Festive Home

I'm not ashamed to admit that I have already put up a few Christmas decorations around the house. We had got them in from the garage to check on the amount of lights we had for the outside of the house, and everything was just laying there.... I couldn't resist putting a few things up. We are planning on getting our tree and lights up on Sunday, with the grand 'light switch on' on Monday 1st December.

Being a crafter, I love to make my own decorations at Christmas so they can be personal and I think, make it look so homely. This year I have reused some paper bunting and some pegs for hanging Christmas cards/decorations, and have bought and made some other little bits for this year.

I picked up these wooden hanging decorations in Aldi about 3 weeks ago for £4.99 for a set of 4. I really liked the style of them, and I do love to have stuff hanging down from the ceilings at Christmas. The pack contained two tree and two star decorations

A fewweeks ago, I was given a load of craft bits from one of Mike's work friends, and in with it all was a snowflake punch. On a separate note, I had been wanting one for a while, but couldn't find one I liked, so I was so pleased to have this one. Then I went a little snowflake crazy! I punched out a load of snowflakes and decided I wanted to make a string of them. So taking just some sewing thread and a glue stick, I got to work! All I did was glue one side of a snowflake, lay the string through the middle of it, them glue another snowflake to the top, creating a sandwich to hold the snowflakes onto the string. And once I started, I couldn't stop.

I've made long strings of plain white snowflakes and also strings I plan to hang which have a combination of white and baby blue snowflakes. I still have some all cut out, so having a think about what else I can make from them!

I do love walking into my lounge and seeing all the decorations and it feeling all Christmassy. I think I am sorted on the decoration part, but I do feel we need some finishing home touches to really emphasise the festive spirit. So I took a little look on the George @ Asda website to see what little gems I could find. 

You can't beat a good old Christmas candle! The lovely little set of three glass votive are really cute. I love the countdown blocks. Not only a good way to know what the date is, but I think my kids would love being able to change it each day. As the cold nights draw in, a hot water bottle can be a great addition, especially in our freezing house! This one has a lovely Aztec style Nordic print which would go lovely with our decorations. Last year, I bought myself a Christmas mug, but it's tall and the handle is a bit on the small side. So when I saw these two mugs I fell in love. Would be great for our evening hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream :) Lastly, they had a great selection of cushions, and I had a tough job picking favourites. But I had to go for the red snowflake one. It's so bright and Christmassy and I love it! The other two, which seem to be the same size and style, are really lovely. I love the fact they are Christmas themed without being too Christmassy.
Check out the full range of Christmas Home Decor available at George here.

Christmas Party Dresses - Simply Be

Christmas is a busy time of year for us. My husband and I both have large families, so we have a jam packed few days around Christmas trying to see them all, not to mention work nights out, and celebrating with friends too. So we had starting thinking about parties and family meet ups, so I thought, maybe it's time to look at some new dresses for the festive season! So, my first stop was Simply Be.

 

Mesh Prom Dress - £35

 

I really like the look of this dress with the floral stretchy top section, then it flows down to the gathered mesh over the skirt which gives it a lovely prom dress look. This would be a great dress for going dancing in to show off the lovely skirt in all it's glory.

 

Beaded Waist Dress - £65

 

I do try and go a bit more colourful at Christmas, just to be festive, but I really liked this dress. The matching detail of jewels, beads and sequins around the neck and waistband give it a nice glitzy look. The dress is nice and long too, so would hopefully be long enough for me to wear it with tights. The sleeves give it a really elegant look also.

 

 

Kelly Brook Midi Dress - £75

 

Sticking to black dresses, I then noticed this lovely dress from the Kelly Brook Collection. I love the neckline on this dress, and it has metallic threads mixed in it so will shimmer under those Christmas lights. Again, this one is a nice longer length, so would be a better length for my long legs!

 

Lovedrobe Lace Belted Skater Dress - £10 off, Now £45

 

 

I do love a skater dress! I do think that they suit my body shape more than any other dress I have tried so far, so I was attracted to this dress straight away. I think it's a great colour for the festive season, and I love the 'peek-a-boo' neckline and cute capped sleeves.

 

 

 

 



 

 

Mystery in the village.....

About two months ago, our village church was closed off as some major renovation work was beginning. It's such a beautiful church, but they have plans to make it more useable for the whole community. The plans include meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment, new chairs and a full redecoration once all the work has been completed.

So one of their first steps was to remove some of the flooring in the main church building. As they were taking it up, they discovered a vault in the centre of the floor containing a coffin. It turned out to be a small mausoleum with the coffin of a man named Alexander Pitcairn. No one knew that this existed, and the Farningham and Eynsford Local Historical Society got straight onto finding out as much as they could about this gentleman. As soon as I read about it, I was straight on Google trying to find out too! He does have a Wikipedia page which gave us information such as when he was born and what he did in life, and the fact that he did die in Eynsford. He was an English Cricketer who played for Hampshire and MCC. From other information found by the Historical Society connected him to the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific and his brother who found them in 1767, which was also the island that the mutineers from The Bounty went to.

So there is a lot of history about who he was and who is family was, but nothing that ties him to Eynsford in particular. There are no signs of any Pitcairns in the parish records, but I guess that he resided here after he retired from cricketing, but this still doesn't explain why he is buried in a vault under the floor of the church. This is usually for rich or important people from the village, so are we missing something from his life? And also, this mausoleum had been covered up completely, with no markings for people to know he was there. There are so many questions at the moment, and I hope that the people working on it can find out more soon.

