Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower

Autumn is my favourite season, it makes me feel like a fresh start, a time to try out new things. . . .and buy stationary. .. .. . hmm anyway I digress. I am a list maker, always have been, always will be. Whether its things I must do, or goals I set myself, if it goes down in writing it sorts my head out a bit :)
I always find that especially in autumn I get inspired to try new things, especially crafts wise. So here for your perusal are some of the things I have found inspiring recently and the new season goals.

1 - Casey

2&3 - Bright young twins

4&5 - Anthropologie

All screen shots found Here

• Get Sewing!!!! I made my very first dress this summer and I would love to carry on the momentum.I am a little addicted to 40s styleing at the moment, the hats, the skirts and the knits in particular. So I think I will be trying Caseys Circle Skirt sew along :) And then try to move up to making that mid length pencil skirt I have been dreaming about!!

• Speaking of Knits I have so many projects in mind but I would love to try a vintage pattern, maybe this one, or this is so cute, imagine in a mustard yellow or forest green :)

date-maker cardigan

• Start doing some embroidery, I really love the old folk styles and think that this is the winter when I bring some to my wardrobe:) 

What are your new season goals? Do you have things that are on your list to create to make the cold weather fly by?!

I Love Edinburgh because:

Beautiful Buildings

They really are majestic, and there is a real feel of space, lovely :) 

Grassmarket

A really cool area of town, its the old part that used to be full of dodgy people but is now the home to numerous art, book and vintage shops = JOY :)

The Writers Museum

Down a tiny alley is a small courtyard with paving stones quoting famous Scottish prose next to a gorgeous little old house with rooms dedicated to Walter Scott, Robert Burns and our personal favourite Robert Louis Stevenson. 

'' When I suffer in mind, stories are my refuge, I take them like opium, and consider one who writes them as a sort of doctor of the mind. And frankly it is not Shakespeare we take to , when we are in a hot corner, It is Charles Reade or old Dumas or the best of Walter Scott. . . .we want incident, action : to the devil with your philosophy '' - Robert Louis Stevenson

Friends

Some of the best, with these lovely people, cant help but have fun :) Nuff said! 

One last photo of me playing guard at the palace:) We had a really fun few days, ate too much, bought some nice things and got some culture! I feel like we have said good bye to the summer now, I saw some conkers today for the first time, sure sign autumn is upon us! I do love this season especially the fashion, bring on the tights and jackets!!!! 

Hope you are all having a fun day dears:)

Via BusyBeeLauren

Hello Dears, Sorry about the quietness the last week or so, I have been away with friends enjoying the last week of summer :) Good time was had by all (photos to follow) and now on a Monday morning I am trying to get my head around getting back to reality, always the bad thing about going away!

Oh well. . . . .. September always feels like a fresh start to me somehow so I am excited about that.I always seem to get very proactive in September, making goals and To Do lists :) In fact I will be sharing some with you lovely people soon and I have some good posts waiting to be set free into cyberspace! But today I thought I would share this amazing picture I found via Busy Bee Lauren. It really reminded me of my friends and I , we always say that we are old people in disguise :) 

Happy Monday everyone!!

Cupcake

Hello everyone :) Happy Sunday, I do love Sundays, its the one day of the week when I get a little time to just chill and catch up! I have this week been baking for my friends wedding, her colours are white and purple so I suggested we make Lavender Cupcakes. If you haven't yet tried these beauty's then I recommend you do, they are now my favourites!

Jess's Lavender Cupcakes

Cupcake:

120g self raising flour

140g caster sugar

40g unsalted butter

1 egg

120ml full fat milk

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Blend flour , sugar, and butter in a mixer until it resembles fine, powdery breadcrumbs. Gradually add half the milk until just combined. Whisk the egg into the remaining milk and add the vanilla essence. Add milk and egg mix to batter and blend until just combined. Pour into cupcake cases until 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes at 160°C. Oven temperatures based on electric fan oven

Lavender Frosting:

25ml whole milk

1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers

250 g icing sugar, sifted

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

a couple of drops of purple food colouring (optional)

The night before making the cupcakes, put the milk and lavender flowers in a egg cup, cover and put in the fridge. You can do this for a few hours, but overnight will give you the full flavour :)

Beat together the icing sugar, butter and food colouring. Strain the lavender infused milk and slowly pour into the butter mixture, the turn electric whisk, or mixer up to high speed. The more you beat the mixture the lighter and fluffier it will be.

When Cupcakes are cool spoon frosting on top, add decoration if wanted, then try not to faint in amazement at the delight about to be encountered when you scoff the lot!

Honestly whoever trys these please let me know what you think! Hope you all having a awesome Sunday :)

Black apple

I just cannot believe the weather today, my days!!! So much for summer! And yes before you ask, it is true that English people speak about the weather more than a human should!! 

It has made me want to stay in bed all day today and indulge in a bit of window shopping! The Black Apple is one of my favourite Etsy shops. There is something quite magical about her prints, and they make me think of autumn, which is my favourite season:) I already own a Delia and her dancing bears print and am searching for the next to add to my collection! Which is your favourite? 

I feel it in my bones. . . .

You know the song you just cant get out of your head, and you sing it over and over in your head until it almost becomes part of you . . . . . .

Hope you are all having a good week, not long until the weekend :)

Judies

Hello loves, I was by the seaside this weekend for my uncles wedding, it was beautiful as all weddings tend to be. Made me crave to live by the sea also. 

But possibly the coolest thing was my uncle. . . he was dressed as a teddy boy!! With a pin stripe drape jacket and chunky shoes:) So that led me to do a little research, especially on Teddy girls, or Judies as they were known. 

'The teddy girls left school at 14 or 15, worked in factories or offices, and spent their free time buying or making their trademark clothes – pencil skirts, rolled-up jeans, flat shoes, tailored jackets with velvet collars, coolie hats and long, elegant clutch bags. It was head-turning, fastidious dressing, taken from the fashion houses of the time, which had launched haute-couture clothing lines recalling the Edwardian era. Soon the fashion had leapt across the class barrier, and young working-class men and women in London picked up the trend. . . .The teddy girls didn’t care that their outfits shocked their families, as long as they were noticed among their peers. “We got dressed up because it was always the teddy boys who got the look-in. We weren’t being noticed by them,” says Rose Shine. She is now a 66-year-old grandmother and proud to have been one of the first teddy girls. “It was our fashion that we made up.They were pretty feisty, independent women at 16, and now they’re nearly 70 they are still very strong and very sure of their own identity. It’s easy for us now to choose different styles of dress and mix and match our clothes – but at that time, 50 years ago, you were really seen as a complete outsider” - Article

Ken Russell Took a series of photos of the girls in east London in 1955, how great do they look?! 

And in the A/W 11 trends you can see the Teddy Boy influence, even now 50 years on :

*

So I think I will be digging out my Pencil skirt and brogues this week!

PS. On a solemner note, keep safe all you fellow Londoners. X