Grandparents

I had the day off work today so thought i'd go up and see my Grandparents with my mother - which was lovely as always! My grandparents mean the world to me. I am so close to my Nan, she is literally my Wonder Woman! 

We went for lunch with my Auntie in Kingston town which was good! spent a bit too much money...oops! but I never stop! I brought a lot of 'dust collectors' as my mum calls them. My logic is, buy loads of stuff now so that when Nick and I move out our place wont be empty! That's reasonable...right?

I brought my first present for my little nephew today! I got him a little one of a kind, knitted, blue jumper. It's so bloody tiny and cute!!! I'm not a broody type of girl. I don't even like children that much, but I can't wait till he comes along. I just know he is going to get spoilt rotten & be the most loved baby in the world. This is his little cardigan! 

I am a typical sucker for charity shop home finds! I just can't help but see if their's ever a bargin! The other day I found this beautiful jug in a british heart foundation store! £1.99 :)

Finally in town I went in this shop called Tiger. This is a store which opened in 1995 in Copenhagen! I go in the one in Basingstoke & Woking whenever i'm in town as they always have really good bits and bobs. For dead cheap too. If you haven't noticed everything I buy is always really cheap (I can't afford expensive things) - and I love my stuff to have character! So whilst I was browsing around I came across some beautiful little containers. I also collect different types of boxes/tins of some sort! Here are some! 

There's this shop in a little village near my nan's house called Broadway Bargins. Every time I go to my Grandparents I stop off in this shop. They sell everything & anything! for dead cheap. I got 2meters worth of material for £2 and it's good quality stuff as well. The shop has been their for years, my nan used to go there when she was younger! Now it's owned by a bunch of old ladies who know me as 'Jeans tattooed granddaughter' ha ha! So cute though, they're all so lovely and chatty. Was in the shop with my nan for about an hour! It's a tiny shop and is all old fashioned, the floors all uneven and everything's everywhere! But that's why I love it. They have these large chest of draws all full with buttons for 1p-10p. You find the most beautiful, detailed buttons! I collect buttons...So I was in heaven! I brought a couple, as well as a new peach coloured zip for a wash bad I am making & some mellow yellow fabric which has tiny flowers on it. God knows what I am going to use it for yet! I'm sure i'll find some use out of it though. Also some little patches!

I am working in Woking tomorrow so i'm sure i'll pop into some charity shops/tiger/topshop/any store and find a way to spend money some how! I am suppose to be saving, no hope! 

xox

Mandala love.

A couple of people know that I can sit and draw mandala designs for hours, varying from all shapes and sizes! Here are only a small few of what I have done recently! I stick them on my wall incase I need any ideas or what to develop on a different design :) 

Hope you like them! xox

Pool Party

How nice is this weather?! 

I'm normally more of a Winter person, I like all the cosiness that it brings! Cuddling up in bed, with all my blankets, watching a movie. Layering it up clothes and being all snug. - but i'm strangely enjoying it! other than the being too hot to sleep at night! But last night I went down to the river with two of my girlfriends with her puppies, it was such a nice heat. Driving home we go across the hogs back, you could see all the different colours the sky was, with the sun piercing through. It was so beautiful. Makes me feel so grateful to live in such a beautiful area where we have a lot of scenery! 

My weekend has been full of BBQ's and hanging out with the people I love! Friday I had my consultation with my cardiologist about my heart operation I am going to be having in the next couple of weeks. Scared shitless about this, but if it's going to help me then it's what I have to do! I just relaxed in the garden in the evening with my mum, we had some cider and chattered about everything and anything!

A couple of my good friends are all moving house at the end of this month, they have a pool, so with this weather we all made the most of it and had a pool party! I managed to even get a little bit of a tan so now I don't look so much like casper the ghost. A lot of rum was drunk (as always) and a lot of giggles were had. I decided to dance like Justin Timberlake, I think he has some competition!

& Sunday I nursed a slight hangover in the garden with my family. My sisters bump is getting big now, can't wait till the little boy has come! November isn't too far away! I hoping he'll come a couple of days before his due date on my birthday! It would be the best present. 

Monday after work I went to buy Dallas a little lead and harness so I could take him out on little walks as since he managed to get lost he's been meowing to go out. As soon as I took him out he just laid on the floor the poured at the door to come back in! little shit! After he'd gone out a couple of times he has gotten use to it! He looks so bloody cute in his little harness! I want to start taking him places, but I don't think it's the same as a dog! 

Craft Club.

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I've been thinking for weeks now that I could do with a friend to sit and make pretty things with, so i've decided to build a 'craft club' - free, once a week, bring your own materials, have a natter, make cool shit. It's also a good way for new people to meet each other and socialise! I am forever making things so doing as an actual social event will just double how good it'll be! I'm going to think of a name over the next couple of days & design a logo. Also was thinking that our first night we could make aprons with the logo's on and names. Maybe i'm a bit in over my head, but it would be awesome! Going to push for it once i've got a name and designed a logo - i've always got some design idea's in my head! 

I've had a think today about some of the things that could be made. Here are a couple...

✿ Bunting.

✿ Christmas tree decorations.

✿ Cross stitch pillow cases.

✿ Make-up/toiletry bags.

✿ Crochet animals.

✿ Painting rocks.

