Trendy Thursday - one day late!

What a week we have had here.... last week was half term, which was nice in but very busy and I had very little time for the blog.  This week I was looking forward to getting back to normal, but of course, life is never so simple.

On Saturday night Felix woke during the night with a raging temperature of 40 and a fractious night and day followed.  Come Sunday evening, Ethan was showing symptoms as well.  Both boys have spent the week seeming to get better and then go downhill again.  Yesterday I sent Ethan back to school because his temp had stayed down and he seemed perky.  However, at lunchtime I received a call from school asking if I could collect him (thank goodness I don't work!) because he was lying down in the playground and feeling ill.  Poor sausage.

I collected him straight away in the car (dragging a moaning and also poorly Felix with me) and we drove home.  As we parked up on the driveway Ethan started moaning and groaning, clutching at his chest and saying "My body! My body! I feel SO poorly! It hurts!".  As you know, being a Mum, I could tell straight away that he was going to be sick so I dashed out of the front of the car to his side and offered him my hands - what else had I?  He proceeded to projectile vomit all over himself and the car.  My hands didn't help in the least.  I couldn't believe the mess!!!  I had to strip him down, wash him off, wash the car.  Even his lunch box and book bag got covered!  It took me an hour and a half to clean up.   Suffice to say that at this point, a Trendy Thursday post was out of the question.

The rest of the day passed quickly in a blur of caring for the boys.  Thank goodness my parents have taken them both for a few hours today so now I have some time.. and boy am I busy!

I know it's a day late and probably won't attract as much attention as it should, but I didn't want to miss out so here is this week's Trendy Thursday.  Not a huge amount to showcase, due to the illness!!

Ethan did a little dressing up as "Princess Ethan":

Where the Wild Things Are t shirt - George at Asda via the charity shop

Cloud leggings - Shop Haute

Slippers - eBay

Stripy top - Polarn O Pyret

Leggings - H&M

I have some rather gorgeous finds to share with you now.  If you follow in Instagram you've probably already seen them, but I want to show them off here too.  First up, this beautiful sleeping bag from The Bright Company.  They have had their bedwear reduced this week so I had to take advantage of that.  This bag is 6-18 months and is beautiful.  I wish it were a little bigger so it would last longer but really, it's just so fantastic!  I love Bright Company patterns.

How about Felix's cot sheet?  Amazing isn't it!  This is from Candy Kirkby Designs and I'm afraid it cost me rather a lot to purchase and import but honestly, it is something special! I think it's my favourite of his sheets.  As he's in a sleeping bag and not using a duvet, I like to have something cute in there.

How about the Kit Cat Klock on the wall?  We have a black Kitty Cat Klock at the bottom of our stairs and Felix has been obsessed with it since birth.  One of his first words was clock and he loves to stare at "CaT CloCK" (caps for emphasis!) as Felix calls it.  We used some of his birthday money to get one for his room and it makes him grin every day.  I purchased it from a rather lovely eBay seller who imports them - they are quite hard to come by in the UK and he is one of the nicest most helpful eBay sellers I've ever "met".  We had some trouble hanging the clock and getting it to work due to the walls in our house being wonky and I also dropped the tail.  Totally my fault but he has sourced a replacement tail for me for no extra cost.  That's customer service folks!

Have you heard about Studio Escargot?  Apart from having a rather wonderful name, they, or rather Sophia makes the most beautiful dolls you have ever seen.. They are truly beautiful.  She recently shared a picture of a Unicorn she had made on Instagram and I just knew we had to have one.  I had to wait a few weeks because she was so busy, but our Unicorn arrived this morning and he was totally worth the wait.  Felix is a little too young to play with him carefully enough yet, so for now, he's sitting on his shelf looking after the books.  He's gorgeous!

A couple of weeks ago on Etsy I came across Velveteen Babies.  I am such a fan of this shop.  I want everything that Coral makes.  I bought two of her cute speech bubbles, one for each of my boys, with their nicknames on.  I also purchased a Superhero and Sidekick mask set for Ethan and Gloworm to play with.  I think Coral's items are fantastically priced for handmade original items and I may just have commissioned her to make a little something for Father's Day!

