It's all gilded mirrors

Hi! Hey! Aloha! I am particularl jubilant this fine day, because that awful intstitution they call school is OVER (well, for 7 weeks anyway). We, the poor little caged student birds have been released to fly free in the wild, and like the birds of my analogy we now have no idea what to do with ourselves. Well, that's not strictly true, but you get my jist! I am so happy to be able to wake up late, and wear what I want! Today, having annoyingly middle class parents, we went to Kedleston Hall! - which is a lovely National Trust property nearby. And, of course - what could I do but take stupid amounts of pictures until the battery on the camera ran out?

 This is a collage I made of the gorgeous outside of Kedleston - I love the stone, punctuated by greenery! (Pretty proud of this, if I do say so meself...)

After we'd been through the whole tickety-rigmarole-thingy we were ushered into the SPECK-TACK-YOU-LAR marble hall. None of the photos really capture the mahoosiveness of this hall, but it was truly stunning. Tons of marble everywhere!

I just wanted to show you this lovely velvet chair - faded, battered, loved, but still most gorgy!

 This was me getting in everyone's way crouching one the floor to balcance my camera for this shot!

And yet more evidence of why all the American tourists hated me - I kept lurking behing doors to get a peeking-round-the-door-shot. I don't blame them really!

There was an arts initiative going on, so they had dotted sculptures here and there. I wasn't too keen on most of them, but I found this massive gilded head - and to my suprise quite liked it! And now..we come to the most exciting part! One of the Curzons who lived at Kedleston was the Viceroy of India (don't quite understand what that means, but he was trés important!) Anyway, when Prince Edward the Somethingth got made king, there was a mahoosive celebration in India to mark it, and the Viceroy and his wife were the most important people there! (I think this is the wife, but don't count on it!)

For the party the Viceroy wore some militry thing, BUT his wife wore the peacok dress. Which is below. It is spun gold, handstitched in Paris, covered in ridiculously valuable gems and sparkles, lace and silk and stuff. In the eye of every peacock feather there is a tiny irridescent beetle wing (which is pretty cruel, but I guess it looks lovely!)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gorgeous, right! So, I was a bit annoyed because they had had a costume exhibition on, but we had missed it :(. After that excitement we went to the café and had a lovely hot chocolate! A lovely end to a lovely day!

Before I leave you (To skip off and read my New Exciting David Attenborough Book!!!),I would just like to inform you that during the whole visit I was proudly sporting my NEW EYELINER, bought on Friday! I love it!

Oh, and before I go I should say that I'm going off to GERMANY on Friday, so you might not hear from me until I get back! (I'll miss you too!!) Stay classy dinosaurs - enjoy the holidays! *Me out.*

National velvet

Well boy is it good to see you (the answer to that is yes)! I sure am glad you stopped by! Now, for the past week or so England has been sweltering under this massive heatwave. Which is lovely, although I hope it doesn't get any hotter! Anyway, the relevance of the heatwave is that I shall today be talking about something completely unsuitable for summer - velvet. Velvet is very much a winter material, but that by no means makes it any less beautiful! I absolutely adore velvet, and all it's connotations of luxury, opulence, and royalty it carries with it. Velvet is...oh, I can't even begin to describe my unending love for it! So, I had a happy trawl through ASOS Marketplace, which is virtually my internet home (well..alongside Blogger and Rookie and Youtube and other lovely places...), and just the simple search 'velvet' brings up endless reams of happpiness! let's take a look...

 So, our first velvet clothes are dresses. I LOVE this velvet dress with the lovely wide collar, and as another fetish I have is for lace, this dress is perfect! I know I say the word 'love' a lot, but I'd just like to say tht I love this photo...Rightie, from now one I shall refer to The Online Synonyms Dictionary for alternate love words - I'll put them in italics, so don't worry if they make no sense!

 Now, I do like this photo - the collar and main dress is ver ver nice, but I'm just a tad unsure about the hem...Hmm.

