topic....

Big Gerbera....

Wow, so much flower power going on here!!....

All will be revealed soon!! Unless you can guess what my post will be about!!

Catch up again in a few days....

Andrea
x

Our Vintage Caravan

2010-08-18T13:47:00.021+01:00

I have a very good reason for not being around very much lately, and I bring you my pride and joy!!!!

The outside......

Come and have a peek inside....

Complete with Cath Kidston Toiletries...

Strawberry bunting...

What do you reckon? I LOVE it!!!!! And I am going to do it all over again, if I can!!!

It's all go here at the moment as we have decided to re-instate our on-line business, with the hope, eventually, of giving up (or at least doing less hours anyhow!) our day job and concentrating on our own little business.

If you click on the picture below you will be able to go and have a nose around, let me know what you think!!

This week we have had a week off work to try and get as much done as possible, ordered in the first lot of stock, re-built our web site, and of course also had the occasional pub lunch, well you have to don't you, otherwise you would go a little bleary eyed on the computer all day, after the pub lunch I am a little bleary eyed anyhow, but that's the wines fault!!!

We did also get to spend the whole of Monday lazing around in the garden, which was really nice!

It's lovely to see all the produce coming on all of the tree's....

Hazelnuts

Plums

Pears

Damsons

Apples

But Katy developed a new trick....

stealing the apples direct from the tree, which, yes, then developed in tummy ache!!

Anyway, hopefully now that my little caravan is all done, all though I will be hoping to do another soon! I will be on my laptop far more now and so will be updating you with all of our weekly updates,

Take care and speak again soon,
Andrea
x

Our Garden

2010-05-11T20:52:00.014+01:00

Katy...............

2010-04-12T20:26:00.008+01:00

Portrait time....

You can click on each photograph to get a close up of her.....should you want to!

Play time....

What shall I do next....

Drying out time....

Chilling out with the pretend Daddy....

We sleep....

I shall be back in the next day or two with the Rhode Island Red Chicks that hatched last week-end!!

Andrea
xx

Look at what I have got.........

2010-03-15T15:02:00.009Z

I have been wanting a Chocolate Labrador for ages, well it seems like ages anyway!

Hubby caught me googling for them the other day in our area and he asked if it was a good idea? Of Course it is I replied.....well wouldn't you have said the same?!

We could not find any local to us so we ended up travelling to Swindon to collect this little angel......

I had seen the advert for her on the Saturday morning on-line but put it to the back of my mind, well, tried, you know sometimes you can get a little nervous about pushing for something that you want if you are not quite sure if hubby will back you with his support over something? Well, hubby happened to mention that he was surprised that I had not called the owner, explaining that I felt that it was too far to travel given that as we had sooo much going on at the week-end, also testing the water if you know what I mean?! However, to my surprise, he continued with the topic of conversation later that evening, and eventually persuaded me to email the owner just out of curiosity to see if she was still available.

To our surprise, she was!!!! And we could go and see her first thing on Sunday morning!!! So, off to bed we went for an early start on Sunday morning, 6.00am on a Sunday morning is not a good time for me, especially after a few glasses of Rose' the previous evening and I did think for all of, lets see, 10 seconds, was I mad????

I was not mad!! As you can see, she is Gorgeous! Cheeky!! But Adorable!!!

Oh, and I almost forgot! We need a name!! So, suggestions PLEASE!!!

This week-end we have also invested in an Incubator, (Heat Lamp, Spare Bulbs, Chick Drinker, Chick Feeder, blimey it's like shopping for a new baby!!) holding 10 Rhode Island Red eggs, hopefully due to hatch on Easter Sunday!! Fingers crossed!!

Whilst sitting here on a days's annual leave, cup of coffee and typing up a new post for my Blog, hhmmmnnn, nice to be at home!!! Anyway back to where I was going with this sentence, hubby has left to go and collect some 3 week old Rhode Island Red Chicks...I will post a picture in the next day or two promise!!

My home is getting a little like Uncle Tom Cobbly and All!!!!

We have a Caravan....Yeah!!!!

2010-01-31T11:20:00.011Z

Well this week-end we have purchased a new caravan, well, not new new, new to us, but very old!!! It is not something that we had planned to do, but a friend of mine at work bought in her holiday pics of when she and her partner went camping, rivers, woods, barbeques, picnics, all the gorgeous scenery, well it got me thinking that I too wanted to do the whole camping experience again, hubby used to love it but I am a bit of a home bird really and never really look to it, I think that it was because once when we went to the Run To The Sun event in Newquay we had a lodger in the front of our tent for the night, un-known to us until I could feel something leaning against my leg and we realised that this young man had thought that our tent was his and had come in and gone to sleep with us!!!! Yikes!!! Put me off for a long time I can tell you!!!

Anyhow, I am not going to show you piccies of the mean machine just yet, we collected it from a farm so you can imagine the colour of the outside of it, not that the inside is much better!! So it needs a good scrub down and then I will let you take a sneak preview!!

We took a while to find one that we wanted because I did not want a modern one, I wanted a Retro/Vintage one with lots of charm....Oh it certainly has charm at the moment with hay and straw hanging out of it!!!

This one inspired me too My Vintage Party You should pop over and take a look, Laura has been so helpful and advising me as to the best paint for me to use inside of my caravan.

Do you like this little lady? She is really a doorstop, but my kitchen floor tends to get quite dirty sometimes with the dog coming in and out of the garden and I did not have the heart to plonk her down on the floor so instead I have sat her in our stair case, she is nice to pass when you are going up and down the stairs.

Yes, your muddy feet I am talking about!!!!!....................

Anyway must go, floors to wash, bathroom to clean, fabric to cut ready for my new bedroom curtains, and all before I return back to work tomorrow...Oh Joy!!!!

Enjoy the remainder of your week-ends,
Andrea
xx

Valentines Day Soon!!!!!

2010-01-21T21:12:00.014Z

A new photo of our Valentines Red Wooden Hearts......

Red Hearts

If you click on the link above it will take you through to where you can buy these should you not be able resist!!!

Great for grouping together, using individually as Gift Tags, hanging one or two from a kitchen door handle....the ideas are endless!!!! Hmmnnn, I hear you sigh, where could I put these around my home!!

Betty Blue, pottering around the garden, infact making a nuisance of herself because as soon as my back is turned she is in my flower borders digging and turfing up all of my bulbs!! But I wouldn't have her any other way, such a character this one, she isn't a great layer, she does lay, most days, but when we first had her she would lay a softie now and again and then eat it, now when she lays an egg in the shell you have to quickly get the egg out before she pecks it open herself, a habit they get so I am told once soft eggs have been laid and eaten!! She is a pickle, as soon as they vanish around to a different corner of the garden you only have to call them and they come running as fast as they can on their little legs!!!!

I couldn't resist posting this.......

We couldn't get really close because as soon as we started to get too close Mummy sheep would lead their young to safe grounds away from us, but we were able to zoom in on this one, and thanks to my new Xmas pressie I am able to bring you.......

BBRRRRR, she looks so cold! Isn't he/she just Beautiful!!! xx

Just before I end tonights post, I need to tell you about this great Ebay shop......

Silly Moo Designs Again, click on the name and it will take you straight there!

Well worth taking a look for all your custom made transfers, particularly great for Birthday Pressies, special events etc...

Have a good week-end you all,
Andrea

Snow all around us!!

2010-01-07T14:41:00.012Z

Up the lane we walked..........

(Photos can be made larger by simply clicking on them!)

The view of where we live from the field......

Boy was it bitterly cold up there!!! Hubby hoped to be coming down on a sledge but no chance!!!!

The view up the Bridle Path, but no horses today!

Our Pond .....

The Heather in our garden just about able to make an appearance!

Although it has been lovely to see some snow, I could do with it going now as two days I have not been able to get to work, day one the snow was just too deep in our lane to take my little car out in, the second day we have had such a frost that all the snow has frozen and I have no chance of my wheels gripping, it is not looking very hopeful of me still getting out tomorrow as they forecast -8 tonight and -16 tomorrow night!!! BBBRRRRRRRR!!!! x

I am soooo please that we have a Fire like this to come in and keep warm in front of.......

Keep warm you all,

Andrea
x

Stay down little ones....it's far too cold yet!!!!

2010-01-01T17:33:00.011Z

Bulbs are starting to make an appearance, I am sure that it is a little early!

I LOVE this sign of the year....Spring will be creeping along before we know it, and I think that all of us probably can't wait to get our wellies on and get out in the garden and start weeding, planting and generally pottering around, I know our Chickens can't wait for us to be out and about as that means that they too can potter around without worrying about the Fox's and Buzzards!!!!!! We even watched Jamie Oliver today on the television cooking some BBQ food, oh, it soooo made us wanted to get the BBQ out and go and attempt what he had been cooking, however I did manage to persuade hubby to hang on just a couple of more weeks, he is more keen than I am to get out in the garden!! This time of year I think that you just feel like you need to dust off the cobwebs, draw back the curtains and put the remote controls to bed for a while and get outside, we do tend to move outside once the nicer weather is here, but I personally think that we have a week or two yet to wait....but it is on it's way!!!!

