Are you bored of the Jumble yet?

I know not all of you guys live in London, so I am really sorry if this geographically excludes you but I want to alert everyone who is in London (or the surrounding counties) about a great Jumble that I will be partaking in this Sunday!

I will be selling my wares- vintage, modern, bits & bobs etc- at the amazing Bar Music Hall on Curtain Road from midday, so please come along and bring friends. It's a pub, they serve food, show a film on a projector AND there are people selling cool things. What more could you ask for on a lazy Sunday afternoon?

If you do come along, and see something you like, make sure you say hi and mention Pretty Much Penniless I'll give you a sweet deal!

Thanks ladies and gents, tell all your friends!

An outfit (or two!)

Another pair of brogues to add to my vast collection.

These were unbelievably from Primark. It was one of those moments, when you see something that you know must be yours! They were the only pair in the whole of the Oxford Street branch and incredibly, in my size. The boy at the till couldn't find them on the system so he let me have them for £6!

Please ignore the mess of my room! My new lace jacket/shirt from the Topshop sale for £15, worn with Primark maxi and my favourite bag- a 1950's leopard doctors bag which cost me a fiver from the ebay.

Another Topshop sale purchase! A net emboridered top in a size 10 (which obviously I am not!) but it fits really nicely. More proof that sizes don't matter and if you love something, try it! I assume on a smaller girl this would be more like a dress but I like it just fine as a top.

Another dress from my bargain day on Saturday

So I caved and bought the rose print tee from Topshop after seeing it in store. Massive and oversized on me, it's ultra comfy and I wore it Sunday in the sweltering heat and it kept me so cool.

Have you bagged any sale bargains recently? I got a few other things including a couple of lace bodies to wear under dresses and a couple of cute jumpers from Primark for festival nights. Only a couple more weeks till Latitude festival and I am ridiculously hyped for it.

Vintage Fashion Fayre

Once upon a time, there was a shop called The East End Thrift Store. I'd heard about it fabled fabulousness, how cheap its clothes were, the amount of vintage on offer and of course I marvelled at the thought of a warehouse of vintage. Embarrassingly, I've never managed to get my lazy self to the shop itself which is, surprise surprise, in the East End but luckily for me, I now don't have to.

Yesterday in the Metro (a free London newspaper) I saw a tiny ad for The East End Thrift Store and a huge jumble sale they were having at Cecil Sharp House in Primrose Hill/Camden. Less than a 10 minute walk through the park and the sun from my flat it couldn't have been more perfect.

I'm always a little bit wary of these sales where you can fill a small bag for £xx and a big bag for £xx after I visited the Angel Costume sale a couple of years ago and paid £40 for a bag of clothing that I never wore.

However the prices for this sale were a lot more reasonable and the selection was HUGE. A massive church hall-sized room with clothes literally EVERYWHERE. All over the floor, I had to wade in have a good old rifle! Most people's idea of hell, I was in heaven. Obviously, not everything was desirable. Some of the items were damaged/stained and some were just plain hideous. There were some corkers- I would love to just spend a day playing dress-up in there.

So what did I buy?

All of the above, 3 1970's maxi dresses, 3 shorter dresses with amazing prints (check out the tiger!) and then possibly the weirdest, most un-me piece of clothing I have ever bought, but I just couldn't leave it!

A turquoise, American-made, perfect-fitting, tasseled, embroidered cowgirl dress with a collar that has metal tips. A possible festival dress maybe. Insane, and some people will loathe it, but I love it!

And would you like to know the best bit ? I fit all of this (including a couple of belts) into a the £10 medium paper bag. I love life!

The Heart vs. The Head

Oh hello, dress of my dreams, pinafore of perfection, apple of my vintage eye.

From here, on Etsy.



Obsessing over vintage and vintage-style peter pan collar dresses at the minute.



Topshop


A Wednesday Addams-esque number from here.


Mia Farrow.

Leprechaun-print blouse, imagine it tucked in with a pencil skirt. From here.


And a gothic, very anti-summer fifties dress from here.

