a garden of thoughts...

 "If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever."

— Alfred Lord Tennyson

Things are Rosy

A very friendly kitty...

When my friend Claudia and I went out for lunch today we walked past a window with a very beautiful cat sitting inside, and when we went over to say hello this cat went crazy, rubbing the glass with its face and being incredibly friendly, we wanted to reach in and give it a cuddle, it was clearly very happy to see people, and obviously I was very happy to oblige with some attention!

the best sister award...

Picture layout by Pugly Pixel Premium downloads

Coming soon...

I'm in the process of redesigning my blog, I have been so inspired by the work that I have seen in the blog community recently that it has made me want to push myself and learn more about how to further customize my own... So watch this space!

The pretty bow, medallion and dotty tape are thanks to the ever brilliant Pugly Pixel, if you like them you can get them through the following links...

Tape strips : HERE

Starbursts : HERE

Ribbons : HERE

Enjoy!

Lipgloss Donuts...

Mmmmm - glitter and sugar sprinkles!

I had my first ever full-on Krispy Kreme experience this weekend... yes, I've had them in the office and at birthdays before, but I've never been to an actual shop, it was like a small slice of America and brought back lots of nice memories of my holiday there a few years ago.

The Glamour Glaze donut

It was ridiculously exciting, mainly because they have a special limited edition sparkle Glamour Glaze donut at the moment (I will admit this is what sucked me in) and I could not get over how much it looked like someone had spread lipgloss over the top of them....why this should be appetizing I do not know, but for some reason it had a magical allure...

Me and donut, pre-devouring...

I think I had more fun choosing and photographing them then eating them, much to my companion's amusement "You're weird" he muttered as I tried to get the best light for premium glitter capture....

Sunday morning naptime...

Click on the image to view full size.... I still haven't got the hang of how to make my pics bigger, that's a challenge to master next week I think!

Here is a little photo montage of Murph's morning nap that I made this morning, I wanted to make something that could be easily constructed using an iPhone, an app and a little bit of Photoshop know-how!

I made all of the elements myself apart from the tape in the banner at the top which is a free download from the wonderful Pugly Pixel, which you can find on her brilliant blog HERE...

The app I used to take the photos is called LOMO LOMO and it was free from the iTunes app store.

Lush knot wrap design competition...

Today I found out that Lush Cosmetics are having a design competition that is right up my street....

They are offering you the chance to have one of your own designs printed up and sold in their shops as one of their clever 'knot wraps'.

Photo courtesy of Lush

Knot wraps are a concept that Lush introduced in 2009, they source and sell vintage scarfs to use as an ingenious eco-friendly gift wrap using the old Japanese art of Furoshiki, which is an origami like style of wrapping fabric to contain things - click HERE for the Wikipedia explanation of this art form.

What I love about this idea is that not only is it two gifts in one, but you are also helping reduce waste and saving the environment, what a brilliant idea!

My knot-wrap around my fave vintage bag (note how Murphy muscled in on the action when he realised I wasn't paying him any attention....)

I first came across this form of present wrapping on my birthday this year, when my wonderful friend Sally presented me with a little dumpling-like bundle of a gorgeous vintage locket wrapped inside a pretty vintage scarf, I thought this was a delightful way to wrap a present and the scarf is just as treasured as the pretty locket inside it, in fact I wrapped it around the strap of my favourite vintage bag and have received many admiring glances since....

I will definitely be entering this competition, its a win-win situation, it gives me a excuse to mess about on Illustrator (I don't need much encouragement) to have fun making a new design and to hone my skills with a view to possibly winning something at the end of it, and even if I don't I have an original design to brighten up my house with!

If you would like to find out more about this competition visit the Lush website or click HERE for the details and to download the template.... Good Luck!

my new mobile site....

Today I have set up my brand new mobile blog site, so that you can view things easily on a smart-phone should you want to browse on the go ;-)

The old blog format will stay the same but it just means that by clicking a little button it is now much easier to view posts in a mobile format (see main pic above)!

On the right hand side of the page you will see that it now says.... "Click this button for my mobile site", admittedly that is still going to be pretty small on a smart phone, but if you zoom in and hit that little button it should take you directly to the mobile site, job done!

Many thanks to Powered by Pastries for THIS fab tutorial on how to do it!

Cupcake Couture blogging tips!

The logo from the Lovely Cupcake Couture blog!

Hop on over to see my friend Nadia's wonderful Cupcake Couture blog today, she has a brilliant POST talking all about how to get the most out of your blog and sharing all her top tips and secrets, go and show her some blog-love and support and find some great new links to help you on your way!

Thanks Nadia!

Maine Coons, Parakeets and Sunbathing foxes....

This is a little photo story of what happened in my garden on Saturday morning, a drama that unfolded in front of my eyes (OK, not that dramatic but it doesn't take much to entertain me)!

THE PLAYERS

The brazen kitty!

Brazen Kitty : Murphy's girlfriend, actual name unknown, no collar - sometimes comes inside our house to eat Murph's food, very friendly, also a Mainecoon!

