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?