Hello.  I’m Carrie.  I’m not the kind of girl you’d marry.  Though, remarkably – somebody did.  Marry me, I mean.  If you were to speak to my husband now, I wonder if  he wouldn’t tell you in retrospect that he must have been out of his mind to think that making a lifelong commitment to co-habit with a woman with a severe hoarding habit and an obvious and ever-problematic addiction to root beer and sweet potato pie would be all plain sailing.

This is me. And that's my husband.

Yup.  This chap stood proudly in a big tent in an up-north carpark infront of all our friends and loved ones and promised to love me, to cherish me and honour me – despite my paper and stationery fetish, my impulse purchasing of vintage sewing ephemera and  seeming inability to leave a secondhand store or charity shop without a basket full of treasure (which, of course, he will later refer to as ‘tat’).

This is my paper box. I need a second one. Or a giant bureau!

I know I’m not easy to live with.  I get a terrible churning feeling in my tummy if the cutlery drawer isn’t tidy.  I cry if the dishwasher isn’t filled neatly in order to gain  full  loading  capacity.  I’m scared of dogs, spiders and most varieties of  melted cheese.  I never make the bed and I leave notebooks and pens lying around in pretty much every room of the house.  I am quite the catch!

So.  This is my new blog.  I spend so much time blogging and Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing for my business (Oh yes!  I run my own business with my friend Clare.  I should have said that.  It’s called Made in the Shade.  We run our shop, The Maisonette and we organise craft & vintage events, promoting the work of clever designer makers. I love my job.  I’m sure there’ll be more chat about that as we go on! Work is never far from my mind).  Actually, it’s exactly that issue that sparked me to start my very own blog.  As I was saying, I spend so much time Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing for Made in the Shade that I rarely get a chance to think about anything that isn’t related to Made in the Shade.  I thought that maybe by carving out a little niche for myself here, I might land myself a new hobby or a reinvigorated social life.  If there’s one way to make a gal get out there and do something, it’s to blog about getting out there and doing something!  Once you’ve typed it, there ain’t no taking it back, is there?  So – I’m hoping that my blog will provide a little light relief for me – and a little evening time read for you, maybe.

Things I love but don't know what to do with.

You’ll find me here most days -  chatting about local goings-on, day-dreaming about living somewhere warm, ooh-ing and aah-ing at pretty things I’ve found online or sharing pics of my latest charity shop haul.  I’ll likely talk about my house a lot and I’m sure some fashion chat will arise. Not that I’m a fashionista or anything – just that I really like looking at beautiful things.   I’ve recently learned to sew for a book I was writing (you’ll be able to read it when it’s published this summer!) and so I’m certain that my crafting calamities and sewing tangles will afford you a smirk or a giggle on a blue day. Now and again you might even find the odd recipe to enjoy!  Who knows!  My life is a jumble.  My blog is a jumble.

A collection of sewing bits that live on the cakestand on top of the old piano.

I’m kicking things off with three regular features.

1.  My Fizzy Pop

Aside from the odd hot chocolate or once-in-a-while morning cup of tea, I’m not a huge fan of hot drinks.  Even the smell of coffee upsets me.  So – over the years, I’ve become quite the connoisseur of fizzy pop and fruity tipples!  Always on the hunt for unusual or exotic flavours, I’ll share some soda stories with you on a regular basis. If you find any interesting fizzy pops on your travels, I want to hear about ‘em.  Heck!  Even send me some!  Tell me what you think of my reviews any time you like.

Just one of my favourite fizzy pops!

2.  The Nesting Project

I’ve lived in my flat now for about 8 years.  Despite grand plans and colour-coded ‘to do’ lists, somehow the poor house isn’t quite afforded the attention it deserves and is a bit rickety round the edges.  Most rooms have made some progress over the past couple of years (well, we have a kitchen now – that’s a pretty good start), but my poor bedroom is more ‘thrift store sorting bay’ than the ‘comfortable, cosy nest’ I dream of.  To help me commit to The Nesting Project – I’ve made it a regular blog feature!  If you happen to notice that I’ve not shared any news on the ‘fix the bedroom’ front for more than a week – you have my full permission to poke me with a paintbrush and demand some action.  Once the nest is built, we’ll move on to some other DIY makeover type endeavour!

The latest addition to the living room in The Nesting Project - a green chiffon lampshade. Bought for £2.

3.  A Life Curated

No matter how hard I try, I can’t control absolutely every aspect of my life.  Sometimes things go my way.  Sometimes they don’t.  Light bulbs blow, it rains, my arms get tangled up in the ripped lining of my jacket, I lose my earmuffs, I burn the pie, the cat is sick on the bath mat… You know – these things happen.  But!  They don’t happen in my ‘Life Curated’ feature!  No, no.  Here – I pick and choose just how I’d like everything to be.  A little break from normal life, I guess, in this feature I share some daydreams of living somewhere else.  Expect inspiring cities, super-cool homes, wowser interiors and some shocking delusional chatter.

Let’s see how we get on and where we might end up.

Adios for now.  I leave, in search of pie.  I shall return.