Body Movin'

I thought it was about time to leave the house to take some photos for once. I used to always take outdoor photos, but the convenience of my little strange set up with a bit of patterned fabric as my background has meant that I've gotten lazy and started taking all my photos there. But it also means I've been able to take a whole lot more outfit photos, because I don't have to drag someone along with me to be the photographer.  So it's a win/lose situation! Anyway, I hope someone appreciates the diversity in photos today :) This new boater hat, tights and bag are c/o wholesale-dress (yes you read that right! Wholesale-dress - only my favourite online store, as you will know if you read my blog - sent me a lovely gift!) anyway, they are seriously amazing! I really was in need of some new hats, I wear the same old one from that I got from wholesale-dress about a year ago ALL THE TIME, and it has held up extremely well seeing as it was only $2, but it's nice to have something new to wear as well. This one was $4, but even though it was so cheap I was extremely impressed by the quality of it! Same goes for this satchel bag ($8). Find the links to the individual items below. Wearing: Sweater - Wholesaledress Boater - c/o Wholesaledress Bag - c/o Wholesaledress Skirt - Wholesaledress Tights - c/o Wholesaledress Shoes - Wholesaledress Ribbon Collar Thing - DIY Cameo Brooch - Ebay Ah.. Okay. The outfit is actually about 90% Wholesaledress stuff (everything except my collar thingy & brooch), which I completely didn't realise until writing that list just then! Goodness gracious. Well, I guess I think they're pretty rad. Music for this look is my favourite Beastie Boys songs in memory of MCA, who sadly passed away just yesterday. RIP MCA. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic Beastie Boys - Body Movin' Beastie Boys - So What Cha Want Hope you're having a sweet day! xxx Annika

All the vintage ladies put your hands up!

I love vintage. You may have realised this, if you have read my blog for, oh, more than two blog posts. I made the lovely realisation the other day that more than half my wardrobe is thrifted goods. In fact, it's probably about 2/3 vintage. I'm pretty proud of that, I have to say! I'm very lucky to live where I do, I have realised, because I've been getting lots of comments lately to the effect of "I wish vintage stores/op shops in my area were as good as yours!!" Solution to your problem? Maybe so. The eyelet sweater I'm wearing is also pure, lovely vintage, but is actually from an online store, Shoppalu vintage. One of my new sponsors, Shoppalu vintage is super neat because you can fill your wardrobe with awesome vintage but skip that whole part of going to the op shop and sifting through mountains of smelly second hand stripey polo shirts from the 90s and the like (especially good if you don't have particularly good vintage stores in your area! I told you I had a solution for you!) Shoppalu hand picks vintage pieces for you, and there are no gigantic bras, velveteen tracksuits or puffy-sleeved 80s monstrosities to be seen! They also stock new brands as well. Check them out here if you are interested! Items from Shoppalu which I'm a little bit lusty for: Links: Floral Blazer Orange Button Down Embroidered Cardigan Eyelet Clogs/Wedges And what I'm wearing: Dress - I made it! Sweater - c/o Shoppalu Vintage Bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup Belt - stolen off a vintage dress Necklace - Vintage Hat - c/o Wholesaledress Tights - c/o Oasap Shoes - Yesstyle Hope you're all having the sweetest day, Annika xxx

A quick & easy DIY - Lace collar dress update

Wanna update a dress? Here's a really simple way of doing so! Just grab a metre of so of lace from your fabric store, and hand-stitch it around the collar and buttons of a collared, button-up dress! So easy, only takes about half an hour to do, and totally updates the dress! Before: After: Wearing: Dress - Forever 21 + DIY Bag - c/o Oasap Hat - Wholesaledress Belt - Vintage Socks - Vintage Shoes - Yesstyle I was also just informed that I have attained the status of "Style Icon" on Chictopia! How very exciting :) Much love, Annika xxx

No pink... (kind of..)

While I was updating my little outfits page today, I thought "hmm. Everything is... pink..." Not that this is a bad thing, but I have been wearing mostly pastel colours and pinks lately, and maybe with my hair also being pink this is getting a little out of hand, so I thought I'd break it up a little with a no-colour black & white outfit. Plus it's good to try something totally different sometimes (in fashion, and in life in general), so you don't get stuck in a rut! Apologies for the lack of photos on this one... for some reason I only took a full body photo and then had a brain snap and forgot about taking photos of the details as well... Wearing: Hat - Wholesaledress Blouse - Vintage Collar Ribbon - DIY Brooch - Ebay Belt - Vintage Bag - c/o Oasap Skirt - Wholesaledress Tights - Wholesaledress Shoes - Yesstyle Playlist for this look: M83 - We Own the Sky Art Vs Science - A.I.M. FIRE! Bertie Blackman - Byrds of Prey Much love as always! Annika xxx

My Name on a Necklace!

