My obsession from a Western, my dance floor date.

Wow, it is good to be writing again! I sure am awful sorry I haven't been posting much, but I've been in a village panto with my brilliant buddy Bronia (get that alliteration!) so that has absorbed a lot of my time. School has also been shoveling the homework on - we've moved onto Shakespeare, and apparently the best way to interest us in one of the giants of English literature is forcing us to write with our own tears a mahoosive essay - long story short, I have no time! Anyway, cutting the faff, this post is getting me VERY EXCITED. Here's a bit of background: at every single school disco I have ever attended, the song the teachers love to play is '5,6,7,8' by the band Steps. I have never been able to remember the lyrics to the song, so  a few days ago, through the magic that is the Tinterweb, I Youtubed it and BOOMF.

I was hit with this beauty - AARGH! I am speaking of a very big fan of nineties style - could this get any more perfect? It is so cheesy! I described to one of my friends the utter perfection, but she didn't understand. Many people don't get it, beacuse the thing is, nineties style is all about being cheesy, but that's why it's so gorgeous. It's not meant to be taken too seriously! I mean, this video has them doing a LINE DANCING ROUTINE on the beach. The males are wearing open shirts! By the way, possibly my favourite outfit in this video is Lisa (the brunette)'s green floral tankini. I couldn't find anything remotely similar to it, but going town the line of vintage swimwear (gah), I found zis:

Which I think is very, VERY lovely! Lisa wears sunglasses, and when it comes to vintage sunglasses go wild! There are zillions of lovely sunglasses out there, but I'd always opt for some heart shaped beauties such as these:

!!!!!!! Is that not just the most gorgy picture ever?? I'm sorry this post has been so short, but I must go and do some more homework (yurg!). Another reason I haven't posted much recently is because nothing exciting seems to have happened, but tomorrow my groovy friends and I are going on our first S.A.R.G outing of the year, so expect a post! (S.A.R.G is the name of our girl gang!) See y'all around.

Lavender bag DIY!

Salut! Welcome again pals, and may I remind you it is now 2014! (I still get excited every time I write the date). Of course it's nice to have a new year, new start and all that, but it is a little bit scary knowing another year is gone, and I still haven't got my Hogwarts letter. But seriously, when I had a proper think about my life and all that jazz I did end up clutching a cushion and singing Beyoncé to calm myself down get a bit emotional. I HAVE LEFT ANOTHER YEAR BEHIND! CRIPES! But anyhoo, we're all in this life malarkey together (bit o' High School Musical!) and we might as well get on with it. So, without further ado, up with the curtain and on with the show. I have, (hence title), a DIY for you today! And it is, (hence title once more) a lavender bag. These handy little bags were invented to tackle the crushing sadness many of us feel upon realising our knickers don't smell quite as lavender-y as we'd like. Better safe than sorry! To make these pretty pouches, you will need:

• 2 squares of pretty fabric, measuring any size you want, but mine was roughly 12cm x 12cm.
• Some pins, and a needle, and the usual clutter!
• Good fabric scissors
• A ribbon
• Some dried lavender (I had some left over from the bush in our garden, but if you don't you can soak cotton wool in lavender oil and use that instead!)

1. Harvest the lavender seeds. Just pull, or pluck, or brush them off the stems. (Self explanatory really!)

 When you have finished, you should have a glorious pile of fragrance!

 2. To make the bag, take one of the fabric squares, and fold the top edge down a tiny tiny bit, so no frayed edges show, and then fold it down again to approx. 1cm. This is the tu-u-u-u-be you'll be threading your ribbon through!

 3. Sew along the bottom edge of the tube with a simple running stitch. I did this by hand, but you could do it on a machine - it doesn't matter.

Fill bag with le lavender....

4. Thread up a wide-eyed needle with the ribbon, and feed through the tube, being careful not to prick the needle through the material and come out of the side! When it's threaded through, take both ends of the ribbon, pull tightly to scrunch the bag up, and tie in a bow.

Et voila!!!! Look at that beauty! I think this would be a perfect gift for a friend, or a treat to yourself! (And if you're lazy lacking in time it's also ideal, as it takes less then half an hour! Ish. By the way, ignore the fluffy black lump in that picture - that's my cat - she's a chronic photobomber. So, farewell for now, chummies, until I see you again!

Sophie

Xxx

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



 

O the rising of the sun, and the running of the deer

Merry yuletide to you,world, and you find me in excellent cheer. The smell of mincemeat and chestnuts is pretty much infused into my skin everywhere, and I am now SUPER DUPER excited about Christmas! And cripes and crackers - somehow it's Christmas Eve! I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight! On Sunday my lovely friend Saffron (blogless) and I skipped into Matlock to indulge in a bit o' last minute shopping, and had a beautiful time! This is what I wore:

My shirt is from a charity shop, as is the jumper, and my new floral jeans are from Primark. You can't see it very clearly, but I'm also wearing a lovely vintage canvas backpack!

 A close-up of my floral shirt...

And a close up of the bobbles on my jumper! I wasn't sure about the jumper when I bought it, but as soon as I put it on I fell in love. It's what I class as a 'granny jumper', complete with little 3d bobbles!

 And this is a cardigan I bought in Matlock...I adore it's spanglyness (is that a real word?),and it's very Christmassy. Which is good, because have I mentioned that it's CHRISTMAS EVE?!!!

 A spangles close up!

As I was editing the afore-seen photos I accidentally did this, and thought it looked quite rad and gritty! might be just me, but I'm putting it out there. Have an extremely merry Christmas, flower faeries, and a happy new year!

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!

Mince pie DIY!

Hello! School has been like a massive angry Hoover of Hate sucking up all my free-time, and turning me into a sleep deprived zombie  a bit tricky lately, so I haven't had much time to boogie post recently, also I have just discovered how to do this, so you can expect quite a few silly rad crossed out words. Rightie, so, mince pies are stupendously easy, and they are also fast, fun and festive! I am desperately trying to persuade all my friends that Christmas time HAS ARRIVED, and I think they'll believe me more with a pie inside them. To make these perfect pies, you will need:

PART ONE - PASTRY!

• 225g (8oz) flour
• 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
• 100g (40z) butter
• Cold water - about a jug

1. Sift le flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Cut the butter into rough, fairly small chunks, and chuck into the bowl.

3. Then, using your fingertips, rub the butter in, until it all looks like fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add the water gradually to the mixture, and gently draw it all together, using your hands/a flut blunt knife/a spoon/all three!
5. When it's all together, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead quickly until smooth and pliable - here's one I made earlier:

BACK TO THE MAIN RECIPE!

1. Roll out the pastry to your 'desired thickness', and once you've done that, grease a mince pie tin.

2. Use a little pastry cutter-out-erer to cut out your circles of joy! (I have a designated pastry cutter-out-erer, but if you don't use a selltape roll or a wine glass or something). For each pie, you should have a slightly bigger circle and a slightly smaller circle.

 3. Push the bigger circles into the lined tin thingies, so they fit snugly.

4. Spoon as much mincemeat as you want into each one.

5. Take the smaller circles and put it over the mincemeat as a little lid! Pinch the edges together, and make two pricks with a fork or sharp knife to allow the steam to escape.



6. Bake in the oven at 220 degrees (425F) mark 7 for 20 - 25 minutes until you decide they look so darn good you want stuff them all into your mouth in a big happy celebration of festive fun and deliciousness they're done, and then you can take them out and they should look like so:

Enjoy!