2 days till my birthday!

Howdy doodly all, how was your weekend? We had a lot of sunshine here in Wellington so I made the most of it! And also had a mani / pedi too which was very relaxing. Well I went to upload some of my Paris pics from my camera and it's out of batteries - so while I wait for it to charge, I will share some news with you. 

It's my birthday this week!! YAY! I am not one of those people who shy away from birthdays in the fear of getting older - I LOVE them! 

Here's what I did last year...

I woke up to the most amazing bird balloons ever (you all know my love of birds!) and presents arranged by the bf :)

Opened them all in bed

The bf bought me a Peter Alexander sleep mask - I'm one of those people who CAN'T sleep without one! So annoying!

This sneakster had also arranged a surprise afternoon of croquet and a bbq!

And a fancy bday cake :)

Then we all dashed off home to beautify ourselves for a night on the town!

 

I was encouraged to do shots....

And felt like this for a while afterwards!! Hahahahaha

So on Thursday I turn 29! Now you know my age, how old will you be this year? :)

Last 10 days in Instagram Part 2

Ooh, so you came back for part two? I'm impressed! Well here goes..... 

Valentine's Day was a quiet affair at my parents' house - the bf came back from London that evening so that we could have dinner together. Sweet :)

He bought me these cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery - the packaging was SO cute!

I bought him this chocolate lollipop :)

I lurrrve flamingos and so the bf endeavours to get me a flamingo card as often as he can! This is one of my favs for Valentine's this year.

I had a pink rose from him which I added to the bunch of flowers he'd bought me for our four year anniversary a week before.

I struggled to fit three months worth of shopping into three suitcases......

And let's not even get started on the amount of jewellery I had to pack!

I made this little cupcake bracelet for one of my besties and sent it to her for a belated bday gift

I experimented with my new Accessorize nail polishes (they're good, I recommend them!)

And I squeezed in a game of Lego with my niece on my last evening home!

 OKAY so I lied - there are a few more pics that I will add for part THREE tomorrow. Just a COUPLE I promise :)

New delights!

Hello everyone! Happy hump day :)

How's your week going? I've had a good week so far and have been making a concerted effort to eat healthily and exercise more after goodness knows how many months of holidaying, eating and drinking!

Today I spent a little while updating my Shh By Sadie Etsy shop - it's been a while since I added any of the new items I've been making. I've been experimenting further with illustrations on shrink plastic - and am really pleased with the results! My favourite is the anchor charm bracelet <3

Here is a sneak peek of the newbies:

Anchor Sweetheart Bracelet

Cupcake Cutie Charm Bracelet

Close up of one of the cupcakes - hand drawn by me :)

Sail Me Away Necklace

Cupcake Cutie Necklaces

My Pretty Polly Necklace

Fluttering Friend Necklace

 Which is your favourite? :)

DIY Fun

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed Cait's guest post yesterday! And thanks for all of your lovely comments on my guest post over at Sailing to Nowhere, it was SO lovely to read such fabulous comments.  

BIG HUGS to you all!!

Well I mentioned briefly yesterday that there was another first for me today.......My DIY Swarovski inspired bracelet tutorial is being featured on {trulie-scrumptious}! They have a weekly {tute-sweet tuesday}, and I was lucky enough to be chosen this week. If you like DIY tutorials like I do, you should definitely have a browse each week to check out what's new :) 

Whilst on a crafting theme, last week I received a package I'd been eagerly anticipating - my craft swap items from the wonderful Jaclyn all the way from Canada! (If you want to have a peek at what I made for her, she posted some pics here.)

Our swap was bird themed, (we are both a bit bird obsessed). Here are the lovely things she made me.... (Excuse the pants photos, they were taken on my iPhone in work)

Luckily Jaclyn had wrapped the contents well, cos look at the size of this hole!!

 

Some of the goodies!!

These magnets are so cute! I love the guy who looks like he's wearing a monocle!

