moving day !

Well, tomorrow is moving day !
we are moving to another rented property here in Georgetown, this time
with a big child-friendly garden (trampoline friendly as well !) and we will
be living in a house instead of part of a house.
Many of he houses here are split up into top and bottom flats. The gardens / surrounding space isn't usually seperated so it can be a bit awkward for an Englishwoman such as I am, to get used to the loss of privacy. Do you use the garden or not ? Who keeps it clean ? Usually, with communal gardens in London, the maintenance is paid for with the ground rent or such like. Oh well, we will have a whole garden to ourselves from tomorrow, so I don't have to trouble my English head about it any longer!
So, the time has come to put all of my research and day-dreaming into effect and make this house a home. I'll be posting photos of my progress on here.

Well, I haven't been as creative in celebrating as this fellow blogger !
check this out !!

favourites on etsy this week

I've seen some very desirable things for sale on the etsy site
this teapot is lovely !

It would compliment my colour scheme nicely.
I love to see what beautiful things creative people come up with
look at this wall art for a child's room or a family room

And this owl cushion is so adorable !

a place for everything, even artists can have discipline, what a cute crayon holder !

Here's another cushion

I love this picture - so much fun !
I've often toyed with the idea of framing pages from childrens' picture books,
but I love books so much it would be hard to dismantle them. Here is a way
to avoid it, and quite an affordable one.

oh dear ! I thought I found the perfect crayon holder. Well, this one can be for the girls and the other one for the boys.

Well, I hope you enjoyed our "shopping trip" as much as I did !

style icons !

Here are some of the great designs I love !
Ordinary, functional objects that are turned into lovely experiences by the designers thought and flair !
Travelling is a treat in these vehicles. The upright seats in the taxi with the fun, flap down seats. The fun pole to hold onto at the back of the routemaster busses which I remember hanging onto, while haginging out with the wind blowing in my face, wizzing along the street. I also remember the benches which faced each other as you entered the bus. And the place where the conductor stood with the luggage area behind him / her. And how difficult it was to get up those winding stairs when the bus was hurtling along ! Pure adventure !!


What about the old phones from my youth, where you had to stick your finger or a pen in the holes to dial the number. Remember the sound of the dial spinning round as your released your finger. And the lovely shaped handset, not forgetting the spiral cord which you could wrap around your finger or pen as you were talking !

The wonderful whistling kettle ! What a lovely shape, the nice spout with the hinged cover, but most of all, the whistle when the water is boiled. A kettle that talks to you !

Staying on the noisy theme, the handsome alarm clock with bells. What a beauty!

And here are the dressing table essentials ! Ready for brushing hair with one hundred strokes before bed.

apples for jam

When we lived in Dundee, Scotland, one of my favourite places to go was the main library in the city centre. The range of childrens' non-fiction seemed to me to be much better than the libraries I had been to in London.
I would often borrow cookbooks and hardly ever make any of the recipes, but enjoy reading them anyway.
One book that I loved was Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.
I couldn't remember the name of the book, but I could remember some of the recipes, especially the jammy shortbread biscuits which I really want to try some day.
I searched the internet for ages until I finally found the book !
This is on my gift wishlist !!
The photos are soooo lovely, I love these type of people whose lives look like style icons. I just soak it up.


My second daughter had a pair of shoes very similar to these when she was around 3 years old. I loved those shoes ! A bit of Wizard of Oz in real life ! Hers were red patent leather, actually I think they were imitation leather. But lovely and shiny !

white painted bottles

I love the white painted bottles that I came across on
abeachcottage.com

Living in Guyana, I am limited by the resources that are available
here, so I'm always looking for ideas using readily available materials.
Well, there are glass drinks bottles in abundance and white paint, maybe not glass
paint, but I'm going to try to paint my bottles from the inside.
I found instructions on ehow
Hopefully they will still have the glassy shine that way.
I love the beach cottage ones though.
I am thinking about lining up a few on the dining table.
Originally, I wanted to get some candlesticks like these from Ikea,
but I haven't seen anything similar around. Maybe I'll paint my bottles
silver instead !

I want to put some DIY back painted glass on top of the badly ruined dining table in
our new rented house. I need to look at what colour will compliment the colour of the wooden legs. I am thinking of silver or aqua / teal. It might come down to what colour paint I can buy here though, so, when we move at the end of this week, I'll take a trip to the paint shop and see what they have.
I saw an aqua table here

My intended colour scheme is charcoal, tan, aqua, silver and gold.
Something like this

Here is a silver table

So, I have to find out what paint is available, and what colour compliments the wood of the table as it will only be painted glass that I will be placing on top.

making mosaics

I have recently made a couple of mosaic pieces inspired by my wonderfully creative friend Chanelle.
As I didn't have any photos of Chanelles' mosaics, and she lives in London, I searched online for inspiration and found Sonia King, who does beautiful pieces.
I have made a decorative plate and have done the bottom of a glass to make a toothbrush holder.
Here are some of Sonia Kings' pieces to inspire you too.