The very happy thing about birthdays...

It was my birthday on Sunday, and I've had a lovely weekend full of fun! My OH took the kids down to Grandpa's house on Saturday morning, leaving me the whole afternoon to do a grocery shop, tidy the house and get myself ready... for a girl's night in! I had five friends round for an Indian take-out. We had a lovely evening, drinking great wine and bubbly, yummy curry's, having a laugh, and topping it all off with these gorgeous cupcakes that my friend Becky made. Can you believe you get edible food glitter? I can't imagine a cupcake without some sparkly fairy dust now!


Thank you Becky, they were divine!

Then, after they all left at 1:30am !!! I set my clocks back, so it was suddenly only 12:30am and a perfectly reasonable time to go to bed!
Sunday, I woke, had a leisurely breakfast, then headed off to Ikea on my own, where I bought a new desk for my computer. I've had it on my Oupa's old bureau, which is a piece of furniture I have always loved, it has wonderful memories for me, but it was just never a great solution for the computer. So it is now headed for a bit of a makeover and will be my daughter's new desk in her room, and with all it's drawers and secret cubby holes, she is very excited about that! After Ikea I stopped off at my sister's house for a fantastic lunch...roast chicken, roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings, cauliflower and cheese sauce, mixed veg, and a cheesecake for pudding - Yum!


On Thursday I received the most wonderful parcel in the mail...from Mercedes! She has really spoiled me, and I know she didn't know it was my birthday this weekend, but the timing was great and it did make me feel very special indeed!

I went down to fetch the kids on Monday, and we stopped off in Chichester for a touch of shopping. There's a tiny little dollshouse shop there, so I bought the house a hanging basket (being held up by Holly here!) a strawberry plant and a great rusty old watering can. At Ikea, I bought a lazy susan, so that the house can swivel easily from the front to the back. Clever, huh?

I have always loved birdhouses, and when I first lay my eyes on Mercedes's birdhouses I fell in love with them, and begged her to make some to sell me. Now, she has given me these exquisite birdhouses, but I'm still begging her to sell these on Etsy because I think they are just the bee's knees!

Cupcake cushions! How absolutely perfect! And I just love the little gift bags Mercedes always uses...I must ask her where she gets them from...

And then, because I had sent her the little elves, she was inspired to make me a set of her gorgeous little water jugs and bowl, and an enamelware container, wit the sweetest little elf pictures! I can see the inspiration for a few more mini elves coming from these.

And then a set of her famous enamelware containers, and they are every bit as amazing and realsitic in real life as they look in pictures. I am amazed at the little signs of wear and rust she gives them!