5 things I love about the countryside....

Hi everyone,

I thought I would do another 5 things blog post so this week. I am lucky enough to live in the beautiful English countryside in a really rural location so this week I am doing 5 things I love about the countryside.

1) You can see the stars and they shine really brightly as everything else is dark around and there isn't so much light pollution. Where I live there are no street lights and the nearest town is about 10 miles away so on a clear night the sky looks incredible.

2) Not having shops or entertainment on your doorstep means you have to find your own entertainment which results in a lot of fun and enjoying the landscape around you. I love going down to the beach or going on a walk through the woods with friends. Means there are no distractions and it is perfect for catching up.

3) Local produce! In the garden we have lovely apples and also other types of fruit but just down the road is a farm who sell the most wonderful local produce in one of their outbuildings. They sell local meat, honey, biscuits, fruit and vegetables, amazing jams etc. There is also a lady who has her own chickens and sells their eggs out the front of her house. The eggs are about as free range as you can get!

4) Community spirit. It is wonderful to see how much of a community there is and how willing they are to help each other out. When our lawnmower broke down and the grass in the garden was getting rather long we had a knock on the door and a neighbour offered to cut the grass for us.

5) Living in such a beautiful area makes me smile nearly every day. It is so quiet and peaceful here and although I love to visit the city and make regular trips to London, it is wonderful to return to the countryside. I can't wait for the leaves on the trees to start changing colour and for us to have the log burner in the evenings.

What do you love most about where you live?

The Dorothy Days

Quote of the week- Albert Einstein

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking about ways to improve my blog and I thought it might be nice on Mondays to have an inspirational quote to get the week started :) . I thought it might be nice and positive and get us in the mood for having a great week and achieving lots. What do you all think? Is that a feature that you would like to see? Please let me know in the comments section below. I thought I also might do some of my favourite quotes from books and poems etc too.

The quote for this week is by Albert Einstein and I thought it was a rather lovely quote especially as I know lots of my blog followers are crafters and artists so imagination is key to what they do. So this quote if for all my lovely followers to make and create beautiful things.

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere." Albert Einstein

If anyone else has a favourite quote they would like to share please share it in the comments box below and I will feature some of them soon :).
 
Have a wonderful week everyone.
The Dorothy Days

5 things MY FOLLOWERS love about Autumn!

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for your lovely comment this week :), has been really nice to read them and I have even had people commenting on some of the older blog posts which is lovely to see that even the older ones are still being read and enjoyed!

Last week I posted 5 things I love about Autumn as I am really excited that Autumn is now here! I asked you guys to tell me what your top 5 things you love about Autumn were as well and I had some lovely replies so I thought I would share them with everyone :).

Jayne from handmadecuties said that her top five favourite things about Autumn were...

1) Thanksgiving celebration with family
2) Refreshing rain
3) Turkey and Pumpkin pie
4) Being home with the kids on school break
5) Autumn colors (wish we had seasonal changes here and I could see the leaves change colors)


Jamie from chatterblossom also shared hers with me:



1. Cool and crisp smells in the air
2. The feeling that everyone around me is getting excited about the holidays
3. Feeling like time is slowing down just a bit into a relaxed calm
4. The smell of cinnamon baking
5. Have hot drinks outside in the cold


An anonymous poster also posted saying:
1. Wearing layers and scarves, gloves, hats and boots.
2. Long walks in the countryside
3. Sitting by a log fire
4. Walking through crunchy leaves!
5. Bonfire night

Really interesting to see what other people like about Autumn and their experiences of Autumn from different places around the world and how that differs from my experience of Autumn in England. For example, I have never ever had pumpkin pie ! I am really intrigued about it.....what does it taste like?!

Thanks again to everyone who shared their top 5 :).

The Dorothy Days X

A video on Simone Rocha and her work

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are having a wonderful day today :). What have you all been up to ?
Today I thought I would share with you a wonderful video I found which was produced by the Tate (for those of you outside of the U.K, the Tate galleries are 4 art galleries in the U.K). The video shows the blurring of lines between art and fashion and the work of Simone Rocha. Her work is beautiful and it is well worth a watch.



I hope you enjoyed the video :) .

The Dorothy Days

The Dorothy Days new items

Hi everyone,

I have been busy listing some new items in my shop and I thought I would share some of them with you all :) . A little while back I really focused on adding some more vintage items to my shop so added lots of vintage tea cups. This time I focused on adding some more handmade items so there is a nice mix between the two. I have a new range of earrings and I also have started to make some rings :). I hope that you all like them. So far, the response on Etsy seems positive and they are getting quite a lot of views which I was really thrilled about.

Here are a selection of some of my newly listed items:

Here are my apple earrings which I made last week. They are made out of polymer clay (fimo), as are all of the new range and are very small in size which I think makes them the perfect size for every day wear.

Here is another of my new listing, my handmade grape earrings which I thought were really fun, in fact I kept a pair of these for myself :) !!

These are my orange earrings which I thought were really bright and cheerful :) and almost like those cake decorations which you can get, you know the little slices of lemon and orange which are covered in sugar?

I also made watermelon, dragon fruit, pink grapefruit and lemon earrings :).

I also did a first for The Dorothy Days and added a listing which is a mix and match listing. I made the collage myself and think it came out quite well and I am also quite excited by the idea of it. In the past I have people contact me asking for custom listings (such as a lady who wanted to buy 60 gift tags instead of 10). I love doing custom listings but I also thought by having a mix and match it might be easier for customers as they can do it instantly. With this new listing I am also offering a discount on the item price and the customer shall only have to pay for one lot of shipping so end up saving quite a bit of money :)

So the idea is the customer just lets me know which of these earrings they would like by giving me the letter of the earrings :). You can see the new listing here. What do you all think ?

