cheer up dear, it might never happen.

there's been a bit of a lack of posting round these parts recently, and i can only apologise, but i have been rather under the weather for the past few days.

curse this wet weather, i knew i shouldn't have walked to the post office in the rain!

to ward off this horrendous cold/flu thing i have going on i have been trying to get into the autumn-y swing of things.

firstly, i have bought these frankly beautiful (and no, i don't think that's an ovestatement) canvas shoes off the topshop website.

in the sale these babies were only £10, and they only had my size left.

fate? yes i believe so.

i need some more robust-ish shoes for this rainy season & i think it's a small way of incorporating some autumn colours into my wardrobe. in my opinion they'll look lovely next to the even lovelier reds & oranges of the fallen leaves.

on another note, i've just joined the i will go slightly out of my way to step on a crunchy-looking leaf on facebook. seriously, who can deny they don't do that?

hallowe'en (hell yeah i put the apostrophe in, the word is not nearly as magical without it) is coming up on friday & before this illness malarkey struck me down in the prime of life, i was starting to organise some sort of hallowe'en picnic in the park with a big group of mis amigos, should be pretty fun i think.

although that does mean i need a hallowe'en costume on short notice.

eek!

also, in a bit of an effort to cheer my ill self up, i've been watching marathons of how i met your mother. that show is just so funny, i love it!

oh, and, ted? marry me please!
i've also been watching a few films that i've been dying to see for ages.

nick & norah's infinite playlist: so good. so so sooooo good. in fact, i may just have to commit bigamy cause i want to marry michael cera too.

high fidelity: based on one of my favourite books by nick hornby, it was brought to life really well, although i think it would have come across better if it was still set in london, especially as the whole "exotic american singer" thing didn't really work out. i have to say that the male characters were brilliant, and jack black in particular was playing the role he has been typecast in ever since (think failing musician who is stuck in a rut & you've pretty much got it) & for an amazing reason, he rocks at it. i also LOVED the bruce springsteen cameo.

wow, didn't mean to do a whole review there.

hopefully i'll get better in a few days, organise the hallowe'en picnic & have some nice photos to post.

thanks for reading :)

dots & stripes forever

yesterday, myself & a few friends went on a bit of a day trip to hexham as we had a day off school.

hexham is absolutely chock full of charity shops so i was in my element and bought rather a lot of things for very little money.

i got this blue & white stripey jumper for £3.50, although i'm not too sure on whether it suits me or not.

it's a mens XL and it is soooo comfortable, just what i need for the cold weather which is drawing in.

my hair is a total & utter mess so i stuck my big ass blue bow in to keep it at bay.

the rest of my outfit:

trousers - h&m, £14.99

belt - dolly dagger, £4

necklace - affleck's palace in manchester, £4

bow hairband - new look, £3.50

the other jumper i bought is white with rather groovy purple spots & was pointed out to me by one of my friends as a "very charlotte jumper".
this was only £3.50 in the same shop as i bought the one above, & i think it goes rather well with my purple striped h&m top.
the guy in the shop had THE best music taste - while i was paying a boy named sue by johnny cash came on, which has to be one of my favourite songs ever.

when i saw this bag, i thought to myself this is either the most amazing or the most hideous bag i have ever seen.

as it happens, i think it's bloody marvellous & it was only £2.99.

it doesn't have a strap though so i shall have to create one out of chain or ribbons & such.

this is the back (or front, i'm actually not sure) which is just as awesome, and kind of matches the belt below.

the colour of this hasn't really come out very well in the photo, but it is a lovely shade of bottle green & i just adore it.
it only cost me 50p which was rather fantastic, i need to punch some more holes in it though because it's a little too big to use as a waist belt.

i bought a couple more things from the charity shops too, books which i can't wait to read, an old rolling stones single (miss you), some pretty darn hilarious ties for my dad for his birthday & a lovely tiger eye pendant which i shall stick some photos of up in a bit.

i've been feeling very autumn-y recently as the leaves are turning all shades of red & orange, which in my opinion is just beautiful.

this is our old climbing frame, i used to love it so much when i was little.

