Shopping the Sales

As I am off work until January, I've had plenty of time to browse the internet for sale bargains!

Collectif is one of my favourite shops for affordable vintage reproduction clothing and until TOMORROW have an amazing 40% off 

Amongst a few other things I have already purchased this gorgeous Dolores top in red and blue and white polka dot. I already have this in black and get so much wear out of it! With 40% off, this top is only £15!

Dolores top in red

I am also in desperate need of a new winter coat. After trawling the busy high street on Thursday, I hadn't found a single coat I liked. This short Mariella coat is gorgeous - I don't know why I didn't get this with my original order! With 40% off, this coat is only £69, which is pretty reasonable.

Short Mariella coat in black

Dorothy Perkins is one of my favourite high street stores. Surprisingly they stock a range of vintage style dresses that are affordable and made out of modern materials, so you can get a bit more wear from them.

They are currently offering an additional 10% off sale items if you buy online too. So far I have found 12 dresses that I love! They still appear to have a good stock of sizes too.

This Black Ottoman dress is currently £17.10 with the additional 10% off for shopping online. This would be a great dress for work or teamed with a beehive and flicks of eyeliner for a 60s look. It's also available in Aubergine.

Black Ottoman dress

Peplum dresses have been all over the high street this year. They give a nod to a vintage look and are also super flattering - particularly after a Christmas of over-indulging!

There are a range of colours and styles on the website.

My favourites include this Lace print peplum has pretty lace detailing which brightens up the black. The high neck also makes it work appropriate for a bit of office glam! £18 with the additional 10%

Lace print peplum dress

This purple lace ponte dress is only £9 with the additional 10% off! A complete bargain and also available in pink, lilac and blue for a bit more money.

Purple lace ponte dress

The lace sides of this lace panel dress in port are super sculpting for the waist. This dress is £18 and available in purple and teal.

Port lace panel dress

There are lots of other styles in the sale - I could go through these all day!

Time for the shoes! 

I was a bit disappointed with the Schuh instore selection, but their website has a massive range of reduced shoes.

These Irregular Choice oz bowtiful court shoes are my favourites - polka dot with a cute knitted bow and perspex heels. The heels don't look too high either, so could get plenty of wear out of these beauties! These are £49.99 with free delivery and available in red too

Irregular Choice oz bowtiful court shoes

The only problem with Irregular Choice shoes is that they soles are almost too pretty to walk on!

These red alisa patent hush puppies are also super cute. Hush puppies are also extremely comfy, so you could walk all day! Now £39.99 and slightly more expensive in black

red alisa patent hush puppies

These Blowfish tarta boots are available in black and tan for £39.99.

tan Tarta Blowfish boots

Finally these Iron Fist Ladykiller heels - WOW! £39.99

Iron Fist Ladykiller heels

I need to go back to work now to pay for all this! 

This was NOT a sponsored post - these items are just a few personal favourites from websites I like to use. Prices were correct at time of posting.

My Year 2012

A belated Merry Christmas everyone :) Well... this year went by far too quickly! I didn't get anywhere near as many blog posts completed as I expected - It's been a busy year! So instead of trying to catch up now, I thought I'd give an update to my year according to my camera and phone. One of my biggest resolutions for 2013 will be to update my blog far more regularly. Ok, so January started with the beginning of our house build

 

 This has been a big feature of 2012. The 'big' build has finished now, but there are still SOOOO many smaller bits to complete - I sometimes feel like it will never be complete!!

 

 February brought SNOW,

 

 Valentine's Day homemade tartlets,

 and a Roller Derby photoshoot

 

 More house photos for March. The kitchen and living room were almost complete

 

I took my lovely boyfriend away for his birthday to a gorgeous old building in Elstree

 We also ventured into London and saw The 39 Steps (awesomely funny show) at the beautiful Criterion Theatre

 

 A new tattoo for April

 

 A surprise boat trip and picnic with goslings on the Broads for my birthday in May

 

I also traded in my old car Betsey for Tallula

 

 and attempted bunting for the first time

 

 The first hen weekend of the year (not mine!) in Brighton. A very Jubilee trip for June, with Choccywoccydoodah cakes....

 

 a cloudy day at Brighton pier...

 and a patriotic bulldog!

 

 The second hen do of this month involved sushi, dancing and moustaches. Me and future Mother of the Bride,

 

 all things moustaches

 

 and the groom (complete with tattoos!)

 

 I also attended a masked ball with friends

 

 July saw my first wedding of the year in my own (almost!) back garden The reception set up the night before:

 

 A beautiful venue for a wedding ceremony

   \

Me and my lovely boyfriend (left, brother of the bride) with the beautiful bride and handsome groom

 

 We also went away to Oxfordshire for a mini break

 

where we visited London for Hong Kong waffles

and I ate mountains of lobster!

 

 Wedding number 2 in August

 a belated hen weekend to Barcelona

 and a new addition to the family

 

 A wedding reception and a visit to see a friend in Portsmouth (she made some beautiful cupcakes!) in September

 

 I made leopard print bunting for a baby shower in October

 Skated with the Norfolk Brawds after a break from Roller Derby in November

 In November I went to see Caravan Palace at a French themed Boogaloo event

 The end of November and early December saw me and Olli get away to Morocco on holiday

 and then I partied with the Brawds when I got back

 found time to put up my Christmas tree

 

had some Christmas nails done

and celebrated Christmas with presents...

 A very fun filled 2012 - just New Year to go and then roll on 2013!!!!

First project - bunting!

Ok, I finally have a reason for blogging. For my birthday, my lovely Mum and Dad got me my own sewing machine :)

Last week, I also did my first bit of sewing and made some bunting. My Mum has a big box from of Laura Ashley offcuts from the 70s, which was perfect! How gorgeous is this material!!

My Mum had even cut all the triangles of fabric out ready (I'd been at work).

Once the triangles had been sewn...

It was just a case of ironing them and sewing them to the bias binding and I had some lovely bunting to hang in my home!

Not too bad for a first attempt! My Mum found a great tutorial for us to use - I'll post the link when I find it!

Not a good start!

Ok, so after a positive start by actually setting up the blog... I've posted absolutely nothing!

As I'm still so fresh with sewing, I'm going to hold off on these posts until I have all the equipment I need.

However, that doesn't mean I can't talk about my first projects! We are currently in the process of building a little home to live in and I've already planned a few little things to make.

We've created a cute little vintage inspired kitchen in blue and yellow, so what would look cuter than some bunting - I'm thinking plain yellow and blue gingham.

Yellow and blue bunting

Our living room is going to be a bit brighter - red, black and white. We've ordered some amazing Barbara Hulanicki skull wallpaper and I'd like to make some skull or polkadot cushion covers to fit in.

I think both of these will be nice and easy (hopefully!) to get me started and it will be great to have some bits in my home that I made myself.

I'm struggling to add pictures at the moment, so will have to add these later.

Hope you are having a good Sunday :)