Getting creative

It’s been a rough start to June for the VB’s after the crash but we have made it through the other side of what started as a very rubbish time. We have managed to stay positive and have been rewarded by being gifted a car for free. My parents have stepped up astronomically and gave us their old car which is perfect for what we need. With seats that fold completely flat it basically turns into a small van and that means we can now pick up free wood for creating things and start on our next goal of having a woodcraft business. 

With Mr VB being on holiday the week we crashed we were also lucky to be able to focus on other things and not stress about getting to work the next day. Living in a small village has its disadvantages at times especially when it comes to transport. 

With that time being spent at home with nothing to focus on apart from the knots on our stomachs, I tried to push my anxiety onto something more productive. I came up with a project for myself which is to decorate the whole house for little to no money at all. I started by thinking about our downstairs bathroom and how to sort the floor situation. 

The linoleum flooring left by the previous people who lived here, was covered in yellow lines and could be doing with replacing but with no funds to do so at the moment I came up with an idea. As we painted an entire wall in our old flat with blackboard paint for our dream board I thought, why not paint the floor with it? It’s water proof when dry and it’s great at covering anything. We also had a huge tin of it left over so would cost us nothing. With nothing to loose I set about painting. 

It took about 3 coats to be completely covered but it came out beautiful and best of all when it comes to using the bathroom, baby VB is kept entertained 😂 I may not be able to pee alone but I can pee in peace. 

We have done quite a few projects to try decorate the house for free and I’ll show them all very soon but for now here is a photo of our finished floor. 

What projects are you all up to? Are you like myself with a Pinterest board full of projects waiting to happen? 

Love always 

Mumma Vb xx 

Soft landing

It’s pretty hard to write a piece on positivity today but I feel I must. Today I was in a car crash. There was oil on the road and we slid over some rocks, over a barbed wire fence and landed in a farmers field. It could have been a truly horrible experience but genuinely it was like falling into play sand and I didn’t even crush the pizza I was holding. 
As I walked out of the car feeling super calm yet slightly exasperated , I was hit with the adrenaline and started to shake all over. Again I could have went into massive despair and cried as I looked at our poor maz hanging over the rocks, her bumper far away and broken to pieces but instead I climbed those rocks and found 4 cars waiting to help us. In the course of an hour trying to think of what to do and trying to find a farmer I was stopped by a grand total of 34 people! A lovely couple even took me to the nearest farm and back. 
Today was horrible in some ways as we are now in quite a predicament financially but it showed me just how full of love and compassion people are. There is so much hatred and fear right now but there is so much more love. 
I have tried to think of today in the positive aspects, that we landed in the softest manner with not a scratch and I will continue to remind myself of today and the amazing people who all stopped their journeys to ask if we were ok and if they could help, every time I start to feel low. 
I ask that you send your positive thoughts to us as we try to sort through the messy times and keep us strong and I promise I will do the same for you all. 
Love always 
Mumma VB x

Waste not

Hi guys. I’ve been at it again with the old wood craft and thought I’d share it with you all. I’ve been really enjoying working with wood and reclaimed/recycled material. It’s great to use my brain again. 

Since I had Jax and had to quit my job I have felt a bit like I lost my purpose. I know I’m a Mumma first off but I felt like I lost my contributing factor to the family and my brain function was taking the brunt. If I don’t have a project to focus on my mind tends to wander and I start to fall back into my depression. Starting wood working and building things has seriously fuelled my fire again and I feel my brain ticking and creating things. 

I have always loved trees to the point where I cried when they cut them down outside our old flat so I feel giving any kind of wood a new purpose makes perfect sense and speaks to my inner witchy lady. Give me a Forrest and an hour and I am one happy Mumma. 

So I stumbled across this idea and I just thought I’d show you all what I made. I intend on selling these to make a wee extra money for the VB’s. Let me know what you all think and if you have any ideas on different variations then please let me know. 

I hope you all have a crafty and cosy weekend. 

Love always 

Mumma Vb xx 

Pallet mad.

So I haven’t blogged for a while now which seems to be a running theme for my blog. I just haven’t had the urge to blog as I didn’t feel like I had anything to say. Well that’s changed. I am not going to be sticking to any one theme blog and instead I’m just going to spill stuff at you like some kind of crazy person. 

