Tonight I'm gonna party like it's .... 2010

Oooh it's nearly time for me to get ready for NYE 2010.

I do love to party & love dressing up.

I have the radio on playing The time of my life by the Black Eyed peas (dirty bit) ha ha ha I think it's the naffest song ever - but the Dirty Bit makes me laugh every time!!

Anyway I've been thinking about my outfit tonight. Nothing too tight as I've been eating 3 course dinners for a week,

plus the hugest Christmas Dinner ever (well this year anyway!).

I have this little pink dress that was Gossip Girl inspired for Miss Selfridge. Yep, I'm a sucker! I love Gossip Girl & SATC & The City isn't bed either. Bit of a pattern forming there!

My ski boot bruised shins will be hidden behind some fabulous Wolford (bought in the sale of course) swirly floral patterned & seamed tights. I have chunky black heels too & a cute clutch bag made from vintage leather by my very clever & talented friend Helen oh and I bought the yummy brown clutch too - oooh couldn't help myself.

So after spending Christmas en France, I'm due time with the family (plus I'm broke ha ha) don't tell them though!! Spending NYE with my parents & Grandmama and parents very cool friends. Something I haven't done since I was about 12 oooh scary!! ;-)

We are all set for a glam dinner party with lots of bubbles, party games & laughter until we cry i imagine! It's rather exciting.

Wishing all of you a very fabulous New Year wherever you are & whatever you are doing xxx

One year my friend Al & I stayed in and at midnight we ran round the garden with sparklers - it's good to be childish xxx

Happy 2011 in advance & thank you so much for reading my guff blog he he Love Claire xx

Let it snow...

I'm back from France!
Well I have survived my very 1st Ski trip.

No broken bones, no injuries at all - well maybe a little dent in my pride!

I didn't manage to conquer my fears of skiing, not even sure what the fears were to be honest. Clearly I am just a big girls blouse - I like to think a rather nice vintage frilled one, worn with layers of classic pearl necklaces!!! he he :-P

The lovely things of my holiday were spending a week with some of my bestest buddies and making some new friends too.

Christmas Eve was a mad one drinking far too much Champagne and laughing our heads off! Christmas day was a slow starter, without any more Champagne. It was everything I could have asked for, lazy, relaxed, nice gifts, lots of hugs & laughter and then a huuuuge roast dinner cooked by someone else!!

The scenery was lovely and everything was prettily covered in snow. Once I find my camera lead I will post some Chrismassy piccies.

I did have a bit of a sulk at having to wear suitable clothing & clompy boots everyday & the only vintage I managed was a faux fur for evenings out & a vintage brooch on my furry hat.

I should also announce the arrival of my shiny new nephew, I am secretly calling him the Radish as his middle name is very similar (it's Bulgarian) and he will probably be a little ginger lad. He arrived, eventually just in time for Mummy to enjoy Christmas without a smiley tummy!!! Welcome to the world little fella.

Anyway it's New Years Eve already, how did that come around so quick????

Ok now I'm going to sound like a super spoilt brat but this time last year I was in New York with my buddies, it was the best!

This year as I've over spent from my holiday pot, I'm spending it with family & close friends. Kind of a role reversal with Christmas.

Anyway I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too, filled with love & laughter xxx

Christmas Meets Noddy

It’s been ages since I posted anything. Although I have been super busy, I have managed to have a quick sneaky peak at other people blogs. If they can find the time….

Anyway I have been creating – mostly a mess in my living room!! I have jewellery laid out on the floor (late shop order) ready for ticketing, Christmas decorations overflowing from 3 boxes, presents and various brightly coloured wrappings piled high on the chairs.

Last weekend me and Mummy Butterfly had our first weekend off in ages. We have been doing lots of crafty craft fairs & ladies evenings. We took a trip to London to go to a perfume making workshop & a customising vintage clothes workshop.

We stayed at a wonderful hotel – the Town House in Bethnal Green, it was a special treat to thank mummy for all the help & knitting over the year. Not yet had a chance to count up just how many fabulous scarves she knitted throughout the year, but we sold over 100 in the last couple of fairs which was very nice indeed.

