Thrifted Finds: Owl Collection

Way back in April when this blog began, one of my first ever posts was about my deer collection.  Now, almost four months on, I've finally got round to sharing what is probably my favourite thing to collect - owls!

I know that these days owls have become a bit of a cliche and that you can barely go into any clothes store or gift shop without seeing something owl-related.  However, as much as I hate being that guy, I'm going to assure you that I liked owls 'before they were cool' - they've always been my favourite animal!  If you're unsure about the awesomeness of owls, you should watch this video right now as it's guaranteed to convert you:

(this is my first time posting a video, fingers crossed that it works!)

The first addition to my owl collection was this amazing cushion from Sass and Belle, which was a gift from my sister.

If you're from the UK, I'm sure you'll have seen these owls before as they seem to be popping up in gift shops everywhere.  Tetley and I recently added a fourth owl to our cushion collection, the tartan one in the picture below.  Tetley actually picked out and bought this owl for himself, clearly I am a bad influence on him!

While these owls are cute, I have slightly gone against the thrifting theme of this post to include them, although since two of them were gifts I feel that it sort of counts!  My flat is also full of owls that I actually have thrifted though: these ornaments are only a small selection from my slightly crazy collection:

I'll leave you with one final non-thrifted item, my perpetual calendar from Sukie - can you spot the owl?

I won't be updating for a few days as me and Tetley are taking a mini-break to Whitby, a cute little English seaside town where Tetley grew up.  Hopefully we'll get some sunshine so we can make it a proper retro summer holiday!  See you all next week, 

Faye

xxx

Swimwear Wishlist

As I've decided to do postgraduate study instead of getting a Real Person Job, I don't have much money right now, which means I can't afford many nice things like holidays in the sun or fancy new clothes.  However, that doesn't stop me pretending, which is why I've made up this list of my dream swimwear - it's probably the closest I'll get to lounging on a beach right now!

First up, this swimsuit by Mara Hoffman is crazily awesome, look at all those fun animals!

I love the flowery print and the little scalloped ruffles on this suit from Frostfrench.

It was difficult to pick a favourite from Modcloth's swimwear collection, but I think this suit with its amazing retro-style print of sailor ladies has the edge over the rest!

For a more classic look, I also adore this Modcloth swimsuit, the pastel colours remind me of ice cream.

The colour scheme on this suit from Anthropologie is also lovely - simple yet very striking!

I love the button belt on this pretty green swimsuit from Princesse Tam Tam.

50s style swimwear will probably always be my absolute favourite, like this gorgeous polka-dot suit from For Luna - they have it in red and white too!

On the other hand, 70s style can also be pretty fun, though this Bond girl-esque bikini from Jessika Allen is probably a bit too crazy to fit in with my usual style!

Finally, how adorable is this ladybird suit from Moschino?

While I may not be heading off to get some sun any time soon, Dundee is getting a fancy new swimming pool this September, so perhaps I can use that as an excuse to invest in one of these pretty suits!

Faye

xxx

Glasgow Adventures: Part Two

Today I'm going to share some pictures from the second half of my Glasgow trip, which I spent staying at my friend Laura's house in Helensburgh.  Going to stay at Laura's for her birthday party has become quite a tradition for my group of friends, and this year was especially good because Laura's parents were on holiday so we had her huge house to ourselves for the weekend! 

Incredibly enough for this dubious summer, the day of the party was really warm and sunny, so we started the evening with some drinks on Laura's balcony, which looks out over the river Clyde.

The sunny weather gave me the perfect occasion to wear my new dress from Tokyo Doll at New Look!

We also spent some time in Laura's garden, which has a little stream and some woods at the back - perfect for exploring.

Laura wanted her party to have a fancy dress theme, and we all agreed she should win the prize for best costume with her awesome handmade TARDIS dress!

Laura posing with our celebrity party guest, David Tennant.

Ruaridh and I both have mannequins in our respective flats so we decided to dress as them.  My mannequin is a pretty baroque-patterned dress form that has acquired several ridiculous accessories over the years like its Iron Man mask; while Ruaridh's flat's mannequin was one of the creepily realistic lady ones which his flatmates decorated with Armourons and fishnet tights.  I had to take off my mask after about ten minutes so I could talk to people without terrifying them, but Ruaridh continued to work his nail polish and lady underwear look all night!

Unfortunately Ruaridh and I were beaten in the creepy costume stakes by Homer's green Morph Suit - like me, he didn't keep the mask on for long which is probably a good thing! :(

Tetley decided to keep the Enchantment Under the Sea theme I had for my birthday going with his 'Batman under the sea' ensemble.  I'll leave you with a couple of my favourite pictures from the party:

Laura's birthday card from Rachel, welcoming her to 'the autumn of her life...'

