On Friday the 6th of August.... Ye Be A Pirate! Arggh!

Last year, as part of Hastings Carnival Week, the Old Town held a pirate day. It was an absolutely huge success and the streets in the Old Town were full of swashbucklers and much fun was had by all! So, this year, on Friday 6th August will be the second Pirate Day in Hastings Old Town, and to make it bigger and better, the organisers are going for a world record. Yup! The Guinness world record for the most amount of pirates in one place (currently at around 1700 people).

Last year Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa and Will Turner re-enacted scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean with sword fights and all, and they will be back again this year. There will be children's entertainment in George Street including: hair braiding, face painting, treasure hunting and musicians.

At 1pm follow the sound of the drums to the beach where the Guinness World Record attempt will take place by the Lifeboat house. Followed by the pirate procession at 2pm that starts at the lifeboat house, finishing up at the end of the High street, led by Captain Jack Sparrow, Captain Barbosa, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. After the procession there will be a piratical barbecue accompanied by sea shanties. Needless to say, the Pirate Day will be the highlight of Carnival week and I cannot urge you all enough to don your best eye-patches, swords, pistols, tricorn hats, bandanas and parrots and get yourself into Hastings Old Town and join in with the piratey fun!

So, no matter who you are, no matter where you are...

on Friday 6th August...

You are a pirate!

Dresses I'm Currently Coveting...

My funds are low, but it doesn't stop me coveting beautiful dresses! Using Polyvore I have made outfit sets starring my current favourites...

Rokit Vintage polka dot dress by abbiehayden featuring Avalaya earrings

Peacocks floral dress by abbiehayden featuring Christian Louboutin shoes

Navy bow dress from JOY! by abbiehayden featuring Proenza Schouler bags

Vintage Polka Dot Dresses - Scarlet Spots!

Vintage clothing is in demand more than ever, and for those of us that don't live near some quality vintage clothing shops it can be tricky to find that one-of-a-kind special buy. That is one of the reasons why Etsy is so great. It's a brilliant way of finding some vintage delights, not quite the same as trawling the shops and stumbling upon a bargain or really beautiful dress, but it's the next best thing.

I have a fairly large, and ever expanding, collection of dresses in my fit-to-burst wardrobe. Of those many dresses most are polka dot dresses. However, one colour that is distinctly lacking in my wardrobe is red. So I thought I'd have a little peruse of the vintage dresses on Etsy and this is what I found...

LeasVintage - $28

I adore this cute dress! The bold colour, the size of the spots, the white sailor-style collar and the bow at the waist. love, love love it!

PocketVintage1 - $28

I love this dress, the puffy sleeves and the ruching down the side add to it's quirkiness

FrauleinVintageShop - $32

Lovely 80's sailor-collared dress - almost has a flight attendant feel to it.

RunzWithVintage - $35

Very 70's vintage halter dress, the collar and buttons are lovely.

OldSchoolCool - $25

Gorgeous playsuit! love the matching belt

SweetAndDandyVintage - $19

Beautiful 80's vintage Secretary dress, love the stripe belt and faux matching hankie! So cute.

Eccentriques - $10

lovely vintage dress, with quirky cuffs, and a bargain too!

BeenBags - Customised Eco Shopping Bags

With a growing focus on recycling and sustainability, the need for reusable shopping bags has grown in recent years. There are a lot of shopping bags available from supermarkets, but who want's a supermarket branded one? and who wants to look the same anyway? That's where East Sussex based mum, tweeter and all round lovely lady, BeenBags comes in. She customises jute bags: originally starting out her Folksy shop by customising mini jute bags aimed at children, but expanding to customise larger jute bags too. She is also able to personalise the bag further with different colours, designs, and sized bags for that special, individual touch.

Ladybird Mini Jute bag - £5

I love these mini jute bags, they are very cute, and are a brilliant alternative to a lunch box. The perfect size for taking lunch to and from work!

Pirate mini Jute Bag - £5

Heart Mini Jute Bag - £5

Tractor Mini Jute Bag - £5

Rocket Mini Jute Bag - £5

Shoe Medium Jute Bag - £6

I just love these bags, they are really reasonably priced, lovingly customised and would make lovely gifts! I suggest you visit BeenBag's Customised Jute Bag Folksy Shop right away!

Tesco's Clothing - Fabfrock's Summer Wedding Outfit Competition!

I am an avid follower of the Lovely FabFrock's blog and I've also been following her on Twitter for a while as well... So, when she posted about a competition, I entered right away!

The hopeful entrants must create a summer wedding outfit from Tesco's Clothing, but with a catch, it must cost under £30! The lucky winner will win £30 to spend at Tescos. For more information on Fabfrock's competition, and to enter, visit her blog. I love a bargain, I love creating outfits, I love summer and I love a little challenge! If you do too, I suggest you get your calculator out, browse the Tesco Clothing website and get creating!

