kook.

oh, wow. lovely lovely lovely. (giveaway)

2012-02-15T18:00:00.000Z

hello lovelies! here is the giveaway i've decided to do to say thank you for reaching over 100 followers!

firstly, i'd just like to say thank you to all of you who do follow me, as much as this blog is just a place for me to collect my thoughts it really means a lot that people care about the things i write and the pictures i take. it's really lovely, and you are all lovely lovely lovely! (i've been watching skins series 1 & 2 back to back, a little obvious isn't it?)

i have been making some little knitted collars recently to put in my shop, and i thought one of these would be the perfect thing to give away! they are quite sweet, and i'm really pretty proud of them.

they are kind of marie antoinette/meadham kirchhoff inspired, and are basically a result of some experimenting i did for my last textiles project (which i will blog about soon!).

the collars are quite delicate and girly looking. they could add a lovely detail to a plain tshirt or a bit of quirkyness to a simple dress, or could even be worn just in place of a necklace.

the colours i have here are grey, lilac and a gorgeous peachy pink. i found these in a local wool shop, they are for making cute little baby clothes & therefore come in lots of lovely pastel shades. the wool is very soft and has a pretty ivory coloured silk line running through it. when i put these up in my shop i will probably do them in a few more colours, but for now you can choose between these three! (:

okay, so. here are the giveaway ~rules (so to speak)!

- you must be a follower of this blog to enter

- if you would like to enter, please leave a comment on this post with your email address so that i can contact you if you win, and please also say which colour wool you would like your collar to be made from; pink, lilac or grey.

- you can have an extra entry if you tweet about the giveaway, or mention it in a blog post! remember to tweet me (@vintagedaarling) if you do, or leave a link in your comment.

the giveaway will end on the 29th of february (because i love leap years) at 6pm (GMT). i will then pick a name out of a hat & contact the winner to ask for their address. good luck guys! (:

all that glitters

2012-02-13T20:14:00.003Z

hello again! this is only a little post i'm afraid, i just thought i'd show you how i did my nails the other day! come people commented saying they liked the ladybird nails i did in my last post, so i thought you wouldn't mind seeing what else i've been doing with my nails lately (:

glitter! glitter is the best thing ever and i love it. thank you rookie for helping me rediscover my adoration for all things sparkly! (what did i tell you, i'm a closet drag queen)

model's own pink fizz, utopia and bluebelle.

utopia seems to be the blogger ~shade of the moment, and it is lovely! it looks quite pink in the photo (bad lighting, sorrry!), but it goes on a very pretty lilac grey - much like my hair at the moment actually! the glitters are beautiful, this is the first time i've worn the blue since buying it in october and it looks so nice over the lighter colour.

i've spoken a bit before about doing a giveaway for reaching 100 followers (yay!), and i have finally thought of something! i will hopefully do a giveaway post some time this week, so look out for that! i hope you all like what i have decided to give away, goodbye for now (:

be my baby

2012-02-10T21:47:00.001Z

a few photographs from the past couple of days!

eating pina colada macarons (made by my mum for my birthday, instead of a birthday cake!) & watching marie antoinette. i think this is just my favourite film ever, it's so beautiful! every time i watch it i just fall more and more in love. i can't wait to show you my marie antoinette-esque vintage dress! it's so pretty, it just needs a little bit of altering first.

i painted my nails like ladybirds! kind of, haha, they're a bit rubbish. this hand is not too bad, but my right hand is a disaster! i can't be the only one who can only do decent nail art on one hand, right? anyway, like i said i got a model's own nail art pen for my birthday so i thought i'd give it a try! it's actually really easy to use, and i love that there are two ways to use it.

my hair has faded to this really cool pale grey colour! it's still a faint lilac at my temples and roots, and in some lights it has a weird honey blonde tint. it's so hard to capture in photographs though! i love the colour so much, i can't believe it's taken me this long to dye my hair! i bought some old lady touch of silver shampoo so that it will hopefully stay grey a little longer!

presents from my friend alix! some really cute swallow & dove hairclips, a double swallow brooch and two lovely pastel coloured scarves! i love them, thank you alix if you're reading!

just thought i'd do a little summary/snapshot of my week! i really like seeing other people's posts like this, so i thought i'd try one for myself (:

sequinned

2012-02-07T18:44:00.000Z

the other night to celebrate my birthday, i went out to a burlesque-meets-broadway drag bar with a few friends for the evening show. it was so amazing, the acts were so good and there were so many numbers - including a little mermaid & rock horror number! i love drag queens so much, i just think they are so amazing. i love the whole over the top, glitzy look (surprise surprise!). in fact, if i had been born a man i would love to be a drag queen! seriously. it's scary how many things in my wardrobe would be perfectly at home on a drag queen's shoulders.

anyway, this is what i wore for the show. as you can see, i kind of adapted my outfit to suit the drag bar aesthetic! hence the sequinned jacket. and the dame edna everage hair (which has already faded loads, waah!) i really love themed outfits! they just make me happy, haha. lame, i know. but then, isn't that what clothing is all about? fashion to me just isn't any fun if you can't have a bit of a laugh & enjoy yourself, instead of being too busy caring what other people think.

jacket - dorothy perkins, top - ebay, skirt/petticoat - charity shop, tights - topshop, shoes - peacocks (ribbon added by me)

this is kind of a blurry shot of the full outfit. i was a bit rushed for time & didn't really have enough patience to set up my tripod, but i wanted to get a picture with my shoes in (for once). also working a little bit of underwear-as-outerwear with this peachy pink petticoat.

and finally a shot of my feminist necklace! this is the biggest seller in my shop, and i am so pleased. i really love making these so it's lovely to know that other people appreciate them and the idea as much as i do.

utopia

2012-02-04T14:26:00.002Z

hello guys! it's my 19th birthday today, waah i'm getting old. i opened some presents from my mum's side of the family & i thought i'd show you what i got! i didn't really ask for anything big, just bits & bobs which i kind of prefer because it's just nicer having lots of little things to coo over.

some paperchase stickers & a silly sausage dog pen from my mum. i love stickers so much, seriously they are just so cute & i don't think you can ever have enough. the dachshund pen is because mother & i love them, and the pen is hilarious.

i also got this little brogue necklace from my mum, which i asked for from jewellery by jaymie. it is so dinky & cute! beautifully drawn too, and the chain is a perfect length and so delicate.

my aunt, uncle & cousin bought me an eyelash curler and some model's own nail varnish in mystic mauve & utopia and the nail art pen in black. i love model's own nail varnish, i'm generally not that into ~brand names but i really love their polishes. they have so many different colours, and i adore the names!

here are my nails in mystic mauve! unfortunately just after taking this i ruined my manicure because i didn't wait a long enough time before washing my hair (which has faded loaaads by the way!) so i had to redo them! it's a gorgeous colour though, a lovely shimmery metallic purple with a slightly greeny blue sheen.

i'm going out tonight with a few friends to a burlesque/drag bar which I CANNOT WAIT FOR! if i had been born a man, i think i would have to be a drag queen. seriously, i think they are so amazing. if i'm allowed to take photos i will do! also hopefully i will have a few more things to blog about over the next few weeks as i won't have that much textiles work to do.

a love for real, not fade away

2012-01-29T12:24:00.001Z

hello! only a quick little post today as i am not feeling at all well, think i'm coming down with some kind of flu :( so annoying as i have so much to do this week! i'm going to sheffield open day on wednesday (but driving down on tuesday) and it's the deadline for my digital textiles project next monday. urgh, so not looking forward to trying to get it finished!

anyway, i had my hair dyed on friday & here are the results! it was actually really difficult to capture the real colour with my camera, the above picture is a little bit dark.

i really love the colour, but it was so hard getting there! i was at the hairdressers for over 3 hours! first i had my hair bleached, then two wash in colours put in which didn't work out, then i had a full head tint & two colour mixes. absolute faff on. when it was bleached, the ends were such a horrible yellow dirty blonde colour and the purple just wouldn't stay! i think my hair is obviously just really problematic & difficult to dye, aha.

the colour is more permanent than it was originally going to be, but it should fade quite a bit which is good as i love that whole grey/lilac candyfloss hair look. i washed it last night & it's already faded a little! i'm going to buy some of that "touch of silver" shampoo for platinum blondes (and old people, natch) because apparently if you use it more often it gives you a violet tint.

so, yeah. there you have it, my lilac hair! i love it so much, pastels are my favourite colours ever & now i have pastelly lilac hair. so good. i don't think i'm going to be able to stop dyeing it now! kirsten dunst's pale pink hair in marie antoinette might be my next colour of choice, so keep an eye out!

but gentle violets weeping with the dew

2012-01-24T15:01:00.001Z

i went to my local charity shop the other day hoping to find some little photo frames to paint in pastel shades so i could use them to display necklaces when i do craft fairs, but unfortunately they didn't have any small enough! however, i did find a few nice things;

i'm not a massive madonna fan, but i saw this for £1 and thought it's about time i branch out my music taste into the 80s! besides, like a prayer & express yourself are brilliant, classic songs.

i also saw this little pocket book of oscar wilde's poetry, also only £1. i already own the collected works of wilde, but i thought this book was so pretty & it would be a beautiful addition to my bookcase. also, it will be much easier to take to uni with me than the completed works, seeing as that is about 10cm thick! it also has one of my favourite poems by wilde, which is the grave of keats. it's so beautiful, and i took a line from it to use as the title of this post.

there was also a whole box of vintage tights for only 50p each! i went for these blue christian dior ones because all the blue tights in my wardrobe are either riddled with holes or have lost their elastic so they are now completely unwearable.

i also popped into my local chemists to buy some hair padding (which they didn't have), but came out with this hair net instead. i know, old woman alert, but i love my hair to have lots of volume & be quite curly, and it's always getting squashed at night so i thought i would give this a go to see if it can help keep my hair in shape a bit more. it should also reduce frizz and static, so it's worth a try!

hope you're all having a lovely day (:

bubblegum

2012-01-21T14:41:00.000Z

just a quick (scheduled) post today! i thought i'd show you the colour boards & mood board i was talking about the other day.

i made these on photoshop, which was actually a lot easier than i thought when i managed to get my head around all the tools! the colour swatches are done in the style of color collective, which has become one of the blogs i obsessively look through for inspiration.

as i mentioned in my other post, our title for this project is vintage americana so i chose these lovely bikini clad women for my first colour board.

this is my favourite picture! i really hope we take our colour palette from this photograph, i definitely would love to but unfortunately it's not just up to me because it's a group project. hopefully i can use my best ~~pleading~~ persuasion skills on the rest of the team!

this is my final moodboard. each person in our group has to make an individual moodboard, then we look at all of them next week to decide where we take out inspiration from for this project. mine is very sugary sweet & pastelly, hopefully everyone else won't mind this overdose of girlyness too much! for me, the 1950s (which is the era you're most likely to be referencing when you talk about vintage americana) was the best era for women's clothing; everything in bubblegum colours and full skirted and feminine.

floral

2012-01-18T18:30:00.018Z

hey guys!

i've been meaning to post this outfit for a while, just kept forgetting to take photos whenever i was wearing it. and then i kept forgetting to post the photos, these are from before i got my hair cut so my hair is a fair bit longer here than it actually is in reality! this is actually one of my favourite outfits to wear, although it's not the most winter appropriate. just love the pastel colours!

cardigan - vintage via etsy, blouse - charity shop, floral shorts - liberty print at topshop, lace shorts (underneath) - ebay, tights - primark, necklace - gift (accessorize)

my cousin bought me this necklace for christmas, and it is so pretty! it matches the colours of this outfit exactly, so serendipitous! i really love that dusky pink, cream and powder blue colour combination.

i love the different floral patterns in this outfit; the stylised embroidery on the blouse, the 3D lace motifs on the cardigan and the neat blue liberty print roses on the shorts. also, there's a floral/paisley-esque print on the tights, but it's not really very visible!

sorry that the photos are a bit poor quality, i took these just after i got back from seeing the artist with some friends & it was getting quite dark! i'm also still getting used to using my remote, hopefully i'll get to grips with it the more i use it.

i've scheduled a couple of posts for the next few days because i wasn't sure how much time i would have to post. goodbye for now!

run the water till it scalds

2012-01-16T20:57:00.000Z

hey guys! sorry it's been about a week since my last post, i have been absolutely swept off my feet trying to finish my last textiles project! i was up until half 11 last night, and then set my alarm for quarter past five to do more work, absolute nightmare. i really liked my final pieces & i'm so proud of them, so when i get everything back from being marked i'll put some photos up here!

anyway, as part of my sketchbook work for that project i bought vogue (for only the second time in my life!) as i'd seen on a few blogs they had a feature on trends and i just knew i had to have the piece on pastels as that's what my colour palette was for this project! so so pretty, pastel colours are my favourite colours to wear, & i so wish i could afford to buy some of these pieces! just have to wait until it all filters down to the high street shops i guess.

another of the trends which took my fancy is gatsby glamour! (sorry about the blurry picture, only just noticed!) i love the whole 1920s look, gorgeous long fringed skirts & bare shoulders & draped necklines. i also love the short hair cuts & the pin curls, i would so love to be able to do that with my hair! black, cream & gold aren't really colours i wear that often but i may have to make an exception for one of these beaded beauties.

also, i personally can't wait to see the film (although apparently it doesn't even come out until december? boo!) as the book is one of my favourite novels ever.

now, i'm not usually an avid fan of florals - in fact, i can only think of one floral item in my wardrobe! - but this darling buds spread is so beautiful! i know, i know, "florals? for spring? groundbreaking" but they are so pretty, and not overly ditsy like they seem to be every other year. plus, i love pretty much everything that erdem do (especially their spring 2011 collection), so this trend is perfect.

the next project we are doing in textiles is digital print, and we have to create a design for a tshirt using one of the spring/summer 2012 trends as a starting point. it's a group project, and the trend our group has been given is vintage americana! i'm quite excited for this as I have lots of inspiration ideas; grease, diners, pin up girls, full skirts & poodle motifs, cadillacs, striped swimsuits, bubblegum colours & more. i adore the prada car prints, so lovely! we made some inspiration & colour boards today on photoshop which i will try to put up on here some time in the near future! i was really worried about using photoshop for this project because i have absolutely no skills at all in that department, but making the colour boards was actually really fun & so simple when i got my head around it.

just a few more things to tell you/talk about!

1. i had my hair cut on saturday, & i've asked for some lilac hair dye to be ordered so hopefully this time next week i will have newly coloured hair! provided i don't chicken out of making the appointment, of course. i've decided that i need to get on with it, and now is the time. i'll be 20 next year(!), so i need to make the most of my ~crazy teenage yrs.

2. i can't believe i have reached 100 followers! that is so cool and amazing and lovely, i never even imagined that 10 people would find what i say interesting, never mind ten times that! thank you thank you thank you all so much, i will do a giveaway some time soon to properly show my appreciation for all of you wonderful lot! i will have to have a think though as i'm not sure what i could give away, maybe pick something from my shop? i'll figure something out!

