{Artwork for a Toddler Bedroom}

As you know, I've been decorating my daughter's new bedroom. So far, so good.... however, I need to get a few more prints to liven up the walls and then she's all set. First stop, etsy... I just love this online site for finding something a bit more unusual and unique. So, here is my round up of some fabulous finds for artwork for a toddler bedroom that I discovered on etsy:

You Are So Cool (why thank you!! lol!) by ohdearmolly

Oh My Deer (I say 'oh dear me'... a lot!) by ilovedesignlondon

Daybreak by soveryhappyart (a bit more grown up, but some fab colours!)

Sugar & Spice by trendypeas

Sweetheart by EmmaGarner

Pug by Wallfry

I fell in love with the dog range of nursery prints by Wallfry, and my daughter absolutely adores dogs! So, I've ended up purchasing three of the dog prints - a greyhound, a beagle and an Old English sheepdog. They are super cute, and I think they're rather funky! I'm sure she'll love them! My plan is to frame them in ornate white frames which I think will look brill on her dusky pink walls.

What are your thoughts? Any favourites?

I'm wondering if I could get the deer print to say 'oh deer me' and then I'd definitely buy it! lol :-)

{What I Wore Wednesday}

I'm linking up again this week (so far so good, that's my 2nd week on the trot!) with Transatlantic Blonde for her weekly blog hop, What I Wore Wednesday. Check out her adorable son, Blondie Boy, in his skull t-shirt here! Cute!
Anyway, here I am in my work outfit that I wore on Monday:

Glasses - Christian Dior

Gold Bracelet - my mum's

Cream shirt - Oasis Limited Collection from personal shopping trip

Pencil skirt - Mint Velvet Bandage Skirt

And because I'm super organised this week, here is the outfit I wore on Tuesday too!

Glasses - Christian Dior

Cream & black shirt - Next

Pencil skirt - Mint Velvet Bandage Skirt

Nude tights - M&S

Shoe boots - Russell & Bromley

I do love my Mint Velvet pencil skirt very much!!

{Daughter's New Bedroom}

I said a while ago that I would separate my son & daughter into bedrooms of their own. I had really wanted them in share a room together, but it just wasn't working out as I had planned. Over the past month or so I've been gradually making my daughter's new bedroom nice and pretty. Tonight I managed to get a little bit more done, and it's really starting to take shape.

I painted the walls in a dusky pink colour by Valspar called Rose Beige, with one feature wall that is slightly darker (can't remember the colour off the top of my head, and the paint tins are packed away now!).

Anyway, here are the pics:

Flower print curtains from Ikea

Chest of drawers from Ikea, Coloured ball lights from Cloudy Blue

Prints from Ink Tree Press on etsy in Ikea frames

Bunting that I made myself for her birthday

Dolls House Bookcase from Argos (currently on sale at £24.99)

Bunny rabbit that her big brother got her when she was born :-)

Cot from Tesco Direct

Her amazing red tutu!

Cute wooden pram - a gift from Auntie Ali

I'd still like to get a couple of other prints for the walls, and then I think I'm done! Yay!

{Ham, Cheese & Courgette Muffins}

I said in a recent post that I would make ham, cheese & courgette muffins this week as well as some carrot & lentil soup. I'm pleased to say that I did as I said I would and made both!

I ordered all the items I needed for the muffins from Sainsbury's during my online food order (I got the recipe in their ideas section of the website making it easy to add the ingredients to my order), however, there seems to have been an item missing from the ingredients list as I then found out I was missing buttermilk which was in the method bit of the recipe. I had to substitute with whole milk, and I guessed at the quantity!

Here's my recipe...

{Ingredients}
250 g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 medium eggs
170 mL whole milk
50 g mature cheddar, grated
70 g cooked ham, torn (I used scissors to cut it into little pieces)
100 g courgette, grated
Olive oil for greasing muffin tin

{Method}

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (160 deg C for fan ovens, gas 4).
2. Grease a 12-hole muffin tin with oil (make sure you do this well as I struggled to get the muffins out of the tin at the end!).
3. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and paprika.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.
5. Fold the eggs and milk mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture.
6. Add the courgette, ham and 40 g of the cheese.
7. Season with pepper.
8. Spoon into the muffin holes and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
9. Put in the oven for approximately 30 minutes.
10. Allow to cool slightly, then take a knife round the edges of the holes and pop out the muffins.
11. The muffins can be frozen for 1 month.

