Day 1 of blog everyday.....

Todays prompt:    Day 1, Wednesday: The story of your life in 250 words or less (or one paragraph... no one will be counting your words... probably)

I do love my parents on trend look...
Although I appear to have been an extra on Little House on the Prairie....

I was born in Birmingham, England in 1981, the youngest of 3 children.  When I was about 4 we made the move up to Scotland. My dad has worked offshore since before I was born and it made sense for the family to be based where he flew from. We've lived in about 3 houses up here and settled in a new build on a farm. I loved living on a farm and have lots of fond memories of rearing baby sheep, chasing ducks and riding horses. Sounds idyllic but remember Scotland is cold!! I did all the usual schooling, primary followed by secondary. Then I went to work for a few years in a bank but decided I wanted to have the university experience and so studied History of Art at Aberdeen University. Not very useful for anything but I had a lovely time. After that I did various jobs and moved away with my then boyfriend for a few months only to return back to the farm. After a big life change I met my now husband. We moved in together about 5 minutes from the farm and I opened a craft shop in the village. After having our little boy in October 2011 the shop became more of a burden and in this financial climate it didn't make sense to continue. So I now spend my days taking care of our son and I have to say this the happiest I've ever been! I always wanted to be a mum but I didn't realise it would turn out to be my calling. I'm loving teaching my little one and cannot wait to see the man he becomes. 

My little family unit. Love these boys

Well that's day one done... Hope I didn't rabble on too much! :-) 
x

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.....

Or in blog land it makes you even more scared?

I've been absent. It's true. I'm a bad bad blogger. I started writing this for me and then I worried about what I should write! I started to think about regular posts, titles, projects etc etc etc........ It scared me off and made me spend my free time (what precious little I have of it!)  as far away from this blog as I could!

Then I had a realisation. When you start doing something for yourself, regardless of who may see it, you should enjoy it! Seems obvious I know but it took me a while to really understand it.

So I was reading one of my favourite blogs in feedly, My Soul is the Sky, when she mentioned she had decided to follow the blog every day in May challenge. I was intrigued so I followed the link to the original post and found Storyofmylife. What a beautiful post! It felt like she was talking to me and easing my fears. So I figured why not give it a go? Now I may not manage one a day but I will try my hardest. I'm planning on doing a photo a day challenge too so May will be a busy month!

So fingers crossed everyone that I manage to write as many as I can and that it will help me find my groove in my little bit of the internet.

Thank you Thursday

Just had to write a very quick post to thank the lovely Kaelah over at Little Chief Honeybee for sharing a link I sent her this week.

I read a lot of blogs, mostly American ones and sometimes a story reaches me which touches my heart. The life of Pearl Joy Brown is so celebrated and her family so filled with faith I can't help but be inspired by them. They have been dealt a tough hand and deal with it with such grace and trust in God.
I feel everyone should read their story and if you can help do so! Even if it is keeping them in your thoughts and prayers every little bit will help. I have the pleasure of knowing a little boy with a milder form of this condition.  I only met him very recently and only discovered it was the same condition today!

Their story has shown me that faith and love can do so much for a child. All children, wether they have additional needs mild or severe or none at all, need the love and care a family can give.

Have a lovely thursday everyone!

I can't resist a picture of my littlest love :-)

Ikea Hacking.....

I love IKEA.  I’m not ashamed to admit it either. I love walking round seeing how they put rooms together and wondering if I could cram all my junk in their furniture.  I especially LOVE the marketplace.  There is soooo much stuff you don’t need but of course you have to have.  A white sheepskin rug?  Totally need one of them.  A child and dogs do not make a white rug a bad idea.  17 different tiny photo frames I have no pictures small enough for?  Yep chuck em in the trolley.  

Our nearest IKEA is over 3 hours away.  I hate this but my bank account is eternally grateful. I spend an absurd amount of time and money when I go to an IKEA.  Typically I travel specifically to Glasgow just to go.  Or on my yearly pilgrimage to see extended family down south me and my mum will stop in Birmingham.  It breaks up the journey you know.  That’s the only reason we stop there.  And yes my mum and I are each others enablers. So while I wait for my yearly trip I browse the website.  I remember when they didn’t have any of their products online.  Those dark dark days are thankfully over and I can make up shopping lists to my hearts content.  

Anyway the point of my post....

I’ve seen a lot recently on pinterest and over the general old internet that people are becoming obsessed with “IKEA hacking”.  Some crafty people claim to dislike IKEA unless they can use their products and change them quite dramatically.  Adding crown moulding, painting and adding or taking away original accessories.

I love me some smash... 

Personally I have no problem with changing furniture if you want. Some IKEA hacks really do make it better! However when it comes to IKEA I have to say I like what they do! I like the clean lines and the amazing amount of storage.  I like being able to buy a box that fits a shelf perfectly without having to measure and go to a million different shops.  Sure I’d sometimes change the box a bit but the convenience for me outweighs that.

