Busy Weekend

Wow, this weekend has been so busy, I've not had time to even think about blogging until now, but everything is settling down now.

I'm particularly pleased to have scored six large bottles of the original Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Conditioner at a local bargain store. No silicones and not heavy, but really moisturizing. I love that stuff! Ever since they changed the formula I've been trying conditioner after conditioner with disappointing results and sticky build-up, so it is really happy news for me to have enough to last some time now.

There are a few things I really want to review in the next week. The "Tangle Angel" hair brush, Redken Diamond Oil, the intense version, and I really should mention how much I like Jeterforks and Baerreis hair forks too. Hopefully that is something to look forward to and will make up a bit for the break.

If you don't know already, Designs by Baerreis are having a 30% off sale at the moment, which is unheard of to me in the last four years I have been watching hair-toy sellers. Here's their shiny new internet store Gallery26, and if you can't help yourself, the coupon code is 303030. I am wearing one of their hair forks as my own strange celebration of the sale. I feel so silly having ordered two forks last month for the first time in over a year. Oh well! Here's the pic:

It's a "finny" in padauk wood, holding a pencil bun. I'm also wearing a pair of the earrings I bought from MaryGraceJewellery just over a week ago. I'm very happy with them too.

The sale ends on the 28th of August, I believe. I'm still watching the Elymwold store in awe of all the beautiful customs that everyone had ordered too, and I'll try to link anything particularly beautiful that I see.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Cardi.

Mooreartstudio Spiral In Action

Just a quick blog post to show my Mooreartstudio box elder spiral hairstick in use.

 

My spirals are all 6 inches long, so for someone who might not want as much stick to show, a 5.5 or 5 inch hairstick might work better. These seriously never move. I think he does custom orders too.

 

Anyone tempted yet?

 

 

 

 

WOW!

I realize that everyone doesn't have the time to stalk Etsy, that I do.  Because of this, when I see something truly amazing - even if it is reserved for someone else - I am going to link it here for you guys.

Check this out from Elymwold:

Shell top fork

 

Nigel has mad talent. The likes of which I have never seen before from a hairtoy maker. How incredible is that?!

 

We all neeeeeeeed more stuff from Elymwold.

 

That's all for now.

Iron Matcheroo!

Good morning everyone. *Checks to see it is still morning* Yep it still is.

 

I received some mail yesterday! It was extra exciting because my Father-in-law who is very clever and crafty had just made us a new mailbox, so the padded envelopes fit easily inside with no bending.

 

Also, I had only been expecting two orders from Mary Grace Jewellery but there were three packages. Oh wow, I didn't know what to think.

 

I told you all in one of my previous blogs that I had enabled myself into buying earrings, and they are all here now. It turns out that my gorgeous friend Lulu also managed to sneak order me a pair too. Oh Lulu, you're just so sweet. I was already trying to hunt you down some more wild 60thstreet forks since you're now mad about wood grain too, but your friendship was all the gift I could ever need. *Huge hug for Lulu*

 

So, I have lots of photos for us all today.

Group shot of the earrings I had ordered.

 

The absolutely stunning gift Lulu chose. Aren't they spectacular?

 

Unfortunately the pair of vitrail vintage style earrings I had fallen in love with were out of stock, so Mary sent through a refund for those. I'd be dishonest if I said I wasn't a little heartbroken about that, but she was very polite and quick to let me know and do the refund. Also the leaves with red beads on the far right were supposed to be fern leaves, but I like the leaves just as much and I let Mary know I'm happy with them regardless.

 

I was so excited by Lulu's surprise that I started to think about which hair toy I could wear in an action shot with them, to thank her, and I came up with these:

 

I really like how macassar ebony looks beside them. Thank-you again Lulu. You're the best! When my sock-puppet, erm, I mean wonderful husband (sorry, bad forum joke) gets home I'll see if he'll help me out with that action shot.

 

After taking that photo, I got into a matchy-match mood and started to think which hair-toys would go with each pair of new earrings and I started to have a bit too much fun, as you'll be able to see in a moment.

**Off topic for a bit. Mr Cardigan and I used to love watching Iron Chef, and we'd call it "Iron Cookeroo" and have great fun watching the cooking battles with strange ingredients. That's why I can't help thinking, "Iron Matcheroo" about all of this. Oh no. My crazy is showing.**

More photos now:

This...

became this...

 

and now I am all worn out for the day! Whew. I'm so pleased with my little earring haul and it was all so inexpensive. Yay! Plus I got to play with so many of my favourite things today and my doggies had fun out in the sunshine.

