washi washi weekend wanderings

(images from of one, two, three)

I recently bought some really adorable washi tape from Paperchase - I passed by it in House of Fraser and I really just couldn't ignore it! This one has little woodland animals on and leaves and cute things, right up my street. It wasn't expensive like washi tape usually is - only £3.50 for 4 rolls, which I thought was a good deal.. it wasn't until I got home that I realised that I didn't have a use for it.. A quick google later and I found a wealth of ideas on Pinterest. Here are a few of my most favourite/least cheesy ones.

Washi Tape Corkboard

Ikea Decorated Frames

Washi Tape Light Favours

Coloured Keyboard

Colourful Notebooks & Pencils

Washi Tape Tumbling Blocks

Monogram Letter Art

Colourful Pillar Candles

Washi Tape iPhone Case

Another Washi Tape iPhone Case

Washi Workspace

Coloured Keyboard on Black Keys

Bright Storage Jars

winter warmer

I don't know about anyone else, but now the weather is that bit cooler, I want winter food! Like soup and pies and roasts and crumbles and all that good stuff. My mum makes the most amazing apple or blackberry pies - this was no exception. It was a bit of a cheated affair, shop bought pastry lining the dish, filled with washed, clean blackberries and sprinkled with sugar. Cover with pastry and sprinkle with sugar, bake until golden brown. So easy, so so so good! Served with a big helping of cream, custard, or vanilla ice-cream and it makes me long for Christmas, somehow? Haha.

bills bills bills

Alternate post title; jobs, jobs, jobs.. The two go both in hand, though, don't they? My point is, when did applying for jobs become so lengthy?! I'm more than happy to fill out application forms, and I get a weird satisfaction out of my CV looking just so, but some of these forms are getting ridiculous. 

This gets me thinking that I am ~out of touch~ with society, because the last time I applied for jobs this thoroughly was when I was sixteen and got my first part-time job at Waitrose (which I'm still in now, a long and painful seven years later). I distinctly remember going around my local shopping centre and my town, picking up a handful of paper forms and diligently filling out my name and address and the odd GCSE and sticking them in the post. But gone are the days of paper application forms, and everything is digital. Still, I remember the excitement of thinking I was so grown up for looking for a job.. now I feel like a child because I'm still in my Saturday job whilst everyone rushes past me on their own career ladder. 

Anyway, fingers crossed that one or two of them get back to me, eh? Cause I've applied for two different dream jobs that I'm just perfect for (arrogant!) and I'll cry myself to death if I don't get an interview (melodramatic).

Is anyone else stuck in this post-graduation, pre-life limbo? Does it ever end? Will you hold my hand and sit with me through these long, painful evening and weekend shifts?!

glowing blue

This is such a prized possession of mine, I just had to show you this old knit. I bought this particular yarn from a knitting fair my mum took me to early this year, and I was in love. The hall was full of beautiful yarn, the kind that is super hard to find around here. There wasn't a ball of pastel yellow or fluroescent green acrylic in sight, but hanging skeins of, what I called, 'glowing' wool. They are silk yarns that are dyed beautiful colours. After uhming and aahing for most of the day, I limited myself to just the one skein, and that was this beautiful sapphire blue from Fibres Exotica. It was quite expensive, so I just got the one skein.. which left me with a dilemma - what could I make from one ball?! 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I wanted to knit a crochet lacy hat, and eventually made this beauty - which I'm absolutely in love with. It's not the warmest of hats, obviously, more designed for fashion than warmth!
The pattern was the Summer 'Combination' Hat on Ravelry, and it was my first proper foray into crochet - one that wasn't the easiest of tasks when we had to convert US crochet terms to English and vice versa.. my mum helped me a lot, haha. 

barbican dreams

These photos seem like such a long time ago now, but I can still remember how bitterly cold it was when me and my friend Tam visited the Barbican for the first time earlier this year. Would you believe we went in March and it was that cold?! I remember walking from St. Pauls with her, where we'd had lunch at Pizza Express, to the Barbican art gallery in the sleet and the bitter wind and both of us being freezing.
I found these photos whilst looking for something else and it reminded me how much I loved the place. I've got a real thing for brutalist architecture of the 60's, like the Hayward gallery on the Southbank, and I really loved the little glimpses of greenery with the concrete - it all reminds me very much of my favourite novels, where nature starts to take over the the cities... I'm sure there is something in Drowned World to do with the Barbican centre, but I can't remember. 

These little gardens out into the water are just perfect, and the palm trees with the circular windows and such are just completely my thing.. it's such a shame I'd need upwards for £500k to live there... One day though, eh? 

swimdog

My friend Amy's dog is a bit... dappy, I like to call him - I don't know why but he really makes me laugh. I know dogs like to swim but he seems to go mad whenever Amy takes him to the local ford. We did it a little while ago and he somehow caught a fish (we're still not convinced whether it was alive when he caught it, but...). I don't know, it just makes me really want a puppy of my own - they make me so happy - I'm such a loser! We also saw this birdbox - I think it's for an owl or something, anyone have any clues?

hair scare

I'm having one of those weeks where my hair is really annoying me.. I've wanted to get it cut for a while, but recently I'm really considering lopping all my hair off. I don't think I could do it right now, I've been growing it for about four years to get it to my ideal dream of 'witch hair' (aka, super long and black and straggly haha).. but when it's hot and because my hair is incredibly thick (think like, takes four hours+ to dry fully to my scalp!) I just get really annoyed with it. 

