but gentle violets weeping with the dew

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 (:

pretty pretty petticoat

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!

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

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 (:

la belle dame sans merci

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)

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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.

on the road

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.

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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.

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

in the absence of christmas

sorry about my absence over the past few days, i've had english & art coursework which has just been building up and i really needed to get a handle on it before i could even think of anything else. although, i have been doing a bit of panic-procrastination on tumblr & twitter.
i have some time for a quick post now, so i thought i'd update y'all on some of the presents i was so lucky to get for christmas! (i don't really think i can pull off the word y'all, can i?)

from my mum's side of the family, i got given some books about stitching designs which i cannot wait to try out! it looks like it will take quite a bit of practise though, eek.

my cousin gave me this typewriter necklace i wore in the last post, the daisy headband is from my sister (along with some beautiful gloves, which are sadly too small for my awfully huge hands!) & some vw campervan bookmarks. i also got some christmas socks & a bit of money, as well as some other little bits & bobs.

as my main present, my mum gave me this ukulele! i'm not sure if you can tell, but it's a lovely purple colour & i have decided to name him george. my aunt & uncle gave me a book of beatles songs with music for the ukulele which i can't wait to learn - although the strings need changing as these ones stretch far too much for my liking.

as you can see, i also have a harmonica! this is going to take much longer to learn properly than the ukulele, but i shall persevere!

to keep things in the christmas spirit, here are a few things i bought in the paperchase christmas sale;

some reindeer lights, a 2011 diary & some christmas cards. this stuff is just making me wistful for next christmas!

the korova milkbar

last night i went to the fancy dress 18th birthday party of two friends of mine which was a pretty amazing night. even though i'm such an old person i was freaking exhausted by about half ten!

i decided to go dressed as alex delarge from a clockwork orange, given as this was one of my many abandoned outfit ideas for hallowe'en. i'm reading the book at the minute, and it is so good! slightly confusing & a bit odd, but unbelievably brilliant.

this is pretty much the nicest i looked all night, ha. my fringe soon became an utter mess. i probably should have made the eye make-up more obvious, but this was my third attempt & my eye was serrrriously starting to sting! liquid eyeliner is most definitely not my friend.

cathryn, me, kate & alix.

half time refreshments.

myself & lucy - see what i mean about my fringe?

birk & i, not sure this pose is entirely in keeping with my character's mentality.

kiran, kate & i. i totally knew i was going to blink in this photo, oh dear.

here is my dancing face; admit it, you have one too!

i told you i could throw some shapes! paha, this is such a ludicrous shot.

our school winter ball is on monday, so i may post some pictures from that soon - hopefully some ones of me where i actually look nice. wouldn't that be something. my friend cathryn is having a birthday party two days after christmas, which is 1940s themed & i am quite excited! i think i may have become a slight social butterfly this december.

anarchy in the uk

don't forget, you can still enter my giveaway here!

last weekend, i went to a small car boot sale nearby. i was mainly going to look for fabric to use for my final piece for art, but it was a bit disappointing on the clothes front really as there were only about 10 stalls, one of which was selling pet food!

i still managed to get quite a few good things though, i bought these cds for £1 each.

i downloaded kate nash's album ages ago, but somehow it disappeared from my computer so it was nice to get it back again. also, i've been wanting to have a listen to james' first album (i have the second) because i feel weird listening to artists out of sync. yes, i know that is strange but i can't help my audiophile tendencies; think of me as a less oppressed lane kim.

this book only cost me 30p & i've been wanting to get a copy for a while, as it's one of those books that we always end up having a discussion about in english! the guy on the stall tried to get me to buy three for £1, but i think he needs a bit of help with his selling logic.

my favourite (and cheapest!) buy of the day was this swallow necklace, which is a lovely antique gold colour. it only cost me 20p & it has the cutest bird charms ever! i can't decide if i want to keep it to wear because it's a slightly awkward length (it's a double chain necklace), or to take it apart to make my own jewellery from it. i think for now i'm just going to stick with it as it is.

for some reason, i came over all gothic & bought this sheer black blouse for £1. i deliberated for quite a while over it, as i literally never wear black, but i just thought the peter pan collar was too cute to leave. i tried it on when i got home & realised it was a lot more sheer than i first thought (although the light in my room was odd, so it isn't quite as see-through as it looks here). at the moment i'm trying to decide how inappropriate it would be to wear this to school, but i'll probably wear it anyway. a little bit of anarchy is always good.

roman holiday

hello everyone!

late on wednesday night, i arrived back from rome to a very rainy, very cold newcastle. although truth be told, rome was not that unrainy & warm itself!

i have a hallowe'en party tomorrow (you're damn right i put the apostrophe in!), so i wanted to post the rome pictures first, so i didn't get all muddled up.

also, regarding that giveaway i've been failing to do for so long, i have had a cracking idea for what to do for it, which i shall definitely be posting on in the next two weeks. if not, you can all have my guts for garters - and what attractive garters they shall be!

disturbing imagery over, now for some less disturbing images (oh yes, i can link things with the best of them);

this was some pretty arch thing by the colosseum. i'll be honest, i don't know what half these buildings are. rome is chock full of ruins you know! i mean, state the obvious, but it really is! you literally cannot take 5 steps without another one popping into view.

i actually know what this building is! it's a monument to the "father of italy", victorini or something along those lines. anyway, it's a huuuuge building made of white marble & i think part of it is a museum/art gallery. i say i think because i visited a vincent van gogh exhibition while i was in rome & i'm fairly sure it was in this building, but i'm becoming less & less sure of that even as i type! the exhibition was incredible, i could just stare at his paintings for hours. luckily starry night wasn't there or i would have had to be dragged out the building!

edit; yeah, so i was wrong. paha, i am such a historical knowledge failure! the van gogh exhibition was in a completely different place, however i do have a valid reason for being confused as this white building was covered in posters for the exhibition.

trevy fountain, of course.

there's a really dorky photo of me throwing a coin over my shoulder here, which i don't think even went in!

buildings in rome are just. so. pretty.

the colosseum, seen from our open-top bus!

the hotel we stayed in was in walking distance from here, although we couldn't actually see it from there which was a bit of a bummer.



i was pretty tired the first day we arrived, so while we waited for my cousin etd to arrive, i did a bit of light reading on our cute little balcony. i don't know if you can see the title, but what i was reading was lolita by vladimir nabokov - which i have now finished.