Anyway, "HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL"!!!!, we have had a lovely break, 11 days off work, how cool is that.....hence me dropping by to say hi to you all, I never find the time what with working full time now, doesn't it just get in the way of everything?! I know that the money helps, goodness I know that we certainly could not spend like we do if I didn't work full time, and I think that sometimes you just have to keep reminding yourself of that otherwise I would go mad, some mornings it just feels a little like Ground Hog Day!!! Same old, Same old. However, one of my New Years resolution's is to drop in every week, watch this space, but I will endeavour to do so!!!

No.1 son has come home after living with a girl for a couple of years....don't ask!!! All I can say is it is fab having him home, at least I know that his clothes are clean, his bills are getting paid, he is being well fed, and .... his money is his own!!!!....well, at least for as long as I can persuade him to make it last, bit like challenge Andrea!!!!! x

We had Gorgeous weather here today, what a great start to the New Year! Chilly, but lovely!

The Holly Tree in the garden......

Oh, by the way, below are a few of my goodies that I had for Christmas....I think that I was rather a spoilt girl!!! I am looking forward to dropping by and seeing what you all had, perhaps we could have a "What was your best present this year post????!!!!!

Hubby and I made a pact this year that we were only going to spend £50.00 on each other, if we want/need something we go and buy it, and we didn't really have any major need for anything this year, so it seemed like a good idea, so, with 10 pressies under the tree with my £50.00 it seemed like I was going to win, with as much as you could buy with limited funds, however hubby REALLY spoilt me and broke the rules, ( not that I am complaining, no way! ) and bought me.......

Drum roll please....................

Just need to learn how to use it now, he he, but, if I stick with my New Years resolution and pop by every week then that should keep me practicing eh?!!!

Anyway cant wait to hear from you all and I promise to make my way around to you all as soon as I can, but for now, enjoy the rest of the week-end, and will speak again soon!

Luv
Andrea
x

Corners of my home, My garden flowers and a New Born!!

2009-05-14T17:46:00.019+01:00

Look what we woke up to see in the field beside our house on Sunday......

Isn't she just Beautiful?!

We tried to get close to stroke her, but mum was not having any of it!!

In the other field we have this bunch of Beauties....

They most certainly were not going to turn their noses up at a few carrots!

Apologies to those of you that do not feel the same towards four legged friends, but it most certainly brings back the yearning to go back to keeping Horses for me! And, guess what? Hubby did say at the week-end that when we have some more money, yeah right, I can get another one.....a little worried that this promise may be a little hazy to him as it was after he had consumed a bottle of Red Vino!! Hmmn, I should have got him to sign something shouldn't I?!!

Our table and chairs that will go outside once the weather improves, but for now they sit in a corner of our kitchen,

Our Wall Unit that holds all of my Pretty things.....

Ditto....

My Lantern that hangs from one of the Beams in my kitchen....

My new Emma Bridgwater Spaghetti tin.....

Sitting beside it is, yes, my Easter Bunny given to me by my manager (Rachel) for Easter, simply too gorgeous to eat I think....but I will, eventually, it is still edible up until July '09, I just think that it looks way to good to un-wrap, just yet!

Well thats it guys, a few Flowery Piccies to cheer us all up whilst we are having this damp miserable weather along with a few interior piccies of my house, I will be back in a few days I promise with Pics of my new 'Lavender' painted wood store and my new Bird House! Friday tomorrow....yeah!!!!

xxxxxxxx

Sorry for my lack of Blogging!!

2009-04-11T19:31:00.016+01:00

Hello everyone!!

I am so sorry for not posting lately, (lately??...I mean for like months!!) as you all know (if you are a follower of my blog that is) we have recently moved house, and I also landed myself a full time job at the same time....not a good idea when you have just moved and there are boxes and boxes in every bit of space that you can see, but, the money is good and so not a good idea to turn it down, and as we all know....a bit of extra cash is ALWAYS good!

I hope that life has been treating you all well, I havent even had the time to pop by your blogs and say hi as it has been soooo manic here, so I do apologise for that, I will catch up soon, I promise!

You know how it is, you move house, you have to either adapt or buy new curtains to fit, well , I adapt, I want a new car with the hard earned money that I am getting (well it seems hard to me, especially at the moment whilst it seems a lifetime since I worked full time!!) So more pressure with cutting, taking up and sewing to fit the windows in our new house, and even though they are not very big windows it all it still takes what seems ages!

My sister in-law and Mother in-law came to see us a fortnight ago and look what my sister in-law bought us....

Aren't they great! We have the Dinner Service like this but not the Egg Cups so they are a Fab addition!

Here is my Car Boot find last week-end....

hubby doesn't like it very much....in fact he hates it!! But, he has said that perhaps it will look better once it is finished, so it is looking hopeful!!
I plan to stash all of my fabric away in it, I am painting it in Dulux White Cotton and covering it with a lush Cath Kidston fabric, I will reveal the finished product soon!! Promise!

Here is my new Bed....do you like it? I saw it advertised in a brochure just before we moved house, and as I had to sell a few bits before we moved house because they were not going to fit into our new house, I treated myself!!

That reminds me, if aanyone knows where I can get some Non-Flammable Spray Glue from so that I can re-cover that awful Lamp Shade with some Pretty Floral Fabric...Please, Please, do let me know, I did try some Spray Glue that I had, but when it dried it showed all the blobs of Glue through the fabric...YUK!

Well we certainly had gorgeous weather at the week-end didn't we, we have really been able to tuck into getting the garden sorted...more pictures to follow! Although I couldn't resist showing you my Hubbys re-vamped shed.....much to my husbands disgust!

(I think that you should be able to click on the picture for a more zoomed in effect, but don't look too closely at the surrounding area!! This is WIP....Work In Progress!!)

Even the lady in the fabric shop chuckled when I told her that the pretty Pale Green fabric with fresh white Daisies on was for the mans garden shed!! She agreed with me....why would he not like it??...yeah right! I am sure it will grow on him!!

Anyway, must go but I'll be back soon!
Andrea
P.S, the random pictures are of our new house, most of them whilst it was emty! So will post more lived in type corners of our home soon!! x

Crochet, Fab Recipes and a Rant!!

2009-02-12T14:14:00.000Z

Yeah!! The snow has just about all gone, thank goodness! It is nice to see it seeing as we dont have any that often, but when it started to get in my way and I couldn't get out it started to cheese me off a little!

After seeing Sarah' Fab Crochet Squares from Pink-Petal-Designs I decided that I was going to give these little Beauties a go, my other square is still on the increase...slowly!!! But these just so inspired me to take my hook out of one project and get it going on another....

They are by no means as good as Sarah', she got her wool from the USA and it is thicker than our Double Wool, but I am quite pleased with how they are coming along, I try and do at least one each evening...only one? I hear you mutter, but if I try and do it any faster my tension just goes straight out through the window and they look nothing like a square!!! I think that I will keep to the Pretty Pastel Colours, I may do sone plain white ones to mix in with the colours, I can just see it laid on my Sun Lounger in the Long Hot Summer Days that are coming our way this year!! No, I haven't heard that it is going to be a fab summer, I just made that bit up!!

With all of these great ideas that I keep spotting on my travels around Blogland my Wool stash is getting bigger each week, Thanks goodness for the Tesco CK Bags!!

Hubby and I popped into Exeter on Saturday, and look what little Beauty I bought....

It has some fab recipes in it, when I have more time I will post a few on here,

OK, now for the rant......
Do you take your shoes off in your home? Well we do, and so do most people who come to our home, when we go to other peoples homes we too take off our shoes, but you always get the odd one or two dont you who quite bluntly refuse to take off their shoes, even when they can see that we have left our shoes at the door and are walking around bare footed, what is their problem? Are they really that arrogant? Well, in our new house we are having brand spanking new carpets laid through out the whole house, so, shoes in the house are going to be a definate NO NO!! But why is it we feel embarassed IN OUR OWN HOME and feel that we cant ask people to take off their shoes when they come in? Especially when you can see that they are going to make NO attempt to take them off!!!

Well I am having ths sign made for our new house....

And if they do not read it and take notice I am just going to have to take a deep breath and say.......PLEASE READ THIS SIGN!!!

By the way, these fab signs can be bought at Shabby Chic Retro Signs and Plaques

Rant over....I have been bottling that one up for a few weeks!!

Catch up in a day or two!!
Andrea
x

2009-02-04T18:23:00.000Z

It was oh so quiet!!

Nothing came up our lane, they couldn't!! Cars were simply sliding sideways! It was exciting but also dangerous as people tried to get back to their homes after work, we obviously dont get gritters and salters in the lanes where we live, only tractors with ropes towing you to a safe place!!
As the Snow came down it was Beautiful, but then came reality of the danger once the frost set in, thankfully we have a little normality today, how long for we are un-sure!

A Robin gets his Breakfast, the picture is not great as I had to stand back from the window but zoom close in!

I treated myself this week to a moving into my new home present! Obviously this is not the place where it will sit! It would look silly sitting on a Chaise Longue wouldn't it!! But I thought that it would be nice in the Bedroom window of my new home, talking of which this is why I haven't been around much in the last two weeks, I have been busy packing, working, ironing, (tell me why do we feel like we need to move with all the ironing done....there is only going to be more once you do another wash!!).