i'm not normally one for taking photographs, but i thought this was really rather pretty & i wanted to preserve it somehow.

could somebody pass the rum?

at my school today we had pirate day in rememberance for a girl who died a couple of months ago & also to raise money for a charity - the wilkinson trust, which was set up in her name.

it took me rather a long time to decide what to wear as nothing in my wardrobe is all that piratey, seeing as i don't own any boots or red/black clothes or hoop earrings or anything that is usually associated with pirates really.

in the end i decided to dress in a pirate inspired outfit, which i think kind of worked.

i must say i felt very swash buckle-y in this shirt.

my look today was described by several people as a pirate on LSD, a pirate who took a road trip through the 80s, a stylish pirate, a gypsy, a pirate at a roller disco, a jazzed up 40s housewife, and the least piratey looking pirate anyone has ever seen.

i took this one accidentally because i forgot to put the timer on.

i kind of like the billowing effect though, sort of like standing on the deck of a pirate ship in the high seas.

or not.

had to get the socks in there too!

pink & white striped shirt (you can't see the stripes on the photo) - primark, £10
spotty anchor vest - h&m, i think it was about £5ish
skirt - topshop sale, £10
awesome multicoloured scarf - spanish market, about £1.50
pearls - h&m kids department, £2
opal necklace which you can't really see - car boot sale, 50p
knee high socks - some hosiery shop, £2

to get into the swing of things jewellerywise, i made this earring (yup, singular, pirates only ever wear one see?) out of a necklace & an old chain i had lying around.

rock & roll music.

chuck berry, rock & roll legend, turned 83 today.

happy birthday chuck!

new romantic

my tickets for laura marling arrived today!

excuse me while i squeal repeatedly with excitement :D

yes, i stuck a flower on the envelope.

i'm just that cool.

they're actually tickets for this guy daniel johnston & laura is only the support, but i am still unbelieeeevably excited!

i've been waiting to see her for like two years & i cannot waaaaait! :)

these autumn leaves are yours tonight

the colder weather is drawing in, and although i quite like crisp & frosty autumn days, cold nights really are not my bag.

obviously i need to buy one of these lovelies from topshop.

*sigh*

what sheer cuteness.

a day in the life.

my name in punjabi:

today was a pretty fun day, i converted a friend of mine to laura marling, discovered i love kate rusby's music & watched a frankly jaw-dropping video of bruce springsteen.

necklaces, badges, buttons, oh my!

oh boy, have i been on auto-spending pilot today.

this morning in an art supplies shop, i bought some buttons to use in my school art project (which is basically to make textured printing boards) or for other crafty things i do. i admit they don't look that exciting, but i chose most of them cause they've got cool things written on them, such as the realm, forever 21, bebop, betty (that button also has tiny little flowers on it), sachs and jack & jones.

i also bought some hair clips for my mum for her birthday. i was a bit stumped for what to get her because she has very individual taste which is very different to mine, but i remembered she wanted some "plain but bright" things to put in her hair - which i have to say is inspiration from the flower i wear in my hair sometimes.
like mother like daughter? i do believe so.

next, i went to a vintage fair with my friend, where we got these kind of cool stamp things on our hands to prove we'd paid to get in.
it was quite cute before the ink spread everywhere.

one of the first stalls i saw belonged to my mum's friend from dolls & molls who i have to say makes some absolutely lovely jewellery.
this is the necklace i bought from her, in my opinion it is rather sweet. i also think it has triggered a bit of a bird obsession in me.
i was going to ask if i could do some work experience but i forgot/chickened out =S

the next stall we went to had some amazingly awesome stuff for only 50p each, i managed to pick up all this lot for only £2.50.
my favourites are the tiny little heart pendant in the top right & the big wooden heart brooch.

i got these beads from the same stall, they remind me of the kind of jewellery my grandma used to wear.
i haven't decided quite what i'll do with it yet, either wear it as it is or use the beads from it for something else.
this stall (which we spent most of our time looking at) also had some rather cheap & pretty cool old photos. most of them were from old family albums from the 1940s to about the 1970s, these are the ones i thought were pretty cute:

an old street somewhere, is it just me or do the buildings kind of look like they're melting into each other?

