'Truly Vintage' Wedding Fair

This Sunday 5th June I will be one of the many exhibitors at the Truly Vintage Wedding Fair to be held at Glemham Hall which is in Little Glemham, Suffolk (just off the A12 between Woodbridge and Saxmundham). The fair will be open from 10am-4pm and entry is free.

Glemham Hall is an impressive Elizabethan Mansion House set in 300 glorious acres of Suffolk parkland. With fruit orchards, a magical yew tunnel lit with fairy lights, an avenue of yew trees and beautiful rose and herbaceous gardens. It creates a perfect backdrop for wedding photographs. Available exclusively and perfect for your vintage style country wedding!

This is my first wedding fair and will be Daisyley's first encounter with 'real' people so I'd love to see some familiar faces for a little bit of support!

If you would like more information call 01728 746704 or email weddings@glemhamhall.co.uk

Elderflower Cordial

On Saturday our local elderflower finally decided to be ready so out I went with two boys to collect the flowers. Said two boys had shorts on and were very reluctant to delve into the bushes but soon realised that they would have to suffer a few stinging nettles if they wanted cordial!

Not quite happy with the end result (I'm sure it was better last year) so will have to make some more next week. Boys happy with it though and now that they know where all the bushes are they can go on an elderflower hunt without me {in my dreams}.

Christmas in May ... ?

I've been thinking about Christmas ... yes Christmas. Apparently those in retail {I should make that sound a little more like that includes me} have to think about Christmas in May! 

When I think of Christmas I think of red so it's all a bit weird when the only red thing I see around me is in the garden - hence my red montage to get me in the Christmas red mood!

I now need to do a green version so better start thinking of Christmas trees. What a good job I read the Great Slamseys Farm blog.

A little NOTHS get together

Last Wednesday I took the train up to Kings Cross to have a little meet up with some South East/London members of notonthehighstreet. We met in just the most wonderful place called Drink, Shop & Do which is a design shop and café bar selling products from emerging designers alongside vintage furniture and home wares. It was a perfect venue. Honestly if you are near Kings Cross go in and at least have a cup of tea in their mismatched crockery!

 

The meeting was arranged by the lovely Bee of Bee@home and among others I met Jennifer from Scamp Baby Gifts, Lisa from Dizzy, Jenny from Radiance Boutique and Linda from Cocoapod. We also got to meet Nell and Annie from notonthehighstreet.

We sat chatting and swapping ideas (whilst drinking copious amounts of tea)  and also got to ask Nell and Annie questions (who were completely charming by the way) whilst they also gave us some really useful information about trends and how the company is operating at the moment.

All in all it was a really useful afternoon and I'm so glad I went - thank you again Bee.

Mapenvelope

The other day I came across this site called Mapenvelope can't remember how but just in a rambling way that you do. The idea is that you put in your postcode or address and this site gives you an envelope with the map for you to print out.

It would be great if you had just moved house or if you were having a party to show people where you are or simply as a hint about where you'd like to go for your next holiday!

Not sure why I like it - maybe because I always think I should be recycling paper into envelopes or because as a family we're very fond of google maps or just because I like maps in general? Anyway I thought it was fun so thought you might like to try it too.

Blue and White

When we first moved into our house the garden was pretty much a blank canvas and it was difficult for us to decide what to plant as we wanted so many different things. We decided to try and limit ourselves to just blue and white and although this has slipped a bit over the years the garden is still predominantly our two favourite garden colours.

After two Bank Holiday weekends, as garden designer husband had plenty of garden time, it all looks quite neat and tidy .... not for long though as the grass and weeds will just grow again. Gardening is a bit like housework - a thankless task!

Personalisation is the name of the game

I have a selection of personalised name bunting at notonthehighstreet. You can choose between Princess, Pirate, Funky or Army.

Princess

Pirate

Funky

Army

People have ordered them for christenings, hen parties and birthdays.

Vintage Treasure

The home of my parents-in-law is full of wonderful antique treasures and we are so lucky as we always seem to come home with some little thing after a visit. However, this visit was different as we went down in the 'truck' specifically to bring home this vintage item.

I'm not sure what is going to happen to it although I suspect it will sit where it was propped temporarily for some time and I doubt if it will ever be roadworthy again but it is definitely "a future project" in my husband's eyes. Ummmmm we'll see.

We also came home with these slightly less bulky objects. Old matchboxes - aren't they lovely? No idea how I'll display them but for the moment I just take them out of the box and look at them.

Looks Like A Countryside Wedding

I love this time of year when everywhere you look it seems that the countryside is set for a gorgeous wedding! We are very lucky to live near to a cricket pitch (prevents lots of broken windows at my house) and this is the sight we see on the short walk there.

I even went and picked some cow parsley to decorate the sitting room when we had people over to watch THE wedding. A local farmer's son drove past and, with total incomprehension, stopped to ask me why I was picking weeds ... no imagination these farmers!

Perfect

Perfect just perfect ... The Perfect Gift Guide 2011.

Getting asked to be in the Not In The High Street gift guide was really flattering. In my newbie naivety I thought they rang everyone and asked .... mmmmmm .... now I don't think that is the case so feel quite appalled that the first time they asked I said no!

The new gift guide hit the doorsteps on Thursday and so far it has proved to be a pretty good decision to go in. It's a new format of catalogue and gets posted to 750,000 people - that's a lot of people.

If you don't get the catalogue then please have a look at the virtual one page 32 bottom left hand side!

Hedgerow King or Queen Tutorial

I do a Children's Page for our village monthly news but as none of the children sent a contribution this month I had to quickly come up with something and here it is as a tutorial - get me - yes a tutorial!

Following the Royal Wedding I thought that small children may want to have crowns and be a King or a Queen For The Day and this activity is quick and simple and really rather sweet!

All you need is:
Thin card
Double sided sticky tape
Small flowers and foliage

Cut a piece of card to the size of the child's head and then attach some double sided sticky tape all the way round or just at the front. Then go into the garden, or go for a walk, and attach flowers and other vegetation to your 'crown'.

Of course it doesn't last very long but it looks really pretty for a short time.

Word of warning: obviously don't use poisonous berries or plants as they are not suitable for Kings or Queens and make sure you use little flowers to cover up all the sticky tape so it doesn't stick to the Royal hair (or heir) ... ouch!

Dandelions

Archie is turning into quite the photographer. He asked if he could borrow the camera to take a picture of the field behind our house which is awash with dandelions.

This is the normal dandelion shot. Like his angle - good photo.

Then we have the "I am a 9 year old boy with a camera" shot. Can you see the strategically placed dandelion in this photo? Is it wrong that I thought this was funny?

Bridesmaids and Pageboys

After all the excitement of THE wedding on Friday (wasn't it a great day) it seems appropriate to show you another new product I have. This is a special little box for a bridesmaid or pageboy. Each box has the name of the bridesmaid or pageboy on the lid and contains personalised name bunting. These are available from notonthehighstreet. The bridesmaid boxes are also available from Rose & Aster where a beautiful personalised bracelet is also included.

What I thought would be a lovely idea is for the bride to use the box to put a small gift in and the bunting could be draped over the bridesmaid's dresses or pageboy's outfits which would be great for a photo opportunity and then the bridesmaids or pageboys get to keep their name bunting after the wedding.

I bet Kate aka Duchess of Cambridge would have wanted them for her bridesmaids and pageboys if she'd know about them! OK maybe not ... but who knows heh?