New home, new brooch!

It's been far too long since i've updated this bad man, i silently promised myself when i set up this bloggins that there would be at least four posts a week, but unfortunately i've been a serial slacker for the past few days. I thought it would be kind of nice to follow on from my last post with a bit of positive news, i have a flat! Woo hoo! I've bagged myself a little studio flat in the city centre with an actual real life car parking area (previously i thought this bonus to be almost impossible after witnessing several filth infested shit boxes situated in the arse hole of Norwich), a super cute little garden and to top it off most bills are included in the rent. (This basically means that i'll be rinsing this privilege to it's maximum potential.) Sorry mother earth.

After hearing such positive news, it's put me in a great mood and because of this, I've had a lovely days sewing today. Frame of mind is massively important to me, if i'm having a bad day, i find it impossible to concentrate enough to put my mind to anything creative.I have finally completed the long anticipated (long anticipated for me as i've been procrastinating over this puppy for two weeks!) 50s inspired vintage telephone brooch. I shouldn't really be unveiling it just yet as the rest of my mini collection isn't quite in it's finished state, but i couldn't resist! I'm just so pleased with how cute it's turned out! However, my lovely slick SLR camera is currently in camera hospital as he has a broken lens, so the quality of this isn't amazing, but it'll give you all a taster of the rest of the mini collection (5 pieces all together) which will be showcased on my Etsy shop on Monday night.

He is approximately 4cms wide and has a brooch fitting on the back of both the handset and the main body of the phone so you can pin it however you like. He is also all hand sewn and made from felt with a gold plated chain. Can't wait to show everyone the rest of the collection! Telephone brooch and friends will be available online on my Etsy shop on Monday night! Eeeeee!

Has anybody seen my independence?

After looking through some photos from the places my boyfriend and i visited last year, i'm left with a feeling of itchy feet, a lovely warm feeling of nostalgia as well as a feeling of sadness upon looking out the window at dreary, grey England. I would love to be back in some of those places right now, but they seem like such a distant memory. The photos below are some of the most beautiful places i've ever visited.

Valence, South of France

At the age of 25, there's something very wrong and very frustrating about your dad telling you to tidy your room or clean out your car. Yes that's right, i said 25. After living away from home independently for 7 years, it really is no fun having to live back home for a while. (Maybe this is why i'm yearning to escape into these photos.) 

Ok, so to be fair, i do get cooked for most nights and my mum literally insists on doing my laundry for me and ironing everything. Honestly EVERYTHING, socks, tea towels, duvets, knickers and anything else that is even remotely fabric based. I've tried to stop her or tell her that i'll do it, but there's no staling her when she's wielding that iron in her hand, she's like a machine. Other plus points about living at home include never having to go food shopping and having someone up earlier than you in case your alarm doesn't go off in the morning.

Outskirts of Sydney, Australia

Don't get me wrong, i love my parents to death and i know that they would do anything for me and i'm completely grateful for that. It's just they have their 'ways' and i have my 'ways' and unfortunately my 'ways' are approximately 95% more relaxed than theirs. It feels as though i can't sneeze without upsetting the natural balance of my parents meticulously planned and organised house proud life. And this, it seems is starting to drive me slowly but surely insane. 

I'm quite literally yearning for my own freedom and space, a life of my own where i decide what to have for tea and when i'll do the laundry and if i want to leave the entire contents of my handbag (just for the record, it's a big bag, one of those Mary Poppins bottomless pit ones) scattered over the living room floor for 3 days then i bloody well will.

Somewhere near Washing D.C, USA

The big thing that's getting to me at the moment is that i don't feel as if i have a space to call my own and therefore my creativity feels like it's hit a brick wall alot of the time. The ideas are there, i just feel as if i can't get comfortable enough to let it all out. I'm the kind of person that gets bored easily and i hate routine, but at the same time i do love my home comforts and i love to travel and see new places. 

When i had my own flat, i had a little space in the corner of my spare room where i used to draw and design tshirts (i had a thing with screen printing a few years back) surrounded by bits of fabric and pens and paper. I was in my element because that was my little place to escape and i could do whatever the hell i wanted in there. 

Traveling inspires me in the same way. Whenever i've experienced different countries or cities i always come back with a real feeling of inspiration. I was lucky enough to experience several different countries and meet some amazing new people last year due to my lovely musician boyfriend and his even lovlier touring schedule! Each time i came back, i'd say i didn't want to come home, partly because i didn't feel as if i knew where my home was and partly because of all the lovely people we'd met, communities we'd experienced and places that i could quite happily see myself living in abroad. My conclusion is that i need to find a nice cosy studio flat ASAP that i can call home that's cheap enough for me to still be able to afford to pop off to brighter, sunnier climates every so often. And maybe in the not so distant future i might be able to afford to call one of those other inspirational cities my home too.

New York City, USA

Inspiration Station!