3. one of my favourite bands los campesinos! are touring in march & i'm going to see them with some of my college friends! so excited, i love this band & they are apparently really good live. plus, i might be able to pick their new album up for cheaper than in the shops, as for now i've just been listening on spotify.

4. just realised that this post and my last post have both been about fashiony things! this is quite unusual, no planning on my part, that's just the way it turned out! i guess i'm just getting more interested and more aware of this stuff now that i have to do so much fashion research for my course. better get used to it guys!

a wolf in lamb's clothing

2012-01-10T19:58:00.001Z

okay, so if you follow me on twitter you may have seen some of my incoherent ramblings about being unable to write my essay/dissertation for college! we had to pick a textiles/fashion designer and write an analysis/overview of their work. at least, that's what i did. to be honest, it wasn't massively clear what we were supposed to do!

anyway, i spent quite a lot of time on it & i'm actually really pleased with and proud of what i wrote. i've never really ~analysed a fashion collection before, and this is one that i absolutely adore & it really speaks to me. i thought i'd post it here for you guys to read - that is, if you're interested! i may have been a bit heavy handed with the similes in some places, but it was pretty late when i finished writing it.

Designer Profile of Meadham Kirchhoff and Analysis of their Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

Edward Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff are a design duo from London who launched their eponymous womenswear label Meadham Kirchhoff in 2003, a year after they both graduated from Central St Martin’s. With their exceptional instinct for performance, there is no other place for this fashion label to be than London with their inherently quirky style and unmistakeably British gift for humour and satire. London fashion is famous worldwide for its eclectic, individual street style and the unpredictability of its independent designers, such as Meadham Kirchhoff. In their short history, they have become infamous for the eccentricity, political undertones and social commentary displayed in their collections.

Both Meadham and Kirchhoff are avid supporters of the Feminist Movement, and an exploration of the trappings of femininity can often be seen in their designs. They also take a lot of inspiration from the Riot Grrrls of the 1990s; especially Courtney Love, whose 1994 Reading Festival dress Edward Meadham faithfully remade in a multitude of pastel hues for the can-can dancers who opened their Spring/Summer 2012 catwalk show. Their collections have garnered a reputation for being “angry” and they are notorious for deliberately pushing against the fashion mainstream and ignoring trends. Meadham Kirchhoff decorate and adorn the walls of their creative workspace with hundreds of images, which they look at in between seasons to contemplate the aesthetic and meaning behind their next collection. These images, according to Edward Meadham, “include representations of every classic beauty: sex symbol, goddess, Hollywood goddess, showgirl, little girl, Shirley Temple, Marilyn [Monroe], Jayne Mansfield, old paintings and portraits from Ingres, Marie Antoinette, dolls, the Virgin Mary.” This wide range of inspirational imagery and referencing demonstrates the designers’ sheer love of collecting and all things “happy and light and funny and gross and pretty”, and also shows their exact path from here to the finalised collection. This eclectic mix also showcases an obsession with representations of supposed idealised beauty.

For their S/S 2012 collection, Meadham Kirchhoff have taken all of these different facets of girlhood, taken in what it means to be feminine and spat it all back out again in a gorgeous pastel scream of rebellion. This collection is fit to bursting with rich textures, eye-popping colour combinations and a decadence last seen in Marie Antoinette’s Versailles palace home. The pair has stated that this collection was “about taking all the things that little girls are taught are beautiful and pretty from an early age – and destroying and celebrating them at the same time.” From just glancing at the whole collection, you can see this in force; the beautiful bubble-gum pastel hues which are the epitome of sugary girlishness contrast with the harsher, darker colours of the occasional navy tie or pillar-box red pinafore, which perhaps reference unsettling male schoolgirl fantasies, or evoke the iconic costume worn by Britney Spears – another victim of the trappings of femininity. Further coquettishness appears with the peekaboo cut-outs in a pink button down cardigan which reveal a crystal-encrusted bra. It certainly seems that Meadham Kirchhoff are trying to playfully poke fun at the constant objectification of women in the media – and indeed the world of fashion – by adding a pair of fluffy powder puff breasts to an intricate 18^th century brocade sack back coat. These coats as well as some of the sumptuously embroidered dresses in the collection have an exaggerated hourglass structure; a design feature which shines a light on constant scrutiny of the female form while simultaneously celebrating womanliness. Other stand out pieces were crystal encrusted hot pants, large skirted marabou coats and exquisitely embroidered cardigans; all adding a touch of pantomime drama to this “oddly moving” show all about poignant childhood memories and the loss of innocence. The shoes (designed by Nicholas Kirkwood with marabou pompoms and crystal bows added by Meadham Kirchhoff) are another example of the design team’s great sense of humour. They are ludicrous and hilarious and reminiscent of illustrations in Dr Seuss books, but edgy and fresh at the same time. All of this works together to create something that is kitsch and nostalgic without being tacky. Everything from this collection could have come out of a child’s dressing up box or from a theatre’s dressing room, but it could also fit perfectly in your wardrobe. These clothes are for a real girl, one “not defined by feminine frippery, though she may occasionally indulge in it.”

Made by any other designer, this collection would seem overly kitsch or flippant, but Meadham Kirchhoff have always been serious about what they do. The painstaking attention to detail comes from a real dedication to their craft and an exceptional technical ability. One dress in the collection is made solely from strips of ballerina embroidery with Broderie Anglaise lace ribbons stitched between the bands. This was inspired by “those old Spanish postcards where the flamenco dancers have real fabric skirts”, and this is plain to see as each ballerina’s sequinned tutu lifts up, and they each have individual pearl necklaces and crystal bead tiaras. This couture-worthy level of detailing is extraordinary; especially as such tiny additions like this would be almost invisible on the catwalk. The extremely labour intensive technique of zardosi embroidery has also been used several times in this collection on the wonderfully named “Madonna” jackets. It is the process of creating a pattern by stitching tiny coils of metal to a piece of fabric, and is traditionally used “in ceremonial Catholic dress and ornamentation”, which harks back to the religious influences and iconography seen on the pair’s studio walls. More of their meticulous attention to detail is seen in the cutesy animal and doll motifs which are hand-embroidered, appliquéd and, in some cases, even have 3D leather-appliquéd eyelashes as an added touch. A lot of work has also gone into their bubble-gum coloured marabou frock coats, each weighing a huge amount with a hem of 26 metres and taking hours to stitch just one band of feathers to one hem. Edward Meadham wanted these skirts to feel “endless”, and their sheer density and luxuriousness ensures that they certainly seem that way. Meadham Kirchhoff also have an incredible capacity to think outside the box, choosing to use an “iridescent tinsel yarn” originally designed to be used for fishing as a trim for some of their turquoise ballerina embroidery. The wealth and understanding of traditional and contemporary textiles techniques shown by the designers is very impressive, especially given the way they are able to weave it together with their fresh and individual designs.

Meadham Kirchhoff’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection is simply beautiful. Combining a wealth of inspiration with an old-fashioned aptitude for textiles techniques, this collection is truly a work or art for the modern age of fashion and textiles. By drawing on the many representations of women and girls throughout history and their own beliefs, Meadham Kirchhoff have created a collection which celebrates all that is good about being female and being a feminist and what this means to us in the 21^st Century. It is sugary sweet without being saccharine and girly without being overly cutesy. It is femininity with a theatrical, rebellious edge. If you cut Meadham Kirchhoff through the middle, they would read “eccentricity” like a candy coloured stick of Brighton rock.

fluffy.

2012-01-07T20:46:00.000Z

exclamations of "oh my god, fluffffyyyyyy!" was pretty much all i was greeted with by almost everyone i saw yesterday when wearing this marabou collar!

i bought it in the sale from river island for £10 (reduced from £25!), and i adore it!

it's so cute & fluffy & it just makes me feel like marie antoinette or some rich little russian girl when i wear it. plus, it's a totally awesome neck warmer.

i was a little unsure of the colour at first because i didn't think i had anything in my wardrobe that would go with it, but then i remembered my pastelly oversized shirt that actually works really well!

i wore this at college, and then out for a meal with some of my closest friends as a kind of reunion dinner before some of them depart for university again! it was such a lovely night, and i came home thinking that i actually love all of my friends. like, this group is the best collection of friends i have ever had, and i miss them so much when they're away!

i also wore a little lipstick to stop me getting completely washed out by all the pastel! i honestly can't stop wearing pastel shades. i watched marie antoinette today and it was so beautiful! i wish my life was directed by sofia coppola, then everything would be in pastel!

these are some collars i'm working on for my textiles project - which has to be finished for next monday, eek! i can't wait to finish them, i've had so much fun on this project! i'm going to make some versions to sell in the shop too, so look out for those!

bye bye for now!

pretty on the outside

2012-01-02T17:41:00.000Z

happy new january everyone, i hope you are all having a lovely start to the new year! i personally am not doing so well because i'm a bit under the weather and i've pulled a muscle in my neck, so really i've just been lying around in a haze of pain attempting to get on with things.

anyway, enough about my ailings! i've been doing a bit of procrastinating on writing my essay for college (which if you follow me on twitter you may be all too away of, sorry!), so i've been doing quite a bit of knitting.

these are some mock-ups/test pieces for some collars i'm making in textiles. i'm also hoping i can start selling them in the shop soon!

at first i thought i preferred the more open knit pieces (on the right, done with bigger knitting needles), but now i think the knitting done with the smaller needles has a tighter, neater shape which looks a bit more like a classic peter pan collar shape.

the pastel coloured wool is my favourite. it doesn't really show here, but it's a lovely baby blue colour and has a silky slub running through it in pastel pinks, greens, yellows and white. i've had this wool for ages, in fact i think my mum bought it to make a cardigan for me when i was a baby! it's so pretty, but i only have two balls of it left so i'm going to have to go on a serious investigation mission to try and find some more if i want to sell some collars in the shop!

i'm also hoping to have a finished design ready to send off with some of my jewellery for a photo shoot with another blogger, which is a very exciting prospect that i can tell you all about a little later!

we have to take inspiration from nature for this project, and i'm looking at cobwebs for mine. hence the open knits! i'm using some lovely grey wool with white silky bits which i bought from hobbycraft, and of course the pastelly cuteness from above.

my main inspiration for this project is meadham kirchhoff's spring summer 2012 collection, which is basically the most beautiful, amazing thing i have ever seen in my entire life. i mean, it was all over the blogosphere when it first came out so i won't prattle on too much about it. basically, i love all the pastel colours and edgy feminity and i would wear pretty much every piece in the collection.

also, thought i'd post a picture of how i painted my nails the other day! my sister bought me a topshop nail varnish for christmas (called cyclone, i couldn't find it on the website!) so i thought i'd try it out. it's a really pretty grey shade with a hint of pink, and i also used a model's own nail varnish in pink fizz on my ring finger as a kind of accent. i'm a bit rubbish with doing nails, but i really like how this turned out!

i really want to grow out my nails and try a 1940s style manicure with bare moons, i think it looks so amazing! there's a tutorial in the vintage make-up book my mum bought me for christmas, if i do try it out i shall post some pictures!

wheels on fire, rolling down the road

2011-12-27T19:35:00.000Z

happy post-christmas everyone! i hope you all had a lovely time, and are pleased with your presents. i had a cracking christmas, i discovered that i love parsnips & ate far too many jelly beans for my own good.

i also received some really lovely presents, i'm so pleased! i got a tripod & a camera remote (which i used to take these photos) which are going to be so useful for doing photoshoots with my jewellery! i also got a vinyl to mp3 converter that i've been experimenting with today, i'm so happy because it was one of the few things i'd asked for.

i'll probably post about most of my gifts individually over the next few weeks, rather than all at once so i have plenty of things to post about. plus, i'd rather get back into the swing of regular posting!

i went to pick up my laptop from my mum's today (i spent christmas with my dad & his family), and opened a few presents from her side of the family while i was there. my sister got me the lovely red lipstick i'm wearing in these photos, it's a gorgeous raspberry red colour. very happy, as i'd asked for a red lipstick! it's called mischief & is from topshop.

my mum got me an eyebrow palette & some foundation, which i'd also asked for! i'm not wearing the foundation in the pictures, but i did do a bit of experimenting with the eyebrows! i'm pretty inexperienced at putting on make up as usually i just stick on a bit of mascara, but i'm actually quite excited about learning how to properly apply it. bit lame, but i've always felt a bit self conscious about it. i was exceedinly careful applying it today as i didn't want to look like frank n furter. my mum also got me some vintage hair & make up books (which i'll post about soon!), which i'm looking forward to trying out looks from.

outfit is pretty insignificant, i just happened to be wearing this today.

also thought i'd take a picture of my ~christmas nails~ as i will probably take them off soon! i really should have taken pictures when i first painted them, as they're a bit chipped now.

can't really go wrong with red & sparkly green. that's my remote in my other hand by the way, and yes i know i don't have to have it in the shot i was just trying it out.

right, i'm off to go & catch up on all the christmas telly i missed, ab fab in particular!

ps. you can still get free postage in my shop until january 1st! use the code DECEMBER at checkout, and you can use this as many times as you like!

it was cold and it rained and i felt like an actor

2011-12-23T17:22:00.000Z

hello! seeing as i have more free time than usual (or rather i have more free time that i should be spending working), i thought i'd post an outfit with the petticoats i bought a few weeks ago.

i can't take any full length photos at the moment because my camera just won't focus properly in the low light for some reason, so you'll have to make do with these mid length shots! the skirt/petticoat is quite long & ends a couple of inches below my knees. i was a bit worried about how long they were, but i actually really like it!

skirt/petticoat - charity shop, tshirt - h&m, scarf - vintage, tights - topshop.

i think this outfit was in danger of being a bit twee, before i put the scarf with it. i don't generally wear scarves, i've had this one for years & never really worn it, but i think it really works with the skirt and adds a bit more neutral colour to the whole ~ensemble~. also, they really work with my brogues (not that you can see them!)

i'm quite busy this week! thursday i'm going out for a meal with some of the fashion & textiles lot from college, then going to a friend's house to watch the made in chelsea christmas special, and on friday i'm having a bit of a reunion at my house to catch up with everyone who's been away! i'm so excited, it's rare i actually have this much in my social calendar, paha!

this is probably going to be my last post before christmas, so i hope you all have a lovely time whatever you're doing!

strawberry fields

2011-12-20T15:50:00.042Z

here are a couple of things i've bought lately!

i bought this man's bow tie for £1 from a charity shop a few weeks ago, and it is so cool! it doesn't photograph that well because it's velvet, but it's a beautiful burgundy colour in real life.

i love the androgynous look, and i wish i could pull it off but i think i wear too much pastel & own too many skirts! i'm going to put this in my "outfits to consider corner" and it may reappear on here soon!

