First Christmas Decs Up!

It's nearly December and you are probably up to your eyes shopping and getting ready for Xmas.
I 'am one of those people you love to hate at this time of year. My presents are all brought and
wrapped ready for delivery, cards written. I started back in September when everyone said I was mad
thinking about Xmas then. But now I can sit back relax.

 



 

 

I put my first Xmas Decs up!  This is a rooted tree I brought form Home Base. It cost £19.99

 

The pot is also from Home Base it cost £9.99 a bit costly but you can use it each year.

 

 



This is our small angel. She is really delicate and sweet just right for this size tree.

 

 

The pink bauble is glass, the king I brought from a local craft fair this year.

 

 

 

The Angel came from my local craft fair, the pink bauble is really cute with a horse on.

My daughter choose the bauble. Each year it is our family tradition that our children choose

1 Xmas tree decoration each. When they were younger it was snowmen and Santa's. As you

can guess we have quite a few by now.

 

For many years we kept to the traditional green and red .But for the last two we have changed

completely to ice cream colours, pinks, blues, soft yellows and greens. It really is a change and matches our decor completely especially in our kitchen which we spend a lot of time in............

 

 





 

This is our kitchen door wreath it matches perfectly with our other decorations and is a bright

welcome.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed a small look into our decorations. This weekend hopefully getting lounge tree.

That one takes a lot of work!!!! 

Bertie Charlies and Baileys Weekly Adventures-Bailey What are you wearing?

Hope you have all kept dry this week. Mums been spending time done the stables mending a gate
post .She keeps coming back covered in mud. Bailey loves licking her boots, but I perfer to have
treats than mud....

Mum went to a craft fair the other day. ( Asked Bertie but we do not know what a craft fair is).
Anyway Mum brought Bailey a present  Ha !  Ha!

You can laugh Charlie but I love it. It keeps me lovely and warm and is just he right fit.

Mum says now she has brought this one. She can use it as a template to make you both one.
Not on your life Charlie run. No knitted jumpers for us. We are cool dogs!

Bailey let me help you get it off before Mum gets any more ideas!

That's better Bailey you look more like one of us now. Time for a rest now taking that jumper off
you was far too much hard work.

 

 

NIGHT NIGHT SWEET DREAMS EVERYBODY.

Bertie Charlies and Baileys Weekly Adventures-Charlies Shadow

Hi Bertie and Charlie here. We have had yet another busy week. The weather has been bad.
Rain Rain and yet more Rain. Mum wants us to go out in the garden but she must be joking!
We are not getting our paws wet.....

We have been entertaining ourselves . Playing who can destroy the puppy pad the quickest. Bailey
won that one. We just need to hide it from mum....

Bailey you have forgot the Teddy. Charlie I love you. thank you for being my brother.

                                         Thats it's Bailey, you pull first then me.

                                      Charlie I'm worn out. Time for a puppy NAP.

                                                  Bailey I will join you. Good Night...

 

You two have made me sleepy,

Vintage China-Some of my collection

I thought you would like to see some more pictures of my Vintage China.

This set was brought from an antique shop in the New Forest. I could not resist the pretty colours.
There was a pink cup and saucer but it got broken when I moved house. It's always the good china!

Here are four more sets. My favourite is the set front left. It is such a simple design and shape.

Some other sets in my dresser.I love the two handled sugar bowl ( picked up from a car boot0 Also
I have started collecting sugar tongs. You can still get sugar cubes ( I found them in my local Tesco's).

You can see by this picure I collect plates, sugar bowls and milk jugs as well. If I think it's pretty
and the price is right it comes home with me.

This is my walkingware eggcups. I found these in a charity shop many years ago. I paid around £4
each for them, which at the time was quite expensive for a charity shop but still a bargain for me.
At Easter we each decorate an empty egg shell into a person. Then sit the egg shell in the egg cups to
make a lovely homemade display in the kitchen. It's become a family ritual....

