Winter is like Birthday Spectacular around here. And birthday’s in my world require costumes, well any day can be costume day, but birthday’s even more so.

So when Miss Five turned Six in June, we had a big Sailor Moon party, complete with a couple of Tuxedo Masks.  The amazing costumes for the girls were specially made to order by Violet Le Beaux with only a week’s notice and were the highlight of the day. We have an awful lot of Moon Tiara Magic around here!

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Miss 6 and Miss almost 3, playing musical statues with “Tuxedo Mask”.

Then after those festivities, if having one creative type in a family isn’t enough, both our dogs have birthday’s too! (This makes FOUR Leo’s in one house!)

The tradition is that each year both puppies get lots of dog treats and new coats as their birthday’s are right in the middle of winter. Even though they are pretty fluffy, having overnight lows of zero degrees is enough to see icicles appear on their noses. Given that I’m letting them sleep inside at the moment, I chose a couple of lighter weight, jersey material coats with a super cute factor.

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Both the little jackets are from Shique Pooch, a local online dogwear store.  I love that I can just machine wash these as Miss Lola has a habit of following rabbits wherever they go, muddy or not!

Then in just another two weeks, my tiny little Miss 2 turns 3! I’m off sorting out a ‘big bed’ for her and then getting ready for even more parties in August when the Mr and I will also increase our fabulous quotiant by another year.

But one of the big reasons for the birthday post today is to say this..

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little bro today, who is living all the way on other side of the world.

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Happy Birthday “Fernando!”

Sunday was an exciting day for smart, independent, feminine women here in Australia. It was the big launch of the brand new Femme Fatale magazine!  Captained by Danielle Vecchio – Editor Extraordinaire, Femme Fatale is for women, by women. It is about being in control of your own destiny, shaping your life the way you want, living your dreams and not compromising your femininity on your way to the top.

Danielle is a woman after my own heart, someone who understands that one can be smart and stylish, mother and maven, the star of your own show.  Each issue features Australian women who are living examples of following their passions and living the life they choose.  You’ll find art, fashion, photography, music, cars, performing arts, tattoos and all manner of other features. Yes, you can actually buy this one online, so for those of you looking for a little trans-pacific alternative style to add to your mag addiction – this is the one.

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Chatting with Danielle Vecchio, Editor of Femme Fatale

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Danielle with her inaugural covergirl and talented photographer, Helen McLean.

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One of the things I love about these events is the seriously good looking crowd. None more so than the fabulous Pixie, creator of Miss Pin Up Australia and head of Boogie Bop Dames, who took the cake in my book as most spectacularly dressed!

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The mini market stalls were a highlight of the afternoon, boasting fashion, art, music and even beautiful books.  I was pleased to see  Dr. Madeline there with her stellar work “Our Girls“.

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I also walked away with an arm load of new music (horray!) thanks to my lovely friend Jodi and Presstone Records.  You know that feeling when you have your first coffee after a weeks detox? That’s the feeling I get shopping here.

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Then onto the contests of the day..

The Tattoo Contest judges thought they had the best job in the world.

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A Pinup Contest was held to find Ms Femme Fatale.  Some lovely and brave girls got up to strut their stuff in day wear, evening wear and make a speech, while the judges looked on.

The judging panel was just as entertaining and beautiful as the contestants!

..right down to their toes!

Pepper Minx, Fashion & Tattoo Editor of Femme Fatale.

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I’m eagerly awaiting the next issue of Femme Fatale, both for the next round of articles and to find out..

just which red lipstick is the crowd favorite?

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Finally, I’ve finished creating the highlight reel of the big Wintersun 2010 Vintage Swimwear Parade!  This fantastic show, produced by Nicole Jenkins of Circa Vintage Clothing,was one of the biggest highlights of the Wintersun week.  Showcasing suits from the 1930s to the 1970s, this show was about more than scantily clad girls, but also about just how wonderful the designs of the past are. How flattering, how fun and how relevant they remain today.

I’ve condensed the whole show into ten minutes (not an easy job) and managed to highlight each and every swimsuit on display.  The models came from all over and did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of the eras.

P.S I really wanted to keep my leopard print cossi!

Enjoy!!

Parade Produced by Circa Vintage Clothing

Camera Work by Tim Hamilton

Still Photos by Andre Turner

Video Production by Candice Deville

Hitting the town with my Bro.

Outfits -  Vintage and custom made .. Style – Entirely our own!

Happy snap courtesy of Miss almost Three!

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Morning all! Well you may be wondering what has happened to the usually clock work style posting on the blog here. It is a case of everything coming at once in the last week or so, and sometimes being thwarted despite my best efforts. So many amazing winter events, parties and festivals! Last week I was somewhat engaged with big birthday activities as Miss 5 become Miss 6! So in a haze of Sailor moon madness, we opened our home to a hail of squealing six year old girls in order to give them a good time and an ice cream induced coma.

In amongst all of this I am attempting to change over my systems from PC to MAC, which is proving to be far more work than I thought, and having to spend late nights on Google trying to figure out how to do things and re-train my PC brain. I’m still not quite there and it seems that my bodies electromagnetic field is causing my brand new MAC to lock up every half and hour! (Well that is what it seems like to me anyway). So while all this is happening, I’m cobbling together my posts on various other PC’s, iPhones, ipads etc.. etc..!

Anyway, while I’ve had some good ‘at home’ time to try and get all these things working, I’ve been hanging out in some of my more casual outfits.  This dress you’ll remember is the one and only hang over from my last pregnancy, but I had to keep it as I love the colours so much.  Pairing it with some seriously Smurfy tights and kick arse shoes, means that I can get away with such a wild print and billowy top half.  The 70′s vibe of this one calls for a different style of handbag to my usual framed 50′s ones, and this little blue one has a great vintage feel.

It comes from a great little blog shop, Electric Love Letter, who have all manner of gorgeous garments and some great reproduction retro bags.  I got this one way back before Easter time, and although I’ve been using it heaps, I hadn’t yet photographed it for you until now. The somewhat funny ( or sad thing depending on how you look at it) is I can remember the first time these bags were in fashion!

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Outfit Details

Dress – Red Berry

Tights – Voodoo

Shoes – NOVO

Bag – Electric Love Letter

And a reminder – Make sure to leave me a comment on the Tim Burton Exhbiti0n post for your chance to win a two for one pass to see it for yourself! Entries will close this weekend and I’ll contact the winners by email on Monday.