Always remember that you are awesome – so go, create your Space Jam and dance about it.

A Prep Talk from Kid President to You, by SoulPancake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l-gQLqv9f4o

You will need:

     30cm of ribbon you like the look of.

     A sewing pin.

     A needle and thread of any colour.

A safety pin.

Start by making 2 loops in your ribbon, cross one loop over the other and pull it back underneath, like you are tying a knot with your 2 loops . This will start to form the shape of your bow.

Pull it tight and as you do so, you may have to move your ribbon around so it forms the bow shape you are after. Also you don’t want to pull it too tight or else the middle section will look like a little knot and the bow loops will crease and loose there shape (this bit often takes me more than one attempt!).  

Your next step is to secure all the overlapping pieces of ribbon in place using a sewing needle. However, try to make sure you do not put the needle through the top layer of ribbon in the centre of your bow, or through the front of the loops.

Here I have made sure the the needle only comes out through the back of the centre of my bow.

(And you can just about see in this photograph that it has gone in through the middle of the base of the loops, behind the top layer of  the bow’s centre.)

Now if you turn your bow over so the front is facing you, you should not be able to see the needle coming through any of the ribbon. 

Next sew the overlapping layers of ribbon together (again trying not to go through the top layer in the centre of your bow, or through the front of your loops).

After a little bit of practise I found that the best way to do this is to sew along the edge of the centre section of the bow, attaching it to the 2 loops.

Using the safety pin attach the bow to your shirt, just below the top button hole.

And finally wear and enjoy, and don’t be afraid to mix and match with a bit of colour – let brighten up this cold, grey January! 

But I’m going to start this post with a little confession: I’m a bit of a New Year sceptic… It always seems that no matter what I promise myself or what resolutions I make at New Year, on 1st January not much has changed and by 1st February it has completely gone out of the window!

BUT NOT THIS YEAR!!!

This year I am taking New Year resolutions seriously, because in June I am finishing university, this gives me 5 full months to get out of ‘student mode’. To start this off I am going to try and take on five positive habits by the end of my student days; one for each month. They are only small, but therefore sustainable, which is an idea I’ve taken from a TED talk by Matt Cutts.

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days, from TED.

So the five habits….

January: Get up when my alarm goes off (instead of hitting the snooze button 5 times).

February: Drink 1.2 litres of water a day.  

March: When the gym membership runs out – do not renew it! Save money, but still take regular exercise.

April: Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day.

Finally May will bring a serious challenge: “Never leave that till tomorrow, which you can do today” – no more procrastination! 

Hopefully at the end of each month I’ll have made a new, small but good habit that will contribute to either my health/wellbeing or productivity. I’ll keep you all posted on how this all goes! Are any of you Dazzlers starting any resolutions tomorrow morning?!

Happy 2013 Everybody!!! 

You can read more about this beautiful idea on their website here

And you can see Hannah’s talk at TED@New York here

This has truly inspired me so… I’ve just written my first ever love letter to a stranger. I’m going to take it to my campus library and slot it into one of the course books for the teacher training.

I’m in my final year now of teacher training so I know how gruelling the course can be, and at times the thought of actually being a teacher seems daunting; something you’d want to run away from (very far and very fast!). So I wrote this note which, I hope will be an encouragement to someone who’s also feeling like that, as they struggle to get their lesson plans done on time.

Although at first writing to a complete stranger was a bit of a strange, once I’d finished I felt a bit giddy – I have no idea who will read my letter or when, I can just hope that it will brighten someone’s day and spread a bit of love – and being able to do that for someone you’ve never met before, just through a note hidden in a book is a very exciting idea.

The inspiration:

Photo from topshop.com

And the final product….!

(please note that this tutorial and the timings used are for working with black/dark grey denim so if you are using blue or a lighter colour denim you may need to shorten the times used).

You will need:

- A plastic bucket.

- Rubber gloves.

- A 750ml bottle of thick bleach.

- A trouser coat hanger, with plastic clips.

-A pair of black/dark grey jeans.

Then follow these steps:

1. Hang your jeans on the coat hanger.

2. Empty the bottle of bleach into the bucket and fill the rest of the bucket up with water.

3. Wearing the rubber gloves, dunk the ends of your jeans into the bucket up to the point you’d like them to be bleached (please note that the bleach will get soaked up by the fabric about an inch or so above the line of the water/bleach mixture).

