Kev's present from Chris!

New year r go!

Ghost has the Port!

Five things at Christmas!

1. Getting to spend Christmas with Kev's family and my family.

We had Christmas dinner with his's mam's family this year and have made various visits to family members this week :)

2. A whole collection of Christmas Cards!

I had a few turn up from elsewhere in the world after Christmas, but I am still happy with them :)

I ill try to scan them later in the week.

3. This video of the Alice Xmas Tea Party organised by Misako Aoki

4.Fabric ordered!

I ordered my Rouge Aerie fabric, enough to make a skirt similar to the one above, just with dead ponies all over it!

5. Sewing up presents to give to my friends at New Year :)

Hmmmm

These don't look to much like the natural looking nails the packaging promised 0.0

A few more things :)

The skull is filled with bubble bath, I am not sure if I want to use it or display it on the shelf I am planning to put up in my studio. The skeleton hand is a jewellery stand, I like it a lot :) I plan on putting on some gel nails tomorrow. I also got a new tailor's dummy but it was to big to carry home tonight, a frankenweenie iPad cover and lots of sweet treats! (mmmmm boozy chocolates and marzipan!)

Christmas Hair 2012

With my new hair toy that Kev got for me :)
It's a late Victorian hair fork, from the period that took a lot of inspiration from India, it appears to be at least in part on a peacock!

Santa's 7 Perils

Trips and falls happen all the time especially at Christmas time as there are wires all over the place lighting up the house and tree. Tripping over these wires could result in an injury.
Now, think about poor Santa, he comes into the house and can’t see as there is no light. He doesn’t want to make anyone aware that he is there so he tries to be careful, only to trip on a loose wire and bring the Christmas tree smashing down on top of him (another injury there).
This also wakes the house up and the magic of Christmas is spoilt for one and all. Those in the house see Santa but he is too injured to deliver the rest of the presents (this isn’t a film where someone else delivers them).
So, when you are laying out your decorations think about the hazards  that may occur and be sensible enough to cover any loose wires as we don’t want Santa to be hurt and unable to do his job now do we?

First4Lawyers.com want to bring a little humour to you this festive period

(click for a bigger version)

A Full Century of Women's Clothing

Fashion is not just about the clothes but the accessories and shoes as well. For women, shoes make and break the outfit and are therefore a notable part of women’s fashion. Unlike men, women are known for having unlimited designs when it comes to shoes.
The roaring 20s saw women wear t-strap heels which were worn with their flappers. These shoes were quite comfortable due to their low heel and also doubled as dancing shoes. As time went by, shoes designs changed and wedges were now a part of fashion. Cork soled wedge shoes made their mark in fashion in the 50s and have continued to go in and out of fashion. The 50s had more variety as ballerina flats and saddle shoes were the popular shoes worn back then. The stiletto heel also gained popularity in the 50s.  Interestingly, these shoes are still making rounds in fashion today. The 60s were an outrageous time and go-go boots were the popular shoe. Since then boots have been fashionable.

Written by the staff at Prime Time Clothing, where you will find the latest styles at low wholesale prices.

Five bits of fun this week!

Seriously this...Double standard much?

1. Instagramgate!

I have a lot of friends that are musicians, without musicians I wouldn't have a job at the moment and it makes me despair for them sometimes when people just download their hard work for free and never intend to pay for it.
So imagine how funny I found it when a bunch of the same people who brag about downloading music freaked when they misunderstood Instagram's new T+C!
(FYI: I know not everybody that didn't get what Instagram was saying is a rabid downloader, I'm not laughing at you guys)

  I'll have you know The Prodigy are the kings of a good Christmas jingle!

2. Getting in the party mood!
Also Kev made the above picture, he shared it on his fanpage and it currently has 136 shares, and I shared it to reddit where it's racking up more Karma in a few hours than I have managed with anything I've posted in almost a year of being a redditer...Not bad for some drunken revelling!

3. Local Loltias hitting the news!

Bravo ladies!

4. Carouskel Fabric!

Hopefully mine with Christmas money so I can make myself a nice new skirt to go with the Steampunk Lolita  accessories that Kakuidori sent me for Christmas :)

5. Holiday Funtimes!

Two weeks of fun and frolics! Woop woop!

