The Life and Times of Mrs Jones

Dressing my Noir Collection

2012-02-16T20:54:00.001Z

Black, White & Nude by mrsjonesjewel featuring black jewelry

Debut ivory prom dress
£90 - debenhams.com

Crumpet
£270 - crumpetengland.com

Stuart weitzman shoes
$298 - zappos.com

Dolce Gabbana satin clutch
$3,669 - mytheresa.com

Necklace
£12 - folksy.com

Black jewelry
£10 - folksy.com

Monsoon pearl hair accessory
£8 - monsoon.co.uk

I have been playing with Polyvore for the first time, and just look at how fantastic it is. I can pair up my jewellery with any outfit/s. The trouble is I am now slightly addicted to it!

Love Mrs Jones x

Valentine's Day 2012

2012-02-15T11:35:00.000Z

I have been with my husband for twenty years and we had a lovely evening together yesterday. We have never been into doing anything much for Valentines Day, but yesterday just struck me as amusing when I looked back on it.

At breakfast

She said: The chocolates were meant for your birthday, but I bought you too much for that anyway.

He said: Your chocolates were nice ones from Waitrose.

They open their cards – his was a card from Mrs Eliot Books, hers a card with a dozen red roses on it.

That evening

She said: I wasn’t going to spend £20 on a supermarket meal deal just for Valentine’s Day, [even though she lusted after the fresh rose petals that you could have as a side].

She said: I bought this chicken dinner with mushrooms and raspberry panacotta for pudding.

He said: Did you buy any pink champagne? I’ll go and get some.

She said: Don’t buy anything too expensive.

He said: Oh no, don’t worry I’m not going to buy champagne, just cava or something.

Meanwhile, she sets the table with a lovely white table runner and a bowl of floating candles, and starts cooking the dinner.

He returns with a £6 bottle of Cava, the hint about the rose petals was lost on him. She thinks she might get them on special offer tomorrow anyway.

By the time they sit and eat, the floating candles are all out and the cat sits at the end of the table glaring at the chicken with mushroom.

The children are shooed up to bed, while he selects Midnight in Paris on BT Vision. They sit on separate sofas, sipping cava, and then she falls asleep halfway through the film.

Love Mrs Jones x

Make up bag III

2012-02-12T06:00:00.000Z

Really got into the swing of these make up bags now, so I have one more to show you. I also bought myself a dress pattern today, but no fabric for it yet, so I am eager to make a start on that. But for now, take a look at my third make up bag. The dimensions are 23cm by 14cm.

Front: Love this gorgeous bird fabric! You may just be able to make out the three sequins I hand stitched on.

Reverse: This is the reverse side, but pretty all the same.

Lining: This bright mustard lining looks great.

I am taking them to work this week, as a colleague has shown an interest in buying one, and then I'm going to list them in my Etsy store.

Love Mrs Jones x

Friday Night is Family Night!

2012-02-11T08:31:00.001Z

So, I had a great idea that we should have a dedicated family night, as so often we are working, blogging (!) and the children are playing Xbox or are on their Ipods. At least one night, we could get together for an evening and spend some real time together.

Our first try was a week ago, and they both came home from school in bad moods and then the eldest was invited for a sleepover. But we spent the evening playing top trumps and a wordsearch game with Fred. But we had a great evening yesterday: we hired a film from BT Box Office at £4.00 and the children and I made popcorn, and we all settled down to watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes with the gorgeous James Franco!

I am really hoping that this family night evolves into something great, although it is harder to start it in Winter. I am hoping that in the Spring we can start going on cycle rides and maybe by Summer we will be playing mini golf in the park and having fish & chips by the sea. But most importantly, I want all of us to enjoy each other's company, to vary the activities, and to try new things. When you have one teenager and the other isn't far behind, it is much more difficult to maintain that family bond than it is when they are younger.

