The Highlander

This time last week we were on our way up to Scotland. 

At the midway stop hubby and I sat and pondered over how many times we'd made that journey and all the times that we'd said we'd never take the night bus again.

Yes, we say that next time we'll be smart and book in advance and get a "cheap" train fare but it never quite happens like that cause we always leave it that little bit too late and therefore we always end up going by the dungeon on wheels that is the Megabus overnighter. 

Maybe we have slight masochistic tendencies? 

I mean why else would we put ourselves through the ten hour  nightmare of  torturous neck stiffness, raging restless legs, excruciating arse ache and coffee that tastes like it has been sieved though a pair of grotty old pants?

 Not to mention the fact that when you finally reach your destination you feel as if you have been travelling all scrunched up in a suitcase like some contortionist from a  freak show and it takes a good couple of days to get back to normal and then you have to do it all over again to get back home, och!

My neck is almost back to its "crickless" old self  but it has to be said that I actually recuperate faster from jet-lag  than I do from the dreaded Megabus-lag.

Next time we are planning to go up north I will superglue a note to my forehead reading... 

"BUY TRAIN TICKETS YOU SILLY BAG".

I've finished editing all the photos that we took in Glen Coe last Saturday morning, some are for the shop but these ones we took just for fun...

I made a little slideshow for my folks that you can take a wee peek at should you wish to, it's less than a minute long and it's just a few more pics than the ones above...

The song is by a really talented Danish singer songwriter called Allan Nordkvist, you can listen to the song in its entirety here...

...it's awesome, I really love his voice!

That's it for today folks, hope you are all doing grand and feeling dandy :)

Friday is here...HUZZAH!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

The Haggis Hunter

I finally managed to bag a new camera just before we headed up north for the weekend.
As someone who takes customer service very seriously I have to say that I was utterly appalled with  Jessops.
Not only did they have me road-running throughout London all of Wednesday afternoon but when I came to pick up my "new" camera from the third shop on Thursday morning, I found that they had in fact stuck a shop display camera back in its box and tried to palm it off as new.
I just shook my head..."-mate, would it be at all possible to get a brand NEW one in a sealed box"...the dude realized that he'd been rumbled and got me another one.
They might have got away with it, had they cleaned the lens cap and replaced the battery pack seal before sticking it back in the box.
Apparently this sort of practice is not uncommon so if you are buying a new camera always make sure you check it out before you leave the store.
I mean don't get me wrong, if I had been offered a reasonable discount on the display camera, I may have considered taking it off their hands but if I'm paying for a new one then I expect a new one.
Anyroad...Jessops may suck rotten eggs but my new camera ROCKS!
It got its first proper outing in the Scottish Highlands over the weekend.
I've been wanting to shoot some of my own designs for ages and Glen Coe creates a magical backdrop.
We headed out in the early morning hours so that we could have the hillside all to ourselves...if you don't count a gazillion midgies that is.
Everyone was saying...
 "You're doing what tomorrow morning...where? You are going to get eaten alive! The midgies will have you for breakfast!".
It wasn't too bad to be honest, thankfully there was a slight breeze blowing through the glen so we managed to shoot for an hour before they started getting to us.
It was very early and a tad nippy to say the least and although I tried my hardest to stop it, my face was all too keen to bear witness to this.
However as per usual we took a mother load of photos and some came out not too shabby.

I brought four kilts but we only managed to shoot one of them. I wanted to get the other stuff done first and by the time we got around to the kilts the midgies were biting and we had to pack up and RUN AWAY!

Vintage kilt, 90s mohair jumper, tights, DMs, Frocktasia 'Dear Darkness' chiffon rose headdress, bangles galore & etno-earrings.  

For me tartan is an autumn/winter style perennial, it just feels right at this time of year.

I tend to team my tartan with stuff that make it a bit more punk than prim...

DMs or a pair of battered lace-up hiking boots, a washed out band Tee or a shaggy mohair jumper.

Tartan inspiration...

