Sticks & Stones: Valentines Edition

I haven’t posted a Sticks and Stones post in months, so here’s a swift recap. I find/post a fashionable walking stick and show how it can be teamed with various pieces of clothing and jewellery to show how I would put together a hopefully fashionable look. So this post with is influenced by Valentines Day. Lots of pink/red/hearts with a romantic vibe thrown in. 

I found two pink/ heart walking sticks. The first is from Gastrock via EBay UK and the RRP is £68.5 and £6.85 postage. I have had a few walking sticks from this brand and they seem to be very well made with slightly unusual patterns/ colours. It is an adjustable Derby cane. It is adjustable from 85cm-95cm.  It is matte pink with a heart print all over it.  The handle is quite comfy to hold. It is made from carbon and so it is quite lightweight (210g) and easy to manage. 

The second pink/heart walking stick that I found is more purse friendly.  This one is made by Classic Canes. The RRP £32.95. The shaft is a dark pink with white hearts embossed on the front of the cane.  It is an adjustable Derby cane. The cane is adjustable from 70cm to 93cm. The stick weighs 260g. I have reviewed. Massive Canes several times. They are comfortable to use and well made.  

I would team these walking sticks with black boots, lots of heart shaped jewellery and black boots or ballerinas. A floaty grey skirt would contrast well with the pink. I would toughen the look up with a leather jacket.

Sticks & Stones: Wood You Like It?

 

As winter moves into spring and flowers and leaves being to emerge it is nice to be able to feel closer to nature. I have found several walking sticks at varying price points which look to be tactile and organic.  They would look great with either wintery jewel or pastel spring tones. I also found some watches and jewellery which would look great with these sticks.  Branch jewellery combine semi precious stones to create unusual beautiful pieces of jewellery.  More affordable options can be found on Amazon or fair trade shops.  They are all made out of reclaimed or sustainable wooden sources.




Available:
Classic Canes Crook Handle, £10.99 
Brazos twisted hickory with elm handle, £61.77
Classic Canes, Ladies Beech Derby, £34.99
Classic Canes, Gents Classic Beech Derby £29.99
Branch (jewellery)
Twisty chunky brown bangle (7.95)
Light and dark wooden cord necklace (£11.95)
Greentreen brown and rose gold watch (£27.99)
Bamboo wooden men's watch  (£19.98)
Kvell unisex watch made from sustainable wood, with maple face. (£57.62) green band.

Sticks & Stones: Birds of a Feather

Birds, especially British birds, autumnal forest green, deep plum and other such dark colours all make great autumnal colours and patterns.  I like to switch up my wardrobe around now, moving to warmer jumpers, knee length boots and longer coats.  

The British Bird walking cane that I have previously reviewed has both a robin and a blue tit embossed on it, so I normally use this stick now.  

The Melanie Tomlinson Hokusai or existing bird brooches make eye catching pieces either as brooches or when converted into necklaces.  Hermes do a gorgeous enamelled bird cuff, but if that is ot of your budget, then deCumi Designs on Etsy does a beautiful recycled aluminium bird cuff for £15 to £20.  There is a wide range of bird jewellery to be found, some purse friendly, others not so much! 

Clothes wise I found these items at Marks and Spencer.  The jumpers are £19.50, and although they  are not traditional autumnal colours, they would bring some colour in to your autumn wardrobe,  the leather jacket £240 and boots £49.50.  These items would look great with skinny jeans or a skirt and the jumpers bring some colour into wet autumn days!

All my links are non-affiliated. 

Sticks and Stones:Evening Glam

In all the introductions to the online evening walking cane/ stick shops there is a general consensus that the cane should be the focal point of the outfit.  This is true for the ones I selected as I thought thought they were the nicest with the most detail. As the McQueen one cost £295 it would certainly be the focal point of my outfit!! If my stick has silver accents I would stay with silver themed accessories if it had gold I would have a matching bag, earrings etc. All the ones apart from the McQueen one are from walking stick specialists so I would not have any safety concerns about it taking my weight. I did find a dupe for the McQueen one for £44 if skulls are your thing from a walking stick specialist. 

