Archive for August, 2011

Wish you were here?

Amanda Cottingham | August 30, 2011 | 4 Comments

Well my ‘Show me your Stationary’ this week was going to be some of the lovely stationary my daughter has been given in the last few weeks. I am however going to save that for next week and show you something I treated myself too.

Whilst we were on our Holiday in Devon we visited the gorgeous Killerton House you can see more about it here. It has the great grounds…we took lots of photographs. It’s on my list of blogs I would like to write-up soon (it’s a bit of a long list) But I digress!

Whilst we were there we visited the National Trust shop (you can also purchase things on-line here) and picked up some really lovely things including a scarf for my mum (it was her birthday whilst we were away) a few books and this:

It was £3.00 and it has 25 postcards, in which feature the collections of the National Trust. From fabric, wallpaper tiles and furniture and fabric. I plan on using these more as note cards, I may even use them to make birthday cards I’ve not decided yet. I love the designs on them. They include:

This is curtain fabric designed by Raoul Dufy, in Lady Dorothy’s bedroom at Coleton Fishacre, Devon.

This (as seen on the cover) is a real favourite of mine. Not sure I could cope with a whole room decorated with it. But I would love to own a cushion with this design.

It’s a late 19th century machine-printed wallpaper of peacock in the lobby of the Red Bedroom at Errdig, Wrexham.

And finally this really gorgeous and iconic design:

The Pomegranate wallpaper designed by William Morris in 1866 for Morris and Co.

So who shall I write to first….

Dear …….

Wish you were here

Love

the ana mum diary (gidders) x

This post is linked up to Molly and the princess blog. If you have any stationary you would like to show off please follow this link:

Molly and the Princess

Thank you for reading

theanamumdiary x

Comments make me happy as do follows on my blog

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Silent Sunday

Amanda Cottingham | August 28, 2011 | 13 Comments

Vintage Tea Party

Amanda Cottingham | August 25, 2011 | 14 Comments

Please indulge me on this post, it might seem that I am gushing but I hand on heart love this book! It has everything for me. I absolutely love vintage and the idea of a book that is a guide to hosting the perfect vintage tea party well……

Here is the front cover:

It is divided into 5 sections:

Introduction and Inspiration behind the book.

Which has examples of invites and ideas on sourcing the props.

Brunch

Which promises to have all the gorgeous recipes for a morning tea party fit for a Queen. I actually think this would also be a fab idea for a meet up of mums, for a natter and indulge after dropping the children off at school too!

Afternoon

I’m trying not to give too much away and just tease you with the contents. But just could not help myself with this illustration….so beautiful! Lots of recipes and decorative ideas in this section.

Evening

Eye catching displays…oodles of decadence in this section, it’s all about the glamour. I could not resist these bloody mary shots…they are yum. Need to find me some of those gorgeous shot glasses though.

Style

Your make-up, outfit and hair are covered here, even your fella! There are also thank you notes for you to scan and use.

So this is packed with recipes for food and drinks, decorating ideas and so much more, I can’t recommend this book enough. It is a must for all vintage lovers. I give in a 5/5 and think it would make a great present if you knew someone who loved to cook and give parties whether they liked vintage or not.

Coddled Eggs

There are so many recipes to try in the Vintage Tea Party book …but this really stood out for me. I worked in a shop in the late 1980′s that sold egg coddlers. I honestly can’t remember ever selling one in the on and off 10 years I worked there.

I am including this post as my Magpie Monday post for next week as well. I have hunted high and low for egg coddlers, in the end purchased these:

They match the ones they used in the book which makes me very happy!

I’ve always wanted an excuse to buy some. They bring back such happy memories of my time at The House of Ashley Peake – sounds posh doesn’t it!!

However my cupboards are on a strictly one in one out policy at the moment but I managed to squeeze these in without anyone seeing .

Royal Worcester 2.95 for the pair- what a bargain!! I followed the recipe on page 37 – please note that according to the book the simple rule is ‘if it goes with eggs coddle it’!!

I made two of the suggested fillings for the coddled eggs, a smoked salmon and chive and feta and caper egg, both were delicious.

Go buy this book…you can purchase it in books shops, I have seen it in lots of places now and also Amazon…here.

Thank you for reading

The Ana Mum Diary x

I LOVE comments

This is not a sponsored post, I was not paid in order to review the book. I in fact won the book in a competition on twitter with the publisher, Octopus Books.

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Button Bookmarks

Amanda Cottingham | August 25, 2011 | 8 Comments

Here is a quick project that I did with Miss N to make bookmarks.

We are always looking for bookmarks in our house, I cringe at the thought of putting the book face down or even worse folding the page down, in order to not lose your place.

So we took some length of ribbon, felt and some vintage and new buttons.

We simply sewed them onto the ribbon and felt…quite effective I thought and really simple to do.

Here is how they would look in use.

I love this book…I am mid writing a post about it. Its called The Vintage Tea Party by Angel Adoree, and is a complete guide to hosting your perfect tea party.

I made the two ribbon bookmarks longer, so they would be more suitable for my reference books. Miss N made a shorter version for her reading books…love the cute duck!