You are my sunshine!

Last week was hubs' 34th birthday! Last year, we didn't get to do anything because we had no money and were stuck in the flat, so couldn't have people over. Well, this year was different :) we are in the house, and we decided to have a BBQ to celebrate!
Woody shares his birthday with my Grandma, who turned 80 this year, so a joint party seemed like a good idea. 
Even though it was joint, I wanted to emphasis to be on Woody. I tailored the decorations to fit his personality - being ex-Royal Navy, I used a lot of anchors and maps.

Bunting


I used a local A-Z map book, folded each page over and cut out a triangle. Fold it back out,
place the string through the fold and glue each side to the other. Easy!

I also made frame bunting with photos of hubs in.

Table Decorations

I decided to make table decorations to give the whole house a party feel. I made one for the dining room, one for the BBQ outdoor table, one for the hallway and one for the living room.
I started with cleaned babyfood jars that my friend had collected for her wedding. Using a glue gun, I stuck lace around the centres, before wrapping some string around each one.
I then printed, cut out and stuck on a picture of an anchor.

I bought some purple flowers to sit in the jars, that matched the purple/blue 

colour of the anchors.

And finally I made pinwheels out of map wrapping paper, striped straws and split pins!

They looked amazing! I'll have to add a tutorial on here sometime as they're the simplest thing ever to make!

The table

The food table is always the hub of activity and I wanted ours to be beautiful.

As well as the pinwheel flower jar, I sprinkled sunflowers and hearts all over it,

and spread out the cute cupcakes around the different dishes.

We also made a huge poster of photos for my Grandma, from her as a baby up to being a Great Grandma.

Setting up

The Cakes

The cakes were my favourite part!
I made one for my Grandma and one for Woody.

For Grandma's, I used a Cath Kidston print to make bunting attached to string, attached to two kebab skewers. I printed out the number 80, and added a thick outline of glitter to each digit. The cake was an angel cake with icing and sprinkles. 

Woody's cake was my favourite :) we joked about getting him a stripper,

and he told me he wanted me to do it, so I bought a Barbie doll and cut her hair to match mine. I bought a donut cake as they're his favourite, and after detaching Barbie's legs, I frosted over her lady lumps (!!!) and added sprinkles, and stuck a glittered '34' to her hands.

My Mum also made cupcakes - half were Madeira and half were Carrot Cake.

I cropped photos of Grandma and Woody's faces when they were younger (and some of Woody now) and printed them, cut them out and attached 'party hats' to them made from craft paper. I glued them to cocktail sticks and stuck them on the cupcakes. 

Everyone loved them and they were a great keepsake for people to take home with them and enjoy later.

My sister on frosting duty!

Presents

I went all out this year as much as possible. I decided to lightly use the theme 'you are my sunshine' because it's something special between me and Woody. I started by painting this canvas, then adding the letters to it having printed them out and transferred them on.

Following the theme, I wanted to get hubs a zippo lighter. I searched eBay for weeks looking for the right one, when up popped an HMS Sceptre one. Being an ex-submariner, this was perfect. It also turned out that HMS Sceptre was a sub decomissioned the year we started dating, and was one that my Grandad worked on. I had it engraved with the date, our nickcames, and the quote 'love anchors the soul.

Amongst other presents, I made him a 'box of sunshine'. The idea came from Pinterest.

Pretty much, it's just a box of yellow candy. I went a little further and painted an old toy suitcase with a sunbeam, made sunflower bunting for the inside, and 'you are my sunshine' sheet music hearts and quotes to scatter inside the box.

Before being painted

 I painted both inside and outside cream, with a paste yellow sunbeam on the lid.

I printed our the sheet music, backed it onto itself and cut out double sided hearts.

I made the bunting from sunflower images I printed onto photo paper and cut out, and thread onto string. I also cut out some sunbeam shapes that I had written quotes on.

The box looked so cute, and he loved it.

The guests

Unfortunately a lot of people couldn't make it, but my lovely cousins and a few of our friends popped in to wish Woody a happy birthday :) we were so overwhelmed by peoples lovely cards and gifts :)

My Grandma had a few family members over and they spent most of the day doing a quiz my Dad had put together. 

Just as my Gran had done for her Mum's 80th in the same garden, me and Kerri made Grandma a big silver tin-foil '80' necklace to wear. 

xo

Sunday Social 03/08

Hey !!

Today’s questions are some fun either/or questions!

Dont forget  to link up :D

 

1. Gum or mints?

I prefer gum, merely for the fact there's less calories. 

I can go through a whole pack in 20 mins.