A couple of weeks after finding the vault, they decided to open up the doors to the church on a Saturday morning so that members of the public could go in and see the mausoleum. Mike and I had been really interested in the story of this tomb, so we decided to get sown there early. I actually had to take Jack to a party, so didn't have a lot of time, but we got there early and were the first in line. A few of us gathered in the entrance of the church and Reverend Gary Owens said a prayer over the mausoleum. Then we had to put on hard hats, and in groups of about 6, get to go up to, and into the vault if we wished. I wasn't really keen on going down the steps into the vault, but jack went down with the help of a lady and had a good look. Here are a few pictures from our trip into the church.

 

 

It was really interesting to see it up close and to be part of this story in our village. I'll keep you posted if we learn anything new!

Partying the Night Away

Last weekend, Mike and I went to a 40th birthday party for one of my mum friends at the school. It was at a golf club just up the road from us, and we were lucky enough to get a lift from one of my friends, so we could let go and have some drinks and make the most of a child free night!

 

I had picked up a skirt in the Evans Sale a few days before that I had tried on just after my birthday. It had been reduced from £48 to £25 and I just had to get it!

 

 

I didn't manage to get a proper OOTD shot before we got picked up, so here I am, after a few drink and hot from dancing! When I picked up the skirt, I realised I didn't really have a top to wear it with, and after a quick look through the Scarlett and Jo Sale rail, I found a lovely black top reduced to £12. I popped in the changing rooms and tried them on together. Couldn't have been happier. For the party, I just teamed them with some black leggings and my flats as I knew we would be doing a lot of dancing!

 

The skirt is a midi skirt, but I decided to wear it with the top to make it look more like a skater dress, as I prefer how that looks on me. I loved the netting underneath that gave it a poofy prom dress look. And the elasticated waist came in really handy for how I wanted to wear it.

 

We had a great night with friends, some props on sticks and lots of dancing! The cake was so pretty and made by my friend Aimi - in the mint green dress.

 

 

In the changing room...... Yours

Last week, I popped to Bluewater to pick up something I had ordered from Evans, then accidentally stumbled into Yours - so handy that is one store away from Evans! I had seen a few things on their website over the past few weeks, and I thought I'd go and try some bits on.

First up was this dress. I liked the print on it and the lovely flowing sleeves, but when I put it on, it just didn't look right. I wasn't sure about the neckline and the band that gives it it's shape was a bit lower than I like.

 

Then I picked up this dress hoping to get in early and find myself a Christmas dress. I have two of their skater dresses and thought I'd give this one a go. It was black lase with a beaded a collar. It was pretty, but again, I just didn't like it as much once I had got it on.

 

 Next up, I picked out an elasticated panel midi skirt. I have applied for a few jobs recently, and on the off chance I get any interviews, I thought I would look at some office style clothes, and loved the look of this midi skirt. I tried it on with a couple of different shirts.

 

First was this was bright orange top. I went for a larger size in this, and I really liked how it looked. Then I tried on this sleeveless patterned shirt. I really liked the colours and print on this one.

 

Although I didn't buy any of them, I would definitely get the skirt and orange top if I was to get an interview.

Wedding OOTD

Two weeks ago, I went to my cousin's wedding. Stacey and Darren have been together for 7 years and are such an amazing couple and they have a beautiful daughter, Florence, who is nearly 2. I love spending time with Stacey, she is a big crafter and I love learning new crafting techniques, and I was also excited to see they lovely things she had made for the wedding day.

I had bought my dress for the wedding in July, and I was so excited to finally wear it! I got it from Yours at Bluewater when it first opened, and loved how bright and colourful it was. I teamed it with an orange bolero top, nude wedges and an ivory box clutch bag.

 

 

Dress - Yours

Bolero - TU @ Sainsburys

Wedges - Yours

Clutch - Simply Be

 

Stacey looked soooo beautiful! We were sitting parallel to the entrance to the church, and I saw her in the car as it pulled up outside. I saw her face and my eyes just filled with tears. She looked to stunning, and I know how much she was looking forward to the day and how much effort she had put into it all. And she should have been so proud! It all looked fabulous and so pretty. From the decorated glass jars on the tables, to the suitcases decorated to put wedding cards into. It just all looked lovely! Here are a few snaps from the day.

 

A few highlights..... bottom left, my nan having a great time ringing one of the church bells! Next to her was the quartet who were amazing and gave the place a great atmosphere. Also on the bottom is my lovely parents.

 

 

Stacey's made her own bouquet from brooches and it looked amazing, but it was so heavy! She did well carrying it down the aisle and not dropping it. The marquee was so beautiful and had been decorated so nicely with jars on the tables, bunting and a cute vintage suitcase that we could put gifts and cards in. We had such an amazing day, and hope that the happy couple did too.

Pink Clove Picks

I noticed an email from Pink Clove today with an offer for 25% off all new arrivals (use code SHOP25). It feels like I haven't had a look at their range in a while, so I popped over to see what they had to offer. I found some lovely pieces at some great prices!

 

Azul Rose Mesh Insert Skater Dress - Normally £30, with offer £22.50

 

I really loved the colour of this dress. I don't own many blue items, and mixed with the floral print, I think this is so pretty. The mesh top of this dress also looks so good, perfect for the autumn weather now.

 

 

Laura Check Print A-Line Bow Dress - Normally £22, with offer £16.50

 

This dress caught my eye as I seem to be drawn to check prints at the moment, and I especially think that this would be great for Christmas. The neckline stands out really nicely with the bow detail.

 

 

Bardot Skater Dress - Normally £20, with offer £15

 

I love me a skater dress, and this would be very much welcome in my wardrobe. Not only would it be a great staple as it is black, but the off the shoulder sleeves give it a little something extra.