House 49

Vintage Tea Cup Soup!

Today I made a little bit of soup. Sounds simple, but when it comes to cooking simple usually makes me the happiest..and often means that it won't be a complete disaster! So today was all about a simple tomato and red pepper soup, and to makes things taste even better I served it in my new (weekend thrifty find) cute vintage tea cups.

Now to complete the dish, for me any good homemade soup must also have two accompaniments - mango chutney and prawn crackers...saying that out loud sounds makes the combination sounds even stranger but I just love them! Even if its just me :)

Happy Tuesday x

Happy Love Day x

Wandering around the giant world wide web on this chilly February morning you can't help but feel warmed by the beautiful lovely things people are getting up to in order to celebrate their love for that someone special. Personally I love the little things you can do, whether it be a specially made cookie or personalised card, or even better a lazy morning in bed surrounded by balloons! Big or small you can make your Valentine's Day all about you! My evening with the hubbie will be spent doing our favourite thing,  a night in with a homemade scrumptious meal for two, flickering candles and a relaxing movie with maximum popcorn to share! Simple and very sweet.

Whatever plans you have today have a wonderful day and remember to take a moment to grab your loved one's hand to tell them you love them. Ahh all warm & fuzzy. Big hugs & enjoy x

Cakes / Love Token / Banners / Hearts / Cookies / Hands / Knits / Couple time / Lolly

Booths Hall, Knutsford

So the first Craft & Gift Fair of 2012 has been and gone! Today I had a stall for our House 49's Soaps & Scrubs at the lovely venue of Booths Hall in Knutsford near Cheshire. Its been a busy month of planning and preparation  making all our organic soaps and fizzy bath bombs ready for the big event.

The day started with a flurry of snow and ended with a crazy amount of heavy fog but in between I was delighted to be able to met and share the day with some wonderful stall holders and customers. My soaps received some wonderful feedback which is always so lovely to hear, especially from repeat customers.

I'm so excited for the year ahead and all the busy fairs already booked in the diary! I'm also super excited that in the next week I'll be launching my very own Etsy shop online so I can share my all up-and-coming fragrances and products with you, as well as the launch of my wedding favours collection which I'm delighted say is getting busier by the day! I love a good wedding.

A massive thank you again to all my wonderful customers from today's fair, I hope your enjoy using your House 49 suds! x

Architecture

This week I decided to work my way through the photo galleries of Pinterest for my next bit of eye candy. Generally I'm usually drawn to pretty, colourful and well.. girlie shots of cute things and homely interiors so I decided to break out of my usual pattern and delve into the 'Architecture' section.  I felt a terrible sense of naivity when I realised what great imagery I had been missing out on all this time.

Here are my findings! I would encourage everyone to take a little explore into somewhere you would never normally go, you just never know what you might find. (wow I feel an inspired quote coming on!), xx

Cafe Counter / Tree house / Beach Hut / Library

Thinking of Spring

Well we finally got through the dreariness of January! Does anyone else feel like its been a very long month and the joys of Christmas seem a distant sparkly memory? Well, have no fear it's not all doom and gloom and as much as it is still a little chilly out there (well bitterly cold in fact)  I 'm feeling all inspired to start thinking about the joys of Spring :)

These are just a few lovely pictures found on the clever little Pinterest that are brightening up my day! Happy 1st of Feb xx

Belle of the Ball / Tiny White Daisies / BloomGrowLove / Bump Smitten

 

Thrifty Find - Lavender Chocolate Box

My House 49 workshop is always full of dried flowers and beautiful scented buds for use in the creation of all of my handcrafted soaps and scrubs and becasue of my every growing supplies I like to keep them stored in lovely attractive ways to make my workshop feel inspired and full of personality.

This was a little thrifty find my husband actually found for me at a garage clearance. He knows me so well he decided to surprise me with it! Maximum brownie points for him! :)It is now home to all my tiny lavender stems that I use for decoration in my House 49 gift boxes. They are so small and delicate this lovely retro chocolate tin is totally perfect to keep them safe from getting squashed.

