The Thrill of What You Alreay Have - Launch

Back in October, when we were all running out of money for thrifting, we were discussing the value of rediscovering old treasures, and the pleasure to be found in the things you already own. We suggested that a monthly blogging event for 2012 could be a lot of fun, so here it is:Commenters felt that Carolyn summed up the ideas nicely when she said: "I think this is an excellent idea, esp as it not only encourages us to be content, to be happy, to appreciate and enjoy what we have; but it will also encourage us to look for things we had forgotten, to tidy out those cupboards, to reclaim old forgotten loves."This is the idea - every month I post a photo from my calendar (this year it's iconic Scottish rail tourism posters from the 1920s and '30s) and we use that photo - colour schemes, shapes, images, location, content - ANY aspect of it - to inspire us. We search through our drawers, boxes, attics, stables etc and make up a display of lovely or surprising things, and then share a photo on our blog. If you're like me, having a monthly excuse to rummage, combine, display and then gloat will be a very enjoyable experience. Sharing our pictures will really give us a chance to thrill over our 'stuff' without any need to go out and buy any more of it. And seeing photos of other people's ideas should give us further inspiration of what we can do ourselves.
The one key rule is - work with what you already have. OK, you knew that. I think the only other rule should be DON'T APOLOGISE! You don't have to apologise for missing a month or four, and please don't apologise for having something similar to/different from other people - just do what you like, as and when you can!



So, if you'd like to join in this month, grab the title photo and put it in your sidebar if you can, and then get musing about what this Dunfermline picture sparks in your mind. I'm thinking that I might need to go into the garden and get some twigs (garden stuff is certainly What We Already Have) but I've not got going on greys, oranges, pinks, blacks, gothic arches etc... I need to get thinking! When I've got it all together, I'll make a little display on the wooden chest in front of my calendar, and take a photo or five to share with you. In that post I'll try to get Mr Linky or something similar working, so that you can link your posts to mine.



Have I forgetten anything? Let me know what you think...

Buttons for October

I'm so happy to have found exactly what I wanted to display a few of my buttons... and just in time for October, when Niki's calendar features a most enviable button tin:

This box was my own personal 1€ buy at the school Vide Grenier yesterday. I'm limiting myself to 1€ at each VG or troc shop visit now, due to low funds. Any other spending has to be on presents or things actually needed by the family. And it's possible that a clock-maker's sandalwood box doesn't fall into the need category.

But it was certainly on my list of wants!

You'll see Niki and I both have some colourful mid-century buttons -I've had fun buying a few of those this year!

I also decided to put in some of my favourite hand painted/hand stitched flower buttons.And maybe just a few mother of pearl...There have been some fantastic blog posts on button boxes over the last few years. I'm struggling to find them all for you now, so if if any reader has done a button box post, it would be lovely if you could put a link to it here among the comments, please. And if you haven't done one yet, do you have a button box you could share? I'm always ready to see more...

It's July, so it must be...

Red, white and blue, of course!Just in case you're visiting for the first time (and welcome to you, in that case!) I'd better explain that each month I make a display in our entrance area, based on Niki's Nostalgia Calendar photo for the month. Last month was an exception - I was so busy that I was just pleased to enjoy Niki's lovely photo and no extra dusting. But this month I'm back and I mean business! Who could resist bringing out the red, white and blue French china faced with inspiration like this: So that's my red, white and blue contribution for today! There'll be more tomorrow. My other doings today have been round and about our town - a discerning and tasteful internet shopper has bought three of my favourite items from my blog shop, and I needed to go to La Poste to send off her parcel. It was market day, and as I seldom have the chance to visit the market during term time I decided to walk back through the stalls to soak up the ambiance, although I decided not to buy anything, as there's not much in the budget for extras this month.
So, the first things I bought were two oil-cloth aprons. My handmade ones (rather badly made by me, I have to say) were falling apart, and I was sorely tempted by the CK dotty oilcloth ones in the online sale, but these two were much better value... and here's just a quick peep at my much-loved embroidered linen apron, because I can never resist it as I go past...
I then bought some basil to sit on the kitchen windowsill - the dog eats it if I plant it in the soil! It's been well-used already, as the garden tomatoes are in peak production, and Son 1 and I enjoyed torn basil on cherry tomatoes for lunch, while a huge roasting-tray of tomatoes is currently in the oven, topped with garlic and basil, preparing for some tomato soup (à la Delia, of course).
Finally, I wafted by the dried fruit and veg stall, and the olives wafted back at me. I thought of the lovely meal Ben and I had enjoyed on the terrace yesterday evening (garden veg pizza, garden courgette salad, wine) and decided that another lovely meal this evening could be achieved with the help of olives (and possibly wine).
I had 2€ left so I asked for 2€s'-worth of "that one". "ça pique!" warned the stallholder. "Ha," thought I. "I am a British woman who eats curry. I have no fear of what the conservative French consider piquante." I bravely ordered it with a nonchalant expression, and am glad to report, having tasted it at home, that it is indeed pleasantly hot, not nasty. What a relief! I'm looking forward to this evening's meal...

Forget-me-nots in May

I think I've been inspired by more than Niki's calendar this month...Yes, it's always my main focus for the month, but you might agree it's just possible that I've been influenced by this, and I certainly know that this book is having a big impact on me too (review to follow)...But what a lot of fun it was putting it all together!I have French vintage forget-me-nots paired with some of those clever magnetic strigs of beads we were all buying a few years ago,

a vintage Flower Fairies book (but not, interestingly, with the same Forget-me-not poem as in Niki's photo),

lace so generously given to my by Californian Shelly,

And French lavendar from the garden.

Sadly, all my forget-me-nots went over about three weeks ago!

