Primark sells studs!

Hello.....I warned you that studs were going to be everywhere this season! Well, I found some amazing studded boots in Primark yesterday. They were only £18 so I bought both the colours available - black and beige.

Primark studded ankle boots £18

I was planning to take one pair back....but I love them both! They're comfy too. Considering the cheapest pair I found anywhere else was over £45, I don't think there's too much harm in keeping both!

I also got a few pairs of tights whilst in Primark. They have a good selection of winter tights for £2 a pair. I thought I'd live a little so I bought some burgundy ones!

My shopping spree didn't stop there. I had tried a dress on in Dorothy Perkins whilst in Wales but decided not to buy it....that turned out to be a good decision as last week they had an offer on for 30% off all stock! I found the dress in my size in the Southampton store so I snapped it up!

Polka dot crochet collar dress £32 Dorothy Perkins

It retails at £32 but I got it for around £22 with the discount. I think it will go with so many things for winter  :)

On Friday, I went to the National Wedding Show in London. It was ok for a day out but I don't think I found it particularly helpful towards my planning. I have already put deposits down on my dress and venue so I didn't need to look at those stalls. The tiaras I saw were all expensive....there were some beautiful dresses at slightly reduced prices though, so that could be useful for other brides.

They wouldn't let you take any photos inside unfortunately so I only have a picture of the sign outside!!

After the show, we headed to Kensington for a walk around Harrods. Unfortunately, I only discovered the Laduree cafe in Harrods after I'd had tea in Starbucks over the road!! It is such a gorgeous looking tea room....swoon. Mmmm...macaroons.

Then we nipped into Harvey Nichols for a sneaky Wagamamas! I literally can't wait until Wagamamas opens in Southampton. Then I will be fully bankrupt.

Coming up next week, I have a few more days off so I'm heading to Thorpe Park! Yippee!!!!

DIY Zara studded collar trench coat

Whilst out shopping in London yesterday, I stopped off in Zara and fell in love with a classic, beige
trench coat. Very Audrey Hepburn. This one was a little more "on trend" though - it had a studded collar.
The problem? It was £89.99. I just don't have that sort of money!

Zara studded collar trench £89.99

So, it occurred to me.....that's really easy to make. This isn't even really a tutorial as it's so easy!

Step one:
Find a basic trench coat for a fraction of the cost.
From doing a quick search on Google, I've found lots on sale for under thirty pounds.

Try a website like shopstyle.com

Step two:
Buy some studs from Ebay. Again, I'm not going to show you a particular buyer as there are soooo many and they are all cheap. About £3 for a pack of 100.

Step three:
Attach! If your fabric is particularly thick, you may need a tool to punch some holes to put your studs through. You could use a pin to make small holes that will guide you as to where to put your studs. You will also need some pliers to flatten the backs of the studs.

Disclaimer: you may notice that I haven't actually tried this DIY myself. There is a very good reason for this! I already own approximately 20 coats of different styles and if I come home with another one.....I'll probably get kicked out!

However, I will more than likely be ordering some studs form Ebay and attacking something I already own. Studs are HUGE again this season and make a super easy update to t-shirts, jumpers etc.
If you find them a little tough to work with, I've noticed that even some of the Topshop studded jumpers just have the studs glued on.

Give it a go!!

End of the summer holidays..

Yawn. This is the last night of my "holiday." It's back to work for me tomorrow.

But first, let's have a final look at what I did with my time off!

On Thursday, Mum and I went to Chester for a days shopping. Well, actually, it was window shopping as we didn't buy anything. The highlights of the day were the carrot cake in a lovely coffee shop and lunch at Carluccio's.

The cafe window had bunting drawn on it! We all know how I feel about bunting. The bruschetta at Carluccio's was yummy and was followed by some equally yummy pasta.

My Mum made friends with an exotic local and I wore a Primark dress.
We eyed up some knitwear in Joules but were feeling a little too poor to invest.

As Friday was my last day before travelling home, I stayed in and made the rest of my Save the Date cards. That took me all morning....After lunch we made another batch of macaroons.

Wedding planning takes up the whole table!

This batch was mostly better than the first. The butter was unsalted and I used a better nozzle to pipe them......which gave them a nice, shiny surface! Only problem this time was that they didn't have their "foot" which the first batch did have. You win some, you lose some. What matters is that they are addictive to eat. Yum.

Whilst packing to go home, I found a monster in my suitcase:

Luckily he is friendly. He's called Ricemon and I'm got him from Noodoll!

My journey home was long and torturous on the train. It took FOREVER and gave me serious back ache. You do get some attractive scenery on the way though.....

Wednesday in the Welsh Mountains

Another lovely day in Wales :)

Today we went to a little town in the mountains called Betsw y Coed (pronounced bett ess ee co ed)
which we drive to once a year when I visit. I first went there when I was on a climbing trip at university - it's so picturesque and popular with the tourists. I'll let my pictures do the rest of the talking!

On the way in, you get blue skies and mountains! I'm still not sure which peak is Snowdon..

There is a beautiful church near the square which I'd love to get married in - bit of a long way to go though!

The scenery is so beautiful. Imagine living in that house by the river!

We like to take a yearly photo on the bridge by the waterfall!
You have to stand in the road to take the picture so it's high risk!

I have some new clothes thanks to my mum. The dress and coat don't fit her so she gave them to me!
The dress is Warehouse and the coat is Red Herring.

