First Summer Sunday

Sunday's are the best because it's the one day me and my husband and I have off work together so we can spend time with each other. 

Yesterday, after church, we had lunch in Siempre Bicycle Cafe again. The food is soo tasty and there's more than a couple of things on the menu I can eat which is unusual with my fussy taste. (I had a sandwich with smoked tofu, pickled daikon and carrot. Yum). 

After that, we toddled to The Kelvingrove Museum and punted the children out the way so we could see some of the exhibits before walking home again. I didn't spend money on a single train ticket yesterday (other than a tube ticket to get us to the cafe). I have no idea how my wee stubby legs aren't falling off these days with the ridiculous amount of walking we're doing.  

I also wore my posh specs yesterday and Tim declared it official Hawaiian shirt wearing weather since the sun's started to come out now.

Kitchen Labels

I decided to add a little gothic touch to our kitchen by designing some halloween inspired labels for jars. Since it was just a personal project, I didn't bother drawing anything; I just downloaded some fonts for the lettering. The frames and the pictures are fonts too.

I printed the labels onto sticker paper, which I realised was totally unnecessary when I had to tape them on with sellotape anyway, but that's how ya learn. I also kind of like the aged, crackled look the sellotape gives actually...

Deadly Decaf and Spiders' Webs (chai teabags). In hindsight, the chai tea should have been "Graveyard Dust" or something like that, but then again, maybe coffee granules seem more like graveyard dust than teabags...

Liquorice Tea is one of my favourites. It's also a strange greeny-yellow liquid with an extremely sweet aftertaste. Definitely sounds fitting as some kind of poisonous concoction or magical potion to me.

Full strength, regular coffee is, of course, just "Poison". I adore coffee, even instant coffee like this, but I couldn't resist the dramatic title.

What's In The Box?

I've been desperate to share this Christmas present I got from my sister and brother-in-law, but I wanted to get some proper photos first.

Unwrapping this hand-made box covered in bats, I couldn't figure out what could possibly be inside. All I knew was the fact that my sister and I had decided to give hand-made gifts this year and that she had been looking at my pinterest for inspiration.

Inside the box was a tissue seemingly stained with blood. Eek!

And inside the tissue was this amazing present. My sister has a lot of skill when it comes to jewellery-making and her husband is a dentist. Together they made me a human jaw necklace and apparently it was all my brother-in-law's idea which is really cool.

It's molded from a real person's jaw too (the work experience girl's apparently, haha) and then painted black. I can't tell you how much I just love this piece of jewellery. What do you guys think?

Bike Birthday Cake (Not Made By Me!)

First of all, I need to say that I did not make my husband a cake for his 30th birthday. Not because I'm a terrible wife (cough), but because the past couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy for me, both at the fabric shop and with my own personal work. It doesn't really matter though because Tim's mum made this awesome cake for him. How cute! It's got a little bike on it and wee bike patterns round the side (he likes mountain biking). 

Poizen Industries Jumper and Sneakers With Bats & Spikes

If there's skill in life I've developed over the years, it's finding a bargain. Ok, maybe it's more luck than skill, but you know what I mean. In fact, recently, I managed to bag not one but two ridiculous bargains in the one week! 

Firstly, these cute little sneakers from Forever 21 which were reduced from £33 to £7.50 in the sale. Not only do they have little bats all over them, but they also have teeny wee spikes on the heel. Sweet.

Unfortunately they have a little bit of a 'heel'. I kind of wish they were flat so they were more comfortable, but I guess the little heel makes them a bit more feminine (also for £7.50 I ain't gonna complain).

Secondly is this jumper by Poizen Industries. I walked into a Barnardo's charity shop the other day and and the shop had an entire wall full of goth clothes. I'm not even kidding. They were all brand new too. Either someone had decided to become a goth then changed their mind very quickly or, more likely, a kindly company had donated all the clothes to charity (which companies apparently sometimes do). Now my first thought, of course, was: 'Waaait a minute. A massive selection of gothic clothing with nothing over a fiver? I've been in this situation before... I'm in a dream aren't I?' But nope! It was all real so I ended up snagging this jumper and another little blouse for work.

And I can't even tell you how much this is just the perfect jumper. It's long enough to cover my bum (for coziness), it's got a corsetted back (for prettiness), ridiculously long sleeves with thumb-holes and a massive cowl-neck that you can wear about 12 different ways (as I'm trying to demonstrate with the pictures). The best way to wear the cowl-neck though, of course, is over your head as a massive hood! Very goth-ninja indeed.

New Art Print & A Very Special Painting

I went for a little exploration down the road the other day and found this great framed print in a charity shop. I think the original's by Brueghel the younger, but if anyone knows for sure please let me know. The information on the back says it's called 'Village Festival', but I'm not sure that's actually correct. Either way, I think it looks pretty neat.

Currently, it's propped up on a chest of drawers in the hall until we get a chance to hang it up properly.

Speaking of which, we finally managed to hang up this painting of my dad's in our living room. It's a space scene he painted years ago and I just love it. Actually it was Tim who asked if we could have it when he saw it in my dad's garage (we're both huge lovers of science fiction so it the space theme really appealed to us) and Dad was delighted that someone wanted it. My sister has another painting of his in her flat too which makes it even cooler. I wish he would paint more though.

Recent CDs January 2014

Here are some recent arrivals I got in the post. I've been wanting these babies for ages (except the last one which only just came out), but I've only been able to justify buying them recently.

1. The Ruins of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure
2. The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite
3. Ascension - Consolamentum
4. Vastum - Patricidal Lust

Here are some sample songs from each album: