etsy shop sale: everything £5 and under

as i was wading through my possessions over the weekend, i stumbled upon a load of old stock that had expired on my etsy page. i'm hoping once uni's over and done with i'll land on my feet and end up moving out somewhere, so in preparation for such events i thought i'd try to shift some stock and free up some space by reducing it all and popping it back up for sale in my etsy shop. here's what i have to offer...

saturday scribbles

i made a couple of promises workwise in last week's saturday scribbles, and although lazily, i've actually managed to stick to them! all in all it's been a mostly unproductive week, but i've worked my way through five commissioned magnets, doodled up some jewellery ideas and began making them, and finally gotten around to completing some more dogs for my doggy a-z, which i plan to finish off for good this weekend (come on robyn!!) when that's completed and i'm happy with it, i then want to move onto a hand written typography project i've been wanting to tackle all summer so it can be completed before my move back to university, but again it's going to require me to make an extra effort to bloody well motivate myself, which so far i've really struggled to do; there's just something so appealing about wasting away my days watching daytime television with my mum, sigh.

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robynmakesthings & lilac edge 200 followers giveaway!

 

hello everybody! for around a month now i've been anticipating my blog hitting 200 followers, so in that time i've been thinking about putting together a little giveaway as a way of saying thank you to everybody that reads and engages with my blog from time to time. i thought and thought about things that would be appropriate to give away, and in the end i felt as though it'd suit my blog's content (and, in turn, hopefully my followers!) if i were to give away some handmade items of my own as well as a couple of items that i myself enjoy and have bought previously.

i'm sure you'll have spotted the lovely chokers i wear pretty much daily now in plenty of my outfit posts, so i got in touch with my friend alice who runs lilac edge to ask if she'd be interested in collaborating with me for this giveaway, and to my delight, she agreed! so much to my excitement, i've got quite the bundle of handmade goodies to offer you all the chance to win, including:

• 1x unicorn black cord choker
• 1x 18" lilac cord moon necklace
• 1x pair of sun earrings
• 1x handmade pug magnet
• 1x handmade house brooch
• 1x handmade 18" carrot cake necklace
• 1x 'the sloth who almost stole christmas' mini picture book (roughly 5" x 5")

and that's all the goodies! so if you'd like to get your hands on a bundle of jewellery and a copy of my first ever written & illustrated picture book, keep reading! the giveaway is open worldwide and will be conducted through rafflecopter, beginning on the 4th august 2014 and ending on the 17th august 2014. to enter, all i ask is that you follow my blog via bloglovin and leave a blog post comment with your email address so the chosen winner can be contacted, however if you're a follower of the other social media platforms i've noted in the rafflecopter giveaway, you can bag yourself some extra, smaller entries for being a super follower, yay! so, without further ado, here's the rafflecopter form. good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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saturday scribbles & £5 towards your first etsy purchase!

so after spending a while playing around with clay, i've finally gotten around to adding my creations to my etsy shop for you to snap up if you so wish it!

i've had lots of fun creating my doggy magnets, and one could be yours to keep your notes looking cute on your fridge (or to simply just add some doggy decor to your surroundings as they'll stick to most metallic surfaces) for just £5! i'm happy to create different colours of the breeds i've listed, and i'm also happy to create some new breeds altogether, so if you'd be interested in a jack russell, bulldog or perhaps a pomeranian, please do feel free to email me at robynmakesthings@gmail.com and i should be able to arrange that for you!

i've also listed some of the items i made surrounding my 'afternoon tea' theme, so if you'd like a dainty little teapot, cupcake or yummy slice of cake to wear around your neck, you can do so for £8! i'm not too sure if i'll be making any of these again because they're fairly time consuming, but only time will tell.

you can find all of these items now listed in my etsy shop, but do you want to know the best part? etsy are offering you £5 towards your first ever etsy purchase, so if you were to redeem it you could bag yourself a necklace for just £3, or a doggy magnet for absolutely nothing! simply click the link i've provided below and it'll take you through to redeem your free fiver!

http://etsy.me/1rW2vj9

as far as i know, the free £5 can be spent on any etsy item of your choosing, so if you don't want to purchase anything from my shop, you could still treat yourself to some goodies from some other talented creatives. some of my favourite shops are emma carlisle, lize meddings and andsmile if you're in need of some inspiration!

thanks for your continued support regarding my illustration work, and enjoy spending your free £5!

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saturday scribbles

once again i've left photographing this post until the last minute and have ended up with poorly lit pictures, sigh. will i learn?

this week i've poured my 'me time' into getting to grips with clay and have made a few different bits and bobs, some flat and some 3D. i began by playing around with some simple characters to use as brooches and am pretty happy with the way they turned out! i've also ordered some magnetic backing to turn my characters into magnets to use on fridges, wall boards etc. to keep notes and such in eyesight.

i also played around with an 'afternoon tea' jewellery theme and moulded some 3D pieces which were fairly challenging but lots of fun to make! i'm not too sure what the direction of this project is yet, however i'd love to hear any feedback as i've toyed with the idea of putting them up for sale in my etsy shop, however i don't want to do so if there'll be little to no interest! so yeah, please do feel free to hit me up with any comments or suggestions down below :) thanks!

