Embracing change

Evening. I was going to do a tutorial for you with the craft bits I bought today but I got distracted and ended up buying some paint for my lounge wall!

Currently, my lounge has 3 magnolia walls and one wall that is a peacock blue. I do love the blue but I've been living with it for about 5 years now......and as my boyfriend (fiancee) will be moving in with me in a couple of months, I thought it would be nice to have a change.

Dulux Raspberry Diva feature wall paint

I knew that I wanted some sort of purple hued coloured but I picked this up on a bit of a whim! I got a bit of a shock when I opened it but on the wall it looks lovely. It's kind of a salmon pink....

I painted the wall white first...

My peacock blue lounge

I wouldn't say this is a good representation of the colour as it was getting dark and this has an Instagram filter over it. I'll be finishing the rest on Sunday night/ Monday so I'll let you see it then!

Wedding Paper Divas save the day!

Something VERY exciting happened to me yesterday. I got mail. Not "in the post" type mail. Email. From a company! To be precise, the company I blogged about yesterday.

http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com

Somehow, they had seen my post and wanted to thank me for raising awareness of their site. They have let me pick out some "save the date" cards as a thank you. This is my very first "collaboration" with a company through my blog so I'm definitely not playing it cool (as you can see.) No little asterix quietly announcing a sponsored post for me.......

I imagine my cards will probably take a couple of weeks to arrive as the company is based in America - that particular piece of post is sure to cause me to emit a squeel!

Would it be wrong to send them one of their own "thank you"
cards as a thank you?!

I had a good look around their site at their other products and found that they offer a free website hosting for your engagement. So, obviously I set one of those up straight away! It was really easy and you can match the background to the invitations or save the dates that you've ordered. It gives you an area for photos, you can use it as an RSVP, a guestbook etc. As a techno-phobe I found it pretty fool proof (which is saying something!) The link for the website which is called "Nearlyweds" is ---> HERE

After much deliberation, I'm not going to show you my website or the cards I've picked as I don't want to spoil it for my guests but I'll show you the cards once they've been sent out.

Right, I'm off to add some things to my Nearlyweds site! If I've missed any vital information then let me know......

Save The Date!

Hello! Happy Bank Holiday. I'm actually not working today (first time for everything!) so me and the boy (the boy and I) went to visit our potential wedding reception venue. I had already seen it but wanted to check that my other half would be happy.

It's still a beautiful setting for a reception so we'll be booking it pretty soon! We went to the church earlier in the week (which is also gorgeous) and spoke to the registrar about dates. I'm not going to tell you the date we've picked as we have also been looking at "save the dates."

For anyone who has never planned a wedding, save the dates are cards you send out early on to let people know when to book time off work! Then you send out invitations at a later date with the rest of the information.

I found a really great website that has lots of designs for invitations and everything else you could possibly want to coordinate called Wedding Paper Divas  You can find their Save The Date cards here: http://www.weddingpaperdivas.com/save-the-date-cards.htm

It has a lot of different styles to choose from so there should be something for everyone! Here are a few of my favourites (not including the ones we might pick!):

Save the date - available at Wedding Paper Divas

By the way, this post is not sponsored! These are just designs I like. Although....if anyone does want to sponsor me or send me free Save The Dates then I'm well up for that!

So, everything is getting well under way and we have just over a year to get our planning thing on. Next up is finding a wedding photographer.....any suggestions? :)

Oh, and also they said I could have a dessert table/ sweets table so I can't wait to start planning that! Pinterest, here I come....(you can find my wedding board at girlfrommars79 - probably!)

Things you probably didn't know about me

1) I hold a grudge. I might forgive, but I never forget. Ever. Don't mess with me!

2) I over share. I'll tell anyone, anything.

3) I love cats. I'd have a whole house full if I could!

4) I like horror films. There is currently a "Frightfest" on channel 4. I've seen them all.

5) When I was little, my brother poured paint stripper over my head. We were playing in the garage and he wanted to wash my hair for me.  I don't think my Dad was allowed to look after us after that....

6) I'm good at languages. If I had learnt Italian at school instead of French I would probably be living in Italy right now.

7) Every night, I sleep with a bear called Jake.

8) I'm friends with nearly all my exes. I'm that girl.

9) I hate girls that say they don't have any female friends. You friends are all male because you are slutty and that's why girls don't like you.

10) I always wanted to be an American cheerleader as a teenager.

11) My favourite colour is blue.

12) I weigh myself every day.

13) I used to hate mashed potato. One fleck would make me wretch.

14) My biggest fashion crime was wearing purple leggings with pink slouch socks.

The Return of 90's Grunge - AW12 Trend Prediction

It's not often that I feel clued in enough to predict the trends for next season but I'm pretty sure the 90's grunge trend is about to make a huge revival!

I mentioned the other day that I had been watching "My So Called Life" and was loving the oversized plaid shirt look. Then I went into Urban Outfitters and realised that they have nailed this trend.

