Valentine Treats

Do you still wear red or pink on valentines day?
Well if you do here some lovely treats from etsy, I love the red Grecian dress teamed with the heart fascinator from TopsyTurvyDesign.

This pink pleated dress is unusual, and teamed with a cute confectionery themed fascinator from TopsyTurvyDesign, what a difference a year makes, this time last year I was buying my first and looks like only TopsyTurvyDesign.

Oops Me Bad

Isn't this white dress a cutie? I was torn between these two and guess what I have both. I did not intend to win I bidded hours before the eBay auction was due to end, so I was sure to be outbidded on both. So now I ruffling through the wardrobe wondering what can I sell to cover the £30 shortfall, and have reduced my night out budget by £20, so basically travel and entrance and one drink.
I have a vintage film mag, a vintage jacket and sparkly burlesque thong that I am willing to part with.



Now that Im looking at it, it was the pleats that did it.

Hows the Job Search?

Again I had an interview again I was given the reason for my possible not being accepted due to the fact I live too far away. Again I gave my speech that their are not enough jobs in the local towns to accomdate everyone so people have to travel, noone wants to travel for 1.5hr journey if they didnt have too.

If I had a job

Sunday browsing on Etsy, when I buy vintage I always have a budget, unless its a speical occasion so these three favourites are over it. As to my special dress I was wondering about buying, Im think Im over it and the postage price is as much as the starting price of the dress, making it over the budget. So just to make sure I dont win it, lets jinx it by posting the picture.

Ebay Flogging

You are probably wondering what items in my wardrobe I would part with in exchange for the fifties gingham dress. While I relisted my 1930s nightgown I purchased from silkenflame at a low price as the major flaw which can only be seen in sunlight, was never mentioned in the listing, means that I cant command anywhere near the price I paid for it. I don't know why sellers don't check their items in daylight to check for flaws, I'm constantly looking at my items Im trying to sell and update the listing accordingly, this is probably because I am not a business with hundreds of sales.
I finally put up the Trixie dress,this is the first time I bought into hype, I'm a big believer that non thin people can still dress slim, which this dress doesn't do. It may be a reproduction style but it was cut to modern standards so the waist comes low, which gives me the illusion of huge hips, I may be overweight but I am not a fatty yet.

I adore this cardigan but I think my days of wearing it are over, I haven't worn it in over two years but I love the print, but Mama needs money and doesn't want to part with the deadstock carriage dress.

I also put little books and DVDs to cover those eBay costs, but not being able to charge for postage and packaging is a real killer to the small profits, I have lots of DVDs I could sell and books on costume and vintage, I have one book which only 100 were every made, its about a diamond house Van Cleef & Arpels, but books are expensive to post, so not worth the trouble.

Time to Sew

I have lots of fabric left over from the University days, I left my overlocker at my Aunts so theirs no chance of me being able to use the jersey fabric.
But I bought some african print fabric to orginally do a 50s sarong dress, but I seem to not find the right pattern to complete the task so I was thinking of using Vogue Pattern V2961.
Strike that thought, bodice back is missing! How I would love to make a pattern for this dress, which I didnt buy as £25 for postage is too much.

The Ones that got aways

I have a dream about the vintage item that got away, its a one of a kind gold sequin girdle on sale for £49.99, it had been made to celebrate the selling a million girdles by the brand. At the time I didn't have any cash but I could of put it on credit, I didn't want to in case I became one of those people that's run ups £10,000 on credit cards because they want to maintain a certain lifestyle. I thought the item would be re listed on eBay but it never appeared again. The reason I'm talking about this is I have a dilemma, I seen this dress its very special, so I'm wondering if I should sacrifice my night out for years of glee or let it become another unicorn.

Sometimes its Good sometimes its Bad

Is buying vintage like having art?

The reason why I ask this question is that vintage clothing tends to keep its value unless you overpay, when I have had bad months, I could always rely on my vintage finds to generate the majority of income to keep me going, sometimes its dolls, sometimes its Burlesque items other times its clothing, and when Im wealthy again I buy it all again. But the main reason I thought of this question as I think of those ladies who bought lots of nice shoes and modern clothes but cant pay all the bills, I think what a shame they didnt buy something of value, that they could of sold of.

My health kick isnt going so well, I keep being tempted, and running around on the pavement actually is painful on the ankles, on a good note I have an exercise ball and a book on home exercises I got from the library, so back on the wagon.

My Good Luck?

I havn't been posting recently as I have been attending to the job situation and selling alot on eBay to fund my night out at the end of the month. I have wanted this item from etsy since before Christmas but someone reserved it, I thought I had lost it until I saw it as available. Straight away I found three items to sell on eBay to cover the cost. I have always wanted another dress with a matching Bolero and it has its belt intact, and its my first 50s dress in a year.
But now I have found two more lovelier dresses on eBay, each without matching bolero and belt, if only it could of been put on hold for four days. Back to the cupboard maybe its time to try again with the dead stock 50s dress and that black beaded dress I bought for Christmas which didn't touch the spot.



I plan to lower the neckline as it looks matronly, and take it in as its currently an xl size.

