Annotated treasures.

So I've just come back from my monthly trip to my favourite bookstore and I found some pretty awesome books! They're called 'The Annotated Books'. These books basically hold the original stories of classic books such as fairytales, but they also add extra information. More than once you will find a little 1. in the middle of your text, which corresponds with an extra piece of text in which poems, sentences or customs that appear in the book are further explained. The books also give a lot of information about the author and why they wrote these stories. The pictures in the book are those from the original versions of several different releases and copies all over the world.

 

I bought two hardcovers, one of 'The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition' and an other of 'The Annotated Secret Garden'. These harcovers are really nicely decorated with shiny swirls and pictures. I won't be able to read them before my birthday in February, but I already skimmed some pages and here are two little reviews (I will do more detailed reviews after I have started to read these books ^^).

'The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition' has a very beautiful red cover with Alice on the front, although I personally like the cover of 'The Annotated Secret Garden' a little bit better. If you take away the paper cover you get a solid and old looking red cover with a picture of the White rabbit in gold. I thought this was super nice ^^. The pictures in the book are those of the original Alice in wonderland series. They are in black and white so sadly no lovely coloured pictures here. The book holds both 'Alice in wonderland' and 'Through the looking glass' as well as a 'suppressed chapter' from the through the looking glass series. There's a long introduction on Lewis Carol and why he wrote these books as well as a historical archive in the back on when Alice in wonderland appeared in the media. There are also some pictures of the original sketches from the Alice in wonderland drawings in the back.

'The Annotated Secret Garden' hold the Secret Garden as well as some lengthy information about it's writer and her religion. The cover is very nicely decorated with shiny green and beautiful coloured pictures. The pictures inside the book come from various different version of the Secret Garden and they are in lovely colours. I didn't have much time to look at the Secret Garden, but looking at the cover and the pictures might have already been enough reasons to buy it.

There are also other 'Annotated Books' like Sherlock Holmes and several fairytales such as Hans Christian Anderson and the Grimm brothers. You can find them on Ebay ^^.

Etsy spotlight: ThisYearsGirl

Recently I've there seems to be a lot of Mori girls and Dollies that buy stuff on the website Etsy. Especially Dolly Kei clothes are easy to find here. However there are a lot of other interesting shops on Etsy that could be associated with Dolly Kei and Mori girl and not all of them are about clothes. So I decided to shine some spotlights on some really cool shops on Etsy, just like I did in my Fashionable vintage post (all of the pictures in that post are from Etsy). If you don't know Etsy yet, be sure to check it out!

The Etsy shop I'm going to talk to you about today is ThisYearsGirl. This shop mainly focuses on photo manipulation art. It's are works are really cute and fit for both the Dolly Kei and Mori girl styles. In addition to prints and postcards this shop also sells jewellery with the same prints, mostly lockets and pendants and occasionally rings.

Be sure to check this shop out if you decided that you're going to buy something from Etsy. ThisYearsGirl is currently selling a calendar for 2011 with most of her recent prints in it:

Kimi ni Todoke: lot's of blushing, laughing and crying.

I've recently started to become addicted to an anime called Kimi ni Todoke, based on a manga with the same name. Even though I have read the first few chapters of the manga, the series never stuck with me, until I saw the anime. Normally my policy is: Shoujo manga's and shounen anime, meaning manga's are a better platform for those sweet slowly developing romances and anime is better for the fast passed battles. However I must say that the anime version of Kimi ni Todoke has struck a soft spot in my heart.

This is the trailer, I'm sorry I couldn't find it with english subs.

The stories about a high school girl named Sawako, whose called Sadako (the name of the girl in the Japanese version of the ring) by her classmates, because of her looks. Sawako has very pale skin and black long hair, making her look like a typical ghost from Japanese horror movies (think the ring and the grudge).

However she is actually a very positive girl who wants nothing more than to get along with everyone, but she's to shy to clear up the misunderstandings about her. Therefore she really admires Kazehaya, a boy who's smile can light up the room and who's always surrounded by a circle of people.

Kazehaya is secretly in love with Sawako and he is constantly trying to help her gain more confidence. The relationship between Kazehaya and Sawako is very cute to watch. Slowly Sawako gains more friends and a few enemies along the way to find more confidence in herself.

Not only are the characters more lively in colour, the anime is also beautifully drawn. The voice actors really add to the character's awkward first love experiences and they can be extremely funny sometimes.

 Right now they are airing the second season. This anime is both cliché and very original at the same time. If you like anime's about romance, friendship and overcoming all odds, this is definitely one you might want to look into ^^.



Ribbon and shell hairpin.

Good day my fellow fashion addicts! Today I'm going to show you how to make this cute hairpin (see picture above). It's very easy, here's what you're going to need for the first part:

- 1 Shell with a hole in it (I found mine at the beach ^^).

- 1 Ribbon in a colour to your liking.
- 1 Hairpin.

- 1 Embroidery needle.

- A lot of embroidery thread.

- 5 beads.

Step 1:  Put the end of your embroidery thread through your needle.

Step 2: Use the needle to pull your embroidery thread through the shell's hole as followed:

Step 3: Put on a bead and pull the embroidery thread through the same hole.

Step 4: Tie your ribbon into a bow and pull the needle and the embroidery thread through the centre like this:

Step 5:  It should now look as followed:

Step 6: Sew the shell onto the middle of your bow and cut the excess ribbon and embroidery thread.

Step 7: Once again put your embroidery thread through the needle. Then put a bead somewhere in the middle of the thread like this:

Step 8: Tie the bead securely in place (you might want to use more than one knot).

Step 9: Take both ends of the embroidery thread and tie an other knot (you can achieve this knot by wrapping the thread around your finger so that a circle appears and then pulling the end of the thread through the middle of the circle).

Step 10: take both ends of the embroidery thread and pull it through an other bead. Repeat this process so that you have two of these:

You are now finished with the first part. For the second part we need clear glue and an old newspaper.

Step 11: Take all the pieces you've just created and glue them together on the hairpin like this:

Let it dry and voila! You have your own ribbon and shell hairpin ^^.

Fashionable vintage.

Everyone knows that fashion tends to repeat itself, things go out of fashion and come back into fashion. However, why wait for something to come back into fashion when you can wear it today? Here are some pictures of gorgeous vintage clothes:

   

High waist dresses are extremely fashionable. Not only are they super elegant, the bell shape of the skirt and the slimness of the waist subtly accentuates your femininity without obviously doing so. I think these skirts look very sexy and sweet at the same time, because they make your body look very feminine without overexposing it ^^. I especially love the look on the right, with the gloves and the waistcoat.

The next dresses are a bit more Mori girl, they are flowy and loose, perfect for a summer dress ^^.

And finally here are some Dolly looking clothes. However all of these dresses could look Dolly Kei if you pick the right pattern ^^.

 

Source.