Ok, if i was a train, i would currently be full speed ahead (specifically i would be a luxurious, romantic old steam train rather like the one in the Chanel No5 TV advert, the ones with those little chandeliers above each table in the restaurant carriage!) on my way, non stop, to 1950s inspiration station! Choo choo!


After much thought i've come to the decision to base my new jewellery and accessory collection on the 1950s. Yay! It's going to be super kitsch, super cute, super girly and disgracefully vintage! Here are just a few reasons why i decided on this genre, why i love it and a few snippets of the people, films and photos that have inspired me.....


1.) Awesome hats. Especially those cute 'half hats', modeled here by the beautiful Judith Evelyn playing the character 'Miss Lonely Hearts' in Hitchcock's 'Rear Window'. Please also note the beautiful shade of that emerald green dress! 

And more to the point, how the hell was this woman dubbed 'Miss Lonely Hearts', how could she have possibly been single?! I watched this film over the Christmas period and it was absolutely amazing for it's time, very different to the later Hitchcock films, such as 'The Birds' that i'd seen previously. You should all watch it, if only to experience the beautiful styling and wonderful cinematography.

2.) Christian Dior couture. I may be being a bit biased here, given the current industry that i work in, but good god that man changed the face of fashion. I've had the history of Dior drummed into the back of my brain several times this past year and i don't mind one bit, i could read about this man's creations for hours and not get bored. 

There we were in the middle of a post war depression in the late 40s, times were poor and down right drab. Rations had meant that dresses were bland, boring and tasteless and along comes this unassuming art dealer with relatively no fashion experience and turns the streets of Paris upside down with his beautifully fulls skirts, sumptuous fabrics and brilliant colours. This man made women feel like women again and brought back curves and femininity. (well to the seriously rich anyway!) Check out some of these breath taking creations from the 40s into the 50s.

And while we're on the subject, I've just seen the latest Dior campaign for the Miss Dior Cherie fragrance. Not only do i have a mini girl girl crush on Natalie Portman who looks almost edible here, but how deliciously sickly sweet is this? In fact there's a bit of a vintage boudoir feel to it, even after 60 years, Dior haven't lost their touch.

3.) Mad Men. Yes i know Mad Men is technically set in the 1960s, however it starts off in the very early 1960s, which actually, fashion wise, is still very much carrying on with the style from the 1950s. (i just had to talk about Mad Men, i'm positively obsessed!) One of my favourite things about Mad Men (other than the lovely, but devilish Don Draper) is the iconography. I especially love the realistic way that the leading female characters are portrayed. It is of course very sexist, but back then that's the way women were treated in the workplace and how they were expected to behave in the family home, Mad Men shows them in a realistic light. 

The clever styling portrays each woman's character perfectly and reflects three very different aesthetics and personalities. Betty is seen as a classic, no hair out of place, picture perfect housewife = luxurious fabrics and beautifully feminine yet classic dresses. Joan is super confident, curvy and sexy = skin tight, figure hugging, bum wiggling dresses. Peggy is portrayed as a quite innocent, blossoming young girl coming of age = lots of florals, hardly any make-up, very classic looking. I love the how these characters are of the same era in history, but have greatly differing dress sense. To be alive to experience that revolutionary time in history would have been immense. God Mad Men is so bloody good!

4.) Insane differences in styles. Just look at these two completely different brooches from the 1950s. Two completely different looks, two completely different connotations. 

This is why i love this era, it's has it's cutesy fun side, but underneath it's 'butter-wouldn't-melt' exterior there's always a glamour puss ready to wiggle it's bum and trot it's heels sexily to the surface. I could literally go on with this list for hours, but my eyes are sore and my bath is almost run, so that's it from me this evening, i will keep you posted with the new collection over the coming few days.

Oooh la la!

For some reason, over the past few days I've become unreasonably obsessed with vintage French chairs. I got myself into a 2 hour deep, dark cavernous Ebay and Etsy hole the other night randomly researching them. 

Maybe it's the fact that I've been partaking in several flat viewings in the last week or so which has caused me to have a severe case of mental furniture fantasising, but even so the real deal in sexy vintage French chairs is way out of my price range. I just love seeing what people have done to them! The crazy fabrics and amazing colour schemes i've perused during my chair stalking evening were just so original, i can't help but fall in love with them. If you're lucky enough to be a master of upholstering then the world is your oyster with these beauties, just check out some of my favourites below. 

Yes, some of these examples are verging on being a little bit Elton John, but that's the beauty of them, they're a combination of French style and English eccentricity and let's face it the French might have elegance, but when it comes to being original, us Brits always come in first place. If there's any way of entwining these two things then bloody hell i'm sold! (It would be like if David Bowie and Audrey Tatou had a baby!) In fact, so much so, that this evening i'm going to start work on my own homage to the French chair in the form of a teeny, tiny chair brooch. Will keep you posted on that one!

