Hair There and All over your Head…

Great big fabulous hair fascinators for brides, maids, guests or just for doing the hoovering…

Silk Rosettes $38.00

Rhinestone & Tulle $195.00

Handpainted Double Bloom hairband  $145.00

Bridal Mini-Hat $285.00

Pearl & Swarovski Hairband £92.00

Vintage elements Bridal Headpiece $64

  

Rolled silk flower and netting headband $50

Ivory blusher birdcage with feathers and flowers $89.99

Josephine Gold and Turquoise $105

And finally… how’s this for a colourful way to work with your pallette on your day??

From this wonderful Etsy Seller, Wedding Aisle… Would never have dreamed of mustard and magenta, but boy is it fabulous.

Why we have no need for a spaniel to clean up after our daughter…

My Homespun Creations

Hello there, dear reader.

With all my crafty world kicking off over here, I thought I’d share some bits and bobs that I’ve been creating here in my ‘basement studio’ and take a straw pole from the lurkers out there for their opinions, thoughts and general positions on my products…

I’m delighted to say that Homespun Living products can now be found in THREE SHOPS in the local area and seem to be selling well. Have been investigating various craft fairs and other opportunities to sell my wares but I’m not sure about outlay for table vs likelihood of sales vs outlay of time and stress vs vs vs vs … Any of you have any thoughts or experiences on this front??

In any case, thought I would show you what I’ve been creating recently…

My Snail Mail cards have been very popular so I thought I’d create a gift-line of sets of four notelets with vintage stamp motifs…£6 for 4 notelets.

Also, to follow on from the colouring-in alphabet cards, I’ve created two sets of mini-colour in cards from my own line drawings for little ones to send before and after the holidays. They’re only A7 (A6 folded) so it shouldn’t be too taxing to decorate and write mini-missives inside… £3 for four printed notelets with hand stamped envelopes…

 

Finally, I’ve had a fabulous photographer friend take some much more beautifully styled than I ever could shots of some of the products not yet online … Here’s a sneak peak…

Thanks Elodie!

 

(And thanks to Elodie’s husband for the loan of a bottle of Chateau Neuf-de-Pape and to her two fabulously stylish daughters for borrowing their magazine-ready bedrooms for the shoot!)

Wintery Flower Girls

Of course, mere weeks after ruminating on an attempt to create a fairy/elfin/pixie-type look for your little flower munchkins, Monsoon designers (who clearly read this blog) noticed a gap in the market and got sketching quicksmart…

Scrumptious and a welcome departure from ubiquitous ivory mini-meringues…

Valerie 

Sophia

 

Gia in green or mauve

Preethi Drop Waisted

Bluebella

So luxurious and so very possible to double as the Christmas Party Frock in the months to follow.

Which probably can’t be said for the ivory macaroons that will no doubt be covered in grass stains, mud and orange juice within ten minutes of the reception starting…

A bit late to the Crafty Party

I’m sure you’re all avid followers of this section of the newspaper…

I’m sure you knew about it for so very long that you didn’t even bother to let me know just cos you assumed I’d be first in the queue for each edition…

 

I’m sure I didn’t just only stumble on the ENTIRE SECTION by accident while looking for fashion articles (now that the Times is pay-per-view and I’m too tight to surf for cash…)

If this article were actually read by any significant number of people, maybe the apocalypse is a while off after all.*

Any thoughts regarding the final line on the ‘middle class mummy hooked on crochet’ are best kept to yourself… If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nothing at all.

Enough with the Strapless!!

In my ever-continuing quest to stop the world domination of strapless wedding dresses, I was delighted to see some beautiful shouldered options in the current Watters collections…

Left to right…

Row One: Dallas, The romantically named 1039B, 9043B

Row Two: 1090B, Style Vanessa

Row Three: Style Zora, Style Miriam, Style Teresa

My absolute favourite, though, has got to be Escalante, described on their site thus:

“Ivory Silk Taffeta gown with hand embroidered v-neck bodice, capped sleeve and full skirt with pockets. Covered buttons on back empire band. Chapel Train”

And check out that back!

