Last minute Easter Bonnet and outfit.

Hi there!

I write this on the last day of term, though publishing later!

Today, we had our Easter bonnet parade at school. I was last minute with EVERYTHING today.  I always set out my outfit the night before but last night I clean forgot and woke up late (I blame that Shetland drama on BBC)

So, it was amazing that I somehow quickly managed to put together an acceptable outfit in the 20minutes between waking and leaving home.

My vintage blouse with dagger collars that has green chicks hatching out of eggs on it (bought bargain box from Vintage fair in London where I met Vix!). I added black high-waisted trousers and a green t-shirt underneath and added my 'Look for rainbows necklace and mini-egg earrings.

As I was going into the garage to get my bike for work, I grabbed my flower craft-punch and 4 pieces of coloured card.

At school, with my nice class, I found some discarded off-cuts of a green border from a display board that had been taken out and fashioned a crown our of them with the aid of staples. I then punched flowers to stick on with Pritt-Stick! As I glanced in the bathroom mirror later, I discovered the crown was serendipitously the same shade as my t-shirt. No plastic chicks or readymade bunnies for me,  just paper and card and some staples.

- I punched a whole load more flowers and found a few sheets of card and some tissue paper off-cuts plus some old silver border and about 12 children also made themselves some plastic-free Easter hats which they were really chuffed to be able to wear for the Easter bonnet parade and competition.  For everyone else who hadn't made on at home or with me, I brought along my fluorescent chiffon scarves which I use for music and the rest of them sported them as bandanas so my class was the most bright and festive looking.  You don't need to spend loads of money or buy disposable things for a nice Easter headpiece! It was nice to share my craft-tool to share with the children!  Every school should have a flower punch!

xx

St Patrick's Day outfit

 Hello there,

I hope you are well. I thought I'd share the outfit I wore for most of the day (I say most of the day as I woke very late and threw on a sweatshirt which had a big stain on it, to wear to church and some trousers which I later changed out of).
CBC reminded me it was St Patrick's Day so I decided to don a green dress.  This sheep-print dress was made by fellow blogger Char (over at T-rexes and Tiaras) which I bought from her in a Wardrobe sale and it fits me perfectly.  I decided to wear it with a white collared vest top underneath.

On my collar, I wore 2 of my Irish pin badges I bought during my cruise visits to Ireland in 2016- a little Shamrock and a Celtic cross.  Boots, tights and socks to finish it off.

I confess to you here, that I have been very worried this week about something related to health matters, something bothering me for a while (I'm having some tests) and at church today, I was filled with such gratitude as I felt God's presence in that service. I was shown such love and compassion and support through both the sermon- about God's omnipotence, through the bible readings of psalms - particularly Psalms 89, 46 and  Psalm 91; through the actions and words of others, through the songs, "You were the word," by Hillsong and Chris Tomalin's "Good, good God,".  Be still and know that I am God was a song in a concert last night I watched and it was the reading today. I think that was God speaking to me. I confess that perhaps in part, I really have been thinking that perhaps I have failed on so many levels that God had given up on me but what a lie that is!  No matter what may come of what is going on, I know he is with me.  If you are in the habit of praying, please pray that what is going on is not what I am worrying about and that God will heal.  Perhaps I am oversharing but I believe in the transformative prayers of faith and I am sharing for that reason.

Sending you much love.

x

Rocky Robin

As I was looking through some blogposts that reviewed 2016, I realised that I have done very few outfit posts in 2017 and indeed, less blogposts than I have in previous years. I do think Instagram has a lot to do with that as has just being generally busy.

Anyway, I thought I would share my Christmas Eve outfit.

 Forgive the scruffy photos but I got my husband to take these quite late at night after I had come back from the Anglican Carol service and Catholic Mass (yep, went to both one after the other)

The robin dress is a handmade pinafore from Vintage Style Me.  I have one Dinosaur dress from there which I bought last year.  I follow them on Instagram and I know that times as a handmade business can be very hard and from the promotions running on Instagram felt that perhaps they weren't getting as many orders as they might have liked so when there was a promotion where they sent you a discount voucher, I ordered this pinafore. It IS a Christmas fabric, but I reckon I could get away with it in the Winter months.