A few months ago my little family, and my mum and dad, had to go to Glasgow for a few days.  Now ordinarily IKEA would have popped into my head right away and I’d have made a list there and then.  This wasn’t a regular fun trip though and so I didn’t.  Till my mum said her and my dad might just swing in by as a nice thing to do at the end of a few not so nice days.  I wouldn’t be able to go but I could provide her with a little list and she’d buy me some stuff...  I’ve detailed my little list below.........

Expedit bookshelf (8 cubby holes)

Expedit bookshelf (5 cubby holes)

Plastic expedit boxes x 3

Fabric expedit boxes x 8

Expedit drawer insert

That’s my little list.  Trust me that’s the paired down version of my original list! When I’m stressed making fictional “what would I buy” list makes me feel better.  On this occasion I wasn’t sure I’d get everything on my list but my mum and dad came through! They very generously bought almost everything on my list.  I did only get one fabric box as they didn’t have the colour I wanted and I picked a back up colour which distracted my mum so she never saw the x8 part! Which of course meant we had to stop at IKEA on the family trip in November.  Such a shame. :-) As a side not I still didn’t get the ones I wanted. Is pink really a popular colour??

I had to include my lego pen holder. We're a lego family

I never did a single bit of hacking. I built all the pieces and put them together as directed.  I did all this during one nap time.  One nap time on my husbands day off.  My husband who also napped and then asked, as I turned the last screw, “do you want a hand?”.  Men.  But I now get the added smugness of having built my own furniture for my very own side of the parent cave! My craft corner is built!! Yay!!!  Maybe I’ll actually do some crafting now. Fingers crossed!

I’ve included some pictures of the finished build.  I have yet to put all my crafting supplies in.  Who are we kidding, my garage is full of supplies.  The joys of having closed down my shop does mean I have a lot of personal craft supplies.  Hopefully I’ll have some better pictures when I’ve added more supplies and tidied up a bit.  Not to mention the rest of the room needs a lot of work.  Actually the whole house does. Well I only have 2 hands and a boy who’s just turned 1 who’s taking all of my attention just now!

So who else loves IKEA products?  Do you like to “hack” them?  Or love them as they are like me?

Happy New Year!!!

2012 has gone. It was a very busy year for me and my family. I got married, moved house, had a first birthday for my son (1 already?!?!) got a new puppy and lots more I can't remember right now!

All of this meant many of my hobbies got pushed to the side for the year. I haven't been able to do any crafting in longer than I'd like and of course I neglected this little bit of the internet.

So 2013 is "The Year of Better Living" for me.  This is my one resolution which covers every aspect of my life.  As a few examples (I will expand on the list later) I intend to eat better, work on improving my health without having to resort to medication, have a bit more me time for crafting etc and be more positive. I want to try to focus more on the sort of person I want to be and the sort of life I want to live and not let other people affect that!

I hope to post far more regularly of course and can update you on how well this is going!

Also I was very lucky and got a fabulous new camera for christmas and when I learn how to use it properly, there should be much better pictures on here!

I hope you all have a healthy, happy, blessed 2013.

Guest post is up!

http://www.sarahrooftops.co.uk

My guest post is up!!! Over on the lovely Sarah's blog linked above.  Go on over and read about why I think it's time to disconnect from Facebook. :-) Plus enjoy her fabulous writing and even better photography!! :-)

So many exclamation points but I am ridiculously excited about this guest post!!

I wrote a guest blog post! Already!!  I'll have a link up when I know when it's up.  That was a convoluted sentence. :-)

I've been pretty busy since I posted my last (only) entry.  Had a fab holiday in Disneyland Paris and have been very busy home wise.

I'm trying to work out some regular posts.  I think I need a structure when it comes to blogging otherwise I'm liable to let it slide.  As a bit of a grammar and punctuation fan, not that you'd know from my writing so far, I'm trying to make my regulars a bit wordy.  For example in the blogosphere I've seen a "wedding wednesday" and a "week I've had".  I've also tried to come up with alliteration.  I however don't think I'm cut out for taxidermy tuesday and fed-up friday seems a bit sad.... Any help would be much appreciated!

I've also recently began my first major diy job for the new house.  I got a lovely vanity from my mum which had been in her hallway for about 20 years (probably longer but she won't admit to it!).  It was a bit beaten up so I planned on painting it to use in my master bedroom.  Of course when I started I realised it was a bigger job than I thought.  I had to prise the handles off as the screws were so old and rusted they had melded into the lovely metal work.  Then I had to remove lots of screws and other metal finishings that would not work.  So I'm in the sanding stage now.  Well I am now I've bought a little sander.  :-) My health issues and having a baby to look after means I can only do a bit at a time but I'm making good progress I think.  I'm never going to be able to do a full project in one weekend but I figure that's part of my charm.


Anyway I'm off to google some lovely words to see if I can find inspiration.