Highlandhearts

When we moved into this house 15 months ago I really hated the hallway flooring.  It had a horribly stained blue carpet on the floor and stairs and I knew I wanted to get rid of it but as we don't have a lot of spare money I had to think about how to decorate it cheaply. The first job was persuading OH to rip up the horrid carpet and see what we were dealing with underneath.  Actually the floorboards weren't too bad although they had been cut about when the new heating system was put in a while ago. A bit of filler filled the worse gaps. I wanted to do something about the handrails too as they had loads of paint covering them and looked really dirty. OH stripped the paint off the handrails and sanded them back to the wood. Cost nothing but his time as we had the sandpaper and paint stripper in his shed.  After a coat of varnish they looked much better.  He refreshed the paintwork on the rails and at the edge of the stairs to clean them up whilst I thought abo...

I've had a busy few weeks again preparing for another craft fair being held today as part of Gala week.  I was up till nearly midnight last night making a handbag and it turned out to be the first item sold today so was worth the effort. The afternoon was a bit of a wash out though as we have strong winds and heavy rain today and as we were in a marque you can imagine what it was like.  My friend popped back home to get us a flask of coffee to warm up and returned with some homemade sponge cake which went down a treat. The sides of the marque were being battered by the wind and water was pouring through the gaps in the roof.  Our stock was getting wet so we were constantly moving it about.  Not many people were about in such horrid conditions really and those that were, were really there for the children's entertainment.  There was also a raft race on the loch.  It was decided that it would go ahead and there were four rafts.  One immediately sunk an...

I've finished transforming my standard lampshade and it cost me zilch as I used bits and pieces I already had in my stash of craft stuff. First I tried crocheting the frame with wool but I didn't like it so I cut it all off.  Next attempt was crochet with ribbons but I decided I didn't like that either so I then decided to wrap the entire frame in red and white gingham cotton fabric.  I tore strips so I had frayed edges just because I liked the effect. It took ages though. I used old necklaces, some kept complete and others I mixed and rethreaded onto clear fishing line.  I added ribbons and floral fabric strips and glued buttons and bows onto them and then sewed more buttons to the top and little red heart buttons to the bottom joints of the frame. I added four little pictures pinned with multi coloured paperclips just because i liked them and I thought that when I want a change, I could renew them perhaps by pinning on some black & white photos. ...

The mobile cinema has been to the village again and I went to see What a lovely film this is and an amazing story.  It was both funny and moving so if you get the chance do watch it.   I walked home as its not far and look at the fabulous sky.  Luckily I had my phone on me to take these photos but they dont really show how amazing it was.   I just had to stand still awhile and look. Awesome! Terri X

Charity shop buys. I don't think i have shown you a pic of the standard lamp I managed to get for £20.  It is in the process of being transformed and as you can see, the base is pink, it was originally dark wood and I am doing something with the shade, not planned what so just going with the flow!  I have ripped off the material back to the frame so far.  I will show it when finished. I also found these two rose pictures for £3 each. I am so pleased with how they look on the wall, definately a bargain and they fit in my lounge alongside the Cath Kidson material of the tablecloth and curtains. Two lovely books, the baking one has every cake recipe imaginable and the pictures are lovely inside the Country Living Christmas book. A great ball of wool for £1 which has already been used up making more little knitted cottages. A lovely enamel bowl for 50p The first two seasons of this series.  I have already watched the first. I went along to the...

I decided this week to become vegetarian as i have been thinking of giving up meat for a while now.  I have never been a huge meat eater anyway and absolutely love vegetables, whenever I go out for a meal I usually choose the veggy option. After going to three barbecues recently, I really had had enough meat! Yesterday my friend popped round with some veg from her fridge as she has gone away for a week.  Added to what was in my own fridge, I decided to spend the morning cooking.  I chopped everything up first and put into separate bowls, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, white cabbage, peas, quite a lot altogether.  I set about making some pastry, one lot for today and another for the freezer. I put together a quiche using up a bit of double cream left over and picking some chives from the garden.  Cheese, chives & caramelised onion, an opened jar in the fridge. Enough pastry was left to make a lit...