Massive congratulations to Emily, then - I'm emailing you the code to your winners' badge, and of course, you post here every Wednesday. anyway, with the Confessions of a Shopaholic column, so no need for anything different there! :)

You can all sign up for the next Blog of the Month right here, tomorrow - look out for that!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

PS - Don't forget to get your invite to the Christmas party, in order to enter the competition!

Here at BSB, we're all feeling a little bit festive, a little bit early this year...

Well, Ok, that's a little bit of a lie. Amy's feeling a little bit festive a little bit early this year - she's even listening to Christmas songs on YouTube as she types this!

Anyway - to celebrate our first Christmas at BSB, we're having a faaabulous competition, inspired by the wonderful Dream Sequins and her blog's virtual birthday party...

So...

Yep - that's right! We're having a very special Christmas Party this year, and it's happening right here, right now!

We've hired a very large, imaginary room in a very stylish somewhere in London, with pink and silver tinsel, and star-shaped fairy lights everywhere... and we'd love for you to be there to celebrate it with us!

"So tell us about this competition, then, Amy..."

All our members are invited to the party (yes, you are allowed to sign up just so you can par-taay with us), and as a community of fashion bloggers, we thought it was only right to hear about what you're wearing to the party... as well as some other stuff.

In fact, that's how you enter - we'd like you to write a post on your blog, with a photo of you in your Christmas Party clothes (there's no theme, m'afraid - whatever you feel festive and party-ish in is good with us!), telling the world about the party, and about what you'd wear.

It's a bring-a-plate party, too, so we want to know what you're bringing for us all to eat or drink - be inspired, and bring something festive and cool! Show it to us, or give us a recipe, and we'll love you even more.

We'd also like you to tell us which song you'd like on the playlist - festive and fun, or the one you always dance to, or the one that means the most.

Anything goes...

"Recap that, then, a second... I have to write a blog post with what?"

• A photo of you in your party clothes
• An explanation of what you're wearing and why
• What food (or drink!) you're bringing to our non-existant party
• And what song you'd like on the playlist

"Then what?"

Then post the link to your blog, as well as your email address, as a comment on this post! You have until December 10th to do it!

"Um... Ok. But... what do I win?!"

We have three prizes, kindly donated by our lovely new sponsors;

First Prize is - A pair of Coco Roses and a strawberry bag, kindly donated by Coco Rose London, Claire Napier's Fridge Style game, and a Look of Love necklace, kindly donated by I Love Cutie Pie

Second Prize - A £20 voucher for Coco Rose, and a Coco Rose strawberry bag, kindly donated by Coco Rose London

Third Prize - A £15 voucher for Coco Rose, and a Coco Rose strawberry bag, kindly donated by Coco Rose London

"How're you judging this thing, then?"

The judging panel hasn't quite been decided, yet - it'll definitly be all of the BSB contributors, and hopefully reps from Coco Rose and I Love Cutie Pie, too, as well as maybe some other people... Ho humm, who knows?

The judges will whittle entries down to five, and then those will go to a public vote - so you need to get your supporters out in force to help you win!

"Anything else?"

Of course!

Firstly, it would be amazing if entrants could please follow @ilovecutiepie and @cocoroselondon, on twitter?

And secondly, terms and conditions - this competition is only open to members of British Style Bloggers (although you can join just to enter). You must be a UK resident to enter, and you must provide all elements of an entry in order to be elligible. You must display a BSB badge or Blog of the Month badge on your blog to be elligible. Contributors, sadly, can't enter.

We'll let you know anything else as we think of it!

Good luck, and see you at the party (we'll be posting our party blogs here, even though we can't enter the competition, to keep you in the spirit of things!)...

And, merry Christmas, happy hannuka, and a thoroughly joyous holiday season to all!

LoveLoveLove

- Amy and the BSB team -

As the weather turns cold, we start thinking more and more about warm accessories. This hooded scarf is a fantastic way to keep warm and added detail to your winter look. The best part is that you can re-use a jumper that may not fit but you love the colours. Plus, it's very easy to make!

Start with a jumper and cut it across the chest horizontally. The distance from one sleeve to the other will be the scarf. The body of the jumper will become the hood by cutting out the shape you see below.

Simply sew the scarf in a straight line so that it's closed off. Pin the base of the hood to where the neck dips down on the jumper. Stitch the hood to the scarf and add any embellishments you can think of.