To make it season appropriate, I wore this moss-green Topshop turtle neck underneath (charity-shopped) and some thermal leggings and boots (sadly not pictured!) 

Plus, my other favourite Robin item is this freebie necklace I got from Rosebud Casson last year!!

I always like it when CBC approves of an outfit (sometimes he is a bit disparaging about some of the more 'novelty' or 'Doctor Who' outfits)-  he liked this one!

What did you wear on Christmas Eve?

xx

Dinogirl

 Evenin' all!
Hope that your day was enjoyable, happy and fun.
Mine was... ok!

I thought I'd share this dress which I ordered back in October and tell you a bit about it.

I first saw @VintageStyleMe on Instagram back in August.   They handmake dresses to order.   I thought this was a nice idea and had seen this dinosaur print on their dresses.  However, I was going through my, "Noooo, I have too many dresses, must not buy, must not buy!" phases (I wish these won the war most of the time).   Then I read an article on the lady who runs Vintage Style Me's blog where she talked about the difficulty of running an independent clothes business where she has to compete against fast fashion and how she cannot compete with a clothes chain who can sell dresses for £5 or similar.  She wrote about how sometimes, just one sale in a week can save her and allow her to pay her bills etc and selling one dress can be a lifeline.  I can't find the article on the blog, it doesn't seem to be working right now, or I'd link to it.  It was written so eloquently and honestly and stuck in my mind. I kept hearing those words over and over again in my head. More often than not, I buy my clothes second hand or occasionally from brands such as Miss Patina,  Cath Kidston, Palava Folk though I do frequent Primark and Topshop and Asos.

 Still, it remained in my mind for a while every time I saw an Instagram post and I kept looking at the website.  Finally in October, they had a promotion of 40% off any dress which in my mind tells me that I should have bought it full price, since that would support the principle that was running in my mind.  However, I am a sucker for a bargain so I ordered. I went for their 'Design your own dress' option which is a bit more expensive than the 'ready designed' ones. Usually £59. I chose the dinosaur dress and went for a more fitted Skater dress, rather than their ubiquitous smock style which doesn't suit my shape. I am a total collar addict when it comes to my clothes (in case you hadn't noticed) so I opted for a cute collar and cuffs and a slightly longer length.

Bear in mind, it DOES take a while for this option to be made and arrive.  It was posted on around the 21st December when I was in South Africa and it hadn't arrived when I got back from there. I contacted them and said they'd posted it but obviously it had been lost in the post.  They said would make another one which made me feel terrible. My original intent of supporting an independent business had somewhat backfired.

They were really quick and it arrived a week later and here it is.   It is made out of a sort of Barkcloth material- quite textured.  However, wearing it here on that Saturday, somehow I have managed to rip it partially down the back seam.  It seems to have frayed there after my doing that. I did hear a rip noise when I was pulling down my sleeves (you know when 3/4length sleeves get stuck by your elbows and you're putting on a cardigan).  I hope to do something about it.

Nonetheless, despite the comedy of errors, it is a nice dress and very different and I am very glad to have ordered it.

I added dinosaur collar clips in case you didn't realise!

Do you buy independent?

xxx

Advent Calendar Day 16- Since we're on the subject of Brussel Sprout earrings...

Hi All,

On my previous brooch post, Vix referred to some lovely Brussel sprout earrings, suggesting I acquire some, egged on by the rest of you!

However, I am one step ahead of you...

I am the proud owner of crocheted brussel sprout earrings!

They were crocheted by my friend Lara who started selling her wonderful crocheted items this year. I am keen to support a friend in her endeavours but her miniature crochet-items are frankly genius!

When I saw her post her 'jar of crocheted sprouts'all with different facial expressions, I knew I had to have a pair of them to make into earrings.

