Dress it up

Now for something a little bit different, I wanted to do something creative and so I got myself a customising kit from the Rose & Co website. They are available in a several colour combinations and contain buttons, lace and general lovely little bits. I don't know if you can see there is an ice cream cornet and a tiny featherd mask in there.

I got these cuffed heels very cheaply from Peacocks, they were perfect to sew things on to as they are a faux velvety type fabric. First I took a length of pink stripey ribbon and tied it in a bow, then sewed it on to the side of the shoe...

Then I chose a piece of black lacey beaded ribbon, folded the ends underneath and sewed down the middle to make it like the top half of a bow. This ribbon was quite bulky with the beads so I didnt want to try and tie it like the pink piece.

Then I layered that onto the shoe...

And finally I sewed on a pink ribbon bow and vintage button in the centre of the corsage I have made. The trimmings from Rose & Co are really nice quality and apparently cherry-picked from their vast vintage collection of lovliness. The customising pack was pricey at ten pounds, but after making the shoes it still looks as though I have the whole pack left, it is the size of a paperback book and there is a generous amount of bits in there. Besides, the shoes only cost me twelve pounds. I don't know if anyone has seen the film PS I Love You, and remembers the part when the main character starts designing her own shoes but this reminded me of that. I have always wanted to open a lovely box of candy-stiped ribbons and wind one around a stiletto-heeled boot!

I enjoyed making over the shoes and it's nice that no one else will have a pair the same. I think I should start being more creative instead of only thinking of shopping all the time. The shopping ban I imposed upon myself at the beginning of the month has made me think more about different hobbies and these are 3 things I plan to do in the future:

1. Scrapbooking - I stumbled across a blog with scrapbooking in it and thought how nice it would be to do my own. Then I read in a magazine last week that making a scrapbook of fashion pictures is a way to keep the parts of magazines that you like without stockpiling a giant pile of glossies that you never look at again. This would be perfect for me as my magazine box is overflowing and as soon as I put a magazine down I always forget what I was I wanted to remember in there and have to go sifting through them all. So I purchase a couple of packs of glue dots from ebay for pennies and am on the look out for my scrapbook.

2. Getting back into music - I read about current bands in magazines but don't have a clue who most of them are. I hear songs in shops and like them but dont want to buy the whole album. I remember music from years ago that I want to hear again but never bought. I dont have an ipod so I have subscribed to Napster. For five pounds a month I can listen to unlimited music on my computer and then choose five songs to download to my phone. They also do a twelve songs for ten pounds option but I want to carry on doing it indefinitely so I think in six months I will be struggling to think of twelve songs a month. According to Lady Gaga, music and fashion are inextricably linked so I needed to know about it!

3. Putting it in writing - I think everyone has a novel in them and I have been waiting for the big idea to hit me for nearly ten years. It came to me last August and I wrote five thousand words and then abandoned it over Xmas when I seemed to be ill all the time and didn't feel like it. I did a bit more last sunday and really enjoyed it, writing is such a nice relaxing hobby.

Speaking of which, roll on the weekend. And I get paid tomorrow as well, can't wait :)