Long time no see!

Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it?!? I don't know where the last few weeks have flown to, but the last time I blogged was on 14th June!! I do have an excuse though... I have been busy making fascinators and hair accessories, looking after my poorly sick daughter and spending a week lazing by the pool in Spain!

Yes, we went on holiday with my parents and both my sisters which was fab. We had such a great week doing absolutely nothing except for swimming, sleeping, eating, swimming, sleeping and eating! What a great way to spend a week.

Taking off...

Me and my sisters having cocktails in the bar

I had a quite a few orders to get out before I went, and have been working on orders since I got back and my blog has taken a back seat for a while, and for that I apologise. Here are some of them. The others are on my camera, but I need new batteries to upload them!


Jessica Design in black with ivory and black feathers, to the UK

Bespoke Bridal Swarovski crystal and pearl Haircomb for a client in the UK Pewter and fuscia flower and veil cocktail hat for my friend Joanna for a wedding in the UK
Joanna Design in Navy with lagoon and ozone feathers for a client in the UK


I've also finished off the lounge and hall decorating (at LAST!) and my house is now in some sort of normal state again! I'm so pleased with the way that everything's turned out, and it's like living in a new house! I love it and it really feels like home now. It's all come together better than I could have ever expected.

The lounge, before...

... and after

The hall, all finished with the radiator cabinet and the newly waxed floorboards and rugs


I've been commissioned to do a bespoke tiara for a client who has a beautiful vintage style antique lace wedding dress with an amazingly long train. She lives locally so I've had a couple of design meetings with her and have come up with an initial design based on a pattern in her material. Can you guess the design from this swatch pic? I'll show you later when I've constructed it. I'm also doing her wedding jewellery too which will use elements from the tiara so it will all match. I'm really looking forward to this project.

The other good news is that Jordan doesn't have to worry about finding a new husband now her and Peter have split... Prince Charlie loves her...


N x

The Days Are Just Packed!

Ahhh, Calvin and Hobbes... my favourite.

I feel like I haven't stopped this week, what with knocking out the fireplace, painting the garage, making fascinators, sorting out photos and messing about with my website, doing my nails clients and generally messing about, I feel exhausted!

This Jane fascinator in blue iris sinamay and lagoon and navy feathers went to Denmark


And this one in pebble sinamay with silver feathers went to the UK


Time for a weekend of doing nothing I think. We're off out to Frankie & Benny's tomorrow for tea for some nice food, and I think a cinema afternoon of watching Kung Fu Panda is in order. If you haven't seen it, you must!


Charlie, on the other hand, is kicking back and taking it easy. No change there then!



N x

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Oh my goodness! I woke up yesterday, opened the blind and was greeted by a blanket of snow outside! What a shock! How come snow always falls overnight? Or it always seems to. The back garden looked so beautiful, but P had the day off school luckily, so we went out and built a snowman and the quality of the snow was fab!

It was that really great snow that makes good snowballs and sticks together really easily, so our snownman was big! He had a spent firework for his nose, fluffy fabric balls for his eyes and a pipecleaner mouth. He got adorned with Charlie's leopardskin blanket from one of his beds, and my hat (which I'll be looking all over for in a few days) and looked brilliant!

Charlie didn't know what to make of it and it took him ages to jump over the fence when I let him outside!


I've been making lots of jewellery for my shoot in a couple of weeks for my website. I've started with the earrings and done some necklaces and I need to do bracelets and hairpins, followed by the tiaras. I'm trying to do sets which can be purchased altogether, or as seperates to give customers a choice, and also when shooting allows my photographer to photograph a lot of items in one shot to save time and post shoot editing later. I've really enjoyed what I've done so far and I'm back in my groove!



I spoke to my friend Nic tonight. We lived together in Cardiff in my first year at University and lost touch 8 years ago. So much has happened in both of our lives since then and I'm so glad we found eachother again through Friends Reunited. I'm going to visit her at the end of the month and I can't wait to catch up over old photos and a bottle or two of wine in the Lake District where she lives now. We were such good friends and I feel that some good karma is here with us and we won't lose touch again. I'm a big believer that people are in or out of your life for a reason, and sometimes you're not sure what that reason is at the time and it only becomes clear later, or maybe not at all, but I'm sure fate plays a big part in my life and the path it takes.

