I’ve been looking for a good excuse to work some lace style nails (not that I need one) and this weekend proved just the time.  So I sat down on Thursday night and spent a couple of hours coming up with these beautiful modern, gothic lolita creations and couldn’t be happier with the way they turned out!

Each one is hand painted using a cheap black and white nail varnish from a discount store, and the lace type art work is done with a nail dotting pen found at The Face Shop.  They give a fantastic degree of control and with a little imagination you can create all manner of things.  I added some simple clear diamentes and my favorite – Cameo’s – to the thumb nails!

Total LOVE!

I didn’t go out for dinner on Valentines Day. Instead I decided to share the holiday’s theme with one of my furry best friends.  Little Lola was due for a bit of a wash and a set so we decided to give her a Valentine’s hair do courtesy of a little food dye!  Rest assured, she was completely complient in the act (as much as a dog can be at bath time) as we took all measure of appropriate safety precautions.  Using a little Queens Rose Pink food colouring mixed with dog conditioner, I was able to apply it strategically without too much mess.  I left it on to soak in for about 8 minutes, then rinsed well and dried off.

A few dog treats and a bow later it was all cuddles from my Pink Doggy Valentine!

Love!

It would look something like this.

Insert Self Here for Blissful Time.

Last Saturday in honor of the delightful Violet Le Beaux being in town, a group of like minded bloggers (and a pair of well trained partners) got together to enjoy and afternoon tea in true girly style. In a little known corner of Collingwood, Melbourne, is a lovely store that is bringing girly back. Christina Re is well known for her stunning DIY stationery collection that let’s you create customised pieces of correspondence magic on paper, vellum and quilted card to name but a few.  To make the experience of selection and creation much more enjoyable, they have recently launched a small in store cafe to supply tea and cakes to weary crafters.  After popping in for a much needed lemonade the other week, I was overwhelmed by the serenity and light of it all, promptly making a note to bring back a bunch of appreciative friends.  And so we did.

left to right: Aurora Hime, Violet Le Beaux, Jimmy America

left to right: Esme and the Laneway, Fables in Fashion, Petite Valse

Super Kawaii Mama and Esme and the Laneway, doing what bloggers do best. Photo by Jimmy America.

Also in attendence were Kitty’s Drawings and Circa Vintage to help us improve the vintage lover versus princess contingent.  I met the two styles in the middle by wearing a 1960’s pink square dancing dress and vintage blue petticoat!

It was as fun and fancy as it looked, there is no doubt we’ll be doing it again. In fact, I think I shall declare this weekend;

DIY Tea Party Weekend

So have a little tea and a cake or two with me.

Hold onto your hats friends, because today’s hair tutorial is a never before attempted feat of daring!

Two of my blogging buddies (who are also well known for creating fun and interesting tutorials) and I were having a little chat one evening when we came up with this idea. It went something like this, “Hi Violet, Hi Cheesie. You know how much we love doing awesome hair tutorials? Well how about we try this?”

It is a simple and fun hair do you’ve seen me wear an casual days and asked for a tutorial on. It’s also one you can customise to your own style.

Enjoy!

You can visit the awesome Violet Le Beaux and Cheesie to see more of their fun tutorials!

This Christmas I’ve been inspired to make a lot of my gifts.

I usually think this would be a nice idea, but then leave my run too late and don’t get a single thing made!  This year, I’ve decided to not only make a few things but create little tutorials on it as well, just to keep me on track. So today’s tutorial is something a little out of the ordinary – a Christmas Special Make & Do!

With two little girls in my house, we look for any and all excuses to up the fanciness quotient, and decorating everyday items is one of the best ways. This week I created a Princess style (also known as Himegyaru style) Glory Box and it is a hit.  They aren’t very difficult to make, they just take patience, imagination and lots and lots of sparkle and lace.  I was going to give this box to Miss 5 for Christmas, but I like it so much I think I’ll have to make another!

Enjoy this suitably regal tutorial and make your own Princess Glory box to share… or keep!