My creative journey

I wax lyrical about Etsy and how fantastic they are for presents and cards for special occasions - over the years I have made over 200 purchases which should speak for itself - and I am going to do the same again as we are drawing ever closer to mothers day in the UK. I am going to share some present ideas for all budgets later in the post (links below pictures) but I couldn't not start with the cards. You will find a card for every type of mum on Etsy . Heartfelt and full of sentiment, to super cute to some bordering on offensive (depending on your mum's sense of humour) These are just a few of my favourites....... 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5  I think I will be purchasing the squirrel one for my mum and will be (subtly) point the YT one out to my husband as my daughter would love it !! Now onto the gift guides Mothers Day is always hard to put a gift guide together for as it is such a personal holiday. Becuase of this, most items featured are...

Since my last 'fashion' post/rant , rather than focusing on what is getting my goat in fashion,  I have tried to spend my time productively. I have tried to audit my wardrobe, find my style inspiration and find my 'uniform' (post on these steps to come later) and to be honest I haven't got very far. There are a few reasons for this; I don't know how to dress for my size and as a serial dieter with an ever changing shape this is even more complicated I DESPISE shopping for clothes. Clothes shopping on the high street as a plus size woman is difficult.  Add to that a severe lack of confidence, a body shape that is apparently a complete misnomer (small (ish) waist, big mum tum and thighs and a lack of height) and no patience and you are in for a horrific few hours. And don't start me on shoes - I have small but wide feet and very rarely find shoes that fit well so my collection is lacking so much that on the few occasions do manage to put a va...

So I started writing this post weeks ago as a real whinge about yet another set of fashion rules that I’m becoming conscious of.  Rules relating to age appropriateness.  My notes for the blog at the time mention Baddie Winkle  and buying the most amazing Disney handbags ever (I'll come on to that later) I can’t even remember now what specifically inspired the post, but the gist was going to be that I’m sick of seeing comments made suggesting an outfit isn’t right for someone's age with no real thought to the impact that comment will have on the individual in question. As a plus size female working in a male dominated professional environment and a parent, I have received my fair share of unsolicited comments about what I’m wearing and how it’s not flattering or not the right colour or not the right length and then when I change my look and revert back to what I’m comfortable in I  get told I’ve lost my personality and I should stop wearing black and I should...

When I first started this blog, I wrote a long post about what I want to achieve with my life in the near future, and on that list was to find and embrace my personal style. You can find that post here but sum it up, I LOVE fashion.  I love everything about it. I  follow literally thousands of fashion designers, bloggers, stylists and just downright beautiful people on social media, I read (and keep) god knows how many magazines and books and I know how I want to look but here I am, months on having made no progress, and embarrassingly sitting in scarily similar 'outfit' if you can call it that to what I was the first time I shared my goal. I now have a bit more free time so in the run-up to Christmas, I plan on really focussing on improving my style so I can start the new year with a bang.  To help me do this I have been reading article after article, and I am using this post as a way to consolidate the initial steps I think I need to take to make a real im...

I may be alone in this but each year I get excited about the release of the Pantone colour of the year. Last years colour 'greenery' was pretty but nowhere near as exciting as the colour for 2018. 'A dramatically provocative and thoughtful purple shade, PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future'  I have spoken before about wanting to add colour into my overtly colourless wardrobe and this jewel-toned purple is the perfect place to start but this is going to take some building up to so for now I shall be adding the colour into my makeup bag.  I have been reading/studying up on colour theory (which I will share shortly) so I am feeling ok with making this colour work for me. There are numerous items on my current beauty wishlist so I have picked a few of the purple items to share with you today. I own each of these products in different shades so know the formula for eac...