Snow Day

 What a treat, a lovely snowy walk to school this morning through Old Town Gardens

In some places ours were the first footprints in the snow.

The sun just peeping over the houses ready to start making the snow glisten.

Miss E making her footprints in the untouched snow on the path around the snowy flower bed.

Miss M and her cheeky "it wasn't me who threw that snowball honest" face on!

What goes brilliantly with snowy days?  Warm snugly crocheted blankets that's what.  Shame my one is still work in progress.

I'm about half way I think, depending on how big I decide to go.  It is lovely and warm to have it on my knee while hooking away so I know it's going to keep the chills out when it's finished.

Dinos and Volcanoes

 I had a fabulous time on Friday morning at Miss E's Stay and Play at school making junk model dinosaurs.  Miss E has named hers Benosaurus.  Personally I think Sellotaposaurus would have been more appropriate!  There is no way this dino is going to fall apart!

I love the tongue she made for him.  Dinosaurs is Miss E's topic at school and to be fair she didn't warm to it at first, it's been a bit of a slow burn but she's enjoying it now thankfully.

And if junk model dinos weren't enough, Mr M and Miss E made Dino Bread yesterday.  Miss E often has a piece of the dough to make a mouse or hedgehog bread but we've not had a dino one before.

Miss E has very proudly and generously taken hers into school this morning to share with her classmates.  That spiky tail is going to be lovely and crunchy.

 

Once we got our dino mojo there was no stopping up!  Next up this purple pterodactyl, again with plenty of sellotape which Miss E seems to be obsessed with! 

Pretty fierce hey?

I just love the little feet she cut out after we looked at some images as I couldn't answer "how many toes do pterodactyls have Mummy?"  Four just in case you were wondering and couldn't quite work it out from this purple fellow...at least the image we looked at had four but I'm no dino expert.

You can have too much of a good thing though so as Miss E is convinced that the next topic will be butterflies (I think this is just her wishful thinking) we made a very glamorous butterfly too.

I'm rather jealous of these amazing eyelashes.

Miss M's topic is volcanoes and she was very pleased to be cast as a Volcanologist in her class assembly last week.  We borrowed a white lab coat from a friend and then donned some fake specs (as obviously all scientists where glasses!!) and made a security badge.

Can you believe Miss M is only 9 years old...this get up made her look so mature.

It was a fabulous assembly and everyone one in her class was brilliant.  They finished singing Bastille's Pompeii with great gusto.

Just in case you're wondering, the big purple flower is purely to cover up others who were in the photo background.

Winter Walks in January

Although, as I've said before, I'm quite a January fan and look at it as a time for making new plans and setting goals in place for the year...plans an goals that will undoubtedly change as the year goes on but it's a starting place for me never the less.

So armed with plenty of hand cream, lip balm and winter woollies here are some January highlights...

Stopping on an early January walk for a chocolate fuel break of hot chocolate and some goodies from our Christmas Section Boxes! Oh and a family selfie...cheese!

Miss M and I in our matching bobble hats and matching smiles.

Miss M and I in our matching bobble hats and matching smiles.

Hazy winter sunshine over the Wiltshire Ridgeway.

Just can't get enough of this sunshine and clear blue skies.

Sharing the field with a few cows but nobody else was about.

 Exploring the ancient iron age hill fort of Barbury Castle.

Running up a hill to keep warm although this photo doesn't really to the steepness of this hill any justice.

Hazy views over the Downs.

Heading back with muddy wellies, holding hands and smiling.

Yep more hot chocolate, it makes a good  walk into a great walk!

It's really tricky to smile for the camera whilst looking into the sun...

No we just can't do it, that sunshine is just too bright and lovely.

Sometimes we collect treasures on our walks like this massive stick!

And find secret pathways.

Mr M and Miss M playing the spotting game...

...and then having a hug.  Miss E is on a duck hunt with her bag of duckfood.

We live very close to Old Town Gardens and enjoy it at all times of the year.  Definitely one of my favourite places.

A late afternoon stroll and bike ride as the shadows get longer and the birds start to gather in the tree tops.

Miss E's pedal reflectors being lit up by the low sunshine

The very last rays of sun through the band stand before it dips behind the trees until tomorrow.

And for those days when it's too cold and wet to go out, we light a fire, put on some music and get out the board games.  One of our current favourites is Mr M's Super Pictionary.  Can you guess any of them?  Some of them we still a bit puzzling even when we'd had the answer revealed!!

Making plans...a new start...

I love January; a new start, chance to make plans, set goals, take stock of where and I am where I want to be next.  I've already mentioned my love of stationery and the new year is the perfect excuse for a new notebook and then obviously a new diary and calendar.  

Mr M has put a system in place where we both receive an email prior to birthdays of family and friends and chuckles when he still sees me transferring all the birthdays from last years calendar to this years.  I just find it easier this way OK.  Plus a very good friend gave me this Great British Bake Off one...

I'm not rushing into declaring plans for 2015 just yet, that's not to say I don't have any, I do...honestly.  It's just that they're still work in progress and still taking shape. I started this year getting over a rather nasty virus and just didn't have my normal zip.  I think Mr M is quite relieved really as normally in January I have plans flying out of me right, left and centre!

