The AF Bloggers Budget Challenge - November

I've been following a blogged called Sera for a long time now, initially I followed her Slimming World blog but when she moved in to fashion I carried on following her.

For a while now she has been involved in fashion challenges. After a lovely chat on Twitter it was decided to do a Plus Size / Curvy edition. Now even as a "BIG" girl I don't know what the correct or polite terminology is.

The challenge is called

The AF Bloggers Budget Challenge

The other ladies in the challenge are:

Sera  - who organised it all
Beth
Kathryn
Kellie

The jist is 4 bloggers one store one theme, all the clothes are from Clothing at Tesco -Party Range

As a massive fan of Tesco clothing I was very excited, I go to my local store a fair bit and just before the challenge I’d been to the Tesco Home store in Denton and seen lots of nice things. I'm not a massive fan of shopping on line and initially struggled finding things I’d seen in store available in my size (20/22) on line.

The "Theme" was Christmas Party Wear. I knew exactly which dress I wanted from the True Range. Black and with Lace - as a normal avoider of black i thought it'd be nice for a change.

We got given £30 so with my spare £12 I wanted to get shoes but the ones I liked or they weren't available in my size, so I did a bit of panic buying and got a jacket and a cardie from the sale area.

I also need to apologise for the photo quality my camera is eating memory cards so I'm using the internal memory.

The Dress was £18 from the True Range - this is a range I tend to avoid as I can just about fit into the standard F&F range but as this was a plus size challenge decided to run with it.

I love the dress, its really nice good quality material, the main dress is a thick Jersey and the lace is nice and stretchy so i don't feel restricted.  Sadly i don't think the shape is very flattering on me.

Dress Size 22 - Tesco £18

I also got this Kimono style jacket, I didn't realise (even though the title should have told me) it was flowery I thought it was dotty. I just don't know how it is meant to look when its on.

Jacket Size 22 Tesco £7

 I love the white waterfall front cardie they only had it in a 16 but it fits! I thought it might dress down the outfit so I could wear it for work.

Cardie Size 16 Tesco £5

Shoes Size 7 M&S 

I have plans to wear this dress for a friends 30th in December and I will be teaming it with Black tights and some Navy and Black Heels from M&S, the theme of her Party is B&W however I don't like this combo so thought I’d add the blue to cheer me up.

Challenging Self #4 - Skirts

Skirts are not my friend.

I like skirts but I don’t like how they sit on me, I always seem to have the hem in the wrong place, every time I walk past something reflective I notice they are too high at the front or the back, or they've twisted round or all of the above.

I tend to avoid them for this reason, but a few weeks ago I dug out my Purple skirt from Peacocks and wore it, so I’ve decided to try and wear a skirt at least once a week.

Although I own a few skirts I only have a couple that fit me, so I’m going to have to try and cut out some junk and try and slim, now I’m not going crazy and re-joining WW or SW just going to try and cut back and get in to some more of my clothes.

It’s a few weeks since I wrote the above and I have been making an effort to wear a skirt once a week, it has been a different skirt except once when I wore the purple skirt again as I do love it.

Also in the weeks I’ve only bought 1 234 skirts and one of them is for a fancy dress outfit and will never be worn again!

It started with a Blog award one of the things about me was 10) I rarely wear skirts and they don't like me. From then on I’ve made the effort.

 Skirt 1: Purple pleated skirt from Peacocks, this was in the sale just before Christmas last year, and they had it in bright red I wish I’d got that as well.

Skirt 2: Navy Swallow print skirt from Primark, I was very unsure about this as its got a dipped hem and I haven’t been a massive fan. I love the print and the fact that is jersey but I adore it. I’m still not convinced it work appropriate but I have worn it for work about 3 times and not been told off 

Skirt 3: Black Maxi Skirt from Matalan. I got this a year or more and it’s a size 16. I had lost some weight when I got it but I don’t think it’s too tight. I never know what to wear it with but I felt like I needed some comfort so went for a Zara stripy top

Skirt 4: Chili and floral print skirt from Primark, I love love love this skirt, the only problem is it’s a tad too small. Don’t get me wrong I can get in it and it looks ok but after wearing it all day for work I’d swollen in to it and had to physically wrestle it off over my head! 

Skirt 5: a yellow flowery skirt from Primark - I haven't worn this yet it was an impulse buy and may be returned

I have really enjoyed wearing skirts over the last few week and I will definitely try and wear one at least a week.

ASOS £100 Blogger Challenge : My Turn

I have noticed a few of these ASOS £100 challenge posts and didn't realise it was a competition, i guess i just looked at the pictures, but I've just read Sarah Lou's post and seen the link to the original post on discountcoder

As a newbie to on-line shopping decided I'd have ago how hard can it be, well as a confirmed sales shopper pretty easy however as the post said no discounts or code i decided to test myself to "buy" full priced items, things i might normally over look as i always select sale!

I did change the price selection bar down to under £30 for all categorises i looked at mainly to restrict my choices and make it easier for me to see the wood for the trees.

initially i was going to look for a dress down Friday outfit but decided to stick to what i love best DRESSES.

I chose a skater style dress as i love the shape of these dresses and think they suit me, others my differ but pffttt to you. :0)

Shoe's i stuck to my beloved flats and went with these cute pumps that have a bit of colour as the dress is all one colour,

Accessories, I'm a massive fan of the 'tash. Magnum PI, Poirot I'm your girl so went with earring and necklace and added a cute happiness bangle for good measure and because i was under budget

Handbag i fell in love with the 'Hog i might have to have him in real life if i win which i very much doubt i will.

The only time I've ever won anything I'd lost the raffle ticket and even though my name was on the back of the drawn one i couldn't have the Prize i was 8 at a school disco and i think it was only a bottle of panda pop but i was gutted) ops i seem to have included a Hex Factor'esc sob story!

even if i don't win i had fun picking and choosing full priced items and I've still got £2.00 left for a b bag of chips

Everything I've picked I'd gladly wear and own, it might not be very exciting but i've gone for what i'd wear and i might even buy
Dress £30
Necklace £6
Bangle £6
Earrings £6
Bag £25
Shoes £25
Total £98


Enjoy xxx


Love Stefi