I must have been very good this year...

Hello poppet! 

How was your Christmas?

Mine was full to bursting with board games, delicious food, laughter, vast amounts of pudding, and cuddles with my gorgeous niece; whom I'm very glad to say no longer cries every time I hold her. 

Looking especially adorable (even in mid-yawn) in her special Christmas dress and the knitted strawberry hat my Mum made her.

We spent Christmas day at Tom's brother's house, which was beautifully decorated inside and out from the piles of beautifully wrapped presents under the tree to the table dressed with these gorgeous, sculpted crackers. Instead of the usual plastic tat, each cracker contained a cheeky, wine-related badge. I'm still unsure whether the crackers were sneakily assigned to our seats, but mine seemed oddly appropriate... 

After several days of relaxation, and hundreds of my MIL's delicious veggie sausage rolls, I've got a serious case of the warm and fuzzies. My extended family went out of their way (as always) to make sure I had plenty of delicious food to eat, despite being the only vegetarian (my sister-in-law was up at midnight on Christmas Eve, cooking chestnuts to go in a vegetarian pie!), and spoiled me rotten with thoughtful, perfectly chosen presents. These included...

Teapigs tea in popcorn, jasmine, peppermint and super fruit, a dinosaur-shaped mould for chocolates/ice-cubes, a very festive snowman teatowel, and a huge box of Thorntons' chocolates.

The first addition to my impending collection of long-admired Penguin Clothbound Classics, the best notebook I've ever seen (from my recent trawlings of Etsy), and an Orca ring from Designosaur (Eep!!). 

The cow-print mug is a limited edition Emma Bridgewater design for Waitrose, and the gorgeous woodland pencils are from Sass and Belle (via Ebay). 

The candy cane was a joke, because it looked like a festive shiv. For some unknown reason I keep making shiv-related jokes at the moment. Probably because I've been watching too many prison-based TV shows.

If you're wondering what the roarsome fabric is at the bottom of these photos, it's my new, totally amazeballs, DINOSAUR PYJAMAS. They're advertised for 12-13 year old boys(!), which seems MENTAL, but actually appear to be a very small size 10. Which means that, if I'm ok with not breathing overnight, they sort-of fit; which I'm using as motivation to not eat the entire box of Thorntons' in one go. 

The jar at the back is a solar-powered fairy jar; which glows at night as if it's full of fire flies. I reckon it goes perfectly with the pink fairy wand I received from my sister-in-law which, combined with the moustache air freshener and rose-scented candle, made the car smell like a Lush shop all the way home (yum!). 

Tom and I received a box full of kitchen equipment from his aunt and uncle, and it was pretty obvious the sugar shaker and T-rex cookie cutter were meant for me. I have no doubt the cafe-style blackboard in the background will be appearing on my blog again, when I'm styling my future (dinosaur-shaped) bakes. 

Tom's Mum, who recently learnt how to quilt, made me the lovely miniature patchwork basket; which was filled with the moisturiser and some Lindt chocolates. Sadly, the chocolate did not survive the journey home in one piece (I bit the tiny reindeer's head off at some point on the M25) and therefore could not feature in these photos. 

I'm looking forward to filling the metal jug with flowers to jazz up our dining table, and putting the pompom trimmed food cover to use at summer BBQs.  

I realise Worcestershire sauce may seem a rather odd present, but I've been trying to find a vegetarian version for ages, and I'm therefore very excited about emptying half the bottle onto my next round of cheese on toast. Which is possibly slightly excessive; so it's a good thing Tom got me two more bottles! 

The hand-decorated Christmas tags were made by my sister-in-law as part of her brand new crafty company Love, Beanie. Aren't they pretty?

Tom's Mum also bought me this beautiful mirror to adorn the walls of our Moroccan-themed bedroom.

And finally, here's a present for you - a photo of a rather drunken me, complete with obligatory wonky paper crown, opening my presents in my Lame sweatshirt and cracker badge. Just look how drunkenly happy I am at the size of that box of chocolates....

