T'was the season to be Jolly!

...Cept I wasn't much. Christmas had me a bit bogged down with a head cold which seemed to get progressively worse. We had a very quiet Christmas planned and I was grateful for that on the day. 

Still I did wear two different outfits

This dress seems a bit unlikely for Christmas, until one sees that it has pine cones on it!

Here's those holly leaves again

Our two trees. The little one in the foreground (table top sized) was made by my clever Mother-in-law. It lights up and looks gloriously cartoonish - a bit Dr Seuss like in fact.

Tinkerbell atop the tree. She isn't really a Christmas decoration...in fact you can see the rubber band strapping her legs to the star for some stability, poor girl. We needed a decent fairy and she's already wearing green so she got the part

lots of our other "statues" had got in on the dressing up act too

The second outfit of the day was warmer. The earrings and brooch were a gift from Mr Heyday and there's the Christmas Bauble decorations, just two of them, since I wasn't up to doing the elaborate do I had first imagined. Still, I'll pack them away and they'll come back out next year.

One did make it onto the cake though (unworn and clean, don't worry!).

I think it makes my overflowed icing look quite wonderful, and goes with the tree, don't you agree?

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas

Shona x

P.S. Do follow us on Facebook or our newsletter by joining up on my website, as we will be announcing our New Years Day sale

How to make Bauble Hair

Hello! We are on the Christmas countdown now. Not long to go! I like Christmas. I think it is fun, but only once you've got ALL THE THINGS done. Up until then the stress is a bit pants. We've had a very laid back  season so far, but I've seen all types of bad manners due to stress on the high street. I'm staying out of it now until the sales hit.

I had so many ideas for Christmas themed outfits to wear to dances and to show you but a big ole lurgy hit me Friday afternoon so I've ended up staying in. Boo. It was my own fault - it happened when I thought to myself "ohh maybe I can spare a few days and just chill out". It is always when the respite comes that the bug arrives on your doorstep to stay eh?

Nevertheless, I have remade my Christmas Bauble ears from Disneyland into something less Mickey and more...err, Shoney. I thought you might like to make your own so here's what I did...

1. Hunted down rubber bands, hair clips and sorted the baubles into piles so that I didn't have two of one colour on a clip. I thought I would do 3 on a clip but that looked a bit limp, so it was groups of 5 and 4 in the end. BTW, that is my festive table cloth this year. Cool huh? I like it so much it will have to come back out at Easter.

2. Cut the rubber bands to end up with a "string" of rubber. I found this really easy to work with as the stretch makes it easy to tie the band tight enough so the baubles bunch up. Plus, they are free in the UK since the postman uses them all the time and walks them right to your door. Thread the rubber band through the clip.

3. Thread the balls onto the band too. At this stage I decided a green bow would be a nice finishing touch, as well as to fill in the gaps between the baubles. I tucked the ribbon in so that I could tie it neatly after the whole thing was secure. Tie the rubber tight using a reef knot, tie the bow using a bow.

4. This is how it looks so far. While the green ribbon adds a touch of class (as you know, I'm ALL about class. ha ha, wink, wink), it just needs something else. Cue curling ribbon applied with unabashed abandon.

5. The end result! I plan to nestle these among a fancy curled up-do, but we'll see what happens on Christmas Day and how I feel. At worst I can roll my hair up and let these do all the talking.

Sending you warm festive cheer

Shona x

2012 Christmas giveaway winner!

And the winner is....

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Number 35 is The Forties Floozy. Here she is looking cold but festive. Miss B, send us an email to shop@heydayonline.co.uk with your real address on it and we will get these clips out posted tomorrow.

If you fancy creating your own festive shoe clips/hairflowers (or for birthday or wedding or just mondays), see The Glamourous Housewife's instructions on her blog. I love that my clips inspired her crafting and that now I can link back to her. The wonders of blogland!

Don't her's look so pretty?

Actually come to think of it, every Monday really ought to be shoe clip day don't you think? 

