Before I begin, let me just say I really didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. I’d never played Angry Birds but my girls do, and like everyone else I spoken to who has; they are obsessed! Suddenly, this game that has not yet stolen away a portion of my life, is everywhere I look.  Hats, back packs, toys, t-shirts and now nail art. I’m not about to start carrying my possessions about in a large fluffy bird back pack, but these I think, may be too good to resist.

This tutorial from Cute Nails may or may not be your thing, but it is certain to make you smile.

Check out her channel for some of the most fantastic DIY nail art.

I just right this minute discovered Hot Digital Dog and I’m squealing with so much excitement (as is Miss 6 beside me), that I had to show you these right now!

In one of those wonderful random moments of internet searches I came across the work of digital artist Cindy Jerrell. Hailing from the deep south of the USA, Cindy’s work is nothing short of fantastic in the truest sense of the word.  Using Photoshop to create her fine art, Cindy makes these wonderful ‘vintage’ animal portraits, not only from her own resources but as custom orders of your pets!  This may be the best gift I’ve ever come across for animals lovers, and even if you don’t have a pet of your own you want to immortalise, I’m already imagining filling a wall in my library with these beautiful prints.

Seriously, check out her work over at Hot Digital Dog and see if you can wipe the grin off your face!

If there is one thing I love more than finding really cool stuff, that is making it.  There is such a greater sense of achievement knowing that you have made or customised something that no-one else will have. Something that reflects just the perfect vibe you felt at the time and that makes you smile each time you use it.

I haven’t bought a new purse in the longest time. Notice I use the term new, as buying vintage bags and purses is almost an addiction. My current set up is a full silver glo-mesh set, complete with change purse and key wallet. And while these are beautiful and going very well with every vintage outfit in my wardrobe, I do, (like every girl) want to keep my options open.

While I was shopping in Singapore I found so many cute purse sets, but I just couldn’t bring myself to buy one knowing that I had at least two at home that had been relegated to the back of the draw; shabby with over use. So when I came home and my girls wanted to have a crafting day with mama, I knew it was the perfect chance to break out the glue gun and get deco’ing!

Here is my okay, but somewhat tired purse before the deco madness.

Several years old, this Olga Burg purse is nice but just didn’t really have enough personality. So I set to work pulling out my “Great Big Box of Crafty Stuff”, and waited to see where the inspiration took me.

Always make sure you position your bits and pieces until you get the layout and balance just right. That way you know what needs to be added or taken away before you go crazy with the glue gun.

After a surprisingly short time and not one burt finger ( that had to be avoided at least once!), I’d managed to put together something quite cute and a totally re-invisaged version of my purse.

I thought about making this into a tutorial, but it is so painfully simple that it just seemed redundant.  But in case you want one, here it is:

* Take one purse
* Glue cool stuff that you like on it
* Fill with money
* Shop

* Take compliments on your seriously awesome, fully customised new accessory.

It may not be to everyone’s taste, but I hope it inspires you to make something special just for yourself. You may have already been hotly crafting up cool new things for this season. If you have make sure to leave me a comment with a link to where we can all see them too! If you haven’t been indulging your creative self lately, what would you like to make?

You could call my style eclectic, possibly a little eccentric, but I like to think of myself as a fashion tourist.

There are far too many rules in life and there are far too many rules in fashion. And yes, while some of those life rules might be there for our own good, there are plenty of fashion rules that will do us all the more better if only we have the courage to break them.

I’m not saying that you should go out and unleash yourself in leggings as pants, but just change the way you see your look and mix it up once in a while. For me by far the best recent experiment has been the addition of a great pair of cowboy boots to my wardrobe. Of course when these were on trend you couldn’t have gotten me near a pair for love nor money. But given the right moment, (cowgirl photo shoot) I had the opportunity to wear a pair and feel a vibe I hadn’t felt before.

Even though I did go out and get myself a few ruffled gingham  and plaid shirts to complete the look, that doesn’t mean that it should stop there.  Over the next month I kept the boots beside my mirror and every time I pulled something else out of the closet would think about how I might be able to work it back with those boots. Clearly it wasn’t going to work with a cocktail frock, but a cotton 50’s day dress and those plum boots soon became good friends.

I don’t go in for short shorts, but something with a similar length was next on my ‘things to find that will make love to my cowboy boots’ list. Then I found a little tea stained layered tulle skirt.  Add loads of chiffon in floaty floral prints, and the boots anchor the sweet girlyness of it to stop me coming off like a fourteen year old.

My boots have become good friends. They come to tea parties, markets, dances, they even made part of my Melbourne Cup outfit this year! (The one day on the calendar here that everyone wears frock and hats, it only stands to reason that that is the day I shouldn’t!)

I like the way they make me stand, the way they make you want to put your hands in your pockets and flick your thumbs out. The way they make me smile ever so slyly, and the way they look on the dance floor appearing underneath my big skirts and ruffled chiffon petticoats.

This is how I wore them this week.

Outfit Details:

Pink crochet top – GAP

Floral dress with tulle trim -Chicabooti

Plum cowboy boots – Vintage

Faux scrimshaw bangle – Diva

Pink hairbow- Hopeless Accessories

Purple Scotty dog clip – Art Box

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This is one fashion tour I’m so glad I took. I think I may just move in here.

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Food is always so much better with a face on it. If that face is Hello Kitty’s all the better! It’s no great secret that I’m not the world’d greatest chef, I ADORE food in all its glory, but I am in truth, a very lazy cook. Mainly because I prefer to be doing other things, or even when I do cook I get distracted and things burn. But then that is my own stupid fault for having twitter open on the laptop while trying to make white sauce.

Food with a face on it is also a brilliant way to get kids to eat healthy, that’s why they have been making faces out of peas and mash for generations. Luckily for me, this reasoning comes in handy when justifying why I’ve been buying myself Christmas presents from Japan this year. Wanna see?

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Why Hello Kitty – what fabulous task might you perform?

Ahh – turning plain old rice into a party for your mouth! The girls are going to love you.. but wait, what’s that? A Kitty-fier that does even require cooking?

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You cut the crusts off the sandwich AND turn my lunch into a happy face?! I think even if I filled you with anchovy paste the kids would still eat this. Me, I think I’ll fill you with Nutella and hundreds and thousands.

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But wait… Christmas morning we had a very special breakfast; a Christmas miracle if you will.

Is that the face of….?

It is! It is Hello Kitty pancakes!

Given you can only make one at a time, but they do take the time to remind you that this is “for Mama to cook”, so clearly it was meant for me. I can’t tell you just how fantastic breakfast was that morning. If you want to impress a loved one, bring them a tray of these in bed and watch the happiness quotient explode.

Of course, none of this is out of place at my house where Kitty graces more surfaces than I’d care to count. And after breakfast, bubble maker kitty is there to help with the washing up too!

So where did I find all these treasures? I took a visit to J-List which, (hide your credit cards) will have you going ‘click to buy’ happy! I found it near impossible to stop adding things to my cart, so thank goodness it was Christmas and I could justify the addition of so many of these things as gifts for other people.  I didn’t just stop at Kitty however, because as soon as I saw they stocked so much Totoro merchandise, I couldn’t help myself.  So now I am eating my Hello Kitty pancakes propped up against my Totoro nap pillow on my 1950′s couch! Yeah, that’s pretty much how my house looks – Like you dropped Betty Draper into Sanrio Land!!