Love Mrs Jones x

Mocha Star Biscuits

2012-02-05T11:49:00.000Z

Sorry, another food post, but I rustled these cute little biscuits up yesterday afternoon as I had my parents in law coming over and I thought they would be nice after dinner with coffee. hese biscuits are called Mocha Kisses in Rachel Allen's Food for Living, see below, and are little hearts, which of course would be perfect for Valentines Day. But, I couldn't find my heart cutter yesterday, hence the stars!

They are so easy to make, just mixing the dry ingredients in a food processor and then adding the wet ingredients until the mixture forms a dough. The dough itself is a little like gingerbread to handle, and Rachel does advise putting it in the fridge for a while to firm up. I used mine straight away, so some of the stars are a little deformed from being to soft to properly handle.

It is then just ten to fifteen minutes in the oven for cooking and whilst they cool, you can whip up the buttercream icing, also in the food processor. I only wish I had made buttercream in the processor years ago, it prevents that horrible whomph of icing sugar in the air which you breathe in.

If you don't have Rachel Allen's book, you can find the recipe here. Or you can buy the book by clicking on the link below.

My Valentine Selection

2012-02-05T08:00:00.000Z

Well, it isn't long now until Valentines Day, so I thought I would show you what I have in my shop that would be suitable for your girlfriend, wife, lover etc in your life. And don't forget, that as it is a leap year, a girl is permitted to ask her boyfriend to marry her!

Okay, so from top left:

1. Valentines Earrings with Rose Quartz beads - so romantic!

2. Antique silver bow and turquoise shell heart earrings

3. Silvery blue bracelet with open heart detail (matches the necklace directly below)

4. Rose Quartz bracelet

5. Silvery blue necklace with open heart details (see above for bracelet)

6. Pale pink (almost nude) pearl two strand bracelet.

As always in these treasuries, you can click on the image and will be swiftly transported to my shop. And if you buy any of these items and quote "Mrs Jones Blog", I will refund your postage!

Love ? x

Quick Card for a Man

2012-02-04T08:00:00.000Z

Is this an unusual title for a blog post? Probably, but anyone who has to buy cards for men, be they partners, Dads, Nephews etc, knows how difficult it is to get a suitable card. So, I have a quick solution for a smart card for a man, and this one will almost certainly be going to my father in law who is 80 this weekend (my husband is sure to have forgotten to buy a card!).

I started with a card blank and cut a rectangle from some paper and rounded the corners. Then glued (pritt stick or similar) this paper onto the card. I used a contrasting paper from the same paper pack and cut the same length rectangle but much narrower and stuck that on top of the previous rectangle.

Then, using a small blank tag (mine were from Docrafts) I cut out a section of a really old map and glued this to the tag. I didn't holepunch it as I was in a hurry, but you could. Then I printed a Happy Birthday from my computer - the capital letters are in Edwardian font and the rest Lucida Handwriting. Again I rounded the corner and glued it onto the map.

Finally I used some large sticky dots to attach the tag at an angle in the centre of the card. So quick - it will take you under five minutes, and of course you can totally adapt for a woman's card.

Love Mrs Jones x

PS. Ordnance Survey aren't happy for maps to be used in crafting where it is subsequently sold, so do check it out if you are planning on making these other than for your own use.

RIP

2012-02-03T17:44:00.000Z

To a wonderful lady and colleague who did not deserve to die so young.

Rest in Peace, Jeanette Stacey.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

2012-02-03T08:00:00.004Z

You know how it is when you end up with lemons that really need using, well I made this lemon drizzle cake. I adapted the recipe from The Primrose Bakery Cookbook, but you can find many many lemon drizzle cake recipes on the web, such as this one.

I have a couple of lemon juicing tips of my own for you though (if you don't have a juicer). Warm the lemon in the microwave for 10 seconds then roll quite forcefully against the worktop before cutting in half and squeezing like mad! But please don't do this if you have cuts on your hand, or it will really sting....ouch :-(

Love Mrs Jones x