Outfit post - Winter roses

I'm not feeling up to much other than catching up on work at the moment, so here is a little outfit/hair post. This is just what I wore to go shopping then to swimming on Wednesday.


Coat - On sale for £18 (I paid £45!) - very.co.uk
Jeans - Freddies of Pinewood
Black velvet gloves - Accessorize, about ten years ago
Scarf of amazingness - knitted by my mum in the 70s, check out her brand new blog!


40s Style sweater - TK Maxx (why is it TK Maxx here and TJ Maxx in the States?)


Here's my hair. I'd just brushed out a beehive and decided to do something with it while it was all full of volume from the hairspray remnants. My hair isn't really long enough for a snood, but it fills it out quite nicely when my hair is all fuzzed out like this. Snood crocheted by my sister, have a look at her blog for more vintage sewing, knitting and crochet.


Here's the front, I was pleased with my rolls that day, shame I had to brush them out a couple of hours later to go swimming! The rose bracelet was a Christmas gift from my friend Louella.


Here are the shoes I have on above - Dacey by Rocket Dog, from Amazon on sale. I wanted something suitable for Winter, vegan, in a neural-ish colour, and which would not look out of place with a variety of vintage-styled outfits. I chose the weirdest colour but there are four others, and while it's described as 'tan' the butterscotch yellow colour of these shoes fits in with my Autumn/Winter colour picks so matches my wardrobe plan.

New Guinea Pigs!

Apologies to you all for not blogging for a few weeks, by the end of the year I was just feeling totally burnt out and rubbish, and really didn't have anything to write about. Sales in the run up to Christmas were terrible, I was feeling low and generally stagnant, so took a few weeks to just relax and spend some time with Aerospace boyfriend and not think too much about bills, business or anything else really. I'm happy to say that sales at Kalandra Jane Designs have now picked up and are going well, I've got some fabulous custom projects in the works and am also planning several events, stalls and photoshoots in the next couple of months.

Sadly on December 19th my guinea pig, Bela Lugosi passed away in my arms as we rushed him to the emergency vet at 6am. I'd had him over five years, so he was reasonably old, but his health suddenly took a dive and he started to lose weight rapidly one day, a few weeks after being separated from his friend, Mr. Sprout. Sprout had to have an operation to remove a facial tumour and Bela was doing more harm than good by trying to groom the stitched wound. We put the boys back in together once the stitches were removed, and they'd had a great evening bonding. I couldn't sleep that night, and when I checked the cage Bela was lying on his side gasping, with Sprout guarding him.


RIP, my lovely Bela Lugosi

I wasn't going to get another pig, but as soon as Bela was gone Sprout immediately began this pining behaviour too, losing weight through not eating and inactivity. A friend had some 11-week old baby males ready to go, and on Christmas day at my mum's they were waiting for me.


Here are my boys together, Victor, Mr. Sprout and Igor. We buried Bela in the garden and placed some bluebell bulbs on top. Sprout's weight has now gone back up, surpassing even his pre-op weight. The new boys are very timid, but they've all bonded well as a group.

My First Blog Award!

Thanks very much to the lovely Emily of Sass, Sin and Fashion Design for my very first blog award!



The rules for this award state that you should share 7 facts about yourself, and then pass it on to 10 other stylish bloggers.

1. I have three aquariums, two guinea pigs and a dog - in a one-bedroomed flat!

2. I really dislike modern bands which try to sound 'vintage' - stuff like Imelda May etc. which everyone seems to love but I just think are a weak pastiche of the real thing.

3. I'm just about to launch my first proper website for my business - www.kalandrajanedesigns.com

4. I really wish I had spent more time with my grandparents before they died. I have none left, and really wish I knew more about their lives. Unfortunately you don't think about these things as a teenager, and don't realise until the moment has passed.

5. I have been vegan for over five years, and was vegetarian for about nine years before that.

6. After partially moving away from the punk scene when it became all about ketamine, crust music and boring warehouse parties, I often feel that I have very few close friends that I have much in common with, and would love to find some new girlfriends to go shopping with or out for drinks.

7. I have been dieting since January 1st and so far have lost 4.5kg, which is nearly 10 pounds.

Here are my ten nominations for the stylish blogger award! I don't expect all of these to play along, but all are worth a good read!

http://retromodelsari.blogspot.com/
http://www.andibgoode.com/
http://atomicteaparty.blogspot.com/
http://helen-highwater.blogspot.com/
http://ivyandruby.blogspot.com/
http://missmatildadreams.blogspot.com/
http://temperamentalbroad.blogspot.com/
http://vintagelesbianproject.blogspot.com/
http://vavoomvintage.blogspot.com/
http://welcometodeluxeville.blogspot.com/