Primark Wish List

Today I popped in Primark on my lunch break and was really surprised to see that there was actually so much stuff I wanted to get.  The photos above are of three of my most wanted items which I sent to my family to let them know ;0) Subtle hints help haha!

What do you want for Christmas this year?

I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that this post is my 100th post this year! That means that I succeeded in completing one of my New Years Resolutions (blimey this year has gone fast) at posting 100 blog posts this year, and we still have December to go! You can refer to my New Years Resolutions Blog Post by clicking here.  I will do a blog post for an end of year recap on all my New Years Resolutions 2014 next month so watch out for that in the near future!

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Big Comfy Sneaker Slippers from USA

Hey guys

Today I wanted to tell you about a recent purchase I made of these awesome giant sneaker slippers all the way from USA.  

I purchased them from buyhappyfeet.com  and altogether for both pairs including postage they only cost be around £45.00.  I don't think that is too bad all things consider, plus did I already mention that they are AWESOME.  So so comfy and bouncy too.  Don't you just love that new slipper feeling?!

I got myself the Sacramento Kings (purely and simply because they were purple) and I got the hubby Pittsburgh Steelers as he used to support them when he used to stay up late and watch American football with his dad when he was younger (bless!). 

Did you used to have giant sneaker slippers when you were a kid?

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Gandy’s Flip Flops: Orphans for Orphans

 

 

Hey guys

I was very excited yesterday because my Gandy’s flip flops arrived! I am very happy to be supporting such a fantastic charity and it also combines with some retail therapy so smiles all round!

If you haven’t heard of this company/organisation yet you should definitely go to their website and read their story as it is truly heart-warming. Basically, two brothers who were sadly orphaned in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Thailand have set up the shop/charity.  A few years after the tsunami they set up Gandy’s flip flops and for every pair of flip flops they sell, some of the money goes towards building a children’s home out there.  The ultimate goal is to eventually have children’s homes built all over the world.

I know the “fashionable” thing at the moment is to be bustin’ a pair of Havaianas but seriously, getting a pair of Gandy’s flip flops are both fashionable and you will be supporting such a great cause. I for one certainly feel better spending money on myself when I know it will also help other people less fortunate than myself.

They have a huge range of colours and are aimed at both men and women.  They are available to buy on the Gandy’s flip flops website directly and also on various different other sites (I got mine from House of Fraser).

Do something great, place an order and spread the word, I promise you will feel good and be glad you did every time you look down at your feet!

 

Do you own a pair of Gandy's flip flops? Will you be purchasing a pair? Let me know!

Robin Sparkles

DIY: How to bleached jeans stage 1 - Carrie Bradshaw aka Sarah Jessica Parker Sex and the City inspired

Hey guys

Over the weekend I decided I wanted to do something a bit different.  I last used this technique when I was in secondary school around 15 years old so some time has passed but as I was looking through pictures of my most favourite programme EVER (SEX AND THE CITY) I noticed Carrie Bradshaw aka Sarah Jessica Parker wears some similar jeans to what I used to create and that they look great on her.

I am very much a wear things I like kinda gal, even if they arent "current" in the shops at the moment, I would rather look original than walk past 10 girls in the high street wearing the same outfit as me! Anywho, I digress...

I took an old pair of jeans (just incase something went wrong although the whole process is pretty fool proof) and laid them out in my parents garage on top of some unwanted polythene bags. 

 

I took a basic bottle of bleach (think mine is Tesco's own!) and just started spatting random dots of bleach about the place. Dont squeeze the bottle too hard, in fact bearly at all as you do not want massive splodges, just dots and lines if you get my drift.

 

Leave the bleach to soak in for a while then turn the jeans over and do the other side in the same way.

 

Once the bleach has finished setting in, I would say leave them around 1 hour, put your jeans in the washing machine and put them on a cycle with WATER ONLY.  No detergent or fabric softner.  As you will see from the pic below, they bubble up quite nicely on their own!

 

You will find when the waashing machine is finished that your bleached jeans still smell terribly of bleach, then put them on a wash using washing tablets/liquid and fabric softner now that the worst of the bleach is out.

 

You might find that they still have a slight "tang" to them but this will go over time the more times you wash them.

 

And here is the final product, stage 1 complete!

 

The next stage is to add studs and crystals and distress them like Carrie Bradshaw's, you can find the link to Stage 2 blog post by clicking here. (To be added once written).

 

Let me know what you think and whether you have ever tried bleaching your jeans before? Do you like the look on Sarah Jessica Parker aka Carrie Bradshaw? Do you like SATC for that matter?!

 

Until next time...

 

Robin Sparkles



DIY: Vans 'Off the Wall' crystal rhinestone checkerboard pink and black Vans trainers

Hey guys

I recently discovered my checkerboard blinged up Vans I blogged about about 6 months ago in their box and decided to post some better pics as they have come out clearer on my new camera to the original post (click here).  I used the same size crystals and glue that I used in my DIY Converse crystal rhinestone blog (click here to view the original Converse crystallisation blog post).

I hope you likey, let me know what you think!

 

Robin Sparkles

DIY: Crop top using leggings or tights (no sew)

Hi blogettes

This is a really quick post to tell you about something I tried out yesterday.  I had watched a couple of YouTube videos explaining how to do it and thought I would give it a whirl as it looked really simple.

YouTube video 1 click here
YouTube video 2 click here

All you will need is a pair of leggings / tights and a pair of scissors!

Start my laying out your leggings/tights on a flat area and cut a length off the legs depending on how long you want the sleeves to be.  The leggings I used were fairly short in length anyway and gave the perfect 3/4 length sleeve so I left them as they were.

