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

Style Imitating Art- Monkey trading cards

Greetings!

Monkey trading from the Quadrupeds series (N41) for Allen and Ginter Cigarettes

Here is another round of Style Imitating Art!  The curator this week is new host, Daenel from over at Living outside the Stacks.  She chose this interesting piece of art in the form of a Cigarette trading card.  Lots of details in here to make use of for the inspiration:

Monkeys, parrots, foliage, trees, coconuts, pink vintage fonts, a yellowy background, grown, green, the texture of the palm tree- it certainly offered lots of scope.

But I was puzzling over what to wear all week.
It was only as I was putting away washing last night,that I spied this old pair of Primark Summer trousers, that I realised, I had a basis for this outfit. I last wore these for Style Imitating art about 5 years ago for Woman walking in an Exotic forest .  They had the right sort of coloured foliage in the background even if the slightly more lurid flowers were not so fitting.

I added a brown vest top and cardie (ahrgh, not very well matching in this light!) as a nod to the coconuts and monkey fur.

My accessories were all a nod to the parrots in the background:  I have my oldest brooch, the top jewelled parrot, owned since I was about 11, the earrings (also that long I think!) and the two tin brooches of Budgie and Kookaburra bought in Corbridge.

What do you think? Can you see the inspiration?  What would you have chosen from your wardrobe?

If you fancy joining in, AND PLEASE do, send your picture by tonmorrow, to Daenel livingoutsidethestacks@gmail.com.  Bev gets a very special gold shiny star for joining in NOT ONCE, BUT TWICE after my plea for people to join in. Please go and comment on her post so she keeps joining in and because her outfit is brilliant!

xx

Mustard and olive vibes

Hello there,

I am sorry about 3 days of outfits and brooches in a row, but really I have more important things to write-about nobler causes and also my  Cruise writeups to finish and they take me so long so I habitually put them off. Terrible really.

I thought I'd share an outfit from Saturday when we were going for more house-viewings (We put in an offer for one- was rejected) and then headed up to London (the night of the hideous grid-lock) 

I do think this is a typically autumnal look. It reminds me somewhat of the lovely Donna at Polka Dot Pink who frequently pairs mustard with a navy pattern, often being polka dots!

This week so far, aside from Monday's awful day (all was fine until after school meeting) has been quite a positive one. I've been pleased with the lessons I've taught, including the three most notoriously difficult classes.  Pre this term, I DREADED teaching Tudor Dance to one class but on the whole, they have totally got on board with it and really enjoyed it. I applied for a music scholarship for one of my pupils last year and discovered she got it which is fabulous, my choir rehearsal was deficient in about 15 pupils who are away on Residential but the 13 I had made a brilliant sound so that was positive. CBC made me dinner tonight ('tis a rare occurrence nowadays which is a shame as he is a great cook), we had a String Quintet recital today which is always a delight, I managed to get all the Nativity scripts printed, annotated and highlighted for staff and pupils and meticulously broken down parts on a big grid so feeling rather smug and organised.   So lots of good things after a gloomy start to the week.

CBC has made me consent to going to watch Spamalot with his school tomorrow which I'm a little grumpy about as teenagers make me feel awkward but hopefully the show will be good. Apparently, his non-music colleagues keep wondering why I never come to anything (er- I play in the music concerts!!!!!!) so I'm being dragged along.  Hopefully should be fine...

Outfit:

Dress: Louche at Joy (was FREE with a purchase)

Mustard Cardigan: White Stuff (Christmas gift from J and WOMOTM)

Leggings: Primark.

Teal Boots: The Doc Marten store.

Beret:  Nottinghill

Necklace: Tatty Devine

Dorothy Brooch: Goodnight Boutique on Etsy

Right, I'm off to read some Terry Pratchett and NOT eat any more Fudge!

xx

5 brooches #42

Ev'ning all!

Hope all is super with you!

Life seems to be zooming along at a chaotic pace! Another busy weekend with house-viewings and then a concert and rehearsal in West London!

Anyway, I expect you want me to broach the main subject (hee hee)- there's no new members amongst the brooch family this week, just the reappearance of old favourites!

My Sass and Belle Fox brooch was the ideal choice to accompany my Love from Hetty and Dave fox-collar.  

 The Erstwilder Camper Van was the closest to a train I could get to match my Cath Kidston train dress.

It made me giggle all day that my French Erstwilder lobster was hiding under my sleeves all day !

He's behaving better now1

Last but not least, here was my pretty Lapin du Matin music brooch that my Deputy Head teacher bought me for my birthday! It didn't photograph on so well, so I took the picture at the end of the day.

Any favourites here?

xxx

5 brooches and friends #40

Greetings to ye!

I hope your day was enjoyable. As you read this, I shall be purchasing about 70 recorders for my Year 3's who have all sent me money to buy them their own recorders.

