New vids from me!

Hey bloggerino. Google analytics tells me that people still seem to visit you, so I thought I'd update you with all the videos I've been making lately! Here's 3 new Make Thrift Buys: 3 new Style Pile videos: And a brand new Outfit Lookbook, where I wear 100% thrifted outfits all week! As always, much love, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Some Outfits!

Hey blog, long time no see! Thought I'd update you on the outfits I've been wearing lately. I've definitely started to be influenced by the 1970s revival that's happening at the moment, and moving more into a monochromatic palette (well, for ME, there's definitely less colour going on. Sometimes.) Also - I dyed my hair blonde, as you shall see! Anyway, here's a couple of my favourite outfits from the past couple of months: Green green greeeen 💚💚💚 wearing an 80s vintage dress, thrifted cardigan and necklace handmade by @kmac.diy 💚 #reusestyleicon #vintage #thrifted #ootd #wiwt A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Mar 30, 2016 at 5:21pm PDT When my partner first saw my outfit this morning he said, "wow, you're really going hard on your theme today, aren't you?" Haha, correct-a-mundo, friend. Today I am a dinosaur. Top is DIY, handmade earrings, designed-by-me PAOM hat and naot shoes 😁 #dinosaurprint #diy #diytop #dinos #babewithamobilityaid #ootd A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Mar 14, 2016 at 8:29pm PDT New video! 🌟 Link in my bio! #embroidery #thestylepile #diy #diytutorial #youtubetutorial #upcycle A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Mar 26, 2016 at 3:39pm PDT Autumnal outfit 🍁 thrifted dress, cardigan and scarf! I went thrift shopping with my mum today and we filmed a video on our top thrift-shopping tips and a little haul ;) it's going to be a fun video ☺️ #ootd #wiwt #thrifted A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Apr 2, 2016 at 12:29am PDT Because it just wouldn't be a trip to the doctors without a bathroom selfie haha. I went for "comfy cute" today. Everything that i didn't make is thrifted too! #ootd #bathroomselfie A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Apr 25, 2016 at 7:18pm PDT Oh, I also got a dog - she is possibly the greatest thing to ever happen to my life. Her name is Ella, and she hangs out with me every weekend when I am feeling sick from chemotherapy/my illness. She's the perfect snuggle buddy/therapy doge! She currently lives at my parents because I can't have dogs at my apartment, but as soon as I move into a pet-friendly place/buy my own place (ha, that's not going to happen with Australian house prices), she will be moving in with me! :D Me: see Ella! Dogs and cats can be friends! Ella: 😒 A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on Apr 16, 2016 at 8:21pm PDT And some more outfits - with BLONDE hair! Woo! Ahh Jenny - this dress is an absolute ✨DREAM✨! It's just as gorgeous in person as it is in your photos. I'm so proud to be the owner of a dress from this collection. You are what the fashion world needs! 💕💕 Everybody, if you're not already, you need to be following @shelovesdresses - her second line of vintage-inspired, 100% ethical clothing with an ethnically diverse range of models has just come out! 💖 A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on May 18, 2016 at 3:52am PDT Ahh the sleeves on this new-to-me thrifted sweater are just 👍👍👍 I have so many cute new clothes after my thrift shop success yesterday, I'm so happy ☺️ #ootd #birthdayootd #wiwt #thrifted #vintage A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on May 23, 2016 at 8:00pm PDT #ootd 💛 tired, dizzy and babin'. I'm wearing all new-to-me thrifted finds, from what I have decided was my best ever thrift haul the other day 😉 this blanket scarf is the cuddliest, best thing ever and I'm going to use it all winter #babewithamobilityaid #spoonie #chronicallycute #wiwt #thrifted #mobilityaid #disability #invisibleillness #butyoudontlooksick A photo posted by Annika Victoria (@littlepineneedle) on May 24, 2016 at 9:58pm PDT Hope you're all doing well, and don't forget that you can always catch me on my youtube channel ;) Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

I am declaring myself the thrifting queen...

