6 things - Instagram

It's Valentine's Day and for me it's a nightmare day as I have been single for about 8 years!  There seems to be no escape, even with not being in work today (I've had a week's holiday).  Everywhere I look, TV, Internet, even talking to family the big day has been mentioned.  So, apologies to all you loved up folks out there, but this post is just an everyday non romantic post.  Here's hoping next year I'll be joining you all in celebrating *crosses fingers*.

For those who don't follow me on Instagram (I'm hellorach - not sure how to link!), I thought I'd share some of my latest uploads.  I am a late comer to Instagram, but love it so much because you can just take a quick phone snap ( I have an iphone), whack a filter on it (I just use the Instagram filters) and upload it!  I don't know about you, but I take a lot more care about my Flickr uploads, thinking much more about the quality of the photo and the followers I have on Flickr.  On Instagram I feel I can share all aspects of my life and it feels less rude to just 'like' a photo and not comment if you have nothing to say, than on Flickr!

So, here are 6 of my most recent uploads with notes underneath...I kind of like this as it's kind of what I've been up to this week on leave...which isn't a lot as we are experiencing the worst rain and winds for years in the UK!

1. My no.1 man and hairy Valentine Mr Dextycat!  Took a snap as he was looking a little grumpy and neglected as he likes to sit on my lap ALL the time, but sometimes I do have to drag myself out of the chair and do some housework and eat (to be honest I haven't done much more than that this week!).

2. I had to put my car in to be repaired this week because it has been making the most scary and embarrassing screeching noises for weeks.  I have been ignoring it hoping it would go away (yes, story of my life!), but it has been getting worse and with the huge puddles (or in some cases lakes) I've been having to drive through just to get out of my village, I thought I must finally get it sorted and now it is I feel so relieved! Anyway, this is a photo of Holli (my daughter) and no.3 is a photo of my mum (Val) who I spent the day with while my car was being fixed as I would have been stranded at the garage for hours without my lovely mum coming to take me out for the day in her car! We were having lunch in M&S (Marks and Spencer) in these photos.

3. As above really! Just to add the choc chip cookie Holli had was totally delish!

4. I have totally gone nail crazy lately.  I think it's partly because everyone seems to be nail crazy, partly because nail varnish is pretty cheap and it's a great way to liven up my otherwise mostly grey work wardrobe and finally because it's been fun nail varnish shopping with Holli!  She often comes to stay on a Saturday and we go shopping for new colours in the day and then do our nails in the evening.  Last week I tried out some Ombre nails (gradient) nails on Holli...it's harder than it looks and I need a bit more practice :D
This colour is 'milkshake' by Topshop and it's a really lovely baby pink colour and at £5 isn't bad for the perfect pink and I'll be wearing this a lot!

5.  I just LOVE this lip balm!  I follow a lot of beauty blogs online and seen all the hype around these Maybelline Baby Lips balms, but wasn't at all bothered about trying them as I don't get dry lips and mostly wear the same colour lipstick everyday (it's by Benefit and has been discontinued and I feel panicky every time I think about it!), but it was half price in my local Sainsbury's store and the bright pink and orange packaging of this one really caught my eye, so found myself adding it to my grocery shop.  It really is such a fantastic colour and much more pigmented than I was expecting!  It is a lovely rosy pink colour and I find I am using it over my lipstick when it starts to wear off as I don't need a mirror.  Bonus is it smells and tastes of cherries!  I will be buying some more of the same colour as like all good things for some unknown reason they seem to like to discontinue them.  Thinking about it I could do a whole blog post on products I love that have been discontinued! The link takes you to Boots where they are 3 for 2 at the moment.

6. Last, but not least these panda sweets by Haribo were a great find at the pound store!  I've only been in this shop a few times in my life.  I am very dubious about the pricing, as although there are some great bargains to be had - we saw Calvin Klein cosmetics and Sally Hanson nail polishes to name just a couple of brands for a £1!!!! I went there specifically to look for a light bulb and found it!  So to get exactly what I was looking for and then these cute and tasty sweets as well made me very happy!  They are vanilla and blueberry flavour...or perhaps I should say were, as they are long gone!

Well there you have it, kind of my week on Instagram.  Hope you enjoyed it and have had a good week :) xx

9 things - kitchen

I've posted this up on Flickr, but it's so long since I've done a blog post that I thought I'd stick it up here too!

Not been posting up much lately on Flickr and no dolly inspiration, so as I'm sitting on the laptop in my kitchen, this idea came to me!

1.  I have a whole shelf of cookery books, I have to admit I haven't tried out half the recipes in them, but I get inspiration from them and some of them have a lot of stuff to read in them as well as the recipes!

2. My dad died a few years ago from leukaemia - this little corner of my kitchen has his photo and 2 little Matthew Rice boxes I bought for him, one of which now contains some of his ashes - the rest have been scattered.

3. My kitchen table - I would hate to have a kitchen without room for a table.  It's often the warmest room in the house when the oven is on and where I sit to use my laptop and have meals with family when they are over.  The Cath Kidston mushroom stuff was presents for Christmas and I love white pepper on my lunches -  so unfashionable, but I don' t care! - so I need a pepper pot for it and these couldn't be cuter!

4. I have run out of cupboard space now, so keep my plates and bowls on shelves in the kitchen, I have a real thing for crockery and these stacks are all Emma Bridgewater and Cath Kidston.

5. I have some Eames style coat hooks in the kitchen for my bag collection (the bright multi coloured balls one, but at a bargain price of just £5)...I'm not really a bag person, so it's pretty modest, I just can't be bothered to swap the contents over!  The real ones are available here.

