Tales From Pixie Wood

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For You.........
2007-08-15 09:48:00
The flowers in the teapot are for you, to say thank you to you all for the lovely birthday messages that you took the time to leave me. I am immensely grateful and will be spending time over the next couple of days answering messages that have come in via email. Apologies for the delay. LBH is off work for the next two weeks and we are cracking on with the house. We have approximately three weeks until we have to have it in some sort of order so it's great to have him around and helping. My latest SheerLuxe article can be found here! I've got some thrifty finds that I want to show you over the next few days but I really wanted this post to be about thanking you for your birthday kindness. Thank you Lots of love Cherry xx *comments are closed*

I'm Enjoying This Getting Older Lark!
2007-08-10 09:49:00
Waaa haaah heeeyyy!!! Tomorrow is my birthday and I am throughly looking forward to being a year older. It seems at this moment  in time that my younger years were much more tumultuous than the years that I am living through now. I struggled with my twenties, in retrospect of course, but am LOVING my thirties. So, I was contemplating this age and thinking about all the things that have brought me thus far. An age that is not old but not adolescent. One that allows me to marry with complete confidence and think about starting a family. One that gives me the spirit and courage to write about the things I love and to build a business and a lifestyle which is founded and based upon my moral compass and the things I hold dear. So, by way of answering, in a round about sort of way, all the folks that have tagged me, here are some things that I have learnt about myself on my way to being thirty two years of age. Please be aware that they are in no particular order and are fairly...
More About: Lark

The Tools Of My Trade
2007-08-08 09:35:00
    Thank you so much for all of your wedding dress love. I'm now officially very excited about the whole event. It seems that now the dress has been sorted I feel like I can cope with everything else. Everything else in the WHOLE WORLD!!!!! Yay! Although having said all that tiredness is something that occasionally overwhelms me. Does it overwhelm you? On some days I rocket on through the day and never stop. Going from room to room, task to task. I whizz about the place feeling super efficient. And then on other days I feel that it would be easier for me to raise the Titanic from the sea bed with my little finger than pull the bedclothes back and step out onto the carpet. But I really feel that the trick here is not to panic. Sometimes when I'm feeling super tired I can verge on letting myself feel small and a little discouraged. And at times like this I need to remind myself that I am exactly the same person that I was on the day when I was a superwoman (ahem!!),...
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SheerLuxe Article
2007-08-07 11:38:00
My latest article for Shee rLuxe can be found here! Cherry 
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....And All It Took Was Thirty Five Minutes!
2007-08-06 07:48:00
  Summertime finally arrived this past Friday and on Saturday morning LBH and I headed off to pick up our bathroom tiles. This was just before my Dad arrived and both he and LBH cracked on with removing the old bathroom suite. We knew it was going to be a long day, hence the super early start and I'm glad that the sun was out. We ordered our tiles locally, of course, and I kept the car running as LBH popped in to pick them up. I was sitting staring out of the drivers seat across the road and found myself staring into the beautiful wedding dress shop that resides in our town. I had been in once before while out and about running errands and had enquired about certain types of dress. However, as I sat there staring out of one window and into another I realised that they were having a special open day this Sunday. They had a sale that was enabling them to let go of some of the dresses that had been in the store for several weeks and they also had a preview of the new seasons dre...
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Halcyon Days & Why 'Every Little Thing' She Does Is Magic
2007-08-01 10:04:00
Each day I work on a different part of the house. That way I spread the load a little bit, I don't feel imprisoned by one room in particular and I have also found that each time I go back to a particular room I have more inspiration to use in it. The unit in the picture above was found while thrifting in a place called Leominster way back last year. It has been sitting around for all these months and I haven't really known what to do with it. It is sitting on top of some old oak drawers in the guest room before we attach it to the wall. At first I thought that the guest room would end up being rather sweet. I was expecting it to be the one room that would contain various shades of pink and be rather fluffy in it's appearance. But my thoughts on this have evolved now and it is slowly transforming itself into a throwback from the halcyon days of long ago. I like to call them my 'Blyton Days '. Both my parents and LBH and I read the Enid Blyton books while we were growing up ...
More About: Magic , Thing , Litt

