Happy Monday!

Hello all, did you have a fab weekend? I spent mine  updating an old photo frame by giving it a spray paint make over, eating too many cakes that my daughter baked, (the before baked shot is above,  they didn't stick around long enough for an after baking shot)  and treating myself to a lovely glass jar by Bloomingville, from my local garden center Ransoms.  The spring/summer Bloomingville  catalog  looks lovely as usual, have you had a look? lots to be tempted by....

On the blog front, I have been making a few updates, some new links added to the links page, and I have updated the FAQ page, which is mainly for PR enquirers, it would help me greatly if you could please check out this page before sending emails to me, while I love getting your emails and enquirers, if you could just check out that page first, it would save me having to email back on similar questions multiple times.  The most often asked question is about being a  Guest Blogger, which is now answered here, question 6.  So with this in mind, I am going to introduce a new Guest Blogger spot, (I have done interview posts before) which will be on an invite only basis to start with, and I have my first Guest Blogger all lined up for you and ready to go, so check back later to see who she is! 

Spring time colours

Heading into the Weekend and I can't help but feel all feminine and girly.  Out of all the Seasons, spring is by far the most Feminine seasons  don't you think? with its delicate blooms and pretty pink flowers you can't help but give into your girly side, and I am noticing a fair bit of pink about for spring 2012, just perfect for injecting some life back into the home after the winter.
While I'm not really into the whole floral and flowers look for my home, I do like the use of pink here and there such as  a pink haze (photo one) created  using a soft voile curtains at the window.  Flowers, always a quick way to add some instance colour to a room, I love how these tuplips have been grouped  together to add impact using the 3 subtle colour changes lilac, pale pink and white, and who wouldn't love to walk across that lovely tiled floor, it reminds me of day trips to France where all the homes have tiled floors, though not as pretty as these ones.

Image 1  Nina Broberg/IKEA Livet Hemma

Image 2  La belle Vie via Pinterest 

Image 3  Nina Broberg/IKEA Livet Hemma

Image 4 Rose des Vent Tiles by Zazous

Winter Warmer.

Photos credit, Roland Persson/IKEA Livet Hemma

Are you feeling the cold where you are?  I know am, even though we don't have snow, the temperature is hovering just above freezing and the wind chill is making it feel a little colder, so  how about some lovely warming soup to warm as all up.  Today's offering comes courtesy  of  IKEA's Livet Hemma blog, a colourful tomato soup, don't you just love that colour combination, makes me feel warmer just looking at it.

If you intend to make the most of the winter snow this weekend why not take a flask of soup with you to keep out the chill.

Tomato soup with lemon creme fraiche (4 people)

10 medium sized tomatoes 

1 large onion 

3 cloves garlic 

olive oil, 

about 6 cups water 

1 liter chicken stock 

fresh thyme, 

a little sugar, 

black pepper and salt

1 can of creme fraiche 

zest and juice of one lemon 

honey 

salt and pepper

Click here for instructions and Table ware all from Ikea.

Weekend finds and little updates.

Well so far the snow that has been falling in  the UK has passed us by this weekend, but even so its been a bit chilly outside, so for the most part I have stayed in the warm at home, which has given me some time to do a bit of updating of my desk area, and a little DIY in the form of some spray painting.  

I don't know about you but we always seem to have keys laying about the house that we have no idea what they are for, so I thought that I would give a few a little enamel face lift.  Not sure how I will display them at the moment but there they are in the photo above.

Some other changes that I made were to  update  my tins and string container with some new washi tape, (don't you just love washi tape?) and pretty pink spotted paper, which I found online here  and printed off on the printer, its amazing how just making a few changes can make all the difference to a space.

Other weekend finds

Jamie at Home Launch party came to town, introduced by Joanne Graham,

 so I popped in to take a look. Anybody done or been to a party?

Missed the first issue of 91 magazine but discovered the second , its got 

a pretty peachy home tour on page 62.

Discovered a new blog via Pinterest , The Painted Hive and a 

great Tutorial and free download its getting a lot of pins!

Wishing I could of made it to the spring/summer

Tine K Home Fair, but loving the 

photos by Anna-Malin from Quite Simple blog of the day

Wouldn't want to get a Tattoo, but this Tattoo bowl 

from Future & Found  caught my eye.

Spring collection from Swedish Home interiors company 

Ordmärkt, Pattern with a story.

Getting Organised.

Its Friday already, how did that happen?  I have to confess to being a bit distracted this week, recently my Hubby bought me a new lap top, yeah!, (no more being crammed into the corner of the living room on my computer with not much space!) and I have been trying to reorganize everything so that I can get rid of  move the computer desk out of the living room, and move these units along the wall to sit more centrally, I have a thing about everything being straight and central, which living in the house that we currently do, is not that easy as we don't have a straight wall in the house, it can be very frustrating, just when you think you got it plumb.....

So I'm up for a bit of moving things around and finding ways of storing bits and pieces, like leads for the computer, pens and pencils etc,  so the tin cans that I spray painted way back here, a plant pot, and a black tray that actually started out as packing for a pancake set,  are being put to good use as storage. And as I haven't done any DIY projects since I painted my dresser, I''m getting a little bit restless and on the hunt for something to transform....

So with the cold weather that is  heading our  way this weekend, it looks like I might be staying in and seeing what DIY mischief I can get up too. Do you have anything to tackle this weekend?