I haven't been here in a while, I had so many things on my mind and my to do list!!! Firstly planning Annabell's second birthday party was quite time consuming, then it seems like I've got to clean the house every day as we keep on having viewings but no offers! Which is very frustrating!!!! And lastly I've been socialising like crazy with my mum friends and rediscovered my crochet and sewing passion:))

So lets start from the beginning. Annabell's birthday was on the 21st September and my little girl turned 2!!! It seems like so much for such a little person, she is amazing, clever and very polite. I love her more than anything in this world and I would do anything for her (of course within reason)! So her birthday party fast approached and we hosted a rainbow birthday party in our garden for her little friends and a day later for family and family friends.

I prepared as much food and decorations as I could to fit to the theme of this years birthday and here are the results.

Annabell ready in her rainbow thighs.

Rainbow balloons and birthday banner

Rainbow pompons

Rainbow fruit skewers

Rainbow cake

And the inside of the rainbow cake

Lots of delicious layers!

We couldn't go without rainbow cupcakes!

Even mama made an effort and had a rainbow iron on rhinestones!

The house situation on the other hand is far from colourful! Not only we've discovered our estate agent is not very good at letting us know when an appointment has been cancelled but also it seems they just don't know how to sell! I found the latter very disappointing. So the decision has been made today that I will be assisting at the house viewings and showing potential buyers around. Hopefully the fact that I know the house so well and all the pros and cons will work in my favour!

Lastly I have been developing some new products for my company Bespoke Babies, making things for friends and trying to think of how can I promote my business on a budget. Unfortunately with the house move on the cards BB is being a little bit neglected. But as soon as we move and Annabell goes to preschool I will be able to focus more and grow it!

I also discovered that my yarn, fabric and anything crafty hoarding is not going to be very well received by my hubby when it comes to the move so I decided to make a dent in my stash and start making things for us and family. I will be making a couple of little girl handbags and I also have crocheted a hat for Annabell for winter. I used this luxuriously soft alpaca and silk mix yarn in dark pink. It feels so lovely however working with it is a nightmare!! It constantly gets tangled! Anyways I still have one more ball of this yarn and I want to make mittens for A to match the hat. We should soon see how that project will progress;))

Here is the hat I made for my baba:D

I am also quite enjoying repurposing the clothes we never wear into something else that will be more useful. So I have made a couple of pairs of leggings for Annabell for winter from my husbands old merino and cashmere sweaters and I have also made a dress for my little girl out of my cashmere polo neck, which I never even worn!

I was very please with myself because as a self taught sewing person and not having any experience with sewing knitted clothes I think I have done pretty well on the project:))

Ta dah! This is Annabell's new winter cashmere dress:)

The dress looked quite simple and plain so I added a satin flower corsage with a real pearl button in the middle. The flower is sewn on a brooch bar so it is easily removable for washing. 

If anyone would like any advice on how to bake rainbow cakes or for patterns I used to make all the stuff please drop me a message or simply comment:)

Hope you enjoyed my very overdue and very hectic post:)

Mirror Nails

Today I am going to write a little bit about nails, specifically nail polish because I love buying different colours and having my nails painted! As a mum, who has put a few pounds since the baby was born this is something that makes me feel good and gives me a bit more of confidence, even if I'm not wearing any make up:P

 My favourite colour has to be deep red and purple pink but as soon as minx nails have come out with their silver chrome foils I became obsessed! I mean, how cool does it look!!?? I went to the salon to have them done but then changed my mind after hearing they only last a week or so that is if you have a child! I knew it wouldn't be for me, I hate chipped or damaged nail polish/ foils!

                                                                 Those are nail foils!

So my search began for a close enough effect nail polish. I've looked all over the web, ebay, little shops etc. and stumbled across a Chanel silver chrome nail polish. It looks gorgeous, however not only it was sold out everywhere, ebay prices for it were astronomical!

So I looked some more and ended up on a beauty forum. There people were saying how amazing Maybelline Mirror Image is. I had to get it! I found this little online shop that looked like it hasn't been updated in ages, but I thought it was worth a risk.

A few days later my Mirror image came and my gosh was I happy with the effect??!!! YES!

After testing other brands I can say that Mirror Image is as good as it gets! I think it is something to do with their base coat which evens the surface of a nail, but anyway, every time I've got it on there are lots of people commenting how good it looks!

This is a picture from my phone so it doesn't do the polish it's justice!

                                              Do you have any cool/ favourite nail polish?

Baby stuff

We had a lovely catch up with my friend and her little girl. It was nice to be back to our routines and have a little browse in the shops! 

Of course Zara had to be on our list! I am obsessed with their clothes at the moment, I love the pastely and neutral colour scheme! Here is Annabell wearing top to toe Zara summer collection.

Here are clothes I found today I absolutely adore. I think it's safe to say that this autumn/winter colours are pastels, neutrals and greys! And it couldn't look more beautiful!

                                                               

We went to many other shops and The White Company never fails to deliver at least one thing I love. We've seen this gorgeous sweater in pink with light pink heart which was a little too big for Annabell so I decided I will try and make one. I know it won't look as good as the one in the shop but I think it's the effort that counts!

While we are still on the subject of babies I have come across the funniest blog post in ages!!!!

I encourage everyone to come and read it as it is super hilarious, I cried while reading it, especially number 10!

http://www.pregnantchicken.com/pregnant-chicken-blog/2010/9/23/happily-after-giving-birth-10-things-they-dont-tell-you.html

I'm signing off now, hope you all have a good day! xxx

Viva Espana!

As you can see from the pictures, we had amazing holiday in Spain! We spent 7 wonderful days with my husbands family. 

We stayed in La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain. Although it is a beautiful place, most villas have their swimming pools and local shops are not too far away, we found it to be a little too remote for what we would have liked.

Only on one occasion we went to the beach and that is because the cab ride to the beach and back for all of us would be over 100 Euros! 

Local restaurants served good variety of foods. Prices including main dish, dessert and drinks varied from 50-70 euros per couple.

We have also found a small supermarket that was reasonably stocked, however it was very expensive comparing to bigger shop that was further away.

Next time if we decide to go there again we would definitely hire a car!

The temperatures we couldn't complain about as it was scorching hot! and a dip in a pool to cool off felt blissful :))

Anyways those were only little things, on a whole we really enjoyed ourselves and had well deserved relaxing time!

It's back to real life now.

Our house is still on the market, we had a few viewings but no offers yet. The house has to be kept really neat and tidy which is a hassle sometimes...but we always find something to do outside the house not to make to much of a mess.

Today we had a playdate with Annabell's friends which was lovely, and mummies had a good old girlie chat:))

One other thing I wanted to mention is: whoever has Pound world near by pop in and check out their cosmetics isle. I found amazing Nail Prism nail polish by Sally Hansen!!! So grab a bargain while you can, they go for as much as £13 on ebay! 

It's called blush diamond but I also bought one in white ruby.

picture from http://polishedclawsup.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/sally-hansen-nail-prisms-in-blush.html

That will be it for now:) Hope you have a good day. xxx