Ring-A-Ding-Ding

Next week is an exciting week here at Mimi and Tilly.  I'm going to be show-casing my first guest blogger!   A selection of you very lovely people have offered to open up your jewellery boxes and let us take a peek inside.    And next week, Mimi and Tilly's very first guest blogger is going to be sharing her sparkle!   I've managed to keep a lid on this for the past couple of weeks but I can't hold back any longer!  I am all a-fizz.

So, to rev things up a bit in anticipation for the first sparkle "reveal", I've been imagining I have a virtual jewellery box filled with any jewels I fancy.  A kind of virtual "money is no object" sort of a situation.  And I have been going bonkers filling my virtual jewellery box with ring sparkle!  I had no idea I could spend so much so fast if the situation required it...

Here are some of the current ring designs available in shops that most appeal to me. Aren't they just beautiful? I think the glittery lips are smackilicious! (I'm basing my choices here solely on the designs of the rings, not on any kind of ethical shopping basis...  More on ethical jewellery shopping in another up-coming post.)

Click on the individual rings to learn more about them.

What's your favourite type of ring?  Big and bold or understated?

I'm all about the big and bold when it comes to rings.  Mahoosive.  How about you? Which one do you like best?

Favourite Thing On A Friday - Sherbert Dib Dabs

Happy Friday everyone!  How has your week been?  The sun is shining here in my neck of the woods.  The leaves are rich shades of red and orange.  The sky is a beautiful blue.  And a new retro sweet shop (how's that for an oxymoron) opened yesterday in the village nearby.  I cannot tell you how happy I am.  Sherbert on tap.  All is right with the world.

Let me explain.

I am aware that many people love chocolate.  The rise in the use of chocolate fountains gave me a hint towards this notion.  And at the risk of causing a collective gasp, I have to confess...  I'm not a big chocolate fan.  Nope, I'm not.

My sugary treats of choice seem to involve anything boiled, fruity, fruity and chewy, sherbet slathered, and/or bonbon-ish.  Hence my deep passion for Jelly Tots, Fruit Pastilles, Skittles, and anything that comes in a bag with a lollipop/liquorice stick, or looks faintly like sherbert. I thank the heavens I've never been the slightest bit interested in illegal drugs.

At a wedding once, the bride tossed her bouquet in my direction.  I stepped aside and let the throng of charging women decimate the poor thing.  If that bouquet had been a Sherbert Dib Dab, I'd have done very bad things to every women hoofing it in my direction to ensure I got my hands on that sugary little fella.

Imagine my delight yesterday, when I stumbled upon the newly opened retro sweet shoppe (their spelling, not mine) in the village nearby.  As I stepped across the threshold, I thought I knew exactly how Charlie Bucket must have felt on entering Willy Wonka's factory gates.

There were more Dib Dabs inside than I could waggle a liquorice stick at.  It was a beautiful moment.

Over the years, I've bemoaned the fact that getting my hands on a sherbert fountain or a fruit bonbon has been harder than scoring a dose of crack cocaine.  I'm speculating here, you understand.  I don't actually have first-hand experience of this.  Not long after I first met Steve he was popping out to the shops and asked me if I wanted anything.  I said "Strawberry Bonbons please" not realising exactly what I'd done.  He was gone for ninety minutes.  He came back with a bag of vanilla bonbons after trawling every sweet shop within a 6 mile radius.  I knew right then and there he was a keeper. And now, on my door step, there is an emporium filled with sherbert pips, cola bottles, sherbert fountains, sherbert Dib Dabs, Cola Cubes, Swizzel Sticks, Strawberry Bonbons, and Rhubarb and Custards.

I am undone.

What are your favourite sweet treats?

If you fancy joining in with...

... Just link up below and I'll be over faster than I can get through a bag of sherbert pips.  Oh happy day!

