DIY Pocket Patch Shorts

'Sup! 

So, you know the amazing cat pocket shorts from Saturday's post? Yeah, I couldn't wait to try out making my own. I didn't have any cat material but made do with a very pretty floral pillowcase I bought in charity shop! Charity shop pillowcases are my go-to when I need cheap and pretty material in small quantities - sod off C&H with your £5 'fat quarters'! 

In what is quite possibly a first on this blog, this does require moderate sewing. But, as you'll see in my tutorial, I have gone out of my way to do as little sewing as possible! You could even do this project using fabric glue, but I personally like that you can unpick the stitching and sew on different material if you fancy. 

So, here are the before shots - shorts courtesy of Republic as I am currently blogging for them! And you can find the link to a short video tutorial over on Republic's Wear It Your Way blog, if it sounds like gobbledegook in the tutorial below. 

And here's my tutorial:

Ta-daaaa!

I love them! What do you think? 

It was a tad more time consuming than the other DIY's I usually undertake, but I guess there are some things that need a bit more effort. It took about an hour all in all, but I did keep getting distracted by Cheaper By The Dozen! What a film. 

Hope you've enjoyed my latest DIY!

xxx

Monki Love

Today I debuted my first ever Monki purchase - the Addison leggings! I bought them in London the other day after I stayed over after the Company Style Blogger Awards. I was staying in Jen's hotel room which was near-ish Carnaby Street, so I had to pop into the newly opened Monki store before heading home or risk being the lamest fashionista that ever lived! 

(Fur-collar cardi, jacket, glasses and boots - Topshop, blouse - H&M, necklace - New Look)

Monki is a quirky and affordable swedish (well, international now!) brand. A bit like H&M in terms of stock and price range, but with a lot more character. You may remember me posting about their amazing magazine? 

They were preparing for their launch party when I visited the store, which I sadly couldn't go to. This little guy (these funny little creatures are like the Monki mascots) was feeling pretty sad about it too:

This was inside the store. Such an amazing interior for a VM fanatic like myself! It made it so fun to shop!

I fell slightly in love with this dress, but ultimately decided I was getting caught up in the Monki moment and if I still yearned for it when I got home, I could buy it online. The yearning ceased! 

Looks like I'm embracing the printed leggings trend with maximum enthusiasm this Spring! Are you a fan of it? 

What do you make of Monki? 

♥

Feline Fest

I've seen so much cat-related awesomeness recently, I thought I'd share the kitty love and put together a little cat digest for you guys!

Firstly, my Lazy Oaf inspired cat nails! Can't afford the t-shirt? Get the nail pens out!

[It was super easy to do. I used 2 coats of a white Models own polish, painted three quarters of the nail with black polish, added some pointy ears with my Models Own nail pen, then added the facial features using the white Models Own nail pen! I sealed it all in with a gloopy dollop of Seche Vite, the topcoat of dreams!]

How adorable is this phone case from Iconemesis? I don't have an iPhone just yet, so the boyfriend is proudly parading this Gemma Correll phone case on my behalf. He's getting on very well with it and has no complaints at all, other than getting a bit of stick from his mates! Check out the Iconemesis website for more Gemma Correll iPhone cases and designs from loads of other indie illustrators! 

Natasha from So On Trend is hosting a purrfect giveaway to win this kittty print blouse! I'm going to enter it tomorrow!

I've seen these Charlotte Olympia inspired cat face shoes by Missguided doing the bloggy rounds lately, and I'm very tempted to invest!

Cat Atelier is a totally hysterical Etsy store featuring accessories to make your feline fashionable! Roxy would probably deck me if I tried to stick a hat on her, but this store is worth a visit purely for lulz.

And finally, I shall be hunting for cat fabric and DIY-ing some shorts like these ALMOST INSTANTLY.

I think that's the latest in cat gossip - have you seen anything catty and cute lately?

♥

PS - I'm the guest editor over on Republic's blog at the mo! Do check out my first outfit post where I tackle the baroque legging trend! 

The Company Style Blogger Awards!

Last night, style bloggers descended on East London en masse to attend the Company Style Blogger Awards. As I've probably blogged before, Company is my favourite magazine (especially since its recent makeover!) so to be able to chat with the team behind the magazine was, like, amazing. I genuinely felt quite starstruck!

What I wore to the awards (not looking quite on form as this pic was taken at the end of the night!) 

(dress - H&M, biker - Topshop, socks - New Look, boots - Charity Shop, tote bag - Topshop, belt - c/o F&F, goody bag - c/o Company!)

Everyone mingling over a cocktail or three:

Tweets with the #stylebloggerawards hashtag were projected onto the wall:

Company's editor Victoria White and Web Editor Theresa Caney announcing the winners!  

Carrie from Wish Wish Wish winning an award for best photography approximately 1 second after setting foot in the door!

Lily winning Best High Street Blog!

Myspace posing in a balloon - why not? 

My homeys: Kristabel, Jen and Lily!

Me with my award!! Well, AN award. I won diddly squat, but that doesn't mean I can't pose with Lily's award and pretend. Framed prints of this photo are on their way to my relatives as we speak - what they don't know won't hurt them! *Joke*

The stunning shoes on show! 

(L-R: Kristabel, Jazmine, Olivia, Jen, Lily)

We got to see some of the new New Look collection - adoring that dress at the front - very Diner chic!

Yeah, the 'pretend it's ME on the cover!' shot worked out better in my head...

Lucy getting some detail shots of Kristabel's shoes!

