Sew, Sew

After analysing my Christmas Wishlist and crossing off the "no" things my hubby finally bought me something.... A sewing machine! Yes my sewing abilities (or lack of) have been the butt of many jokes for years, but I'm hitting back at the haters, I'm going to teach myself to sew! First attempt at actually sewing something will be a wrap skirt (a pattern I bought off ebay) other things to attempt will be patching hubby's work jeans and turning a pair of very baggy 3/4 gaucho type pants into a pair of shorts. I'm hoping to also be creative enough to turn some thrifted not so nice clothes into "wow" clothes! I think with patience and advice I should be able to achieve this. I also have a plan of making my own dress for a wedding next October (and we also have the company directors visiting from England so I could wear it for both those occasions - providing they are not on the same weekend....).

So you know the machine is a Janome Sewist 625E and we bought it on sale for $449 reduced from $749.

Wish me luck!!

Sorry no OOTD pics today...

OMG my Lust-have items...

I was perusing the net (mainly Etsy) for some vintage clothing, but ended up googling Plus Size Rockabilly Clothing (Australian search) and came up with this store

Out Of The Closet Clothing

I've been searching for a pair of vintage inspired swimmers for aaages. I was looking more for either black or red with white polka dot in the maillot fashion of the 50s... of course there's heaps out there but none for my size 18/20 derrier, that's when I saw these...

The Marylin in Black by Pin Up Couture $128.99



*Le Drool*

From the same store there are some adorable accessories and plus sized clothing. I have my eye on these...





Top and Skirt from Miss Hussy Clothing



Savage Sunglasses

Can I Can I Can I Can I Can I????????

Fiddling with my wardrobe...

You know I don't actually wear some of these creations in public. Being in a town of 150ppl and shopping in small country towns don't exactly give me ample opportunity to be 100% me, instead I'm a more dulled down, conservative version of what I'd be like if I lived in the city. Anyway I still love to get in my wardrobe and put things together I normally wouldn't. Here is some of what I have come up with!

A couple of versions of a highwaisted skirt...


Skirt: Crossroads
Top: BigW
Belt: BigW
Shoes: Market Stall at Paddy's


Skirt: Crossroads
Top: CityChic shirtdress (tucked in)
Belt: BigW
Leggings: BigW



Skirt: Crossroads
Top: Target Options Plus
Belt: BigW
Leggings: BigW
Shoes: Market Stall at Paddy's


This one I would wear out of the house!

Dress: Target Options Plus
Belt: Crossroads (freebie with skirt)


Dress: BigW
Belt: BigW



Dress: BigW
Belt: BigW
Jacket: Leesa Fashions (vintage?) Thrifted... size14 so not really a good fit for me to wear out of the house LOL!!

Be warned there will be more to come......

Looking into the past

Since my camera batteries are kaput and I won't be able to get any until I go to town again, I thought instead of an OOTD I'd post some fashionable (or not so fashionable) images of my past. So prepare yourselves for a trip down memory lane!

There's not much before the "noughties" that I have scanned into my PC, so we have to start from my final year of school.... 2000


My main clothing of choice in those days. Country/BnS chic LOL
Rugby Jumper: RM Williams (from a store in Gundagai on a Rugby Union trip)
Jeans: Jeans West
Shirt: Gloster
Hat: Bundaberg Rum
Shoes: RM Williams (Not pictured)


Year 12 Formal
Dress: Syndicate
Bag: Can't remember... like a Strand Bags store....
Shoes: Payless (not pictured)


After the Temora Miss Showgirl Dinner (I came runner up, just so ya know)
Dress: Syndicate
Shoes: No idea (not pictured anyway LOL)


Taken outside Winton Waltzing Matilda Centre (QLD) on our Boulia trip.
Shirt: Wrangler
Jeans: Target?
Boots: RMW


My wedding! 6th March 2004
Dress: Henri Josef from Ferrari Bridal Wear, Wagga Wagga
Shoes: Mischief (from above)
Tiara: Unsure of Brand but from Ferrari
Veil: Made by my Mother

Now there's not much from my wedding until I was preggie with my 2nd daughter. The pics mainly consist of Miss4 as a baby LOL... For some reason when I was preggie with Miss1 I was very comfy in my skin. I was an extremely happy preggie plus sized mum! Here are some of my fave pics and outfits from then. Just so you know I managed to get by without too many actual maternity clothes. Rivers and BigW were my friends and I wore my Target maternity jeans almost to death!