I decided long ago that I was not made for the summer. I was made for scarves and boots and coats with fur collars and layers and cardigans and tights. I'm struggling for summer clothes, struggling with my body and it's inability to look nice in anything suitable for this heat.

Also lusting after a few new pieces from Topshop recently, mainly for festival season. Wellies that resemble riding boots? Yes please. Embroidery? Yum. Alas, body blues probably mean slouchy t-shirts, like the rose print number below, will be the only thing I'll be wearing for the rest of summer.

Off With Your Head!

This weekend has been so much fun! My friend Vicky turned 24 and had an absolutely amazing Wonderland-themed tea party birthday to celebrate. There were cakes, flowers, flamingo croquet, musical chairs, murder in the dark, trampolining, balloons and laughter. Vicky looked so pretty in her handmade dress, I cannot imagine Alice as anyone else now.

Myself and Ed dressed as the King & Queen of Hearts and my outfit was entirely thrifted and crafted and cost less than £10 I believe! I even managed to make my very own heart fascinator! What do you think? Better than one of those costumes from Ebay?

Thought I would post a few of the photos for you to see. Posts may be a bit sporadic in the next week as I am organising a few things for the blog and reading some of your wonderful posts from the last couple of days- did you all have a good weekend too?

Also, if you're going to Glastonbury on Wednesday- have a great time, come rain or shine. I'm off to Latitude for the 4th year in July and cannot wait!

Blog Sale!

Fed up of the football? World cup widow? Fancy spending a bit of payday cash? I'm having a make-up bag clearout so take advantage of my hoarding nature and grab a bargain!

I am open to offers and all items will be posted at the beginning of next week by recorded 1st class delivery.

Sorry for the blurry photo!

Nars Eyeshadow Palette in Day & Night. Retails for £37. Looking for £25 + £1.50 postage. More info here



Nars Key Largo Eyeshadow duo retails for £23. £18 See here for more info

Nars Cream Eyeshadow in Granada- Retails for £16- £11 See here for more info



Mac Fluidline in Royal Wink- hardly used, small dip. £7 + £1 p&p

Sleek Eye Dust in Jet Set- Free with any purchase.
Remington Spin Curl Hairdryer- only used once- £20 + p&p (approx. £4)

Cath Kidston Bluebell Hand Cream 100ml large tube- used twice. £6 + £1.50 p&p


Bumble & Bumble Curl Conscious full size products 250ml- each only used a couple of times.

Defining Creme for fine curls
Reactivating Mist for all curls

£8 each or both for £15 plus £2.50 p&p

Let's talk business.

Some of the ultra-pretty GFW cards.

I had a dilemma recently. I don't make or sell anything, nor do I offer a service as such (oo-er!) so is it presumptuous of me to want a business card?

I'm not going to be running around giving them out to everyone I meet but on a few occasions recently (blogger meet-ups, GFW) I have felt a bit silly not having one. Shall I write my URL on your hand/phone? Do you have a pen? It's just a bit awkward isn't it?

After receiving a couple of gorgeous business cards from Graduate Fashion Week, Katie at What Katie Does and and Claire at French for Cupcake I decided to have a look on the interwebs to see what was on offer.

Moo.com offers a great service and I was really tempted but at £12.99 for 50 I can't see them lasting very long (i.e. I would probably lose them all) and I just couldn't decide what to actually put on them.

So I decided to make my own. As my Dad said when I saw him at the weekend- "It would be a bit of a stretch for someone called Pretty Much Penniless to have shiny and expensive business cards" Ah, the wisdom of Dads.

I sneakily used the printer at work to make some stickers and then cut up some pretty postcards and random paper that I had been collecting for a rainy day and voila! I keep them in my purse now, just in case a situation arises where I can whip one out!

Have you been tempted to get in on the business card action? What do you think of them? Pretentious vs. necessary. Cute vs. excessive.


(Also slightly off-topic, but would anyone be interested in a make up sale? I have a few NARS, MAC etc bits that I am looking to sell and wondered if anyone would be interested? Let me know and I'll do a blog sale)