Follow Fivesday (not Friday)

Follow Fivesday, in the spirit of keeping things original! ;)

Bust My Buttons

1) The ever fashionable Morgaine from Bust my Buttons (above rocking one amazing midi skirt, ballet style), interpreting the latest trends in her own way, and blogging about just about everything really, from nails to baking, and an awesome homemade outfit!

Jumper Jungle

2) Oh boy does this girlie need more followers, she is one of my favourite new blog finds, as you can tell from my background I like knitted stuff, and she knits! Look at that cute head piece! she has such a lovely quirky sense of style, and the most beeyootiful shade of hair, go un to her and follow immediately!

Desert Americana

3) Finally for this week lovely Liz from Desert Americana, being generally cute and awesome and writing about the trials and troubles of her first year at collage, whilst somehow still managing to pull together an array of spectacular outfit posts, each stamped with her own individual style. You gotta love this girl, plus she's another in us band of redheads, what's not to love!

So that was the first and last of Septembers Follow Fivesday's, I promise I will try to keep this up every Fivesday! And please do check out these girlies blogs you will not regret it!

Also October is a comin, and with it comes the next mittens of the month, "Oh thank goodness" I hear you cry! ;)

"With flaming locks of auburn hair"

Thank goodness, I've finally banished the dreaded roots! as you're probably aware, I'm a bottle ginge and have been for some time. I don't get what's not to love about red hair, when I was little it was all I wanted, I used to wear a tatty red wig from a joke shop, because I wanted it so much.

It seemed to take me ages to find a proper ginger shade, because lets face it there's not that many red home colourants to choose from, and from what there is, they're mainly all 'reds', as in fire engine and cherry. I wanted  an autumn leaf auburn, a more natural ginger, a la Amy pond or Christina Hendricks.

After styling- Ahh, that's better ,volume!

Just washed- Flat hair arg!

Finally I found L'oreal Feria in mango intense copper, and I think you'd agree, it looks pretty vivid on the box!

Boots- £5.79
Hell of a lot cheaper than a trip to the hairdressers!

Obviously it hasn't come out 100% true to the pic on the box, but it seems to me the more I dye it the more true to the pic it becomes. My original colour was a plain medium brown, and I think it's taken quite well, if a little dark.

I'd definitely recommend this if you're planning to home dye your locks copper, it doesn't smell too strong, sting or drip, and it doesn't seem to take all that long to wash out after application either, plus it comes with a nice big bottle of intense conditioner which lasts me right thought to my next dye, which is usually around two months. Also I find this is quite good in that it doesn't fade too much, as long as your take care of your colour, it is a constant battle against the fade but I have some tried and tested tips:

1) Wash your hair in the coolest water you can bear, if you wash it with steaming water you can see the colour pouring out of it! so keep it as cool as pos.

2) use a proper colour keeper shampoo and conditioner, thought I have heard on the authority of a trichologist that they're no different to any other types of shampoo, I like to air on the side of caution, but with the latter in mind, avoid at all costs Vinegar, lemon juice, and salt, all thrice of which will strip your colour.

3) Try to wash your hair as little as possible! I know this may seem icky or impossible to some people, but it really will help a lot. I wash my hair twice a week (don't worry I shower every day!) and once styled its fine, I find three days is the limit though for me, before the roots start to go a bit ick, but hairspray and dry shampoo can cure that!

Anyhoo, I hope some of that's helpful with regards to colour fade and ginger manes. if you are planning on going red/ginge or have any more tips or questions please tell me below! I'm on a mission to convert people to red, there is just not enough appreciation for this lovely hair colour!

A a worm came up and began to eat, though the hard, dry cup to the acorn sweet.

Where we live now we have an absolutely massive old oak tree, it must be at least 100! As a result we have plentiful acorns that my mum and sister have been collecting of late.

Gem tells me these were incredibly hard to thread,
she broke three needles!

My sis Gem has made this lovely acorn necklace for me, it looks so cute on, We're going to vanish it so it lasts longer, and it's going to be another christmas present for me, I sure am looking forward to xmas this year!

Outfit post- Purple Primarni

I've been lusting after a maroon/purple/burgundy dress for quite a while now, so when this popped up in Primark for £10, I made a bit of a mad dash for the changing rooms!

