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Tropical wings is one of my favourite zoo's! 
It is  located in South Woodham Ferrers - Essex, my mum loves butterflies and as it's got the most beautiful butterfly room with a pond of Koi Carp (you can even get food for them at the entrance). I found this the perfect place to take mum for Mothers day!

They have all the usual, parrots (one of which spoke radio.) Lemurs, Meerkats, porcupine's, otters, African Tortoise, wallaby and many farm animals too! 
The thing that makes this zoo so spectacular for me is the butterfly room. I could stay in there all day! If you fancy the butterflies perching on you then just make sure to wear a brightly clothing. My mum was wearing a purple coat which got all of the butterflies attention. 



Just the colours of this bird amazes me! The iridescence is just incredible.



I was fascinated by the butterflies movements, I observed the beautiful butterflies and I wondered why they kept moving and not staying on the flowers. I looked closer and noticed they are fluttering as they are drinking nectar. Some of the breeds of butterflies are eating fruit at the zoo which are placed in tin bowls. Whilst the other species drink nectar from the flowers.



If you'r lucky you may even see a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.





Make sure to see the meerkats and Otters feed!




















Please share your experiences of Tropical Wings or any butterfly gardens in the comments and recommend any other butterfly gardens, I would love to see more!

JoJo

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Yesterday was the first day of Spring! It wasn't a great day but today's sun has made up for it. I love Spring, firstly its the season of my birthday, the sun begins to shine in England and so many new beautiful flowers spring up! I love flowers, they are so pretty. The dainty wild ones and all the daffodils. It's the perfect time of year for flower pressing. 

I find flower pressing is a hobby that I enjoy but I don't spend a considerable amount of time doing, it is quite simple and doesn't require too much maintenance. The main thing is deciding what to do with the flowers and how to arrange them once pressed. I made a few cards and a bookmark using the flowers I had pressed. I braught a pack of 50 cards with envelopes from the works - £4 that's only 8p per card! You can also buy 10 for £1 if you don't want to make too many. Below is a step by step of how to make the pressed flowers cards.


Step 1 - choosing flowers

I want to emphasise that you only pick flowers you are allowed to. And if picking from a public area make sure they are only wild flowers and don't pick too many from the same area as not to spoil the scenery for other people.
When choosing flowers (or pretty leaves) you should look out for dainty flowers more than thick ones, I found daffodils do work but require more maintenance when pressing. The finer the easier to press and better they will look as when pressing you are drying them out, the thicker means the longer time it takes and more regularly you need to change paper. 

Step 2 - placing the flowers onto paper

For the pressing you can ither use a flower press (I found this one on Ebay) or you can use newspaper, blotting paper (better but not necessary to use) and books.
I used books, newspaper and blotting paper to press mine. So start with a book, then newspaper (a couple of sheets will do) and a sheet of blotting paper. Place the flowers how you want them to be pressed. Open is lovely, you will need to cut the stalk at the top of the flower or this will get in the way, you can have a look at my images of pressed flowers to get an idea how to place them or images of other pressed flowers. 
If you use the flower press a layer of corrigated card is good to use as first layer then newspaper and blotting paper.

Step 3 - paper and weight

Place another layer of blotting paper, couple pages of newspaper then another book. If you are using the flower press add the same then corrugated card (if you have) then tighten the flower press.

Step 4 - Waiting and checking
If you have pressed bigger or thick flowers/leaves these will take longer and require changing blotting paper or newspaper more often, its worth checking thicker ones every day, if it looks like its been damp then it needs changing. For the flowers I pressed I checked every 3/4 days and they were pressed by 3 weeks! 
These will last for years so don't worry about when you use them.

Step 5 - Making cards and more

You can arrange the flowers on a card to a design you like, then you can take a photo to remember arrangement or use a second card to take one flower at a time, use a glue stick on the card in the area which you are placing the flower, or you can pick up the flower with tweezers, dot some pva glue with a fine stick on the back. Place the flower and repeat this with all pressed flowers you use on the card. 


There are endless projects you can do, if you use Gloss finish Mod Podge or clear nail varnish, you can make pretty phone cases, glasses (small ones are extra cute) frame them, present tags (you can pick up blank ones from the works or hobby craft) If you place them in glass frames you can hang them by a window! 




Spring time walk collecting flowers. The tiny flowers from these trees press well and are beautiful








JoJo


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For a weekend catch up with my best friend, we decided to go to Cambridge for a day of shopping and seeing the city.
We decided to hit the shops and stop by Topshop, Warehouse and others. My favourite pieces of the season is anything embroidered. Bags and jeans espically! 

The city is very pretty, we stopped by Christ's college to look at the beautiful buildings and have take photos. 




 I wore my coat from Top Shop, an oversized leather dress which I brought from Top shop on Oxford street a while time ago, I decided it was a piece for longevity because it is  good quality and simple, it can be styled up or down and is leather so it is very durable! I paired this up with a cute choker from Topshop black tights and Embroidered boots (currently at Public desire!).





Buys from Topshop! A beautiful embroidered bag and satin feel nude pink frill top!



We really enjoyed our visit and will be back soon!
 For lunch we stopped by an independent cafe at Stickybeaks. We enjoyed yummy lattes and quiche, the staff were very friendly and the cafe had a home made feel to it, even the water was a vintage style glass water dispenser, we were made to feel relaxed and happy. I loved the detail to the coffees!






JoJo

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For this blog I am reflecting upon what I have learnt about the differences between two models of Stoll ( power knitting machines ) CMS 530 HP multi gage and the CMS ADF - 3

The CMS 530 HP multi gage machines work quite like a dubied in terms of how the feeders are selected and move. The carriage of the machine has an overhead which pushes the feeder holders. The carriage also transfers the needles for the fabric shape and stitch structure.


 Pictured in front of the staircase of Albion with Anson.






The CMS ADF - 3 machines are newer models which have more yarn feeders than the CMS 530 HP. The CMS ADF - 3 also feed through the top of the machine instead of through rollers on the side. For this reason the CMS ADF - 3 has sensors which tells the machine to stop if there is an obstruction. 
It also works differently in terms of selecting feeders to knit. The carriage doesn't do this, it is the bars over the machine that have motors inside that carry the feeders across the bed to knit. The carriage runs across the machine to transfer needles.



JoJo

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About me



I'm JoJo! I'm passionate about fashion, knitwear and my sausage dogs Louka and Frankie!

I absolutely love to travel, but not just for the good weather and pool. I love to explore, have and adventure and to learn new things!

Right now I have just graduated with a First Class Honours in Fashion Knitwear and Knitted Textiles from Nottingham Trent University, I also completed a placement with Julien Macdonald and the Albion Knitting Company.




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Blog Archive

  • ►  2018 (2)
    • ►  June (2)
  • ▼  2017 (8)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ▼  March (6)
      • Tropical Wings!
      • Spring flower pressing!
      • Girls day out in Cambridge!
      • Insight into Stoll Knitting machines.
      • What I wore to Amura resturant, Lanzarote!
      • Albion Knitting company
    • ►  February (1)
  • ►  2015 (7)
    • ►  November (2)
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (3)
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