A Pocketful of Posies

Wearing: dress - c/o Sheinside cardigan - Forever 21 hat - c/o Wholesale bag - Asos sweater clips - DIY tights - Romwe boots - Rubi Shoes Whoooa look at this! Another sunny outdoors post! Crazzzy town. So I attempted to make some sweater clips after being inspired by the Dainty Squid, who always wears sweater clips - however mine were a little less than glamorous. They weren't too bad though, and I did make them while in the car, so I think I'll be fixing these ones by shortening the chain a bit, and then they'll work a lot better! I also am going to give a quick shout-out/massive thank you to Miss Tallulah Porkchop, whose awesome gift (a Lula magazine!!) arrived in the mail just this morning! I've been sitting in front of my fire reading it all morning, getting inspired by all the phenomenal fashion photography in it. (Taking a photo with the Lula magazine may also have been an excuse to show you all what I did to my hair. *Ahem.*) Fashion quote of the day (because I thought it was really cute/hilarious): "Anni, if I wear the clothes I wore in the 80s again, is that vintage? Or is it... tragic?" - my mum Hope you're all having a lovely day! xxx Annika

DIY Mermaid Dress

After finding the coolest blog the other day, owned by a gorgeous lady named Kailey, she posted an AMAZING (yup, so amazing that "amazing" needed to be in bold, capitals and italics) and stunningly simple DIY guest post by Kate Gabrielle on how to make yourself your very own mermaid dress. Usually when I post about a DIY that's been inspired by another blogger, I try and change it up, such as using a different pattern or technique - however this DIY was just too perfect so I maaay have copied it almost exactly. The only modification I made was to use blue fabric paint rather than pink - which ended up making it even more mermaid-like, I think! So full credit goes to Kate and Kailey for this DIY - which you can find the full instructions to here. Wearing: dress - DIY (originally vintage) tights - c/o Oasap hat - c/o Wholesale bag - Vintage shoes - Rubi Shoes I guess the only bit I am adding to this DIY is that I shortened the dress, and chopped the sleeves off to make it sleeveless. But that was easy - all I did was slice off the sleeves, leaving about 1cm all around, then hemmed it inside the shoulders (like I was hemming the bottom of a dress). I would love to style this dress with light blue lipstick, some minty blue fishnets, 60s style sunnies and a thin white floral headband. Now all I have to do is acquire those items.... Also (I just thought you should all know), everytime I think "mermaids", this song gets stuck in my head: Mermaids - Flight of the Conchords. Anyway, I'm massively happy with my mermaid dress. I hope you guys like it too! Head along to mermaidens to check out the full DIY! xxx Annika

To the sea, the sea of Love

Wearing: Blouse - c/o Oasap Shorts - Wholesale Shoes - Rubi shoes Bag - Vintage Tights - c/o Oasap Hat - Wholesale I wish that I could wear bloomers out in public and that people wouldn't think it odd - however, with this mint blouse, I feel like I could almost get away with it, they go so well together! (Maybe I'll try it out and let you know how it goes, haha). I'm off to dye my hair now... I finally got myself a new tub of carnation pink so I can stop using this ridiculously diluted one that I'd been using for about a month! (Seriously, it was down to near homeopathic dilutions - it wasn't even making my hair pink anymore, it was more like I was just slathering my scalp with conditioner every now and then). Speaking of my hair, I think it's about time that I did a sequel to the first how to dye your hair pastel blue instalment - I think I'm much more qualified to talk about pink hair than blue hair, because my blue hair kept going green on me anyway :| Have a gorgeous day, all!  Annika xxx

