5. Anticipating Autumn

Some are lamenting the end of the summer but I'm excited for the new season ahead. Here's my sales pitch for autumn...

Although the weather gets colder, I like the crisp fresh air and the pale autumn sunshine. When you go for walks in the autumn sunshine, the colours of the leaves are eye catching and range from gold to bold red shades.

On those days where the skies darken and the rain falls relentlessly, causing puddles and soggy umbrellas, there is always the promise of autumnal treats. Rich hot chocolate with melting marshmallows. Pumpkin soup. Hot chestnuts. Roasted autumn vegetables. Squash risotto. Real log fires in country pubs.

There are calendar events that make autumn interesting, too. There's Halloween and even if you don't have childen or participate in trick or treat, you can indulge in Halloween decorations (or make your own if you're crafty) and make a special meal with seasonal autumn ingredients and spooky sweets.

There's also Bonfire Night. I'm biased in liking this date in autumn because it also happens to be my birthday! Bonfire Night holds the promise of fireworks, bonfires, sparklers, toffee apples... It creates an exciting atmosphere when the sky is clear for Bonfire Night, you can smell the bonfire smoke and see multiple firework displays happening if you have a good vantage point.

If autumn still doesn't appeal to you, there's always winter and Christmas to look forward to! When you're a kid, it's the presents that make it exciting. But as an adult, there's still a lot to enjoy about Christmas. When I spend Christmas with my family, we have a small special meal or buffet on Christmas Eve and open some of the food and drink treats! Christmas Day starts with a glass of champagne, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Breakfast is followed by opening presents and getting ready for the day. We have Christmas Dinner at lunchtime and then usually go for a walk about mid afternoon. Boxing day is always for watching TV and eating an assortment of the cold leftovers!

Then, of course, comes New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. A fresh start. A blank canvas.

Michelle -x-

4. Reviving Chairs in Red

I'm always one to find new projects to do! This week, I've turned my attention to a set of cream fabric dining rooms chairs that were starting to look tatty and didn't fit in with my new red living room colour scheme!

So, I thought I'd have a go at re-upholstery! It was fairly simple because the chairs are of a basic design. I was able to unscrew the seats from the metal chair frame, recover the seat in new red upholstery fabric that I'd bought online and then re-attach the seat to the frame.

I've only done one chair so far..  owning a staple gun would admittedly have sped up the process! But there was something satisfying about sewing the fabric.

The only tip I would give to anyone else trying something similar is to make sure you think about how you're going to fold your corners before you commit to any fabric attachment! My corners are neat but on the  other chairs, I will make sure that the two front facing corners fold like mirror images as I did the four corners in consecutive order which has led to mismatched corner styles.

All in all, I like the effect of the new fabric - it makes the chairs look newer and has made them look like they belong. 

Michelle -x-

3. Sleek Eyes of a Supercat

I'm following up my first ever beauty blog post with another beauty blog post! (Don't worry, I have other blog post themes prepped but I'm in the middle of moving home... so they're on the backburner until after moving day!)

This time, I want to show you an old love and a new love of mine in the world of eye make up. The combination of which produces the likes of the above photos! I thought I'd start with those photos to get you to read on - the tricks of the newbie beauty blogger? ;)

My old love is Sleek MakeUP i-Divine eyeshadow palettes. I have collected three different colour sets now and would like to own them all, covering metallic dark shades to matte bright colours. The thick, bold powder lasts all day and never fails to give a bold look. 

My new love is Soap & Glory's Supercat Carbon Black Extreme Eyeliner Pen. A few years ago, I tried and failed with liquid eyeliners and stuck to solid eyeliner pencils that I'd always used. However, while browsing online, I read lots of good reviews about this felt-tip like pen so I thought I would give it a go.  It is perfect - this eyeliner pen provides the bold, defined black lines that I wanted to achieve. The pen is much easier to use than the liquid eyeliner I previously tried. I find that the eyeliner withstands a long day too - whereas my pencil eyeliners tend to fade throughout the day.

Michelle -x-