Happy New Years (My personal highlights)

I am thoroughly enjoying all the year review posts other bloggers have been doing. I decided to do one myself, if only to remind myself what actually happened this year. Last January seems impossibly far away! I'm afraid this is another long, picture heavy post... but here are some of my personal highlights from the last year:

January:

I started my Etsy store! This was definitely a big moment for me. I really love my little shop and it has really inspired me to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams. I am really hoping when I'm done school next year that I will be able to perhaps generate at least part of my income from my own business (right now I just generate a wee bit of spending money).

February:

I completed knitting my first piece of clothing. I was so proud of knitting myself a skirt!

March:

I bought my lovely Underwood typewriter. She sits on my desk and makes me smile every time I look at her :)

April:

The weather was lovely for Easter and I got all dressed up. I also completed knitting my first sweater!!

May:

I did a lot of antique shopping to take my mind school and also designed my first hat pattern.

June:

My birthday month! I didn't get to go home for my birthday but I made some very yummy cupcakes with fancy chocolate butterflies and my dad took me out antique shopping for the day. I also bought my first piece of Victorian clothing.


July:

Not a very exciting month. I basically just did a lot of school work. But I did make this cute skirt out of curtains when I was home for a weekend.


August:

I had a great time up at my cottage, and also made my first Youtube video! My channel is TheLongHairedFlapper if you want to see my videos :)


September:

I had a great photoshoot with Britt and the guy she was seeing. We managed to snap a few pictures of us as well. 


October:

Lots of fun things happened this month, including a trip to the Bata Shoe Musuem, riding the Roseneath Carousel, finding three great vintage pieces (two dresses from the 1920's and a jacket from the 1800's) for an unbelievable price, and finishing creating my first sewing pdf (the Sweet Bea pattern). 


November:

Not a great month. I was feeling rather down for most of it. I did however finish my skirt/cape set which I absolutely love!


December:

 I had an excellent Christmas, and also got to see The Artist with Britt in Toronto which was a lot of fun.  


Next Year?
It's hard to say what next year will bring. I finish school hopefully next December and then have to decide what to do with my life. I would love to expand my business and I have plans in the works for several new patterns. Not sure when I'm going to find time to actually draft these patterns... Oh well. Thank you so much to everyone who reads my humble little blog. I honestly didn't think I would stick with blogging very long, but I'm so glad I did. I will have been blogging 2 years as of February, and it amazes me how much I have changed over that time. Here's to another (hopefully less stressful) year! Happy New Years everyone! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone!! I was actually hoping on posting this in the afternoon but I took waaaaaayyy too many photos and it is taking me forever to edit them! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Yesterday we spend Christmas with my mom's side of the family, and we don't see my dad's side for another few days, so Christmas itself was a rather quiet day spent around home. It was rather lovely just lounging about, in my new pajamas, looking at all my presents, drinking some fancy new tea and eating violet creams (these were a Christmas gift. I'd never had any before but I am officially in love!).

Warning, this post is a little picture heavy...

Christmas Eve:

These are soooo yummy. Recipe found here. I used white chocolate instead of icing
so they were easier to transport.  These snowflakes are giants!
We had to split one cookie between about 3 people!

Chocolate candy cane hearts.  I found the idea somewhere on Pinterest...
They look really good but were a little difficult to eat. 

Not what I was originally planning on wearing, but it was very comfy and warm.
The red peaking out is actually a Victorian style petticoat that I have hiked up to wear as sort of a slip.
The belt is part of the dress, which I have threaded through the space between two buttons. 

 Christmas Day:

My new nightgown set! I actually finished sewing it about a month ago but I was saving
it to wear on Christmas morning.  The pattern I used is actually the Vintage Vogue
 reprint of a 1930's evening gown and jacket, but I thought it made a lovely loungewear set. 

And now the presents! I didn't take pictures of everything but here are some of the more "vintagey" items. I used the handmade quilt I got as a backdrop for these photos. 

This is a stunning Edwardian brooch my parents bought me (which I picked out)

Signed copy of Maureen Jennings new book (she wrote the Murdoch Mysteries series).
 My mom bought this for me  when we went to her book signing a month ago. 

The only two seasons of I Dream of Jeannie I was missing! I now have every episode :)

Some cute pendants (that will soon be earrings) from Michael's new "Deco Chic" line of
jewellery making supplies. 

Stunning book of Art Deco illustrations

Four sewing books and one hairdressing book. All are reprints of original 1920's and 1930's books.
They are just fabulous!!

Gramophone sticky notes!

 The next few gifts were a complete surprise. They are all from my grandmother and are all family heirlooms or things she has bought over the years. I am definitely going to cherish these forever!

Not sure how old this one is, but my grandma bought it on a trip to Scotland. 

Also a piece bought by my grandma.

Also bought by my grandmother on a trip to Scotland. 

My grandfather wedding ring from 1947. The inside is engraved with the date and my grandparents names.

