Baby Angel strikes back!

Remember this post in which I reviewed two Metamorphose replicas made by italian brand Baby Angel?  I’ve recently discovered that Baby Angel’s 2012 spring/summer collection will feature some new “heavily lolita inspired” items! But the very best news about this is that this time they seem to be original prints, not replicas! This collection isn’t arrived in shops yet, except for some cutsews and accessories, but I found some pictures online, my favourite piece from the new collection is this skirt:

Considering the pretty good quality of last year skirts, I ‘m seriously considering of buying it (they also lowered the price a little, and I have a discount coupon to spend in their shops...), my only perplexity is about the colours: from the picture above they seem soft and pastel, but I looked at the matching cutsew in the shop and the colours seemed a lot more flashy, especially the pink details, they rembered me some Barbie clothes from the 80’s. Maybe it’s just the light in the shop that is strange, anyway I’m waiting to see the skirt in person (maybe in a different shop) before deciding.

Another lolita inspired piece from the collection is this jsk:

This looks like the “evolution” of last year Putumayo replica, because it features a very similar BxW flower pattern, but the shape is different and they replaced the butterflies with some random sweets. I don’t like it very much, because, other that not being a great fan of jsk and dresses (there is also a skirt version though), I think the sweets details looks a bit “unrelated” to the rest of the dress.

Instead, another item I’m very interested to, is this top:

I can’t tell from the stock picture if it’s made of cotton or cheap “lace-like” fabric, but if it’s cotton I think it would be a nice addition to my spring wardrobe J

The collection features also a couple of shirred cutsew in the same fabric of the skirts above, some cute sweets themed t-shirts, a misterious “punk” skirt (but it seems very short, more like a mini skirt than a loliable one), and some matching accessories, like a cupcake shaped locket necklace.

Right now I’m waiting for the skirt to appear in shops, I’ll write a review if I’ll decide to buy it, let’s hope it’s not too short and flashy!

Artist corner: Blackmago

Today I want to introduce a new section, Artist Corner: periodically I will dedicate this space to talk about artists I like very much.
Today's guest star is Blackmago, an extraordinary Peruvian artist that creates not only beautiful illustrations (and pixel art), but also amazing crafts with polymer clay and mixed media!
Here are some of my favourite works from his gallery, I love especially the books of secrets and the tiny bottles! You can find his works on DeviantArt, Etsy and Facebook

every image in this article belongs to Blackmago

Beware the terrible snow dog!

After months without a single snowflake, in these last days it snowed a lot! Right now we have about 40cm of snow lying on the ground, too late for having a white Christmas but I'm really happy the same!
Today me and Dani went out to play with Leila in the garden, she has grown a lot in these months but she was still sinking in the snow :D

I simply love her flying ears <3

Snowball retrivier dog

Right after this snow session, she almost destroyed one of my snowboots in record time, but how can I stay angry with her, she's soo cute!

Italian Christmas

Last Sunday I attended a local Christmas market with my friend Louana: it was very cold and we had little sales but we chatted a lot, so the day passed pleasantly the same.
Since we were surronded by Christmas decorations, songs and people shopping for gifts, we ended up talking about Christmas things and comparing traditions of our home countries (before moving to Italy, she lived in U.K. and South Africa).
I really enjoyed that conversation, so today I want to share with you some of the main Italian Christmas traditions :)

Immaculate Conception (December 8th) - Catholic feast, since in this day schools are closed and you don't go to work (if the 8th is near a weekend the holiday last a couple days more),  many people leave for a little vacation or just stay home and decorate the house for Christmas.

Christmas tree in Milan

Nativity scene (or manger) - another religious tradition widespread in Italy. In addition to the Christmas tree, we use to decorate our houses with Nativity scene dioramas, using small figurines made with various materials: plastic, painted plaster, wood... a particular kind of manger is Neapolitan one, because figurines are dressed with real clothes and they represents not only the typical manger characters, but also modern days famous people like politicians, actors, etc. Nativity scenes can also be found outdoors, often set up by parishes, with large mechanized statues or with real actors (when I was a child I once played one of the Magi in my parish's manger).

Nativity scene from Sorrento Cathedral

Epiphany (January 6th) - Epiphany commemorates the 12th day of Christmas when the three Wise Men arrived at the manger bearing gifts for Baby Jesus (it's also the last day of Christmas holidays).  In this day children receive colouful stockings full of sweets, little toys and even money (or coal for the bad ones, but nowadays it's usually candy coal), brought to them during the night by an old lady flying on a broomstick (very similar to a witch), known as "La Befana".

a doll representing "La Befana"

Christmas treats - almost every town in Italy has its typical Christmas recipe, here are some of the most famous:

Panettone (Milan) - my favourite! It's a kind of leavened soft bread cake with raisins and candied fruit inside (recipe).

Pandoro (Verona):  a rich, buttery cake that's generally sprinkled with an abundance of powdered sugar. Unlike panettone, it never contains candied fruit (recipe).

Panforte (Siena): a spiced bread with almonds (recipe).

Struffoli (Naples): little fried dough balls dipped in a honey syrup and sprinkled with "diavolilli", a type of candy (recipe).

And what about you? What are your hometown Christmas traditions (if you celebrate it)? I would be glad to know :)

Quick DIY project: 15 minutes fake fur tippet

This winter there's a new entry between our fashionable weapons against cold: fur tippets. I'm not a great fan of fur (I'm absolutely against real one), but after looking at both lolita and western fashion shops, brand news or outfits posts, I have to admit that (fake) fur tippets are a very cute way to add a warm touch to an outfit. Many brands added them to their fall-winter collections, from lolita ones:

 to western fashion ones like MaxMara and Juicy Couture:

 As I said before, I think they're cute, but I wouldn't use them often enough to justify a big expense so, what to do?

The answer came from my mother's latest closet cleaning: in one of her drawers I found a fake fur detachable collar from an old jacket that she no longer had. Since the collar was brand new and unused, I decided to make it a guinea pig for my tailoring experiments. And now, finally, into the real project!

What you need:

- detachable fake fur collar (that's the hardest part, try searching in your house for old jackets, coats or maybe look for cheap ones in flea markets and garage sales);

- 1 meter ribbon of your choice (better using a ribbon at least 2,5 cm high);

- scissors;

- matching thread and needle;

- fraying ends glue (or clear nail polish);

- (optional) beads, lace, brooches, vintage buttons...everything you may want to use as an embellishment.

How to do:

Cut two pieces of ribbon about 50 cm long, fold twice one of the ends of each piece, like this:

Put some glue or nail polish on the other end to prevent fraying (before glueing you can shape the ribbon's end with scissors as you like) and let it dry

Once dry, take the unglued ends and sew them to the inner corners of the collar, on the reverse side. If the collar has lining, sew the ribbons to it, so the stitches will not be visible on the right side

Now your collar should looks like this:

If you want you can now add embellishments or else your new fur tippet is ready to be worn :)