Taking summer dresses into autumn

Noooo…. summer's ending!! The days are getting colder again and swimming costumes are going to the back of the drawer once more. But one thing you don’t need to say goodbye to just yet, are your summer dresses and skirts!! Here’s 3 top tips so you can keep wearing them right into the autumn!!

  Layering is essential, throw on a brushed cotton shirt and denim jacket or cardigan over the top. Make sure that the shirt is in a colour that complements your dress.

Example. Pastel blue dress = Darker shades of blue or green shirt

The lifesavers that are tights! Keeping a pair of woollen tights (burgundy and grey are good colours) at hand is always a good idea. Sheer black are useful as well as they tend to go

with everything! If you are going to wear patterned, make sure (obv!!)

that the colours don’t clash!!

Another idea that will instantly autumn-a-nize your dress (skirt) is pairing with boots. Any boots, but in particular knee highs, second skin and DM’s. I find DM’s (or similar) the most versatile, because you can change the laces depending on what colour dress you are wearing! This may sound v obvious, but it actually doesn’t occur to some people!

Messy ballerina bun

You need: Hair pins and a headband no more than 2 inches wide

Brush your hair backwards taking a section from centre front and twisting it backwards pinning at centre back. Repeat this above your ear on both sides. THIS DOES NOT HAVE TO

BE NEAT! Put on a headband. (Just in-case you don't know how to!) Put your head through the hole and pull it down so it hangs around your neck. Put all your hair out over the band. Holding the front of the band pull it up and position about a cm away from your hairline. The twists will be flattened slightly but that doesn't matter. Gather your hair up (twists included) into a messy pony, then holding the end twist up into a bun. Stick pins in at the cardinal points (north, east, south and west), pull a few strands out to frame your face and there we go, a cute, messy ballerina bun!

Ideas

• Try different widths of hairband, no more than 2 inches work best but try thinner.
• Stick a brooch in the bun or a fabric flower ( You can buy these or make them yourself)
• It doesn't have to be a hairband, try tying a strip of fabric round instead,                            maybe tying a bow at the side.

How to wear

This is quite a fancy hairstyle so wear with simple clothes, jeans and a white t-shirt using a

colourful headband or a patterned skirt with a plain black band. For dark hair I suggest a bright or pastel band for light hair dark colours can be striking but bright or subtle works as well.

Primark T-shirt

I recently bought this t-shirt from Primarks Spring, Summer range.

It came in many other colours and patterns but this one is my favourite.

Very cute, very versatile, can be worn with almost anything.

 The clothes I have paired it with are (Probably) not available to buy any more.

Shirts; both H&M

Hoody; Hollister

Skirt; Homemade

This summers hairstyle

May, June time it was the twisted plaits pinned center back creating a boho feel but come July things have changed once again. Drum-roll please and in enters the... ponytail!
Umm... Ok... Your'e thinking, but I'm serious, for this summer only, this lil' girl style has opened
its doors to an older audience bringing a wave of freshness onto the fashion scene.

Vogues July issue held an article declaring that the general problem people have with
ponytails is the height; too high and you become a cheerleader but too low can sometimes
look too serious. - not to say that that's the case with everyone, some people look great with
the cheerleader/serious thing - the result putting people off.

The trick is getting it in the right place for you. not too low, not too high...
you just have to experiment.

Whats really in right now is messing it up, pulling strands out to frame your face.

You can play around with your ponytail once you've sorted the height,
try winding strands round or plaiting part of it.

Ponytails are cool in the celeb world to with big names such as Taylor Swift, Lilly Allen,

Katy Perry, Bella Thorne and Ariana Grande all giving it there own twist.

Easy peasy hairstyles

Hi

I've decided to write about some things you can do with your hair when it needs a wash and you can't be bothered or when its getting in your face and annoying you (that's every other second for me!)

Medium Length hair: It gets really annoying and hot wearing it down sometimes but if you
just keep the front bits tied back then you get all the glory of its longeness (is that a word?!!)
and it doesn't get in the way! Just take a small section from the side of your head near the front,
and tie this with a bunch. Repeat on the other side. Tighten them sort of backwards so they're not sticking straight out the side (that would look really cute on a four year old, but not really on the age I was aiming at!).This style is quite fun so if you were looking for something a bit more sensible (that word is not in my dictionary!) you could try just pulling the entire front section of your hair back
into a bunch at the back of your head or plaiting the side sections back and pinning instead of bunching them! If the hair that's down is still annoying you just bundle it all up into a messy ponytail. Some say its easiest to do this with your head upside down to get it right on the top of your head but I find it easier to be the right way up when I do mine! I guess it depends on your hair.

Long hair: You can do everything I put down for Medium length hair with long hair, in fact
some of the styles work better with long hair like the bunches one.
You can also do braids over the top of your head which looks quite cute!

Bobbed hair: You can't really tie up bobbed hair but you can pin it back in various different ways.
Option 1. Take a piece of hair at the very front of your head in the centre and twist it backwards. Pin.
Option 2. Take a small section from the side of your head and plait it. Pin this back and do the same
on the other side.
Option 3. Do the same as in option 2 but twist instead of plait.
Two plaits also looks very cute in bobbed hair, French, Dutch or normal.

Short hair: I don't know about short hair, but I'm guessing you don't really need to get it out the way because its already out of the way if you get what I mean?!
If its long, short hair (?) you can do any of the options for bobbed hair.

Remember: you don't just have to do the styles in your category you can mix and match and adapt
them all to fit your hair.

Mariano Fortuny and the Delphos dress

Its 1907 and the fashion world is about to change dramatically for the first time in decades.

The 36 year old Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo has rebelled against the strict lines that have dominated the scene for as long as anyone can remember. He has created the Delphos dress.

An older Mariano Fortuny

Fortuny was born to a very artistic family in 1871 Granada, Spain, his father was the painter

Mariano Fortuny y Marsal and his mother was the daughter of another famous painter Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta. It came clear to see at a young age that Fortuny was a very talented artist showing not only great promise as a painter but an apparent interest in textiles. His father died when he was three and his mother moved the family to Paris. There Fortuny's artistic side was fueled greatly. As a young man Fortuny traveled finding out artists he admired and broadening his skills to include inventing, painting, photography, sculpting, architecture, etching and stage lighting. In 1889 he moved to Venice staying there for the rest of his life.

Mariano Fortuny took inspiration for the Delphos dress from the loose clothing Greek people wore.

The Delphos dress was a shift made from finely hand pleated silk weighed down by glass beads.

It came in many vibrant colours, hand dyed with pigments Fortuny himself had made using ancient methods.

No one has ever been able to recreate pleating as fine as his.

The trend for spring

Gingham

When I say gingham I bet your'e thinking Dorothy, Wizard of Oz, 

but no, its not like that. Gingham is becoming more and more sophisticated, in Oscar de la Renta's SS15 collection gingham skirts and kimono style jackets took center stage, in gorgeous baby pinks and blues, sometimes even appearing in black. Altuzarra's collection was dominated by it, Elle is calling gingham THE print of spring 2015. There is so much more to gingham then the Wizard of Oz!

Oscar de la Renta SS15

Works well in dresses and skirts, combined with other similar fabrics

but lace is an interesting idea too.

Wear with block colours like black or white that complement without

taking away from the checks.

The Shift Dress

The Shift dress was at its most popular in the 1960's and is slowly regaining popularity due to its relaxed style and the fact that it is easy to reproduce in a factory.

Hubert de Givenchy is often credited with inventing the shift dress but there is another story about a woman called Lily Pulitzer. Lily Pulitzer made and sold fruit juices to tourists at Palm beach.

She asked a dressmaker to make her some brightly coloured dresses to cover up the fruit stains, just a simple a-line, sleeveless thing nothing too fancy.

But Lily found that her customers wanted to buy her dresses as much as the juice, so she started making and selling shift dresses as well.

Then Jackie Kennedy wore one and the whole world went crazy for shift dresses!

In 1961 Lily closed her juice bar and started selling dresses full time.

 

Audrey Hepburn wore this style slightly cinched in...

...whilst Twiggy wore it Twiggy style, straight down and short!

Shift Dresses now come in lots of different colours and sizes

so it is not so difficult to find one to meet your needs. 

                           

   

Wear with ballet pumps and a long necklace for a girly style

or combine with boots and plain leggings to toughen up your look.

Alternatively you could go all out with a block neon colour!

- Wear with little or no accessories so as not to detract from the colour -.