Audrey Horne from Twin Peaks looking prim, two pics from a grunge laden 90s Marc Jacobs collection and Liv Tyler wearing a cute mini kilt in the 'Empire Records' movie.

Fan-tartan-tastic!

I'll leave you with a tartan OTT look from the Frocktasia archives...

'THE HAGGIS HUNTER'

Take care y'all!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Camera Woes & Cosmic Ordering

Today I've traversed the length and breadth London Town looking for a camera doctor for my snappy friend that decided to have a midlife crises at the beginning of the week. 

Once the patient had been checked into hospital and I had been told that it could take up to four weeks before he may be better again, I totally panicked!

It is quite impossible for me to live without a camera for up to four weeks,
impossible I say!

Besides critically needing it for work purposes, I feel totally lost without my camera cause it chums me everywhere...you just don't know when the next 'must-capture' will occur,  it can happen when you are doing something quite ordinary and dull like popping to the post office.

So when I got back home I threw myself on the compy (it did hurt a little but I am fine) and ordered a replacement on the Jessops website, to be picked up in store on the same day.

Huzzah, thought I...in two hours I will be cameraless no more, sadly I was wrong!

I jumped on a bus and after a 45min ride found myself being told by the dude at the store that due to an stock update error, they didn't actually have the camera I had ordered in stock but that I could have their old fusty display model for the same price...
thanks but NO THANKS!

Still, I'm not one to give up that easily so I got hubby to order one from another Jessops in town.

Another 45min bus-journey later and lo-and-behold, the exact same thing is repeated in the other store.

I'm again told that I'm either facing a three day wait for the model that I am after or that I can buy one of their greasy display models at no additional discount....
the barefaced arse cheek of it!

By now invisible fume is bellowing from my nostrils cause I provided both stores with my telephone number on-line when making the orders, so they should have called or at the very least texted me to tell me that the camera wasn't in stock, utter slack-ass behavior, they deserve to be slapped in the face with a rotten cucumber or perhaps even several cause I'm in that sort of mood! 

Anyway, on the way back home I called hubby to have a moan down the phone and he said that he'd try to order yet another one and then give the store a call just to make sure it was there.

So hopefully tomorrow morning I shall be the proud owner of a brand spanking new camera...third time lucky?! 

Before my other snapmonster decided to have its breakdown we managed to shoot a second lookbook for the shop.
We entitled  this one 'Indian Summer'.

Yes, autumn may be lurking just around the corner here in the northern hemisphere but I am cosmically ordering an Indian Summer for us all, lets see how that one works out ;)

I've just added lot's of stunning vintage frocks to the shop and I'm slowly wrapping my head around the whole process of running it.

Here are the 'Indian Summer' lookbook pics...

All the dresses and the skirt above are already available from the shop.

If all goes to plan with my new camera tomorrow we will be doing yet another photo shoot this weekend in a slightly more dramatic setting this time, I hope it doesn't rain...maybe I should cosmically order a sunny Bank Holiday weekend  too while I'm at it ;)

All the best to you my fabulous friends!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

Where u been girlfriend, we all thought you were dead?!

It has been a while since I blogged with regularity but I have not been idle my friends.

For the past month I've been setting up a web store and hey-ho didn't you know that takes a helluva lot of time and effort, especially when you are as cave-dwelling as I am as regards to technical stuff.

Thankfully my husband has the patience of a saint and can explain things to me in a kindergarten manner and even though my eyes still frequently glaze over and his voice morphs into Charlie Browns teachers voice, I'm slowly getting there.

I started selling on eBay back in 2004 but I've always dreamt of having my own shop; something that I can put my personal stamp on & even though web shop platforms are becoming increasingly popular and the main job isn't really with the shop but getting the word out I still wanted to give it a bash.

Admittedly I am not the world champion in social networking but I hope that my arduous efforts to learn its magic teamed with what I believe to be a fabulous selection of products will slowly get the trade going.

Fingers, legs, arms, toes and eyes crossed ;)

 If you haven't already, please pop over and peruse my wonderful wares at FROCKTASIA....

