Christmas the Always a Blue Sky Girl way

December 23, 2015December 27, 2015 | blueskygirlie

As many of you know, my background is in window dressing and visual styling and I’ve spent much of my career creating amazing Christmas concepts for the likes of Harrods, Selfridges, House of Fraser and Marks and Spencer. This means whether I like it or not, I have to ‘do’ Christmas in a certain way, with a certain style and over the years have collected some beautiful decorations to do it with.

In todays blog let me show you a few of my decorations and share some styling tips to hopefully help you create your most stylish Christmas ever!

Lets start with the first thing you see, the door wreath: Where we have a white modern door I have a very modern wreath. Its stylised with silver baubles inside, not to everyones taste but it suits our homes style. I like the simplicity of it and hopefully it sets the tone of the modern version of Christmas I personally love!

The Tree:

Having a modern designed home with retro/1960s highlights, I do love a white tree. It is an acquired taste though. We actually have two trees each year, a traditional green one in the lounge and a more retro white one in our kitchen/diner. The mix of styles really works and keeps everyone happy.

On both trees I have a few rules – only a star on top, never an angel (sorry I find them super tacky, and a bit spooky); lots of large, stylised baubles made from glass if possible in a mix of no more than 4 colours and LED lights set deep within the branches.

Our two looks this year – Modern and cool : Traditional and festive:

Decoration groupings:

I don’t like a fussy home so mainly group similar decorations together in key areas.Ceramic soldier/fabric Robin: TK Maxx, Christmas Rules sign: Demelza House, slim Santa figure: Liberty, cut out stag: WilkinsonsGlass trees/Polar bear: TK Maxx, felt runner: John Lewis, wooden toadstools: Tiger Stores, baubles: HomebaseQuote cushion: Dunelm Mill, retro deer cushion: Asda, tapesty cushion: bought in New York (sorry!) Merry Christmas sign: PaperchaseTin tray: The 99p Store

And with all this styling, I try to not take things too seriously, this is supposed to be a fun time after all… Giant bauble earrings for one of my favourite pieces of wall decor A reindeer chopping board nestled amongst the usual ones in the kitchen And you’ve just got to have a few sprigs of Mistletoe hanging around, just in case!

And a final festive touch for our youngest child…well, if you don’t have a chimney, Santas got to get in somehow to deliver the presents! Santas key: Card Factory

Have a wonderful Holiday season!

For more Christmas inspo why not have a look at my blogs on advent calendars here and creating Christmassy kids rooms here.

Creating Christmas in a childs bedroom

December 12, 2015December 12, 2015 | blueskygirlie

They say Christmas is for kids, and I always like to make sure my childrens bedrooms feel festive too. In todays blog see my top 5 tricks to do Christmas in a fun and child friendly way, easily and cheaply…and best of all your kids will love it!

‘Days till Christmas’ countdown –

This is a great way to stop those ‘how many days…” questions you get pretty much every day of December. I like using a very cute, child friendly one and then have it displayed in their bedroom. Cute decoration groupings –

In the rest of my home my decorations have to be ultra stylish, but in the kids rooms? Anything goes! I let them pick ones they like then display in groups amongst their usual toys. These were all bought in our local pound shop! Christmas duvet covers –

This is a simple way to add Christmas cheer to their beds and there’s some lovely designs out there starting at around £9.99. We bought ours from Dunelm Mill and bought a new one this year for our 8 year old for £12.00 – find it here.Bunting –

A great way to add decoration to the ceiling or on higher pieces of furniture. If bunting isn’t your style, making paper chains is a cheap and extremely effective solution too.
Festive soft toys –

For smaller children a soft toy or two can really add a cute Christmas touch to their bedroom or nursery. Remember normal Christmas decorations could be dangerous for any child under 3 years, so keep safe by adding cute plush toys like the one below.I hope this gives you some inspiration to add some decorations upstairs in your home as well this year!

See my blog on advent calendars here.

New in my Etsy Shop: Vintage Accessories

November 21, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Do you love vintage jewellery and accessories? I do, and you’ll often see me wearing items in outfit posts and on my Instagram. Often its hard to find pieces – they are getting rarer and rarer, and more and more collectable. I have just added some fantastic items to my Etsy vintage shop this week!

Here’s a selection of whats currently on offer – I have pieces from the 1950’s right through to the 1980’s. They make a great present too if you’re looking of a gift thats a bit different.

