sad, neglected little blog of mine....

...I'm sorry little blog - I promise to do better! and do better for you lovely people who stop by this blog and see the same picture/blog post... apologies to you too....

so, to go some way to making amends, over the next few days (maybe a week depending on how many worthwhile snippets I find!) I'm going to share some of the Instagrams I've posted (and some I didn't, thinking they'd make it to the blog, but didn't...).. and other stuff that I hope you'll like....

These little bites of ALBOTAT (A Little Bit Of This And That!) are going to be in no particular order what so ever.....  (well, I'll put some thought into their order of appearance but not too much - lets just get them out there shall we - less overthinking! lol)

Lets start with this:

It was Mr JoFY and mine's wedding anniversary last week - 11 years - and each year he buys me a lovely bouquet of flowers which includes ornamental cabbages as they were in my wedding bouquet...

The cabbages are gorgeous - and not just the tops - look a the fabulous colour of the stems! (and no they don't smell, people ask that when you tell them you like cabbages as flowers)

.... and this morning I changed the water in the vase and threw the 'dead' leaves in the sink - look at the gorgeous colours!

How's that for a colour scheme!

Lush!

ALBOTAT... bringing Spring inside

I'm a big fan of tulips - I love the colours in this bunch - yes, even the yellow ones!

Yellow....

... is creeping its way into my wardrobe...

I've had this scarf for a while & I love it - can be matched with lots of colours and I thought this was the extent of yellow in my wardrobe... no block yellows - but I do have prints with yellow in.. (I found myself eyeing up a yellow cardigan in a shop a few weeks ago... turned around for a second opinion: hubby just raised his eyebrows- needless to say it went back on the rack lol)

Then I remembered these cute capri 'holiday' trousers which I bought last year but never wore because we didn't have a holiday! lol but they will be in the suitcase this year):

and I just ordered these trousers - which are 'mustard' but that fits under the 'yellow' umbrella...

... ordered online so I have no idea what they're like in real-life - will keep you posted lol  I'm thinking that with a black tshirt or a crisp white shirt they'll look cute... I'll let you know. :o)

so my conclusion is this: I'll wear yellow as long as:
a) its matched(toned down lol) with black (because, as we all know, black goes with EVERYTHING! lol)
b) its not near my face..
c) and is worn in summer...

not very scientific, and not hard'n'fast rules obviously, but for me this is the wardrobe approach to yellow   :o)

aaaah sigh - if only I could carry off this outfit (or had the occasion for it!)

or these swimsuits (gotta love 50s fashion!)

this outfit is right up my street! grey and yellow - CUTE!  I love a little cardigan!

(these images were found on pinterest.com)

Final yellow project is coming soon... (honest it is - April's colour is getting ready/impatient for its debut on the 1st!) (this year is whizzing along isn't it!)

xx

Festive Upcycling...

... of a piece of Ikea furniture that kept on giving...

We bought a chair, and the chair is very nice.. but I think I was just as happy with the BIG cardboard box it came in as with the chair itself.. & we put the cardboard to good use...

* ... I made festive little trees form the very small off-cuts - little squares increasing in size cut from the cardboard, edged in glitter and glued together with matte medium (is there anything that can't be stuck together with Matte Medium?!):

Here they are in a little scene I made with bits and pieces.  The 'Noel' blocks were originally a hanging ornament but I prefer them horizontal.. a bit more versatile

Here is a close up and you can see the 'trees' on either side of the group - I think I want to add a star or 'something' to each of them....

*...  I created the solution to the 'we don't have anywhere to put christmas cards now that we don't have a mantelpiece or window ledges in the lounge anymore' problem (windows were replaced by doors, so no more ledges - I miss those useful ledges!).  I made a tree!!
I cut the cardboard into 10cm deep lengths, laid them out and cut them progressively longer to create a tree shape, and added a pot.

I attached them all together using a length of hessian 'ribbon', I used this rather than a strip of cardboard so the tree is flexible - I need to allow movement so that I could get behind each panel to staple the cards onto the tree....

Ta daaaaa:

A really simple tree - all we needed - to staple/paperclip cards to! Easy, lightweight & hung onto the door with a length of hessian rope, I decorated it with die cut stars, snowflakes and circles to pretty it up before the cards were attached.. (and hanging it on the door also stops people using the door - which is good as there a christmas tree on the other side! lol)

*... and finally - we cut the box up and made the prototypes for a shelving unit we're planning for the reconfigured lounge (next to the chair that started it all off):

That's our contribution to recycling/upcycling for the holiday season..  I hope its made you look at cardboard boxes in a new light :o)

x

Its beginning to look like christmas...

