Last week when I baked a cake, I knew that I had to finish it off with some tiny bunting. I'd love to say that such sweet idea came from my mind, but alas, it did not. I first spotted cake bunting on the blog of a friend of mine, Morwenna, of [Bluebells & Butterflies]. You can find out more about the origins of the cake bunting [on this post here]. Do take a look around Morwenna's blog, it's a very happy place to visit, she is one of the sunniest natured people I've ever met online :o)
With my current love of bunting, sewing teeny bunting to stick on top of a cake seemed like the natural thing to do! Something that would be perfect for a summer afternoon tea in the garden.
And this week I've made even more bunting. With it being so terribly dark and gloomy outside, it's nice to make the house cheery and colourful.At the start of the year I mentioned I wanted some fairy lights for the kitchen (thank you Amanda, for telling me they were sometimes called 'rice lights', it made tracking them down a whole lot easier).
I finally found some, and they arrived yesterday. I wasted no time in putting them up, removing the ones I left up from Christmas first. I wanted the 'year round lights' to look completely different to how we had them up for Christmas.
I quickly made some bunting to add, and I'm really pleased with the end result. It looks pretty, but thanks to the bunting, completely unChristmassy.
It's rainy outside, but in my kitchen I have a warm and sunny glow as I do the washing up.
I've also made changes to the glassware. Out to the recycling bin has gone our normal plain glass, to make way for some very pretty pastel coloured glass. Small changes can really lift the mood. We have eight of these in total, they're so pretty and make a nice change from clear glass. 
It's not just bunting that I'm making. I'm trying to make a few more of the flat roses I made last year, [click here to see how they're made] I started on Friday, but didn't get very far. When Gorgeous Girl saw me making one using a strip of pink satin, she asked me to turn it into a brooch for her. I could not refuse, and did as she asked.
Here she is modelling it on her dungarees.
I've removed it from her dungarees, and attached it to her very first denim jacket. Though mine is about 15 years old now, Mummy and Daughter have matching jackets, both decorated with Mummy Made Flowers! 
I find strips of satin best to use, it frays naturally as you work, which makes a nice effect. They all start off in the same way .. 
.. but they never turn out the same. Sometimes they look more like a tightly closed rose, just starting to open, other times like a rose in full bloom, petals about to drop. 
They are quick to make, a little fiddly perhaps, but still speedy. And they can be used for so many things, from brooches, to decorating alice bands, stitching on bags, or even to stick on a gift instead of a bow. I like to have a stock of them, so when I'm in the mood to make them, I make a lot. I'm quite happy for winter to stick around a while longer before spring bursts into life, but it's nice to freshen up the house, addding a little dash of colour, hinting that spring is just around the corner.
'warm white' LED fairy lights from [Lights 4 Fun]
pastel coloured glassware from [Next]