i love this one of a bird on some wooden structure thing, but the photo i took really doesn't do it justice.

this place looks so peaceful.

it's weird to think that photo was taken over 48 years ago.

i have waaaaay too many badges, but i just could not resist these unusual beauties.
i really want an old-fashioned clock pendant, this seemed the next best option.

this is the bag i bought last week, isn't it just darling?
i haven't used it yet because i can't decide what to make the straps out of, perhaps i could use the bead necklace i bought today?

let them eat cake.

there appear to be birthdays all round this weekend.

it's my mum's birthday tomorrow (and i still need to get her present, eek! i'm so unorganised it's actually not even funny) & it's a friends of mine's birthday on sunday so we clubbed together & bought her a cake.

how awesome do the candles look?

in the shape of a 17, oh we are just so artistic!

we were a bit too scared to light all the candles in case the fire alarm went off!

i had an extra free period today because my spanish teacher wasn't in so i had quite a chilled hour just sitting talking & listening to music. it was rather lovely.

we were in a bit of a daft mood too, & my art sketchbook was hijacked by jess & rhiannon who drew many silly things in it - photos of which i may post later after i've, erm, censored them somewhat.
also people kept writing things on me & by the end of the day we all had fetishisms written on our arms.

clockwise from the top left: charlotte, rhiannon, becca & meeeee.

i'd just like to point out these are totally made up! we were just in a slightly weird mood, that's what you get from too much cake i guess.

*
it was also john lennon's birthday today, that guy is totally my idol.
happy birthdaaaaay john!

lazy oaf jewellery competition

okay, so i'm actually meant to be doing my english literature homework right now (an analysis of daddy by sylvia plath in case you were interested), but i felt like a bit of procrastination.

lazy oaf (one of my faaaaavourite clothing & jewellery online stores) have been running a competition to design a pendant or brooch to be made out of perspex - details of which can be found on their website.

the winner gets their design turned into 50 limited edition pieces to be sold under their own name in the lazy oaf shop & website as well as being given 5 pieces themselves.

the theme was re-evolution (like old things to new i think).

these are my designs:

a bowler hat

a cameo silhouette

& a snorkel.

the snorkel doesn't really relate to the theme, but i had already thought of it before i knew there was a theme so i thought i would enter it regardless.

the drawings are pretty rubbish, but i really really hope they like my ideas.

*fingers crossed*

new artyness

i went to an art show today with my friend joanna which was pretty good.

i really wanted to buy something but it was all unbelieeeevably out of my price range.

i picked up a LOT of leaflets though & discovered a hell of a lot of good local artists.

these are my two favourites:

explore

knave of hearts

noughts & crosses
by amanda rabey

waltz

yellow brick road

by lara jade
i wish i could own some prints like these, they are simply beautiful.

i picked up a couple of amanda rabey business cards which are like little strips of her pictures.

when i get a spare chance i may turn them into pendants.

i've had no time at all to make any jewellery, it's actually seriously getting on my nerves!

after the art fair, we went to a little flea market thing in town which was actually a lot smaller than we thought it was going to be - there were only about 5 stalls.

i did manage to buy a cute little clutch bag though, it's yellow with a white anchor pattern, from my mum's friend who makes jewellery & other stuff. her name's emily & she's pretty nice, you can find her stuff here. the bag hasn't got any straps so i might make my own out of pearls & ribbon, or something along those lines anyway.
the last vintage fair we went to, i managed to buy some stuff from here without even realising who she was. see, that proves i'm not just plugging her website cause i know her!
i may post a picture of the bag at a later date, but my camera has totally weirded out on me at the moment so i need to get it seen to.

tangerine trees & marmalade skies.

one of my favourite beatles songs is lucy in the sky with diamonds because of its wonderfully weird imagery.

sadly, the girl who inspired the song, julian lennon's friend lucy o'donnell, died last week from lupus.

she was only 46 which i think is a bit of a tragedy.

that's julian's drawing which inspired john to write the song, i think the star's are quite cute.

RIP lucy.