Sheffield hair diary

HELLO! I HAVE BEEN AWAY ALMOST A MONTH! SORRY! Also, sorry for the capitals, it has been a long time, I've almost forgotten how to do this! I really didn't want to be one of those people who goes off to university and never ever posts any more because they are FAR too busy living their FABULOUS NEW LIFE to blog, but um, I kind of have been. Sorry! It's not that I don't want to, but it's just a completely different way of life here and a completely different routine to fall into. I am having a lovely, wonderful, amazing time & I've met some really cool people. Sheffield is really cool, and my course is amazing. I was really tense for a few days because I really, really didn't want to not like it, but I do! Yaaaaay! I've had quite a bit of work to do, overwhelmingly so in some respects, so blogging topics are a little thin on the ground, BUT here is a little photo diary from Sheffield of how I've been wearing my hair recently! Terrible quality webcam selfies only I'm afraid (I left my big camera, remote & tripod at home for the first term)

Huge, amazing, pouffy (what I call) pin up hair. I love and miss this. It really made me feel like a classic blonde bombshell! Oh vanity, thy name is Charlotte. At this point, the pink was fading out and it was back to that weird, washed out blonde.

I am very proud of this! I put my hair into a victory roll on one side, and kind of twisted my fringe away to the side in a slightly different, more forties style than I usually do.

From more angles.

Aaaand a pretty big change! I went home last weekend & got my mum to dye my hair back to purple. I really loved the pink & I think it was my favourite colour that I've been, but it just fades so quickly & costwise I just can't really justify that right now. Anyway, this was the day after I was kind of ganged up on by two guys I hardly knew in an "feminists r manhaterz!1" argument thing, so I wanted to, I don't know. Sort of fight back against that in my own way. Basically dress like a feminist alien princess, so I could prove to myself that it doesn't really matter what people (boys!) like that say, because I know that I am right. And that's something that can't ever really be taken away. Yeah. So, bad bitch cat eyeliner, feminist violent violet hair, and my cross stitch feminist necklace.

(I also went to my first Women's Committee meeting that night, which was a bit mixed. It was a bit ~white feminismy~ which I can't really be bothered to get into now, but I wrote about it on my tumblr here. But everyone really liked my necklace, and I think they said they might want me to run a workshop making them! Then I went to burlesque class, which I LOVE and was the perfect feminist cherry on my day cake. That analogy doesn't really work, but let's go with it!

Also, another vain selfie commemorating my excellent headscarf/quiff/earring/entirely purple outfit game.

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I do have quite a few things to blog about (including some exciting new purchases!!1!), but I'm not sure how much time I will realistically have to devote to blog posts over the next few weeks as I have three consecutive assessments due, eek! I'm probably going to be on tumblr more than I will be on here, just because it's much easier and quicker to use blah laziness blah. Also, I just want to say thank you as I have noticed my follower count creep past the 200 mark, and I just want to say that is so cool! So, thank you.

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

Hello!

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

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

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

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

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

Tiddly pom pom tutorial.

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

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

And here's Part Two;

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

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

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

Beauty school dropout.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The clouds will be a daisy chain, so let me see you smile again.

Hello!

Today I have been procrastinating like crazy, but somehow I also managed to get an awful lot of things done! Very strange.

Top - ebay, shorts - vintage, necklace - car boot sale, flower headband - DIY.

I have been meaning to post about these shorts for quite some time now, I did wear them in this post, but I wanted to show them properly. My mum bought these for me as a little present for getting a Distinction in my Textiles final major project! (She also bought me a weird tablecloth thing that she thought was a headscarf which I am going to try to make into shorts, but more on that as it develops.) They are made from vintage furnishing fabric, and are so cute! I have worn them an awful lot recently, in a pretty defiant attempt to ignore the terrible weather. Floods, what floods?!

There are lots of pretty daisies in my garden at the moment, so I thought I would make a little crown from them before my dad cuts the grass and they are all decapitated. I used to love making daisy chains when I was little, I still think there is no better way to spend a lazy summer afternoon than sat on the grass endlessly linking daisies together.

