Can you wear Navy with Brown?

On Thursday night I had a dinner date with a friend who lives out of town. I had one of those nothing to wear days, until I decided navy CAN be worn with brown.

(slightly out of focus sorry I took this with the self timer, and clearly the camera was ignoring my posing feet)

Selection of charity shop bangles. 

This is my "exotic craft" collection. You know... instead of the bakelite or bamboo collection

(While I remember, go here to see Solanah's Bakelite Tutorial)

 Jewellery spanning many decades

Final outfit (before I remembered I had those cool socks).

I was doing a Wonder Woman pose for some reason - and getting teased for it too!

Shona x

Top (modern), bangles (not very old), ring (70s I think) - all charity shop
Trousers - my own design, some similar ones due in any day now
Brooch and earrings both 50s/60s - somewhere on my travels
Shoes - Hush puppies

Earring Stash

Fiona over at Straight Talking Mama posted about popping all her vintage earrings into zip lock plastic bags. It was funny because I too had just gone through that process and realised it is a darn clever way of keeping them tidy.  

You might remember I used to hang my earrings on pin boards, but that ended up being silly when they fell off, and when I am in summer and going to shows, it would take time both putting them into zip lock bags for travelling and then unpacking them when I got home. Enough of that! 

So I changed my system and now I have a little set of drawers that fit snuggly in a shelf and house all my earrings by colour group. To maximise space I have another couple that house my make-up and brushes, hair clips and nail polishes etc.

Some favourite earrings. The mustard roses are modern and I changed them from pierced backs to a clip back, because they are too heavy and fall forward when they were pierced.

The pin boards now house multi-coloured earrings that I otherwise couldn't find

And my trusty rusty sheriff's badge (bought in Texas, so it's REAL). I haven't worn it yet, but I like to know I have it if I ever need it, like for a shoot out or something

Shona x

Too late for Christmas

I promised you more pictures of that sneaky hose in the back of the shoot, and here they are. I've been wearing this outfit quite a bit recently and while I had a hubby who was bored enough to take photos I thought we would show it to you

This lovely 2 piece knitted number has been a fave since it arrived, like the snow, too late for Christmas. It has a very slight A-line skirt which is just a bit easier on the thigh and tummy than a straight one.

The brooches are both from Acorn and Will and I couldn't resist wearing one of each colour with my outfit - its quite fun that way don't you think? They are so cheap you can afford to let your whims rule you!

The shoes are a fab find from my sister-in-law. She's good to me! 

Have a good Friday

Shona x

Pops of colour

Last week the Wolf and I headed out to see a show so a bit of glamming up was required. Since it is often hot as Texas at the old London theatres, no matter the weather out-of-doors, a short sleeved, easy-wear dress was essential, covered up with a nice thick coat of course! 

I bought these red Honeys and a sister pair in black a few years ago at Heathrow airport on the way out. The Wolf was mortified because we were trying to travel light but I knew I would love them and have them for years. Besides, they were on SALE! 

Some ding dong bright bracelets. Only the bright green one is bakelite and therefore "collect-ably" expensive. The dark green one is Greenstone from NZ. The rest are second-hand charity shop bargains. Below my dress clip you can just see a little dressing trick...I have gathered the sides of my dress with a pin which holds more fabric for longer than the dress clip on it's own. Of course, the clip ought to cover it!

And here's the whole outfit, sans coat. The dress is an early sample of the Mary dress. 

I am also completely make-up less, as I was still recovering from a bad allergic reaction to either cleansers or make up or both - ouch! With this and the settling lotion allergy, I've had a bit of a bad run!

Anyway before I met The Wolf in town, I had an appointment at the Clinique counter to try their Anti-Allergy make up so a bare face was essential anyway. I was impressed that a make over from scratch was free and I got lots of samples in cute pots. I'm a cute pot kinda girl. The foundation itself is still on trial so I will let you know the verdict once decided.

Thanks for letting me share some POPs of colour to brighten up winter, and, if you haven't already, please POP on over and fill in the little blog survey I have running - I wanna know what you like! Here it is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FQZY799.

I hope you have a lovely weekend and do something nice, even just tea with the cat, for you. 

Recent Purchases

As promised, I have some goodies (otherwise known as "bits of old junk") to show you.

Firstly though, I would love it if you could help me out with a quick and dirty survey. It is to help me know what you want to see here on this blog - more of this or less of that - let me know your suggestions too!

Here is a link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FQZY799

Thank you! 

And now onto the bits of old junk

Here's some finds I got at the Hammersmith vintage fair recently. An enamel and bead brooch - possibly 30s, a wire brooch - likely to be wartime, and a green belt buckle - 30s again. 

I love belt buckles, but, as I have mentioned before, if they are on an original card I find it SO hard to separate them and use them. Rather pathetic isn't it? Don't you just love how it states it is the "Latest Novelty"?