Right. I'm off to run round the house with my magic wand and fairy jar, to burn off some of today's cheesy snacks and make sure I can fit into my pyjamas this evening! 

Katie xxx

Six Things Sunday

Evenin' all

Christmas is so close I can feel it*, so here's a list of seasonal stuff to get you feeling festive. A few of these items aren't directly Christmas-related, but I reckon the act of writing a list is festive in itself, seeing as Santa does it.

Surly Santa.
[image source]

1. Homemade cards
For those occasions which require a card, I prefer to make my own. Partly because I think it's more personal, and partly for the excuse to use glitter glue. When my friends Alice and Clem recently threw a combined Christmas, House-warming and Engagement party I felt their card needed to be extra special; so I created one with cut-out badges and safety pins sellotaped to the inside. I've been informed they intend to wear their badges throughout the Christmas season. Hurrah!

Image nicked from Alice

2. Terry's Chocolate Oranges
I'm pretty sure Terry's Chocolate Oranges are for sale all year round, but I dutifully ignore them until Christmas time rolls around each year; and then eat them by the bucketload. I only wish they were genuinely as good for you as oranges, because I would be 85% Vitamin C by now. 

Approximately the number of chocolate oranges I've eaten this week.
[image source]

3. Christmas crafts
Last weekend, my two oldest girlfriends came round for an afternoon of Christmas craft. My friend Lucy brought me a Christmas present which contained everything we needed to decorate 3 papier-mache reindeer; including decoupage paper and glitter glue. I have no idea how she managed to sneak through the alarm system Tom's installed which prevents anything reindeer-shaped or sparkly from entering our house, but I'm ruddy glad she did because our deer look beautiful:

Mine's the one on the right, inspired by Scary Spice. Obviously. 

We also got our bake on to make some delicious mince pies. For some unknown reason, Katy had NEVER BEFORE EATEN A MINCE PIE. Thankfully, she liked them. Otherwise we may have had to stop being friends with her. 

4. Secret Santa
My work's Christmas 'do included a Secret Santa, and I received the Girls' Night In craft/baking/vintage-look book - which is so "me" I actually squeaked. It includes recipes for Popcorn Martinis(!!) and Candyfloss Cupcakes, and a bunting necklace tutorial. I can't wait to stuck into the craft section. Or the martinis.

Awesome  book and pretty things
[image source]

5. Mommo Design
I love discovering new and inspirational blogs to trawl through, and after stumbling across Mommo Design this morning I've been scrolling and pinning all day. Given that it's a blog based around collecting images of colourful interior design and dinosaurs from around the internet, it seemed inevitable that I would be something of a fan...

[image source]

[image source]

[image source]

[image source]

Most of the photos are of children's bedrooms, so I just want to reassure those of you who may have seen me pinning tons of these on Pinterest that I have nothing in the oven besides homemade mince pies. And the bump under my t-shirt is also due to homemade mince pies; because I've decided to get fat and jolly like Santa this Christmas. 

6. Fantastic friends
In addition to the aforementioned Christmas craft day, this weekend we played hosts to a lovely, rowdy rabble of friends; which included several lively debates about the pros and cons of a multipack of Tesco biscuits. I also got to witness Fran's disgusted face when, as an anti-dunker, we peer-pressured her into dunking a Malted Milk; which was something Mastercard would definitely consider priceless.

It looked like this, except with Fran's face rather than a small boy with the World's Shiniest Fringe.
[image source]

What have you been enjoying lately?

Wishing you all a very merry festivemas!

Katie xxx

*In case you were wondering, Christmas feels like mulled-wine-related mid-afternoon drunkenness, a bellyache induced by too many Quality Street, and being hugged whilst snuggled in a cosy jumper. 

Oh, You Pretty Things

Hello lovelies

How are things?

I've been planning to write some posts about all the Christmas prep I've been doing; the work parties, the wrapping, the last-minute shopping, the many, MANY mince pies I've been eating for breakfast. But instead, I've decided to put together some collages of gorgeous things I've found on Etsy recently. Because a little bit of pretty never hurt anyone, right?  

