Hunting out a bargain...

Well, I did it again yesterday. Hunted out a fantastic bargain that is! Whilst shopping in town and feeling quite despondent about not buying anything, I decided to pop into Tk Maxx where I found a Muubaa leather jacket for £69.99! I have wanted a biker jacket since they came back into fashion 2 years ago....I'm so behind the times!
I have just checked out the website www.muubaa.com and my jacket is still on sale on there for £339! Amazing...

Here it is:

I like that you can draw it in at the waist. I'll try and post a picture of me wearing it at some point...
Just call me "genius"....

A little bit of vintage style...

I'm a bit of a fan of girly, vintage style so that is what these pics are based around. This little, pink top was a great find in the Primark sale for just £5....

 

The colours are much brighter than my camera shows. It's quite sheer and I think it'll perfect for summer with some cute shorts   :)

I may have mentioned I was buying a dolls house.....well here it is. Actually it's huge and more of a mansion than a house! I'm planning to decorate it with some retro, designer 70's furniture. Watch this space.

I wanted to make a little bit of effort today so I put on my favourite new dress, also from Primark.

Dress from Primark, tights from Gap, shoes from Limited Collection at M and S.

Not the best photo but my housemate is ill at the moment with man-flu and didn't really want to get off the sofa. The tights and heels are actually navy....I love these heels - I got them last year but couldn't find anything to wear with them.

I didn't actually wear the heels today as I'm just doing housework (glam) so I swapped for some navy boots with my new boot cuffs around the top...

The tights are not really that bright blue colour either! They're navy, I swear!

I also mentioned a little while ago that I wanted to make a "usamimi" hairband. That's Japanese for rabbits ears apparently...It's basically a bendy, fabric hairband that has rabbit ear shapes at the end.
My first hairband was a little too wide and not quite long enough to twist the ends..

My second attempt went much better:

I will probably put the second one up for sale on my Etsy shop. They were pretty easy to make so I'm going to experiment with a few more fabrics and designs.
Lastly, as I have been feeling quite creative recently, I decided to make myself a fleece bear - a bigger version of the one I got from Paperchase for Valentines Day. I'm really pleased with the results and I'm not sure I can bear (see what I did there?) to put him up for sale!

Bless....

It's all in the detail

I was looking around my bedroom the other night and found myself noticing all sorts of beautiful textures and details. Sometimes, you're just too busy to notice the little things....

Some lovely textured cushions

My Mikey necklace

Collection of necklaces

Washing reflected in the mirror

A few of my favourite things

Hats and beads

And lastly, a little bit of spot the difference....

This is Keira Knightly on the cover of Elle magazine and the biography of Coco Chanel that I bought a few days ago....When I looked down at them form my bed I thought that there was a scary likeness. What do you think?

Better luck next time...

Ha ha. Well that didn't work did it?!

Seriously, I have no clue. :)

I just don't "get" technology...

Is it just me or are computers and the internet sometimes really hard to use? I've just signed up for something called "Shopsense" which seems to be a tool to add advertising to your blog. (I'm only going to put on products that I think you might actually like and want to buy.)
Now I've filled out an account....wouldn't your next step be to look for a section on how to use the tool? Well, there isn't one. And this has happened to me on a few other tools and gadgets I've tried to use. I'd quite like to put a people counter at the bottom of my blog but I have absolutely not got the faintest clue how to do it!
Some websites seem to assume that you know what their product is all about and that you understand things like html. Not me. Haven't the fogiest.
I'm just going to try and stick some adds at the bottom of this and see if they appear. Probably won't. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, hey?
P.s If anyone can help me with any of this layout and tools stuff then please comment and let me know!

No comments:

That's not my name.....