I hope that you are all wrapped up warm this evening as it certainly is a cold one, I have my P.J's on the radiator warming nicely, just having a swift glass of Rose' before throwing myself into the bed, I am not normally fit for anything on a Wednesday evening after being up since 5.30am, infact I am normally quite grouchy, I don't do not much sleep very well!! Tomorrow morning I often have a lie in...because I can, and then after surfacing around 9am I have a cup of coffee and then wonder, why have I laid in bed for soooo long when there is sooo much to do! Oh well, it will be nice! Worry about all the jobs to be done later!

(I started this post at around 5.30pm this evening, I then cooked the Tea, cleaned up, watched the Soaps, then my Auntie from Cornwall called to check we were ok what with the weather etc...57 minutes on the phone later!! and so at last....I click the Publish Post Button at 21.55hrs!!)

I promise to catch up later on in the week, and take care out there what ever the weather is like with you at the moment!

Andrea
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We are on the move!!!!!

2009-01-20T14:28:00.000Z

Well, we knew that we may have been going to move house soon, once we found what we wanted, now we have found it, the perfect little tiny Thatched Cottage down a little lane, yes, small and Rustic it is! But so very cute!

It is smaller than our house at the moment so some furniture has to go, today I have been taking pictures and putting things on good old Ebay, such as this

And this....

Plus more, all starting off at 99p OH MY GOD!!!!

But it has to be done because it quite simply will not fit into the new house!

Well I have managed to do a bit more of my Crochet...

Coming along nicely me thinks, how much more will get done is beyond me with now having to think about getting boxes to pack up all our worldly possessions!

I have added these little Beauties to my collection of niceies on my dresser, yes, the Dresser that has to go!

My son and his girlfriend gave me a Glass and Silver Photograph frame when they came back from holiday last year, and look what sits on the corner of the frame...

Beautiful isn't it? I still haven't put a photo in it yet though, Doh!!

Anyway, better go before hubby walks in the door from work to see me sat here at this laptop once again jabbering on when oh so much to do!!!

Hope you all having a good week!
Andrea
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P.S Thank you to all my new followers for stopping by, I will Def catch up with you all soon, I promise! x

Crochet at long last and My Painted Cupboard.......

2009-01-17T15:00:00.000Z

Well it isn't very big, yet, and not very colourful, yet, but here is my Crochet square, I wont tell you how many times I have un-ravelled this and started again, and again, and again, and so many times I have shouted...I can't do it!!!! But I have tried and tried again and again, determined not to be defeated, and this is what I have ended up with so far...I am planning on continuing and adding new colours so will keep bringing you updates on it....if you like it or not!!!!

I found the pattern, what pattern I hear you say! Well, I soooo could not get to grips with it so when I Googled Granny Squares, it bought up a U-Tube Tutorial of the way to crochet this, it is probably sooo easy for most of you out there and I think that I can hear you say, OMG that would have been soooo easy to do!

I need to get the tension better...both with myself and the crochet!! I think that it could be looser stitches and then end up bigger if I was not quite so taught with the wool, but I guess that comes with practise, but I do love it, and it grows sooo quickly...if you know what I mean!!!

And finally here is my Painted Cupboard.....

I think that I am quite pleased with it, it took me such a long time that the novelty kind of wears off doesn't it! Anyhow, there it is, I am going to re-cover a lamp shade to go on a base that I bought from the Car Boot Sale last week for 25p!! Bargain!! So, will show you that in the week once I have mastered it!!
Watch this space....

I have put Black and White Photos of my Mum and Dad in the frames on the top, but as you can see I still need to find a third photo, I could do really with going to my Dad or Aunties House to scrounge around and have a look and see what I can find of any old piccies they may have!

We have just got back after having had a Pub Lunch and a couple of glasses of wine, we have lit the fire and so I think that that is it for today, it is blowing a gale here this afternoon, so we are all battoned down and in for the night curled up on the sofa....aaaahhhh!!

Enjoy the rest of your week-end,

Andrea
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Noboddy Told Me!!!!!

2009-01-13T11:17:00.001Z

That this photo of my New toy that I was ranting about in the previous post was missing did they??!! Tut Tut!! Well you are gonna see it now..........

Cute Eh?!!

This is this week's new purchase....

I LOVE it, well just as well really seeing as I have just bought it!! Nice isn't it!

It's a lovely day here today, really sunny and warm, but the ground is really wet so you cant do much outside, I have enough anyhow to be getting on with indoors, remember I showed you The Cupboard that I bought a few weeks ago at the Car Boot sale, well I have finally got around to painting it and so hopefully if I pull my finger out I can post a piccie of the finished result in the next day or two, I am painting it in a Beautiful 'China Blue' coloured paint, I don't normally go for Blues but I think that it is a nice clean fresh looking colour, and it wont be long before we are taking back down our heavy winter curtains, putting back up our fresh bright voiles and opening out our windows and letting the fresh clean bright air back into our homes will it!!! Can't wait!!

I have my son and his girlfriend, and my mum and dad coming for a meal on Thursday evening as it is my Son's 23rd Birthday...doesn't it make you feel soooo old when you say there age, well, especially when they are that age!!
I cant quite decide what to cook, we all love mushrooms except son's girlfriend, she says that they remind her of slugs!! Oh well, I think that I may do Pate for her and Mushrooms in a creamy mascarpone, spinach and garlic sauce with toasted ciabatta on a Bed of Salad for us to start, followed by Chicken Breast wrapped in Bacon and stuffed with Mushrooms (I did say we liked mushrooms!!) and Garlic Butter for main course, (yes, we like Garlic too!!) any suggestions on a desert? Something Chocolatie I think????

Anyway, cupboard isn't going to get done sat here waffling on is it?

Back soon!!

Andrea
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BRRRR It's sooo Cold isn't it?!!

2009-01-08T12:01:00.000Z

Afternoon everybody, I hope that you are all wrapped up nice and warm on this frosty cold day, it's meant to get warmer nearer the week-end....but guess what, yep, rain is forecast thats why, I so prefer it to be cold and dry than wet and miserable don't you?

Only thing is when it does get this cold, dont your lips dry out so much more? Well, I have the ideal solution for that.....

It's LUSH, hope my hubby doesn't read this post as he hates that word (lush) but it is!!

Have any of you had this months copy of Country Homes and Interiors? Well, it's well worth getting, there are some really good articles in it, there is also a few pages of Chocolate Recipes, they are scrumptious, but I have yet to try and make them!! There is also a coupon that you have to send off for a free Pashmina Scarf, you have to pay the £4.99 P&P, but it's still a really good offer I thought!

I normally pass my latest magazine additions on to my mum and sister but they wont be getting there mitts on this one, oh no, this one is going to stay with me!!

I have been showing you all my goodies that I have treated myself to lately but forgot to show you what hubby bought me for Christmas....

I have wanted this for soooo long I can't tell you, it was a total surprise!! He got his mum to get it for him so that I wouldn't see the receipt for it on any bank statements or emails etc!!

And this also was a real whopping surprise, since my Cath Kidston one went bang I have been using a crappy cheap thing from Tesco's, don't get me wrong nothing wrong with Tescos Mobile phones, just that the one that I had was bottom of the bottom of the range!! And this little star is the Bee's Knees, well it is to me anyway, with it's 3.2 Megapixel camera, and when you want to change a Music Track, you just shake it!! Wicked!!

Anyway back to my Painting of Hearts I go, think I will just make a quick coffee to take with me, enjoy the rest of the week!!

Andrea
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My New Shop and more Cath Kidston Goodies!!

2009-01-06T16:57:00.001Z

Yet another parcel arrived for me this morning....

Fabric Softener..

Hand Wash and Hand Lotion..

2 x New Mugs for our Morning Coffee..

Gosh I LOVE Buying new things...especially Cath Kidston goodies, I just have the buying bug at the moment, but according to my hubby it has to stop!! Doh!!

I have opened up a New Andrea Fay's Blog Shop, I was going to stop making things and restoring items that needed bringing back to life instead of it being thrown away, but then I thought...what would I do with my days that I don't work?? And to tell the truth, I really enjoy it so why give up something that brings satisfaction?!

Andrea Fays Shop

When you have a moment pop along and see what I have listed so far, I plan to add new things to it every couple of days and it will consist of items that I have made and also items that I have managed to source along my travels that I think people will like to add some Vintage Chic to your homes!

Before I go I wanted to show you what Hen from HenHouse sent me as our Christmas Swop....

Fleece Socks, A Beautiful Patchwork Cushion, Fantastic Slippers, Fabric Coasters (all of which I believe that Hen made herself...Clever Girl!!) And a Cath Kidston Mug...Lucky Lucky Me!!!

Hope that you are all enjoying your week,

Andrea
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Well what a Beautiful Day....But Soooo Cold!!!

2009-01-03T19:02:00.000Z

When I looked out of the Bedroom window this morning I could not believe what I saw.....Simply Beautiful,

Although next week when I return to work and am having to venture out into this at 6.30am in the morning my opinion of this icy cold weather will be probably some what different! But for now I am just soaking up my last few days of being off work,

It it probably time though for me to return to work, I have been sitting in front of my fire and browsing the Big Wide World Web and spending a bit of money, no, alot of money, but so well worth it! Take a look....

