DIY Easy Cushion Cover

Hello folks! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Miracles do happen; I'm on my second blog post in two days! The reason for this is a combination of lack of time and procrastination. Not so long ago, I heard about the Hillary's Blinds Country Crafts Competition via the lovely ladies at The New Craft Society. Hillary's offered me a choice of  fabrics and I chose the Patina Pewter as it looked rich and versatile.  That said, I had *no* idea what I was going to make! I mulled over doing a patchwork jeans number but figured that was better done with floral fabric. Eventually, I decided to make two little cushion covers to replace a couple of very old charity shop sourced ones. I chose to make the covers pillowcase style ( i.e. almost envelope style but not quite)

For making the cover you will need the following

• fabric
• measuring tape
• sewing machine ( or needle and thread)
• scissors
• fabric pins
• tailor's chalk
• iron

Method:

Step 1: Measure the cushion that needs cover. Cut two pieces of fabric such that you allow a 2.5 cm allowance on each side for seam allowance and 10 cm allowance on on piece of fabric for the envelope cover.

Step 2:  Place the right side of the two pieces of fabric together  with the 10 cm of longer piece folded in to create the envelope cover. Iron and pin the fabric for sewing.

Step 3:  Sew the three 'closed' sides of the cushion cover together. 

Step 4:  Finish the edges of the 'open' side

Step 5:  Iron the cushion and turn the right side out. And its all done and ready to be used!!

I hope you give this DIY  a go; it is so easy to inexpensively upgrade a cushion covers and it feels so good when you make it yourself. Hope you have a lovely week! Ann x

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Apres Ski

There are many exciting things about moving to Scotland; one of them is being able to go skiing within a couple of hours of where we live. Ed and I have not skied before (my dry skiing lessons don't really count) and we didn't want to to spend a shed load on a ski holiday in Europe just to learn. So the other weekend we headed up to the Cairngorms with a couple of friends to get a bit of snow fun. The drive to Aviemore was very scenic and I kept remarking how it felt like we were in another country altogether ( I suppose Scotland is another country/nation, sort of?!)

Whilst the rest of the country hasn't seen much snow at all this winter, there was about 8ft deep snow on Cairngorm mountain, so much so that an excavator had to dig the ski cables out. We spent four hours learning to ski (and falling a lot) and were thoroughly knackered by the end of the evening. It was an incredibly busy weekend with  lots of locals ( i.e. people living within a few hours of the Cairngorms) trying to get the last of the snow before  Spring arrives in Scotland. We stayed in a lovely little B&B in Aviemore and spent the evening wandering around the little town before dinner at the randomly interesting International Starters restaurant ( whose menu was full of various international starters!).  Our dinner included a selection of Greek mezze, Thai curries, North American fast food and Chinese. Utterly random but all tasty nevertheless!

We decided to take the scenic route back to Edinburgh the next day, with a couple of stops along the way. Ed was super keen on visiting the Dalwhinnie so despite no having enough time for a proper distillery tour, we decided to have a little nosey around. The boys had a couple of cheeky tastings whilst I focused attention of the exquisite chocolates that were also on sale. The Dalwhinnie area is stunningly beautiful and I think we will visit again to explore the area a bit more. 

Our next stop was the charming town of Pitlochry where we explored the area a little before getting our friends on a customised charity shop appreciation tour.  As it happens, I found my favourite charity shop find ever, a vintage 1950 Scottish Artillery military jacket!! It even came with a 1942 three pence coin!  Post lunch we leisurely drove back to Edinburgh and to a jam packed week. Below is a little scene from our drive back, it was so atmospheric!

