Birthdays & bits 'n bobs

Hello, did you have a special weekend? It was so pleasantly warm and wonderfully sunny here on the South East Coast, I didn't need my polo neck I had packed for our weekend in Brighton. Today is our Alice's 11th birthday and boy did we cake out over the past couple of days. It was lovely to catch up with family and soak up some of the bohemian spirit of Brighton again.

Auntie Fee is a brilliant baker, so Alice was guaranteed to have a delicious Victoria Sponge which we ate after playing some sea-side golf.

My dad played golf most Sunday's when I was growing up and I never realised what an incredibly skilled sport this is to play. So, praise to you Dad for being so good and winning all those prizes and trophy's which I din't really appreciate.

Alice loved her new shawl/scarf in amongst her other gifts, unfortunately it was too humid today to even consider wearing a scarf, but no doubt Autumn chills will be here soon and she will get good use out of it.

It was such a pleasure to make, each stitch made with love and reflection on her little life so far. She did the obligatory snap shop for me this morning with her birthday badges and school uniform on {there was a little "Aaaaawwwww muuuuuuummmm this is for your blog isn't it"}

No sweets are allowed at Alice's school so unfortunately it's just a Happy Birthday sing-a-long at the end of school. Gone are the day's of sticky chewy sweets or lollipops like we had in the 70's. 

Alice is having one of her close friends for a sleepover, pizza and giggles this Friday, so I can expect a grumpy tired girl on Saturday no doubt.

I wanted to show you this very sweet necklace I got for Alice's birthday, I discovered this quirky jewellery designer called Elsie Belle via the internet a while back and just thought this would be a fun addition to Alice's little collection of trinkets and charm necklaces. 

It's the sweetest little harmonica which actually works and Alice loves it. Do go and have a look at her vintage inspired trinkets and charms on the link above if you want to smile ;0)

I also wanted to share this gorgeous tea towel I treated myself to last week. It's designed by Hannah Cousins found here entitled "The A - Z of endangered Community Life" which I thought was a brilliant title and her alphabet covers all those community spirited, old fashioned things like s for borrowing a cup of sugar, f for fireside stories, p for playing outside, u for useful advice from your gran etc. that we often find lost in some of our communities. 

Here's what convinced me to spend a whack of 10 pounds on this tea towel ...

Sweet isn't it? A bit pricey for drying your dishes with but then it is beautiful and functional.

A couple of weekends ago I mentioned a lovely local artist Claire Fletcher who always has an open studio in the Coastal Currents visual arts festival in Hastings and St. Leonards-on-Sea. Anyhow, I got chatting to her and knew at the back of my mind that she did art classes and was fortunate enough to have her slot Alice into her Thursday class for 8 - 12 year olds. It is a beautiful seaside studio in the Stade in Old Town Hastings.

This is what Alice painted in her first lesson a couple of weeks ago, lovely vintage inspired matchboxes.

She's currently making a little bird in a box which I'm looking forward to seeing soon. I think some hand made Christmas presents will be coming everyone's way this year xox

I'll leave you with a picture of a pretty posy I picked for my mother-in-law walking on my way back to her home this weekend, plenty of weeds and blossoms growing in the pavings along Brighton's streets. 

See you all soon and thanks for visiting my blog xox