For a Mad Men style look these vintage brooches are just perfect…

Love modernist style? Then this signed 1960’s Pewter pendant by Norwegian designer Eivind Hillest could be for you…

Or how about a fabulous 1960’s beaded necklace? I adore the colour of this one…

Love the quirky style of the 1980’s? This necklace would look fantastic with its pop of bright colour…

For a bit of fun, retro earrings are perfect…and you don’t even need pierced ears!

diamante and glass bead earrings – £10.00

Don’t forget how well bracelets add interest to an outfit too…

Can’t resist a handbag? Be unique and pick a vintage one…

Find the full range of all my vintage items and more details on all the items seen on todays blog in my Etsy shop ‘Always a Blue Sky Girl’ here.

Desperately seeking Pearl

October 28, 2015November 2, 2015 | blueskygirlie

We were invited to the wedding reception of our friends Sally and Christian a couple of weeks back and jumped at the chance to dress up and have fun while celebrating the fact a fantastic coupled had got hitched!

I had been searching for a particular ‘dream’ dress on eBay for ages…a Pearl Lowe lace dress that had been produced by Peacocks back in 2010. At the time I bought a couple of the dresses (they ranged in price from £30-£60) but they were only in a few top stores and sold out really quickly, then Peacocks went into administration and the range was stopped. I was also a size 18 at the time so those dresses I did get ended up going to the charity shop and my search for a size 10 version of the most press loved dress began.

After a few months I finally found one and I’m so glad I did! It is a gorgeous dress and doesnt look like a high street product at all – in fact it made me feel like a million dollars!The dress itself has a fitted lace body with satin slip underneath. Its tight fitting on top and flares out into a lovely full skirt. The long sleeves show the detail of the lace off beautifully. It really is a beautiful dress and its such a shame they no longer produce the range. My bag was a vintage 1960s box bag. Its a lovely piece with gold chain and gold studded frame…and you can fit quite a bit in it! One of the things I love about vintage is you get a unique piece – who wants to turn up somewhere and someone else has exactly the same thing!I’m really fussy about shoes. I don’t like really high heels and I like to dance so they need to be comfortable. I came upon these Emilio Luca satin beauties purely by chance and they matched the colour of my dress perfectly…plus the kitten heel was comfortable enough to wear all night. Make-up was a dark red lipstick to match my dress, smoky eyes and winged eye liner. I also had my normally curly hair professionally blow dryed as I’m useless at doing it myself. We had a wonderful time and I got to hang out with this fantastic fella – I cannot wait till it’s our own wedding we’re dressing up for…

Dress : Pearl Lowe at Peacocks (via eBay)

Bag : Vintage

Shoes : Emilio Luca

Inspired by Pinterest

October 14, 2015October 28, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Sometimes you wake up and want to look a bit quirky. I’ve been on Pinterest quite a bit lately and have seen a lot of great blogger styling shots of maxi skirts and statement necklaces. Comfortable to wear and easy to style, maxi skirts can be dressed up or down and worn in any season and the addition of this fabulous necklace takes the outfit to another level. sourced via my Pinterest boards

I recently found a fab 1980s top in a local vintage clothing shop and loved its cute quirky wide stripes. Tucking it into a Very.co.uk petite range maxi skirt balances out its strong pattern too. A maxi skirt is a great wardrobe staple and just because you are smaller doesn’t mean you cant have one. Check put Verys petite range – it is rather good! For sizing this one is a UK10 and you can find similar here.

This look is very much about white accessories and the white bubble necklace (one of my favourite type of accessories – I blogged about them here) and a wide belt work together perfectly. A bargain pair of Peacocks flats (£4 in the sale) carries the red through.

What ideas on Pinterest have inspired you lately?

Top – Vintage
Necklace – eBay
Belt – New Look
Skirt – very.co.uk
Shoes – Peacocks

BOB by DOP Pop Up Shop

October 8, 2015November 2, 2015 | blueskygirlie

When I heard the Dawn O’Porter was launching another BOB pop up shop to tie in with Septembers London Fashion Week I jumped at the change to visit. Last season when it was in Seven Dials I hadn’t been able to get into London and had been really disappointed I had missed it.

The shop is located on Newburgh Street just off of Carnaby Street.