She made me 4 sprouts with loops and I attached jump rings and earring backs to them! Aren't they cute???

She's crocheted me a couple of gifts (some of which I can't share on here in case anyone is reading who mustn't see them!)

Pictured above, is a present for my Dad.  We've always bought my dad Pickles, pickled items and olives in jars. He adores them. When Lara told me about the crocheted gherkins where a little boy lost one and was distraught, I saw an opportunity to make my Dad giggle at Christmas. So this year's pickles have an unexpected item!

If you have the chance or your are interested in a commission, she crochets your pet to order and her prices are extremely reasonable... Her page is well worth a look and she was really hoping to get to 100 likes by Christmas. She's reached that now but it would be lovely if she could get to 200 likes as an unexpected surprise!!! Don't mention my blog but you can mention me if you wanted to or just like without comment if you wish!

You can find her here.  I'd LOVE it if you went to like...

Ooh,one more make of hers you can see are these orange Spats she made for me on commision to emulate Doctor Who, Colin Baker with his turquoise boots and orange spats!!!

This is my Advent Calendar with Julie

5 brooches #39 Roald Dahl-inspired special

Greetings to you, fair traveller!

I hope all is well with you!

I am sorry I have been quite absent this week. It's been really exhausting being back at school and I have had a lot of tasks to do. I will hopefully catch up with your posts soon.

This week at school, we had a Roald Dahl-themed week. As you will surely know, it is the centenary of his birth.  He is such an important author to so many people.

I adored this books as a child, particularly The Enormous Crocodile, Matilda, the Witches and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I read and reread them a myriad times.

When I was planning Singing assemblies for the first few weeks, I wanted to sing some songs based on Roald Dahl lyrics. However, it was quite hard to find short songs.  There are, of course, two musicals, but I wanted to sing Roald Dahl's actual words.

Thus, I set myself the task of writing my own songs to two of his songs- one from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and one from the Enormous Crocodile. The Crocodile one was well-received by children and teachers alike which I was pleased about.

I had a successful lesson today with Year 4 teaching literacy in which I set them a task based on identifying character traits of The Twits and then writing a paragraph denouncing the couple!

Anyway, here's the backdrop to this week's brooch choices.

On Monday, I went with a subtle reference to the Roald Dahl books.  Which character might advocate the sentiment of this Fable and Black brooch?

I'll put the answers at the bottom to allow you to guess.

 On Tuesday I wore this animal brooch.  Which book might this refer to?

 On Wednesday, brooch and dress matched. But which book is today's outfit referencing?

 Thursday's brooch was one I made specially for this week out of Shrink Plastic.
You should be able to recognise the character but I'll allow you to guess anyway!

Friday (today's) brooch is also one I made especially for this week.  Who is the character and from which book?

Any favourites here?

How would you have interpreted Roald Dahl week in brooch form? I'd be intrigued to know!

xxx

Answers are below...

1. Matilda

2. Esio Trot

3. Fantastic Mr Fox

4. Matilda again.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka)

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 #43

Hello there!

I hope you had a lovely day! I had a nice swim after school which always makes me feel better! Definitely a water baby!

The day was, on the whole, a successful one. Just finished eating a delicious ratatouille with Bulgar wheat and Quinoa!

But enough of that- onto the brooches!

 You actually should have seen these in last week's post- don't know how I didn't notice there were only 4 brooches, not 5! Hence this week, you get 6!  The Collar clips come from Kate Gabrielle and they rank amongst my favourite brooches! Worn with a Poppy England (now Bryony and Co) blouse!

Up next is another vintage scarf clip (charity-shopped a few years ago).  It is perfect for this silk daisy scarf as it is really too short to tie!

And here's a flatlay I did with it, my Punkypins daisy collection and my Matalan daisy dress (which incidentally, was the reason I first discovered Laura at A Daisychain dream as I was searching on the internet for this dress!

