Unconditional Love

Say hello to William. The newest man in my life has only been here for just over a day and I am already in love. Head over heels. I don't think there is a prouder auntie than me on this earth right now. I want to tell everyone how beautiful his little face is and how big his baby feet are (they are huge for a newborn!) and how tiny his fingernails are. 

Baby William is a little poorly right now. Possibly just a small infection but at the moment he is in his little incubator box and getting some tests done to make sure it is not anything more serious. I wouldn't normally post something so personal on my blog, but this little boy is the only thing I can think of right now. I'd really love it if you can all think lovely thoughts and send good wishes to this tiny little boy and his mummy and daddy. When he comes home he is going to get the biggest cuddle from his auntie Heather...

Old Memories and New Life

As I write this my brother and his lovely wife are in the hospital awaiting the arrival of their first child. In (hopefully) a few short hours they will be brand new parents and I will be Auntie Heather for the first time in my life. It's such an exciting and scary time but we all can't wait to give the little peanut a cuddle...
The impending arrival of new baby Berry has got the family searching through nostalgia. Memories, cupboards and attics have been rummaged through and beautiful treasures have been found. Me and my brother sure had a fun and packed childhood!

The latest nostalgic adventure involved the attic, ladders (perched dangerously on the landing), my brother and a quest for Lego. He was (read: is) a big of a Lego nerd and we had so many pieces dotted around the house, he thought it would be a lovely idea to find it for when baby arrives (although we secretly think it was for him to play with...) Unfortunately, the mysterious Lego has not yet been found, but we did find many other gems that had us smiling and laughing for hours.

My brother, before he grew up and became a (soon-to-be) dad.

Books were such a big part of my childhood. It's possibly why I can't walk past an old book shop without a little peek in. I'm sure Adam (not the brother one! Yes, confusing...) can confirm this, with our hour long stints in Barter Books... But it was still a surprise to see all the books we had saved and stored in little boxes: I'd even decorated some with photos and glitter glue! There was a full collection of Thomas the Tank Engine books, including some beautiful pop ups, that had a rather lovely back story. Safe to say new baby Berry will be an avid Thomas fan. There was a whole host of childhood favourites jumping out of boxes, including a  lovely prehistoric mammals pop up book that I would sit with for hours, just to open the Sabre-tooth tiger's mouth...

Each new discovery flooded the memories back, bringing a new story with it. One of my favourite book finds was the (well loved) Tale of Tom Kitten by Beatrix Potter. The illustrations and layout are just perfect. I really am looking forward to sharing this with a new generation.

I'm quite sure that nothing makes you look back on your own childhood (or new motherhood) than the arrival of a new child. I'm beginning to feel nervous as well as super excited. My brother is going to be a dad. I am going to be an auntie. It's both amazingly exciting and super scary. But I've already created so many things for the new arrival, and have craft projects ready, once we know the name and sex. Straight after this little rummage, my brother brought home a new project for me to get stuck in to.. But, in the meantime, let's bask in the glory that was my childhood epitomised in one photo. Spice Girls and dinosaurs? That's what this girl loved!

Let's get old, old fashioned

I have been taking a rather impromptu blogging break. It has been nice to step back from a few things, collect my thoughts, regather who I am. Sometimes it feels that life is going too fast and just stopping to smell the newly sprung flowers with people I love makes me feel 100% better and rekindles my inspiration. 

There are some new and exciting things coming soon, in this blog and more!, so try and keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime, I thought it'd be nice to show you the latest project and inspiration piece that has been taking up so much of my time of late. I absolutely adore the look of vintage silhouettes, even if it is taking a huge portion of each day...

I hope you are enjoying the bursts of lovely weather as they arrive. Walks in the park in these sunsets are just perfect.

Everything looks better by candelight

Joy Luxury Glass Jar: £21*

Candles are pretty wonderful. They provide light when technology fails us, create the perfect ambiance and fill a room with amazing scents. There is nothing lovelier than a cold evening, lovely company, a warm blanket and a few candles dotted around your space. I, like most of us, have an ever growing candle collection (honestly, I could probably power a small city with the amount I'm storing) but I couldn't resist the chance to try out one of the beautiful candles by the brilliant people at Melt. 

The Melt Co are a pretty special company, hand pouring highly fragrance candles which can take up to 36 hours to produce, their passion and care is clear with every product. I'm not just being biased due to the Lancashire connections, honest... Out of the 30 scents they put into their candles, I was sent Joy, and I think it was pretty much the perfect scent for me. In a luxury glass jar (each scent comes in six product ways), Joy is a refreshingly light floral scent that is certainly not too overpowering, especially considering it's highly fragranced nature. It floats around the room without clinging or feeling heavy. Once extinguished, the scent was still noticeable and gave my room a feeling of airiness, like a wonderfully clear summers day. 

The luxury glass jar that I received features the Melt logo to one side and a rather elegant design on the other, a point which I feel many scented candle companies have missed. A candle is not just a room fragrancer, it is a point of focus, so having the option to display something other than a brand logo or a plain wax side is a pretty great idea. I love how my Melt candle looks next to my new floral print candles, combining perfectly to light up my dressing table (including my beautiful handmade Nellie & Elsie gift box). It really is the perfect addition to me (already overflowing!) candle collection.

"The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched.

They must be felt with the heart.

Joy is the happiness within." 

Lovely Mum Day

Hello there. I hope you are having a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing. I feel just about back to human now after a rather rowdy, yet enjoyable, gig on Friday which was followed by one to many drinks and an embarrassing admission via text to a good friend of mine that I do actually fancy one member of One Direction... Oh the horrors! I wonder if you can guess who...

ANYWAY.... I do hope that your relaxing weekend involves spoiling your mum rotten at some point. Of course, we should be showing our affections for our wonderful mothers throughout the year, but it's always nice to go that bit extra on Mothers day. Everyone loves to be spoiled, right?

Unfortunately, my mum was at work until mid afternoon today (boooo!) so no breakfast in bed for her. But I  made sure that she had this lovely present display to come home to and we had a little celebratory takeaway last night. It was nice to get together a collection of some of my mum's favorite things: like scented candles, lilies, The Body Shop Hemp wash and Cowshed soothing hand cream (both of these beauty products she says work WONDERS and cannot be without!) I also started off with the idea of stitching her a lovely mothers day card, I always feel handmade gifts add a special something, but once I had completed the above design I knew it'd look perfect in a small hoop. This way, she can display it instead of hiding a card away and remember all year round what a lovely woman she is.

Have you spoiled your loved one or been pampered today? Whatever you've done, I hope it was perfectly wonderful.