So that's another holiday day finished. Tomorrow, we are off to Chester where I hope to find the River Island wedge trainers (in plum) that I saw in Llandudno. They didn't have my size :(

Wish me luck!

Wales in Instagram

Hello. I'm staying with my mum up in North Wales this week. This is what I've been up to!

Using Instagram way too much!

Wandering around Holyhead and admiring Tiggy - my mum's cat.

Reading wedding magazines, my favourite Smartwool socks for free!
4 retro chairs for £15, no7 foundation and £1 vintage fabric.

Packing neatly and then making a mess....because I'm on holiday!

Making macaroons for the first time.....!

So, yes. I got the chairs to go in my lounge in a couple of months time - they need sanding and recovering (maybe with the vintage fabric.) My mum's guinea pigs are pretty skittish but we managed to give them a little cuddle!
I bought a new foundation with a slightly heavier coverage - I'll let you know how that goes...

And finally, I  made my first attempt at making macaroons! It was actually fairly easy but they were supposed to be blue. The colour totally faded after baking so next time I'm going to use a non-natural food colouring. I also had the wrong piping nozzle size and we accidentally used salted butter in the butter cream filling! All things to work on next time. There are plenty of recipes on line and the you tube videos are good too.

Plenty of days to go yet on my mini holiday so keep watching xx

Oodles of Noodoll (s) - discount code!

Hello. Looking forward to the weekend? Me too.

First though, I have someone for you to meet. He is called "Ricetache."

Yep, he's got a moustache on his chops. What a distinguished little fella. He lives in Noodoll Town.
And you can get him for 10% off. Thanks to me!

The offer is for 10% off any purchase from www.noodoll.com and is valid until 21st september at midnight.

 

The code is: doingitinstyle

 

 

Put one in your basket:

The website is super cool.....there are recipes for pad thai, wallpapers for your desktop (I'm sporting a funky cloud design at the moment) e-cards and a whole host of other lovely things.

 

I think Ricetache is my favourite but I also adore Riceroar and the Ricemon gadget case.

 

Ricemon gadget case £13.50

 

Riceroar toy £16.50

 

Decisions, decisions. I never was good at making choices.

 

I first came across Noodoll products in the form of the gadget case above in a little gift shop on the Thames. Then they seemed to pop up everywhere! They remind me a little of the "Ugly Dolls".....only cuter! (more cute?)

 

Noodoll is the creation of designer and author YiYing Wang, who created the Noodoll characters whilst studying for her MA at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. Clearly, all the cool kids study at St Martins!

 

So please tootle along and order something amazing (preferably for me) or as a gift for someone who appreciates the more awesome things in life.

 

You don't get much more awesome than a mouse with a moustache.

Thank you!

I mentioned a little while ago that Wedding Paper Divas were going to send me some personalised cards as a "thank you" for blogging about their website. Well, here they are!

My photo is deliberately a little blurry so that the surprise isn't spoilt for the people I send them out to....(ok, it wasn't deliberate. My phone was just having a funny five minutes!)

I went for a birdcage design in keeping with the rest of my wedding theme and as I'm not sure what my actual colours are yet, I went with the colour that looked the best!

They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to send them out next year when I am Mrs Rebecca/Becky Woodling! (Scary...) The postage was actually quicker than I expected considering they were coming from across the pond but it took me a few days to get them as they required a signature and only delivered Monday to Friday (and I was at work.) However, you can go to the delivery website and select somewhere for them to be left without a signature. I was really pleased with how they turned out so now I need to pick a design for the invites.

After much deliberation, I have decided to make my own "save the date" cards on a budget and order my full invitations from Wedding Paper Divas. Otherwise, costs add up and before you know it, you're bankrupt. Not a good way to start a marriage!

On that note, I went wedding dress shopping today with my Mum and found THE ONE. We've paid the deposit so that's one less thing to organise. I'm having to fight the urge to show a picture but some things have to be kept secret!!

And I suck at keeping secrets.

Wreck This Journal

I wasn't planning on buying anything today... but last week, when I was in TK Maxx I saw a copy of Wreck This Journal for only £5.99. I didn't buy it but I did buy a very lovely purple leather Filofax for £8.

However, I went back today and as luck would have it, it was still there! So I bought it.

Wreck this journal  - by Keri Smith

In case you've never come across this before, it's a notebook that has instructions on every page telling you what to do with it! Super cool.

Things like this:

I can't wait to attack it with all kinds of stuff. I'm going to try and not be too precious about it - although having been an art student for several years I'll probably get hung up on making it "arty."

If you want to see how others have killed it, check out this link to someone's blog about the ongoing process "here"

Maybe I'll even let you follow my progress. X

Buttons and bells wire heart decoration tutorial

Bonsoir! As promised, here is the tutorial (or simple "how to") for making a wire heart decoration wrapped in buttons and bells.

Firstly. gather your supplies:

I got the idea for this tutorial when I saw a similar ornament in John Lewis and thought "I could do that!" I didn't realise it would take so long to make (a couple of hours?) but as I now have the supplies to make a few more, it will end up being cheaper to make than the £6/£7 John Lewis were charging!

John Lewis heart decoration

You could make a few of different sizes and make bunting from them! I hope you LOVE this tutorial as it has taken me an hour to put together!