{What I Wore Wednesday}

It's been a looong while, but I thought it was about time I joined back in with Transatlantic Blonde's What I Wore Wednesday blog hop. I'm currently sat waiting for the supermarket delivery man to come, so thought it was an ideal opportunity to do a quick post!
This week Blondie has shared the story of her stepsister who is trying to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk 2012. Please do check out her post here. Seeing as I'm getting back into my fitness again, I thought I'd share with you my workout gear from Monday night. Most of my kit is from Nike. No particular reason really other than I bought my first pair of running leggings from Nike.com and I've stuck with them!

Hoodie - Nike

Running leggings - Nike

Trainers - Asics

Capri trousers - Nike

Just as an aside, these leggings are on my wish list - I love them both as they're a bit different...

Nike Print Bowery Women's Leggings

Dandasana Yoga Leggings from Sweaty Betty

{Lazy}

I have become so lazy in the kitchen lately and I'm ashamed to admit I can't even remember the last time I cooked a meal from scratch (ok, I can - it was a Thai chicken curry I made for a buffet day at work - but before that, who knows!). I've been surviving on cereal, sandwiches, fruit, salads (pre-prepared from supermarket), beans on toast, scrambled eggs and microwave meals. The kids have been having much the same, but they get fresh pasta a lot (it's quicker to cook!) and sausages (but I'm trying to be healthy so avoiding both!). I used to be really good at making homemade soup in my slow cooker, making beef or chicken casseroles too and the occasional risotto. The laziness has got to stop - all the pre-packed food is expensive and it's not setting a good example for my children. I was blaming it on the fact that I'm so busy and that it's harder being on my own to get everything done, but it's no excuse really.

Tonight I placed an online supermarket food order and along with the microwave meals and pre-packed salads I got the ingredients to make cheese, ham & courgette muffins (thought this would be something fun to make with the little ones and would be an alternative to sandwiches at lunchtime) and vegetables to make my usual carrot and lentil soup in the slow cooker.

Cheese, ham & courgette muffins

Carrot & lentil soup

I bet mine won't look anything like the photographs, but my aim is to at least make these two things before the weekend. 

My energy levels are starting to dip, I've also been in a bit of a bad mood (to be expected I guess with all the recent goings on) and I'm guessing my rubbish diet isn't helping matters (that and my Crohn's Disease and the fact I haven't had my Vit B12 injection in aaaaaaages, when I'm supposed to have them every 3 months!). 

However, I've made it back to the gym this week which I'm very pleased about as my weight was starting to creep up and up (which is the last thing I want after the efforts I went to to lose it!). In the last week I've run 5 miles, went to Body Attack, Body Pump & Body Step at the gym and I went to my usual Pilates class. 

Here's to a happy & energetic week ahead *crosses fingers*

This post was for Kate on Thin Ice's Grooving Mums, which I haven't participated in for a loooong time (sorry Kate). Do check out Kate's blog and join in if you are feeling like you want to get your groove back - the more the merrier.

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

{To Love Somebody}

As I mentioned in my previous post, one of my best friends Steph got married yesterday.

I travelled up from Glasgow to Inverness with one of my other best friends, Claire, and her husband. It was an early start as we had to leave at 8am to ensure we got there on time and I was subsequently up at 6am to make a start on my hair & make-up (false eyelashes to be applied etc!!).

My travel outfit: Ombre Print Knitted Top from M&S, Jacket by Ted Baker and Salsa Jeans from House of Fraser

The rain unfortunately hampered plans for them getting married on the lawn, but the sun did appear later in the day. The kid's dad, who is very good friends with the groom, was also in attendance at the wedding and had been asked to sing a song with his guitar whilst the register was signed (he used to be in a band and has sung before at someone's wedding, so he can actually sing). Thankfully, the layout of the room meant that I didn't need to look at him (as he sang 'To Love Somebody'....with the words 'I live and breathe for you, but what good does it do, if I ain't got you, ain't got you'...) and I just focussed myself on watching the happy couple. This was the first wedding I had attended since the failure of my own marriage, and I did find it a bit sad listening to the celebrant. Both the bride and groom had written letters to each other and they put these into a box during the ceremony along with a bottle of wine. The celebrant advised them that marriages are tough and that at any point they can open the box, drink the wine, read their letters and be reminded of their wedding day, or if they don't need it before, they can open the box at their 10 year wedding anniversary. My husband and I made it to 4 years...

