Photo Opulence

You may remember a few posts back, I mentioned I was toying with the idea of Photoshop tutorials?

Instead of posting them on here, I have been working on a whole blog dedicated to teaching you how to master the tricks of the trade : )

I present to you, Photo Opulence!

So far, there is a tutorial to get you familiar with some of the tools which are vital if you want to become efficient on Photoshop, and I am currently working on 2 more – so keep your eyes peeled!

I will of course be letting you know on here, too, when there are updates made : )

If anyone has any tutorial suggestions – maybe there’s something you’re struggling with, and would like some help? don’t hesitate to e-mail me, or simply just post a comment on either blog and I will get back to you!

Hope you’ll find it helpful! Lots of love, Katie x

P.S Keep checing back if you want to be part of CherryHumbug’s first giveaway!

GirlzLyfe: My New Favourite Jewellery Store!

No doubt you have seen mounds and mounds of websites offering kitsch, cute and retro jewellery (I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t) but there’s just something about Girlz Lyfe (don’t let the name fool you – their stuff is anything but tacky) that really captured my imagination!

Perhaps its the little compass bracelets (functional, too!) that set it apart for me, or maybe the cute little Parisian charms, I’m not really sure… but if I could make jewellery for myself, I would want it to look like this. I believe a girl can never have too much quirky jewellery, so check it out for yourselves! And if you aren’t buying for yourself, why not start your Christmas shopping early and buy something special for a friend?

Also, it is the perfect antidote if you just don’t know what to put on your own Christmas list – it’s a shame my parents aren’t very internet savvy, or I’d definitely be sending them here! Guess I better go and start teaching them, eh?

What’s your mood?

Hello everyone!

I’m afraid I’m not doing too well keeping up with everything at the moment – so please forgive me! Uni life is a lot more hectic than I imagined, and I have fallen into a nasty habit of coming back to my flat in the evening, collapsing onto my bed and waking up in confusion hours later, not knowing whether it’s morning or night still! Bad, eh?

My current assigment is to create a concept proposal for an A/W 09-10 pop up shop – something which I’m actually quite excited about and finding really enjoyable, something that helps when its something you’re dedicating four weeks of your time to! The above moodboards are part of the development. Its something I’d recommend to you all to do if you are ever feeling inspired, or indeed, uninspired – it can really help you put across your ideas as well as being fun, and you don’t have to be super-artistic to do it either! In order to help me further I’d like your opinions on a couple of things if you care to share them with me?

As you know, I’m all about fair trade, green living and eco friendly products – which is the basic concept for my pop up shop (I’ll let you in on more information later) but for now I’d just like to know, in the name of research, what your conception of ‘green living’ is?

Positive? Negative? Don’t know what it involves? Do you think it sounds like a drag, maybe unglamorous? Or are you happy to do your bit to save the environment? Do you look to buy fairtrade when possible? I realise most of you are a similar age to me, and its a big responsibility! It seems to me that we are the first generation to have to think about sustainability, which for some people may be scary.

As I say, I am doing this as a study so if anyone has any questions on sustainability/green living/energy saving please let me know and I’ll do my best to answer – it’ll help with my learning too

Sorry its been so long, I’m working on something, related to my last post, which I hope will make up for the lack of posts! Watch this space

I hope you’re all well! Love from Katie x

P.S I’m still ’struggling along’ without Photoshop – something which continues to vex me, so sorry again for the bad quality images! They will be sorted once I have it back again.

Starlight

One of the things I’m enjoying the most about being at a creative arts university, is being around so many ideas! I am really enjoying doing some bits of photography again, it’s a good way to channel all of my creative energies and doesn’t leave me feeling frustrated like drawing sometimes can. There are PLENTY of online tutorials for those of you who may be experimenting for the first time with digital cameras, it really doesn’t take much to create a good-looking, pristine image. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing a Photoshop tutorial or two for you to try out, so if you think you’d like to see one on here – drop me a comment!

By the way… my coat is FAUX-fur you will be pleased to know – as was I, yay!
We kind of had a spontaneous debate arise in one of my uni workshops today, discussing our beliefs on the use of real fur in fashion. What is your view? I’d really like to hear your thoughts on the subject! No one’s right or wrong, I’m just curious to know what you all think!

I apologise if this post has been a little random, lots of thoughts swimming in my head at the moment! I’m off to do some work in my learning journal – I’ll be so glad when this ’scarf’ project is done and dusted…
Hope everyone is doing well, bye bye for now x

A souvenir from Brick Lane…

[Coat - Beyond Retro : Boots - Emma Cook for Topshop]

This is what I spent my money on in Brick Lane, isn’t it beautiful?

I have been getting lots of people asking me if its real or not – but in truth, I don’t actually know! I have had a good look at I think its faux; I feel kind of irresponsible for not checking before I bought it! Its rare I fall in love with an item of clothing so quickly, but this was perfect and I knew there was no way I could leave Beyond Retro without it! I actually feel like the luckiest girl ever, having first my Emma Cook boots and now this – I LOVE London! : )

I’m going to ask one of my university tutors tomorrow – he works with Gucci and does trend prediction for other major brands, so I’m guessing if anyone will know, it’ll be him!

I could not be more thrilled to have Photoshop back, yay! See what a difference it makes? : )
Take care everyone! x

Embankment

Wow my feet hurt! As much as I love London, the fast pace of the city combined with all the tube hopping and the millions of shop to look around, it really tires me out! I should probably start wearing shoes that offer my feet a little more support, too, recommendations are welcome!