Firstly, it occurred to me whilst trying to get to sleep that my post the other day may have sounded wrong. I'm talking about the "dogsbody sales assistant" bit.....I've been in retail FOREVER and have huge respect for sales assistants. What I meant by this comment is that it's time for me to move on and do something that challenges me more. Sorted?
Good. I'm still feeling the jealousy today as it's London Fashion Week and all the blogs I read seem to be about how the writer has been invited to some amazing show! Not fair! I love fashion. I want to be there.
Not sure what to post pictures of at the moment as it feels so in-between the seasons. I can't get my head around spring/summer clothes when it's freezing outside. All the trends for winter seem to be a bit over. I think I'm stuck in a fashion mental block zone. Any suggestions?
At this current moment I'm bidding on a gorgeous dolls house on ebay....I'll let you know in a sec if I get it...
Wow! I won! Only £25. Bargain. I can start planning my decorating now....
It won't let me copy the photo unfortunately but I'll post one when I get it.
So, time for a bit of fashion loving...

Suede fringe jacket £150 from Topshop

Sorry for the naff picture! I'm a bit of a sucker for jackets and suede or leather ones especially. Fringing is apparently going to be big for the season. You read it here first...

• Chocolate Suede And Leather Tassel Plaited Bag
• £50.00 from Topshop

Would it be suede overkill to have the matching bag?
I just found this in the online River Island sale....

It's only £25 and all sizes are still available! I want! Am I going to regret not ordering this? I think I'll see if they have it in my local store first, then it will probably sell out online and I can regret it forever more!
I hate ordering clothes online....how do I know how it's going to fit?
Do you order things and then just return them?

It's a small world after all...

I like to keep an eye on my blogging stats and I particularly like the button that lets you see where people have viewed your page from. I just clicked on views for the month and found that people from all over the world have been clicking away! So thank you!

Here are the stats: (the number next to it is how many times someone from that place has clicked)

United Kingdom 165 United States 43 Australia 5 Singapore 5 Germany 2 Finland 2 France 2 Thailand 2 Belgium 1 Mongolia 1

Nice guys finish last....

WARNING!!! Blog whinge coming up.....

I'm feeling a bit rubbish this evening after a slightly crappy day at work. If I wanted to bore you with my moaning I would tell you that I'm too creative and intelligent to be a dogsbody sales assistant and this isn't where I was supposed to end up! I know that only I can do something about this and I should look for other stuff (which I am) blah blah blah but at the moment I'd just like to whinge about it. Ok?
There are supposed to be rules set up so that people don't get taken for a ride by their employers but why does it seem to only work for aggressive people and those who shout the loudest? Not fair I say.
I'd also like to whinge about the fact that Carrie at WishWishWish http://wishwishwish.net/ has an internship at Cosmopolitan magazine! I'm jealous! I want her life! These are the things that you aren't meant to complain about but that's how I feel and that's what I want to say. So there.
And I'd also like a Mulberry handbag and to not feel guilty about how much it costs when I get it. Maybe this one....

Hmmmm....time to go and de-stress I think...

My name's Becky and I'm a serial returner....

I'd just like to say before I post my new purchases that I don't keep everything I buy. I'm a serial returner. Remember those black suede snow boots? Returned. That horse print Primark trench? Returned. I only keep about 2 out of every 5 things I buy!
So, here's what I bought over the past few days.....(I will probably keep all of this)

Here's what I got for Valentines Day :)   The charms are a hummingbird and a bicycle. Unfortunately I can't locate my charm bracelet at the moment (sad face) so I might have to buy a new one. My old one has sentimental value though as some of the charms I had were from my travels around the world...

Next up is the Oakleys I bought on Monday down at Gunwharf Quays...

They were only £35 down from £105 as the shop is closing for a refit. I recommend a visit if you live down this way as there are loads of styles available at really good prices. I've needed a decent pair of sunglasses for a while now and I couldn't resist.

I bought these boot cuffs yesterday in Accessorize as they were 70% off and I had been looking at them for a while at full price:

They had a few other cute designs but I thought cream would go with most of my boots. Here's an action shot of them on my Uggs!

Can;t wait to try them out on some of my other boots. When I opened them yesterday I realised how super simple they would be to make. I may have to have a go for my Etsy shop.

I also bought some hair products yesterday - another can of Batiste which I swear by and a can of Backcomb In A Bottle which I have read a few reviews about but have yet to try. I'll let you know how I get on....

