Monday 29 September 2008

OH AUTUMN, MY FAVOURITE


Living in a city that's actually is on the same latitude as the southern point of Greenland it's generally considered insane to prefer any other season than summer. But still, I sort of secretly like autumn the most, even though it is more the thought of autumn that I like, than the real actual shit weather we have here most of the time anyway.

I associate autumn with all the nice colours, walks in beautiful crisp weather with huge scarves, cute little jackets and a beret, holding hands (well these days I'm mostly just holding my cigarette but anyway), drinking hot chocolate or warm blackcurrant juice. Even the occasional rain and fog is ok, if one indoors sipping on that hot juice then. Normally it just rains, is raw and windy and I complain, but lately it's actually been my kind of autumn.

It's said that if there are many rowanberries it's going to be a cold winter, but I'll just rely on the global warming that I won't have to freeze for the next six monts.

Part of my autumn-things is, as already mentioned, the whole dressing up nicely and semi-warm, looking gorgeus under blue skies and wonderfully coloured trees. My stockings are decorated with small leaves. Very autumn-y.


Dress - Vintage
Stockings - Philippe Matignon


AWARDED / TAGGED


I've been given the Arte Y Pico award by Casey (she has a very pretty blog so be sure to check it out if you havnen't yet). Thank you sweet Casey :)

The "rules"of Arte Y Pico are - you must pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting content, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language! Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to their blog. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the Arte Y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

There are many blogs I could pass it on to, I always find it a bit hard to choose... There were some similar awards in the summer, so I will try to "award" different blogs each time.

So here are the five ones I picked:

*Chick n' Kistch
* Lady Melbourne
*The Cupcake Diary
*From Betsy with Love
*Esme and the Lane Way

(the picture above is made from pictures of these five blogs or the blogwriter's etsy)






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I was also tagged by Ranna to list seven of my favorite songs for the moment. Now this is fun but also really hard because I listen to a lot of music all the time, (some of which you can read about under my label 'music') and I mostly listen to a band at the time, not a song. I did a similar tag early in the summer but since it's autumn now I'll try to pull myself together and list onlyseven songs or bands that I've listened too a lot lately...

1) Fatboy. They have a great new album out.
2) The Mustangs (well, and a whole lot of similar bands too...)
3) Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire . Hot.
4) Batmobile - Lucie.
5) The 22-20's in general. Hot band. Wonder why they split up.
6) Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing moon. It's been playing in my head for some while now. (Sometimes also the Nouvelle Vague version.)
7) Volbeat - Sad Man's Tongue.

I'm not going to tag anyone specific this time either so if you want to give this a go then go ahead! (...but I would be a little bit keen on knowing what for example Never Love you More, MissWoo and Betty Lou are listening to for the moment...)

Saturday 27 September 2008

DEVIL WITH THE BLUE DRESS

Tulip-shaped dress - Vintage
Earrings - made by a friend


This weekend I'm going out in a blue dress.
My soundtrack will be this song.

Friday 26 September 2008

AN ARTY MISTAKE / A DRESS FOR A BEER

Yes, this picture is an arty mistake but I am mainly referring to the dress in it.

A couple of years ago I strated fixing on a dress for myself - I had been making small drawings of such a dress for a long time already and finnally started with the project by cutting a suitable tunic I found on sale into pieces, colouring the fabric soft black, still with the origial pattern showing from underneath, and finally sewing the pieces toghether again with another fabric to into a dress. Over confident as I often am when sewing, I did not bother to try it on too much in between since I know my measurememnts pretty well by the eye.

Well, this time my project ended up being a reather arty mistake, looking all nice but being way to small for me to be able to wear (after some strange bends and moves I got into the dress but had to take it quite easy with the breathing. Getting out was another story then).

So, hours of works and tens of euros ended up haning on a rack in the fleamarket last summer.

But then Ina came by and said "nice dress", tried it on (fit very nicely) and I sold it to her for the symbolic price of one beer. Not that bad a deal in the end, since at least the other one of us ended up looking great :)
And hey, I eventually got my beer too.


See? Nice. (And yup, I have nice new Marimekko curtains.)




More nice stuff - Ina also has a new nice tattoo, a Matryoshka doll.
It's decorated with strawberries. That's nice.

Thursday 25 September 2008

SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT


Ok, no, it's different.

