Outfit- We're going on a bear hunt!

I know it's not Christmas anymore, but I have ONE more outfit I didn't share!

Technically, I wore it in November though so it doesn't QUITE count as a Christmas outfit.

My orchestra puts on a concert especially aimed at children.  For the first 10 years of doing this, the wonderful Kathy Clugston from Radio 4 used to be our narrator- she's best pals with our principal Clarinet player (and she told me I was her favourite flautist!) but she moved to Belfast a couple of years ago so we had to do without her.  The main piece in the programme was Ian Stephens' We're going on a bear hunt based on Michael Rosen's story and David Benson Phillips' Playschool original version of this.  We performed it with Kathy a few years ago- there's a picture of me hugging the bear in the blog post I did.  This time, we were asked to wear All Black with sparkles. I was disappointed as this is usually my opportunity to wear my coloured posh dresses.

Still, I DID have something slightly subversive to wear.  Remember my red velvet dress I recently found in the charity shop?  Well, at the time, it was also accompanied by a Black velvet version with a white collar embroidered with snow flakes.

I decided to get away with wearing that.

To add sparkle, I wore my silver sparkly Lorelai L-Q star earrings AND to match the theme- a glittery bear brooch!

I wore this with my trusty Clarks Brogue books (this was their inaugural outing actually).

It was a fun, comfortable outfit to wear.  We went out for a meal at Nusa Dua, an Indonesian restaurant near Leicester Square after the concert so it transported well into an evening out- I hope!!

What do you think?

xx

5 brooches and friends #70

It seems an age since I have shared a brooch post or a jewellery post.  I used to do this quite frequently!  I thought I'd share 5 pics of a few brooches and items of jewellery I've been wearing.

Let's start from the top left going clockwise.

1.  I bought my Kitty in specs jumper a long time ago and I hadn't worn it for ages.  The charity-shopped Oasis blouse was the perfect colours to wear with it and I wanted to add a little pin on my collar so I added this Fat Kitty thundercloud from the No Such Disco.

2.  Not a brooch but a turquoise sparkly acrylic bow necklace from Lorelai La Quillec.  Bought this before Christmas.

3.  Before Christmas, my Tatty Devine polar bear brooch seemed a good idea for pre-Christmas.  Cats and bears?

4.  Wore my deer dress and accompanied it with the perfect set of brooches- the beautiful Middle Mist Makes deer brooch I won in an Instagram competition (her brooches are beautifully hand-felted) and two beautifully hued knitted brooches from Hazel!

5.  My festive (but I wear it all year) sequinned Robin brooch needed even more shiny bits so I added my Nickat  Online sequin necklace!

Are there any favourites here or are you a fan of the more simple touch?

x

Slightly foxed

Hi there,

Certain prints are such fun to wear.

Foxes, squirrels and other Woodland friends always make the onlooker smile.

This Run & Fly dress is a favourite for its running Fox print even if the material is slightly weird and paper-bag-like!

I wore it with my new Charity-shopped Rieker shoes. I have almost the exact same ones in black (now grey with ankle straps) which have lasted for such a long time and been a stawalt. Even though they weren't perfect condition- for £3 in the charity shop, I wanted to give them a go knowing I like the other ones so much!

Foxy accessorising too- CBC said that the two types  of fox did not go with the print but I decided to hedge my bets anyway!

Photos were taken at Frazer's tearooms in Battlesbridge.   I recommend this place to eat a nice lunch/breakfast/tea! They have a beautiful large garden to eat in.

Hope you are well.

5 brooches and friends #68

Hi there,

It's been one of those frantic, scrabbling catch-up weeks.  Thus, I don't seem to have the brainpower for anything too thought-provoking or long-winded so I am sharing some recently worn broochage and necklaceage!  Yes, that's a word. I like to go in for a little nomenclature occasionally!

So, onto the main event:

I wore this book-themed dress on Wednesday with this Jane Austen quote pin saying, "I declare there is no enjoyment like reading,"  This is what Miss Bingley says to Elizabeth Bennett and Darcy to be provocative in Pride and Prejudice.   Accompanied by Mr Foxton and a book dress!