As you can see my Vintage China even extends to my kitchen. This is an old shelf I painted then added cup hooks to. It holds some of my vintage cups and saucers and some vintage glass ice cream
bowls. I glued some old lace to the shelves to give it a more shabby chic appeal.

Hope you enjoyed a small look into all things Vintage. 

My Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is one of my favourite cook books.  It is a very simple to use children's book which I have
used for my children over many years. It has all the basics you would use time over time.

Whenever I have  a spare 30 minutes it's time to bake these cookies. But be warned  they will not
stay around for long. Mine are eaten in the same day., and you will get requests every week to make these........

140g/5oz plain flour
1 egg
70g/2 1/2 ozs soft brown sugar
175g/6oz chocolate chips
115g/4oz butter
70g/2 1/2 ozs caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

(Above is the normal recipe but I now add 1 dessert spoon of Golden Syrup . It makes them softer
and a bit more chewy which we love.)

You mix the butter and all the sugar together until it goes creamy and light. Then add the egg a
little at a time. Next the vanilla and lastly sift the flour in and if you are like me add the golden
syrup and chocolate chips. You can do this all by hand in a bowl. But if you are lucky like me I
just chuck it all in my mixer.

Next grease some baking trays with your butter. If you use flat trays you put a tiny amount of
mixture down spaced well apart. Because the mixture really spreads out and they will join
together. If this happens do not worry wait until they are cooked and then just cut them apart.
But if you are like me and want even shapes and bite sizes just use a fairy cake tray instead.

Take out of the trays and leave to cool on a wire rack. Keep in a airtight container to store.
NOT THAT THEY WILL STAY AROUND FOR LONG.....

 

   Now put the kettle on and enjoy!

Bertie Charlie and Baileys Weekly Adventures-Finding Treasure.

Hi Bailey here. I've had a very exciting week with my two new brothers Bertie and Charlie

 

 

 Bailey come out here! we have got a new game for you......

 

 

 

It's called digging for treasure..... You use your left paw then your right and keep going untill you

have a hole big enough for your head! Keep going Charlie your head is much bigger than mine.

 

 

The treasure you find Bailey is lots of stones to play with and one of my favourites Plant Roots.

They are so great to chew on. Mum likes to play this with us.  She chases us when we find the

treasures and she fills in the holes so we can dig some more. So we just keep playing because

it makes mum happy!

 

 

                                                          This is thirsty work Bertie.

 

 

 

 

 

Bailey you are not meant to take the treasures to Mum!  She likes to play chase with us. I think you

need more practice........

 

How to cheer up your garden

I thought I would show you a couple of ideas for you to try in your garden.

This was made from some old board I had hanging around. I painted it with blackboard paint
available from most good d.i.y stores (I brought mine from Home base|)  Then I made a hole in the
top of the board so I could hang it on an outside wall. I have found it great to use for messages like
HAPPY BIRTHDAY etc.   If you hang one low enough it could be used for children to have fun in
the garden and coloured chalk is really cheap,

As you may be aware, ( if you have read my other posts I collect Vintage China) I always end up
with odd cups or saucers. I never know what to do with them but they are too pretty to threw out.
So this Summer I tied ribbon to the handles and attached them to my trellis where I have climbing roses.They looked so pretty all summer. I have now had to take them down now for the Winter...
Next summer I'am going to try more of them in a tree!.

I wanted a bird table in the garden but the ones on their own stand were really expensive. So I brought this one for £10.00  from a local garden centre. I unscrewed the roof so I could  put a
screw through the base into one of my fence posts.Then I reassembled it all again. It's a
great success the birds love it as much as me.

I run out of places for my hanging baskets, so I put them hanging from brunches of a tree. This one
was full of strawberries. They grew really well but the lovely birds thought they were for them
.
Next year I must remember to cover them up.............

Hope you try some of my ideas . Fingers crossed for a great Summer next year.