...because I obtained this Pin Up Girl Clothing dress secondhand for $5. In exactly my size. This is the original that retails for $108. There's a lot to be said for jumping off your bus in the middle of nowhere in a sleazy neighbourhood because you spotted some very hungover young adults in a sharehouse throwing a yard sale. That's exactly how I obtained this dress. I also got a cute polkadot skirt for $1 - which sadly didn't fit, but I regifted to my friend! That's all. To be honest I'm just popping in here today to gloat. ;)  (Also in case you were wondering, the shoes are from a shop that no longer exists.) Hope you're all having a lovely October 21st (AKA BACK TO THE FUTURE DAY OMG). Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Head-To-Toe Florals & A Handmade Pinafore

Just popping in today with a really quick outfit post, because I've missed doing these regularly! Hopefully I can do outfit posts a bit more often now that I have a nice backdrop to pose in front of.  SO basically, I am super dooooooper proud of this pinafore that I made. It's probably the most professional-looking thing I've ever created - seriously, I can't stop looking down at my neat top-stitching and seams and feeling super proud of myself. Check it out: As for the rest of my clothes: my shirt is thrifted, my tights are suuuper old - can't remember where they're from - and my shoes are from Naot. Also, the pinafore is made out of a thrifted bedsheet and thrifted buttons! p.s. It's National Op Shop week in Australia right now, so there's never been a better excuse to go visit your local thrift shop. Even if you don't live in Australia, you're allowed to celebrate it too ;) Not only are you saving clothes from landfill, this is where your money goes when you buy from an op shop. Have a lovely day, Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Checker Boards & Ridiculous Good Luck

Shirt and shorts are thrifted | Space shuttle necklace c/o Eclectic Eccentricity | Astronaut c/o Ginger Pickle | shoes are no longer sold | earrings are handmade by me | similar tights in my store - many more coming soon! | lipstick is Lime Crime (Wicked) Post preface (I promise that this will all make sense in a moment): You know when you have those vivid dreams where you go out and buy a really perfect dress/your parents get you a puppy/you discover the perfect food, etc etc... and because the dream was so vivid and perfect and happy, you wake up really excited - but then after a few blissful moments you sadly realise it was all just a dream? Alright, keeping that in mind - the most amazing thing happened to me the other day and I'm still pinching myself! For some reason nobody in my family told me about this until now, but my uncle used to run a business which manufactured patterned tights (this was about 10 years ago now) and supplied them to department stores, including stores in Japan. Anyway, there were still a fair few of these tights that were never ever sold, that were just laying around all boxed and packaged up in a basement. And they are -- AH-MAZING -- and still in perfect condition, and, well, they need to be worn and seen by the world (and saved from landfill) rather than being all boxed up! Needless to say, I took them off his hands! While I have selfishly kept for myself all the tights that there were only one design left of (like the ones I am wearing above), there were also quite a few duplicates of some really cool designs - which I'm going to start selling in my store to help support me through uni this year! Believe it or not, that wasn't the end of my good luck. The business also made cute accessories like scarves and scrunchies. For this, they required a lot of cute fabric. Fabric which was also still sitting in large, industrial-sized bolts next to the boxes of tights. Fabrics like tartan, velveteen and paisley, to name a few. And my amazingly generous uncle just let me have them all. I nearly fainted. I now have my own private little fabric shop in my shed. CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THIS? I STILL CAN'T! Please tell me that I am not dreaming! Ahhhh *such excitement* and hooray for family! I don't think I have any excuses not to start up a little store selling my own designs, now ;) I'm thinking that some cute tartan pinafores are in order. Please do let me know if you'd be interested in me making stuff to sell! This was the start I needed to get my designs out into the world. And you know what, if I am dreaming, actually don't wake me up - I'm way too happy right now! :) Bloglovin' | Youtube | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Pretty In Pinup / Pluripotency