The brave parakeet!

A Brave Parakeet : A local resident, one of many living in my area and all over parts of London, Kent and Surrey.
Click HERE for more info....

'Disney' Fox

The 'Disney' Fox : Brazen and likes digging holes in our garden, surprisingly healthy looking, also loves sunbathing on my neighbour's shed roof apparently.... nothing really to do with the story he just appeared at the end and I thought he was funny, a casual observer it seems!

THE STORY

Brazen Kitty likes to play in our garden, I like her, she's got guts - I think Murph likes her - she steals his food but she is very pretty....and she has almighty paws!

I hear a parakeet squawking in the garden, and I peer out of the window hoping that there is one in the tree, and for once there actually is and it is eating the cherry blossom (usually you just hear them and see them flocking overhead)! So I grab the camera and try and a get a clear shot of the bird, plus the weather is beautiful and the cherry tree is in full bloom so it cant hurt to record this lovely sight anyway...

I notice the Parakeet look down and see that Brazen kitty has jumped onto the roof of our shed, I say 'Hello' and she looks guilty/defiant, see above expression....

The parakeet looks more disconcerted and starts to climb higher in the tree and squawk angrily...

I realize this is because Brazen kitty has started to try and climb the tree in the hope of an exotic catch, I start to worry so tell her off in the hope she will stop, she just looks at me with contempt and wanders off, meanwhile the Parakeet has had enough and gives a final squawk before flying away!

Going, going....

Gone!

Later on I heard the Parakeets outside again and noticed that there were 4 in the tree, all happily eating blossom until my neighbour's Chocolate Labrador 'Guinness' starts barking because Murphy is on the roof taunting him (a usual hobby of his) so they flew away again!

During the initial events, Murphy is asleep across most of my bed, totally unaware of the excitement unfolding outside, SO LAZY.

Human sized cat bed.

THE END

Lip attack....

I am obsessed with lipstick at the moment....

Revlon - Fire & Ice

My current favourite is Revlon's classic Fire & Ice (above) which is the perfect blue red, works well on every complexion and is so popular it has been around since the 1950's.
I highly recommend it because the texture is very smooth, it doesn't dry your lips like most and the colour lasts for ages, not to mention it is great value at under £8 (I bought mine from Boots).

The original advertisement

However, one lipstick is not enough for me and today I had to feed the addiction and add to my already large collection of 6 different toned Reds and Corals (yes, highly unnecessary I know), so I decided to branch out and get myself a very bright coral-orange tone (Kiss Me by Rimmel) and a bright fuchsia pink (Shocking Pink by Rimmel) and with a free mascara to boot - hooray, no justification needed!

My two new acquisitions!

I read a great article in this weeks Stylist magazine about all the new bright tones available at the moment, this is due to the high number of Runway shows keeping the make up looks simple and concentrating on bright lips for SS11, so the selection on the high street is a lot more exciting than usual and now is the perfect time to buy them!

Lipstick suits all sorts of complexions!

I think bright lipstick is the quickest and easiest way to do your make up, all you need to do is keep the rest of the make up minimal and it should look great, be brave and try it out, it always makes me feel much more confident and polished than when I don't wear it, not to mention being great at diverting attention from other areas you might want people to notice ;-)

gloomy morning....

Gloomy but beautiful I think, I always love the sight of the Battersea Power Station when I go past on the train.

A hint of Spring in London...

The other day my friend Anwen and I took a lovely stroll through St James Park in our lunch hour and took in the sights of Buckingham Palace and The Mall in glorious sunshine, not to mention the spring flowers and blossom and ducks and geese in the park, it was a lovely glimpse of how pretty London can be in the Spring and Summer, and reminds me how lucky we are to work so centrally that we can see such sights in an hour!

Baking and icing....

Amongst the many other wonderful birthday presents I received this year, the one that took me most by surprise was the present I received from my Dad, it was a set of beautiful icing flower cutters, but with plungers attached at the top, which means you can cut even the tiniest of flowers perfectly and pop them out with ease!

No sticking to the surface or the cutter, and the best part is if you press the flower onto your palm whilst depressing the plunger it gives you a lovely dimple in the middle which makes it perfect for placing a dragee (shiny edible bauble) in the middle, although they also look very pretty without.


Here is a cake that I made and decorated the other day, I covered the top with raspberries and lots of different sized icing flowers....



I think these would also look great on cupcakes or even cookies, and I have lots more ideas about how to use them, they are so simple to make but look so pretty and carefully crafted, a definite bonus in my opinion!

I have issues with being an adult....

So, because of this I buy myself ridiculous childlike frivolities to cling to my inner child, this is my latest purchase, obviously cat-themed, a diary/agenda which I plan to fill with pictures of Murphy (who else?!) I'm pretty certain he would approve....

Happy Pancake Day..

a pin bouquet....

Flower headed quilting pins, I have been searching for these for SO long, and I finally found them online for next to nothing, it will be so nice not to be using blunt stubby, snaggy pins when sewing from now on....