Pants: Target Roll Waist Band stretchy pant... size 16 and I managed to make them fit my size 18-22 preggie body! I still have these pants though they are VERY worse for wear. I will be buying another pair!
L/S top: Rivers
S/S tunic: BigW
None of the above items are maternity wear!


Don't know if you can see this very well...
Shirt: White maternity shirt, can't remember the brand
Jumper: Rivers
Jeans: Target maternity


L/S top: BigW maternity
S/S top: BigW (not maternity)
Jeans: Target maternity


Getting close to the end....
Singlet: BigW maternity
Belly Band (white): 4MumsTums Ebay
Jeans: Target Maternity
I so want this haircut again! What do you think?

So that's it really. As you can see I kind of struggle for an identity. But I wear what I want (within reason) and when I am confident it certainly shows through!

Hot Hot Hot

Well it looks like it's starting to get into the hot weather now which means I can permanently pull out the summer clothes for us all and dust off the fans and air con! I don't have any pics of myself today, I need to buy new batteries because my rechargable ones don't hold charge anymore.

Anyway just sit and imagine.....

Black Target Maxi with bright flowers. It's newish stock, so you've probably seen it around.
I was also wearing a purple Sarah shrug (thrifted) earlier and if I go anywhere I'll wear my black Havaianas with diamantes.

Actually it's probably good that I can't take a pic of myself. I feel odd today. Really drained and blah. Just want to go to bed. But I still have cleaning to do.

xxXXxx

A Monday Dress

I don't know about you but Mondays to me are Meh-days. I mean I have a habit of sleeping in and then running late for dropping Miss4 off at school, Mondays are a huge "I have nothing to wear" day and in the end I opt for frumpiness. Mondays are tiring, stressful and a day that I would GLADLY sleep through, but we know not all of us can be so lucky.

So I am on the hunt for a (summer) dress that I can throw on every Monday morning, stand up and say "here I am Monday", one that will cheer me up and lift my spirits for whatever the day (and rest of the week) brings. Obviously I need something bright and fun, something simple and chic and also something cool and comfortable (for those 40degree days we get out here in the bush).

Budget is approx Au$50

Here are some that have tickled my fancy (all from http://www.etsy.com/)...


Seller: Parsimony


Seller: SilkandMore




Seller: Ananya

and for my winter Monday blues, layered with tights and a turtleneck - ahem... skivvy


Seller: Clementiny

I have also seen some lurvely ones on http://www.eshakti.com/, which I will be buying once those bills are paid!

Peace

xxXXxx

Party Plan!

I had my Country home decorator party today and it went well! I got some lovely ladies together for a cuppa and some yummy food and in the end I managed to purchase what will be the start of my Country Chic bedroom!

Anyhow I had the nigh impossible task of trying to figure out what to wear. In the end I chose this outfit...



Top: Shirt Dress from City Chic
Skirt: Crossroads
Belt: Hubster's Suit Belt
Leggings: BigW
Shoes (not pictured): Black ballet flats/jiffies from Target featuring diamantes

Now you might have seen I don't normally wear stuff like this. There are a couple of reasons. 1 is that I don't normally have the confidence to do so, but lately I've seen girls my size or bigger totally rocking this look and I thought why the f** not? 2 is that the hubster has a habit of pointing out my "pot belly".... anyway I got dressed when he was out and he didn't have enough time to confront of me about it LMAO. So that's me, lumps, bumps and all and you know what? This body has produced 2 amazing kids, I am proud of what it has done and how it has nurtured them and I love my body, with it's jiggly bits and stretch marks!

xxXXxx

I'm SORRY!!!

