Merry Christmas 2015
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
It's time to take a break, but I just wanted to wish you and your families, a very Merry Christmas. Take some time out for yourself, eat that chocolate, watch those Christmas movies and hug your loved ones.
Thank you for stopping past my little space and all the best for the new year!
Last Post
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Susie Ho Snowflake Bracelet
I've snuck a few of these new snowflake bracelets on the shop. I spotted the charms today and thought they were very sweet and made myself a bracelet. If anyone needs any last minute presents, do pop past but be quick as I'm closing the shop as of tomorrow night to make sure I can meet all orders before the last Christmas post.
:o)
Quick OOTD : 16/12/15 Skirt
Topshop Coat (old), H&M Jumper, H&M Skirt, Medwind Boots
Having had some success with the pleather leggings over the last year, I thought I'd try a pleather skirt. I shouldn't have eaten all those mince pies though as I had to size up! And it sticks to chairs. You have been warned.
Christmas Looks
Friday, 11 December 2015
It's the Mums Christmas do tonight. Woohoo. Got my bottle of non-alcoholic spritzer chilling in the fridge and I'm just about ready except, I can't make my mind up about what to wear?
Do I go for this one?
Anne Brooks Velvet Jacket (similar here)
Uniqlo Silk Shirt
H&M Pleather Leggings (similar here),
F&F Shoes (similar here)
Vintage Snakeskin Clutch
Nothing like mixing up a few textures here, with a bit of black velvet, silk, pleather, pony hair and snakeskin. Well it is Christmas!
Or ... should I edge it up a little and go with something a little bit shiny shiny? And I get to wear my party shoes!
Hobbs NW3 Cardigan
Uniqlo Silk Shirt
H&M Pleather Leggings (similar here)
Vintage Clutch
Links of London Bracelet (similar here)
H&M Bracelet
Or the wild card? A skirt! A gold skirt at that!
Very Metallic Skirt, Alternative here
Vintage Clutch,
ASOS Soulmate shoes, H&M Bracelet
What's a girl to wear? I am actually only at someone's house with a takeaway :o))))
Christmas Decorating : Christmas Canvas Crafty
Thursday, 10 December 2015
I made my own Christmas picture up there inspired by these prints :
I bought a canvas. Mine is from Home Bargains (size 50cm x 60cm) and it cost me £1.99.
Paint the canvas if the white is too stark for you. I bought a paint roller and tray from the Pound shop specifically for this purpose and used some left over paint lying around so I had a "coloured" even if it is a mere hint of a colour canvas. Paint away whatever you like but I was quite taken with how simple, effective and timely this particular "Oh Deer" image was. I made it mine by sticking a face on it :)
Paint the canvas if the white is too stark for you. I bought a paint roller and tray from the Pound shop specifically for this purpose and used some left over paint lying around so I had a "coloured" even if it is a mere hint of a colour canvas. Paint away whatever you like but I was quite taken with how simple, effective and timely this particular "Oh Deer" image was. I made it mine by sticking a face on it :)
Interestingly enough, the small boy told me off for spelling "deer" wrong #ohdeer
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The second thing to do with a canvas is make a card holder.
You need the following things to do this.
Again, I painted the canvas as the white was too stark. Then, use some pretty ribbon or twine and fasten this across your canvas. I used drawing pins around the back of the canvas pressed in to the frame and wound the twine around and tied them. Take the string across the font and make sure it's taut. Fasten to the safety pin on the other side.
Again, I painted the canvas as the white was too stark. Then, use some pretty ribbon or twine and fasten this across your canvas. I used drawing pins around the back of the canvas pressed in to the frame and wound the twine around and tied them. Take the string across the font and make sure it's taut. Fasten to the safety pin on the other side.
Continue down the length of the frame in the same manner.
Make a hanging loop for your canvas.
Press a drawing pin in to the top of the door (so you can't see any holes). Hang the frame on the drawing pin. Done.
We'll see how this goes or it will be back to the old drawing pins in the wall again next year! Grrrr.
We'll see how this goes or it will be back to the old drawing pins in the wall again next year! Grrrr.
Christmas Decorating : Tissue Flower Garland
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
When tissue pom poms go wrong, we turn them in to flowers. See!
Sometimes things don't go quite to plan. Like when I decided I was going to make tissue pom poms as I wanted to decorate the house with them this Christmas. A bit like this :
So I looked up tissue pom poms on Pinterest. Cast a glance over a few pics, ignored the instructions and then went off to look for my tissue paper, a pair of scissors and some string. And set too.
My first attempt was a tiny scrunched up ball thing. It looked like a little flower rather than a lovely airy fairy tissue pom pom. But I persevered and a couple of pom poms appeared ...
Proof that I made pom poms!
... and then I decided I wasn't a pom pom girl anyway. But the little screwed up flower thing ... I looked at that again and thought, that has potential. It had the potential to become a little flower garland. So if you'd like to read some instructions on how to make a flower garland - read on. Or if you want to cast a glance over the pics like I would ... glance on!
For each flower, you need 3 sheets of white tissue paper - size 12cm x15cm
Put the three sheets of tissue paper together and making sure the paper is at its widest, make concertina folds (about 1 cm apart) to the end.
