My artwork is being exhibited!

Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in literally months... woops.. I've been so so busy!

Firstly, I have just started my final year at Uni so been bogged down with dissertation stuff. I've also been getting really back into my fitness regime after a super greedy Summer.. but lastly, I've finally started expanding my portrait business!! I am so so excited about this. Up until now I've been doing the odd bespoke commission for people.. but now my little venture has taken a new direction - my stuff is being exhibited in a shop!

After being approached by Violet Rose Vintage in Shrewsbury, I've started to put together a small collection of pieces based on 50s and 60s icons. Here are a few of the pieces that are now up in the shop!

"Audrey Hepburn in blue" A3, watercolour and marker pen

"Elvis" A3 in gouache and pen

"Marilyn in pinks and whites" A3 in acrylic and marker pen

'Twiggy in blue' A2, in gouache, oil and watercolour paint.

Please please please pop in and have a look! I am really hoping that some of my work sells. :)

10A St John's Hill  Shrewsbury SY1 1JD

01743 232831

My new job

Hello :)

I haven't posted in a while because I have been super busy with:

a) my new job

b) revision   pretending to revise

 

I started my new job at Evans (which most of you will know as a plus-size high street shop) a few weeks ago, and so far it is going really well. I feel like chatting away to people about clothes is something that I'm good at, and more importantly, it's something that I enjoy.

 

Most of the ladies that come in are between the sizes of 14 and 32, and so far I feel as if I have really put my fashiony eye to the test by helping a couple of ladies choose outfits for weddings, shoes for job interviews etc etc. I find it really really fun and hopefully my sales will reflect my enthusiasm.

 

Evans is part of the Arcadia group (which also includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge amongst loads more) so it is a big company with very high standards.

 

 I've already picked up that I need to look immaculate for every shift (a far cry from scrubbing floors in McDonald's...) But to be honest I like that. I love nothing more than leaving the house and going to work looking glamorous.

 

So yeah. Really enjoying that. And also, it's kind of made me see that you don't have to be a bloody size 6 to look amazing. So many really curvy ladies come in and they look pristine and downright fab. (And I've noticed a lot of the customers smell really good too... which I guess makes me a little creepy but whatever.) A lot of customers come in and say they are self concious of certain parts of their body and I just want to tell them "Yes, you're a bit bigger but you look great." :)

 

Are you fur real?!

            The fur trade is always a hot topic – with animal activists and fashion addicts constantly at each other’s throats in the media. Most of us will remember Sophie-Ellis Bexter holding up a skinned fox for a PETA anti-fur campaign a few years ago, and we’ve all heard stories about activists throwing red paint over models in white fur coats.

 

            But like most people, I’ve never actually taken much notice to these sorts of things. I always thought it must be exaggerated by do-gooders trying to shock people into signing petitions. Up until recently, the fur trade was something that I had considered alongside fox hunting and animal testing – horribly cruel, yes, but I’m the first to admit that I’d never actively checked a shampoo bottle to make sure it hadn’t been tested on animals.

            Heading into the depths of Digbeth in the few weeks of my first year, I quickly became a vintage enthusiast - it’s cheap, it’s different, and it’s usually great quality if you know what to look for. Shopping was no longer a depressing trawl around Topshop pining after things I could definitely not afford. But still, as far as I was concerned, real fur was for the rich and the fabulous – a far cry from a student like me with barely enough money for a return-ticket to Selly Oak. The closest I’d ever got to fur was a shaggy pair of moon boots that I had worn to death in year four.

            During a regular shopping trip, I headed to one of my favourite little shops in the city centre - Vintage on Ally Street (down the first side road on the left as you head down Digbeth high street). I picked up a really cool jacket – a denim splash-dye number that I fell in love with instantly. I tried it on and it fitted perfectly. Barely even inspecting the collar, I headed to the till and thrusted a grubby tenner at the lady who owns, and runs, the shop. As I handed over my money, she casually said: “I should let you know that is real fur on the collar.” I didn’t think much of it, and proceeded with the transaction. My reasoning in that moment was that the animal was already dead – and if this jacket was not worn, it had died in vain. Surely, that was a reasonable argument to buy it?

            For a fair few months I felt tremendous wearing my jacket. Friends would touch the fur and ask if it was real, to which I would proudly inform them that it was. Many recoiled in disgust, but I felt glamorous and fashionable so for some time that was enough to keep it as a firm wardrobe favourite.