Hope your Christmas plans are going well.

Shona x

Last Minute Christmas Giveaway

I wore a christmasey outfit to dancing last Friday. I have so many self-decorating ideas that I realised I had to start early! I bought these from Gemma who is making all sorts of lovely hair clips.

Some of our students fell completely so completely in love with the idea of the holly on the shoes that I know they have been checking the blog for details of where to get their own. *waves hello*

First I had to check they are still in stock, and in doing so secured 3 more to do a little giveaway this week for your own set of holly clips. The berries will be slightly different from mine as Gemma is running out. 

They come with a hair grip (sometimes called an alligator clip I think) on the back and I found that was secure and comfortable on the straps of my shoes.

 This one was onto a safety pin through my dress

If you'd like to go in the draw to win a set of 3, just leave me a Merry Christmas message of some description in the comments section. We are going to keep it just between me and the 610 of you so no need to blog and tweet about it unless you want to!

We'll close the competition at Thursday Noon British Standard Time, to give us just enough time to get the winners address and get them in the post on Friday. If you are in the UK then you should get them for Christmas, and if you aren't, well you can save them up for next year!

If you'd like to see what other clips Gemma has, here is her web boutique:

Go to it!!

Shona x

Other Outfit details:

Dress: Vintage ebay or etsy. I took fabric from the hem to make the belt

Shoes: Aris Allen, my most comfy dance shoes (rather scuffed now)

When it is more cost effective to make your own ears

At Magic Kingdom in Florida it seemed to me every cool person had some kind of Mickey/Minnie mouse ears, or a goofy hat, or a WHOLE PRINCESS OUTFIT. (Me? Jealous much?). I investigated the cost of buying such a headpiece but at $17 for your standard ears to look like everyone else seemed a little dear. Even a nutter such as myself wouldn't find much use for them again until the next time I visited.

So I made my own.

The plan was to make two sets of "ears". A Minnie Mouse bow to be worn as above and a Christmas Bauble set of ears. These are the sorts of things I think about when waiting in queue to go on a ride! 

 I had already purchased felt squares (yes I spend time in craft centres while on holiday). I had a few twisty ties from the bread bags, a rubber band, my mini sewing kit (thanks Jenny), and a bit of ribbon from a chocolate box (yum). I stumbled over the mini baubles at Forever 21 (good for hair flowers in there) and picked up some of those snappy hair clips.

 Minnie's dots took the longest as I didn't have any glue so they needed to be stitched on, but still, quick enough.

Ta dah! Then I put my hair up in pigtails, backcombed them until I looked quite a fright and doubled the ends over. It's falling down a wee bit in this pic, but it lasted all day with a few tweaks

The Christmas themed ears were to wear on the official first Christmas party. Basically I just threaded the baubles onto two clips using a couple of twisty ties on one and a rubber band cut in half, then knotted, on the other. I was "Make Do and Creating" with what was on hand.

The ears had height because the baubles are strung together tightly, so they bunch up. I'm oddly proud of the fact that The Mad Hatter in the parade noticed them and gave me the thumbs up. It was a bit like a royal seal of approval!

 I think I'm going to do a similar thing but in smaller bunches all nestled in my hair for a Christmas dance.

Being on holiday in a hot place meant I didn't take too much real vintage. I didn't wish to be spending any of my holiday hand washing or ironing and so there are some old normal civilian t.shirts in my pics. I do apologise! In my defense I was prepared to leave these behind if I found good vintage bargains and had run out of space, which can happen in the vintage hunting mecca called the U.S.A (Universal Shop for Antiquities).

I leave you with the final pic of Sleeping Beauty's castle at midnight. Pretty huh?

Shona x

How many Cinderella shoes is enough?

I had a different kind of get together with friends recently. We get together to be tended to by a vintage hairdresser, and as it was the last weekend in November, a bit early for too much tinsel. 