Easter bonnets, Easter scents

This month I was slightly stumped when I looked at Niki's fantastic Nostalgia calendar. She has a beautiful collection of vintage floral hats, and I don't. On reflection, I decided that I don't even wish I had a collection of vintage floral hats (something about the squashed flowers, I think...)

So I just decided to put some blossom branches from garden bushes into a pretty jug I bought in Edinburgh last year. I think it works! But at the end of this month I've decided to go a little bit red, white and blue, in celebration of all things British, royal and matrimonial. So you may get a second post about this space under the stairs this month...

The little branch in the jug is lilac-scented honeysuckle. It really does smell of lilac! But the Easter scent in the house right now is a Simnel cake, baking in the oven, and the dough for some hot cross buns, rising in the heat of the baking cake. I know I'm a week in advance - I just had some time this afternoon and have cleared some space in my freezer to hold everything over for a week! What do you bake for Easter?

It's March, so it must be...

...migranes? No I'm going to ignore the fact that I've spent the day in bed with a splitting head, and instead show you THIS for March! Inspired, of course, by Niki's Nostalgia Calendar page for the month:

The vintage-style postcard was sent to me recently by Lucey from Lemonade Kitty, when I won a little giveaway by leaving a comment about buttons! You can see the pretty brooch I won on her post here, and her original, very yummy, button post is here.

So I've put together a vintage postcard, some pieces of embroidery and a few buttons for March, inspired by two lovely bloggers!

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I now have one phone lesson to teach, and the migrane is staying away, so I think we'll make it through the Present Perfect tense OK!

It's February, so it must be...

... blue paste jewellery, hand-painted flowers on china, little birds.... ... and patchwork!

Why? Because that's what Niki's calendar inspired me to find at home this month! See the china and the blue jewellery?

See the vintage blue and white fabric and the birds?

Here's the whole collection...

Sweet bird from a swap with Eli at A Bit of Heaven, English china plate from a French charity shop, and 1930s (?) patchwork from some kind of goodie bag my mother or grandmother rescued from a jumble sale in the '80s!

A bit of frippery

Prompted by Niki's Nostalgia at No.1 calendar, I've sought out a few French soap boxes, silk roses and some swansdown today.... A bit of fun!

Have a suitably frivolous day...

A Calendar Year

As most of you know, I absolutely revelled in Niki's Nostalgia at the Stone House Calendar last year, and used its pictures as inspiration for a monthly collection of vintage goodies in the dull patch under our stairs - coincidentally the first thing you see as you come in though our front door, so a good area to keep looking interesting! I'm going to use a picture of each month's display to do a little review of my year, as I currently remember it. Enjoy the pictures or the text - they tell different stories, so it's up to you which you prefer...January was the month that I got ill, rather than merely under the weather, from my thyroid infection. Not a great start, but a real chance to stop and think, and to begin reading Simple Abundance.

February was ill month number two. Lots more stopping and thinking, most of it very valuable indeed! The boys and I also staggered over to visit my parents, and whilst there I started to get better.

In March things were getting far better for me, although I was still taking steriods which left me rather frantic! I got back into work and learned about how to keep the house rather tidier, partly thanks to my manic spurts of energy... I also really enjoyed the Pause in Lent blogging event with a number of you - a real part of my learning this year.

In April I got over to see my parents again. I bought lots of Roman Mysteries books for Son 2 in the Edinburgh charity shops, and Serenata helped me greatly by sending the last two that I couldn't find! The kindness of bloggers.

May saw a lot of Vide Greniers, including one in our own town where our boys sold off their old toy cars - a bit of fun! I went over to see my parents again - looking back over this year, I'm so glad I went so often. Ben was wonderful, looking after the animals, sometimes the boys too, and sometimes with the help of his excellent mother.

June was my birthday, and we celebrated with a fantastic afternoon tea with friends, using my real(fake) Limoges tea set and with contributions baked by all family and visitors. Ben baked a yummy swiss roll which was upstaged by Son 2's incredible chocolate cake!

July was another month when I took the boys over to see my parents. Once home, we had a wonderful camping trip in the Ariege, where we all truly relaxed. Sometimes it's hard to realise how tense we all get until we can force ourselves to do nothing!

In August Ben's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a gite holiday for all the family - an incredible experience and a most wonderful vintage gite.

September saw a lot of new starts for me - the work I was doing in a school folded, and my hours with a Business Language school took up the slack - so I've gone from working with 11 - 15 year olds to chatting on the phone with very professional English-speaking French business people! I still do a good amount of private tuition with children and teenagers, though. It was also Ben's birthday and we had a really wonderful family visit to the Jardin des Martels to celebrate.

October was the month that my mother's health, which had been blessedly calm over the summer, reached its worst. She died on October 20th in St Columba's Hospice in Edinburgh, following more than two years of coping with cancer. She is the reason that I started this blog and you will notice her influence on it everywhere.

We kept November deliberately calm - returning from my mother's funeral at the end of October meant that we just got on with life and work, taking Son 1 to his many appointments to help measure and deal with his dyspraxia inbetweentimes. It wasn't a bad month. It was a good one to focus on what mattered.

And December has been another opportunity to focus on what matters! The Pause in Advent with the blogging community, and our family Advent and Christmas activities at home, especially with my Dad (miraculously) joining us for Christmas, have been so important.
So what will 2011 bring? It has already brought my new Nostalgia Calendar! And, noting the word 'fragile' on my lovely recup' box here, maybe a bit more admission of my own fragilities. While I was blogging to cheer my mum, I really couldn't mention anything that would cause her concern, about the boys, or about me, or anything... Now, I hope I will be able to think things through more openly, now and then. Nothing too grave - I love a cheery blog! But I know I can count on my blogging friends to bear with me (lol) if I occasionally admit to a frailty... Happy New Year!