Collection Crush - Modern Country from George at Asda

George as Asda have got some seriously gorgeous homeware this season. I've been having a browse through a few collections recently, and I think they're my favourite. Completely affordable and so pretty. I'm still definitely a country girl at heart with my style, and this range is perfect for moving into spring (after weeks of almost constant rain and gloomy skies I'm dreaming of Spring right now!).

Here are some of my favourite items, but I have a feeling that they will be featuring fairly regularly on a Wednesday for the next couple of months!

1. This bunny cushion is so cute! I love the fact there is still a bunny trend this year. This piece of cuteness is £6.

2. Mr Blog Faced finds this 'Bloom where you are planted' wall art to have a slightly odd sentiment, but I really like it - it kind of suggests to me that wherever you are you should make the most of that situation. For £5 I'm tempted to buy it and keep it in my office.

3. This floral vase has a spot waiting for it in my bedroom - love this yellow so much. This beauty is £10.

4. And keeping up the bunny theme - could this bunny rug be any cuter? Nope. For £25 it'll help bring some cute country charm to boring floor space.

So two of these items are already in my shopping basket online...with more to be added.

Hope you love them as much as I do.

Be back soon.

xx

Sunday Best - The Yummy Valentine's Edition

It's almost the month of love. I kind of think that every month should be the month of love, but hey, I'll still go along with any excuse for making sure loved ones know how loved they really are.

This week's Sunday Best is dedicated to some tasty treats from UK sellers on Etsy. If you don't have a significant other at the moment..then this is absolutely a list of yumminess to buy for yourself!

Check out the links below to find the items (all photos are from the Etsy listings).

Prices starting at £20 from HoneywellMakes

How gorgeous are these Moon and Back biscuits from HoneyWellMakes? My hubby is eating a gluten free diet at the moment, if he wasn't - these would be bought!

Prices starting at £10 - from TheCakeNest.

...or if cake is a favourite of your loved one then these Red Velvet Cake Balls from TheCakeNest look absolutely gorgeous.

£12.95 from CocoaMallow

Writing a message on a giant slab of delicious marshmallow? Yes please CocoaMallow.

Prices starting at £14 from MrsBrownUK

I think all scrabble should now be played with scrabble tile cookies. These cookies from Mrs Brown UK are so incredibly cute.

Prices starting at £10 from LaMienneUK

And lastly...because seriously...how crazy pretty are these?? These chocolates from LaMienneUK are almost too pretty to eat. But with giant praline bonbons included, I think I'd just have to force myself to try!

Bye for now lovely people!

xx

Life Update

Well...I used to think that Australia was my favourite country. It's definitely the home of my favourite wildlife, and every Australian I've met has been super awesome.

But then along came Aussie flu...and it has wiped out my January...grrr!

I have spent a significant amount of the month battling through a changing range of symptoms and feeling so flipping tired. Couple that with life stuff and work and I've been all but crawling through the month. But I've finally started to feel like an actual human being again - yay! For those of you currently battling with the flu - there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The good news is that I'm back to doing some stitching designs, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you in February. I've also been browsing some of the new homeware that has been popping up online - and there are some beautiful items (George at Asda have got some stunning pieces for this season...love at first sight...I have a feeling they'll be featured heavily).

I've also been working through some goal setting - working out what I want my focus to be - for blogging, creative pursuits and life in general (yep...have been doing some deep and slightly fever induced thinking!).

I hope your January has been a good one, and you've started achieving your goal. A lesson I've learnt is that it really doesn't matter if goals aren't achieved in the timeframe I set myself. The important thing is to take a step back, re-plan and start again. Life is far too short for beating ourselves up about things.

Looking forward to being here more!

Collection Crush - Refresh & Reboot at Paperchase

January means new and beautiful collections appearing in every shop I love...which means plenty of happy window shopping opportunities. I already have my eye on some gorgeous homeware, but I'm vowing to get organised before I buy anything else. So what better that Paperchase's new 'Refresh and Reboot' range to help me get myself ready to tackle 2018 head-on?

The range is full of personal organisaton items, notebooks, and storage files, as well as some general stationery - all in some bright and funky colours. If you're in the mood for a refresh/ reboot then you can find the items above at the following links:

1. A5 Weekly Planner

2. A4 Grid Padfolio

3. Brass Scissors

4. Mini Sticky Tabs

Have you got a favourite new collection of items so far this year? I'd love to hear about it if you have!

