THE WEEKEND

a great weekend!

the highlights:

• dinner, drinks + laughs with my friend L
  


• watching my husband + her boyfriend A falling drunkenly into a bush while clinging to each other in the hope of staying upright - it's not big, it's not clever......but it really was very funny!
  


• snuggling all day sunday with a sleepy + hungover husband
  


• watching stranger than fiction on dvd. this was such a sweet film + in it, maggie gyllenhaal's character has my dream job - running a little bakery, serving homemade cookies + cupcakes. wow, lucky girl.
  
  
  

• finding out that bernadette at sugarloop has put another batch of spring tree prints up for sale + managing to snap one up! this design is a little different to the first (linked to last week) but equally beautiful.
  

• the relief that my sent swap packages made it to their recipients safely + delight at their response. both nikole + donna seem to be happy with what was sent......thanks girls! here they are before being shipped off to canada + scotland respectively (the packages, not the girls!)
  

......my red, white + blue, british-themed vintage button swap package

+ the tuquoise hued, mellow + yellow swap one.

i'm off to dream about the cookies i'll serve in my imaginery bakery......

hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

xx

GREEN + GORGEOUS - THE PHOTOS

back again! two posts in one day is an undeniable achievement

......or might that be a miracle? you decide!

so here are the photos of my swap package from donna - they're still not great, but i didn't know how long i'd have to hold-off for some proper sunlight + i couldn't wait any longer to show you! scroll between today's + yesterday's posts for more details.

......the swap booty in all it's green-hued glory

......a bit more detail

......my amazing necklace with beautiful glass beads - do you

see what i mean about it reminding me of the seaside?

......my cute little pad. how cool is the sausage dog in his orla-esque coat!?!

......and last, but by no means least, the wonderful vintage buttons!

have a great weekend everyone (especially you donna, you amazing swapper you!)

xx

VINTAGE BUTTON SWAP DEUX

prepare yourselves. this post is going to be filled with so much gorgeousness, you might struggle to cope with your swap envy. you are also going to want to adopt my wonderful swap partner nikole as your new best friend......but you can't have her, she's mine!

this sexy little number turned up on my doorstep on friday morning.......

because i was just on my way out the door with my friend jules (more of that tomorrow) i didn't get a chance to open it, even though i was absolutely dying to. to cut a long story short, i didn't actually get to open it until saturday morning. this was a result of a very late return home on friday + the lack of daylight for me to take step by step photos - yes, the anticipation was excruciating!

anyway, first layer of wrapping off (don't you just love the lacy tape?), box opened + i was greeted by this......

inside was a charming little discription of the whole package and where everything came from. nikole decided to send all reused + recycled items, which is so clever + fits in perfectly with the vintage theme of the swap. the box itself was divided into three layers (to resemble a three layer cake - how sweet is that?) + the first one looked like this......

JEEZY PEEPS! is the bunny not the cutest thing you've ever seen? hasn't she arranged it so beautifully? imagine the delight at knowing this is only just the beginning, there are still two more layers to go!

:: top layer contents ::

a pretty duck-egg buckle

duck-egg + brown speckled feather

an air mail envelope from japan......

a lovely scattering of vintage buttons

the beautiful bunny pin - made by sonja ahlers from recycled sweaters

on to the patriotic middle layer......

:: middle layer contents ::

cool little recycled notepad from five + a half

bulldog clip from japan

stripy string from austria

a canadian stamp + funky maple leaf button - homage to nikole's homeland......

10 other colourful buttons (special mention to the little blue one (top left) and the red + white stripy/spotty one!

this layer freaked me out a bit when i uncovered it - you'll understand why once nikole has received her package + i'm able to talk about what i sent her......it's quite scary.......but in a cool way.

last (but by no means least) we reach the bottom layer......

:: bottom layer contents ::

a beautiful black + green leaf, glass button from the czech republic

3 chunky beauties - she got these from an estate sale - $5 for someone's whole collection, why can't i find things like that!?!

4 cute hors d'ouvres sticks

a yummy bar of soap

the sweetest little message + tag

i. love. everything.

thanks nikole, you really are the best + i hope you're not too disappointed with your package, cause i know it doesn't even come close to this one.

everthing is laid out so perfectly + looks so good on it's corrugated card that i don't want to take it apart. i think i'm going to leave it all as it is for now as i can't bear to break up the collections just yet......maybe i could hang them on my wall!?!

oops, too late - the bunny's already broken free!

have a great day. xx

SHORT + SWEET

well, i've not been around here for a few days, did you miss me?

probably not, but at least now i've got LOADS to tell you about.

now, because i'm very lazy and unimaginative, i'm going to spilt all of my stories up + spread them over the next couple of days - sorry if that's really naughty, but that's what's going to happen!

even though i'm not going to go into detail about my button swap package today, i have to tell you this......it's the best swap package you've ever seen. tune in tomorrow for all of the stunning details, but here's a sneaky peak for now......

i really must go 'cause my dad is down in england for a course + he's meeting C + I for dinner. i haven't seen him since january so i'm really looking forward to it. got to shoot off, don't want to be late - cambridge + daddy, here we come!

xx

SHINE ON

wow......what a great weekend! everything always seems so much better when the sun is shining, doesn't it? it's easier to get out of bed in the morning, you're filled with more energy, there's loads of different things to do, i love it! so much so, that i've not had time to do any of this for a few days. that's the bad side i suppose, and it's also a bit naughty considering i've only just started. it really doesn't bode well for the future of this blog, especially since we're heading into summer and (hopefully) months of sunshine!

so what have i been up to? well, i completed my button swap package for nikole + it's currently winging it's way over to canada as i write. i now just need to hope that it makes it's journey in one piece + that she likes what i've sent her - i'm keeping my finger's firmly crossed on both counts! once my eagerly awaited package arrives, i'll be sure to post pics + details of both.

apart from that, i had a lovely day with friends on saturday, during which i enjoyed 2007's very first glass of pimms - destined to be the first of many over the coming months. it wasn't quite pimms in it's traditional, heavenly, refreshing sense (laden with ice-cubes, mint, lemon, orange + cucumber), more a thick, syrupy, half lemonade, half pimms kind of affair - it was, however, lovely all the same + to be fair, the poor bar staff did try to find some fruit to put in it!

sunday was spent enjoying the hospitality of two of C and i's very best friends.

a gorgeous day

spent

in the garden playing boules

(our own unorthodox grass version - no skill involved whatsoever,

the contours of the land dictate who wins. they didn't choose me)

taking lots of photos in the garden (loving the apple blossom!)

drinking wine

eating delicious food

and generally having lots of fun

what more could we ask for on a sunday - thanks guys. xx.

VINTAGE BUTTON SWAP DEUX

today i'm putting together my parcel of goodies for the very lovely nikole - my partner in sally's vintage button swap. if you haven't already, check out nikole's blog.....it's a great source for beautiful and inspiring bits + pieces. this is my first swap and my excitement is verging on over-the-top! but don't you just love it when the postie brings you a parcel? and a surprise one.....well that's even better!

because i want to go and fiddle about with the parcel, i'll leave you with a few random things that i'm into at the moment

this bag in black - this bag in grey

this great post

these stunning vases (click on the 'butterflies' tab)

this super-cute video

that's all the randomness i've got time for just now, the buttons beckon - enjoy!