So today’s totally off topic topic is my new found fun. PALLETS! I am obsessed with wood and trees. Always have been and always will be. When we moved to our wee house in the tiny village I wanted to keep it super light and airy and filled with nature. The garden was going to be a big task but I knew I wanted to do it on a shoe string. Today I though I’d show you some cool things we have done and have planned. 

First of all look at this fantastic piece of almost finished artwork! Isn’t it magnificent! I really should have made a how to but we were 100% winging it the whole time. It was a trial of pallet creation fire. It took the guts of 2 days but we are so nearly finished, we are just waiting on a pallet delivery from our good friend. You can’t see in the picture but behind the first two seats is a wee box shelf for you to put your drinks/snacks on. If they last that long. Which they never do. Ah well guests might be better at will power than I do (totally not drinking wine and having snacks currently) 

Alright now look at this fine piece of Pinterest worthy craftsmanship. I wanted somewhere other than the floor to put unread letters and somewhere to hang my keys. The key hooks are in the post but I love it so gosh darn much I had to post it now. 

Mr VB is definitely the one who does most of the using of large equipment parts and I am the delegation and pallet breaking part. Also the crazy Idea lady who needs to back away from Pinterest. 

Making these pallet projects has been tons of fun for both of us. Usually when it comes to DIY Mr VB and I end up in a mad feud about the height of a shelf or how the handles are squint but not on this. It’s been a labour of pure love and I think it’s because we have zero instructions and we are just using our own creativity which I really need to use more. 

If anyone has any another fantastical pallet furniture ideas or requests I’m sure I can rustle something up and I will start some how to’s for all who wants/cares about them. For now I wish you all happy days and long evening sun. 

Love always,

Mumma VB x 

I needed time.

Hi everyone, this post has been a long time coming as I haven’t posted in a fair while now. I’ve been finding it very hard to practice what I’ve been preaching of late. I couldn’t get into the mind space of writing about positivity when I was crying in a heap on the floor. 

I suffer from anxiety and depression as previously touched upon and it raised its ugly head again but I’ve managed to fight them away for another day. They took the opportunity to pop up whilst I was low as I am currently going through tests for chronic pain. It’s quite difficult to keep a smile when your toddler is crying to be lifted up the stairs and you can’t physically do it. I am happy though in the fact that the doctor I am now seeing me hasn’t panned off my pain to “motherhood” and is listening and looking for the root of the problem. 

Whilst I felt so low *insert sex and the city looking out the window scene* I got to thinking, am I blogging about what I want to blog about. I feel like I need to change this blog around a bit and point it in a new direction. I still want to blog about positivity but I feel like I would be lying to myself if I didn’t blog about the bad days, the days when you want to put your toddler in the bin or want to poke that lady who mentioned your weight gain in the evil eye. 

I hope all my followers will understand and will enjoy this new change in direction. I will be more sincere and normal. No gloss. No filter just straight forward truth on the journey to trying to live a positive life. Bumps, lumps and all. 

I hope everyone’s weekend is going fantastic and you all have some kind of me time. Lord knows we all need it. 

Love always,

Mumma VB xx

A pocket full of posy

Yesterday was a bit of a low moment for the VB’s. Our car has been playing up and after replacing one part it turns out it needs a lot more work. This all became apparent after a lovely walk around Fyvie castle turned into us being stranded at Fyvie castle. 

Daddy VB’s phone was dead at home and my phone was struggling for any signal at all. Queue me panicking as I had no ones number. After many failed attempts at messaging anyone a Facebook post meant we finally got a call from our amazing mechanic friend who came to the rescue. Jax and I were picked up by a family friend but not before I was offered a lift home by 3 other friends. All would have been driving an hour to save us when we were only 20 minutes away from our own home. Whilst daddy VB stayed with the car, more amazing friends popped in to try help at the castle. 

I had a wee wobbly moment as our friend drove away after dropping us off and I was left with my own thoughts trying to get into the house with a crazy toddler. Our neighbour came over to see everything was ok. After a wee yap and then getting Jax down for a nap I was surprised with a hand picked posy of flowers and a huge hug from said neighbour. I cried my eyes out. 

Although the car may be goosed for a while our friends have rallied around us and made us all appreciate just how amazing they all are. 

When the storm clouds start gathering above you don’t let them distract you from all the beauty around you. Counting your blessings really does remind you just how blessed you are. Friends are worth more than you could ever imagine. Keep them close and don’t forget that you are a friend too and helping out with the smallest gesture could make someone’s day. 

