Vintage Style Greetings Cards

Hello friend!

I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was pretty busy since it was my Dad's birthday, but we had such a lovely time. It was great to spend time with my family, it was one of the best weekends I've had for ages.

This photo is the birthday card I gave my Dad. I wanted to share this little idea for making your own greetings cards from postcards. It isn't really a tutorial, just a suggestion. I had a lot of vintage postcards left over after our wedding (I'll have to tell you more about that some time!). I really wanted to use them, but lots of them were already written. I simply bought some card blanks and these lovely old fashioned self-adhesive photo corners (which I got from Paperchase) so that I could turn the postcards into greetings cards. I love the fact that you can still remove the postcard and read the message on the back, and the person who receives the card can even reuse the postcard.

I used these vintage postcards, which I bought quite cheaply on Ebay, since I already had them, but there is no reason why you couldn't use new postcards as well, or your own photos. I just love the poems and mottos you get on old postcards, like this one, with its wish that your birthday is "right royal"!

This is such an easy way to make unique handmade cards, give it a go!

Collect Champagne Corks

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my little collections over the next few weeks. I love collecting things, and have all sorts of little collections on the go. It gives me some focus when I am shopping at charity shops and car boot sales, and collections can make great displays for your home.

I thought I would start with my collection of corks. I know this sounds completely tedious, but they are not just any old corks! I like to keep champagne corks from any time we have a special occasion - a wedding, a birthday, New Year's Eve, a new baby. I write on the cork to remind me when it was from and keep them in this great vintage tin. Looking through reminds me of so many special times gone by. It may be unusual but I love my cork collection!

What do you keep? How do you store and display your collections?

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When life hands you lemons...

...Put them in the vintage enamel basin you bought at a jumble sale! I bought lots of cheap lemons today at the market, I'm really excited about recipes for making preserves out of them! I'm thinking: lemon barley water, or limoncello, or lemon curd, or Moroccan preserved lemons... Ah the possibilities! What's your favourite way to use lemons?

My Wedding: The Rings

Hi friend!

One thing I wanted to share with you over the coming weeks was some details from my wedding. It was back in 2010 - our two year anniversary is coming up in May! When I was planning our wedding I had a very small budget and a short time frame (engaged at Christmas, married in May) so I was always looking for help and tips! I loved reading wedding blogs and sites to get inspiration, and I thought some of you might find it useful to know what I did and what I learned.

The first step after we got engaged was to buy an engagement ring. I knew I wanted a vintage ring, and while Dan insisted he wanted to pay fir it himself, I didn't want him to spend more than he could afford.  So, we went to one of my favourite local shops, the Ampthill Antiques Emporium. This place is a real treasure trove. I tried on a few rings, which was SO exciting, since we'd only got engages the night before! We picked out this ring together. It is a diamond with gold and platinum setting, and it fit me perfectly without any adjustments. I think sometimes you have to pay attention to these signs! I don't think it is super old, but I love the sparkle of the diamond, and the old fashioned style. It was priced at £95, I don't mind telling you, and the shop knocked off £5 for cash! I love my ring and remembering that special Christmas Eve when we bought it, and I love that it wasn't new or expensive. My top tip to you would be to look out for a second hand engagement ring in junk shops, antique shops and charity shops. For me, it was really important that the ring felt like us, and it is not our style to spend lots of money we don't have on fancy bling.

My wedding ring is a family ring that belonged to my Dad's grandma, and was passed down from his mum. Again, this one fit me exactly with no adjustment, and I love the fact that it is an antique and a family heirloom. I hope I will be able to pass both these rings on down my family tree one day, and love to imagine the life they must have had before me - and after! It is always worth asking in your family if there are any rings that you could use, it is surprising how often older relatives have family jewellery they have inherited tucked away in boxes and drawers, and they are usually really pleased to think these things can have a new life and mark a new marriage.

What is the story of your wedding rings? What do you think of buying them second hand?

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