Rose tints my world, keeps me safe from my trouble and pain

Hello!

Cardigan - vintage, blouse - charity shop/DIY, shorts - made by my mum, tights - Topshop.

As you can see, my victory roll game is totally on point today. Four/five day hair is definitely the best. Lazy hairstyles for days when I have to do things and be places.

This is one of my favourite outfits to wear lately, I think the three pieces just work really well together, especially as I know each one is completely unique (more on that later!). I wore this yesterday to go out for a meal with my college friends and we all crammed into a photo booth and then bought some amazingly kitsch/tacky/cutesy inital bracelets as jokey friendship bracelets. Then I wore it again today to work in the charity shop, where I bought all of my cutlery for uni, some padded hangers for my vintage things and some cute jar things for sugar and other stuff! How exciting.

I bought this blouse for £1.99 in a charity shop in a village in Yorkshire when I was visiting some family, and I was very pleased because I've been looking for some plain white blouses to embroider onto for ages. I had been planning to embroider some blue birds on one for a while (like years, possibly), so when I bought this I kind of did it without thinking. Although now I'm not that happy with it and I kind of wish I'd embroidered the lyrics to Doll Parts on it in pink or something.

I also added a little branch to the pocket! Although now I'm thinking that would be the perfect place for a slice of cake if I did embroider the Hole lyrics instead...

Tiddly pom pom tutorial.

Hello! The lovely Kailey left me a comment on this post saying I should do a tutorial on how to make pom poms, and so, lo and behold, I have! I was going to write it all down with photographs, but I decided it would be far too long so I made a video instead. Actually, I made two because it took longer than I thought & my memory card has a limit on video length. Also, I think I wittered on too much!

Here is Part One (my voice is a bit weird and quiet at the beginning because I was a bit nervous and trying not to be heard by my dad & my brother);

And here's Part Two;

If you'd rather watch them on Youtube, you can find them here and here.

This post has been rather a long time coming! It took me a while to film the videos, and then I had to upload them to Youtube which took, like, five hours. And that's probably underestimating it. FUN FACT: I actually made three pom poms while attempting to film these. Sigh. Also, sorry I didn't actually show you how to make the headbands! Basically, 1) Buy plain headband, 2) Apply glue, 3) Attach pom poms. Done.

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I don't know if I will be making any more videos, but if I do they will probably be thematically linked to this blog. I have actually been thinking of making a video all about how to buy vintage clothes, or how I buy them anyway, would that be something people would want to see? I will probably have to do it quite soon, or at least before I go to university because I know that I'll be leaving a lot of my more delicate vintage pieces at home. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed seeing me make pom poms & seeing all the silly facial expressions I make when I speak! My Youtube channel is here, if you'd prefer to watch them there.

Beauty school dropout.

Huzzah, I have dyed my hair pink! I was getting bored of the weird dirty blonde colour and I wanted to try something other than lilac, so I took a bit of inspiration from my girl Frenchy from Grease and here it is. It's not quite as pink as I thought it was going to be, and there's still quite a bit of yellowy blonde hanging around, but I really like it! I think I prefer it to the lilac/purple in fact. I used Directions Pastel Pink, in case anyone was wondering, but I think I'm going to try Special Effects Cupcake Pink next as apparently their colours last longer.

I don't look very happy in any of these pictures, but I promise you I am! Bitchfacing for life.

I have decided I need to buy some more pairs of kitsch earrings, I used to wear earrings all the time (severe flouting of school rules and furious rebellion against an all black uniform) but my taste has changed quite a lot since then so I don't really have many that I actually like any more. I bought these AMAZING glittery Andy Warhol/Marilyn Monroe earrings at a craft fair I was selling at a couple of weeks ago. I actually have another pair like this, but shaped like purple hearts, because the stall holder sells at a market in Durham and I saw them there. I'm actually really pleased I found her again because I had so much trouble deciding last time!

I had my hair cut and bleached at the hairdressers beforehand, and it went the most unbelievably cool punky yellow colour! This photo was taken by my mum, so that's why I look as if I'm about to laugh.

