Wearing something more summery

 I don't think I've ever got to mid June before doing my Summer wardrobe changeover before! The weather has been rather crazy!  However, last week, I chanced wearing some more summery garments.  As I have said before, I definitely prefer the summer season for clothes

For church on Sunday, I wore this red linen jumpsuit from Seasalt.  CBC bought this for me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I forgot how comfortable and pleasing it is to wear. It's light and practical.

These Accessorize espadrilles came from a Hexham charity shop and were brand new.  They are light and comfortable and I can cycle in them but I'm not sure they were the right choice for the jumpsuit.

For school on Tuesday, I wore this F&F @ Tesco dress (charity shopped). It's was perfect for this weather.  This red Primark cardigan has a big hole in the sleeve seam but I really like it.  Lunar leather pumps from Haltwhistle shoe shop.

Another charity-shopped shirt-dress, this time from M&S worn with a charity-shopped cardigan and green suede loafers by Rieker from Finale Shoes in Corbridge.  Hmmm, all my Summer shoes seem to come from Northumberland! Worn on Friday.

The 

My final outfit was worn on Saturday for rehearsals. The clock skirt came from Cath Kidston and the top is from H&M.  It's the green loafers again!

Which one of these is your favourite?

xx

sdsd

Style Imitating Art - decoupage flowers

 This week, our Style Imitating Art inspirations are the many flower collages and decoupages of 18th century Mary Delany.  In her  70's, she started making paper cut outs of flowers and they are exquisite!

Here are two examples I picked out:

I decided to take inspiration from these in my outfit, worn on Saturday, for my day out with my family to the brewery.

I decided to combine the colours and flowers for my look rather than an exact recreation.

I started with this Cath Kidston rose teadress which I bought in the charity shop, the day of my flute trio recital.  I then added this pointelle cardigan which was also a charity shop purchase.  Jewellery consists of a silver acorn necklace given to me for our first anniversary by CBC and a pair of charity shopped red earrings. My tights are an old pair of school tights- they are so comfy but very old now. The final item was my new Clarks boots I bought after getting soaking wet feet. I've been wearing them all week for school and they are fleece lined and very comfortable.

Head over to Salazar tomorrow to see how everyone else interpreted it.

Style Imitating Art outfit: Booky Summer reading

Hello there!

Hope you are well!

Today is a quick post for Style Imitating Art.

Terri is today's curator and she chose this wonderful painting which her daughter owns.

“Booky-Summer reading led her into fall darkness” by Patty Carroll, which is part of her Anonymous Women series.

I love this painting!  It's so clever and there's so much to look at in it!  I love the chaos and I could probably recreate this in my own home- I'm a bit messy and I own lots of books.  My dining room looks a bit like this with the table full of books, craft stuff and instruments.  Need to clean it by Friday as CBC has his work colleagues round on Friday night.  Sigh.  Like last year but this time 2 colleagues who I like are not invited.  

Anyway, I am usually a stickler for the colours in a Style Imitating Art post but this time, I just decided to go with my first inclination which was to WEAR MY BOOK DRESS!!

I was bought this dress as a Christmas present by my Stepmum and Dad from Cath Kidston.

I decided to wear a drapey cardigan to represent the curtains on either side, even if I didn't have a burgundy cardigan.

My charity-shopped shoes match the colour of the anonymous lady in the painting if not the heel height.

As well as my Cross necklace (handmade by Annie Scales Silver), I snuck a little quote pin from Fable and Black.

I'll write a bit more soon but head over to Terri on Wednesday to see how everyone else interpreted it.

xx

Stripes and Phones

 Sometimes, I get ridiculously over-the-top emotional and irrational about things and feel bit bit like I'm going a bit mad. I hate myself for it, beat myself up over it and then realise, my hormones are probably responsible.  Something happened today- something which in about 99% of people's worlds would be a nice thing, a really nice thing.   I reacted to it negatively with exasperation- stroppily (not directly TO anyone but outloud in my house to CBC) and then felt utterly miserable with how much of a horrible person I was/am, how ungrateful and (and please don't tell me, I'm not, because if you knew the details of the situation, you would think I was indeed not good) and then got annoyed again.   Sometimes, I need to just shut up and realise when my hormones are in their bad place and not say anything or do anything- then I won't have these horrible feelings about it.  The only people that know about my reaction are my Mum (who I cried down the phone to and incoherently rambled about it twice) and CBC (who was impatient, then understanding, then impatient again) and my friend Lara (who was the rational voice of calm and reason that made me feel better about the situation and how to react to it).