Many high-street brands now stock shift dresses, so what are you waiting for,

go out and get yourselves one!

A brief history of Bellville Sassoon

Bellville Sassoon was and still is one of the biggest fashion houses of its era, designing for among others Princess Margaret, Duchess of York, Diana Princess of Wales, Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. The company only became known by name as Bellville Sassoon in 1958, 5 years after it was founded by Belinda Bellville, when it was joined by David Sassoon.
Bellville Sassoon became famous for its wedding dresses and fashionable evening wear making the company expand to let in a team of designers, including George Sharp, Shena Carslaw, Helen Storey and Romy Gelardin to help David Sassoon with his ideas. In 1987 Lorcan Mullany an Irish designer joined and the company became Bellville Sassoon Lorcan Mullany. Mullany added to the ready-to-wear collections meaning more people could afford to buy their clothes. The company is still run by Lorcan Mullany today and is situated at Culford Gardens, Chelsea.

How to make a PERFECT PENCIL POT

What you need

An empty can

Patterned wrapping paper

Sticky tape

Stickers

How to

1. Peel off any paper from the can, and wash and dry thoroughly.

2. Cut a strip of wrapping paper slightly longer and 2cm wider than the can.

3. Stick one side of the paper to the can, then roll the can up in the paper and secure with sticky tape

4. Cut the excess into strips, then fold and stick them down one by one.
This will hide all the sharp edges.

5. Decorate with stickers, or cut out shapes from the paper and stick them on


















It makes writing so much more fun!

Sergei Polunin dancing to "Take me to church"

Ukrainian ballet dancer, Sergei Polunin dances to "Take me to church" by Hozier. This is amazing, his jumps are incredible, he almost seems to hang in the air! The  floor piece at the beginning is the best bit in my opinion, when he just suddenly leaps up and beats his legs behind him then lands again as if nothing happens - its awesome.

Sergei Poluninn "Take me to church"

Kimonos - traditional dress of japan

The word kimono literally translates "thing to wear". Ki "thing" mono "wear".

The kimono is a full length, straight lined robe with wide sleeves.

It consists of 4 main pieces, 2 body, 1 each arm with additional for the collar, obi (wide sash that ties round the waist) and such. Traditionally made from a tan, a bolt of of fabric 36 centimeters wide and 11.5 meters long. The entire tan is used for one kimono. Nowadays kimonos are made from a 42 centimeters wide bolt. The ideal and traditional fabric for a kimono is silk or a satin weave but it is most commonly made made from cotton, polyester or rayon. 

A woman's kimono can cost around US $10,000 and with the additional parts

it can cost US $20, 000!

The kimono was traditionally worn on a daily basis, but nowadays is

only worn at weddings and other such special occasions.

How to make a FABULOUS FLOOR CUSHION!

What you need

Fabrics: works with pretty much any fabric but probably avoid stretchy stuff.

Trimmings: Depends on what you want to do! Look under "Brighten it up!" for ideas.

How to:

1. Cut out two 60cm (change size to how big you want your cushion) squared pieces of fabric.

2. Place the outside sides together and sew along 3 edges.

3. Turn the cushion the right way round and fill with stuffing.

4. Neatly sew together the remaining edge.

4 cont. NEATLY I said. Don't do it like the picture, that will look horrible!

And it's done! Easy as pie, wait, no, pie is quite difficult actually,
maybe I should be doing a 'how to' on pie not floor cushions?!

Brighten it up!:

Idea 1)  Embroider a name or word on the front in a contrasting thread

Idea 2) At step 1 use two different types of fabric.

Idea 3) Sew some felt flowers, hearts or stars on the front.

Idea 4) Attach some lace or ribbon to the outer edges.

EPIC hot chocolate recipe

Its snowing ( well hailing...) outside and you're all cosy with a fire inside, what would just top
it all off is a hot chocolate! An extra special hot chocolate, an EPIC hot chocolate...

Ingredients
2 tblsp of Horlicks,
2 tblsp of cornflower,
3 tblsp of icing sugar,
4 tblsp of cocoa,
100g of grated dark chocolate,

A pinch of cinnamon.

Put all of these in a bowl and mix together.
This will fill a large jar and is enough for 10-ish mugs.