Anyway due to a special offer we ended up with an executive suite at the hotel, very contemporary but fabulous comfortable space. We enjoyed it so much that we cooked in the little kitchen one night. I’m sure that no one else ever does this, but we had been walking round London for 9 hours & we were pooped. Feet up, nice food, rose wine flowing, magazines, good music & plenty of chat & creative ideas. All in all a nice evening. We did manage to pop down to the bar for a couple of cheeky (and scrummy) cocktails too yum!

We tried a few different things like the Museum of Childhood which was just down

the road. I defy anyone to pop in there (it’s free too & has a great restaurant) and not have an awwww I had that toy moment! I saw on of the earliest Noddy toys. I was a huge Noddy fan when I was little, I always wanted his shoes, they were red & rather cute!

Sunday we went to Columbia Road Flower Market. Well if we hadn’t been getting the train home (and already had too much stuff accumulated) then I could have bought all sorts of berry decorations & fluffy cotton plants. So many lovely festive things that would have been fun to decorate my house with. I think this weekend I shall put on my Christmas playlist, drink mulled wine & dance around to Maria Carey All I want for Christmas (I love it!) and put up the crimble decs.

It was uber busy but we still managed to find some fabulous shops. Vintage Heaven sells lots of crockery & homeware. The café at the back is sweet, run by gorgeous super friendly & helpful people. The food & coffee is highly recommended & prices very reasonable.

Another super find was J&B The Shop. Oooh full of vintage homemade yummy things. London prices if you know what I mean, but a little bit of vintage eclectic lushness. I could have wrapped myself in it like a warm comforting duvet.

Anyway this is turning into a marathon ramble. It was supposed to be about the workshops.. will post that one later xxx

I suck at Skiing!

Oh dear, I feel I should update those of you kind enough to read about and comment on my ski lessons. ... having put the pressure on myself enough to wind myself into frustration (ski trip at Christmas & no more free time), I became a grouchy teenager with every muscle in my body tensed up in annoyance that skiing didn’t come naturally to me!! Ha

Admittedly reading back my own admissions has made it all very clear that I was being very silly indeed! This week I shan’t care a jot (ok, I shall try not to) and have a glass of mulled wine or something before hand!! Surely that’s medicinal!!

Soo shame of all shames, I managed to become Bridget Jones by skiing off across two lanes wobbling all over the place arms flailing and fingers crossed that I didn’t take anyone with me. The spectators were crying with laughter at my embarrassment & debacle. Blood filled my cheeks in shame and I blended nicely with the (very sexy) bright red safety helmet so that I probably resembled a cousin of the Ribena Berries.

Not satisfied that I had made quite a pillock of myself I later managed to fall over on my ski instructor – into a tangle of skis. I had promised my friends that I would do this but only if he was young & very cute…. Hummmm a lovely man but not quite hitting the hottie status sadly. Definitely in minus points now.

Can’t wait for this Tuesday’s lesson arrggghhhhhhh

Dreaming of a white Christmas

Seems most people have been skiing, except for me. A couple of friends thought it was a good idea to go for Christmas.... being the only one in the group that can't ski I thought I’d better have lessons pretty quickly and try & catch up – positive thinking eh?!! In my humble opinion it’s not the most sartorial sport of choice but hopefully lots of fun!

After nipping into town for a peruse at ski jackets in the hope of something reasonably priced that I don’t hate….. hummm the best on offer was a red & white affair. I’m transported back to the 1980,s when I had a white lightly padded jacket with red piping & lots of pockets & press-studs. Yum! I also had a red & white bedroom – v cool at the time with striped wall paper, heart cushions, white frilled edge sateen duvet covers - oooh very Dynasty – or just nasty??!! Ha ha.

Anyway back to 2010… Oh I don't know, all I can think about is can I customise a ski jacket???? Is that taking things too far?? I mean I love the 80's but ski fashion is sooo naff - or am I looking in the wrong places???

And so I turned up to week

one’s lesson in a black vintage faux fur jacket – it got some looks… I can honestly say I thought they would hire out jackets duh! What was I thinking? Thankfully no one I knew was around & my group were all too kind or concentrating too hard on not falling over to laugh at me semi glammed up in a sparkly gold roll neck, vintage coat & a silver helmet ha ha ha.

Oh and sadly skiing wasn’t my forte either. Always hoped I would be a natural at something – just not found out what it is yet ha ha.

