Red Berries

I am grateful to the people who owned this home before us. The lady was a gardener and the raised borders were filled with a variety of plants which flower at various different times of year and give other treats.  At the moment, lots of green or dead but I went out to empty the compost caddy and saw how beautiful and vivid the Nandina Domestica was looking covered in ebullient red berries. 

I went out there and had a look a what was going on.  So much prettiness.  I was all cosily dressed and didn't need any form of coat or scarf.  My friend Ellie sent me this beautiful wool jumper with a beautiful design on it as it doesn't fit her anymore. I like the fact it is quite cropped- meaning it doesn't look saggy over a skirt.  Paired with my charity shopped heart skirt, leggings and brown boots (plus sneaky Tatty Devine heart lolly necklace- can you see it?)
It was a great outfit for my orchestra rehearsal on a Sunday (today) as it is usually really cold in the school hall that we rehearse in.

I've stayed snug as a bug all day- jumper, skirt, leggings and boots- a very comfortable Winter uniform!

I hope you have had a great day!

x

Valentines Day outfit

Greetings, honoured guests!

I hope you are well!  I am fine.   I am doing my usual Packing Avoidance.  I really loathe packing and I am therefore not doing it. It usually means I start packing at Stupid o'clock and then really regret it the next morning.

I almost forgot it was Valentines Day today!  It was only last night at 11.30pm, that I suddenly remembered and scrambled to make CBC a card- you can see that in tomorrow's post!

I did decide to wear a Valentines-themed costume today- it may be similar to my outfit from last year but with variation!  One of my usual 'clothing and accessory fans at school clocked my outfit choice as usual- she always comments on it!

I started with this jumper. It's from Sugarhill Boutique but I bought it secondhand on Depop last year- stripes and hearts- the perfect combo!

With it, I added possibly my most-worn charity shop item of the last year or so- this Dorothy Perkins denim midi-skirt.  I wear it at least once a week if not more- so comfy and versatile. I'm starting to wonder when I last washed it though!?

In the footwear department, I added these red leather Clarks Originals dessert boots. These were from the Save the Children charity shop back in January.  I was waiting for CBC to get back to the car (he was having a hair cut) and I went in as it was opposite the car.  I loved the boots (and they were actually my size!) but they were £15 which seemed a little steep as the heels were really dirty and there were some dark marks on the boots.  I ummed and ahed at the counter as this is really my type of shoe but I wasn't sure if the marks would come off.  The lady at the till tried to rub them with a baby wipe with made it worse so they reduced them to £7.99!  Result! Much more my price!

 On the old jewellery front, I added my Tatty Devine heart lolly necklace and my tassel earrings my colleague bought me for Christmas.

And voila, we have a comfy Valentines outfit.

We didn't do anything special for Valentines (does anybody?) - CBC was out in looking for a Ski mask and snacks for the coach journey until 9.15pm so I cooked what I must say was a very tasty veggie Spaghetti (spaghetti in lemon juice and oil with fried leek, aubergine, tomatoes, peppers, red chilli and spinach with cheddar cheese on top!) and we just ate a mango.

I think I should go and attempt that packing!

Love to you all!

xx

Queen of Hearts

Hi there,

Last week, for Valentines Day, I decided to wear a Heart-themed outfit, as is often my want. I own a few things with a heart pattern so it seems nice to unite them for the celebratory day.

CBC and I gave each other a card and spent a lot of the day sorting out things in the house.   

 Here's another view from my house- by the front door! We have a longish, thin, tiled entrance hall.

The skirt and top were both second-hand and are in compleemtary shades.  Comfy too!

 In the jewellery stakes, I wore a Heart balloon brooch from You Make me Design and a Tatty Devine heart lolly necklace!

 And these earrings featuring the White Rabbit in his Hearts costume.

It wasn't my intention to snuggle up to the Moose/reindeer but I thought this was quite funny!

Did you wear a themed-outfit for Valentines at all and if not, anything special?

xx

Super easy, eco-friendly Valentines Cards ideas

Hi there,

Just in case you have left it too late to buy a card or you fancy making your own, I thought I'd link to a few previous posts of mine in which I have shared simple ways to make cards:

 6 easy peasy Valentines cards you can make yourself

This Dot to dot post card was one of the 6 ideas I suggested in the post above.  This one, as you can see, is ridiculously easy to make.

Dot to Dot

Envelope hearts

As part of a Heart swap back in 2012, I made a box of heart cards for Tracy, my partner and this is a design I have made numerous times for engagement cards which uses recycled envelope inards in contrasting patterns. It could work well for Valentines too!

Heart swap post

The card below was the card I made for Tracy to accompany the gift, but I don't see why this couldn't work as a simple Valentines card. I used the heart stickers I had used as masks to paint her a heart mug, as they were still sticky, rather than chucking them away.

Just add stickers...

Citrus hearts

These card are not Valentines cards as such but since they contain hearts, they could be a nice non-soppy idea for someone in your life!