 So, on we chug to our next stop on this happy journey - skirts. Asdfghjkl i really do adore this skirt - the pleats, the perfect length, and the wonderful deep rich emerald colour...This might just be me, but that colour conjures up clear, silvery pools nestled within woody groves, with elves and faeries dancing around it...

 This skirt! Oh my golly gosh THIS SKIRT! it's so beautiful - the Bohemian vibe, the deep purple velvet, the gypsy length...someone please buy it for me!

 Now, I completely cherish this skirt  - I think that obviously velvet looks gorgy in all colours, but deep reds really suit it. And deep purples. And greens. And navy blues. Ok, velvet just rocks every colour! What I was trying to say - I love the colour of this skirt, and as for the buttons down the front - phwoar!

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when they saw this! Let me just explain - it's floral. It's velvet. It's a floral velvet skirt. Need I say more? Okeydoo, obviously as a blogger I stalk TONS of blogs - but there is a blog that one of my besties Bronia showed me recently - Kayla Hadlington. If you haven't heard of here, then click on this here link - but I warn you, be prepared to be knocked out by her epicness! Here are some of her many velvet items of clothing:

She made the pinafore!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway...on to...SHOESIES!

 These shoes are very, very vintage, and j'adore their cut (is that the correct term with shoes?) and chunky heel!

 Sob! The triple straps, the VELVETOSITY, the chunky wedge sole, the schoolgirl aura...Could velvet get any more beautiful?

Evidently it could! I mean, Docs are some of the awesomest shoes ever, and come on! They're velvet! These are rocking the wine red colour, which would add a pop of sophisticated colour to any outfit. The great thing about Docs is that they're so wearable! These could be worn with bare legs, trousers, leggings, stockings, plain tights, patterned tights, kneee high socks...

This is the picture I shall leave you with  - guys it's a VELVET ROSE FLOWER CROWN! Roses, which are already lush and lovely and gorgeous, symbols of l'amour, and a flower crown - just clickety click on this link to hear about my love for flower crowns- and finally this crown includes velvet! So in short, it is commplete perfection! All it needs now is for someone to think of how to incorporate lace into it...Ooh, actually, I lied! That wasn't the last picture - this is.

Here is mini me looking sweet in my favouritest favourite dress - so you can see my passion for velvet and lace started young!
 

Put a collar on it!

Hello! Long time no see - sorry, I've just been mega hugely busy, with the wonderful GREASE musical (read about it right here!!!) It's been an absolutely fantastic experience, and I am so sad it's over (excuse me a minute while I crawl off and cry!)Now, today I shall share with you: The Easiest DIY In The World! This may have been a little tiny weeny bit perhaps slightly borrowed from Rookie! So - here's one I made earlier:

 Do you like it? I love it! Right, so, here's how YOU can make your own!
You will need:

• Some good fabric scissors
• An old shirt
• Imagination!

Lay your shirt out on whatever handy surface is nearby (I made good use of the floor!)

Cut along the line shown in the picture. Use the neckline seam as a guide, but DO NOT cut the neckline seam! And there you have it!

Your own, button-up-able collar, which you can wear with anything! Now all that remains is to go crazy with decorating! Here's how I made mine so frickin' cool! Well, actually, it's very simple - I don't have any fabric paint, so I simply used normal paint, and ironed it to seal.

However, I think I shall stear clear of water. After that all I did was sew some lovely lace flowers I had lying about on, and voila!

A wop bam a lu mop a wop bam bu! Detachable collars are big right now - here are some I like:

I love you muy mucho, dear readers! Cheerio - have a nice day!

Summer Vibe!

Hey my darling little tinternet buddies! Now, today is a gloriously hot summer day, and I'm really feeling that happy, chilled out summer vibe! The big thing among fashion bloggers right now is flower crowns - and I've made one! I love it so much! here is a photo I took for my new profile picture, but I shall try and get some pictures specifically of the crown!

Yep! That's me in a picture you can tell I had too much fun editing! Now for some really wubbish iPod pictures specifically of my CROWN....

It's not entirely finished yet - I just couldn't bear not to share it with you! So, other things that are happening with me - I made an exciting milk jelly thingymabob! here are some pictures...