I especially like the Swarovski topped walking cane but I feel canes are not as useful for people like me who use my stick for support and need to grip the handle. Canes have less to hold on to and although they look dramatic give less support to the user even if they are pretty to look at. I also like the combination of a silver handle and matte stick as this looks elegant and could be used as a evening/ occasional stick and pared with work wear. 

In terms of accessorises/ jewellery I feel they should be muted and match the stick.

                                                           
I found the largest and most stylish selection of evening sticks at http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/dress-canes-formal-walking-sticks/evening-cane-with-swarovski-crystals.html?gclid=CKb_zJH5r88CFVEz0wodHEEOSA - healthandcare.co.uk and they were all reasonably priced .

The Alexander McQueen one can be found here: http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/gb/alexandermcqueen/formal-accessory_cod46350284jp.html

Sticks and Stones: Metallic Meyhem

The colours for winter are burgundy, forest green and dark muted Jewel colours. Summerish pastel walking sticks don't necessarily go with Autumyn/ winter clothes. I like using metallic sticks. What sun there is glints off it, brightening it up and they add a pop of colour to muted winter palettes. 

The sticks I have selected range between £20 and £179 for the teal metallic Derby stick (Amazon). The burgundy one is usefully as it collapses in to 5 sections so will be more compact when folded up. I also think it is a beautiful Autumn / winter colour and would look great against black boots or black winter coat. The metallic blue stick with a black handle is unusual as it has a soft handle which is easier to hold if you have neuropathic or arthritic pain in your hands. 

Jewellery or clothes wise all these sticks look great with dark jewelled colours or black. Quartz necklaces in the same shade would bring out the colour of the stick and bring the whole outfit together. 

                                                              

Stick pictures are my own or stock pictures taken from Amazon.co.uk and healthandcare.co.uk

Pea coat
£125 - etsy.com

Alex and Ani pendant necklace
£60 - nordstrom.com

Eclectic Eccentricity quartz necklace
notonthehighstreet.com

Chain necklace
silkfred.com

Sticks & Stones: #owl be yours!

Sticks can sometimes look very similar despite being made by different manufacturers. The floral stick, for example , can be seen in all mobility catelogues. There are some fun looking sticks around but you must always consider the safety and comfort aspect when selecting a stick like those I've put below. Some of the owl heads are more fun than comfort- I certainly wouldn't want to grip an owl's head for more than a few hours and I am not sure if the etsy and the umbrella sticks would be any good safety wise for me as I put my full weight on my sticks, as I use it both for support and balance. They are fun though and would be great for anyone who likes owls!

Jewellery wise there is lots of choice. The owl jewellery I chose off Pinterest ranged from £15 to £2000 for the diamond and carved owl ring. None of these look particularly twee or childish but would complement any outfit perfectly. 

All views expressed in the blog post are my own. 

The owl sticks can be found at:

https://www.completecareshop.co.uk/walking-sticks/dress-walking-sticks/corinium-walking-stick-owl-view-large?gclid=CIKD9PmZ6M4CFRATGwodPjYHeg

http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/novelty-canes/imitation-ivory-barn-owl-hardwood-cane.html?gclid=CNTJxJya6M4CFawp0wodJcYKJw

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/220244312/hand-carved-walking-stick?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_uk_en_gb_a-home_and_living-other&utm_custom1=04b48d49-bdac-488d-9da9-e8cc3fb19ef3&gclid=CNemt7Ka6M4CFcgp0wod0KcBZw

http://www.wilsonwalkingsticks.com/na-wildlife.htm

https://www.soake.co.uk/collections/coynes-collection/coynes-owl-stick-umbrella.html

The jewellery can be found at: 

http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/?gclid=CKKcr5yc6M4CFcsp0wody0YFMQ&dclid=COnn1Zyc6M4CFfAD0wod4QkHQQ
http://www.alexmonroe.com/?gclid=COu8j_mb6M4CFYgYGwodydMEEA
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/en-gb/AMEDEO-Diamond-Trim-Hand-Carved-Owl-Cameo-Ring/prod164050164/p.prod?ecid=NMAF__Hy3bqNL2jtQ&CS_003=5630585
http://www.bluefly.com/

Glam Sticks and Stones

  Continuing my sticks and stones series I am going to look at glam, sparkly sticks and stones in my quest to find fashionable walking sticks and fabulous jewellery for every occasion. 

