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



 

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!

 

I'll be in Scotland afore ye - but me and my true love will never meet again, on the bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond.

Title a reference to Loch Lomond, traditional Scottish folk song. Anyway, hello dear internet! Now, the subject of today's post is a long time obsession of mine - tartan. Oui, that glorious, familiar yet chic, beautiful fabric - I AM LITERALLY OBSESSED BY IT! As it is now officially Winter in my brain, tatan is taking up more and more space in my noggin. I was out shopping with my budz (get my 90s slang!) the other day, and I saw the DRESS OF MY DREAMS in Primark, of all places. It looks like this:




It's not massively clear from the picture, but it has a Peter

Pan collar and a beautiful little bow tie thingy.

Now, for those of you who don't know, there is a shop called Waiste, and for me its as if some celestial goddess delved into my innermost fantasies for the ideal and most gorgy clothes shop, and pulled it out, and voila,it was Waiste. It is the most perfect shop in the world. Just go and marvel at their website right now, and you'll understand. Anyway, the way this relates to the matter at hand is that they are soon to bringing out a tartan collection, and here's a sneak preview:

Eeeek! Hands up who's excited! Just look at that dress...or the skirt...

So, tartan - how to wear it? One of the lovely advantages of tartan is that it looks divine with any number of things - and at the moment, it is EVERYWHERE. So go out there little faeries, and get your hands on, I don't know, maybe a... DRESS OR SOME DOCS OR SOME CREEPERS OR A SKIRT OR A BERET OR A CAP OR SOME TIGHTS OR GLOVES OR ANYTHING!

This is just what a quick browse on ASOS marketplace revealed, and I think this outfit is gorgylicious - she's paired it with the oversized chunky jumper, which is a beautiful look, and the hat and scarf give it echoes of vintage-icity!

Skirts are an obvious option, but being obvious makes them no less brilliant! I'd aim for a longer skirt, so it looks both preppy and kilty and wonderful at the same time. These greens and blues are a really nice, cool way of wearing tartan but there are literally gazillions of colour combinations to dream up!

These both classify as outerwear, but I think I'd plump (Good word) for the poncho, because it is so floaty and dreamy and individual. Then again, the blazer/jacket is kinda neat and small and sweet...

 I am a Big fan of Docs, yes I am sir please thank you sir. But tartan Docs? That's a new level of stompy/stampy/big soled beautifulosity!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK! Beautiful patent creeper type thingies, but combine them with tartan and you get asdfghjkl!!! (I apologise for the exclamation marks, but this is just too exciting to be expressed any other way!) *Sigh* I don't normally have Christmas list, but maybe I could make an exception this year.