6. More plates and bowls, the cat ones are by Disaster Designs and there's also a matching egg cup...designed for kids, but we care not a jot about that eh ;)

7. Just a random shot of the dishwasher :D  I have a mini dishwasher that is suitable for just 1 or 2 people...I wouldn't have bothered buying one as I live on my own, but it was my mum's and so I inherited it when she got a new bigger one.  I don't use it everyday, but it's really handy when I've an extra lot of dishes :)

8. I LOVE my terribly unfashionable mug tree :D  I've shown it before with the mugs on, but they are all in the wash today!  I got it from John Lewis and each mug HAS to go on the right hook!  Yes, I'm a little bit OCD ;)

9. Last but not least, I also have a real thing for tea towels!  I have a whole stack of Cath Kidston tea towels, there's just something about a nicely ironing pile of them, they get lovely and soft as they get older and it's a cheap way of bringing some pretty prints into the kitchen :)

Well, I hope you enjoyed this, it was kind of fun and I think I'll do one for the living room next.  Hope you've had a good weekend :) xx

Made by Miriana

I'm so happy to introduce you to my little family of tiny handmade creatures by Miriana! This blog post topic was suggested by Abby and Cosima, thank you! :) xx

The parade

My little family created by Miriana



As you can see I'm so lucky to have a big and varied collection - 2 kitties (and their tiny kitties), a ballerina bunny, a heat doll and a rainy doll.

I can't remember now how long it is that I have known about Miriana and her talent for making little handmade dolls, kitties, bunnies and other creatures, but I am so thankful I discovered her.  Not only are her creations so cute and full of personality, but the way she photographs them is wonderful and make me smile, I am always waiting for her next photo on Flickr and blog post! 

I was thinking of doing an little interview with Miriana for this post, but sadly someone just beat me to it and I think their's is so good there is no point repeating it...you can read it here Q&A with Miriana

You can follow Miriana at Facebook, Flickr and some other places too, all of which are linked on the Dollitude Blog you can buy her little creatures and brooches here

 

2 of my favourite of Miriana's photos on Flickr are this one  - isn't that a photo you wish you'd been lucky enough to capture! and this one -  I just love stripes and one of my little dollies is in the photo too! 

 

My biggest regret is not being able to bring home the most delightful little pink elephant that was available in Miriana's Etsy Shop it was love at first sight, but I had to wait until I had been paid before I could bring it home...it was there for a while and then right before I got paid it got snapped up :(  I guess it just wasn't meant to be eh!

 

Here is some more about my collection...

 

The hand painted boxes are as wonderful as the little doll inside!

 

Sometimes they arrive with little teeny tiny friends of their own!

 



They like to find little places to hide..

 

 and peep out of!

 

Sometimes they go back and hide in their boxes for a while

  

 but sometimes they like to hop in your pocket for a trip out!

 

 They like to hang out together..

  

 but also enjoy time on their own, finding a warm coffee cup to lean on

 

I hope you enjoyed meeting my little Miriana family and please go and check out Miriana's Flickr and Blog!

 



Ballerina Bunny

  

Wishlist - Orla Kiely

So... blog about things you are passionate about eh, well that's easy when one of my favourite designers Orla Kiely brings out lots of pink and green for summer 2013!  What's not so easy is the fact I am so penniless at the moment, it's pure torture :D

This is the first of my 'wishlist' posts as suggested by Siouxsie.  Thanks again Siouxsie!

I am just loving the new pink and green melamine picnic range for summer 2013 by Orla Kiely. Pink and green is one of my favourite colour combinations and it combines some great patterns that really compliment each other so well - 'Giant Pear', 'large Wallflower' and 'Linear Stem'.  My favourite here is the stacking storage bowls, but at £44.95 they are a bit of a luxury item for a picnic...for me at least!

I'm wishing for some more of my favourite fragrances too.  I love 'Rosie' it's a limited edition which is a real shame as I have no idea how long it will be around.  I just have an empty bottle at the moment, so have a sniff every now and then!  I love the peppery notes, it makes it really unique. 

My favourite scent for the home is 'basil and mint'.  I always have a diffuser on the go in my bedroom.  It's such a subtle, fresh and unique fragrance.  I'm wishing for a candle in the same fragrance!

 

I'd love to add these cushions to my sofa in shades of mustard and grey

 

 

and finally I love the new 'Buttercup' version Pure Evoke Mio DAB radio!  I have a Pure One Mini in my bedroom in white, so couldn't really justify the price tag of £150 for this one, no matter how pretty it is....where IS that much needed Lotto win :D

 

My favourite places to window shop online for Orla Kiely:
Official Orla Kiely Store
Orla Kiely at John Lewis
Orla Kiely at Heals
Wallpaper at Harlequin

and of course for those bargains it's always worth keeping an eye out on Ebay!

I am also super lucky to have a really wonderful local shop Illustrated Living in Truro (Cornwall) that stocks a really big range of Orla Kiely and some other really great British and Scandinavian designers too.  As you can see they also have an online store, but I will always choose the real life experience of shopping over internet shopping, not least because I like to see colours in real life.  I am hoping to do a post all about the shop in the future.  It's so good to have somewhere in Cornwall that actually stocks Orla Kiely at last - no shipping costs!

Are you a fan of Orla Kiely?  What's your favourite on my wishlist?  What's on your wishlist?  Any feedback on my post would also be gratefully received, too long/short, interesting?  Would you have liked any other information to be included?

I hope you are having a great week...I'm lucky enough to be on leave this week, but if you're not, don't work too hard ;)