Balmain Army Fever

Paris fashion week goes off with a bang with the fashion crowd flocking over to the french capital for the next installment of what's hot in fashionville! 

I'll keep you updated of shows that catch my eye and pieces that I can see will be instant hits for the high street.

First up is French born fashion house Balmain with current head designer Olivier Rousteing.

I absolutely loved the army inspired colours mixed with the bondage style leather skirts and baggy sweatpants.

Sexy as ever, Rousteing brought flashes of colour to the collection in the form of orange feathered jumpers and canary yellow bondage dresses. Worn by Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and Joan Smalls, this show was full of expence and luxury that spilled from the models into the fabric and along the catwalk! 

www.balmain.com

@rosiehw

@joansmalls 

Kate Moss for Lui

40 clearly has no boundaries, as my absolute idol Kate Moss, poses naked again for French men's magazine Lui.

With her sun kissed blonde hair and tattoos designed by Lucian Freud, Kate looks amazing in the fold out three page cover! 

Incroyable Miss Moss!

Testing testing, one two.

I would say that I am a really keen photographer, I take pictures of everything whether it be on my iPhone, my Canon compact or with my new amazing Canon EOS M Compact system camera!

My sister bought me a great book for my photography bug called Photocrafty, I just need to sit down and have some quiet time to read it and take it in so I can teach myself about light, depth and different shot styles.

Here's some photos of me testing out shots with my new love!

Flower Arranging

Fresh flowers in your home really add a air of elegance to your room and I try to have at least two bunches in the house at all times!

I picked up some beautiful roses from a local market on Saturday in stunning pale pink with green tinged edges and at only £2.50 a bunch! An Amazing price for such pretty flowers. I believe the man said they may have fallen off the back of a lorry and he got them cheap! He did whoever give me good advice regarding the water for the roses, to use lukewarm water, not cold!

With their super long stems, I just wanted to keep them natural and show off their beauty in a plain vase. I also bought a bunch of 'babies breath' for a more vintage look in a shabby chic jug. 

Slack no more!

Christmas has been and gone, winter seems to be on its way out and the bulbs are pocking their heads through soil. Spring is on its way!

I have been a bit slack with my blog, too interested in reading everyone else's and sitting on my bum in front of the fire, but that's not just what I've been up to though! 

My best friend Vicky is expecting her first baby in 3 weeks so Amy and I decided to throw her a small baby shower last week. 

Her house is amazing and really retro so we decorated it to suit making home made crepe paper bunting and the classic helium ballons.

We had home baked biscuits, crust less sandwiches and a luxurious cream sponge cake, glasses of wine and copius amounts of tea in cute china tea cups! In between all the cake eating and tea drinking, we played a variety of fun games, these consisted of guessing the baby food (hideous stuff), identifying the substance in the nappy (yuk) and trying to guess the size of Vicky's pregnancy bump!

It was a lovely relaxed fun afternoon which we all thoroughly enjoyed! So excited to meet baby Emmerson!

   

Homemade Christmas Door Wreaths.

As part of our Creative Wednesday I decided to make my own fresh door wreaths. 

The basic foliage wreath was purchased from Morrisons with a tacky bow which I removed immediately. I the added silver ball around the first wreath with a glitter bow, pine cones and small feathered birds.

For the second wreath, I wired in gold glitter fir cones and real sprayed cones, fresh rose hips from the garden and some jolly robins.

I am so pleased with the results. They are so easy to do, just pick your colour scheme, some decorations, wire or ribbon and get creative! 

Merry Christmas! 

Sequinned Camera Strap

I recently got a new Canon Eos M Compact System slr style camera for my birthday and have been teaching myself how to use all the different functions and features. It's a great size to take everywhere and so easy to use.

It came complete with a sturdy Canon strap which to most people would be perfect, but it just wasn't doing it for me and my 'magpie' eye for detail!

I took at trip to John Lewis haberdashery section and purchased some silver sequined tape.