Conquering the 90's grunge trend:
Plaid shirts - that means checks and tartan style fabrics!
Navajo jackets
Denim
Heavy boots like Doc Martins or Converse sneakers
Black eyeliner

You can either hunt for vintage items (is it vintage if it's only from the nineties?!) or buy new from places like Urban Outfitters or Topshop. This look works best on tall, skinny girls (unfortunately) as they can layer up and wear boyfriend sized items without looking dumpy! Think Kristen Stewart on a super moody day.

Here are my favourite pictures from around the net to inspire you.....

Angela and Rayanne in denim and plaid and florals.

Navajo prints and backpacks

Don't be afraid to mix florals and checks!

Modernising the look at Titania Inglis - 2012 Fashion Week

What to buy and where to buy it:

Plaid jacket from Topshop












Ecote Blue Plaid Grunge Shirt £42.00

from Urban Outfitters.

Aztec Rucksack £48 from Urban Outfitters





Dr Marten's X Liberty Aisha Boots £120

 from Urban Outfitters





Right, well my pictures all seem to be going all wonky now and Blogger has taken on a mind of it's own so I'll leave it there! This trend is great because it's super comfy and not too "try hard."

If it looks like you threw in a bunch of clothes and ran out the door then you've nailed it!



P.s Hey Blogger, where did my signature go? And why are you writing so small? This isn't the caption! Sheesh.



Mugs, cake tins and pick your own vegetables

Evening! I'm currently watching Superscrimpers so if my sentences don't make sense then you'll know why....

Got a couple of photos for you - images speak louder than words!

Wedding brooch bouquet with Ikea flowers, fruit and vegetables from Pickwells (pick your own!)

I've been continuing with my Wedding Brooch Bouquet which so far has taken hours and hours and hours....etc
I was finding it hard to get a good shape for the bouquet so I decided to go and find some artificial flowers to use as spacers. I had seen some in Hobby Craft but couldn't be bothered to drive back over there so I stopped in to Ikea and picked up 8 stems for 75p each. That's more like it!

They look super amazing so I'm well on my way to a finished bouquet.

We also took a trip to a place called Pickwells where you can pick your own fruit and veg. I had some lovely green beans for dinner and the boy made a yummy crumble out of raspberries, blackcurrants and 2 apples. All that food in the bottom right photo came to £7.50. And £1.50 of that was the Hello Kitty cookies and posh crisps!

Whilst in town, I spotted the fox mug in the photo below (£5 from Marks and Spencers) which was so beautiful that I couldn't resist it. I literally HAD to have it. I saw the cake tins (also M and S) and thought of Hannah Banana. Who can resist a bit of retro? I didn't buy those though as I'm budgeting (supposedly) this month....

And that's Lily at the bottom. I thought her silhouette was just very photographable. That should probably be "photogenic" but photographable just sounds better and more catty......

Life lately

Hello. Sorry I haven't been around recently! I haven't really had much to write about and then the days just sort of slid by and then the no writing panic set in!
But I'm back now and ready to share a few snapshots of my life.......

Making rhubarb crumble with my mum's home grown rhubarb

New hanging baskets and my pet friendly hoover

Dressing like it's the 90's and having bbq's

Half price Monday's at the Slug and Lettuce and fake Magnums

Constructing my wedding brooch bouquet - tutorial coming soon!

Potential wedding venue

What have I been up to then? My mum was visiting last weekend so we took the opportunity to drive out to the New Forest and check out some wedding venues. The one above is definitely the winner so far. Talk about wow factor....
 
We also went to try on some wedding dresses and the lovely ladies at "Brides" in Portswood were able to fit us in with no appointment! I tried about 5 different dresses and fell in love with one that was over budget and not at all what I thought I wanted.....

Obviously we weren't allowed to take photos and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise anyway! I'm torn between sharing everything with you (as is my usual style) and not wanting to give away all the details of the day.

I have started to construct my wedding brooch bouquet using all the different brooches that my mum and I have collected. It's hard work. The wire has to be thick to make it sturdy but that makes it impossible to bend and shape. I will persevere. Would you like a tutorial of how it's done?

 Let me know....

P.S The pic that I've labelled "dressing like it's the 90's" is due to watching serious amounts of "My So Called Life" on BT On Demand. It's from way back in 1994 I think and was my FAVOURITE programme as a misunderstood teenager. Angela was like, totally, like me.....

Outfit of the (other) day

I could call this "outfit of the day" but that would be a lie! I actually wore this the last time it was sunny....which was quite a while before this current stretch of sunniness!

This was a really comfortable outfit for a day that was warm but not super hot. I just hung out in the house and garden in it, not doing a whole lot!

The top and coloured skinnies are from Primark, the heels are Limited Collection at Marks and Spencers and my butterfly jewellery is from Mikey at Topshop. Only the top and jeans are current though!

My hair is also a fraction shorter and a bit darker......

Do you like this look? As you can see, I'm a little bit butterfly obsessed.....x