Finally, I have one more shop to share.  I found this lovely shop on Folksy this week.  I buy quite a lot of clothes for the boys from America because they seem so ahead of the trends with their fabric choices.  It's harder to find SUPER trendy handmade clothes in the UK so when I do I get VERY excited because of course it means no risk of import tax!  This lovely shop is called Marmalade Sky Baby and features clothing and accessories for babies and children made by the very cool Sarah.  She describes her stock as "Fun, stylish gender neutral baby clothes" so she's totally up my street!  I found it very hard to pick what to buy but  decided upon a cap and an infinity scarf because the boys will get years of use from these:

 Right - I think I have shared enough with you lovely lot for now!  It's over to you - what have your little fashion monkeys been rocking? Have you found any cool new shops?  Link up below and don't forget to share the love, comment here, comment on others, tweet links.  You know the drill!!

Have a gorgeous weekend folks - I'm off to The South West Blog Social in Exeter tomorrow! Woot! A day out BY MYSELF!!! Coffee.. coffee.. COFFEE!!

Trendy Thursday - Vintage clothing and Golden Docs

Happy Thursday everyone!  Yes!  It's Friday Eve! Let's all have a big sigh of relief - the weekend is in sight!

I got some gorgeous bargains via eBay last week.  Ethan finally grew out of his collection of waistcoats recently so I sourced some replacements on eBay.  I'm more than happy to buy second hand.  I managed to buy three, one smart Next one that came with a shirt and two woollen style ones, one Jasper Conran and one from Tesco Clothing.  For all three I think I paid less than £10.  I love the woollen ones, they can make an outfit slightly smarter but are also good for adding an extra layer of warmth and make an outfit extra trendy!

Stripy Waistcoat - Cherokee For Tesco via eBay

Rocket print top - Smafolk

Checked leggings - H&M Girls

Gold Doc Martens

I'd been looking for some Docs for Ethan for an age.  I find it hard to buy something like that brand new for him - they go through shoes so quickly and Docs aren't cheap.  I've no issue buying second hand shoes as long as they haven't been heavily worn.  Finally, I got lucky and found a pair in Ethan's current size on eBay.  The starting bid was £9.99 but with free postage so I went for it.  No one else bid and they were ours!  Total bargain I think.  Ethan's feet will probably grow out of them soon but at least I can save them for Felix.  They look amazing on him, really go well with his leggings and skinny jeans.  He loves them as well, he calls them his golden dancing boots.  I'm happy to report that he's comfy in them as well.  Perhaps in the case of Docs it's better buying them slightly worn in - I know it takes a while to make them comfy!

Felix hasn't been left out.  I found a lady selling a whole load of vintage children's clothing from the 50s - 80s.  It was old shop stock, unworn.  I decided to limit myself to one item but it was very hard to pick!  I went for a 1970s Ladybird romper.  So adorable!  It's a little big for Felix just yet, but it'll be great for spring and summer!

I also bought a couple of items from the new season collection at Zara Baby - I really like their clothes for children.  I've never been a big fan of them for myself (I feel they are the same quality as H&M ladies clothing but more pricey with less choice) but really do like their children's items.  I bought a cute t shirt which I think is super trendy and some of their baby trousers - I especially like their baby trousers because they are generous around the bum which is great for big cloth nappies!

Gold Docs - eBay

Vintage Romper - eBay

Teepee t shirt - Zara Baby

Trousers - Zara Baby

My boys at the weekend:

Ethan - as above

Felix:

Collar - Polarn O. Pyret

Long Sleeved Vest - Katvig

Bloomers - Beau Loves via Scandinavian Minimal 

Tights - Trumpet

What have your little fashion monkeys been wearing this week?  Link up below!  Please don't forget to link back to my blog and/or include my button.  Please comment here and visit others who join in!  You can tweet me your link as @MedicatedFollow well using the tag #TrendyThursday.