Laura and her brothers, as Wolverine and Indiana Jones...

Lizzie, aka Peter Parker, lending me her jacket like a gentleman...

Will's adorable Dinosaur Office costume...

Unusual party food dispensers...

Probably my most impressive Busted jump picture...

Laura's homemade cake!

Like with my birthday, the rest of the photos after this point descend into drunken nonsense, but I'm glad I did manage to get a few nice ones of us all!

Do you enjoy fancy dress themed parties?  What's been your favourite costume? :)

Faye

xxx

Love Letter #9

Hello lovelies!  I haven't done a post like this in a while since my dodgy internet has severely cut down my tumblr-trawling time, but here's a collection of pretty things I've discovered in the past couple of weeks:

This picture, found via Kaelah's blog, is so pretty.  It reminds me a little of Moonrise Kingdom.

On the topic of Moonrise Kingdom, this collection of Wes Anderson film colour palettes is pretty awesome!

This dress from Shabby Apple is definitely at the top of this week's clothing wishlist!

I'm currently obsessed with drinking these instant teas from Whittard - they can be drunk hot or cold and they're super tasty, plus their packaging is pretty cute!

This post by Modern Kiddo has some fantastic images of children's bedrooms from the 60s and 70s - it seems that even the kids then were more stylish than us, I'm loving the colour scheme and the stars on the roof!

I saw The Dark Knight Rises at the weekend and while I really enjoyed it, I'm probably enjoying this picture even more...

I would love to have this fantastic Pantone clock on my wall!

I'm always fascinated by papercut art, so I'm loving this awesome cover redesign for Treasure Island!  Click the link to see the papercut illustations for the rest of the book .

Dresses like this one with cut out backs are so adorable, sadly I don't think I can get away with not wearing a bra so it's probably not meant to be! :(

Finally, forget rollercoasters - this is probably the world's most terrifying fairground ride...

Hope everyone had a great weekend and that you've got lots of lovely things planned for the week ahead!

Faye

xxx

Thrifted Finds: Wallart Collection

Hey guys, today I'm going to share one of my favourite collections with you, my kitschy wallart display!   When Tetley and I moved into our rented flat together, it was a very impersonal space.  The living room only had very plain, basic pieces of furniture and one decoration - a black and white photo of the Eiffel Tower on a massive canvas, aka the most generic piece of wallart you can possibly imagine.  I wanted to get something more personal to us to display on our walls, so much so that it became a bit of a running joke among my friends to point out horrible pieces of art and suggest 'replacement Eiffel Tower?'  Sadly, on our small student budgets, Tetley and I couldn't find anything worthy of becoming the replacement Eiffel Tower that wasn't way out of our price range, until bootsale season started up and I hit the thrifting jackpot:

This collection of old lady-like yet awesome pictures fills the void left by the Eiffel Tower, and only set me back a total of £10, including most of the ornaments in the charm house.  Although I know my wall display isn't to most people's tastes, it really brightens up my day to look at it, and it's nice to know that I'm the only person in the world with this particular arrangement of art!  My friends from Aberdeen spent about 10 minutes staring at the wall in silence the first time they saw it, though perhaps it was due to horror rather than awe...

All of the pictures above were actually from the same sellers at the bootsale, a really sweet older couple who told me they were glad their pictures were going to a good home.  As I've often mentioned on here, I'm instantly drawn to anything with an owl or a deer (or any other woodland creature) on it, and although it's hard to tell in the photos, the owl and the big deer picture are shiny - another perfect selling point!  I also love the leopard pictures because of their silly velvet frames and odd subject matter, I wonder whose idea it was to paint a leopard sitting on a giant flower?

The pictures above are also bootsale finds, though they were all bought from different sellers.  In the top picture with the owl, I assumed the other birds were coming to him for advice because he is so wise, but someone has written on the back that he's actually being mobbed by the other birds, poor owl!  The owl clock was a gift from Switzerland from Tetley's parents and his eyes move when he ticks - I'm basically only one step away from being one of those old ladies with the creepy cat clocks!

I think that these last three pictures are my favourites - I adore embroidered pictures, and the colours in both the boat scene and the pheasant picture are fantastic.  Also, on the back of the boat picture it's written that it was made by a lady in hospital when she was recovering from a stroke, which is very impressive!  The magnificent golden owl was a gift from my friend Homer, and like the first set of pictures, it's ticking both the 'owl' and 'shiny' boxes!

The charm house where I display my ornaments is also part of my wall display, but I might save that for another post because one picture doesn't really do it justice!

What sort of art do you display on your walls?  Do you love looking out for tacky vintage pieces or do you prefer a more contemporary look in your home?

Faye

xxx