More Etsy Goodies

           I have still been so busy sorting through all of my stuff (my house will soon be half empty.) I can't believe it's February already. The quicker this year goes the better, and we will be even closer to our move to England.

    Even though I have been clearing out very large amounts I haven't stopped buying completely. Etsy continues to tempt me!

      Of course I continue to add to my Miss Bumbles collection (I now have over 90!)

        Another shop I love is Boopsie Daisy. And I thought I would share with you the four dolls I have from this shop.

My very first doll was a custom made black cat called Pawlie.

Next I was luck enough to grab Gimmick from the 2012 Halloween range.

This custom made doll is based on my cat, Ruby and her love of Malteser sweets. 

I snapped up Drippy the gingerbread girl at the same time as Ruby.

    I have yet to take pictures of all my dolls. All pictures belong to Boopsie Daisy, find her Etsy shop here.

      Although I can't start another large collection, I do have a few more dolls on my wishlist.  I'd love a Marie Antoinette doll, an all white witch like a previous Halloween doll and a little French girl. I'm sure there will be more to come this year!

Busy January

              January seems to have flown by so far. I am back in clearing out mode. And have more stuff listed on ebay and a few bits in a local auction. I still have quite a lot to get rid of so I thought I'd better start now!
      Anyone who knows me knows how much I love black cats. I have a large collection of black cat stuff that I've been collecting since I was a teenager.
I thought I would collect them until I was an old lady. But I've decided that the collection has to go! I have about 90% of my collection set aside and ready to go up for sale in the next couple of months. I have items from 1929 to the present day.
      But who needs all that stuff when I have the two best black cats in the world!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Hope Santa was good to you!

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff!

                Just when I thought I was winning my battle against stuff, more pops up! I was hoping to have finished clearing out by the end of this year but that's not going to happen. Yet more stuff went off to auction last week and more ebay items posted this week.
          I have made a big dent in the amount of stuff I have but I am getting so fed up with it now. But at least there are two furry things who love it when all this is going on...

                    Violet loves to watch the action from the top of the door.

     Hmm...   This looks interesting.

         But I am really motivated to finish clearing out. We are aiming to be settled in England by August 2014 and I can't wait. I am hoping to have only eight boxes of stuff belonging to me on the removal van... we'll see how that goes!

Ruby Bunny Ears Portrait

       I have cut out all other forms of shopping completely but Etsy continues to be my downfall. I have realised that it is impossible to ban myself from Etsy, so I've stopped trying!

      One of my latest purchases was from Water In My Paint. I have a French squirrel painting from this shop which I love. For my next purchase I wanted a custom portrait of one of my cats.

      I decided to get Ruby done wearing a pair of red bunny ears. And I couldn't be happier with the finished painting. It's amazing, it looks just like Ruby!

      I can't recommend this shop highly enough. The painting was ready so quickly and arrived in the UK very fast. I will be going back very soon to get Violet done too.

   The shop has lots of other lovely paintings too. Click here to visit the shop.

Back In Training For The Shopping Olympics

       I haven't blogged in a while because I have been quite busy. Busy going through what seems to be endless piles of my own stuff! But I am getting through it bit by bit. Bags of stuff have gone to the charity shop, boxes of various bits and pieces have been put into auction and a decent amount of items listed and sold on ebay.
      I had been doing great hardly shopping at all and getting money back in from the things I no longer wanted. But I wasn't on my best behaviour for long...
    Etsy was my downfall. I make no secret of the fact that Etsy is one of my favourite places to shop. And I had a big spending spree in one of my favourite shops, MissBumbles.
    I mentioned in my last post that I already had other items in mind for a custom order. This order consisted of three black cats.

    
      First is this little seaside kitty. She is based on Ruby. Ruby loves to play in the bath with a bit of water in it, so I thought it would be sweet if she donned a swimming costume.

       Next is this dashing little Frenchman. (Anyone who reads this blog knows I love almost all things French. So this one should come as no surprise!) I have named him Oliver after my first black cat but I suppose in this case, it should really be Olivier. He is just so sweet in person!

