valentines ideas

Hello :) so... it's valentines day on Tuesday. I wont be seeing David on valentines day this year, or all this week, so our valentines day will be celebrated mainly through skype. But when we do see eachother, with a house to save for and a baby due in 4 weeks (eek!!), we wont be spending money on gifts and treats. But while browsing pinterest, I've been getting all inspired with all the cute little valentines ideas on there that will barely cost a penny! I thought I would share some of my favourite craft & food ideas that would make lovely little gifts for your valentine with things you probably have lying around the house or in kitchen cupboards. 

(click on the images to go to their original source)

I particularly love the deck of cards '52 things I love about you' idea (I did something similar to celebrate David and I being together 100 days. I filled a box with 100 paper hearts, with something I loved about him on each one) and the little valentines lunch box. I think any of these would make really cute little gifts, and combined with an evening snuggled up in front of a soppy film, or a walk in the snow (if it has reached where you are!) you can have a perfect valentines day without spending a fortune!

Im not saying what I'm doing, as David likes to read my blog now and again, but I'm definitely feeling very inspired by these! I will let you know :) We have our 6 year anniversary coming up soon too, so I may be using some for then...

Do you have any creative valentines ideas?

x ♥

p.s: I hope you all like the little makeover the blogs had! I was getting very frustrated and bored with it. I've updated my blog button as well,which you can get from the link under my header :)

happy list!

10 things making me happy at the moment:

1. some new books. they are wartime romances by one of my favourite authors, elizabeth elgin. 

2. finally finishing my blog makeover!

3. making plans to see my David, to make the time we are apart go quicker. 

4. ... and spending evenings instant messaging each other while watching TV, so I dont miss him as much :)

5. other peoples generosity- in the last week we have been given a cot and a brand new push-chair very cheap! 

6. crunchies and cheese strings- my pregnancy cravings. I am eating hundreds.

7. cooking! This week I made a really yummy spaghetti bolognese, and I'm planning on making a chocolate cheesecake this weekend!

8. The fact I have a job finally! This means less money worries. my job is at the body shop, and I love it there so far- everyones really nice, we get lots of freebies, and part of my training has involved learning how to do facials and make up on customers, which meant other staff having to give me them to demonstrate! It was lovely, and I got paid for it! :)

9. My evening routine. after dinner, curl up on the sofa with a book or a film, and my cat alfie cuddling my bump. he has become very attached to bump...

10. ... and bump loves alfie! every evening, when alfie is giving us cuddles, the baby is most active, and I can feel it wriggling around and giving little kicks inside my belly. Feeling my baby moving is the best feeling ever. Nothing makes me happier. It is amazing! yesterday, I felt the baby jump when our TV suddenly came on really loud- it is so cute, and little things like this are making it seem so much more real to me. I love my baby so much already ♥

what's making you happy at the moment?

x ♥

p.s: I'm now selling some jewelry on ebay. take a look! if you think the price is a bit too much, you can make me an offer on anything you like the look of :)

engaged ♥

top to bottom: valentines day 2011, us and our poppy soon after moving into our uni house in 2009, our last day of school in 2006, our first holiday together in 2007


sorry for being a useless blogger again, I have been busy and super tired. when Im not working in my studio, Im sleeping! explanation coming for that soon. I have BIG news. and a giveaway coming soon too!


but, I have other BIG news to share with you now :)


last weekend was my 21st birthday. On the friday, the day before my birthday, I was having a party in the evening. My David is still living in our uni house, for the next few weeks, while he still has a job there and until our tenancy runs out. the uni house is nearly 3 hours away, but he was supposed to be leaving on the friday morning to make it to my party in the evening and stay the weekend. I was feeling rubbish and ill on the friday morning, when I got a message from him to say he'd been called into work urgently and wouldn't be able to leave until much later, so was possibly going to miss my party. I was so disappointed, as well as feeling rubbish. My family were all out, and I stayed in my pyjamas feeling sorry for myself all morning. Then there was a knock on the door.


It was my David. I opened the door, looking like death, and there he was, on my doorstep, on one knee, with my great-grandmothers ring, and he PROPOSED!!!!


I just cried and cried and hugged him for what felt like forever. It was so lovely. 