Anyway any advice on skiing, what to wear – anything really. I am totally clueless!!! xx

Oooh was also thinking of checking out the charity shops for Christmas jumpers as pressies - nice group photo maybe??? Yummmm a hottie Christmas card idea ha ha

A Little Bit of Sparkle

It's been ages since I wrote, I have been busy working, gardening, cooking, cleaning pfew it's tiring just thinking about it all ha ha. Anyway some nice things have happened in the midst of my catching up with real life.

This little sparkly vintage bag has been off to a photo shoot wooo hoo!! ha ha

I have a little picture of one of my vintage bags in the November / December edition of Brides Magazine. It's rather exciting being mentioned in a big glossy magazine - even if it's not for something I made myself.

They had some nice ideas for sparkly things that would be great for Christmas & new Years parties - like glitter covered cupcakes and jewel encrusted napkin rings. Hummm might just inspire me to organise a dinner party...

Monaco Yacht Show

Well it has nothing to do with vintage, fashion or cupcakes... although I did wear vintage. Humm I guess I now have to prove it with a photo of me looking rather tipsy (slight understatement)!!

Anyway I lucky enough to be invited to go to the Monaco Yacht Show & see how rich & famous live.These are no ordinary boats but Super Yachts and boy are they huge. I had been told that many in Monaco go for upwards of a quarter of a million Euros.

Fabulous tailored wool jacket with red edge and turn back cuffs1950 New Look style with a 1950's (I think) wrap-over pleated cream dress. It's my Marilyn Monroe dress!

Clearly didn't need that glass of wine!! ha ha

Crazy Super yachts with Lamborghinis stashed away, onboard swimming pools (like the photo above) , on deck dining, cinema rooms…. The list is endless.

There was one for sale had it’s own helicopter (above) on board 6 different types of boats for sailing & fun, 2 jet skis and a hot tub. The master bedroom was the size of my whole house !!!!

Probably my highlight was a sub dive. My dearest Daddy has been involved with Submarines all my life & used to dive occasionally in one man subs. My fab friend organised it so that I could dive in a 3 man sub. It was all very exciting & I totally loved it. If only I had the money to buy one – oh and some clear water to dive in….!!

Above was the balcony view from one of the after parties. The music was very cool at this party, however my coordination was a little off by this point - free champagne is my weakness! oops.

Anyway the weather was superb & I had lots of fun - managed not to purchase a yacht obviously!! hope your week was a sunny as mine xxx

Goodwood Revival

Did I mention that I was going to the Goodwood Revival? Oh just a few times?!

It really was fabulous. I do love vintage cars although I know very little - ok, almost nothing about them.

This Spitfire was a showstopper, we even stopped drinking champagne to watch the air display. Later in the day was the Battle of Britain Memorial formation display which was incredible and also very poignant.

Me and my buddies vintaged up!

These were our neighbours who were staying at the same fabulous boutique B&B as us. Lovely friendly people who's outfits & attention to detail put us to shame!!

Gorgeous 1950's Porsche

Ooooh, D Type Jag. My Dad's kind of car, he used to race one round Devon country lanes when he was a lad. How cool is that? My fastest car in my student days was an XR2 - nippy but no race car. This is seriously sexy & streamlined.

AC Cobras - I wouldn't say no!

How cool is this Aston Martin from the 1930's?

The Glamour Cab girls - pretty impressive eh? Hotter than the average taxi driver !

It really was a wonderful day out, with so much to see that I think I missed a lot of it. It was so exciting that I wasn't even bothered by looking at the vintage clothes stalls - unheard of!!

Most people were dressed from the 1940's to 1960's it was really like going back in time.

I can't wait to go back next year xx

A Hall of a Party!!

Boom boom, apologies for the naff attempt at a joke.

Well the real joke is that I don’t have any Butterflies & Hurricanes events in September, yet it is my busiest month this year. How does that happen? Well it might have something to do with the social events that arrived this month. Last weekend was the Think Pink Ball at Colney Hall, Norwich. Organised by my lovely friend Ruth & many other talented lovelies. It was a fabulous evening followed by horrendous hangovers. I blame the pink champagne which was a little too nice.

My dress was a Florence & Fred (from last Christmas time) party dress. Yep I decided not to post the horrid picture of me - anyway it didn't show the skirt part of the dress!! :-P

Rough price was £30. I simply customised it by pinching the fabric up and stitching it in place with Victorian sparkly glass buttons. The net underskirt was handmade (if I’m honest had it made to order through Ebay!!)& adds a cheeky blast of colour. Easy peasy and It’s had lots of nice comments.