 This next one, the biscuit, is actually a me-made one. Well me-made in the sense that I found an object, got some glue and brooch back and married the three together! The rubber came from Mr Wolf and is far pretty to be used for its original purpose!

 I don't know how I failed to photograph this glittery Trophy brooch up close! but at least you can see it! You can also see the amazing Present bow earrings that Hazel sent me for Christmas!!

 Here's my Topshop glitter bear brooch.  This, surprisingly, causes consternation amongst the kids at school!

Lastly, here's my Deer Arrow Caravan and Car making their debut.  And I had to share the print of the skirt I was wearing with it!!!

Have you been wearing any brooches recently or spied any corkers?

Brooches elsewhere:

http://polyester-princess.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/tuesday-i-got-friday-on-my-mind.html#comment-form Polyester princess wore a cute elephant brooch. She also bought 3 gorgeous ones at the Fleamarket in her current post!

http://www.annasislandstyle.com/2016/05/a-tale-of-two-jackets.html  Anna's got a denim jacket filled with cute pins and brooches!

http://www.polkadot-pink.com/2016/05/neighbourhood-watch_8.html Not a brooch but Donna has the sweetest Fox necklace!

http://vintagevixon.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/finnished-my-marimekko-mini.html Vix has MADE the most cool Steampunk brooches out of old watches and their parts!!! So creative. She is a vintage, recycling marvel!!

5 brooches #27

Hello there!

Oooh, I am glad to be home!  We went to Manchester for the Christening of CBC's friend's baby which was just lovely but we did spend almost 8 hours in the car and got up hideously early!

Thus,a short and easy to write blogpost was what was needed!

In my 'Buyer's archive' I alluded to one or two brooch purchases I made in March/April (not sure which) and here is one. This cute little canary (?) is made of tin and comes from Japan- he and many other varieties of bird and insect were being sold at Re in Corbridge.  Couldn't resist him - for 99p, I didn't think for long! I was REMARKABLY restrained with this range!!! Thought he worked well with this Cath Kidston dress.

Here's the Texas Sheriff badge I alluded to in my outfit post from last week. Was the only non-animal based brooch in Re!

I've got a post coming soon about Fable&Black but I loved this badge I received from them. Yes, this is a real truth in my life! More tea, more books!

This was from a Style Imitating Art outfit (which I haven't shared yet!) . Sophie bought me this brooch for Christmas a few years ago and it worked beautifully for this SIA! Last seen before, near the very start of 5 brooches!

This brooch was one I made in a craft post a little while ago although I haven't worn it. It shows one of my favourite quotes from Doctor Who Series 9- one of Clara's parting lines!

3 new ones, one present, featured before and one handmade/homemade one.  

Any favourites here? Have you seen anyone else's lovely brooches this week?  

xx

5 brooches and friends #26- monsters, maths and Kryptonite!

 

Hello there!

Welcome to this week's brooches!

The first one is another fun one from Punky Pins. I took advantage of a pre-release cheap price from their Instagram and ordered this Kryptonite pin! Love a science brooch!

 ...oh, and it glows in the dark!

It made me think how fun it would be to make a TINY periodic table brooch- wouldn't be hard to do on shrink plastic! Squares and writing- I can do that!

 From Maths to Science.  Here's my pi day  Cutie-Pi homemade brooch on its first journey!

From Science, to Maths to Sci-Fi, here are a set of Doctor Who mini-badges which I got free with a magazine when Series 3 was out!

 Daleks, Cybermen and their catchphrases!

And the Judoon and the Face of Boe. Interestingly, I am watching Series 3 in which both of these feature as I type!  I wore all 4 on my pockets for school one day. Another coincidence is that I am wearing this dress as I type!

And finally, the Punkypins necklace I wore on Saturday showing my allegiance to Northumberland.

You're probably better at maths than I and realise that this adds up to more than 5. Oh well!

Have you seen any great brooches this week?

