OOTOD*

I'm currently having a completely wunderbar time at London Fashion Week. Before I get round to posting all of my pictures (and there may be another video diary!) I thought I'd quickly share this outfit I wore on Thursday to work (hence *Outfit Of The Other Day!). I didn't get to blog it that evening as I was having a total wardrobe meltdown trying to pack for LFW! The daylight was going, so excuse the unflattering flash on the first shot -  the camera decided it was necessary and my approach to photography is 'whatever Auto says, goes'! 

(velvet shirt, denim jacket, boots - charity shop, leopard leggings - Topshop)

What a find this jacket was - it has little pink and white gems on it! 

(lipstick - 'all about me' from Topshop)

I can't wait to share my pics, vids and tales with you guys when this weekend is over. I'm loving every minute of it, even queuing for aaaages in the cold for shows only to get turned away at the last second. Admittedly, most of the time it's because I don't actually have an invite (why a big pink smile and good intentions don't count as a show ticket, I'll never know!) Anyway, half of the fun of fashion week is what happens between the shows - the people you meet in the queue/loo/lounge, so it's all good!  

If you want to keep up with London Fashion Week, head to style.com! That's what I'm going to do right now!

Have a lovely weekend! 

♥

Sunday Snippets

Typical of my camera to be dead on the day I was wearing something VERY lovely (yesterday) and alive  when I'm dressed bog standardly (today). I shall be reenacting yesterday's outfit ASAP to share my pretty dress with you all. I start work at 12 on Sundays and begrudge wasting the little free time I have in the morning on doing my hair and dressing in anything other than comfy! Instead, I like to spend it eating frosted shreddies, drinking coffee and secretly enjoying that Soccer AM show my boyfriend insists we watch...

Cosy-lazy Sunday getup:

(top - H&M, hat and skirt - Topshop, socks - Primark, boots - charity shop, snow - mother nature, shed - landlord!)

One of the things that has made me happy this weekend is my new Meadham Kirchhoff nail wraps! I blogged about them here and they have finally launched on Topshop's site and in the store I work in. Woop! Cannot wait to try them out! 

And behold my little babies... My new mini business cards from Moo! I was looking for discount codes as I have heard that Moo really are the Rolls Royce of the business card world and are therefore a bit pricey, and it turned out I was eligible to receive 100 free minicards as a Klout 'Perk'. I'm not really into Klout, but apparently if you're deemed 'influential' on any topic, you get free mini Moos as a perk! I'm no designer, but here's what I came up with, using the beautiful illustrations of me Carly Watts did!

What do you think? 

Also, I'd be a fool not share these DIY Valentines printables from Scathingly Brilliant with you. Have you seen my bumper edition Valentines DIY post? Let me know if you've tried anything out! :)

I'm off to watch A Very Long Engagement and eat a jam doughnut. Does life get any better than this?!

♥

Lazy Oaf S/S 2012 Lookbook

East London creative label, Lazy Oaf have just released their Spring/Summer 2012 lookbook shot by Bella Howard, and I am officially loving it. The shoot itself has a Wildfox vibe (giggling girls, bed poses, white tiger!) but minus the smut and plus the fun factor. Lazy Oaf are all about bright, quirky graphic prints, and next season sees fruit, flowers and cats (YAY!) as the key focus. The styling here reminds me of the 90s I remember (not the plaid shirt, moshpit 90s that fashion usually recalls): bright and busy prints, bunches and towering Spice Girl platforms. Well, I only dreamt of the latter because we were too poor for Buffalos, but I still had girl power in spades! And don't lie, we all had those t-shirts with the hand prints on the boobs. They just weren't cool until now:

I have too much love for Lazy Oaf and can't wait for these pieces to drop (especially the cat tail t-shirt!) The prices aren't exactly bargain basement (around £35-60 for tees and dresses), but for an uber cool statement piece from an independent label, I am willing to cough up! 


What do you think of Lazy Oaf and their new lookbook? 


♥

Valentines Bits To Buy & DIY

Evening one and all, and welcome to my bumper Valentines post! 

This first section is a bit of an alternative gift guide. There's no real structure: there's crazy stuff, cute stuff, guy stuff and girl stuff. Who says valentines gifts need to be a lovey dovey heart fest? Hopefully you'll find something a bit different to buy your beau or something to ask them to buy you! Failing that, maybe you'll have some laughs at my finds...

♥ Bookrest lamp, £37.95, ClickShop (I would love to get this for Alex!)

♥ His 'n' Hers Tongue Scrapers, £6 Urban Outfitters (EW! My friend Jen would totally dig these, though.)

♥ My Side, Your Side Pillowcases, £26.75, Not On The High Street

♥ Pick Master, £19.75, ClickShop (How cool is this?! It turns anything into a plectrum!)

♥ Pug Egg Cup, £8.50, Maiden (Just Aww.)

♥ Cat Egg Cup, £10.95, Liberty (    "      "   )

♥ Tea Infuser, £14, Urban Outfitters  

♥ Mug, £17.50, Sweet William Designs @ Not On The Hight Street

♥ Love Beanstalk Pod, £12.49, I Want One Of Those (This is insane. It's a plant which grows with a love message imprinted in the leaves! Watch the vid via the link if you want to find out more!)

