Happy Feet

Happy Sunday! After almost 6 months of hard work, I finally finished my case study and practical project and couldn't be more relieved. Now, there is only an essay and two features standing between 3 weeks of work experience at NME, lots of exciting summer projects and mini holidays, lots of reading time and perhaps most excitingly, graduation! (more on that in a bit)

With most of the hard work over, Kev and I decided to treat ourselves this weekend. His mum ever so kindly sent us up a sainsbury's voucher to pick ourselves some shopping so we indulged in the ingredients for homemade cocktails and ended up with a delicious concoction of cherry brandy, amaretto and cranberry that tasted just like Cherry Bakewell cakes. I thoroughly recommend! 

On Saturday morning, we got up bright and early for a bit of retail therapy. The sun was shining and we had a lovely long peruse around Huddersfield Market before stopping off for a massive chippy lunch. It always baffles me when so many of my coursemates say they've never visited the market - it really is a treasure trove of all sorts of stuff, from crazy cheap furniture and vinyl records to amazing vintage buys, often sold by lovely Nana's who are up for a chat.  

However, the single best thing about Huddersfield Market has to be what is colloquially known as 'The Topshop Stall'. Basically, it's an amazing stall that sells all manner of out of season items from Topshop, Miss Selfridge and occasionally, H&M. I'm not sure how they do it and it can be hit and miss as to the variety of sizes on offer or the conditions of the garments, but I'm pleased to say that this saturday, they made my shoe dreams come true...

 You guys will have seen me harping on about these on the blog multiple times, but finally they are mine, allllll mine! (evil laugh). They were sat all innocently jumbled along all the massive heels and clutch bags and nobody seemed to be looking at them, but when I saw that flash of white I leapt on them and was ecstatic to find that they were first in a size 6, and second, only £12, a massive £26 less than they were in Topshop last summer. Good things come to those who wait eh? My day with topped off even further when I picked up a beautiful Topshop beaded dress for just four pounds because some of the beading was a little off. It's exactly what I wanted for graduation and as it was selling originally in Topshop for £70, I'm feeling pretty thrifty. Sadly, putting pictures on here of it so many months in advance feels a little like posting your wedding dress before you wear it, so you will all have to wait till July to see that one.

Here are my shoes with a couple of wired hair bows I also picked up from Primark for £1.50 each - I've been planning on buying some for ages. they're a lovely way of girlying up a simple jumper and jeans combo and I love the way the wire holds the bow in place. I'm very happy with how my spring wardrobe is shaping up, and on such a great budget too. You can also see a little polka dot number that I picked up last week from eBay for just 99p - the floaty chiffon will be perfect for pub garden trips or the university awards night I will be attending in the week.

What have you been treating yourself to recently?

How to: Summer Hair Bow/Head Scarf

Hello! Bit hot isn't it? With summer well and truly kicking and the cafe I work in closed for summer, I have found myself with a lot of crafty time on my hands but not a lot of money. Henceforth, lots of cheap tutorials! This one was inspired by my favourite dress, a forest green button down tea frock that I bought last summer at Leeds festival. drawn to its beautiful print, it was waaaay too long for me so i lopped it off at the knee and kept the spare fabric in a box... until now! inspired by the whole two piece matchy trend I've spotted a lot of people sporting recently, and of course, my love of retro fashion, I thought I'd try my hand at showing you all how to make an easy hair band/hair scarf that takes hardly any time to make.

You Will Need:

• Fabric - check it goes round your head with some left over to make the bow. Exact measurements are pointless - everyone's head size is different You can use whatever thickness you like - I normally find 3 inches gives you versatility to go for an alice band style if you fold it over, or a more traditional 50's housewife vibe if you don't. The fun is in the experimentation!
• Pins
• Needle and Thread (or sewing machine)
• Scissors

1)gather your materials - check that your thread is the nearest matching colour you have to your fabric
Iron out fabric and fold into preferred thickness
2)turn fabric inside out, pin edges for a neat finish
3)use tacking stitches to secure into place
4)sew edges together and sew one end up
5)turn inside out and sew, sew the end up
6)tie round head and voila!

What do you think? ignore my frizzy hair, this heat is playing havoc with it and it is badly in need of a good relaxer!

Pretty cute eh? you can experiment with all sorts of thicknesses or even add bead embellishments or embroidered patterns, even better if you can match them to a dress or top. They're great for tucking your hair up in a rush, or if you're like me, hiding your frizzy roots! For a better example, see here for the one I wore (with matching dress) when I interviewed Alt J in Leeds )also a cheeky plug for my other music blog, safetyinsound.com)