Fat Day

I dont really have a special fat day wardrobe, because my hips are in between sizing generally all my clothes are a little big, so even when I put on a little weight is not noticable. However my pink bridemaid now fits me perfectly gone is the 2inch gap on either side, so its time restart the health kick. My downfall is chocolate and cake, I dont have it everyday but I have it Fri/Sat/Sun, their is an unspoken rule that multipacks of crisips, chocolate and biscuits are not allowed otherwise they will be consumed in one sitting. I did join weight watchers did it for 3 months and put on weight, then I ate nothing but veg for a week and lost 8lbs, Im not going down that route eating veg all the time was boring, plus I am at home too much to stick to it.

Now that this dress fits me I actual quite like it, and it has an in built crinoline one of the few things I have not yet bought. I might wear it to another wedding, but my Aunt remembers every occasion were I wear vintage so probably not.

I have a thing for deadstock

I have a thing for deadstock clothing, yeah its never been worn and the belt are often still included, but mostly I like the labels, its a little brief history of clothing manufacture.

Victoria Jackson Makeup

For christmas I received some money, typically it went to keeping me afloat and putting down the cat, but a small part of it went to this cosematic line being sold in my local shopping mall, I had seen it before, being promoted in Whsmith, and thought it was one of those con makeup lines. As I had a little money I thought why not have a look at the demonstration. What sold me was the lipsticks and the bronzer, I found it hard to find a good bronzer that doesnt have large gawdy glitter particles, and the fact I needed to buy a present for my Aunt (she got the doll kit).
Once I had brought my £30 purchases home, I wanted to find out more had I been conned?
I have seen that through American discount makeup websites you can get the bronzer for much less, but as I dont live in America that not much help.

My review posted on handbag.com
I have recently bought four Victoria Jackson products for £30 and was impressed with the quality and the fact it also suited non mixed raced black skin. For those of you who are able to buy cheap makeup, then you are lucky cheap eyeshadows and bronzers from brands like Loreal, sleek and Gosh always look chalky and ashy on dark skin, I have always had to buy Mac and Bobbi Brown.
I received a bronzer with the aplicator brush, which has fine gold particles, and is just as good as mac and cheaper. The packaging even looks like Mac, I thought it was Mac repackaged but at a cheaper price. I also got the 12 mini lipsticks, and even the red shade is flattering and the mint scent doesnt fade away as soon as you but it on it not Greasy like sleek, it may not be as nice as Juicy tubes but you get more colours. I then got the doll kit which comes in a nice container and has nice lip colours and eyes shades (more for white skin). The fourth product I got was the eye crayons, if you have dry and wrinkle skin, the crayons glide on easily to create an easy smoke eye effect. Im not a makeup expert so this, stuff is easy to use and quick.
These product is not a con if it does the job and if you look at the prices she charges on the American website it a bargin. Their are two make up brands called Victoria Jackson, ones really cheap nasty makeup, which isnt the one being sold. Im not a person who can afford to regularly buy makeup so at less then £8 a product I dont think I have been conned. The salesman may be pushy but at the end of the day they are on commission and need to earn like everyone else. Im probably not the target age group as im early twenties, but I appreciate quality and am satisfied.

Snowed in

The ridiculous cold weather and no central heating, has meant I have regretted my vintage dress buys and what I really should of bought is a nice jumper dress. I looked forward to a bath and a bed, its that cold!

Goodbye Old Friend

When I was nine I bagged my mum to get me a cat, My Gran knew a lady whose prized breeding persuian cat had got jiggy with a local tom resulting in a litter of mixed kittens. When trying to select two kittens to take home, I saw a kind of tortuoise shell cat playing with a black cat (Dillion). I named my turtouise shell cat called Tabitha after the Beatrice Potter character. Dillion and Tabitha lived in each other pockets and when Dillion wandered of in the summer of 2009 aged 16, she cried for days out in the Garden for him, after that she hardly went out and slept and slept. By December 2009 she was refusing to go outside to the toilet. So in the end the decision was made to put her to sleep, it was so quick, she had gone floppy by the time the injection was fully in her system and stopped breathing after 12 seconds.
I took her home and buried her in the garden she hated the garden she would of much prefered to be buried inside at home.

Goodbye to to the decade

It feels like I have been waiting for a long time for this decade to be over. Alot of the time it has been a whole lot of nothing with a few highlights and quite a few downers.
I cant name any particular highlights at least no one died, just serious illness and breakups.
The sparkling optimism of reaching 2000 is long gone. I didn't go and watch the London Fireworks, as they are lame, the only time they made a big fuss was in 2000, especially when you compare them to Edinburgh and I have seen local councils fireworks that had more effect put into them.


Canaby Christmas Decorations

My favourite Presents

I adore vintage Barbie, they say that those who don't have Barbie as children are more likely to become collectors as adults. This book is so fun, however the 50Th Anniversary doll is disgusting not worth £49.99, In my opinion the vintage Barbies are more sophisticated, and doesn't every girl want to be a lady like Mummy.
I love British Hammer Horror films, so why not have a book on the glamorous ladies of the 60s and 70s, and learning the art of bombshell makeup, painting on lower eye lashes, mastering the eye liner flick and shape lips with lip liner.

I also got three pairs of earrings, a creole pair, platinum beauties with a diamond and old silver heart teardrop earrings.