            The tables turned took a dramatic turn recently when I was doing my daily trawl of my Facebook newsfeed. A friend had shared a video entitled “Olivia Munn exposes Chinese Fur Trade.” I would advise that anyone who stumbles across this video should not watch it unless you have a very strong stomach. By the end, I was in tears and felt physically nauseous after seeing terrified animals being electrocuted, chocked and even skinned alive. The sheer disgust and anger that I felt after watching this absolutely revolting and shocking cruelty to such beautiful, innocent creatures stayed with me for several days. I grabbed my jacket and when it started malting, I felt like I had blood on my hands.

            Since then, I have researched the fur trade – trawling through websites detailing some of the appalling realities of the fur trade. But it’s not only the fur trade that is so disgusting – leather is just as cruel as fur, pulling in £600 million from Great Britain alone annually. Countless campaigns have been set up by animal-rights activists to abolish huge fur and leather firms, but most of the time these efforts come to no avail, as the demand for these materials are still so high. What I found particularly upsetting was that much-loved, familiar pets such as cats, dogs, rabbits and even guinea-pigs are mercilessly killed to feed the hungry fur trade – with around 2 million being killed every year in China alone and being sold on to European traders. I felt sick at the thought that my fur collar could have come from a puppy.

            Typing “fur trade in Birmingham” into Google, I was surprised to find that there are so many fur traders in Birmingham who are feeding this terrible industry. Formally, these businesses are called ‘Furriers’, and most are not based in the city centre. One in particular that caught my eye was “Madeline Ann” – a small shop in Solihull that sells fur items.  This shop has been targeted by a local activist group who are campaigning to stop the shop from selling fur by sending angry letters to the owners and discouraging locals from entering the shop. I felt a pang of relief that something was being done, but at the same time a sad realisation that these efforts would probably come to nothing. Most vintage shops in Birmingham sell fur coats, and the vintage scene is most certainly thriving. Fur is fashionable, and unfortunately not enough thrifters are aware of the disgusting processes behind their ‘bargains.’

            However, I have started doing my bit. I can’t deny that I still love the jacket, but it mainly lives in the depths of my wardrobe these days. When my grandmother recently offered me her old fur coat that she wore when she was “a girl... and a size 10” – the first question that I asked was “Is the fur real?” My fingers were firmly crossed as I observed the beautiful garment, until she assured me that it was fake. The coat is my new favourite item of outerwear. When people ask me if it’s real, I can proudly tell them that I no longer wear real fur, and that fake is most certainly the way forward.

Semtex by JSTJodie (for Jodie Marsh)

When I first saw pictures of Jodie Marsh in all her golden body-building glory I was horrified. But at the same time I was strangely intrigued and impressed - it was evident that she had literally pushed her body to its limit to look like that. It had been early mornings, late nights and massive changes in habits to achieve it. Before being a fitness crazy body builder, I was used to seeing Jodie as a stick thin glamour model with ridiculous boobs. Somehow I preferred the new Jodie.

Now I've always liked Jodie Marsh - she seems down to Earth and actually very bright compared to a lot of airhead models that act as fodder for the celebrity world. And now it seems she's quite the business-woman too.

Being a self-confessed Twitter addict, I started following Jodie, and was immediately impressed by her endless promotion of healthy eating and exercise. What I wasn't aware of was that Jodie has launched her own brand of fitness supplements - including Herbex (a herbal concoction claiming to aid acne and promote a glowing complexion); Bulldog (a meal replacement); and Semtex, a thermogenic fat-burner that staves off hunger pangs and heightens energy levels during work-outs.

Semtex immediately interested me. Masses of both men and women were sending in before and after shots of themselves to Jodie's Twitter, and almost all of the results were really impressive.

 

 

I'm no stranger to working out. I go to the gym most days for at least an hour, combining a lot of hard cardio and weight machinery to aid toning. I'm also a healthy eater, living on a low carb diet to minimise bloating - which I'm really prone to genetically. (I've had a pot belly since I was 12.) But sometimes I do look at myself and think - "Is it actually doing anything? I still don't look like a model despite all this hard work." I still go any way though - my mum is a fitness freak so massively encourages exercise. It also improves my asthma and helps me sleep better.

So I thought I'd try Semtex. Why not? I've had thermogenics before that helped me lose weight fast, but gave me nausea and dizziness; and the weight was back on within a fortnight of coming off them. It seemed like a good idea to try something different that was obviously working for other people.

I must admit that I bought mine off Amazon. Jodie promotes her website "JSTJodie", but as I got to the checkout I realised that p&p was a fiver! Amazon sent them without a delivery charge - so it was a no-brainer for a skanky student like me to go for that instead. (Sorry Jodie!) It is advised that you take a single tablet in the morning on an empty stomach. I'm not a big fan of massive breakfasts, so I usually just have a cereal bar and a cuppa. I was starving this morning so I had one about half an hour before popping my first pill and setting off to the gym...

