Cutest little cowl I ever did see!

Maria from the North Way Studio, an awesome little Etsy store, sent me a gorgeous, super soft 100% merino wool cowl to try out and review. Now, a cowl is not an accessory that I usually would have chosen for myself, but I've found that it's expanded my wardrobe possibilities greatly! When Maria contacted me and asked if I'd like one, I fell in love with this particular lilac patterned one:  and although I don't usually wear scarves or cowls, I decided that  I would give it a go. And I'm so glad I did! For one, it's been incredible on my early morning commute to university - its such an easy thing to throw on to keep me warm (and to sneakily fall asleep into - it's a really early morning commute). Also, it looks awesome with my new lilac hair! I've had so many compliments on how well they go together! I'm so super happy with it. So, I have concluded that Etsy store owners are awesome. Maria is the nicest, friendliest girl (and a super talented knitter!), and the package was wrapped so nicely and came with the cutest card! I mean, how sweet is that? Well Maria, you've sparked what I'm sure is going to become a dangerous addiction to Etsy stores. After my super positive experience with the North Way Studio, I'm going to be going back to Etsy again and again and again! As soon as I received this in the mail the other night, I threw an outfit together around it and rushed outside to take some photos before the light completely disappeared: But, I wasn't able to get very good photos, so I went out again this morning and took some more photos for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! Wearing: Cowl - The North Way Studio Cropped Crochet Sweater - Forever 21 Bag - OASAP Lace Shirt - Forever 21 Jeans - Wholesale-dress Glasses - Ebay Shoes - Yesstyle Ring - Gift Check out The North Way Studio here! Much love! Annika

Lilac & Lace

Update on the hair front: I've gone lilac! Dear blue, you were nice, pretty cool, but now it's time for lilac to have a turn. I think I like it better than blue, but maybe that's just because it's brand new and exciting. (However, I diluted the hair dye too much, so it's actually grey on the ends, as you can see. As I write this, I've got my hair up in a shower cap with a slightly less diluted lilac, so hopefully it'll turn out a bit less.. grey.) Anyway, this is not very interesting! Here is something that's hopefully a little more interesting, an outfit post inspired by my love of pastel and lace: Wearing: Skirt - OASAP Tights - DIY Shirt - Vintage Shoes - Yesstyle Cameo Necklace - Ebay Hat - Wholesale-dress Belt - Vintage This skirt c/o Oasap is just the prettiest thing ever, it's lovely and soft, creamy and lacey, and the multiple layers of tulle are amazing. It's my perfect skirt. I'm making a dress today! It's almost done, I'm even hand painting it too! It looks awesome and I can't wait to show it to you all! Also don't forget - you can win yourself some super cute accessories in my giveaway! There's just over 2 weeks to enter yourself, so get on it! Hope you're all having a productive day as well, Love, Annika

I've Earned (These) Stripes

A real quick outfit post today. This morning I went thrifting at my favourite secret Op Shop and picked up a ridiculous amount of good things. I will show them all off to you in just a while, but as I am trying to study maths (hooray!) today, that will have to wait for a few days. This is a lovely striped & circle skirted dress and belt that I bought today, for $4 and 50c respectively! I'm also wearing: Bag - OASAP Hat - wholesale-dress Bowtie - (really badly done) DIY Thigh-highs - purchased in Osaka Shoes - wholesale-dress This bag from oasap.com has made so many appearances on this blog... it just seems to go with everything! And I could think of no better bag to go with my new black & white stripey dress. Hope you're all having a stunning day! xxx Annika

Giveaway from Mochi Beaucoup: The Cutest Belt Ever!! // CLOSED

Get excited everyone. Because I have a giveaway for you all!!! I'm so excited to give these two amazing items away to ONE of my fabulous blog followers from my brand new sponsor, Mochi Beaucoup! Firstly is this - what I'm sure is actually the cutest belt ever: And secondly, this sweet detachable crochet collar: "ANNIKA, YOU MEAN I CAN WIN THIS?!" Why yes, you can! And it's pretty easy. (And come on, so worth it! All you have to do is click a few buttons, and you can make these PHYSICALLY APPEAR IN YOUR MAILBOX FOR FREE. You've got to love the internet!) Here's what you must do: 1) "Like" MochiBeaucoup.com on Facebook 2) Follow the Pineneedle Collective via Google Friend Connect 3) Register yourself on MochiBeaucoup.com (click here) so they know where to send your prize! 4) Leave a comment below with a link to your favourite item on Mochibeacoup.com 5) Leave your email address so that I can contact you if you win! Extra entries! 1) Follow Mochi Beaucoup on twitter (post your twitter name in the comments so I can verify this entry) 2) Follow Mochi Beaucoup on blogspot via Google Friend Connect 3) Follow the Pineneedle Collective on tumblr (and post your tumblr name in your comment so I can verify this) 4) Pin a Mochi Beaucoup item on Pinterest (and post a link to your pin in the comments below)  Just let me know in the comments section below which ones you have done! You could have up to 5 entries, which makes your chances of winning this look pretty sweet! (Just don't forget to let me know what you did in the comments below! And make sure you've "Liked" Mochi Beaucoup's facebook page, left your email address, and followed my blog... your entry will become invalid if you do not!) This competition is an international one, so anyone can enter! This competition closes in 21 days (the 27th of March). If for some reason you don't feel like entering (I would also ask, WHY!), then you should still check out mochibeaucoup.com. They're really well priced, plus if you Like them on FB you get free shipping! OH, and if you enter the code AVPNMB20 then you get 20% off your first purchase! They have some of the cutest stuff. These are my favourites: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 I am so excited about this!! I hope you are as well! Love, Annika xxx

