Tatty Devine Challenge Part Two

Onto the next thirty days of the Tatty Devine challenge!

1. Medium paisley rose necklace AW12
2. Amber planet necklace AW13
3. Girl on a swing necklace
4. Head in the clouds rainbow AW13, one of my all time favourites
5. Red Heart Lolly, the first Tatty piece I bought from eBay
6. Small red grapes necklace AW12
7. Red Mexican embroidery necklace, exclusive to House of Fraser 2014
8. Small radiance necklace SS13
9. Ruby Slippers, bought from Ruby!
10. Large Gold La Luna necklace AW13

1. Red Heart Glittery ring
2. Ariel name necklace in translucent ocean with iridescent charm SS14 colour way
3. Statement seashells necklace SS14
4. Scallop shells statement necklace SS14
5. Scallop shell ring SS14
6. Small white acid cherry blossom SS13
7. Can can legs JPG Barbican collaboration 2014
8. Paisley rose ring AW12
9. Small printed shells SS14
10. Charlotte Olympia Mermaid exclusive 2011

1. Emerald gem necklace AW13
2. Small fortune teller hand AW14
3. Ghost necklace
4. Black horse and carriage necklace
5. Red glittery lobster necklace Christmas 2013
6. Trio of autumn leaves necklace
7. Rainydays necklace
8. Teeth necklace
9. Triple plectrum necklace
10. Moustache, bow tie and heart rings

Will post the most up to date thirty once I've reached day 90 in a couple of days time!

Tatty Devine Challenge Part One

In my previous post I wrote about the Tatty Devine challenge I took part in over the summer in the run up to our workshop last month. The idea was simple, wear a different piece every day in July and August. Since then I have decided to try and go for a year wearing Tatty every day posting my shots on Instagram. Today is day 86 already! I thought I would share what I've worn so far and list the pieces if anyone is interested or wants to know. All these have been taken from Instagram edited version and I've listed below the days in order of what I wore although they might not be in the exact same order in the pictures if that makes sense.  

1. Blue forget me not necklace, appropriate considering our workshop! 2014
2. Lotus necklace from SS13
3. Blue striped anchor necklace from the JPG Barbican collaboration 2014
4. Scallop shell pendant necklace from SS14
5. Red London Bus from the Year of the Bus collaboration 2014
6. Gold mermaid necklace SS14 Contemporary
7. Single goddess hand SS13
8. Small aqua parakeet SS14 Contemporary
9. Ginger Siamese cat necklace
10. Silver horse and carriage necklace

1. Large red white and blue bunting necklace from this years lucky dip box
2. Gold Statement Spaceship SS14
3. Large opal La Luna necklace AW13
4. Rock pool statement necklace SS14 Contemporary
5. Medium bubbles necklace SS14 only made in very limited numbers
6. Autumn leaves link necklace
7. Opal Ruffle SS14
8. Blue Seashells SS14 a real bargain in the sale from £165 to £30
9. Goddess hands strand SS13
10. Mission control necklace SS14

1. Large pink lobster, for the Isabella Blow exhibition at Somerset House
2. Large white acid cherry blossom SS13
3. Pastel Mexican embroidery necklace SS14 Contemporary
4. Strawberry Patch necklace SS14 Contemporary
5. Eley Kishimoto snake necklace collaboration
6. Red cocktail umbrella SS10
7. Sky lab rabbit necklace AW13
8. Opal Seashells SS14
9. White Tiger necklace
10. Unicorn charm necklace for Bestival collaboration 2013

Next thirty coming soon!

New challenges

I find it hard to believe an entire summer has pretty much passed us by and I've not posted at all. We haven't done anything particularly exciting this summer just walks with the girls and the odd day out here and there. Our work restructure has happened and I'm pleased to say I still have a job! Doing very much the same role as I currently do but with a little bit more. This will be a challenge as it is going to require a new way of working which we have yet to be told about as our training doesn't start until early next month. I also made the decision to go back to college at the start of September to do a CIPD Human Resources course as I helped out in work doing a training audit and thought it was quite interesting. I need a new challenge career wise and this year long course may well help me in finding something I can really contribute and make a difference to more than the role I have. 

Ruby and Tilly are almost nine months old already! For such little creatures they have huge personalities and they are so different. 

We took them away to Fishguard back at the start of July for two weeks. Despite a little bit of sickness due to salt water drinking they had a brilliant time exploring the harbour and running around on the beach. They had more than their fair share of attention and always made sure they were heard. 

As you can see they enjoyed swimming! Hopefully we will venture down again in the near future as the girls had a wonderful time.

 

Another challenge I have taken part in over the summer is linked to my love for a certain iconic British jewellery brand. I've spoken on here how much I love Tatty Devine and my collection has grown over the last year and I now have pieces I only dreamt of having this time last year. Every year Tatty have a lucky dip box weekend and a sample sale. Unfortunately I couldn't go to the sample sale but I did get some lucky dip boxes. Most of the items I got weren't me but I was able to swap with some ladies who were after them and I got some treasures in return including the paisley rose ring and a red cocktail umbrella! With all this trading and swapping around Instagram and Twitter were buzzing with people looking for certain pieces and I got talking to Jess and Ruby at first then before too long we had our own little group along with Tracey and Sam where we discuss all things Tatty. This all started back in May and eventually we managed to book a private workshop at the Brick Lane shop to make forget-me-not necklaces on the last day of August. Jess posed a challenge that for July and August we wear a different piece of Tatty every day in the run up to our workshop. This was a great challenge, especially with the summer sale and some of the goodies I got I desperately wanted to wear again but I stuck to it. Having more than two months worth of pieces I, along with Jess, have kept going with the determination I will wear every piece I have. That got me thinking and I have decided to attempt to wear Tatty every day for a year. I don't have 365 pieces before you ask so there are going to be repeats but I think it's a good challenge. I'm planning a couple of Tatty blog posts at the moment with more details about our workshop and the visit to the South Bank Centre for their birthday celebrations. Here is my collection as it was, I've since added