First of all I must apologise to my lovely followers for being MIA for over a month. Things have happened at home and I have been a bit down, along with that is the feeling of I CBF, so I've been a complete dag lately. Sad but true. Anyhow I'm back with avengance and a limited bank account with bills coming up (and christmas... aaaarrggghhhh) which are mainly car related, you know the usual, rego, greenslip oh and a $500 excess from backing my 10 month old Rav4 into my husbands 7 year old landcruiser tray back ute... Good one!

I don't have an outfit to post today, but I will tomorrow. I'm having a CountryHeartStrings Home Decorator Party and I've invited a few people to come over for arvo tea and have a look see at what's on offer. I'm hoping to do my house up a bit more. Especially our and the girls bedrooms. I'm going for Classic White with a splash of blue (in cushions and artwork - which I will do myself) with Linen coloured bed sheets. I'd love white but unless my hubster changes to a desk job, I don't feel like washing dirt and lanolin out of white bedsheets non stop (yes he bathes, it just gets in his pores, then all over my sheets). As I've mentioned before the girls are having shabby chic/vintage and I'll do it up when we buy Miss 1 her bed in about Feb/Mar.

Anyway, I'm being a busy little bee right now. I mean who in their right mind bakes at 10pm...

*raises hand slowly and sheepishly*

LMAO

Ciao Bellas!

XXxx

Show Day!

Off to the show today! For those of you o/s a Show is like a town fair or even a fete. Miss4 is all excited about getting a showbag and I am hoping there is pony rides, since she is big enough now to have a go on them. The weather is breezy (hopefully not too much dust!) and warm. It's supposed to get up to about 24 degrees (C). So it should be a nice day! We will leave in 20mins, have lunch there and probably come home at about 1.30-2pm. The hubster will be there all day helping with the working dog trial. Hopefully Miss1 takes her grumpy pants off LOL!! I decided to opt for comfort today...

Top: BigW

Pants: Suzanne Grae - Thrifted

Shoes: Rivers

Brooch: Grandmas

So there we go, off to the show!

I will leave you with pics of my fam and one of the pics I took of a blossom in our garden...

This was taken at Miss1's "Ladybug" birthday party!

Enjoy!

School Photos!

Miss4 had her pre-school photos today and funnily enough she got a big bruise smack bang in the middle of her forehead yesterday, just in time for them! Lucky they offered to photoshop it out though! She looked adorable in her Target bootleg blue jeans, Target white lurex stripe kaftan, millers denim blazer and BigW ballet flats.... I love dressing her, she's my little fashion doll LOL!! I myself wore a mix of things that I have already worn this week.... Katies coral 3/4 tee, Rivers denim skirt, black opaques, giordano cardi and rivers boho wedges.... boooooooring! No pic today!!

I received some of the girls Christmas presents today. I'm decorating their bedroom in Shabby Chic style. I had ordered some quilted throws with matching covers from http://www.countryheartstrings.com.au/ and also a double bed quilt cover set from http://www.ezibuy.com.au/ ...

...I'm hoping they all match in together. It's hard to know until they are on the bed and everything is in it's place. Watch this space for updates on how I'm doing!! I'll collect everything now, but it won't get decorated until after Christmas when we buy Miss1 her big bed (in about Feb when she's 18mos). I'm still on the look out for presents for everyone for Christmas. I think I'll get the hubster a pair of Binoculars and Sat Nav and I've put in for a Kitchen Aid (yeah right - or some other kind of mixer) or a sewing machine. I would LOVE to learn how to sew and I saw these cute packs in Winter Shop for Kids that I wanted to try. Called Clothkits, they are in vintage and retro material designs for kids clothing. Everything is provided in the kit and you don't even have to know how to read a pattern.... there aren't any! I can't decide which pattern I like more, but I'm thinking this one ...

...would look gorgeous on both my girls! These are available from http://www.larkmade.com.au/ there is a heap of great stuff on that site!