Here are some of my current faves... 

clicking on the pic will take you to the item in the shop :)

'Addicted To Love' Banging Bodycon Dress:

This dress is super sexy and if I could fit into it myself it would never have gone in the shop but hey my loss is some lucky girls gain.

'Midas Touch' Vintage Metallic Cocktail Dress:

This sassy glamtastic vintage 80s gold lamé frock is by Veni Infantido, 

it's frigging awesome!

'Killer Queen' Vintage Butterfly Sequin Trophy Top:

You are not a true disco diva until you have at least one of these in your wardrobe ;)

'Dancing With Myself' Vintage Moschino Belt Bag:

Whilst perusing eBay the other day I found that some crafty beggar had totally ripped my web store description plus "borrowed" all the pics to sell their own Moschino belt bag scandalous. I mean don't get me wrong I borrow and get inspired by stuff too but I generally try to at least put my own slant on it and not make it so blatant. They hadn't even removed the song title product name that I give each and every one of my items, the height of laziness me thinks.

'Temple Of Love' Handmade Moroccan Duffel Bag:

The perfect bag for a hippy chick!

At the moment I only have a total of 33 items in store but I'm hoping to add many more within the next few weeks.

Unfortunately I am having to juggle my Frocktasia shop activities with my bread and butter eBay auctions cause the rent and bills still have to be paid somehow...pants!

Moving swiftly on to something more cheerful, three new little helpers moved in with us yesterday, they will model hats and headdresses so that I don't have to ;)

Whilst on the subject of headdresses,

I've got one of those up for grabs in the shop too.

'Dear Darkness' Unique Rose Crown Headdress:

My plan is to do a lot more vintage revamps and unique Frocktasia creations, cause being creative is a big part of who I am so it makes perfect sense really. 

The shop will be a window into what I have to offer and hopefully things will grow from there.

These pics where taken in my boudoir/studio where most the product pics for the shop are taken, it's crammed full of  fabulous frocks, vintage goodies and knick-knacks from all corners of the world.

I'll leave you with a sneak peek of two recent vintage revamps that will go into the shop within the next couple of days...

Fringing fabulous ;)

You would really ROCK MY WORLD if you popped over to like my Frocktasia facebook page and if you have one yourself and I haven't liked it yet then just give me a nudge and I'll return the favor.

I will be doing discount codes and special deals for Frocktasia likers, fans and followers in the not too distant future but I just want to get a bit more stock in the shop first.

Hope you are all doing well :)

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx

A hangdog confession

Forgive me friends & frockers for I have sinned, it has been many days since I last made a beep in the blogosphere.  

I accuse myself of the following sins, stalking your blogs without commenting & admiring your fabulousness from afar without giving credit where credit has so blatantly been due.

I have also made my own blog into a drought zone but rest assured my dearest blog sisters I aim to redeem myself within the coming weeks.

It is my intention to post much more regularly from now on and this will be a much easier task come Friday when I free myself from the shackles of the old nine to five.

Yes it’s true, I’m giving up the day job to have another bash at making FROCKTASIA my livelihood.

This time I have a much better mindset and I’m going to work my ass off to get it off the ground.

The FROCKTASIA on-line shop is already up and running but I am still adding stock & tweaking stuff.

Mark and I shot a ‘lookbook’ for the shop a few weeks ago and here are the resulting pics… 

I'm doing all the modelling for the shop myself at the moment but I am hoping to work with other people in the future cause as much as I love pretending to be Jessica Stam (in my dreams), I'd actually much rather crack on with the styling malarkey.

So it's all excitement, adventure and really wild things for the Jen monster at the moment and come Friday evening I'll be doing summersaults all the way back home from the wage slave labour camp.
Only three more days of  working for the man, huzzah, I'm almost wetting myself  in excitement :)

If you want to keep in touch with what's going on in the shop then why not head over and LIKE my new Facebook page, that would really
ROCK MY UNIVERSE!

Hope you are all doin' grand my dears!

Lot's of love,

Jennie

xXx