The moment where I hand out their recorders and they come up one at a time to fetch is one of great joy for me. To see their excitement inherent in their face as they try to play it cool and walk nonchalantly when you know that they are all super-excited is fabulous!!!

Anyway, I digress. Onto the broochery!

 This ringed beauty came from Topshop and essentially cost me 50p. I was delighted to get such a nice-looking resin brooch. It looks like Erstwilder!

 The balloon necklace comes from You Make Me design on Etsy.    The pretty sewing machine necklace came from my flute friend Lara who I helped with her first craft fair. It is so pretty!

I know you saw this yesterday. This deer came from Gloriously Glittery on Etsy also as part of my Lucky Dip.

Here's the 'And friends' part of the post. This 'Love you to the Moon and back' is from my old favourite Punky Pins and also came as part of a Lucky Dip.  So many older ladies have come up to me and said how much they love it!

These adorable Collar clips of a Bee and Daisy came from the lovely Katie who sent them as a belated birthday. I adore belated birthday presents, especially when consisting of plastic jewellery!!!

And that's your lot.

Hmmm, since it was my 40th post, maybe I should've have done a giveaway. I might wait for 50 so stay tuned as you might win something at some point!

Any favourites?

xxx

5 brooches and friends #38

Evening, evening!

Hope that you are all well! 

I'm so sorry, this is a rather harried post as I have been away and out all weekend. We went to a wedding in Brighton and I've been helping my friend Lara at her first craft fair today.  Here's just a quick post as I feel compelled to post!

 Cloud avec bird. This cloud doesn't just have a silver lining- it is swathed in silver!

 I am SO excited to finally own this brooch! I have been in love with this Erstwilder brooch since about January (or whenever it was released which was DEFINITELY before my February birthday!). My sister finally got around to ordering me a brooch for my birthday and it was this one!!! Yay! Totally accidently teamed with a cherry dress. Twas not planned!

 Glittery teapot on Orla Kiely teacup dress!

 I absolutely fell in love with this 'I love crafty' x Pony people cat ice-lolly necklace!  SUCH a clever design!

Added this swallow brooch to my Closet London dress for the wedding on Friday as the dress is rather plain (and boring) and you can't really wear a necklace with the turned-over collar so a brooch it was!

Have you worn any brooches recently?

Do share if so!

I will come and visit asap!

xx

The two extremes

Frantic scurrying around for most of a day, a night and a morning:
Rooms cleaned, clothes folded, bank statements sorted, floors hoovered, baths scrubbed, dressing tables polished, sheets changed, hair washed, rotten pears collected. clothes delivered to the charity shop, books donated to library,
Frenzy, movement, constant thinking, the ticking of a clock, time stampeding like entropy and finally....


Relax.

CBC returned.

Driving to pub,
Food being eaten; fields being admired.
Gardens returned to.
Jet lag finally given into and two Am bedtimes acknowledged.
Throws spread, cushions dropped and sleep upon the lawn.

The two extremes.

He is home and I am glad.

What to wear on his day home?

Something red and quirky. The first time CBC and I danced together, I wore a red dress. Not this one.

 Tea cups by Orla Kiely at People Tree and my teapot brooch from Gloriously Glittery brooch at Etsy

 We fell asleep on the grass in the cool air

Hope you are well!

xx

5 brooches and friends #37 Fruit salad

Hi there!

It's been a little while since my last 5 brooches post.  I have been at my Dad's for 4 lovely days and wasn't the weather glorious! It was perfect being in gorgeous Kent for those days with them!

Today's 5 brooches is super simple and quick- all in one.  I had packed inefficiently for Kent with dresses that were too hot and I'd only packed one outfit for each day rather than my usual sling a million garments in the suitcase approach. I ended up wearing sleeves today with leggings which was a disaster as the wheel had fallen off my suitcase on the way to Kent. I didn't realise and I had dragged it all the way to the station and through Westfield in Stratford to reach Stratford international so the bottom was all shredded and cracked. Thus, on my way home, I had to manhandle my heavy suitcase in my arms through a crowded shopping centre until I reached the heaving Primark to buy holdall to put it in! That was much better but the damage was done- I was a sweating wreck. By the time I'd changed trains twice and walked the almost-mile home, I needed a shower and a change of outifit. This charity-shopped top was perfectly cool and it lends itself well to pin badges so I added a whole fruit salad along the side- Avocado, Blueberry, peach and watermelon and my lemon-slice necklace to top it off!

Voila!
I have a concert tomorrow lunchtime. The flute trio I sometimes augment and make it a quartet are giving a concert in St Thomas of Canterbury Church, Brentwood if anyone is around, free and in the area!  Red shoes are mandatory for this group so I need to hunt down my Ruby slippers!

See you soon!xx

5 brooches #31

Hello there!

I hope all is well with you this fine day.

I bring you a selection of brooches from the past few weeks. Hope there are some you like. There seems to have been a lot of stripage going on today too!

