This week I was up at Ballater for the day and there were hundreds upon hundreds of pine cones strewn all over the ground. I have always thought there is something really special about pine cones, they are just beautiful and evoke so many lovely memories for me. Whilst I was in Ballater, I collected a few bagfuls of the cones. At present I  have used them to decorate my fireplace alongside conkers and mossy sticks I have collected this year. I am planning to scent them with cinnamon and cloves to give my room a cosy winter aroma, I might even try to make this pine cone Christmas tree that I found online.

I don’t know about other people but I love having fresh air in the house. I know its cold and damp outside at the moment but every morning as soon as I wake up I go around and open every single window and the back door to allow fresh outside air to flow in. It feels so purifying and refreshing to do this. I am interested to know if anyone else does this? It seems to me that we live in a world where people are so used to heating, air conditioning and recycled still air. I think allowing fresh natural air to blow through our houses each morning for a couple of hours is so important to get rid of germs and to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside.

A open window still from Bright Star (A beautiful poetic film about Keats, highly recommend it.)

This coming week I am undertaking an ‘upcycling’ project. The gym I am part of recently received a lot of deliveries including new sets of dumbbells. The dumbbells came in a large pallet crate. The owner of the gym kindly offered me the crate to upcycle and of course I was delighted and took it. I think it will make a really nice winter planter for the garden once I have sanded and painted it. Then in the summer I will probably use it as a mini herb garden. I’m quite excited about it and so this week I am planning to get it done and planted up. I will post an after photo of the finished planter. This is what it looks like at the moment…

The soon to be upcycled dumbbell crate