Hubby and I recently celebrated our 4th anniversary. As most of you know, we handmade a lot of the things that featured in our wedding - and one of my favourites was this Wedding Day Cross Stitch Sampler. I also used the same kit to create table numbers! (well letters, actually.) I had never cross-stitched anything in my life before making this so I admit it was a bit of a plunge into the deep end, but when I saw this beautiful kit from socreastitch I just had to make it. Cross stitch is a lot easier than you might think, and many kits are colour coded. That said, this one wasn't but if I can get the hang of it, anyone can. It was such a pleasure to make - and I still remember evenings spent stitch in front of the fire stitching while hubby designed invites. We had the sampler on display on the actual day and it now hangs in our bedroom as a reminder of our beautiful day. 

Morning all. Well since I've had my head buried in work for most of this month my photos are few this month I'm afraid ... however I did really enjoy taking time out to research and write the piece on my real life heroes and my bedside makeover which you'll see in a mo. I've been very excited this week as Hubby and I are off to Rome later this week for 5 days! We're both in need of a break and I've never been to Italy before! So to get me in the mood I've been; digging out my summery chic dresses from the loft (It's all about the chic in Rome don't cha know!)  planning a detailed itinerary (with plenty of time for simply wandering-whilst-eating-gelato) brushing up on my Italian (OK so by that I mean hello, goodbye, excuse me and can I have a large vat of red wine please?) and I've been watching Rome-based films to get me in the mood (in fact I highly recommend the woody allen film To Rome With Love ... it's a lovely feel good comedy). If you've been to Rome and have any fabulous recommendations, tips or hidden gems then do share! In the meantime, here's our month in pictures.

As most of you know I've been having a clear out of late, and as a result I have to say I've been  enjoying my living space much more. I don't know about you, but one room that I often feel gets overlooked is the bedroom. Perhaps it's because visitors don't often venture into this space so we put our decorative energy into other areas of the home, but the bedroom really is one of the most important rooms in the house - not only do we spend a lot of time in this room but it has a direct affect on our mental and physical well being. If you do have difficulty sleeping you might find that creating a calm, peaceful and uncluttered environment makes the world of difference. After a good de-clutter I've given our boudoir and my bedside table some much needed TLC. Hubby's side needs more work however but small steps people, small steps :-)

Mothers Day is almost upon us, and with the recent celebration of International Women's Day I've been thinking a lot recently about the incredible women who are responsible for my being here on this earth. One of these women (my mother) I've been blessed enough to know, while the others, who are still very much a part of my tapestry, passed away long before my time. These women have an incredible story to tell which I'd like to share with you today. It is a sad but uplifting story which features three women from three generations, and whenever I find myself struggling to cope with whatever it is that life is throwing at me, I think of these women and I always find courage. The story begins in Liverpool in 1941 ....

A jar

  floral or patterned paper 

Ribbon or string

scissors

Whilst on holiday in Snowdonia in the Autumn I chanced upon the most beautiful bag in a shop - it was made by a company called Voyage and it was absolutely love at first sight. Of course the bag went straight on my Christmas list, so you can imagine how delighted I was when the bag in question fell down my chimney Christmas morning - straight away I thought of you, as I knew many of you would love it as much as I do ...

Happy New Year all! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a lovely Christmas, and had a quiet but cosy New Year with our close friends - we reminisced about the previous New Years we had spent together ... partying the night away into the wee small hours ... while this year we were all in our PJ's sipping tea in front of the fire. How times have changed :-) I'm looking forward to this year ... it's going to be a year of change. We're hoping to move house at some point which will be an awfully big adventure and I can not wait! But for now here's a look back over December. 

Dear all. The house is twinkling, the cards are sent, the presents are wrapped and after one more day of work I'm off for Crimbles! So before I switch off I just wanted to drop you a message to say a big Happy Christmas to you all. Thank you so much for being such lovely friends and followers this year, you really do make this blog a pleasure for me to write. Have a safe, and peaceful time this Christmas and all the very best for the year ahead. I shall leave you with Ralphy, who insisted on writing his own message to you. 

With much love, 

JM x

If you fancy doing something a bit different with your Christmas decorations this year, here is a very pretty and affective way to add sparkly to your festive season. This string of ceiling decorations are so easy to make and you can easily adapt it to your own style. I had a lot of leftover baubles so I came up with this garland to make use of them. I like to keep mine simple with brown string, fairy lights and mis-matched baubles but you could easily keep them uniform or even add tinsel! 

A length of brown string / twine / ribbon

Battery operated wire fairy lights in silver or copper

Selection of baubles 

It's nearly CRIMBLES!!! YEEEHAAA!!!! I'm a big fan of Christmas (can you tell?) and my decorations will be going up this weekend. We returned from an incredible week in the wild and wonderful North Wales last week. It was so beautiful dear reader, if you've never been I highly recommend it. I had to pinch myself on several occasions because the scenery was so utterly breathtaking. We walked through sun, rain and snow - up mountains and in actual fairytale moss-covered forests with waterfalls! At one point I'm sure we even entered frost-covered Narnia! I'll share some pictures with you soon. In the meantime the only thing that's cheering me up is the promise of CHRISTMAS!!!!! Here's our month in pictures x

Well last night was Halloween night, and I managed to work my way through most of the sweets I had bought for the neighbourhood kiddies ... happens every year, and I know I'm not the only one. Hubby turns into a big kid on Halloween night and takes great pleasure in scaring the children that are foolish enough to come to our door. Last night he found some super spooky music (creaky doors / sound of children singing nursery rhymes over an organ playing in a minor key etc etc) so each time there was a knock, the music would play and he'd open the door wearing a cloak and holding a candelabra. The kids were unfazed, and walked straight to the sweetie basket! I think their parents appreciated it more. Ralphy was oblivious of course, if not slightly confused. I had organised a ghost walk for my town which went really well! We roamed the streets, torches in hand, passing other ghost hunters on our travels. They all seemed to really enjoy it, so I'm really pleased. Aside from all things spooky it's been a lovely month of Autumn walks, crafting and with the chilly nights upon us I've rediscovered my love of knitting. Here's out month in pictures ... PS. Did you see last weeks Poldark? well I never!