Style Imitating Art- Anne Ryan Number 453

Hello!

Thanks for your kind appreciation of my cards. 

Today, I am taking a little break from TARDIS Tuesday, I will resume next week.

Today, I am sharing an outfit for Style Imitating Art.

Daenel chose this piece called Number 453.

Number 453 by Anne Ryan (1889-1954, Morris Town, New Jersey). 
Painted 1952. 
Medium: Cut and pasted fabrics and painted papers on paper, mounted on Howell Paper.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/484518
© Estate of Anne Ryan

You can see the details above of this piece by Anne Ryan.

Being made of fabrics, it has a wonderful texture!  It has obvious colours but I struggled to think if I actually had any of these colours.

Then I thought of this rainbow checked skirt I have with a grainy texture. The colours aren't right but it's the general effect. A Chambray denim skirt matches the background blue colour- both items are charity shopped.

I picked out the navy blue from the egg patchwork in my leggings from eco-brand Thought and added these new sandals from Lotus which I bought second-hand on eBay which have an interesting beaded pattern which could be said to resemble a patchwork in a sense and perhaps pick out that browny shade.

 I WISH I still had the sandals in THIS post as they are made of textured patchwork fabric! What happened to them?

I added some Esoteric London wood and leather earrings because the wood and the silver colour seem to be present in the patchwork.

I am aware that I probably should have ironed this but since I was wearing it for a day working at home, there seemed no point. I rarely iron anything so why change the habit of a lifetime?

Head over to Daenel's at some point tomorrow to see how everyone else interpreted it.

xx

My April cards

Do you remember my DIY Easter floral wreath back in April? Well, at the time, I made some cards using some of the coloured envelopes I had lying around but I didn't realise I hadn't shared them.

Well, here they are.  Each one uses reused/recycled elements.

The first one used a Taiwanese Pineapple cake box.

The middle one uses a cream envelope, a Teabag box and a Feminine care product box from years ago.

The third one also uses envelopes and a cracker innard.

All of them utilised by leaf and flower punches.

The tea-bag box is used again for the left card.

A brown envelope was used for the right yard as well as some more envelope for both.

The left card uses more of the Taiwanese pineapple box and the flowers are some I made a few years ago.

The second one uses various envelopes and this one is my favourite!

What do you think?

x

The Rainbow dress Remix

Hello there!

I thought, after sharing my latest outfit featuring my charity-shopped M&S Vintage Madras-checked dress, that it would be fun to put all the times I've shared it here on the blog and styled it in different ways. To my knowledge, even counting the times I've worn it that are NOT featured on the blog, I don't think I've worn it the same way twice.

I bought the dress back in February 2012 and it has been a firm Spring and Summer favourite ever since.

Let's have a look:

June 2020

On Tuesday, I shared it with the top folded down and picking out the turquoise with a vest top plus rainbow accessories. And of course, rainbow shoes!

Bizarrely, there has been a 3 year hiatus in me sharing the dress on the blog. I definitely wore it though!

August 2016

You can see me in my previous house's garden. This time, I wore the dress AS a dress for Style Imitating Art  but I wore it backwards with the front of the dress at the back to give it a round neck.  Again, I accentuated the turquoise by wearing it with my turquoise Croc shoes from TK Maxx, a turquoise shell necklace from Primark and a piece of tie-dyed rainbow silk from Bali worn as a wrap.

July 2015

Back in yet another home, the house CBC and I first lived in when we were married, I wore the dress for TARDIS Tuesday in a spin on Colin Baker's Doctor outfit from Doctor Who.  On this occasion, I wore the dress the correct way round with the v-neck facing forward and a white pussy bow blouse underneath.  The red spotted shoes were a nod to Colin Baker's red polka dot neck tie.

June 2014

A year before,  I wore it as a skirt with a black v-neck vest, accessorized with turquoise shoes, a silk headscarf and a silver sparkly belt.  And my pink scooter....

June 2014

In the same month, I shared a picture of it worn as a skirt (oh look, there's the belt tie!) with a turquoise embellished vest-top, turquoise and khaki cardigan and teal satin shoes. I've just noticed I'm wearing the same headband from the June 2020 post! A repeat!

May 2013

Back in 2013, I was still living in my childhood home.  I loved this outfit version!  I wore the dress as a dress, but backwards under a low-necked black top so the dress could be seen. A purple necklace and a headband. I miss my lovely childhood garden and those wonderful fruit trees!

February 2013

And here in February 2013, we have the first featured Winter-incarnation of the dress.  I wore it for Style Imitating Art with a black shirt, vintage suede belt, a snazzy pink striped scarf and tights plus those teal satin shoes (a repeat!). I like the styling of this!