Then take your scissors and make a tiny snip in the middle of the crotch area.  Cut out a V neck or scoop neck shape depending on what neckline you would like your crop top to have, I went for something in between the two.

If you want it to have the same neckline on the baack then obviously cut the desired shape through both sides of the crotch area.  NOTE: Be careful not to cut too much at a time, you will be surprised how big the hole will get when you stretch it on to wear, you dont want your bra to be hanging out!...well maybe you do!

Voila! A recycled crop top from unwanted leggings or tights.  The fab thing is there are so many funky patterned leggings out there at the moment you can really go to town with crop tops too!

Let me know if you try this out and make your own crop top, I would love to know how yours comes out :0)

Robin Sparkles

DIY Feather Skirt Dress

Hey guys

I haven't posted in such a long time and I can only apologise for this.  I have been caught up in Christmas / New Year excitement and am also very lucky to be getting married in just a few months so all the planning of that has also kept me on my toes.

One of the tasks that I have been undertaking is making myself a Hen Party outfit!  I decided that I absolutely love dresses with the feather skirt bottom and really wanted a white one so I felt like a bride!  After a bit of research I found that I wasn't going to get one for less than approximately £150.00 so at that point I decided why not make one myself!

The route I have actually taken is to use a short white bandage bodycon skirt to feather and then I am going to use a long lace vest with boob tube underneath to tuck into the skirt so that it looks like a dress.  My inspiration is this:-

These have been worn by the likes of Emma Watson and both Lucy Mecklenburgh and Billi Mucklow from the TV series The Only Way is Essex aka TOWIE.

I have used 4 feather boas and starting at the bottom of the left hand side zig-zagged or laid out the boas in an S shape to cover the skirt.  So far I have been sewing these in place just at the top and the bottom of the skirt.  I shall then go along the boa and sew throughout the skirt to keep in place so that the skirt does not become exposed underneath.

NB:  Try not to sew too much of the skirt to the boa as you may drastically change the size of the skirt and make it not fit! I bought a skirt which was one size to big and stretchy to hopefully combat this potential issue.  Make sure you allow for give in the skirt and that it will still stretch to put it on.

This is what I have so far:-

I will provide you with an update once this task is complete and I hope you like the finished product! :0)

Have any of you made your own DIY feather skirts or dresses?  I would love to hear from you in the comments below or maybe give me a link to your blog posts about it.

Thanks for reading.

Robin Sparkles

DIY Fringe Ripped Vest Top

Hey guys

This is a blog post to tell you how to make your own fringed /ripped long vest top. The inspiration came from a fringed dress that i saw for sale on the Minnies Boutique website that i really liked and i thought "why not give that a go" myself!

I used a long vest top and laid it out as flat as I could.

Starting from one side i began cutting slits approximately 8-10cm long through both the front and the back of the top at the same time.

You must continue this process along the entire bottom edge of the vest top.

Once you have finished that you might wish to cut off the hemmed edge. You should then go along each tassel and give it a little tug to stretch it out a bit.

There you will have it, your very own fringe ripped vest top. From experience, it is best to use a t-shirt material type top, maybe if you would like it to be a vest you could just cut the sleeves off. Otherwise you could cut slits in the sleeves and have those fringed too.

Please feel free to leave comments / questions below and i shall do my best to answer them. Thanks for reading and see you guys soon!

Robin Sparkles

Stud pocket denim jeans shorts - DIY

Hi peeps

Sorry it has taken me longer than i expected to write this, only just finished them this morning so here is my blog for how to make your own pair of stud pocket denim jeans shorts just like these!

You can order pyramid studs on eBay in various different colours and sizes, I chose to use silver studs that are size 8mm but they were also available in gold, brass and gun metal.

To start, I began by cutting a slit down one edge of the pocket with a pair of scissors.

You then need to line up your first stud in the top corner as you can see in the photo below. Be careful to make this as straight as possible as it will form the basis for the rest of the studs.

Poke the four spikes through the material of the denim jeans and then use some scissors or tweezers (or anything similar) to bend down the ends into the centre of the stud.  BE CAREFUL:: if you do not bend them down enough they will poke you in the bum! :0)

Continue along until you have the whole first row complete.  Then go onto the next line below starting at the end you placed your first stud before. You just need to continue this process all the way down to the bottom of the pocket. 

Depending on the shape of your pocket you may need to jut in a bit and start skipping the first stud as can be seen in the photo at the top of this post.

So go on, give it a try!  If you have any questions please feel free to comment below this post and I will do my best to help.  Also, if you do decide to have a go I would love if you posted the links to your blog posts below so that I can see how you did.

Until next time peeps!

Robin Sparkles

Studs are so back in! - Studded denim shorts project

Hey guys

Firstly, I just wanted to say a huge thank you! I have just logged on to find I have reached over 100 page views and would like to thank everyone who is visiting and reading my blog, this is what makes it all worth it.

Anywho, I am very much into quirky fashion with rock 'n' roll type influences, so you can image my happiness when recently I have been discovering studds are making a comeback!

I have seen studded shoes, studded bags, studded belts, studded t-shirts and most importantly studded denim shorts.

Me being me and always up for a new craft type challenge, I took to eBay and ordered myself 50 pyramid studs from China and waited patiently for them to arrive.  4 weeks on and they are here! Time to get studding.

As I said above I have seen all sorts of items donning the stud look but the one I liked the most was a pair of denim shorts I saw uploaded to Instagram.  This is what has served as the inspiration behind by stud denim shorts project.

I am off to stud my shorts now and will be back soon with a "how to" blog and photos of the outcome so stay tuned :0)

Robin Sparkles