 

2. Tea or Coffee?

Decaf earl grey with honey and lemon.

 

3. Fruits or Veggies?

Fruits for sure! Bananas, strawberries....yum yum!!

 

4. TV or Movies?

Thats a hard one! With Netflix, we watch more shows now,

but it has to be horror movies everytime ;)

 

5. Candles or Diffusers?

Candles! I love my oil burner and we get Yankee candle cakes to

melt. They're amazing.

 

Your turn! Answer the questions, grab our button, and link up!

Next week’s questions

 

1. One Show you would love to see on netflix that isn’t there

2. One song you wish they would play more on the radio

3. Your favorite song to sing loudly to in the car

4. What Movie/TV show do you quote the most?

5. One silly thing you do daily

Have a great Sunday!

Sunday Social 20/07

1. What is the most difficult thing you have been through?

 

Last September my boyfriend started going numb and losing sensation in his mouth, hands and feet. He was eventually diagnosed with Guillain Barre Syndrome, a rare autoimmune disorder in which his nerves started attacking themselves. Watching him in hospital get worse better he got better was hard, but recently he had a seizure and that was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my entire life. It was horrific.

 

2. What was your best birthday?

 

I honestly don't know. Probably the time my Mum surprised us with theatre tickets to Peggy Sue Got Married, then pizza hut, and I got The Sims and a pair of denim knee boots (hi 90's flashback!) as presents.

 

3. What has been your favorite thing you’ve done in your own city?

 

Probably ice skating (I work there so the excitement wore off pretty fast!)

or the roller disco :)

 

4. What is your idea of the perfect date night?

 

Snuggled with a movie and a nice meal, in our onesies <3

 

5. Have you ever been to a blogging conference? If so which one(s)? If not do you want to?

 

Nope, not my kinda thing, unfortunately. 

 

Have a great week!

Sup h'ombré!

Time for a change, and what better way than to hit the hairdressers for a new look! 

I adore my bleach blonde hair but the chemicals were taking their toll on my hair and scalp, so it was time to give it a rest for a while.

I love the new ombré trend, but having short hair, I thought it wouldn't be possible to have it done myself - I was wrong. I went to the hair salon armed with these photos....

....and after some deliberating, we were off! I wanted my natural colour at the roots which is very similar to the above photo, however my hair was white...it would just fade back really quickly. My amazing hairdresser went two shades darker, so now although it's darker, it will fade to the originally intended colour. 

It's really odd looking in the mirror at dark hair, as I'm a blonde through and through! It's taking a while to get used to it but I think that the more it fades, the more comfier I'll feel with it.

She did a super job though!!

Sunday Social 13/07

Hey y’all!

Today’s Sunday Social questions are all about the special people in our lives!

1. Tell us about the family you grew up in, parents, siblings, grandparents.
I grew up living with my parents and my sister, and our array of hamsters, mice and gerbils.

I had the perfect childhood :)

My grandparents on my dads side were always watching us when my parents worked, and we got to do so much painting, jigsaw puzzles, trips to the park. 

We always hung out with our cousin Nicola

I grew up by the sea

We went on holiday every year

2. Tell us about your husband, fiancé, boyfriend, significant other.

He's a right fruit loop! He's hilarious, makes me laugh on a daily basis, 

and is so full of love and compassion, no one else has ever and could ever compare.

He's the best. <3 :)

3. Tell us about your children. If you don’t have children, talk about your fur children.
No human children, but my nephew is like a second child to me and he is the best person I know. He's such a squidge and always manages to make me laugh and smile at his new talents.  My fur baby Scout is a springer spaniel and he's the naughtiest but loveliest baby I could ask for. 

Together, they're the cutest <3 

 

4. Tell us about your best friends. How long have you known them? How did you meet?

My best friends are my sister Kerri, my cousin Nicola and my best friend of 12 years from school, Lucy.

Nicola, Oz, Kerri and Me

Lucy, Me and Kerri

5. Tell us about any other special people in your life.

 and some of my fave photos ;)

Hubs and Oz

One of my good friends Ashlea and her little
man, Alex

Oz!

Scout

Sophie, Robyn, me and hubs

My parents! And our Turkish friends

My amazing Grandad, who passed in 2008

Your turn! Answer the questions and link up!

Next week’s questions

1. What is the most difficult thing you have been through?

2. What was your best birthday?

3. What has been your favorite thing you’ve done in your own city?

4. What is your idea of the perfect date night?

5. Have you ever been to a blogging conference? If so which one(s)? If not do you want to?

Have a great week!