bedroom before...

Hello blog friends! Can you believe it? We actually had a rather pleasant bank holiday weekend...although I was working most of it :( and now that I have today off it is of course raining! So I thought maybe today would be the perfect time to start redecorating my bedroom...I'm getting a little fed up of staring at the million rawlplug holes and nicotine stains, left by the previous owner I hasten to add! So it may be a little quiet on the blog this week...but some good news is that last week I finally finished my updated website! There is a little sneaky pic below put do pop by HERE to see more! Have a great week and please mr sunshine we would love for you to come visit again soon! x

All design copyright Littletree Designs

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pinterest pick of the week...

pin from my board Random Stuff...

Well I did it...a whole week of blogging! And I think I'm finishing on a high with this pin of a stunning piece of street art by artist Alphons ter Avest. How happy would you be to turn a corner in your town and see this? Gorgeous...well I hope you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend here in the uk, chances are the weather will be miserable but then when isn't it!? x

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beautiful books...Granny Chic

In Tuesdays post I did indeed promise a few pictures inside my new book purchase Granny Chic by Tiff Fussel (Dottie Angel) and Rachelle Blondel (Ted & Agnes). 

What can I say...this book is just lovely to browse through! It is styled so perfectly it has the feel of a scrapbook to it with all the mismatched papers, tape and ribbons used throughout. My favourite thing has to be the way that each crafty diy has a list of 'ingredients' and a 'recipe' to follow...so cute! 

Oh I could ramble on forever about the swoon-able interiors, vintage furniture, the fun quirky-ness of it all...plus the odd photo of Tiff's dog Olive who is so photogenic...so I will stop here and just say that it is one gorgeous book. x

All photos from Granny Chic

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littletree loves...PIMM'S!

from my pinterest board Food Stuff...

Just a quick post today to share with you the fab news that Pimm's have released a special edition Blackberry and Elderflower drink! Now I LOVE Pimm's No1 anyway, it is THE summer drink here in the uk...the fizz and all the yummy fruit...so the news of another flavour is exciting to say the least! If you don't know about Pimm's and their wonderful drink then you can learn more here...but for now I'm off to scour my local supermarkets for this limited edition goodness! x

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car booty and apple butter!

Hello again...two days blogging in a row, check me out! Today's post is not only about the awesomeness that I scored at yet another car boot sale...but also about the glorious, wonderful, spreadable, scrumptiousness that is...APPLE BUTTER! 

I will get to the apple butter in a minute so let's discuss the bargain of the century I got for a whole £1...the beautiful book Granny Chic by bloggers Tiff Fussel (Dottie Angel) and Rachelle Blondel (Ted & Agnes). I could not believe my eyes when I saw this (clearly brand new!) book on the very first stall...and for a £1 no less! It is so lovely to flick through and packed with great ideas and diy's...I will bring you a post all about later this week. And the little heart tray? 20p...it's the perfect size for a mug of tea and a few biccies...

Ok back to the Apple Butter...For us here in the uk it is a very american thing, along with the likes of bacon jam...which by the way also sounds amaaaazing...so imagine my surprise to find a stall at the car boot on sunday that was selling jars of apple butter? Of course I snapped it up and because it is so scrummy I have been hunting for my own recipe for when this jar runs out...

image from My Baking Addiction

...so I found this amazingly simple slow cooker recipe over on fab food blog My Baking Addicition. It's basically bung a load of good stuff in your slow cooker, leave it for hours and then blend...easy peasy! If you have a recipe for apple butter I would love to hear it, or if you have any recipes using it as an ingredient that would be great to! Ok the apple butter love in has finished...normal programming will now resume. x

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chicken paradise...

Hello blog friends...this week I have made a promise to myself (and to you!) to try and be a better blogger. So to kick off the week I have a little post about the fab new chicken enclosure that we have built at the bottom of our new garden. This part was all dead grass and weedy so it made the perfect area for four cheeky chickens...

And yes we built it! I knocked in fence posts and dug all the earth over, levelling it out and making a raised area for the coop. My mum and grandad built the covered area so they always have somewhere dry and warm...it is pure chicken luxury! I'm sure if it had star ratings it would almost certainly be a 5*. Although I'm not so sure the choocks agree...they would still rather be rampaging around the garden digging for england! 

Pleeease let us out! We promise we won't eat everything...

Our four girlies (from left to right) Alice, Aggy, Annie and Abigail

Hope you all have a good week and I will definitely see you soon with more posts! x

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life recently via the medium of instagram...

...old signage love...

...cheesecake brownie and a cuppa...

...empty tube carriage...

...pretty...

...my new magazine rack...

...view over my town...

Hello friends...I know I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently. I'm trying to make more of an effort to enter more design competitions so have been working away on those...plus the usual house renovations, although with the weather being so nice we've spent more time working on the garden...I may have wielded and axe at one point! So to make up for a lack of posts I'm hashing together a few snaps from my instagram feed to share with you today...hope you've all been having a nice week so far and hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share with you next time!x

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new blog banner...

copyright Littletree Designs

A new week, a new month and new blog banner...have a great one! x

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littletree bakes...apple cinnamon nut granola

We always buy the boxed granola from the supermarket and it usually costs a good £2+ and half the time there isn't enough fruit or nuts for my liking...so I thought I am going to make my own and pimp it with lots of yummy nuts, seeds and fruit. This one is a slight adaptation of a recipe I found for plain granola on pinterest the other week.

This is barely even a recipe, just a combining of good things! So if you want to change up the flavours go ahead, I'm sure I will be making a variety of versions for years to come...

Ingredients

• 3 cups of Oats
• 1/2 cup of Seeds/Chopped Nuts
• 1/4 cup of plain Oil 
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Honey (or I might try Maple Syrup next time)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 1/4 cup Chopped Dried Apple (or any other fruit)

Let's Bake

• Preheat oven to 190c and lightly grease a large baking tray.
• Combine the Oats and Seeds/Nuts in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a saucepan gently heat the Oil, Brown Sugar and Honey. Bring to a boil and turn off.
• Add the Cinnamon and Vanilla to the warm oil/sugar/honey. Stir well and enjoy the gorgeous aroma!
• Pour the mixture onto the oats/seed/nut mix and stir thoroughly until everything is coated.
• Spread over the baking tray and pop into the oven for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and turn the granola.
• Put the granola back in the oven and turn the oven off. Leave the granola in the oven until completely cool, the residual heat dries out the mix to make it lovely and crisp. 
• Once cool add the Dried Apple before putting your granola in an airtight container.

You can mix this up before bed and leave it overnight so you can wake up to amazing homemade granola for breakfast...yum. I love it with fresh fruit and yogurt with the granola on top. But it's just as great with cold milk or on ice cream as a semi-healthy dessert! Enjoy!x

all images copyright littletree designs

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