How are Eco-Fashion clothes made?

Eco fashion uses natural or recycled products that are manufactured in an ethical way that does not damage the environment. It offers a way of buying clothes that look good, feel great as well as being generally harder wearing and better value over mass produced low grade clothing.

You should not be put off by the term eco fashion because this term does not mean that the clothes that you buy will be shapeless unflattering or make you look like a hippy. These days many of the great fashion houses are beginning to work with eco fashion principles with designers from Burberry,  Yves Saint Laurent, Manolo Blahnik and Alexander Wang just a few who are gradually becoming more green.

The environmental costs of intense factory production in the third world and the ethical concerns over the employment of child and slave labour are becoming increasingly untenable to many people.

Eco fashion offers an ethical alternative to this as well as a more pleasurable experience to the clothes wearer. With eco fashion clothes you know that the materials used are soft and natural and will not cause any unpleasant reactions to your skin. You know that the people who have produced your clothing have been paid a fair wage and have reasonable living conditions.

Non-eco fashion clothes often use so-called natural products such as silk and cotton but these are usually treated with pesticides during the growing process and treated with bleach during the dying process. These processes contain many dangerous chemical elements that can damage and irritate skin.

Eco fashion materials are made from organic raw materials. If the garment is made of cotton, it will have been grown without the use of pesticides so is safe for workers and wearers alike. If made of silk, the fabric will be spun by silk worms fed on organic leaves, rather than chemical alternatives.

A major area of concern in mass clothing production is the use of bleaching materials which use high levels of hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid. Eco fashion uses dyes, which are plant based so are not only safe for the environment but are also are softer and more friendly on the skin.

Hemp is also a fantastic clothing material that is growing increasingly popular with the move towards eco fashion.  Previously used for clothing and rope it fell into decline with the emergence of man made fibres but now is sweeping back into fashion in a big way.

Hemp is easy to grow anywhere and is very adaptable for use with no dangerous by products. It has the strongest fibres of any plant known to man yet can be broken down and softened for a range of purposes including clothing and bags.

Eco fashion also looks to using recycled materials such as previously used textiles for high end clothing and even uses recycled plastics in shoes and bags. Although originally these materials may have been produced without any concern for green issues, giving them a new lease of life is fully in line with eco fashion principles.

Lolita Tag

FYI: So that things don't get a little too quiet around here I have some awesome guest posts lined up for the holidays, I will still be making posts of my own, just not quite as frequently :)

Christmas Cards

From my Grandma, Hand made :)

This year's card from Fiona Hall MEP

From Ramona in Germany, with a message that made me giggle :)

Hand made by my mam :)

Hair of the Day 18/12/12 - Heart Shaped Braids

I like this one, I think it will be cute with a little practice and a Lolita co-ord.

Videos: Dracula's Alternative Fashion Bite and Lolita KompleX coving TaTu

Moor Road Film's video from Dracula's Alternative Fashion Bite at The Bram Stoker International Film Festival (you get to see a few of the hairstyles I did in motion here!)

Also Lolita KompleX just released their video for the cover they did of TaTu's All The Things She Said featuring Kitty in a Casket.

It's an interesting cover, I personally really like it but I think it will probably be a little bit Marmite effect for some.

Five Things This Week

It's pretty much impossible to get a photo where one of us isn't pulling a stupid face or blinking... Photo by SilvaVex Photography

1. Kev's radio podcast thing

I keep meaning to post this, but Kev started recording some of his radio shows and now they're up on Mixcloud here.

I had this sitting on my myspace profile back in the day...I'm going to go kick myself for using the phrase "back in the day" now.

2. Writhe and Shine

So way back when I was a wee little Baby Bat (circa 2005ish), I joined my first profile site (I suspect this might even have been *just* before I joined myspace) and that was Net Goth, home of Goth Map. Somewhere in their links section (now horribly out of date...I notice that their most recent mailing list addition was Killing Miranda's Fan Club Thing, Killing Miranda split up in 2007...Mind you bar those of us who've recently had an influx of spyware link spam via The Dominion mailing list, who even uses mailing lists any more?), sorry I got a bit side tracked, I blame lack of sleep.