N x

Grumpy

As it's nearly pantomime season, I've decided to be Grumpy this year. I've had a bad back all week and I'm feeling tired and unmotivated at the moment. I am sure it's the freezing weather and the miserable faces of everyone who is Christmas shopping with no money trying to make Christmas happy for their families. Anyway. Grumpy it is, for now...


(The strip above is from Bill Watterson's Calvin And Hobbes. I absolutely love them.)

On a happy note, I've had 2 orders this week for fascinators. One is going to Dubai for the Races (Viktoria, Poppy colour) and one is for the UK, (Jane, in wisteria). I'd love to go to Dubai and stay in one of the hotels, although I just did a quick calculation and for a 7 night stay in a 2 bedroom villa at the Jumerai Beach Hotel it would set me back £12,453... I think I'll just book the 5 nights... (eek)


Charlie is getting too big for his radiator bed. He's bent the metal frame on it so he's hanging in it but looks uncomfortable. I'll have to get dad to do some ingenious bracing so that my cat can have his luxury bed back. He loves it. The heating is on all the time at the moment so when he's been out for his morning strole in the cold, he nips back in and sleeps for about 5 hours straight all warm and comfortable. I think they should make a human version. I'd buy one!


Kris bought P and I some hand warmers today. The ones that you click the button and the gel goes hard and warm. It's because I was moaning this morning that my fingers hurt because it was so cold. Bless him. P loves hers and is obsessed with them now. She wouldn't sleep without hers tonight. Mine are going in my pockets on the school run tomorrow!

I'm off to down some more painkillers and jump into bed. I think it's time to put the electric blanket back on!

N x

Time Flies

I can't believe it's Tuesday already. The weekend has flown and I'm not quite sure what we've done!

P went to a party on Saturday which was a massive blow up bouncy shark affair which the kids absolutely loved. It's amazing what keeps them occupied for an hour. She had a great time.

I've been finishing off my batch of fascinators and sent them all off, just rushed out in the wind and rain to post the last one. Here they are:

April Fascinator, to North Carolina, USA:


Rachael Fascinator in cranberry and silver, to Berkshire, UK:


Claire Fascinator, to Times Square, New York:

**oh dear... looks like I forgot to take a photo of this one. It was Poppy red with black feathers. So cool. Drat...**

My cat Charlie has been mousing again. Last night he brought in a mouse and it ran behind the kitchen units. I shut the kitchen door when we went to bed so that it had a chance to escape, but the cat was having none of it. He was launching himself at the door trying to open it to get at the mouse (this is at 11pm when P and I are asleep). I had to go down and let him in and I left him sitting looking at the cupboard. Big mistake. P woke up at half past 2 am and came into bed with me. I went and turned off her night light and got her pillow and jumped back into bed trying to slide in so as not to disturb the cat who was asleep by the side of me and hadn't moved.

5 seconds later the cat jumps off the bed and runs down the stairs like he's been fired out of a gun. I mean FAST. Like 2 seconds from bed to hall. Tom and Jerry stylee.


I am assuming the mouse has had a little tour of the house and ended up following us all into my bedroom to see if it can cozy up with us...

I went downstairs to make sure the cat was ok and he wasn't having some sort of fit, and there, running about is Mousey. Luckily for him he got chased into the fireplace (we have open fires) and there he stayed. I went back to bed. Charlie probably spent 3 hours looking at the fireplace, but got bored and came back to bed because he was there in the morning.

I decided that I would have to investigate this morning... here's what I found when I moved all the logs...


It's a good job I used to have gerbils when I was smaller. This one got picked up by his tail and put outside. Feisty little thing!!

I might set up a sanctuary... Pink Tiger's Sanctuary for Rescued Mice...

N x