July 31, 2013

HAPPY'S BEST FAMILY HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS

 It's that time of year again; the six week break that you have to desperately try to fill to keep your children entertained or risk your sanity.

Thankfully, I've got lots of pro tips for holidays that will keep you and yours happy so that you don't end up tearing out your hair over the school holidays.

1. UK Holiday 

There's actually no need to leave the country to have a great holiday, especially with the weather being as good at it has been. You can take a trip down to sunny Cornwall or Devon, and explore some of the prettiest coastline that Britain has to offer. There are loads to do as well, such as a day trip to St. Michael's Mount or a visit to the legendary castle of Tintagel. You can go surfing at Newquay, or camp out at St. Ives.

2. Jersey Holiday

If you want a bit of a hotter holiday, but still relatively close by, then a trip to Jersey could be just the thing. It's so easy to get to, and once you get there, there are some great family-orientated hotel such as the Merton Hotel, which has a swimming pool, slides, flow rider and lots of children's
entertainment.

3. Croatia Holiday

It seems that every one is jetting off to the beautiful coastal country of Croatia this year, with its miles of beaches, stunning islands and lots of activities for the whole family.

4. Greek Holiday

There are a range of activity holidays that you and your family can try if you have older children. Why not visit Greece and go on one of their Club Vounaki Sailing School holidays, to really tire you and your kids out. No chance of arguing if you are all asleep by 9pm! If this isn't your thing, there are so many Greek islands to choose form with lots of family friendly hotels available.

5. Further Afield

Show your children the world by taking them away somewhere exotic. There are volunteer holidays available for places such ads Costa Rica, where you and your family can build animal shelters to protect them from deforestation, or a trip to South Africa, taking in the awesome sites on a driving holiday up to see some of the majestic creatures of Africa. Or try going to America and playing cowboys for real on a ranch, with a rodeo, rafting, fishing and shooting.

Where are you off to this holiday time?
 Do you have any ideas for holidaying with the children?
If so, do please share it with us all :D



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July 26, 2013

LOVING THE LIGHT

 
 I don't know about you, but i am loving the light that the summertime brings, it makes me feel more creative and a little clearer in my head...living here in my little cottage, which is quite a dark place to live, I have to keep turning the lights on in certain places, especially my craft room/dining room and I often think how I would love to have a large VELUX window put in over my head to let all the daylight in...

The idea came to me when I was in Freddy's crafty caravan...it is so light in there, as it has a little window in the roof and although it is not a clear window, it still lets a lot of light in and therefore if you work in there, the creative juices flow in abundance...

So I started to troll the internet {as you do} and to my surprise and delight there seems to be a window solution for every situation these days...check out some of these wonderful ideas...don't it just make you sigh with envy...

Even if it is a dull day...the light that comes in through these windows is immense...the perfect crafting art space any guy or gal could wish for!...but somehow I don't think my landlord would stretch the budget to fitting these VELUX windows for me...but when I move...{which will hopefully be in the next year or so} you can guarantee that the light factor will be a crucial decision in our next home and hopefully we shall have enough in our budget to get these beautiful windows fitted.

How much light do you have in your home and does it make you feel better and more creative?

Come on gals...come and have a chat with Happy xx

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July 25, 2013

SPOONERZ GIVE-AWAY WINNER

 Sorry for keeping you all waiting...but the winner of the SPOONERZ Give-away is...
DRUM ROLL PLEASE...LA LA LA TA TA TA DAAA!

SHAWNA BATES

CONGRATULATIONS HONEY...

...and thank you all so much for taking part...


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July 15, 2013

A HAPPY GIVEAWAY with SPOONERZ

  Hello my lovelies...I thought it was about time that we had another Give-away here at Happy Loves Rosie and what better way than to start with one from SPOONERZ and the lovely Artist, Designer and owner Rachelle Fallon...

You may remember back HERE when I featured Rachelle on my Blog a few weeks before Valentines Day...I claimed that I would love one of her cutlery necklaces for the big day, as it was the Anniversary of when Freddy and I first met 27 years ago!...Anyway to my surprise, Freddy got the hint and on Valentines Day I received the 'said' necklace, for which I was sooooo over the moon, that I nearly cried lol!  