Somewhere in their links section I found Writhe and Shine.

Back then I just found it kind of amusing, amused that everything mentioned was exaggerated and giggled at the "Appopenant" one (the website was down for a few years, but  Robert is in the process of re-uploading everything, alongside his new project Overcast with a chance of Doom! which you should also check out as it's shaping up rather awesomely thus far).

Fast forward seven years and I realise that not as much is exaggerated as I first thought!

When I first met Kev we had a similar moment to "Appopenant", I've met people eerily like Demona (I keep being suggested one of them as "similar to me" on Twitter, I keep feeling quite insulted and not going on Twitter for a while) and well the whole story arc involving Sven's brother? Rings scarily true (though nobody ended up in a coma in my irl version).

Les adieux à la reine 

3. Les adieux à la reine / Farewell my Queen

There are a lot of films about Marie Antoinette, but so many of them seem to pick a few rumours about her and ignore a bunch, which makes sense I suppose but the rumours about her relationship with  La duchesse Gabrielle de Polignac.

This film does not, but it is approached in a mature, and lovely way rather than just being a bit porn-y like some.

 FINALLY!

4. I finally have all of my Christmas shopping done!

5. 12/12/12

What a beautiful date :)

He is here...I have felt his presents!

Hope my brother likes his Christmas present this year :)

The Paradise Hanging Horseshoe Hair Tutorial

Hair of the Day 14/12/2012 - Girl's Generation SNSD Oh! Hair

Damn fringe not playing nice!

Hair of the Day 13/12/2012 - 5 min Butterfly Braids

Not totally convinced by this one...My hair is two thick for the "hole" and the "wings" kind of blend straight in :/

Back

Bubz tutorial

Lolita Outfit Video - Alexander Henry Print JSK

JSK - Handmade by me

Blouse - Random work blouse

Jewellery - Unknown

Hair bow - Claire's Accessories 

Hair of the Day 12/12/12 - 2min Bouffant

I actually think this would look really cute with Lolita :)

Alt Snap Whitby Goth Weekend Part 9

Arrrr! Pirates!

Hair of the Day 11/12/2012 - Song Hye Kyo Braid

While I think this looks pretty and everything, it's really annoying the side of my face :/

From the back

Five things this week!

No ebay, this was not what I meant by "Slenderman"

1. Trying to find a Christmas present for my brother on ebay.

This made for hysterical results. Settled on a Trollface mug because he's off to university in September and I remember getting to uni and discovering I had no mugs or glasses and having to BUY ALL THE HALLOWEEN THINGS in ASDA. Almost got him a Forever Alone Guy one, he'd have got the joke, not sure how the rest of the family would have taken it though.

ERMAGERD ERBERBITE!

2. Uberbyte on Friday. 

Didn't really catch much of them as I was on the door drawing things on people's hands (no handstamp means I technically get paid for my art...I took requests, not sure which was better the Thomas Rainer snow man I drew on someone or the stick man jumping out of a birthday cake...I AM A GENIUS!).

OM NOM NOM!

3. Delicious food haul!

Kev went out for bread, came back with olives, veggie gamon, hummus and a vegan lasagne :D

I'm so easily pleased!

No entirely sure what is going on here!

4. The Settlers Online Christmas and End of the World Events!

Seriously addictive fun!

Awwwww

5. Hugs on cold nights.

Boyfriend, cat, anybody really...KEEP ME WARM IT'S FREEZING IN HERE!

The Paradise - Catherine hair tutorial number 2

Hair of the Day 07/12/2012 - Spring Updo in Winter

Back

 Side

 Front

Butterfly!!!

Lolita Outfit Video - Cathedral Underbust

JSK - Cathedral Underbust by Surface Spell Gothic
Blouse - Second hand
Necklace - Double Bat Cameo by Extreme Largeness (review )

While the weather outsider is frightful!

Lily

Today we had snow,lots of snow!

I waited an hour for a bus to visit my grandma,when I got to the bus stop there was no snow, by the tie the bus arrived it was three inches deep!

My garlic plants have a layer of cold, white stuff!

In other news I now have 101 followers with GFC, so there will be a giveaway coming up!