2015 is going to be quite different at chez nous as my contract with the mental health charity I have been working for ended at the end of last year.  My heart is still very much in the world of mental wellbeing and not wanting to turn my back on this, together with a former colleague who is also a very dear friend, we have set up Work Smart Work Savvy.  Take a peek, we'd love to hear from you at Work Smart Work Savvy HQ.

We had lots of plans up until the end of the year but have been locked away in Work Smart Work Savvy HQ beavering away developing new plans and visions for going forward.  I'm constantly flipping from excited, scarred, frustrated, overwhelmed, proud, doubtful and confident....sometimes going through all of these within an hour!!

Do pop by and say "hello", we'd love to hear from you at Work Smart Work Savvy

A Stationery Love Affair

Do you love stationery?  I'm particular nutty about new notebooks and diaries...especially if they either have those elastics around them to hold them closed or close clips...oh and I adore using lovely flowy ink pens too...I don't mean proper ink spilly fountain pens but pens where you have to let the ink dry and be careful not to smudge it for a few seconds as opposed to scratchy biros, although I dare say there could a be a couple of those lurking at the bottom of that pencil case!  Shhh!

These two beauties below were two of my stationery Christmas pressies from my lovely Mr M; a floral notebook and a 2015 diary.  Mr M is very much a type it in a document / do it on his iphone type of guy and although it amuses him and causes him to say things like "you do like writing things in books don't you?" and "I bet you underline things don't you?" and "are you sure you have enough coloured pens there?" said with a raised eyebrow, he indulges in my stationery love affair with these perfect additions.

Oh and who, I hear you ask, is that gorgeous little clippy butterfly?  Well I shall tell you, this fabulous pince a papier...I know...has come all the way from Paris...bein sur...oh la la!  A present from my dear friend Rachel who also gave me an equally adorable clip for my hair too.  As you will see on the next few photos le papillon (I know, I can't stop now!) is very handy.

Now I confess to wondering already if this post is verging on stationery geekdom!  Or do you think we passed that mark way back and we should just boldly continue?  

Yes I agree my friend, it IS too late to back out now...on y va mes amis!

Now although this diary isn't as pretty as my previous ones, I do love it's sleekness and understated style.  I think Mr M fell for the chunky pencil which is pretty funky and triangular which is tricky to see in this photo but trust me.

I think it's going to work really well having the week on one page and then the facing page free for notes and lists.

The reason I have it open in May in case you're wondering is that I've already gone through and put in all friends and family birthdays and May is the only month where I have a birthday free week (two bday free weeks in May in fact) and therefore avoid getting into any tricky data protection issues!

OK onwards we go with our tour de papeterie!  The floral notebook is stunning inside as well with dainty blooms and a handsome hummingbird on each page...swoon!  Not sure how I'm going to feel about writing on this little feathered one though.

Oooh still in it's plastic packet, although I admit to taking it out for a little peek.  This slightly smaller, perfect for my handbag notebook was a wonderful gift from my brother and sister in-law.  I currently have a small handbag, go everywhere notebook in use for all ideas, sketches, notes on the go so it's going to take all my will power to finish that one first before diving into this one...on to the top shelf you go, out of temptations way!

And here is that very item, my Emma Bridgewater current on the go book along with my larger notebook, also a previous gift from Mr M...I told you he was good to me and my stationery love affair!  The little one contains lots of lists, measurements, plans and very rough scribbles of ideas and the other one is my treasure trove of more detailed plans, fabric and yarn samples, sketches, patterns and mind maps.  It's a system which may not make much sense but it works for me...oh yes, one other thing, the big one has a large gusseted pocket at the back too....very handy!

Yes mes amis, there are more...one of my plans last year was to doodle more and create a fabulous oodles of doodles book.  Well "oodles" might be over selling it but I did enjoy doodling.  I tend to be quite a planner and feel uncomfortable about just starting off a doodle in pen (it's just so permanent) and going with the flow...maybe I'm not a particularly flowy person, so I thought this could be good for me.

My sis gave me this collection of pens (another great present, I'm a very lucky girl) and although I've tried them all out, it would be rude not to, so far I'm definitely favouring the fine end of the spectrum which I guess is in testament to my non-flowiness, in that I feel the thicker pens take more guts to use and I'm just not quite there yet.

I'm also not quite at the stage where I'm willing to share my doodles but I will one day when I'm feeling brave I promise.

Even the lovely people at Mollie Makes are helping me indulge in my stationery love affair with this fun freebie of shaped post-it notes, stickers, washi tape, labels and bakers twine...be still my beating heart!

These two have come to the end of their lifespan; my Cath Kidston 2014 diary which was lovely although the plastic outer cover press-stud fastener broke before February was out which was a shame even though I'd tried to reinforce it with pretty fabric tape.   I can't remember where the purple leather one came from but it was simply full of blank paper which I covered in sketches and ideas.

So there you have it, a wander through my pretty forest of stationery lovelies.  What items are the heroes in your Stationery Love Affair?

A bientot mes amis x