I'm Still Tittering Now

Last night I had a quiet evening to myself and thought I'd see if I could dig up that old video I was telling you about here yesterday.  The one with Ewan McGregor advertising Nova Intercultural Institute on Japanese tv in the 90's.  I have looked all over the world wide web (no, I don't have too much time on my hands) and can find no reference to it at all.  I know I didn't imagine it.  I remember quite clearly, it was 1995, I was having a ball living in Japan, I turned on the tv after work and suddenly found myself  having to do something akin to the Heimlich manoeuvre to dislodge the noodles I spontaneously inhaled as I watched Ewan undertaking some very questionable acting.

Ewan still seems to have been at it in 2002, as this ad will testify.  Only by 2002 he was advertising for Aeon, a different English language school in Japan and Nova's main competitor.

See for yourselves...

There are no words.

And, if that wasn't enough to curdle the milk in your coffee this afternoon, there's more...

Those were my exact words on witnessing this advert for the first time.
Oh my God.
Closely followed by...
Why Ewan?  Why?

I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed finding these treasures.  If you want to see more go to japander.com, a site dedicated to show-casing the ads made by American and British actors, which are not shown outside Japan.  It's a fun way to spend a few minutes.  Who am I kidding, I was on there for hours, tittering into my coffee.

Favourite Thing On A Friday - Ed Norton, The Illusionist, and Fun Times in the 90's.

My Favourite thing On a Friday this week is the film, "The Illusionist" with Edward Norton. For three very good reasons.  I'll explain.  Firstly, I curled up under a blanket last night, to watch the film knowing I was going to be in for a goodun.  Has Ed Norton ever been in a dodgy film?  Well, OK, "Keeping the Faith" wasn't his best work, but it still had Anne Bancroft in it, so it can't have been all bad, right?  (On a bit of a segue, am I the only person who thinks Ben Stiller has got little legs?)

Look into my eyes.  

Oh, go on then Ed, if you insist.

Secondly, Edward Norton has been one of my favourite actors since I saw him in "American History X" in 1999.  A fantastically powerful story.  "The Painted Veil" is also another of my favourites.  I've actually been reduced to tears just hearing the music for the opening titles of that film.  I know.  It's just how I roll.  And need I say more than simply "Fight Club"?  No.

I love that Mr Norton can portray someone violent and powerful like his character in American History X, and then go on to convincingly play a vulnerable and bookish man as in The Painted Veil.  Anyhoo, I'm not a film critic (thank the heavens, based on what I've written here so far...) but wanted to draw your attention to Mr Norton, because I have a special reason for loving him, not simply connected to his fantasmagorical acting skills, sweet good looks and gentle nature.

And here it is, the third and most fantastic reason...  I don't know if you know this, but Edward Norton speaks Japanese, and after he graduated from Yale in 1991, he spent some time, in the early/mid 90's, working in Osaka in Japan.  This was before he was famous for his acting skills.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I spent 5 years working in Tokyo, Japan, (I know some of you are yawning, knock it off) around the very same time that Mr Norton was in Osaka.  Don't get too excited by this tale.  I didn't end up dating him. (Although I did end up meeting Duran Duran while I was living in Tokyo.  But that's a whole other story.  I digress.)

While Mr Norton was in Japan he decided to do a bit of extra work for a large language company known as Nova Intercultural Institute, which just so happened to be the very same language school I was working for.  He made a teaching video and appeared in an ESL lesson book for Nova Intercultural Institute, which was used in the mid-nineties as a teaching aid by the English speaking teachers who worked there and their Japanese students. At that time, Nova was the biggest language school in Japan, and so this teaching aid was distributed throughout the country to a lot of schools there.  I cannot stress to you enough that, although Japan is the other side of the world to America, and Ed probably thought not many folk were going to end up seeing this body of work if he ever hit it big, more people than you can waggle a stick at got to witness Ed in all his glory simply because Nova was a mahoooosive company in Japan.