AND POCKETS!!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!

Altogether, absolutely stunning, elegant, classic, interesting and oh so femininely pretty…

At US$2,800 or £1,700, though, you’d hope it would be all those things, I guess!!

On height

As a woman of stature, it has been noted that I am, as one person put it, ‘long’… or another, ‘High’… It is important to note, however, that I have never been deemed ‘lanky’… That accolade belongs to the Boy and the Boy alone. I fear Tilly and I will be forever pronounced ‘gorgeous’…

Anyway… it would now seem that, along with my towering build, I also bring other versions of height to bear on my personality… it seems that I am…

• high functioning
• have high standards
• have high expectations
• high anxiety
• high maintenance
• high volume and high energy levels

(Rearrange the order of that list depending on the time of day, volume of wine consumed and event for which I am preparing/dressing/worrying)

It has been not without a degree of resistance that i have spent the summer taking part in wonderfully insightful and disturbingly accurate sessions of CBT. It transpires that, for all this time, a series of handouts have been waiting, rather like the Prophesies in Harry Potter, to be discovered, written only for and solely about me and my various concerns, thoughts, worries, idiosyncracies and neuroses…

That, or I am part and parcel of a tediously predictable cliché of ‘high’ women…

The Boy has bought me a yet-to-be-taken hot air balloon ride for my birthday and I coincidentally spotted the self-same company’s aircraft high above me this evening on my walk home.

I’m looking forward to the trip into the skies, simultaneously precarious and secure, simultaneously high and low, and simultaneously exhilarated and terrified. Something tells me I should, by now, be used to these emotions…

I’m looking forward to the point in the future when I can look down on my life from a height and recognise my scurrying for what it is: normal, laudable, a degree or two excessive, only a little bit endearing and largely unnecessary…

For now, I am able to see beautiful perspective from a distance of approximately ten minutes after an attack… One day, the CBT will nip it in the bud and I will be relaxed, engaged, interested and nonchalant…

Ha! And one day, a lanky Boy and a gorgeous Girl will fly…

Classic Evening Dress ideas…

I’ve got a fabulous invitation to a fabulous event this weekend coming… It’s a wedding celebration party following the gorgeously mini-registry office ‘do’ this weekend just gone.

My grand plans for outfits have slightly stumbled at the first hurdle when it transpired that my lovely go-to cotton print evening frock is a '*little* snug around the middriff…

I’ve got a scrumptious long red dress which I am considering… and then a little spark of  memory recalled a frock.

A long, elegant, comfortable, modest-of-shoulder and -decollatage gown that, in a luxurious but understated fabric (I’m thinking a heavy, black silk crepe) would be the go-to-gown for those tricky upmarket but semi-relaxed events as well as a maxi-dress for day-to-evening parties… Also – it being a full-length gown means flat sandals. And I am ALWAYS pro that…

The closest two patterns are this one for jerseys…

And this one for non-stretch fabrics…

The only question now is… how can I get hold of a New Look pattern at short notice…

And do I have enough time before Saturday evening to run it up???

Or will this one do the trick if I gather the fabric instead of stitch the darts under the bust and add a tie-on sash over the top??

Edited to add: GADZOOKS – Newlook 6001 is not yet available in this country. I want to cry. And I shall wear the red dress this weekend. And it will be glorious.

Christmas. Don’t hate me.

These tags make me inordinately happy. I can’t decide whether to use them for all my present wrapping (maybe tied on with rick rack and wrapped in the obligatory brown paper) or give them as presents in their own right.

One of the best make-your-own-gift guides is to be found here at Skip to My Lou. Presents that you wouldn’t mind making and, more importantly, wouldn’t mind giving or receiving either!