While I was in the process of taking photos for my pillow case dress (see my last post), my dad surprised me with not one, but two packages of goodies which had just arrived for me in the mail! How exciting! One is for a future collaborative DIY post which I am very, very excited about, and you will learn more about in the coming week ;) and the other was from the lovely people at My Name Necklace, who sent me an amazing personalised retro style name necklace! Having the name "Annika", which is not a very common name and was far less so while I was growing up, I have never owned anything personalised. You know those cutesy fairies and bears and bike numberplates that aunties and uncles gave you as presents when you were little that had your own name on them - nope. I never got to partake in any of that. It always say "Amanda" "Angela" "Angelica" "Annabel" "Anne" and maybe if I got lucky, "Annie", but I never, ever saw or received anything with "Annika" on it. SO, anyway, the point of this long rant is, I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING WHICH IS PERSONALISED WITH MY NAME, wheeeeeee! At My Name Necklace, you can get your name, (or whatever word you want, I guess) made into a beautiful custom necklace for you! I chose a Coca-Cola style retro font, and it's so beautiful! I'm completely in love with it. So thanks a bunch, guys! I would also like to inform you that you can get 8% off a personalised necklace in any style just by using the code "Pineneed" at the checkout :) Annika! That's my name! Hooray! Much love, Annika ;) xxx p.s. Check out my last post to see how I styled this necklace. p.p.s The Name Necklace reviewed in this post was provided by MyNameNecklace.com. MyNameNecklace does not influence the opinion stated on this site. If you are interested in reviewing our Personalized Jewelry, please contact.

I'm going to be really good at being a poor student

I'm going to be really, really good at being a poor student when I (hopefully) move out of home later this year. Yes. Why? Well, for starters, I sewed this dress myself. And guess where I sourced the stripey material for the top? A pillow case. Not even a pillow case I already owned. A thrifted pillow case. (I washed it first) That's how ridiculously thrifty I have gotten, apparently. The light blue was some remnant material from a charity store as well. But I really like how the dress turned out! I think the colours go really nicely together, and I love the stripes, even if it was once used for someone's sleepy head! I also have a new boater hat (finally!) This gorgeous hat is c/o Wholesale-dress. I was seriously blown away by its quality, because it's flipping $4!! Oh my god, I'm the cheapest person ever. Wearing: Dress - I made it! Bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup Hat - c/o Wholesaledress Necklace #1 - Vintage Necklace #2 - c/o My Name Necklace Tights - Forever 21 Shoes - Yesstyle A lovely lady called Ashlee sent me an email the other day asking what music I listened to, because she was wondering how my music taste reflected my style and taste in clothing. From that, I thought maybe I would include a couple of songs in each look which go with the outfit, for anyone else who is curious about my music tastes! So this is my little list of songs for this look (& let me know if you'd like me to keep doing this in the future!): Foster the People - Don't Stop (Colour on the Walls) Regina Spektor - Hotel Song Boy & Bear - Golden Jubilee Hope you all had/are having a thrifty Friday! xxx Annika

Rainy day outfit

I wore this to uni the other day when it was raining. No one "got" the umbrellas though, which made me do this - :( Anyway. This is my new favourite sweater ever ever ever. And it was only $15.  Ohmygoodness. Also, these socks are pretty awesome, aren't they? As I think you've all probably noticed, I wear frilly lace socks at every chance I get, so I just got myself 4 more pairs from wholesaledress. I'm giving into the pastel mint trend juuuust a little tiny bit with the these minty coloured ones. Wearing: Umbrella Sweater - Wholesaledress Blouse - Vintage Bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup Skirt - Momo from Japan Cameo Brooch - Ebay Socks - c/o Wholesaledress Shoes - Wholesaledress Hope you're having a happy day! Love, Annika

Caramel Cupcakes

I was in the city the other day having dinner with my boyfriend, and I knew that I had to walk home from the train in the FREEZING COLD, and I didn’t have a cardigan. I also knew I would have to either spend $10 on a taxi, or $10 on a cardigan/coat so I could brave the cold walk home. I then found a $10-or-less pop-up-shop selling cute cardigans. So guess which one I chose? (Of course I chose the cardigan.) Such a better/wiser investment! It’s so damn cute, and warm, and it has the most adorable little elk on it, who are howling at a christmas tree or something, but oh my! It's so cute! You may also have noticed my amazing bag. In fact, the title of this look refers to my new satchel bag, c/o Mochi Beaucoup. How damn cute is it?? It’s actually ridiculously nice, deliciously so, and the little scalloped edges just push the cuteness factor over the edge (in a good way). Here's a nice close up of it (yeah, I'm also wearing a different dress. This photo is for a future outfit post actually, but I didn't get good close ups of the bag earlier, and I felt it needed some.): The name of the bag is actually "Salted Caramel Cupcake Satchel". I'm sure you can see why! If you want one for yourself (or anything else at Mochi Beacoup, for that matter), you can get it 20% cheaper than usual just for reading my blog, just use the code AVPNMB20 at the checkout. Wearing: Dress - Vintage from Osaka Bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup Cardigan - No brand Belt - Vintage Socks - Vintage Shoes - Yesstyle Hair bow - I made it Have a lovely day! Annika xxxxx