Let The Sunshine In!
2007-07-30 09:16:00
Mmmmmm, so this was the front door before. It just wasn't doing anything for us. We needed to brighten, lighten, let the sunshine in and keep the drafts out. We also needed a door that was more in keeping with the period of the house and I wanted a different colour. We needed the house to have a door that said "Welcome! Come on in and stay a while and if you have chocolate you can stay as long as you like!!!!" This shot was taken from inside the hall and as you can see the door made the entrance hall pretty dark. It's not an enormous hallway as it's not an enormous house. So light and the procurement of it is at the top of the list when it comes to redecorating this particular nook. So it happened that all I had to do was to ply LBH and my dad with warm cookies......... .... fresh strawberries with a blob of Cornish ice cream on top and copious amounts of tea for our door to now look like this....... Much more preferable methinks. We went for a fairly tr...
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Waking Up Well
2007-07-27 08:53:00
  This is how I leave the table when I head off to bed. I leave it all set up and ready for the morning. I promised myself that this was a habit I would get into as soon as the table itself had arrived. LBH leaves the house at about 6.40am nowadays and heads off in the direction of the station. I already have my coffee in my hand by this time and I stand at the door in my pyjamas and sweatshirt, with my hair tied up like a big tumbleweed and Boo by my feet. We didn't train or even ask her to do this but she knows when it's time for LBH to leave for the day and she stands at the door with me and says goodbye. The fact that LBH has so little time at home in the morning means that it makes sense for things to be ready to go the night before.   The Bunnykins mugs are waiting to be filled with any hot, highly caffeinated elixir that may pour forth. I adore Bunnykins crockery and I saw these while, you guessed it, thrifting. Seven English pounds for the two of them. My mum...
More About: Well

Ahhhhh, Now That's Better!
2007-07-25 08:58:00
I just had to show you! I think the window looks much better and I'm super dooper happy with how they look. And guess what? LBH chose them!! Yep. We hopped on to the Laura Ashley website on Sunday night and he pointed to these but unfortunately they were sold out. Well, it turns out that they were sold out on the website only. So, after a quick call to my local Laura Ashley store we discovered that they had a pair in stock and in our dimensions. I threw them up onto the existing pole so you could see them. I'm happy with them, they are just what the room needed. I didn't even venture to find a new pole or tie-backs yesterday as I had to make certain that they were going to be staying, but I can have a good search this coming weekend. Things are sweet right now. We have had so many deliveries over the last few weeks and all of the items we ordered many moons ago are starting to trickle through. Our kitchen table has arrived and it feels pretty good to sit down with lunch and ...

An Old Fashioned Girl
2007-07-23 09:45:00
  And so, the renovation moves on apace and another weekend was spent scurrying around doing nothing but house stuff. LBH and my Dad spent most of Saturday installing a new front door to the house, which lets so much more light in that I'm afraid Seasonal Affective Disorder is now a thing of the past. I took lots and lots of before and afters and shall post on this event anon. It was fun and I never thought that one could love a front door with as much fervour as I love this one. It is an inanimate object after all but this does not seem to stop me from squealing and doing a little dance whenever I stand in the hall. I am of the opinion that if you honour your house it will honour you back. By this I mean that you have to work with the style, period and construction of the house and it will, in turn, offer you a haven. A place to go and be peaceful. My sister has a new (relatively speaking) cottage in an old village which is about 20 miles away from us. She has manged to wor...
More About: Girl , Old Fashioned , Fash

And So It Begins........
2007-07-17 19:29:00
August 1st, 2008  ........the search has begun in earnest......