Use fun patterns, find different fabric for the inside of the hood, add pins, jewels, badges, cut fringe on the tips - you name it!

This week I have substituted shopping for myself with shopping for others. Last Friday, I officially started my Christmas shopping.

With less than 40 shopping days until Christmas it seemed like the appropriate time to start. But when the right time to do the Christmas shopping is much debated, I know people who had finished all of their festive shopping before the beginning of November and I know others who will wait until Christmas Eve before they make a mad dash to the shops.

According to figures in this months Glamour magazine, 20% of men will leave their Christmas shopping until the week before and even for those who are more prepared, apparently men only spend an average of 30 minutes looking for gifts for friends and family.

Another of the Christmas shopping dilemmas is whether to surprise a loved one with something you think theyll like or asking what they would like. I love to see the joy on someones face when they open a present from me that they werent expecting and one that, hopefully, they like too! But I often resort of asking family what they would like for Christmas, more out of laziness. But I still try to incorporate a surprise somewhere.

This year I have found a gorgeous on line jewellery company, Sunday Girl Accessories. I have chosen the initial necklaces for my girlfriends and have had them made in colours that I think they will like best. I just hope that they do!

When will you be starting your Christmas shopping? And which option do you take, to surprise your friends and family, or buy them what they really want?

September 2009 - Florrie Clarke

I'm a seventeen year old girl in England with a penchant for expensive handbags and a blog called Intrinsically Florrie. Currently I'm studying Fine Art and Fashion at college, and though I am a little torn between the two subjects, I hope to get a Fine Art degree and make a career as an artist. I also have a fabulous time teaching at a performing arts school every Saturday afternoon. My very favourite artist is Degas, and I have a great admiration for R N Clarke. Luella is in my opinion the very best fashion brand, but have recently found myself liking Erdem more and more. I am a little obsessed with hydrangeas, and am going to plan lots of tulips this autumn so my front garden will be pretty in spring. I also adore my three little guinea pigs: Vuitton, Dior and Chanel, they're little cuties.

She writes the fashion blog Intrinsically Florrie

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October/November 2009 - Emily Knightley

20-something (can't say what that something is as everyone else seems so young!!) eternal politics student and PA who would much rather live in a world of fashion. I write a sort-of fashion blog thing! It's not all fashion, it's mainly my self-absorbed musings!

She writes the fashion blog Sugar And Spice

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December 2009 - Rachel Charlton

I’m Rachel and I’m 20 from north east england. I’m currently taking some time off college to focus on my well-being and just enjoying my life. But hopefully next september I’ll be going back into education to do media, fashion and english language. And then even more hopefully after that I want to go to uni to study fashion journalism.

She writes the blog Polka Dot Stripes

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January 2010 - Lauren Cooke

Lauren is currently an e-marketing exec in sunny Britain, getting paid to talk social media and blogging. Alongside her 9-5 work she is a freelance blogger and feature writer and runs both a fashion and foodie blog.

Lauren also blogs for the Independant Fashion Bloggers, the Dorothy Perkins blog, as well as the handbag website BagBunch.com. Outside of work, she’s addicted to holidays, vintage clothes, eBay, shoes, pretty antiques and dreaming about the house she’ll own one day. She’s also charmingly bonkers and quite off-the-wall

She writes the A Typical Atypical Blog

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February 2010 - Rachel Phipps

Rachel is a writer (currently editing her first novel, The Shakespeare Society, before going in hunt of an agent and a publisher). She is a MASSIVE fan of fashion having founded, edited and run the popular online fashion magazine Lipstick Royalty for two years.

She blogs about fashion, music, photography, beauty, shopping and literature, all of which are her passions!

She writes 'Cause I'd Rather Waste My Life Pretending

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March 2010 - Lauren Turner

I'm Lauren, from North East England, currently studying fashion communication. I'm a bit of a street style junkie and started Fashion Looks North as I felt northen England wasn't getting much of a look in within this predominantly 'London' dominated area of fashion blogging.

She writes Fashion Looks North

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April 2010 - Louise Hendy

I'm Louise, an 18 year old from the North West of England. Fashion has always held a massive place in my heart and I blog about my outfit choices, things I've been buying and wanting and also sharing my opinions on the latest trends. I'd love to see fashion take me around the world and meet important people, but for now I'm just finding my feet in the world of fashion blogging.

