Special Delivery

I haven't been online much the last couple of weeks, only to check my emails. Most of my time has been spent delivering these.

It's not something I do regularly, in fact this is the first time I've done it - but needs must and all that. It can be quite monotonous so whilst on my rounds I decided which houses I would like to live in and which I wouldn't. Some made me feel very dissatisfied with my own house and some made me feel very grateful. I re-landscaped gardens and tried to peek inside front rooms. I also made some observations about being a delivery person.

1. A trolley-load of phone directories is very heavy.

2. The phone directory has been cleverly designed to be bent and squashed through even the smallest letterboxes.

3. If you aren't careful, some letterboxes could snap off your fingers.

4. People who happen to be outside and helpfully take the phone directory from you are not being helpful - we have to mark the delivery method on a sheet (the default being letterbox) and this slows us down.

5. Letterboxes are not always where you would expect to find them, one house had the front door fitted upside-down with the letterbox at the top. I couldn't deliver to that one.

6. All that walking is very good exercise, but I don't think I'd want to be a delivery person full time.

All this extra work didn't leave much time for thrifting, but I did manage to pop into the charity shops one day after job no. 1 last week and found the beautiful candlesticks at the top of this post - it's been a while since I found anything that made me catch my breath like they did.

This is my own front door - UPVC - I don't like it, not one bit, but it came with the house. Sadly the previous owner also removed the original tiles and brick ledges. I won't even start on what he did inside the house!

Anyway, I've put a few plants and ornaments out there to distract the eye. Shelves, cherub and ceramic flowery orbs in the porch.

Greenery and moon-gazing hare outside, plus tiny mouse on windowsill.

I could really do with some spring colour in those pots, but I probably shan't get around to it.

I much prefer my neighbours front door across the road which has the original intact. Her frontage is also much better tended than mine (but then she is retired). I wonder if she'd like to swap houses with me. Still, the positive thing is, when I come out of my front door, my view is her pretty door, whilst her view is my not so pretty door.

I do have an original 1930's front door stashed away - I rescued it from another neighbour who was replacing his (with UPVC) with the idea that we could replace our 'not to my taste' front door with a lovely original one. We haven't yet, but maybe one day.

I ordered some Moo cards last week, they should be here soon, I'm so excited about them, here are a few of the pics I used (blasts from the past):

Thank you Clare at Daisy Darling for awarding me the Kreativ Blogger award - check out Clare's lovely blog and website if you haven't done so already!

My posting may be a little sparse over the next few weeks as I really need to get on and make some things for the Vintage & Handmade fair, which is looming a little too close for comfort now.

Enjoy your week!
Lucy x

Perfect Fit

Do you like my dressing room - lovely isn't it.

I wish it were mine, sadly not. It's the fitting room in a charming charity shop I came across at the weekend.

On Saturday I took a trip out to the Stroud Rag Fair. It was such a lovely day that on the way back I took a small detour to the village of Minchinhampton which I knew had a couple of charity shops - 'posh' ones I'd been told, but I thought I'd have a look. The fitting room was in the Dorothy House Hospice shop on the main street.

I was so taken by it I asked if I could take pictures - the manageress was delighted, she said a lot of people commented on it, which she had taken great care to create and was (I think) rightly proud of.

Patrick Swayze and Audrey Hepburn keep you company as you undress! Being a bit shy of them I didn't try anything on myself. I would happily have bought some of the fixtures, but they weren't for sale :-(

Pretty pink fairy lights around the mirror, there are three mirrors altogether for a good view all round. The rest of the shop was very well kept too and though I didn't find anything to buy it was a delight to visit.

Minchinhampton itself is a pretty village, I loved the matching green on this door and railings.

Wouldn't mind living here:

Small villages at the weekend can be spookily quiet, it felt a bit strange walking down a street and seeing no cars or people.

I almost didn't go into The Trumpet (what a great name) antique shop, looking in the window it looked like it might have 'posh' prices.

But I did and was pleasantly surprised to find these two ladies well within my budget.

They need a bit of attention, but that's fine by me.

I love these sort of days out where I don't follow a particular plan, please myself and find nice surprises along the way!

p.s. I did buy some goodies at the Rag Fair but guess what - I'll post about them another time(hee hee!)

New Girls and one Departing

Hope you enjoyed some sunshine this weekend. I have put a few more Lillipegs in my shop today - quite a colourful bunch really.

Thank you for all your lovely and amusing comments on my Maybelle March giveaway - winner will be announced later this evening!

... random number generator said no.1 - Shabby Chick of Country in the Town blog - congratulations. Miss Maybelle is packing up her belongings as I write!

Good Home Wanted

You may remember this makeover I did last year of Miss Maybelle March bunny. I bought her in TKMaxx a few years ago, she wore a rather uninspiring beige checked dress and desperately needed a new outfit.

Since the makeover I'm afraid she hasn't been treated very well, stuffed into corners or dumped in cupboards. There is just no room for her in the Bloom house and she's about had enough! (who can blame her?)

So, with it being March and Easter coming up it seemed appropriate to allow her to go to a new home, one where she will be loved and cherished and given pride of place.

If you would like to re-home Miss Maybelle, please leave a comment on this post before 8pm GMT on Sunday 15th March. Anyone, anywhere can enter, but remember, a bunny is for life, not just for Easter!

One thing leads to another

It started innocently enough when I was looking for a place for this pretty thrifted lamp - I teamed it with a shade I'd had for some time and it's my absolute (current) favourite.

It looked just perfect in this spot.

Unfortunately nothing else did any more, a drastic re-arrange was necessary. So a shelf which once looked like this...

now looks like this

Goodbye chintz, hello red!

I loved this bright new look, for a couple of weeks, anyway - then along came this...

It's all different again now - but that's for another post!

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Thank you for all the lovely comments on my last few posts, I might have to admit defeat this time and not manage to get back to everyone, hope you'll forgive me!

Lucy x