A Cornish Home
2007-07-15 18:07:00
Hello again and thank you so much for all of your blog birthday comments. They were amazing to receive, read, smile at and feel warm and fuzzy over. When my family read the comments that come in from folk they often remark on what a generous and gracious community this is and I am in agreement with them. LBH and I have spent the last week or so down in north Cornwall with Jodie, Garry and the twins (still hardly visible I admit but there is definitely a little pregnant bump appearing around the middle of my sister). This time last year we made the same trip and even camped in the same spot but this year was slightly different. Why? This year, my friends, we own a house! I think I knew deep down that this year I would be constantly on the look out for thrifty bargains with which to decorate the Victorian nook we appear to have acquired and I was rather excited about the wealth of new shops that I would be able to stick my beak into. Cornwall did not disappoint, let me make t...
More About: Home , Nish

I Made It!
2007-07-08 01:02:00
I wasn't sure whether or not I'd keep it up. I thought that it would actually distract me from my business and what it was that I was trying to achieve with my designs and crafting. But I found it was fun. I began to read blogs ALL THE TIME. I read the archives and the current posts. I found ones I adored and ones that just didn't apply. I was inspired, touched and enlightened by the women out there that were just like me. I was a little bit scared at first but I soon got into the swing of it and found that I never really ran out of things to say (ahem!!!!!!!!!!!!!) It has been an extraordinary year for me on a personal and professional level and I am on a path that I could only ever have dreamt of. I have found a voice of sorts and that discovery is tremendously gratifying and freeing. I enjoy freedom. I need it. If I don't have it in some capacity I don't function at all well. I am learning, slowly, not to be afraid of anything. If the worst happens I will get through i...
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Humbled By You, A Lemon And A Lime
2007-07-05 08:14:00
I can't tell you what a humbling experience it was to receive your comments to my last blog post and subsequent emails expanding on your thoughts. I am humbled and in awe of the kindness and generosity that people have shown in the last few days and I only hope that I can repay it, in some way, one day. Thank you, thank you so very much. Something else that is rather humbling, as well as awe inspiring, is finding out that your younger sister is pregnant. LBH and I have known for a while now but I have been unable to tell anyone until the scan has shown that all is well. Jodie and her hubby Garry went off to have to have the scan on Monday and discovered these little monkeys........... Twin One. Twin Two. Apparently they are as big as a lemon or a lime right now. And Jo-Jo finally knows why she has been feeling THIS tired! Congratulations to you both. We cannot wait to see them. Jodie darling, you're going to make a great mummy and I'm looking forward to taking...
More About: Lemon , Lime , Humble , Bled

Branches Of Kindness & Wanting To Make It All Count
2007-07-01 20:27:00
I'm not ambitious in a 'will tread on your head to get what I want' kind of way. I just have a million ideas. Ideas that feel so good in my head and look so good in my minds eye and that I just know people would love!!! Really, really, it's the truth I promise *said earnestly as if I'm trying to convince you* So when I see the front cover of the July issue of MS's 'Living' magazine I feel jealous of the woman. Why? I'm not jealous of her financial position and the privilege of it. I'm not jealous of her houses or her horses. I'm not jealous of the HUGE canary yellow diamonds she wears in her ears, although they are stunning. I am jealous of the fact that she has been able to do what I love to do, but on a massive scale. She has been able to sit in meetings and brainstorm ideas for the next issue of her magazine. She has met with stylists to decide on the palette for her next book. And discussed shots with photographers. And the reason why she has been able to do all of t...
More About: Make , Kindness , Count , Anti , Ranch

The Sweet Simplicity Of Happiness : Part Four
2007-06-29 09:04:00
The Sweet Simplicity of Happiness equals..... The first cup in the morning. Fresh pie in the afternoon........ .....and discovering a pair of vintage (1960's) Laura Ashley curtains fit the guest room window to perfection. When it is simple, it is inexplicably glorious. Have a wonderful weekend. Love Cherry x
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I Will Try To Fix You
2007-06-27 09:22:00
My little one finally grew up. LBH and I had been wondering when she might come into season and sure enough when she did she did it in style. This is as good as any picture I could have taken of her. She would wriggle and squiggle and moan and meow and look generally frustrated, as I'm sure you can imagine. Since moving to the new house we have had to keep the back door closed on an almost daily basis due to the inordinate amount of randy tom cats that managed to sneak into my kitchen in search of the calling madam. Well, we had thought about possibly having one litter with her but the breeder we got her from was simply too busy to help us out and the lineage is rather delicate so we decided to get her 'done'. If only to enable us to have a full nights sleep again. It was harder than I thought, for me you understand, Boo has done nothing but look rather moody occasionally and purr a whole bunch! I was told by the nurse at the vet's as I picked her up that as she is rathe...

What The.......!!!!
2007-06-24 20:05:00
I only put it out there to revive it a little. It had gotten dry sitting in the sun on my kitchen window sill. Mr Slug, I wish a plague on both your houses for eating my basil plant with such wanton abandon. I also hope you have a terrible tummy ache and produce highly embarrassing, bright green, basil coloured poo's for the rest of your days. Phew! Well, that's a weight off. Have a wonderful week you beautiful creatures that may happen to be reading this. Thank you all so very much for your thoughtful, educated, considered and enlightening comments to the last post. I love being female at this moment in history. We have the choice and capacity to do so much and our only downfall will come if we are are judgemental of others who make different choices to us. We are a team no matter what. And I for one am feeling super lucky right now to a member. If you have a moment do stop over at L'Influence. I'm having a Mitford Moment. Love Cherry xx

Super Dooper YOU!
2007-06-21 10:18:00
I was on the phone yesterday to a lovely lady. She is a producer with a production company based in London. The production company itself is fabulous and has some amazing projects under it's belt. We spoke about several things but one of the things we covered was the 'movement', for want of a better word, in this country back to homemaking. Let me explain. If you are reading this and live in the USA then you will have grown up or grown older to the strains of Martha, Mary et al. You, as a nation, have always celebrated the homemaker in a very different way to us over here. We are a small island in comparison and trends are very quick to catch on. For the last few years we have been reading about and living with the concept of the Super woman and the Yummy Mummy. Two female figures who can either do it all or simply have it all. The Superwoman, a woman who can run a home, family and a boardroom and still have enough time to exercise, socialise and make sure she's never caught sho...

The Beast That Is Known As The Bathroom
2007-06-19 06:42:00
OK, first things first. Thank you so very much for your comments with regards to the jam pot covers, I was very surprised actually. They came out of nowhere special and as they were so simple I thought I may be the only one who really liked them. This goes to show that crafting and of course the allusive art of homemaking (ahem!!!) is not a science each and every time but often has much more in common with a feeling, a sense, an eye for what you like. Please dispense with the gingham if you prefer something a tad less 'princessy'. The dimensions are one piece of fabric or oilcloth measuring 13.5 cm x 12 cm and two lengths of ribbon or tie of some sort measuring 58 cm each. Make one hole in each corner of the fabric, big enough to pull the ribbon through while still holding the ribbon firmly in it. Then slide the whole construction on to the jar and hold in place on the top with tightly tied bows. In fact I think I made these covers sound a great deal less practical than they a...
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"Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String...."
2007-06-14 11:56:00
One of my most favourite things in the whole world is strawberry jam. Not raspberry, not plum, not even marmalade but strawberry jam. Seeing as 'jamming' time will soon be upon me, if it isn't already, I thought it might be a good moment to make some super dooper jam pot covers. I love the old English gingham ones that are tied on with butchers string or simply held in place with a rubber band but I wanted something a little more special. I wanted jam covers that were a little over the top and slightly fancy. Jam covers that you may find in a boutique country hotel or when staying with a friend who has nothing else to do all day but make bits and bobs like that. This is my definition of luxury. Simple, useful tools that are made in an altogether non-simple & non-useful way. Who in their right minds would spend this long tying the cover back on to the pot and getting the bows just right? Name one person who has time in their busy day to deal with details such as this when ther...
More About: Brown , Paper , String , Pack , Package