See, the dress to the left is a Stop Staring dress that I really wanted and that fit me nicely except for in the back where the fabric was hanging strangely loose. Surely it would've been fixable somehow, but if you buy a dress for one-hundred-something euros the first thing you want to do is not to sit down by the sewingmachine, but to wear it straight away and hit town (in your nicest shoes and deep red lipstick).

Well, the dress to the right is from H&M and you can get it for 34,90€.
And oh yes I know, it's almost a crime to compare these two but there are still some similarities that might make me get over the "loss" of the Stop Staring dress. Perhaps. And for a dress under for 40 euros I'd be fine with sitting by the sewing machine making it a bit longer (adding some black fabric at the hem, with pleats in the middle or on the sides to give it a more 30's-like silhouette, would be qutie nice).

*******************************************************************


First this post was only going to be about those two dresses, but as I was thinking about this I realized that I really do not need another dress. Ok, I have proclaimed that a girl can never have too many dresses yes, but my wardrobe certainly can. (For example, I have some dresses I have only worn once. And boxes full of stuff to be ebayed away, some of which I took nice photos of a year ago already. Still there.)

Remember K and her quest from this summer, about the shopping-ban? Well, she failed. Not miserably, but still failed. Now it's my turn. Sort of. (To try that is, not to fail).I put no more new clothes in my wardrobe until I get some out first! Then there is also the economical aspect related to this; I have some travels I want to do later this autumn. Selling some old stuff on ebay wont pay me a ticket too far I guess :) So - no eating out for a while either, I'm going to cook at home! Umm, for next week atleast. And on weekend it might be ok to dine out...
(oh I feel myself failing already).

Tuesday 23 September 2008

POSING WITH PEACOCKS

I know there is a risk of me sounding like a new age hippie, but really, every now and then it strikes me how amazing the design of nature is. Just think about it - the ornaments on butterflies wings, the construction of a flower or a seashell, the patterns you see in a leaf if you keep it up towards the light, a peacocks feathers... I bumped in to some peacocks lately and was reminded again that they are some pretty fine looking birds.


(the images above are just googled up, they're not mine)


I've always been fascinated by peacock feathers, and so have also many others - the peacock pattern have been used to decorate buildings, fabrics, jewellery and many more objects for thousands of years. Not to mention skin. I've thought about a peacock tattoo from time to time, on the back perhaps. Who knows, I might still end up with one one day.

While clothing with peacock patterns can look delicious and great, I feel that on me they could be a little bit too much of that "too much" I normally say can be just right.(It's the Christmas tree effect you know, when you're not sure where the dress ends and the tattoos begin...). I'd still love to have some clothes with just small details inspired by the feathers - on a skirt, the back of a dress, somewhere on a shoe, around the collar...





Look! Me on a walk with the birds.
Ah Helsinki- it's like paradise on earth, were the peacocks just wander around.
(The top is from Carlings, cardigan from Gina Tricot, bag and shoes H&M and skirt selfmade. Not so interesting stuff perhaps, but I kind of match the peacocks a little bit :)



Mr.Peacock.(This one followed me around all day.)


Ok, peacocks do not really walk around everywhere in Helsinki, if you actually believed so. Helsinki is not really that much of paradise on earth either, in case you fell for that too.
:)

Monday 22 September 2008

SINCE I'VE ALREADY STARTED...

(Pose - Stupid)
Jacket - Vintage
Skirt - Selfmade
Shoes - Minna Parikka

...I might aswell continue with the cheating a little bit more.

I found this jacket in a vintage store i Tampere last weekend. It had a matching skirt that would've brought many outfits to perfection but that unforntunately happened to be cut for hips the size of my thigh, so I could forget about that straight away. Sigh.

Oh well, you cant always have everything. I was sad to leave the skirt behind but still happy about the checks of the jacket matching the tartan on my shoes. (And that's already pretty much to ask for :)

Sunday 21 September 2008

SUNDAY SUNDAY


I have said it before here, and I still mean it : the best way to spend a sunday (and to cure a possible hangover) is to dress up all nice no matter what and take a walk, especially on a day like today when the autumn weather is at its best. Baking some cinnamon rolls and later enjoying a nice wine-and-dine evening with a good friend also does the trick better than just a pizza on the couch.

My soft Sunday song for today is by The Specials. Enjoy.

