Shiny Disco Balls

Or rather, pants!

Yes that's right, I'm talking about the American Apparel Disco Pants that are literally everywhere at the moment.

I bought mine a few weeks ago and haven't had chance to show them off yet.

This is what I wore on Saturday night for a few casual drinks out.

Cross earring, handmade by me; Levi's denim jacket, borrowed from boyfriend, Sheer top, sale ages ago,  John Zack; Leopard bralet, £7.99, New Look; Belt, 50p, charity shop; Bag, £3.99, vintage Jane Shilton via charity shop; Trousers, £70, American Apparel; Shoes, £120, Jeffrey Campbell Litas

Everything you've heard about these trousers is true. They are incredibly flattering (trust me, being of the larger variety of woman, shiny spandex pants don't instantly scream 'wear me'!) and are worth every penny of their £70 price tag. Even though I've spotted plenty of girls wearing them on a night out, I get compliments every time I wear mine.

I'm wearing them with my boyfriend's Levi jacket and the ever-trusty Jeffrey Campbells. I have my own Levi's jacket, the stars and stripes one I customised, and thought about getting myself a plain one; though, I realised that me and the fella would never wear ours at the same time so why not pinch his whenever it's up for grabs!

Hmmm, probably should have hung that jacket up somewhere rather than dumping it in the frame of the picture...

I've had this sheer black top for a year or too now and it's continually stayed put as one of my favourites. I love wearing black clothing and sometimes it can be a bit heavy, especially when you aren't quite confident enough to get more flesh out- sheer therefore is the way to go! The leopard print bralet underneath was a recent purchase from New Look.

I love the batwing style of the top and how untucking it at the back makes it a little more interesting...

What's your go-to piece at the moment?

Love,

Foxy x

Buy it, cut it, stick it, stud it, sew it, change it, rip - upgrade it

Sorry Daft Punk for defaming your lyrics...

I've been customising some jeans!

In my last post I mentioned my accumulation of thrifted jeans that I have long intended to turn into cut off shorts.

Well last week I had some spare time and, clearly nothing else to do, so I put my crafty hat on (can you imagine how that would look? I bet it would be covered in buttons and pom poms) and got to it!

Here are the results:

Sorry for the over-feature of my bedspread on the blog, it really is the best background!

These are my faves and sadly, too small for me. My good friend Clare is taking them off my hands though so they're going to a good home.

I buy all my studs from Chinese sellers on eBay. They typically take a couple of weeks to arrive but for £1 for a bagful you can't go wrong.

The leather inverted cross was made from the off-cuts off some leather trousers (also made into shorts!)

These beauties just about fit me; the dilemma being that I can't move. I'm hoping that if I get a holiday booked soon I'll have some incentive to get into them!

They were originally vintage Wrangler jeans picked up in a charity shop for £1.50.

My hoarding ways proved useful with these. I knew hanging on to the scrap of material that I once called a fancy dress costume would eventually come good...

With my uni ladies. On true form as well- being too late to get hold of one of the 'official' bar crawl t shirts!

These Levi jeans were another charity shop purchase at £2.49. The studs and fabric were left over from the American Flag jacket I made earlier...

Wish I could keep these but they're a bit too big so eBay they go!

I won't bang on about these ones as I already mentioned them in a previous post. The jeans really were the bargain of the century (okay, perhaps car boot) at just 50p!

and finally...

Okay so these aren't denim but needed sorting out nevertheless.

I bought the leather trousers from eBay ages ago; they were too small then and there's no bloody chance they'd fit now! I chopped the legs off (I have loads of leather left for other DIYs) and added a single stud to the back pockets. These are currently going on eBay too.

Well, I'm DIY'd out, how about you? Have you customised anything recently?

Love,

Foxy x

Lately...

Hello!

Today I bring you a really lazy quick post to show you what I've been up to recently.

I have an Android phone and was a little too excited to finally be able to get Instagram a few weeks ago!

I'm hoping that the app will get me posting a little more regularly; it's pretty addictive and I'm finding that I take more photos when I'm out and about which can only be a good thing, right?