Nova used to pay very well known British and American actors to appear in tv ads for the company, which shamelessly suggested that if you took lessons at Nova, you would probably end up dating your American/British teacher.  I remember sitting down to eat my hot noodles one evening after work and turning on the tv to see Ewan McGregor pretending to be a Nova teacher, skipping across a bridge with a young, attractive Japanese student.  He taught her to say "I love you" in English, and the ad finished with Ewan and the Japanese student sharing a "moment" together as the credits rolled for the company.  I choked watching it.  I could hear Ewan's manager, "Don't worry Ewan, no-one important in the film industry is going to see this, it's  not showing outside Japan."  There may only be a few hundred British people who ever saw it (alongside several million Japanese folk), but rest assured, it's burned into the back of my eyeballs.

Getting back to Edward Norton, The video and book he made for Nova were called "Only In America".   Take a cheeky peek at some of the stills from the video that I managed to find online...

What's my motivation for this piece?

Erm, I'm pretty sure it's the money Ed.

And my personal favourite...

All photos courtesy of edwardnorton.org

I swear, he didn't shoot a porn video for Nova Intercultural Institute.  It wasn't that kind of  company.  I worked there.  Stop sniggering at the back.

So, my Favourite Thing(s) On A Friday this week, are threefold:  "The Illusionist" starring Edward Norton.  See it.  It's a belter.  Edward Norton himself, just because he's fab.  And the fact that there is a whole other body of work that Edward made before American History X that involves him sporting some very unsavoury looking outfits.

 What's you Favourite Thing On A Friday this week?

Link up below and let us know.  And if you let people know you're linking up back here with Mimi and Tilly on your blog post, they can join in too.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've loved this week.

It's FTOF Day Tomorrow!

So, it's Thursday, which means that tomorrow is the day we share our Favourite Thing On a Friday.  As you may recall, I forgot last week.  So this week I'm making a point of remembering my own ruddy link-up and posting a reminder (mainly for myself).




So, what's been your favourite thing this week?  A fantastic charity shop find?  A great car-booty haul?  A good book you've not been able to put down?  Something you've made?  An age-inappropriate outfit you've worn that just knocked socks off itself?  (If anyone has had the joie de vivre to wear nipple tassels and a pair of y-fronts down to Tesco's, I'd really appreciate a link up to photographic proof/police mug shots.)  Have you written a blog post that made you proud to be a blogger?  Whatever has been your favourite thing this week is fab for a link up here.

All you have to do is check out the bottom of my post tomorrow and find the link-up tool, add your blogspot url and then let people know on your blog post that you're linking up with Mimi and Tilly.

Then we'll be all over your blog like static on crimplene.

P.S.  Thank you for all your fantastic comments about yesterday's post.  I was genuinely a bit nervous about posting it (and the photo of me), as I don't tend to rant too much on my blog (or post too many photos of myself).  However, now that I've found the whole experience of ranting here positively liberating, I'll be sure and share my soap box musings more often.  Just a heads up though.  I do tend to get myself in a lather about different things.  It's possible I may start to scare instead of share...

I'm Feeling a Tad Perplexed

I'm about to have an outburst.  Please be warned.  I don't normally do this on my blog, but, ooh, I've got myself all riled up.  And not in a good way.  This could get ugly.

Who decided that women need to dress age appropriately?  What exactly does age appropriate mean?  And, why, as a woman "of a certain age", am I expected to dress according to someone else's idea of what constitutes being appropriate or not?

I have stumbled across a couple of things this week that have left me quietly perplexed.

The first was a question posed to me by someone I consider to be beautiful, intelligent, stylish and sassy.  A friend in their mid-thirties who expressed concern that they weren't dressing age appropriately.    They looked amazing.  Fantastic.  Completely and utterly bang on. And yet, they weren't sure if what they were wearing was age appropriate or not.  I felt sad that there was any concern at all over what they were wearing, and completely frustrated that many women over a certain age do this to themselves.  