Here is my entry!

Tesco - summer wedding outfit by abbiehayden on Polyvore.com

It's Etsy My Dear Watson: Sherlock Holmes delights!

I, like over 7 million others, tuned into the BBC's new drama, Sherlock Holmes adaptations with a modern twist. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the famous Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman takes on the role of Dr Watson. Yes, there were somewhat over-emphasised use of i-phones, computers and the like (to highlight the fact that this is a modern take on the Victorian classics). But Overall I think the Beeb have done marvellously with it, well acted, sprinklings of humour and great chemistry between the characters. Needless to say I will be tuning in for the next instalments!

I decided to have a little search for some Sherlock Holmes related delights on Etsy and here's what I found...

A vintage Sherlock Holmes book - $24

Published in 1955 including 8 of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories

Brass Victorian Sherlock Holmes Locket - $34

"Elementary My Dear Watson" Moustachioed Notebook $25

I just love this notebook, simply decorated and very cute.

Sherlock Holmes Charm Bracelet - £69

There are seven silver plated charms on this bracelet, the Baker Street sign, book covers, and Sherlock's famous silhouette.

Sherlock Holmes Vinyl Apple Macbook Decal - $12

Coming full circle with this one, the integration of Sherlock and modern technology. Show your love for the Victorian detective by decorating your Macbook.

Double Dose of Polka Dots: Polka dot houses!

Today's double dose of polka dots features this lovely polka dot house (via Oh Joy blog). How much do I want to live here...

Everyone that knows me knows that I am a little bit obsessed with polka dots, and some might say that making your house polka dot is a step too far... I however believe it's not far enough! Though I'm not sure my boyfriend (or landlord!) would allow me to get my paintbrushes out on the outside of the house.

See, if you had a polka dot house, you could be as happy as they are!

The British Invasion - Debenhams Competition

Debenhams have just launched a competition on their website to celebrate their step in shipping internationally to USA, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Spain, Germany and France. So, using the marvellous platform of Polyvore, and with a focus on the brilliant designers at Debenhams (including Henry Holland, Ben de Lisi, Matthew Williamson and Julien Macdonald to name a few!) Debenhams have invited us to create some Polyvore sets to win some brilliant prizes... See more information below and enter the British Invasion competition here.

The British Invasion

Inspire us with a designer look from Debenhams

To enter the contest, simply create a set showing us your best designer look inspired by Designers at Debenhams. Each set must include at least 2 items from debenhams.com.

Winners will be selected by the style team for debenhams.com. Up for grabs is one grand prize of any handbag on debenhams.com worth up to £250 and four runner up prizes of jewelry from debenhams.com worth up to £50. The winning sets will be posted on the Debenhams Facebook page and Blog. Good luck!

Here are my entries for the competition... so get your creativity revved up and enter now!

Festivals By Henry Holland by abbiehayden featuring H! by Henry Holland

Rocha by John Rocha by abbiehayden featuring Oasis dresses

Carrot, Orange and Walnut cupcakes!

I had the day off work so I decided to bake a few cupcakes! I absolutely adore carrot cake but I have never actually ventured to make it myself, so I thought I's take the plunge and make some carrot, orange and walnut cupcakes... (I also bought ingredients to make strawberries and cream layered cupcakes, but that's for another day and another blog!)

Ingredients

2 large eggs

175g golden caster sugar

150g sunflower oil

200g sifted self-raising flour

3 tsp mixed spice

2 carrots, coarsely grated

1 tsp vanilla extract

finely grated zest of 2 oranges

2 handfuls of walnuts

100g soft cheese

icing sugar

Method

1. preheat the oven to 180 degrees, or gas mark 4. Get your cake cases all ready to go: the recipe makes 12 large muffins or 24 small cupcakes.

2. Beat together the eggs, sugar and oil until they are light and fluffy. It's best to use an electric whisk, but to beef up your biceps then beat by hand.

3. Gently fold in the flour, carrot, spices, vanilla extract, walnuts and half the orange zest until it is all thoroughly combined.

4. distribute the cake mix into the cake cases, place in the oven for 20-25 mins until well-risen and golden. Put the cakes on a cooling rack for 10-15 mins before icing...

Icing

1. Place the 100g of soft cheese into a bowl and add icing sugar until it is the desired thickness and sweetness.

2. Use the remaining orange zest to garnish your cupcakes

And finally.... ENJOY! If you make them let me know how they go, you can also change the recipe adding raisins, sultanas, or chopped nuts.

Vintage and Antique Treats in the Old Town

There's nothing I love more than rummaging in the junk, antique and vintage shops round the corner from my house in Hastings Old Town. There is nothing that you can't find in the nooks and crannies of these delightful little shops. I adore chunky gold framed vintage mirrors, antique home ware, old books and bits and bobs and I could spend hours scouring the shops and stalls hidden in the little streets of the Old Town.