Top is DIY | shorts are thrifted | headband is DIY | shoes are from Yeswalker I've been in a heaps pin-uppy mood with all my outfits lately - especially after discovering that doing a beehive hairdo is basically the easiest thing ever (why have I always thought that it was so hard?) I'm also really looking forward to making a dress with this style of top in this fabric, which I am now justified in having bought, after I made so much money selling my clothes today ;) SPEAKING OF WHICH, I am completely, totally overwhelmed by how well that went! At the moment, I've got 14 large packages to haul with me to the post office both tomorrow and on Friday. As luck would have it, the instant that I made my first sale this morning, it started to rain and has been doing so all day long :| which was fantastic, as I needed to give some of the clothes a final wash before sending them out! Grr. I honestly wasn't expecting to sell so much within 12 hours, and thought I'd have more time! (But really, I'm super happy with how well it went). If you missed out, don't stress because I've got LOADS more to sell in the next few weeks. Just keep my store in your bookmarks and keep checking back ;) So, has Annika got any amazing science news today? WELL. Now seriously, if I ruled the world, this would have been front-page, headlining news for several days straight. But unfortunately, that never seems to be the case when an amazing scientific discovery is made. Heck, even the Higgs Boson was largely relegated to puff-piece status. The news is this: Scientists in Kobe were able to create pluripotent stem cells - which are cells that are able to turn into any other type of cell in the body, like bones, hair, brain or liver (read what a cell is in my introduction to biochemistry post) - from already-living white blood cells. The scientists achieved this merely by stressing the cells out and bringing them close to death. When the cells returned from the brink of death, they looked like embryonic cells without actually being from an embryo. Now, this is absolutely amazing because it has never been done before. And if it works on human cells (it works in mice, so chances are looking pretty good for that!), then growing your own personalised organs, just in case your own happen to fail on you, is looking easier and easier all the time! Read more here, it's absolutely fascinating. Update (June, 2014): Apparently these scientists are being done-in for fraud. *Sigh*. Which means that it's possible that cells can't be turned into pluripotent stem cells using this method. Too bad, it was some amazing-sounding stuff. Let's hope someone out there *can* replicate the study! *Fingers crossed* Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Bambi and a Baby Panda

cardigan is Thrifted, skirt is c/o Sheinside, bag is DIY, top is c/o Choies, shoes are c/o Yeswalker Photos by Ashley Dy. I can't remember if I have ever posted my DIY panda backpack on this blog before! But anyway, here it is. I was kind of distraught about having to cut his brains open to make him into a bag, but I sewed him up real good and now he can fit a phone and a wallet! No science post today - I'm too busy studying it instead (in fact, I'm posting this from the library at uni which I went to today to force myself to study. Oops). But I wanted to post this outfit up at least! I don't like going days and days without blogging something - I feel all disconnected from the world, haha. I hope that you're all super well! And thank you for your kind comments on yesterday's post :) Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr

Send Me On My Way

Arrivederci, Australia! Right now, I'm sitting in a hotel room trying to use mobile internet to get this post out - and in just 6 hours from now, I am meant to be getting up and hopping on a plane (ugh, 6am flights!). Anyway, here is my outfit from the other day! I'm really loving stripey things right now, and thigh-high socks! (And I'll have a stripey shirt DIY up in a couple of days, ooh!) I've brought a few pairs of thigh-highs to Italy with me, too, but I don't know if I'll be able to wear them in the summer heat. It's going to be a shock going from winter (and constant rain) to the middle of a heatwave-summer. shirt - Cotton On overalls - Thrifted necklace - c/o MartofChina socks - c/o OASAP shoes - c/o Yeswalker hat - c/o Wholesale Anyway, wish me luck for my flight - I'll be doing some more blogging from Rome, I hope! (I don't have time for a science post right now, but you can read my post about the physics of air-flight, if you missed it the other day!) Oh, and one more thing - everytime I go travelling, I make sure that this song is on my phone: Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root (it's the Matilda song!) Even though I'm a super sciencey scientist and all, and try not to be superstitious... that song is the best for good travelling vibes ;) Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr