The little things in life...: party

Daisy's time capsule (Pinterest project)

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

I have an obsession with Pinterest. I have said it before, but I really do.

For Daisy's celebration day I spotted time capsule ideas and loved them, one of my lovely best friends also spotted them and offered to put one together for little Daisy for her party.

Basically it consisted of a Kilner style jar, some fancy printing for the label and the little cards to write or draw on, some nice messages and doodles by the guests and even some little trinkets as keepsakes with meanings.

Just a few of the lovely things put into it... (We loved everything that was put in, these are just a few!)

For now its displayed nicely on our bookshelf until Daisy is old enough to sit and look through everything in there. The first photo was some jewellery I had for my christening which I thought was quite nice and sentimental to pop in for her.

Lots of love,
Hayley xxx

Party DIY projects and ideas

Monday, 18 August 2014

I love a good party... The planning being one of my favourite bits! I just love thinking of a theme, pulling it all together and trying to be a little creative. I'm probably one of the least artistic people I know but I do have a creative mind at times!

I did a lot of DIY bits for my wedding in Greece and a few parties since like my mums 50th birthday but when we decided to have a little welcoming party for little Daisy I got a bit excited! I'll do a post about her day which was yesterday later separately as we have some beautiful photos but I thought I'd do some of the DIY bits here...

Those that follower me on twitter (@hayleychall1) will know I'm a Pinterest addict! And this fuels my love for DIY projects!!

I love tissue paper pom poms because I love a vintage theme and they fit perfectly. I bought one of two off eBay and then pulled it apart so I could see how to do them myself, mainly because it's cheaper but also because I wanted to do them.

So first you put a few pieces of tissue paper together (5/6) and then start to fan fold it along the longest side...

And tie it in the centre. Shape the ends so they'll look like petals and then start to pull the pieces up layer by layer like the above. YouTube has some good videos :)

Then hang them up to look all pretty!

I love jam jars and their plenty of uses, their uses are endless! So I decided to use them for drink glasses... Some people were not so sure but when they saw them all made up I think they got the idea and they looked lovely, so cute!

I simply peeled all the labels and soaked them and then ran through the dishwasher to ensure they were spotless and then chose some pretty twine and ribbon to decorate! I got the ribbon from Dunelm and I had a few other bits off family to mix it up a little.

The paper striped straws are readily available, I got these from Amazon but I've seen them in Home bargains too and they're nice and cheap but add such a nice vintage touch! I used them for both pimms (of course! You can't have a garden party without it!) and some lovely pink lemonade, which I thought would look beautiful as well as being tasty. Again photos of it all in action will be on the blog another day.

I also used jam jars for the table displays with candles and also flowers.

Another DIY project was the invites. I didn't really need invites as it was just close family and friends coming but hey any excuse.

So with some pretty card and a press cutter to make some lovely little daisies I came up with these..

Lots of love,

Hayley xxx

Thrifty Lollies #2 Lazy Rhuby Rubys

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

My last lolly post was a success with lots of you saying you were going to give it a shot, you won't have gone wrong it was easy peasy!!

At the moment I'm all about using everything that we buy and being careful not to throw food away, we can't afford to and it's such a waste. But something we often do, for example bananas go over ripe and I wont eat them and can't stand the smell!! Yuk! So in the bin they would go.. Not anymore.

We had Jamie Oliver's "Save with Jamie" book and it's great!! If nothing else it teaches you how to use everything up. So we now freeze ripe bananas in freezer bags ready for a milkshake or smoothie!! Anyway back to lollies....

So these are lazy, really lazy. But just show what you can do for hardly any money at all and no time!

This week I fancied something refreshing rather than creamy and after a scavenge of the fridge saw that we had raspberries that needed using so firstly I threw 5/6 into each holder. I then popped in a mint leave, more for appearance really but it adds a tiny tang of freshness too.

This is where it gets bone idle.. Using a pre mixed soft drink fill up the cups. In this case it was Aldi's Rhubarb and apple sparkling fruit crush drink - super cheap and you won't need much. As long as the drink is red and goes with raspberry you will be fine, cranberry juice may go well. Then you are done, in the freezer they go!!

Ta-daaaaaa!

I mentioned something more exotic like Pimms last week- I promise next up will be!!

Lots of love,

Hayley xxx

Cake, Ladies and Bumps... Baby Shower

Friday, 28 March 2014

This week has been so busy with various work and personal commitments and so this is a little late but here is a post on my baby shower as requested by some of you kind readers. It was a lovely afternoon with all of my favourite ladies basically eating cake, playing silly games and chattering! And as you will see opening LOTS of pressies!

It was arranged by one of my best friends along with the help of my sisters at my local pub, it was really relaxed and just really nice to spend some time with the girls before I become a mummy for the first time.

The girls had arranged some games including the following:

Baby Bingo - Basically we all had cards with various baby themed words such as Nappy, Dummy, Mummy etc and the caller shouted out the words and we had to cross them out as we went! As simple as that!
How big is your bump? - A ball of string and a pair of scissors were passed around everyone and they pretty much just guessed how big my belly was at the time! Well... this was interesting. Some of the girls obviously see me being far fatter than I am! Charming! There were 2 girls who got it pretty much exact - no one under - estimated though!!!! Looking back at photos I think I am actually a little bigger than I think I am at times!
Mr & Mrs Quiz - They had asked Ben some questions before the shower such as my worst habit, the name of my first car, what 3 items I would rescue in a fire etc and then the questions were asked to us all - including me! Who ever got the most answers right won. You would think I would know ALL of the answers - but nope i was useless! Or maybe it was my husband giving useless answers :)

I felt so spoilt and over whelmed with how kind everyone was to us, including the cakes that had been made and all of the presents - our little lady isn't even here yet!

I know there can be a bit of a negative feeling around baby showers at times where they can sometimes be seen as an excuse for presents and that its a very American event. I would hate for any of my guests to have thought this though and really just wanted to see everyone. We were really spoiled with presents though, and I did find it over whelming, I am still looking through them and finding them homes, my friends and family really are the most loving and generous I have ever known.