Sunday Round Up: Plans, plans, plans!

This week has been pretty fun and creative.

Monday was my mam's day off work, we went shopping and I bought some henna for my hair because I felt like going red for a change.

Tuesday I went fabric shopping with Tia and Queenie, I picked up some great fabrics and a few patterns. We also went to see Black Swan.

Wednesday I dyed my hair and finished my skirt :)

Thursday I started drafting up the pattern for my next skirt, this one is gonna be a little more complicated than the first one.

Friday I finished off my Strathmore page and did some general housework.

Saterday I spent a lovely day with my Kev, it's not often we get to spend some real time together without one or other of us having something urgent to do, but on Saterday we spent most of the day snuggled on the sofa watching Southpark.

Today, we're mostly listening to music and doing a little housework, we also got some grocery shopping, kind of boring, but that's how it is.

Next week I'm planning on working on switching my webshop over to Facebook (I make jewellery sometimes, I currently have it on a site that doesn't support international shipping, but I found a Facebook app that will let me sell via Facebook).

Gonna work on my next skirt.

I'm also planning on starting to film some of my art while I make it, I currently only have the film setting on my digi cam so the quality won't be great, but my mam has promised me her old video camera once she gets an infa-red lamp for her new one :)

Day 9: A picture of the perfect dwelling.

Baby The Stars Shine Bright: Chained Berry Memoir

I'll start by saying that I really like the print of the strawberries on Chained Berry Memoir, but one thing puts me off...

All of the previews are of the pink version, there are none of the other colourways :(

Pink looks very good on other people, but it disagrees with my skintone and makes me look kind of strange, I guess that is what usually puts me off Sweet Lolita in the first place.

Anyhow, the Chained Berry Memoir collection comes in two different JSKs, a skirt, a bolero, headbow, round necked t-shirt, two different pairs of socks and a bag.

My initial thoughts are that this would be the perfect print to wear with those shortcake shoes that were in Baby's shoe lucky pack this year.

The Jenny Jumper Skirt is the one at the top of the page, it has partial shirring, corset lacing and waist ties at the back, and at the front it has one of the cutest details I've seen on a Baby dress to date:

A pair of crocheted strawberries.

As you can see there is more corset lacing and a large bow at the front.

Over all it gives a very "Strawberries and Cream" sumptuous feel.

The Mary Skirt is rather plainer in comparison, though it does feature a large bow at the back and a cute bow shaped button.

The Maria Jumper Skirt, feels a little more classic to me, kind of like it's Jenny's older sister so to speak.

It features a Peter Pan collar, two small pink bows and a medium printed bow on the front.

The back has corset lacing and waist ties.

Personally I'm not really fond of the bolero, I would wear a solid plain coloured bolero with that print, rather than a one with a print on it.

The bow, is well standard bow cuteness but you get a nice close up of the very cute strawberry lace.

Despite having the same print as the bolero I prefer the t-shirt as I think it would go well with the skirt. I also like the Peter Pan collar.

The socks are the only part of the collection where you can see some of the other colourways. Here is the first sock design in black. I find them pretty damn adorable!

And here is a shot of one of each colour of the other sock design. Personally I find this design a bit to fussy for my tastes.

I think the bag is pretty cute, but the fabric in the sample photo seems to be upside down, which is a little worrying as I've always thought of careful quality when I think of Baby :/

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The collection is available to reserve from February 4th at 17:00 Japanese time.

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Day 8: A picture of the perfect accessory.

A ship hat :D

Strathmore Online Workshops Update

I didn't get around to posting last week's update to my page from the Strathmore Online Journal project so there it is at the top of the page.

As of today I've now finished this page, and this part of the project (the next one doesn't start until march), and I decided that it would be cool to show you the photos in order so you can see the progress, ending with the as yet un-posted fourth week's photograph:

Week one

week 1.5 (I thought it needed some more colour)

Week 2

Week 3 again

Week 4 completed.