  Today I am looking at Glamsticks (a link to their website and SM is provided below) which makes glam, sparkly walking sticks (folding or non folding), crutches and White canes.  Glamsticks was established by  Debra Deboo and is now owned by Sharon Farley-Mason. GlamSticks won the Disability Motoring Product of the Year 2011.  There are lots of designs - Chameleon, SparkleStick or GlitterWings to name but a few, or for an extra £5 you can design your own. As each stick is hand painted and the diamanté put on by hand they do take several weeks to be made, but they are well worth the wait.

I think the most important thing to note about the founder and owner of Glamsticks is that as they are disabled and understand that the sticks/ crutches need to be both comfortable and stylish. There is no point having an eyecatching stick of it is uncomfortable to hold. In the about Glamsticks section Debra stated that she "wanted to look fab" and Glamsticks certainly do that. Hospital sticks, whilst they do the job, are grey and don't make you feel better or glamorous. Whilst a sparkly stick won't make you better it will certainly make you smile and feel glam.

Jewellery wise you can either look like a glitterball and go for all out sparkle - paste jewellery can be found at all price points from QVC UK, Debenhams, Accessorize down to Claire's Accesories. Swarovski is more expensive but if you just wanted to put all the focus on the stick and one piece of jewellery that would look great too.

All views expressed in this blog post are my own. 

Glamstick links:

Website: http://glamsticks.co.uk

Twitter: @Glamsticks 

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/GlamSticks/

[Pastel] Sticks And Stones!

As the proud user/ owner of a walking stick I am always on the lookout for ones that are not floral but fashionable, hopefully sparkly and will coordinate with what I am wearing without it standing out saying "yes I am a stick" (I do know sticks can't talk).  So for the first in the series of fashionable walking sticks I am going to combine them with stones - sticks and stones! 

As one of the main trends for summer is pastel hues and a theme for makeup is mermaid, again - muted pastel but sparkly tones. I went looking for some candy/ pastel coloured walking sticks. Derby Canes have a massive selection of canes from flowered to very neutral black and brown and yes they have produced Candy Canes:

These are available in four colours: lilac; blue; pink and green and the canes are either extendable or foldable. Derby canes are comfortable to hold and quite light. Even though these do not come in petite (the extendable version is 29" to 39" and foldable version is 32" to 36") I did get my local Timpsons to saw some off the bottom without making the stick unsafe to use. 

Jewellery wise Lola Rose has some fabulous tumbled stone pastel hued semi precious bracelets and necklaces and if you want to be an all out pastel mermaid there is a kaftan which would match all 4 colour ways of the cane. Even though the canes and jewellery are very muted and summery the colours would pop against traditional Autumnal and Winter colours of black, brown and green providing a great contrast in colour and more importantly baking sure you haven't spent your hard earned money on something that can only be worn/ used in the warmer seasons.

If you want to go all out pastel mermaid, coordinating your makeup with jewellery and cane Jouer have brought out a limited edition mermaid themed summer makeup collection which would bring some pastel sparkle to your overall look without looking over the top as though you have just thrown some sparkly glitter on your face look!

                                       
             

All items have either been bought by me or the images taken from Google. If you object to these images being used please contact me and I will remove. 

Walking sticks: http://www.healthandcare.co.uk/derby-canes/derby-extending-candy-cane-with-acrylic-handle.html

Lola Rose:  http://www.lolarose.co.uk/

Jouer Costmetics: https://www.jouercosmetics.com/