1. Cloud cushion by BeanieonHelena

2. Circus Tent brooch by rareindeed

3. Feathers watercolour print by ElfShoppe

4. Wolf art print by a little lark

5. 3D Vision screenprint by Soldshop

6. It's nice to be Nice tape by HazelNicholls (It shows just how much I love this biscuit-based tape that I've let the missing apostrophe slide)

7. The Life Aquatic poster by WilliamHenryDesign

8. Vintage etched dome earrings by DobleEle

9. La Luna screen print by LittlePeachPrintCo

10. Ziggy Stardust earrings by ShillaDillaGrape

11. Into the Woods DIY embroidered notebook kit by CuriousDoodles

12. Geometric gem brooch by rareindeed

13. Narwhal brooch by zyzanna
14. Geometric diamond brooch by popcultureplastics
15. Oh I Bloody Love A Good List notebook by ohsquirrelshop
16. Illustrated fox brooch by ClortyCatCrafts

17. Party Animals Tiger Card by StacieSwift
18. Wolf howling speech bubble brooch by yayhooray

19. Brown Hare brooch by ClortyCatCrafts
20. Nutella earrings by BowsJewellery

Have you spotted anything pretty recently which you've got your eye on? Perhaps for the Boxing Day sales?

Katie xxx

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Hello twinkle! 

Have you had a nice weekend?

The season of goodwill, glitter and excess is definitely in full swing around here. Last Saturday, I got up early specifically to nip round to Argos and buy a Christmas tree. I opted for the Majestic Tree (due to the name, obviously) and these Decadence baubles*. 

This year's festive decorations appear far more grown up and put-together than previous efforts, because I decided to use a colour scheme. Fancy, eh? Want to guess what it is?

Nope. It's not every-colour-under-the-sun-in-a-massive-headache-inducing-mishmash. It's monochrome. Sophisticated and fancy, eh? 

Ok, ok, so our tree still has painted plastic animals on it (Christmas Hippos are totally a thing, right?) 

And I've substituted tinsel with a handful of tacky plastic necklaces I already owned...

The branches are topped with polar bear pegs, a present from this year's birthday....

And it also includes a dinosaur or two. Obviously. 

But apart from that, it's super sophisticated. 

I've even continued the theme with my presents, by wrapping them in a roll of wallpaper (Hawthorn, in charcoal) from Laura Ashley; which I nabbed in a recent sale for a mere £6. I've managed to wrap all of my gifts in just over half of the 10m roll, so I'm intending to make some of these over-sized beauties with the rest (which I've just noticed are from Laura Ashley's blog. Spooky). 

I've tried to flex my creative muscles to add a little personalised decoration to each parcel; from Paperchase alphabet badges, to foam letters, colourful ribbons, glittery stickers and playing card tags.

My snowflakes and candy canes didn't make the cut for the tree, because they weren't monochrome enough; but they're still on display on our living room crates, along with my light-up mega bauble from DotComGiftShop. All I need now are some baubles to fill my lamp. 

Do you have your tree up yet (if you're having one)? Have you ever had a theme for your Xmas decs? 

Katie xxx

*I promise this post isn't in collaboration with Argos; it's just local to me and they had a half price sale on!

Luscious Euphoria

Regular readers of my ramblings will be well aware this is not a "beauty blog". My morning routine consists of a shower, cleaning my teeth, and moisturing any parts of my face which look like they're about to fall off. 

That said, I recently promised myself that I would start making sure all the products I used were animal-cruelty free. Given that alternative testing options exist, I can't fathom why animals still suffer unnecessarily for the sake of human vanity. Serendipity obviously decided to intervene as, shortly after pinky-swearing with myself, Lyndsay kindly invited me to a bloggers' Lock-In at the Brighton branch of uber-conscientious Lush! 