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I'm pretty happy with my page, and would defiantly recommend workshop 1 to any of my reader that haven't already signed up and are interested in creative things.

You can still sign up and view workshop 1 until the summer here.

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Day 7: A picture of the perfect shoes.

Pony boots :D

I'm not into Pony play, I just love the footwear.

Finished skirt photos :)

As promised yesterday here are the photos of my finished skirt and almost finished headbow (I didn't have a clip for the back of it so I McGyvered it in with a safety pin for the photo).

My apologies for looking slightly demonic in this one, my red eye remover REFUSED to work boo-urns.

I'll do a proper co-ordinate soon :)

I actually had an idea for a co-ord that isn't strictly Lolita that I may do and post to Daily_Alamode.

Anyhow you can see my sew_loli post about this skirt and headbow here (there's some detail shots of the zip and the waistband if you're interested in that kind of thing).

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Day 6: A picture of the perfect outfit (underwear)

I'm really into cami tops at the moment, they're really comfortable under a corset where a underwired bra usually the wires irritate me :/

HENNA HENNA HENNA HENNA BATMAN!

Before

 After

Today as you may have guessed I used my henna on my hair.

It actually looks a little more red, and slightly less orange in real life, I really like it.

Today I also finished off my tartan Lolita skirt and a headbow to go with it, I don't have photographs yet though because the natural light had faded by the time I finished, but I will hopefully take some tommorow :)

Yesterday I went fabric shopping with Queenie and Tia, got some very nice checked fabric, a fabric with skulls and blue roses on it and two loliable blouse patterns.

Later on we met up with Bloodmyer and went to see Black Swan.

It's a pretty damn amazing film, the plot twists and turns all over the place, it's far from "just a film about ballet and lesbians", it has a lot of layers to it, as an added bonus there are also some fantastic costumes.

I really want a new Tiara (my old one broke and Stirfry stole it lol)!

So yeah, short post is short, better one tommorow :)

Day 5: A picture of the perfect outfit (outerwear)

Goodies!

Today I went out with my mam for her day off, we visited a lot of the Asian Supermarkets in Newcastle (that beautiful gate up there is the entrance to Newcastle's Asian district, just behind it you can see some of the original town walls from the middle ages), and a few other shops and I bought a few bits and bobs.

First up the sewing kit was a gift from my mam, just as I was running out of black thread! Lifesaver! Next, I've decided to henna my hair. I'd like my hair to be redish, and I've chosen to go with henna because it's less damaging than chemical hair dyes and it was only 55p a box rather that the £5 my mam pays for her hair dye.

Beef flavoured noodle bowl (these contain no actual beef so I can eat them...YIPEE!), Tandoori Masala (I ran out of spices for currys, and I like buying mixes), pretty new chopsticks for Chinese New Year (I sometimes eat with chopsticks, but I haven't had any since I moved in with Kev)

The black ribbony thing at the top is a belt I plan on wearing with some of my jersey dresses, a green headbow which kind of goes quite well with the green in the tartan on the skirt I'm making, that at the bottom is a cameo hairclip, it's super cute :)

Bendy Rollers (I've never used bendy rollers before so I'm experimenting with these), thick false lashes with small diamantés on them and two pairs of knee high, neon tattoo patterned socks :D

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Day 4: A video of someone you think has the perfect voice.

Siouxsie Sioux :)

Sunday Round up: Tartans, and lace and art oh my!

This week has been very creative, I have been doing a lot more artistic things than usual and this is making a lot more happy than I've been :)

Monday- I mostly did things around the house and the weekly shop (I know *~* The Glamour *~* ). I did cook a stuffed pepper though, which was pretty awesome :)

Tuesday- Mam's day off, we hung out, ate soup, hunted through some of my old things to find things to use in new art (my mam is who I get my arty streak from, she has her own craft business at Celtic Moon Crafts  ), and I got my new sewing table!

Wednesday- I went to see Bloodmyer and we worked on our skirts. Oh and a man asked me for the time at the bus stop and then talked to a bush about Darren Bent for twenty minutes 0.0

Thursday- I finished off my skirt apart from the lace that I ran out of...Boo-urns!

