Tulips

My boyfriend bought me these lovely tulips earlier in the week. They are a bit past their best now, but still really pretty.

Leopard Print Kanzashi

I have been experimenting with making tsumami kanzashi recently. Kanzashi are traditional Japanese hair ornaments, which are mostly worn by geisha, but are also worn with kimono for formal occasions or as a fashion accessory. Tsumami kanzashi seem to be the most popular, and are made from folded squares of fabric. They seem to be enjoying a renaissance with the spread of Japanese inspired fashions, and you can find lots of tutorials online. I used the one at Vivcore, and I encourage looking at the rest of her site, she has some incredible designs.

As I haven't been making these for long, I still have a lot of improvements to make to my technique, but I was pretty pleased with these. They are leopard print and black satin plum blossoms, which I gave to my friend Anna for Christmas. I can't wait to make more, I plan to have a whole rainbow of them!

Field of Light

A couple of weekends ago I went to look at the Field of Light installation at the Holburne Museum in Bath. The installation was by Bruce Munro and was apparently inspired by the blooming of desert flowers after rain. I didn't really care what it was inspired by, I just thought it was absolutely stunning!

New Year

Happy New Year! 

This is my Japanese inspired New Year decoration, consisting of some faux plum blossoms in various colours, a sparkly pom pom twig from Primark, a homemade pom pom bamboo twig, some origami cranes and some vintage Japanese doll's fans. The unfortunately shiny picture in the background is of a lady in a kimono with a drum, it was from an out of date calendar but the pictures were so pretty I kept them. 

I have so many hopes and dreams for 2012, I hope that for me and everyone else it is even more sparkly, colourful and filled with lovely things than this picture!

Belated Merry Christmas! & Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! This is my tiny Christmas tree which I somehow managed to keep living from last year. I hope it sticks around for next Christmas too! 

I'm really looking forward to 2012 and making some much needed changes in my life. I have already made a lot of changes this year-I got together with my boyfriend, moved house (into my own place rather than living with relatives) and cities, and changed jobs, which has all been very positive. I plan to build on this in the year ahead and I am feeling optimistic.

I hope everyone has a lovely New Year's and that 2012 brings lots of good things! Thank you for reading my ramblings, I really do appreciate it.

Falling Leaves

A Different Pair Of Shoes Every Day...The Last Roundup

I have been a very bad blogger recently! In my defence I have been quite busy and very tired-cold weather makes me even sleepier than usual. I also failed to wear a different pair of shoes every day. Heels just aren't practical for work, and with the winter drawing in the siren's call of the faux ugg boot lured me in on too many occasions! I did wear a wider variety of shoes than usual though, and thought I'd share the ones I did manage to wear.

Boots-Ebay. These are my favourite boots, I love them!