A little piece of England for you

I've been away for a few weeks back home in the UK and spent some lovely time in The New Forest, known for it's thatched cottages and wild ponies, my kind of place!  I took plenty of photos to be able to share with you all.  One of my favourite visits was Furzey Gardens, recent Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Winners .  Lots more photos to share soon after my very exciting Launch Party next Thursday, that you can read about at the bottom of this post!

 Loved this cat, next to his Chelsea Pensioner Scarecrow!

 Little Fairy Doors were all over the gardens to see for those that believed!

I have been working very hard on a brand new range of Duckling and Lily inspired illustrations!  I would love to invite each and every one of you to my Little Duckling Launch Party I'm hosting in my Garden and right here on my Blog next Thursday August 2nd, all day long.  There will be lots of new friends to meet amongst the flowers, products to delight in and plenty of Cake for all!  I'm so excited to see you all back here, do invite your friends and family to join in the fun, the more the merrier!

Baby it's cold outside!

Brr-r-r-r-r-r- what a few cold weeks it has been here in Belgium.  After a very mild winter, crocus and daffodils starting to spring up in the garden Jack Frost appeared in all his glory!  It has been wonderful to have bright sunny days, we've had 2 weeks of not going above freezing, -10 most days during the day, which for here is vvvvery cold!

Very busy behind the scenes with orders and working on a new Spring/Easter collection which I can't wait to share.  Right now I'm trying to get everything ready before I go home to the UK to visit family from Feb 15th-22nd.  My Etsy Shop will remain open whilst I'm away but I will be sending anything ordered during this time out on the 24th Feb.

I've been out de-frosting the water for the birds in my garden every day and topping up their food as they are kind enough to let me act like a papparazzi!  I will let the photos do the talking.

I'll be sure to take photos back in England so look forward to sharing with you when I get back.

Stay Warm wherever you are in the world!

Hugs

Catherine

x

Just imagine....

... living in a place like this!  On my recent trip back to the UK we visited this beautiful property, Ightham Mote, a 14th Century Moted Manor House nestled amongst the hills of Sevenoaks, Kent.  You can imagine the stories this building could tell, in 1953 it's future was secured by an American saviour, Charles Henry Robinson, who had been smitten by this dream house since seeing a picture of it as a young man.  Much of the inside was closed off for the winter season but the living quarters downstairs were open and they gave a wonderful nostalgic feel as to how he lived, couldn't you just imagine reading a book by the fire with the christmas tree all decorated and old tunes on the radio?!  It certainly whisked me away to times gone by.  I'll let the pictures talk for themselves so I hope you'll enjoy this festive post now that December has joined us!

Thanks for visiting

Catherine

x

Join me for a Tea Party?

Hi everyone, sorry for not being around in blogland much lately, I've been so busy with custom orders & photographing new products, editing photos and listing in my Etsy shop, not to mention getting my Facebook page all set up.  I'm nearrrrly ready to share my new paper range, with people that love gardens in mind, so not long to wait I promise!  

For now I've got some other new little friends to share with you to join the rest of my Friends for Tea paper & party range.  I felt they deserved a new photo shoot so I set up a Tea Party and had cupcakes as a reward after a long day!  Enjoy these new cheerful Cupcake Toppers, Mini PDF Cake Bunting & sets of the prettiest oval Gift Tags (also available as Food Labels for parties).  All available now in my Etsy Shop.

Freshly picked Blackberries from our local forest!  

Right, back to work, thanks so much for hopping by, it's always really good to see you, Catherine x

Childlike delight

As a child do you remember playing Pooh Sticks over river bridges, watching to see who's stick came out the other side first?  Well I certainly remember this and so it was with great childlike delight that we found the original Pooh Sticks bridge that Christopher Robin actually played at and most likely inspired this in Winnie The Pooh.  It was quite a challenge to find, but eventually our persistence was rewarded, it is looking rather tired but I guess I'd be rather tired if I was that old!

From Sussex we drove on through the ever beautiful scenery of Dorset, spending the day at the National Trust Property, Stourhead with its iconic temples and bridges nestled in amongst the tapestry of trees.

My new website is almost ready to reveal to you all after a long time in the making.  I've also started on a new embroidery pattern, so watch this space for lots of news!  Take Care, Catherine x

Roses galore!

I'm back safely from the most wonderful trip back home to England, travelling across Sussex, Dorset and into Devon.  We visited gorgeous gardens nestled in amongst rolling hills, Winnie The Pooh Country, wild ponies on Exmoor & breathtaking coast.  Having taken more than 1000 photos I need to sort through them a bit, but will share a small selection so you too can share in my journey and escape into these worlds for a while.

So to start off we visited Borde Hill in Sussex,  their rose garden full of many David Austin roses was enchanting.  I'll let them talk for themselves!

Now I'm back busy days getting orders out and starting on some new custom projects.  To have some fun I've just launched a Christmas In July Sale in my Etsy Shop, just enter the Coupon Code CIJ2011 at checkout for 15% discount off everything for a short time only! There is also a very special sale on my Bears, go and say hello here. Lots more photos to come soon.  Thanks so much for visiting, It's always a treat to see you. Catherine x

Wishing you sun filled days!

Hi everyone, well after rain storms that felt like they would never stop we have now got a day of scorching heat!  I've been busy in the garden planting some lovely new Perennials and had an audience from my nosey neighbours!

Getting all packed up to head back home to England for a holiday in Devon, so will see you back here in a few weeks with LOTS of photos. If you order anything from my shop  whilst I am away I will send everything out after 8th July.  In the meantime I wish you all lots of happy sun filled days. Catherine x

Dream Studio

Recently we went to a wonderful Garden Fair held in this place. I took lots of photos which I'll share with you over the coming week, firstly I thought I'd start with some wonderfully cosy places I could imagine becoming my dream studio, nestled in amongst a cottage garden! One can always dream! How about you, would you like to create your own little world to escape to in these?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Catherine x