Friday- I worked on some fabric designs for a friend. Unfortunately my lips are sealed. I'm not allowed to say what it is until it's available, just that it's pretty awesome if I do say so myself :D

Saturday- Charnel House annual meeting, so got to see some friends and find out the plans for the next year.

Today- Guess, no seriously...Guess...Lazy Sunday :D

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Day 3: A picture of someone you think has the perfect eyes.

Brian Molko :)

Friday Feature: Frsickly

This week's Friday Feature is an artist whose work I have admired for a few years now.

Frsickly is a Surrealist artist from the United States, and his Deviant art page can be found here.

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I first found your art via your tarot deck, what inspired you to create a tarot deck in the first place?

Sheer instinct, honestly, inspired me to start my tarot. Not much else.

A lot of the figures in your art remind me of the figure in Edvard Munch's famous paintings, pastel and Lithograph works entitled "The Scream", is this intentional?


The resemblance between my figure and the Scream is evident. It was never intentional. My figure also gets compare to the Scream mask, from the movies, Jack Skellington, and the tragedy mask.

Most of your figures, both in the tarot deck and in the mutations seem to be in a lot of pain or stress (Mutatons XLI, seeming to have literally tied himself into a knot) , is this based on any kind of experience or do you just like torturing your art?


It never used to bother me, torturing my art, but it used to be based on and out of a lot of pain. The tarot figures have always bummed me out on this front though, especially the sad ones (i.e. 3 or Arms, The Chariot, The Tower, 9 of Arms, 2 of Arms, 8 of Arms).

Your Tarot art also involves some very intricate pattern work, did this take you a long time to develop?


Overall, the patterns took a few weeks to design. They still change and evolve with every card that I draw.

Goddess Book Page 5

Page 5 is about tearful Goddesses and Spirits, like the Banshee and La Llorona.

This relates to me, because when I was younger, a lot of bad things happened in my life all at once, and I spent a lot of time crying.

At the time, I struggled to see a way out of the gloom, but couldn't find one and so I was sure I would be weeping forever.

Weeping Spirits do cry forever, so even though I have passed out of that stage of my life, I still feel a little bit of a bond with them.

The quote in the corner is from The Weeping Song by Nick Cave, "But I won't be weeping long".

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Day 2: A picture of someone you think has perfect hair.

Tori Amos :)

Handmade Skirt Progress Photos

Recently Bloodmyer and I have been making Lolita style skirts, mine is not quite finished, but it's getting there :)

I'm not wearing a petticoat in the pictures, because these are just progress shots.

Stupidly I underestimated how much lace I'd need, so there's a chunk at the back that's still missing lace, however I'm popping to the shop on Monday to get more, I have enough fabric to make a headbow to so I will get lace to trim that too :)

I still have a button to put on, and I need to press the seams and chop all the loose threads out, but other than that, it's done :D

Planning on taking some decent photos with a blouse and socks that go better when I do finish it.

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Day 1: A picture of someone with your idea of the perfect skin.

Kate Bush :)

Sunday Round up and new meme

On Monday I frantically attempted to call and email uni to try and find out when I have to go cast my concrete...Nada...Zilch...No response FFS!

Tuesday I was almost caught out by a phishing scam! You know I've always said you'd have to be a bit dim to be taken in by them, but this one LOOKED EXACTLY like an email from Student loans, the email address was only one letter different, so when I read I didn't notice that, and it came the day my loan went in. It said that I needed to update my bank details so they could put my loan in, I clicked through and I was halfway through filling in my details when I spotted that the web address was totally wrong. Scary stuff huh? I googled and it turns out it was sent to a load of people from Leeds uni to and a few people were robbed because of it...Eep!