What A Beauty!
2007-06-11 19:37:00
So, LBH and I knew we had to go to the tip (dump, place where you take you garbage/rubbish/things you no longer want) on Saturday. We were heading there and then on to the nearest big town to take a look at some tiles we are interested in for the bathroom. It was a wonderful day on Saturday, warm and sunny, and I have to say that it is the prettiest car ride I have taken in a long time, even if we did end up in what was effectively the last stop before the landfill site. I took heart as we drove in and parked up as I spotted that most of the huge containers were for items that could all be re-cycled and since we were simply disposing of copious amounts of packaging and some wood I knew it would all be put to good use. It was then that I spotted it. Whenever I read one of the housey magazines and admire the home of somebody within the pages my eyes are invariably drawn to the odd bits of furniture that they have used in the place. You know the ones, pieces that were one thing ...
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Chim Chiminey
2007-06-08 16:38:00
One of the more splendid things about having a house of a certain age, the old girl was built was in the 1880's, is that you get to do deliciously old fashioned things to them. In our case we get to have the chimney swept by a real life chimney sweep. By the way, try and keep focus on the chimney breast and not the random television cupboard that is featured on the right of the picture. LBH has already tugged the doors off of it and begun to demolish it in his spare time. Such is his determination to free that particular alcove! Our blessed chimney sweep arrived early on a sunny morning and immediately began to set out his pitch in front of the hearth. He was such an affable chap, local of course, and was more than happy for me to snap away while he was getting ready. He even wore a neckerchief to stop the soot from getting in. I love our sweep! I popped back a few moments later with his requested cup of tea in my hand to be greeted by this site..... Pleased that he was ge...

Much Ado in Tuscany & The Italian Influence
2007-06-06 16:06:00
While we were staying in Florence we decided one day to hop in the car and drive but an hour out of the city and into the Tuscan hills. I knew that we were going to a vineyard to do a wine tasting and to see the cellars but I had no idea which vineyard it actually was. Until I walked into the villa's reception...... This cinematic version of the Bard's play is one of my all time movie treats and it was filmed right here. I adored the film itself and felt joy in my heart from the first moment I saw Emma Thompson as Beatrice sitting seductively in her tree before the opening credits. This is the courtyard in which Beatrice and Benedict have their first of many sparring matches. Note yet more pungent Jasmine filling the air with it's heavenly scent. Just beyond the gate is the location for the scene where Benedict tussles with his deckchair before overhearing a conversation about Beatrice. The wonderful dance in the fountain follows which, we found out through our guide,...
More About: Italian , Tuscany , Scan , Influence

Grazie Firenze!
2007-06-02 16:31:00
  So, we left England on a sunny Friday night, making our way way through the throngs of people that were also heading out of town for the long bank holiday weekend. We flew through the sky as the sun was setting and I took a moment to take in the calm that surrounded us all the way up there in the quiet sky.   By the time we landed in Florence and had made our way to the hotel it was long after dark and was almost touching midnight. We flopped into our hotel beds in anticipation of our first full day in Italy. Ahhhhh  l'Italia bella!!   Mornings in Florence do not disappoint. I peeked through the enormous shutters in the bedroom and was slammed in the face by the strength of the sun. A hot Italian sun that was waiting for us pasty, white English people to go out and frolic in it. You didn't have to ask us twice. After a delicious breakfast with possibly the best coffee I have tasted we headed out of the hotel and I was greeted with this site....... &n...
More About: Firenze , Razi