This necklace is amazing. I must take a photo of me wearing it, because the bird dangles from the side rather than the middle. Quite an awesome piece of craftmanship :)

A lovely note card with explanations of each item.

This is also beautiful - a silk scarf with bird embellishments. I love the edging and the frills and everything about it!!See the little bird peeking in the corner? Another goodie from Jaclyn.

 She also sent me a resurfaced tin that now acts as a photo frame, but for some reason I can't find the photo of that :(

Thanks Jaclyn, I love it all :)

Today I am posting a hair accessory themed swap to a lovely swap buddy in the USA...I will be posting a DIY for some of the items I made because I am pretty darn sure you will love them as much as I do! <3 

Has anyone else joined any swaps lately?? 

What I wore: Update on THE BIRDS

Two days ago I wrote a post about my obsession with birds and bird accessories and bird EVERYTHING!

So here's a quick update with some pics I snapped of the bird accessories I wore on Monday and mentioned in my post.

Sequinned bird headband - amazing! I originally bought this headband in the sale in the UK in February with the intention of using the sequinned bird for a craft project. However, I fell in love with the headband!
Headband, Asda.

She's a biggun!
Ring, Primark.

Fly my pretties!
Earrings, Topshop.

These photos were taken as I was 'chaffeured' home from work - with my face squashed up against a surfboard!!! There's nothing like a bit of luxury after a hard day's graft!!

Look impressed to you?!

What I wore: Tunic Tuesday !

On a Monday morning, I usually like to wear a comfortable outfit (often something baggy after the weekend!) and just ease myself into the week. This week, I carried this chain of thought into Tuesday.

Tunic, Primark; Cardigan, Zara; Shoes, Matalan; Necklace, Diva; Sunglasses, RayBan.

I bought this tunic several years ago, and mainly only bought it because it was reduced to ONE POUND in Primark and I thought, why not!? Now I love it and often get a compliment or two when I wear it. It's also great with cowboy boots in colder weather.

Love my swallow ring, can't get enough of it!
Necklace, Diva; Ring, Primark.

I always find a long, heavy necklace works well with this tunic, so stop it fanning out at the front. But it means I jangle whenever I move!!

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Well I am going to persevere with my outfit posts....as I DO love fashion and LOVE looking at other people's outfits so I figured I should just go for it....

Some things I need to work on............

• Poses!! I guess this will come with time! So far, I still feel VERY cheesy!
• As they say - location, location, location. So far, I've just had the boyfriend pap me as I come home from work. Must remember sooner and make more effort!
• The pics themselves. The boyfriend doesn't really have much interest in taking photos of me and my outfits, and so I've just had him take a couple of quick snaps and that's that. I will have to persuade him to take more photos demonstrating my fabulous accessories!! Haha ;)

For the love of bird-themed accessories!

I write a weekly fashion column for an accessories website and have been focusing on accessories in the last few weeks (as requested by the site creator). I love writing these articles as it's an opportunity to scour online fashion stores and magazines like InStyle (my personal fav!) for latest trends and fabulous fashion news. And it's all in the name of research! So no guilt necessary!

This week, I was researching for an article on royal-themed jewellery that's inspired by the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. (I will share a link to this article when it is published). Whilst poking around on said fashion websites, I couldn't help but notice how bird-themed accessories are still in fashion. 

Ahhh how I LOVE BIRDS and all things BIRDLIKE! 

(In fact, as I sit here typing, I have a headband with a sequinned bird on it, a pair of bird earrings and a big gold swallow ring. Yes. Slightly obsessed!) OOPS.

I HAD to share some of my favourites with you. Which ones to add to my collection?!

Hot Pink Summer Fun Hand Carved Wood Parrot Necklace

Birds Of a Feather Necklace

NW3 by Hobbs Poets Charms Leather Cuff

Pieces Vega Parrot Necklace

Budgie Necklace at ASOS.com

Chloe Croft Cushions

Chloe Croft Cushions

(I couldn't help but to put these bird cushions in!)

Does anyone else have an obsession they just can't help!?