DIY Velvet Circle Skirt Tutorial

FIND THE UPDATED TUTORIAL HERE. You want to make yourself a velvet circle skirt?? Well read right on! Firstly, here's two formula's you need to have down to make a circle skirt (they'll make sense in a second, I promise): Got it? Good! Here's what you do: 1. Cutout your large circle from your fabric. I get to cheat because I have a table which is perfectly round. If you don't have a round table though, this is how to measure your circle: What size should my circle be? 2. You also need to cutout your waist circle (smaller circle) from the centre of the larger circle. For this, it's good to use a pattern: And then place it onto the centre of your larger circle, pin, and cutout. To get the radius of this smaller circle, you need to divide your waist measurement by 2 x pi. For example, here is what my measurements look like for my waist (27 in) and desired skirt length of 16 in. 3. Now you need hem the outside circle! Circle hems are a little tricky. You do end up with a little bit of ruffling, like this: But it's hardly noticeable, and this is the easiest way to hem your skirt. To hem, you just need to go along the entire outer edge, folding up about half an inch as you go along, lifting the presser foot and readjusting as you go. 4. Waistband (I accidentally stopped taking photos of the black velvet skirt here, so I'll continue here with photos from another circle skirt that I made.) Cut your waistband to about 5 in x your waist measurement + 5 in (ie. my waistband was 5 in by 32 in).  Fold it in half (the wrong way around) and pin together. Sew entirely up one side. Then turn it inside out. Attach to the inner circle of your skirt on the FRONT of the skirt (pin first to ensure the correct placement!) Sew along the entire length of the inner circle, so that that waistband is attached! 5. Zipper/button insertion. If the velvet you used had enough stretch, and you can fit it on without too much difficulty, you can totally skip this step, sew together your waistband, cut off the excess waistband and you're done! If the fabric doesn't have much stretch though, you will need to insert buttons/a zipper following the instructions below. Now you will have a bit of overlap on the waistband. Where this overlap occurs, draw a line vertically downwards either the length of your zip (if you will be inserting a zipper), or the length you desire if you want to add buttons (you'll know when you've got the right length when you can fit it on over your hips!) Follow instructions on how to insert a zipper here, or if you're inserting buttons, fold back both sides down the cut, hem, and insert buttons following tutorial here. Hooray! Now you've made a circle skirt (and I hope I didn't make it seem too complicated, it's really one of the easiest skirts to make!) Check out another circle skirt tutorial here (youtube!) for some inspiration/help! Have a gorgeous day! xxx Annika

DIY Swan Sweater Tutorial

Hello beautiful readers! Here is promised Swan Sweater DIY (velvet circle skirt tutorial later today!) (He looks a little different than yesterday, that's because I gave him a little bowtie after seeing this swan cardigan from Modcloth!) Inspiration: Modcloth's "Swanning Over You" Cardigan Dorothy Perkins Swan Sweater What you do: 1. Get your sweater. Woolen knits work fine for this, as well as more synthetic ones. Too thick though, and you may run into problems.  2. Cut out your swan from white (or any colour!) fabric. Either use a stencil (search swan silhouette in google images perhaps?) or draw by hand!  3. Place it onto the front of your sweater. Pin to sweater, make sure you're pinning ONLY to the front.  4. Put your sweater on carefully to check that the placement is correct. If it all looks good, you can start sewing!  5. Using a small zigzag stitch, go around the edges of your swan, stopping to lift the presser foot occasionally to readjust and make sure it isn't wrinkling! 6. Now you've attached your swan! Add details such as bows, eyes, feathers, little feet... whatever takes your fancy! Get creative! I decided just a little necktie bow was enough for my swan. I used just a small length of white ribbon, tied it in a bow, and sewed it into place by hand using white thread. Come back in a few hours for my velvet circle skirt tutorial! xxx Annika