I have also been busy making some button rings and a rose ring.

Here is one of my new wooden button rings

 

Would love to hear what you all think of my items :) . The shop is the fullest it has ever been which is an amazing feeling :) 

Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. 

The Dorothy Days X

5 things I love about Autumn The Dorothy Days

Hello everyone,

I am really quite excited this year that it is Autumn so I thought I would share with you 5 things I love about the Autumn. Would love to hear what your top 5 would be as well.

1) Nights spent in with family or friends snuggled up in front of the fireplace. We have a little log burner which gives off amazing heat and is also wonderful to have in the room and watch. I love the sounds that the fire makes and also the different colours. Watching it is rather mesmerising.

via

2) Going to the beach when it is windy. I almost love going to the beach when it is windy as much as I do when it is sunny. It is lovely to walk along the coast in a pair of wellies (Wellington boots). Makes you feel all refreshed :). 

3) Bonfire night!! Such good fun :)

4) Making lots of lovely warming meals for supper. I get really into making soups and casseroles in the Autumn time.

via

5) The leaves in all the different colours, it makes everywhere look so beautiful (it is also rather fun to play in!)

What are your top five things that you love about Autumn ?

The Dorothy Days

Wordless Wednesday- Vegetable Patch

Hope you all are having a great week.

The Dorothy Days

Romantic Florals treasury

Hi everyone,

I have just been included in the most beautiful treasury by Aki called Romantic Florals. It features some really lovely handmade and vintage items from around Etsy and the colours are incredible so i thought I would share with you all. Thanks so much Aki for including me.

'Romantic florals' by oktak

Impatiens- Soft ivory weddi... GarlandsOfGrac... $42.00	Flower Earrings with Purple ... JarosDesigns $27.00	Embroidery Hoop Art. Flouris... merriweatherco... $42.00
Girls White Floral Halter Dr... WiseSewcialTie... $34.00	Vintage 1950s Fabric Panel, ... 5gardenias $10.50	1950's Tea cup Vintage T... TheDorothyDays $16.00
flower greeting card . blank... BranchandOlive $6.50	Lilacs - flower photography ... alekaki $10.00	pressed flower necklace pink... StudioBotanica $50.00
FREE SHIPPING Purple Flowers... lonkoosh $99.00	Field schalle $25.00	Original oil painting botani... Stormscapestud... $58.00
Ring 'Three Flowers' liliumjewelry $179.00	Lavender sachets -- crochet ... namolio $18.00	Black Floral Tea Dress Long ... DiscordVintage $40.00
Japanese Cotton Fabric - Flo... theheydayshop $8.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

 How stunning is that?!

The Dorothy Days

Feature Friday- Maggie from BeachPlumCottage

 Hi everyone,

I hope that you have had a great week. This week has been a good one for me and as you can probably see I have been doing some blog improvements :). I have made a new banner which I think is much prettier than the old one (the old one was just text, no pretty images!) and then I got rather excited about the new banner so made matching post banners for my regular features....Wordless Wednesday and Feature Friday. What do you all think ? Like them or loathe them let me know!!

This week I have a very special Feature Friday which I am really really excited about :)!! I have been trying to keep it as a surprise for you all but it has been rather tricky as I have been so excited about it.

This week I am featuring Maggie who lives on the beautiful island of Martha’s vineyard (I am so jealous!) .  She enjoys baking and reading and when she is not doing either of those she runs….

Isn't her banner cute?! Maggie sells mainly crochet items in her shop including handmade scarves, toys and jewellery. She explained to me the story behind the unusual name for her shop....

" Beach plums, or Prunus maritima, are a native plant to the island. Their signature blossoms line the paths to our beaches and shores. Native Americans and locals have been gathering beach plums for centuries, and they're often made into jam. A gift of this year's beach plum jam is a true island gesture indeed! I love the scenic, rustic splendor of the island - and the simple, floral beach plum was my inspiration for my shop."

Maggie's shop is a treasure trove of beautiful crocheted items. She was taught to crochet when she was a little girl by her Grandma when she made her first pair of simple slippers and from there she has continued to make different crocheted items. Her hobby for crocheting turned into an online business on Etsy in 2011. Since then Maggie's shop has continued to grow and she is producing lots of new and creative products that have been shipped all over the world including Germany, Mexico, Canada, Sweden and all over the U.S.

She recently took part in the 151st Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair and walked home with lots of ribbons for her beautiful crafted pieces. Here is a photo she took of some of the ribbons. Congratulations Maggie!

 and Maggie's face says it all, this photograph was taken after it was announced that she won one of the ribbons

(Photo credit to Ray Ewing of the Vineyard Gazette)

Some of my favourite items from her shop are ....

 This amazingly cute crocheted octopus and I love how Maggie has photographed him with the 'hi' sign!  The octopus was inspired by the nature on the island which Maggie lives on. From her studio she can see the ocean and this has had a huge influence on her work.

These reusable facial scrubbies are a great idea and are eco friendly too!

You could win one of these lovely bookmarks

Maggie is offering an exclusive giveaway for my blog followers (you guys!). How kind of her is that?! She is offering to giveaway a custom made butterfly bookmark. The winner shall get to choose the colour they would like and then Maggie will make the bookmark and send it :) Here is an example of the butterfly bookmarks which Maggie makes. To enter for a chance to win one please fill in your email address or sign into facebook and then complete the tasks. Each seperate task is worth another entry so the more tasks you complete the more likely you are to win :) !

Please enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone :) and I hope you all enjoyed this very special Feature Friday. I have been so excited about it all week!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Dorothy Days