Char wore her beautiful Erstwilder Pterodactyl brooch this week in the perfect pastel ensemble!
She also wore the same bear brooch as mine from last week but in a much more stylish manner!
Polyester Princess wore a beautiful vintage deer brooch in this homage to orange here
Louise shared her brooch collection on a pretty pin board here



P.S. Have you gone and read my 11th Blogiversary post yet. There's bribery in the form of a giveaway if you go and read it!!! You have until Wednesday at the very end of the day to enter!

5 brooches #24

Hi y'all. Ha, I love it when you leave great big comments in relation to a post- that was a great lot of cake-related comments! I'm glad to know I have company in the dislike of certain cakes!

It feels like only yesterday I was doing my weekly brooch post but it was a week ago- it's just I've missed posting a bit.

Into the fray!

 My home-made kitty from Shrink-plastic was originally made for a Doctor Who cosplay for Colin Baker but he likes to hang around with the big kitties too! He's featured in 5 brooches once or twice before!

 This was the top half of wore at the Royal Albert Hall (all other shots were terrible).
The pins were very relevant.
The 2000 one was from the same festival as this Tuesday but in the year 2000 so we were all given pins to commemorate it. I played viola in that one as a guest player.
CBC left the Green ''Music' pin badge on the mantlepiece at our old house for well over a year so I figured it was time to take it off his hands. I think it's from his school.  The one down the bottom is hard to see  as it has red reflections all on it, but I've had it since I was about 8 and it was the logo of our music school (the same one as runs the Albert Hall festival).  Definitely retro pins here!

The last one is my latest Erstwilder one. I bought this with some birthday money. I was delighted to find an amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing jewellery and brooch shop near Nottinghill Gate tube (it was like Aladdin's cave- literally heaving at the seams from all the jewellery) and I spotted a tray of Erstwilder brooches in the window! It was so nice to see and touch them in person! I've fancied a Camper van for a while!

Have you sported any brooches this week or seen any fab ones? I'm not sure if I've seen any (it's been a long week!)

I really should go to bed but I promised one of our lovely year 6's that I'd try and transcribe this religious song for her onto recorder as she wants to play it in a competition in September. It's surprisingly challenging to do- a) because I need to transpose it into a playable key on the recorder- the actual pitch is really awkward, b) quite tricky rhythms c) all sorts of little decorations and pitch-bends in the voice that it is very hard to represent in written music.  She's patiently come to me on 2 consecutive Fridays to see if I have done it yet but I've been so busy I haven't. As it's the last Friday I can see her for a while, I need to get something done. I'm up to bar 50, 2mins and 20 seconds out of a 5 minute piece (AHRGH!) and it's almost 1am!! I think I'd better just give her a bit and try to go back to her.

Hope all is well with you!
xx

5 brooches #22

Hello there,

Welcome to the latest bunch of brooches who have shared my lapels or the suchlike. I hope there is something that you all like!

 Up first are my Ladybird likes owl collar clips- I am STILL having issues pinning these straight- I don't know why I can't seem to pin them evenly, but there's always a drunker looking owl than the other one!

 Here's my 'Message in a bottle' resin brooch from CBC at Christmas.  Made a rather boring outfit (except for clock skirt) a bit more bonny!

 The glitter dino collar clips are back again and the Stegosaurus is heading off somewhere!  I tried to wear them with this purple and turquoise outfit and perhaps it was a bit too much! They didn't really like the lapels of this silk shirt so may have to rethink that one!

 This one is camouflaged rather well- can you see it? There he is- a bird's head- for some reason I feel like he has a flat cap on even though I know he doesn't! He came from a charity shop before Christmas and I don't think I shared him!

Last but not least is a handmade brooch by me! These pencils were one of the disasterous attempts to use my heat tool instead of the oven with Shrink plastic- they are a little bit battered but since they are so small, hopefully it isn't noticeable!

Any favourites here?

Char sported her axolotl brooch here: http://www.trexesandtiaras.com/2016/03/cocktail-hour.html