(just joking, i don't have a corner like that in my room. i meant the metaphorical corner in my head)

i also bought this teapot & teacup combination on the same day in a different charity shop, but also for just £1! after a long time thinking that i didn't like tea, i've been doing a fair bit of experimenting & realised that i just hadn't found my winning sugar-and-milk combination. which is; milk and three sugars. yes, three.

it just seemed like fate that i should find this strawberry emblazoned teapot just sitting on a shelf, seeing as i bought a strawberry emblazoned plate just a couple of weeks ago & strawberry fields is the name of my jewellery shop!

(which, by the way, is still offering free postage until january with the code DECEMBER! i know, i know, i'm so good to you!)

it also has my name on the bottom of the teacup! fate, i tell you.

this is a knitted tie i'm working on! i'm going to give it to my dad for christmas. provided i get it finished in time, of course!

i'm thinking about making some knitted ties & bow ties for the shop, what do you think? i really love men's accessories, and i think they could be a really quirky addition to the shop! knitted ties were pretty big in the 70s/80s (forgive me, i cannot remember which), so it would be perfect for a vintage gent. if they sell well, i could also make some mini hairbows for girls too!

goodbye for now, i've scheduled another post for some time this week! hope you're all having a lovely winter.

lilac

2011-12-18T18:01:00.000Z

oh gosh, it's been too long since i posted! so sorry, but my life is massively dull & i didn't want to bore you with it.

i took a couple of quick outfit photos today (we've had family over for my dad's birthday), they're a bit rushed & rubbish i'm afraid! i wore this the other day to go shopping with a friend, & i thought i'd post it here because it's quite different to what i usually wear.

jumper - gift, blouse - car boot sale/miss selfridge, skirt - h&m, tights - mother's.

i've had this jumper for about three or four years but i've never really worn it before, it has sat in my wardrobe unworn for quite some time. i kind of liked the spots & stripes combination in this outfit, and the black & turquoise colours. i'm also wearing turquoise tights, but they didn't photograph well!

i love the collar on this blouse! i bought it at a car boot sale for £1, and it is so versatile. it's ~~very~~ completely sheer, so it's quite difficult to wear in the daytime unless it's covered up like this.

my hair is such a total disaster area at the minute. it's just ridiculous to manage & i'm so, so bored of the cut. my mum has bought me a vintage hairstyles book for christmas (or possibly my birthday) so hopefully i'll be able to learn how to do pin curl & victory rolls etc, because i am such a total failure at trying to copy youtube tutorials & i really want to be able to actually do things with my hair!

i've also decided i really want to dye my hair a lovely shade of grey/lilac! i love the whole lilac rinse colour (like the middle picture), and i've decided to stop harping on about it & actually do it. i'm going to book an appointment to get my hair cut in january, and then for a colour consultation. it may well end up being a mistake, but i don't even care. if i'm ever going to do it, now is the time.

the dog

2011-12-07T21:55:00.000Z

hey guys! i'm finding myself with more time to blog these days, which is brilliant as i totally love doing it! i've got a pretty long list of things to blog about, so i'll probably schedule quite a few when i can. i feel like such a rubbish blogger given my pretty dismal number of posts last month!

anyway, if you follow me on twitter you might be aware of my overexcitement at all the knitting, embroidery & fabric manipulation workshops i've been doing over the past week. (i'm supposed to be doing some embroidery now in fact, but it's not until friday so i've got a fair bit of time!) i've done some knitting before, but i never really knew how to cast on or cast off so it always felt a bit restricted, but i've managed to pick that up pretty quickly in the workshops. i've loved doing the knitting so much, somehow i've managed to do 24 samples!

all of my samples!

samples made using ribbon & large needles, sari fabric and the bottom one using thin wool with big needles & gradually adding two more wool strands.

samples with different string, a shredded charity shop scarf, bobbly wool & a sample knitted with different pieces of lace and ribbon.

two samples made with different thicknesses of nylon guitar strings, and one made with copper wire & thread.

experimenting with knit & purl, and making a rib.

samples with thick yarn, and using three and five wools on thin and thick needles.

everything is in creams and browns because we are restricted to a neutral colour palette on this project. at first i thought this was going to be a total nightmare as i love colour & that's usually the first thing i take my inspiration from, but it's actually quite refreshing to concentrate on texture instead!

this project is all about "multiples", so i'm looking at cobwebs and architectural details.

i can't remember if i said in my last post, but i recently got an offer from sheffield, yay! they sent me an email about accommodation the other day, scary stuff.

i listed 16 new items of jewellery in my shop yesterday, including this cute little dalmatian necklace! i'm also offering free postage on all orders throughout this month, just use the code DECEMBER at checkout to receive the discount! it's valid on international orders as well as domestic ones, so now is the time to treat yourself! (or buy christmas/hanukkah/other denomination holiday presents, whatever floats your boat).

pretty pretty petticoat

2011-12-04T18:46:00.000Z

happy december everyone! at the moment i'm flitting between major excitement & love for this time of year, and sheer unadulterated panic at how little christmas shopping i have done. college breaks up on the 16th, so hopefully i can get it done in those few days, fingers crossed!

speaking of college, at the minute we're doing knit, embroidery & fabric manipulation workshops which i am seriously loving! i've done so much knitting these past few days my fingers are about ready to fall off. now that i've finally learnt how to cast on and cast off (i could always do the basic knit stitch, just had difficulty beginning and ending!) it's so much better. if i have time, i'll photograph some of my samples & put them up here!

anyway, while i was going shopping for bits & bobs to knit with i had a little browse through the local charity shops and found these beauties!

two silky petticoats in ivory & a lovely peachy pink colour! they're pretty much exactly the same as they both have the same flower pattern, although weirdly they were different prices (£1 and £1.49).

i think they're so pretty, but i just can't work out how to wear them! they hit me just below the knee, so i'm going to try wearing them as long skirts (they aren't particularly see through, in case you were wondering!). in fact, i think i'm going to wear one to my high school's ~celebration evening~ for ex-students next thursday, if i do i'll post my outfit!

they have a lovely lace edging, so i don't really want to take any of the length off. luckily they do actually fit me around the waist as they're elasticated!

i also found this absolutely beautiful strawberry printed plate in the same shop!

it's so strange, i was vaguely looking for a cake stand or a nice plate to display some of my jewellery on for craft markets & i found this hiding under a stack of uninteresting plates! how unbelievably cool is that, it totally matches the name of my jewellery shop!

i think the illustration is gorgeous, and the colours are so pretty.

it was only 49p too, such a lovely find! i'm still pinching myself over my excellent luck, haha.

here it is in action displaying my tea set jewellery at the market i was at yesterday! you can't really see the strawberries very well unfortunately.

the market was a little bit quiet, but i still made a few sales including one of the new disney necklaces i've made! the lady who organised the market was really lovely, after she saw some of my pin up girl brooches she gave me this little book that she was selling on her stall for free!

it's not really pin up girls, but it's illustrations of pulp fiction covers featuring pin up-like women.

i'm going to try and incorporate some of the pictures into my jewellery making, so watch this space!

one of my favourite covers from the book.

in other news, i've reached 54 likes on my jewellery facebook page! ahh i'm so pleased, it's so good to know people like my pieces & all my hard work isn't for nothing.

i'm also offering free postage on all orders (both domestic and international) throughout december! please check my shop announcement on etsy for my last shipping dates for christmas, and enter the code DECEMBER at checkout to receive your free shipping!

hopefully i'll have to time to update a bit more in the next week or so, and have some new jewellery listed by saturday!

my only weakness is a list of crimes

2011-11-29T19:13:00.000Z

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

2011-11-27T21:44:00.000Z

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.

2011-11-15T21:57:00.000Z

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!)

oh mist rolling in from the sea

2011-11-05T21:23:00.001Z

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!

jump in the line, rock your body in time

2011-10-31T19:01:00.000Z

hiyaaa! long time no post, but my life has been well boring & uneventful lately, and i felt no need to burden you with my dull, dull ramblings. i did, however, decide that i will be doing english literature at university. only a year late in deciding, thanks brain!!1!

anyway, couldn't resist doing a hallowe'en related post today, as it totally is one of my favourite holidays. i don't actually have any plans for tonight apart from watching beetlejuice (ps. those who recognise the post title, i love you forever) and eating enough gummy sweets to reverse the effects of all the good flossing i've been doing lately, but i did wear a hallowe'en-themed outfit to college today!

(i know that this skirt featured in the last outfit post i put on here for you guys, but hey, i really like it)

cardigan - h&m, skirt - miss selfridge, blouse - car boot sale (miss selfridge), tights - mother's, shoes - new look, necklace - made by me & available here.

flash & blurred pictures used for full creep mode.

me doing my best ~teen witch vibes~ pose.

being a creep, as per. (it really irritates me that my necklace isn't on straight in this shot)

this skirt is fast becoming one of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe to style. it makes me feel very florence-welch-pre-raphaelite-y & all amazonian all at the same time. plus, i think it goes with loads of different colours - including black & turquoise which i wore it with today.

someone at college also told me i really suit black, which seems completely bizarre to me as it feels like such a non colour for me to wear!

close up of my bat necklace! i made these for halloween to put in the shop, & my friend matthew bought one the other day!

felt like i had to get my nails in there somewhere, even though you can hardly see them here! they've faded to this awesome turquoise colour with flecks of silver.

sorry for doing the obligatory cutesy girl pose with one claw hand btw, i actually want to vom just looking at myself like this, paha. a certain mean girls quote springs to mind.

being hilarious on webcam with my bat necklace. lol @ myself & my completely un-lucid state of mind. (i'm sure there's an actual word that means the opposite of lucid, but i really can't think of it right now!)

anyway, happy halloween y feliz día de los muertos para mañana!

(lo siento, estoy convencida de que eso no es correcto! y esto tambien)

on a raft of brand new beginnings (shop update)

2011-10-22T18:36:00.000+01:00

hello! i thought i'd just do a little shop update to show you what's been going on in strawberry fields.

i bought these dalmation dominoes quite a while ago from ebay, and they are the cutest things ever! i was going to make rings with them originally but when they arrived i thought they were a little bit too big, so i knew i wanted to make necklaces with them. you see so many domino necklaces around these days, i thought these would be a nice twist on those! (even though i am also working on a few pieces with plain dominoes too)

it has taken a while to make the pendants, because it took me a while to work out what i wanted the pieces to look like on the chains, and how exactly to drill the holes. after purchasing a special drill for small jewellery drilling bits, i finally managed to finish making them! well, my dad did, i don't quite trust myself operating a drill just yet!

i just need to wait for my clasps & chain to arrive and then i can make the full necklaces. i don't think i will be listing these in the shop until after i've done the craft market (as i said on twitter), as my bank balance is looking a little scary & i just want to keep costs down.

i also found these lovely geode things (whatever they're called!) in a box of ornaments in my room. i think they would look lovely on a long chain, and they will be made as soon as i can think of the best way to make them into pendants.

the longer piece is slightly faded on one side, so it can be worn in two ways!

i've put a few new things up in the shop recently made especially for autumn, including these emerald green glass bead earrings!

most of the new pieces are glass bead earrings in beautiful autumn/fall colours.

and in case you haven't seen it yet, here is one of the pieces in my hallowe'en collection; the bat necklace! the spider & fly earrings and the giant rubber fly ring are also part of the collection.

i'm so excited for this upcoming craft market! i've already written lists of things that i need, and i will make sure to take lots of pictures for the blog! (:

i'm also thinking of offering free postage for all of december & possibly some of november, what do you think? do you prefer free postage to discount offers? let me know in the comments!

woe.

2011-10-20T21:57:00.000+01:00

hi.

i've been having a really difficult time this week. from realising just how much money i have thrown at my jewellery shop so far, to facing the horror that is deciding on university courses.

i've been so conflicted and confused about choosing what path i want to follow next year. i had an interview today to get on textiles specialism for my foundation course (and i got accepted), and i was so excited afterwards for the course. the way the lecturer described what we would be doing was so unlike anything i have ever done before, and it all sounded so new and enriching and fun. sometimes it's hard to remember that education is supposed to be fun, and not something we must go through in order to get a job. she was so lovely, and so enthusiastic & complimentary about my work, and narcissistic as it sounds, sometimes we need to hear that we're doing alright. sometimes i need to hear that i am actually good at something.

she told me that my work had a really fresh colour palette, and my drawing was lovely. and she's friends with one of my favourite local artists. everything about this textiles course sounds so good!

and yet.

somehow i can't stop pulling my mind back to what could be, or what could have been. it's really difficult to avoid thinking about what it would be like to be studying english literature. this year. sometimes i kick myself for choosing to do this year straight away without even properly looking around or considering my other options first.

i keep thinking about all the things i loved about english last year, and how i much i love reading.

books. i seem to amass a never ending pile of books to read, reading multiple things at a time, favouriting poems on the internet to read later. i have hardly any time to properly read now and it feels like such a waste.

i love discussing books, and getting into heated arguments about different authors and images and motifs. it is such a beautiful thing, language, and somehow i feel like i'm missing out by not completely immersing myself in it.

i don't know, i think i'm just feeling a touch of the grass-is-greener attitude at the moment. but it feels like it's been building for a while, since i finished my art a level in fact. but then i think back about how much i truly adored my final two projects at school because of all the sewing i did, and i don't want to miss out on that either!

i think i'm lucky in a way that the course i'm currently doing is ranked as one of the best in the country - in fact, previous students from this course have gone on to work with giles deacon and alexander mcqueen. one ex-alumna is even doing an internship with mary katrantzou, one of my favourite ever designers. i don't want to miss an opportunity to reach what could be my full potential.

i'm going to mull this over for a while. or at least i hope to - the college leaders on my course require that i start to fill in my ucas form over half term, which means saying whether i will be applying through the college, or as an individual. or, in plainer terms, if i will be doing textiles or english literature.

i don't think i will be posting that often over the next few weeks. i have quite a few things to sort out, including this i have also signed myself up to sell jewellery at a craft market in november.

emerald city

2011-10-15T11:45:00.001+01:00

last saturday i ordered some glitter nail polishes from models own (is it just me that feels there should be an apostrophe there somewhere?) as they were doing a "buy three, save £3" promotion & i was in the mood for something decadent.

these are the three polishes i chose, pink fizz, emerald city & bluebelle. i was originally going to buy purple haze instead of bluebelle - because how could i not love the jimi hendrix reference! - but it was out of stock! i'm pretty happy with bluebelle though, although it's quite a bit darker than it appears on the website.

yesterday i painted my nails with emerald city, which i think is my favourite of the three. the polish is pretty good quality, but it does need two coats. i applied this pretty quickly yesterday morning before going out, so it's a little messy & probably would look better if i'd spent more time on it! also, my topcoat isn't the best quality so it smudged, meaning i had to retouch some of my nails this morning.

