V Festival

Tickets in hand ready to go.

This weekend I went to V Festival in Stafford and I had an absolutely fantastic time.   The weather was a bit hit and miss with heavy downpours of rain each morning but overall it wasn't too bad.  One of my favourites acts of the weekend was Tom Jones what a voice! I took some pictures whilst I was there and thought I would share them with you.

Floral wellies, floral prints and my Pretty Little Poppet dress.

Very muddy boots at the end of the festival.

 I will be uploading a video and blog about different ways to wear headbands in the next few weeks.  I wore my hair in a Charleston Roll for most of the weekend and I also discovered that it is a fantastic way of achieving perfect barrel curls which was very useful on days 2 and 3 of the festival!

Charleston Roll, perfect festival hair.

Did any of you go to a festival or are you going to Creamfields, Leeds or Reading? Do you have any festival hair tips?

Laura xxx

New Look Ibiza Competition

Last week I received a email inviting me to take part in a holiday hop competition.  With a prize of up to £400 in New Look vouchers up for grabs I jumped at the chance.  I really love shopping in New Look,  their items are on trend, good quality and always very reasonably priced.  It is usually the first place I go when I am looking for outfits for my holidays.  

So now time for the competition, if you head over to Daisybutter's blog you will find the full details, why not have a look and enter yourself.  The competition is as follows:

Imagine you are going to Ibiza for a long weekend. Create a post on your blog stating which items from the New Look store you would wear to complete each of the following outfits on your holiday. You have 5 outfits for 5 occasions, so which items would you wear and why? 

Choose from: Travel Style, Poolside, Beach It, Sunset Supper, Beach to Club.

I loved searching for items for this and I wish I was going on holiday again this year so I could have an excuse to buy some of them!

Travel Style

For me my main factor when picking a travel outfit is comfort.  I had this is mind when picking my outfit.   I choose a gorgeous bird print dress  I really like the print and style and I think it is a bargain at £14.99.  I would team this with a set of ballet pumps, I chose these because of the rope print detailing.  I would team this outfit with a waterfall cardigan, I always find temperature on a plane a bit hit and miss so this would be a perfect cover up if it was cold and as it is lightweight it could be placed easily inside my hand luggage, a nude studded shopper.  I decided to accessorise with a ring and bracelet. 

Poolside

For around the pool I decided to pick a classic stripe bikini top and bottom set .  I really like the shape of this bikini and I really like the frill detailing.  I like that the bikini's on the New Look site are mix and match so you can build the perfect bikini size to suit your shape.  I decided to team this with a white cover up with lace detail for walking down to the pool and also the bright white would hopefully complement my tan! For shoes I opted for a pair of white flat sandals with gold detail and I have finished the look off with a splash of red with a gorgeous hobo bag and a few coats of nail varnish on my fingers and toes.  

Beach It

My next look is my beach outfit, I chose a large shopper bag first perfect for putting in all the days essentials, towel, suncream and water are usually top of my list.  I also chose a shirt dress I like the light shade of the denim and I also like the button detailing so you wouldn't have to have it completely done up.  For swimwear I chose a black charm bikini and I have accessorised the look with a bird scarf which would be good for holding my hair back and of course a pair of sunglasses.

Sunset Supper

Watching the sunset at Cafe Mambo was one of my favourite experiences of my Ibiza visit last year.  I chose the following items for this look.  I chose a simple black dipped hem dress teamed with a set of tan wedges, I accessoried this outfit with a black studded clutch, peace necklace, gold hooped earrings and a chunky tassel bracelet.  

Beach to Club

For the final outfit I chose a maxi dress in a gorgeous burnt orange dress.  I would dress this up on the night time with accessories.  I chose a spike bracelet, I would also wear the long peace necklace and put all my essentials in a beaded clutch.  For shoes I chose some embellished sandals.  

I would love to hear what you think about the looks I have put together, if you have entered let me know so I can see what you have chosen.  

Laura xxx

Strawberry Fields Festival

Last weekend I spent three days trading at Strawberry Fields Festival.  I was based in the acoustic tent with lots of other traders and I had a brilliant weekend.  I managed to watch a few bands over the course of the weekend and it was lovely to listen to lots of fantastic acoustic artists whilst trading.  

Here are some pictures from my weekend.  

Inside the Acoustic Tent the ideal place to chill out and shop!

Modern Jesters - really funny act! 

Strawberry Jam Tent 

Strawberry Blonde 

Amazing Graffiti

This weekend I am going to the V Festival and I can not wait to see some of my favourite bands and chill out with my friends and family although the thought of camping and dragging my belongings to the campsite is not something I am looking forward to! 