I have listed a few new pieces in my shop, including this necklace which I made after making something similar for one of my sample boards for my Multiples/Meadham Kirchhoff Textiles project.

Sorry I haven't been posting that much recently! I have been quite busy with working at the charity shop, as well as selling at some craft fairs, so I've been far too tired to really do anything post worthy. I do have some (hopefully) nice things lined up for you though (:

Pumpkin Soup

The lovely Tori and I are doing a little blog swap of jewellery from our shops! Here is what she sent me;

My favourite piece is this tea party necklace! It is so cute, and I love the pretty pink floral pattern - which is different on both sides! I thought it went really well with my vintage charity shop blouse.

She also sent me this really cute skull candy bracelet, which I think is really funny, I love their little faces!

I also received this pretty aqua green coloured ring (which I can't find in her shop, sorry!). I don't really have any rings, so this is a welcome addition to my jewellery box!

Tori's shop is called Pumpkin Soup Boutique, which is such a lovely name, and she sells lots of jewellery as well as vintage clothing. I particularly love her vintage lipstick holder/mirror rings! You can visit Tori's blog here, and follow her shop on Twitter @pumpkinsoupshop.

Feminist killjoy.

Hello! I have been on a bit of a crafting kick at the moment, I think because I have quite a lot of time on my hands and I don't really feel like being on the internet all day long, it is the perfect solution! I have been making quite a few pom poms (see my last post!), as well as doing an awful lot of cross stitching!

Feminist Killjoy banners! Although they are quite little, so I'm not sure if they can actually be called banners! The lilac one is my favourite, but I think I might sell the other one in my shop with a few other colour combinations soon.

This one didn't quite go to plan, it was meant to be symmetrical with the Venus symbol on both sides but I miscalculated the amount of squares I was supposed to start "Patriarchy" at. The one time I don't draw out my design first! I am going to take this one and my Feminist Killjoy banner with me to decorate my room when I start uni next month, just to make sure I'm as much of a scary feminist as I can possibly be.

I got the idea for these banners from the feminist necklaces I make in my shop, and I got the idea for those from the final pieces I made for my A Level Art exam on Feminism! I'm not sure if I've ever actually posted pictures of what I made before, but here they are;

I was mainly looking at craftivism, so I embroidered different slogans about feminism in different ways. This one was taken from a poster in my Psychology classroom, which I then embroidered onto half of a vintage napkin I had.

I think this one might be my favourite piece. It is cross stitch over a coloured pencil drawing on Aida fabric. It took me so long to do! I did the cross stitch before I went into the exam (which was allowed!) because it literally took me about 10 hours.

It was inspired by the Susie Orbach novel of the same title, and this image from a Body Shop advert (which I think was eventually pulled because the people who make Barbie complained?! I'm not sure though). Just after we got the exam paper for this project, our art class went on a trip to London, basically to visit art galleries and find inspiration. Anyway, while we were at the V&A I visited a talk about Female Body Image where one of the speakers was Susie Orbach! It was so amazing and inspirational and I took like three pages of notes.

Lots of people didn't really get this one, but what I was trying to say is that mainstream society views feminism as a bad word, a swear word even. A word that people - women and girls, mostly - are scared to say or identify with because it is seen as something undesirable and unattractive. Well, fuck that. I am proud to call myself a feminist.

Cupid.

Hello! My final post about/pertaining to the Rookie meet up is here!

At the meet up, everyone had brought lots of fake flowers, headbands, crafty bits and glue to make flower crowns with. I decided to make mine based on a purple colour scheme! Wearing this along with heavy eyeliner makes me feel like a bit of a teen witch, or like I'm some sort of cult for kitsch. Channelling blonde Amy Winehouse and Courtney Love vibes.

A few days before I went down to London (I was going there for a few days with my friends, and the meet up date miraculously aligned with my holiday!), I searched everywhere to try and find a plain fabric headband to take with me. Alas, I didn't manage to find one so I just cut the flower off the side of one I don't wear any more.

The sparkly pom poms and glow in the dark star are my own, but the miniature bowling pin, fake flower, white pom pom and grape shaped eraser were all brought by other people. I love the eraser! There was also a tomato, an orange and a corn on the cob! I wish I knew where they were from as I would really love to find more.

