More Parcels!!

HOLA! I am back from koala land! Or should I say, RAINVILLE! It rained SO much on Monday!! I think my shoes are probably still not 100% dry!

We had a great time and I will post photos this week. I am more excited about what was waiting on my doorstep at midnight when I arrived home!

This baby was an unexpected treat!! I LOVE mail and parcels in particular!! (Who doesn't, right!?). It was from my lovely lovely Mum. Here's what she sent me:

I'd been looking at gilets in Sydney!!!

Can you see what's on this dress?? That's right - FLAMINGOS!!!

Belated Easter chocs and some other choc goodies..apparently there was a blue egg to match the yellow smarties egg....but my niece ate it!! haha!

My FAVOURITE crisps EVER - which you can't get here in NZ :D

Lush earrings and some woollen winter booties in my fav colour coral, knitted by an elderly family friend :)

What a wonderful surprise :D

Today I also received my hair accessory swap parcel from Tiffany in the USA - it took under a week to arrive, wow! Here are the fab items she made me:

Cute wrappings :)

I love this headband and it is totally something I will wear! It came unstuck in the post so I will have to mend it first.

Lovely clips, I'm particularly excited about the comb as I recently saw one in a magazine and thought I'd like to try this look!

A great swap! Here's a little peek at what I sent her - you can see we both thought quite alike!!!

Three hair clips. Do you know how hard it is to find hair clip bases in NZ?! Impossible :(

A yo you hairband. The first yo yos I EVER made. I am now addicted to them!!

Close up of the hairband. I've already made all of the yo yos for an identical one for myself. The most exciting part of this swap was the re-discovery of a box full of vintage fabrics my mum had given me before I moved to NZ!! These fabrics were all Mum's :)

Close up of the back of the flower.

So the postman has been busy with me lately! I am currently participating in a NEW swap - a chocolate swap with Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem. If you have a sweet tooth, you should definitely check out her blog for some drool inducing inspiration!

I am planning on doing a tutorial for some of the items I made above. If you have a preference of which one you would prefer first, let me know :)

Have a great day! XOXO

Guest blogger: Ilana from My Modern Vintage

Howdy folks! (I don't know why I said that, but I quite like it so it can stay!!)

Well I'm still in Sydney right now, but I'm being SUPER DOOPER organised and have arranged for the fabulous Ilana to be my guest blogger today and keep you entertained. Ilana is the second guest blogger on What Sadie Did and I hope you enjoy discovering all about her as much as I did.

Here's Ilana...

1.Tell us a little bit about yourself...

My name is Ilana and I am from Brisbane in Australia. I began my blog in December last year as I love fashion and writing and wanted an outlet to express myself in a creative way.
I am studying journalism and law at the moment, however my main passion is definitely writing. I am creative at heart and am always trying to find ways to express myself either through fashion, writing, photography or my latest thing- jewelry making.

2. What do you hope to achieve in the next six months?

Within the next six months I hope to be working towards my career in journalism. I think I am edging towards a freelance career as I can't imagine working under strict guidelines and pressures. Currently I am writing an article for Vintage Affair Magazine and will hopefully contributing to Brisbane's Fluid Magazine in the near future.
I also want to focus more on uni, my blog and my Etsy shop. I am changing to part time work in July so I am hoping this will give me more time to focus on things I enjoy.

3. How long have you been blogging? What do you love about it?

I have been blogging since December last year but have only really gotten in to it since late March this year. I love blogging as I can write about how I feel, its kind of like keeping an online journal. I also love writing and can't imagine a better outlet for my creative self.

4. What is your favourite item in your wardrobe and why?

I have way too many! As it is my clothes take up two wardrobes and a chest of drawers. I am constantly giving things to the Salvation Army.
Most of my favourite pieces are things I have purchased from op-shops or vintage dresses from Etsy. I always find that my favourite pieces are usually the ones that have cost me the least amount of money.

5. What was your biggest fashion faux pas?

Definitely wearing Ugg boots to uni with mini skirts back in 2005. SO not a good look but it was very popular at the time.


