Gently Bobbing Along

Hello.

I hope you are all well and will forgive my little absence - I meant to write last week, I really did, and then, you know how Life Happens and sneaks up on you, gets in the way of the nice normal stuff...

That's kind of what happened here :)

Anyway, in between the hectic happenings and early nights (necessary from all the hectic happenings), we have been doing some rather gentle nice things here and there...

There have been some genuinely lovely Homey Moments these last couple of weeks, those moments where you suddenly feel very cosy in your little abode and so very glad to be surrounded with your own bits and bobs, books and pictures, jugs of golden autumn flowers, and Stuff.

Ive noticed this feeling usually starts to happen at this time of year, like a Nestling in preparation for the colder months - I feel very happy pottering about in the house, baking things and just appreciating my little domain and it's little lived in corners; switching on my white fairy lights whilst cooking tea, lighting candle lanterns early evening...little things like that :)

We have been on slow jaunts, enjoying the ruby amber beauty of these warm autumn days...something so inspiring about those bright red leaves against a cerulean blue sky and the comforting feel of smooth, shiny conkers clustered in your pocket.

Did I mention we had been baking? After what seems like weeks of not doing any, Nigella seems to have worked her magic on us here and we are happily road testing all manner of delicious treats from her new book which I treated myself to whilst in Wales over the weekend (told you it had been hectic). Yesterday we made her Choc Chip Cookies:

There aren't many left :)

On the art front, I have managed to find snippets of time to create..

...I'm currently finishing hand illustrating some Christmas cards - here's a wee peek into my sketchbook as I played about with some seasonal images...

I'll be launching the first peek of these cards on my Newsletter - and I will also be offering one as part of a giveaway Im hosting on my Facebook Page ~ you are most welcome to sign up to either by clicking the links.

Thank you for bobbing by today - hopefully life will settle itself down a bit now and things can resume their usual happy pace which means more time for Blog Visiting and the like.

Sending you love, see you again soon.

Julia x x x

Our Biggest Project

So...going back a few months, and Im talking mid August here, we decided our next project in our little riverside house to be tackled was the kitchen. By September I had packed precious things into boxes and moved everything else into our dining room so the work could begin. As you can see, the kitchen is covered in a horrendous lemon meringue style artex - I guess at some point someone thought it looked fabulous!!
The plasterers came in and worked their magic (oh the joy of smooooooth walls!!) and we started to take apart the damaged and old units. Our idea was to reuse the original solid oak doors and update them with fresh paint and new handles and make the units solid and secure...thrifty eh?!

Jumping forward a few weeks to early December and after alot of hard work our kitchen is complete! Mellow sage cupboards and chalk white walls make the room look much more spacious, and the wall tiles which were a bit of a splurge (and from Italy) and the slate floor tiles bring the look together.


A new shelf with wrought iron brackets is a great place for my favourite cook books and shabby chic decor!

Little hearts find their way into all sorts of places!

I would really like to thank my folks and my dear partner for all the help they gave in creating this beautiful little room - anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy cooking and baking delicious things and now I have a gorgeous place to do it in!!



Our little house has been a work in progress since we bought it 3 years ago, its over 125 years old and there has been a heap of decorating disasters to overcome! Our next major project is our lounge/dining room which we will begin next year...its time to kick back now and enjoy the Christmas season with family and friends now the hard work is over!


This isn't an art related post as such, but I wanted to share what we did with you here. I feel that this blog is evolving quite organically to encompass other areas of my life where creativity spills over - be it kitchen makeovers or fresh batches of deliciously decorated cupcakes, inspired inspiration doesn't just belong to paint and canvas, it appears marvellously in the ordinary areas of our lives and I think its wonderful to be able to put that stuff out there.


Sending you spiced, heart warming mugs of mulled wine and fresh mince pies...come on, its Christmas time and you know you want to!

J x