 Attached the tape to the thick strap

 

Then very carefully sewed the tape to the strap

Thus creating my own homemade sequined camera strap! I love it and am really pleased with the final results. It's only took me about 30 minutes from start to finish, but you just need to set aside time to fully appreciate what you can achieve. My husband and I have now turned Wednedays into 'Creative Wednesdays' where we read, talk, make and do things with no tv all night! It's really good fun!

 

& Other Stories Birthday gifts

I'm always keen on trying new make up brands, and thanks to my sisters birthday gift, I am able to try out a fairly new brand to the Uk. Swedish fashion house, & Other Stories is part of high street giant H&M. 

& Other Stories is a more expensive and 'grown up' version of H&M, selling their wares mostly online with only one store London and others in Europe. 

Their collections are built around inspiring fashion stories. All their lines are diverse, ranging from masculine tailoring to feminine chic and designed to provide endless styling choices. I purchased some amazing over the top gold crystal earrings from the store last week. The packaging was minimul but felt quite expensive, the store was the same, but had a homely H&M feel to it. 

My make up gifts from Abby were Lockram Catus eye colour and Nude Lame lipstick. The lipstick is the texture of a lip balm with a hint of colour and a subtle sheen, great for everyday use!

The eye colour has a great depth and looks great for the statement smoky eye for the evening! 

Prices £7-£15. 

DIY Country Cottage

We are coming up to our three year anniversary in our lovely Country Cottage and you'd think in three years everything should be finished. Oh no, moving into an old house takes so much time and money, I really wish the apple trees in the garden grew £50 notes instead of apples! We have just had a new minky coloured carpet in our bedroom which adds luxury and much needed warm in this winter months.

       

I have given an old wooden picture frame a new lease of life by roughly brushing on metallic gold paint to give it that worn look. We then hung it on our landing above a chest of drawers. I added a small metal hanging heart and left it simple. I really like it!

       

Vintage Customised Jewellery Hanger

Displaying all your jewellery has always been hard to do, especially when you have as much as I do.

I do like the cute wire necklaces hangers as they stop the dreaded 'necklace tangle', but i wanted something a bit different.

A recent trip to my sisters hometown of Sheffield, she took us straight to Mr Goode's secret emporium. Stating that we shouldn't wear 'nice' clothes as we might get dirty, I as a bit concerned.

Dirty was an understatement! It was like stepping back in time, dark, dingy and dusty, but with so many hidden treasures, you could just about ignore the grime. 

This is where I unearthed 2 vintage picture frames and with a bit of tlc, I could see they had potential for something better than this time warped shop.

I painted one gold (which i'm yet to display) and the other I cleaned up and glued back together and added it to my necklace hanging display.

Nice Vintage touch I think! 

Coffee Table? What Coffee Table

My husband and I have been searching everywhere for the 'perfect' coffee table for our country cottage lounge. Problem is, we didn't want the shabby chic country style that is everywhere you look, we wanted something slightly different.

John Lewis had a new acrylic range in called Ice.

When it arrived, we thought we'd made a bad choice as the table was ultra modern. Once we'd positioned it and added the staple stack of coffee table books, it looked amazing. We had also purchased the nest of three matching tables that really complimented the whole room.

Always good to think outside the box with furniture, mix and match items that you would not always put together is a risk worth taking. 

Dungeness: Like another World

My Husband and I took a road trip to the South East a couple of weekends ago to visit friends in Hassocks. Taking advantage of the glorious English sunshine, we decided to take the Friday off and start our trip via the interesting 'village' of Dungeness.

Situated on the Kent coastline, Dungeness is a forgotten postcode that seems to have stood still in time with its shingle beach stretching for miles, dotted with boat caucuses and delapadated wooden sheds.

The sun was beaming down on us and the area was so quiet and eerie, we felt like we were in an American wasteland.

The area surrounding Dungeness is a heavily protected Nature Reserve with rare plants and masses of birds.

Most people will have heard of Dungeness by the film directors Prospect Cottage and the two massive Power Stations, which are a strange backdrop for such a uniquely beautiful spot.

We picnicked on the deserted beach, strolled around the shingles, and had a pint in the busy pub. 

Dungeness is well worth a visit for an afternoon or a day as it truly is like a different world.