6. What did you wear today? Tell us about your outfit.
The dress is from Valleygirl, I purchased this last year. It is a lovely maxi dress with a dark grey and floral print.
The cropped cardigan is from Forever 21, the bag is vintage (thrifted - $3!), the earrings are handmade (by me!) and the shoes are these funky metallic fake snakeskin sandals which I got from Brands Exclusive on sale.

 

Thanks Ilana! If you would like to learn more about Ilana, check out her blog My Modern Vintage.

If you would like to guest blog here at What Sadie Did just get in touch! 
I'll be back with you as normal tomorrow :)

What I wore: to his graduation

Hello there! Well there was no post from me yesterday so I apologise for that! The reason is that the boyfriend graduated from his Masters of Fine Art (the little brain box completed it in record time whilst still working full time! I'm bragging here I know!). We went to his ceremony and were then both back in work that same afternoon. 

As we both work at the university, it wasn't too much of a special occasion, but it was still great to see him collect his certificate. The bf is Head of Institute, and when he crossed the stage to collect his award the whole academic staff stood to applaud him! Fantastic!

Yay, look at the applause! :)

Looking very smart!

Mini Grad

Well the weather was absolutely dire all day so I was very excited that my new GHD straighteners arrived from ASOS (in under a week!) and I tried them out on my busy, rained on hair before dinner. And OMG was I impressed with the results!! My hair had never looked that good! I also bought a new liptstick which I will show you another time!

GHD Gold Max Styler

I wore the same outfit for the graduation and for dinner at Logan Brown that evening, but switched up the jewellery, makeup and handbag.

Blouse: Glassons; Harem trousers: TK Maxx; Shoes, Shoe Connection; Clutch, TK Maxx; Bangles, Diva.

Jacket, Primark.

 

This outfit was quite loose and shapeless but I kinda liked it. I wore my expensive shoes (which were mentioned HERE if you're interested) and had a bit of a drama in them:

As I was leaving the graduation for a coffee with my work friends....I got my heel caught in a huge drain....couldn't get it out...the drain came up with my shoe and made a HUGE clatter....everyone stared....I panicked because I NEVER wear these shoes!....scrabbled down barefoot by the drain fearing I'd snapped the heel or at least scraped the leather off....and when I retrieved my shoe there was a teeny scratch! WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT!

Does this kind of thing ever happen to anyone else?!

I ended up drinking one too many cocktails and have had a VERY tired day in work whilst eating every carb I could lay my hands on! Whoops! And tonight I am packing for a weekend in Sydney. We have to be at the airport at 4am so an early night is called for!

Hope you all have a great weekend - what are your plans?

XOXO

DIY Fun

Hello everyone, I hope you enjoyed Cait's guest post yesterday! And thanks for all of your lovely comments on my guest post over at Sailing to Nowhere, it was SO lovely to read such fabulous comments.  

BIG HUGS to you all!!

Well I mentioned briefly yesterday that there was another first for me today.......My DIY Swarovski inspired bracelet tutorial is being featured on {trulie-scrumptious}! They have a weekly {tute-sweet tuesday}, and I was lucky enough to be chosen this week. If you like DIY tutorials like I do, you should definitely have a browse each week to check out what's new :) 

Whilst on a crafting theme, last week I received a package I'd been eagerly anticipating - my craft swap items from the wonderful Jaclyn all the way from Canada! (If you want to have a peek at what I made for her, she posted some pics here.)

Our swap was bird themed, (we are both a bit bird obsessed). Here are the lovely things she made me.... (Excuse the pants photos, they were taken on my iPhone in work)

Luckily Jaclyn had wrapped the contents well, cos look at the size of this hole!!

 

Some of the goodies!!

These magnets are so cute! I love the guy who looks like he's wearing a monocle!

This necklace is amazing. I must take a photo of me wearing it, because the bird dangles from the side rather than the middle. Quite an awesome piece of craftmanship :)

A lovely note card with explanations of each item.

This is also beautiful - a silk scarf with bird embellishments. I love the edging and the frills and everything about it!!See the little bird peeking in the corner? Another goodie from Jaclyn.

 She also sent me a resurfaced tin that now acts as a photo frame, but for some reason I can't find the photo of that :(

Thanks Jaclyn, I love it all :)

Today I am posting a hair accessory themed swap to a lovely swap buddy in the USA...I will be posting a DIY for some of the items I made because I am pretty darn sure you will love them as much as I do! <3 

Has anyone else joined any swaps lately?? 