I wish I didn't get so ridiculously emotional over really stupid things! I remember last July getting totally stressed over something and blowing it out of proportion and it always seems to coincide with hormones but because of the medication I have been taking for the past couple of years, I am a bit hazy with where I am so I don't realise when it might be a time where I am going to get irrationally emotional until it has happened.

I don't like myself when that happens- CBC is a saint to put up with irrational emotion me.  Perhaps that makes up for me being patient with him being an irrational grump bag at times- perhaps we balance it out?

Anyway, that doesn't really segue into the rest of the post at all but I took some photos of an outfit from when we still had snow. I'm not sure when it was but it was before Half Term- possibly the Saturday.

The snow week, I kept cosy all week by wearing mainly cashmere and wool jumpers. It was nice to be able to do that when I wasn't rushing around because I was cosy without getting too hot in my cashmere!

This dark pink jumper was charity-shopped a few years ago and I remember the first time I wore it was for the first rehearsal with one of the orchestras I played with- I had to travel on the rail replacement and I wore this jumper with this Cath Kidston telephone skirt (bought 2nd hand)- I always seem to pair the two together

That day, I suddenly remembered I had these stripy thick tights which sort of went with the top and decided to wear them.  This is unusual because I have been avoiding tights like the plague for the last few years and sticking to leggings and socks as I am fed up with saggy tights having to be hoiked up all the time.  But I'd forgotten that these tights were a delightfully well-fitting pair (from Tescos) and that, in fact, I liked wearing certain woolly tights- it was a bit of a revelation for me because I felt really guilty about all the tights I have but don't wear.  Tights aren't exactly the type of thing people would want to buy 2nd hand from a charity shop and it'd be a waste to cut them up for something if they aren't ripped etc. A couple of years ago, the lovely Ann and a friend Becky did actually help me out by taking some barely worn (as in, as soon as I wore them for the first time, knew they didn't work for my leg length and shape- again tights aren't really something you can try on in a shop!) tights, 

The final items in this outfit were a charity-shopped black velvet Kangol beret and my Clarks Ben's purple Brogue boots.  Adding a pair of earrings and necklace from Esoteric Londonw which I won, I was set for the day but not just a boring jumper and trousers outfit!

It seems hard to think we had all this snow 2 weeks ago and none now!

A bit like the fact that in just over a week's time, we'll go from lockdown with me teaching a class of 10 children back to me teaching 540 different children every week. I'll be glad to see them.  One nice thing from today, despite the crazy hormones and trying get my work done was this message I got from a parent.  I save them here to remember happy things when I look back on posts and remember good things:

"Hi hope you are well just to let you no I’ve uploaded E's music work there is a few lol she really been struggling with not being at school and the work and music really seems to help her and shift her mood so thank you so much x "

And there it is, the ray of sunshine that makes all the difference.

Dinosaurs with jumpers

When I search for a particular garment or put away washing, I come across another one garment I have forgotten about and I really would like to wear it.
Yesterday, I located my Cath Kidston dinosaur dress which CBC's mum bought for me for my birthday a few years ago. It's a sleeveless, thin cotton dress (though lined) so not really appropriate for January.

However, there are ways around this, especially when you spy another garment you'd forgotten about!
Yes, it's easy to wear a cotton summer dress if you wear it with a thin turtle neck jumper underneath.
This blue ribbed one comes from H&M and has cute curly edges.
Leggings, thick wool socks and boots complete the Winter adaptation.

Accessory wise, I don't have a dinosaur necklace (although I just thought I should have worn my Lochness monster!) so I added my Betta fish from Lorelai LQ and my Bookworm necklace.

This was a good outfit for a hot building at work- it was warm enough for travel but didn't make me sweat inside!

What do you think?

xx

Style Imitating Art- Children at the Beach

It's time for another Style imitating Art outfit. Salazar chose this beautiful watercolour, Children at the beach.

The painting is by Post-Impressionist Maurice Prendergast, “Children at the Beach.

I knew that would begin with my Cath Kidston cloud skirt as this would suit the colours nicely and the literal fact that there are clouds in the sky - well, sort of!


Next, I added my blue charity shopped Karen Millen shirt as it was another jolly shade of blue.  My cotton cardigan is from DKNY and I've had it since I was a teen aged 16 and my Nan was still alive.  My sister gave it to me as a present so it's doing well 21 years on! My second-hand Saltwater sandals seemed perfect for the hot day and since we had a sea scene, I added me Kirsten Stewart fish necklace from the Orkneys. And of course, a silly paddling pose!

