From the archives: And they call it Bunny love.

I know some people are ashamed of or embarrassed  by their early days of blogging but I always love looking back at my old blog posts in a nostalgic way- I remember being that person at that time, the feelings, the emotions, the moments and like to think about those times.
I was looking back through this blog post from 2009 entitled And they call it Bunny love.  It was a really short post with 17 words and 2 photos including the one below.

So little content but secretly embued with so much hidden emotion and feelings.

Alice and I

The photo was taken by CBC before we had got together and become a couple.  We didn't know each other that well.  We'd met for a concert and rehearsal in May and then met for another rehearsal and a concert in late July.  I thought he was rather lovely but it was rare in my life that someone so lovely that I actually liked would be interested in me and my way of dealing with feelings of attraction was to be awkward and shy and pretend I didn't like the person in case they didn't like me back and didn't like the feeling of being liked nonreciprocating.

After the July concert, CBC had suggested going to the pub with our friend A but A wanted to go home. We agreed to go round to A's house to play music together 3 days later. A is the bunny queen and had a new lovely white rabbit called Alice who I wanted to meet. CBC and I had to exchange numbers because he would give me a lift from the station to A's house.

We had a lovely time playing music and eating some lunch. I was cuddling Alice and CBC asked if he could take a photo.  He took this one and then sent it to me via text later in the day.

When I look at that photo, I think of that feeling of really liking him a lot and the joy of having an excuse to send a text message and receive a reply. CBC showed the picture to his housemates apparently and I was referred to thereafter as 'Bunny Girl' by them! 

This photo makes me think of the early days of love, the uncertainty of feelings, shyness and those delightful moments of communication, dreaming of what ifs and I wish and eventually, when it transpired that he did like me back, the feeling of utter joy and bewilderment. Why did he like me back?

Even a short post, one with few words, few photos, very little shared can have a hidden depth and meaning.

Do you have any blog posts from your early days that you have looked back on with affection like this?

xx

A bunny is for life, not just for Easter

Any embellishment for cards can, I am sure, be used for an occasion other than the one for which it was intended.

I was given a late birthday present on Easter Sunday which included a Waitrose pack of little felt bunnies, Easter eggs and chicks.  To be honest, I don't really make or give Easter cards, so it was unlikely I'd use these embellishments for their true purpose.

Luckily, one of my favourite blog friends is Bunny Queen Extraordinaire so I made her a card with them.

I do prefer to keep my cards simple. Most of the professional-looking ones people make nowadays have lots of details and embellishments but I somehow prefer a Spartan-simplicity!

Any of us could make a card with pretty paper strips and tiny embellishments. If you haven't given card-making a go, why not start with something simple like this.

Linking to Creative Mondays with the lovely Claire Justine

7 Stylish ways to incorporate stationery into your outfits

Want to be the pioneer of a new style?  Why not try to incorporate stationery into your outfits.  From putting pencils into your bun at the back of your hair (in different colours for interest) to glueing a brooch back to a pencil sharpener or rubber or wearing a pencil behind your ear, look no further than this post for THE way to shine in the pencil case crew.

 Ok, so I am jesting with you somewhat!

 When I saw my Dad recently, we exchanged Christmas presents (I know, it's terrible!!) My little sister bought me the most perfect presents!!This scarf is so much fun.

 It seemed maybe a bit too much with the stripy Bunny jumper and the patterned skirt, but hey-ho, a bit of OTT clashing is always good fun!

 I've had a really beautiful day today. Last night, I went to CBC's school to watch a production of Hairspray which was amazing.  WKWTTG came to watch and came to stay at ours afterwards.
We had a lazy start today and then went out for breakfast at a really nice cafe in a little village near by. I had the full English breakfast which was 2 tasty sausages, scrambled egg, 2 rashers of bacon, beans and I substituted the mushrooms (urgh) for avocado! After that, we drove to a garden centre to look at some rattan furniture for WKWTTG and then after going back home for tea, cream cakes and some reading, we headed off on a 6 mile walk from Great Waltham to Felstead on the Saffron trail which was idyllic. I have some beautiful photos to share soon so stay tuned for that!!

 What do you think about this outfit?  Too much?? It was what I wore for a casual day of flute quartets, charity-shopping and lunch with my flute pals!!

Hope all is well with you!!

xx

5 brooches #23 bunnies, bunnies everywhere

Hi there!

Thanks for your support on my last post. I'm not allowed to say anything about OFSTED and indeed, I don't know anything! But yes, I did get observed. Sigh... but it was ok!