And last but certainly not least is this gorgeous Little Red Riding Kitty. Little Red Riding Hood is one of my favourite fairy tales and this little cat is just so cute. She even has a treat for Granny in her basket.

      My haul didn't end there...

While browsing one day I spotted this sweet little red vixen. She reminds me of the foxes I see from my bedroom window. Of course I had to have her too (she was too pretty to resist!)

         And my last purchase was this exquisite spring garland. I particularly like the little girl lamb. I have had my eye on this for a while. And since I have done so well selling my old things I took the plunge and bought it. I am so glad I did the detail is amazing.

    All pictures belong to Miss Bumbles you can find her Etsy shop here. I have used them simply because they are better than any of my photography.

     I have had a pretty miserable week, feeling ill for most of it. So when my parcel with all of these goodies in it arrived on Saturday and I unwrapped all of the pretty patterned tissue paper, it cheered me up no end.
    It is pretty safe to say that I am addicted to Miss Bumbles' wonderful creations. And I know I will be buying many more in the future.

Needle Felted Delights

I hope you all had a good Easter (and ate plenty chocolate!) I have not had much time to blog lately, I am still busy going through my things and listing some bits on ebay. I have been doing well on my mission to save money.
     Don't get me wrong, I haven't been a total angel. There have been a few temptations that I have given into...
       One of these purchases was from one of my favourite Etsy shops, Miss Bumbles. I have quite a few of her wonderful creations and this time I asked for a custom order. 
     I wanted a little version of my cat Ruby. She loves Maltesers, they are one of her favourite things in the world. No she doesn't eat them, I will explain all in another post. I wanted her to be juggling Maltesers. She is also wearing a Malteser themed dress, red the colour of the packet, brown polka dots to represent the sweets themselves and a white ribbon around her waist to represent the colour of the font on the packet.
       The finished result was even better than I had imagined and when the pictures came through I was so excited.

Pictures belong to Miss Bumbles. You can find her Etsy shop here.

     I loved the little touches that Miss Bumbles added to the piece, the little collar. But especially the little tongue sticking out, I thought that was genius. It captures Ruby's cheeky personality completely.

     I was also tempted by another piece in the form of this cute little nanny goat kid. And she made the journey to my house along with the little Ruby Replica.

        Not only do you get gorgeous items from this shop, the service is great too. The lady behind the shop is really nice and helpful. She was very patient and answered all of my questions throughout the custom order process.

     To anyone who has been thinking of buying from this shop, I can't recommend it highly enough. I am already thinking about another custom order.

There's No Place Like Schuh

    I have been doing extremely well saving money. I have also sold four of my Lulu Guinness handbags and  they have pulled in a decent amount of money.
    So on Tuesday I decided to treat myself to something that I have loved for quite a while. A stunning pair of Red or Dead Shirley glitter shoes.
    I was torn between the black and the red but in the end, I went for red. My very own pair of ruby red slippers, I am drawn to anything that reminds my of my lovely little cats. I will think of Ruby every time  I wear them.
    I was lucky I got the last pair in my size. They are so beautiful, I can't tell you how much I love them. Although I haven't been brave enough to wear them yet.

Shopping, Cake And Macarons

        I have been doing very well cutting down on my spending. As much as I love shopping, it is great to see the old bank balance rising rather sharply.
       But two weeks ago on Saturday we decided to take a little trip to St Andrews. Mainly to see what Easter goodies the shop had to offer.
    Although the Easter stuff was not great (we didn't buy any), I did manage to find a few other things...

