After moping around for the past day or so ill, my blog-spiration had all but dried up- sleeping for more than 12 hours a day and being dosed up on Nurofen and orange juice will do that to a girl.

But, after a request on Twitter from the lovely Miss Believer (check out her blog for a post about Pretty Much Penniless she put up recently) asking if there were any jumble sales coming up in London soon, I decided to get back into the swing of things, do some research and compile a list for y'all.

Jumble & Pearls Second Birthday
Saturday 2nd October, 1-6pm

The Horatia- 98-102 Holloway Road, N7 8JE

'Calling all thrifty fashionistas! Rifle through rails of one-off vintage and designer clobber to unearth unique finds at this cult jumble sale to celebrate its second birthday. Sip your way through the cocktail menu at the Horatia or pop in next door to the Curious Yellow Kafe for some lovingly made organic treats (Jumble &Pearls guests enjoy 15 per cent off)'

Wills Moody Jumble
Sunday 3rd October, 2-6pm
St Aloysius Social Club, 21 Phoenix rd, Euston, NW1 1TA
For more info, see there facebook page here: Wills Moody
(A brilliant jumble sale I've been to a few times, always lots of sellers and cheap prices!)


Yes Brian, You Look Terrific!
Sunday 3rd October, 12-6pm
Concrete, Shoreditch High Street.
For more info, see the blog here.

World of Curiosities- Vintage Jumble Sale

Sunday 3rd October, 1-5pm
The Victoria Pub, 10 Grove Road, Bow, E3 5TH
For more info, visit their website

Going For A Song Jumble
Saturday 9th October, 12-6pm
Amersham Arms, New Cross
For more info, see their blog here

And two non-hipster jumbles are also happening in North London-

Table Top Sale
Saturday 2nd October, 11am
St Mary's Church, Eversholt Street, Camden

Car Boot Sale
Sunday 3rd October, 9.30am-1pm
Gospel Oak School, Mansfield Road, London, NW3

So, do let me know which ones you'll be off to this weekend. I'm hoping to hit up a couple each day, so if any of you are going along let me know!

Monthly Incentives

This is a quick introduction to an occasional new series I'll be doing showcasing some of my wants and needs for the pay-cheque ahead. For the coming October, this first segment incorporates today's Seller on Sunday: Sarita Supplies on Etsy.

I've been quite obsessed with buying gemstone jewellery since I found an agate slice pendant in Oxfam a few months ago, so when I stumbled across Sarita Supplies I knew a small percentage of my October pay would have to be spent on one of the following:

Gold Edged Amethyst Stalactite Pendant- $47

Gold Edged Rainbow Moonstone Pendant- $26

Aren't they beautiful? It is a supplies site though, so I will need to buy chain and fixings to make them into a necklace but that means I get to make it exactly to my specifications. They aren't cheap but at the moment they have a 20% off all order over $20 which is a great saving and they are lined with 24 carat gold! Surely dirt cheap for such luxury.


My inspiration for winter has so far consisted of wishing to be a mix of these 3 girls, photos taken from the Look website:

Does anyone know who they are? The first girl especially, I love what she's wearing- all that black and gold with that haircut! I'm missing my dark hair at times like this. For winter I want to wear lots of textured black and big chunky jewellery. Faux fur collars are also high on my list, that H&M number everyone is buying is looking very tempting!

I've been trawling the Topshop website for things to put my £50 voucher towards (£50 really doesn't stretch very far in Topshop anymore, does it?) and have so far found the following:

Marc B bag (but come on, £55 for a non-leather bag? Really?)

Peplum jacket

Devoré jacket

Need this! Velvet stripe tee

Burnout tee.


Cameo socks
Faux fur coat (again though, if I wanted to spend £175 on a good winter coat, would I really go to Topshop?)

Kimono cardigan- what crap pictures they have of this on the site? I hope that it has big square sleeves exactly like authentic kimonos.