I wasn't quite sure of it at first, so I was going to take a few pics home and mull it over, but then the retail therapy bug reared its high street clad head and I though, bugger it! I'll get it now.

So I tried it with a belt when I got home, and also pulled it up, empire line style.

This is in my sisters bedroom, perhaps
you can tell she likes cuddly toys.

So what's the verdict? how do you think it looks best, personally I'm most comfortable with it under-bust, but only because I really like food, in general, so I'm often the proud owner of a food baby. Tight waist bands do not help with this. Still I'm pretty pleased I did decide to get it, It seems versatile, but I'm yet to wear it out so we will see!

Also I'm really looking forward to getting the lovely necklace and earrings I won from the beautiful Launa at Launa in ponderland for her 50 followers givaway, I'm so excited, I never win anything! I can't wait to do one myself!

I'm really hoping to do a 'follow Friday' style post soon too, as there are so many amazing blogs that need more readers, plus more established blogs that shouldn't be missed either! anyhoo, til' then!

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird

 Okay so it's a day late but here are some of the lovely pics we took on Thursday, I had such a great day, and it's all literally only a few miles from where I live, I never take for granted how luck I am to have grown up in this beautiful part of country.
Anyhoo here are some pics of  St Margaret's church and the maritime history at the customs house, both in King's Lynn.

I do believe I'm right in saying this is the oldest and largest church in our area,
It's so beautiful, I'm sure it would be lovely (and expensive!)
to get marred here, it's so grand.

This prayer candle orb was in a newly refurbished annex off of the main part of the church,
you can light a candle or leave a prayer to be remembered in services for you,
it's very peaceful, in fact the whole place feels like a haven.

I'm not a particularly religious person, but my sister is, so I'm open minded, even still I enjoy going to the church, it just has a nice atmosphere inside, and I find it so beautiful and awe inspiring, the smell of musty old bibles and well worn pews is so evocative of childhood memory's; christenings, weddings, easter services and christingle, they come back so clearly when I enter this church.

I can't even imagine how long this must have taken to make!

Nanna and mumsie- unsurprisingly wearing my maxi dress!

Gemma my sis, almost mid blink, having dived into the kiddies dressing up box!

to the right is a scale model of the outside of the customs houses,
it even has stairs inside!

The customs houses are so good for iterative information about King's Lynn's maritime history, and there's loads of little scale models which I love! Anything tiny and intricate catches my eye, and they're so interesting to look at with all the mini deatils, I heart museums!

If anyones planning on a visit I'd be more than happy to recommend places both in King's Lynn and the whole  of North Norfolk, it really must be a lovely place to come on holiday, I totally understand why so many people do!

Also, I did promise a pic of my new onesie, but I still haven't managed to get one of my self in it, so here are some teaser pics of Gem in hers, (yes, we both have matching onesies, we look like toddlers!)

They are sooo unbelievably comfy, it's insane how comfy they are! and only £10 from Primark, you can get loads of different prints and even animal ones, but hurry if you do want one, they're selling really fast!

Amaturish photographyer - outfit post

Today I had a day out with my mum and nanna, it was brilliant; very long lunch, tasty food, lots of shopping, I mean, really, what more can you want out of life!

When we got back home I had an impromptu photo sesh (all pics kindly taken by my little sis Gem x) then I started prancing about, and this is the result...

By this point I was kind of dizzy!

ORB! what is it!

So I was trying to do an 'amongst nature' shot only
it didn't quite work lol!
 I ended up with this odd expression on my face, trying to yank my hair out the tree!

Scarf- county show
dress- topshop@ebay
fleece lined tights- primark £3.50
pumps- primark
bag- warehouse

bird ring-£1- TJ Hughes
other rings thrift & family
nail polish- no7 betty blues with NYX las vegas on top

Lovely vintage bambi brooch from my nanna I wore to keep my scarf in place.

Sorry for the self indulgent photo binge! At first I was going to cull some and be more selective, then I though, what the hell, shove em' all on!

