A Walk In The Park

Rococo Rose

I've been planning this post for months, but held off because I wanted to give Lou one of these beautiful roses for her birthday, and didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Rococo Rose was created by Alexia Dwarka in her kitchen in 2010. Bored of creating formulaic hand-tied bouquets of roses studded with eucalyptus leaves, and concerned by the enormous amount of energy and resources used by the floristry industry to water, refrigerate and ship fresh flowers all around the world, Alexia wanted to create a floral gift that would re-discover the sentimentality behind giving a single rose as a present, but in a quirky way.

The roses are first selected for their full-blown size and then each one preserved using a glycerine feed so that they last for 12 months. Next, Alexia has discovered a magical way of hand-printing the petals with nineteenth-century engravings before finally scenting and boxing the roses ready for gift-giving. Simply beautiful.

Hotrods and Hellcats

Friday night was all about the Hotrods and Hellcats for Miss Lou's 30th birthday party. Here I am sporting a bit of a trashy Amy Winehouse look: headscarf, winged eyeliner and trailer trash hoop earrings. My hair had also faded right down to a silvery-grey.

Full length shot: cheap bandana from local goth shop, Primark top, complete with 'Hotrod' pictures, high-waist jeans from H&M and my Vivienne Westwood for Melissa lilac heels (courtesy of the wonderful Suzanne)

Accessories: bandana, hoops from Miss Selfridge, Westwood bracelet, Kenneth Jay Lane bumblebee ring and cheap ring from ASOS

A gaggle of Hellcats: Me with the delectable Miss Rona and Mr Ser - dahlings! 

And the beautiful birthday gal herself, Miss Lou, opening her pressie - a tattoo voucher. Well, what did you expect??

Where Is My Mind?

While we sit out the coldest, wettest 'spring' in history here in Glasgow, my mind can't help but think of warmer climates. We've booked a cheeky wee holiday to Lisbon, Portugal, in July for the Optimus Alive festival and I've spent a lot of time recently daydreaming about a summer wardrobe... fringes, flowers, floaty blouses and of course, the obligatory docs...

All images from Pinterest

Are any of you planning your to go to a festival (or 2) this year? I wanna hear your plans!!

Lilac Locks

One week on and the violet has washed to a fantastic lilac. Happy days.

Getting steamin' at work

Wedding Flowers

My wonderful cousin tied the knot at the end of March and I was (very kindly) asked to make buttonholes and corsages for various family members. Here are the results:

Bag corsages for my mum and nana using two of my current favourite plants, eryngium (sea holly) and leather fern. You cannae beat a good fern!

A simple buttonhole for my dad. Special request "Don't give me anything pink and flowery"...

My Daaaady... As you can see, he's well on the mend. Thank you to everyone who wished him well earlier this year. It was a bit touch and go for a while. You can also catch a glimpse of my brother, Sam (beard and braces) and his fiance, Laura in the background - Laura's wearing her wrist corsage (below)

A lovely bright and fun wrist corsage with a germini and some chrysants for Laura (hopefully by their wedding next year I'll be able to do ALL the flowers!)

Something pink and flowery - for Mr G. I was desperate for a pale peach rose, but on the day, and after hoofing around no less than 5 different florists, this was the best of the bunch. We kinda matched, if you were wearing sunglasses.

And last, but not least, a wee spare because I'd wired too many sea holly, so this wee guy was gifted to my uncle on the day.

 The beautiful couple, Ruth and Thomas.

And the one and only half decent photo of me. Got lost in all the excitement of buttonholes and cava to get any actual outfit pics - sorry!

Fine Bone China

Upcycled Skull Design Vintage Teacup by Melody Rose (beautiful name!) 

Flower Pump by Veneri Design... inspired by the muscle of love,
...every artery leads straight to the heart ....

Supermodel - A 10 plate installation by Phoebe Richardson

Wig by Tania da Cruz

Parma Violet

Boo! 

No, it's not a wig - I've FINALLY gone lilac!!! Thanks to Denise for recommending Jennifer @ Cusp Hair Salon, Argyle Street, Glasgow.

Jen spent 2 hours bleaching the ginger out, followed by two applications of the purple (a mixture of Fudge Paintbox Purple Haze and Crazy Colour Violette. There was still some ginger that refused to budge so we had to put a slightly darker shade of purple on top than I had been hoping for (top pick), but, after a few days of washing, the results are perfect! That's a photo of me at work on Saturday:

Can't wait until I finally feel well enough to rock my new 'do in public. This lurgy is still hovering around my sinuses and settling in my chest - nasty! I've also been experimenting with Instagram recently. Find me here @baroque_boudoir and follow me so I can follow you back ;-)