Hope everyone is ok this fine Sunday? I, myself, think I may be coming down with something :(

P.S.
I totally missed the 1 year anniversary of Pretty Much Penniless! I was on the 19th September and 145 posts later, I'm still here. THANK YOU to everyone who's been here since the beginning, found me in the middle and those who started reading recently. This blog has been such fun and it is all down to you guys, you know who you are.

Exclusive discount for pretty things: Read on!

After writing a post about the wonderful hair accessories by Crown & Glory a couple of weeks ago, the lovely Sophie offered to send me a couple of things to try out and promised to include a treat for my readers too.

Opening the beautifully packaged items was an utter treat! I love what she sent me and so did my friend Natalie, so we had a little dress-up session one night to see how we would wear the items and decided flowers definitely aren't just for festivals!

The purple pansy hair band is my favourite because the colours are so rich and I think it suits my hair colour so much, but the Rust Bobby Pins look perfect in Natalie's blonde hair set into a loose bun.

The little Orlaith tortoiseshell comb is so easy to wear. I love these vintage-style combs, they can be worn on hair up or down and don't budge an inch. They would be perfect as a little hair accessory for any remotely special occasion or even wear them to work, exactly as I did today!

The Crown & Glory online shop is already very reasonably priced- something that is always key for me- so imagine my joy when they kindly offered an exclusive discount for Pretty Much Penniless readers!

So, fancy knowing what you need to do to get a VERY generous 20% discount on all orders from the Crown & Glory site up until next Friday 1st October?

Just quote the code PRETTYMUCHPENNILESS at the checkout and enjoy.

Simples!

Look what we won!

You know I entered the vouchercodes.co.uk competition a few days ago? Well I came second!

I won a £50 Topshop voucher and I couldn't be happier. Actually I could, because the first prizes for the London Fashion Weekend tickets went to two of my favourite girls- Alex and Vix- take a look at the winning entries below! Thank you vouchercodes.co.uk for the fantastic competition.

Alex from Odd Socks & Pretty Frocks

Ruju from Mind Full of Glitter

Vix from Vintage Vixen

Kat from Sequin Buttons

Well done girls, fantastic outfits!


Accessorize Giveaway Winner.

I also drew the winner of my Accessorize competition and the winner is:

Comment number 80- Flo Nightingale!

Congratulations lady, I'll be sending you an email any minute now!

Wedding Wear Jitters

Elisa Dress- £95

Grace Bag- £35

No Seller on Sunday featurette today due to an immense hangover but instead, I thought I would write a 'What I Wore' post to mix things up a little. Yesterday, Ed's friend Steve and his beautiful wife Stacey got married in Winchester and we partied till midnight and drank lots of wine (hence this bloody hangover). It was a really great day and the first wedding I've been to as an adult- the last one I attended was with my parents who let me take in a Gameboy to play with in the back row.

I panicked about what to wear for a very long time, almost 2 months in fact. I ended up buying 5 dresses (including a gorgeous purple 70's maxi from Corinne at Used & Abused Vintage) most of which ended up being returned (not including the purple maxi- saving that for another occasion). I just couldn't find one that made me feel dressed up enough, pretty enough or appropriate enough. I even looked to Coast dresses (which are so far out of my price range they may as well be Mulberry) because I had looked everywhere else. Then my Mum came to the rescue and dragged me to Monsoon and made me try on things which were VERY out of my comfort zone. That's the good thing about having someone else choose for you- they choose things which you would never even glance at.

A high-necked fitted shift dress on a girl with 38E boobs? And gold accessories on someone who is as pale as Nicola Roberts? I tried it on anyway to keep Mother happy and prove to her that it wouldn't suit me at all- it's navy for god's sake! After I assembled the shrug and the clutch and sucked in my stomach in the Monsoon changing rooms, I realised that, actually, I loved it. It's fitted in all the right places and looks a little Mad Men-esque to counteract the dowdiness that shifts often are. It wasn't cheap but, lord, after trying to find a dress for nearly 60 days and failing, it was worth it. The credit card thinks I should have gone with one of the five I bought from eBay for £10, but who listens to credit cards anyway right?

Bertie A/W Collection & Store Launch

My beautiful new suede Chelsea boots!

