On Random Act of Kindness Day (I didn’t know this was a thing) Confuzzled Bev (thanks again Bev!) nominated me to receive a prize from Nordic Stork in an Instagram competition!

I could chose anything I wanted from the website. I had a lovely time perusing the site. In the end I settled on some gorgeous wooden building blocks, and came away with a list of things I’d like to go back and purchase. I’m becoming mildly obsessed with wooden toys. These building blocks are just gorgeous.

We’re surrounded by hand me down plastic toys at the moment. I love that we’re reusing these toys, previously played with by nieces, nephews and friends children. But I’m looking forward to gathering a small selection of wooden toys too.

xx

Over the festive period I had no Internet at home, the connection is sketchy at best so I tend to edit my photos and publish my posts at work, during my lunch break. So, when I saw that Ceri's Ethical Outfit Competition for Fashion Bloggers, being run to celebrate the launch of Style Is, had a closing date of 31st December I knew there was very little chance of me entering. That was until I saw a tweet announcing the extension of the competition until January 4th. Hurrah!

So, I'm pleased to be able to share this outfit with you. 

This outfit has four ethical elements - the dress, top, scarf and bag. The dress was a charity shop purchase made on my first blogger meet up. It's the first time I've worn it, I love the shape and the pockets - I love anything with a pocket - it's super flattering and so easy to wear. I can't wait for warmer weather so I can chuck it on with sandals and sunnies.


The top is from a clothes swap, the scarf a charity shop and the bag is Monsoon via eBay.

I bought more pre loved fashion over the course of 2012 than any other year. I think this has everything to do with my involvement in the blogging community, my style has evolved, I've been given cause to consider my choices and have been inspired by the charity shop finds of so many of you and this has fuelled my determination to buy second hand.

Have you entered the competition? Do you rock pre-loved fashion?

Love

After seeing Sophie's entry I decided join Florrie's floral festivities to help her celebrate three year blogiversary.

This was a bit of a challenge for me as I don't have many prints in my wardrobe but having recently decided to inject some colour and pattern, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to show off my most recent floral find.

As a result of some eBay trawling I am now the proud owner of this pre-loved Topshop dress. I had to alter the neckline as it didn't sit quite right and with that done, I'm smitten!


I then went on a hunt to find other floral items for my outfit. I have to admit that I was surprised to find as many as I did. The whole process felt wonderfully reminiscent of playing dress-up as a child.


I added two necklaces - both daisies - one a bridesmaid gift from my sister-in-law, the second a Christmas present from my Dad, a leather cuff covered in daisies and three bracelets with flower charms, a brooch (found on etsy, made from recycled materials) and finally some sandals that I had to dust off - I had totally forgotten about them!

See all the paticipants of Florrie's Floral Festivities here.
Love

Here is my, rather windswept, entry into the Style Eyes Ethical Fashion Blog Outfit Competition. The prizes are awesome!

The rules are simple…
 'All you have to do is create an outfit which contains at least ethical piece, that could be something from your favourite ethical fashion brand, vintage or charity shop. It could also be something that you have upcycled yourself… Before the end of 28th November'. And then you have to tweet about your entry.

Why do I always leave everything until the last minute?!

Ordinarily I don't have much luck in charity shops. This summer I found the most amazing River Island dress in Age Concern. I excitedly snapped it up, only to discover that it didn't fit… so back to the charity shop it went! I do buy clothes new from the high street but I am making an effort to buy less and make smarter decisions. I guess you can say my ethical fashion credentials are a work in progress.




The addition of this skirt to my wardrobe was a direct result of my burgeoning eBay obsession.   I paid £5.50 (which included postage) for this second hand tulip skirt, originally from Topshop. I always knew I'd dress it down so my go-to looks-fab-with-everthing jumper was selected and teamed with a long sleeve t shirt for a bit of colour at the cuffs. Navy nails completed it.



As you can see I had company - a friendly black cat who turned up on our doorstep in mid October and has refused to leave. No owners have come forward and there is no room for her at our local Cat Protection so we're taking care of her.