my only weakness is a list of crimes

hello there! i bought some jewellery from layla amber on etsy last week, and it arrived a couple of days ago! everything in her shop is so cute, i had such a hard time deciding what i wanted to get! all of the pieces are made from her original illustrations, which are (i think) then printed onto shrinkable plastic! this is such a lovely idea, it is something i would love to do in my jewellery shop, as i really want to get into actual making & branch out into selling some artwork. besides, it gets really annoying & boring when you see lots of people doing the same things.

anyway, her jewellery came in a really cute package tied up with string! i'm really starting to pay attention more to how handmade pieces are packaged now i'm doing it myself, i think it make all the difference when you see something wrapped with real thought. i love the designs on her jewellery cards too!

i bought these ship in bottle earrings which are too cute! they are so tiny & adorable, and it's such a quirky idea.

(the only thing i would say i don't like about these is that they have bell backs instead of butterfly backs. it's just a little thing which is totally a personal preference & nothing to do with the quality of the earrings, i just prefer butterfly backs as it means i can keep the pair together more easily as i have to transport my jewellery box around every three or four days.)

i also bought this bird hair clip set after much indecision! they are so sweet, and seeing as i always tend to clip my fringe back (because it's a bloody nightmare) i think these will be much more interesting than just using a boring brown hairclip.

the budgie one is my favourite as it's such a lovely colour! i also have my eye on a few pairs of the bird earrings for after christmas, i actually got given a "thank you" discount code for 10% off in her shop! i also think she's running a christmas discount offer over on her blog.

i also bought three pairs of earrings as presents for my secret santa & my cousin, but i won't post pictures of them here as it may spoil the surprise!

i went on a bit of a charity shopping trip today, so i will post about the things i've bought at some point during the week. i'm starting a construction project in textiles, and i start a knitting workshop on thursday so i might post about that too!

i was supposed to list some new jewellery in the shop today, but the light wasn't very good so i didn't get pictures of all the new jewellery. i'm not really very happy with the pictures i got either, so i'll probably just re-do them all anyway. sigh, this self-employment lark isn't all it's cracked up to be!

goodbye for now.

our most brilliant friends

hey!

today i was selling jewellery at a craft fair in newcastle! it was really lovely, my stall looked pretty good & i got to catch up with a few friends i haven't seen in a while. the market was a little quieter than i had hoped (much quieter in fact) so i didn't make quite as many sales as i would've liked to. it was still such a good experience though, and i'm actually thinking about doing another one in the same venue next saturday! it should be a bit busier hopefully, and it's only £5 for a stall so it's worth it i think!

there's also another one for "emerging designers" on the 18th of december in heaton perk, which is a cafe that also sells art & books. it might be a bit short notice for me to get onto that, but i'm still going to try!

this is what my stall looked like today;

sorry the photos aren't great quality, i only took my little camera & it was a little low on battery!

hopefully i can get my hands on a cake stand to display some of my jewellery on for next time.

me behind the stall putting business cards in paper bags! i made all my business cards yesterday, and i'm so glad i did because i've been putting it off for sooo long, and quite a few people took them so it was all worthwhile!

it was quite stressful putting all the jewellery out, as everything was tangled in the boxes & i wasn't quite sure where i was putting everything! in the end, i didn't put all of my stock out, but i still had quite a lot on display! it's a little strange to see everything all at once, because normally it's all tucked away in drawers. the next few i'm doing should be a bit less stressful, as i kind of know the drill & i know how long it takes setting up. i actually managed to finish setting up a little early, which was good as it meant i could relax quite a bit before people starting coming in!

some new jewellery i ~unveiled~ at the craft fair! domino necklaces & dalmatian domino necklaces. i love the little dalmatians, i think they're so cute! these pieces will hopefully be up in my etsy shop within the next two weeks, depending on how much time i have outside of college!

oh, and that gun would turn before the sun starts to burn, understand.

hello! firstly i'd like to say i'm so sorry i haven't been posting quite as regularly as i used to. i

've been so busy lately sorting out my ucas form & personal statement (as well as trying to keep up with textiles work!) that i really haven't had the time to do anything very interesting, let alone blog about it!

i've finished my personal statement, and just need to edit it down by about 300 characters (oh god) before hopefully sending it off on friday! i've decided to do english literature and my five choices are durham, edinburgh, york, sheffield and east anglia.

i've also been writing my CV (which you might know if you follow me on twitter!) , and i've just applied to work at the new urban outfitters which is opening in newcastle. i really hope i get the job as i could do with the money, and i love urban outfitters so much!

last sunday, i went to a vintage fair at the royal station hotel with my mum. this was a bit different to the vintage fair i've talked about before, as this one is exclusive to newcastle and was organised by one of my favourite local artists, mandy pattullo! i think the quality was much better than any fair i've ever been to before, and you could tell almost every piece was proper vintage. unfortunately, the prices reflected that so i couldn't really afford much!

however, i did buy this brooch! i bought it with a tie for £20 (eek) because my mum knew the stall owners & managed to get me a bit of a discount!

the brooch is quite kitsch and glitzy, some may say gaudy but personally i love that kind of thing!

the stones normally look clear, or slightly opaque, but they change colour in the light! i took these with flash on, so the effect is a bit more than it would normally be.

i haven't worn this yet, as it's a little bit heavy & i can't quite decide what to pair it with. i've been think about threading it on a chain and wearing it as a necklace if it's too heavy for any of my blouses.