A Cath Kidston Address Book

A Cath Kidston Home Ideas Journal, looks fab, havent made any entries in it yet though!

My Yummies from Amazon, (Photos borrowed from Amazon...well I did buy the book from them!)

Flea Market Finds (No, you can't click to look inside!!)

Cath Kidston In Print

Junk Style

And last but not least.....The Thrift Book

That is not all, but I do not want to bore you too much, however I will be back as I still have my Fab goodies that Hen from HenHouse sent me for our Christmas swop to show you, what I received was truely Beautiful and they are all still sat on my Rocking Chair, too nice to use or wear....what can it be I hear you thinking?! Time will tell!

I shall probably not post again tomorrow as I would really like to get all of my ironing done before I go back to work...yes, 12 days off work and I leave it until the very last day before doing it, tomorrow hubby and I plan to get up quite early, got to get back in to the habit of getting up early, I have just adored getting up at around 9am and slouching around in my Dressing Gown until, well, I wont tell you until what time, its soooo embarassing! Anyway, we plan on getting up quite early, getting a few jobs done, and I really hope the ironing wll get done but even as I am writing this I am thinking, does it matter if I go back to work and there is still ironing in the basket? I think not, I would like to walk the dog around the fields and then we plan to light the fire quite early on in the afternoon, have our Roast and a few glasses of Wine and chill out for the afternoon.....ahhh bliss!

Have a good week-end what's left of it and will catch up again next week,

Andrea
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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

2008-12-31T19:55:00.000Z

I hope that the New Year brings you, your friends and family every thing that they have wished for!!

Love and Best Wishes to you all!

Andrea
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It's Oh So Quiet!! SSSHHH!!!

2008-12-21T07:27:00.000Z

Well browsing Blog Land over the last few days it's soooo quiet! Every one is busy getting ready for the Big Day I guess!

I spent the afternoon yesterday wrapping Pressies ready to distribute around, it was quite a lazy day really, I even got around to making this....

It has been so cold here lately and with so many drafts in an old house I thought that this would at least help keep it a little warmer, I have made it so that I can remove the outer cover to wash it in case it gets dirty, well it is going to isn't really dragging around on the floor, but looking at it I think that it needs a few more Beans in it to plump it up a bit more, trouble is now I have taken a photo I have noticed how badly the Door needs a coat of paint!! It's never ending isn't it?!

We are off to Wells today to see family and a new arrival, well, he isn't really new any more as he has been born a few weeks now but we haven't seem him yet so that is exciting, and then I have a wooden bed to paint when we get home this evening, I want it Painted, Waxed and put together so that I can wake up in it on Christmas Day Morning!!! It's like challenge Andrea!!! I am painting it in an Old Antique White Paint, pictures to follow....

Enjoy the rest of the week-end all,

Andrea
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My Christmas Swop and my Red Table

2008-12-13T13:24:00.000Z

This Morning Hubby went up to the Main sorting office in Exeter to collect my Swop from Hen House that the Postie had tried to deliver in the week but as we were at work he was unable to leave it, look how Beautiful it is all wrapped up.........

I am going to email Hen to ask if she minds if I do not unwrap it just yet and do my best to wait until Christams Day! If it's ok with her then you too will have to wait to see what lovely goodies are inside!!! It's sooooo exciting and I am sooooo pleased that I took part in this!

I had this table from good old Freecycle a few weeks ago and have now finally got around to painting the legs of it in a Bright Red and covering that top of it in Cath Kidston Chintz Oilcloth, I think that it is perfect as when Hubby has Cheese & Biscuits and a Glass of Red Wine in the evening I can simply wipe the top off with a damp cloth and it will be as good as new again without leaving a ring mark on the wood and staining it.

It was put to good use last evening for the first time too, my parents came over for a Roast Meal last evening which was a nice surprise, Hubby was talking to Dad on the telephone late afternoon yesterday and mentioned that they may pop over for a drink with us in the evening and so Hubby suggested that if they were coming over why not come and have Tea with us? We didn't have to ask twice!!!!! So it was perfect to pop our drinks on as when you have a clumsy Labrador trying to get as close as he can to the Fireplace, regardless as to what is in his way as he is coming through!!! It saved any accidents occuring as Drinks were up out of the way!!

It's strange weather here today, Damp, Grey and pretty miserable, I have a Basket of wet washing that if I put out on the washing line I think that it would just hang there and be just as damp when I picked it in as it is now, I think that I will wait and see what the weather does tomorrow and see if we get a little bit of Sunshine and a bit of a Breeze to help it along.

How are your week-ends panning out? Are you venturing out into the Crowds of many many people in the town centres or are you internet shopping? We do not have that much more to buy now, I think four more pressies and I would like to get a couple of Table Pressies, oh, but we do still have the dreaded Food shop to do, we may do most of that actually on Friday when I finsh work (except for the Fruit and Veg which we will get on Christmas Eve), we finish at 2.30 so can get in and out before most people leave work and head to the Supermarkets!

Right, I am going to go and clean the Chooks out now as it looks as if we are in for a shower of rain so need to get on with it,

enjoy the rest of your week-end
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Someone Help me feel Christmassy!!!

2008-12-11T20:02:00.000Z

Friday tomorrow....Yipee!!!!

I dont particularly like Fridays as it is one of my days to work, I just like it as it means TWO whole days off after I finish work!!!

I do love being at home, time goes by quite quick sometimes and I definately do not get bored, it is just soooo nice to get up and think....'what shall I do today' and on a good day it's nice to have hubby at home too, actually no, I do like him always being at home with me, unless it is wet outside and they are indoors getting under your feet and that can cause a stress related problem! Its one of those situations where you want them to be at home with you, but whenever you turn around you do not want to be bumping into them if that makes sense! On the whole though mine is pretty good and will occupy him self in his shed or garage probably keeping himself out from under my feet as he is fully aware of the consequences of getting on my nerves, if you get my drift!!

This is our last week-end before Christmas on our own at home, week-end after next we are going to Wells in Somerset to see my other halfs family on the Sunday, we are due to be there around 11.30 for an hour or two and then have to go on after that to see some friends but wont be late getting home as we have to be up for work at 5.30am on the Monday so like to be tucked up in bed by 10pm at the latest.

And then before you know it it will be Christams Day!!!! I am really trying to get excited about it, but it just is not happening?! I don't know why, is it just because I am getting old? Is it due to the credit crunch...god I hate hearing those words!! The more Blogs that I read the more I do not feel alone in this way, I feel that I have hung out my Christam Decs because I have to, not because I particularly want to, I think that perhaps next year really is the time to maybe think about going abroad, hubby has always mentioned it and I have rebelled but maybe now is the time!

Anyway not to make this into a doom and gloom blog, you have probably switched off from me by now, or even slit your wrists!! But I will show you a couple of pics of my Glass Decs, even though the spirit is not there!!

Right now I am sat on our sofa, in front of a blazing open fire and drinking a Glass of Rose' wine.....BLISS, just about to go and visit a couple more of your blogs before bed time, have a good friday all and catch up againg during the week-end!

Andrea
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It's Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-09T17:50:00.000Z

Well, considering up until last week I have been Bah Humbug, and really did not want to do the whole 'Christmas thing' this year, I have been thoroughly enjoying decorating my House since the week-end!!

It all started with me Cleaning all the windows in my house inside and out on my day off last Thursday, up and down on and off the stool, I jarred my back and could hardly walk come Friday morning!! I have suffered with my back since having Horses and not bending correctly whilst mucking out and don't need much to put it out of sink ever since. But feeling sorry for myself I hobbled off to work on Friday and during the morning my husband texted me to check that I was still on the planet, and I explained that it would probably take my mind off it hurting if I had a Christmas Tree to decorate over the weekend :>( and he really did come up trumps with a Beauty!!!!!

I collected him from work and he explained that he had collected one during the day and already taken it home, he went on to say that he had gone to our local Mole Valley Farmers and got one of these 'Non-Drip'!!!! Trees, all done up in a net so I have no idea what it looks like.........OMG!!! What on earth I thought is it going to be like!!!!!!!!

The only time we ever really have a few words between us is whilst picking out a Tree each year, (we did actually attempt an Artificial one but both decided no thank you and back in the box it went) I know that I am a fuss pot especially when it comes to me Tree, we went up to Haldon Woods last year to buy one, he went along the rows standing them up out of the crowd of the other trees all laid against each other to hear me saying...not enough branches in the middle, the back is a bit sparse, too high, too short....do you get my drift as to what a pain in the arse I am??!!

But he did well, more luck than judgement I think, but it is (in my opinion) a Beauty, so I just had to share it with you......

And as I say, the Christmas spirit really set in, my Garland went up trailing down the Stair Case along with lights a plenty.....

Twigs in vases and decorated with smaller Baubles.....

Baubles in a Nice Big round Vase on the Mantel piece.....

We have actually had a really lovely week-end, I know that we are already on Tuesday!!! It started (although with a sore back) decorating the house on Friday evening, Did you know a few Glases of Wine does wonders for a bad back!!! Still decorating the house on saturday day time my son and his girlfriend came over on Saturday evening for a meal, followed by going to my sister and brother in-laws house for Tea on Sunday evening, the weather was good too, look how fresh and Christmassy it looked on the roof om my little car on Sunday morning....