... for lots of reasons including:
* I heard Wham!'s 'Last Christmas' on the radio so its now officially christmas time! (in JoFYland anyway!)...
* people are blinging up their houses with fairy lights... so pretty - its disappointing when they're taken down.
* Our road had the annual fund raising visit from The Rotary Club and their (very jolly) Father Christmas accompanied by some very festive sparkly snowmen -when I initially looked out of the window and all I could see was one person wrapped in fairy lights & mistook them for a tipsy person wandering home after a christmas party! lol - but then I opened the door where one had been joined by others... they were a lot of fun... (question:  if its a flock of sheep or a herd of cows -I wonder what you'd call a group of snowmen.. a flurry maybe.. a flurry of snowmen...??)

* the main evidence of Christmas are the shop windows... I love looking at the displays.. here are a few of my favourites

 Accessorize have lovely windows throughout the year but this years woodland theme is magical.

The photos above and below are Anthropologie at Bluewater - the houses are made from CARDBOARD!! clever, very clever!

This is Jo Malone - the mistletoe window decal frame the topiary ball perfectly - so clean and crisp.

Thought this twig tree was really interesting, in one of the christmas decoration shop windows.

And of course the interiors' were lovely too - I liked this tag display in The White Company (this shop always looks, and SMELLS, gorgeous - an oasis of calm!) - looks like an upside-down christmas tree and the images on the tags are the decorations... 

and then there was this, in John Lewis - it made me chuckle because I reeeeaaally don't like brussel sprouts and here are banners and bunting featuring sparkly paper versions!  The only acceptable type of sprouts in my book! lol

I find the displays really inspiring - the colour schemes, the product arrangement &signage... This is the window at Anthropologie... the fabulous colours, textures and interesting bits & bobs... such a lovely opulent and natural mix.

 .. and finally this in one of the christmas decoration shops at Lakeside - every tree needs a diamante covered stag head!  or is that just for trees in Essex?.... lol

Love it!


xx

ALBOTAT: Colouring in....

... don't mind if I do!

Colouring books for adults.. 101 ways to keep a person quiet and focused and a fun way to practice colouring within the lines... lol..

ALBOTAT: From little acorns....

... lovely dibbers are made.

I'd like to tell you a story...

Once upon a time, not so long ago- back in the mid 1970s - a little girl planted an acorn in the back garden of her parents house....

Fast forward forty (OUCH) years and the little girl (thats her in the photo above in the garden, on her first day of school) has grown up and so has the tree.  The garden and tree, in the rear right of the photo below, have blossomed and the tree is big and strong....   gone is the 'Good Life' vegetable patch, now replaced by lawns and flower beds...

The not-little-anymore-girl now has her own house & garden and asked her Dad to make her a dibber to help plant seeds....
So he used a branch that had needed to be trimmed from the tree, turned it on his lathe and created lovely dibbers...

And that is how the acorn that I planted when I was five, grew big, and became my plant dibbers!

How great is that!

Love that my Dad thought to make the dibbers out of a branch of the tree I planted - circle of life, personal history/attachment...

x

ALBOTAT: accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...

.. is exactly what this well cropped photo of our garden does!

The view of the alliums, gates and aquilegia in the background focuses on the good part of the garden - and makes me happy!  Pretty!
(fyi if you widen out the photo you'd see a big pile of wood and building materials/supplies - but we'll just ignore those! lol)

oops sorry - this post may appear twice in updates because it was deleted by accident and had to be reloaded! ggggrrrr
and HELEN, yes the grass needs cutting but we can't because of the previously mentioned pile of building supplies! lol  ah well - long live the weeds and the wilderness! lol

x

Countdown to Christmas: Day 13

The more observant of you may notice I've jumped from Countdown Day 7 to Day 15 and might wonder what happened on the days inbetween to delay the christmas countdown.....

Well 'christmas' things happened:...

*  a fabulous christmas lunch with fun friends... - here's the gift bag and tag I made to hold my Secret Santa gift

I think its been well documented on here that I am partial to a bit of corrugated cardboard and tags!.. and the combination makes for a great gift tag - along with die cut snowflakes - all very festive..

*   I went on a trip to London with friends to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (THE MOST wonderful museum) to see the Wedding Dress Exhibition....