The second thing that got me going, was a blog post by Vix, over at Vintage Vixen.  Vix is a wonderful woman who never ceases to inspire me with her joie de vivre and her gorgeous style.  Vix was expressing her dismay (quite rightly) at an episode of Gok's Fashion Roadshow.  I have mixed feelings about Gok Wan.  On the one hand he comes across as kind and likeable.  On the other,  here is a man who says he likes women but who, in fact, dresses them up like librarians and sends them off into the world prepared to conform to his idea of what constitutes "age appropriate style". He also calls breasts "bangers".

Having read Vix's blog post, I sat and watched the programme.  Then I found myself getting acid indigestion with frustration.  A poor woman of the hugely advanced age of 33 (ye-gads, 33) was dressing in a way that was considered too young for her age.  And it was her friends who told her this.  On camera.  Her friends, people.  Nice. She was 33, for crying out loud.  What exactly constitutes age inappropriate at 33?  A nappy, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, I could get on board with Gok's desire to help women feel good about their naked bodies.  But he's gone and lost me advocating "age appropriate" to a 33 year old.

I have a style philosophy.  If it makes you feel fabulous put the bugger on.  If that means you end up going to Tesco's dressed in nipple tassels and a pair of y-fronts and you feel like Marilyn Monroe, then knock yourself out.  (Not literally, although I am aware that nipple tassels can do that to you if you're skilled in making them jangle.) Obviously if you're doing the school run you might need to take a coat.  It's chilly this time of year.

I'm not being facetious here.  I mean it.

I'm not interested in making the rest of the world happy with what I'm wearing.  I'm interested in feeling happy, joyful and fun-loving for me.

As far as I can see, being age appropriate is the modern day equivalent of having bound feet.  Trying to bend myself into someone else's image of beauty.  I don't want to be someone else's image of beauty, I want to be my own.

Me.  

Wearing hideously age-inappropriate earrings and boots.  

Shocker.

I am 43.  My hair is long and I wear enormous Minnie Mouse bows in it.  I wear honking great earrings and false eye-lashes.  I wear knee-high lace-up boots that I bought when I was the tender age of 25, and I intend to wear those bleeders till they fall off my legs. I wear short skirts, long skirts, and skirts in-between.

I don't believe it's about being age appropriate.  I believe it's about finding your style and going with it.  I believe it's about leaving the house feeling fantastic.  Or staying home and lounging around in a gorgeous outfit feeling like a less pink version of Barbara Cartland as you drift around your home.

For me, being age appropriate isn't about dressing to someone else's style. It's about finding my own, whatever my age, and shining each and every time I put an outfit together and step out of the front door.  It's about finding my panache and pizazz.  And if that panache and pizazz is about pulling on velvet hot pants and green patterned tights when I'm 65 years of age, and stepping out onto the street feeling like a movie star, then Gok Wan be warned, I'm going to do it.

If the 33 year old woman on Gok Wan's show came away feeling amazing, filled with style vigour and sizzling with confidence as a result of Gok dressing her in a beige cardie, then I'll hush my mouth.  I hope she did.

So, Vix, I salute you, your style, your panache and pizazz.

There.  I'm done.  Outburst over.

I feel much better.

What do you feel about the age appropriate question?

  

Beautiful Words

www.polyvore.com

I find quiet courage very beautiful.  I believe the world is full of ordinary people who quietly get up for another day, intent on trying to do their best, even though they may be tired, lonely or afraid.  

I smiled at an old man in Sainsbury's a while back and he came up to me and told me I looked like a rainbow in his day (admittedly I was donning a pink coat and carrying a red bag).  He said it meant a lot to him that I'd given him a smile.  (He also said that if he was 20 or 30 years younger he'd be all over me like a rash, but I don't want to sully a heart-warming moment with that part of the conversation.)  

He told me he was 87 and he lived alone.  He made me laugh, he was so full of fun and kindness.  He had a basket with a small bottle of milk, a tin of soup and a loaf in it.  A lovely man who was keeping on keeping on.  I hope that if I have the good fortune to hit 87, I'm still smiling, flirting and keeping on keeping on.

