DIY Diary Cover & 'How To' Guide!

I've been on the hunt for a nice diary for next year for a while now, but all of the pretty ones seem to cost so much! I found a fairly basic one the other day, which has enough room to write all of my homework and deadlines in, but the cover was boring - so I thought I'd spruce it up.

I used some wrapping paper that I've had for a while, and then covered it in sticky-back plastic so that it survives in my school bag (is it just me, or does everything eventually get destroyed if you leave it in your school bag for too long?).

Here's a how-to guide!

And the finished article, tadaa!

(I can't resist but fill in loads of dates when I get a new diary)

On friday I'm off on a week's holiday to Cornwall. I can't wait, but I really hope it doesn't rain all week...

Sadie xxx

Two skirts for the price of one!

Now that the summer holidays have finally started, I've got a lot more free time to do fun things like making clothes! The first project of the summer was to take the hem up on a floral corduroy skirt which I bought for £3. When I had cut the bottom off, I realised I had enough material left to make another skirt! So I now have one puffy elasticated waist skirt, and a straight skirt - which I'd work out to be £1.50 each, haha.

The straight skirt was a bit of a challenge, and it ended up a bit too big really - definitely needs a belt. But on the plus side, I thought that the cord material was quite easy to work with. (Except when my sewing machine decided to suck my skirt through the tiny hole where the needle goes). I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some more corduroy fabric for future sewing projects.

Ooh, and I just had my hair cut :D. It's kindof based on one of Francoise Hardy's hairstyles, but the fringe went a bit weird.

The original skirt

Thankyou for all of your advice on photography with old cameras! It might be worth trying another roll of film - I'll see if I can be a bit more successful this time :).

Sadie xxx

Kodak Colorsnap 35

At a carboot sale a few months ago, my boyfriend bought this old camera (£2). I 'borrowed' it for a few days, and ended up just keeping it... oops! There was an old film inside, which we were going to develop to see if there were any interesting historical pictures on it - but because I didn't have a clue how it worked, I ended up exposing the entire film!

The camera is the first model of the Kodak Colorsnap 35, which was made from made from July 1959-January 1964. Unfortunately, it isn't really worth any more than £3 today, meaning the film and developing cost more than the camera.

After the exposure mishap, I realised the need for an instruction manual and luckily found a scan of one on flickr. I had some spare film at the bottom of a drawer, so I loaded the camera up and spent about a month using up the film, in the hope that I'd have some lovely vintagey pictures at the end! Unfortunately, due to my complete lack of expertise with cameras, every single picture was incredibly blurry and dark. I only managed to end up with about 3 'good' ones (see above!).

Sadie xxx


P.S. My blog is on bloglovin'! Click on this link to follow me :).

Motel skirt

Hello! I was supposed to be going to a carboot sale this morning, but unfortunately when I woke up it was raining :(... so I'll have to go next week instead. Hopefully I'll find some interesting clothes and objects to write about!

I wore this outfit last week. It's my motel skirt, which I promsied to do a post about aaaages ago! I bought it in the sale for about £10. The tshirt is a very cheap one that I modified by cutting off the collar, rolling up the sleeves and tying a knot in the front. And my denim jacket was necessary to keep me warm in the horrible weather we keep having in england! Why can't it just be nice to us for once?

I was tagged recently by Tink in my closet to do this tag:
5 things that made me happy today. Tadaa!

1) Watching all of the Harry Potter films with my boyfriend in preparation for going to see the new film at the cinema!
2) A nice cup of tea and some cornflakes. They always taste so much better on a sunday.
3) Reading some of your blogs!
4) Having a nice lie-in.
5) Organising the photo folders on my new laptop!! Its so fast :D.

I tag Hello Mr Fox, Messy Maisies, Le parapluie deteste la pluie, Lucy in the sky, and Lila Orchidee.

Hope everyone is having a lovely sunday!

Sadie xxx

Style Icon #2 - Florence and the Machine

I bought Florence and the Machine’s album on Saturday, and I’m very impressed! I don’t often buy CDs because they’re so expensive, but this one was definitely value for money. I hope I don’t ruin it by listening to it too much!

The lead singer, Florence Welch, has an incredible, powerful voice (I’m not a music expert, but it definitely appeals to me). If you haven't already heard it, the music is kind of soul-ish indie, and the songs sound really magical.

Florence always has great outfits - quirky, cute and vintage clothes mixed together in an unusual yet brilliant way. It has inspired me to be a bit more experimental with the outfits I put together! What does everyone else think?

Oh, and I completely love her hair. I wish mine could go like that! I’m thinking of dying mine a bit darker and redder – I have done before, but it was only semi-permanent so it faded out really quickly.


And the song that I'm completely addicted to:

I'd like to say a big thankyou to Carrie from wishwishwish.net for featuring my blog on a recent post!

Sadie xxx

On my bike!

I've decided that the plan for this summer is to get fit, although whether that will actually happen is another story...! I find running just too slow and exhausting, so I've opted for bike riding! So here is my bike riding themed post. I actually made two trips out to get these photos because when I got to my location the first time, I realised the camera didn't have any battery left. Ooops. And the second time, it rained on me as a punishment for being so silly.

I tried to make the outfit as Parisian as possible... (of course, it is always important to look chic when exercising!). Some jeans, my favourite boots and my breton top which I tied in a knot because its so long. And a hoodie. I love the effect of tying knots in tshirts - it gives them such a cool shape!

Top - H&M
Jeans - New Look
Necklace - Charity shop
Hoodie - H&M

Boots - Schuh

And just for the fun of it, a nice graffiti picture...

Hopefully I'm going to buy a new laptop tomorrow - one that actually works! It takes about 5 minutes to load a page on the internet on my current one, it's so frustrating!