Ever since then Rachelle and I have been in touch, and we decided to collaborate and do a Giveaway together for my Happy Readers, but this time, with this beautiful bangle.  Rachelle asked me what I would like on mine and I chose HAPPY {of course} with a little love heart at the side, its really cute as this spoon also has roses at the other end, so to me it says Happy Loves Rosie, which is so special...
 {Thankyou Rachelle x}

If you win this give-away, Rachelle will make you a bangle very similar with whatever you want stamped on the front {upto seven letters}

I totally love mine and wear it everyday, I get so many compliments...people are fascinated by how original it is....you can go and have a look at her shop HERE, Rachelle's Jewellery is so reasonably priced and would make a lovely gift for that someone special.

So to take part in this Give-away I would like you to leave a comment about what has been the loveliest jewellery present that you have ever received...you can have as many goes as you like...I will draw this give-away a week from today (Monday 22nd July) and in the meantime if you would like to add the link button on your blog, you are very welcome.


I will look forward to receiving your entries...
Speak soon my lovelies.

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED



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July 13, 2013

Vintage Caravan Interviews - Gerry McMaster

Well here we are my lovelies…We are now up and running with the
VINTAGE CARAVAN INTERVIEWS…

…and here is my first Contributor which is the lovely Gerry McMaster…

—– oOo —–

My name is Gerry McMaster and I live with my hubby in Melbourne Australia. We
have a 12 1/2 foot,1970’s Coromal caravan we bought about 4 years ago. We bought
it off a couple from all the way across the other side of Melbourne. It was in a
very good, original 70’s condition. Very drab though!

I was inspired by Happy Harris’ blog featuring her vintage caravan. I just loved it sooo much. At the
time, my husband was working a fly in/ fly out job and we wanted to go skiing on
his days off. We have a ski field only 3 hours from here. We decided to leave the van at a caravan park in a town near

the ski fields so we could just drive up and stay in our little van and go skiing. The setting is
so lovely, surrounded by green rolling hills and of course, mountains in the
distance.

It took about a month to transform the van, we sanded down the walls and applied ESP as an undercoat first. Then painted all
the walls white to brighten up the whole van. Then we did the same to all the
doors, only after the undercoat, we painted the doors with bright red gloss
enamel paint. The doors took a lot of coats, and it was very messy! I love them
though! After the painting, the real fun began! I really wanted to get some
Laura Ashley fabric into the van. I love Cath Kidston too, but her products are
not so easily sourced in Australia, and I’m not so good at ordering online.

I bought 2 Laura Ashley tea towels which I used as my kitchen curtains, I had to
cut them down a bit to make them fit. I also bought a beautiful reversible
feather duvet from Laura Ashley. As we have twin beds in the van, I cut the
duvet in half and sealed the open seem with matching red tape. The spotted side
is for my hubby and the floral is mine 🙂 I embroidered matching pillowslips,
spots for him, flowers for me.

I added some matching cushions, some I embroidered. I also covered the dining
seats in bright red fabric and added embroidered and crocheted cushions to
complement the red. I do all the crochet and embroidery. I also collected a lot
of cotton tea towels with red stripes and made curtains out of these for the
dining area.I added a bit of embroidery to the central panels, which added some
interest. I think adding a bunting in a vintage van is almost compulsory!

Not sure what style I’ve decorated it in. Maybe a toned down Happy Harris style?
I just love her style  🙂 We have taken it on a few beach holidays as well,
which were so much fun. We have taken it on a long drive over to the East coast
of Australia and also taken it for short weekend trips down the coast from where
we live, only an hour and a half drive to beautiful beaches.

I have also whiled away many an hour crafting in my little van 🙂 My favourite
thing about the van is its coziness and brightness. It is my happy place! I am
itching to do another one, maybe in a more muted, shabby chic style?
Cheers Gerry.

Thank you Gerry for contributing to The Vintage Caravan Interviews, she is a gal after my own heart…I think she has done a brilliant job of decorating her 1970’s Coromal Caravan don’t you?
Sadly Gerry does not have a Blog or a shop to go over and say hello, So Come on! leave Gerry a comment here and tell her what you think of her wonderful caravan decorating…she will be ever so pleased and so will I 😀

Bye for now my lovelies

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July 13, 2013

VINTAGE CARAVAN INTERVIEWS - GERRY McMASTER

Well here we are my lovelies...We are now up and running with the
 VINTAGE CARAVAN INTERVIEWS...