    

And We're Back In The Room...

I've done it.

The new blog design is up and running without any technical hitches at all.  My heart was in my mouth as I was transferring the templates, but all went well.  Hurrah.

I probably didn't need to eat that third bag of ready salted crisps, all things considered, as the crossover was really simple.  But I wasn't sure, and a girl has to get her kicks somewhere.  

Ready salted it is then.

If you take a peek at each of the pages under my spiffy new blog header above, you'll see links to different posts around my blog, relevant to the page title.  I'm also going to be posting tutorials so you can have a go at making some of the things I've made here at Mimi and Tilly.   

I'll be going through how to put together a simple jewellery-making kit.  With hints and tips on making your own jewellery at home.  Jewellery-making equipment can be expensive so I'll be showing you how to cheat a bit and pick up fab equipment that isn't made specifically for jewellery-making and so costs a lot less.

I'll also be putting together a couple of crochet and knitting tutorials.

I have some fantastic guest bloggers lined up for you, who are going to share their sparkle!

And I promise, I will do my level best to remember to post my Favourite Thing On A Friday this week.  Ooh, the shame...

A big glittery welcome to my new followers.  I'm really glad you've linked up.  I'm off now to do a bit more blog tweaking!

New Blog Design

Please bear with me.  I am making the transition to my new blog design.  It looks a bit of a mess now but will be beautiful very soon.  Thank you for your patience!

Favourite Thing On a Friday! - I'm sorry, I forgot!

Oops.   It's Friday.  And I forgot to post about my favourite thing this week...  I can't believe it.  What in the David Dickinson is that all about?  I'm sorry!

All I can say in my defense is...  Nope.  I got nothing.  I've just popped on the computer now to catch up on my blog reading and realised, "Nooooooo, it's Friday!  You haven't posted about your Favourite Thing On A Friday!"

So, my favourite thing this week is that I can remember my own name, my home address, and to put my undercrackers on the right way, as clearly, I'm having trouble elsewhere!  I'll leave the link open until tomorrow if you'd like to link up and I'll be over to see your favourite things this week.

I'm having trouble getting my head around the irony of this considering my post yesterday, which was actually called "Remember...".  Seriously.  You couldn't make this up.

 I'm sorry.

P.S.  Note to self "I am enough.   But must do better!" 

Remember...

wipkits.blogspot.com

P.S.  Except when I'm being too much.  (I can't help it.  I get giddy.)

Beautiful Words and New Designs

 

Source 

For a while now I've been wanting to change the format and design of my blog.  Not because I don't love the format I currently have, which is from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates ( a wonderful site which offers a whole host of beautiful goodies for your blog), but because I want my blog to better reflect what I'm writing about now.  Less baking, more jewellery.  

I sat and chewed my lip a bit, wondered about whether I should ask a blog designer to do it for me, had a talk with myself (not in a scary thinking there was another person in the room way, but in a "you can do this, you're a smart woman" and "my, your hair's looking sassy today" kind of  way) and then embraced my gung-ho attitude and ended with "Come on Em, let's have a go!".  The Advanced Editor feature on Blogger is brilliant!

So, I've set up another blog where I can run amok in the html without running the risk of deleting every post written over the past two years and then beating my chest and sobbing over the keyboard as I watch my blog disappear.

And even if I say so myself, it's not too shabby.  I'm not a blog designer and it's a simple format but it's a bit ring-a-ding ruddy lovely.

The only problem I have now is transferring the new design from the temporary blog over the format I currently have here.  I'm not brilliant at doing this, and because my current format isn't a template offered by blogger, I run the risk of ending up with a mix of old blog design and new blog design, all melded together like some kind of blogging Frankenstein horror creation.

