A whole new project.. Gardening!

Another non crafty post today.. I will post something crafty soon enough. I do have plenty to blog about when I get the time. Still no luck on finding a time machine, unfortunately.

So, after being in the mood to watch "Just Like Heaven" and thinking about the lovely garden scenes in it.. I looked outside the window and saw the state of our yard/garden.
It used to be all tree sort of things, all leafy and green.. but then a new neighbour (that has thankfully moved out now! Long annoying story..) cut them down so they could walk their cat.
Since then, it has just shown how much rubbish is actually out there, and what a state it really is.


The before photos..

Not very nice is it? But, that's soon going to change... :)

I decided that it would look so much better if the rubbish was picked up, the dead branches cut down and some tubs outside with some lovely plants/flowers in.


And I finally want a washing line, having a clothes hanger in the living room is making our wall really really damp.


My wonderful boyfriend decided he would be great enough to help me on his day off, aww.
We were not too happy to find these among all the rubbish and leaves..

We called the council, and they are coming to collect them. I'm just so glad we didn't get pricked or something. I really don't like where we live. But, I hope to have our own little bit of heaven when we are finished.

This is how far we had got before our lunch break, which I think will turn into a rest of the day break. My feet are still absolutely killing from work, and now my boyfriend is sat down, he looks rather comfy..and I don't think I can pry him from his seat, haha.

The during photos..

And, hopefully, sometime soon.. there will be the "after" photos. I shall keep you posted!

Askrigg Village Kitchen

Oooh, I almost forgot!


My favourite deli/gift shop in the Yorkshire Dales has finally got themselves a Facebook page!
Their Millionaires Shortbread is the best I have ever tasted.
If you would like to have a look at their page, you can find it here.


They very kindly agreed to stock some of my makes just before Christmas, and I am thrilled to say that they have now all sold. 


Now I just need to find a time machine so that I have time to make some more.. Anyone know where I can get one? :)

Beverley, Birthday, Valentines and the start of an Emma Bridgewater collection :)

I fully intended to post again before now, but with working 10 days in a row..and my day off seeming like a million miles away I haven't actually gotten round to doing anything I intended to do!

So, here is a post I've been pretty excited to post for a while now.. I finally own something from Emma Bridgewater!! Yayyy!

It was my birthday on the 12th, and my wonderful boyfriend bought me this..

Emma Bridgewater Lovely-ness!

The Tea holder was for my Birthday (I'm a whopping quarter of a century old now! Eek!), and although the Dancing Mice beaker is aimed at children.. I absolutely adore the design, so I thought, why not? That was my gift for Valentines Day :)

I do feel for my poor Boyfriend, with my Birthday and Valentines only being one day apart..but he always makes those couple of days rather special bless him.

This year we decided to go and have a look around Beverley, because for quite a while now, heading into the town centre has become rather dull. There are not many shops to look around that we are interested in, and every time we go in HMV..the prices of the DVDs are usually double that of online, so we rarely buy in the store, which is a shame. I love coming home with a new film to watch after a nice day out.

I'm so glad we decided to go there, as we had a lovely day. And it was really great to just walk around and explore somewhere new and somewhere so pretty too!

Here are a couple of photos from the day out..

Arriving in the lovely Beverley

Beverley Train Station

A lovely church that we passed, we didn't actually go near the minster this time, but  plan to next time.

We saw this frozen beer on a bench on the street, and thought it was a good picture to hint at how cold it was!

 We ended up looking in this florist shop, I was drawn in by the window display (though I forgot to take a photo, d'oh!) and downstairs we were greeted by this lovely scene..

They had it all set up for a private tea party for the next day.. how gorgeous does it look?! I really wanted to sit down and enjoy a good cup of tea and some cake. And I also wanted to take the lovely tea cups home with me, alas, it wasn't possible. I'm going to keep it in mind for the future though, I'd love to have a vintage tea party one day.

Even though I wanted to buy the tea cups that weren't for sale, I did come away with these little lovelies..

I know, February and buying Christmas tags.. but I couldn't resist :) Hopefully I'll remember where I have put them, as I have a habit of buying things in advance and then losing them.


These gorgeous cupcakes were a perfect addition to my Birthday day out, they were very scrumptious! Chocolate and Lemon flavours from Lucy Beal Cakery. I kept thinking of Eastenders when I saw the name.. haven't watched that show for a good few years now.
Am I really missing anything?

The following baked goodies were absolutely yummy! A white chocolate and raspberry Blondie which was still warm when we got it outside of the shop, so it didn't quite survive the journey home for the photos.. apologies for that, but it was so worth it! Yum. The brownie is a chocolate orange cheesecake brownie, I hadn't had that flavour before, but it was amazing! We got those from a lovely little sandwich/cake shop called Brownies & Blondies. We will certainly go back again next time we go.
I'd written down a few foodie places to try and find on our visit, for if we got peckish, and we almost gave up trying to find this one as it was so cold. I'm just glad that we actually found it, as all of it was really delicious.

 I was also delighted to find a Laura Ashley store there too, and I bought this sample pack of Laura Ashley oilcloth. I'm not sure what to do with them yet really. They were just really pretty and for £1 I couldn't resist. The outside of sewing needle cases maybe? Any ideas would be welcomed!

 We also found an old fashioned sweet shop, which my boyfriend dragged me in (I needed SO much persuading! Haha) and he bought some american sweets. The Peanut Butter Twix also didn't last the train journey home.. it was really nice, but..£1.75 for a twix! I know its imported from America, but £1.75.. I'm not a scrooge or anything, but I would have definitely thought twice about it if I had been the one to go and get it. I did really enjoy my Toffee Crumble though, I haven't had any since school..so it was nice to reminisce. So, not a great day for my healthier eating..but it was my birthday.. so I'm trying not to feel too bad.

 And finally, the last two of my purchases from Beverley. 
As soon as I saw these Soup bowl/mugs in a charity shop, I knew I had to have them. I used to use them when I lived with Dad, and when I lost him, I didn't have anything to do with clearing his place, as it was just too hard.


There is so much I wish I had kept now, and I regret not helping as I'd love to have more things around for memories. So I was so so pleased to buy these. He always used to make me Tomato Soup in these when I was ill, so next time I don't feel so well, I'm going to get these out and make myself some soup. And I think it will taste so much better.

Oooh, and I got this gorgeous Laura Ashley pillowcase from the same charity shop. It's such a big pillowcase, I don't know if I just have small pillows.. or if it's a giant pillowcase. But I think I'm planning to turn it into a cushion cover, as there was just the one. And I think it would look lovely as a cushion cover.

Sorry for all the pictures, and if you have reached the end of this long post..well done! I hope I didn't bore you too much.

x

Updates coming soon!

Just a quick post to let anyone who actually reads this that I have a massive post coming up in the next couple of days.. Hopefully I'll finally have some time!

A visit to Beverley, Valentines and Birthday presents and some lovely recent purchases.

Oohh, and a couple of makes too :)