Simple Pastel Pink & Mint Sunday

Wearing: Blouse - c/o Oasap Skirt - Wholesale Shoes - Ruben Shoes Bag - c/o Oasap Necklace - Wholesale Hat - c/o Wholesale Hair up or down for this outfit? I couldn't decide, then put my hair down and unfortunately it went mental. The above two photos are about the only ones where it doesn't look like I'd been cycling through 200km winds. Ah well, I just wanted to post a quick photo of this new minty blouse that Oasap sent me, because I am in loooove with it! My favourite colour combination at the moment is mint with pastel pink, so this blouse goes just perfectly with my hair. However, I have hardly any clothes with me (yes a bursting suitcase-full is "hardly any") as I am on holidays, and was also really smart and forgot to bring any socks. So anyway, I will style it up a lot more interestingly when I am back home. Also, when I am back at home I have got a whole bunch of DIY projects to share! It's been far too long since I last DIY'd, and I apologise, but just know that I've got a few good ones waiting to be blogged over the month of July! Hope you're all having a sweet first of July. xxx Annika

12:51 // Sneaky floral cutouts

Wearing: Hat - c/o Wholesale Necklace - Wholesale Top (actually a dress) - Asos  Cardigan - Forever 21 Skirt - Wholesale Bag - c/o Oasap Tights - DIY It's been such a sunny winter day! I'm not at home at the moment, which is why I've not got my usual outfit background - I'm actually on holidays at the beach - and it is definitely not warm enough to swim, but it is warm enough for this summery ensemble! I styled my new DIY tights with a black circle skirt and this floral cut-out top (which is actually a dress) that I have had for forever from Asos. It finally fits me properly because I have put on weight lately particularly in the, ahem, bustal region, haha. (Bustal is so not a word, but I'm going to use it anyway.) Lately I've been finding heaps of clothes that never fit properly, and were banished to the back of my closet, but now fit really well, thanks to a few extra kilos. It's been like uncovering a whole new wardrobe - awesome! Hope you're all having a beaaaautiful Thursday! xxx Annika

We're fated to pretend

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my lipstick a couple of posts ago! I used to wear bright red lipstick all the time, and then stopped for some reason, so I think I'll start wearing it often again. Can I just talk about how much I love suspender shorts???? I don't know why I haven't gotten a pair earlier than now. These gorgeous ones were sent to me from oasap. I think I'm going to attach suspenders to some shorts or skirts I already own. I reaaaaally like them. Wearing: Blouse - c/o Oasap Sweater - Big Bargains (??) some dress store on George St Shorts - c/o Oasap Tights - Not sure, they're years old... Shoes - Vintage Hat - c/o Wholesale Bag - c/o Oasap Necklace - Wholesale I'd also like to announce that I have some buttons linking my blog now, if anyone feels like sharing the Pineneedle! This little dog wouldn't leave us alone when we (Luciano and myself) were taking these photos. It was so darn cute, even though it constantly tried to rip holes in my tights (it didn't know. It was just excited and liked jumping). Anyway, this dog must have really liked us, because when cars and other people went past it decided it was our guard dog, running in front of us and barking and growling madly at whoever was apparently threatening us. I was sad though because I didn't know where it had come from and it didn't have an address on it's collar. Hope you got home safe, little guy! I hope you're all having a beautiful day. xxx Annika

Take my hand if you know where I'm going

Hello! Just a quick outfit post today. I am loving this new blouse oasap kindly sent me. The white/black contrasting collar and cuffs are rad. I just got some mustard suspender shorts and a mint blouse from oasap in the post this morning in fact, and am really really excited to show them to you, because they're kind of amazing!!! So I have managed to get through all the emails you guys have been sending me now... I think...(and thanks so much for all your kind words!) but if I've missed you, please send me another email and let me know! I'm also thinking of setting up an FAQ page (especially for questions regarding sewing and wholesale-dress), so if there are any other questions you'd like me to answer and put on there, let me know now! Wearing: Blouse - c/o Oasap Belt - Vintage Skirt (actually a dress) - DIY Socks - c/o Sock Dreams Hat - c/o Wholesaledress Shoes - Wholesaledress Bag - c/o OASAP Hope you're all having a lovely Tuesday! xxx Annika

Polka dots and some DIY tights

Wearing: Dress - c/o Oasap Tights - DIY on Vintage sheers Shoes - Rubi Shoes Bag - Vintage Belt - Vintage Hat - c/o Wholesaledress Well... I told you all I'd have a procrastination product to show you when I was done studying. I made these tights one night when I was absolutely sick of calorimetry (I now know I can rule being a Calorimetrist out of What Kind of Scientist I want to be, in any case. Oh my god it is boring). Anyway, they are a bit lopsided, but I decided I kind of liked that. What do you think of them? xxx Annika

Hello again! & Giveaway results and another giveaway!

Well folk, I'm back! Unfortunately, you won't be able to congratulate me on finishing my exams just yet, because due to me being sick, I wasn't able to do a couple of them. Which I am more than a little annoyed about - I was planning on having a carefree sewing-and-blogging-filled month! And now I have to wait 2 whole weeks until I can do them. Still, I don't have to study anymore (I have done far too much of that lately), so I am back, and you can expect to see some more posts here again! First things first - here's an outfit post with a pretty floral skirt I made: I was trying to make my skirt look all cool and swooshy in these photos. I think I kind of failed. I posted the best attempts though, haha. Wearing: Blouse - Wholesaledress Skirt - I made it! Belt - Vintage Bag - c/o Wholesaledress Hat - c/o Wholesaledress Tights - c/o Oasap Shoes - Dr Martens And of course! The winner of the OASAP giveaway.... Miss "Naama A", I really hope you enjoy your gift voucher and pastel slip! I will be in contact with you very shortly. If you were disappointed about not winning the giveaway... OASAP is running yet another giveaway! All you need is an account to enter! Enter here. What's been happening guys? Can't wait to catch up with you all! And if you've sent me an email in the last week or so... I'm really sorry if I haven't replied. I'm going to get on top of all that today! xx Annika

Bye bye for a little while...

Hey guys! Just letting you know that this will be my last post for the next 2 weeks, as I have my end-of-semester exams coming up and figured it might be nice not to fail Uni :) So if you turn up here looking for some new posts, that's where I am! I haven't abandoned you guys! If you see me around here, please tell me to go away and study. I'm sure I'll be busting to share heaps of procrastination-creations with you all by the end of this two weeks! I will still be responding to emails, if you want to get in contact with me (annikavictoria@gmail.com) And don't forget to enter my giveaway that ends on the 21st. See you guys in 2 weeks!  And thanks again for being completely awesome. I'll leave you with a photo of what I did to my hair last night (if you follow my Pinterest, you would have seen that I was having serious hair envy, and I had a couple of tubs of blue and lilac hair dye lying around so this was inevitably going to happen...) (There's a bit of nude back for you there, leaving my blog on a totally scandalous note!) Bye bye for now! xxx Annika

Autumn Leaves and Creepers

I took these photos way back when it was still autumn, but realised I had never posted them! So, it is "autumn" themed, but really, that doesn't make sense at all because it's not autumn anywhere in the world. Ah well. These leafy tights from Wholesale-dress and awesome comfy (and warm!) sweater from OASAP are helping me to slowly accept the COLLLLD! Also, I'm still refusing to wear pants, even as the temperature drops. The way to avoid pants all winter will be to wear skirts and multiple tights, and shorts and tights when the weather is really cold. I've managed to grow out of all my high waisted shorts from last winter (yay for putting on 10kgs in 3 months!...) so I got some new ones from Wholesale-dress, and am really pleased with them; they fit much better than my now too-small version of these same shorts (in dark blue) from wholesale-dress that I wore all last year. Wearing: Sweater - c/o OASAP Shorts - c/o Wholesale-dress Hat - c/o Wholesale-dress Bag - c/o Wholesale-dress Tights - c/o Wholesale-dress Shoes - c/o OASAP (Ok, yes, I'm wearing all freebies from sponsors. Hey, I'm poor at the moment and this is my only source of new clothes, don't judge me!) Hope you're all having a lovely sunny autumny (or winter! or summer! or heck, spring, why not?) day, wherever you are! Oh and before I go, I just created a facebook page for the Pineneedle Collective! Go ahead and like it (if you like me :D) https://www.facebook.com/PineneedleCollective xxx Annika