Packing for Scotland.

Heya, hope you're well.

This weekend I'm excited to be flying to Edinburgh to watch the Rugby match between Scotland and Italy, it's going to be lively match I'm sure, although I know England have already won the Six Nations! (having won all their games so far).
There'll be plenty of eating, drinking, laughing and shopping too!  But shush - don't tell hubby about the last one. Ha ha! Hopefully a bit of Haggis on the menu, along with a wee dram of the local brew - when in Rome etc etc!! Lol.

Remember my previous Cheeky Night Away, and my lack of colour?  Well this is what I'm planning on taking this time, enough colour do you think?


Jeans - Two pairs
New dress  - Mustard
M & S Dress 
Jumper pink
Jumper white
Blouse pink
Boots Grey
Shoes Black
Scarf x 2
Cream shimmery baseball trainers.
Pink jacket or blue coat.
Two T shirts coloured.

You can see I'm aiming for pink, grey and black for casual day wear, with a splash of colour for one evening, but I will admit I'm taking my black and gold dress, neutral I know so lets just see how this pans out. 

Here's hoping this has me looking and feeling better in the fashion stakes!

Fingers crossed I can get all this in my cabin bag as I'm not sure we've booked a case in then hold - bad move!

Swiftly moving onto what I wore today. 
Winter 'off' whites for a beautiful Spring day,  starting with this pretty scarf I bought last week in Primark.
Drawn towards the cute coral pink flowers over the white background made me think of blossom on the trees.  I've worn this over a white jumper I picked up in Matalan.  I know this will be a favourite of mine through out the coming months - It'll go with so many different styled tops and will also be a super cover up on a chilly Spring/Summer evening.
Wearing my chinos today, although I'm still not happy with the fit!  I bought a larger size, but the material has stretched whilst being worn.  I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because the smaller size fitted too tightly.  Being very structured I don't think they could be altered at all - so I'll make do with wearing once and then washing - not very eco friendly I'm afraid!

 How sweet is this scarf?  From Primark for only £4 - isn't it gorgeous!

Check back next week to see how my weekend faired, who won the rugby??? lol, and what I got up to in bonnie Scotland.

So I'll be seeing you Monday. X
Och aye the noo!

Frayed Jeans if you're over fifty?

Morning, hope you're weekend went smoothly.  Has the weather been acceptable?

I've had a busy weekend, so I'm looking forward to getting ready for a weekend away.
Pop by next Thursday to see what I'm planning on packing.  Let's hope I can throw some colours into the mix, unlike my previous experience, you can check out if you think I failed at my last attempt here

The answer most definitely it Yes!

Thought I'd share my DIY frayed jeans with you.
Having seen these everywhere and wanting a piece of the action, I quickly followed suit.
I bought these jeans in the Zara Sale a couple of seasons ago, I was happy with how they looked, but knew they'd look even better frayed.
With the help of youngest daughter I set to work, snipping, pulling and cutting to my hearts content, she did the same, but maybe we should have communicated a little more, because the finished result revealed I'd left mine very much frayed and stringy, where as she's cut hers neat and tidy - you realise I mean we both had a leg each and not separate jeans.  This was one mix and match that really didn't work - lol!

We managed to match them up by more fraying and cutting on the other leg!
It's not how you start but how you finish! Ha ha ha.



This is the finished effect. 
Enjoying the sunshine on this beautiful March day.  It's really starting to feel like Spring - with the sun shinning, birds chirping and the daffodils in full bloom, it was nice to be out in the fresh air.

Here's how my attempt (with daughter) turned out ... I think they look great, and probably even better when they've been washed!

Pairing my jeans with this beautiful half silk, half jersey blouse, featuring the beautiful Hydrangea bloom in shades of pale blue. I fell in love with the soft blue colours and figured this would look perfect with jeans, finishing off with a sale bargain from Florence and Fred last year, this stunning summer blue longer line cardigan is just the job for a spring outfit, and will brighten up your darkest day. 
I think it may have cost around £7 which proves it's always worth taking a peek in F & F when doing a food shop, you never know what little bargains might find their way into your trolley along with the sprouts!  ;-)

Got a couple of mins spare?  Pop over to see Nicole from High latitude Style I was lucky enough to be featured!
Linking up with Notdressedaslamb  and Elegantlydressedandstylish today.

So much appreciation for Esther Ruby for taking these photos for me, again they've turned out brilliantly.

Hope to see you on Thursday, but until then have fun, maybe in the sun? X

(Very proud to have managed to add a custom signature to my blog - that was a minefield, but hey I eventually succeeded!)

Dusky Pink Blouse with Bell Sleeves.

Hiya,

I hope you caught my post yesterday celebrating mummabstylish's  First Birthday!
When first writing my blog, posts were very sporadic and thin on the ground, however upon my learning curve I've taken heed at one piece of advice - blog consistently! 
So that's what I've been doing for the past few weeks,  Monday and Thursday are my chosen days, so If you like a little of what I wear and what I fill my days with I'd be over the moon if you'd join me.