So, you don't want to know about school, you're here for the bunnies right (I don't like bunny teasing. by the way for a certain person who might decide this is an opportunity for bunny jokes. No, it's not.)

The first brooch was a wonderful birthday present from Melanie. I was so happy when it arrived in the post 3 days before my birthday.  I waited, of course, until the day to open it.

And inside, was this beautiful Mockingjay brooch (if you've seen the Hunger Games, this is a reference.). I was especially touched by this because when I met Melanie last April, I had just finished The Hunger Games book 2 and was desperate to read Mockingjay but couldn't get it in the library or a charity shop quick enough. When I met Melanie, we had a look in the charity shops and I found the book I was seeking!!! She remembered!!! Thank you Melanie for your thoughtfulness!

No, no bunnies yet.

 Here we have, hot off the press, brooches worn for today's inspection! Yes, a HMI saw these brooches in action (she probably wasn't aware of them!).  I somehow failed to iron my blouse, so hid it under the turquoise tank (which also hid unironed blouse last time you saw it on 5 Brooches).  These Punkypins collar clips are a great favourite of mine except for their tendency to twist upside down!

 Lots of you liked this resin dog brooch last time I wore it (with Easter chick blouse), so this time, I upped the canine ante and wore it with my original 'Christmas jumper' from Per Una!

 Ok, so here's the first bunny, not seen since the inaugural 5 Brooches post.  I DIYed this one myself (well, attached a brooch back to mirrored bunny!).  Remarkably hard to photograph.

I wore him on one of my bunny sweaters- I couldn't get him in the photo so he got his own one!

And finally, brooch number 5 is a new addition to the brooch family.  My deputy head teacher had said she had a birthday present for me but it hadn't come yet and she turned up to school on Tuesday with a gift bag with this darling patterned bunny brooch, along  with another brooch by the same designer, Matin Lapin (which you'll no doubt see soon!).  I just had to wear him the next day and he needed some bunny companions for his debut.

So I pulled out another bunny sweater!

Any favourites? Have you worn any?

Brooches elsewhere:

http://www.trexesandtiaras.com/2016/03/living-next-door-to-alice.html Char's beautiful Alice brooch

http://www.secondhandsusie.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/retro-brooches-collection.html 
Can't remember if I shared this or not but check out Susie's amazing brooch collection! A MUST see!!

Summer fruits Bunny hop

Sometimes, a warm comforting get-up doesn't have to mean having to lose your sense of fun!
We went out into the country and I wore one of my many rabbit jumpers- this one is the most arty-- the others are more comic critters. I wonder why I favour bunnies more than other animals?

Rather resembling a summer pudding, I took inspiration from the bunny's rather fetching bowtie (bowties are cool) and added summer-pudding striped knitted tights and a raspberry organic beanie/beret that came in my stocking last year from J and a swivelling disc-necklace, a stripy silk scarf and glittery purple scarf and finally an oversized red-currant Duffle coat that my Mum bought me for Christmas some years ago. It was never my ideal duffle, being rather large for me, but actually I've grown to love it for its ability to make me feel like a child dressing up!

The day was glorious and I'll tell you a bit more about it another time. Sufficed to say, it was one of those glorious halcyon days that winter sometimes surprises you with.


CBC and I are finally getting round to actually putting together a photobook of our wedding photos (a year and a half later!) . He favoured an album but I really wanted to get one of those printed photo books.  We found a Groupon deal for a 100 page one and we're slowly assembling it.  What's your opinion on this? I often think that photo albums can get tatty over the years as the adhesive dries out but who knows what the longevity of these photo books is? Only time will tell.

Hope all is well with you.
xxx

Bloggers Secret Santa 2014

I signed up for and took part in Char's Bloggers' Secret Santa and  received a wonderful parcel on Saturday from Ingrid at See the colts who thankfully included her name and blog link.

She'd decorated the box beautifully with lots of lovely washi tapes so it was already exciting from the outside.  When I opened it up, I found some lovely looking parcels and a pretty card which had also been decorated. This kind of put me to shame as I am Mrs Absolute-Scruff-ball when it comes to wrapping up presents- most of mine look like they've been through a bush backwards.  Everything was wrapped beautifully with exquisite labels.



But what was inside?


