'Wiggle The Dirt'

These were the lovely gifts I received from my friend Debbie. I love ephemera and this little packet for 'Wiggs Cleanser' she brought back from America is wonderful. I love the caption "wiggles the dirt". 'Profitable Poultry' a little book from the 1920s was also a great gift as this year I have taken on 3 little hens.

The four legged animals had a lovely Christmas even if Ella, my mum's dog did take over Josh's bed.

My lovely girl spoilt me with some beautiful gifts, she knows exactly what I like.

At Christmas my lovely girl and I always do some baking together as usually I am so busy we never seem to find the time. This year we made the Waitrose Delia Smith Christmas cake and I can honestly say it is one of the best I have tasted. I did feed it rather generously with brandy though. My lovely girl iced it and did an amazing job.

We also made chocolate orange cup cakes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. These were delicious, my only tip would be to halve the amount of topping mixture as there is always too much.

We both love tiramisu so we had a go at making our own.We used the recipe from the BBC food website, it was the Katie and Giancarlo Caldessi recipe and it was delicious. It actually got better over the couple of days we stored it.

This is the lovely wreath my friend at work made for me. It s completely bio-degradable as it is made on a cardboard ring wrapped with twigs. This has lasted amazingly well considering I had it a week or so before Christmas.

I like all the lights at night at Christmas, we always put berry red lights on our bay tree.

Tea lights are so pretty in the evening as well as lovely scented candles.

A few days before Christmas my lovely girl and I had a night away in London. There is always new street art to be seen near our hotel in Hoxton. This was a wall I hadn't seen before.

Liberty looked wonderful as usual

There are always plenty of amazing lights and decorations to see.

This was the view outside Selfridges.

We found the beautiful Leadenhall market for the first time.

It had a wonderful vibrant atmosphere.

As a special treat we went to Kensington Palace Orangery for afternoon tea. A tranquil little oasis in the middle of the madness that is London at Christmas.

A nice cup of tea and delicious cake is definitely just what's needed after a hard day's shopping !

Meet The New Resident At The Corner House

Anyone who knows me well will know how much I have wanted one of these little chaps. I have endlessly watched them on ebay and never felt able to justify the high prices. I knew that one day I would find one when I was least expecting it. That's exactly what happened a few days ago. I was dashing past a second hand shop when out of the corner of my eye through the window I spotted him standing on the counter. I ran in heart racing, thinking he was on the counter because someone was paying for him. Unbelievably he was on the counter because he had just been brought in for sale ! I knew it was my lucky day when the owner agreed to let me have him for a very reasonable price.

Josh isn't too sure what to make of him and has given him a good sniff.

My lovely girl is very fond of him too which is a bit of a surprise as I thought she would probably groan when I walked through the door with him.

This little fella also arrived this week and has moved in to the old W.I. cabinet with some friends.

I have a a few days off now this week and Mr C and I found these pretty Lloyd Loom style shelves today. They are a little dusty and I found the old photo of the couple wedged down the back. There is also a matching chair and linen basket, I am planning on re-covering the chair in some vintage fabric. I will have to decide whether to sell the little shelves or find a space somewhere for them. I already have a similar set in a faded sea green, and I love them.

Mr C and my lovely girl had a day out together in London earlier in the week and Mr C returned with some lovely pieces of Liberty fabric for me. I am not sure how they will be used yet but I love the dark pink roses print.

I am off for a couple of days now with my lovely girl on our usual half term jaunt. So far the week has been dominated by AS mock revision and preparations for the Northampton Vintage Fair in March. We have also found a wonderful new venue in the pretty market town of Olney and have booked another two dates for further fairs. It will be nice to have some time to relax before things get really busy for all of us. I am sure I will be back with some photos of our trip to share.

Autumn Treats

Lovely shiny conkers picked up on this evening's walk with Josh

The pinks and purples brightening up the garden still

the cheerful faces of sunflowers, these were some I grew from a packet of Cath Kidston seeds bought earlier in the year

Our little pear tree laden with conference pears

Gorgeous cakes bought at Bay Tree Cottage open day today. These are chocolate and pumpkin cake and the most delicious blackberry,mint and ginger cake. It sounds strange but you have to try it, it was one of the finalist's recipes in the Great British Bake Off and the recipe is on the website. This one was made into a large cake rather than the little cup cakes in the recipe and it was decorated with big juicy blackberries.

As always we enjoyed getting out of the town and breathing in the country air, and it was a lovely sunny autumn day.

Inside the village hall we enjoyed tea out of Beryl Woods Ware china and home made cakes and had a browse around the stalls.

Back home and here is the little stool Mr C spotted earlier in the week. It is very grubby but will look perfect after a fresh coat of paint. It has a lovely smooth worn seat and chunky rustic legs.

This morning I caught up with Julie, a lovely vintage jewelery and accessories seller at our local collectables fair.

I treated myself to this original 1950s tapestry handbag which I have already used this afternoon. Some of you may have seen Cath Kidston's version of this in her latest collection. I had my eye on it but couldn't justify the price tag. This is the real thing and at a fraction of the price.

I also bought these beautiful silk handkerchiefs , two of them vintage Liberty .

The silk hanky with the pretty rosy blooms around the edge and the floral blue chiffon one will be staying with me . The sequin applique flowers and butterfly and corsage brooches are very pretty. I also bought some unusual vintage wooden Czechoslovakian hand painted buttons and a pair but not quite (have a closer look) of crocheted gloves. Some of these treasures will be coming with me to the vintage fair on the 23rd as long as I don't convince myself that I need to keep them myself.

A Wicked Week

I have had a lovely week off work even if the first part was mainly spent catching up on housework. There are some jobs that just couldn't be ignored any longer such as cleaning all the crockery on display in the kitchen that seems to attract grease and dirt. I find it strangely relaxing doing housework if I am in the right mood, there is something nice about doing something that doesn't take much thinking about.

Later in the week it was my lovely girl's 16th birthday and we had a bit of a family party catching up with relatives we rarely see.

These are a few more of my scrapbook pictures.

Then it was off to London for a birthday treat. My lovely girl loves London and we decided to treat ourselves to a night away. We went to see Wicked which was absolutely Wicked ! I would highly recommend it, I have seen a few musicals in the West End and I really enjoyed this one.

I managed to squeeze in a visit to Liberty. The poster is advertising their new budget range for Target which is definitely worth checking out on their website if you can't get to the shop.

This was quite a bizarre window display in Harrods. The red haired lady is lying down in her retro apron looking up at red roses suspended from the ceiling.

We finished our trip basking in the sun and enjoying a drink on the banks of the Thames at Richmond.

I didn't come home empty handed, I found the Cath Kidston skirt in a charity shop in Kensington, more expensive than I would pay in my local charity shop but still a bargain.

And this is a gorgeous piece of Liberty fabric. I was immediately drawn to the design and colour but have no idea yet what I going to make with it.

Back to normality tomorrow, school and work and fast approaching dreaded GCSEs.