So here's my little 'Life in Instagram' montage:

 

1. Gorgeous flowers and card from my workmates at Flannels Fashion- I start my new job tomorrow, eek!

2. Last day at work treats.

3. Customising thrifted denim

4. Curry at my fave Indian restaurant (Mughli in Manchester)

5. First time using my lovely teapot and floral tray (even though I've had them about half a year)

6. New TIGI hair products, Rockaholic Fun Times flexible hairspray and Groupie texturising spray, from TK Maxx (the best place to buy TIGI!).

7. New hair via Toni & Guy

8. Being broken down and rescued by the RAC

9. Vintage typewriter spotted whilst charity shopping in Didsbury, Manchester

I was reading up on creating these grids but wasn't keen on the idea of faffing about with html; the intention was that these posts would be nice and quick to do.

I have an Instagram widget at the side of this blog and then discovered that I could embed a larger version in a post and, voila! Very very easy. the widget is from SnapWidget if you're interested.

Only problem is that you can't pick and choose from the images you've uploaded to Instagram- not too much of an issue, presuming that you liked all of the images you originally posted.

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, my username is the same as my Twitter- 'katieafox'. Please feel free to comment with your username too if you have the app.

Would you like to see more of these types of posts?

Love,

Foxy x

Hair today gone tomorrow...

Hello!

I'm trying to be less sporadic with my blogging; can you tell? Less than a week since my last past- got to be some kind of record there!

Anyway, I thought I'd do a post today as I've just had my hair did (hence the very cheesy title!) and it looks pretty cool. Reason enough for an outfit post I would say.

Cross earring: ASOS; Collar tips: eBay; Denim shirt, £10, Urban Village Vintage; Vintage St. Michael jumper: £1, charity shop; Shorts (barely seen, if at all!): 50p customised Levi's, car boot sale; Vintage Chiltern bag: £3.50, eBay; Shoes: £24.99, New Look

Had my hair done at Toni & Guy- I never go anywhere else!

I bought this oversized red jumper from a charity shop yesterday. It's an old Marks and Spencer St. Michael one and was on the £1 rail- would be rude not to take it home.

*Do you like the fact I've taken today's photos outside? I think they look much better though I have to endure a bit of embarrassment as I live in a block of flats and get worried that people will see!

My shorts, which admittedly, you can't really see- hence the last photo, were born of the jeans i mentioned in my last post.

Here's a closer look:

The corner of my living room looks like a mini sweatshop at the moment; whenever I come across vintage jeans I have to buy them, vowing to turn them into shorts at my earliest opportunity. Well, this never happens and I have now built up quite a collection of the little buggers. With a few days off work, I've decided to have a big customising session and sell the pairs that I don't want on eBay ready for the summer's festivals. My kitchen table is awash with studs, stars, pins, American flag and leopard print material and patches of scrap leather.

Back to the present and on a completely unrelated note, I also bought these leggings today:

I got them from a great little cheap shop in the Arndale centre in Manchester that sells a lot of the same clothes as the big highstreet fashion websites. These were just £5 each.

I've long been lusting after the ones from Black Milk, but with a price tag of 75 Australian Dollars a pair, these will do just fine!

Have you stumbled across any great bargains recently?

Love,

Foxy x

Found in Yorkshire

Man, this post has been a long time coming!

I went back home to the Yorkshire Dales to see my mummy and daddy for Mother's Day (Mother's Day I tell you!) and picked up some cool bits and pieces along the way.

First stop was Kirkby Lonsdale, to visit a quirky little army surplus shop.

I've wanted a lightweight military parka-style jacket for some time- all of my coats and jackets either seem to be massive faux fur coats or vintage Levi denim jackets (the sleeves of which are always rolled up!).

I was really pleased to pick up this little beauty for a measly £15.99:

Details

It's a vintage Italian army parka. I love the fact that it's slightly worn and you can even make out a trace of a name written in marker pen on the velcro badge!

When I got home I was delighted to find that this one is exactly the same as one that ASOS were flogging for £65 under their 'ASOS Reclaimed' brand!

ASOS Reclaimed Italian Parka, originally priced at £65!

I also picked up a German army shirt for just £4.99

It's actually REALLY long so I'm thinking of taking it up a bit; scared of ruining it though. The shop's owner said that these are getting harder and harder to come by as they stopped producing them about 20 years ago.

