I always feel a bit sad at this time of year, when Autumn clothes start appearing in the shops. I don’t feel ready for summer to be over. But I also have a bit soft spot for Autumn colours and the idea of stomping through the leaves with the kids and I start to get a little excited.

This is my first of what I’m sure will become many Autumn wish lists. As it’s still August I’ve chosen transitional pieces, that work well now, but can be layered up as it starts to get cold. Add tights and cardigans and long sleeved tops for under sleeveless dresses and these will be perfect for the colder months as well.

Vintage Style Dresses for Autumn

Top Row: Petite Yellow Dress – Mushroom Dress – Gingham Dress

Second Row – Ditsy Floral Dress – 50s Style Dress – Rose Print Dress

Bottom Row – Lace Frill Dress – Mini Shirt Dress – Woodland Leaves Dress

Are you looking forward to Autumn, have you seen any lovely dress that you think I would like? Keep up to date with my latest outfits in the My Outfits section.

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Baking with floral flavours is always something that has intrigued me. I’ve tried edible flowers a few times and like flavours like Parma Violets and Rose flavoured Turkish delight. Until a few months ago I’d never really tried it in my own recipes. After a bit of research and just seeing what I could pick up at the supermarket I created this beautiful rose water cake.

Rose Water Cake RecipeI managed to find everything I needed in Waitrose, as they sell the edible rose petals. You could also get these online.

Rose Water Cake Recipe

You will need: 

For the cake 

4 eggs 

220g caster sugar 

220g self raising flour 

220g butter 

2 tsp baking powder 

Rose Water Cake RecipeFor the filling 

170g icing sugar 

120g butter 

1 tbsp rose water 

Pink gel food colouring 

Rose Water Cake RecipeFor the icing 

220g Icing sugar 

2 tbsp warm water 

1 tbsp rosewater 

Pink gel food colouring 

To decorate 

Edible rose petals 

Rose decoration 

Rose Water Cake RecipeHow to make: 

Preheat oven to 180ºc and grease an 8″ cake tin. 

Add all the cake ingredients to a bowl and mix quickly until fully combined, I’d recommend using a stand or hand mixer. 

Pour into the cake tin and bake for around 30 minutes until fully cooked and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. 

Once cooled cut through the middle into two pieces ready to fill. 

For the filling: Sift the icing sugar into a bowl with the butter and mix until fully combined. Add the colour until the mixture becomes pale pink. Pipe onto the bottom section of the cake and then add the top to make a sandwich.  

For the icing: Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and slowly add the water a little at a time until you get the required consistency. Add a little colour at a time until the icing is rose pink. Pour over the cake allowing it to spread to the edges. 

Sprinkle with rose petals and add a flower decoration. 

Rose Water Cake RecipeI hope some of you give this a go. If you make it, please send me a pic as I love to see! This recipe also appeared in Vintage Life Magazine. Check out my Baking section for lots more recipes.

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Blogging is a such a wonderful thing, people gets all sorts of different things out of it. Whether it’s a hobby or a job its a great creative outlet and a really good way to share your passions and things you enjoy. Blogs come in many different formats, subjects and types, but the best thing about them, is the freedom to make them whatever you want them to be. But before we begin it’s always worth picking up a few blogging tips and tricks of the trade.

Blogging tips for starting a successful blogI get asked about blogging a lot. I’ve been writing this blog for over 5 and a half years and when I started out I had so many questions, most of which were answered by my bestie Fay, who’s been blogging since before blogging was even a thing! Now I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learnt along the way with you. Just a few simple blogging tips.

Blogging tips for starting a successful blogTodays post is all about the very first steps, the things that you need to do before you even start writing your first post. In some ways these are the boring bits, but getting it right on the first day will pay dividends as you start to grow your blog. There are lots of posts with blogging tips online, so this is just my personal advice.

  1. Think of a name: Have a think about a short snappy name for your blog. Something that reflects the content, or even your own name or nickname can work well. Try to make it memorable, but also something you really like, because you’ll be seeing it a lot.
  2. Check that the name isn’t taken: Google the name of your new blog and check that it’s not in use. Check social media to make sure that no one else has a page with the same name as your new blog. If they do its time to go back to the drawing board and think of something new.
  3. Set up an email address: It really helps to have any email address exclusively for your blog. This makes it easy to remember and keeps your blog related emails separate from your other ones. I actually spend more time on emails as a full-time blogger than I do on any other aspect of blogging.
  4. Find a site to host your blog: The most popular options are WordPress and Blogger. I personally started with WordPress.com and moved on to a self hosted site further down the line. Read up on the pros and cons of each before you decide.
  5. Set up social media: Set up social accounts with your blog name, even ones you don’t initially want to use. Try to have the same name across all of them. For example I use @vintage_frills for both Twitter and Instagram. It’s also a good idea to follow other people who inspire and interest you.
  6. Write your About Me page: One of the most looked at parts of your blog will be your About section. Write a brief summary about yourself and your blog and add a nice picture or two. Here’s my About Me page, its changed lots of times along the way, as the blog has evolved.
  7. Add your contact details: If you want people to be able to contact you, make sure your email address is visible on the blog.
  8. Add your social channels to your blog: Add your social links to your blog. You can just add logos or even widgets that display your social feeds. The best place for these is in your sidebar.
  9. Start Planning: Decide what topics you’d like to write about on your blog. Think about how often you want to post and whether you’d like to focus on writing, photographs or both. I like to write a list of all the posts I’d like to write and then work my way through them. I’ll explain more b about my planning process in my next blogging post.
  10. Publish your first post: After all the hard work setting up your blog, it feel great to finally get that first post written. Make sure you share it on all your social channels.