4. Now you have a choice – do you want a clean cut line between the two colours? Or a distressed line (like in the above picture)? If you’d like a clean cut line hang up your jeans whilst they are socking, for a more distressed look, hang them over the side of the bucket.

5. Now leave the ends of your jeans to soak, and keep an eye on them, until they are an ombre colour (mine took 2 hours!). If you are going for the distressed look you will need to move the jeans out of the liquid by about and inch every half an hour or so, so a different part of the material is resting on the side of the bucket – this will give it a less clean cut, more graduated effect.

6. Once your jeans are an ombre colour take them out of the liquid and hang them up (do not rinse – leave the bleach mixture on them!), empty the bucket and put in underneath your jeans to catch the drips.

7. Leave them hanging overnight and the ombre should have turned grey. If they are still ombre or you want a lighter colour then you will need to do another dip in a bleach/water mixture.

Then wash your jeans on their own, leave to dry and enjoy them!!

N.B. If you are my little sister, a child or young person please get adult help when using strong chemicals like bleach!

Madagascar 3 – Afro Circus Remix From Dreamworks.

Penguins with afros on the thumb nail, based on this picture:

Photo credit: Dreamworks Animation.

And polka dots on the nails

So we will start with the penguins. You will need:

• Nail varnish – in colours white, black and orange for the penguin, then for the afro I have used blue, red, purple and yellow.
• Nail art dotting tool (or a tooth pick!).
• Tissue.
• Base and top coats.

Apply a base coat so you have a smooth surface to work on and the start by using the white nail varnish and draw half an oval on your thumb nail.

Then using a dotting tool, or a tooth pick and the black nail varnish draw a line around the white oval.

Then add the wings on either side.

Put a large drop of white nail varnish on the dotting tool, or tooth pick and make two large dots next to each other near the top of the white oval, this is the start of the eyes. Then put small black dots in the centre of the white dots, to make the pupils. 

To finish of the penguin’s face use the dotting tool and the orange nail varnish and draw a small triangle under the eyes, to make the beak.

Then using the dotting tool or tooth pick draw on the afro, by making short, wide lines sticking out of the penguin’s head, in the different colours you have decided to use.

Then when the nail varnish has completely dried, apply a top coat. On your fingernails paint a white coat and once dry, use the nail varnish brushes to carefully put on the polka dots randomly across the nails. I have used blue, red, orange, yellow, and purple to match the colours in the penguin’s afro and beak.

Apply a top coat to protect your work, and enjoy your afro, polka dot circus nails!

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld/Chanel.

Friday saw the beginning of The Little Balck Jacket : Chanel’s Classic Revisited exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London, after travelling the globe from Tokyo, through New York, Taipei and Hong Kong The Little Black jacket is in London until 28th October before continuing to the other side of the world.

A panoramic view of the final room of the exhibition. 

Photgrpahed by Karl Lagerfeld and styled by Carine Roitfeld the show is made up of 113 images all featured around a black, tweed, box jacket. This piece was designed in 1953 by Coco Chanel, who at the age of 70 had again defied the fashion movements of the time.

Fashion in the 1950s was largely driven by Christian Dior’s first couture show in Paris in 1947, launching what was known as the ‘New Look’ that consisted of wide ballerina skirts that pulled in at the waist and exagerated the female silhouette. However, Coco Chanel launched her range of easy to wear, non restricting, clean cut suits, bringing a more modern and edgy look to the era, and although the fashion critics at the time did not like this – they where proved wrong, as this jacket was a key part of her collection then, and is still today a central piece of the Chanel ready to wear range today.

The exhibition clearly captures the timelessness of this jacket along with its versatility and ‘anyone-can-wear-this-ness’, as it is modeled by both men and woman across the generations from a variety of professions.

These are a couple of my favorites from the exhibition:

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld/Chanel

Classical violinist Charlie Siem:

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld

Carine Roitfeld dress as Coco Chanel:

Photo: Karl Lagerfeld

I was back in London for the weekend so I took my little sister to go and see the exhibition – we both really enjoyed it and I can highly recommend it for those dazzlers who will be in London this month.

The Little Sister – Outside the Saatchi Gallery in Duke of York Square.

Therefore this post starts a series of 4 DIY posts to fit with 2 of this autumn’s top trends: dip dyes and studs, and this first tutorial uses a simple straight across dip dying method.

