Friday Fancies and Some Vintage Buttons

Hey Girlies,

To cheer everyone up I thought I would bring you a "Friday Fancies" post and an update on a few bits and pieces. Today I went for an interview at a lovely tea room near where I live and I really hope I get it so that I can earn some pennies whilst my business is taking off. Wish me luck!

It has been a bit of a strange week, the shop has been majorly quiet so I have been looking around for things to keep me busy, blogging, fairs etc and I am very excited to be at the Rhodes Centre Vintage Event in Bishops Stortford in two weeks time. It looks to be a great event with lots of stalls, make-up and a vintage themed fashion show so hope to see some of you along if you can make it.

I have been packing the house stuff together as well in the evenings and me and Rocky have been doing an insane work out programme to get a bit fit by the end of the year. Apart from that nothing much else to report this week. This weekend we are chilling and tonight I am going to a psychic demonstration evening. As you know by now I am a "trainee" medium and I love any psychic/mediumship events as well as vintage events. I really was born in the wrong era. These events aren't mean't to be scary, the medium will demonstrate the evidence of an afterlife and will give messages to those in the audience. I am a 100% believer that this works due to how spirit speak to me. I love it! Have you ever been to one of these? 

So first on my list of Friday Fancies is vintage buttons....

I bought a few the other day on Ebay and added them to my collection. What do you think?

 The tin already had a few in from my original collection. I recently added them to this biscuit tin from M&S. As you can see the original buttons were all dark and black colours so I wanted to add some new brighter colours in.

These pictures are a selection of a few from the bag. They said there was a 100 buttons in there but I am not too sure, still I couldn't be bothered to count them.

I really like some of the coloured ones and the golden big knot button especially.

I have added them into my collection and the tin is nearly half full :-) I am thinking of lots of ways to add buttons to boring dresses and other Christmassy ideas, if you have any ideas do let me know!

Second on my list of Friday Fancies are a pair of new boots. I struggle every year with boots as my calves are obviously bigger than regular people (I don't even have big calves). Here are a selection that I'd love...

These boots from Oasis are £68. I love that they look warm, have a slight heel and also have a vintage feel to them, I need brown boots as I already have black ones!

These from Clarks are right up my street, vintage looking with a small heel - £69.99

These ones from Pull and Bear are only £39.99 which I think is quite good. I do like Pull and Bear, there isn't one close to me though so may have to go down to London for the day!

Next on the list of Friday Fancies is a dark vampy lipstick as seen here by a Blogger I am loving at the moment Thrift Thick . 

1. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Black Cherry - £7.49 (but Boots are offering 3 for 2)

2. MAC Marylin Monroe Lipstick in Charmed I'm Sure - £15.50. Pricey but worth it.

3. Chanel Rouge Allure in Imitable - £25 Debenhams. A real splurge, probably for Christmas list.

Apart from that I really want to go out for an epic walk this weekend, just to get away from it all and cross off one of my Autumn to do list items. What with the house move it has been a bit stressful so a nice walk will do us well. I love to get outside as it is a real stress reliever and I find it helps me connect to nature.

So what do you have planned this weekend? 

Whatever you do, have a great one!

Lauren 

xxxx

Happy Autumn Equinox (Mabon)

Autumn is my absolute favourite time of year.

As some of you may or may not know, as you can see I am very into everything vintage. But another big part of my life is my spiritual path which I am on, finding my inner goddess and worshipping many Eartly beings. This isn't in a religious way as I wouldn't consider myself religious but in more of a spiritual way. I just love this part of me equally as much as the vintage side of me as it really connects me to all living beings. I will promise to write more on this over the next few weeks.

Today in the Wicca calender is the Autumn Equinox or Mabon as it was traditionally known. This is the day when the light and dark are at equal lengths and this was celebrated in history traditionally as the end of the summer harvest. This is one of the main Wicca festivals to celebrate the wheel of the year.

The idea of the festival is to give thanks to the summers harvest and mark in some way the change of summer to autumn. Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Mabon, but typically I like to go out for a walk, make a home-made soup and start thinking about how to wrap up warm in preparation for Halloween.

This time of year I like to give thanks to nature for giving us the crop which we have enjoyed during the summer months and I accept that the trees are loosing their leaves in preparation for the winter. The trees are in effect going to lie dormant for the winter months. Another example in nature is how some animals are starting to hibernate, collecting food stores and making up nice warm homes.

I believe that everybody is on their own spiritual path but you can adapt any of my personal rituals to suit your own beliefs :)

Follow my 5 top tips to have a great harvest festival......