The first thing I noticed was that it makes me very sweaty. Disgusting, I know. I'm usually not a massively sweaty person unless I REALLY go for it, but on Semtex I was sporting soggy underarms just from the walk to the gym. This is unheard of!

I started off on the rower - my favourite piece of machinery. It makes me ache afterwards, which I like! Plus it's a good way to tone up arms - which a lot of girls tend to neglect. I can usually manage twenty minutes before starting to feel tired, and usually burn 170 calories in that time. Today was different though! I managed half an hour, with energy still to spare, and burned 285 calories. So not only had it extended my work-out time, it had increased my performance.

After this, I hit the arc-trainer - which is like a cross between a stepper and a cross-trainer. It was a doddle for a full half hour. I felt so energetic! I'd burnt another 330 calories - taking my total so far to over 600 cals. By this time my back and cleavage were sodden, but I still didn't feel tired. I'd done a full hour and was still not waning.

So what next? I felt invincible. Sprint intervals on the bike. This involves cycling a pattern of medium and high effort, to really get your heart going. The programme I go by is usually a minute at level 12, then 30 seconds at level 21 - which I'm forced to stand up for and really really go for it. I usually get really really tired after doing this, and get it out of the way half way through a gym session. Today I felt good - it was no harder than usual, if anything it was easier - and I'd already worked out for an hour. I burned 110 calories in 20 minutes - which isn't huge, but it's great for toning and blitzing cellulite.

(One thing I would say at this point is make sure you have a BIG bottle of water or squash with you when working out on Semtex. My mouth was as dry as Ghandi's flip-flop, and my lips felt chapped. Obviously the amount of sweat pouring off me was seriously dehydrating - so I was thankful for my litre of water.)

After the bike I was DRIPPING. I needed a sit down to cool off - so it was time for some weights. Hip adduction is one I like to focus on (the one where you sit with your legs apart and have to push weighted pads inwards.) This machine is great for inner thighs - I don't dream of having a major thigh gap, but I know it's possible for me as I have naturally slim legs, and I usually do have a thigh gap. I also get bad cellulite on my inner thighs - so this is a good one for me. I did 100 reps at 90lbs. It hurt, but was achievable. I would have usually give up at 50 reps. I know that I will ache a bit tomorrow - bu no pain no gain eh?

Next for hip abduction, which works your bum and outer thighs. Mine aren't flabby, but have patches of cellulite. Another 100 reps at 70lbs. I felt good, and by now a bit tired. So off I went.

 

Overall, a great first day on Semtex. I haven't felt too hungry either which is nice - usually between meal my tummy is grumbling away! Will keep you updated with what I have achieved same time next week :)

 

#SEMTEX #SEMTEXBUNNY #SEMTEXARMY

 

@JSTJODIE @JodieMarsh

 

 

My favourite items at the moment...

My loooovely housemates had a little surprise in store for me the other day. Coaxed to the Bullring despite a hangover from Hell, I was greeted upon my arrival with a...

PIZZA HUT BIRTHDAY PARTY!

No joke, salad bar, ice-cream factory: the lot. I am not lying when I say I was moved to tears.

And to top it all off, they bought me a prezzie too... This gorgeous rucksack.

 

 

Upon asking where it had been sourced from, I was answered with an ambiguous "somewhere" - which gives me a sneaky feeling it may be from U.Outfitters. (Getting stuff from there as a present is a delight - don't get me wrong. I just disagree with their business morals. I do not disagree with this bag - it's amazing.)

As well as this bag, I've treated myself to a new "school bag." Getting a new school bag was always one of the few perks of going back to school.

Year after year I would pester my mum for the latest must-have bag - which were mainly, in hindsight, horrendous. I endured the Warehouse epidemic, the Jane Nor fad and I even have faint memories of being the envy of my friends with a (somewhat dykey) Animal rucksack. But any way - here it is...

 

Only £18 in the monsoon sale. YUM.

Now, just because it's snowing does mean you shouldn't look G. I've been LIVING in my pink Timberlands. Great grip, eye-catching.. I get a lot of sticks from the housemates for looking like a single mum called Shaneekwa but I love them. They're so sturdy. And make me feel a bit less white. :)

So my blog is being a wanker and won't let me post any pictures...

Happy Chicmas

I got so many lovely jubly things for Christmas.

My very nice boyfriend bought me Burberry Brit (channelling my patriotic chic) and Mum got me Rihanna's new perfume. I hate Rihanna but this smells like something an actual angel would wear. Would definitely recommend either of these scents.

