welcome to my blog!!!!

Thank you for dropping by....i will be blogging about my life in Devon by the sea-side, decorating my 1926 home, vintage treasure hunting from auctions, charity shops , recycling centres and the good old british car booty!! One mans rubbish is another mans treasure! baking, sewing, painting and probably the weather!!!! enjoy!
claireljinks@hotmail.com


Saturday 31 December 2011

Home made presents.

I try and make as many presents as I possibly can for Christmas, a trait I have seemed to have passed on to my daughter Madison....and although I didn't make as many as I usually do, we managed to make quite a few between us....here are the pics of the ones we remembered to take a photograph of!

My bestest present...Madison and her partner Shaun made me a china lamp from vintage tea cups x x I love it soooo much...The Hubster has just told me off for switching it on in the day!!!

I painted some Baboshka canvases for my grandaughters bedroom...
Madison made these hair clips for her daughters along with another set made from rolled fabric roses and buttons and beads....


I of course made cake stands ...this one I had to fight to give away...I think its the loveliest I have ever made........
I made my neighbour a clock from a vintage plate......
Madison and Shaun refurbished a very old scratched 1950's rocking horse.....
They also made jams from the fruits in their old garden...and Dandelions!!! I cannot wait to taste it, I am waiting for Mother to visit to open it ......
Also made were.....a bird feeder/bird bath made from a vintage cup and saucer (will take pics for my next blog entry)...interactive crayola canvases...where wax crayons are glued along the top of a canvas to be melted with a hairdryer to produce art work , hand sewn sock monkeys which were loved the second they were opened, a painted set of 26 ABC pebbles and I distributed home made Stollen to neighbours. We are already planning what we can make for next year..........All made with LOVE x x x

Friday 30 December 2011

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas , here are a few of my favourite images from ours.....
I enjoyed getting the house ready.....

Bringing in the holly and the ivy from the garden....

Making mince pies with grandchildren....
They had to have glitter on of course.......
We even caught a pic of Father Christmas putting our presents under the tree!!!
Our table laid for Christmas dinner, prawn cocktail served in vintage tea cups of course!
And of course lots of lovely pressies....











Please pop back soon when I shall be showing you some of the handmade presents that me and my daughter made.....next year I am hoping to make over 80% of my presents x

Thursday 22 December 2011

Vintage Baubles

I have new tree decorations this year...as many vintage and home made decs as I can find. Here are my latest two....

A snow man.....


And an angel....


Found for 25p at my local charity shop...to some they would be junk! But to me they are a link to the past and the decorations I used to see as a child growing up in the 1970's, where grandmas tree would be full of decorations that did not match and had been used for years and years x

I have taken part in three Christmas swaps this year so will be blogging about those next....
Merry Crimbo everyone x x

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Hello!

Hello everyone....its been a long time since i have blogged....my life has changed since I last wrote on here...my hands are back to normal after four operations and my eldest daughter and her family have moved to the next village!!! I have a lot less time on my hands...I am going to try and blog weekly at the very least from now on.
It has been sooooooo wonderful to get back to making things...like this lovely plum cake.
I have painted this set of canvases for my grandaughters room.............
And started making cake stands from vintage plates but just have to find somewhere to sell them!!!
Lots of people in my family will be getting a cake stand for Christmas... whether they like it or not lol!

I usually have a gold and red tree in my front room.....but this year decided to swap them with the decorations i have in my dining room, which are vintage and homemade.As the tree is much bigger and I have no pennies to buy more vintage baubles I had to get creative and made some mini bunting made from vintage fabrics.....I also made some to hang in the window.

The bunting went wonderfully with the scrabble ornaments I made last year.


Here is a close up of the bunting.....
And a picture of the tree as I put it on...I adore it...what do you all think???



And here is my finished tree....I am looking forward to seeing everyone else's trees .


Monday 13 June 2011

Kind People X

I am a very lucky girl x No doubt about it. People acquainted with me know I am barmy about teacups...and a face book friend who I have never even met, mentioned that he wanted to give me some china he had. It was dropped off for me when I went to visit family and I lugged the box home...................

When I unwrapped the first piece I was delighted..A Royal Albert Old Country Roses tea cup, I had always wanted one, as I continued to unwrap piece after piece I was dumbfounded!!!!!
I contacted my face book friend and told him it was far too generous a gift to accept, but despite my reservations, he insisted , stating that he wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it and use it.
And I most definitely cherish it for the rest of my life.....people are so kind <3

Sunday 12 June 2011

Stuff!

Hello everyone, sorry its been so long , I have been sooooo busy!
Things are going well in my garden, picked my first cabbage yesterday, need a 101 things to do with cabbage cook book, as i have quite a few of these beauties in the garden!
Here are a few of my latest finds...a lovely rosebud teapot,
I love the little rosebud on the spout.
A very pretty 1930's cake stand , Lavender Lady.
I think my house has exploded! Can't believe how much "stuff" I have in my kitchen.......Its now taken over the whole house as we are having a new kitchen fitted...and I have chosen white, pink and duck egg blue!
Poppy has also decided to overhaul her bedroom......her artistic "ness" has exploded everywhere!
I had the honour of doing my friends hair for her 25th marriage blessing........
She arrived like Cinderella...........
And I nearly stuffed her shoes up my jumper when I was at her house doing her hair.....they are so lovely <3
Some more of my recent china finds..........
And THE most gorgeous coffee set...probably the prettiest EVER!
Soooooooooo pretty x
Well hope you enjoyed seeing my pretties and I will try to pop back soon!

Sunday 1 May 2011

My Royal Wedding High Tea Party

Hello, didn't we have a lovely day! I love a good wedding.I invited a few friends , relatives and neighbours around for a Royal Wedding High Tea party. Here are s few pics from the day.
Here are some of the lovely flowers I had for the table.....

They went lovely in my pink jug.

We all had lots of tea while watching the days events unfold.


I put up the bunting I had made.
And we all stood to sing the National Anthem.



I made teapot shaped shortbread biscuits.
This home made lemon curd cake decorated with fresh flowers was the star of the show.
Everyone just loved the dress!Another shot of my bunting, made from scraps and a couple of union jack tea towels.Bunting making could get very addictive, no doubt my whole house will soon be festooned!
In the afternoon, Sidmouth had the best street party of any town that I have seen, the whole town centre was full of tables, this is just one street!!!!

My daughter poppy made these vanilla cupcakes all by herself.
I used a whole box of teabags up!
And we got through a lovely buffet, cucumber sandwiches included of course!
Hope you all had a wonderful day too x