I have also always wanted my grandmothers ring. I asked my mother a while ago whether it would be possible for me to have as an engagement ring when the time came, which she was so happy about :) It is beautiful, one emerald and two diamonds either side, encased in a swirly gold pattern. It is at the jewelers being resized at the moment, but there will be pictures as soon as it's back! My great grandmother died just weeks before I was born. She was close to my mother and so excited about having her first great grandchild, and had bought lots of baby things and knitted me little outfits, but I never got to meet her. So there is quite a sweet connection too :)


I cannot believe me and my David are engaged!!!! We have been together since we were 15 years old, known each other since we were 11. I had a crush on him when I first met him at school, then decided he was a silly and annoying boy and spent years finding him irritating. He started liking me when we were 13. He was very persistent, and followed me around everywhere, and enlisted the help of mutual friends. We became best friends, but it wasn't until I went to house one day I realised I had fallen for him. We were there with his older sister, who was pregnant, and he was so sweet and caring with her. And I realised then that I wanted to be with him. And here we are, almost 6 years later, and we're going to get married!!


He told me he was planning his proposal for almost a year. It was going to in Rome, at the end of this month. He had been secretly saving for a surprise holiday there where he would propose, but due to some recent events, realised the money has to go elsewhere and it wasn't going to happen. So instead of Rome, it happened on my doorstep, while I had no makeup on, messy hair, and was in my pyjamas. I think it was perfect!


wow, I have rambled!! If you read all that, then thank you!


x  ♥

bunting & ladybirds

I am a very lucky girl. my dad and uncle built my studio this week, and I have spent all my time since then painting and decorating it! I love it, it is so big with lots of light, and im going to have my own little herb garden outside. I have put up my bunting and my giant ladybirds climb all up the side. My Kitten, Alfie, loves it and has been keeping me company in there. He has also had fun playing with the bunting blowing in the wind, and got a bit over excited and stole one of the flags!! hehe, silly kitten. I am painting the inside white. I wanted to have the painting done by the end of today, and to have started putting up lots of pretty things on the wall, but the weather proofing underneath is red and keeps coming through!! So far I have done 3 coats and it still isnt finished. Im exhausted! That is why there is masking tape all around the windows, please excuse it :)

It has to be left until next weekend now though, because tomorrow I go back up to our uni house. I have to get the final things finished around the house, and on Friday I GRADUATE. eep!! so grown up and scary!


This will probably be my last week in the uni house with my David. The last time I will live with him until we can save enough money for our own place, which we have no idea when it will be. It is going to be strange, not living with him for a while. He will be living 45 minutes away. I am going to be very upset, I will miss him so much. Expect a very soppy post next week!!!


x ♥

pancakes

hello! as usual uni work has been taking over completely, it is getting completely overwhelming. I only have 6 weeks left in the studio before my degree exhibition and graduation!! we have easter holidays in between, but 6 weeks is no time at all. Its becoming far too real that I have no idea what to do when those 6 weeks are over, but I have to be grown up and earn money and everything somehow. eek!

I have had a few nice distractions in the middle of all this work though. Oh  comely magazine is one of these- a week ago I went into the studio and on my desk were these two magazines with a note on top from kate. She thought I would love them and i really really! so beautiful and inspiring! I have bought a subscription and cant wait to receive the next issue.

I went home for a weekend a few weeks ago too. My Grandmother is now in a dementia home and we had to clear out her house. It was sad but lovely, really. She had all these lovely hidden treasures nobody knew about that were so so sweet. She had a box with different mementos from her and Grandads wedding- cards and name tags and the cake topper and handmade gifts from nieces and nephews, and newspaper cuttings. She had another little box with similar things from my parents wedding. We found a box of letters my Grandad had written to her when they were first together, that were so sweet and lovely to read. And little sewing boxes with old buttons and fabric and dress patterns that I now have. It all seems to special to use though! 

My David and I have also had our anniversary. 5 years we have now been together!! which seems such a strangely huge number at such a young age, we're only 20!! We had a lovely day out visiting an old manor house and gardens, and spent the evening watching lots and lots of films and drinking wine. And he bought me a book on decorating cupcakes which has the most amazing designs in!! You can see my attempt above- its suppose to be us. they tasted much better than they look! hopefully I'll get better...

I hope you all have  a lovely pancake day!! 

x ♥