What do you think?

Go and see how everyone else interpreted it!

xx

Strawberry dressing

Simplicity!! 

I think that is what I like about summer dressing- just throw on a top and a skirt or just a dress and you are good to go.

No worrying about matching a cardigan or finding suitable shoes for that longer skirt or trousers or finding your jumper layers weirdly over that shirt!

A charity-shopped top which has been worn and loved for a few years, some lovely collar clips from Katie, a second-hand Cath Kidston skirt from Depop (bargain at £6!) and those much-loved spotty Primark shoes I blogged about a few weeks ago and that was it!

It's nice to feel light and not weighed down by garments or heavy fabrics- that's what makes it even better. Much as I will hear the blogging bandwagon start up about enjoying layering up in cosy knits as they sip their Pumpkin chai lattes, there is nothing I like better than those thin layers and good old-fashioned water!

How do you feel about Summer dressing versus Winter and Autumn?
xx

5 brooches and friends #65 -4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie.

Hello there,

How are you? Well I hope!

I have another instalment of brooches and friends for your perusal.

This cute little blackbird was from Rosebud Casson last year. I love Blackbirds so I really like wearing this one- especially teamed with Robins!

Yet more birds! I bought these from a cute Shabby chic shop in Writtle a couple of years ago- they remind me of soap!

My sister bought me this cute Erstwilder cherry lattice Pie-brooch for my birthday last year.  I liked it with this red combination.

The dress features Partridges and pear trees. The heart from Hello Crumpet has little to do with them except for colour scheme!

Last but not least, here is my pencil necklace, worn with my Cath Kidston pencil dress!!

Maybe not four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie but there is a certain amount of truth in the title of this blog post! 

Have a great day!

xx

Style Imitating Art- Spring in Chicago

Greetings, Mortals!

Spring in Chicago by Blink of Aliens

I have a Style Imitating Art outfit today.  If you have missed the umpteen posts I have done on this theme before, the concept is that one of three great bloggers chooses a piece of Art-work and then anyone who wishes, creates an outfit based on it- loosely or very specifically.

This week, Erin chose a photograph taken by her friend, a Chicago-based Photographer. You can visit 'Blink of Aliens' to see more of his work.

Here is my take on the inspiration. I will take you through it and explain my choices because I am nice like that! This time, I knew INSTANTLY, that I would begin with my Cath Kidston Cloud print skirt because the Sky is the thing that struck me first. Next, I saw the metallic buildings with their windows appearing like a square pattern: I am about to say goodbye to these Melissa shoes as I just find them terribly uncomfortable once I've worn them for a while and I have too many items so I think someone with slightly smaller feet would be happy with them.  However, since they are still in the house, I thought they mimicked the building colours and pattern well.

Next, you saw this green vest-top last week with my Ace McShane Doctor Who cosplay, that is a nod to the green stems and leaves of the tulips.  

Finally, the tulips themselves: This pink pashmina and pink belt were a nod to tulips themselves- a little bit of pink but not too much!

So what do you think?  Do you think I have encompassed all the elements of the Photograph in my outfit? If so, do you think they are cohesive or are there too many different and diverse elements? Please do leave a comment, good,bad or indifferent: it is always good to know how to improve.

Head over to Erin's to see how everyone else did on Tuesday the 1st August.

xx

Pencil it in!

 As you may have realised by now, I am a complete sucker for a novelty print and a bit of matchy theme dressing!

 Thus, I found it fun to christen the lovely brooch Lily gave me with my Cath Kidston pencil print dress (an Ebay win). I combined it with a Cath Kidston necklace with similar colours to the pencils and a much loved charity-shopped cardie! From a distance, it looks fairly sedate then up close, you realise the madness!

We've had a good day today.  Waking up fairly late, I spent the morning doing chores and tidying, then went to the library to return 2 books and pick up one that I've had reserved for ages (I was 12th in the queue for it!!!!!!!!!!) . On the way back, I popped into two of the open charity shops and ended up buying 2 items that would be good for Clara Oswald cosplaying and also ended up buying a 2nd book on Wildflowers because I am sick of not knowing what things are and felt sorry for the market stall holder!

When I returned home (with delicious milkshake), we headed off to the Leigh Folk Festival where we watched Emma Reid and Rob Harbron. Emma went to school with my husband but she lives in Sweden now so we try to go and watch kids when she is over here.  She is an amazing folk fiddler. As we browsed the stalls, it turned out one of the ladies from the support team at work was running a Vegetarian Indian food stall and gave us some amazing vegetable bhajis (I don't like Bhajis but I LOVED these!)   After that, CBC went to get his hair cut and I had a quick scout into the charity shops and returned to watch an Irish trio. 