I'll be launching the House 49 Etsy shop very soon!!! So will keep everyone posted with progress. xx

91 Magazine - Issue 2 Launch!

This week the lovely Caroline & folks launched Issue 2 of the inspiring and wonderfully pretty 91 Magazine. This is a fabulous read, full to the brim with oozing gorgeous design and personal creativeness.

Check out all the Easter goodies, decorative tips and precious vintage discoveries in their latest issue.

91 magazine

My favourite so far has to be the article on the London tea rooms - simply devine! x

Recycling the past

For ages now I have been looking for a cute little letter holder for our hallway table. We often get loads of post through the door which gets dumped all over the place making the table look a bit messy - my inner clean freak was starting to get stressed so I wanted something quirky and lovely to keep them nice and tidy.

It was on a trip to my family home that my mum had found these old book ends from my childhood bedroom hidden away in the loft. Amazingly they just happen to be the exact colour of my hallway blinds. Perfect! I was so excited I brought them straight home to use them as the creative version of a letter holder I had been searching for.

On the day I thought I would show them off - the postie man had nothing for us (funny really) so my freebie supermarket mag was the tester for their new found role.

The last time I saw these I was about 10 years old and remember keeping all my Beatrix Potter books stacked in between them. More then 18 years later they are now taking pride of place in my house for all my grown up reading material; I do however much prefer the idea of reading Peter Rabbit than a gas bill, but at least they will make the pile look prettier. x

2012 - a fresh start...

So the start of 2012 finally feels like its getting going. My little blog has been suffering from a lack of TLC lately due to a series of not so nice events at both home and at work.

Although the festive hols were (kind of) relaxing many family members were in and out of hospital making it a bit of a worrying time and the 'day job' became an extremely uncomfortable place to be with redundancy announcements causing many a horrible meeting and even more sleepless nights.

....but as the New Year burst through a glimmer of light began to appear. Everyone who was poorly is now on the mend, and a personal decision to walk away from the place I have worked since University has now given me a new sense of focus and strength. Looking back I haven't been happy for a long time now, so with the future looking unstable I decided to apply for voluntary redundancy.

Thinking and waiting for a decision took over everything. It felt like I couldn't do anything, trapped in limbo, while complete strangers were choosing my future. I hated every moment. Finally after months of waiting I found out this week that my application had been accepted and I will be leaving the company in six weeks time.

Making a decision to leave is never easy, but on reflection I know in my heart it is absolutely the right thing to do. The reality is slowly starting to sink in I am finally allowing myself to get excited about the year ahead and feel a real sense of pride in myself for making this positive change to achieve happiness and balance in a career but more importantly proud of being brave.

I don't really do New Year's resolutions but a new addition to my 2012 blog writings has been inspired by the popular idea of setting miniature targets before a certain age hits. Mine is the "before 30" deadline, and I like to think that my recent experience of taking a leap of faith and leaving the corporate world behind me (for the better) ticks #14  off with a big gold star.

One of my main aspirations has always been to run a successful business and blog, so this is my year. I now feel excited, reassured and with a new sense of re-energized drive in my life. I think sometimes doing some serious soul searching about your future makes you realise that life is worth grabbing and you only get a handful of opportunities to make yourself truly happy. Don't throw these opportunities away, no matter how scary they seem at first. Putting myself forward to leave a good salary was terrifying and I did get big waves of doubt, but ultimately I kept reminding myself how unhappy I was and the constant feeling that my dreams were being swamped everyday by a career I no longer enjoyed. The thought of staying scared me more than leaving.

So as far as New Year's Resolutions go I think "to be braver" is the one for me. I finally think I may have started the year with a big tick to achieving this one, however if I was to think of another resolution or two to stretch myself further they would have to be - to 'ride my bike more' and 'eat healthier breakfasts'! :) Well you got to think big right!

I hope your New Year's Resolutions are going well and life with you is a happy & healthy one. x

Merry Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

Wishing you a fun filled day with the people you love....

& a house full of ripped wrapping paper!

{This lovely picture was found on Flickr}

My day will consist of a brisk Christmas walk with the pooches closely followed by desparately trying to capture them on film with Christmas hats on, to then join my wonderful family for a festive dinner with all the trimmings and (hopefully) a sleepy afternoon of cheesy Christmas movies and nibbles.

Enjoy, be merry and take a moment to look around you at all the good things you have. x