Merry Christmas- The Guinea Pig Way

It's Betsey and Luella's first Christmas so naturally a photoshoot was required. They haven't quite got used to the camera yet but I'm sure they will soon. Of course Vuitton has long been an expert at avoiding good shots now. Betsey, the palest cutie with her beige fur, loved the big hat so much I was sad to take her out of it at the end- it must be snuggly in there!
A very merry Christmas to you all! ♥

New Friends

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and messages about my little Dior. I'm missing her so much, especially that adorable little face peeping up at me. I'm not the only one though. Her sister Vuitton had barely been apart from her besides hugs and vets appointments for well over four and a half years so she's been a sad little pig this last week. With both of us pining I decided to get her some new little friends and, let's face it, when would I ever say no to guinea pig babies!
I fell for these little sweethearts as soon as I saw a photo of them online, though it was quite hard to leave their siblings behind when I went to choose this evening. The girls are eight and a half weeks old and continuing the theme of naming my guinea pigs after much loved designers I have decided to call the darker one Luella and and the lighter one Betsey, after Luella Bartley (no surprises there!) and Betsey Johnson.
I don't think they much liked the car journey to their new home but I'm really pleased with how they're settling in already and Vuitton seems really happy to have met them. They're absolutely beautiful babies and I'm so excited to get to know them!

Guinea Pig Cuteness and Camera Geekery

I hadn't a clue what to do with a DSLR before I studied Photography at college but I've somehow turned from minor photography addict to somewhat of a major camera geek and it feels strange to go out without my beloved Canon EOS 550D. Last week I finally bought a 50mm f1.8 lens to use with it, which I'm so excited about! Naturally I just had to test it out on the cutest things in the house- my little guinea pigs, Dior and Vuitton. The chance to use f1.8 aperture means I can get a really lovely soft background to my photos and it will cope much better in situations with low lighting. The lack of zoom is going to take some getting used to, with some hilarious results, but I adore the lens already thanks to that rather dreamy aperture.

RIP Chanel the guinea pig

As some of you may know from my Twitter, one of my guinea pigs, Chanel, has been very poorly for a couple of weeks. We have been taking her back and forth to the vets so she's been as comfortable as possible. She seemed to be getting better but had very much deteriorated today and was not at all happy so we took her back this evening. This time it was obvious to the vet that something was wrong that was growing very quickly all of a sudden and impossible to operate on without her passing a few days later in pain anyway. I'm extremely sad and distraught and miss her greatly already, but I know she's not suffering anymore. I took these pictures this morning between washing her and her antibiotics, having a snuggle in my arm and generally being a little cutie.

Autumn Butterfly

I've been a bit of a poorly bunny lately and you can probably tell my eyes are looking very sleepy here! My voice was nearly non-existent for a few days but I'm doing better now. Yesterday my parents took me to Shugborough, a local National Trust property which has appeared in blog posts a few times. These photos are at the Doric Temple in the grounds, but my favourite bit is the farm!
I love visiting the animals, especially the guinea pigs! It was even cuter than usual because three have recently given birth! I saw one lot of three babies about two weeks ago along with two very pregnant piggies. Now there are 11 cute babies in total! The second lot of three came a few days ago and the rest had only been born the night before. The oldest three were tempted out along with the mummy pigs by grass and the rest stayed inside in a huddle of cute. Here are couple of pics from my compact camera to squee over:


Back to my outfit: I was tipped off to the presence of some rather lovely floral garlands in my local Topshop sale and I love the butterflies on this one! I've been finding myself drawn to orange more lately, which is good because there was a lot of it on the catwalks at London Fashion Week!
I thought it would look lovely with the colours in my new Motel Rocks skirt. Then I decided to try out my oversized lace Topshop shirt tucked in, normally I leave it loose or belt it. I put a green Topshop vest underneath to bring out the colour of the leaves as well as a green leopard print H&M scarf. My tights are also H&M and my shoes are River Island. Then there's my beloved Vivienne Westwood heart bag.
I won my sweet little Battenburg cake earrings in I Love Crafty's blog giveaway last week, the little bow is so pretty!