i have a weird hatred of having long painted nails by the way, so that's why mine are so short in the picture! i don't know, to me i just think they can look a little talon-like.

i also painted my toes with the pink fizz polish, which i actually love! i only applied one coat for these, but i actually think it's worked pretty well. i also have a weird hatred for dark nail polish on toes, so i will be trying the bluebelle on my nails in a little while.

i finished all of my rotation on my course, so now i'm just waiting to see if i get on the specialism i want to do, fingers crossed! i decided to go for textiles, and put fashion as my second choice. i really had to fight the urge to put fashion first, but i think in my heart i know it just isn't me. basically i only have to go into college on wednesday & thursday for lectures & an interview and then we have half term, so i am so excited for all the free time i'm going to have!

ten things i am going to do this week;

re-watch the virgin suicides and across the universe.
take jewellery pictures & list lots of new things in the shop.
see my friend liberty at her stand-up comedy gig.
cut the sleeves off the blouse from this post.
buy a young person's railcard & train tickets to see my friend kate!
catch up on blogs & schedule lots of posts.
finish on the road by jack kerouac and start slaughterhouse five by kurt vonnegut.
eat my body weight in cheese twists.
start booking myself on open days & drafting my personal statement (eek!)
watch copious amounts of family guy.

stopman

2011-10-10T20:16:00.001+01:00

this post is going to be slightly different to the usual things i post about here, but something was brought to my attention this week that i haven't been able to get out of my head since.

after seeing a link on facebook to this article, i was intrigued & shocked by what i read - two offensive (and i would say sexist) tshirts have been put on sale in topman (pictured below).

the tshirts have now been taken off the site, largely thanks to uproar on twitter & facebook and the sTopman facebook group (which i have joined).

i just wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the matter, apologies for the incoherent, incensed words that may follow. (also, this is posted a little late as the tshirts were first brought out last month)

the tshirts made by topman.

the grey one reads "nice new girlfriend, what breed is she?" - something so in tune with many "hilarious" slogan tshirts on sale today, that at first i didn't even register its offensive message, so used am i to this kind of demeaning comment being plastered all over the place. i think the problem is that we have become so desensitised to comments and slogans like this in modern day life - not just seen on tshirts, but in adverts and magazines - that collectively we let it pass us by, when we should be protesting it.
as a feminist, i am often accused of being "man-hating", or of only raising or recognising issues when they affect women. while this may be true of mainstream media, the underground "fifth wave" of feminism raises and discusses things like this which also affect men all the time.
for example, take the "boys are stupid, throw rocks at them" line of tshirts & stationery which are mainly marketed at younger & teenage girls. personally, i think these are equally damaging to the feminist cause as the grey topman tshirt! i think people forget that feminism is about equality between sexes (as a blanket definition), not that "women are better". i see tshirts like this being very damaging as they are still promoting inequality and stereotypes, weakening the character of both sexes.
(oh, by the way, this tshirt was designed by a female student, which frankly speaks volumes)
*
moving on to the red tshirt now, which reads;
"i'm so sorry, but
- you provoked me
- i was drunk
- i was having a bad day
- i hate you
- i didn't mean it
- i couldn't help it"
my immediate thought after reading this was "oh my god, it's talking about domestic violence", and after scrolling down to read the article & the comments i saw that i was not alone in this. this is incredibly disturbing, as this tshirt appears to be either A) supporting violence and/or domestic violence against women and/or men, B) poking fun at violence and domestic violence or C) making a comment about violence/domestic abuse by making an ironic "lighthearted" "joke" about it.
neither of these options leave me feeling amused in the slightest. even if topman were going for option C, as a huge retail chain, should have at least twigged that this could be seen as offensive, distasteful and even downright upsetting to some viewers, seeing as all of these statements are the most commonly given excuse by perpetrators of domestic violence. they should also have known that they have no control over who buys and wears this tshirt, as it could have been bought by someone who genuinely believes the message given or finds the tshirt hilarious.
making light of domestic violence - or any violence for that matter! - is not funny, and is not something that should be done by a high street chain as popular and omnipresent as topman/topshop.
*
aside from the tshirts themselves, one of the things i was most shocked about was the amount of comments on this blog post & the sTopman group that seemed to find the slogans funny, or at least were unbothered by them. many men (and i'm sorry to put "men" instead of "people", but from all of the comments i saw defending the shirts, 100% were from men) thought the outrage was simply an overreaction by women being "oversensitive" and "if you don't like them, don't buy them" which is surely an oversimplification of the matter at hand. i experienced this firsthand when a male twitter user replied to me after i posted a link to the article;

"that's why they are funny".

i can't even begin to describe my disgust at the vitriol and ignorance that he has expressed in less than 140 characters.

*
this post is not as detailed or as in depth as i would like, but i feel like i just needed to write something about how i felt. hopefully this isn't too rambling or emotional, and if you have read this far then thank you. thank you so much.

i always seem to play these games with you my dear

2011-10-04T22:15:00.001+01:00

last night, i went to go and see the kooks at the o2 academy! without being overly dramatic, it was pretty much the best night of my life! literally been waiting to see them since i was about fourteen years old and utterly (scarily) obsessed with the band.

(long term followers of my little blog may be aware that i have in fact seen the kooks before, but let's just say that did not end well and i actually cannot remember any of the concert. fun times hanging out in the medical room, oh yes)

this was such an amazing show, it hugely exceeded my expectations. they played so many obscure, lesser played songs from their first album which was so, so good! when they played matchbox, i pretty much lost all composure and started screaming like a bloody lunatic.

luke played a few songs acoustically (seaside, oh my fucking god) & was then joined by hugh to play tick of time. ohhhh my god. love all their ska-esque songs. sorry if this is all exclamations and incoherent babble, but everything about this concert was properly, properly brilliant.

also, luke is beautiful. and has so much energy on stage! i quite quickly regressed to my 14 year old, fangirly, writing-mrs-luke-pritchard-on-everything-i-own state.

the photos aren't great because i only took my little camera, and we were fairly far back - partly because i didn't want a repeat of last time and partly because there were huge amounts of people there! seriously, we queued right around the corner to get in, the show must have been completely sold out.

the encore set was incredible too, the piano led version of saboteur was really overwhelming to hear (especially as i've had a bad quality recording of the song on my ipod since 2008).

sorry about this messy overview of the concert, but i feel like if i describe it too intently the experience will somehow lose its magic for me. i'll just say this was easily one of the best gigs i've ever been to and leave it at that.

PS. booked a hair appointment for saturday! proper excited, and very tempted to go for a crop. we'll see!

stop breaking down

2011-10-02T13:11:00.000+01:00

happy october everyone! i'm so excited for autumn, i love this time of year with its clear skies, crisp leaves and low sunlight in the evenings. at least, i love the september & october part of autumn before it all descends into a soggy november mess.

in my next-but-last post, i mentioned that i was hopefully going to buy this skirt from miss selfridge (taking advantage of their 20% student discount offer, hello) and i did! it was originally £35, but with the discount it came down to £28 which is still somewhat steep but i decided to just go for it as i really love the skirt & it's the cheapest it was ever going to be.

i really do apologise for my facial expression, i've actually discovered that i cannot smile symmetrically, the left side of my mouth always goes higher than the right! bizarre.

anyway, i decided to wear it with my grey rolling stones tshirt, as i think you need something with strong shoulders to balance the long, floaty effect of the skirt. last weekend i wore it out to the pub with a plaid blouse with puffy sleeves, although i actually think this looks better!

also, if anyone in the uk thinks this looks familiar, janet from the x factor (ie diana vickers mark two) was wearing it on last night's show.

i love the two layer effect you get with this skirt, i think it looks really different to the other maxi/midi skirts you see all over the place these days. plus, the fabric flows out behind me when i walk, which makes me feel all feminine and empowerment-y at the same time.

i wouldn't usually wear this colour, but i think it is absolutely beautiful & so appropriate for this time of year! i really want to wear it to college some time because i think it's something you can either dress up or down, but we'll be workign with clay until wednesday so i think i'll have to wait a while!

blurred photograph for the shape.

after i bought the skirt, i also had a little wander around new look in search of some new shoes, and i'm so glad i did because i found the perfect pair of brogues! i managed to get them for £17, down from £25 after another 20% student discount and some new look vouchers i've had for ages. normally i find it so difficult buying shoes i like that actually fit me properly because i have really skinny, flat feet.

love the detailing they have on them, especially the actual brogueing! i'm so sick of seeing regular lace up shoes being called brogues even though they don't have the detailing that they need in order to actually be brogues. sorry, little pet hate that i have!

skirt - miss selfridge, tshirt - ebay, socks - had them since first school, shoes - new look.

my friend matthew just started a blog about all things male and fashiony, so go check it out!

also, i've listed a few new items in the shop and there will be more autumn-y related ones coming soon!

that's all for now, hopefully next time you see me i'll have had my hair cut.

PS is anyone watching coronation street at the moment? i am positively gripped by the rape story line they have at the minute, i think they're handling it so well - and it's so true to life the way some people think carla is "playing the victim" or lying about it, as this is something that rape victims constantly have to deal with. i think the acting is fantastic, and hopefully this can go some way to changing attitudes towards rape in this country. did you know that there is only a 7% conviction rate for rape in this country? absolutely shameful, and apparently there are even more rapes (estimated 75-90%) that go unreported. sorry for the sombre end to this post, but it's something i've been thinking about a lot lately.

sail away, sail away

2011-09-28T20:50:00.000+01:00

hello! wednesday night at last, which for me means a rest & a ~~possible~~ blog post! i've been on textiles rotation this week which has been amazing and fun and really cool and not what i expected, and i promise to stop using the word and now.

yesterday there was a vintage fair at a local student union & i went down to have a look before starting my intensive final piece work schedule (woke up at 5am this morning to finish it, woo!)

i bought this blouse for £8, a bit of an impulse/oh-my-god-i-have-to-buy-something buy before i left, but i think it's pretty cute! and reasonably priced too, compared to most of the clothes being sold there. it's a little more salmony pink than the picture suggests, and it has kind of boxy shoulders which should be ugly, but because it's a large size on me it actually does work. also, the folded cuffs and the collar/lapel things remind me slightly of an old-fashioned nurse's uniform!

part of the reason i bought it is because it has an unbelievably cute pocket with a broderie anglaise design. it is absolutely tiny as well, so goddamn cute!

it has a lovely collar too, and i have become such a sucker for collars lately! totes over the whole peter pan thing (although i will be doing a few blouse customisations when i can find the perfect fabric!), but i am so in love with embroidered or scalloped collars right now.

i also bought what my mum called the silliest pair of sunglasses she had ever seen, but what i think are amazing! you can't really tell from these photos, but they have a lovely tortoiseshell pattern.

i've decided that these are going to be my new driving glasses, because they flip up to be plain lenses! how awesome is that?! i cannot even express how amazing that is!

i highly doubt they are actual vintage as they look very new to me, and they were only a fiver, but i actually don't care because i just love them!

i've been looking for some new headscarves for a while now, i still love my palette patterned one but i need a bit of variety! i bought this nautical style one for only £2, and i really like it because it's cotton & i hate the flimsy silky ones because they just don't stay in my hair!

love the anchor & wheel design!

once more darkness, it descends

2011-09-23T23:16:00.000+01:00

sorry about how scattered my posting is lately, just completely rushed off my feet these days!

today after college, me and some of the people in my group went to the local pub for a couple of hours. because we are all total art nerds, we went round in a circle & drew pictures of each other! mine weren't very good because i can't really do illustrative drawing, but here are the ones of me drawn by everyone else.

we all made a pact to put our favourite as our profile picture on facebook, so mine is the one on the bottom left drawn by my friend eve! i think it's so good, she really wants to go into illustration as well.

also, my tickets for the kooks arrived today! so excited to go and see them, people who have followed my blog for a while may remember my major obsession with this band. i was pretty much their biggest fangirl ever from the age of 14 to 16, and it will just be so good to see them live!

(i have seen them before but passed out & missed the majority of the concert, lol.)

hopefully tomorrow i'm going to buy this beauty from miss selfridge! i've been a bit unwell this week & a bit generally fed up, so i think i deserve a bit of cheering up in the form of nice clothing. besides, there's a 20% student discount offer on at the minute, get in!

hoping to blog a little bit more next wednesday, it just sucks that i have so little free time right now! i have a huge list of things to post about too, so i may schedule a few posts for later on (:

turn to the left, turn to the right.

2011-09-19T19:31:00.000+01:00

i thought i'd write a little mid-week update about how my week has been going at college! i have quite a few other things i want to update about, but i have so much work on at the minute and just not enough time.

anyway, this week i've been on the fashion rotation part of my course which i have really enjoyed! it's not quite what i expected and is much more illustration based than i thought it would be, but i'm definitely swaying towards choosing it at specialism. for our rotation project, we were given an artist and had to design a collection based on their work. i was given egon schiele, who - much to my embarrassment - i had never actually heard of before! here are a couple of my favourite paintings of his;

he does a lot of erotic paintings, so these are some of his more demure pieces. i love the way he uses colour, and the shapes and positions of the women he draws really lend themselves to clothing designs.

here are a few of my responses to his paintings (sorry about the dark photos!);

we also had to do a bit of fashion research, and find collections that we felt related to the work of our artist. i didn't really know much about designers, so i had a look at the research sheets we were given and had a bit of a browse on style.com & found possibly the most lovely collection i have ever seen. i was never really that into dior before (and i'm pretty sure this is john galliano's work, so that makes me a little uneasy from an anti-semitic hate point of view), but this autumn/winter 2011 is just so beautiful!

the shapes are gorgeous, and the full skirts really goes with what i was thinking for my own collection. i love the 1950s prom feeling i get from these dresses in particular, and the hair is styled just wonderfully.

also, this is pretty much the most beautiful dress i have ever seen in my entire life.

my work based on the dior shows;

i'm getting my hair cut tomorrow, and i just can't wait! i've been stuck in a rut hairwise for so long that i desperately need a change. to be honest it probably won't be that different, i'm just wanting quite a bit off!

i'm a good woman and i never did say whatever it was that you did that day

2011-09-14T19:03:00.000+01:00

hi! this is going to be a very quick post as i'm leaving for a concert in, ooh, 40 minutes and i still have to get ready! here is a short summary of some things i've bought recently;

laura marling's a creature i don't know, the kooks' junk of the heart and slow club's paradise.

laura marling's album is so good! i love her, and the whole album is just absolutely beautiful. so far sophia is my stand out favourite, i just can't stop listening to it.

i haven't listened to the kooks' album yet, but i have a huge love for this band (rather obsessively so when i was about 15/16) and i'm going to see them in october so i wanted to be prepared.

slow club are fast becoming one of my favourite bands, and i'm actually going to see them tonight! the new album is really, really good, it has a different feel from their acoustic/folky debut but still sounds like a slow club record. also, i pre-ordered the album so i got a free 5 demo track cd as well as a signed copy of the album! get in.

i got a free tote bag with laura marling's album at hmv, yay!

i bought sophia on 7" too, i really love the artwork although i haven't listened to the b-side yet.

today i bought brideshead revisited by evelyn waugh and the waves & to the lighthouse by virginia woolf. i loved mrs dalloway & ever since then i've been wanting to read something else by ms woolf. i love her style of writing and i think she's a very important figure in modernist literature.

i picked these up in a charity shop last week for 75p each, which is a complete & utter bargain! my pile of books to read just grows and grows.

i also bought the complete works of oscar wilde in the charity shop for £4, which is incredibly cheap considering just how thick it is! i love the illustration on the top too.

i adore oscar wilde's works and i've read the picture of dorian gray (of course) as well as most of his plays, but this also has his children's stories and all of his poetry. i'm excited to read all of this but it will have to wait for now!

i'm really sorry my posts have been so infrequent recently (and that this one has been such a whistle stop tour!), college is keeping me far too busy at the moment! it really is a huge amount of work, and when i'm not working i'm just so exhausted. i've hardly been able to keep up with my jewellery shop either, i was meant to list some new items today but just haven't had the time! hopefully i will have time to list them at the weekend, and post here too (:

trace

2011-09-03T21:49:00.000+01:00

this week on my college course, i've been doing photography! the brief is traces, ie. the marks/traces people or objects leave behind. on friday, we were given about 4 hours to wander round newcastle and take photographs for the project. i walked around on my own, and i'm pretty pleased with the pictures i managed to get! here are some of my favourites;

a crack in a wall near the college.

a piece of blue twine tied around a fence with peeling paint.

a piece of day-glo knitting wrapped around a tree.