       I bought two items from the Gorjuss range (I seem to buy something from the Gorjuss range every time I'm there). First the Ruby purse because it has a cat on it and it shares the name with one of my kittens. And then the Poppy Wood clutch which is also pretty.
     From the same shop I bought a black cat pen holder (for my collection) and two cards. One featuring a cat dressed as an Easter bunny, the other with a duckling wearing a tutu on it.
       Then we went to a charity shop that just sells books, some modern and a lot of vintage. Both my Mum and I really like vintage books and this time we weren't disappointed.
     My Mum bought a few vintage Agatha Christie books, what's great about them is they have the lovely vintage illustrations on the covers. She had most of them years ago but got rid of them and regretted it.
       I came away with a very nice selection all of which my Mum was kind enough to buy for me. I got three Timbucktoo books by Roger Hargreaves. I grew up with the Mr Men and Little Miss books but I'd never heard of these.
    The three I picked were Sniff (rabbit), Baa (sheep) and Roar lion.
    I also got two vintage Beatrix Potter books. I used to have quite a big collection of Beatrix Potter stuff. But even when I had my collection none of the books were nearly as old as these. An added bonus is that they both have their dust jackets.

      
        Of course the trip would not have been complete without a visit to Bibi's Bakery. I picked one of the specials for that day which was pecan and white chocolate (which was delicious!), My Mum picked Victoria sponge (so my kittens could enjoy it too). And they did, especially Ruby, who has a big weakness for cake and icing. Of course we only let them have a little bit. But Ruby enjoyed carrying the cake case around in her mouth, then tearing it to shreds later on!

    
         I also had a big craving for a macaron. I opted for lemon while Mum chose strawberry. These macarons were quite expensive at £1.50 a pop. But I have to say they were very close to what a proper macaron should taste like (they were so good).

More Sale Delights

       Yesterday  I decided to go into town to see for myself  what the sales had to offer. And I was not disappointed. Although my purse may not be so happy!
         My first stop was Lush and my luck was in, the half price sale was still on. I bought all single items, mainly Christmas items with a couple of Halloween thrown in. It was a great feeling going to the till and getting change from a £20.00 note for all this lovely stuff.

      My next stop was Paperchase. I love their Patisserie Pals range. I have the cake stand from the range. They had this gorgeous tin reduced from £7.50 to £3.50.  Then I spotted these very cute and quirky cookie cutter lights. These were a steal at half price, down from £15.00 to £7.50. I fell in love with them and they had to come home with me.

    
      While standing in the queue in Primark buying some rather mundane things, I spotted these Lip Smackers reduced to £1.00 each.  I really like these fizzy drink flavoured Smackers (I'm using Cherry Coke at the moment). So I went for Orange Fanta and Sprite.

       Then H&M, this item wasn't in the sale but I just had to have it. I was in the children's section to see what Hello Kitty items were on offer. I couldn't see anything of great interest. Until I saw this beautiful little cardigan which was a reddish orange colour with a white collar and it had a very cute little black cat on it.

       I have to confess that I do buy children's clothes if they have a black cat on them for my collection. So it goes without saying that I bought it and I think it was reasonably priced at £9.99.

           If all of this wasn't enough I then decided to make my way to TK Maxx. My Mum had mentioned to me that the last time she was in, they had Ruby cake sprinkles. She was going to buy them (she knows I'm a sucker for anything with my cats' names on). Even better if it's baking related. But in the end she didn't get them. So I thought I would go and see if they had any left because I knew I would love them. They did and I bought a tub for £2.99.

      Always on the hunt for a new cookbook to add to my growing collection, I went upstairs to see what they had to offer.  I came away with The Best Of Cadbury's Chocolate Cooking. A bargain at the same price as the sprinkles.

After all that it was time to make my way home. I am so pleased I had a good look around. I came away with some little gems.

Halloween Fun

I hope everyone had a fangtastic Halloween. Although my plans had to be significantly downsized at the last minute (garden party cancelled), we still managed to have a great time.
     Nobody was left out, even my little kittens got presents. These included a bat dangler toy, Halloween bubbles and matching pumpkin collars.

                                                                Ruby sporting her new collar.

Violet enjoys relaxing beside the gifts.

                                                   My little pumpkin meets a pumpkin.

Ruby gets into the spirit by donning her witches hat.

Ruby enjoys climbing over the pumpkin hurdle

Boris the bat joins the festivities.

These are just some of my photos from Halloween, I will post more soon.