12 Days (and more) of Christmas Outfits: Week three (and the end)

Christmas is over for another year, but I still have a few more outfits to share with you all (and technically, the 12th Day of Christmas is the 6th of January, so it's not that late).

This challenge was fun and I definitely want to do some more during the year, whether that's dressing to a theme or styling one piece ten different ways. It's hard to pinpoint what I liked the most about this last couple of weeks, but I think maybe the fact that people talked to me. They stopped to complement me, or talk about Christmas, or even just smiled more. It got easier and easier to make time everyday to take photos (not to mention, I got a lot less embarrassed about taking photos of myself in public places). 

Monday December 21

Outfit details

Dress: Kitten D'Amour Girl Crazy collar dress (past collection)

Shoes: Kmart shoes, glittered by me! 

Tuesday December 22

Outfit details

Dress: Black Milk Clothing Wrapped dress (past collection)

Hairpiece: Homemade

Shoes: Novo (they're on sale so hurry!)

Wednesday December 23

Outfit details

Dress: Black Milk Clothing gingerbread dress (past season)

Shoes: Kmart shoes, glittered by me! 

Hairpiece: Made by me

Thursday December 24

Outfit details

Skirt: Betty Le Bon Bon

Shirt: Pinup Girl Clothing Doris top in Red (with a green Kmart shirt underneath)

Shoes: Kmart shoes, glittered by me! 

This one was my Zooey Deschanel from Elf-inspired outfit. I couldn't find a plain red tunic dress, so I paired a skirt and shirt which fortunately matched really well. I always need an undershirt with my Doris tops, so the green t-shirt was an obvious choice for this one! 

Friday December 25

Outfit details

Dress: Mamar Dynamite

Shoes: Kmart shoes, glittered by me! 

This is the outfit I had been saving all Christmas long! Mamar Dynamite is a Brisbane seamstress who makes the most adorable outfits. She's saved my terrible-sewing bacon by taking this impulse-bought Santa fabric and turning it into the perfect Christmas Day dress.

I was going to wear this more than once, but the day I picked it up I knew this was destined to be my last day dress. Next year, I'll pick out some more fabric and put Santa into the general rotation.


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And that's it! I'm already thinking about outfits for next Christmas and want to make sure I invest in some in season pieces so my looks can be replicated (sorry about that - I spent all Christmas long hunting down past season Black Milk dresses and realised that you'd all have to do the same). 

I hope you enjoyed my festive blog posts this December and are enjoying a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. 

12 days (and more) of Christmas outfits: week three

Monday December 14

Remember back to Week One, when I went to the Black Milk sample sale? Well, this was one of my purchases. I was worried about the skirt being sheer, but with a black slip underneath it was a nice summer outfit.

Outfit details

Skirt: Black Milk Prima Donna Red Tulle skirt (now in the museum)

Hair flower: Home

made

Tuesday December 15

I love this dress so much. I searched for it online and was lucky enough to, after months of hunting, have a lovely Trashy Diva girl sell it to me. And it still had the tags on! It then spent a couple of months hanging in my closet because I had a pageant theme that worked well with it. Now I've retired, the dress is fair outfit game! 

Outfit details

Dress: Trashy Diva (now sold out, but you might be eBay lucky)

Shoes: Crocs

Wednesday December 16

This is possibly the greatest Christmas  t-shirt I have ever found. A Mickey shirt for Mickey. I am a bit disappointed that I didn't also grab the Minnie Mouse one, but for me, it's all about Mickey. 

Outfit details

T-shirt: Big W

Hair ribbon: Kikki-K Christmas Ribbon

Thursday December 17

Before December, I wrote a rough list of the sorts of outfits I wanted to wear for this challenge and one of them was an angel theme. I searched and searched for a white dress to wear, couldn't find one, gave up on being an angel, and then my mum told me she had some (which was about five). This one was perfect! I considered wearing the wings to work, but people got the idea without. No outfit details for this one (but you should all shop your mum's wardrobes). My halo is made from Christmas wire that you can buy at every bargain store, and I just wrapped two colours together. The wings are from Bargain City and my angel brooch is thrifted. 

Friday December 18

It's no secret I love Black Milk. One of the things I've loved since I started buying from them is their holiday-themed designs. This year I didn't love their Christmas collection though, so I started chasing the buy sell swap group for the older Christmas designs that I'd passed up. You've already seen the Christmas tree dress. This is the second one and it's gorgeous. The print is so vibrant and Christmassy! It's a little short though. 

