Swap A Frock Clothes Swap

We're having a swap shop party and all you lovely bloggers are invited!!

The name of the post might give away what kind of party it is but let me tell you more about it.

Last year I went to a clothes swap shop party at a friends house.  Basically you take along any unwanted clothes and swap them with your friends or sell them at rock bottom prices.  I managed to offload quite a few things that I'd never got round to putting on Ebay and came away with some really nice items as well.  Combine that with wine and snacks and it was the perfect girly night in.

This kind of event has been around for years but is finally becoming more popular.  It's actually called Swishing, although I can't bear that name. It sounds too much like swinging to me and you really don't want to get the two confused!

I've been wanting to host this kind of event for a while and seeing a few events take place recently in London and Manchester has spurred me on.

So here's how it works.........

Do you you own an item of clothing or shoes but never actually worn them?
Do you own clothes you haven't worn in years but kept hold of them for 'just in case' reasons?
Do you have a pile of clothes you keep meaning to put on Ebay but haven't got round to it yet?
Do you think your choice of style has changed and no longer wear certain items?
Think you have items that are 'too good' to throw away?
Do you own clothes that no longer fit or need altering but not sure how?  
Does your wardrobe need some new additions?
Were you nodding YES to any of these questions?  I know I did! Then come along to our swap shop and exchange your items for something you'll actually wear.

What happens:  
Check in 4 or more items in exchange for tokens then swap your tokens for clothes or shoes of your choice.


Items: 
We only want good quality clothing and shoes. If it's holey or dirty it aint coming in. Lingerie and nightwear are also a no no.


Check In:
One high street item = 1 token
One designer item = 2 tokens


What else?
Found an outfit? Got some spare time? Sit yourself down at our Embellishments & Alterations table.  A professional dressmaker will be on hand to assist you.

All Finished? Outfit sorted?

Get your nails done by The Pamper Pit. They're offering you special offers on the night. 
File & Polish  £5
Nail Art   £7
Gel Nails   £15

And Finally.....

As ever there will be an amass of glorious homemade cakes, fresh coffee, herbal tea, retro milkshakes, iced tea and coffee available from Spout.

Does this sound like your kind of thing?  Live in the North West Midlands and want to come along?  Have a question?  Leave a comment and I'll get back to you soon as possible.

Pin Ups & Petticoats

Recently we held a fundraising event at Spout called Pin Ups & Petticoats.  The event was to help raise money towards Douglas Macmillan Cancer Support.

Like most of our events at Spout it had the usual vintage theme which I love, plus I got to have my hair and make up professionally done prior to the day beginning.

I don't spend a lot of money on make up because to be honest I haven't got a clue how to use most of it and because I'm a busy working mum.  The less time I spend doing my  make up the more time I can spend  doing a million other jobs before going to work.

I was a bit dubious about having my make up done.  The last time I was professionally made over was when I was a bridesmaid at my dads wedding a couple of years ago.

This was the result....................

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

Ok ok I didn't quite look like that but that's how I felt!  There was far too much slap on my face for my liking!  I had every kind of look going on!  Eyes, lips and cheeks.  I could have been in Panto. Luckily I managed to get most of it off before the ceremony.

So it was because of this bad experience that I was slightly sceptical about having my make up done but I thought I'd give it another shot.  And I'm so glad I did because I learnt a few little tips and tried out a slightly different look to the one I usually have.

If I'm going to share one tip with you it's this: - 

USE A PRIMER. 

It helps to keep your make up in place for longer  

Here's the finished result......

Feeling all glam

The rest of the day consisted of vintage hair and beauty workshops, stalls, silent auctions, tea, cakes and live jazz music.  It was like stepping back in time. And to top it all off we helped to raise over £700 towards Macmillan Cancer Support.

It was such an amazing day and the atmosphere was literally electric.  It wasn't until I got home that I thought about what we'd helped achieve.  Quite a few of us felt emotional because unfortunately cancer will at some point affect most of us, either directly or through friends or family.

I felt honoured to be involved with this event knowing that it was for such a good cause.

Here are a few more photos from the day.

Amazing cake by https://www.facebook.com/PashionForCakes

Crochet bunting

More Bunting!!

Donations from Burleigh Pottery

Hair & Make up

Group photo by Jam Snaps

Have you ever been involved in a charity event?

Colour Pop Bags

1. Zig Zag Clutch
2. Clean Block Barrel Bag
3. Neon Pink Tassel Clutch Bag
4. Hoxton Satchel
5. Colour Block Clutch
6. Colour block doctors bag

I've been on a mission to find a replacement work bag for a while.  The one I currently use has no structure and I need something a bit more sturdy without being boring.  Make sense?