Hearty drink 

A slice of my heart

Ribbon hearts idea

If you click the link in the caption, you can see how I made this card by utilising those annoying ribbons in clothing that are for hangers but stick out of jumpers and dresses annoyingly.

Ribbons from clothing card

Buttons:
 Buttons can act like Mosaic pieces and I love a good mosaic! All the below were a case of arranging and sticking with PVA glue or sticky tape! If you save those buttons from clothing but never seem to use them, now is your time!

Button heart idea

The wedding card that could be a Valentines.

Rainbow buttons

Yet another button card... The background blue is from a Tissue box!

Office Essentials holepunch card

I had sooo much traffic to this Valentines idea post a few years ago, I think it was because it said the phrase, Office Essentials in it! Anyway, this one is another very non-soppy idea and rather like the buttons is a form of mosaic but with hole-punched pieces from some paper that was going into the recycling.

Holepunch valentines

Origami hearts:
 If you look for a You tube tutorial, this is where I got this idea from for Origami hearts. These ones were made out of old envelopes! I am TERRIBLE at Origami but I found these super easy and I even managed to get one of the girls in the office to make one for her boyfriend by showing her how.

Origami hearts

Scrap card mosaic:

Most of the card in this mosaic for my husband came from tissue boxes, junk mail or other packaging except for the holographic one- have a look and see what packaging can be used!

And finally, here is yet another mosaic card idea,but this was the first Valentines my now-husband made for me back in 2010, so it's not just me who likes to give the crafty idea a go!!!! If I can find any of his other ones, I will post them..

Do you have any Valentines cards ideas? Do share if so and let me know if you use any of these!

Much love,

Kezzie xx

Linking up with Creative Mondays at Claire Justine's! So long since I last linked up!

5 brooches #48

Hello there,

I hope that all is well with you!

 Up first, I thought I'd share the context of the two brooches I chose here. I do like to try and theme brooches where possible and when I chose to wear this Cath Kidston clock skirt, I remembered my cuckoo clock pin which I bought in Germany in May and I happened to find this Fable and Black Once upon a time brooch when I was organising my brooch box and thought I'd make a little pun with it. Once upon a time? CBC and my work colleague were so nonplussed when I pointed it out! Oh dear...

Although the main piece of this nautical-themed outfit was this fish necklace by Scottish designer, Kirsteen Stewart which I bought in the Orkneys, I thought I'd point out the tiny ship with an anchor on the right. I just picked it up from Ebay but it's rather sweet and subtle

Here's the little deer (LITTLE???? That thing is gargantuan!) brooch from Gloriously Glittery which I teamed with this woodland dress.

This old red glitter heart-brooch picked up the textured hearts on this jumper.

 Here's the poppy brooch made by local ladies which I bought for Remembrance Day. All proceeds went straight to the fund, they made them for the love of it.

You can see I transferred it to my hat a week later worn with the heart brooch.

Have you worn any brooches recently?  Ann wore a beautiful little deer brooch here- hers really is little, not like my monster above! She wears beautiful brooches every day!

xx

6 easy-peasy Valentines cards you can make yourself

Hi there,

Last year, I did a few posts (here and here) about some easy Valentines cards you could make yourself for your loved one. This year, I decided to think up a few designs you could do yourself with not really any specialist craft equipment.  I hope these inspire you to give the card-making thing a go!


1. The simple Dot-to-dot interactive card



The first one is the simplest of all. All you need is a piece of white card, a ruler, pencil and a red gel pen.   How about a Dot to dot postcard (or card) for your loved one.  I simply drew myself a few grid-lines to ensure it was even and not wonky and then drew the design in pencil which I went over in red gel pen.  Nice to have an interactive card

2.  The origami heart card


 I should begin this with a disclaimer that I am egregious at origami so if I can do this, you can! How to Orange shows you how to make the heart which is really easy, just size it up to the size you want, making sure you cut a rectangle with the width half of the length.  This entire card was recycled- old music, red packaging from a Christmas card and a photo-card envelope. Choose a colour and paper of your choice.

3.  The scribble hearts


Also entirely made out of scrap of the same sources, this was purely an experiement. On a fragment of black card, I put a heart stencil (made from punching for the cards below) and scribbled over it with a gold Sharpie. Did this three times. Edged it with a ruler and then mounted onto scrap card.  Use double-sided tape for a neat finish.

4.  The textured hearts

Again, you just need some scrap card (black) and some textured card. The brown corrugated cardboard came from the wrapping of a Bacon-roll I had one morning from the BP petrol station- the plastic wrapper is surrounded by this perfectly good card.  The red COULD come from the old Costa coffee exteriors (I used to use these a lot) but I just used some I had. Used the Sharpie again to doodle Love all over the black, mounted it, drew red spots with the gel pen and wrapped a piece of Bakers twine from a Christmas present and finito! I used 3d pads to give the hearts some height.