✿ Jewellery making.

✿ Soap making.

✿ Candle making.

✿ Build a birdhouse.

✿ Flower pressing.

✿ Lavender smelly bags.

So I've thought of a couple ideas. Once it all goes ahead and I get a solid group of people who I know will be really in to it I can make a group on Facebook maybe & everyone can have an input on what they want to make, so it would be different each week! 

I would love if this actually went ahead! 

If anyone is interested drop me an email at cummins.laurel@googlemail.com & i'll start getting it all under go! Or facebook me! :) xox

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Homemade banana bread.

I very rarely cook so when I do I try to make the presentation amazing and taste even better! I've made this a couple of times now, it's always come out really well so thought i'd do it today as I had some spare time & the banana's were about to go off! Sounds horrible by saying the banana's are going off, but it's when they're best for banana bread!

Here are the ingredient's I have used! 

✖ 285g plain flour.

✖ Pinch of salt.

✖ 110g butter.

✖ 225g caster sugar.

✖ 2 organic eggs.

✖ 4/6 ripe bananas.

✖ 85ml milk.

This is such a easy thing to make. Prepping time is about 15 minutes and takes around an hour to cook - depending on how crisp you like it & how long it takes to cook through (Mine always varies!) 

Starting off I put my oven on Gas mark 5. After weighing out all my ingredients I popped the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, just to soften it up a little bit so i's easier to mix with the sugar. Once that had gone all fluffy I added to to the flour. Along with the milk, caster sugar, salt & eggs. Once that has been all stirred together, with all lumps and bumps gone I mashed the bananas up with a fork in a separate bowl then add to the rest of the mixture. & pop in the oven.

I added some brown sugar to the top of the mixture before placing it in the oven just to crisp it off a little. I also added some sliced banana's after as in my home there's always loads of cakes around so you knew what it is.

Here's some pictures of the final outcome!

Happy baking! 

P.S. look at what else to do with ripe banana's!http://www.thekitchn.com/dont-toss-them-10-uses-for-rip-14988

Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary.

So my weekend was pretty good! my sister and her fiance came home from Nottingham for the weekend for my Grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary. I still can't get over how two people can be that in love for over 60 years! It's so humbling. The fact my parents have just done there 30 years together amazes me as well, they have been through hell and back over the years but still have never questioned their love for each other. It's so unheard of in this generation. Makes  me feel so content with the fact that it is what I want in my future. To be so loved up, for so long. 

On Friday night Nick and I ended up getting drunk with my sister, Rhea & her fiance, Kieran. I like it when they come down, because they live up in Nottingham we don't get to see them a lot!

Saturday my family had a massive party for my Grandparents. It was such a lovely day, the sun was shining, BBQ going and a lot of rum punch was drunk! Nick ended up getting quite drunk, not that it's difficult! My mum and auntie terrorised him, poor thing! We all played games through out the day, like snail racing, cricket, etc.. two games which my mum & Auntie thought it would be funny to pick on Nick at was a food tasting challenge. The rest of my family got things like fruit corners and nice tasting stuff. Nick got, cinnamon, coffee, cat food, horse radish, mustard and tons of other stuff ha ha ha! He ended up spitting it out over the table! Second challenge they gave him was a "I may be a relative - GET ME OUT OF HERE!" game where he had to guess what he was feeling inside the box. Poor boy had to guess things like chicken feet, a lamb kidney, pigs ears, sheeps heart & black pudding ha ha ha! Some may say my family are wrong, they are correct.

But all in all it was a lovely day! Sunday how ever was a lot more stressful as my house cat, Dallas, managed to get out! We've only lived round my area for a couple of months so we panicked at the fact he wouldn't find his way home! & the fact we had a fox bring a dead cat into our garden a couple of weeks ago! There wasn't much we could do during the day as it was so hot and I knew he'd be asleep in someones garden in the shade somewhere so we left it for a couple of hours. We went round our friends house who has a pool & BBQ for a couple of drinks so that was good to take my mind off of him! But when we got back Nick and I went on a 2 hour search for him. We ended up finding him in an abandoned house around my area! Little thing ran straight out to me! bless him! hasn't left my side since.

Monday we had good news that my sisters baby is all healthy & she is going to be having a boy! It's a bit daunting considering my families all girls! But he is going to get SO spoilt. Can't wait! He's due on the 22nd November, 6 days after my birthday!! Not long :) I have also received some good news at my job which I don't want to jinx by telling everyone! So fingers tightly crossed it all goes to plan :) :) 

Here are some photograph's of my weekend! Hope everyone has a lovely week & enjoys the sun! 

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Stick & Poke Friday Night.

So last night was fun! Just hung out with some of the girls and did Stick & poke soot balls on our self's. I decided to do mine on my shin. Bad decision! I also re-touched up a heart and anchor Nick an I did last year. Look's so much better now as before I did it with a sewing needling instead of a tattoo needle, ha ha! I just order some black tattoo ink so I can do a couple more little things on me!

I'm thinking about starting a decent size piece on myself and just add to it every now and then. I was thinking a mandala. I'll draw one up & just get the outline down as much as possible and then just add to it every so often. Problem is I want to do it on my knee. Ouch! It'll look so good once it's done though and i'll be so proud of myself. Ahh I gott'a do it!