Love always,

Mumma VB xx

Dare to dream.

Since we have moved into the new castle Von Black we still don’t have out goals and dream board up yet. I can’t wait for the house to be finished so we can finally do the finishing touches and number one is obviously the board. 

It’s amazing how having your dreams and goals visible everyday can really help to kick start you into going out there and making the small changes that lead to huge ones. 

For example. If you have say “go on a family vacation” on your board, then seeing this everyday will make you aware of holidays deals when they appear. It will deter you from spending unnecessarily and help you to save as your goal is right in front of you almost constantly, asking you to make me a reality so you can scrub me off the board. 

We are very lucky to have a very large chunk of our board scrubbed off already and if nothing else was to change this year well we couldn’t be more grateful. As it is though another 2 goals are set to be scrubbed off very soon and we have plans for every other goal. 

I hope you can all find somewhere for your goals board. It doesn’t have to be grand, it could be a clipboard always in view or writing on your fridge. Keep in plane sight and never let that dream go until you complete it. The universe is there to help you, you just need to ask and writing it down is your first step. 

Love always,

Mumma VB x 

Make it happen.

Hello everyone. Previously I wrote about my goals and dreams book and today I would like to talk about the second book I mentioned, the “make it happen book” 

This book is just as important as the first but does not need to be carried around with you at all times. It’s a book for reflection and deep thought. The best way to start the writing is to buy a book duh! Make sure you buy a book that makes you want to fill its pages. A diary style book is perfect for this one as you really want to write as much as you can. 

This book is for writing about a set goal or dream you are ready to make into reality. Make sure you are ready to receive this dream fully and are willing to take the right steps to making it happen. There is little point focusing on say, a goal of moving country when you have started a new relationship that you know you want to stay to find out how it works. You are not ready to focus on that goal yet, your heart is not in it and you will always have a “but maybe” and that will skew your focus. 

When you have chosen your goal then it’s time for the most fun part, writing as if it’s happened. Write as if your recurring about a past experience with your goal, how it felt when it happened, where you were, how you looked, every single tiny detail. When you have finished writing about how it happened start with the sentence “because of this” and start writing  again. You wang to write as much as you can about it. 

For example when I wrote about moving house I wrote about receiving the confirmation letter. I wrote how I was cleaning the house at the time and Jax was eating his lunch. The letter came through the post box and I knew instantly that it was THE letter and ran to the front door. I wrote about the colour of the envelope, the stamp, the paragraphs being so short and how I ran around the house screaming and freaked out Jax. When I had finished I started the sentence “because if this” and wrote on about how moving has brought our family closer together. It has given me new prospects and ideas on a home business. I filled about 20 pages and dates it in the future, the day I wanted the letter to come through the door. It came through 2 days earlier than that date and I knew it was THE letter. I screamed for joy, Jax screamed through fear and the paragraphs were indeed very short. 

When you have filled your pages don’t think that’s you done. You may write about your goal once or you may fill an entire journal and your goal may not have come into play. If this is the case I would ask you to read over what you have written. Clues or home truths pop out as you write. I wrote about my move a year ago and I finished that first page with “I don’t want to move but I know it’s got to happen”. There was the problem right there I didn’t want to move. 

When you write you must be truly honest with yourself. If you want to gain something but are fearful that something else might transpire then write about it. Write about what would happen if it did hapoen and then write about what steps you would need to take to stop it from happening. Pretty soon you have written a game plan and you can start to climb your ladder of things needed to do to reach your goal. 

When you write, you open up to the universe and are letting it know that you are ready to receive the positive outcomes of your goals. You speak truthfully and if you focus enough attention on it you will attract the positive energy to make it happen. 

Happy writing everyone and have a wonderful, adventurous weekend. 

Love always 

Mumma VB x 

The goals book.

Hello everyone, I hope your all doing well this Sunday morning. I am currently in bed after having a lie in thanks to Daddy VB. Bless him for doing the 6am wake up call with Jax as I was extra tired. So seeing as I’m stuck all toasty in bed I thought it’s a perfect opportunity to get some writing done. 

I have mentioned previously about my books that I use to help me when goal writing or putting out my positivity into the world. Today I want to go into more detail about the goals book and I’ll write a piece on my “making it happen” book later. 