I had just picked up this tie front shirt from Mamar Dynamite (who custom made this for my measurements - no gapey buttons. So many more posts about Mamar to come!) the day before, so I tried it out over the top. And my pudding earrings are my favourite and most tacky Christmas jewellery! 

Outfit details

Dress: Black Milk Clothing The Nutcracker Scoop Skater (museum)

Shirt: Custom-made by Mamar Dynamite

Earrings: Lovisa 

Saturday December 19

Another brilliant Christmas shirt I acquired this season! This one is from Kmart Australia and was perfect for my casual Saturday. 

Outfit details

Shirt: Kmart Australia

Sunday December 20 (only five days to go!)

I went into Brisbane City to see the Christmas parade and light show on Sunday. We had dinner down by the river and it was lovely to see the bridge lit up in Christmas colours. 

Outfit details

Shirt and bag: Kmart Australia

That's the second last outfit round-up for Christmas!! I'm going to attempt to get the final week's worth of outfits up by Christmas night, so stay tuned. 

Festive tutorial: make your own glitter shoes

Part of Christmas for me is crafting. I get in the kitchen and bake, but I also like to make festive things to wear. Last year, I spent ages making hair pieces from Christmas flowers and decorations. this year, I wanted shoes.

I picked up a cheap pair of gold shoes from Kmart, assembled my craft supplies and turned plain gold shoes into these:

But it's super easy to do and even though it's less than a week until Christmas, you can definitely get a pair done for yourself! Here's how I did it:

You will need:

• Shoes, preferably with a metallic finish close to the same colour glitter you want to use (just in case you miss a spot)
• Modge Podge glue. I used the fabric Modge Podge because the formula is more flexible than regular Modge Podge, and you definitely need flexibility with shoes
• Regular Modge Podge glue (this is for the pompoms. But you can use the fabric one too)
• Paint brush
• Your choice of glitter. The finer glitter seems to work better for me, but you can choose whichever you like!
• Newspaper or cardboard , two pieces (I used a Lush bag and a sheet of cardboard)

Lay out your newspaper or cardboard. Coat an area of your shoes with glue, then sprinkle the glitter over. Repeat until each area is covered, then switch out your newspaper (keep the first piece nearby, you'll need the glitter!). Leave to dry for a few hours or overnight. 

Paint another thin layer of glue over the top, paying special attention to any spots you may have missed the first time and sprinkle more glitter. Leave to dry again for a few hours or overnight. 

If you haven't filled in all the gaps, repeat step one again. But if you're happy with the coverage, paint one more thin layer of glue over the shoes and leave to dry overnight. This is a really important step because it coats your glitter and means that it will be less likely to flake off. It also makes your shoes feel smoother to the touch and seals the glitter in. 

The last step is to put some regular Modge Podge on the front of the shoes and add your pompoms. For mine, because they were a moccasin-style, there was a little lip which meant I could basically flood the toe of the shoe and place the pompoms on the glue. You don't need to push down, just sit them on and let the glue dry overnight before wearing. When the glue is dry, just check that they are sitting down firmly enough, and if not, add some more glue. Modge Podge dries completely clear, so if it's white at all, it's not dry! 

Ta-da! Glitter pompom shoes. 

Be sure to send me your pictures if you end up making them. 

12 days (and more) of Christmas outfits: week two

Things got a little tougher in week two! I wanted to step it up a bit, but also save some of the more overtly Christmas outfits for the last two weeks of the season. 

Monday December 7

If you live on the other side of the world, cherries are not a Christmassy fruit. But here, where it's summer, some of my happiest Christmas memories involve eating cherries, so I started the week with an entirely cherry-based outfit!

Outfit details

Dress: Heart of Haute Beverley in Classic Cherry 

Shoes: B.A.I.T Footwear Ione in Black

Tuesday December 8

I don't usually wear t-shirts to work, but I've been delivering Christmas gifts to our clients and decided a Christmas t-shirt was appropriate. I was called an Elf more than once while wearing this outfit and I was totally okay with that.  

Outfit details:

T-shirt: Big W (2013 Christmas)
Skirt: Seams Nostalgic
Shoes: Miss L Fire Jeannie in Green

Wednesday December 9 

Wednesday is usually my day off, so this week it was baking day. I wore leggings, a red and white striped top and my Rudolph apron! 

Outfit details

Apron: Davis and Waddell (past season) | But check out this season's here

Shirt: Big W | Similar

Leggings: Black Milk Matte Leggings

Thursday December 10

This outfit is almost entirely thrifted, so no details for you! The green 60s/70s dress is one of my favourites, especially for hot summer days. It's a perfect match for my green sandals. 