The time felt right for a tiny sprinkling of Christmas magic though so I made up an easy party theme:

"Dust off your Cinderella shoes"

By definition, a Cinderella shoe is one that you must get out of by midnight, which is when you cast them off to hobble home bare footed, and while not practical for everyday use, are very useful for hooking a prince.

Of course the blokes didn't really have any Cinderella shoes, but they arrived  looking stylish

It turned out to be a better theme than I thought it would, since I made sure everyone knew that the rest of the outfit didn't matter. Casual clothes on a blustery wintery day makes sense in London

The number of "arriving" shoes I have is quite extraordinary, though I didn't think so until some of the ladies gazed at the tree and asked "are they ALL yours?" 

But of course! In truth these are just my brightest ones on the tree, I have far more. But YOU guys knew that.

Having said that, I've bought most of them at car boot fairs, charity shops etc and since my classic vintage style doesn't change, some of these on the tree I've had for 10 or 15 years (it would have been longer if I'd stayed in one country), and some I only paid £2 for. Plus I think it is the easiest way of glamming or funking up any outfit as well as lifting your spirits.

How about you? Could you fill a tree with Fantasy Shoes?

Shona x

10 reasons why you should holiday for a month

Hello lovely followers!

Sorry you haven't heard peep from me for so long now. Lets see now... I've recently come back from a really long trip to Orlando, Florida for a seriously needed RnR. And before that, I was running around getting organised work wise and other stressful-things wise. I was very glad for the trip coming just at the right time.

Our holiday was for a whole month (yes I KNOW!) and we haven't had a break that long since we were on our way over to the UK, over 10 years ago. I must say, my time efficiencyometer loved it and here's why:

1.  After 2 weeks I really felt like I was on holiday. There was a difference in the chill out factor level from there on in.

Universal Studios car and a Tart.

2.  We had plenty of time for not doing anything much. We had days packed full of the theme parks and other days chock-a-block full of books and napping

3.  It is more time efficient to go away for a longer time than have two or more short breaks. Granted, it is not often you can go for a month, but there is something to be said for making all that holiday planning, packing, just-must-do-this-thing-for-work-ing, not to mention jet-lag and travelling, worth your while.

Photograph, taken in 1930 on display at Miami International Airport

4.  We got settled into a bit of a routine, we knew were to get our groceries and how to get around quickly, saving planning time and holiday stress

6.  If we got distracted by an outdoor bar drenched in sunshine offering happy hour cocktails served by fun bartenders, so what?

Mr Heyday at a bar at Universal Citywalk (there were a few)

7.  It was cost effective. Since we based ourselves in one self-contained condominium for the whole stay (which are cheaper than you'd think), we got an extra 20% discount off the total, which made the trip much more possible. The per day rate on the rental car was also better.

5.  We had time to go back to places if we really liked it. Including vintage shops (but of course)

Me with Barb, the most entertaining vintage shop owner I could have met, I'll let you know where when I find her card!

8.  We could do little bits of work (necessary when running a small business) and not feel resentful that we were supposed to be on holiday because it didn't really get in the way

9.  We have come back ready and eager to get back into work because we were away long enough.

10.  Simply because life is too short not to make the most of it when the chance comes up - but you knew that already!

(He might hate me for this) Mr Heyday, impressed at the fake snow at Magic Kingdom (it will only be too soon before we get it for real back in the UK)

Our flights were courtesy of BA air miles, mostly clocked up on hubby's American Express card for his business - proving it really does pay to buy into some of these reward programs!

So now that we are back there is so much to tell you - holiday stories, shopping tales and of course we will HAVE to do a Christmas giveaway especially since we are now over 600 followers, but first dear readers, the most important thing to know is that we are running a Christmas Countdown, with a different BARGAIN each day. The deal of the day and the code to use will be announced on Facebook and Twitter, so make sure you follow us there. And if you have joined our newsletter I will send advance notice next Wednesday of the following weeks discounts (sorry, this weeks one has gone as a thank you to those who already have signed up)

We'll see you back here soon

Shona x