She writes Laddered Tights

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June 2010

Im Sarah, living in leafy Berkshire. A lover of fashion and as a self proclaimed shoe addict -of which I make no apologies for. I work a normal 9-5 job, but long to work within the industry in PR + fashion/creative writing. My blog is my baby, and it's just a little bit of me: current trends, how to wear them, the things that inspire me, my views and most importantly my absolute, unadulterated love for the industry... oh and my obsession for shoes. Writing is my first and true love - combine it with my second love and you have truly found heaven

She writes Sarah's Scribbles

My favourite fashion trend of this autumn winter is the snood! This knitwear piece was seen on several catwalks including at Burberry and Missoni.

To me there's just something so appealing about them- the snuggly, cosiness. And also practicality, I like a warm neck, but not a scarf that flaps around on a windy day.

And there are snoods for all budgets, from the high street to high end.

Snood love. by intrinsicallyflorrie featuring Missoni accessories

There's a surprising variety in styles too- all kinds of textures and weaves, long snoods, short snoods, thin or chunky.. I've bought three lovely ones so for, and they're all so very different.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know, I know. "Weekly" is a somewhat aspirational term for this. Hmmm.

Anyway, the new newsletter has gone out! You can read it HERE, and you can have updates sent direct to your inbox HERE.

This week's update includes;

- BOTM November
- Confessions of a Shopaholic
- The Guardian's Fashion Statement & Saving Luella
- New badges/logos etc
- Christmas plea!

LoveLoveLove

- A -

Four days spent in bed with flu over the weekend has meant that I have not had to break my shopping ban.

Last Friday night I had a coveted pair of tickets for the Jimmy Choo at H&M launch. I have had the tickets safely stowed on my bedside table for the last month. My best friend and I had been planning our weekend of fun in London (where she lives) for weeks. It was to be two fun-packed girly days of shopping, galleries, liquid lunches and cocktails. But alas, it was not to be as last Wednesday I was struck down with the dreaded lurgy. Not quite Swine Flu but it certainly didn't like me.

The one bonus to having to miss the Jimmy Choo night was that I bought nothing and therefore did not have to bend the rules of my shopping ban at all. I have, however, had to endure seeing all the pictures of the beautiful things I might have been able to buy had I been there. Most upsetting.

This week though, clothes and (Jimmy Choo) shoes have been replaced with my new photography addiction! In the absence of pretty new things I found myself ordering films, paper, lenses, cleaning brushes. Photography has become my new obsession in recent months. It has also become my "very valid" excuse for purchasing numerous fashion magazines in the name of research. Carrie Bradshaw, in Sex

and the City, tells us, "When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I would buy Vogue instead of dinner. I felt it fed me more." Now the photos of beautiful clothes in Vogue have become my substitutes for the real thing! I could sit there for hours staring at their beauty and still not tire of it! And it's not just Vogue, the floor beside my bed is currently home to Elle, Grazia (this week's and last!) and Lula.

I'd better get back to my sick bed and all that reading!

So, as I'm sure you're all aware, we got our lovely new logo a couple of days ago, courtesy of the wonderful Claire Napier - but Claire's been extra specially wonderful, and has been doing us some more doodles, which I'm currently dealing with.

So, in view of the recent comments about how BRIGHT our new logo is, I've been thinking about you all, and I sympathise; if your blog is pale, it might stand out a little!

So, we now have two badges, and two Blog Of The Month Winners' badges;

The regular badge, and the Dancing Girls badge...

Dancing Girls BOTM badge, and regular BOTM badge!

To win one of these, please click HERE - and keep checking back to see when the BOTM competitions open up again!

NB: Dancing Girls badges also come in a smaller size!

*****

CODES FOR MEMBERS' BADGES:

Regular:

<p style="text-align: center;"><a target="_self" href="http://www.ukstylebloggers.onsugar.com"><imgsrc="http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons3/413/4130378/46_2009/d19e92f51325b2ac_bsblogo1_1_.large.jpg" class="inline" /></a></p>

Dancing Girls Large:

<p><a target="_self" href="http://www.ukstylebloggers.onsugar.com"><img src="http://media.onsugar.com/files/ons3/413/4130378/47_2009/83dfbea0ed7433c9_Badge_idea_2.xlarge.JPG" class="inline" /></a></p> Dancing Girls

Small:

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