I am waiting on a little technical help with this.  The last time I tried to do it myself, I had a few, ahem, problems.  It was as if I'd gone out and left the key in the blog door and vandals got in and trashed my blog.  Only, I'd done it myself.  Live it, learn it.  I am staying away from my html. 

Although I'm a little bit sad to be saying goodbye to my fairy cakes.  So to speak.  I'm looking forward to being able to display the jewellery I've made more prominently on my blog, so that when people come to take a peek, they don't get confused and think I'm slamming out the cupcakes.

So, thank you Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates for giving me two years of a beautifully designed blog.  I've thoroughly enjoyed my fairy cake header and the rich deep colours.  But it's on to blogging pastures new.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll be making the transfer but am pretty sure it will be some time during the next week, after having a stiff pint of gin or three, and taking a few deep breaths to calm the nerves.  (Who am I kidding?  Gin?  I'll be chomping my way through a jumbo bag of the old Ready Salted to steady my hand.)

Wish me luck. 

 

P.S.  Thank you to everyone who's entered the giveaway, and for your lovely comments about reaching 200 followers.  You're ace.  Em x

What Do You Do When You've Hit 200?

Have a giveaway!

There seems to be a lot to celebrate on my blog lately.  In August I had my second Blogiversay.  Two years of blogging.  Who knew I had so much to say?  (Most of my friends and family actually.  I do like to bang on chat...)  And now I've hit two hundred (and one) followers on Blogger.  Wow!   Thank you!

I'm still a little surprised (but very glad) that people read my blog.  I'm always hand-clappy happy when  someone takes the time to leave a comment.  So, a huge thank you for reading my blog and writing comments.  I'm very genuinely delighted that you do.  You bring glitter and sparkle into my day.    

Now, you know of my love of jewels?  'Tis true.  I love a good jewel.  So, as a big thank you to my two hundred blog followers for the smiles you bring, I've made a wee jewel combination to give away.

I love organic jewellery, that's a little bit chunky, and a little bit "speaks for itself".  I've put together a pair of earrings that I hope you're going to like.  Made from chunky smokey topaz nuggets.  A bit of pizzazz in time for Autumn...

I've used sterling silver wire to wire wrap the smokey topaz nuggets to the silver-plated ear hooks.  I've used a larger hook to balance the size of the nuggets.  The hooks are silver-plated to eliminate the issue of tarnishing.  I love these earrings (even if I do say so myself) as the smokey topaz blends with most colours.  Large enough to make a statement and simple enough to be totally stylish.  I'll be making a pair of these beauties for myself...

The earrings have a drop of 4.3cms from the top of the ear hook to the base of the nugget.  The nuggets are 1.8cms long.  Yowza!  That's a lot of jewel! 

All you have to do to enter is follow Mimi and Tilly on Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest and let me know which you're doing in a comment below.  If you follow all four, let me know and your name goes into the hat four times.  Following three, your name goes in three times.  If you're following two, then twice, etc.  If you blog about my giveaway, you get another entry.  If you post my giveaway button in your sidebar, you get another entry.  It's possible to have six entries in total, but you don't need to.  It's entirely up to you how many times you enter.  Just let me know how many entries you need in your comment and I'll put you in the hat.  

This giveaway will run until Monday 24th October, when I'll draw the winner. I'm happy to post internationally, so everyone is eligible. Your earrings will come wrapped in tissue paper and gift-boxed.  Kind of like an early christmas present!  

Thank you for your friendship and support, you are fab!  And good luck!  

P.S.  I have two gorgeous guest bloggers coming up on Mimi and Tilly soon.  They have volunteered to share their sparkle!  I can't wait to show you what they've chosen from their jewellery boxes!

Marathons and Windy Days

My lovely significant other, Steve, ran the Liverpool marathon today.

It was windy and rainy but after 26 miles, he crossed over the finish line smiling.  I'm so proud of him.

He's raising money for Wirral Autistic Society (WAS) Family Support Unit.