My Grandma got me a lovely purse... maybe it will be bring me better luck with regard to not wasting all my student loan? (Unlikely) And a loooovely floaty skirt (also from River Island.) It's a black A line skirt. I've tried on a few A-lines in the past but to be honest they just don't seem to suit my body shape at the moment. After piling on some pounds over Christmas, I have what looks like a 4-month baby bump, and skater skirts just don't seem to cover that very well - quite the opposite in fact... They cling to it and attract unwanted attention. So I picked out a skirt with buttons down the middle, made of a nice floaty chiffony material, high-waisted, black of course, with a nice vintage-looking belt. I wore it for my 21st birthday meal this evening... I felt the dog's bollocks! (Not literally... I mean, where does that expression come from? No bollocks, regardless of species, are particularly remarkable... so why say it? Any way I'm rambling about bollocks here.. move on)

I also got lots of the usual gift cards. I used to consider gift cards as pretty naff but now I welcome them with open arms. In fact, I relish them. I would much rather a gift card so that I can choose something I actually like rather than receiving a complete and utter turkey. (One time, I got a salmon beanie hat with a rose embroidered on it. Needless to say it got a one way ticket to Barnado's. So not chic.)

This year I got £15 to squander in New Look. Needless to say I was down there first thing on the 27th to spend it on something in the sale. And the sale was BRILLIANT. I'm not knocking New Look but to be honest, I haven't really been in there in years. The last thing I bought from there was actually a very fetching pair of flared grey cords that I recall wearing to my year 6 disco. But today it really was excellent. Got a new khaki blouse for lounging around in (£8), a nice rock-chick necklace (£3) , and a watch (£6) which looks a million dollars.


And I finally got a NEW LEATHER JACKET.
I finally got one. Finally. And I feel amazing in it. It is an XS... (awkward) but it was the only one left, half price in the Oasis sale so I pondered, and came to the conclusion that it would be absolutely stupid if I were to not buy it. Luckily it just about fits, and I have worn it non-stop since! Only £40. So if you are a size 6 - 8 on top, go and get this jacket. It is absolutely lovely. Very flattering and looks really expensive. As far as I know, only XS are left though :(



 

Pat Butcher, eat ya heart out

I have been a very very spoiled girl this year.

 

I don't really know where to start - but I think it all really started a few weeks when I was round at my Grandma's house. It was the start of the Christmas holidays, and I was happily chilling with Grandma when the inevitable question arose:

 

"Have you thought about what you want for Christmas?"

 

I hate this question because I always feel like I'm being really greedy by asking for something. My Grandma has always been excellent at presents, but as I've got older she's asked me what I want so that she knows it'll be something I will actually wear/use.

 

So I bit the bullet.

"I really really want a fur coat."

 

My Grandma smiled slightly put down her sewing.

"That's handy," she said.

 

Now I should give you some background information here. My Grandma, having had my mum at 19, is a pretty young Grandma. She's very feisty, and is never seen without a full head of highlights. In short, she's a very trendy (ew, hate that word) Grandma, and cares a lot about what she looks like. Which I guess is maybe where my mum gets it from, and in turn, where myself and my sisters get it from.

 

"I have one up in my loft. I was planning to send it to the Hospice Shop with Grandad."

 

 

 

This is my Grandad. ^ My Grandad is the love of my life. He's very soppy and silly and has spoilt us girls rotten all our lives. He's retired but he works in a charity shop for the local Hospice every Friday. Before I knew it, Grandma had dispatched Grandad to crawl around in the loft to look for the garment in question. I waited in excitement until I heard the words:

 

"Here it is! I've got it!"

 

It. Is. Perfect.

 

A dark mahogony brown, with a small, single latch to fasten it at the front. The sleeves are just long enough for my lanky arms - which is always a pain for me when buying jackets. It's a size 12, but that's okay because I can always wear one of my big chunky jumpers underneath to pad it out.

 

 

The photo just doesn't do it justice... but I'll upload some photos of me wearing it soon! (It's not actual fur by the way. Just in case you were wondering. I know I have admitted before that I am all for fur but this is faux-fur, and therefore even better.)

 

I've worn this coat to death ever since Grandma gave it to me. I've worn it out for meals, I've dressed it down with jeans and boots in the day... I even wore it to bloody Morrison's for God's sake, and I have never felt more middle class in my life.

 

 

 

I've been called everything from Pat Butcher to Cruella but the truth is - when I wear this coat I feel fabulous. and it has that gorgeous 'Grandma smell' that we all know and love.

 

So thank you, Grandma!

I have been made a very happy girlie with this coat.