(this is part of an art exhibition that was on a few years ago, it was called "guerrilla knitting" or something. i went looking for these as i think they're beautiful, and i thought they'd be perfect for the project. the exhibition might have something to do with feminism or not, i don't know, but i thought it might because of the whole guerrilla girls thing.)

some empty milk packets on a roadside bench.

another piece of guerrilla knitting, this time wrapped around a traffic light pole.

(i got given a few funny looks for this, as it was right in the middle of a busy crossing)

a faded, peeling best vintage advert sellotaped to a wheelie bin.

a deflated, wrinkled pizza express balloon and a burnt out match.

a wet napkin next to a flower pot.

(this is one of my favourites, i just like the way the yellow napkin matches the yellow flowers)

a bright pink child's shoe on a double yellow line.

(this was quite an opportunistic shot, i was walking back up from the college courtyard as i knew there were some more pieces of knitting down there, and i just saw this lying on the ground. i think this is another of my favourites as i just love the colours in it.)

i hope i haven't overloaded you with pictures! i actually really enjoyed taking these, the photography rotation has been really fun - and a welcome relief from the trials and tribulations of fine art.

also, i've listed a few pin up girl brooches (including this one) in the shop! i really love 1940s/50s pin up girl style and i'm so pleased i found these to make into brooches, they are so lovely!

i've also been thinking (as anyone who follows either my personal or jewellery twitter might know) about getting a stall for one of my local vintage/craft fairs to sell jewellery at, what do you think? i'd love to give it a go, i'm just worried about costs and things.

ouija board, ouija board

2011-08-31T20:56:00.000+01:00

hello there everyone, i hope you're all having a smashing wednesday! mine has been pretty good, college was kind of cool because i got to know a few people better & we were only in until ten! although truth be told i had been there since quarter past eight because i had to go and hang my project up on the wall for nine, sigh.

this is my final piece for the fine art rotation. our title was "abracadabra", ie it was all about magic etcetera so i decided, creep that i am, i would look at ouija boards & specifically the movement of hands over the board. i took some long exposure photographs of my hands & then tried to draw them over a secondary image of a ouija board. the final piece is in oil pastel washed over with black & brown watercolour - which i used so that the white oil pastel (which i used for the blurring) would show through as ~spirits~ moving the hands!

anyway, i thought i would also show you a tshirt i bought last week from ebay! it was only 50p (although £2 postage, grrr), and i originally bought it to make a diy band tshirt by printing a picture of the smiths or joy division over it (i had a bit of a vision of the unknown pleasures artwork over a pale floral fabric, and i can't get it out of my head), but i'm not sure now as i quite like the way the shirt looks on its own.

it has quite a cute hibiscus-y floral pattern, and i love the pale turquoise background colour!

it's a size 12/14, so it has quite low arm holes, but i actually think it falls in a really nice way! the only problem is i don't really have anything i can wear with it on the bottom half, i think i need to stop buying shirts for a while & buy some plain skirts/shorts. i don't have to wear a uniform to college so choosing clothes, unfortunately, has become a bit of a hassle at six thirty in the morning!

it also has some lovely blue toucan (i think) illustrations, which i adore!

i've been taking advantage of my afternoon off from college by putting some more new jewellery up in the shop (after having a good sit down in front of the telly, of course) which is all alice in wonderland themed, so have a look if you'd like! i'm going to put a few more pieces up at the weekend too, which i might post about nearer the time!

tears dry on their own.

2011-08-27T20:27:00.000+01:00

hello! on wednesday (when i had a free-ish day from college) i had a wander around a few of the charity shops in newcastle, and i found a very cute blouse which i will show you now!

the label says XXL so it's a little on the er, large side but it has the loveliest embroidery on the front and the collar! it doesn't really show up on this picture, but there's a handy close-up below (:

it has majorly adorable pearl buttons as well, although i don't really know why they're on the collar too, as it seems somewhat ridiculous to me. all i'm saying is, i've tried buttoning it up & laughed for about an hour at the results. i don't think i'll be trying that out on the general public any time soon.

blouse - charity shop, skirt - homemade, necklace - car boot sale.

i decided to wear the blouse with the pink lace skirt i made a while ago, only looking at the pictures now i think it all looks a little bit twee. i think the blouse would actually go really well with a pair of slightly high waisted pale denim shorts. in fact, i've been searching on ebay endlessly over the last two days searching for the ideal pair, but to no avail! i'd better start scouring those charity shops.

college is difficult. it's really hard work, & we have to work on huge scale. like, A2 size paper for experimenting & sketches. ugh, totally not used to this. also, the fine art tutor thinks i'm an idiot & really doesn't seem to like my work. but hey ho! no more fine art for me after wednesday, thank god. scratching that one off the potential university courses list. i think the problem is (and without being massively big headed here), i'm used to being a big fish in a relatively small pond, and now i'm a little fish in a really rather talented pond. which isn't very fun.

anyway, hopefully this will all be better by next week when i'm doing photography.

i've added a few new items to the shop, if you'd like to have a look just click here! i've got a few more things i want to put up, and as i'm completely free wednesday afternoon i think i'll do it then.

until next time, thanks for reading!

ps. the post title is currently my favourite song to listen to on the bus ride home. especially yesterday, when i actually did feel like crying.

first day

2011-08-22T17:37:00.000+01:00

this post is going to be a bit of a mish mash, i have a lot of things that i want to talk about so i just want to get it all down! i feel like i've done like no good posts recently, but i've just had so much on.

a level results

last thursday (as i imagine a lot of you will know!) was a level results day, a pretty scary day! i wasn't actually that nervous until the night before & the morning of the actual day, mainly because i knew i had a guaranteed place on my art foundation course so i didn't need specific grades to get into a university. most of my friends got what they needed (and very proud of them i am! yoda alert), but unfortunately some didn't so i have my fingers crossed that they sort it out! i was very (pleasantly!) surprised by my results, so surprised in fact i didn't believe my friend who pointed out which were my overall grades in the very confusing list we were given! i got an A in spanish, and A*s in art, english literature & general studies, which i am really very very pleased with!

one of the teachers asked me what my results were, & then led me off to go & get my picture taken for the paper. this was pretty weird, & i didn't actually register what was going on until i'd left, the next day my picture was on the front cover of a local paper, cringe.

awkward left arm, good god.

i felt fine about this, until i started seeing snarky posts on twitter about how according to the front page of newspapers, the only people who do well in their a levels are "blonde twins and pretty girls in low cut tops" & people starting posting about this tumblr. then i started to get a weird feeling about how there was only one boy in the photo with five girls, and how the photographers had us stood above themselves on raised steps. i started thinking about a passage in caitlin moran's book about modern sexism, where she talks about not even realising you've been subject to sexism until you start to think it over alone.

i started to get really annoyed with myself that this didn't occur to me, and that i should've stepped back & said no to the photgraphs, but then i read this article, which was really interesting & opened my eyes to the other side of the feminist debate.

college

i've been totally swamped with work for the summer project for college over the last few days, it's been getting me down a bit because there's just so much! today was my first day, and we're the first course in school because everyone else starts in september. i was a bit gutted about cutting my summer short by about two weeks at first, but now i'm there i think it'll be much better to get to know my way around before it gets really busy!

my passport photo for the college records.

this first day was a bit weird because we didn't really do anything except finish enrolling & get talked at constantly about THE IMPORTANCE OF HARDWORK and TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN LEARNING, which was all a bit draining! the hours are 9 to 4, we get tuesdays off for home study & have wednesday afternoons completely free, which is pretty great! i am really looking forward to the course now, my first rotation is fine art and we're going to learn a little more about our project brief tomorrow.

my brand-spanking-new college id card, which we have to wear "at all times while on campus", wahey.

i was a bit gutted that the three other people that i know are all in one class together, and i'm in one on my own, but it's actually alright because there are a few nice people in my class that i'm getting to know.

anyway, that's it for now! i'm going to try & post at the weekend about my holiday, & about some new jewellery i'm putting up on the site (which i'm off to make now!), but i'll see how the work goes!

holiday + shop discount code.

2011-08-13T10:00:00.023+01:00

hey! i'm going away on holiday for a few days so orders in the shop will be processed a little slower than usual, but you can take advantage of that by using the discount code "CARAVAN" at checkout for 15% off!

you can use the code as many times as you like, and it will discount everything in your basket (although it doesn't include shipping)!

blue patterned teapot necklace, blue patterned sugar bowl necklace & blue patterned jug necklace.

this code will be valid until 8pm GMT on the 18th of august, so get shopping! a lot of the items in the shop won't be restocked, so if you've had your eye on something, now is the time!

i'm hoping to list some new pieces (which i'm very excited about!) when i get back, and i'll let you know when i do!

portrait

2011-08-11T21:07:00.000+01:00

i've been working on my college project for the last few weeks, and i thought i would show you a few things that i have done! it's taken me quite a while to get some motivation for this project, just because i've kind of been doubting myself & it's actually a lot harder than it seems to work without the direction and - would you believe! - criticism of my art teachers.

pencil self portrait & collage.

the project is called "who are you?", cringey title alert. it seems to be the classic getting-to-know-each-other introductory project, which just makes me majorly uncomfortable because i haven't got a clue what they expect of me.

pencil & blue watercolour portrait of john lennon & photoshop self portrait

i've done quite a few studies, but i've been most interested in drawing some of my idols, because i think that who we admire says quite a lot about us. and yes, john lennon is a total cliche but i do love the man.

the painting is much bluer in person! for some reason it hasn't quite come out right in the photograph!

pencil drawing of caitlin moran with chalk pastel hair.

i'm planning to do a self portrait similar to this for my final piece, although i have quite a bit to do before getting to that stage. wish me luck for college, it starts in 11 days, eek!

submarines & shop updates

2011-08-05T21:17:00.000+01:00

i've uploaded a few new items in the shop, so i thought i'd post an update on here!

blue stone pendant necklace

i'm not really sure where this pendant is from, but i seem to recall buying it at some vintage fair ages ago.

jigsaw piece earrings

earrings made from individual pieces of a disney princess jigsaw.

girl with a bow charm necklace

a necklace with a gumball style charm of a girl with a lilac bow.

pineapple necklace

i love this necklace! i think the charm is so cute & quirky.

moonstone pendant necklace

a slightly mystic-looking plastic moonstone pendant.

shell teardrop pendant necklace

i also bought this pendant at a vintage fair! it's pretty cute & has a really lovely iridescent sheen.

i'm going away in a week's time, so i'm going to put up a discount code for while i'm away - but more on that later!

i haven't really got much news to share here i'm afraid, i'm just really busy with my art project right now. i went shopping on wednesday & finally bought submarine on dvd as i really loved the book (seriously, it's frigging hilarious!) but i haven't even had time to watch it yet! i've heard the soundtrack is good too so i might buy that after watching the film.

i can't remember if i said on here (i probably did) but i recently had some surgery on my foot & i had the bandages taken off yesterday. now i can have an actual shower instead of awkwardly sitting in the bath with both feet out the water! i still have to wear plasters & i was very childishly thrilled to see that one of them has a camel on it!

to explain, back in like year 10 & 11 my friends & i used to have a bit of an obsession with camels. i can't really explain why, just that we thought they were pretty awesome animals! i think it all started when we started buying funny animal cards for each other for our birthdays, & camels were the animal of choice. anyway, this made me feel all nostalgic & everything, and it's actually one of those friend's birthdays today, so happy birthday jess!

edit: etsy seems to be down at the minute, so the links might not work for you right away.

edit: yeah, it's working again now so just ignore that!

the rain falls hard on a humdrum town

2011-07-31T18:06:00.000+01:00

yesterday i dropped off my camera to go have its sensor cleaned, or go through sensor cleaning, whatever that might be, & while there i decided to have a look in the oxfam on the high street while my dad went searching for some elusive part needed to fix the kitchen tap.

i only had a quick browse as we had to dash off to collect my brother from his drum lesson, but i still managed to have a good rummage through the shelves of vinyl & this is what i found;

a who double a side single - had enough/who are you in its original sleeve & a john lennon & the plastic ono band single - happy xmas (war is over) with yoko's listen, the snow is falling on the other side.

i was pretty pleased with these finds, especially as they were both about a £1 each & in very good condition.

the john & yoko single has a pretty weird graphic in the middle of their faces morphing together, which is somewhat creepy.

especially as john lennon is a dead ringer for my uncle sean.

i am sad to say i don't know much about the who, although i do have a few of their songs on my ipod (i can see for miles, anyone?) & i do love their whole mod look which i think you can see in this single cover.

i also found an absolute beginners bowie single which was only 29p because it's quite scratched. my record player is usually pretty good at playing over scratched vinyl, but if it doesn't work i'm going to put it on my wall somewhere. in fact, i may start buying more scratched records & do that with them. my pet hate is when i see melted down records for sale on etsy as fruit bowls, i just think it's such a sad end to something so beautiful. (yes, i think records are beautiful)

i bought another scratched single to use in my art sketchbook, i think i'll paint on it & scratch words into it or something. it's part of my "music" page, as i'm trying to do an individual page for each jigsaw piece of my personality.