...and here is my first Contributor which is the lovely Gerry McMaster...

My name is Gerry McMaster and I live with my hubby in Melbourne Australia. We have a 12 1/2 foot,1970's Coromal caravan we bought about 4 years ago. We bought it off a couple from all the way across the other side of Melbourne. It was in a very good, original 70's condition. Very drab though! I was inspired by Happy Harris' blog featuring her vintage caravan. I just loved it sooo much. At the time, my husband was working a fly in/ fly out job and we wanted to go skiing on his days off. We have a ski field only 3 hours from here. We decided to leave the van at a caravan park in a town near the ski fields so we could just drive up and stay in our little van and go skiing.The setting is so lovely, surrounded by green rolling hills and of course, mountains in the distance.
 
 It took about a month to transform the van, we sanded down the walls and applied ESP as an undercoat first. Then painted all the walls white to brighten up the whole van. Then we did the same to all the doors, only after the undercoat, we painted the doors with bright red gloss enamel paint. The doors took a lot of coats, and it was very messy! I love them though! After the painting, the real fun began! I really wanted to get some Laura Ashley fabric into the van. I love Cath Kidston too, but her products are not so easily sourced in Australia, and I'm not so good at ordering online. 

I bought 2 Laura Ashley tea towels which I used as my kitchen curtains, I had to cut them down a bit to make them fit. I also bought a beautiful reversible feather duvet from Laura Ashley. As we have twin beds in the van, I cut the duvet in half and sealed the open seem with matching red tape. The spotted side is for my hubby and the floral is mine :-) I embroidered matching pillowslips, spots for him, flowers for me.
 
I added some matching cushions, some I embroidered. I also covered the dining seats in bright red fabric and added embroidered and crocheted cushions to complement the red. I do all the crochet and embroidery. I also collected a lot of cotton tea towels with red stripes and made curtains out of these for the dining area.I added a bit of embroidery to the central panels, which added some interest. I think adding a bunting in a vintage van is almost compulsory!

Not sure what style I've decorated it in. Maybe a toned down Happy Harris style? I just love her style  :-) We have taken it on a few beach holidays as well, which were so much fun. We have taken it on a long drive over to the East coast of Australia and also taken it for short weekend trips down the coast from where we live, only an hour and a half drive to beautiful beaches.
 
 I have also whiled away many an hour crafting in my little van :-) My favourite thing about the van is its coziness and brightness. It is my happy place! I am itching to do another one, maybe in a more muted, shabby chic style?

   Cheers Gerry.

Thank you Gerry for contributing to The Vintage Caravan Interviews, she is a gal after my own heart...I think she has done a brilliant job of decorating her 1970's Coromal Caravan don't you? 

Sadly Gerry does not have a Blog or a shop to go over and say hello, So Come on! leave Gerry a comment here and tell her what you think of her wonderful caravan decorating...she will be ever so pleased and so will I :D

Bye for now my lovelies

PS...If you are interested in giving an interview on my blog, please
Have a look HERE and get involved!

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July 12, 2013

LETS PLAY BINGO

Awww...I love playing Bingo....don't you?
I also love collecting vintage bingo games and have been known to use these to pick out my lottery numbers, I always think that I might have a better chance of winning lol!

The other day, Rosie and I went out to a local bingo hall to play...it was so much fun and we had such a laugh...I am terrible and that was half the fun, because as well as her own 6 books, she had to watch what I had with my 2 measly books...lol
 I am so terrible with numbers and they always go so blurry on me!
so really I was the worst person to go with...lol!

 Its great as well that it is now a smoke free zone...years ago when Freddy and I went a few times...the clouds of smoke used to put us right off, then they used to have a separate smoking area...but it still used to waft over...but now it is all smoke free and I love that....so come on gals...lets rekindle this old past time and start playing Bingo again....

Move over Pub Quizzes....and Bring on the BINGO!
HAPPY FRIDAY MY LOVELIES

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