I thought I'd give you a little peek into where we are living whilst we house hunt.

I have been a little mean to this house, when actually there is lots of space and I have to keep reminding myself the pink bathroom isn't forever!

It's time to unpack, appreciate how lucky we are to have found a house to rent, so close to preschool and in a village full of families, with a real sense of community.

For the first time ever, we are able to walk to pre school. And it is a joy. My 2 year old chatted widely the whole way there and everyone we passed, walking their woofers, or popping for a paper at the local stores, gave us a wide smile and a hearty good morning.

It may only be the 17th January but already I need to remind myself of my new year motto.

And suddenly it is becoming a happy home. With more unpacked boxes ready to be filled again and a chance to have another much needed sort out. 

I may have gone a little mad on matching bits for the boys in 2013. Excess!

My mother has worked like a dog whilst I recovered from a sick bug, to get us straight! Wonder woman!

So we have a lovely dining area, flowers on the mantel and planning friends to stay. Who cares if you sleep on a mattress on the floor just for one night? I know our friends don't.

The dogs are happy as pigs in muck. Rich has a new pair of wellies and walkies now means a muddy trek in the woods!

So from now on we have big smiles!

Because we can sort over time. There is no rush. Just shut the door!

And we can walk to pre school. Happy days!

I picked up these tiny metal moulds in the sale and knew they would come in handy for a Valentines treat idea.

A simple but effective recipe that takes only a few minutes.

Sammy is going to make up some little boxes for his sweethearts at school, but substituting the nuts for jelly beans!

All you need is chocolate and your choice of extras. I chose some freeze dried raspberries and chopped pistachio nuts, and you could add fresh raspberries too.

Melt your chocolate in the microwave slowly so it doesn't burn. I melted approx 75g for 40 seconds and then an extra 10 seconds at a time until it was smooth.

Stir in your nuts and raspberries and spoon into your moulds. Set in the freezer for 20 minutes. Pop them out of the moulds and present in a little muffin loaf basket or whatever you fancy!

This batch is for the woman Sammy loves the most. Of course - Granny! 

Gifts don't have to be extravagant, I think the thoughtful ones are the best.

Will you be making a loved one a gift this Valentines?

Check out some other gorgeous dishes linked up over on Tasty Tuesdays here

Last year I wrote this post and created 12 little pretty envelopes to keep my creative spirit alive and consistent throughout the year. In each envelope was scrap paper notes of ideas for each month. Keeping seasonal ideas in the relevant months. 

It can be hard to stay inspired because I think writing a blog is tricky.

It's tricky because there will be times when you are bursting with ideas, times when you have no time to action any of those ideas and times when you feel a little out of love with it all. For me, everyday life can sometimes be so consuming, my blog has to be pushed down the priority list. 

I have found the last month frustrating. Frustrating because I feel my creativity has been squashed under a pile of removal boxes. 

Last night I went around the house with a tray and collected bits of red that I could see (That have seen the light of day since the big move!). Props for future blog post ideas I haven't thought of yet and today there was an hour when I fiddled about with chocolatey spoons and photographed all the bits I had collected. I photographed them in the conservatory lean to, squeezed into a little space by the back door, next to the recycling box - very glamorous!

I find colour so inspirational.

And taking just one colour at a time gives me 20 blog post ideas in one. Each of the items you see gave me an idea or 2. Craft ideas for Valentine's Day, something to bake, a Bento lunch to make and history to share. A learning game idea, a first birthday to plan and a new hobby to challenge me and document on this blog.

I found one of my Granny's cook books with handwritten recipes so faint on the red lined paper, you have to retrace them to read them.

But blog content galore!

Props are all around you. They create a picture and tell a story, and provoke creativity.

When I make something to post, especially a food related article, I will have in my mind before I start even buying ingredients, how the final image will look that you see. For me it's part of the pleasure. Sometimes I sketch it out, often I store things for a rainy day idea and I find it helpful to mock it up on my iPhone to see how it looks.

Like making mini stories with each post.

So watch out for all the bits and bobs you see here popping up in a post soon.

For 2014 I am going to change how I blog #SundayPropShop. Instead of a fortnightly link up, I am going to blog all the lovely images I see tweeted, on Facebook, on Pinterest and posted on blogs, by you! People I follow, people I read, people who inspire me.

There were some incredible posts linked up last year and I can see so many blogs taking more time and effort with the presentation and styling of their photographs, which I would love to help show off!

I will always link back to your sites so other readers can find your creative content too.

So make sure you tweet me or send me a link to your posts and photos using #SundayPropShop so I can feature you!

How are you keeping inspired this year?

You can read Sunday Prop Shop Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 by clicking the links or on the photos above.