i'm also going to draw john lennon for a page in my sketchbook, as i think our icons also make up part of who we are.

at the moment i really should be working on my sketchbook for the college summer project (title; who are you? completely feel like scrawling "i don't know, that's why i'm taking the course" across several pages) but i just can't find the motivation to do anything. it's been so long since i've ever actually done any artwork & i feel like i'm completely losing confidence in my abilities, so much so that i'm actually scared to pick up a pencil & attempt to draw myself. it doesn't help that i have a colossal headache & some kind of fever that just won't go away. i only have three weeks to finish this as well, and it's so bad that i'm being so lackadaisical about it because that isn't the kind of artist i want to be, but i just can't snap out of this.

also, i'm feeling somewhat downcast as i just found out via twitter that caitlin moran (my actual idol, who i'm also going to draw for my sketchbook) is at vintage at south bank today, which i was supposed to be going to up until a few weeks ago. woe.

sorry for the awfully maudlin end of this post! i'd also like to share a couple of links with you; i made a new tumblr for my jewellery shop, it's basically going to be a place where i'll post current jewellery & ideas for what i'll be doing next (and i do have so many ideas!), and also a little bit of what inspires me.

i also added a bunch of new rings to the shop, so click here if you'd like to take a look.

goodbye for now.

jewellery shop launch

2011-07-26T17:55:00.000+01:00

hello! as you may have guessed from the post title, i have finally launched my online jewellery shop! i'm really excited about it, the whole build up has been pretty intense & a little stressful so it's nice to finally have the etsy up & running!

i have been deliberating long & hard over the name for my jewellery shop, & i eventually decided on strawberry fields jewellery last week. partly inspired by the beatles' song, but also by the place itself which is beautiful while being completely chaotic. i like to think of my jewellery as being quirky, original and cute & i am constantly on the look out on ebay & in charity shops for interesting vintage & recycled items to use in my designs. most of the things i make are completely unique as the materials i use are often one-offs themselves. i also like to think that the prices are reasonable & not overly expensive, as that is one thing that i find disheartening about some independent jewellery stores. as far as i am concerned, the prices match the craftswomanship & originality behind the jewellery - and i hope you agree! (:

i'm going to create some kind of button to go at the side of my page to directly link to the site (which may take a while as i am useless with all kinds of computer graphicsy business), but for now i'm just going to bombard you with links!

the etsy shop

facebook like page

twitter

i've put photos of all the stock up on the facebook page, not all of it is listed in the shop at the minute because i still have to work our measurements etc, but it gives you a preview of the jewellery which will be for sale & some of the things i have already sold. i'll be regularly updating the page with new stock & perhaps some "making of" pictures, as well as special offers & discount codes, which will also be given out on twitter.

for now, here is a sample of the jewellery currently in stock & coming soon to the shop;

pearl & gold chain bracelet

(i sold a similar bracelet this morning which had 5 beads & a vintage clasp)

pale blue stamp earrings

i used to collect stamps when i was younger, so i have quite a few of these stamp earrings for sale.

girl in cardigan picture slide necklace

the art department of my school was throwing out a bunch of old slides last year, & i took the opportunity to recycle them & make some jewellery from them. as well as this one, there are some slides featuring pictures of famous paintings by jmw turner (one of my favourite artists).

double girl cameo necklace

i love this necklace, very nearly kept it for myself!

blue teapot necklace, blue sugarbowl necklace & blue jug necklace.

these will be coming very soon to the shop!

musical instrument necklaces, including guitar, banjo, violin, trumpet & saxophone charms.

these will also be coming soon to the site.

thanks for reading, i hope to see you soon in the shop! (:

starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey

2011-07-22T21:23:00.000+01:00

this is going to be my last post about my time in paris, and i do hope they haven't been too dull for you! as well as wanting to show you my pictures & share my thoughts on the sights, it is also a way for me to keep a kind of online journal that i can look back on & think about my memories from that trip.

this post is going to be a little photograph laden, so i don't blame you if you don't get to the end! i have been thinking about setting up a flickr, but i think i would just feel like a bit of a ponce as i don't think of myself as a photographer in any way.

the musee d'orsay. i chose this place over the louvre as it has a famous impressionists gallery, which just happens to be my favourite art form. there was quite a queue to get in, but the 40 minute wait wasn't too bad because i got to spend just as much time looking at the van goghs (favourite artist alert) and exploring the many degas pieces, an artist who i had never really looked at before.

the view along the champs elysees (i think) towards the arc de triomphe. it was a pretty overcast day, so some of the photos came out a bit dark & misty.

submarine poster along the champs elysees. i also saw one for the trip with the caption "une comedie SO BRITISH"

the arc de triomphe was pretty impressive, i was actually quite surprised as i was expecting it to be about the same size as marble arch in london, but it was bloody massive!

a very busy laduree, not the one that i visited though.

a distant eiffel tower.

mother & i did plan to get off the sightseeing bus at the eiffel tower, but i decided not to because it was chucking it down by that point & we weren't going to go up it as we're both pretty scared of heights.

i was impressed by how intricate the metalwork was, it really was rather beautiful.

paris as a whole was very beautiful, and i would love to go again another time, as i don't feel you can see it all in one visit.

padlock

2011-07-20T17:17:00.001+01:00

one of my favourite sights from my trip to paris was found completely by accident. after walking through the courtyard of the louvre (although i didn't actually go in the gallery as the queue was like 3 hours long), we crossed the road to wait for the sightseeing bus & on the bridge behind us were hundreds and hundreds of padlocks.

i'm not sure what tradition/superstition this is, or even the name of the bridge, but lots of the locks seemed to have inscriptions of names & hearts, so i'm guessing it's something to do with wishing for everlasting love. after all, paris is the city of love.

i just loved the huge range of locks that were there, all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes. some were old, plain & rusty and some were shiny and newer-looking.

some had no writing whatsoever, some had rudimentary initials daubed on in tip-ex or paint, and some had personalised & poetic inscriptions. i think this is such a lovely thing to do, and i truly was amazed.

hello, there's a queue.

2011-07-18T16:57:00.001+01:00

another one of my favourite things-i-did-in-paris was visiting laduree on rue royale (one of three patisseries in the capital i believe). i have heard, and seen, a lot about macarons (yes, macarons. macaroon is the americanised name which really annoys me.) but i had never actually eaten any myself until now, and they were unbelievable!

mother & i had eight between us, i had vanilla, raspberry & mint, soft salted caramel and chocolate, and mother had the same except swapped the chocolate for pistachio. it's hard to describe how they tasted; they were very sweet & had a lovely, albeit strange texture, kind of like a biscuity cake if that makes any sense at all!

sorry about my slightly bizarre table photos, i don't think i'm going to make it as a food blogger any time soon.

the raspberry was my favourite, mainly because it was the least sweet, & i don't have that much of a sweet tooth. the vanilla & chocolate were also lovely, i really would recommend visiting laduree if you're ever in paris (even though it is pretty pricey!). the one we visited was not particularly busy, although there were a few people who pushed past us prompting the (brilliant) australian woman behind us to shout "hello, there's a queue!"

i also caved in at the airport & bought a box of eight to take home with me, 15 euros, eek.

the flavours i got were raspberry & mint, melon, vanilla and chocolate, lovely! still have two left which i think i will have later with a glass of cream soda, just to really crank up the sugaryness.

a dreaded sunny day, so i meet you at the cemetery gates.

2011-07-16T16:56:00.000+01:00

hello! i have returned from paris, which was so so amazing. i had a really lovely time, and i've scheduled a couple of posts about my favourite moments so i don't overload you all with too many pictures in this post!

the hotel we stayed in was really lovely (the guy at the check-in desk looked like a young ray la montagne, bonjour.), and only ten minutes away from pere lachaise cemetery which i was really looking forward to seeing. it may be a tad morbid for some, but i find cemeteries & graveyards really beautiful places. i think they say a lot about human nature, and people's personalities too - some graves were very elaborate & impressive, whereas others were smaller & more understated.

i was in awe the whole time, and could have wandered around the cemetery all day. i do, however, feel it is definitely important to respect those who have left us & i assure you i wasn't just walking around snapping pictures like some crazed tourist, i was very aware that - while the pere lachaise cemetery is a major tourist attraction in paris - it is still used as a graveyard today.

unfortunately, as we were walking around the cemetery it started to rain pretty heavily, and then we could hear a heavy rumble of thunder overhead and a few intermittent flashes of lighting. while this was very atmospheric & somewhat sinister (it felt very mary shelley's frankenstein, which i finished reading about a month ago), it made taking photographs somewhat of a farce as i didn't want to get any water in my camera lens. this meant that whenever i wanted to take a picture i had to get my mother to hold an umbrella over me and then shuffle about as i took photographs. it was a tad on the ridiculous side.

the rain also meant we spent rather a long time searching for jim morrison's grave as the route was very slippy and that part of the cemetery was very confusing to get around. eventually we found it, after passing it twice without realising.

apparently one of the traditions for visitors of the cemetery is to drink alcohol, take drugs or have sex on his grave (i seriously am not kidding!), so now there is a permanent security guard there, something which i find rather hilarious.

oscar wilde's grave was, by comparison, very easy to find, mainly because it's a huge stone structure covered in lipstick kisses (another tradition for tourists). people had left all sorts of gifts there, from paper cranes to an aerosol of breath freshener. oscar wilde truly is one of my favourite writers; he's witty, insightful, very clever, a feminist and had a way with words which is beautifully poetic as well as being crystal clear.

also, ten points to anyone who recognised the smiths/oscar wilde related song in the post title.

a paraphased quote from oscar.

there is something so beautiful about a moss-covered grave.

in other news, i saw harry potter last night with two of my friends! it was so good, really went beyond my expectations (even though the ron/hermione kiss was a bit weird compared to how its depicted in the book) & i must admit i welled up a fair few times.

feminist.

2011-07-10T14:55:00.000+01:00

i went to a party on friday night at my friend alix's house (hello alix!), which was a really great night. it was lovely to spend another night with friends, and just to talk to people after slobbing around the house all week! i can remember laughing an awful lot, which was such a release after feeling ill for such a long time.

i wore this necklace (which i made) to the party. i've made another one in a light green/turquoise colour which i am going to sell in my jewellery shop when i finally open it. i love the irony of using traditionally female crafts to write political/feminist statements, in fact it's pretty much what i did for my last art project. i also kind of like the fact that, while feminists protest against the labelling of women, i have literally labelled myself as a feminist, which i am more than proud to do so.

on that note, if there are any women reading this who live in britain & haven't read how to be a woman by caitlin moran, do so now! it really is an incredible book, so relevant and so accurate to the every day issues and struggles faced by modern women. the entire time reading it i was just thinking, "yes! oh my god, she's right, she'd bloody right!" about each issue raised. i find it incredibly refreshing to read a feminist polemic that is funny (because it is hilarious) & at the same time completely relevant to my own experiences. it may seem corny to say this, but sometimes i felt as if i was reading things that i myself had thought about, but had struggled to actually pin down & voice. i'll stop talking about this now, as i've actually been thinking about doing a book review about it, as it had such a huge impact on me.

i've just looked up the weather forecast for paris next week, and it looks like it's going to be pretty hot but also pretty stormy, so i'm really going to have to think about what to wear. *packs raincoat and factor 40 suncream*

see you in a few days! (:

quirky, quirkier, quirkiest.

2011-07-06T16:52:00.000+01:00

oops, can't believe i haven't posted in nearly two weeks, sorry about that! i've had a pretty bad infection for about a week and a half now, which has been really painful, so i've not really been in the mood for posting. the doctor prescribed me some antibiotics which made me unbelievably nauseous, but i've been given some different ones & am now feeling much bette, thank god.

last friday was my school's leavers' ball, which was a really lovely night (despite the fact i was majorly drugged up on nurofen painkillers). the meal we had was really funny, & i actually ended up getting an award, totally unexpected! i didn't take many pictures, but to be honest it was really nice to just be there & enjoy the night. there were a few professional photos taken, i especially can't wait to see the awkwardness of me standing alone on the stairs!

charlotte, birkbeck, kate, me, beth & cathryn. my posture is kind of awful in this picture.

i didn't really get any proper ~outfit pictures~ but i did post some detail photos of my dress when i first bought it here.

i didn't like the main course we were given (fussy eater alert), so i made it into a face. cue troll face expression & obnoxious pose. maturity, this is what it looks like.

my friend also joined in my display of arty maturity & made the world's easiest maze out of mange tout.

my face!!1! any resemblance to that green-haired batman villain is completely unintentional.

me, birkbeck & harriet. shiny face alert under all the flashing lights.

alix, kate, me & cathryn. awkward leaning & me becoming a meerkat.

this is me collecting my reward, tearing up slightly. i'm actually not too sure what the award was even for, although i'm pretty sure the phrase "unique sense of style" was mentioned! i was so, so surprised to be given an award, & i got a little bit emotional walking to collect it, it's just so weird/nice to think that people (especially real life people who i never thought cared) like the way i dress and want to tell me so in award form! also, they mentioned the fact that i have a blog in the speech, it was so unbelievably weird to hear it said by someone else, especially as i didn't even think anyone knew i had one!

okay, so that paragraph was a complete mess, sorry if that was ridiculously difficult to understand/follow/read.

my award! i think this means i am officially the quirkiest person in my year, yay!

i'm going to paris on monday with my mum (can't believe it's arrived so fast!), so i'll probably post before i go & maybe schedule one for while i'm away (:

only a pawn in their game

2011-06-23T22:05:00.000+01:00

i had my last exam today; spanish, and it was a really weird paper but there's nothing i can do about that now.

after my exam, my mum & i drove to hexham to have a look around the various charity shops there. it was a pretty successful trip! i bought a few things to make jewellery with, as well as some other things which took my fancy.

recently i've been thinking about using dominoes to make necklaces, and almost by chance i landed upon this set of wooden dominoes in the first charity shop we went in! clearly it was fate.

the set was only £1, and there's 28 pieces so i can get a good few necklaces out of them!

i've also been looking on ebay for some kids picture dominoes, & i found the cutest set of 101 dalmation dominoes, which are in fact shaped like dalmations! my bidding war has already started on those bad boys.

apparently the dominoes were previously owned by ben reddon. i love buying things secondhand, there's so much history to them! also, the box will come in handy as a prop when i come to take photos of the jewellery.

i found these records in the oxfam bookshop; born in the usa by bruce springsteen and all the best a double album of paul mccartney's greatest hits. they came to just under £5 all together, which i think is a pretty good deal!

i already have born in the usa digitally, but i much prefer having albums on vinyl. it seemed like a pretty fitting tribute to clarence clemons who died at the weekend to buy it today.

the paul mccartney record has loads of cute illustrations based on his songs, my favourite is the running musical instruments for band on the run (which also happens to be one of my favourite wings songs).

also, i love the gatefold sleeve with a collage of pictures of paul! i actually love him.

i picked this nail varnish up in the boots in hexham, i've been looking for a turquoisey colour to go with my dress for the ball, and i'm going to put some matching ribbons on my shoes too.

i picked up this tablemat/doily thing for 25p! it's got a couple of flower motifs that i'm going to cut out & make into necklaces.

i bought this tie with an unbelievably awesome tiny green pig print for only 50p, i think i'll probably give it to my dad for a belated father's day present. sometimes i wish i was a guy just so i could wear a succession of amazingly cool patterned ties, it would be brilliant.

i also bought this disney princess jigsaw for 50p, i couldn't resist! i've been thinking about gluing together section of the pieces to make either necklaces or brooches, which will look a bit like the piece below, what do you think?

now that i am free for the summer, i'm going to be planning this jewellery stuff like crazy! seriously can't wait to get it started, sorry if i'm driving you all insane by constantly going on about it but i'm just so excited!

day by day, old joy comes back to me.