This pewtr cat and goldfish bowl is one I found in a charity shop recently. I wasn't going to buy anything but then I saw this and it was so cute (the fish dangles) that I gave in! For £3 to charity, it was worth it!

Here are some of my home-made Scrabble collar clips! I have 6 letters!

 This parrot brooch is one of my oldest ones and of course has a tale attached. When I was about 10 or 11, I read the .'..of Adventure' series by Enid Blyton and came across a parrot called Kiki. From then on, I was smitten with parrots, drawing them, writing about them, wanting one and relatives and friends bought me parrot items. The family friend who bought me this brooch was SO good at buying me presents of things I really loved or wanted. They tracked me down a parrot Swatch watch I had admired of a friend's and my Mum had failed to find me one (we went to the Swatch shop and everything!) and this brooch was an unexpected Christmas present. I treasured it and kept it in the China cabinet in its velvet box for many years.

 Tatty Devine released some of their Lucky dip boxes a few months back and I ordered one of the Men's ones because I have a few men who it is hard to buy for and I thought some novelty cufflinks would be a fun idea.  When the box turned up, it had in it, 3 brilliant sets of Cufflinks and this Volume brooch! I have set aside the cufflinks for the presents I wanted it for and decided that this was going to stay with me!!

The last set of stripes of the day. I felt a red heart went really well against the nautical look of the t-shirt!

Any favourites here AND have you worn any!?

xxx

5 brooches and friends #30- the real 30!

Hidee-Hi campers!

Hope you are well. 

I am so tired it is untrue. Going to bed at 3.10am is NOT conducive to working!!! Bad girl.

Anyway, this is major procrastination from the sadness of doing what I should be doing. Luckily the photos were already in the post ready from the weekend so I am just going to waffle for a few sentences about each.

Yep, tis my 30th Brooch post! I don't think this means I have 150 brooches as there have been numerous repeats but I do have many!

Onto the goods:

A close-up from Tuesday's outfit post. I teamed this charity-shopped collar with Saturn and lightning bolt collar clips as the colours went well!

I took this photo ages ago and Miss Patina shared it on their Instagram-yay!  It is my Cat collar teamed with a white James Bond-villain-style cat from Goodnight Boutique ages ago from her old range. Her brooches are amazing if you get the chance to go and look at her Etsy. They are all her own animal illustrations! I want the squirrel now!

This vintage lady is so up my street-would totally wear her outfit. It's also from Etsy from Ladybird likes. I like the fact it is delicate but reliably chunky so you don't worry it would fall apart!

I love ugly animals! I have always had a thing for lobsters so I love my glittery lobster necklace!!

If you're thinking you saw this before, it is because I have the brown glitter version of it!  I was just looking in Topshop and found they had this one and there was some ambiguous signage going on with the Freedom at Topshop Buy one get one free on sale items so I managed to get this as part of a Buy one get one free with 20% off anyway through being cheeky and asking what the sign meant!

Any favourites here? I admit, I love the musical rattly element of the last brooch. Need set of maracas? Worry not, you can use your brooch instead!

xx

5 brooches #28 - not 5 but the broochboard

 Hello there,

Hope you are all well.
For this occasion's 5 brooches, I thought it might be nice to share a picture of my brooch board as occasionally people have made comments about it being nice if I could show all my brooches together. That in itself is not possible yet as they are all stored in different places but a few months ago, I picked up this pinboard from Aldi and decided to pin some of my brooches to it. To be honest, it hasn't been totally useful so far since it is not up on the wall yet but propped up on the sideboard but I hope it will be.

I thought I'd do a few slighter close-ups so you could see a few.  Most, though not all of these have featured in 5 brooches. Can you spot any new ones or any that you recognise?

As always, this is procrastination from completing my packing. I hate packing!

xx

5 brooches #30

Hello there,

Hope all is well with you.

It's been a good day all in all but I am weary!!! I went for a run yesterday with a friend and my legs are reaaaaaaaaaaally aching now- so painful! It was good to do some exercise other than my daily 2.4 miles walk or the occasional swim.  Hope we can keep it up- at least once a week!

Onto the broochology...

 This Polar bear was from Tatty Devine. I received an ASOS voucher for my birthday and I bought this with it! Thanks to Madame Penguin for this!

 I've had this cute little badge since before Christmas. It came as a freebie with my Ladybird likes box!

 I couldn't resist wearing this with my Shrimp earrings and the pink flamingo outfit. Bought these from the Church Big day out a few years ago.

 Sass and Belle bluetit was perfect for this Dotty Perkins dress- so glad I can wear this for school now as I couldn't with my previous Headteacher as she also had it!

 Love my Dorothy brooch. I last wore this BEFORE the inauguration of 5 brooches I think! Worn with my Clara Flatline shirt!

Last but not least, Mr Pinchy, my Erstwilder lobster brooch- love him!

Have you seen or worn any nice brooches this week?

xx