 I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Ann x

Wearing: Karen Millen coat; Zara top; Longchamp Le Pliage bag; Uniqlo trousers; Ash ankle boots; Givenchy sunglasses

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DIY Wrapping Paper Art

I'm conscious that ever since the big move to Edinburgh a few weeks ago, I've had a very little time for most things, blogging included. It's been a time of massive change and we've had to downsize and sell most of our 'stuff' before moving up. On the positive, that felt quite liberating. Moving from a suburban house into a 100 something years old tenement flat in the centre of Edinburgh meant our style of decor needed a review too. The hallway in the flat has this quaint pew style sitting area and despite playing with a lot of our art and pictures, nothing seemed to work quite right there. I'd already bought these two beautiful sheets of  London print wrapping paper from Watermark (London Kings Cross) and was planning to create something arty with them: decoupage or framing were the two options I was exploring.  Framing these papers with an aged look felt like the perfect solution.  A trip to Ikea and £14 later, we got two super light frames and this was the result!

Items:

London print wrapping paper ( £2.99-£3.50 each from Watermark Kings Cross, Oliver Bonas or Stanfords.co.uk)

Frames (Ikea, £7 each)

Method:

Simply frame and find a suitable place! You could also try framing patterned wrapping paper ( paper chase stock some great ones too) and source frames from charity shops.

This is a really easy and affordable way to update your interiors and I hope you give it a go! Ann x

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Chocolate Tour of London

In case you were wondering, no I haven't given up blogging. Its been a long and manic few weeks (and I suspect will continue like that all of March) with the big move to Edinburgh and the lack of time off to do it all. Note to self, take a week off for the next big move, whenever that is! That said, in the midst of all the mayhem, I continue to seek out new adventures and experiences to draw energy from. One such fabulous adventure was the Chocolate Tour of London. My friend Katherine and I took an impromptu afternoon off to savour the chocolatey delights of the Big Smoke.

We met our lovely tour guide Lisa outside the Algerian Coffee Store on Old Compton Road who offered us a selection of coffee and raspberry flavoured chocolates to munch on whilst waiting for the remained of the group. We quickly figured that Lisa was a bit of a walkie-talkie chocolate encyclopedia of London. We listened on to Lisa's stories of the history of the Algerian coffee stores, Hotel Chocolat ( the next stop) and other nearby foodie establishments. The passion fruit flavoured Hotel Chocolat chocolates we sampled were scrumptious. I asked for seconds and that was the start of a pattern.

I was most impressed by the delectable creations at Paul A Young. The chocolates are made on the store premises itself and are available in a range of very unusual flavours. Stilton and port wine anyone? Marmite perhaps? Each of the chocolates we sampled were truly divine.  They also stocked Mast Brothers, Menakao and Duffys, winners all the way! I also loved the Prestat store ( bright colours, friendly staff and great chocolate) but was most impressed by the custom made Lulu Guinness bag on display.  We stopped by Freggo for ice-cream and I sampled far too many (as evident from the rainbow of spoons in the picture above). We passed by Laduree (Burlington Arcade store) but didn't go in. I didn't mind as I seem to go in to their Covent Garden outfit every time I'm in London!

The Charbonnel and Walker store was very swanky and the chocolates were amazing but the air there was perhaps a tiny bit too snooty for my liking? My favourite store of all on the tour was Fortnum and Mason; I love love love their wonderful window displays! Lisa then took us to the East India Company which was one of the friendliest stores by far. They even had snacks and tea out for visitors at various corners of the store; if I worked/lived in the area, I'd be visiting every day! Lisa stopped by a number of other shops along the along, proving a bit of history and gossip as part of the tour.  One such stop was Choccywoccydoodah and OMG, it bonkers. 

Our last stop was Liberty of London (another favourite of mine) where our group parted ways, so full of chocolate that we even took some samples home! Katherine and I headed back to to Paul A Young to buy some pressies for our boys before heading to Yauatacha for some nibbles, macarons and drinkies before taking a late old train back home.

We got our tickets through TimeOut London at 50% off but full price tickets are still available on the Great British Tours website. There is a similar tour in Edinburgh although I think I could try doing a self-planned version myself.  Hope you are all having a lovely week! Ann x