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 .........

Elephants

Elephants 

Elephants...... wow, where to start!

Ok ill do bullet points:

• Where can I find them

• Eating habits

          Elephants need to eat 150 kg of vegetation a day. This is made up of grass, leafs,

          bushes, berries and fruit. Elephants will sometimes eat tree bark which contains

          calcium to aid digestion. To make a change from all that vegetation, they will use 

          their tusks to dig up earth to get to salt and minerals. Sometimes a herd of elephants

          have formed caves and hills, searching for these salt licks.

• Tusks

          Elephants tusk are formed from the second upper incisors, and can grow to over

          3 m long in some African elephants. The longest tusk on record was 3 1/2 m (138 in).

          The tusks grow over the elephants lifetime at a rate of about 18 cm a year.

          One third of the tusk is attached to the the skull underneath the skin. the outer part is

          dentine covered in apatite, which is made up of mainly calcium phosphate. This is 

          the bit most wanted by poachers, the ivory.

• Ears 

          African Elephants have the largest ears, on average 1.5 m across.

          But they aren't used for extra hearing, elephants use their ears as massive fans or

          for dominance and threat displays. Asian elephants have smaller ears because their

          habitat is normally cooler.

• Different types

1. African
2. Asian
3. Borneo Pygmy 

• Telling the difference

           One way to tell the difference is to look at the shape of the head.

Asian Elephants have a dipped hump on their head, but African Elephants have a smooth one.

Another difference is their food. Asian elephants generally eat more grass, Whereas African elephants have a more leaf based diet. They also have different shaped trunks, teeth and body shape.

• Extinction rate

          According to recent study’s Elephants

          will be extinct in roughly 12 years,

          due to humans poaching these

          harmless creatures.

                                

	Beginning of 20th century	Now. 2013-2014	In 10 years
African	2 million	450 000 to 700 000	As many as 20% will be killed off
Asian	100 000	35 000 to 40 000	Not recorded
Borneo	Not counted	1500 left in the wild.	Extinct

  

            African are the least threatened species, but there is still an increasing poaching
            rate. Most study’s agree that African elephants will not go extinct as quickly as

            other types yet they are still on the WWF critical animals list.

            Asian elephants are more often used as carriers and way of transport then
            any other type, but they are also the most protected. There are more breeding
            sanctuary’s and safe parks for Asian cows and baby’s then any other species.

            Borneo Pygmy’s are the most endangered of all the elephants.14 have been
            found poisoned since January 2013. One of their main threats beside poaching
            is their habitat being destroyed.

•   Fact file

1. Elephants are the largest land animal
2. The Elephant is the only mammal that can't jump
3. Elephants can be left tusked or right tusked!
4. Elephants have the second best memories for a animal, after dolphins (and humans).
5. Elephants can cry and laugh, just like a human
6. Elephants can swim! They use there trunks as snorkels in deeper water.
7. Elephants can listen through there feet. They pick up sub-sonic rumbles made by other elephants, through vibrations in the ground.
8. Elephants will mourn there dead, standing by the skeletons gentling touching the skull with there trunks.

Elephants are actually very intelligent creatures and there is no reason
to poach them like we do. If you want to do something to help, visit this link
to adopt an Elephant today:

https://support.wwf.org.uk/adopt-an-elephant?_ga=1.74397140.795824284.1390500977

Ta

Strictly come dancing 2014 - should Jennifer have been in the dance off?

No (in my opinion).

Without being controversial, I think it should have been

Scott Mills and Joanne. Although he was arguably better than last week, 
Jennifer Gibney was better overall.
Ok that sounds controversial.

Fair trade fashion

All you need to know 

* Whats it all about?

   Fair trade is about:

   - Better working conditions

   - Better prices

   - And fairer terms of trade.

   Fair trade is about stopping injustice in working.  

   

* Why buy fair trade?

   There is currently a massive cheap cotton industry that is putting the poor cotton

    farmers ( who live on 1 dollar a day ) out of business. This is very bad news for the

    workers who need the money they earn to survive.

    If the cheap cotton industry was removed then it has been estimated that west and 

    central African countries could earn an extra $94m - $360m from cotton production.

    So by buying fair trade products you are helping these people.

   

    

    

A cotton plantation 

* Where?

 Fair trade clothes are produced all over the globe but to name one place - Mali

    Highlighted in light blue, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world.

    Cotton is Mali's most important exports with around 200,000 cotton farmers in the

    country, but with the worlds cotton prices falling Mali's farmers are struggling to make

    enough money.

    

* I bet you didn't know.....

   There are currently more than 1500 cotton products licensed as fair trade.

  

   75% of all fair trade producers are smallholding farms.

   68% of the UK's population recongnise the fair trade logo

   20 million fair trade cotton garments were sold in 2008

   

      

 Thanks - choose fair trade         

The Bustle

The Bustle

The Bustle first came around in the mid 19th century just after the crinoline went out of fashion.

A wire frame supports many layers of underskirts & a hooped up over skirt.

These are some examples of a bustle, ranging from the middle one - a expensive model for the posher lot - to the rather humble make on the right - a smaller bustle for the less important -. On the right is a bustle made of cloth instead of wire, which makes for a more comfy ( if smaller ) bustle.

Here is a drawing of a high class lady wearing a large bustled skirt.

You could often tell how high up the lady was, by how big her bustle was. 

i.e the bigger the bustle, the higher up she was.

The bustle finally went out of fashion in 1905 when the long corset came in.

The era of big bums was over.

Hanbok - the Korean traditional dress

Koreans nowadays only wear the Hanbok at special occasions

and festivals but it used to be the everyday dress to wear up until
100 years ago.
Children wear a Hanbok for their 1st birthday and adults wear it on
their wedding day & their 60th birthday.
The Hanbok is also worn for funerals and religious services.
The Hanbok is coloured using natural dyes in colours such as pink, red and blue.

The tight jacket and billowing skirt is considered very beautiful and enhances
the wearers beauty.

The design of it is original with unique lines that are smooth yet sharp.

Koreans have lived with nature and favour smooth curves rather than straight lines as they 

think curves are more beautiful.

Every Hanbok is more beautiful on and when the wearer is dancing!

So next fancy dress party you know what to make!

X

Style goddess no.1 - Suzy Parker

Suzy Parker (Born 1932, died 2003)

Suzy Parker was a popular American model and actress from 1947 to the early 60's, her modelling career reaching its peak in the 1950's when she was employed by Chanel and was the face of many film adverts, high street ranges and magazines all wanting her to pose for even just one shoot.

 Suzy Parker posing during her successful career.

Harper's Bazaar shoot November 1960.

Suzy Parker wearing typical mid 40's to early 50's dress.

Suzy Parker 1955.

Defiantly a style goddess x

Murmuration Teens - By The Stylish Purple Elephant

Unique summer style for floaty, dreamy teens & tweens!

Handmade freedom fashion, for staying stylish in the great outdoors!

Fairy tale sweet tooth skirt £8.99 ^

Rose sarong style beach dress £15.45 ^

White plaited freedom vest £4.99 ^

Candy colours tunic £11.34 ^

Forget-me-not sundress £9.99 ^

Noir queen pleated skirt £14.99 ^

HANDMADE WITH LOVE.....

.....so BUY NOW!

Xx