A Room Of One's Own
2007-05-24 20:17:00
Goodness gracious. If I said "never again" would you understand? I think you would. It started over a week ago with a little tickle in my throat and an odd sense of feeling so, so tired in the afternoon. Then it progressed to not being able to swallow and having a constant headache. Until, on the day of the move, I was dragging boxes out while sweating profusely and my bones were aching from the inside out. It took us four hours to leave our old place and one hour for us to install ourselves in the new one. One hour and the rest of lives you understand. The next day should have been a day of rest but what were that chances of that happening?!?!?! Walking downstairs on that Saturday morning to put the pan on (we need to buy a new kettle) I'll never forget. I was standing in my own kitchen on a sunny Saturday in May before the clock had even reached six in the morning. And apart from feeling like death warmed up I was as happy as I have ever been. It was quiet and it was ...
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Home
2007-05-20 21:37:00
The roses came out. They were out on Friday as we arrived at the new house, weary, with a large van full of everything that belongs in our lives. I'm slightly ill, slightly delirious, slightly nauseous, slightly exhausted and should not be attempting anything longer than a paragraph this evening as it would be more stream of consciousness blogging than anything that resembles any sense. Nobody told me it would feel like this. Had they tried to do so I would not have believed them. Heaven does indeed exist on earth. I'm home. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz........................... ..................... Love Cherry xx
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Recipe
2007-05-14 07:50:00
Take one ugly box, three Cath Kidston catalogues and one David Austin catalogue. Put together with a bottle of glue and some scissors. Throw in Amelie on DVD and the double bill season finale of Grey's........ It's certainly not a work of art and any decoupage artist will laugh at it's naivety but I enjoyed doing it.  Cut & paste, cut & paste....then stand up and watch as a mountain of paper shreds fall off my lap and onto Boo. Hee hee! She enjoyed playing with them but I didn't enjoy having to pick them all up again. Oops! I have actually lured you here under false pretences today because I wanted to explain something. It has been weighing so I thought it best just to get it out there. I am very behind on my emails right now and I wanted to tell you this. In my opinion, and this is only my opinion, a blog is a two way conversation. I don't simply publish a post and sit back and wait for the comments to roll in. I really enjoy reading them and resp...
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Leaving London
2007-05-11 10:54:00
  And so, with exactly a week to go until we close the door on this abode for the very last time I thought I'd show you the area that we are leaving. I think it's acceptable to call these shots pictures of my neighbourhood. I have walked to all of the destinations shown many times and none of them take longer than 30 minutes. I took the picture above while standing on Blackfriars Bridge. I was walking across into Covent Garden to do some shopping and the light was lovely. Bye bye River Thames. I shall see you soon I'm sure, just not as often.   I took this last November. LBH and I knew that we would be leaving town in 2007 so we spent the day doing things in our neighbourhood that we hadn't done before. You know how it is, you can find yourself never taking advantage of things that are on your doorstep. On this day we went to the Imperial War Museum (LBH's choice) and then we hopped onto the London Eye (not my choice exactly but as soon as LBH discovered I had n...
More About: Ving , Leaving

Deep & Meaningful
2007-05-09 21:20:00
  The best bit about moving house (I'm staying positive, can you tell?) is that the home you are about to leave gets the deep clean of it's life! LBH and I have thrown, chucked, recycled, put back in the cupboard only to throw again a few days later, torn up, rolled up, packed up and sealed up and have both been very proud of the amount of  "stuff" we have managed to sacrifice in the name of a new start. Another thing I am liking about moving house (see? still positive, still positive)  is that you simply HAVE to do all of the jobs that you have been putting off. All of  the sneaky, grimy, nobodycanseethatifiputsomethingonit jobs. Today I did the taps. I love doing the taps and the taps were looking baaaaaddddd (top photograph). I took such care to get every little piece of crap & limescale off of the ends of the taps and from within the cracks of the taps. I used a toothbrush, a nail brush, a paint brush, some kitchen paper and finally some ...
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