Whilst scouring the web you can't help but notice neon literately flashing at you from the screen.  Whilst I like to play it safe with fashion a little bit of colour can brighten up any outfit or your day for that matter!

Here are some of my favourite bags.  Ok ok there might be the odd clutch bag in there.  Ok, fine, three clutch bags!  Not exactly a  practical work bag I know but they were sooooooo nice I had to include them.

Have you bought a bag recently or thinking of upgrading?  Let me know as I still haven't found the perfect one!  Although I quite like No. 2 and No. 4 and No. 6......................

Birmingham Blognix

Recently I attended an event hosted by Rosalilium called Blognix.  You might have seen me tweeting about it several hundred times!!

The idea behind the event was a bloggers conference that also gave you the chance to mingle, chat, network and eat!  All of my favourite things!

We listened to some inspiring speakers namely Jen from A Little Bird Told Me and Emma over at The Freelance Lifestyle who gave some really good advice and we also got the opportunity to attend two out of three workshops.  The choices were Blog Design, Monetising Your Blog and Photography.  As you may have already noticed I've recently had a little blog makeover so I went for the last two choices.

Both were really interesting workshops although I preferred photography with Hazel Paterson.  Any excuse to take photos!  I learnt some useful tips and got the opportunity to take some photos at The Custard Factory.  Somewhere I've been meaning to visit for ages!

Vintage fabrics and other objects

This couple looked so cute laughing

Amazing sculpture

I really really wanted this dress!!

Some vintage treasure

I honestly came away from the event feeling so motivated and inspired that my head was spinning!

What were the biggest tips I learnt? 

BE YOURSELF 

DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE

WRITE WHAT YOU'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT

Sometimes it's easier to look at the bigger bloggers and think 'that's how I should be doing it', but concentrate more on your own style and not someone else's.  Everyone had to start somewhere.  If I'm honest I kind of lost sight of why I started this blog.  I started this blog so I could be me, not somebody I think I should be and I wanted to develop my photography skills more.  

Have you ever been to a bloggers conference or met up with any other bloggers?  What do you blog about?

P.s  I've had a little blog makeover thanks to Jenny & The Magic Feather.  What dya think?  I feel all posh haha.

Trusting Your Instincts

This post is quite personal.  I wasn't going to share but thought it might be useful to raise awareness.

A couple of weeks ago my son was sick.  At first I put it down to eating too many sweets. He'd been out with his friends Saturday afternoon and they came back from town clutching bags of them!  After being up with him 6 times in the night I realised it definitely wasn't the sweets and mostly likely a stomach bug.

A call to NHS Direct put my mind at rest.  He stopped being sick Sunday morning, wasn't running a temperature but had really bad stomach pains.  I put the pains down to the number of times he'd been sick and hoped he'd feel better after a good nights sleep.

When Monday morning arrived he was still in a lot of pain, he'd had hardly any sleep but was really lethargic.

As a Mother you know your child better than anyone.  Something wasn't right.  I rung the doctors and booked an appointment for later that day.  Not long after, my son work up from the sofa in a state of panic.  He was adamant someone had just broken into the house and that the lights on the Sky box were different!

*ALARM BELLS*    I'd been sitting with him the whole time.  Clearly nobody had broken in!  I rung the doctors, saw somebody straight away and within the hour we were sitting in A&E.

My son had suspected Appendicitis.   They had no way of knowing whether it had burst and he would need surgery.  I felt guilty and wish I'd brought him in sooner.

We were moved to the children's ward and given our own room.  The staff were fantastic and even provided me with a bed, which was handy seeing as we didn't go home for 4 days!

He was operated on the following morning. Gripping your childs hand as they're given an anaesthetic and watching them being wheeled into theatre was heartbreaking.  It got me thinking about the parents who go through this on a regular basis and my heart goes out to them.

After surgery we were told his appendix had burst.  Luckily they'd managed to clean everywhere and there hadn't been any complications.  It's now been two weeks and my little man has gone back to school with a really cool scar to show all his mates.

First trip out in over 7 days

I'm writing this post for two reasons: -

1)  To make you aware there are a lot more symptoms that accompany Appendicitis.  There might not necessarily be a pain on one side of your stomach for a few days.    Click here for more info

2)  As a parent you know your child the best.  If you have that 'nagging feeling' act on it.  If we'd waited for the late afternoon appointment the doctors originally gave me, my son could have suffered serious complications.  Trust your instincts.

Have you had your appendix out or had any other kind of surgery?  Or maybe been in a similar situation?