It was certainly beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, as we were greeted by the lovely Lush ladies (Mags, Hels and Emily) proffering Bucks Fizz, old fashioned sodas, a mountain of mince pies, and beautiful cupcake push-pops by Cake-Cetera (with the best buttercream:cake ratio I've ever found in a cupcake).  

We watched, enthralled, as Hels demonstrated the witchcraft Godlike powers scientific genius of the Golden Wonder bath bomb. Which we learnt are due to an endothermic reaction; making my evening both deliciously-scented and educational. We watched, slack-jawed (OK, maybe that was just me) as the bath bomb entered the water and immediately began to release a trail of golden bubbles filled with tiny golden stars (made from totally fish-friendly biodegradable seaweed, don't you know!) whilst simultaneously turning the water a phosphorescent teal. It then started propelling itself around in circles, like a wind-up frog, using the power of its own awesomeness. I was beginning to think I'd accidentally stumbled into Hogwarts, when it got EVEN MORE AMAZING. As the outside dissolved, the Golden Wonder released hidden, miniature purple and green bath bombs into the water too. MIND. BLOWN. 

I am now really regretting getting rid of our bath because I reckon dissolving Golden Wonders at home would provide me with sufficient entertainment that I could've kept the bath and thrown out the TV.

Emily then showed us how to use the massage bars to give each other hand and arm massages. Sophie and I opted for Each Peach, which contains mango kernal butter, because we wanted to smell like the tropics. I can now confirm that, two days on, my forearms still feel softer than normal!

The Each Peach massage bar. Look how pretty!!

Hels talked us through the Greatest Hits and Volume 2 releases of Lush's Gorilla perfumes; the latter of which contains scents that sound like Death Metal albums (Hellstone, Furze, and Lord of Goathorn, to name a few) but are in fact landmarks in Dorset! Hels encouraged our group to all try on the same perfume so we could smell the staggering differences in how it reacted on our bodies due to the perfumes' molecular structure, which bonds with your own genetic make-up. For a second spritz I opted for The Voice of Reason (from Volume 2), because it's inspired by beatnik poets of the 1940s, with the scents of coffee, whisky and French Gitane cigarettes, and I wanted to feel sophisticated. Which I totally did, until I over-enthusiastically sniffed a bath bomb later on and got it all over my nose.

Mags helped us make our very own The Comforter bubble bars, and it was astounding to see just how few ingredients go into making the very same bars you can buy in store; the majority of which can be found in the average kitchen!

Being given free reign to explore the shop my eyes didn't know what to look at first. Everything was just so beautiful. Not to mention the incredible scents radiating from every product due, which combined into what I imagine unicorn sneezes smell like. 

These adorable robot bath bombs, formulated specially to help little ones relax before bedtime, went straight to the top of my Reasons To Have A Baby list ((baby-)bumping "A legitimate reason to eat for two!" to second place). 

I was very, VERY tempted to buy myself a magical Princess wand to carry home on the train and wave at people (which certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've carried on the train). Instead, I think I will ask Santa for one.

If the products themselves weren't enough of a feast for my eyeballs, the shelves were also covered in the most beautifully designed packaging I've ever seen. Lots of the other girls told me they'd saved the boxes of gift sets past and kept them out on display all year round; unsurprisingly, given just how gorgeous they all are. I fell in love with each and every package but my personal favourites were Spa Gift, Uplifted, and Hello Gorgeous. Drool.

Then I saw this hanging on the wall, and time stood still:

The AWESOMENESS above is the Euphoria perfume version of Lush's Knot-wrap Gift Wrap; an innovative, eco-friendly alternative to wrapping paper which can be reused again and again. (I also have it on good authority from Steph that the wraps make excellent headscarves). The wraps are made from two recycled plastic bottles a piece and measure an impressive 70 x 70cm, yet only cost a measly £4.25(!!). I was very tempted to buy six. Here's what's happened to mine (obviously).

I LOVE it.

Thank you so much Lyndsay and Lush, I had so much fun!

Fun range from Lush

Katie xxx