Will post some more tomorrow about what I got up to and some of the goodies I got (fair isle onesie anyone!) Till tomorrow x

Outfit post

Dress- ebay
Cardigan- Primark
Leggings-Primark

So, I've finally managed to do an outfit post that I promised here for this dress, which I got off ebay for a meer £1.99! It's quite a bit longer than I expected, which I'm not sure if I like or not, but still it's a great colour for christmas/winter time, also it's a bit tight around the boobs, but can you tell? does it look too tight? I can't really tell myself, so if it does do say!

On another note what are your opinions on the blog layout? this has been quite a while in the pipeline, and I've always known I wanted to have some kind of knitted/wool theme, so I'm quite happy with the background, but what do you think to the rest of it? is it easy to navigate, and clear enough, is there anything else you'd like to see from the blog or in my posts? at the moment I feel like it looks a bit amateurish, so I'd be super grateful for your feedback!

Rose Drizzle Cake

This afternoon I decided I was really in need of cake, So I made rose drizzle, not something I've tried before, so I thought I'd give it ago, I mean how bad can it be!

Mmmm glazzzed...

I think it turned out pretty good really, I used this

My mum brought it a good while ago from Lakeland, she was going to make Turkish delight but that never happened so she eventually relented and let me use it for my wicked baking purposes!

Its not particularly strong, the actually cake doesn't have that much rose flavour (and I put 3 desert spoons in!) but the glaze does taste lovely and strong and that's when all the rosiness is. It's all in the icing!

Rose cake:

margarine 4oz

sugar 4oz

SR flour 4oz

2 medium eggs

milk to mix

3-4 dst sp rose syrup 

*heat oven to 190c or gas mark equivalent.

*cream the margarine and sugar.

*add eggs, flour and rose syrup.

*mix in adequate milk to make smooth. (milk is the key to a moist cake!)

Makes:

Medium loaf (as above)-cooking time- 30mins

12 muffins-cooking time- 15-18mins

two small circular half's- cooking time- 20mins

(times in a fan oven)

Rose drizzle icing:

I can't actually give any precise measurements because I always measure by eye! but all it is, is icing sugar and rose syrup, mix till a smooth paste and then add suitable cold water to get it to the desired thickness (quite a lot to get it as above) much easier than the tradition drizzle icing method, which involves heating and melting the icing sugar, this way is far quicker and sets to the same finish and taste, result!

Very easy really and quick too, sure beats the sugar cravings as well!

Tea

Inspired by Hollie over at Music, books and tea I have decided to share with you my tea stash:

Clockwise from top left: Camomile flowers, Rooibos creme caramel, Lemon & ginger, Chai,
Spiced winter red, Rose tea, Earl grey and Spiced chai.

As you can tell I'm a teapigs fan though and though, with the occasional sprinkling of whittards (mostly because they're a cheaper option!) My top tea's at the moment are Earl Grey (Captain Picard style, for any star trek fans!) and chai, oh how I love the cinnamony goodness in latte form!

I like to think of my self as a bit of a tea connoisseur, I try every one I can get my hands on from silver tips & Darjeeling to lapsang souchong. The best odd one I've had has got to be teapigs popcorn, It sounds weird but the taste is so addictive, it does taste like popcorn! almost like rice cakes too, but very moorish indeed.

If I was going to recommend one for the tea tasting rookie I'd say start at plain rooibos and work your way up, personally I like to taste the base flavour of a tea before I try it with embellishments such as creme caramel or chocolate flake black, that way you know what it should taste like and can fairly judge variations, but to be honest, if you love tea, it doesn't really matter!

What's your favourite tea, or are you more of a coffee person? or do you hate hot drinks all together? do tell!

Outfit post

Cardigan- Primark £12
Shirt- new look @ charidee shop
Leggings- primark £3
pumps- primark £3

I absolutely heart this cardigan with a passion, it goes with EVERYTHING, after much searching (as I posted here) I have finally found the one, and at a price I'm more than happy with!

Also, I'm seeking opinions on this shirt-

I tried it on during my last Primark binge, loved it then realised it's £12. Perhaps I'm just stingy, But I didn't want to part with that much cash, but I do love it. I thought  it would look great with skinny's and a cardigan, or tucked into a black body con skirt, so what do you think, leave it or go back for it? but it is £12!!! of my (very nearly) non-existent pennies! What to do!