Sunshine Award

Many thanks to Tracy of The Tote Trove for this lovely award. It's always a great delight to receive blog awards, and I must confess that during exams I received some which I have neglected so I will get around to those. Here are the rules of this one:
- Thank the person who gave you this award
- Write a post about it
- Answer to the questions below
- Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and send them message to let them know

The questions:
What's your favorite colour?
Pink
What's your favorite animal?
The guinea pig
What's your favorite number?
3
What perfume are you using right now?
Yves Saint Laurent Young Sexy Lovely
What do you always wear that identifies you?
Florals!
What's your passion?
Portrait painting
Do you prefer getting or giving presents?
Giving. Finding the perfect thing for someone is one of my great delights in life. Though it is always wonderful to recieve of course.
What was the last eyeshadow you used?
I bought a dark brown Natural Collection one a while ago because I was drawn to the matte texture, then I went and bought some more and they're my new eye make up staples.
What's your favorite day of the week?
It used to be Tuesday because of TV shows and weekly magazines. Now? I don't really know.
Are your nails painted right now?
No, I'm trying to let them recover at the moment. It's hard to keep nice nails when you're an artist!

Now you've seen my answers you probably understand the logic behind pictures- I tried to include three of them! The photographs weren't an essential to the award or anything I just felt like including them.
Little Dior the guinea pig here is such a cutie, but a few weeks ago she was very poorly indeed, as some of you know from my Facebook and Twitter accounts. She's doing a lot better now, has put on some weight and is spending some time socialising with the others during being on the lawn and hugs with me. She's just as adorable as ever.

And now for the 10 sunshiniest bloggers, in ABC order. Choosing 10 is hard as I read so many lovely blogs, but these all add a little sunshine to my life.
Athene Noctua
http://rebeccabk.blogspot.com/
Bonjour Gazel
http://www.bonjourgazel.com/
Fashion Pearls Of Wisdom
http://fashionpearlsofwisdom.blogspot.com/
Frills 'n' Spills
http://www.frillsnspills.com/
HiFashion
http://www.thehifashionsite.com/
Leia's Delights
http://www.leiasdelights.com/
Messy Carla
http://messycarla.blogspot.com/
Mis Papelicos
http://mispapelicos.blogspot.com/
Oranges and Apples
http://www.oranges-and-apples.com/
Style Eyes Fashion Blog
http://www.style-eyes-fashion-blog.com/

Happy birthday Vuitton and Dior

Yesterday my two eldest guinea pig babies were three years old. Well atleast according to our estimations from how old they were when we got them. I think they're just as cute as ever:
They started off behaving so well, just look at that adorable pair of sisters. Not that they look all that much like each other and their brothers were so different again! Much more like Chanel, Dior's daughter.

Now Vuitton, as much as I love your little nose, you do know the camera is not food, right? They're so funny with the way they lift their heads up in the air when you can't figure out why they're sniffing so.

What was it they said about not working with animals? I've decided it would be a good idea to paint them in the summer- should be interesting!

The fabric is for pretty effect not for eating!

At that point I figured it was time to give up and just hug them. They even got a nice pile of grass which was a nice treat as they haven't had any in the winter months. And the chances of them suddenly calming down and becoming sane? Not a chance.

The start of the summer

So Shugborough Esate, my parents favourite haunt while I'm at work on a Saturday and the place which handily provided the inspiration for my last fashion project, recently opened for the season and I was excited to get to see the new guinea pigs today!

Now these two look like they come from the same family as last years and if I am not very much mistaken I can see a baby bulge which means more little cuties are on the way. There was another pair, one with the same three colours and one agute, but though I caught a fleeting glimpse of them upon arrival at the farm they were very shy so I didn't manage to photograph them.

There were also some cute bunnies around:

This one seemed to be alternating boxing with the air with grooming its paws:

This little lamb is called Sean and was a very friendly chap.

These chickens seemed to be burrowing... which seemed a little odd to me but if someone knows what they were doing I'd love to know.

And the daffodils are coming out:

There are some really pretty spots in the garden.