July 2012

Back in July 2012, I wore this dress to visit CBC and wore it as a dress but with a white top over the top with flowers and butterflies on it.  Cath Kidston pumps and a nice hat and a bunting necklace!  This was a happy outfit!

July 2012

June 2012

In June, I wore another outfit, which I really love! I wore it as a skirt with a much beloved Henry Holland navy collar top plus some rainbow sandals. You can't see it but I had a rainbow star headband and some balloon-like rainbow earrings which were a present from a colleague.

May 2012

In May, I wore it as a skirt with a navy mesh floral top over it plus lace-up pumps and a rainbow bead necklace.

May 2012

Finally, we have the maiden-voyage of the dress!  At the time, the dress was a little big for me so I wore it as a skirt with a black top and a wide blue belt. Cath Kidston rainbow sweetie necklace, beret and pink scarf and I was good to go!

I enjoyed seeing the dress in all its different incarnations.

Which one is your favourite?

xx

Birthday cards

Hello there!

Before I write any more, could you please go and sign this petition ohttps://www.change.org/p/grant-shapps-uk-secretary-of-state-for-transport-stop-skywriting-adverts-over-britain

to stop advertising in the sky being legal in the UK- the government pushed this through in March. Please sign.

It's been a while since I shared some cards on here.

I suddenly realise that I didn't share the cards I made in the Easter holidays.  Maybe I will share those soon.

It was my Dad and my Step-Mum's Dad's birthdays in June (as well as my sister's which I shared a while back) and so I made them some cards on the day before we went to see them.

The first card was fairly simple, featuring different sized stars mounted on 3D sticky pads which came in a large pack from Poundland a while back. I've used these for quite a few cards in the last few years- see here. I thought it worked well as a Man's birthday card!

For my Dad's birthday card, I wanted to make him something with a Chemistry theme.  My Dad is a Chemistry graduate and he part of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Energy group.

I looked at the periodic table to see which elements could spell out words.

Alas, Happy Birthday was not possible from the Elements available, nor was Celebration or a few other things I tried.  

Eventually, I realised I could spell his surname and Genius (which I'd seen on a Chemistry mug!) 

Using the colours I found on an online periodic table, I punched squares from card and carefully wrote the element codes/names and atomic numbers.

To finish it off, I added 2 thin silver outline stickers!

My Dad was super pleased with it!

What do you think?

xx

Rainbows raced around the room as he danced with me

This morning, I saw my Marks and Spencer Vintage Madras check dress (charity-shopped) falling out of my  dumping pile clothing basket and decided it would be a good choice as a floaty item of clothing on a hot day!

I decided I wanted to embrace the rainbows today!

I folded down the top of the dress into the skirt and then added a turquoise button vest top (I think this came from Lidl when I was too sweaty on my way up to orchestra from school)

Today, I was all about the embellishments.  My earrings are actually made from plastic drinking straws!  Lorelai LQ makes her jewellery out of single use plastics that would otherwise be chucked away.  Do they look heavy to you?  They are SO light- I can barely feel them!

A starry rainbow necklace from The Crafty Anteater and a wired headband from Primark.

 Let's not forget the rainbow shoes!  Did I ever tell the story of these shoes?
I was going to play at CBC's school concert and I asked him to take my viola case and my black clothes and these shoes to change into for when I got there.
When I arrived to his school and took my things, I could only find ONE of these shoes! I was perplexed. I was certain I'd put it in the bag but no, it wasn't anywhere to be seen.
When I went onto stage, I had to go on in my black-socked feet as the shoes I'd worn to school were brightly coloured.

When I got home, I still couldn't find the other shoe.
When CBC got to school that day, he discovered my shoe, looking very bedraggled and muddy after a night in the rain, on the path to the school entrance!

Mind you, I think my black-socked solution was better than what the leader and co-leader did in an orchestra I used to play with.

It turned out that the leader had forgotten his black shoes.  I should point out, this concert was at St John's, Smith Square in Westminster- a very large, impressive venue, where the audience looks up to a stage where the orchestra sits.  And, the leader of the orchestra always walks on  to stage alone, whilst the audience look on applauding.

What was their solution to this difficulty?

The Co-leader lent him one shoe.

They both wore ONE shoe!

Right at the front of the orchestra, in the direct eye-line of the audience.

And the leader walked onto stage with one shoe, limping slightly from the difference in height.

I am quite sure there were BETTER solutions than that!

I hope you are well.

I am off to school for the next two days.