As well as her BOB range (new and last season items that are now in the sale) there’s a fantastic range of handpicked vintage clothing ranging from around £40 up to over £500. If you’re wondering what £500 buys you it buys the most AMAZING designer Courreges cream floor length cape that I looked at in awe… And then there was my dream skirt – the ‘Jane’ paper planes skirt. It has a print featuring stationary, Fab lollies, paper planes and Wotsits!!!! Do you remember I blogged about it back in December? Even though it is utterly wonderful, at £180 I just couldnt justify the cost while I am at home with my son and not earning much…

But as it was last season its now in the sale and with 70% off noless! In the shop they only had a small and large and even though I managed to squeeze myself into the small it was very tight – I’d say the small is a size 8/10 whereas the medium is more a 10/12. Dawn was really helpful and suggested I ordered it online and the next day I did just that! With delivery charges it came to £59.50.

It arrived beautifully packaged in tissue paper and in this gorgeous black box…Here is a close up of its brilliant Karen Mabon designed print – perfectly observed if you attended school in the 80s/early 90s…

And this is me in the skirt I’ve coveted for far too long… The newer designs of this skirt are now sized in generic dress sizes 8-14 which I think makes it much easier to find your size. Find the new designs here.

When I visited Dawn was in store and greeted me with a cheery “Hi! Ooh I LOVE your skirt!” (I was wearing a long leopard print maxt skirt) She was lovely and really helpful and chatty. I had to get my photo taken with her too – I love her TV shows and follow her avidly on Instagram. She is wearing the BOB ‘Kirstin’ dress here – the Toucan filled tropical print is adorable and you can buy it via the website here.

Get down there quick before it shuts its doors till next season…

BOB boutique: 8 Newburgh Street, London
Monday to Saturday 10am-7pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm

Childrens Book Review: Mr Cleghorns Seal by Judith Kerr

September 24, 2015September 27, 2015 | blueskygirlie

This is a new story by Judith Kerr, partly based on a true story which happened to her father and is about a man rescuing a seal pup, falling in love and ultimately finding a new purpose in life.

Our family very much enjoys the work of Judith Kerr and our nursery bookshelves have always been filled with her work – The Tiger who Came to Tea and the Mog the Cat series being particular favourites. The story is aimed at children 7 years plus but could easily be read to children younger than that. I think that any child older than 12 years or so might find it too old fashioned and twee but I personally found the book charming and would read it to my youngest child quite happily. My eight year old enjoyed the seals antics and the zoo parts and definitely liked that there was a happy ending as he looked a bit worried after the seals mother never returned! Phew! Its a story that feels like its from another time in the very best way, with communication via letter, travels by train and an old fashioned courtship that reminded me a little of Esio Trot by Roald Dahl. Without giving the story away its a lovely adventure with a happy ending that all children (and adults) will smile at. Plus a story featuring a cute seal pup can never be a bad thing! Its 88 pages are peppered with lots of lovely pencil drawings by Kerr so is a relatively quick story to enjoy too. I also love the fact that at the back there’s details of the real story which although did not have the happy ending is still a fascinating read. My 8 year old was very interested in this particularly as it based based on how he puts it, ‘a real life story like a reality show but a book!

If you are looking for a new bedtime story that is gentle, sweet and wistful with a slight vintage vibe to it then this would be a great addition to your childrens bookshelves. It’s presented beautifully too with a dust jacket with gold embossed type so would also make a nice gift.

Mr Cleghorns Seal by Judith Kerr* is priced at £12.99 published by HarperCollins and available at all good bookshops

Ready to wear Suede?

June 19, 2015August 5, 2015 | blueskygirlie

Suede is everywhere this season. Skirts, waistcoats and tops are appearing in many High Street stores influenced from the catwalk collections.

Now, suede is not an easy choice. It can be quite rigid and marks easily. Most items are dry clean only so its important to get yourself a suede brush and some suede and nubuck spray cleaner if you want to avoid being in the dry cleaners each week!

But if you decide to go for it, suede, like leather, can create a luxe look with very little styling. Yes, its an investment piece, but one that will never go out of fashion…

I co-ordinated an Outnet bargain top (I didnt want to make too much of an investment!) with skinny jeans and a statement necklace. The boxy shape of the t-shirt balances the fitted jeans and the necklace adds a bit of interest! Buckled boots finish the look.