Beautiful ring that belonged to my great-grandmother. 

A pair of earrings from the 1800's (in their original box!)

I hope everyone has as good as Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) as I did. 

Happy Holidays!!

That's All

The Artist and a day in Toronto

I've finally got out of the house and done something blog-worthy!! I was supposed to be having a big gettogether with my friends from highschool but that fell apart at the last moment. I was rather upset and my mom took pity on me and offered to pay for Britt and I to go see The Artist in Toronto. Obviously I jumped at the chance! I will get to the movie in a minute but first, outfit photos!

It has finally gotten cold enough to pull my winter coat out of the closet! It is so warm and I love the bright red colour. My original outfit plans included a 1920's style dress but it was just too cold (we had to walk for about 45 minutes to get to the theater, since I'm too cheap to pay for the subway). Instead I went for a more subtle early 1930's influence.

I bowed my lips, using my Ruby Woo lipstick (and cherry liner) which perfectly matches my coat!

Outfit Details:

Coat: Novelti (purchased at an independent store, which has since closed down)

Hat: Made by me using the Sweet Bea pattern (available in my Etsy Shop)

Shoes: Ariat (these are actually riding boots, and by far the best boots I have ever owned)  

Pants: Max Studio (purchased at the same place as the coat)

Sweater: Costa Blanca

Necklace: Made by me. I simply wrapped a long strand of faux pearls around my neck three times and added a brooch (from Michaels)

Gloves: They are from an independent coffee store in Warkworth whose name I have totally forgotten...

The movie itself was amazing! I was worried I would be disappointed but it was great. Even Britt liked it, and she isn't a big fan of old (silent) movies. I realize it wasn't technically an old movie, but it certainly felt like one. The costumes were lovely and the cinematography was very well done. There was also a lot of subtle references to old movies, which were fun to pick out but not essential to the plot. If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend it. It's a shame more theaters aren't showing it!

Two Last Minute Christmas DIY's

It is getting waaaaayyyy too close to Christmas. I have so much work left to do and am still not in the right frame of mind to really enjoy it. Actually I feel rather like Jacob Marley this year (yeah, the dead guy from a Christmas Carol...). Nevertheless I have been making some cute Christmas crafts I thought I would share with you. These two projects take very little time and would be a great last minute Christmas gift.

Holiday Earrings
You will need:
Two mini Christmas tree ornaments
Two earring hooks

Step 1) Remove the string from the ornaments, and attach the earring hooks through the loop. (You may need to attach a jump ring first depending on the direction of the loops). If your ornament does not have a premade loop, use a bit of thin wire to attach it to the earring hooks
Step 2) Wear them or give them as a gift

And for the knitters:
Mini Knitting Ornament
You will need:
A small amount of yarn (I used several colours)
Two toothpicks
Glue (I used plain old white glue)

This set of instructions is pretty flexible as the ornaments can be made bigger or smaller depending on your preference. I used a few different yarns to add stripes to mine.
Step 1) Cast on about 12 stitches onto US size 2 needles
Step 2) Knit for about 1 1/2"
Step 3) Cast on 5 or 6 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows
Step 4) Continue knitting until the sleeve measures about 1/2".
Step 5) Knit halfway across the next row. Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, and carefully slip the needles out.
Step 6) If you toothpicks have two pointy ends, cut one end off. Slip the tooth picks in where the needles were.
Step 7) Loop the yarn up then down again to the bottom of the mini sweater. Roll the remaining yarn into a ball.
Step 8) Secure with glue. Make sure to glue the stiches on both ends of each "needle", as well as the top and bottom of the loop. Apply a lot of glue to the back of the mini ball of yarn and stick to the bottom of the sweater. And that's it!

I hope you all enjoyed the tutorials today. I love coming up with cute projects, but I'm not really sure what types of projects you want to see. If you could take a moment to take the mini survey at the side of my blog --->
I would really appreciate it!

That's All.

Holiday Party Hairstyle

I've been busy getting ready for Christmas this week so I haven't had time to post anything or even do anything exciting enough to post about. Luckily I filmed a video last week with Britt! I finally finished editing today (after my computer decided to almost die on me. If I disappear for a while it's because my computer hates me...)



I'm getting a reprint of a 1920's hair-styling book for Christmas which means more videos coming soon! And if anyone has any requests I would love to hear them :)

That's All.

Scandinavian Cookbook

After a rather horrific house buying adventure (in the end nothing was purchased and it was much too complicated to explain here), I have been in need for some comfort food. I've been flipping through my cookbooks looking for inspiration, and possible Christmas food ideas, when I stumbled across this Scandinavian cookbook. It's from 1956 and belonged to my grandmother. Her grandparents were Norwegian and she was quite proud of her heritage. 

Below I've posted a few of the recipes that relate to Christmas. There are so many I want to try, but I haven't had a chance yet. If anyone makes these I would love to know how they turned out! 

(click to enlarge)

What are you baking for the holidays?

That's All.