Wednesday I FINALLY got a one line email back from uni "I will let you know" *head desk* I can't get a job or anything until I know when I have to go back to cast my concrete :(

Thursday was my mam's day off so I went to visit her, we ate Indian food and watch Ghost Hunters :D

Friday I ordered my copy of (NSFW LINK) Filament, this is a magazine whose tagline is "for women who like hot men and intelligent thought", I also managed to order two back issues of Gosu Rori (11 and 12 I believe) and Gothic and Lolita Bible 11.

I also went to hang out with my friends Tia, Queenie, Ghost, Chris and Johno (and Kev of course :D) at Tia's place, the original intention was to play table-top games or poker, but somehow we ended up drinking copious amounts of wine and having Quaterstaff vs spatula fights in the kitchen 0.0 Odd, but very fun!

Saturday I was amazed by how fast my copy of Filament arrived! It lives up to it's tagline, plenty of very intelligent articles (this issue featuring interviews with Marina Abramovic and photographer Sita Mae Edwards, as well as articles about Slash fanfic and the relationship between testosterone and aggression... Of course there are also very pretty photos of man in make up *swoon* in some kind of circus scene (photo is work safe) preview and a rather nice chap in a bath full of feathers (doesn't he have pretty eyes!).

Saturday was also Charnel House night, where I danced, enjoyed music, had a cocktail or two and bought a new facinator in the Forever in black sale. (photos soon).

Today, well as often is, today is a day of rest for me, I've been watching some TV with my boyfriend, and we had a really nice meal that involved roasted vegetables :)

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New 30 Post meme

The Perfection meme.

Everybody has a different idea of perfection, and it would be interesting to see what others would post for this meme, should they wish to play along.

Day 1: A picture of someone with your idea of the perfect skin.

Day 2: A picture of someone you think has perfect hair.

Day 3: A picture of someone you think has the perfect eyes.

Day 4: A video of someone you think has the perfect voice.

Day 5: A picture of the perfect outfit (outerwear)

Day 6: A picture of the perfect outfit (underwear)

Day 7: A picture of the perfect shoes.

Day 8: A picture of the perfect accessory.

Day 9: A picture of the perfect dwelling.

Day 10: A picture of the perfect garden.

Day 11: A picture of the perfect plant or tree.

Day 12: A picture of the perfect place.

Day 13: A picture of the perfect pet.

Day 14: A picture of the perfect room.

Day 15: A picture that involves the perfect colour.

Day 16: The perfect painting.

Day 17: The perfect car.

Day 18: The perfect animal.

Day 19: A picture that represents the perfect date (romantic)

Day 20: A picture that represents the perfect date (with friends)

Day 21: A picture that represents the perfect date (with family)

Day 22: A picture or video of the perfect memory.

Day 23: The perfect photograph.

Day 24: The perfect Weather.

Day 25: The perfect food.

Day 26: The perfect hobby.

Day 27: The perfect day.

Day 28: The perfect night.

Day 29: The perfect holiday.

Day 30: The perfect poem.

New Goddess Book Page

Just thought I'd share my latest Goddess Book page. This page is kind of a mandala idea based on the names of some of the Goddesses and spirits I feel close to.

The colours from the previous page came through, but I kind of like it, kind of funky :)

I bought a few things to send my friend Sue in the US today, I will take some pictures and I'll post the pictures when I know she got my package :)

Also I'm planning a new 30 day meme to start soon.

Strathmore Journal Week Two

This week we worked into our journal pages from last week with oil pastels and gesso.

I'm quite happy with how it's shaping up :)

My Goddess Book

Another art journal I'm working on at the moment is my Goddess book.
This is a bit more of a personal journey, the idea is you art journal about your patron Goddesses and Spirits and in turn you learn something about yourself.

Not really sure if I'm learning anything about myself as of yet, but I'm making some pretty things :)

Just an FYI, I'm not a Satanist in-case anybody is freaking out over that Pentagram, I'm Pagan, and a Vegan, so yeah no human sacrifice for me lol (not that Satanists do any of that anyway).

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A song someone ruined for you with their missheard lyrics

God is a bus stop :'(