I am still a little stressed at the mo though, still soooo many Christmas Pressies to buy! We have cut out buying now for some of the Children that are no longer children and are grown ups and have probably (Definately) got more money than me!!! So that makes it a little easier.

I have gone to wrap up my Christmas Swop this evening to find that we have run out of cellotape....I know, I know, it should have been posted by now but I will get some on my way home from work tomorrow and send it Recorded Delivery on Thursday, this has been a really good idea so well done to At Home With MelMel and Notes From My Days for organising this, it's such a great idea!!

Well I am going to leave you now...enough rambling, I will leave you with a few of my Decorations from my Tree......

My Little Rustic Angel...

Felt Mitten....

Jute Heart....

Red Stocking....

I LOVE these, they look so Traditional and Old fashioned....

My Good Old faithful Red Wooden Hearts....

I bought these last year and thought that they look really nice and rustic...

I will post more in the week...thats if I have not bored the pants off of you all with my little Decorations!

Take Care
Andrea x

The Winner Is..............

2008-12-09T11:42:00.000Z

Jackie46!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments were printed out, cut up and in my Spotty Cake Tin they went, and Lucky for Jackie....my husband picked out her comment!!!

I am sooooo sorry for not doing this when I said I would, I do not know where the time has gone? Well, I do....painting Red Hearts for Web Site orders that have all of a sudden been rapidly coming through!!!

So, Jackie46 if you could let me have your address so that I can get these Hearts in the post to you that would be great, the rest of you, thank you so much for taking part, and I will be doing another Prize Draw after Christmas to hopefully cheer someone up after all of the Festivities are all over and done with and it is back to every day life!!

I will be back later on with some Pics of my Festive Decorations!!!

Andrea
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Eiderdown Finished and a Funky Find!!

2008-11-25T12:55:00.000Z

(The view from our back bedroom window this morning!!

Yeah...day off work today...but it is soooo cold isn't it?!

All the more reason to get my Patchwork Eiderdown finished, I had finished the front of it a few months ago, but then delayed in wadding it and putting the backing on it, truth be told...I didnt know how to complete it!! But on Sunday I took the Bull by the horns (so to speak!) and have finished it, the front consists of a selection of Cath Kidston fabrics, and also when my son was little he had a Blue and White stripe Duvet cover on his bed, and to be honest all of the years of being washed it has really kept its colour and not faded at all so I also used this mixed in with the florals, I also used it for the backing, its quite nice really to think that it has not simply been binned and has gone on to be used for something that will (hopefully) last for many years to come!
I was a little too generous really with the wadding and it is quite fat...but nice and cosy!!

On Sunday as my Hubby started to cook the Roast he realised that we had run out of Cooking Oil, and coaxed me into going out to get some, with some spending money!! I only went to Lidl so not exactly very exciting, but look what I found!!

I LOVE it!! My kitchen has not got ANY Red accessories in it at all!! It consists of Pinks, Blues, and Greens, but when I spotted this on the shelf I just HAD to have it, and I can always add a little Red to my kitchen cant I?! What I could do with is a few things now with all the colours to tie it all in, I did see some Bowls in TK MAXX last week which had all of these colours in but as I was meant to be Christmas shopping I put them back on the shelf, dont you find that, when you are supposed to be shopping for other people you see loads of things that you want, and yet when there is money in your purse...burning a big hole, you cannot find anything that you want!!

Oh, and I bought this, it is meant as a Placemat, but not really very practicle as it is thick felt, so if food was spilt on it you couldn't really wash it, but I just had to have it as I thought it was really pretty and I thought that with a bowl of Sweets or Nuts sat on it over the festive period it would look quite nice!

I am actually really in to Red at the moment...had you noticed!! It is such a warm colour I think, especially at this time of year when it is cold and horrid outside.

I hope that you are all coming on nicely with preparing for your Christmas Swops! I think that I am nearly there, now, the decision to wrap in festive paper or not? I think its got to be dont you?!!

Right then, I had better go now, enough rambling, my husband took some cakes into work this morning to give to my dad, they work together! And he got funny looks from the others as they had not been given any to have with there morning coffee so I have had orders to bake some more for them, oh well plenty of eggs at the moment and by putting the oven on it with warm me up a little!!

Enjoy the rest of your week and keep warm,

Andrea

10 x Red Wooden Heart Christmas Decorations

2008-11-18T13:51:00.000Z

FREE CHRISTMAS GIVE AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been today busy getting customers orders out, mainly at the moment we are busy with our Wooden Hearts that we sell, these are normally popular at this time of year as people buy them to hang on the Christmas tree but we do also sell them for Brides to use as Wedding Place Settings instead of the more convential place card, so while I have today been busy Hand Painting these ready to package up and send out I had an idea........IM AM GOING TO GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO WIN A SET OF 10 IN A FREE PRIZE DRAW!!

You will have a choice, you can either have them Hand Painted in Bright Red, as above, or a set of plain like below, the choice is yours!!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here, I will print off all of your comments and pop them into a hat and and the first persons comment to be drawn out will receive the free set, I will run this for two weeks so that everyone has time to leave a comment if they wish to be entered, so you have until Sunday 30th November, the winner will be notified on Monday December 1st!!

Should you wish to buy any of our Hearts and see other colours that we do you can pop along to our web site and have a nose around!! Andrea Fays

Good Luck!
Andrea
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What a busy week-end!!

2008-11-16T13:35:00.000Z

SURPRISE!! My Husband bought me these flowers! He doesn't buy flowers for me that often...he says you appreciate them more if you don't have them too often!! Thats his theory and it seems he is sticking to it! I do LOVE flowers,

Our week-end started off with a Surprise visit from our old neighbours, my husband called me whilst I was in work on Friday morning to say that he had had a call to say that they were coming, so, when I finished work on Friday afternoon it was a mad rush.....change the spare room bedding, (my son and his girlfriend are normally the only ones that stay over so I tend not to change it every time they have been), get food shopping in, hoover, prepare the food and be all ready in time for when they arrive and acting all cool and calm and not looking like you have just been running around like headless chickens!!

They didn't arrive until around 7.45pm which was fine, and so after having a drink with some nibbles when they arrived we ate our evening meal around 9.30pm, my husband did a very large pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms with cheese melted on the top, home-cooked chips and a mixed salad dish, we then retired to the lounge for some more drinks to watch Children in need on the television, eventually staggering up the stairs at 1.15 in the morning, hence us not surfacing until about 9am!

My husband cooked us Boiled Eggs, Poached Eggs and Fried Eggs to have with our Toast in the morning, all Homemade Eggs too as my son says!! They then went on their way to go and see their friends new born baby, whilst we went to top up the stock of wine, beer and yet more nibblie type food!

Because on Saturday evening my Son and his girlfriend came around for the night, so, more drinks and nibbles, my husband cooked again! (I am sooo lucky that he doesn't mind doing most of the cooking!!) He dished up an adorable and yummy Roast Chicken meal, so really we haven't stopped all week-end but it was good, it is nice to entertain and have people around isn't it!

I discovered this too at our local Tesco store last week, and surprise, surprise, I have actually been using it!! The rest are all just for show!!

And my husband bought me home this one this week, I must say, how many men would go into Tescos to do the weekly shopping and come out carrying the latest Cath Kidston Bag??!! I do feel lucky! This bag I am again going to use, but for my Knitting needles and Balls of wool....it matches my Lounge decor so thats where it is going to sit!!

Now, here we are at 3.30pm on Sunday afternoon, I am sat blogging at the Kitchen Table having an early Glass of Rose' Wine, and yes, once again, my husband is cooking our Sunday Roast! We tend not eat on a Sunday at Lunch time (12.00-1.00pm) as we do like to have a drink or two with our meal and if we had lunch at lunch time we would be fast asleep at 3.00pm in the afternoon so we tend to eat and drink around 5.00pm on a Sunday and then just enjoy the rest of the day relaxed before having to get up for work on a Monday morning, we start work at 7.00am so get up at 5.30am in the mornings so we dont stay up late in the evening with having such an early start! Did you get all of that because it sounds like alot of gobblie gooch!!

Gosh, having just read back over my blog before I publish it, I have noticed that there are alot of times going on!! Sorry!! And I have noticed that through reading this, yes, my husband does do most of all the cooking....well, if he enjoys it I would hate to deprive him of it!!

Hope you all made the most of your week-end and had a good time, catch up again soon,

Andrea

Car Boot Finds and Corners of My Home

2008-11-07T16:56:00.000Z

YEAH!!!! It's Friday!!!

I am sat at my kitchen table (after a hard days work, well it was quite hard, having to get up and leave home by 6.30 in the morning really does me in and so come 5 o'clock in the evening I am knackered!!) with a glass of Rose' Wine and a Bowl of Prawn Crackers and a Cutney Dip, sounds disgusting I know, but actually it's YUM!!

I apologise to my followers for my lack of blogging in the last week or so...I just do not know where the time goes, a run on making Draught Excluders has taken a bit of time this week to get up to date with getting them in the post to customers patiently waiting in this cold spell that we have had so apologies if you were one of those!!