I stopped off at my local charity shop and found this book for only £4.50:

I'm a big Chanel fan so I'm looking forward to reading this! And it will look good on my coffee table...!
Unfortunately I ha no cash on me at the time and the card limit was £5 so I picked up some lino flooring for the dolls house that I have yet to buy! A bit silly maybe, but it was for charity....
My local Sainsburys has started stocking my favourite American "candy" - Reese's pieces so I no longer have to pay £1.20 for a small packet at the imported candy shop. Here is a pic of them as I know you are so very interested!

The lino flooring was only £1.99. If only I could decorate my house for that price....
Hope you all enjoyed Valentines Day...I would recommend Gnoemo and Juliet -pretty funny although a bit short. X

V is for Valentines....

I'm happy to say that I will not be alone on Valentines Day this year! (Well, I haven't been alone for a few years now...but still)
Me and the boy have decided to go to Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth for a bit of outlet shopping therapy, lunch in Wagamama's and then to the cinema to see Gnomeo and Juliet. Can't wait!
I also sold my print gocco on Etsy today so I am a little bit richer and can afford to enjoy myself for the day.
What have you bought or planned for your other half? Here are a few lovely things that I think would make good gifts.....

World's largest jigsaw puzzle - £199.99 from firebox.com

Ok, maybe a little bit pricey but how cool?? Keith Haring is an amazing artist and this jigsaw puzzle has 32256 pieces and comes with it's own portable trolley! Nobody would be expecting that as a gift...

Personalised Eye Test Styled Love Quotes

by I Love Design

£20 from notonthehighstreet.com

This one is a bit unusual too. I like the idea of making your present a little bit personal. 
www.notonthehighstreet.com is a great website for all types of boutique style gifts.

This one is good for boys or girls and is a bit of a romantic classic:

USB Mix Tape by Suck UK

only £16.95

I think everyone under the over the age of 30 has made a soppy mix tape at some point in their lives! This is a slightly more modern way of doing it!

Shake a pix £29.95 from prezzybox.com

This is a credit card sized, digital photo frame that you shake to change the pictures. You could upload all the best pics of you and your loved one and give to them as a gift. Is that cute or a bit sickly?
Well, I'm sure you have already bought your presents and I can't be bothered to hunt for any more! I'll keep you posted on my Valentines Day antics :)

Today sucked arse...

Today was just a little bit rubbish. Nothing bad happened but it was completely boring and uneventful. A bit of a waste of a day. Yesterday however, was pretty good. I went into town to meet the boyfriend and indulge in some shopping. And here's what I got....

I got this from Primarni for £15 and I LOVE it! It's so cute and being cream, it will go with lots of different things ie brooches and different types of shoes/boots. I'm planning to wear it in the day time with tights and my favourite leather boots and maybe for the evening with shoe boots or heels. I went in to Topshop after buying this and saw an almost identical version for £48!

I also got this coat for £10 in the sale but haven't decided whether or not to keep it yet....(I'm a serial returner)...

It looks black and white in my photo but it's actually sort of a brown and gold colour. It has horses printed on it and I'm quite fond of it already but the boyfriend says it has puffy shoulders that look a bit weird....and really, do I need yet another coat?

I also got one more sale bargain....another check shirt from Hollister for £10.90...this time it's a fleecy one.

The colours on my photos are really bad this evening - sorry!
Here's a quick outfit pic of what I wore to go shopping..

Dress from Primark, cardigan from Benetton, boots from Faith, bag from the internet.

I look a little cross eyed in this picture...not sure what happened there! Lol.
I wore my favourite red duffle coat over the top which is from the kids section at Benetton (from when I used to work there...)

 

And my cute mittens are from Joules and are a bit too big for me as I have the hands of a small child...

One last thing.......I found a great free app for my phone called Instant Fx (I think) which is a camera app that allows you to select effects such as fisheye, polaroid, Warhol etc.
I've been playing around with it a little bit and it's so much fun! I'll try and put some pics up soon to give you an idea of the results.
Ta ta for now...

Handmade is better...

Just to let you know that I have finally set up my own shop on etsy. You can find it at   www.etsy.com/shop/doingitinstyle
At the moment there is only one thing on sale - a Riso Print Gocco- that's a Japanese printing kit for the uninitiated....But soon I hope to add a few more things in the hope of making money to buy more clothes!