I received the Summer Women's Wear catalogue from Ezibuy today and I'm lusting after 2 things in particular which has kind of solved my issue of what to wear to the Hubster's cuz's wedding in October... I say "kind of" only because I am on that diet and I have no idea what size I will be! This is a must have dress at this price! I don't know if I can live without it! (you know I'm kidding LOL)...

and I think these shoes would look awesome with it (the colour in front)...

both from http://www.ezibuy.com.au/

I just love the print in the dress, the way it sits and most of all the neck ruffle! It might look awful on me, but I'm willing to take that chance LOL.... What do you think??

xxXxx

Tempting Tuesday!

I have decided since today I am dagging about trying to clean my house, that I would make it the inaugaral "Tempting Tuesday" post. This post is my wish list for myself, my fam and my house.

In my intro I said I was into vintage and such, well I have a small fascination for the stereotypical 50s housewife, HOWEVER, my fascination only extends to the look, as opposed to actually doing the housework! In celebration I am going to buy myself a vintage inspired apron, in the hopes that the whole housewife thing rubs off LOL!!

This one from bambinoamore on Etsy has totally tickled my fancy! I'm digging the cherries and will be buying it in the coming months.

Bad Hair Day!

Well today was a bad hair day. 1... it's raining so the humidity is fuzzing me and 2.... it's oily on top so I'm slick on top and frizzy at the ends... ugh.... Soooo I had to remedy this for the pre-school run, I wore a hat.

Jeans: BigW

3/4 top: Katies - Thrifted

Tunic tee: Target

Cardi: Giordano

Shoes: SR - Thrifted

Cap - Cotton On

So it's nothing spesh, but comfy and just one of those "on the run" outfits, as I was in a bit of a hurry this morning!

Now for an announcement! No I'm not preggie, we are actually going to be putting off TTC until the new year. I want to lose some more weight (I lost 1.5kg last week!!!) and with the way Miss1 is acting at the moment (clingy, whingy etc) I'm not sure I could handle the morning sickness or even another baby right now. So the goals for the next 3mos is to lose about 15kg and buy shoes LOL..... I have no summer shoes at the moment so I want to invest in some ballet flats, some gladiator flats and heels, some leather thongs and mules, slip ons etc.... do you think that is too OTT? I have never had many shoes so I think I'll start now!

xxXXxx

Pre-School Pick Up - Take 2!

So I came home after dropping Miss4 off at pre-school and had a tub. I decided to change my outfit for this arvos pick up so here it is...

Singlet: Came with shirt

Cotton Tank: Millers - Thrifted

Cardi: SES - Thrifted

Jeans: BigW

Shoes: Rivers

Brooch: Grandma via the dress up box!

I found a couple of cute brooches and some earrings in my dress up box. They are something that a couple of years ago I would never wear, but with some age I think they are adorable! I'm loving the "nanna" cardi and I think the brooch looks sweet with it! The brooch is beaded and I already got a compliment on it when I went into town today! Not sure if you can see it very well in this pic... and excuse the bare face!

These shoes were a "had to have" item. I mean they were about $25 from Rivers and I love the detail. They seem to liven up an otherwise bland outfit (and trust me... alot of my outfits are VERY bland!)...

Enjoy!

xxXxx

Colour + Smile = A great day!

Just threw on some clothes to take Miss4 to Pre-school this morning and I got complimented! I had to go into the general store to grab some fruit, veg and milk and the lady who runs the store told me I looked great. I love it! LOL! I was probably really rather over done to drive into pre-school, but why not? It's not like I go out enough to warrant dressing up, I might as well try and do it every day if I can! So my outfit is as follows:

Top (Coral): Katies - Thrifted

Top (Black): BigW

Pants: Suzanne Grae - Thrifted

Shoes: Target

Necklaces: Miss4s dress up box - Groove Accessories?

I love the cute little buttons and puffy sleeves on the black top. The lighting prohibits the buttons from being seen! I'll have to find a better place to take pics.

I think I need a white shirt (blouse) and black or navy vest (waist coat) to wear with these pants too. Any other suggestions?

OK so my make up is probably a little OTT for the "school delivery" but meh.... LOL.

And excuse the hair, on these humid days there's nothing for me to do with it except let it go wild!

Next thing on today's to do list (other than washing and dishes) is to find outfits for the weekend. We are headed to the inlaws tomorrow for fathers day on Sunday. So I need a couple of nice travelling type outfits. Better check the forcast too. Who knows what it's going to be like! It's still cool here but further west is probably warmer.

Plain or Print?

The girls slept in this morning so I took the opportunity to do likewise! Today was one of those days where I spent half the day in my pjs (very attractive!). I think I redeemed myself however as I am not wearing trakkies! YAY! Instead I have been going through my wardobe, and rearranging for spring/summer. I'm doing a bit of a cull too, but keeping those small sizes I was talking about in yesterdays post. So without further ado, me in all my uninspring glory!

Print?

Dress: Crossroads

Cardi: Unknown - Thrifted

Tights: Sizewise

Belt: RMW - hubby's work belt!

Shoes: Black patent peep toes from Rivers

Or plain?

Cami: Big W

Cardi: Unknown - Thrifted

Skirt: Rivers

Scarf: BigW

Tights: Sizewise

Headband: Woolworths (so it's my daughters!)

and in all their "pink" glory my hot pink gumboots (wellies)

the fail safe farm footwear: Cherry Disposals (Young)

What are we all thinking? Bearing in mind the only people to see me all day are my kids and hubby! Oh and I have my arms elbow deep in washing up AND am knee deep in washing!!!

xXx

Greetings!

Hello all!

Just a short introduction before I get into the nuts and bolts about what I would like to achieve with this blog.

 I am a 26 year old SAHM (Stay At Home Mum) to 2 gorgeous girls and have been married to my teenage sweetheart for 5.5years and together for 10! We live in country NSW (Australia) on the farm where my husband is employed.

As we live so far out of town 55km to our nearest large center (the one with decent shopping!), I find that I tend to frump around the house in jeans or trakkies and a crappy top. Or even spend half the day in my pyjamas! This is not the only reason for the drabness... I am a plus sized mum and for some reason I can't bring myself to spend money on clothes when I dream of dropping some Kg's and spending a fortune on a revamped wardobe! It's sad I know, but that is the mindset I have let myself get into. A discussion on Kerry-Anne this morning made me feel very relieved, it seems I'm not the only one in the world hanging on to their smaller sized clothes in the hope of getting back down to their "dream" size. Mine happens to be a 12-14 and the top shelf of my wardobe is full of clothes I honestly haven't worn for 6 years! 6 YEARS!!!!! Yet I cannot bring myself to Ebay them or send them to the op-shop when I want nothing more to wear them again! So of course as a result I am on yet another diet in the hopes of this being able to happen. Of course just fitting into clothes isn't the only reason I want to drop 30kg. We are also TTC (Trying to conceive) baby #3 and I was a size 16 with my first and a size 18-20 with my second. I always said that I didn't want my last pregnancy to be "frumpy" and unhealthy so here I am doing my darndest to prevent that from happening.

What is my style, you might ask? In a nutshell I don't really know! I love vintage, the cute and the kitsch, my fave brand is RMW (RM Williams - my country roots) but I am getting a kick out of Rockabilly too.... My wardrobe is a mish-mash of styles, I guess not much that I really "Love" but rather stuff that suits my shape and that I don't spend a fortune on. What a sad state of affairs my half of the wardobe is. Completely lacking in inspiration...

Anyway, here is the crux... what do I want to get out of this blog?

Inspiration
Motivation
A place to vent
Perhaps it might entice me to get dolled up, even at home!

Not sure what else really! I guess I'll be throwing in how I'm going with the old diet and exercise as well as posting pics of the odd outfit I've thrown together!

Time will tell if I have anything intersting or worthwhile to say!