Celebrating Home 2014 :: part 2

Hello lovelies,
 I work part time but I'm so grateful it's not full time. I  love being home, having the time to spend with my family, time to do something creative and to notice the little things that make me happy.

This week those little things have included........

Sunlight illuminating the lovely dainty daffodils I'm enjoying on my kitchen windowsill. They have a gorgeous scent .....like spring.....and they are in just the right place for me to get a waft of it as I stand at the sink.....

Watching middle son hiding under the trampoline with my camera to get some more bird shots in the garden. 

This time he captured a LBJ  which I eventually managed to identify as a Dunnock.

New on my mantle are a couple of tiny thrifted houses. I do have a soft spot for these cute cottages. When I see them in the charity shop for a pound or so it's hard to resist........

Their  actual size is a bit smaller than this photo. I think all the tiny details are fabulous, look there is a jacket draped over that teeny wheelbarrow outside the thatched cottage.

I am making the time to prepare homemade food for my growing boys. Yesterday it was Meatloaf followed by some Oaty Apple crumble which I made and froze back in October..........

Yummy

I enjoyed reading all your comments on my first "Celebrating Home" post so much...thank you.

When I can I like to pay a visit to your blogs and I've discovered many wonderful creative types this way.

A lovely comment from Miss Holly lead me to her "Seaview cottage" blog, which was a treat to read.

THIS post on her site then held a link to a famous blogger and published Author I was previously unfamiliar with............. Susan Branch.

Do you lovelies know her work ? 

She does wonderful watercolour illustrations and LOVES Beatrix Potter.

Her two posts ( part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE)  about her visit to Hill Top , the Lakeland farm owned by Beatrix, are so beautifully written and moving...this American  ladies joy a finally getting to visit a place she has dreamed of for many years is contagious .

 It's a wonderful, feel good read and made me rush to gather together the small amount of  books I have by and about this interesting and talented lady..........

A couple of battered story books Mum saved from my childhood....I used to have a lot more and remember "Mrs Tiggy winkle" was a favourite.  And a gorgeous book about Beatrix Potters life that  I picked up in a charity bookshop a couple of years ago.

Beatrix loved her home in the Lake District and often included it in the beautiful illustrations she painted for her beloved children's books. In this picture from "Jemima Puddle-Duck" you can clearly see part of her garden and her front door........

It's been lovely to enjoy these books again after many years.

The wonderful hand painted lettering on Susan's blog also inspired me to try something similar for my own blog. 

One dark evening last week  I drew out my design. First in pencil , then in fine coloured pens.........

Then I coloured it in using my usual coloured pencils.........

I don't think it's as charming a Susan's paintings or as accomplished as Beatrix's, but I'm still rather happy with it. It's pretty and  home made and it's got hearts and flowers. I think it will look nice as a header for this series of posts.

"Where we love is home - home our feet may leave, but not our hearts" Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Jacquie x