I just wanted to run this past you all...I picked this up at the Car Boot...£6.00...Bargain!! It has been stripped of its old paint in the past and so it does seem a shame to paint over someones hard work (unless it was dipped and that is easy!) shall I paint it or leave it as it is? I plan to use it as a Bedside Cupboard, perhaps I could paint it but leave the top of it un-painted? What would you do??

Also I picked this up for £1.00, I showed it to my mum bless her who said "Thats a bit old fashioned isn't it, where you going to hang that"!!! Another decision has to be made, shall I paint the frame or leave it as it is?

I thought that I would let you take a peek at a couple of corners of my home......

Above is a view from my front porch once you are inside, the little window looks out onto open fields, which is nice,

A corner of my lounge...not very exciting, TV looks a bit too big for that stand actually!

The view from my Kitchen Window....not very exciting as there has been an extension added on to the back of the house so I look out into my Utility room now!! It's a nice deep window ledge which I try and keep looking as pretty as I can but it is a little hard with the tap so close to everything and things do get a bit splashed...especially when it involves husbands (I do only have the one, but I am sure that some of you can relate to what I mean!) washing their hands and then shaking them...I am sure you get my drift!!

My Wall Dresser, I bought this from good old Ebay for £15.00 and sanded it off and painted it in this Rich Shade of Cream, I do like it but I think that it could do with a few prettier bits and bobs on now, only thing is I have to be careful as to what I put on it as it is a plasterboard wall behind and hubby has informed me not to put anything too heavy on it!! Do I believe him? Well I do keep adding the odd bit of crockery now and again and hold my breath as I put it on there...thing is, its the Dog who's gonna get it as he sleeps underneath beside the radiator!!!!! Now, for all you animal lovers out there that are now thinking, Oh No, how awful, it is NOT going to fall off the wall just like that, unless of course someone such as a nephew tries swinging off it,which is highly unlikely, no, I mean likely!!

And last but not least....the view from my Bedroom window, I do feel quite lucky actually each morning when I get up to open the curtains and be able to have a view like this!

Just before I go I do want to thank Josie Mary and also my Wonderful Sister Tilly Rose for this award, I will get around this week-end to passing it on to some other great bloggers!

Have a great week-end and catch up with you all in the next couple of days!

Andrea

Just a Quick Post!

2008-10-22T19:05:00.001+01:00

Just wanted to let you know that if you are looking for any bits of Old Vintage China, I have recently added a few bits to my web site (in the Vintage Corner), and there are lots more to come in the next few days! I do not like to advertise my web site too much on here as it is not the place for that but wanted to let you guys know first (before it sold!) what I currently had in stock should any of it be of interest to you! Bye for now, Andrea x

Apples, Apples and more Apples!!

2008-10-21T12:16:00.000+01:00

Hello!!

Look what my neighbour dropped in for me last evening from her garden, lots and lots of Apples! I am planning on making some Apple Crumble and some Apple Cake and I would like to make some Apple Sauce for when we have Roast Pork...any suggestions as to the best way to do this...or even any more Apple recipes so that I can put all of these Delicious Apples to good use?

Look what I was given last week, a Vintage Jones Sewing Machine, I LOVE it! It has all the original tools with it and is still in full working order, for it's age it is in very good condition, I have put it on my Web Site to sell but I don't think that I will leave it on there for too long as it would look great in my sewing room, but then if it does sell at least that will give me a few more pennies to be able to buy other goodies to pop on to my web site for you all to have a chance at buying if you fancied anything that I have managed to source!

Yesterday on my way home from work I popped into our local shop and look what I bought....the latest Country Living magazine along with the Ideal Home Christmas Magazine....it wont be long you know!! And I want to see if there are any ideas in here for me to be able to make, for gifts and also to make and sell, also the lady in the shop gave me a free copy of Exeter Living, I think that it is a little like Devon Life magazine, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth as they say...anything Free and I wont say no!!!! So lots of reading for me when I get 5 minutes!

Before I go I just wanted to show you this.....just when you thought that it was a Chicken free blog! Look what one of my girls laid (don't know which one?!)

It only weighs 19grammes and is the size of a Cadburys Mini Egg!! Not going to get much baking done with that am I!!

Take care for now
x

Chicken House Production Line!!

2008-10-15T12:53:00.000+01:00

Hi all, well its been a few days since I last posted, where does the time go? I know...Chicken and Duck watching!! Goodness they are time wasters, you just pop out to say hello to them and before you know it a whole hour has past by!

O.K, this is how our week-end went, we had an old wooden box sat in our garden which my husband had converted into a Chicken House for me (prior to my chickens arriving) and the more that I had looked at it the more I thought that I wanted something a liitle more "Up market" shall we say, so, we placed an advertisement in our local newspaper advertising it for sale at £25.00, well we could have sold it over and over again, we had soooo many phone calls from people wanting it!! So, clever husband decided that he was going to have a go at making a proper one from re-cycled wood, well, look what it turned out like!

It's fab isn't it?! It has a perch inside as well as a Nesting Box, the back door opens down so that you can collect your Eggs easily! At only £60.00 each we now have orders being placed for them!!! The great thing with them is that he is making them flat packed so that we can send them out via Courier service!

I couldn't wait to show you this...our very first egg from our Girls! Not sure which one laid it but who cares!! Weighing it at 59 grammes!!

Well my Sister in-law is due to have her second child any day now so we are on stand by waiting for the phone call to say that he/she has arrived, it's lovely not knowing what it is going to be, well, obviously it is going to be a baby! But it will be a surprise not knowing if it's a Girl or a Boy, so many people find out these days what sex their baby is before they are born and it kind of takes away the excitement!

The evenings are really starting to draw in aren't they, only just over a week and the clocks go back! There is something about Winter time and lighting the Fire and cosying up on the sofa with a Glass of wine and a magazine or book, I LOVE having the candles going too, it makes it all the more warm and cosy (these ones are on my web site and only 99p each if you want to treat yourself!!)

Oh, by the way, look at what Mr Postie delivered this week...

Since reading lots of other Blogs and getting very jealous at what was being crocheted by fellow Bloggers, I decided that I wanted to give it a go....do you think that I could get the hang of it?! NO, I kept getting holes, missed stitches, extra loops on the hook that I shouldn't have, oh dear, I could not get to grips with it, so I have now bought this...well they do say it's for Dummies!! Watch this space, I will let you know how I get on!!

Anyway, better go and gets some more logs in ready for later, Coronation Street on tonight...will she marry Liam or Tony?!!!

Take Care for now
Andrea
x

Our Duck has made an appearance!!!!

2008-10-03T18:04:00.000+01:00

Here she is...with great pleasure I bring you Emily Duck!!!!

But, I think that she passed the word around inside that there was a woman outside and pointing something at us (a camera!!), and so now there is a chicken on look out!!!

Tomorrow we are going to let them have the run of the garden...but I am a bit afraid as they are still quite nervous of us and so will they run and run and run away from us and never come back? Maybe I won't let them out to roam free...but I should, as that is what they want, what do I do? watch this space!!!

Have a great week-end whatever you do, I am back to normal (in work life) next week so will be in touch more...no more courses to go on...yeah!!!!!!

xxx

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

2008-09-28T18:57:00.001+01:00

Only a quick post I am afraid, as it has been such as busy, busy week-end and I am back to work tomorrow for three full days in a row.....Oh, My, God!!!!!

Anyway, less about me, look what my son, his girlfriend and my husband bought for my Birthday on Saturday!!!

And poor hubby has been slogging away soooo hard at this...

I think that he has done a really good job don't you? I LOVE it!!

And yes, to those of you who expressed a concern about me only getting One Chicken and a Duck, well I did get TWO Chickens and a Duck....and... they all seem to be getting along just fine...eek...touch wood somebody!!! The lady that breeds them said that the duck will attach itself to any other animals within the household so it is not a problem in having only one duck!! The one thing that I can say about her is that she is sooooo afraid, (she is only 14 weeks old!!) and when she comes out to stay for long enough for me to able to get a piccy of her I can then show her to all of you!!

But for now, it is back to reality, (hate it!!) I need to go and get clothes etc sorted ready for the morning for work, Packed Lunch done, food in the Chicken feeder ready to pop into the Chicken (and Duck!) run in the morning, when I let them out, I have put fresh water out for them already for tomorrow but didn't want to put more food out yet for fear of attracting Rats/Mice, and get the washing in off the line, I think that week-ends should def be longer!

I will be back in touch nearer the end of the week with an update of ....Katie, Lucy, and Emily!!! (Emily is the Duck and Lucy is the slightly fatter of the Chickens)

Andrea
x

My New Cath Kidston Bags!!

2008-09-23T13:10:00.000+01:00

Well, I have been really spoilt this week, my wonderful husband has surprised me, twice!! With these TWO Cath Kidston Bags from Tesco!! Aren't they great?!

I think that I am going to use this one as my Knitting Bag! I did make one out of some CK fabric once but when I went to put my balls of wool and needles into the bag they would not all fit...I only have about 6 balls of wool so far (all given to me by my mother in-law) to practise with as I have yet to really grasp how to knit, well properly knit anyway! I can do the basic plain knit thing but when it comes to making a pattern or anything complicated I am hopeless! So I think that until I have time to actually sit down and get it all back out again, this bag will do just fine to store it all in. They are too nice to use to throw into the boot of the car until next time that you go shopping, I think that they should be all on display!