 You can buy these two golden lovlies here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/45929728/fabulous-pair-hollywood-regency-vintage

Living Art

I've just spotted this lovely photograph on the Etsy blog, well at first i thought "What a super cute little shop/museum!", but low and behold, after further reading, this beautiful room was actually part of somebody's house in Boston. According to the article, the late Isabella Stewart Gardener actually designed, decorated and opened her house as a public museum in 1903 because she felt most American museums of the time were 'too cold looking' and due to her declaring in her will that nothing should be moved after she died, it still looks exactly the same today.

Imagine waking up to such an awesome interior every single day. There's something incredibly romantic and yet quite stifling about the look of this place. Part of me absolutely loves the thoughtful arrangement of all the large, regal looking frames against the gloriously soft, powdery, metallic clash of that vintage wallpaper. I also love the fact that none of the chairs match and they have that naughty yet stylish French Marie Antoinette look to them. However, the other part of me wants to knock one of the frames slightly or pull a chair out of place as it's just too damn well meticulously organised!

The fact that Isabella asked for nothing to be changed when she died gives it quite a time capsule feel. Apparently it took her over a year to place each piece of art in this huge museum exactly where she wanted it before she opened her house to the public, so i guess if you're that much of a perfectionist, you'd be pretty pissed off if someone turned around and built a walk-in-wardrobe where your prized million dollar masterpiece once stood! Regardless i'd love to pop over the pond and have a leisurely strole through that wonderful old house. I wouldn't say no to a slither that baby blue and gold wallpaper either! Check on the link below to have a nosey through the Isabella Stewart Gardener museum website.

 http://www.gardnermuseum.org/index.asp

Give it some Hattitude!

This is so beautiful! I would wear this bad man with pride. Such a shame women just don’t do hats any more. We need a 40s revival, everybody looks and feels phenomenal in red lipstick and a fascinator. If all of parliament was filled with crazy-hat-wearing, red lip pouting ladies then i swear to god we wouldn’t even have time to go to war, they’d be too busy admiring how awesomely individual and original they all looked. 

This post is copied from my old Tumblr page, it's one of my fave photos that i found on there and i felt it deserved to be paraded around. You can buy this gorgeous hand made creation from a shop called 'Ginny and Judes' on Etsy. Check out the link below to have a ganders.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/32120745/bows-and-arrows-bow-and-feather?ref=em

Blogger Virgin (well, sort of...)

I think i’ve just broken my Blogger virginity (well maybe for the second time) and i must say it didn’t hurt a bit! Well, actually, in all honesty, I did set this one up a while back, however i’ve been meaning to update this bad boy for quite some time now, but alas i am super disorganised and have only just finally put the effort in. From now on i am all about the effort!

Right, well basically this little ol’ blog is going to discuss my new venture into the world of jewellery design and is a way of sharing some of my inspirations, thoughts and ideas. Considering my interests span all the way from vintage collectables to unforgettable books to a wierd obsession with nature, stupidly beautiful limited edition make-up and a bit of thing for all things psychadelic……well anything psychadelic actually  (tut tut). I also love old lady murder mystery dramas and any films with Audrey Tatou or Natalie Portman (except Starwars, yuk!), i love those two a little too much. Oh and i also have the worst sweet tooth ever, seriously a brief fleeting thought of eating a ‘Galaxy Ripple’ (they're my new 'thing') or a Starbuck's chocolate chip shortbread can sometimes haunt me for days untill i give in, which is almost always. 

Wowza i’m already on one, this was supposed to be a short and sweet summary-style introductory post. Oops. In actual fact i've been glued to this very spot for 4 hours now updating various internet jazz in order to promote my new Girls Wear Pink venture. I now have a very serious case of numb bum and pins and needles in most limbs. 

Anyway, when i’m not doing the aforementioned 'New Venture', i’m actually a full time beauty consultant for a premium make-up brand (thought it best not to name names in case i drop myself in the shizzle).

You’ll be suprised to learn that i don’t have a full head of straw-like highlights or a face that looks like it’s tested every cosmetic under the sun all at once then been finished off with a coat of brown fence varnish. In fact i’m very pale and not even remotely pushy and i’m a rubbish saleswoman, but (if i do say so myself) a bloody good make-up artist. I hate the vanity of the beauty industry but i love the creativity of painting peoples faces, it’s kind of like painting a picture. I also love the feeling of satisfaction i get from making someone feel good about themselves. It’s remarkable how much you learn about a person’s life and personality from a half hour consultation, sometimes upon finishing a person’s make-up i leave feeling like i’ve known them for years.

This feeling of making someone happy is exactly why i love hand crafting. It's an altogether completely different industry, yet actually it's principle is exactly the same, I'm making people happy. After spending a few hours pouring all my love, care and attention into making, let's say, a super cute little felt brooch, to then have somebody see it and appreciate it so much that they are willing to part their hard earned cash to own it, feels bloody amazing!