(Also, I redyed my hair and it came out much darker, but now that I've washed it a few times it seems almost exactly the same colour as it was last time you saw it on here! Pointless me saying anything really!)

Somewhat askew necklace.

The pattern on the shorts is so lovely! It seems very French to me, what with all the pictures of fruit baskets and wine and pretty tea sets. The beige/tan colour isn't something I would normally wear, but the yellow tones in the pattern are such a perfect match for the tropicals flowers in this top.

I hope you are all having a lovely summer - or winter, depending on which hemisphere you currently reside in!

1. It is coming up to almost a year since I started up my little jewellery shop! I can't quite believe it's been a year as the time seems to have positively flown by, I am so grateful to everyone who has purchased something from me, it really does mean such an awful lot! Without a doubt I would never have had the confidence to set up the shop if I didn't have this blog, so I will be doing a few special things as a thank you. I think I may give away free gifts with each order made in the "birthday week", what do you think?

2. Today I got a huge stack of papers through the post from Sheffield, all about registration etc & university life, it is honestly ridiculous how much there is! I have started reading through it but it's so difficult to actually remember what I'm reading, I may even have to make flashcards! (I'm definitely joking) I wish I knew where I'll be living though, I've started to buy a few things but I'm struggling to get excited when I don't know what my accommodation is.

3. I went charity shopping this weekend in a small village with a few friends, and I found the most amazing stack of vinyl punk singles! I mean, you have no idea how amazed I was, normally you have to rifle through endless Cliff Richard, Englebert Humperdinck & Elaine Page albums before you get to anything good, but almost everything was a genuine punk classic. I really wish I could have bought them all (I mean, come on, £5.99 for a single is a bit much Oxfam), instead I went for two Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Buzzcocks and  Xray Spex. Xray Spex! I am still so happy and stunned and telling everyone I know all about it.

Flower crowns

My mother and I dyed my hair last weekend! It's a fair bit brighter than I expected, and it's also really uneven if you look closely, but I do really like it.

I went shopping with my mum to a textiles warehouse, and while I was there I spotted a few fake flower decorations and I made a spur of the moment decision to make some flower crown/headband type things like in the Rookie video! (Rookie also retweeted the picture I posted on Twitter as well, which was so cool! Major fangirl moment.) I had actually been meaning to make some for a while, but never really got around to it, or saw anything I really wanted to make a crown from! Watching the video again and seeing all the crowns that people made has made me like, way inspired & I can't wait to make more! I never wear things in my hair any more which I used to do loads (mainly to ~rebel against an all black school uniform), so I want to start doing that more. Summer goals!1!!

The flowers came in packs of three colours, and I spent seriously so long agonising over which ones to choose that I decided just to get them all! They only cost 99p per packet, and I got two packets for each crown so really they weren't too expensive.

I made some with peach, pink and turquoise flowers! I saw these flowers first and I think this crown is my favourite.

I haven't attached them to a headband, mainly because I was kind of too lazy to have to hunt for some & i just wanted to get on and make them! I just twisted the wire each flower around the next one and secured them into my hair with pins on either side. I also kind of wanted something that I could pin into my hair in various different ways.

1. Speaking of Rookie, it looks like there's going to be a meet-up in London in July for UK Rookie readers! I think I will be in London the time it is on, and I would so, so love to go but I will have to see as I will be with my friends and I don't want to monopolise the trip! Beth from Girls Get Busy is going to be there, so to meet her would just be incredible. There is also an event for Rookie Northerners which I would also really love to go to, I have never been to a meet-up before so it would be amazing to go to one of these!
2. I am selling yet more things on ebay! Lots of jewellery, clothes, music & vintage all starting at 99p, please help me finance my trip to London!

3. I went to a book group meeting last night which was all about the history of the Riot Grrrl Movement. I had so much fun! It was really incredible to talk to other people about what they thought about Kathleen Hanna etc, and to speak to some people who actually had been Riot Grrrls at the time! I also met some really cool, feminist people which was amazing as that seems to be something I can only normally do via the internet. I really wish I had bought a few business cards along though as quite a few people were asking me about the jewellery I made (we talked a lot about the DIY culture of RG & I mentioned my Feminist necklaces).