We are having some really lovely weather here at the moment, and they say that it is going to last for a few days to come too! I do hope so as on saturday it is my Birthday and we are going off to get my Chicken and Duck... I cant wait!! I feel i bit mean just getting one Chicken and one Duck, but I really do want one of each and really hope that they will keep each other company as I would hate it if they felt all alone, they will live and sleep together so will never be seperated, unless they really take a disliking to each other and have to be parted! I will let you all know how it goes!!

Take care for now and enjoy your rest of the week,

Andrea
x

I am back!!!

2008-09-16T18:04:00.000+01:00

It's been such a long time since I last posted, I am sorry, it's just that there has been such a lot happening including returning back to work, having to venture back into the big wide open world!!! What with the credit crunch..don't you just get fed up with hearing about that? Prices have gone up and everyone is feeling the pinch, so we have just got to face up to it I guess and cut back on a few things or at least just be a little more careful with spending than we were a few months ago!

Well I guess Autumn is finally here, the grass is really wet and the air in the mornings is really damp and misty, although not when I first get up at 5.30am! It is pitch Black!! I never was a morning person, but good old hubby has rows of cups of caffeine waiting for me in the mornings to try and get me moving into action! It isn't too bad though as I finish work at 2.30pm so still have a little of the afternoon to catch up with a few things before eating our evening meal, followed with a glass of wine and then lighting the fire ... to fall straight to sleep as soon as I curl up on the sofa! Sometimes that is sooo annoying, especially when there is something that you would like to watch on the TV (not very often I have to say!!) but sometimes I just cannot keep my eyelids open!!

Do you like my new Rocking Chair? I originally purchased it to Restore and Paint in a Farrow and Ball paint and pop it on to my Web site but I have decided that it looks rather homely in my lounge! So its mine to keep!! Sorry!!

I have been reading some lovely blogs in the last few days that I have come across, especially those that have a story connected regarding keeping Chickens, as I have decided that I want to have some of my own Chickens and hopefully some Ducks! Thank you to Diary of a Tinyholder and Vintage Pretty and Shabby for inspiring me to go ahead and get some!

Lots of planning though ahead! A Home is needed for them, along with a run and feed and feeders...oh my goodness the list! What I would really like is this...

But I am afraid that to start with, their new home will be...

I will make sure that it is Fox protected and warm and safe, one day they too can be upgraded to the penthouse!

We have also been to a fab wedding of my Cousins, it was held at Cameley Lodge in Somerset, WOW what a Beautiful setting!! We all had a fab day, it is so nice to go to the venue and not have to travel around to the Church, Reception, Hotel etc etc, all held under one roof is so much easier, the brides Flowers were Beautiful, take a peak!

More to come in the next few days!!

Take Care
Andrea
x

Spring really is here!!

2008-04-25T11:43:00.000+01:00

When you see things like this popping up out of the cracks in the Garden Wall they really do make us smile, sigh, and think, wow, at last, Spring really is eventually with us, I think that we have all been so very desperate this year, more so than ever, for it to appear, it has felt like such a long time coming! How wonderful it is also to be able to open out our windows in the mornings and air our homes with some fresh, warm, clean air. Don't you find that you seem to accumulate more washing and ironing though!! If you are anything like me I tend to think wow, it is a Beautiful drying day so go around the house gathering up clothes that have perhaps only been worn once and do not really need washing just yet, but hey, it might be raining tomorrow so lets get anything that we can find washed today!! But then when you peg it all in later in the day you think to yourself, did I really need to wash all of this? No, and I now have masses of ironing!! Oh well, never mind.

After our initial disaster of our New freestanding Greenhouse blowing over with horrific winds that we experienced a few weeks ago and losing all of our trays of newly planted seeds, we were determined not to be put off by this and so we rolled up our sleeves and went about cleaning everything up and re-potting new seeds, and we have finally been rewarded...look what is standing tall in their pots!!
Rocket Salad!! Yummy, not tried any yet, and haven't before come to think of it but it looks quite nice doesn't it!

Cucumber!!
Well, not yet, but I hope that there will be in a few weeks!

You can tell that it is getting warmer as there are Flies everywhere, I know that we live in the country so we will obviously have more, but they are such disgusting little things, we have googled how to get rid of flies using Natural products and from what we can find they suggest using Garlic and/or Basil as flies supposedly do not like these, so, I rubbed Fresh Garlic all of the way around our Garden table, look what happened!!

They loved it!!!

So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to get rid of them, or at least lower the population in my Garden I would love to hear how!!!

Have a good week-end and I hope that you will be Fly free whilst enjoying the Sun Shine!!

Andrea
x

Fact of the day!!

2008-03-17T11:43:00.000Z

Bananas make you feel Happy!!

If you're feeling a bit down in the dumps after a long winter, put Bananas on your shopping list to boost your mood and help beat stress. They contain trytophan which is converted into serotonin - the brain chemical that makes us feel happy. Also bananas are a good choice for when you have to resort to breakfast on the run.

Think that I had better go and get a whole load of them!!!

Andrea
x

Knitting and Crocheting and Chocolates!!

2008-02-13T14:30:00.001Z

This is Jo's fault over at French Knots !!

Ever since she has shown us the Beautiful Scarf that she has made I have been totally inspired to get some Needles and start Knitting!! I used to knit when I about 10 years old, but I can't remember now how to do it, all that Wine has killed off my Brain Cells!!
Actually I can't blame Jo entirely, I borrowed this book from the library and spotted this lovely Chunky Knitted Cushion Cover...and I want to make it!! This evening would be good, I want to run before I can walk as they say!!

Ginny over at The Flour Loft has very kindly let me have the name of a good Teach yourself how to Knit Book so I shall be going onto good old reliable Amazon later on to seek that one out, thanks for that Ginny.

But that's not all...I also want to make this Adorable Crochet Throw, and guess what? You've got it, I don't know how to Crochet either!! I have purchased an adorable ball of wool, yes, just the one, to practise with, it is a Soft & Gentle Baby Pink Chenile Wool, my husband however, has kindly informed me that I won't be able to use this kind of wool to start as I won't be able to see my stitches? What does he know? Or maybe he is right?!

I am not sure where all of this has come from? I want to make this, I want to make that, I want, I want, at the ripe old age of 42 you would have thought that all of this would be out of my system by now wouldn't you?! But I am sure that you will all agree it is Gorgeous and I can just imagine it sitting at the bottom of my bed!! So, if you know any easy teach yourself how to Crochet books then I would love to hear about them!!

I have had an early Valentines Present!!! No, not from my Husband but from my Son & his Girlfriend!! Don't they look Delicious? They are all packaged up soooo wonderfully that I do not want to undo them!! I think that these will be beside me tomorrow evening, on the sofa with a glass or Two of Bubbly!! Yummy...I cant wait!

Hope that you all get something nice for Valentines Day!

Andrea xx

Dried Rosebuds and Nephews...yummy!!

2008-02-03T17:27:00.000Z

Not wishing to blow my own Trumpet, so to speak! But I am rather pleased with the way that a couple of my new Handmade goodies have turned out!! The Rose Bud Ball is my favourite, is has actually turned out much bigger than I had imagined it would!

The Wire Heart embellished with sparkly Gems & Beads looks lovely when the sun shines through the window and they catch the rays of sun light....ok that hasn't happened yet, but it will!!

Of which all can be viewed and purchased from my Ebay Shop!!

Hope that you have all had a good week-end, we did, my son and his girlfriend came around for the evening and we had a takeaway, attempted to play Who wants to be a millionaire and failed drastically, so ended up playing Pass The Pig!! Have you ever played that game? Not exactly Brain Tasking..but quite good fun!

And on Sunday afternoon I looked after my youngest nephew, of only 12 weeks old, oh my god he is sooo yummy, but what a responsibility looking after someone elses children!! He fell asleep on my large Feather floor cushion, so as we live in an old Cottage with lots of draughts I covered him up in lots of blankets to keep him nice and warm...but then you couldnt see him breathing...so off the blankets came!! My sister and her husband wanted to take the elder two children to Ten Pin Bowling, I don't think that it was particularly a successful event, the eldest (3 years) nearly got strung up to the ceiling and the younger (1year) nearly got thrown down the alley with the balls, you take these children somewhere nice for the day, miserable weather so make the effort to get them out of the house, and how do they re-pay you? By being little S***s!! but it was a few hours out!!!

The Weather has been really awful here today, I drove my son and his girlfriend back to her mums house and the roof nearly came off the car as it was sooo windy,....dont tell my mum as it was her car and she wouldnt be impressed if I called her whilst she is Holidaying in Australia to tell her...by the way, you now really do have a convertible...it has no roof at all!! Whoops!!

Catch up again in a day or two,

Andrea

What Beautiful Weather

2008-01-28T11:33:00.000Z

Where did that Weather come from??!! Wasn't it Beautiful? Very Spring like! My wonderful husband treated me to lunch on the river on Friday (not exactly on the river but in a pub on the edge of the river), but I expect you guessed that!! And then we took a stroll to feed the Swans, they are such Beautiful creatures...but at the same time quite scary, I do hesitate walking past them when they are stood on the paths as you walk past.

