About Me

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I currently live in Birmingham and come from Solihull. I have a love of all things crafty, developed from my mom's love of crafts as I was growing up. I currently work in marketing, but I'm a qualified Aromatherapist, and use to be self employed alongside a day job, might one day return to that. I try to fit in crafts when I can, I wish I had more time and money to spend on it! I enjoy researching my family history and finding out about the past. It can get frustrating, but is really rewarding when you have a break through! I hope to meet people with similar interests as me and swap advice/stories.

Thursday 31 May 2012

Preparations Continue

Well time is escaping me...as usual, and I have decided to have a simple Jubilee celebration...well I have a few foody bits to make, but hopefully nothing complicated, although I just saw another pudding dish I might make (if I have enough strawberries!)

Here's a little peak of some decorations I will be using, handmade (though not all by me.)

 These various items will adorn the flat for the Jubilee and I may well make some more, I have  various ribbons and fabrics around, if I get time I'll see what I can some up with, alongside some lovely food (fingers crossed.)


As well as food and deco, entertainment is important, so yes tv events, possible local park (if weather holds up) but also at home I'm thinking British music and film...so I have a list of possibles:

Take That, Oasis, Blur, Muse, classic rock, 60's - Cliff, Tom Jones etc

The King's Speech, Four Weddings, probably some drama/comedy too, can't beat Only Fools..oh the list goes on!

Monday 28 May 2012

Jubilee Preparations

It's almost here and whilst I haven't gone all out for the Jubilee, I have suddenly decided I want to do something to mark the day.

First thought is decorations...I'm making some bits and I'll post photos of various items this week, but a big focus is food!!!

Now I'm sure there is a picnic in the park or some event near to me and I might pop along for a bit, but I also want to do something at home and either way food is required. I have seen some lovely reciepes in magazines and I may attempt some, but I also remembered from my time in America a 4th July cake/pudding someone made with strawberries, blueberries and cream in the sahpe of the US flag, so I thought I might try something similar, but whether I make it into a trifle or cakey thing I haven't yet decided. I did however manage to trawl through my American photos and find one of the pudding to work from and I then found this which is quite similar:



I'll attempt something similiar I think...my mouth is watering already!

I'm also thinking of cakes and various dessert items, perhaps a main meal of roast chicken and these bits for afternoon tea!!! Unless we go for the picnic in the park, oh it's all last minute but whatever I do hope it's memorable, and yours too!


Sunday 20 May 2012

Vintage Delights

I visited, for the first time, the Custard Factory in Birmingham last week and went to a fabulous vintage fair, a mixture of clothes, accessories and hand made items for sale (plus some lovely tea and cakes!)

This was the first of these sort of fairs I have been to, was great to see so much variety and so many well kept vintage items surviving.

Although I was on a budget, I did manage to treat myself to a few bits, including this fab vintage dress, date approx 50s.


 I have always liked this style of dress, more so the ones with the petticoats underneath that really give the dress a flare (sadly too much £ for me), but this was spotted by my sister and turned out to be a great buy, already worn once and now eagerly awaiting some sunshine for its second wear!


Other items I found were little accessories that can really make an outfit vintage, without having to go all the way with the whole outfit. One accessory that is popular at the moment are scarves. I found this lovely red flower one, it can be worn in so many ways.



 Round the neck, over the shoulders, as a headband, round a bun, you could even attach it to a bag or, if long enough, use as a belt! Very versatile and in expensive!!!  
Another great item to accessorise yourself is jewellery. Now I make a lot of my jewellery, but also love buying bits and even better when it's handmade (support other crafters) and I picked up this chunky white bead necklace. This has a very 60's feel to it, whilst not original, it was handmade and whilst not my usual jewellery style I have worn this and think it does just give your outfit a little edge of something different.

I am a keen bargain hunter and think if you have a good eye you can really get some great stuff at these fairs, but don't forget to keep your eye out in charity shops, car boots and antique fairs, I've collected a few items here and there and made a few unique accessories by up-cycling old items. I made some lovely vintage button earrings and I'm keeping an eye out for more items like buttons which perhaps don't suit our day to day clothes now, but can be creatively used to make something unusual and fun!

So here's to all the future discoveries. Let me know what you've found, or any vintage style tips you have! Love to hear comments.