Thing's I've Been Making

One thing I have loved about not working in London any longer is the extra time I have to myself of an evening.  It has taken me a while to know what to do with the time and even now six months on there are some day's that I don't make the most of it. 

Over the past week I have been making the most of it though, especially with the rubbish weather were having.  First up I made my first ever lot of bunting.  Now why I have never made any of this sooner, I really will never know.  It was so easy and simple but yet it looks so effective and I love looking at it hanging up in my room.

My other little creative burst was these cushion covers, with a simple envelope backing.

Again really easy to make, it literally took me about 45minutes to make both cushion covers. 

I have been wanting to bring in a bit more floral into my room but don't want to be decorating as I am hoping I won't be here too much longer, so small little creations like this are perfect.  Straight away they add a bit of colour, and change the look of the room, plus I will be able to take them with me when I move out.

Love Gem x x x x

Things I've Been Buying

I've been trying very hard recently to save money so my spending has been very few and far between, but here are a few little treasures that I have bought recently.

I love these glasses from Tiger.  I bought four in total, two white and two red.  I'm now thinking perhaps I should have bought more :s

This was a recent buy from a charity shop.  It was actually James who spotted this.  He is wanting me to re-upholster it for him so this is awaiting my crafty fingers to set to work.

And finally this tray, isn't it sweet!  I couldn't resist this when the book man paid a visit to my work place so this ended up coming home with me, it's so cute :)

There has been one or two other things I have bought but nothing much in comparison to previous spend ups, I have been very constrained :)

Love Gem x x x x

Lordship Tea Room

A couple of weeks ago now I was able to visit another tea room.  A lot sooner in fact than I thought I would get to another one, which was an added bonus.  This time Myself and my Mum made a visit to The Tiptree Lordship Tea Room in Writtle.  It is located in the grounds of Writtle college. 

I must say I do like the Tiptree Tea Rooms, they have been by far the best ones we have been to so far.  From the outside it gave me the impression of a stable like building.

Inside was just as pleasant, with high ceilings and wooden beams.  The decor was very similar to the Tiptree tea room in Dedham, but I like that, it kind of unites all the tea rooms as one.

We ordered a cream tea each (of course, what else would you expect from me?!)

It was yummy.  A lovely fresh, warm scone complete with Tiptree jam and delicious clotted cream.

It was a Tuesday afternoon when we visited and was surprisingly busy considering we had missed the lunchtime rush.  We managed to find a table, although it did take a while for someone to take our order, after walking past us on numerous occasions.  The staff were friendly though and they work very hard.  You never see them standing around doing nothing, they are always on the go.   As soon as we had placed our order the service was quick and couldn't be faulted.  

I would definitely go back and I would  recommend it to anyone else, should they be in the area.  It is well worth a visit.

Love Gem x x x x

The Olympic Torch Comes To Dagenham

Yesterday saw the Olympic torch pass through Dagenham, which is where James is currently living.  I was keen to see it pass, and to be able to compare the atmosphere to that in Chelmsford.

Needless to say it was very different.  I was lucky to see the kissing of the torches this time, it was literally right in front of where we were standing, we didn't know this was going to happen here so had positioned ourselves quite well.

Again my favourite part was the sponsor's coming through first of all and warming the crowd up, although at almost 11am we didn't need warming up, temperatures were getting pretty high already.  

We saw some break dancing on the mini roundabout which came as a surprise after his Dad dancing. 

The atmosphere in general was good and everyone seemed in high spirits.

But people soon began pushing and shoving through the crowds to get to the front, which seemed unfair to those that had actually bothered to get there early to get themselves a decent spot.  They needn't have bothered as they were soon at the back of the crowd and then unable to see.  Especially when you then get people who have pushed their way to the front and then decide to put their child on their shoulders so you really have no chance of seeing anything.  I managed to get all my photos while leaning over said parent with child upon shoulders, it got to a point that I really didn't care that I was pushing people.  It's not in my nature to be this way but I won't stand there being pushed and shoved, I will give as good as I get!

~ Gem x

Bloggers Go Pottery Painting

I had the pleasure of spending my Saturday with Gem, Gem & Julie.  We met up for the first time in March which you can read about here.  We all hit it off straight away and knew that we would be seeing more of each other. 

On this occasion we decided to go pottery painting.

There was so many pieces to choose from, it took us all a while to decide what we were going to paint.

Eventually I settled for a teapot.  The concentration while we were painting was immense.  We still managed to keep up some good conversation though :)

I was so chuffed with my finished piece.  Now I just need to wait for it to be finished, it's going to be a loooong wait as I live quite a distance from where we met.  It is a pottery painting cafe in Barnet, which is fairly local to the others. 

Four happy bloggers with our painted pottery.

Once we finished we hit the charity shops, although they didn't prove very fruitful, but we still had a great day.  We are already planning our next little meet up, I can't wait.

Thank you ladies for a great day.

~ Gem x 

Stonehenge

It seems like months ago that we visited Stonehenge.  To see this landmark was on my bucket list, so I quite literally begged James for us to do a little detour on our drive down to Cornwall.  We left early that Monday morning, we were on the road by 5am and managed to reach the site by 7.  It was so peaceful.

We weren't able to get very close as the site doesn't open until 9, but we were able to see all that I had wanted to see.

It's amazing to think of how it got there and how it is still standing today.  If you had of asked me a few years ago I probably would have replied saying it is just a bunch of rocks, which in fairness it is, but I'm able to appreciate it a lot more now and am so glad I have had the opportunity to see it.

So that's another thing crossed off the bucket list.  Two things within one week, well that can't be bad.

~ Gem x

Port Isaac & Padstow

Next on the day's schedule was Port Isaac.  It's here that they film Doc Martin and it's what I would call a typical Cornish village.

The path from the car park to the harbour took us on a beautiful coastal walk. 

The scenery was breathtaking.

The views absolutely gorgeous.

The village itself was just as pretty.

Set up on the cliff tops.

The harbour area is so sweet.  I was just waiting for Martin Clunes to come running along with his briefcase.

The streets were lovely.  It was like a maze wandering around.  All the houses so quaint and it was so peaceful.

I can see why they picked it for filming, although it must have been hard work battling the hilly streets all day long.

Pure beauty.  Even with that big grey cloud overhead.

To end the day we drove onto Padstow another beautiful harbour village.  The sun made another appearance too.  How kind, hey, the day before we go home and all that.  Typical!

We had hoped to stay here for dinner, however it was very busy, I'm guessing because if the sudden change in weather, the restaurants were packed so instead we called it a day and headed back to the hotel one last time.

To say we didn't enjoy the week would have been a lie, but I wouldn't say we'd be in a rush to go back.  I do think the weather played a big part in this decision but who knows, we may be back sooner than planned but I doubt it.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.

~ Gem x

Tintagel & The Old Post Office

From Boscastle we drove onto Tintagel.  We had read about the Old Post Office and wanted to stop by.

Such a quaint little building.

I loved the decor and the cute little teacups dotted around the place.

This is another place I could imagine myself living in, although it is a bit on the small side.

The garden was gorgeous.  A typical English country garden.

I could sit in this garden for hours, gazing at the house.

It is a lovely property but as I said very small.  We had looked round withing about 15 minutes.  Still it was a very pleasant 15 minutes.

~ Gem x