What to do:

Put the kettle on (always a good start)
Place three or four (heaped) tsp in the bottom of the cup.
Fill 3/4 full with boiling water
Top up the last 1/4 with milk
Add lots of big, squishy marshmallows!

Top tip: If your feeling really naughty, grate some chocolate on top as well!

Ahh yummy.............

How to do cute manga girl bunches

1. Just take a small section from the side of your head near the front and tie this with a bunch.
2. Do the same on the other side.

Tips:
Tighten them sort of backwards so they are not sticking straight out the side ( which would look really cute on a toddler but not on the age I was aiming at!).

I don't know if this kind of hairstyle has a name, so lets just call it "Cute manga girl bunches" yeah?!

This style tends to work best on mid to long hair.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Really cute, really easy and perfect if you can't be bothered to do anything fancy!

x x

Music to try out!

When it comes to music, I just listen to stuff I find cool whether its from a few
years back or if its brand new :)
so these songs might not be the stuff you usually listen to......

Deciphering me by Brooke Fraser

Neon River by Keane

Superheroes by The Script

A Dustland Fairytale by The Killers

Coming Home by The Kaiser Chiefs

Fireflies by Owl City

Cassy 'O by George Ezra

Blank Space by Taylor Swift

Ok, you might know some of those... I don't know but listen to the ones you don't know
and you never know, you might find something you really like!

Some may like, some may not, personally, I like!

Grab your headphones!

xxx

How to make the best chocolate chip cookies

Do you find that your cookies always come out burnt or dry or just generally not
cookie shaped? Well those days are past! Here's a quick (and delicious) recipe for
perfect cookie shaped, cookies!

Ingredients:

150 grams of unsalted butter

225 grams of brown sugar

300 grams of flour

2 small eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1/2 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 large bar of chocolate


How to make these things into cookies:

Before you start: Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line two baking trays.

Step 1: Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and  beat together.
You may find it easier to melt the butter for a couple of seconds in the microwave
before adding the sugar.

Step 2: Add the vanilla extract and eggs and beat until light.  
Make sure the eggs are small because you don't want your mix to be to runny.

Step 3: Sieve the flour and bicarb into the bowl and stir until the mix stiffens up.

Step 4: Using two teaspoons make small balls of mix and put them on the baking trays
remembering to keep large gaps between each ball.

Step 5: Remember that large bar of chocolate? Were going to put that chocolate in a food
bag ( Take off the wrapper first! ) and take a rolling pin to it. Smash it up into small chunks
then distribute those chunks between the balls of cookie placing 4 or 5 on each one.

Step 6: Bake for 15 to 20 minutes keeping a watchful eye on them through the oven door.
Take them out when they are golden brown and still slightly squidgy because they will harden
up when cooling.

Step 7: Put the kettle on and eat when still hot!

Remember not to eat more than 3 in one sitting due to large amounts of sugar!

A super quick guide to the Parthenon and Athena Parthenos

Probably one of the most well known pieces of ancient Greek art, the Parthenon is made 

completely of Pentelic marble ( A pure white marble quarried on Mt. Pentelicus near Athens )

 apart from its wooden roof. The whole thing took 15 years to complete but was finally

 finished in 438 BC. What is left of the Parthenon stands proudly on the highest part of

 the Acropolis ( A ciadetel -fortress - protecting many previous temples to Athena and Nike ) 

with a main purpose of sheltering the Athena Parthenos. The Athena Parthenos is a 9m tall 

sculpture of Athena ( Ancient Greek goddess of war and wisdom ). In her right hand she holds

 a statue of Nike ( Ancient Greek god of Victory ) and in her left a gold spear. At her feet lies 

a shield coiled with a serpent. She was made by Phidias  ( A Greek sculptor and architect who

 lived in 5th century BC, Phidias "statue of Zeus in Olympus"is one of the seven wonders of 

the ancient world ) using a method called Chryselephantine ( Chryselephantine statues are 

built round a wooden frame then layered with thin slabs of ivory, then details are added with

gold leaf - 91% pure gold hammered into sheets - ). 

 The Parthenon was used for many different purpose over the course of time and in early 1460 - just after the Ottoman conquest - it was turned into a mosque. The Parthenon was destroyed in 1687 when an Ottoman ammunition dump inside it was lighted by Venetian bombardment  

So next time you happen to be Greece ward way .........