In short, I've just been googling cute new hair styles and I just want it short and layery and messy with my fringe back.. I think come September, my fringe will be making a reappearance, I miss it so much! I've also been really considering going a little bit lighter with my hair colour.. it's always been a chocolate-brown to a dark black-brown, playing occasionally with ombre or reddish tints: can you tell I'm not that adventurous with my hair?! I'm really intrigued about going a honey brown with a reddish tint.. Anyway, I've been scouring the internet for celebrities with hair like I want.

1. Abbey Lee Kershaw; I used the middle reference for the colour I wanted my ombre and I absolutely love her hair like this - I think this is the way that I want mine.. only a teensy bit darker, and more red.. 

2. Freja Beha Erichsen; I think this is a little too Alexa Chung-like for my taste, but I like the messyness of it, because I am so not a straightened-every-day kind of person.

3. Emma Stone; because she's perfect? It's probably the ideal length that I would go for, because I am not really brave enough to cut it all off.

But maybe now that the weather is turning colder I'll want my hair dark and black like I do every winter? Who knows, but it's fun to think about having a change.

my summer via instagram

blackberry cravings / teeny-tiny birthday fish / allotment or secret garden? / new summer fragranes

big tank for the babies / popcorn from scratch / graduation roses / new shelving

hibiscus iced tea / amazing iphone case / perfect books / living in houseplant jungle

stoke on trent sunshine / first allotment harvest, broad beans / knitting gloves in the summer? / heat exhaustion

reading at dusk / my terrarium is thriving / perfect sunflowers / american beverages

of dogs and blogs

 pug dog sweater

side button greyhound sweater

easy dog sweaters

large dog sweater

[no photos are mine, see above links]

The longer readers may have noticed a real shift in content recently on my blog... and I have to say that I am really enjoying this new lease of life for Uncia and Tigris. Specifically, less make-up, beauty, fashion, etc, and a shift towards more outdoorsy photos, recipes and home things, as well as knitting. For a while, I kept trying to blog about makeup and stuff, because that is what my blog has always been about, but realised that my heart just wasn't in it anymore. In my last few months of uni I took a break from blogging, and it really helped me realise that I want to blog, and blog about things that I'm really interested in - not whatever is fashionable or current in the makeup world, etc.. I know this might not be what a lot of people are interested in, but I know it's what will keep me happiest in the long run! 

So I don't want to alienate any old readers, I'm sure I'll still update you on fancy new nail-varnish and lipstick from now and then, but theres going to be a bit more variety in my blog..

Just had a little note to say about knitting posts - it is something that I really love and have been shy of sharing with people, for thinking it was uncool or something.. a little while ago I started telling more people about it and have only had good things in response. So if you think it's bad or lame or something, this definitely isn't the place for you! Because lets face it, if you DONT' like something that enables you to make cute little jumpers for adorable dogs then.. well you don't have a heart, haha. 

travel memories

[image from marthastewart.com]

This is one of those types of things that pops up on Pinterest all the time, and I never really pay that much attention to them - but then I saw this and I thought that it was such a good idea. I'm one of those people that keeps (hoards?) all kinds of things from when I've been on holiday somewhere. Like photos and ticket stubs and receipts and postcards and flyers and stuff.. and then they just waft about my room and sometimes I put the photos up but sometimes I forget... I definitely want to get something like this and try it out. I don't really like the colours and the stencils but I might collage some images or something on it? I'm not sure, but I like that they fit on the bookshelf like books!

I was thinking I should get some of the photos i took this last week on holiday printed out and it would make such a cute box.. hmn, ideas ideas!

binocular view

Another bunch of sea-based photos for your eyes.. Yesterday we went for a walk around the headland and there were some amazing views out across the sea - I borrowed my dads binoculars and watched the birds floating out on the thermals over the sea and the land. The rocks down there are fearsome, too, it's really good fun to watch the waves crashing - it all feels very prehistoric and cool.

all roads lead to the beach

So I am here in Devon, and it feels like I am home. It is weird how that happens, isn't it? My parents used to drag us here every year when I was little, and I always felt like I was missing out because my parents never took us anywhere 'exciting' like Disneyland Florida or Majorca... it makes me laugh now to think like that! I love this corner of the world, it feels so perfect and like nothing has changed. The small little high-street of the main town and the walk down the lane to the beach are exactly the same: and the sea.. Coming round the corner on the slightly terrifying coastal road and seeing the water stretch out in front to the island.. It's bittersweet, in that I am not a happy little carefree child anymore, content to make sandcastles - and so much has changed since then.. but it's still the same lovely place and I am so happy to be here. I wish my older brother could be here too, but unfortunately he couldn't make it. I am tucked up in bed writing this, but wondering what I can get up to tomorrow..