I hope you're all well :)

Sadie xxx

Red Jacket

Sorry for the delay in posting! It has been so hot here that all I've wanted to do is sit around and eat ice lollies. Its nice having lots of sunshine but the heat is just too much! How is everyone else in England coping with the heatwave?

I thought I'd share with you an amazing red tuxedo jacket I found in a charity shop recently (£3.50). It reminds me a bit of circuses. Its a great shape for me, because I tend to find that this season's blazers just swamp me a bit. I'm not sure if I'd have confidence to wear it out though - it's just a bit bright!

I toned it down with a simple little black dress from Topshop and my gold necklace.

Vintage Blazer - Dorothy Perkins (charity shop)
Black tunic dress - Topshop
Necklace - Charity shop

Sadie xxx

Floral Skirt!

Hello :D. The project for today was taking up this floral skirt, which I bought in a charity shop a while ago. It has been in my sewing pile for a long time (I was too scared to ruin it). As you can see, it was rather long when I bought it - I cut off enough material to make a whole other skirt...

Oh - and I just discovered Picasa - what an amazing invention! It's going to make photo uploads so much easier.

Vintage T-Shirt - Charity shop
Skirt - Charity shop
Belt - Vintage

I'm pleased to announce that exams are finally over!!!!!
Time to celebrate/sleep!

Hopefully this means I'll have a bit more free time for blogging :).

Sadie xxx

Floral Pinafore

I'm sorry for my lack of blogging over the past few weeks - I've been concentrating on exams! (one left - statistics, arrgh!). I'll be blogging a lot more over the summer.

This is one of my favourite dresses, found in a charity shop for £5. At that price, I almost didn't buy it, but I'm so glad I did now! £5 seems so much in a charity shop, even though I'd easily buy something in a normal shop for the same amount - it's really weird. Does anyone else find that? I'm wearing a pink peter-pan collar tshirt underneath, which I've had lurking in my wardrobe for at least 6 months. I've literally never worn it. I'm glad I've found something to wear it with!

You may recognise the knee-high socks from a previous post. I thought they'd fit in with the whole 60s theme!

Me eating an icecream...

Dress - Vintage Dorothy Perkins
Top - Topshop

Socks - Vintage

Shoes - Topshop

I think this is going to be one of my staple summer dresses. I can see it working with my denim jacket, cardigans, a leather jacket (which I don't yet own...), bare legged, with tights, with socks, with leggings... haha, I can't wait to mix and match Gok Wan style!

Talking of TV things - has anyone from England been watching 'Mary Queen of Charity Shops?' I'd definitely recommend it. Although it's making me worried that charity shops will stop selling lovely vintage treasures!

Sadie xxx

Black & White

I've been so busy over the last week revising for my history and economics exams. Hopefully I did ok - but I've got another history one on monday! Its really annoying having to be inside on the sunniest days in the year - although I've been getting quite bad hayfever so I suppose staying inside is the better option.

My outfit today was very simple - just a white t-shirt and a black skirt with some necklaces. I slightly modified the t-shirt though, by cutting off the collar and pinning up the sleeves. I think a lot of my t-shirts will be getting this treatment for the summer! The black skirt is a bit of an American Apparel copy, from Topshop, but bought on eBay. You can't really see the detail in the photos but it has slouchy pockets and a gathered waist.

I was tagged to do this quiz the other day by Hannah, who writes one of my favourite blogs: Hello Mr Fox. Definitely check it out if you haven't already!

1. What is your current obsession? Probably finding bargains in charity shops! I can’t walk past one without going in.

2. What is your weirdest obsession? I love looking at things from the past; 80s CD covers, 60s fashion icons, 70s magazines, tights packets…

3. What do you see outside your window? A robin!

4. What is your favourite colour? All shades of green, except turquoise.

5. What is your weakness? Bargain clothes, even if I never end up wearing them.

6. What animal would you be? Definitely a bird.

7. What would you like to learn how to do? I’d love to be able to play my ukulele better. It’s such a fun instrument!

8. What do you want to never happen in life? I’m not sure really. I’d hate to lose friends or family.

9. What is on your bedside table? A necklace from my boyfriend and some books that I’ll probably never get around to reading.

10. What's the last thing you bought? The skirt in my pictures – from ebay.

11. What do you think about the person that tagged you? Hannah has a really lovely blog and great style. & We share a love of carboots!

12. What was your favourite children's book? I used to love the Sophie Stories by Dick King-Smith – to the point of wanting to change my name to Sophie.

13. Who do you want to meet in person? My mum and dad when they were my age.

14. What did you want to be as a child? A caravan designer – quite obscure, but I loved all of the space saving gadgets!

15. What did you dream about last night? Something about walking around a supermarket, but I can’t remember any more than that.

16. Which do you prefer, day or night? I’m a complete night-owl.

17. What's your favourite piece of clothing in your closet? Oooh, difficult question! Probably my breton top.

18. What's your plan for tomorrow? Well, the aim is to do history revision all day. Whether or not that’ll actually happen is another thing.

19. What would you like to get your hands on right now? Tickets to a summer music festival!

20. What is your must have of the moment? I’d love to own a pair of gladiator sandals.

21. What's your favourite tea flavour? Normal tea. Very strong, with just a splash of milk.

22. If you could go anywhere is the world right now, where would you go? Finland – for the street style!

The rules state that this tag is to be passed on to eight other bloggers - but I pass this on to anyone who wants to do the tag!

I would also like to say a huge thankyou to Corinna of http://lilaorchidee.blogspot.com/ for featuring my blog on one of her posts! Check out her blog for great outfit posts, DIYs and lovely photos!

Sadie xxx