*

my jewellery tumblr has been a little bit quiet of late as i've been so busy, but i've decided to do a new feature, or a "shop spotlight" if you will, on a shop i've been loving on etsy every week or so to freshen it up a little!

this is the first one, and i've taken a bit of inspiration from the colours in my brooch for this ring from astral eye.

isn't it lovely? i just adore quartz and natural stone jewellery, although unfortunately i don't actually have any!

see the original post here (:

that's all for now, hopefully i will post in a few days or so (after i've sent my ucas off!)

x

oh mist rolling in from the sea

happy bonfire night everyone! everyone in britain that is, as i don't think it's celebrated elsewhere.

today i went to a make & mend craft market that was on in newcastle which was really good, although i didn't buy anything because i'm trying to hold onto my funds at the moment. the affordable vintage market was also going on at the same time in another part of the city, but i didn't go to that as it's always a pain having to pay to get in when you don't actually want to buy anything. also last time i went i was really disappointed.

anyway, this is what i wore today;

i've been meaning to post about this skirt for quite a while, but just never really got around to it! i bought it a month or so ago in h&m when i was looking for a plain (as all of my clothing seems to be patterned and loud!), possibly blue button-down skirt and lo and behold there it was! sometimes i feel like it's a little bit short, and as you can see from the photographs it gets so creased so it's an absolute bitch to have to keep ironing, but i really like it! the wide waistband is great too, and it's a slightly looser fit than my other high waisted skirts so i can wear jumpers underneath it, wo0o0o!

i really need to start wearing more jumpers as the cold, dark months are starting to roll in, but i am so crap at dressing weather appropriately! this is one of two jumpers from my wardrobe that i actually wear. to me jumpers just seem to be a bit boring (and don't even get me started on hoodies! *shudders*), but this one has such a lovely collar & knit pattern to it!

jumper - vintage, vest (underneath) - h&m, skirt - h&m, tights - dorothy perkins, headscarf - vintage, earrings - jewellery market.

the one thing that bugs me about this skirt is the buttons, i just think they're a bit tacky & an odd colour against the pale fabric. to be frank, they seem a bit cheap looking for a skirt that cost £14.99.

i've been thinking about changing the buttons for quite some time, as i have some lovely white ones left over from this cardigan but i just haven't got around to it yet!

i really love all the muted colours in this outfit, although sadly i think i'm going to have to throw out these tights as i ripped a huge hole in them near the waistband this morning! they're ladder resistant which i hate because it just means they have no elastic and get holes really easily. it's such a shame as i love the colour - better start scouring shops for a similar coloured pair!

i don't really wear dangly earrings that much these days, i used to wear them a lot when i was fifteen/sixteen so i do have quite a few pairs lying around. for some reason, i don't think they really work with the length my hair is at the moment, also i used to wear them in order to jazz up a dull school uniform, and now that i wear my own clothes every day it all seems a bit much!

however, i bought these (or rather, my mother bought them!) a year or so ago at a country living magazine craft fair, believe it or not! the large stones are moonstone, and are just the most beautiful colour! or colours in fact as they change in the light! the little stones are freshwater pearls and rock crystal.

these earrings were only £10, which i think is astonishing as not only do they contain semi-precious stones, they are handmade & completely unique! a similar pair in somewhere like accessorize or topshop would be pushing £18, and they wouldn't be half as nice as something handmade!

today i did a little bit of charity shopping, unfortunately i didn't find any good clothes but weirdly i did see two people i vaguely knew working there! just a little bit awkward.

i've been really getting into pulp lately on spotify, so i was pretty pleased to find an album of theirs for £3.50!

i also bought a couple of vinyl singles by elvis costello & the attractions, billie holliday & the beatles. i only have elvis costello albums on vinyl, i'm asking for a vinyl to mp3 archiver for christmas/my birthday because i have so many records i want to be able to listen to on the go.

everytime i look through records in a charity shop and see that parlophone symbol my heart always jumps as i think it's going to be the beatles & usually i'm disappointed but today i managed to find a magical mystery tour single (or E, i'm actually not sure what to call it) with i am the walrus and your mother should know - some of my favourite beatles songs! i am the walrus is lyrically beautiful, and quirky & british & just so quintessentially beatles! i also have a major, major soft spot for your mother should know, in fact i was actually listening to it on the bus about an hour before i bought this!

bit of a long post today, hopefully that makes up for my general crapness at updating lately!

edit: my jumper totally matches the colour of my blog background!