Whenever anyone asks me about where to start in living a positive life I always mention my dream board which I’ve written about previously and a goals journal. Now different to the dream board your goals journal can be pages upon pages of goals you wish you to achieve. I was gifted my small floral journal when I went to a girls night with my friend through the church that ran Jax playgroup. At that night they asked us to write down 5 dreams you would like to come true and since then I have filled in about 30 pages. 

First point of call in the goals journal is to have one. Go out and find something that makes you want to write in it and it will help you on your task. You can find beautiful goals journals online everywhere you turn. This beauty is only £6 in paper chase and has 3 goals per page that gives you details you can add to them and a date to do them by. 

Once you have your journal it’s time to put pen to paper. I challenged myself to write 50 goals. These were things I wanted to do achieve the most and they came from the heart. You will be surprised by how quickly you start to write and of some of the goals you write down. The first ten goals are usually quick and those are the goals I would ask you to write on your dream board as they are your clear goals you have thought of for a while so they are most important to see daily to help you achieve them as soon as possible. 

When you start to run out of quick fire goals is the interesting part, this is when your deep desires come out. Plans you think “well it won’t happen but I’ll write it down anyway” put a big old marker around those ones. When you come to look back through your journal in say a years time and those markered goals are still something you want to truly do then I’d implore you to start getting on with making them happen. These goals can be anything from having a baby or moving country but if that’s a true desire you need to get on it. These won’t go away and the universe will help you on your way. 

Keep your goals journal close to you if you can or if you can’t then start a wee notebook on your phone for when you think of something new that you can then write in later. New goals pop up all the time be it “finish the charity run” that you signed up for that day or even “visit the tea house” that you just walked past. It’s still a goal and there’s nothing more satisfying that crossing them off when you have completed them. 

Please don’t be scared to write as much as you want in them and to dream big. There is no wrong way to write a goal you just have to be willing to work for it. Your all capable of amazing things you just need to place that first pebble into your positivity pool and watch the ripple effect happen as all your goals start to be achieved. 

I hope you all have fun writing in your journals and starting your journey to leading a fully positive life. 

Love always Mumma VB x 

Misty mountain room

So we finally finished Jax room! It doesn’t have the soft furnishings but it’s finished and it’s wonderful. 

We went with the adventure idea and thought mountains! Pinterest is amazing for inspiration and we had decided to use rain drops and clouds but we had a paint disaster and it all got changed. 

We bought a lovely grey colour for his walls and when applied on top of the previous owners colour, it went 3 different colours. It turns out the walls weren’t just blue but 3 different shades of green/blue. Once painted one wall was brown, one was silver blue and the other green. Queue me muttering profanities under my breath like Muttley whilst praising the shed for having tons of white paint hoarded inside. 

Once the walls were white…ish I got hit with an idea and Pinterest to the rescue, helped me find exactly what I wanted. We went for the mountain idea and started a plan. The mountain idea is extra perfect as I used to sing “the misty mountains cold” from the Hobbit to Jax when he was a tiny to help him sleep and we look onto Bennachie from the house so it’s perfect. 

It started with a whole load of white paint and then painters tape. We marked out what we wanted and started to paint the grey area first. After the paint was dry I ran a marker pen along in a weird wiggly line and started to paint the blackish colour. We made the colour ourselves by mixing Johnstones black paint with some white silk we had left over. 

We then waited for it all to dry and then removed the tape from the bottom of the mountain tops and put them under the grey lines. We again mixed our own colour of snow top by mixing some sample pots with lots of white.
Once it was all dry it was the most fun part, peeling the tape off!!!! It ended up being a super fun project and Jax loves his mountains which he regularly points at and shouts “MOUNTAINS” every naptime. 

We have plans to replace Jax bed with a “big boy” bed soon but seeing as we only moved a few weeks ago, I don’t want to do too much changes to the dude too soon. 

I remember sitting in my first flat with Daddy VB looking through Pinterest and creating my “dream home” board. It was full of silly ideas and it felt like when you were little and you circled every single item in the Argos catalogue as your santa list. You know your never going to have it but it’s fun to dream. Little did I know that I would be creating one of the ideas I pinned all those years ago for my perfect little boy. 

Remember to dream big, focus on that dream and make it a reality. There is nothing stopping you apart from you. Be creative and above all else, have fun. 

Love always, 

Mumma VB xx