The previous weekend I haven’t even blogged about – I was awaiting photos, which incidentally I still don’t have. A picture is worth a thousand words – especially when I’m writing ha ha. Another fantastic party at a Hall outside Norwich, another Champagne reception, posh frocks - there’s definitely a pattern forming! Well since I don’t have the photos, I can’t embarrass myself with squiffy shots of me hugging all my new best friends. Yep I was more than a little tipsy and was found curled up on the sofa with my Daddy at 3am. He wasn’t asleep and therefore far more hardcore than me! I can however show you photos of … yep you guessed it, a vintage dress!!!! This is one of Mummy Butterflies makes back in the day. I had my eye on it before I was big enough to fit into it, must have been the sparkly magpie bits!

This weekend I’m being spoilt again oops! Off to Goodwood Revival – well I missed the Vintage at Goodwood, so I kinda deserve to go he he J. If you’re not sick of my dress postings then I will put up some photos next week. Ooh I can’t wait!!!

So we have concluded that I’m still addicted to pretty dresses and am a sucker for a party or vintage event.

My little studio

Well it's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote, I've been doing lots of blog reading but no writing.

I haven't been lazy, maybe a little spoilt! Had a gorgeous long weekend in Cornwall with some of my bestest friends. Much hilarity was had by all, especially when Linda & I got the canoe stuck in the mud - it wasn't our fault though ha ha!!! Good old Gates was our hero for the day as he managed to get us to solid land with the aid of wooden planks ha ha.

It was all rather embarrasing but extremely funny at the same time! Anyway it was a holiday to remember!

Since then I have been transforming my spare room from (not often used) sumptuous boudoir to studio for Butterflies & Hurricanes (my little business). So I shall have space to create (mess!) and play without my whole house looking like it's been burgled!

It's still work in progress but thought I would post a few pictures of how it's coming along. More images & mood boards to go on the walls I think, plus I was considering putting some of my old fashion illustrations up too. It seems silly to leave all that hard work in a portfolio...

It's only a matter of time before it's all a creative explosion of mess but I can't wait to get the jewellery designs out of my head & into real pieces.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend xxx

I love it when an outfit comes together!

Mummy Butterfly was detoxing her wardrobe and found some fabulous evening dresses that she won't wear again...... of course it would be silly of me not to try before I think of selling them at the next vintage fair.

This one has to be kept as I found that I had shoes to match already!!! What are the chances of that? I should have accessorised the photo properly - must try harder next time!!

Anyway it's a pretty polka pattern in a devore style. it's actually dark blue with a pink lining underneath. I think it will be lovely for a party - ideally something I needn't wear shoes for too much as they are not the most comfortable ha ha.

There are more that I would love to share with you & see what you think. Normally a gal can't have too many dresses, however I do believe I have exceeded my quota this summer oops naughty me!! xx

Vintage Lovers

Sunday was a Little Vintage Lover Fair in Burnham Market, North Norfolk. Mummy Butterfly & I had a lovely day eating Zoe's home-made mini Victoria sponge cakes with real cream yummy!

The stall was pretty eclectic and we had lots of new things and little bits & bobs like bags of vintage buttons which went down very well. The new cards & gift tags flew out the rather nice writing case that Mama cleverly displayed.

We purchased a few things of course... Mummy bought these great postcards from lovely Julie at Beach Bygones and I still in my Grace Kelly mood snapped up a 1950's feather skull cap.

It is feeling more at home now it has made friends with my Stetson & awesome orange vintage favourite.

Day trippers

Well I have been rubbish at blogging recently so I thought it was time I redeemed myself and told you what has been occupying my time.

Friday I went to London with some lovely girlfriends. We started and ended with a bit of Harvey Nichols. I was impressed with the windows. The car was made with small plastic race horses and the dress from wooden clothes pegs. The Fifth Floor Bar was the final destination for cocktails & people watching!!

We also went to the Grace Kelly Exhibition at the V&A as a splash of culture!! It was nice but I think would have been even better if there were more photos of the style icon in the dresses shown on mannequins. She really was a beautiful woman and we all decided that we wanted to spend the next rainy Sunday indoors watching Grace Kelly films x

Lovely to be at the V&A again, it had been too long & it's so wonderful.