The new year is here, so we sing and wait for Spring.

Hello! And welcome to what will (hopefully) be the first of many rad posts of 2014! This post will just be a 'mash up' (cue beat boxing) of things that have happened to me, or I've found groovy! So, last year (!!!) we had Christmas, and I got many beautiful presents. My parents gave me a GLUE GUN and the money for a pair of Doc Martens. Could my life get any more complete? My first creation with the glue gun was, of course, a flower crown, and it looks like this:

 And the Docs are, to quote the Dr Martens website, 'classic 1460 style eight hole boots, in Cherry Red'. Gah - I just lurrrrrrve them! I couldn't take a very good picture of them, but here you go anyhow.

When I wear them I feel empowered, and as if I could change the world. And talking of being a STOMPY, SUPER-RAD feminist icon, look at THIS post from Rookie! it is AH-MAY-ZING! Rookie moves us on neatly to our next subject. Rookie posted a video, which was not only beautiful and gorgy as a video, but I loved the song as well. She's very obscure, so I couldn't put a Youtube video on here, but I'll yet again link you to the post on Rookie!

Our lovely friend Sarah had her birthdaaay partaaay last night, and we watched The Neverending Story, which has possibly the worst special effects of any film ever created! Of course, that only adds to the magic. I won't go into all the details, but let's just say it features a 'luck dragon', which is basically a lizard crossed with a dog, which is pink and fluffy. This picture explains it better than I ever could. (By the way, the boy you can't see very well is the hero, and I fancied him when I was ten.)

So, I think that pretty much concludes the first post of 2014 (eek), and tomorrow my reign of happiness over the kingdom of holiday will end. Yay. Anyhoo, hope you all had a great holiday! Much love,

Sophie

Xxx



 

Tis the season to be jolly!

Hello! I'm feeling super festive at the moment - tis very much the season. The advent calendar is up, the tree is very much up, and (cheese factor one trillion) good cheer is all around! I love Christmas because of all the wonderful things that come with it - the smell of pine needles and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, the wreaths and ribbons, the mince pies and mistletoe, gah just EVERYTHING.

I love all the traditions about Christmas - for example, our friends in Czecho always send us some of these pretty pop-up angels to decorate the house with. I especially like these ones because of how gorgy and collagey they are! (Look at the little lace flowers!!)

We had our last day of school today, which was lovely because we just watched films and ate Pringles. We all exchanged presents, and felt very lovey-dovey towards one another! I know some people go away for Christmas, but I wouldn't rather be anywhere but right here, at home. I think Derbyshire in winter is lovely (if a little cold) - the bare tree skeletons are like black lace against the pearly sky...gone a little bit poetic! I hope you all have a holly jolly Christmas, and I'll leave you with the best Christmas song ever. Merry Christmas!

Sophie

Xxx

It was love as sweet as a silken rose; she said welcome to Paradise.

Hello! Cripes -  everything is super hectic at ze moment what with school and The Hunger Games and homework and everything, BUT I still manage to make time for that gem of Sunday night television that is... THE PARADISE!!!!!!!!! It is (In my humble opinion) THE MOST BEAUTIFUL piece of cinematography to grace British television screens in The History Of Ever. It lives up to its namesake - it really is, a Paradise. If you don't watch it, then it's very hard to condense the intricate plot into a few sentences, but it is set in a department store in 1870 in England..somewhere. The main(ish) character is Denise, (played by the beautiful Joanna Vanderham), who works in the Paradise - just to clarify, that is the name of ze shop - and who is from a small village called Peebles. She has massive ambitions, and wants to take over the paradise one day. She is being courted by Moray (Emun Elliot) who manages the store, and they are basically the main characters (There are gazillions of others, but I'm aware of rambling, so I'll just say there's a scary man who owns the shop and his jealous but beautiful wife, and shop girls, and tons of other peeps).

Now, the Paradise is brillig for a myriad of reasons - for one all the characters are very strong and well developed, with interesting personalities and backstories. The plotline is also great, and as the cherry on the metaphorical cake, everything is SO BEAUTIFUL. Every set is gorgeous, as are the costumes, and the hairstyles, and ohmygawd just everything.

Denise, her uncle, and possibly Katherine.

Denise and Moray, looking like a different race of unblemished, perfect creatures!

Katherine glaring at a shawl.

Denise looking oh so incredibly gorgy.

One of my favourite episodes of this series - Denise had to bring the magic of the music hall to the Paradise!



You may already be sold on the wonders of the Paradise, but there is one final thing that sets it even further above similar-ish costume dramas - it dares to tackle feminism. Oh yes. It went there (*Clicking fingers in a z-formation*). Denise herself questions the way women are treated, in fact she has a row with Moray about it. Denise is the perfect role model for anyone watching - she's clever, determined, hardworking, and she has a dream. She may be beautiful, but she is far from a brainless airhead floating around in a pretty dress. And so, my friends, I hope you understand my raging torrent of fiery love for the Paradise! It not only is my life, but it is life. So tune in to BBC 1 8:00 until 9:00 on a Sunday, and be led into Paradise. (Can I just say, I am not being paid by the BBC!) Before I leave, here is Denise's spectacular speech. Toodlepip!