Here's a dress that I got that needs some repair work (that'll be a post on it's own). I adore the print and it is a lovely floppy viscose, so it's ok that it needs some love. The buttons I got happen to match and are rather indistinguishable in age since they are quite plain, I suspect 50s or 60s but they could equally be 80s. I have a feeling they might end up on a jacket to match this dress though, so that would be 60p well spent!

Have a good day and thanks again for your help with the survey!

Shona

Bling Bits and Dancing

Last Thursday Mr Wolf and I went with a bunch of dancing friends to the International Ballroom Dance Championships at the historic Royal Albert Hall. It was the 59th (!) year it was held there.

First up - what does one wear? It is absolutely impossible to arrive overdressed at such an event, unless you happen to have a barrel of swarzkofski crystals and oystrich feathers you can dunk yourself into. A lot of people come straight from work, so the audience is just in "whatever". But me, well, I am, (as you might be aware) never KNOWINGLY under-dressed. To bridge the comfort + dressy gap I decided to glam up one of my Mary dresses with a couple of bling bits (bought in the States, not vintage). They are just brooches, and in a flash of inspiration I picked up two, not just one, to act as dress clips.

The effect was really very good, considering three ladies stopped me to ask where I got my outfit! Now, I know the dress is my design and all, but really, the effect of two cheap modern pins would work the same on any plain dress. Perfect for desk-to-date days and light weight holiday packing too.

The event, which was compared by a friend of mine (name dropper me!) Karen Hardy of Strictly Come Dancing fame was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. And that was just the outfits! Of course, they are not vintage - but "vintage" includes being obsessed with a darn good dress. Which I am.

Of course I took about a gazillion photos, and here are just a few. (sorry, some are a bit fuzzy, they moved a bit fast for my camera at a distance in the dark)

Weee!...Cinderella moment

Stunning colours in the heats

This lady was one of my faves of the latin finals, probably mostly because of her Marilyn-esque hair

This Danish couple won the Professional Ballroom division. And she got my vote for best dressed too.

If you have a young daughter I bet she would LOVE this type of event. Maybe not this particular one as it is long and runs late, although there was one tweeny in our row who was completely transfixed.

The men though, well, as nice as they are, I do prefer mine a bit rougher and hairier. Just as well huh?

Pin up Jewellery

I hope you have all entered in the dress give away and made sure that you leave a comment for EACH entry you make. One comment saying you have tweeted and blogged will only be counted once remember. You have until Friday 29th midnight BST before Fleur closes the competition. Good luck to everyone!

I am thrilled at how many new followers have come to join in. Hello Lovelies! I will organise another give away to celebrate soon. You lucky people!

You know I am away on holiday at the moment, but I was good and prepped this blog before I left, though now I see that it never got posted automatically when I wanted it to. Hello Blogger - whatsup? Anyhoo, with the magic of the internet, here it is!

While I was packing and sorting and organising, stressing a little, then organising some more, as you do before you go away, I managed to tidy up my jewellery collection (I had super hero powers one afternoon), so it is worth showing you now while it is looking nice!

I have learnt to manage my china jewellery obsession. 

My favourites are these one colour flowers, as opposed to posy's of flowers (which I still love, but can now walk away from if I have to)

My "dressing table" is the most ingenious ever, and it was here when we moved in. I think it might have been used as a computer cupboard, in that it is a converted wardrobe, with a wide table height shelf a bright light above, and a higher, narrower shelf that holds my old mirror perfectly.

I can shut the doors on all the mess and my perfume bottles are kept well away from sunlight (which makes them go off). I have drawers under the big shelf for curlers, hair flowers and girlie junk, and there is two plugs for hot rollers/hair dryers. Heaven!

I call it my "Shrine".  Tee hee.

A Electrical wire broach, typical of wartime jewellery

In order to sort my jewellery collection, I have 4 small pin boards pinned around the walls of my shrine.  They are arranged approximately by colour which makes it easy to choose what I want. I also put away ones that are "out of season" in some way - such as shell earrings, pineapples and anchors after summer is over. 

Here are some of my favourites...

The poor wee scottie dog has gone through the wash by mistake...Twice! Sorry little guy!

A bit of bling from the 50s.

The "Peggy Sues Panthers" tiny trophy thing always makes me smile, I wonder if it was given out as a prize, or if you joined a dancing club. I am sure it was treasured. 

You can see I am not limited to only vintage pieces. That ring on the right I picked up from a street vendor in NY and I love it as much as my 50s opal on the left (a car boot fair scoop!). Each piece as a story to tell, how I came across it, who I was with, or who gave it to me, which seems appropriate for any kind of jewellery, modern or old.

Maybe when I am old myself I will write notes to go with them such as "bought on holiday in LA" or "lost and found these earrings three times" or "do not machine wash!", so the next owner can know a little more about their history, and know that they were treasured in their second life with me.

Shona x