Magpie Monday - Boggle and Puffin Annual

Hello bargain buddies!! It's Monday, it's Magpie time!

I have two items I am very happy with and excited to share with you today, and they actually hail from the same year!  1974.  I wasn't born in 1974, but despite never being around for any of the '70s, I have a huge desire to own items that come from that time.  Sometimes I have indeed thought that I was a glam rocker born too late... (I blame my obsession with The Rocky Horror Show, ELO and the film Velvet Goldmine) anyway, I digress.. My gorgeous, wonderful Magpie items for this week are a 1974 edition of Boggle and a copy of the first Puffin Annual, also from 1974.

First up, Boggle.  Pete and I first got into Boggle on our holiday in Cornwall this year.  Both of us had heard of it before, in fact Pete had played it during his childhood.  I hadn't though.  With little on TV (and who wants to watch TV on holiday anyway?) we fell upon the board games available in our cottage.  By far the most fun and challenging was Boggle.  We spent several evenings playing and thoroughly enjoyed it.  As soon as we came home I began a quest to get hold of a set for us, but me being me, I didn't want to just go out and by a brand new version.  I wanted a second hand, pre loved set, preferably one that dated from decades ago.. Why, you may wonder.. Well, I don't know why exactly, but when it comes to board games, I just love to imagine all the people who have played with the set before, the fun times they've had.  The thought that this particular set has been entertaining people for 38 years makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  Another bonus with the 1974 set is that the dice are all wooden which makes them wonderful to handle.  It's in excellent condition and I feel well worth the £4 I paid (including postage) on eBay.  One drawback (though I don't consider it so) is that the 1974 edition is harder than today's edition - the older editions contain more "difficult" letters such as K's making it harder to come up with words.  That explains why when Pete and I first played with ours a couple of weeks ago we were only coming up with one or two words in the first few rounds!  Either way, I am extremely happy with this magpie find.

Second up, my Puffin Annual.  I found this treasure in the Nailsea branch of CLIC Sargent.  This is one of my favourite charity shops in Nailsea, I'm always finding hidden treasures in here.  This beaut set me back £1 and personally, I think it was a pound well spent.  I don't believe this is worth very much in terms of money, but I do think it is rich in social and cultural history.  The illustrations alone are stunning and the amount to read in there is fantastic.  This is a classic example of how little effort appears to be put into today's annuals.  I used to love getting annuals at Christmas each year, I was very fond of old Jackie annuals (I remember, oh... the shame.. I had one which had a big "heartthrob" style picture of Noel Edmunds in it which for some reason I found quite "dreamy" *vomit*).  I also loved to get Brownie annuals.  I don't remember Puffin annuals though. I wonder how long it was made for?  Anyway, this gorgeous beast shouted out at me from the bookshelves at the charity shop and I knew it was coming home with me.  The stories are a bit too old for Ethan, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying reading them.  I think it'll be fantastic when he gets a little older because there are quite a few step by step activities to try out.  I just think it's a total gem.  It's in impeccable condition as well.  The only thing that makes me a little sad?  The inscription on the first page - "To Peter, From Daddy, Happy Christmas 1974".  Awwww, this just makes my heart bleed a little.  I wonder who Peter was?  I wonder how this book came to be in the charity shop?  I wonder if Daddy is still alive?  Was it an ill chosen gift from father to son, a gift that remained on the book shelf only to be donated some 38 years later?  Or was it treasured and given away upon a death?  To be honest, it's in such good condition, I think it's more likely to be the first.  At least my hubby is Peter.. we can pretend it's his.  Let's just not mention that he wasn't born until 1982.

The front cover makes me grin!

Awwww......

The unmistakeable Quentin Blake

Raymond Briggs!!!!

Exciting for Moomins fans - Tove Jansson!

How to make a ship in a bottle... OK, might do that with little man one day!

I feel a little Yellow Submarine-y looking at this illustration!

Of course I am linking up this post with Missie Lizzie of Me and My Shadow for Magpie Monday.  Do check out the other bargain hunters!