Liebster Award

I have been nominated for a Liebster Award! An award for bloggers with less than 200 followers. Well what a nice idea and how very lovely of A Girl I Know to nominate me! I feel very honoured indeed.

So here are the rules:
1. Each person must post 10 things about themselves
2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged
3. Choose 10 people and link them in your post
4. Go to their page and tell them
5. Remember no tag backs!

Ok so from the start, 10 things about me:
1. I was once on Big Breakfast with other people with the surname Lemon or Orange. I met Zig and Zag.
2. I love nothing more than going out dancing. I hardly ever do it these days but I love it.
3. On my wedding day my husband and I managed to lose our wedding certificate
4. I am NOT a morning person
5. I have 2 brothers
6. I am slightly addicted to Instagram
7. I love marmite
8. I am never happy with my hair colour/style
9. I wish I could live in a hot country so we could all eat outside every day
10. I can't drive and I'm 31! oops.

Questions from the tagger A Girl I know:
1. Ever been to a fancy dress party and if so what did you go as?
I haven't but if I did I think I would go as a lemon
2. Do you have any OCD tendencies?
Yes, definitely. I do like a tidy house and things in their place but I guess all that will have to change with 2 boys!
3. What is the worst outfit you have ever worn?
I used to have these tight white trousers that I wore with a sparkly cropped top, I hate looking at the photos now! I had quite a few bad outfits back at uni.
4. If you had to do karaoke what would be your ultimate karaoke song?
Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time _ I sang it on Singstar once and wasn't actually too bad.
5. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?
Italian style - parma ham, mozzarella, olives and crusty bread - love it.
6. What is your greatest fear?
Illness in my family.
7. As a kid what did you want to be when you grew up?
Thanks to Kylie I always wanted to be a famous pop star.
8. Name 3 favourite films?
Tricky. I think it would have to be Leon, Secrets & Lies and Little Miss Sunshine
9. If you could go back in time, where would you go and why?
It would have to be the 60's America, with those amazing dresses and big hair.
10. Name 3 things you like about yourself.
I like my eyes especially now my little boy has the same eyes! I would also say I like my feet, I have a tattoo on one foot of 2 stars that I had done after I got married. I like that I can always make my husband laugh.

My questions for the people I tag (below) are:
1. Where in the world would you most like to visit?
2. What song always makes you want to get up and dance?
3. What was your favourite cartoon as a kid?
4. What is your favourite room in your home and why?
5. What is your most treasured piece of jewellery and why?
6. What was your best holiday and why?
7. What is your favourite quote/lyric?
8. What is your favourite book?
9. Which item can you not be without on a daily basis?
10. Are you a tea or coffee person?
11. What was the last film you watched?

The people/blogs I love to read and think deserve a Liebster award are:
1. Feisty Tapas
2. Lemons for Lemonade
3. Poppy Lauren Vintage
4. Meanjar
5. Tales from Mount Pleasant
6. With You in Mind
7. Lavender Attic
8. Cherry Coloured Twist
9. The Savvy Crafter
10. The Custards

I hope you can take part.
Love Lemon x

Cool Stuff for Boys

I am searching again for cool, vibrant things for my little boys room. We are expecting another boy in September so the room will eventually be for them both to share. I wrote a post back in October with some boys room ideas. I wanted to re visit these ideas and look for more now that my little boy has moved to a bigger room and will have a brother to share it with.

I have lots of things to share with you and anyone like me struggling when it comes to boys and looking for more than just pale blue! 

I really liked the bright colours in this boys room, it was very inspiring and a great starting point for my search:

I particularly like the mix of so many different bright colours and the large print above the bed. I also love the blackboard table and stools. I couldn't find the table and stools online to buy but it would be so simple to buy some chalkboard paint and make one of you own. I wrote some information on chalkboard paint to use in this post back in October.

I like the name by the bed and think this is a great idea if you have 2 sharing, a name above each bed:

These name wall stickers are just £5 each letter.