On the Sunday, we went to the car boot sale at Clitheroe. Might seem like odd practice for Mother's day but not if you know my parents!

I didn't buy much but this is what I bought:

A grand total of £4.50

Anyone who knows me should be well aware that I'm a sucker for 80s gold bling so i didn't hesitate in snapping up these earrings for £1.

The watch was £3 and perhaps, dare I say, a bit pricey for a car boot. I really liked though so took the plunge. Glad I did after Googling the brand; it's by Rotary and as it turns out, their watches don't come cheap!

The black Levi jeans were my buy of the day however, at just 50p!

I've since hacked these up into shorts (natch) and added some studs. I'll hopefully get some outfit posts up soon.

Have you snapped up any bargains recently?

Love,

Foxy

x

Dirty Pretty Rings

Hello!

Today I bring you a hand-based post...

I wanted to show off a haul of new jewellery (can't get enough of the stuff at the moment!), mainly rings, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to give my nails a bit of attention for once.

I've been desperate to try galaxy-inspired nails for ages now; I'm a bit obsessed with the spacey print to say the least (check out my Pinterest if you don't believe me!).

Here's an inspirational, amazing example:

Picture via fumblrweed.tumblr.com

...and my not so great attempt:

Really difficult to capture them!

These were my tools:

Left to Right: No.7 Stay Perfect in 280 Betty Blues, L&B Cosmetics in White, Models Own in Disco Mix, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top coat, Barry M Nail Paint in 280 Violet Gold Shimmer, 2true Glossywear in No.9, Rimmel 60 Seconds Vinyl Shine in 874 Zenith

First I applied a full coat of No.7 Stay Perfect in 280 Betty Blues.

Then I dabbed on Barry M Nail Paint in 280 Violet Gold Shimmer in the centre with a sponge.


- Most normal people would probably use a makeup sponge; I didn't have one so cut a lump off a washing-up sponge!


I then dabbed Rimmel 60 Seconds Vinyl Shine in 874 Zenith at the edges of the previous colour and a touch of Models Own in Disco Mix at the sides.

Forgot about taking pictures after this point! I then dabbed 2true Glossywear in No.9 (a glittery, silver polish) here and there.


Then, I used a pointed cotton bud to add 'stars' in random places- a cocktail stick would work better if you have one!

So here's me modelling various rings with my completed nails:

From Left to Right: Filigree hand armor, £9, Regal Rose; Stud ring, £16, Regal Rose; Black sapphire stone ring, Birmingham (21st birthday present to myself!); Cross charm ring, £15, Regal Rose;  Crystal Fox ring, Christmas present

Most of my new jewellery comes from newly-discovered awesome site, Regal Rose.

I literally want everything on there! Amazing rings, earrings and headchains. Love.

In other news, I also picked up these amazing vintage collar tips from eBay (I think they were about £2.50):

What have you been buying recently?

Love,

Foxy

xxx

All American Girl

Do you remember me talking about customising a vintage Levi denim jacket to create an American flag version? (see post)

I only bloody well went and did it didn't I!

(I actually finished it a few weeks ago, just haven't got around to posting about it until now)

Here it is:

It was really easy and cheap to make!

I eBayed everything. The fabric was around £1.20 for a large piece; the studs were £1 for a bagful (came from China and didn't take long at all!) and the jacket (a men's size small) was second-hand from a UK seller, picked up for around £8.

My sewing machine has packed in so I had the painstaking task of handstitching the fabric on.

The material was really bright so I ended up using the underside of it as the bit on show.

This was after a rather haphazard attempt at trying to lighten it in the bathroom sink with Domestos. This didn't work- not that I'd recommend it even if it had...

Don't think my outfit goes together so well but just threw the jacket over what I had on for the picture.
Necklace: Vintage Fair; Dress: £19, inlovewithfashion.com; Vintage Belt: 50p, charity shop; Ring: gift

I'm really pleased with it! I've only worn it a handful of times but had loads of compliments.

I'm in a really creative mood at the moment- are you customising anything for Spring?

Love,

Foxy

x