Anyway, all in all it was a fantastic day. I had lots of fun, copious amounts of G&T was consumed, I was dragged round the dance floor to the ceilidh music, managed to avoid conversation with my drunken ex and fell into bed at midnight, utterly exhausted!

With the gorgeous bride, Steph (wearing her something borrowed - my diamante necklace)

This massive inflatable was on the lawn at the wedding venue... and yes, I went down it.... 

...wearing this --->

My wedding outfit: Dress by Karen Millen

{What I Wore - My Best Friend's Wedding}

My very good friend Steph gets married in Inverness right about now (Congratulations sweetie!). I chose a dress to wear for the occasion whilst on my personal shopping trip at House of Fraser. Jeanette, the personal shopper, is uh-mazing!! I doubt I would have even picked this off the rail, but it's such a flattering dress and I love it (it's in the sale at the moment too!).

Karen Millen Tropical Prints On Cugna Dress

I tried pairing it with black tights and black patent court shoes, but it just didn't look right, so I have bought new neutral accessories to match. Here's what I chose:

Caramel patent platform court shoes from M&S

Mimi clutch from Coast

Krizia necklace from Coast

Krizia bracelet from Coast

Krizia earrings from Coast

Keep a watch on my Twitter feed for some pictures of me in the ensemble!!

{Fabulous Finds: Some Great Ideas}

I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to 'Ideas'. I currently have 221 pins on this board, so I thought I'd share a few of them with you here as a Fabulous Finds post. Some of the ideas truly are fabulous!

I get a lot of pieces of 'art' from the children's nursery and I have often wondered how to display it all. I do have a fab 3D frame in my kitchen that I can slot in a few of their creations, but I've been looking for ways to display more of it, when I came across this idea.... photograph or scan the artwork and then arrange in Photoshop or whatever, print and then frame. Isn't it fab! Would make a fab gift for a grandparent or family member...

{image source}

Or another idea would be to combine them all into a coffee table book...

{image source}

Whilst you have your camera out, why not try making a few of these containers. Decide what you need to store, take a photograph of it, print it onto peel-and-stick paper and then stick it onto the container. Would be great for making personalised gifts!

{image source}

Sticking (!!) with the gift theme, why not design your own wrapping. Punch scraps into different shapes (kids can help with this!) and then stitch them together to make garlands for wrapping presents.

{image source}

Last idea for just now is a way to personalise crockery with just a Sharpie marker and an oven!! How simple is that!! Again, would make a great gift :-)

{image source}

{35 at 35: Pottery Class, Check!}

Yesterday evening I attended a pottery workshop at the Glasgow Ceramic Studio, and managed to tick off another item on my 35 at 35 list. Whoop!

I had a two hour one-on-one throwing session with Emilka Radlinska, who was an amazing teacher. I'm so impressed with my creations, and it was my first attempt at pottery too!

We started with a tour of the studio - the space was jam packed with loads of artist's work and there was a great vibe about the place. The artists I did meet were very friendly and I spotted some lovely pieces like the mini glowing fireplace by Linda McGill and the earthenware lights and tealight holders by Eleanor Caie. Emilka's creations were fascinating, and the creative process behind them amazes me. She has a series of 'ergonomic' porcelain pieces inspired by the swirling water currents of the River Kelvin. They really are beautiful. The pressure was on for me to create a masterpiece - lol!!

I was then given a demonstration of how to create a bowl on the potter's wheel. Emilka made it look really easy... And then it was over to me - eek!

Emilka giving me a demonstration

I was told I was a natural (I'm serious!) and I managed to make a couple of half decent bowls in my studio slot.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and given the opportunity I'd definitely have another shot. Glasgow Ceramic Studio offer various classes from one day workshops, to evening classes and private workshops (which is what I did).

The all important instructions!!

Centering the clay

Opening up, Step 1

Opening up, Step 2

Pulling up (it looks a little lop-sided, but it was my first attempt!!)

Yay!!

Glasgow Ceramic Studio