You will need:

• A bucket or plastic container – which holds at least 6 litres.
• One packet of hand use dye (I have used Dylon’s Ocean Blue for this tutorial).
• Salt
• Rubber gloves
• The garment you wish to dip dye (I am dip dying the bottom leg of an old pair of chinos) on a coat hanger.

Start by following the instructions on your dye packet, making up the dye solution in the bucket, and dampen your garment in cold water.

Hang the garment from the coat hanger and dip the the part that you wish to colour into the dye solution, be careful that the area you want to keep the original colour stays well away from the dye!

For trousers a good place to hang them from is a door handle, but for smaller garments a clothes horse or a chair work well! You may have to experiment to find a height that works to get the right amount of fabric in the dye.

Stir the solution gently – careful not to let it splash! Leave the garment to soak, for the time stated on the back of the packet, gently stirring regularly. Then lower and hold the fabric about 2 inches further into the dye, for 2 minutes, this softens the line, and will cover up any areas where the fabric may have soaked up the dye unevenly.

Then thoroughly rinse through the garment with cold water and hang to dry! You’ll need to was it separately for the first wash then it should be fine to wash as normal!

]]> http://deeperdazzle.com/2012/10/10/reduce-reuse-recycle-style-1-dip-dye-tutorial/feed/ 1 d33p3rdazzl3 popbooth DSCN1131 DSCN1136 DSCN1158 http://deeperdazzle.com/2012/10/03/modern-retro-hairstyle/ http://deeperdazzle.com/2012/10/03/modern-retro-hairstyle/#comments Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:02:37 +0000 Amaryllis Earle http://deeperdazzle.com/?p=671 ]]> I’m really enjoying putting a modern twist on retro styles, so I’ve started it of with a hairstyle based on the classic 1940s victory roles using two backwards hair roles.

I also love this style for 3 reasons:

1. It opens up and frames your face.

2. Once you get the hang of all the twisting, it takes 5 minutes.

3. It takes little or no prep work (it even works with a bedhead!).

The modern rolls in action for a friends wedding!

You will need:

• 4 bobby pins
• hair Spray
• a comb
• your hair styled how you would like the hair that is down to look. I’ve straightened mine for a sleeker modern look.

Start by putting your hair in a centre parting and using a comb gently back comb the roots either side of your parting and at the crown of your head.

Next choose a side to start with and take a section of hair next to your parting, no bigger than an inch, pull it backwards and twist it underneath itself. 

It should create a small quiff to the side of your parting.

Moving towards your ear, pick up another section of hair about half an inch pull in backwards and twist it under itself and round the hair hanging down from the first twist.

Your side quiff should be growing!

Again working towards your ear continue to add sections of hair and twisting them backwards create a backwards role around one side of your face until you have twisted in the section of hair from right above your ear.

Secure at the back of the twist using 2 bobby pins.

Repeat on the other side, hairspray into place and to really go for the vintage look add some red lipstick!

There we go!

To begin with twisting the hair may be a bit fiddly! But once you’ve got the hang of it, it’s quick and easy to do!

Jaisalmer, Rajisthan (also known as the ‘Sun City) in the Thar Desert. This is India’s last lived in fort, home to families as well as the museums, Jain temples and beautifully carved architecture.

The main gate to the fort.

Stunning examples of the stone carvings.

An evening in traditional dress!

Team Camel Trekkers, off across the sand dunes to spend a night under the stars!

Our camels: Alfred and Carol.

The next highlight is on the way from Jodhpur to the lakes of Udaipur: The Ranakpur Temple, a stunning marble Jain Temple, said to be the most beautiful Jain Temple in India.

Beautiful scenery at the lake on arriving in Udaipur – the place where the James Bond film Octopussy was filmed.

Next stop was Jaipur, the largest city in Rajistan, also known as the Pink City.

The Hawa Mahal – ‘Palace of the Winds’, the 2nd most photographed place in India to the Taj Mahal…..

6am: sunrise at the Taj Mahal and not many other people where there that early!

The Ganges before a sunset boat ride for the sunset candle flower ceremony, below.

Our trip concluded in Kolkata with a trip to the South Park Street Cemetery, a colonial cemetery founded in 1767 and is the most impressive historic cemetery from the time of the British Raj.

I hope you enjoyed these photographs, and if you found this post because you are looking into going on an Intrepid Travel trip I hope you found them useful!