I also wore my white dove hairslide to balance out the colours a little.

I had never thought to put pom poms on a crown before, so when I came home I decided to make use of all the scraps of wool I have left over from various projects and make some more headbands! I can't wait to make the pastel ones, but I will have to wait until I can find some plain bands - I tried again today and still couldn't find any! I think I will probably be selling the grey one and possibly the pink one in my shop soon, but I don't think I'll be able to part with the pastel mix one!

I went charity shopping today to buy some things for uni, and came away with this Gromit mug, a heart shaped ashtray (which I am going to use to keep my jewellery in!) and this unbelievably cool novelty ice cube tray! I did buy a colander and a few more sensible things, but the prospect of pineapple shaped ice is far, far more exciting.

There's a palm pushing at my side, a palm pushing through my hair.

Hello! This is post number two in my Rookie-related post trilogy, this time I am going to show you the top I got as part of the clothes/book/jewellery swap at the meet-up. The top has a lovely palm tree pattern, hence the song in my post title which is called Palms. It's by Slow Club who one of my favourite bands of all time, and I am currently utterly obsessed with this song and you should go listen to it now. Go.

 I think this might genuinely be one of my favourite outfits I have ever worn. I just really love how effortless it feels and how perfectly it sums up my aesthetic at the moment. It all came together in a way that is kind of different to the way I normally dress, but I just love that - and the outfit - so much. Strangely enough, it's also one of the cheapest outfits I have ever written about on this blog - after I took the collar off the total price came to £3.50.

I really feel like these three elements match so well together. In fact, this is one of the only outfits I have ever actually planned in my head before wearing it, as usually I just put things together as I'm actually getting dressed. I absolutely love the way this top hangs, the sleeves are so perfect. Also, you can see the scalloped edging a little better here. The skirt is actually a petticoat that I got from a charity shop for £1.50, along with an identical white one which was weirdly 50p cheaper.

Top - Rookie meet-up swap, skirt - charity shop, collar - River Island, flower crown - made by me, bare legs - my own.

I actually wore this flower crown to the meet-up! It matches the colours of what I'm wearing in a really serendipitous/spooky way.

It was kind of too hot to actually wear this outfit outside without my neck becoming way overheated, so I before I left for my new volunteer job at the charity shop I switched to put a necklace on instead. Here is a blurry disposable photograph of me doing so.

A close up of the palm tree pattern (although you can hardly see it!) and the floral pattern on my skirt. Today I got a compliment from one of the women I work with in the charity shop about my outfit (not this one), and she said she really liked how I'd put all the patterns together. I was taken aback a little bit because I don't think I really ever put together an outfit without "clashing" (urgh urgh urgh I hate using that word in a fashiony way urgh) patterns in some way. Not in deliberately, but there is barely anything in my wardrobe that doesn't have some form of print or pattern in it, so it has sort of become second nature to me. Plain things scare me a little bit.

1. I have decided I need to start writing more. Like, actually writing things instead of just thinking about it. I have emailed someone about writing a bit for them (vague sentence is vague), and I am going to start doing/writing my DIY submission for Rookie tomorrow.

2. I know my hair is in that weird blondey stage again, but I am too lazy/broke to book an appointment for the hairdressers to get it cut. I might ask them to do my roots as well, or I might do that myself. Has anyone got any bleach brand recommendations? You would really be helping me out if so, as the last stuff I used was lovely & didn't hurt my scalp at all, but there really wasn't much of it & it was quite tricky to put on. I have decided I'm going to go pink next though, basically I just want to be a beauty school drop out.

3. I have noticed that I'm over the 150 follower mark! This is so cool and so, so amazing! Thank you to all who read what I write, I will be working out some kind of giveaway to do soon I promise! (Probably feminism themed, and possibly with a copy of How To Be A Woman, as somehow I have three copies of those currently in my possession!)

4. I am currently moving things around on my blog a little bit, but because I am really lazy and not very good with technology it will probably look a bit strange for a bit. But please do bear with.

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Until next time.