2011-06-20T19:54:00.000+01:00

sorry that it's been a bit of a slow week blogwise, there really just hasn't been anything interesting enough to post about!

this saturday was my friend matthew's birthday, so we had a night out to the local pub (despite the ridiculous amount of rain that there was!).

matthew & i.

we all clubbed together & bought him some tshirts from topman, we were going to buy him the blondie one he's wearing in these photos, but thankfully we found out he already had it before we bought it.

matthew & i doing ridiculous faces.

joanna & me, my face is unbelievably pale here!

charlotte, kate, me, matthew, gemma & rhiannon.

i look like a total plank leaning over the table like that, paha.

charlotte, kate & me. interestingly enough, charlotte's doing that same face on our yearbook photograph.

just cannot wait for my exams to be over now, feels like this period of revision will never end. this time thursday will be such a huge relief.

la belle dame sans merci

2011-06-16T19:36:00.000+01:00

last week i finally bit the bullet & ordered my dress for the leavers' ball! it's a 1960s inspired shift dress from dorothy perkins, and it is a lovely pale/salmony pink which means that i don't have to buy new shoes as i have some in a similar shade (which is awesome as i hate buying new shoes!). here it is in all its loveliness;

part of the reason i loved the look of this dress so much was the amazing pearl beaded peter pan-ish collar (i say ish as it's not quite a peter pan shape). at first i was a little bit worried that the beads wouldn't be totally securely attached to the dress, but in actual fact they are sewn onto netting so, fingers crossed, they should be less likely to fall off. however, it does present a slight problem of what jewellery i can wear with it, as i pretty much feel naked without a necklace, haha.

here is the full length view! i'm a little worried that the cut of the dress will make me look a little shapeless, so i will definitely be wearing heels on the night!

the original price of the dress was £50, which is more than i would normally spend on a dress, but i managed to only pay about £30 as they had a 30% discount offer, and i had a voucher code for free delivery! i'm pretty impressed with that saving, if i do say so myself.

the fabric of the sleeves is wonderfully sheer, in fact the majority of the dress is sheer, so this does raise an issue or two vis-a-vis appropriate underwear.

i am actually in love with sleeves. when i tried the dress on, i felt like i'd just stepped out of the biba changing rooms!

they have the cutest pearl buttons on the cuffs (which admittedly were a total palaver when trying on the dress!), which i couldn't see on the website so they were a nice surprise when it arrived! especially as i was actually contemplating sewing something on the cuffs myself.

love the fluted shoulders. fluted probably isn't the right word, but is the only thing that springs to mind!

the only thing i have to sort out now is what tights to wear, i kind of want to wear some patterned ones as the dress is relatively plain but i think i'll just end up wearing my white ones as that would go with the '60s look. i already have shoes so they aren't a problem, but i do want to change the colour of the ribbon ties on said shoes, at the moment i'm thinking turquoise would be the best choice, what do you think? also, i think i'm going to buy some lilac nail polish for the full pastel experience. (not that i take my clothing inspiration from my art supply cupboard or anything)

1. i had my english literature exam today, & i think it went alright. all the extracts we were given were really long though, so it took aaages to read & analyse them! i spent way too much time reading the first two extracts, which were prose (urgh), so only left myself about 5 minutes to plan for the second section, nightmare! i only need 78 out of 120 in this exam to get an A overall, so i'm hoping i've done enough to manage that, fingers crossed!

2. i've just bought tickets for my friend jess & me to go see the kooks in november! i was completely & utterly obsessed with this band from the ages of 14 to about 16, so as you can imagine i am beyond excited to see them! we travelled to go & see them in doncaster about two years ago, but it wasn't an entirely brilliant experience as we both passed out & can barely remember anything from the gig, paha. also, it will be amazing to see them locally, especially as they're playing a pretty small venue. the countdown begins now!

3. the planning for my jewellery shop is still going strong! i stilllll cannot decide on a name, which is so annoying but i think that when i find it, i'll just know, you know? yeah, okay then. well, anyway, i'm starting to gather together some vintage-looking props for a photoshoot in the near future, just of the jewellery, no people at the minute!

4. i recently pre-ordered caitlin moran's new book how to be a woman, two copies, one for me & one for my cousin's birthday present. if you follow me on twitter, you're probably sick of me raving on about it, but i am just so excited to read it! i think she's pretty much my idol, it's so refreshing to find a feminist writer who writes about more than feminism! she's also totally hilarious.

get on your dancing shoes

2011-06-11T22:10:00.000+01:00

"shoes must have very high heels and platforms to put women's beauty on a pedestal" - vivienne westwood.

last night, i went to the opening of an exhibition of vivienne westwood's shoes at the bowes museum with my mum & my sister. my grandad is a member of the museum group so he got an invite, but decided it wasn't his cup of tea so gave it to us instead!

bowes museum leaflet & back of the invite.

it was a lovely evening, the bowes museum is a wonderful old building, but the new fashion & textiles gallery is surprisingly modern. the exhibition was amazing, the shoes there were incredible, although sadly i don't have any photographic evidence as cameras weren't allowed so you'll just have to take my word for it! vivienne westwood has always been one of my favourite designers (and i'm not really that into fashion so i don't have many), simply because everything she does is created with incredible skill.

some of my favourites from the collection were her toile print boot with dutch pottery patterns, the famous super elevated gillie which naomi cambell was wearing when she fell over on the catwalk & the biba shoe. also, the penis shoe made me laugh. i love that she has a sense of humour, & is always pushing boundaries within fashion. it was quite incredible as we were looking around the gallery because, as my sister said, so many elements in her work have been filtered down in the industry & you can still see their influences today, like the pirate shoe for example.

a postcard of the super elevated gillie & the front of the invitation.

the exhibition is there until july, so if you're in the area it's definitely worth a look! i find it quite funny that this exhibition has been to moscow & beirut, and will go to japan, new york & china, but i went to see it in barnard castle in county durham, bit of an obscure location.

here's what i wore, i didn't really have time to take proper outfit pictures because it's like an hour's drive & i was running late! the dress is from new look, & has a kind of cape thing going on, but i forgot to take a picture without my cardigan so you can't see it here, woops. the cardigan is from tesco & the tights are vintage. a random woman came up to me in the gallery & told me that she liked my outfit, i was pretty flattered seeing as most people there were very stylish, and loads of them appeared to be dressed head to toe in vivienne westwood!

and here is the lady herself on my wardrobe collage!

johnny's in the basement, mixing up the medicine.

2011-06-06T22:57:00.000+01:00

hello again! i've been going a little stir crazy sat in the house by myself all day doing nothing but revising, and it's starting to get a little old.

i walked down to the village today to get my hair cut, & i actually really like it! admittedly i was a bit dubious when i first got it cut, mainly because the mousse the hairdresser used makes my hair curl like crazy & when i got home i looked like a cross between bob dylan circa 1965 & little orphan annie. but i am used to this happening with my ridiculous mop, & frankly i was just pleased to finally get it cut, seeing as i haven't had that done since february!

i also thought i'd take this opportunity to show you a few new things i've acquired lately;

please forgive my case of the bitch face, i'm chronically tired at the moment! i put it down to revising & staying up too late to read the axe murder scene in crime & punishment (dostoevsky, loving it already).

so, yeah. the cardigan i bought from tesco a couple of weeks ago, the first time i've bought clothing from there actually, and in a size 14 because that was the only size left.

i have always loved bird print, & swallow print in particular, but until now i have never actually owned anything in that print, surprisingly enough.

now, when i was getting dressed this morning, my mind went; swallows - birds - doves - peace - john lennon - i must wear my john & yoko tshirt today!

this necklace has always been one of my favourites, sort of tacky but sort of lovely at the same time.

the skirt is also new, & i haven't really posted about it on here (although i did wear it in this post). i didn't buy it however, my friend joanna gave it to me because she was having a bit of a clear out i think, & i was pretty pleased as i was actually there when she bought it & thought it was pretty nice! the pattern is pretty ethereal & awesome, & i have loads of blue things for it to go with.

cardigan - tesco, tshirt - matalan, skirt - gift, necklace - afflecks palace, hair flowers - h&m, sgt pepper badge - gift.

i totally love that my hair gets a bit more textured when it's shorter, & i thought for a bit of a change i'd put two hair flowers in instead of one. i quite like the look actually, & the colours are pretty nice together.

goodbye for now! good luck to those who have exams this week, mine start soon, eek.

on the road

2011-06-01T14:26:00.000+01:00

hello! i'm in a pretty good mood today because, as those of you who follow me on twitter may know, i passed my driving test today, huzzah! i'm pretty stunned actually, i thought i'd failed about halfway through, but evidently not. tomorrow i may go for a drive around on my own, just because i can.

anyway, at the weekend i went to hexham car boot fair to try & find jewellery supplies, which was very unsuccessful as the place was stupidly busy & there appeared to be nothing much on sale other than baby clothing and books. i think i will stick to charity shops in future, at least then the money goes to a good cause! on the bank holiday monday, i went to waterstones and bought a myraid of books (i love that word, myriad. sounds like some sort of mythological creature) to read over the summer, and between revising for exams.

i bought;

crime & punishment by fyodor dostoevsky. i'm slowly trying to make my way through the russian literature shelf.

submarine by joe dunthorne. because i never got to see the film, & thought i could read it while i wait for the dvd release.

frankenstein by mary shelley. partly because i've heard it's amazing, and partly because her mother was mary wollstonecraft, who was a babe.

american psycho by bret easton ellis. my teacher says he's an incredible writer, but i get the feeling this book is going to have to stay in the freezer a few times.

brighton rock by graham greene. i've heard on twitter that it's pretty darn good.

atonement by ian mcewan. because i can't be a literature student unless i've read some ian mcewan.

norwegian wood by haruki murakami. i'm not going to lie, this is mainly for the beatles reference in the title. although my dad has a copy of one of his books where the protagonist disguises himself as a sheep for two years, which i literally can't wait to read.

war & peace by leo tolstoy. again, for the russian literature thing. i actually bought this at another time though, in a second hand shop for £4.50, total bargain.

there were a couple of other books that i wanted to buy which i couldn't find, but rather curiously my dad had copies of them at home (in the shed, where he keeps the books. i know, let's not get into this.)

on the road by jack kerouac. the blurb features a recommendation quote from bob dylan, how could i not want to read this?

slaughterhouse 5 by kurt vonnegut. it's meant to be slightly 1984-y, which is great as a loved that book.

engleby by sebastian faulks. i'm in two minds about this, as birdsong left me, i''m sorry to say, a little cold.

raise high the roof beams carpenters/seymour by jd salinger. the catcher in the rye is one of my favourite books of all time (despite the creepy mark david chapman connotations), & apparently salinger was the namesake of jerome squalor in lemony snicket's a series of unfortunate events, which i freaking loved.

all quiet on the western front by erich maria remarque. supposed to be the best book written from the first world war. i actually tried reading this a while back & got bored (awful, i know) so i'm going to try again.

the road to wigan pier by george orwell. because orwell is insanely brilliant.

okay, hope you enjoyed the little trip around my bookshelves, goodbye for now (:

the end

2011-05-30T22:14:00.000+01:00

friday was my last ever day at school, sob. it hasn't quite sunk in yet that i have officially left school, ie no more lessons, frees or common room antics. anyway, for the last day of school all the year 13s dressed as either geeks or charvs. evidently i went for a geek costume (well, more a geek inspired ensemble), as did the majority of my sixth form. actually, at the christmas ball i was nominated for the "geek chic" award, so this was clearly right up my street, so to speak.

laura & me.

me, beth & kate.

birkbeck, harry potter, me & kate.

lopsided glasses alert.

the three charlottes!

dan, chris, me, becca & birkbeck. a sort of spanish class photograph, there is definitely a normal side & a creepy side to this picture.

me engrossed in the deathly hallows.

i feel like elvis costello & buddy holly in these glasses, it's so strange.

palmer, harpreet, me & kate.

amanda & me with mrs pascoe, legendary english teacher.

i don't even know how to caption this.

mrs fitzgerald & our two art classes. you can sort of see me squinting into the sun on the right hand side.