1.  I first unwrapped this cute book about a cat which I look forward to reading as the blurb looks really exciting. I always love a parcel with a book!
2. The second one I unwrapped was a beautiful pair of handmade paper heart earrings which are really delicate and pretty, just the type of thing I like! I can't wait to wear them once the season of Christmas earrings is over!
3.  Also included were two rolls of pretty tape which I can imagine using to decorate cards with- sorry if anyone hoped to get presents wrapped with these- they are far too pretty to end up in the bin with wrapping paper!!
4. I was totally excited about the white bunny lamp- Ingrid must have read my post about Alice the white bunny recently! I have seen these lamps and wanted one but didn't think I could justify buying one- so brilliant that I got one as a pressie!
5.Ah ahahahaha!!!! Doctor Who stickers!!!!! Excellent!
6.  A wodge of money- alas, tissue money but very very cool!
7.  Finally, a fold-up burger- I have read the instructions and still not quite worked out what it is, but it looks really fun and a good project to work on!

Thank you SO much to Ingrid for my lovely presents. I love them!

I had a little more trouble with my mystery partner who had not included ANY sense of her likes or dislikes in Char's e-mail and when I went to her blog, found very little more about what she liked (hers is a professional blog of her profession!) - in a panic, I read her entire blog history in the vain hope of finding some ideas. I gained a few little ideas from some recipe posts and an reference to note books so went along the foodie route but I admit,it's been the hardest 'blogswap' I've been involved in! I really hope that a) she received it and b) liked the items!!

Did you take part in any swaps or posting fun at all? Let me know if you did- I love a snoop over these posts!
xx

Cottontail

Fern Cotton today wears a cosy winter outfit. I think you'll be getting bored of my cream Bunny sweater as I'm sure I've worn it for Inspiration Monday more than once! And once again, I will not be persuaded into skinny jeans so we have a dress added to cover my modesty in leggings! However, it's appropriate that I can make a bad pun on the Fern Cotton and rabbit link. I like the fact this outfit has made me think of more ways to wear my bunny sweater which I usually wear with the same black trousers!

Wearing: ASOS BunnySweater, Appletree boutique horseprint dress, Primark leggings, Leather boots: eYe Boutique, Robin print scarf (it appears to be the day of animals?)

DO you know what? I am so envious of you bloggers who can get outside photos. I am tired of dim dingy photos in which I try to capture an outfit and wish I could actually experience some daylight during the week. Perhaps I should get out of bed earlier (laughs hysterically!)

I am so excited that my Mother in law is coming to stay with us for a couple of days. She's coming for CBC's concert and it is exciting that she's going to stay as we have not hosted her before and moreoever, she's going to be our first overnight guest. This is not something I have experienced much. I think I can count the number of overnight guests I've had on one hand in my adult life (excepting CBC of course) and this is the first time I've had a spare room! Frantically trying to hide away all my piles of stuff and realising that perhaps I should remove a crammed drawer full of clothes so she can put hers in a drawer. My spare room serves as spare clothes storage!

I am hoping to go Swingdancing myself tomorrow night. CBC seems very reluctant to go recently and he has one of his two school concerts, so I am going to lindy in London tomorrow whilst he's doing that! Seeing the Swing off on Strictly come dancing last night has me itching to go and swing! It's surprising how out of practice you can get by not constantly going! I also have to go and pick up a lovely Christmas jumper from ASOS up from my old house that has arrived for CBC. I have plans to steal this jumper once Christmas is over! If you like Wardrobe zoos, you might like this one!!!

Head over to the Twobirds for some fluffy jumper love!

xx

Bunny seeks optometrist!

Hello there! Mags over at Fraise Lachrymose issued a general challenge for people to blog every day in November and I thought, since I have got out of the habit most shockingly, that I would attempt this. I actually don't think I have ever blogged everyday consecutively for any length of time, so it's worth a try! You may get a little bored! I went over to church for choir practice for our end of centenary service on Saturday and despite real feelings of 'I shouldn't be doing this' and 'ahrgh, will power is kaputt' and 'Don't do it!!!!!', I did decide to get off the train early in order to nip into Primark. Gem of Pink haired Princess had talked about a tartan dress she had wanted and managed to find. I thought this dress was really charming and thought it would be lovely to try. I found one and bought one and also a rose print one. Then I made the mistake of looking in the kids/teenage department and found a cat headband and a really cute bunny jumper I really liked so decided to bring it home and team it with other items that contain that same lurid shade of magenta! This skirt frequently lurks on this blog. It's a vintage (I presume from the fact it is soooooo titchy!) and is even getting a little too small to do up which makes me sad!! CBC has gone off to Northumberland today for the weekend. I couldn't go because of the Centenary at church. It feels weird to have spent the whole week with him and obviously, the now living together thing and for him to be going. I feel a little lonely, which is ridiculous as I have previously lived alone for 5 years!!! I'm off for a little excursion to a local town near to where I live which I can reach by train in about 15mins... Happy bunnies peeps!