 

 

I currently have 124 pieces but I will be selling a few after I complete the challenge to wear everything I have. So yes, that's what I've been up to since I last posted, enjoying spending time with my girls and Tatty Devine, sometimes the two loves combine

Returning

I find it hard to believe the last time I wrote was all the way back at the start of January when the country was submerged in floods. A lot has happened since then. We finally got the keys to our house at the start of March and spent the next few weeks carting our stuff from my parent’s house to here. There were fraught trips to IKEA, especially as we tried to be organised but their delivery schedules had other ideas. Many a bookcase was built in March and has been filled and will probably be filled again. We’re slowly getting the house to how we want it, I’m not the best at making my mind up it must be said so I’ve taken my time.

On 9^th March we became proud parents to two beautiful black and tan miniature dachshunds called Ruby and Tilly. I have taken hundreds of photographs of them already and will talk about them in more detail in another post.

In other news my Tatty Devine collection is growing and recently I’ve made some new friends who love Tatty just as much as I do, hopefully we are going to go on a workshop in the summer together.

Work is still the same waiting for news on what changes they may or may not make. I can’t believe it has almost been a year since we first sent the application off asking to move down here.

I’ve got so many posts to write on all the things I’ve been up to since January, well since we moved down really but this will have to do for a start. Below are a few pictures from when we first started the great moving in and Ruby and Tilly’s first picture at home.

 

 

And the rain came down

The start of 2014 has proved eventful so far. Even more so up in our old home of Aberystwyth. I've watched the news feeling incredibly sad seeing the seafront being ripped up by huge and damaging waves. Had we still been up there I probably would have gone into town to see what had happened despite the warnings for people to stay away. The worst storms I ever saw were in 2006 when the prom got damaged but to nowhere near the same extent. We haven't completely escaped from flooding here though. Roads have been closed and fields submerged due to the Usk. I took these photos a couple of days ago not long after the worst had hit, most of the pictures are of Caerleon golf course, it really amused us finding seaweed on one of the greens. The cows were safely up  in the barns as the farm was quite badly flooded too.   

Day One

The start of 2014 will forever make New Years Day particularly memorable. After a traumatic couple of weeks my Grandma died this afternoon. We are still in that surreal stage of feeling at the moment, it wasn't a shock but it is still a very sad day for us all. I started a new Project 365 today too, I went to see my brother this afternoon and this caught my eye in the dimly lit living room and it just felt right.

2013

And we reach the end of another year. I have missed blogging since September, having no access to my desktop has not been productive. I've hardly taken any photographs, written very little and become somewhat down about it all. Hopefully though it will only be a matter of weeks until we get the date our house will be ready! I know we have to go through the hassle of moving but I really can't wait to move into our first house that will actually be ours. Anyway, now is the time to have a look back at some of the highlights of the past year. As usual January was pretty quiet, we enjoyed our days off wandering around town going for hot chocolates and keeping warm 

I discovered the joy of Crafty Creatives this year and am still a fan. My Tatty Devine collection also started in earnest in 2013, I've shared some of my favourite pieces on the blog this year and will do once I have a few more! In February we went to Manchester for a short break and enjoyed the delights of Blackpool once more, much to my husband's happiness. This time the weather was much nicer though.

I really enjoyed capturing blossom in the spring and took a few nice pictures too 

In March Holly came to visit us in Aberystwyth for the day, despite the downpour we had fun in the National Library and in Andy's records. April saw a trip to the Black Country Museum, it was bloody freezing too. 

We also took a trip on the Rheidol 

May saw trips to Tywyn, Fishguard and St Fagans. 

This year we spent a fair amount of time over at the allotment capturing progress for my dad, all in all I've taken well over 700 photographs. Here are a few favourites 

They have another plot now so expect lots more allotment coverage next year, I bought lots of seeds as Christmas presents! 

June saw the arrival of two very special little boys, my nephews Rex and Ralphy. I have taken hundreds of photographs of them over the summer. They arrived just after we submitted our applications to leave Aberystwyth and move down here. We spent most of the summer coming down here on our days off as David had driving lessons. Here are a few of my favourite pictures of the boys so far 

The summer this year was absolutely glorious. We made the most of our time being on the coast having BBQs on the beach with our friends on Sunday evenings

We also ventured to Powis for our annual trip, meeting up with the Rangers

I had a play around in the garden during the summer too 

And in July we also went to St Fagans again 

During August we had a week of holiday and we visited London. As we were about to leave we had the news we had job offers! This was good news after we had already decided to go for the house! I really enjoyed our visit, we had a good wander around seeing all the sights and spent the day in Brighton and Kew Gardens. We also saw the Underground Poster Art exhibition in the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

Once we returned from our trip we had to start the task of sorting our stuff out in preparation for the move as in the end we started our jobs in the first week of September and we couldn't get any time off to move beforehand so we spent most of September going back and forth moving and cleaning up. From the end of September to now as I said earlier I haven't done anything creative. I think the last pictures I took I really liked were these 

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary back in October, we went out to Cardiff Castle for the day with David's mum and dad. Our new shop opened at the end of November and since then we've only had a handful of days off. I did go for a lovely walk up to Wentwood though with my family and captured the last of autumn

Things have been a little difficult here lately but a new arrival just before Christmas has really made things better. Meet Barney, my newest nephew. He is absolutely gorgeous.  

I look forward to taking some better shots of him soon. So that was 2013! A year of great change, moving back and planning for a better future.