 

If anyone has any questions about the different items, I'm still keeping comments off because I don't want to be trolled, so if you're my friend you can probably reach me by email or at one of my new favourite places, Untangled Island.

 

 

...and it's still morning!

 

Have a great Thursday everyone.

 

 



 

I'm so blessed.

Something a little different today.

 

I just wanted to write a quick entry to say how wonderfully blessed I feel.

 

Some of you might know that I suffer from a severe form of CFIDS which is an invisible illness, but really incredibly debilitating. Infuriatingly medicine is still in the early stages of truly investigating this disorder and I'm involved in two research studies right now.

 

Despite all of that, I was very fortunate to be born into a very loving and supportive family who always make me feel loved and keep encouraging me when my health gets me down. Also I have married the most wonderful man who loves me fiercely despite my limitations. On top of that, my husband has the kindest, most understanding parents too, who never make me feel like I am not enough. Plus my fur babies!

 

And then, I've got a small group of incredible friends from all across the world who I enjoy chatting with through email and on various forums. Now I can reach most of you right here. You all make my life so joyful. You really do. I can forget if I am in pain, and any random feelings of loneliness or isolation just melt away.

 

So here's a lolcat for you bunch:

 

 

 

It really did.

 

Cardi.

Mooreartstudio

While I do wear Elymwold hair sticks or forks or 60thstreet hair forks more often than not, there are a few other makers who make particular items that I like very, very much.

One of my other favourite items are my Mooreartstudio spiral hairsticks.

I'm pretty choosey about what I really like, so for something to be one of my favourite things it has to be hair friendly and well finished, beautiful and comfortable to wear. Mooreartstudio spirals are all of these things.

Here's some photos to keep you guys going:

These spirals are all about 6 inches long in total. They are all finished very smoothly and have a natural semi-matte appearance. I occasionally buff them with coconut oil or a scented wood balm to give more shine and chatoyance, which reminds me, next time I'm at bunnings warehouse I want to get some wood balm.

*Makes mental note*

I put these hairsticks into my hair using a screwing action which locks them firmly into place. They do not move. Ever! They're amazing! Also I love that these particular hairsticks just let the wood do the talking. They are not waterproof, so I wouldn't even risk wearing them in damp hair or on a hot day as I would be very sad if they were spoiled.

I occasionally have trouble with some top heavy hairsticks drooping or falling out, so most of my favourite things are not top heavy. The best holding hairsticks seem to either have either a spiral shape like these or a gorgeous gentle wave like shape, like my Elymwolds or Timberstone Turnings.

One last photo to show the different woods:

From top to bottom, Holly, Flame Box Elder, Pink Ivory and Ebony.

 

 

One thing I must say about these hairsticks is that the pink ivory wood did appear darker to me in person than it was in the original listing, but I am ok with that. It's a really rich deep cool reddish pink, and I like that. I have a few lighter pink ivory items that started out a pale salmon pink but have become redder with age, so this is probably to be expected. Of them all, I find the gabon ebony to be the most classic looking, and the flame box elder to be the most stunning in person.

 

I definitely recommend giving one of these a try. I purchased one at first, but then found them so useful that I added some more. Four will be enough for me, I think, and I'll be hanging on to these as long as I can put my hair up.

 

Last of all, here's a photo of me wearing my holly and ebony spirals:

 

 

 

Catch ya all later,

 

Cardi.

 



Whoops! So I enabled myself.

My last blog was about how excited I was to see the sale at Mary Grace Jewellery at Etsy. I wonder how many of my friends who read that blog also fell victim to temptation?

I totally managed to tempt myself. No surprises there! I'm very excited to look forward to my new earrings arriving. I might need to nip down to the hardware store to grab another tackle box to store them in safely. I think the boxes I use are close to air-tight, so they will help prevent the metal from oxidizing or tarnishing. For your reference here is a listing on ebay, showing a similar product. I wish I'd had something like that when I was younger to keep all my earrings together, safe and tidy. I lost far too many favourite earrings as a teenager in drawers and through sneaky holes in handbag pockets.

I'm not sure what else I'd like to talk about for now. I have earrings on the brain, so here are a couple photos of the earrings I've purchased at the 60% off sale.

Dark Brown Wooden Earrings, Red Magnesite Gemstones.

Purple Feather Wooden Earrings

 

 

 

 

My husband chose the pretty purple feathers for me. I promise to wear some of my new earrings in future hair-toy action shots when they arrive. Send me word if you bought anything too, and we can be excited together.

 

It's cold and windy here today. It's so funny to think most of my friends overseas are still in Summer. More stuff on hairtoys soon.

 

 

Cardi.