New Year New Workspace

Happy New Year everyone!

I made the long commute to work ... i.e. walked out the back of my cottage and up the garden :D

Finally I have somewhere to work from that isn't my home.  

Today is my first day working from the caravan ... how glad am I that her sale last year fell through! 

Not a great start at the mo as my head feels like it's in between two bumping cars (sinuses) but it's a BEAUTIFUL day here in Ireland and the sun is beaming in on top of me!  So much so that I've had to put up some boards against the window to keep the glare off my laptop screen.  What a great complaint on the 6th January!

I've got my winter woollies on though and the caravan is as snug as can be thanks to Seamus (electrician) who installed proper working plugs so now I can have a heater on without having cables running through an open window.

So what's everyone got planned for 2015?  How are those resolutions going?

I've been doing lots of prep work for my Vision Board this year.  As always I'm buzzing with ideas and plans for what I want to do, want I want to achieve etc etc

This year I'm focusing on trying to get my home back.  I started last year but then it fell by the wayside.  Working from home has so many advantages but for me I've had enough.  I'm tired of sharing my kitchen with my work and the rest of the cottage too!  I really want to separate the two and have my home back.  Alas it's not that straightforward.  Renting a work space is too costly just now so I'm working on using the caravan as a work space for the short term and the long term goal/wish/dream is to convert a shed beside the cottage into a proper studio/workshop etc  Needless to say it's on the vision board (and has been for a while)!  In the meantime my pinterest board is providing lots of inspiration whilst I also work on funding the project.

I love this space

I know it's totally not my usual style but I'm in the mood for a really clean open space and everytime I look at my pinterest board this one really stands out.  I'm sure I'd have it filled with polkadots and bunting in no time!   I think it's the long table that really appeals to me for workshops.  

I also love this space 

Aside from that I've got lots in the pipeline for 2015 and am enjoying preparing my Vision Board.

Do you create vision boards?  If not I highly recommend it.  

Here's a little something to get you started.  

Just sit down with these questions and either think about your answers or write them down on  paper.  Then use google images or magazines to find pictures that relate to your answers and simply paste them on a large piece of card that you can pin up in your home.  Ideally put it somewhere where you will see it everyday. 

I run a few workshops on creating your own vision board too.  More details here on my website.  

Let me know how you get on.

In the meantime I wish you all a year full of love luck and happiness x

Cocktails in the Caravan

Well here she is, my little Dot

I've been DYING to tell you all about her and share all the pics but have held back - God that was hard!!

I got her in January and for quite a while she was left in my Dad's yard in a rather sad and depressing state but as and when I got time she was stripped bare and turned from drab and dreary to my lovely little Dot.

When she arrived she was a little battered to say the least.  Afterall she was home to a dog!  Yes, I kid you not.  But I didn't care.  I knew with a bit of tender loving care and a bit of michellemadethis magic she would be a cinderella in not time.

So the clean up began.

Brace yourselves for the before pictures, they are pretty grim!!

The outside wasn't too bad, just needed a good clean and all the moss scrubbed off (can't really see that in the pic)

The inside however was pretty grim to say the least

But you know me - I just love a challenge!!

Once I removed all the furnishings, scraped the lino off the floor and gave it several cleans with bleach and disinfectant it was lathered in white paint!

Then the fun stuff happened ...

I made pretty curtains for it out of an old white linen table cloth with some lace edging

and started adding lots of lovelies to it.

Here's what it looks like now :O) 

Sorry the pics are a bit dark, will take more on a brighter day.

What do you think?

To celebrate and give me a deadline to get her finished I organised a party

Cocktails in the Caravan

These were the invites I sent out 

The dresscode was polkadots!

Needless to say it was a great night and Dot got her name.

Her full name being "Dotty Carafanny" after several cocktails and lots of laughter but I'm sticking with Dot for short. 

Do you like her?  Do you have a caravan too?  Would love to see the pics.  

If you, like me, are dotty about Dot and all sorts of caravans check out my board on pinterest.