For the party on Saturday, I wore this necklace from Down the Rabbit Hole on Etsy!  I do like how ridiculously long it is! Worn with ice-lolly dress.

Sunday saw me wearing another fox with a cottage dress. Lots of foxes in country gardens.

On Monday, I wore Tik Tok from the World of Oz (from Sugar and Vice Jewellery) with a simple navy top and maxi skirt.

Finally, Tuesday, I wore this Fat Kitty bomb necklace with more kitties!

Any favourites here?

Hope you are well and I will try to visit anon!

xx

5 brooches and friends #67

Hi there,

Hope your evening is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

As you read this, I will be at my musical camp playing a large-scale piece for orchestra by Janacek.  I currently am doing my usual, "Hate packing!" avoidance and the time is getting later and later. Actually, I have begun packing but finishing it is always torturous!  I am praying for good weather for camping as I don't feel very good about camping in the cold with a cold! 

Anyway, it seems a rather long hiatus since my last 5 brooches post so here we are with some brooches and necklaces to share!

A Kimchi and Coconut space rocket entitled, "Fly me to the Moon" seemed a vaguely appropriate choice for this Clouds and aeroplanes dress.

 As well as the rainbow earrings, I thought I'd wear my two cute Book pin badges from Fable and Black to go with the pastel rainbow shirt.

 The same two pins accompanied my Cath Kidston book dress alongside this Bookish Owl in specs!

The Tatty Devine Macmillan pin badge I appropriated from my Mum seemed a jolly choice for this bold-checked shirt.

 Finally, no Cath Kidston dinosaur dress is complete without petite flying fox necklace and Stegosaurus felted brooch.  This brooch was actually a finger puppet I crudely sewed a broochback to when I bought it a few years ago!

Do you spy any favourites here?

Have any brooches been gracing your lapels?

xx

Taken into Mustardy

I know, I know, it's a bad pun, but you don't come here for comedy!

How are you today?  Well, I hope!! I am fine- well and happy, just rather tired.  I think I should probably head straight off to bed when I finish typing this.

Sometimes, I wear an outfit which I want to photograph. Even if the light is terrible, even if it is dreadfully late when I reach home.  This was one of those occasions. 

This vintage blanket skirt was bought a long, long time ago for £5 from the jumble-sale style stall at Spitalfields market, East London. It always looks different in photos to real life!

This is the first time I paired it with this charity-shopped mustard jumper.

Here's the view of the landing in my new house.  I'm giving you taunting, sneaky little views, aren't I!?   I did try taking a picture with the ostentatious chandelier our predecessors left for us but alas, it cast a blurry halo around my head, so you get the spare bedroom door!

And what resplendent outfit would be complete without a wise owl? None, I fear!

I seemed to be having a colourful skirt week but then I spoilt it all today by donning a boring breton striped jumper and black pinstripe trousers (with toothpaste necklace!) 

I hope all is well with you!

Much love,

Kezzie xx

Lawrence the Lobster

 Back in July 2015, I posted about my trip to Aldeburgh for the weekend and mentioned this lobster t-shirt which I had bought and had to return in aged 10 kids. It was sadly too small so last year in the Isles of Scilly, I was delighted to find the t-shirt in an aged 12.

Yes, that pose is me pretending to be a lobster...

 Today, as I headed into town to pick up an irritatingly large parcel for CBC from the post delivery office (1 mile walk there, 1 mile walk back WITH large pouffe-sized parcel) I decided I needed a fun yet practical outfit and Mr Lawrence the Lobster made his debut.

 Of course, I had to add my Erstwilder Lobster brooch, Mr Pinchy, who is also donning glasses and a moustache. It seems all the sartorial-based lobsters are dandies!

 I wanted to shun trousers in favour of bare legs and a skirt so I wore this White Stuff reversible skirt. I do like a quirky print!  Added to that, the Converse I bought back in 2006 when I was doing my PGCE and I walked from Holborn to Russell Square in some supposedly comfortable shoes which cut my feet to shreds. I really could not tolerate walking any more in them, they were that painful (blister city!) so I limped to the nearby Brunswick Centre and found these!  Putting them in the Washing machine last year gave them a wonderful new lease of life!