You may have seen me wearing this gorgeous dusky pink blouse on my Instagram recently.   I picked this up in Debenhams a couple of weeks ago knowing this would be the perfect blouse to carry me through to Spring - do you like my positive thinking?  It must be just around the corner, because the bulbs are starting to spring up in my garden, and the nights are drawing out. 

I decided to challenge myself to see if I could wear it both on a night out and for a casual day shopping. 

So here's my first look.  Paired with some black culottes that I bought last year, but haven't been able to wear much because of the weather (and hubby doesn't care for them) but I like how they look together, dressy enough for an evening out to dinner or a party. 
Not needing to wear a necklace for this look, so I opted for statement earrings!

I was drawn to this blouse mainly because of the beautiful colour - pink is my favourite colour with dusky pink top of the list, along with cerise, fuscia, rose, bubblegum, hot pink and blush - hold on they're all my favourites!
The cute bell sleeves that are so fashionable have a black ribbon bow at the cuff,  but remember to take care when eating you dinner - these pretty sleeves won't look so pretty with gravy over them!  Smug to say that didn't happen to me, but reading other blogs I know it's happened to some of you! Opps!

Do you like the culottes or do you agree with my hubby?  These have wide legs so I feel are more chic than casual, although you can dress these down, but that's for another post I think.

Onto the casual look, this would be more suitable for shopping, or impromptu lunch out.
I paired my cute blouse with these skinny dark denim jeans, I bought these in Zara a couple of seasons ago, bought for about £15 - a great bargain find in their sale and cheap enough to give them my own DIY treatment of a frayed hem - I want to show these in another post, if you'd like to pop back and see in the next few weeks.

My black boots from TK Maxx along with this black long line waterfall cardigan finished off this casual look with an all important cross-over bag, again from an extensive collection in TK Maxx. 

Thanks to my middle daughter for taking photos for me, mind you we did have a few laughs going through the outtakes, some being very 'cringe' worthy - lol!

I love you to visit the marvelous Jonet at Fabulously Chic Over 50  where I'm thrilled to be featured and chuffed if you'd check it out.

See you again soon. X
             Jacqui B.

One Year ~ Wow!

Hello, where did that year go? Happy Birthday Mummabstylish....

I'm amazed at how far I come since starting my blog a whole year ago!
Looking back I'm rather proud at how much I've learnt, grown and mastered since beginning this little venture. 
I started Mummabstylish because I felt I was going stale, reaching my fifties, with grown-up children who were starting to fly the nest, I was becoming stagnant, forgetful and in a rut!  Blogging drew me up and away from these feelings - given me something to focus on, test my brain in other ways.  Silly things like lack of vocabulary!  I wanted want to learn new words, along with learning new fashion styles.

An old cliché I know, however, there's been some good times, some fabulous times and some downright horrendous times that have happened over the past year, the blog gave me something else to worry about - when worrying about other things in life won't make a hint of a difference! (I worry when I haven't got anything to worry about!)

This has been and still is a huge learning curve - one that I'm rather enjoying and don't see myself getting off any time soon!  Seeing the positive comments coming through that ladies like my style, enjoying others blogs with the realisation that some are, at times, the same - nervous, wary and maybe frightened of style revision, but then seeing that others have attempted, achieved then have moved forward in their blogging world proves I can do it!

Having made some friends along the way - I'd like to say a big Thank You to you all, I'm happy to admit I've been envious, inspired, influenced, satisfied and contented by you all!

So along with a Birthday comes presents - I've given myself a present to mark this day, and remind me how far I've travelled.

How do you feel about this.....
M & S have some simply stunning clothes just in, I was spoilt for choice but picked this mustard toned dress, both for the style and the spicy feel.  This set me back just short of £30.  This is a fairly classic style so should hold it's own for a few months years to come! 

I'm sure to be mixing this cute dress with a range of colours, but thought I'd start with basic black and then blue.
This dress is a Kimono style short sleeve shift dress, a great length and comes with matching tie belt.  A full zip at the back, along with a small v neck, enhancing either a long necklace, short choker and not forgetting a matching scarf.

I've paired with both a long line plunder necklace from my daughters collection, along with the accessories of black shoes and clutch.

Blue and mustard are a perfect match when it comes to fashion, you know like coffee and cream, salt & vinegar - just made for each other.
I've teamed up my spicy mustard dress with this super bag and shoes I showed you last year - you can see again these Lotus delights here.

Grabbed the scarf as I knew that'd go well together, and so they do - what do you think?  Is mustard and navy blue in your ideal colour combination?

Here you can see the slight bat-wing sleeve, which is ever so comfortable, I hate having tight sleeves, very restrictive - especially when trying to do anything manual like lifting a wine glass ;-)!!!




So here's to the next year, I wonder what this may bring.

Happy Birthday Mummabstylish!

See you again tomorrow - cheerio. X



          Jacqui B.