At the moment, I am only going into school 2 days a week as, whilst there are enough adults for the bubbles, my deputy head wants to minimize my travelling on public transport which is really kind.

Another day this week, I think I might share a summary of all the times I've worn this dress as I think I've worn it in quite a few creative ways!

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara's post-shower outfit from Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

Hello there!

I hope you are well. 
I seem to be finding it very hard to get away from work things when I am at home.
Need to try and have a cut off point each evening to stop work.

Anyway, today's TARDIS Tuesday features a rather obscure outfit from a favourite episode called Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (was the inspiration for my wedding hair!). Clara wears a beautiful dress throughout the episode and then at the end, she has had a shower and comes out in this outfit- you can see it at 16 seconds in this video.



She wears an extremely 90's outfit consisting of a floral strappy dress worn with a black top underneath, an Aztec eagle necklace and some black stud earrings. We don't get to see what shoes she has on but she carries a dark teal towel on her shoulder.

And here's me, side by side with her:

My entire outside was bought second-hand at various times - a 90's dress and a black top, plus an Aztec eagle necklace (I've worn it for several TARDIS Tuesdays) plus a towel!

Here's the full photo.

And here you can see it with my charity-shopped Birkenstock sandals.  This is a very comfy outfit and was a good one for working at home on a hot day.  It would also be good for school.

What do you think?

Garden flowers

I am shocked to realise it is over a month and a half since I last shared a garden post. A lot has changed in that time so I thought I'd share some photos.

Today, I am looking at the flowers and I will share edibles another day.

The yellow Roses were looking resplendent about 3 weeks ago... they did look somewhat more bedraggled after the heavy rain.

The white Campanula bloomed below them- they looked so pretty in the rain.

Couldn't resist another Rose picture.

When the garden centre opened, CBC and I went and bought a beautiful Callistemon plant which has given us such joy! It does look like a caterpillar mated with Elmo! The bees have adored it and CBC is obsessed with watching them 'swimming' through the red stamens!

The Passiflora have come back after CBC completely hacked them back! They are SO strange looking but the bees always love them

CBC went to the garden centre another time and came back with a gift for me- A Calla lily- CBC wore an orange Calla Lily as his wedding boutonniere so they always make me smile!

The hardy Geraniums have come back under the cherry tree!

The Lavender seems to have flowered very early this year! The bees are pleased.

Couldn't resist another photo of the Callistemon!

The Acanthus clearly DIDN'T take umbrage to me completely flooring them last Autumn- they are back with avengence!

The Aquelegia have been beautiful and now they are accompanied with the pretty Clematis who are pleased to have some proper trellis this year, rather than the shabby old one they've been existing on in the past.

I've been patiently waiting for the Agapanthus to flower-they've been creeping out of their sepals day by day and finally, are coming forth!

The Purple Toadflax also didn't mind my hacking it back- it seems to have moved along the bed! The bees love it.

The Verbena Bonariensis has enjoyed stunning us with its purple beauty- looks so tiny yet so strong!

Here's the Callistemon with the Jasmine which seems to have happily grown back behind it.

CBC also bought a peach-coloured Fox Glove! It's very pretty!

There's more but I'll save that for another time.
I'll leave you with a view of the garden from different prospects:

The swing seat has been a God-send in lockdown!

How's your garden been growing?
x

Mauve-ing on

Hello!

Here's a smily picture of me from Tuesday.  It was a boiling hot day and it meant light, airy fabrics were needed.

I wore this pretty mauve Cotton top from Comptoir De Cottoniers which I picked up in the charity shop in February in Hexham for a pound. It was on the reduced rack in Hexham Hospice shop which I was delighted by as it is an expensive brand and light cotton tops with sleeves are a rarity! I wore it with my White Stuff Origami bird reversible skirt and charity-shopped Birkenstock sandals.

Oh and some Mystic Galaxy earrings from Esoteric London and a star necklace which was a gift!

Although it doesn't look like it, I felt like I was channelling Vix with her lovely light cotton cheesecloth tops!

I am off to school tomorrow for 2 days.  I am apprehensive because I've not had to do set, planned work with the Key worker children and I'm not sure how they will be! Hopefully ok.  

Also, it will be the first time in when there are other year groups using the school. Year 1 are back for the first time tomorrow. I will pray.

It strikes me that not enough praying has been happening in the light of all that is going on in the world. I was praying urgently back in March, April, into May.  June, I seem to have been all tied up trying to get things done and failing. Why am I not on my knees at some point every hour?  Will we lose anything by praying?  No. Might actually gain something.  The need is great and the time and one loses nothing by praying for change.

I hope that you are well and safe.


xx