Happy Christmas

As the day draws to an end, wishing you a wonderful Christmas and New Year

Snow School today!

It really did snow over night! So school was cancelled and we walked through the village and played in the snow.

Fireplace dressed...check!

Today, has been all about lists, as I am slowly falling behind on getting ready for Christmas. I have a list for each day. I have sadly already missed the last posting date to Canada, please forgive me Mr & Mrs R, it will be going to Berks Hill. We have put a small collection of Christmas decorations up, as we like to keep it fairly simple. Here are some images of our mantle.

I have this thing...for mugs

What a lovely weekend of seeing people and a little bit of shopping. A lovely friend and I popped into Lewes on Saturday morning whilst our husbands entertained the little ones. We shopped mainly for Christmas presents, K was organised and bought a list...oh how I too love lists!

I did treat myself and bought a Sanderson mug. Foolishly I bought just the one, on returning home decided that a little collection of them would be fitting.

Something about Birds

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been fascinated with birds. Maybe it is something in the way that they are free to fly away. So whenever I see home design featuring birds, I am instantly drawn to it.

Images from top to bottom; Thornback & Peel, Nina Campbell, Ittala Toikka birds, Lowri Davies Please click on image to find website details.

On display

Recently I have started to take photos of things on display in our home. Firstly to gage if it fits into the space or if I like it. This green piece of old English pottery is a particular favourite of mine. I like the feeling of texture in the design. I found this earlier this summer at a car boot sale. I paid three pounds for the pleasure of giving it a home.

Pink Paper Ball

A little unsure where to hang our newly acquired honeycomb ball. Also wondering if it will be permanent or simply for Christmas. For all of five minutes I placed it on the floor, until our youngest girl tried to sit on it!

Green Beans

This afternoon I randomly found this lovely blog called http://ajphotostylist.blogspot.com/. The green beans caught my eye, over the last few months, I have this urge to cook green beans with all our meals...curry...chiense...and even pickling. No I am not pregnant, but I simply love them. Maybe a nutritionist out there would be able to enlighten me in why my body loves the idea of green beans. Alas, enough of this talk, here is another inspired way to cook them.

Green beans with Shallots and Mushrooms

Trim the stem end from1pound green beans in a heavy pan, over medium heat add 3 tablespoons olive oil then add 1 large sliced shallot bulb 4 cups sliced mushrooms, I like to mix varieties but any mushroom you like will do Saute until everything is nicely browned Blanch the Green beans in salted boiling water until bright green, drain well Toss blanched & drained green beans with the mushrooms and the shallots I like to add a handful of basil leaves to brighten the flavors* optional, season to taste, serve warm

Both recipes serve 6 as a side dish.

image taken from http://ajphotostylist.blogspot.com/

Quiet

Same tree, different day. Today, was chilly but bright with blue skies. *Sorry to viva fashion, lost your kind comment, when trying to publish it. Hope to be back in touch with you.

Grey Day

A snapshot into our grey day our stain glass panel in our front door and the tree outside our house. Things felt on hold today, as we had too many chores to do.

Morning Frost

On the way back from taking LV to school, I snapped a few images of the crisp sunny morning. To be honest cold as it maybe I am so grateful that it has stopped raining.

Beautiful Signs

The thought of queues and carrying bags in wet weather, as I hunt for gifts is fairly off putting. So I am browsing through the internet, in the hope that I will accomplish my shopping online! I love the sentiment behind these two limited edition wooden prints by Coulson Macleod.

A little find

Yesterday afternoon, the girls and I popped into our village. It was nice to make the most of the dry weather. There are only a handful of shops, three being charity shops. I purchased just one item, a book from the local charity shop. A beautifully illustrated Children's nursery rhyme book by Brian Wildsmith a UK born artist. Until now, I hadn't heard of him, so I did a search on Google and found out a bit and browsed images from his other books. His passion for colour is evident and he seems to have been an influence for those in illustration.

Dreaming of Christmas

Wild at heart's Lavender Christmas Wreath

Liberty's Christmas Crackers

Jo Heckett's Ceramic Doves

RE: found Paper Snow Flakes

In a previous post I mentioned with glee, that we are spending Christmas in our home this year. We'll go to Church in the morning, eat a fairly traditional lunch and then have three families joining us for fun and games! Today I thought, I may as well start putting a mood board together for the seasons celebrations.

Moo Mini Cards

So excited, my mini cards arrived yesterday morning! I love them...I am pleased with the quality and affordable pricing. Also I snapped this on my Leica D-Lux as I haven't used it for a while.

Flora Douville Giveaway

The talented Flora Douville is giving away one of her 2010 calendars. I have been a big fan of Flora's illustration and photography for a while now. So on this wet and windy day, I have entered this giveaway in hope of winning! But seriously if you get a chance to visit Flora's blog please do or click on the top image to take you to her Etsy shop!

Surprise Delivery

What a lovely surprise! My ever thoughtful mother-in-law, sent us a gift this morning. Other than a photography book, I haven't been expecting any post. So I signed for the parcel, very excited about the little surprise that someone has sent me. It was a sack of woodland fragrance kindling for our new wood burning stove. A simple gesture, but so lovely to receive.

Image taken from Orvis where you can purchase gifts from

Scratching my Itch

Maybe it was Juergen Teller or the early Corinne Day whom influenced my love for realism in fashion and interior photography. In honestly I cannot remember, maybe it was always there, as I spent hours pouring over my late mother's photos passed onto her. I remember the first time I couldn't stop looking at Corrine's first photo shoot for ID. Then the likes of Misha Richter and Valerie Phillips were on my wishlist. The above images are from Erica Tanov collections shot by Erica Shires. Another photographer that makes me stop and think hard about scratching my itch.

Through a shop window

The other day in St Leonard's we stumbled across an interesting shop. The shop was closed and seemed to be a place that had a very sparse layout. I was so intrigued I took some photos but failed to note the name of the shop!

Oh Pretty Ones

Thanks to the ever inspiring Amy over at all the Mountains, I have got the urge to do a ceramics course. The above are a collection of pretty porcelain designs by Samantha Robinson who has also fanned this desire. Please visit her website for further information, simple click on the above images.