On Saturday we even did some gardening, cut the grass, painted the fence panels, and whilst doing a little weeding we found these little things appearing in the hedge...not sure what they are?

I love my garden but when it comes to naming the plants and knowing how far to cut them back etc. I do not have the slightest idea what to do and have to get the good old books out!!

On Sunday morning my husband did a Car Boot sale, when we moved home last year all the things that we decided that we really did not want in the corners of our home just collecting dust were put into boxes and put in the back of the garage to be forgotten about, but as the weather changed so dramatically here at the week-end he decided that it was time for it all to go! It turned out to have been a worthwhile trip, its a shame that you cannot earn that sort of money every day for a few hours work and then take the afternoon off!!

So Sunday afternoon was spent watching dvd's, the roast cooking away in the oven and not doing very much at all, only truble is that when 6 o'clock comes around I feel really guilty for being so very lazy and not doing anything constructive (that feeling didn't last too long)!!

Hope that you all had a great week end also, see you all again in a few days,

Andrea

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-03T13:40:00.000Z

We would like to say a Big "Thank You" for your custom to all of our customers, Old & New!

And a "Happy New Year" to you all, may 2008 bring you all that you wish for!

Well the Celebrations all seem so long ago now don't they? After spending the Christmas Preparing, Entertaining, Drinking & Eating far too much, we felt that it really was time to get out and stretch our legs so my husband and I took our Labrador Henry, and the Kite up in to the field to blow some cobwebs away! It seemed like a good idea at the time!

It was a Beautiful day with clear skies with far reaching views, however it was very muddy under foot, Henry had a lovely time trying to catch the kite thinking that it was a massive Ball in the sky, until the winds were so fast that it broke the strings on the kite!! Oh No, was I going to see a grown man cry??

So, home we go, with one very wet and muddy dog, and a husband dissapointed that his new toy has broken already!! I have to say that I was not too upset...my feet were like ice!! I really shall have to go and buy my New Hunter Wellies myself now as no one bought them for me for Christmas!! Hint, Hint!!

We do not light our open fire as we have good old Gas Central Heating, but to make it look warmer for the winter I have placed some Lights in around some logs to give it a cosier feel to our living room, so heating on, Fairy lights all around, and snuggled up on the sofa with Chocolates and Wine, yummy!!

Well, as you have probably noticed that this is my first Blog for a very long time, but Christmas is a very busy time of year for us here as we sell just soooo many Red Hearts for Tree Decorations, but one of my New Years resolutions is to find more time to Blog (my husband says that it is just an excuse to sit on the computer and surf) Men, they just do not understand blogging quite yet do they!!

So, bye for now and will be back very soon with more news and adventures from Devon!

Andrea

Tagged!!!!!

2007-07-13T13:23:00.000+01:00

I have been Tagged by sophiehoneysuckle and so I have to list 8 random facts about myself!! Oh my goodness where do I start? Well here goes...

1, I love food, especially Garlic! Ooooh Little Roast Potatoes with fresh Garlic sprinkled all over them whilst they are being cooked-my favourite! I know that it is not a very sociable food, to smell it on someone else who has been eating it when you have not is just terrible, whenever I am cooking I try and sneak in more than I probably should be using until Hubby comes along and takes some of it away from me before it reaches the pan!! Meanie!!

2, I hate flying, I LOVE going on Holiday, especially abroad, but I so wish that I did not have to do the flying bit, I still do it every year, well most years! I am not sure why I hate it so much, I keep looking at the Air Stewardesses faces because if they do not look scared then everything is probably all ok! Even when they are doing the "In an Emergency Routine" I feel like I want to sing to myself so that I can't here what I need to do with the life jacket when I reach for it under my seat...although I need that jacket as much as anyone especially when I can't even swim!!

3, I love my Home, I so enjoy making a heavenly place to be living in, in the winter evenings there is nothing quite like lighting the open fire, watching a good film and nestling in on the sofa...oh and a Glass of wine in hand!! On that note of our Homes..As we all seem to be mentioning our Beds that we have at the moment, I thought that I would post a pic of mine....

4, I love running my own business, I was employed as a Sales Manager for so many years, and having to be there at the same time every day, day in day out, oh I so could not go back to doing that again, if I want a lie in one morning I can now have one, if I want to take a day off in the week and work all week-end...I CAN!! Except though when business is quiet and then I panic!

5, I am addicted to buying Homes and Interiors magazines, having a nose to see what everyone else is doing to the insides of there homes, hubby moans about the cost of them, but like I say to him, my Mum gets to read them and then my Sister, so in a way they are being recycled!! I think that it is great when you all post pics of the insides of your homes, it adds interest to our blogs I think!

What else can I write???

6, I love making new things, we initially designed our little Wooden Hearts for Wedding Place Settings and that led to making Wooden Fish & Boats, then we got asked for Handmade Wooden Heart Curtain Tiebacks! I now have a Brand Spanking New Sewing Machine that my Mum bought me for my Birthday which I intend (one day) to start to make Cushions, I also now have a little supply of assorted Beads in stock that I cannot wait to start to make things with, I just wish sometimes that there were more hours in the day! I have recently recovered my Chaise Longue and Foot Stool-I even surprised myself how well I did! Just don't look too closely!!

7, I Cannot read a book without falling asleep! Even some evenings when I pick up the Newspaper to read i start to snooze...it is sooo annoying when you really want to read a book but your eyes will just not let you!

8, Struggling with Number 8!! Ummn, oh I no...I love Exercising and Running and Swimming...No I do not that's all lies, it sounded good for a second or two though didn't it!! I do not do any exercise, except walk around the Garden and collect what the Dog has been and done in the past week and Hubby is moaning as he wants to mow the lawn!!

There, all done, please do not make me do that again!!! x

Before I finish I also wanted to let you know that on my Web Site I have started to do a Monthly Prize Draw, there will be a new item every month that will be up for grabs! So have a look at this months Freebie Prize Giveaway Country Elegance and send me an email to enter!!

Well I think that is enough for one day, I do not want to send you to sleep through boredom now do I!!

Speak soon, Andrea x

We are back!!

2007-07-03T13:29:00.000+01:00

Finally, we have moved into our New Home in Dunchideock, just outside of Exeter in Devon, (the views around our new home are pictured above), we had lived in our little tiny cottage in a small hamlet in Somerset for 10 years, and then we decided to take the plunge and move closer to my family in Devon. My sister has a (Fast Growing!!) family, of a little Boy who is almost 3 years old, a little Boy who is 9 months old, and another due to arrive in November......she needs to get a television I think!!!

It will be fantastic to see these little ones growing up, coming to visit and getting chocolate on my sofa, sticky hand prints on my glass windows and tipping Blackcurrant on my carpet!! Only joking!! I cannot wait to see more of them.

Only 1 week in our new Home, and we were off to Ibiza for a week with the whole of my Family, Thanks to our Mum, who treated us all to a Wonderful Holiday...Thank you Mum!! x

It was fantastic, Blue sky, White Sands, the temperature was in the mid 30's every day, so all day, every day, was spent lapping up the sunshine on the Beach and then deciding which Restaurant to eat in that evening!! Bliss!

After One Fabulous week we returned to Bristol Airport to retrieve our Baggage...absolutely soaking wet...welcome back to good old wet and Cold Bristol!!

One week later after returning from Holiday we had a wedding to attend at the Guildhall in Bath, trying to get a crowd of you into the centre of Bath on a Saturday is a bit of a nightmare, but we made it, the Guildhall is a Beautiful building to hold a Wedding Ceremony and a lovely day was had by us all. We would like to give our very Best Wishes to Rob and Claire Opie for a long and happy life together.

Something must have happened whilst we were away? Has someone stood up and announced to the whole of the world that we have launched a new web site without telling us? We came home to an abundance of orders, not that we are complaining of course! We would however, like to Thank all of our Customers for being so patient with us and allowing us a couple of extra days to get your goods dispatched, we are now back on track, and business will now commence as usual!

Now that we have unpacked our Suitcases and also our many boxes that we moved into our new home with, we have come across stock that we realised that we have not been listing here on our web site so over the next week or two you will see new items being added, also I plan to venture into the world of Beads, and start designing some exciting Pretty creations (I hope!!) such as Wine Glass Charms, to compliment our Wedding section, Beaded Curtain Tiebacks and many more glitzy bits!!

Well I had better call it a day for now, but we will not leave too long before we come back and give you an update of whats happening here at Country Elegance,

see you all soon,

love Andrea x

Hello at last!

2007-05-07T11:07:00.000+01:00

Well we got there in the end!
After many weeks of buying in New stock and taking photographs of everything we have finally launched our New Web Site!
We aim to list new items on a weekly basis, so if there is nothing on there that takes your fancy today, be sure to pop back to see our newly listed items!
Well after a lovely week the weather is pretty grim here in Somerset today, how many people will be saying today I wander.....we needed this drop of rain for the ground!! We do in our Garden thats for sure!
I am going to have to keep my first posting fairly short today as we have had lots of orders arrive over the week-end for our little Cream Wooden Hearts, they are just so popular for place settings and as this is the time of year for Weddings then I am going to be kept very busy over the next couple of weeks!
I look forward to hearing from you all!
Bye for now
Andrea
x