If you get the chance I would definitely recommend you go and see it - the dresses are so beautiful! The detail on them, the changing styles of dress and their place in fashion history..

I don't think the press photos did justice to the detail on model Kate Moss's wedding dress (by John Galliano) - the embroidery on this delicate dress is stunning.

(image Victoria & Albert Museum)

The Exhibition is a great display of dresses .. mostly in traditional pale colours except for the stunning purple dress worn by Dita von Teese

(image Victoria & Albert Museum)

One dress was a particular show-stopper - Flower Bomb by Ian Stuart.... 

On a personal note I was really pleased (and surprised) to see the dress worn by Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones (now Chatto) (Princess Margaret's daughter) for her wedding because when I was looking for a wedding dress this was on my 'mood board' (yes I had a mood board for the our wedding lol).  Designed by Jasper Conran, the delicate georgette and corset combination was beautiful.  A treat to see in reality....

The Exhibition runs until 15 March 2015.

* Most of the week was spent on secret things...... watch this space... all very exciting...

Countdown to Christmas: Day 3

Tonight festive photo is of this year's christmas tree...  we always have an artificial tree - we have pets so this is preferable to a real tree (& yes I prefer an artificial tree because they're more symmetrical! lol)

This tree was a dream to assemble - 3 separate pieces with lights attached! ho ho ho  We haven't had one like this before - but we will from now on! lol no more fighting with the lights, untangling them (even though we are very neat at putting them away each year) and trying to make them evenly spread around the tree... oh yes a pre-lit tree! a revelation! lol

On the tree are all kinds of ornaments - it has a sparkly woodland theme - some old, some new... lots of dark wood, twig bundles and sparkle... soft gold baubles, white & clear baubles, pine cones, berries, stag heads (there had to be stag heads), acorns, crowns, stars, mushrooms - there's even a squirrel!

Its a lot of fun to decorate the tree - hard work but worth it!

ALBOTAT: wool and buttons and ribbons.. Oh my!!

I often drive through Thundersley - an area of Benfleet where I live - but don't often stop (not needed to) but I've been thinking about trying crochet again and remembered there might be a wool shop in area.  When I drove through last week there was a parking space and so I stopped - and I'm soooooo glad I did!

Bodkins is packed full of loveliness!!

On one wall there are buttons and ribbons (be still my button loving heart!!):

The shop is L shaped and this is only 2 of the 3 walls storing wool!!  It makes me wish my knitting and crochet skills are better than they are (but thats fixable because the shop runs classes!)

It really is a lovely shop - complete with vintage shop fittings (swoon), and the owner was really helpful and encouraging... 

I'd recommend a visit if you're in the area - you can find the shop in Hart Road, Thundersley, Benfleet... there are more photos and information on their website www.bodkins71.co.uk

x

ALBOTAT... inspiration works both ways....

... when I teach workshops, & I hope to inspire people and this weekend at The Stamp Attic it was my turn to be inspired- by some colour choices that were made by people in the class:

Here are Alison's chosen colours and one of cards she made with them:

 and here are Joanna's

(and now I'm wondering what Turquoise, Tikka and Chalk would be like??)

Not colours I would normally reach for but I really like them!

A nice break in Greece....

...  a chance to recharge, top up the freckles and...erm... well to be honest that's about all we did recently while on holiday...

I was inspired by Julie Kirk & her blog 'Notes on Paper' to summarise my holiday 'in numbers'... so here we go

20 = the number of swimsuits/bikinis ordered in the never ending quest to find the perfect beach/pool wear (4 = number finally purchased)

4 = number of books read

2 = number of planes caught (nb 1 = number of planes almost missed)

120 = number of minutes (approximately!) spent in Duty Free mainly trying on these:

10 = days spent enjoying this view:

7 = (approximately) number of cocktails sampled

5 = pages created in my holiday sketchbook... sometimes creating in the sun enjoying the view and topping up freckles - multitasking! (a sunlounger makes an ideal desk!)

2 = number of interesting/inspiring floor surfaces in the resort.. (I especially like the hexagon steps..)

9 = the number of years we celebrated being married (1 = the number of bouquets of flowers received)

1 = number of local towns visited, & beautiful painted chapels seen/admired.

1 = the number of smiling, if slightly crumpled, faces I saw in the tree....

and finally...

0 = number of days I was bored of looking at this view/sunrise

so there you have it - my holiday in numbers... was fun to do - thanks Julie Kirk for the inspiration.