Bye for now

xx

Hello 2018!

I started writing a review of 2017 post yesterday. I started typing, then deleting, typing, then deleting, until I was feeling frustrated with my lack of words. Then I realised that I just hadn't enjoyed 2017 all that much. I could put a shiny spin on it I'm sure, but it just felt false.

So instead I put my laptop away and decided to wait it out until 2018. And here it is! Hurrah! I have a positive feeling about this year and I've enjoyed day one already. 

I also started to write some new year resolutions, and scrapped them (not doing very well, am I?). Instead I've decided to try and live life with a few goals in mind this year - kind of vague - but very meaningful for me. So here's what I'm aiming for this year:

To...

• Be kind
• Seize more opportunities
• Stop procrastinating (about everything, ever)
• Be creative
• Focus on family, friends and health

So that's the plan, simple huh? I've broken out my lovely new planner today, and have started to sketch out how I'm going to achieve these things. 

The lesson I've taken away from the past few days and the impending pressure of reviewing the last year is that sometimes it's ok not to do that. Sure, we learn from difficult times, but as long as we give ourselves time to reflect on the lessons learnt along the way I think it's absolutely fine to draw a line and move forwards - onwards and upwards! 

I truly hope that 2018 brings happiness to you. If you haven't tried this already, try asking yourself 'What do I want to achieve this year' and just sketching out what those things are, and some goals for how your're going to get there. I found it a lot less intimidating than a long old list of specific resolutions that I was likely to fail at by mid-January.

I have lots of exciting things planned for this little space in the blogverse for 2018 so thank you for reading you awesome person you, and I will see you very soon!

Bye for now xx

Collection Crush - Christmas at Thornback and Peel

We will be away from home for Christmas this year, but I'm still looking for an excuse to buy some of the truly beautiful Christmas tableware from Thornback and Peel. I thought I'd live vicariously by sharing their 2017 Christmas prints. It may be a good thing that we don't need anything this year - I'd be hard pushed to choose between these prints.

If you'd like to treat yourself (because it is the season and all that jazz...) you can find them here:

Christmas Tree Tableware Set

Robin and Holly Napkins

Stag and Mistletoe Placemats 

Turkey and Sprout Napkins

The ranges include napkins, placemats, crackers and trays. Basically everything you need for a gorgeous table this season (I love the designs of Thornback and Peel...can you tell?).

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get all my Christmas shopping done - wish me luck!

Bye for now
xx

Mr Blog Face - Grooming Gifts for Him (Me)

Hi everyone, it's Mr Blog Face here with what is hopefully the first of many guest appearances.

This week, I'll be looking at some of my favourite grooming items, some of which may make excellent stocking fillers, cough cough. So without further ado, let's take a look at some things.

Mancave

I love Mancave products, they're made from natural ingredients and they're all cruelty-free and vegan, so you can feel good about using them. They offer a wide variety, ranging from shower gels, to deodorant, to shampoo, and no matter what the label says I will always believe that they smell of rich mahogany.

Here are a few of my favourites:

Their caffeine shampoo smells great, and the unproven pseudo-science of caffeine shampoo suggests it may possibly stop your hair falling out!

I have to admit, the thought of trying a deodorant that didn't include a reassuring amount of chemicals had me worried, and while I've had the odd day where I might have felt that was true, overall I've been really impressed by this. It's a little more expensive than a can of Lynx, but it also lasts a really long time. I've also tried some of Marks and Spencer's own brand deodorants recently (they are also cruelty-free), and this definitely works better than them.

Another thing I've been trying to get back into recently is wet shaving, and thanks to my favourite podcast, The Weekly Planet, I found out about Harry's Shavers. There seem to be a lot of these razor blade subscription services around at the moment, but I've been really impressed by Harry's. They're very flexible about how many blades you're subscribed to (because there are thirteen year olds with more consistent beard growth than me), and they do a free starter set where you just pay for postage.

They have a couple of special gift sets available for the holidays, including this incredibly handsome set for £28:

My set came with their shave gel, which through what I can only imagine is some kind of witchcraft, expands from a tiny blob into a giant foamy covering. I accidentally ate some after it got in my mouth, and can report that it is definitely better used externally.

It may or may not work in the UK, but Weekly Planet listeners get $5 off, so why not give their link a go at www.harrys.com/weeklyplanet

Anyway, hopefully that's been helpful, and you can join me again this time next week for more barely coherent ramblings!