The t-shirt is designed by Joules but it has the Isles of Scilly shop logo on the back!

The rest of the day was lovely as my friend invited me round to hers once again to have dinner and watch Doctor Who and then Austenland. CBC is out on a Duke of Edinburgh weekend so I was alone and very happy to see Doctor Who for a second week running.  We had time for a delightful walk around the woods near her then watched the TV.  Doctor Who was great though I felt a LOT was left unanswered by the episode- where did the creatures come from?  Why were they there?  Why did they do what they did?  What happened to the rest of the family of the Chief protagonist and how did he survive if he was alone?  Why every 20 years?  Why was the loss of previous people not investigated?

Austenland was a DELIGHT! I was overjoyed to see the gorgeous JJ Feild (who I MET in real life HERE) was back in a Regency suit!!!  I will never grow tired of Jane Austen adaptations and spinoffs!!!

Hope you are all well and had a fun weekend!

xx

Advent Day 23: 5 brooches #50- Christmas 2 edition- Jazzing up a boring outfit

When I reached 5 brooches #50, I always intended to do a Giveaway but sadly, I have run out of time to do much about it right now, so I might wait for a later number to do this officially.  

Today, all the brooches or pin badges were on one outfit. Namely on one waistcoat!

 These three pins (We three pins of cardigan are) came as a set from Sainsbury's. I should have resisted but it was oh so easy to put them into the basket. Quite jolly and sweet. I liked glittery Rudolf the best!

 Here's the gang combined!

And here are the other side. 

The top one is from Rosebud Casson who makes beautiful jewellery and I am reallly fond of this.

The middle one comes from Hello Crumpet on Etsy.  It is a domed one and rather delicate and pretty.

The last one came from Kate Gabrielle and was actually free with an order I placed! It is a darling Triceratops dinosaur who has a holly wreath and fairylights round his horns!

I thought I'd jazz up what was otherwise quite a boring, shapeless and casual outfit with the pin badges and also the pretty sequinned collar which is handmade in England and I found in a charity shop on Saturday for £1.49. I've liked using collars to smarten up outfits this year- it's definitely my favourite thing to do sartorially!

Any nice brooches from you this week? Do share if so!

xx

#5 brooches 18

I thought I'd create a little universal header for my 5 brooch posts just to see if I could- I've styled it in the way Corinne does her headers- hers are great!!! Sorry to be a copy-cat Corinne but I mean it in the most flattering way! Since I've done 18 of these posts, I may as well make a thing of it!  Might possibly rename it 5 brooches and friends if I decide to feature another novelty item of jewellery one week, such as quirky necklace or earrings as I think I've been neglecting them recently...

Brooch number one featured a few weeks ago- it is my homemade R2D2 brooch which I made for going to see Star Wars. He was quite daintily perched on a rather bright outfit consisting of my green tapestry Closet dress (bought for my birthday 2 years ago) and my vintage mustard blouse. I think I am going to make a BB8 brooch to accompany him as BB8 is adorable!

The next one is rather a cute one- it is a planet like Saturn with a little space bunny flying under it!  Very cute, simple and delicate! Teamed with various presents- the mustard cardie is from Whitestuff and was a very apt choice of present from my parents-in-law! Thank you J and WOMOTM if you are reading!

Lilac resin doggie featured in an outfit post week. He's rather cute and the resin reminds me of Erstwilder brooches in a little way. I bought him at the Christmas fair in my local town at the end of November.

This cute porcelain, patterned bird was another very apt present choice from my Deputy-head teacher at school. She chooses great presents and I am honoured she likes me enough to buy me presents for birthday and Christmas! How cute is this!?

Finally, this origami mirrored Dinosaur is a naughty January purchase from Punkypins.  He's very cute!!!

Any favourites?  Have you been wearing any funky jewellery this week? Do share! I'm not sure if I've seen any brooches or not?! Sorry if I've missed any!

xx