A Stripey Skirt from a Vintage Dress

Whoever is leaving all these amazing dresses in my thrift stores - I can't thank you enough! This one I made into a high-waisted skirt, because the top part had a whole boob-tube thing going on - which I do not do. I also made this blouse all nice with some DIY - all I did was sew two lengths of black ribbon underneath each collar bit, but it has totally transformed the top. Who knew that I would get bored of peter pan collars? Well, this is a neat way to revitalise them. Wearing: Skirt - Vintage & DIY Blouse - Wholesaledress & DIY Tights - c/o Oasap Belt - Vintage Hat - Wholesaledress Shoes - Yesstyle Hope you're all feelin' fine and dandy! xxx Annika

Super Tricky Skirt Shorts

Have a look at the above picture. What you're probably thinking is "Oh! That's a quite lovely mustard skirt." FUNNY, THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT TOO! Oh, wait. It wasn't until I went to try on my new "skirt" at home, that I discovered this funny thing. They're actually weirdo giant pants, deceiving me with their skirty like appearance! Ahh, the joys of charity stores. (However, they were only $1. So I'm not too upset.) So now I have one of two options, and I need your help for this one. Whatever you guys decide, I will (probably) do! So, should I make these pants into a skirt (see top picture), or bubble-hem high-waisted short-shorts (see below)? YOU DECIDE. I relinquish to you, reader, the power to determine the fate of this garment of clothing! How exciting! I love you all, Annika xxx

Queen of Hearts Tights

Ahoy there! Bringing back the hand-painted tights! I was actually commissioned to paint these for a burlesque Tim Burton show happening this weekend, for a Queen of Hearts Costume. I took these photos "to show" the person who asked me to paint them, to make sure they were alright. I may have gotten a little carried away though... and taken a whole bunch of outfit photos with them as well. But, I managed not to rip them... so no harm done! (Unless they read my blog. Let's hope they don't read my blog.) Wearing: Shirt - Vintage Skirt - Wholesaledress Tights - DIY'd (originally vintage sheers) Bag - c/o Oasap Boots - Rubi Shoes Necklace - Stolen from boyfriend Cameo Brooch - Ebay Here's a little DIY... How to make "Queen of Hearts" tights What you will need: Sheer white tights Black fabric/acrylic paint (*Important: The paint must be fairly thick, ie not runny*) A stencil A pair of legs to paint on A paintbrush What you do: Making your stencil: Get a long length of cardboard and fold it in half. Draw half-lovehearts on the folded edge of one side of the cardboard, larger at the top and getting smaller gradually as you go down. Like this: Cut these out and unfold the cardboard. You should now have a nice stencil with some pretty love hearts. Use these stencils for painting your tights. Follow instructions on how to do this here. Don't forget to let them dry for a loooooong time on your legs! Wear them around for a few hours. I'm serious!! Love, Annika xxx

Sneak peek of my next DIY and a future outfit post...

Just finished painting these babies!
As seen on my new blog banner...
Stay tuned for an outfit post and DIY.

Tights - DIY

Skirt - Wholesale-dress

Shoes - Rubi Shoes

xxx

Cheap stuff!!! Coupon Codes!

Cheap stuff! I bring you all a knowledgeable little list of coupon and discount codes for you to use on online stores. Because I've just hit 500 followers which is absolutely incredible, and I can't thank you all enough! I love you guys! So here's some coupon codes that you can use on various online stores to get some cheap stuff as some thanks! Mochi Beaucoup Just whack AVPNMB20 in at the checkout and get 20% off Wholesale Dress o5crljy8lm9 at the checkout for some $$$ off your order (until the end of April) My Name Necklace for 8% a pretty necklace with your name on it, use "pineneed" at the checkout Sheinside 20% when you enter "Annika20" at the checkout It's far too bizarre to do a post without photos, so here's a pretty photo of a nebula. (source: howtogeek) Thank you all for your amazing and continued support of my blog! Annika xxx

Just a sweet vintage skirt

The purpose of this post today is to show off this sweet white linen pleated skirt I thrifted last week. This skirt makes me feel like a 1920s tennis star. Much like this lovely lady: (Source: The Painted Woman) Wearing (me, not the 1920s lady... although I do wonder): Skirt - Vintage Blouse - Vintage Bag - c/o Oasap Shoes - Wholesaledress Socks - Vintage Collar doo-dad - DIY Cameo Brooch - Ebay Hat - Wholesaledress Belt - Vintage Have a beautiful day, all! Love, Annika xxx

Fairy Floss

I am having the best luck vintage shopping lately - someone's amazingly well dressed grandma with an incredible pastel dress collection is going around getting rid of her clothes (I speculate). This beautiful dress was $2. And I found it just hanging there, all lonely and unloved, outside on the street on the cheap rack of my favourite op shop! I was near hyperventilation, believe me. I'm wearing: Dress - Vintage Tights - c/o Oasap Cameo Brooch - Ebay Sweater - Vintage (from Tokyo) Bag - Vintage Belt - Vintage Hat - Wholesaledress Ring - Ebay Pocketwatch Necklace - Markets in Sydney Shoes - Forever 21 And here is a picture of me from yesterday when I was on a date at Luna Park (an amusement park in Sydney), eating some Fairy Floss in a real ladylike way. Aw yeah, I have fairy floss hair. Annika xxx