Guest blogger: Cait from Sailing to Nowhere

So, as promised, I am today handing What Sadie Did over to the lovely Cait from Sailing to Nowhere! I am VERY pleased to have Cait as the first EVER guest blogger, and think she did a fabulous job. I'm guest blogging over at Sailing to Nowhere today too, so while you're checking Cait's blog out, have a little look at my post :)

 Here's Cait:

 1.Tell us a little bit about yourself...

Hi, I'm Cait from Sailing to Nowhere, I am 22 and from the UK. I graduated from university last year and since then I have been working behind a bar. I enjoy the work and it pays the bills (for my ever expanding wardrobe, yes, it is an addiction) while I decide what I want to do with my life.

2. What do you hope to achieve in the next six months?

I hope to still be passionate about blogging and to have started earning some money with my writing, I hope to have established myself as a freelance writer and hopefully have 'the novel' in full swing!

3. How long have you been blogging? What do you love about it?

I have only been blogging for a couple of months but I really love it! Now that I have more free time to devote to blogging it seemed like the right time to start. I love that it has encouraged me to look at my wardrobe differently and it has allowed me to connect with such a great community of bloggers :)

Cath Kidston Dress

4. What is your favourite item in your wardrobe and why?

This dress from Cath Kidston is my favourite item, I have had it for years and I still love it, it is so comfy to wear and the colours are great for any season. I always feel so 1940s when I wear it. 

5. What was your biggest fashion faux pas?

There have been so many! I think we all make our fair share of mistakes especially growing up, I know for a fact that as a kid I wore some terrible clothes in the name of fashion. One particular example is a leopard print strappy top and matching trousers I used to wear during my Spice Girls phase.

6. What did you wear today? Tell us about your outfit.

Today I wore this Kate Moss Topshop dress I got on eBay with a belted cardigan, knee socks and loafers. The dress is lovely but a bit low to wear on its own so I have had to put a vest underneath. I'm not sure about the knee socks but my feet were a bit cold. The outfit is super comfy but still pretty. I wore it to pop to Sainsburys to do the weekly food shop this afternoon and later I will we wearing it to go to the pub for a bit of dinner with the boyfriend.

Dress, Kate Moss for Topshop

Thanks Cait! 

If you'd like to find out more about Cait I suggest you get over pretty sharply to her blog and discover all of her fashion and lifestyle musings ;)

Tomorrow I have another What Sadie Did first! Can you feel the excitement? Can you??  

What I wore: a bit of a Monday mix

Hello there! How was everyone's weekend??

Well, the Jimmy Saville mask / cigar / medal went down a treat on Friday night, but very few Kiwis actually knew who he was..they just thought I was wandering around with a random old dude's face! Haha.

I went for a lovely 'tramp' yesterday afternoon (that's a hike for those not up with tramping lingo!). Luckily my friends and I are all at the same fitness level so we all managed the same pace. It was a beautiful day and there were stunning views.

 

This morning I woke up at 6am absolutely parched! This never happens to me, and I am NEVER up earlier than 8.20am in the mornings! So apart from being very tired right now, I also had a little extra time to work on my outfit AND get pics done before work! 

Here's what I'm wearing today:

 

Skirt, Primark; Tights, M&S; Shoes, Velvet Bee at TK Maxx; Vest, Primark; Denim Shirt, Fornarina; Wool gilet, Sussan.

Necklace - received from Pam through a craft swap :)

Ring, gift; beaded bracelet, gift; rope bracelets I made myself; Nail varnish Russian Navy by OPI.

Bag, TK Maxx.

Velvet Bee at TK Maxx
I love these shoes!! My Mum sent me them all the way from the UK as a surprise!! <3

I mentioned recently that I'm planning on having guest bloggers here on What Sadie Did. Well I am EXCITED to announce that TOMORROW I will be publishing the first guest post!! 

Who will it be!?!?

Well be sure to check back tomorrow to find out! 

If you would like to be a guest blogger, please let me know :)

Hope you all have a happy Monday!!