Make a fold in the middle
And cut in half so you can make two flowers at a time.
Round off the edges of the paper on all the ends.
Make another fold in the middle.
Cut off a small piece of string and tie around the middle of the paper.
Pull the folds out into a fan shape.
And then separate the layers of tissue carefully.
And you should be left with something like this.
Do the same with the other half of the paper. Fan open and then pull the tissue sheets gently apart.
Faff (it's a technical term) and shape them a little so they look like little flower shapes.
Cut off the excess cord and you should have a little tissue flower. Make as many as you like and then tie them to a piece of string and voila... a flower garland!
Ta dah!
Depending on how long your garland is, you might be there a while. Make sure you have a snack to keep you going.
Add to your Christmas tree, wrap around a curtain rail, dangle around a picture, intertwine between some fairy lights for extra prettiness - your choice :o)
Sticky Business
Monday, 30 November 2015
Something a little fun. A little kitsch. A little bonkers.
And a whole lot of pennies and pounds. But for those who can't afford some of those lovely Anya Hindmarch bag stickers. How about a little set of these?
ASOS have 20% off everything off their site till tomorrow morning with the code CYBER.
And I have a little purse crying out for that little cat sticker. Be rude not to eh?
What's in my Village England Cranleigh Bag?
Friday, 27 November 2015
Village England Cranleigh Bag, H&M Keyring
It was suggested that I should do a "What's in my bag post" by Eve on Instagram. And I thought okay, now is as good a time as any as I've just got a new bag and it's looking quite tidy :o)
Diving in, this is what we have ....
Shall we start with the bag itself?
Well, that's my new Cranleigh bag up there which I received from Village England which is a relatively new English brand. I did know a little about them as I've seen the bags featured on a number of my favourite blogs and I know that Julia Dobson and Eddie Knevett the founders have been clever, done their homework and produced a range of leather bags pitched at the more affordable end of the luxury leather goods market. That's good news for you and me :o) My days of Mulberry are long gone as I feel they've overpriced themselves in recent years but I still want a nice bag at a sensible price. This is where Village England hopefully fill a gap. And do you like the antiqued brass hardware on the bag? A little bit quirky but smacks of English tradition. This is something which Eddie (he's in charge of the bag designs) has pulled off really well as his business idol is Sir Paul Smith who he says has managed to create a strong brand with a quirky identity. Yep Eddie definitely nailed it with the Cranleigh!
Now I picked this little black saddle bag because it's the perfect size and shape for me for me to use every day. Not too big, not too small but spacious enough for me to fit a few things in there comfortably. I went with the black despite it being not the most exciting colour ever but you know what? I like black bags. They rock my world. I also like a messenger strap - I've been going handsfree for the last nine or so years - if you have children, you'll understand and it becomes a hard habit to break. And other things worth a mention include (1) there are no fiddly buckles to deal with as the bag is fastened with a magnetic closure, (2) the heavy antiqued brass finish on the hardware is just perfect as I don't like shiny shiny anyway and (3) the new leather smell. Yep, you've got the real deal there!
Moving on to the actual contents :
Tissues. I pick up a pack of ten from the pound shop and usually have a pack floating around in one of my bags. Where there are boys there is snot.
Maoam Sweets. Keeps them quiet.
Burts Bees Lip Balm in Dahlia. That's the only makeup I carry around with me but it's all I can manage when I'm out of the house anyway.
Keys. We all have keys.
Purse. This is one I got from Kurt Geiger a few years back and it seems to be holding up quite well. Its quite big but it needs to be to house all my receipts for all my returns. I bet you weren't expecting it to be pink though were you?
Power Bank. Also known as the "life saver". I took this with me when I went camping and you know when you're hanging on to battery life by 1% before your phone conks out - this little gadget saved me and my sanity. Yes it's sad but oh you should have seen the joy when I realised it fitted my phone. I bought it originally for the boy's iPads but found it fitted my Samsung instead #oh_happy_day
Fold up Bag. I went posh and bought myself a little fold up bag that I picked up from Clas Ohlson which I took a shine to just because I liked that zingy shade of green. They do come in handy you know.
Phone. We can't go anywhere without the phone can we? You can? You have more of a life than me.
Panda Keyring. This was too cute to pass up. Actually that's not true. I passed him up the first time he came out a few months back and then he sold out and then he popped back in store again. So I had to buy him before he sold out again.
Camera. Not shown in the picture because I was using it to take the picture!
So for a rather compact looking bag ... it fits quite a lot in doesn't it? The most joyous thing is the fact that the days of baby wipes are long gone! Woohoo!
Next coat, Ganni Sweatshirt, Topshop Baxters, Adidas Stan Smiths
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Last Notes :
- Well I've used the bag every day since I've got it - I guess that means it's a goody.
- To use the Village England quote on their site, I like that the bag is "not so precious that it can't be thrown in the back of the car" because that's what sometimes happens!
- The Village England bags are also available at House of Fraser where there just happens to be a Black Friday promotion going on. Have you seen the jaguar print one? Treat yourself or maybe get writing that letter "Dear Santa ....."
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