Today, we had our first ‘field trip’. Possibly the best field trip I’ve ever been on actually… with visits to Somerset House, Topshop and Selfridges all top priority, it beats going and standing out on the moorlands examining soil samples and whatnot!

We also paid a visit to the Photographers Gallery, and a lunch stop at Subway (my favourite!) as well as taking photographs of every scarf that came into sight – my first assignment being a deeper study into ‘the scarf’. Just how ‘deep’ you can really get with a scarf, is kind of still puzzling me… but well, we’ll see how it goes!

Hope everyone has enjoyed their week so far, bye bye for now! x

P.S I feel I should apologise again for the bad image quality (this vexes me muchly!) – I still have no photoshop!

My first trip to Brick Lane…

Ever since I arrived at university, I have been hearing all about Brick Lane! Naturally, I had to check it out and see for myself what all the fuss was about…

So, Jodie (my unofficial ‘tour guide’) and I took to the streets of London yesterday – Sunday is always market day, so it was extra busy and we had to fight through the crowds to get into each shop, and there was no way of getting anywhere in a hurry… It was really unusual for me to see street performers, people sitting out on the pavements selling off random bits of their clothing and a mass of vintage-clad individuals. Looking back to my time in Somerset, I genuinely can’t remember ever seeing a vintage shop anywhere, so you could say I was overwhelmed by this place which boasts all of the best shops in London if you’re looking for something a little unusual, quirky or something a little bit ‘dated’. I can also say that I have never ever seen so many pairs of boots in one place, or as many handbags as there were littering the rails of Beyond Retro, Rockit etc…

I did make a purchase, and have kind of sworn off high street shopping in place of shopping purely vintage from now on – to me, its like ‘clothes recycling’ and I find that pretty cool! I will show you what I bought in my next post, I am quite attached to it already, I think we are going to have a good winter together : )

Decode

(Cardigan – Beyond Retro, T-shirt – Self Esteem, Vest top – New Look, Skirt and Leggings – Topshop, Boots – Emma Cook for Topshop, Bag – Luisa La Batani)

Not much to report on today I’m afraid, but i did pluck up the courage to ask one of my new friends from university to help me take a few pictures – so thank you Lucie! I’ve been given my first assignment and will be doing research on ‘the scarf’, this scares me a little (you wouldn’t think it, with the amount of scarves I own…) but a perk of this is that I will be visiting London again this weekend to do some ‘research’ and visiting vintage shops – I can’t wait! I’m a Brick Lane virgin and have heard about it non stop since I got here, so naturally, I am very much looking forward to it!

So you can expect plenty of ‘happy tourist’ pictures from me next week, haha : )

For now though, you can see me sitting on my favourite bench by the riverside – wearing my new boots of course (which have been recieving lots of compliments, along with shocked people asking how I’ve been managing to make it up the hill for lessons!) Oh how I love them! I am very lucky to enjoy such serene settings down in Rochester; infact my halls are parked up right on the Medway, I like it very much and am sure you will be seeing a lot of it in the future…

Goodnight everyone! x

London Fashion Week

[Both of our outfits are from Topshop!]

As I mentioned before, I was lucky enough to go along to the beautiful Somerset House, and then along to The Strand with Carrie on Saturday… Our mission – to check out the exhibitions designers had been holding for London Fashion Week! This was my first experience of LFW and it was infinitely inspiring, and great to see everyone flitting about dressed in their gladdest rags for the occasion. Needless to say, I saw some incredible outfits – some which could only be described as completely outrageous (including a couple of outfits we agreed wouldn’t look out of place on Lady Gaga!) and to keep the balance, some simple and extremely elegant ensembles.

Among the sea of madness we managed to catch a glimpse of Erin O’connor, mingle with some wonderful and creative people, and see first hand the most lovely pair of earmuffs ever!

A big thank you first to Carrie for inviting me along, and a little apology for the ‘dodgy’ photo editing (some of them are a bit grainier than I’d like…meh) I’m finding it tough without Photoshop, but a HUGE thankyou to Caitlin for putting me on to a PS alternative, last post – you’re a life saver! Big thank you : )

So you could say my first weekend in London was pretty memorable, I hope there will be more to come! Take care everyone!
Love Katie x

Ooh La La!

Being a student, I probably shouldn’t be tempting myself with visits to Oxford Street… but since I haven’t visited London yet since I arrived, what was I supposed to do?! What with it only being a short train ride away, and the new Christopher Kane collection to feast my eyes on, ahh!

Alas, I bought nothing from the C-K collection because I had my beady eye on something else. THE EMMA COOK TOPSHOP BOOTS! Remember those perfectly formed, chained, chunky heeled creations that sold out ever so fast? The solution is here… the wedge! You can check them out at the website or indeed, on my feet up there! : )

After spending the whole of Friday night drooling over them, I decided that the guilt of buying them would be lesser than it would be had I left them behind! I still can’t get over how amazinggg they are! Whilst visiting, I also hung out with my chum Carrie who I paid a visit to London Fashion Week with – more on this later! But for now, my Photoshop trial has run out (*sob*) so any photos editing is a bit of a task. Let’s hope I can figure something out ready for a LFW related post tomorrow!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend, I certainly have! x