A few photos from the new Bertie South Molton Street store and the blogger event they threw on Wednesday night. Great night with lots of chatting and the trying on of some very, very desirable shoes.

I'll be totally frank with you, I am not a massive fan of 'fashion' shoe brands. The shoes are nearly always impractical, unwearable, overpriced and shoddily made. Not being familiar with Bertie shoes, I was fearing the worst when I turned up to their boutique near Bond Street.

It was a surprising experience then, to be met with row after row of beautiful, perfectly wearable boots, brogues (love!) wedges and flats all with masculine detailing- studs, laces, buckles and in worn-look leather and suede.

I'm heel-phobic. I have never mastered the art and have always felt less of a woman because of it. So, in a room full of beautiful bloggers I did the stupidest thing possible- I tried on some shoe-boot wedges with 3 inch heels. I had visions of myself falling flat but instead I found myself the perfect shoes. The Chelsea boots above are comfy, an absolute doddle to walk in, light as a feather and will look perfect with most outfits. Hello to you, my first grown-up pair of heels, you're only ten years late to the party.

Thanks to Bertie and Leon at IUnderEye for the invite!

Voucher Me Pretty

Yes- it's that time of year again you wonderful catwalk-loving lot! No, no- I'm not talking about London Fashion Week, (although I know that's what everyone else is tweeting/texting/blogging in anticipation of right now)- I'm referring to the Vouchercodes.co.uk London Fashion Weekend Challenge.

Us thrifters get a little excited about this premise for a competition- it means we get to put all of our favourite finds into one outfit and not feel like we're bragging about our sixth-sense for jumble!

My outfit was inspired by this recent chilly spell which I refuse to yet call Autumn- fur collar, thick tights, chunky knits with skinny belts and the warm colours of the coming season- cranberry and burnt orange.

From head to toe-

Flower grips- Crown & Glory- Gift
Vintage Fur Collar- Islington Junk Shop- £11
Red slip dress- Let's Get Ready to Jumble sale 50p
Black slip dress (just seen)- Charity Shop- £2
Black beaded waistcoat (just seen)- ThriftstoreUK- £5
Shoes (just seen)- Bertie- Gift
Chunky Knit Cardigan- Car boot sale-£3
Skinny Belt- Primark- free on another dress.
Agate pendant necklace- Oxfam- £1.25

Outfit Total= £22.75

Most of you have heard my general top tips for nabbing a bargain but here are a few others I've come across recently-

1) If you see accessories you like in a high street store, try to be strong and not buy them then and there. Pop home, jump on the computer and do a little searching. You can find almost identical jewellery and hair accessories to what's in the shops on sites run by independent sellers on Etsy or eBay for sometimes half the price. It also means you're supporting hardworking crafters which, in my experience, is always mega rewarding.

2) Sign up for online forums, community's and message boards. Even if they aren't specifically selling related, often the huge ones will have a section dedicated to sales and you can nab a bargain from anyone oblivious to the online world of eBay et al.

3) Yes, I know- I succumbed to the topknot. I never wear my hair up and thought I would try it and actually kind of love it now. Changing your hairstyle, even in the most minor way, can make you feel like a totally different person and change the impact of an entire outfit. Check out hair orientated blogs like Kel's Hair Advice & All Things Nice and You Tube channels for examples!

4) This also goes for tutorials on ANYTHING. I literally mean anything. I recently wanted to know how to stretch shoes, as I had a pair that were slightly too small. Off I popped over to You Tube thinking 'Well, if they have this I am gonna be impressed!' and then my search yielded 1,440 results and I was a little dumbfounded. I saved myself the cost of buying a new pair of shoes and learnt that the internet really is insane. Try it next time you're facing a conundrum, be it fashion-related or not!

So, fancy entering the Vouchercodes.co.uk competition yourself? Just blog about your thriftiest outfit and link to the vouchercodes.co.uk website in it so they can find your entry! You can win tickets to London Fashion Weekend (1st Prize) or Topshop vouchers (2nd & 3rd prizes). BUT you only have until tomorrow- Thursday 16th September- at midnight to get your entries in, so go go go!