♥ Gemma Correll Card, £2.50, Soma Gallery

♥ Anatomical Heart Jelly Mould, £6.99, I Want One Of Those (SO flipping cool!)

♥ Kissing Disease Plushie, £6.95, GIANTmicrobes (Who knew germs could be so cute? Loads of awesome plushies on the website, a must-see!)

♥ 7/10 Card, £2.75, Lazy Oaf

♥ Bee My Honey Balm, £4, Paperchase

I've been bookmarking various DIY projects for a while to share with you all as I think handmade Valentines gifts can be a lot more meaningful, and let's face it, cheap! 

The first one is my own project, although I haven't shown the exact design I shall be giving to Alex as I know he won't be able to go a week without stalking the blog and spoiling the surprise! 

So, I have been making magnetic bookmarks! They are a handy alternative to ordinary bookmarks as they don't fall out. You can also line it up along the side of the book so you can remember what line you were on! I got the idea from some children's bookmarks I saw in WH Smith and thought I'd give it a go...

The pretty lady graphic is from Eat Drink Chic, and is shown further down this post in its original context! I changed it a bit to make it into a foldable bookmark, and made my first ever PDF printable if you'd like to make use any of the above designs yourself. Just click here to open it, and for instructions on how to make your own Dymo label designs! 

To start out, I printed my designs on card. Mine was 240gsm, but I think thicker would be ideal! 

 

After folding the designs in half, I stuck on 2 pieces of magnetic tape on either end of the reverse of the bookmark, so they match up and close neatly. Done! (My tape cost £1.25 on eBay, but you'll want to try and request express delivery if poss!)

Here are some other amazing ideas from around the web (click the links to find the full tutorials):

Filling a pill box with little treats and love notes! Aww! Kinnnnda late for it now, but if you get your skates on, maybe your loved one can eat a few days in a row! ;) 

Eat Drink Chic created these amazing printable bits and bobs for a Valentines Couch Picnic Date! I love the little 'Admit One' tickets!

This Origami heart bookmark looks a bit fiddly but the end result is so cute!

These Coffee Cup Wrappers are from Eat Drink Chic. I don't have coffee cups (MUST get some!) so I can't really use this one but it's too adorable not to share.

They also turned the design into a little card and envelope:

Adorable printable giftwrap (the doggy one is my fave!):

Oh hi, DIY heart nail polish!

This printable lunch bag is really sweet, and the design could be printed onto anything, really. A card or gift bag for example!

Find these cute ladies and loads of lovely printables here! 

This croc is on the above link, too! Sounds a bit fiddly for me, but looks so cool! You can put sweets in his body! 

A great roundup of retro valentines printables on Heart Handmade

I can't get over how cool this scratch card idea is! I found another technique for making scratch cards here, too. So fun! 

I think these handmade chocolate wrappers are a cute idea. Don't think my boyfriend would appreciate the girly factor, but you could do something cool with it like use a map or comic strip or Playboy depending on your beau's interests! ;) 

Yes, it's another bookmark tutorial (can you tell my boyfriend is a huge bookworm?), but this one is built in with the valentines card! Two birds, one stone.

These felt Fortune Cookies  are a super cute way to show you care! Maybe a fun alternative to valentines vouchers? (ie. 'This entitles you to 10 minutes of back-scratching, moan-free!) There is a crochet version of this on Youtube for those who can! 

And I'm spent! 

I think this is the longest I've ever spent on a post, so I hope you've found some inspiration here! Do you have any cool ideas of your own to share? Spill! 

♥

Every Girl Has a Molly

When I'm scanning my Google Reader and catching up on posts, one blog always captures my full attention. Vintage Is The New Black is the blog for NoirOhio Vintage, an incredibly popular American vintage store on eBay. It's run by a lady called Maggie and modelled by a lady called Molly.

Something I've realised to my surprise lately is that I'm not fussed about shopping for vintage... One too many times I've wandered into vintage shops almost robotically but found that I either can't be arsed to forage through endless rails, or I am put off by hefty price labels. To be honest, I much prefer hunting out my own bargains in charity shops and car boot sales! 

So, plugging this store is not the purpose of this post (although the postage prices to the UK are quite reasonable, I must say!) No - I treat NoirOhio like a favourite style blog. A go-to for outfit inspiration. The stunningly styled Molly, seems to be able to pull off any look. She also proves that bright lipstick makes every outfit look at least 57% cooler. Noted.

I'm in such a style rut at the moment and feel like, for various reasons, nothing suits me and I'm not worthy of the 'style' proclamation in my blog title. But a scroll through this blog tonight has reminded me of all the different styles I love, and how underneath my samey disguise, there is a girl who adores versatile style. I must stop losing sight of this and mix things up a bit, like I did during my Wardrobe Wake Up. Maybe sometimes we need a style crush to revive our crushed style..! 

I'm not saying I'm going to turn into a cool and svelte goddess like Molly overnight (or ever, let's face it), but god damn it, I refuse to bore myself any longer! 

♥