DIY - Super rad retro scrunchie.

The holidays are drawing to the close, and since my days of freedom are numbered I thought I'd better squeeze a DIY in! And, as you may have guessed from the title, this DIY is how to make a scrunchie. I love scrunchies, and think they have a slightly childish vibe (In a good way) - they make me think of those little gingham scrunchies we had at primary school! They're more exciting than a hairbobble, and incredibly easy to make. I made mine out of velvet, because I have a fetish for velvet, but you could make your out of literally anything your mind can dream up - (Within reason.)
You will need:

• A piece of nicely patterned material (I normally rumage around in bargain bins for little scraps, at markets or haberdasheries) measuring 10 x 53cm, or thereabouts
• A needle and thread
• A hair bobble

So, let's get cracking! (Oh, and by the way, I apologise for the terrible quality of these photos!)

Step 1 - Fold the fabric right sides together. Hold two corners of the fabric together inside the hairbobble, so that the hairband will be trapped inside the tube, and stitch the two corners together.

 Step 2 - Carry on stitching along the same edge, with an even running stitch, so you're creating a tube with the hairband trapped inside.

When you've finished stitching, what you've created should look something like the photo above - an inside out scrunchie with open ends.

 Step 3 - Scrunch all of the fabric over your thumb, and then pull one side of the material through the tumeb, and carry on, until the right side of the fabric is showing.

 Step 4 - When you've finished pulling all the fabric through you should still have an unfinished scrunchie, BUT this time the fabric is the right way out! It should look something like this:

 Yippee! All that remains to be done is to fold one end of your fabric tube inward by about 1cm. Now push the other raw edge into it, so you've neatly joined your scrunchie/tube/thingymajig. Simply running sticth along the join, (Ignore the hairbobble - either skip it or go straight through it) and you have MADE YOUR BEAUTIFUL SCRUNCHIE! Well done!

 You can wear your scrunchie around your chic messy bun, or around a high ponytail, or...errr...anyway, I'm sure there are tons more ways! What I'm trying to say is that your little scrunchie buddy is hugely versatile, and as I've said before, the possibilities for material choice are endless! Silk,velvet, tartan,embroidered something or other, gingham, floral patterns, polka dots....anything! the sky's the limit, so go for it you little...(Can I give you a cringey name yet? Flowers! Faeries! Flower faeries!) flower faeries, and let your wondrous imaginations run wild!

Can you paint with all the colours of the wind?

Hello! Now, straight to business. last weekend one of my bestiez Hanni came round for a sleepover! it was great, we had tons of fun - and among some of the things we did, we watched Pocahontas.

Pocahontas is my FAVOURITE FILM EVER, and Hannah had never seen it before, so of course we had to watch it. The technology in my house being what it is, we had to watch it on my aged and decrepit (let's just call it vintage) VHS video player, but it didn't detract from the beauty of the film! So, here are the reasons why Pocahontas should be crowned as OFFICIALLY THE BEST FILM IN THE WORLD EVER. 1. - Story. I cry every time I watch Pocahontas, because although for the most part it's a happy love story, it is so sad! So, quick story time for you - it essentially tells the story of Pocahontas, the beautiful princess daughter of a chief of a Native Indian tribe.

Her father wants her to marry Kocoum, (above) the strongest warrior in the tribe, but Pocahontas is uneasy with the decision. Then, a ship lands - settlers from England, come to conquer the New World, and dig for gold. Among them is John Smith (I know right, exciting name.)

Of course, Pocahontas and John Smith fall in love (miraculously bridging the language gap!), and it all comes to a head - the two sides, native Indians and English, clash, the tensions builds and they all gear up for one massive fight at the end.....can Pocahontas and John Smith ever be together? Can they unite the two sides? I'll leave you to discover that for yourself, but what I'm saying is it has a brillig storyline! It's also kinda politically relevant, you know, racism and stuff, and it's message is 'love each other, and no-one has to die'...well, they're the reasons I'd give your teachers to let you watch it at school!
2. - Pocahontas herself. She is one of my HEROINES. For one thing she's so beautiful -

With her long, swishy hair, and her almond shaped eyes, and her cheekbones, and long long legs, and big pouty lips.... She also has lovely fringing on her dress, and a gorgy necklace...gah - she's just perfect! Sh also has a really strong, interesting personality, and she's a very free spirit, who does lots of jumping off cliffs and running through woods. As you might be able to tell, I kinda hero worship her! 3. - The music. The music in Pocahontas is magical. I could literally put every song from the movie on here, as I love them ass SO MUCH, but here are my especial favourites:

Just Around The River Bend

 Savages

And of course, we couldn't end a Pocahontas post without Colours of The Wind. It is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG/SONG SEQUENCE that has ever been made! I recommend rewatching it at least five times. Oh, and Tumblr has so many Pocahontas gifs and sentimental quotes I couldn't not include a few!