The jelly looks like a vague white glowing blob, but I promise there is jelly there - it's not a vortex into another space and time!

So, I took a leap of faith and turned the jelly out...I shall now christen it for evermore 'The Poached Egg Jelly'! Not quite as impressive as I had hoped, but after much prodding and playing with it immaturely I ascertained that it did have all the wibbly wobbly properties of a normal jelly - so that's something! I was quite pleased with my idea of setting the jelly in my vintage tea set, and turning it out onto the tea saucer!

Just one more picture displaying the Vortex Properties of the Poached Egg Jelly! I shan't type out the recipe for you - but here's a fairly similar one... And onto my fantabby new discovery! This really is hot off the press, because I only heard this an hour ago - but on the radio I heard a snippet of In The Long Run by The Staves, and just fell in love with it! it's so..just LOVELY!So take a look at the video I will leave you, and you will be getting to know this band at the smae time as me! I hope you like the song - that's all for today! Luv ya babes - you are like, totes reem!

 

Tie a yellow ribbon...

Hola! (Pronounced 'olaaar!') - and may I say what an enormous pleasure it is to see you! You look good with your hair like that! Now, today I want to talk about ribbons! Some of you may have heard the fantabby song 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree' - if you haven't, I shall leave the video at the end of this postie! Now - ribbons - where to start? There are so many possibilities, that I am well aware this post will only cover a faerie's eyelash-sized part of this topic, but try I shall!
So - ribbons in hair! I love all these gorgey images....

As this picture demonstrates, ribbons go wonderfully with plaits, be it fishtail, waterfall or simple. They can be oversized and gaudy, like this one, but small and delicate also works well!

I love this photo so! This might just be me, but I think it has a kind of elfin faerie woodland vibe to it!
So, anyway - if wearing ribbons on top of plaits is too mainstream for you, you should consider weaving them into the plaits! This looks so lovely, and is completely easy - you can probably work this out for yourself, but here's how:
What you will need:

• Hair
• Ribbons

How to:
1. Separate your lovely locks into two sections (I'm just doing this for a simple plait).
2. The ribbon will make up your third section, so tie the ribbon securely to some hair at the top of the plait, but try to keep it subtle!
3. Get plaiting, just as you norrmally would, using the ribbon as your third bit of hair.
And voila! Yay! Well done you - back to the pictures!

I adore this picture! Here is another example of where an oversized bow looks great, this time with a wonderful lacy gothic style! I love the twist that the model is a manikin...

Sticking with bows, messy buns are a great way to show off your ribbon! They take themselves less seriously than ultra-neat buns, and on top of that are far easier! And now, dinosaurs, we move off Ribbons In hair, and onto Ribbons In Everything Else!

This is a very simple idea, but as far as I can make out, all they have done is tie the ribbons around their feet, and slip the shoe over. I think this a very good idea, and one we should all try! Go on - run off and get your shoes and ribbons, and I'll wait here! Are you back? Have you got them? Good, let's get tying! I've done, have you? Great! Let's waddle around like ribbonified penguins! (Take them off you look ridiculous. Onto the next picture and let's speak of this no more.)

Corsages! A simple, or even an elaborate corsage, can set an outfit off just right! I like this idea of pale roses complemented by silver ribbon - however there are any number of combinations you can dream up, with flowers, material, ribbon, or even just a simple ribbon bow! And now off clothes...

And onto dreamcatchers! This looks too gorgeous and hippie and woody for words...I love this picture! This would make a great present, and can add a touch of the outide to the inside, or a touch of utter beauty to the outside! The lace and ribbons look great with the wood!

Bookmarks - knotting a patterned or plain ribbon onto a a bookmark really does gorgify it. You could transform an existing bookmark, armed with ribbons and holepunch, or make your own! And..that's all we have time for today, folks! What's that you say? You want more? Fine - here's a happy snapshot of some of the lovely images I stumbled across while rearching this! And before I leave you with the pictures, if you want to get your hands on some pretty ribbons I recommend fred's Haberdashery in chesterfield, which featured in this post! Cheerio!