I hope these tips have been helpful. These are the absolute basics and I’d love to go into a bit more depth about the ins and outs of blogging. If there any particular topics you’d like to see covered, please comment or drop me a message and I’ll see what I can do. Look out for my next blogging tips post in the next few weeks.

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I always really love it when one of my favourite designers does a high street collaboration and one of the best ones at the moment is Orla Kiely’s Olive and Orange range for Halfords.

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for HalfordsLast year when I needed a tent for the Twinwood Festival, I had quite a few demands. I needed something that looked great and had plenty of room for me and all my clothes. After much searching I found a gorgeous one, with an amazing Orla print at Halfords.

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for HalfordsLater in the year I was lucky enough to meet Orla for the first time at the Halfords press day and she was absolutely lovely. She even noticed my Enid Collins handbag and asked me all about it, before making a note of it on her phone! That totally made my day.

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for HalfordsA few weeks ago I was invited to another event, this time an afternoon tea at Claridges to celebrate the latest pieces from the Orla Kiely at Halfords collection. The range not only includes camping and outdoor items and a wonderful collection of bikes and bike accessories. It is made up of three new nature inspired prints and they are all gorgeous.

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for HalfordsFor someone like me, who likes a pretty print on everything, the whole range appeals to me a lot. I love the idea of riding on bike with a lovely retro inspired print. Especially since it would go so well with my tent!

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for HalfordsThe afternoon tea was a real treat too. As you’d expect from Claridges all the food was delicious. We were treated to a lovely selection of finger sandwiches, as well as cakes and scones and a selection of jams.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from the collaboration.

Olive and Orange range by Orla Kiely for Halfordsbike – festival chair – basket liner – basket – helmet – bell – bike

Some of the range has already sold out, as its always a very popular collaboration. Fin gets crossed it’ll be back again next year, so I can get some more goodies before festival season. You can view the full range over on the Halfords website.

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I’ve been meaning to write about my hair for a really long time. Ever since last year when I had it bobbed and created lots of fabulous vintage style sets. Now my hair is a bit longer and its not that easy to create a classic vintage look, I’ve kind of been doing my own thing a bit. I have really thick hair, so it can be quite tricky styling it, especially when its longer. So if I find a style I like, I’ll usually do it a lot.

One of my favourite styles for my long and very thick hair is to create curls with Scunci soft curlers. I usually then use a flower garland to get my hair off my face. I really like this more relaxed style, which works well with looks from any era. Its also quite a manageable style when you have very thick hair like mine. Last time I did this style I decided to take some pictures of each step so I could show you how I do it.

  1. I start off with very slightly damp freshly washed hair. Because my hair is so thick, it would never dry if I did this while it was too wet.
  2. Next I brush it through with a detangling brush, to make sure its really smooth and that there are no knots.
  3. I use a styling oil to smoothen my hair before I start curling.
  4. I run a generous amount through the lengths of my hair, using my hands.
  5. I then run a firm hold mousse through the lengths of my hair.
  6. It’s now time to start rolling, I use a sectioning brush to divide up my hair.

  1. I section off my hair and roll upwards from underneath my hair.
  2. I brush each section to get it as smooth as possible between each roll.
  3. It takes my around 30 soft curlers to put all of my hair up. For a tighter curl I use more.

To keep the rollers in place over night I cover them with a hair net and then tie a silk scarf over the top. Luckily the cushions in the rollers make them really comfortable and easy to sleep in.

  1. In the morning I carefully take out all the curls.
  2. Before brushing I give the curls a light spray with hairspray.
  3. Now for the scary part! I give all the curls a good brush until they go a bit frizzy.
  4. At this point I usually wonder whether I should just give up and do an up-do!
  5. I then use a little more of the styling oil to smoothen the frizz.
  6. At this stage I smoothen the curls with a brush, using my hand to gently guide them into the shape I want.

  1. I keep brushing until the curls are quite defined and the hair is smooth. (If you’re going for more of a sleek vintage look, keep going until it’s perfectly uniform and use lots of hairspray. You’ll also need to add a bit more volume in the front with some back combing.)
  2. I pop my hair garland over the top of my hair and secure it with a couple of grips at the back.
  3. I twist the front of the hair over the sides of the garland and pin them at the back of my head.
  4. Finish with lots of hair spray to keep the curls in place.

I find it usually takes about an hour for my hair to drop a little and sit perfectly once I’m done. I really like this style for chilled out mummy days, as its not too over the top, but still reflects my style. This set usually lasts me about 3 days after initially curling it. Here’s some snaps of the next few days.

Products Used:

Tangle Angel Brush – Styling Oil – Backcomb Brush – Mousse – Soft Curlers – Hairspray

I’m hoping to share some of the other methods I use on my hair in the coming months, so watch this space!

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