My brand new ribbon headbands

Festival arm candy

This weekend I am going to be wearing some of my new ribbon headbands and my arm candy will include the letter bead bracelets I spent most of my time making at Strawberry Fields.  I will upload some photos from V festival when I get back if my battery lasts! 

Laura

xxx

Jessica Oates Photography

A few weeks ago I recived a message from another trader informing me of a fantastic opportunity to work with a photographer called Jessica Oates. Jessica is a freelance photographer based in the West Midlands and after viewing her previous work I jumped at the chance to work with her.  Jessica specialises in Fashion and Perfomance photography after completing a degree in Media Studies and Communication and she is currently studying an MA in Freelance Photography. 

  Jessica was styling three shoots for her MA project based around the themes Hippy, Where the Wild Things Are and Ice Cream.  I sent Jessica a selection of my items and I have just received the images.  As I am sure you will agree the images are absolutely fantastic, I love the way she has styled the shoots and I am really looking forward to working with Jessica again in the future.  

What do you think? Laura xxx

House of Fraser Blogger Style Challenge

A few weeks ago I received an email inviting me to enter the House of Fraser Blogger Style Challenge.    I really enjoyed browsing the website and looking at all their new collections, I quite often visit House of Fraser in Birmingham to browse the ranges, I especially love going around Christmas and it is one of the first places I go to in the January sales.  

Here are the items I picked out from the new collections.

My first choice was a beautiful Heart Tree Dress from the Hobbs N.W.3 collection.  I love the shape of the dress and the print is gorgeous.  I would probably wear this to a special occasion such as a wedding or christening but I think it is the type of dress that could be dressed up or down.

My next choice was also from the Hobbs N.W.3 collection.  I chose the lovely Nina Jacket.  I chose this because I think it would be very versatile and again could be used over day or evening wear.  I would probably also wear it with jeans teamed with a nice pair of heels and a patterned or bright top.  

For shoes I headed over to the Dune collection and selected a pair of wedge court shoes.  I like the design of these and I think they complement the colours in the dress and the blazer.

Choosing a bag proved very difficult as there is so much choice! I eventually decided the pretty Paloma Pearl clutch bag by Coast.

My final choice was a semi-precious bracelet by Martine Wester, I particularly love the stone detail on the bracelet.

Why dont you head over to the website and enter yourself, you could win a £200 voucher, a perfect amount to kickstart a new Autumn wardrobe.  I would also love to hear what you think about my choices. 

Laura xxx

Mr Birds Emporium

I am really excited to announce that I am going to be opening my first shop in Birmingham! I am going to be involved in a brand new concept store in Birmingham's Custard Factory, Mr Birds Emporium. 

The store will be opening in October and will house some of Birmingham's best independent traders who will be selling a huge range of items including Vintage and Handmade Clothing, Jewellery and Handmade items.  The owners are also going to hold a Saturday Flea where a number of traders will adopt a stall temporarily to showcase their goods. 

I cannot wait to be involved, last year I traded in Birmingham City Centre in the run up to Christmas and the message from the people of Birmingham was clear - we need more independent shops in Birmingham!  We had a number of regular customers who raved about the stalls in the pop up shop and spoke about how it was about time Birmingham had something similar to cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.  The response to the pop up was overwhelming so I know that Mr Birds Emporium will be exactly the same. 

Over the next few weeks I will be posting regular updates as I get my unit in the store ready for trading.  I have spent the last few months working on new ranges and I have been talking to a number of independent artists, fashion designers and jewellery makers and I will hopefully be able to use my unit as a platform to showcase other talented independents amongst my own items. 

My new home

I will be providing regular blog and Facebook updates as things start to take shape at Mr Birds including details of the launch event which is set to be a fantastic event.  If you have any thoughts on the Emporium I would love to hear from you, especially if like me you have been waiting for something like this to come to Birmingham!

Laura xx

Back to Blogging

Hi everyone I haven't posted for a while because I have been on holiday.  I've spent two weeks relaxing in Portugal in the sunshine, working on lots of new designs and collections.  I also had the chance to take in some of the local sites and I found a fantastic haberdashery shop where I managed to pick up some new materials.  I will be having another photo shoot soon and they will be available on my ASOS Marketplace although I will be posting a few sneak peeks on my Facebook and Instagram over the next few days.  

Taking in the views at the local beach

Perfect day in the Sunshine

Looking for shells in the Sea

Ineresting details on the properties in a local town

My making spot for most of the holiday, the table base is an old sewing machine stand.

Perfect Sunset View

Now my break is over I have got lots of things coming up, next weekend I will be trading at Strawberry Fields Festival, if you haven't already check out the blog I wrote a few weeks ago about the event.  I am also working on some brand new designs and collections and I will hopefully have some other fab news to announce in the next few weeks.  

What have you all been up to?  Have you got anything planned for the next few weeks? 

Laura xxx