Yesterdays show was a great success and I will post some pictures as soon as I get them, the same goes for some pics of the Tampere show!

Friday 19 September 2008

BLACK PRINCESS CAKE


I've been a bit abscent lately, I know, but that's due to the fact that I've been entartaining a friend visiting here from Berlin. And now, very extempore, also rehearsig for a show at Tyttömafia@ Lepakkomies tomorrow (the one I mentioned before and did not think I was going to be part of at first...). So, if you're in the neighbourhood, show up! There will also be princess cake with black frosting :)

Monday 15 September 2008

CHEATING / COMPLETING

Jacket - vintage
Skirt - Nümph
Bow in hair - vintage
Khmer scarf - from Cambodia
Shoes - Minna Parikka (as if you didn't already know)


It's true. I've been cheating on my leather jacket. But it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway I'm afraid.

Earlier this summer I did a post abot the jacket I don't have, as in a piece of (basic) clothing I considered myself needing. (I named the post "part one" since I was abot to do another post about another sort of jacket I also did not have and considered myself needing too. I never did because I don't remember what kid of jacket that was anymore. So it can't have been that an important piece of clothing in the end now can it?)

While I'm not so good at getting the actual things that really matter or help making the wolrd a better place done, I do manage to take care of things like this - now I have my little jacket (and it's quite close to what I had in mind).
Mission completed.

(This is what I had in mind earlier)

SOME DATES TO REMEMBER...

I'm back from Tampere and I had a great weekend full of sparkle and glitter, champagne and lace.

We had a nice and late pancake breakfast on Saturday, so nice and late infact that I ended up with only a couple of hours to spend in Tampere during the day, before I had to go the the venue to get ready for the evening. But I did manage to do some great though rather costy vintage finds during that short time (so now it really is porridge from now on for quite a while! :)
If I brought a lot of stuff with me when I came, imagine the amount of stuff I had on my way home...

I was pick-up girl of the night for the lovley miss Olivia Rouge (she also has a webshop, but it's only in Finnish) and the amazing Harbour Pearls. If you just can't get enough you can see more of Olivia and me (as a member of my group) in November, the 9th to be exact. My group will also be performing on the Helsinki Burlesque Festival on February 7th next year!!! For a little tease of some of the girls in the group, come to the Tyttömafia Club at Lepakkomies next Saturday!

Oh yeah, Olivia Rouge


The Harbour Pearls and I after the shows, during the champagne.


For more info check www.helsinkiburlesque.com

Friday 12 September 2008

BUSY WEEK, BURLESQUE WEEKEND


My burlesque box. (Of course it does not fit everything.)


It's been such a busy week for me, working in the mornings, doing some freelance jobs in the afternoon and sewing in the evening! But now the stress is almost over,I'm heading to Tampere for a burlesque workshop tonight and the Circus & Burlesque party tomorrow! And yes I will take the new shoes with me. (For those of you that don't know; Tampere is another city in Finland a couple of hours from Helsinki.)

I'm still not ready with everyhing for Saturday though so I guess I'll be sewing the last pearls on my hair fascinator (the red bow in the picture, it's going to turn out quite nice I think)it in the car...
I've never really spent any time in Tampere before so it's almost like going on a mini vacation for me. And of course I've made a great roadtrip cd with lots of rautalankaa music :)

Wednesday 10 September 2008

I SERIOUSLY BELIEVE MY FEET HAVE SHRUNK A LITTLE BIT


Shirt - Wrangler
Skirt - Selfmade
Shoes - Vintage


I'm wearing my grandmother's shoes from the mid 40's. I have a bunch of them (I'm a lucky girl, I know). I remember stomping around in these when I visited my grandmother as a little girl -they were waaay to big then, of course, but I felt oh so fancy and chic. Now that I'm all grown up and stuff and have these shoes in my posessison it seems my feet have grown slightly bigger than my grandmother's once were (and those few millimeters can be a bit painful, as noticed before). I even took this pair to the shoemaker's once to have them stretched a bit, but they said the shoes were probably too old and the suede to dry for them to want to give it a try.
Even if I quite haven't been able to wear them out and about, I still haven't had the heart to give any of the pairs away though.

So that's why I was quite surpried when I decided to try them on and they suddenly didn't feel bad at all and kept my feet happy and well through the day. I'm quite the Cinderella, huh?