We headed down to walk by the beach in Leigh and as we walked back to town, walked into my lovely work colleague who lives nearby who had mentioned she was going to watch something at 7pm! 

Finally, we came home and a friend came round.
All in all,  a pleasing day with a good balance!

xx

Style Imitating Art: Greetings from Sonoma

First things first, I apologise profusely for my absence here and on your blogs. I was away at my orchestral camp from Friday to Sunday and then the week has been horrendously busy with late meetings, much prep to do and then taking 23 children to Birmingham yesterday to perform in a concert- we were one of 4 winners of the Shakespeare week music composition competition and we were invited to perform up there. It was a wonderful day but I was at school for 7.10pm yesterday and we got the children back to school at 8.45 last night and by the time we got back to my Mum's house, it was gone 9.20! I've tried to do a little commenting on the train but the connection is notoriously bad in places!

Anyway, onto the art.

Erin was this week's Curator of Style Imitating Art.  If you don't know the premise of this, there are three curators, Salazar, Jen and Erin who each choose a piece of art every two weeks (rotating between the 3 ladies). They post it on their blogs and you, me and anyone who wishes to participate creates an outfit or a flatlay based on the inspiration which we send to the curator who then posts a round-up. It is one of my favourite blog challenges and one of the longest running which I have participated in.  Interpretations can be as loose or precise as you wish. I would LOVE for one of my blog friends to join in one day!

So, Erin chose this mural in Sonoma as she was visiting there.

Details that particularly caught my eye were the beautiful summer skies within the letters, the red and blue lettering and the corrugated metal sheeting.

I'll talk you through my outfit choices.
You can probably guess that I chose the dress because it is a bit like a mural with blue skies, nature, flowers and scenes from the country. It is from Cath Kidston but I bought it from a blog friend.
The Tatty Devine bird necklace consists of blue and red with black outlining which reminded me of the lettering.
Finally, the shoes are rubber ones from Melissa via TK Maxx and I chose them because they are a silvery metallic with a sort of utilitarian appearance to them with the texture. The glittery bow makes them that little more feminine!

How would you have interpreted this?

I hope to try and get round to your blogs as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued support and lovely comments!

xx

Windmill dinosaurs

This is for my Mother-in-law who bought me this lovely Cath Kidston dinosaur dress for my birthday! I love it and wore it on Saturday as we went to view some houses.  We put in an offer on one but then withdrew it as we were a bit worried about the non-standard construction of the building

The house we saw afterwards was a wonderful location but was too dark and was a chalet which had low ceilings and slanted walls upstairs which didn't work for us.  Look to the side of these decorations

And then see what they make when you look through them.

Inside the arts centre, we saw these beautiful mosaics.

I rather liked the inclusion of old, broken, tiny violins.

The keys and money were a beautiful touch.

There is something quite magical about a windmill. A harking back to technology in the past.

Yes, I had my hair cut! It was time.

Maybe overdid it in the decorative stakes- my bubble necklace from last year's birthday and a rather abrupt badge.

Plus fake pocket brooch!

I hope your day was enjoyable and apologise for the disjunct nature of this blogpost.

x

Tick tock, it's mustard o'clock!

Howdy! Thanks for your kind comments yesterday. I am glad that the Spring is bringing joy and hope to you too!  I will be writing a little more at some point soon!

What AM I doing with my face!??!?!?  I thought I'd share the outfit photos that prompted me seeing those daffodil shoots yesterday- you can see them to my right, almost off screen!

 Despite owning maaaaaaaaany clothes, there are ones I come back to again and again which makes me ponder the fact that I should just stick with those ones.  A mustard cardie and my Cath Kidston clock skirt are frequent callers in my wardrobe choices and a navy top with mustard of course!

 I ended up picking up these Conker-coloured boots in Whitby as I wear my turquoise Doc Martens almost constantly in the Winter and I wanted a slightly more versatile colour.  In addition, I was searching for sea glass and an unexpected wave completely soaked my feet so it was great to have something to change into!  They are from a brand called Roamers and they were a fraction of the price but leather and English-made.  And they came from the Men's section...

Here's the broochage and er- necklaceage from the outfit- birds and plants..

I'd like to say I am glad to be back at school and indeed, it was a successful day, but oh the gloom of post-half-term! It will go away soon, esp when I write all 500 reports...

Hope all is joyous with you.

xxx