4. I am going to a 1920s-50s music night on Friday, which I am so excited about! I will probably take my camera so I will post some pictures to show you guys! I also may be going to a burlesque show at a local theatre, and hopefully I can make it to the cinema to see Moonrise Kingdom some time this week. My summer of culture continues.

I bring home the bacon.

Hello! I bought some wonderfully cute & funny feminist badges from Etsy last week, and they have both arrived! Feminism, while being incredibly close to my heart, isn't something I talk about that much on this little blog (although I like to think I weave it in occasionally) but these brooches are simply too lovely not to grace this blog with their presence!

This brooch by Sarah Julia Clark is so so amazing! I love bacon more than any other food in the world (bad Jew, bad, bad Jew), so it seems entirely fitting to have a humorous statement about bacon on a piece of felt bacon as my accessory of choice, does it not? Also, it totally relates to the working-girl-who-owns-her-own-business I have going on right now. *insert shameless plug about my ongoing sale here*

The brooch back. I love hand-stitching so much, it seems like such an immediate reminder that I own something completely individual and unique made by someone who loves and cares about what they do.

My bacon brooch next to my other little feminist purchase! This badge has been in my favourites for months, I thought it was so funny! Yay for uteruses guys! You can buy this brooch here, and I think you can also get it in a slightly bigger size too. I like it small though, as it means people really have to peer in to see what it says.

I also did something pretty cool (or at least I think it is!) with my hair today, so I thought I'd show you a picture or two. Predictably the best photos turned out to be the most blurry, so you can't see what I actually did with my hair too well here, but I think you get the general gist! Basically, I tied it up at the back, twisted my fringe slightly and pinned it back, then finished it with two victory(ish) rolls on either side. It's rather messy as I never bother with hairspray & I kept having to alter it throughout the day, but I'm still very pleased!

Also, small glimpse of My Favourite Dress Ever Version 2.0 (this is Version 1.0). I think I now live in a parallel world where it's summer indoors all the time and I just float around wearing summer dresses with no tights in a defiant manner, whimpering every time a window is opened or a door left ajar.

Tomorrow I have decided I am going to WORK ALL DAY and not stop for ANYTHING, not even snacks or How I Met Your Mother. I need to seriously catch up on my ~Fashion Illustrations (which, I don't know, would you like to see?) & feverishly scribbling Pro/Con lists about Sheffield vs Edinburgh and Accommodation vs Accommodation vs Accommodation which really I should have made in January before my brain melts completely. Which, it seems, looking back over what I have just typed, may have happened already.

Thank you very much if you have read this far, I will try to be less incoherent & silly next time.

Victory

Hello!

Today I managed to get my hair into a victory roll for the first time ever! The name has never been more appropriate. I've tried countless times before but never really been able to do it. Weirdly, I had so little time this morning to do anything (forever ignoring the clock) that I didn't think about it at all, so it was really simple!

Top view.

Unfortunately you can't see it that well because my hair is quite dark here.

Side view.

Front view.

It isn't perfect, but I'm really pleased I actually managed to do it & it stayed in all day! I think I have too much hair on the other side to be able to do one there, so next time I will part my hair in a less extreme side parting - having said that, I don't actually part my hair it just falls that way because of my silly cowlick fringe!

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I'm so nervous every time I look through my emails now, really worried that I'll get something from UCAS (and also worried I won't get anything!). Really hoping that Edinburgh will give me an offer, I keep shaking when I think about it actually! I found out today that two of my friends from college got rejected by their first choices (Edinburgh and Central St Martins), which is so crazy as they're both amazing and have offers from other brilliant places. This whole thing is so stressful! Hopefully I will be less stressed out and more able to write a coherent blog post next time we meet.

be my baby

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!

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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 (:

a love for real, not fade away

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

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 (:

lilac

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.