Dangerously, Cox & Cox has just released its Autumn range too…That, coupled with the Amazon Universal Wish List Toolbar Button, can only result in my demanding an AWFUL lot of crafty loveliness for the holidays. If you’re feeling creative (and rich) feel free to nick all their lovely ideas for wrapping, crafting and giving… Glorious gorgeousness…

Crafty Crafty Tutorial Fabulousness

Roundup of inspiring and wonderful things that I’m sure you lot have already come across and just not told me about…

Silk hair flowers – am DEFINITELY trying this one later this weekend, when I’ve finished my MAHUSIVE list of ‘to-do’ jobs… sad times…

Coffee Filter Paper Flowers (including dying instructions)

Fully printable, fully customisable, fully AWESOME, FREE wedding stationery available here – this MUST be all over blogland, and if not, why not?? Thanks to How About Orange for this heads up! Her roll call of Free Printables is incredibly impressive, btw…

And then gorgeous stickers for the little ‘uns here that will help with a multitude of Thank You letters and suchlike…

Oh lovely internet… how inspiring you are…

In my next life…

I am going to be this woman.

And release this range.

And be as fabulously creative, flexible, consumer-friendly and innovative as each and every one of those items…

Favourites include…

Four plates £25

Jug & sugar bowl £18

Sandwich Tray £16

All the bedlinen in the land…

Oh so pretty… Oh so pretty indeed…

The Baby, The Boy and the Pincushion…

Yesterday was fun.

The Boy described it well. I will leave it in his words to explain what we’ve been up to…

Good story....
Tilly had her first visit to hospital (she's home and fine before you worry)
She’s had a cold and cough since last Thursday – her first day after nursery! – but has generally been in good spirits.
Yesterday evening H turned her back on T for a minute in front room,
all obvious things well out of reach....came back into room seconds
later to find Tilly, pin cushion in hand with a few pins out on
floor....did she eat one....or not….
Seemed to be fine for rest of evening and went to bed as normal.Cried at about 11pm...disappointing we thought...H went into her and
next I heard was scream from Helen. Went running to Tilly’s room to see
in half light baby vomit in two huge patches on the sheet and Tilly heaving on her hands and knees at one end... But the patches were red....hence Helen’s scream....blood from the damaged gut from pin???....on closer inspection was more purply than red....what had Tilly had for dinner...pasta sauce with her main, and summer fruits for pudding...all very red/purple. Either way Tilly very distressed by whole thing as she's never been properly sick before.
She seems ok. We decide it isn't blood, but decide to keep close eye
on her so move travel cot into our room. Restless night for us both,
waking constantly to listen out for Tilly noise. Seems ok in morning.
Has her milk, dramatically vomits it back up a few minutes later. Hmm, just a virus or is there something going on in her gut what with the pins etc?? Decide to watch during day and see how she goes. I go to work. H calls at lunchtime increasingly worried as T been vomiting everything she
drinks. Dry nappies. I'm meant to be presenting at various meetings
but drive home to see Tilly, and bring her back to A&E...Leave her
there with one of the Paeds doctors, run off to present at meeting. Come back, she's smiling at all the staff, making everyone laugh....typical. Put special metal detector up to her...silence....relief, except is only designed for detecting swallowed coins and batteries etc...Fear the pin may be too small to be found anyway… Decide to get xray to confirm.
Meanwhile I'm on call so running up and down between wards. Xray shows what looks suspiciously like a pin in her stomach...oh Lord. We discuss with consultant radiologist, having already had two paediatric consultants involved...he's not convinced. We get senior radiographer over to examine the film used to take xray...could small scratch cause similar
appearance...?? There is small scratch....but how can we be sure...if
there is pin would need surgery or endoscopy (camera down
throat)...Persuade radiographer to repeat xray...2 films later and it
turns out there was no pin afterall....and Tilly not vomiting anymore.
We brought a smiley but tired Tilly and a wholeheartedly stressed Helen home.
What a fiasco. She seems fine this evening, no more vomiting as yet.
Suspect just viral infection continuing from the cold causing and pin
complete red herring...but all very stressful!

Deep joy. Have decided (!) that she is a bit of a minx and nosey little so-and-so and have, to be honest, been quite relieved today to have the ‘excuse’ to sit on the floor and give her one-to-one attention all day long. Have now managed to catch the cold that she brought home so little movement, much playing and much walking with cart full of bricks.

And no pincushions within a 12 mile radius.