I have finished my first "usamimi" hairband....but it's not particularly good so I haven't taken any pictures yet. It needs to be a bit thinner and a bit longer but generally I think I have mastered the basic idea. If I can make them look good enough then I will put them into my etsy shop.

Hair today, gone tomorrow...

Are you bored of my hair yet? Well here are a few more pics!
I recently got my hair cut at Rush in Southampton for the second time and I was still pretty impressed with the service. They had sent me a text on my birthday (back in November) offering me £10 off my haircut so I couldn't really argue with that! I used to go to Essensuals but Rush seem to offer better discounts and I can't afford to be choosy. Here are the results...

This isn't the greatest photo of me....but you get the idea. I really like the way she curled the ends with the hairbrush whilst she was drying it - something I don't think I can recreate at home!

I was feeling a bit creative earlier in the week so I decided to give a beehive a try after seeing a few video tutorials. It went alright for a first attempt!

Obviously it's not a full beehive and it's not all that high. But full marks for trying, right?


Here's my outfit from yesterday...

Polo shirt and hoody from Hollister, denim skirt from Gap and boots by Ugg.

As you can see, I'm hardly going to win any style awards with this one.....but in my defence it was super cold outside and now I'm nearing 30 it's just too tempting to dress for comfort! Lol.

Speaking of comfort, I got these pj bottoms in the Gap final reductions sale for £3.50! I used to work at Gap and have lots of their pj bottoms because they last well and they're ultra comfy.


I spotted this (below) in my room the other day and couldn't resist taking a picture...

It's the cable of my hairdryer snaking its' way around the edge of my mirror. See, beauty is everywhere if you are looking hard enough (or if you are just relaxed enough to notice.)

What have you been missing that has been right in front of you?

Reviews galore....

Hiya! How are you today? Good? Great. On to the important stuff....
I have lots of things to review for you today.....I'm feeling a little bit behind on that side of things!
Up first, it's my swanky, new Smart Phone - The Motorola Defy (on a tmobile contract)

First impressions on taking it out of the box were that it was a good size but maybe a bit boring looking. That's easily fixed (hopefully) by the bright orange silicone cover I have ordered from amazon (yet to arrive.)
Trying to set the phone up caused me a bit of a panic as the instructions are USELESS but it does however tell you how to do most things as you go along. Luckily I have a techno savvy housemate who helped me through it.
Once it was up and running, we realised that it wouldn't download anything from the Android market place so we googled the problem and found that it has something to do with changing from a googlemail account to a gmail account. So we had to restore the phone to factory settings and start that but again. Luckily all my contacts and music stayed on there. I downloaded a programme called double twist onto my laptop that allowed me to put my itunes music onto the phone!
The rest was all just a bit of a learning curve and my boyfriend is now an angry birds widow! It runs the game really well and all the graphics on the phone are pretty cool too. I'm really happy with it and frankly AMAZED by what you can make a mobile phone do!

Next up is Garnier Nutrisse hair colourant in shade "Crimson Pleasure" - a deep red colour. (Also called colour 3.6 / deep reddish brown.)

It was pretty easy to use with a really strong, fruity smell (better than ammonia I guess) and I really liked the results......for the first few days. You can see the colour change from my previous photos. Unfortunately, despite claiming to be permanent it faded after about a week and a half. Now I know that red fades faster than any other colour but that's just ridiculous. I went to my hairdressers for a cut and asked her for advice, and she said it's probably because my shampoo (Pantene) is not ph balanced. Fair play then, but it doesn't say anything in the instructions about using different shampoos.
I've now bought Directions semi permanent dye which comes in a little tub and is what I (and all my friends) used to use as a teenager and at art school.
It's only £5 and the pot lasts ages. Not so easy to apply though as there is no brush and BEWARE it will stain your bath if you're not careful!

I've gone for "Poppy Red" which looks a bit terrifying....I've used "Rubine" in the past which is a darker red.
I bought it in a little shop in Southampton but I think you can get it on ebay.
I'll post the results when I'm done :)   
Ps I have also bought Elvive colour protect shampoo and conditioner which is currently on 2 for £4 at my local Sainsburys! Wish me luck....