1. Find balance in your life again- Summer can often feel a bit go-go-go and when we go back to school/normal life after holiday we can sometimes feel a bit down and out. One thing I really love to do at this time of year is take some time out in nature to re find my balance. Autumn equinox is a great time to do this as the light is balanced, you can meditate or take a few deep breaths out in nature and focus on this point for a while. I love to take the dog out for a walk this time of year, switch off the mobile phones and focus on being still and not worrying about what has or may happen over the coming months. Give thanks to the balance in your life with acknowledging that without darkness they can be no day and visa versa. Count your blessings by writing a list of all you are thankful for. Here is a couple of mine
- My fiancé, for being patient helping me start a business this year.
- My family for being healthy and supportive also
- My one remaining cat for keeping my mum happy
- My own health, no complaints yet

This is a really great way to help say thanks in your life and focus on the rest of the year and what is important.

2. Harvest Festival & Food - Harvest is a great time to give something back, have a look in your local area and community or school to see if they are holding a harvest festival. Give some cans of food to a food bank or think about how you can store some of your lovely food during the cold winter months. I always think as well that this is a good time to say thank you to our farmers for all the hard work they have done. I saw one farmer this week out till 8 o clock in the dark!

I would love to make some jam or marmalade this winter however my fiance made an amazing butternut squash soup this week.....

The soup was made using a butternut squash, onion, white wine, some herbs and a splash of double cream!

By giving food away or collecting and storing this is a great way to say thanks and give blessings for the food we have enjoyed during the summer, and feels really great too!

3. Start thinking about Halloween - Ok so it is over a month away but I love to think of Halloween early by planning a party or how to decorate the house. One thing I also like to do is pick apples and make a lovely apple crumble yum yum. Apples are also seen as a symbol of divination and goddess power. You can harness this by picking a few apples and preserving them or making some tasty treats :)

4. Clean up and Clear out - Like a spring clean I also love to have a clean up in the Autumn, this is because we need to prepare mentally for the cold months. I actually believe that some of us go into our own sense of hibernation during the winter months and really feel the cold. Dust off the curtains, get out the winter duvet and blankets and clear away the cob webs. I use this time to get rid of summer clothes that I didn't wear and either pack them away or take them down to charity shop. After you have done this light some orange coloured candles for light and warmth.

I think this is also a great ritual to bringing energy back into your home after the end of the summer dip.

5. Feeding wildlife - I haven't actually done much of this lately I am ashamed to say but another idea I have thought of is how to feed wildlife. Perhaps you have some squirrels in your garden or birds you could feed from a feeder. I think this is a great time of year to help out those in nature who need a little helping hand. So why not?

I hope you enjoyed this post and would love any comments, if you would like to read more I found this site particularly helpful - All about Mabon

Whatever you do this weekend I hope it is a happy healthy and balanced one :)

Happy Mabon!

Lots of warm blessings 

Lauren 

xx

How to spruce up some flowers

Well as you know I left my job and was given a couple of bunches of flowers, two weeks ago. Some of them were starting to die this week so I wanted to combine the remaining of the best of the two bunches and added in some wild flowers which I picked from our walk at the weekend - http://scarletrealm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/a-lovely-summertime-walk.html


Walking around I picked a variety of wild flowers in all different colours....

A bumble bee enjoying this flower

  And gathered them into a glass....

I used the remaining of these flowers from the two bunches. I cut off the ends of the good to use flowers and made up some fresh water in the vase.

A few white and purple flowers which have lasted over 2 weeks!

Two remaining pretty peach roses to use

And combined them together to make this. I haven't ever done flower arranging before but I don't think I did a bad job!

Pretty-shabby chic vase :)

And I added a pretty gingham ribbon.

 And there you go, re-used nearly good flowers mixed with wild flowers :) 

Hope you like them! xxx

A lovely summertime walk

Tomorrow is Lughnasadh - this is an ancient Gaelic festival to celebrate the harvest of the year and is celebrated on the 1st August. It isn't a commonly celebrated festival but I believe it is still celebrated in Ireland in some places. 

Lovely purple field

To celebrate and give thanks to this years harvest, on Saturday me and Rocky decided to go walking and we had a really great time. The fields around Thaxted are just gorgeous at the moment. This field is a field of lovely purple and white flowers. I am not sure exactly what type of crop this is and I have tried to Google it. Ill have to ask a farmer next time I see one.

Close up image

The rape seed fields look lovely at the start of the summer when they are the luscious yellow colour but they turn a nasty brown before they are harvested. They are currently being harvested and are really smelly, and being ploughed for the next season. But, have you used rape seed oil for cooking? This can be found in most supermarkets and makes a lovely alternative to vegetable oil and it feels good to know we are keeping our farmers in work!


So we walked for about 2 and a half hours and I picked some lovely wild flowers. See next post where I got creative with them :)


Have you been walking lately? It is really lovely to get outside when the weather is fine and make use of the great British countryside. What I love about being a country girl is that the landscape is constantly changing. Last summer the fields were beans and this year they have been rape seed oil. 


Hope you enjoy :)
xxxx