5.  The DIY polka dot heart card

 I used a scalloped heart punch to punch these hearts but you could just cut them free-hand.  I then coloured each one with polka dots in different gel pens.Mounted them on 3d sticky pads (can be got from Poundland) and stuck at jaunty angles.

5. The Pink Elephant picture inspired Doodle heart card

The last design was inspired by the inspiration picture for the Pink Elephant Craft Challenge this week

To design a card inspired by the picture. In the same way as the former card, I punched 9 hearts and had fun doodling them with different patterns in red.

Did as shown and finally added my handwriting to finish the card.

CBC might get one of these next week or I might make another one. After all, these could all be used for wedding/engagement general girly greetings cards.

Did these help you in any way? I'd love to know if you decided to make your own cards at all?



Linking to:

Pink elephant challenge


Creative Mondays

 Brilliant Blog posts with Honest Mum


 You're gonna love it Tuesday

Getting to the heart of the matter

Hello dearies!  Just a quick post to show you something I made!  I was putting away my craft supplies when I saw some scraps of felt and decided to make a little brooch- I've been really enjoying brooches recently- that's definitely a blogging thang!  I wasn't really bothered about them before, regarding them as the territory of the over 60's but definitely seen the light in terms of appreciating and trying things- there are some fun quirky ones around!!!!


As you can see, my sewing and cutting skills are appalling- really, I've always been bad with scissor, particularly with material- I also didn't think to use thread that blended in!  Still, Joe-public will only see the front-half which isn't so bad really!  But it's not a CARD, so that is all good!!!!

Linking with:

 Lakota at Tah Dah Tuesday who is doing nice things with horrid things (i.e. turning rancid bananas into into pancakes-genius!)

Claire Justine at Creative Mondays and yay, she featured my cards from last week in her post!

Sarah's super hand-made Sunday

and In and out of the kitchen link up party  with Cynthia


How nice was the sun today!?!!?!! An unexpected bonus was my having to take Year 3 at school today who had netball in the afternoon so I got to stand out in it for an hour, even if that involved trying to duck flying balls whilst offering constructive advice on passes!!!

Faith Hope and Charity swap... (and a peek at my Chap outfit!)

Hello there!  Hurrah, it's Sunday evening, that time of doom and gloom!  But I will not be downcast, because I have lots of fine thoughts and happy memories to think about! 
Yesterday, I went to my local town to pick up my Faith Hope and Charity swap parcel from the lovely Helen of I accidently spent my wages in Topshop, who excitingly for me, is soon to be a teacher too! She's lovely so you MUST go and check out her blog!
 Inside, I found all manner of Union flag covered parcels!



 First up was this beautiful card (which made me think wistfully of hot summers!) in which Helen had sent me a lovely message and explained each of her presents (I hurriedly put it down  at that moment to resume reading after opening them!)

 I adore bunting and I adore Cath Kidston- therefore, what could be more perfect than beautiful bunting made from Cath Kidston in two of my favourites- stars and flowers! Such a thoughful gift! (One shouldn't have favourites, but this is my favourite gift!)

 Helen very sweetly worriedly (and unnecessarily I might add!) mentioned in the card that she hoped this homemade heart was more shabby-chic than shabby which it certainly was.  She sewed it herself and it looks brilliant and it smells gorgeous!!!! It's scented with rose.  Such a great handmade gift- I am too scared to try to make one of these- my sewing is hopeless, so I am very impressed that Helen did!

 She made me laugh in the card with this present of Cath Kidston tissues as she said, 'Imagine my despair when I saw you'd received the same ones in your other swap!'.  I am always in need of a tissue and these ones are so so pretty, you can never have enough! No despair necessary, they are a perfect gift, even if I'd received them in 10 swaps!

 The next present was really useful as I lost my coin-token from my keyring some months ago and it was really irking me to have an empty keyring plus this one is so so much cuter than my lost frog one!

 The next present is absolutely adorable, a tea cup and spoon necklace that Helen found in a charity shop!  How could she bear to part with it?  It's so dainty and cute and totally me- I love this type of quirky necklace and I especially love tea-cups and pots!

 Here's the whole collection, looking lovely despite being on my messy table!

 Ahrgh, I forgot to take a picture of the notebook- look underneath that lot to see the fab Union-jack notebook!  This is a brilliant gift for me as I always want to write  notes, music, lyrics, lesson ideas, and anything that suddenly inspires me

Thank you so much to Helen (if you want to see what I sent Helen, click on this link.  I will do a post later though.)  for such a lovely parcel and being  a great swap partner and a big thanks to Lakota for her superwoman organisation skills with dishing out the partners!

Today, I spent much of my day at the Chap Olympiad in Bedford Square!  It was raining much of the time but we had a rather spiffing time.  I will post photos once I've had a chance to sort through them!

Here is a brief sneak peak at what I wore (Post Olympiad hence why hair and other accessories are missing.  When CBC sends me photos, I'll show you the proper thing!

So what have you been up to on this rather chilly but grand day?