Are you... Bluish?

I took these photos a couple of years ago in the woods near my house when the bluebells were out. I still really like them. (Quite unusual.)

You Could Be My Flamingo...

Robots, bears, cakes, owls, elephants, teapots, origami and bees. Having themes makes shopping even more fun! Adopt a theme and go hunting for items that carry it. It makes finding a pair of robot knickers even more fantastic! (Just the one pair so far...)

A particular favourite theme of my friends and I is the mighty flamingo! My collection is pretty humble so far. Once I get a house with a garden I'll be after some of these babies for sure:


Lawn flamingos available at Get Flocked! and watering can from Love thy Space.

But who needs a garden when you can have a lawn flamingo chandelier?!

This whimsical creation is by Palmerschallon at etsy. And here I was thinking my conflicting love for pretty vintage and bright 'n' bold tack would never work.

If you're after something a little more subtle, how about these fab earrings by fellow Brit nelli D over at etsy.


I hope you'll forward me any fabulous flamingo finds (it's so easy to alliterate, and no, I won't apologise). I might focus on a theme a month, we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll show my robot knickers one day. Probably not whilst I'm wearing them...

Past Presents

One snow day last week my folks and I opened a dusty box. This box came from my late Grandfather's attic and it contained photos and memorabilia from generations of my family. It was a joy to look through!

As you can see, a lot of it is Navy related - journals, souvenirs, logbooks and postcards.


And much of it is personal photographs, letters and sentimental items. Unfortunately not all of the photos were inscribed so unless we recognised the people in them, we were at a loss as to who they were. That didn't detract from the experience. Wondering was half the fun!

I leafed through this Navy Week Souvenir Guide from the 30s and found some great old school advertisements.


Typographically I don't think the fonts are that dated. I wonder if they come around full circle like fashions do.

A colour ad! Carlsberg must have been flush in the thirties.

Late for a Very Important Date

A happy new year to you! I must apologise for my absence. My only excuse is my terrible affliction - laziness. I hope to post more often this year but I make no promises. This week my inspiration has come from snow! Not only is it a beauty to behold...

... but with such an abundance of free building material it brought out my creative side, as well as my mittens.

Nessie

Waiting for a date...

Tea time in the igloo.

Farewell from the rabbit hole!

Zombie High, Win or Die

Something wicked this way comes... Halloween is upon us once more! Halloween is one of my favourite creative holidays so I thought I'd share some pictures of the costume I created last year. I'm actually afraid of zombies so I figured I face my fear by becoming the source - a zombie! Zombie what? Why, a zombie cheerleader of course!


I used cheap basic items from Primark to adjust as it was easier than starting from scratch. The skirt needed some work but it was quite easy to shorten and elasticate. I had the most fun creating the top. After designing the cheerleaderesque logo I purchased some red felt and simply cut out the designs then used fabric glue to stick them straight onto the cotton.


The small lettering was pretty tricky to cut out but I was really pleased with the result. On the back I actually made two costumes, one for me and one for my best mate. Since we were from the same 'squad' we picked our lucky numbers and put those on the back.


To complete the outfit I splattered some red pom poms with burgundy nail varnish to represent blood splatter.

Make-up was obviously also an important part of the costume. White face paint, heavy on the dark eye make-up and some fake wounds later, we were rocking the undead look. I even bought some blackjacks to chew on to turn my mouth black! Putting my hair in bunches and backcombing them took minutes but looked great.

The final touch was a difficult one - to cover myself and the shiny new costumes in fake blood - but once we got into the zone it was a whole lot of twisted fun.

I loved the reaction we got walking around the London Underground - especially turning round corners and making people jump out of their skin. The costumes went down so well they're asking for a reprise.

But not this year!

This year I am lucky enough to be going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween night. I'm in the process of putting together a Trixie/usherette costume. I can't wait!

Mad as a Hatter

These personalised party hats were fun and simple to make. Using an A4 sheet of card each I rolled and stuck the hats in place then collaged them with various bits and pieces with the 3D first letter of my guests names as the focal point. A few fabric and parcel ribbons plus a white feather made the top a little more interesting. Finally I added some multi-coloured elastic and the hats made a nice touch to the tea party.

Nail it!

I wanted to do something different with my nails, rather than the usual single colour (or alternate colours if I was feeling fancy). Here's what I ended up with:





No, I didn't paint all that on. I'm far too lazy for that! I have a bunch of comics I use for creative projects - they're all old and random, but yes, I did feel a little guilty cutting them up. At first I was going to cut out panels to fit each nail, but then a saw a tiny speech bubble that would fit on perfectly on a nail and had a eureka moment.



I first painted my nails black using my favourite Barry M nail paint. When that was dry I carefully cut out some speech bubbles that fitted the nails (some needed more trimming). I used Hi-Tack All Purpose Glue to stick the speech bubbles to each nail and waited for that to dry.

The final step was to cover the whole nail in clear nail varnish - I used about three coats because obviously I didn't want the paper to get wet when I washed my hands. Unfortunately, it did after a couple of washes so, while they did dry again, the nails didn't last more than two days. I think coating the bubbles in PVA or similar water resistant glue before application might solve this issue.

It was a fun project completed in under two hours, and I got quite a few compliments!