Sunday 7 September 2008

JOYCE IN BURGUNDY


I said it, I did it.(And I'm obviously quite selective when it comes to in what order I get on with my to "do" list...)

They're mine mine mine.

I had been planning to eat porridge for the rest of the month anyway.

(Like them? See more here)

GEMS


Bling bling bling.


Some time ago I was given the Brilliant Weblog Award by a creative and stunning lovely lady,Rascal Kosher. Thank you dear!

I have received the award a couple of times before already, but passed it on the first time only so perhaps it’s time to do so again...

I'd like to award:
* Vintage Darling, who already gave the award to me once. Everything in her her world seems so crispy and sugar-coated, in a very good way.

* Wendy B, for smart and funny reading

* Underbara Clara, the first blog I started following. She seems so genuinely happy.

* The Suburban Queen, with her very own style and creative way of dressing, often with an ecological touch.

*Last but not least I’ll give it right back to Rascal, since it’s always delightful to visit her blog.

I’m not so picky with the rules and weather you pass it on or not. Sometimes it’s just fun to get a little appreciation. (The "rules" and award-image can be found here and here).

And then some soft-Sunday music for you again, Rose Murphy:

(This was about the only one I could find at Youtube, not the exact song I had in mind but I think her tiny sweet voice goes well for Sundays no matter what song…)

Friday 5 September 2008

BRIGHT



After a nice lunch with K, a stop by the cake gallery for some sweets and then for some other kinds of sweets from the Minna Parikka boutique I ment to spend the rest of the day at home doing some organizing and cleaning up aswell as taking care of some job related things that has been on the agenda forever.

But, that's a bit hard to do in my new flat, since the light that comes in from the window in the middle of the day is very bright and beautiful. I find it hard to concentrate on anything specific (this is of course only due to my flat and has nothing to do with the fact that I maybe, perhaps, might be a little un-organized from time to time). Since the light is too bright for sitting by the computer and it would be a shame to pull down the cutrains I ended up browsing through some old stuff in my drawers - photos and cards and small notes from everywhere, after which I went out for a nice walk in the autumn like weather (as it would also be a shame to sit inside alone in a dress this nice too, wouldn't it?)

And since the dress is very nice indeed I'll trhow in some more pics of it.
And of the nice light.
Very bright, as you can see.



Dress - Trashy Diva
(another nice item recently picked up from the post)

PACKAGES



I like receiving things by mail. Magazines, cards, letters... but most of all I like to get the annoucement that I have a package to pick up from the post office. It's like a tiny birthday. Now, these days anyone hardly gets any actual paper letters anymore (except those nasty ones from the tax office and bills, but they don't count of course) and it's not that common to receive packages either.

Unless of course, you have ordered something.

That's of course not as fun as receiving birthday present or so since you probably did pay for it, but it's fun enough.

I like the waiting for the parcel to arrive, and when the notification comes home I rush straight to the post office to get it. Even though it's only about 50 meters from where I live, I usually have to open the parcel a little bit on the way home already, just to get a quick peak of what's inside.

What I also love is weather the sender has left some little personal note, like in this case (and it was very sweet).


This time the mail brought me this necklace from Untamed Menagerie.
I like different kinds of jewelery and accessories and collect a lot of them even though I in the end seldom end up wearing any of them.
But at least they're pretty to look at.

Tuesday 2 September 2008

PREPARATIONS / CHAMPAGNE


Even though I most of the time try to get away in the easiest way possible- doing hairdo's in five minutes tryig to make them look like they would take say, 25 - I sometimes do like to make slow preparations to get everything just right. This time I took the pateince to pin my hair the night before in many many small picurls (then it's always with an almost childish excitement I open the curls next morning to see what they have turned out like, even though the result is pretty much the same every time). Then I spent a long time rolling my bang to get it just right, and unlike most times when I do this, it did not start raining outside, so my hair did stay nice all night long :)


Ashley Dress - Trashy Diva
Shoes - Andiamo
Bracelet - Pilgrim


Now this is my new absolute favourite dress. I wore it to the wedding I went to last week (and I had to try very hard not to outshine the bride ;)
The wedding turned out to be quite the party later on, and unfortunately my silk dream got quite a big amount of champagne spilled over it at some point of the night. It is now being taken care of at the drycleaners...