Jennifer from Style East showing me her EPIC feline iPhone case. Totally getting one of these when I upgrade in a couple of months. She told me it was only a couple of quid on eBay - scouting around I think it could be this one for £1.15! *Bookmark*

I had to get a couple of snaps of the nail art going on. Check out Lil's Topshop nail tattoos! Gorgeous!

Kristabel rocking some DIY pastel leopard print:

After the fash bash, we headed to The Diner for burgers, fries and 'soda' - American stylee! Yum! 

It was the best night I'd had in such a long time. And, in keeping with International Women's Day, I must tell you I felt very proud to be among so many women blazing trails in the world of print and digital media. Girl power! 

For maximum goss, you can check out who won the awards, what the bloggers wore to the ceremony, and the night in photos over on Company's website. 

Do you read Company mag? And what's your take on magazine blogger awards?

♥

a slave to my sweater

This is what I wore yesterday. I would've posted it last night but I was gorging on the most immense Dominos takeaway ever with our chums Jen and Martin. It was deeeelicious, but perhaps not the best decision when I'll be spending my evening with the creme de la creme of blogging babes tonight at the Company Style Blog Awards! Who knows, maybe rocking up in a maternity smock and smelling faintly of dough will be the next hot trend! 

Forgive me being an major outfit-repeater with my Topshop sweater... we had a big inspection at work and it doesn't look good if I bowl in wearing H&M stuff like I usually do, so I wore my two latest Topshop buys together! I think we can agree it's a different look to my last sweater outing. In this instance I was going for the slutty-chic 'black bra under see-thru sweater' look. What a minx! I ended up freezing my slutty-chic midriff off, so the joke was on me. Just as well I was wearing lipstick because my lips were practically blue! Back to cosy layers, plz. I'm done with this 'edgy' shiz. 

(sweater and jeans - Topshop, lipstick - 'Brighton Rock' by Topshop, shoes - charity shop, hair scarf - H&M, belt - c/o F&F, necklace - c/o Temporary Secretary)

(Roxy - c/o MY DREAMS <3)

I inexplicably awoke 3 hours before my alarm this morning so I'm going to try and get into town nice and early and panic buy many, many items to wear for the Company Style Blog Awards. Argh!! 

I'll be tweeting from the ceremony so follow me on Twitter if you wanna hear the goss!

♥

London Fashion Week Day 1 & 2 video diaries!

After MUCH Youtube grief involving actual tears, I can finally show you my little London Fashion Week video diaries! These videos are not about exquisite quality and perfect angles - they are intended to show you what my London Fashion Week was really like, from the fashion show rejections and queue conversations to my endless quest to make others laugh... Some of the footage was filmed secretly to give you an even more realistic sense of what went on! 

I have spread out Day 1 and 2's antics over two 15 minute clips below, and Day 3 and 4's footage will be along soon! Blood, sweat and tears have gone into making these flaming videos, so you better bloody watch them or so help me god I will hunt you down I really hope you enjoy them ^_^

Part 1:

Part 2:

Let me know what you thought of my LFW life through a (slightly wobbly) lens... 

♥

PS - check out the photo diaries for more details! Day 1, Day 2. 

Old and New

This is a reenactment of what I wore to work yesterday on seemingly the unluckiest shift of my entire life!  I had been wearing different black jeans (Primark, luckily...), and whilst unpacking a makeup delivery, I pulled a nail polish out of its little box and it had broken in transit and therefore grey nail polish glooped its way all over my trousers. I was scrubbing at them with acetone like a loon until my legs went crimson and I admitted defeat. I had to work the rest of the shift wearing some written off jeans from the faulty department - which were missing a button! Nightmare! I felt like the kid at school that's wet herself and has to wear lost property P.E shorts!

Thank god I was wearing my Topshop slubby knit sweater so I could pull it down and avoid flashing my spotty pants to the nation. Fashion FAIL. Oh and then a customer dropped orange nail polish on the floor and it went everywhere so I had to clean that up. Bloody nail polish and its bloody glass packaging. How something that usually brings me such joy can have caused me so much grief yesterday, I'll never know... 

Outfit reenacted with my Topshop Leigh jeans (thank god I wasn't wearing those!)

(shirt +  Russell & Bromley loafers - charity shop, necklace - New Look, jeans + swearer - Topshop)

(lipstick - Brighton Rock by Topshop, nails - Nails Inc in OMP! + Models Own nail art pen)

This outfit features two of my favourite charity shop buys - my Russell & Bromley loafers and my new short sleeved denim shirt. Even though my clothes are mainly old, I've been using something very new to capture them today... My new Canon G12 camera! A very extravagant investment for me, but one that has made things like nail art photos SO much easier. It has so many amazing features (including some Instagram style retro settings) and if anyone is interested I might do a post dedicated to my new gadget to show off its amazingness in case anyone else is thinking of a camera upgrade. 

The case I really want for it is a tad expensive after the initial expense of buying the camera, so I headed to Poundland to see what makeshift protection I could find... 

Enter this amazingly pathetic sequin handbag! None of the camera cases were big enough, so I headed to the 'fashion' aisle... This bag was so flimsy and tragic, I just had to have it. I only need something to prevent the screen getting scratched in my bag, so this is perfect for now! I actually love it :)

Quick nail art photo, because I finally can! This wasn't even fully in focus, but its still really good and the colour is really true to life, etc. Woop! 

Steak and chips time, now (a bit of a Saturday tradition in our house!)

Hope you have a fab weekend <3