Friday December 11

I was tired and had lots of running around to do on Friday, so the leggings came out again. But I hope I've shown that you can be comfy and casual and still cute! It was a bit of a cheat day, but I went with a Christmas brooch and earrings with the red belt and red scarf. 

Outfit details

Shirt: Big W | Similar

Leggings: Black Milk Matte Leggings

Sandals: Crocs

Saturday December 12

Okay, so this is where I confess that I felt sick on Saturday, so Jack and I had a pyjama day. Pyjamas did not involve Christmas outfits, so we had a day off. 

Sunday December 13

Yeah, this one is totally Elsa inspired. 

Outfit details

Leggings: Black Milk Clothing Snowflake leggings (in the museum now, sorry)

Headscarf: Honeycub (now closed :()

And that's all until next week!! 

12 Days (and more) of Christmas outfits: week one

The first week of my festive outfit challenge is over and it's been fun. The best part so far has actually been scheduling in time to take photos every day. It's forced me to be creative (particularly in the start of the week where I was travelling for work), and I've wanted to take pictures of every outfit because of all the effort I've been making.

Tuesday December 1

Yes, I did pull the car over next to a field... and used my car as a tripod

Outfit details:

Dress: Jeans West (past season) | Similar

Shoes: Miss L Fire Jeannie in Green

Brooch: Homemade

 Ho ho earrings: Lovisa Christmas 2015

Wednesday December 2

Outfit details:

Dress: Thrifted

Shoes: Miss L Fire Jeannie in Green

Belt: Similar | Scarf: That Shop | Angel brooch: Antique

 Christmas tree earrings: Lovisa Christmas 2015

Thursday December 3

Outfit details:

Dress: Portmans (past season)| Similar

Shoes: Kmart Australia

Brooch: antique

Friday December 4

Outfit details:

Dress: Thrifted 

Brooch: antique

Headband: Discount store

Saturday December 5

Outfit details:

Dress: Black Milk Christmas Tree Reversible Skater (no longer available)

Bow: Chickabilly (now closed)

Sunday December 6
Outfit one

Outfit details:

Skirt: Seams Nostalgic

Brooch: antique

Belt: That Shop

Shirt: Kmart Australia

Outfit two

Outfit details:

Dress: Pinup Girl Clothing Picnic Print Jenny (past season, sorry)

Scarf: vintage

Has Jack been Naughty or Nice this year?

There are some changes coming to the blog soon, one of them being that Jack is getting his own section! I'm not quite ready to relaunch yet, but I am ready to start sharing the spotlight with Jack.

In keeping with the festive theme of the month, this past weekend, Jack went to Toombul Shopping Centre to visit Santa. It was a special pet photo session held before the shops opened, early on Sunday morning. We've done Santa photos with Jack before, and it was fun, but I found it ridiculously expensive for two small prints, and no digital file. With this photo session, we got six digital images, and plenty of time with Santa to work out what we wanted and the price was really good.

(Jack is pleased to report that he has, mostly, been very nice this year. But Santa thinks he would do well to learn how to stop barking when he's told to be quiet). 

Obviously, it's too late for the Toombul session, but if you want to be notified if they do this next year (it booked out SUPER fast), then follow the Toombul Shopping Centre Facebook.

But Jack didn't want his friends to miss out on the chance to find out if they've been naughty or nice, so he asked me to 'push the buttons' and find out some other upcoming places in Brisbane for your pets to visit Santa. See below for a list. 

Pet photos with Santa:

Saturday December 5 - Caloundra Gardenand Pet Supplies, 14 Baldwin Street, Caloundra - 10am - 2pm (Bookings essential)
 Saturday December 5 - Hotel Jen, 159 Roma Street, Brisbane10am - 3pm

Sunday December 6 - The Pet Pad, Level 1, 32 Doggett Street, Newstead
 Sunday December 6 - Westfield Garden City, Northlakes, and Chermside 8-930am (Bookings essential for all of these) 

Every Saturday and Sunday up to Christmas - Petstock/LittleSnappers Photography, Unit 2, Building A, Harvey Norman Centre, Boeing Avenue, Ballina (Bookings essential)
 Mondays until Christmas from 5.00pm - 8.00pm -  OrionShopping Centre, 1 Main Street, Springfield Lakes

Make sure you share your pet pictures with us if you head along to any of these events! This one was our favourite from the day: