DIY Heart Appliqué on High Waisted Shorts

I saw shorts like these in a store in China Town a couple of months back, and have wanted to DIY them ever since. Now that I'm officially on uni holidays, I finally have the chance to do some sewing! Of course, I decided to begin this at around midnight (I always seem to be most inspired when I'm meant to be sleeping) so the photos are pretty terrible quality. Please bear with me! what you need a pair of shorts a small square of patterned fabric scissors a pen pins (optional) thread and needle OR a sewing machine with a zigzag stitch what you do 1. Cut out two shapes (I did love hearts, of course) from your patterned fabric. Use a stencil like I did, or fold the fabric over itself and cut the shapes out together in order to get the exact same shape for both sides. 2. Once cut out, place the shapes on your shorts and pin them on. 3. Use a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine or, you could hand-sew them as well! Sew onto the edges of the shape, all the way around. (and make sure you are not also sewing the front and back of the shorts together!) 4. Wear your new (updated) shorts and be super proud! wearing shorts - DIY (Paper Scissors) blouse - Lovers & Friends tights - c/o Oasap bag - c/o Mochi Beaucoup shoes - Vintage Dr Martens hat - c/o Wholesale I will be back with some more do-it-yourself tutorials soon! I have a whole list of ideas that I've been saving up for the holidays, so I'm really excited to get started on them all! Much love! xxx Annika

Whale Watching

While we were at the beach a week or so ago, Luciano and I climbed up to the headland to try and spot some whales! We were so lucky, literally the minute we got up there we saw a whale breaching really close to the headland. We followed it along the cliff side and then discovered it was actually two whales swimming really closely (maybe even a mumma whale and its baby)! We were so close that we could see all the barnacles and junk stuck on it's back!  So I zoomed right in with my camera and thought I was taking all of these amazing pictures... but, well... umm... no. This is the best one: Haha. Soo after my whale-fail shots, I did manage to get a shot of the amazing headland that we were standing on including a sneaky photo of camera-shy boyfriend (Luciano doesn't want me to put photos of him on the blog, but this was the back of his head so I figure it totally doesn't count. And you can see how amazing his hair is ;) ) The cliffs stretched all the way out as far as you could see, it was so pretty. I also had to get Luci to snap some outfit photos while we were up there (because it was totes dramatic and windy and totally on a cliff!), so here they are! wearing: dress - c/o Glamorous UK sweater - $10 store on George St necklace - Wholesale hat - c/o Wholesale bag - c/o Oasap belt - Vintage tights - No idea where they're from! shoes - Vintage Have a marvellous Friday everyone! xxx Annika

Seafoam

wearing dress -c/o Wholesale bag - c/o Wholesale hat - c/o Wholesale tights - c/o Oasap belt - Vintage shoes - Dr Martens Yet again, I am attempting to post this off the most irritating internet connection (I have to upload each photo about 7 times. Ackk.) Why wouldn't a mansion have internet?? That's what I want to know. Anyway, I really can't complain, being able to house-sit a mansion is preeeetty good. And if it means no internet for a week, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to deal with that, haha. So, I don't have a favourite colour. I never have. I get mad when people ask me what my favourite colour is, because I think that it's totally dependent on the context and situation. I just don't understand how people have favourite colours that never ever change. Anyway, I'm also pretty much a tragic fashion slave, so that whatever colour is really fashionable, usually becomes my favourite colour for that time. Like minty pastel blue. So at the moment, the kind of blue like in the dress I am wearing, and my bag (both sent to me from Wholesale Dress just a couple of days ago), is my absolute favourite colour. I also really, reaaaaally like this dress because it is both pleated, AND has the most amazing collar. It's a really different take on the classic peter pan collar, and I think it works really well. You can get it from here if you're interested ;) I hope you're all having an awesome Thursday! I am about to head off to a science museum (the Sydney Power House Museum) with my boyfriend for a (what everyone else would most likely consider lame but I consider awesome) little date. I'm pretty excited. (Oh, also, I haven't dyed my hair back to pink, these photos were taken before my hair changed) xxx Annika

DIY Floral Blouse & lavender locks!

Wearing: t-shirt - Made it myself! blouse - Vintage brooch - Ebay shorts - c/o Oasap tights - Romwe hat - c/o Wholesale bag - vintage shoes - vintage Hey guys! I hope that this post reaches you all as I am attempting to post this from a public library with a questionable internet connection (I don't have any internet connection because I am house sitting a mansion in a very posh neighbourhood with a friend at the moment. Which is awesome but they don't seem to have an internet connection for some reason..). I thought I probably shouldn't keep anyone in anticipation of my new hair any longer though, so here's a couple of photos of it! I also made this floral blouse the other day (I promise, promise I will post a DIY on it really soon!) - it's made from this floral material that I picked up from an op shop for 50c. It was all bundled up when I got it so I assumed that it was just a normal rectangle of fabric, but when I unfolded it, I discovered that it was already cut out into two halves of a t-shirt! Obviously someone had gotten to that stage of making a shirt and then given up. So I decided: ah well, I guess this has got to become a t-shirt then. I'm pretty happy with it though! The fabric is just gorgeous and as some of the flowers are a mustardy-colour, they go perfectly with these suspender shorts from Oasap! Alright - fine. One without my hat too (I feel nude without my hat - I think I wear it too much!!) I hope you're all having a splendid Monday morning. xxx Annika

Three Quick Questions with Kathy Noto

It is time for another interview with an up-and-coming blogger! Check out the last "Three Quick Questions" (and the idea behind this series) with Leila Chatti here. This month's gorgeous interviewee is Kathy Noto from My Peach Days. Q. How long do you spend getting ready and putting together an outfit every morning? A. Not that long, I guess. I work from home so I only get the chance to dress up on the weekends. More often than not, I already have an outfit planned. During the week, I plan an outfit and put the clothes up on a hanger so I won't forget (I sometimes even hang the bags and socks I'm going to use). When I do that, it only takes a few minutes to dress up (unless I do something elaborate with my hair, which I don't these days). On the other hand, there are days when I'm no longer in the mood to wear the outfit I planned so I usually have to spend more than 15 minutes, rummaging my closet and mixing and matching clothes. I have a pretty small closet so it's not easy to check out all my stuff because they're all buried in there. I usually end up having a pile of discarded clothes when I’m done. Not a pretty sight.  I recently came up with a solution. These days, whenever I clean my closet, I take photos of ensembles. I put together some outfit ideas before putting them back in my closet and take photos of them. I store the photos in my computer in a folder called "outfit ideas". lol! Q. Do you let runway fashion influence your style at all? Do you care at all about high fashion? A. Truth is, I usually do not go out of my way to check out runway fashion. I do a lot of blog hopping and just check out runway trends featured there. While I do like high fashion like the next girl, I gravitate more towards fashion I can relate to, something wearable and affordable (which is why thrifting works for me). I'd say personal style bloggers influence me more than runway fashion. Q. If you had a bazillion dollars and access to any kind of clothes you wanted... what would you wear? Do you think you would stick with thrifted garments? A. If I have an inexhaustible supply of money, I'd probably wear something like the clothes from the Alice McCall S/S 2012 collection. I was blog hopping once when I saw a feature on their collection. It was breathtaking! But I'd be just as happy wearing garments from ModCloth, Chicwish or The White Pepper. I think I'd spend more money buying stuff from mainstream brands rather than high end brands just because I want my style to be relatable. I don’t mind other people wearing expensive brands but I cringe at the idea of me giving off some sort of elitist vibe. I'd definitely still do a lot of thrifting. Thrifting is more than just saving money. There's a whole load of unique items there - stuff you probably won't see other people wearing. Thrifted garments, to me, have more character. They have a story to tell which makes every ensemble charming. Plus, it's one way to cut back on fossil fuel so I'm good with that. Even if I’m incredibly rich, I’d still be an advocate of thrifting.  Kathy's blog is full of the cutest outfits that she has put together, and has even done a pretty sweet DIY (see those lace shorts in the photo above? She made them!). Go and have a squiz at her super sweet blog if you have the chance! xxx Annika

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