WAS provides residential and day care services to 115 adults with autism. People with autism can feel overwhelming frustration and anxiety and often need life long support from places like WAS. Services focus on encouraging independence and the development of life skills to help clients achieve their full potential. 

Steve is the manager of the Family Support Unit at Wirral Autistic Society, and his long-term goal is to raise £5,000 to buy much-needed sensory equipment for the children with autism that the unit supports.

In Steve's own words...

"Hi everyone, I’m running, (Well, I say running!) the Liverpool Marathon this year and we want to raise lots of money to buy some sensory equipment for the children we support across all sorts of settings from activity clubs to family homes.

 The hope is to raise £5000 to buy 10 sensory blackout tents and have enough equipment to make each one of them a unique and special sensory experience for young people, either in our activity clubs or at home with our support staff.  It would be lovely if you could spare some money and help support the cause.

Cheers. Wish me luck!"

Steve Vasey (Family Support Manager, Wirral Autistic Society) 

If you are able to make a donation , Steve would be thrilled.

You can donate at Steve's Just Giving page here HERE

And learn more about Wirral Autistic Society on their website HERE

Thank you so much for your donations.  I know times are a bit tough at the moment, but every amount donated will make a huge difference to the children with autism that the Family Support Unit helps.  

Steve finished the race with a spring in his step, but has since stiffened up and is now trying to coax himself into a hot bubble bath!  Here is a picture of the man himself after he finished running...

Steve's legs were the normal length at 
the beginning of the marathon.

Thank you for your support, it is very much appreciated.  

   P.S.  I'll be back tomorrow with a details of a giveaway to celebrate hitting 200 followers.  Thank you for being so fab. Em x

Favourite Thing On A Friday - Woolly Love

I have a passion for yarns and wools.  I love the textures and colours.  And this week I decided to fulfill a long-held ambition to crochet a flower and a heart.

Simple ambitions. Huge pleasure.

When I started writing this blog in 2009, I would flick through books of crochet patterns, and sigh at all the pretty things I found there.  But I couldn't crochet at the time and so would flick through the books again and sigh a bit more.

Being the kind of gal who doesn't like to say "I can't" and prefers to say "I can't yet, but there's no reason why I shouldn't...", I decided that the time had come to stop fandangling around.  To live a little.  Fly by the seat of my big-girl pants.  (I had a friend who adopted this gung-ho attitude at a barbecue once and decided to try his hand at fire-breathing.  Did.Not.Go.Well.  Oh, don't worry he was fine.  But he did manage to set his pants on fire.  And not in a good way.)

My very patient friend, Jill, taught me how to crochet granny squares earlier this year, and gave me the basic pattern for the flower, (thank you Jill), and the heart pattern was from a video tutorial that I found here on Youtube.  I even managed to alter it a bit to add my own edging.  Fancy.

So, this week, I have two Favourite Things On a Friday...

A crochet flower and some crochet hearts I made.

Prepare yourselves for some serious wool worship...

I used this beautiful, soft pink, vintage wool to make my corsage, and a vintage 1920's mother-of-pearl button for the centre.  This rose has become a corsage pinned to my 1950's style cardie.  I'm good to go.

Now, for a heart to heart... 

These little heart-breakers are going to be a garland to hang in my bedroom.

It's been a good week in my neck of the woods, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've been up to.

Link up below to join in with Favourite Thing On a Friday, if you'd like to.

• Link to your blog post showing your favourite thing this week.

• Show a link back to Mimi and Tilly's Favourite Thing On a Friday post on your blog post.

That way we get to hop, skip and jump around to see each others' favourite things.  I'll be with you in a jiffy.

P.S.  Although you couldn't make it up, that fire-breathing story is all true.
P.P.S.  I'm not advocating fire-breathing in any way, shape or form.  Or setting yourself on fire.  Unless we're talking in euphemisms, and when you say "I am on fire!", you're not actually calling for help, but are extolling the virtues of something fantabulous you've done.  In which case, go for your life.