There are so many wall stickers to choose from that really add some fun to kids bedrooms. I particularly like these ones:

Space Invaders!

Robots!

Or a retro style framed picture, like this very sweet Lion print:

If you have the space inside or out these teepee's for kids are great, I know my little boy would love a den of his own like this:

I came across some great accessories for boys rooms, I love the Cath Kidston cowboys print which you can buy bedding, cushions, wallpaper and towels or buy the fabric yourself and make your own bits. 

I also found this vibrant cloud curtain:

There is also bedding and wallpaper in this cloud pattern.

The orange used in this bedroom looks great:

I found this on an American site but found similar robot bedding (see below) which you could add an orange quilt to like the room above:

Of course I like to look for some vintage bits to add, I often see vintage desks and chairs when out thrifting. Here is a great vintage desk:

I also came across a great website Molly Meg that sell some truly individual vintage and modern furniture for kids and retro toys too. I love this red 70's chair:

If you have any great websites or your very own inspring boys rooms please share!

Love Lemon x

I Love Thrifting

The last few weeks have been good ones for thrifting. I do love finding new things for my home and at a good, sometimes amazing price!

Here are a few recent finds:

I found this St Michael melamine tray in my local charity shop for just £3. I love the yellow flowers and vintage pattern. I decided to keep it displayed behind my hob.

I absolutely love this very pretty cotton vintage nightie that I found for just £4.

This Irish linen tea towel was just £2. I loved the bright colours and bold pattern.

I went to a vintage market at the weekend, a bit of time to myself to browse the stalls and I found some great vintage bits and pieces:

A friend loves this set so I bought these 5 for her for just £15.

I have always loved the look of these cool retro soda bottles. I finally found a green one perfect for my sideboard. I picked this one up for just £5. You can even still buy the gas to create the bubbles! I feel the need to have a 70's inspired dinner party!

A very cool 1960's Pyrex coffee pot that I got for £5. 

I also picked up this very cute enamel bowl for £3. 

Have you been thrifting recently? Please share your finds!

Love Lemon x

Pretty Purse

Another friends little girl turned 2 this week so I decided to make a little fabric purse for her. I bought the cutest Miffy bag so the purse would be perfect to go inside. I used this pink candy stripe fabric and lined it with a colour polka dot fabric, then just added a heart button and yellow ribbon. See my tutorial for making a simple fabric purse here. You can adapt the size and fastening and add anything pretty you like!

Love Lemon x

Vintage Heart

I have had this pink vintage fabric for a little while and no project in mind for it (I have a lot of fabric waiting for projects!). I decided a heart cushion for a little girl would be best and when a friends little girls 1st birthday came around I decided to make it for her and personalise it.

I have always liked pink and yellow together and I used pink stitching around the F too.

Love Lemon x

Easy Organising

My nesting instinct at 27 weeks pregnant seems to have peaked!

I have been re organising and trying to make choirs easier for everyone. I decided to buy some very basic washing baskets and add my own letters L - Lights and D - Darks. I love that my washing baskets look a lot more colourful now too.

Have you seen any great ideas for keeping an organised home recently?

Love Lemon x

Cushions

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. A pretty chilled one for us spending some time in the garden, sorting out the pots and patio, I did lots of sewing and we went swimming. I can finally say I have completed the 2 cushion cover projects! I had fabric and zips perfect for the job that seemed to sit in my sewing box for a good few months. I finally got around to making them, it's nice to see the pretty fabric out rather than hidden away in the office.

I bought this fabric as a fat quarter and loved the pattern and yellow colour. I decided to make it into a cushion and bought some plain yellow fabric from the same collection for the back.

I have had this fabric for over a year, I bought it as a scrap piece of Amy Butler fabric and it's so nice to finally make something with it.

It really is the easiest thing to make your own cushions, it means you can decide on the fabric you want and the size. I plan to make lots more and replace all the cushions on my sofa.

I am slowly making my way through the list of projects and ideas for my living/dining room. I posted about these here. I am adding ideas as I go along and using my colour palette board. I will write a post when I have done a few more things to show you the progress. Next on my list are curtains and finding the perfect fabric.

Lots more crafty projects to come on the blog this week!

Love Lemon x

V&A Ballgowns

I had such a lovely and very girly day out last weekend. I went to London with my three sisters in law and mother in law to check out the new Ballgowns:British Glamour Since 1950 exhibition at the V&A.  

It was nice to see London again and on such a gorgeous sunny day. In true London tourist style we took a black taxi to the museum from where we parked.

The exhibition was a mixture of old and new couture dresses. Such a variety of styles that, at first glance, what you may have suspected was a dress worn in the last few years was often from the 50s or 60s. So many of the dresses were made especially for celebrity events or royalty. These events evolved from the more private charity balls of the 50s to the more public red carpet events.

I particularly loved a black lace gown by Michael Sherard with a dipping hemline from 1958. One dress was intricately embroidered with words and pictures of a story and another made from pieces of silver leather. Such diverse designs and amazing details – it was fantastic to see these dresses so close up.

Lunch in the V&A's cafe was delicious and all around you were period mirrors, marble, tiling, huge stained glass windows and high ceilings and these fantastic lights: 

Of course we took a trip to the shop and I wanted to buy all the brooches, printed scarfs and jewellery I saw. Not to mention some great prints, this 'Time for Tea' was definitely my favourite. This was a great retro style print of Crystal Palace too. There were also lots of brilliant London-themed gifts for children; this London Ladybird book was so sweet:

The exhibition is running until January 2013.

It was a real day of girly glamour and an escape for us mums with a day to ourselves. We finished it off with a trip to Primark for a few bargains!! Not quite the silk, handmade couture dress of my dreams but I did find a maxi dress to fit perfectly over my ever growing baby bump!

Has anyone else been to this exhibition? What did you think?

Love Lemon x

My Wedding Day

Today my husband and I celebrate 4 years of marriage. I decided to share some of my favourite memories and details from the day. I wasn't an obsessive, bridezilla wedding planner and at the end of the day I just wanted to have a fun day with my friends, family and of course my husband. We liked the idea of adding our own touches and details that reflected us as a couple on the day.

Here are a few things we did to make the day individual to us.....

Casino chip chocs as favours for the guys, presented in a shot glass - a reminder of the stag do in Las Vegas!
We also had these badges made for all our guests, designed by my husband which matched all the stationary.

We got engaged in Tuscany Italy so for the ladies we chose these Italian Baci chocolates as favours, they were a bit extra special as they had a little love note in each! These were presented in these star tea light holders..

Each table had a pretty bird cage centre piece. We had navy napkins to match the colour scheme and chair ribbons and navy striped ribbon around them. One of my favourite ideas was incorporating my family name Lemon by having a Lemon tree table plan designed by my husband and  real lemons with name tags pinned into them for place names.

My husband had a suit taylor made, he looked so smart! I really loved the inside pocket detail of our names and the wedding date and of course this suit is something he will keep forever.

The venue was perfect for us, it was a large pub in Greenwich, London and we had the first floor hired for the ceremony, meal, drinks and dancing in the evening. It was such a great space and didn't feel too formal, the perfect place for a party! We loved going to visit it for various planning before the wedding and still do! 

The Trafalgar Tavern had great floor to ceiling windows and views across the Thames to the millenium dome. 

I chose a 50's style dress and a vintage scarf clip to tie my hair on one side.

The day was perfect and everything I could of imagined it would be. I remember looking across at all the guests on the dance floor partying the night away and doing tie limbo and feeling so happy to be there with my husband and all the people I loved the most. 

There are so many ideas and creative ways to make your wedding day individual. I wish I had Pinterest and wedding blogs 4 years ago when I was putting together my ideas! I would love to hear about your special day and any great ideas that added a personal touch for you. 

Love Lemon x