13VFI! woop.

our entire year group! i think we're one of the biggest year groups the school has ever had, which explains why you can't really see anyone's faces as it was so difficult to get us all in! i think i'm vaguely in the middle somewhere.

after school, we all sort of floated down to the pub which was pretty nice. then, after a break in between, me, kate, birkbeck, beth & charlotte all met up later for the pub quiz, woo! i actually bloody love pub quizzes, and our team - winning women, a bit of an obscure and (to us) hilarious apprentice reference - came fourth out of 11 teams. so yeah, pretty happy with that! the whole thing was organised by my friend amy, & we managed to raise £250 for the great north air ambulance.

i've got my driving test soonish (check me out being all vague), so wish me luck!

awkward annie

2011-05-24T13:17:00.000+01:00

i have seen this post about on a few other blogs and, at the risk of being a follower, i thought i would do my own version of a "what's in my bag" post! now, this isn't what i would generally carry day to day as it would be a bit too heavy, but if i'm going out for a whole day or going shopping for art/jewellery supplies.

from top left, clockwise (ish); sunglasses & sunglasses case, random travel tickets, a hair flower, camera, headscarf, book, phone, umbrella (depending on weather conditions of course), ipod & headphones, purse, keys, notebook, diary, pen, mascara, badge, hairgrips & bobbles, carmex lip balm & a ring. gosh, i carry around a lot of stuff!

my purse, keys & phone are obviously pretty essential, & so is the ipod if i'm travelling back from somewhere on my own. i always find listening to music on a train or on a bus very relaxing. carmex is pretty much my only vice beautywise (you've probably noticed i'm not really that into make up on a day to day basis) & i like to carry around a piece of jewellery that i have made, so if people ask me about it i can show them. i've also started to carry a book around with me, so that as well as listening to music on the way home i can also read. i have just started reading love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez, which i have always wanted to read, although i really wish i had bought the spanish version as well.

i bring quite a few hair things around with me if i'm going out, mainly because if the weather turns i want to be able to straighten up my mane of hair. the sunglasses are obviously so that if the sun comes out i am suitably accessorised, & i have about 5 pairs now so i like to change them up every now & then. a camera is also a good thing to have out & about, especially because my bigger one (which i took these photos with) is a bit too fragile & heavy to take around every day. i also like to take my diary with me, just because i like to know when i'm free if i'm arranging things with friends. and last but not least, i like to have a notebook around to jot down if i have any ideas for jewellery making (this is also where i keep all my finance details for the jewellery scheme, but that's far too dull to go into now!)

normally i take a few tissues around with me too because i always seem to have a cold, or a twinge of hay fever, but i couldn't find any to take pictures of.

anyway, hope you've liked this little peek into my handbag, so to speak.

art nerd

2011-05-19T21:32:00.000+01:00

last night, my school put on an art show with work from the two a level art classes, one of which was mine.

most of my class & the other class after we gave our two teachers some flowers to say thank you for everything over the past two years. i'm on the far right, being a goon as usual.

lucy, catherine, mrs fitzgerald (legendary art teacher), naomi & me.

lucy & me in front of neville, one of the art room's famous mannequins.

and this is my display area. the whole night was really strange, i kind of liked people looking at my work but also kind of hated it. it's hard to describe, but i just felt ridiculously nervous most of the time.

the photographs i took of my work are a bit rubbish, because i was in a bit of a hurry & didn't want to look like i was obsessed with my own work.

this is the final piece i created in the 15 hour exam, based on the title political & social events or issues i chose feminism.

the pieces i created were a quilt piece based on tracey emin's work saying "feminism is a four letter word", a pencil drawing & collaged piece of my friend kate dressed as a land army girl (based on these photographs), a cross stitch & coloured pencil piece saying "fat is a feminist issue" and a headscarf with embroidery reading "feminism is the radicial notion that women are people".

this is the first piece of work i created in year 13; a still life mood board. basically, in the middle of one of our art classrooms the teachers created a huge pile of stuff from dried flowers to empty photo frames & we could choose whatever we wanted to create studies from. looking back i think this was one of my favourite projects from the two year course, somehow it made me feel like a real artist by drawing from life & not just photographs.

and here is the final piece that i created based on the above moodboard, a dried poppy seedpod in oil pastel based on one of the photographs i took while preparing the moodboard. i think it is the best thing i have ever done.

for some reason, this piece really doesn't photograph very well, something to do with the surface of the paper i think.

anyway, this is a portrait of my cousin (from one of these photographs) and an "expressive" fabric & brusho background, which was for the structures project where i was looking at the reflections & refractions of light on/in water.

me with a totally dorky smile stood in front of my work. i have to admit i shed a tear or two when i got home, to think that art is completely finished is quite sad for me.

we had to write a little statement about ourselves for the display, and here is mine;

“Art is the most intense form of individualism that the world has known” – Oscar Wilde.

Art has always been a huge influence on my life, from the way I dress to the way I see the world. I have been told many a time that I “look like an art student”, and I consider this the highest of accolades.

I thoroughly enjoyed Art at GCSE, but it was only at A Level that I began to completely immerse myself in the subject. The last two years have been an incredible learning curve for me; I have discovered so much about the artistic process and have produced work that I am extremely proud of. There literally never is a dull moment in the lessons, either because I am absorbed in my work or due to the amazing people I have got to know throughout the course.

In my Art lessons, I have loved experimenting with different techniques and gathering inspiration for each project from a wide variety of places such as photography websites, magazine editorials, local art galleries and the lyrics to a John Lennon song. I always visit the Newcastle Gateshead art fair, which is always an enlightening experience as it gives an insight into what my life could be like if I choose to follow a career in art.

During Year 13, we were given the opportunity to go to Edinburgh and London to visit a number of art galleries. This was an amazing opportunity to see the work of artists I admire up close, such as Vincent van Gogh and JMW Turner. I especially enjoyed the V&A Museum as I had a chance to see a conference on women’s body image in the media, which gave me the idea for one of my A2 exam pieces. Visiting the textiles gallery was really inspiring as I have always loved sewing and using materials in my work.

My interests outside of Art include reading (especially Russian literature and the works of Sylvia Plath), compiling an encyclopaedic knowledge of The Beatles and making my own jewellery. Some time in the near future, I would like to start my own online jewellery shop using reclaimed materials and vintage ephemera. I also love vintage clothing from the 1940s through to the 1960s, and I did briefly consider a career in fashion before realising the industry doesn’t quite fit my feminist attitudes.

As well as Art, I also take Spanish and English Literature and I studied Psychology at AS Level. Next year I am going to be taking a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Newcastle College which I hope will allow me to explore other forms of Art, such as Textiles and Photography. I am really looking forward to the experience, and I hope that it will bring me closer to deciding on which university course I would like to pursue. At the moment, I have no real plan for the future but would like to do something to do with art, textiles or journalism or live in a Sofia Coppola film. Of course, if that doesn’t work out I intend to live the life of a starving artist.

i hope you enjoyed a little tour around my art world (:

blob.

2011-05-17T18:23:00.000+01:00

i realise that this blog has become really dull & quiet of late, & i am sorry. it's just been pretty difficult for me to summon any enthusiasm or energy for posting here while there has been so much work for me to concentrate on at school. but lo! there is light at the end of the tunnel as i only have two proper exams left, yay.

on saturday, i went to town with a couple of friends to buy a present for a birthday party i was going to that night. we went around a few charity shops & woolworths-esque supermarkets to find a cheap game of twister to play at her party (and found a battered 1970s box in a salvation army shop), & found a hilariously bizarre squishy yellow rubber ball, the same kind that people used to have on string when i was in about year 5/6 so obviously we had to buy it!

we took it to the party that night, and hilarity ensued.

because it also lit up if you hit it pretty hard, i decided to play about with my camera to see what kind of effect i would get.

also, it looked awesomely weird if you squeezed it.

being cool with long exposure.

BLOB.

i realise these are pretty silly, but i think they're also pretty good.

tomorrow is my a level art show & school, so i might post some pictures later in the week of how that goes. (:

always where i need to be

2011-05-10T19:45:00.000+01:00

hello! first of all, i'd like to say thanks a lot for all your feedback on my jewellery post. it really means a lot, & i can't wait to set up the shop now!

today was the third of my three consecutive days of exams and, bar 30 minutes of finishing off tomorrow morning, i have finished my art exam and two spanish exams. yay! it just feels really good to have them over & doen with, even though i'm not sure i did particularly well in my a2 oral.

on saturday, i'm going shopping for presents for a couple of friends whose birthdays are coming up soon, & then i'm going to the party of one of them! i decided to buy a new dress for the occasion, because i don't have many smart/casual ones (smasual, if you will).

i had a leftover gift card for new look (where i don't usually shop), so i bought this piece of floaty loveliness. i bought it off the website so i was a bit worried about the fabric quality (as i am a total snob), but it's actually really nice & the dots are much more visible in person.

i think it's something i can wear as a day dress too, with some "interesting" leggings, ie not black.

anyway, sorry for the state of posting lately, but at the weekend i should be back up to my usual posting ~glory~.

is this love

2011-05-03T19:14:00.000+01:00

hello again! long time, now post. ish, it has only been a week.

i hope everyone is having a lovely springtime (or autumn-time, for those in the southern hemisphere), i am certainly trying to despite my thoroughly demanding revision schedule. i have been taking a break every now & then however to do a little bit of jewellery making!

i have been going a little bit mad on ebay & in certain craft shops recently for little things to make into jewellery so that i can start my own shop/business over the summer. i've made quite a few rings & earrings, and the miniature tea sets you see here are going to become necklaces very shortly, just as soon as i've found somewhere to buy chains wholesale.

i've made 12 of these rings (for a total cost of 35p each, score) and i'm going to sell all of them except for this one, which i have fallen in love with slightly.

what do you think about using photos like this as publicity/product images for my shop? i quite like the angle, & the fact that the jewellery is the main focus. obviously as i was taking them on self-timer they aren't that great, but i think something like this could look really good. if you have any thoughts, i'd love to hear them in the comments (:

i've also been trawling ebay for ages looking for doll's house tea sets to make jewellery from. mainly i just wanted to make some tea-cup-and-saucer rings (which i have), but i also thought some teapot necklaces would be pretty cute.

i do plan to add a pearl or a bow to the necklaces later, mainly because i think that will be a little bit more interesting.

saturday's outfit, headscarf inspired by my art prep. i mainly decided to post about this as i thought my outfit matched the colours of my jewellery pretty well, especially the ring.

tshirt - vv brown concert, skirt - vintage/altered, headscarf - vintage, jewellery - homemade.

i am unbelievably excited about the prospect of starting my own jewellery online shop in the near future! this is something i've been wanting to do for a very long time now, since i was about 15/16 i think, so i can't wait to actually start the process. i think as soon as my next week's worth of exams is over i will start by making a facebook group, & then move onto an etsy or an ebay shop, whichever will be easier.

the only thing slowing me down is that i can't decide on a name for my shop! i have a few thoughts, if you could tell me which ones you like (or even which ones you hate!) in the comments i would greatly appreciate it!

here are a few of my favourites;

lovely rita - based on the beatles songs, of course

granny takes a trip - the name of a psychedelic sixties clothes shop.

lucy/nancy/audrey takes a trip - basically just variations on the above, i thought about using old-timey names instead of "granny" (slightly inspired by lily allen's vintage clothes shop lucy in disguise)

strawberry fields - again, based on the beatles song.

moonage daydream

lady stardust - this one and the above are taken from david bowie songs.

it would be lovely, & oh so valuable to me (and possibly to you, as the quicker i get a name the quicker i can open the shop and the quicker you can buy the jewellery, if you would like to that is) if you could let me know your opinions on these names. even if you think they're all terrible, i'd still appreciate your thoughts.

thank you, love charlotte.

2011-04-25T21:05:00.000+01:00

sorry for the terrible arrangements of my blog at the moment, i'm having a bit of a change of scenery. i'm probably not going to post again until after the 11th of may, as that's when the week from hell finishes;

6th may - 6 hour art exam.

9th may - spanish oral exam & a further 4 hours of the art exam.

10th may - resit spanish oral exam & 4 more art exam hours.

11th may - final hour of my art exam.

urgh.

see you when that's over.

kitty daisy & lewis.

2011-04-21T15:37:00.000+01:00

hello again! i'm taking a very short break from my oodles of revision to show you some of the pictures i took on sunday of my friend kate, who i'd asked to dress up as a land army girl for my art project. (i'm getting a slight deja vu writing about this, so i think i must have mentioned it in my last post.)

so, without further ado, here they are. i'm actually pretty proud of them (:

i think this is the picture that i am going to draw, i quite like the lighting in it. (also, kate looks pretty good.)

the lighting looks a little different on some of these pictures as i was messing around with the settings a little bit. i really like the sepia-ish effect i got, although i haven't the faintest clue how i managed to achieve it! back to the drawing board for that one.

all of the pictures in this post are unedited, except for the one above. it's always worth doing a bit of photoshop just for something extra to write about in the sketchbook, & i found a filter called "bloom" which gives this interesting, soft focus/saturated look.

*insert technical photographer babble here*

hope you like looking at these! (:

also, regarding the post title, i have been listening to this album on repeat for quite a while, pretty excited for their next one coming out!

goodbye for now!

a grand day out

2011-04-17T21:30:00.000+01:00

hey there!

my school broke up for the easter holidays (ie. revision break) on friday, & ever since then i've been taking it easy before the insane-ness of my hardcore revision timetable sets in. today i went to my friend kate's house to take some pictures of her dressed up as a land army girl from the second world war for my art project, which was lovely & i got some pretty great photographs, if i do say so myself!

also, i had a bit of fun getting to know my camera a bit more, and fiddling about with aperture settings and things. i quite like getting a bit more technical knowledge about it.

so, awkwardly changing the subject, here is what i wore today;

cardigan - ebay, tshirt - vv brown concert, short - made by my mother, leggings - matalan, necklace - car boot sale, badge - beatles store liverpool, barette - free with a purchase from the lovely teaspoon.

my eyes look a little glassy here, how odd.

i've been taking a little inspiration from tavi lately with plastic, just-tacky-enough-to-be-cool hair slides. she's so cool, i wish i had been that awesome aged 15, or however old she is.

i am such an awkward poser, i really truly am horrific. i also realise i should have cropped these photos so that you can see the outfit better, but i quite like the wide shot approach.

can't decide if this necklace is tacky or sophisticated. tacky, i suspect, but that won't stop me wearing it.

granny takes a trip

2011-04-09T14:10:00.000+01:00

hello again!

first, can i be completely stereotypically british & express amazement at how wonderful the weather has been lately? (in the united kingdom, of course. i cannot speak for countries across the waters.) this weekend it's supposed to about 20 degrees where i live and although i will be spending ~~mos~~t a lot of my time inside working, i'm going to try to make the most of it by taking my revision notes outside. or by having the window open in the living room, whichever suits my hermit-ness better.

anyway, last week i visited hobbycraft (an arts & crafts superstore, for those not in the know) to get some embroidery threads for an art project, & i found some pretty cute wooden craft materials while i was there;

aren't they pretty? these little laser-cut butterflies are supposed to be used for making cards i think, but i've decided to make them into rings, & i have just bought some ring pieces from ebay to get the ball rolling! it's been a long time since i've actually made jewellery, and i really miss it. over the summer i'm definitely going to start buying things wholesale & thinking of a name for my shop.

there's 9 butterflies, so i can make 9 rings. i would like to keep one for myself though, so i shall sell 8, and taking into account the prices of the components i think i'll sell them for about £3-£4 each. this seems pretty fair to me, especially as, as the last vintage fair in newcastle, i saw a stall selling heart rings with exactly the same pattern as the butterflies (so similar in fact that i have no doubt she bought the pieces in hobbycraft) for £6, pretty steep for a mere ring i think.

each piece is unique (which i love!), as they are all obviously cut from different parts of the pattern. i think when i sell them, i will give people the option of choosing between blue, purple & pink, as those are the colours of the flowers on each piece. there are twice as many pink ones as the other colours though, so i hope people like those!

i also managed to pick up some heart and flower wooden pieces, which have a lovely stencil design on them. unfortunately, the majority of them are pretty faded so i'll have to be wary of this when it comes to selling.

i have decided to put these together as earrings as they are quite a bit smaller than the butterflies, but if i have an odd number (which i do) i will make a few of them into rings.

there we are, you can all look forward to my next jewellery venture soon! i'm actually quite excited, as while i've made jewellery for family & friends, i've never actually sold a piece. i'll obviously let you know the details at a later date when i have more of an idea for what i'll be doing.

good wishes to all.