HOUSE: Crockery obsession ....

So I may have a slight obsession with crockery ... If you look back at my previous post about adding a homey touch you will know that I like picking up unique pieces of crockery to add to my collection that I can mix and match when I feel like it. Here are my latest pieces ....

OUTFIT: Pattern clashing ...

Tired my hand at a bit of pattern clashing the other week with my favourites, stripes and plaid! Gotta say I really loved the look! 

For my first attempt at pattern clashing I paired my navy paid trousers with my cream and navy stripe jumper. I wasn't quite ready to clash colours as well as patterns.

HOUSE: Jewellery table make over ...

I absolutely love jewellery and make up  and as a result I have a lot of clutter on my jewellery table so now we have settled into the new house and sorted the big things out its time to have a jewellery table make over.

This was my jewellery table when I first bought it, since then I have replaced the little plastic handles with nice silver metal ones and when we moved I painted the three draw fronts in a warm white. Now its time to step up my make over.

After having a bit of a blog trawl and Pinterest search I have decided to swap the shelves on the left with another drawer unit. I found this really cute 6 drawer Alex unit from Ikea in white that would be perfect to store all my lotions and potions in. Once I get some space on the top I am going to add this add on Alex drawer unit from the same Ikea range and then its time to make with the jewellery and trinket boxes. At the minute most of mine are ones I have acquired over the years and they are looking a bit sad so I'm going to swap them for some nice new acrylic and glass ones. Here is my current inspiration slash wish list.

The two white drawer units are from the IKEA Alex range, the acrylic drawers are MUJI and the white pots on the left are actually IKEA plant pots but I am planning on repurposing them. The two little pots at the top are examples of trinket pots I found on the Dunelm Mill website but I have seen similar in other shops so I am just going to pick them up when I see them. I also really want to get some nice glass jewellery boxes with some sort of detailling on them. BHS had some in before xmas but they appear to be sold out now so I will keep having a look about. Cant wait to show you guys the finished article. It might take me a while as I save up and buy bits but I am really looking forward to getting started. 

What do you think? What does your jewellery table look like? Do you have any good storage ideas to pass on? 

OUTFIT: Geek chic with a statement tee

My work place doesn't have a very strict dress code so I like to mix it up. One of my favourite looks of late is geek chic with a statement tee. I have slowly been building up my statement t shirt collection for the past few months, of all places Primark have had a good collection of Marvel, Disney and Harry Potter t shirts in recently. 

I like to take t shirts with a bold or unusual print on them:

NEW: New Look sale purchases

The other day I popped into New Look and checked out their ongoing sale. I didn't go in with any specific intentions of buying something or even looking for anything in particular but as always that is exactly when you find loads of cute stuff you really want. 

I picked up quite a few different pieces to try on but (luckily) not all of them looks quite right on me so I ended up only picking up a couple of pieces. 

First up is this black collar check coat, its a really nice structured coat that I can dress up or down depending on where Im going. Its also nice and thick but doesn't look too bulky due to the cut. Hopefully this will be featuring in some up coming outfit posts once I start styling it up so stay tuned.

OUTFIT: Plaid love .....

This autumn/winter I have been suffering from a major case of plaid love. I have always been a big lover of plaid but somehow I found my wardrobe sadly lacking. 

It would appear that I have rectified this situation ... so far this autumn/winter I have acquired a new shirt, 2 new scarves, a blanket wrap and a pair of trousers all in plaid ... oops. 

Large mixed colour scarf from New Look 

NAILS: First nails of 2015 ...

For my first nails of 2015 I decided to mix it up. I was going to have black with a gold accent but then decided to swap out the black for a grey. I had a bit of a look on Pinterest and found a lot of people mixing grey and pale pink, now I don't have a pale pink in my collection but I do have a nice nude and a pink pearl colour which I decided to combine. 

My gold is very yellow based gold so I swapped that out for a shimmery Barry M silk polish in truffle. It sounds like an odd combination but I like it, it contrasted really well with the black dress I was wearing on Monday. 

xXx 

New Year New Look .....

As its the start of a new year a thought it was the best time to have a clean up on the blog. Whilst I was in the process of cleaning things up and moving stuff about I decided to bite the bullet and have a major revamp of the blog and my associated social media profiles.

After having a look about and checking out some of my favourite blogs I decided to keep it all very simple with the design and layout but update my profile. After some more time spent thinking and brainstorming over what I write about and what makes me me we arrived at The Sparkling Magpie. 

Its a bit of a play on words and a family joke, traditionally magpies are thought to steal sparkly items and I am a sucker for a sparkly statement necklace. So I am the sparkling magpie. 

Let me know that you think of the revamp? 

xXx

OUTFIT: Go to winter outfit .....

My go to winter outfit this year wasn't necessarily 'an' outfit it was more of a general look. This winter we didn't get any snow in the UK but it was really cold so I have been mainly rocking the jumper and statement necklace look.

Right to Left: 1 New Look, 2 Avon, 3 Statement Boutique, 4 Primark, 5 SB see 3, 6 Next, 7 SBsee 3,  8 Next, 9 SB see 3. 

OUTFIT: All wrapped up ...

We didn't have snow this winter in the UK but it was freezing cold and frosty. I am a big fan of scarves and pashminas lets just say it's my inner rah from growing up in Durham and this winter was no exception.

This winters big scarf trend was the blanket scarf and I embraced it wholeheartedly. I already had a vintage blanket style scarf from my aunt that I have never really worn but seeing how all the fabulous fashion bloggers I follow on Instagram styled their scarves I decided to dig mine out and give it a go.

Quick selfie at work with my hair all curled. 

My top 7 goals for 2015....

My goals for 2015 ... 2014 was a pretty big year for us, we got married and bought our first house so 2015 has a lot to live up to. Instead of setting unrealistic or immeasurable resolutions I have decided to set my self a few small goals that I can actually achieve and measure the results. Once I have completed them I can set some more and keep growing through the year instead of wading towards a light at the end of the tunnel. 

Visit family more.

As I noted in my round up of 2014 my first goal is to see my family more. This year I am really going to make it a priority to go across and visit my family when we go down to Surrey in the summer. 

Improve my cardio.

I spent a lot of time at the gym last year but due to shift changes we have had to cancel our membership so I am going to invest in a workout DVD for now then get the weights out in the garden when the weather improves. My cardio is very bad and I am not a fan of running so I am going to try some different bits to up my cardio. 

The year in review ... 2014!

2014

New year is a time for reflection so I have been having a think about my 2014 experience. It has been an amazing year and will be a pretty hard one to top to be fair. 

January

We kickstarted the new year as we meant go on by attending our good friends wedding at Durham Castle, it was a wonderful day and the bride was simply stunning. January was also quite special for me as I reconnected with a good friend … life is too short to loose good friends.

February & March

February was quite quiet, we were continuing with the wedding planning and hitting the gym hard! March was pretty much the same as February, there was a lot of time at the gym as we hit 6 weeks to the wedding. I went for my wedding hair trial with my cousin … only took 102 hair grips hehe mum was also well underway with the alterations to my dress.

Beast mode at the gym

102!!