  

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saturday scribbles

a bit of a different saturday scribbles this week, however i've ended the week with a new creation nonetheless! one of the illustrators at hallmark was a bit of a felting fanatic and had made some fabulous felted characters that were dotted around the studio, and from there i was feeling massively inspired to have a go at creating my very own sloth plush using the fabric i have laying under my bed doing nothing. it took me quite a while to complete, and once i'd finished i realised that i'd perhaps done it all a little bit backwards as i left his head open to stitch up by hand at the end, resulting in a bumpy head rather than the smooth, rounded one i was aiming for; all valuable lessons to consider in the future! it was something a little different to have a go at and fill an afternoon with, and i think throughout the summer i may have a go at making a couple more using some different patterned fabrics so i can slowly build up a collection of colourful, handmade sloths to sit on my bed alongside big and little mallory. i named this little fella cecil, by the way!

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charity shop treasures

shirt: charity shop

pinafore: handmade

belt: charity shop

necklace: robynmakesthings

shoes: vintage shop

back in march this year i found a typical 'grandma' skirt in a charity shop, and although the cut of it definitely wasn't for me, i loved the colours of the tartan so much that i decided to buy it and see how i could recycle it, and this pinny was the result. although recycling clothes is somewhat time consuming, i find it really rewarding because at the end of it you've got a piece of clothing that nobody else has, so there's absolutely no fear of turning up to uni in it and having that awkward moment where you and somebody else have chosen to wear the same piece of clothing.

charity shops are definite favourites of mine to look in when i have a clear idea of something that i'm looking for and either can't find it online/in stores, or just don't want to pay the price tag for it elsewhere. i love stumbling upon little gems that become wardrobe staples (like the shirt i'm wearing here,) and i love even more the fact that you can pick most things up for under a fiver, which is perfect for someone who is as tight with their money as i am!

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muted florals

crop top: hayley louise crann illustration

necklace: robynmakesthings 

skirt: internacionale

jacket: h&m

socks: h&m

shoes: ebay 

belt: asos

i'm a day late with this post due to my puppy coming to stay with me and the landlord deciding to come and visit at a totally inconvenient time, but letter late than never, eh? i'm currently making the most of the little bit of warmth we're still managing to cling onto here up north by getting my wear out of this gorgeous illustrated crop top i bought from a stall at the elsecar heritage craft & vintage fair i held a stall at back in july. i find that the colours in this h&m jacket, composed of greys and muted purples, work really well with the crop top and help to provide me a little bit of warmth where needed in this cooler weather!

all summer i was in search of the perfect pair of chunky and/or cut out boots, and after falling in love with the jeffery campbell coltrane boots but not having £150 to spare and there being no decent dupes anywhere to be found, i made do with these boots that i picked up for just £20. all was good and well and i adored my boots up until around a week ago when i spotted some fantastic coltrane dupes in a local shoe shop for just £30... and i suppose that's what i get for being in a rush to own things! there are also some really fab coltrane dupes floating around on ebay at the minute too, so if i hadn't have already spent my money on these boots, i'd have definitely been buying myself a pair of those!

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a fresh start...

blouse: charity shop

dress: river island via asos

necklace: robynmakesthings

shoes: primark 

belt: asos

as a person who's interested in fashion and reads plenty of fashion/personal style blogs, there's always been a part of me that's been itching to join the 'fbloggers' community and share my personal style with the rest of the internet, but the fact that i used my blog as a platform to showcase my work online always put me off doing so. however, since creating an account with cargo and creating an online portfolio to display what i think is my best work from the previous year (which you can view here if you're interested in doing so,) i felt that i could now finally make the transition and make my blog a little more personal, so i bit the bullet and bought a tripod!

new blog content will probably mostly feature outfits posts like today's, the occasional beauty related post (if there's something i just have to share my two cents about and feel as though i possess enough knowledge to talk about it properly) and, of course, my illustration work when it arises. hopefully i'll still have plenty to share with you on the design/illustration front as i'm banking on there being a huge workload this year, so if you're following me solely for my design/illustration, don't fear, i won't be leaving my work behind!

so, onto today's outfit. as well all know, summer has well and truly departed, something i'm really not very happy about, but life goes on! i recently purchased this dress from asos because i think it's a key wardrobe piece that can be worn all throughout the year with a little bit of work. where it would look great in the summer worn alone with a pair of chunky sandals, it can also be layered up with blouses, leather jackets and blazers to make it suitable for the colder weather, provided you also wear a good pair of boots! the shoes are also a recent favourite purchase of mine. i'd been eyeing up t-bar shoes on ebay (dr. martens in particular) and just couldn't justify another £20+ on more shoes, so when i saw these in primark for just £12 i had to have them, what a bargain!

i apologise that the quality of the photos isn't brilliant, however a new camera is simply something i cannot afford when i only really use it for hobby purposes! additionally, i'm always on the search for new personal style blogs to follow, so if you run your own or have any you'd recommend i check out, please leave links for me in a comment below!

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come and see me at elsecar heritage's vintage and craft fair!

this sunday, the 28th july, i will be hosting a stall with a couple of my friends at elsecar heritage centre's vintage and craft fair! i'll be selling a selection of my jewellery, stationary and cushions so if you live nearby, please feel free to come down and take a browse or even just to say hi! my friends will be selling handmade items of clothing and accessories alongside me on our stall.

the event runs from 10am until 5pm and admission is free.
i hope to see you there!

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illustrated cushions added to my etsy store!

just a quick post to announce that i'm now selling illustrated cushions over at my etsy shop, so if you'd like to take this sleepy little fox home, have a wander over to my etsy shop here! as ever, i want to keep my items as affordable as possible (because i know what it's like to be watching what you spend!) so you can take this little guy home for only £8!

if you would like to discuss the option of international shipping, please feel free to email me at robynmakesthings@gmail.com so we can figure out prices :)

i'm thinking of perhaps creating some new designs to feature on my cushions, but i think until then i'll wait to see how successful the cushions are in the first place.

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