Accidental Manicure

I painted my nails in a gorgeous shade of polish from Kiko Milano (Nude 372) and as always with Kiko, I  was very happy with it. But when I was painting jar lids for a storage project, I accidentally improved it!

I think it looks kind of cool! Shame it was already chipping so it didn't last long. But I wouldn't be opposed to pairing my nail varnish to my art project in the future :)

Let's go to the zoo....

London Zoo is one of my favourite places and nothing makes me happier than to go on a day when it is fairly quiet, so I can take lots of pictures at my leisure. I went last week and it made me feel giddy like a small child - I love being around the animals!

This bird was such a poser - not sure what breed it is but he was in the walk through part of Gorilla Kingdom. 

I love Llamas!!!

Penguin pool party - leaves are optional

The owls were gorgeous - so many of them snuggled up together

I wanted to snuggle up with them :)

BABY MEERKAT! So cute! She dropped him at one point and about five meerkats bundled on top of the baby! Looked a bit crazy but I think they just were protecting it. 

Under the sea

Under the sea by jennycuteblog featuring vintage style handbags

There is nothing better than being by the ocean, and walking along the beach. Sea creatures are mysterious and unique, and I love the colours of them. What could be better then wearing sea themed clothes and cute accessories. I LOVE the crab hat - so crazy! I would love to wear it round London and get strange looks off people.

Decoden phone case

Recently I updated my Iphone's cover as the last one was getting a bit worn. I used plastic cabochons in pretty pastel colours to decoden a plain hard iphone cover. This is a method from Japan to basically glue decorations onto things like phone cases, mirrors, nintendo DS's etc to make them more pretty! This is the fourth case I have made for myself, in the past I had an Alice in wonderland theme, a winter owl theme, and a little mermaid theme. I also made a Hello Kitty one as a gift.

This suits me best as I see a lot of phone cases to buy that are pretty, but I like the idea of having something noone else does.

This isn't a step by step DIY but it should be pretty self explanatory - get a clear hard case to fit your phone (I got mine from Amazon), and then use a strong adhesive for plastics (mine is called Deco Princess which I got from Etsy), and get gluing with your cabochons (mine came mostly from Etsy and bits and pieces from craft stores I have picked up)! It is very easy to do - it can just take a long time! A good helper is if you have a tool like this rhinestone picker to make it a bit easier and quicker to place your cabochons.

Let you imagination run wild with whatever you want to depict with your decoden, or search places like Etsy for inspiration :)

 For this case I used pearl flat back cobochons from etsy, the flower and bluebird were from Paper Valise, and the stickers are from Janetstore and feature San-X's raccoon character Kireizukin.

Irish travels

Sometimes when you end up in a place you never though you would be, you tend to find out there was a hidden reason. I ended up in a job I hadn't planned on, and although I wasn't entirely happy with the way my life was working out when I was there - some big positive things did come out of the experience. I made some really good friends and ultimately I think that is the driving force behind most of the things I have ended up doing in my life, the universe has pushed me towards some amazing people and I will always be thankful for that.

I made a really close friend from my last job, so when she moved back home to her native Ireland, I knew I would have to go visit. I went to the county of Clare for my first experience of Ireland and it honestly was one of the most relaxing holidays and the experience was what you would expect - friendly people, gorgeous scenery and a fair amount of rain! The last couple of days we did have some much needed sunshine so it was handy that was when we hit the beach!

A break taking ruins of an Abbey

Beach view at Fanore

Black Head lighthouse on the cliffs

The historic landscape of the Burren

One of the Celtic High Crosses

I feel so lucky to have met such wonderful people on my trip to Ireland, and I got to see some historic landmarks, see inside a castle, and even see Father Ted's house! We traveled to Galway and all around the coast and drank a fair amount of Barry's tea. I can't wait to return - it felt like a home away from home!

Forest Fanatic

Forest Fanatic by jennycuteblog featuring owl jewelry

One thing to know about me is that if you put an animal on a product, I will more than likely want to own it. I've always been drawn to jewellery and clothes featuring my favourite animals so it is a delight to see so many pieces on the high street that suit my style. 

As we are heading into autumn (although ironically the sun is shining brighter this week than most of summer!) there is an abundance of forest critters on the clothing and accessories I see, in warm autumnal tones. Here are a few of my favourite pieces I have seen - I desperately want to buy the Topshop skirt!