X-MAS DECORATIONS AND ENDORPHINS

I went to a job interview at a woman's center today.
They got all sorts of classes there and also a charity
shop and I hope to be able to work there next year.
It might only be two days a week but it's not the
money that's important to me, it's the "good deed".

I had a look in their charity shop and I manage to
get myself some really nice bargains.



Bolero, £1.25.
I got one just like this already but the one I got has
proven to be essential so now I have one as a spare.


Vintage pencil skirt, £3.
I've been looking for a black pencil skirt that actually
goes below the knees for ages!
It's also a proper make, no crap. Wool blend.
The enigma is how on earth I can fit my big ass into a
UK size 8. :)) (US 6/EUR 36)


Top, £1.50.
I have a feeling this is gonna be my new best friend.


Vintage X-mas ornament, 50 pence.
Yes, I'm a Jew who actually love old, not so X-masy
ornaments and decorations. Hope that's all right. ;)
Isn't this fella too cute for words?

Not much else have happened.
Well, I did start to go to the gym yesterday.
My goal is to be as fit as I was in May and get my
23 inch waist back (it's currently 25 inches).
Most of all I want to boost my flow of endorphins.
I'm very low and extremely unsocial right now and
I must break the cycle before it gets worse.

RELISH

Relish is such an unappreciated type of food.
Most people just use it on their burgers at BBQ's.
I'm gonna encourage you to use it all year round, not
just on burgers and without using many ingredients.
As you might know by now I try my best to be frugal
and I really hate when food goes to waste.
We often buy fruit and veg in bulk from greengrocers
(it's much cheaper) and that sometimes means we get
a lot of one thing.
Last week we had tons of peppers in the fridge and I
didn't want them to go off so I made relish.



Rascal's Relish

You'll need:
Red, orange and yellow peppers
Water
Brown sugar
Malt vinegar
Salt

This is what you do:
Rinse and de-seed the peppers, chop them into small
pieces. (I never use green peppers, they are bitter.)
Put them in a pan, add a dash of water and bring to
the boil.
Add a dash of malt vinegar, a little bit of salt and just
a pinch of brown sugar, to bring out the flavour, you
don't want the relish to be too sweet, trust me.
Simmer under lid on medium heat until soft.
When done, mash them up a bit with a potato masher.
Let it cool down and then put in jars.
Keep refrigerated.

Mixed pepper relish is very yummy on eggs, burgers,
pizza, in sauces and dressing and in bolognese.

TWEET TWEET

I made these two cocktail hats last night.
I didn't feel too good, mentally, so I escaped to crafty
land for a couple of hours, it usually cheers me up a bit,
it takes my mind off things.
I'm very much into birds and butterflies at the moment,
I wonder if it has got a subconscious meaning, that I want
to get away for a while?


This one got a bit of an Art Deco feel to it.
I love the black, white and silver combination.


I made the feather tail myself, it makes it look
softer and more realistic.
I think he looks so cute in his little gold nest.

What do you think?

MAD ABOUT WICKER

We got a lot of 1950-1960's plastic wicker stuff
in our little house.
Everywhere there's wicker, in my closet, in my
hobby room, in the lounge, in the kitchen, and
even in the bedroom.
You can say that we're a bit obsessed.
Wicker maniacs.

There's something special about plastic wicker.
I don't know why we're so nuts about it but it's
such a "rewarding" material, it's kitsch, it's easy
to clean, etc. I can't really put my finger on it, I
just love it.

Here's just a few of our wicker items...


Here's our latest addition to the wicker madness.
Got this planter a few weeks ago, it cost £6.
I currently use it as a fruit basket, I need a tray
in the bottom before I can use it for plants.


Oh yeah, the endless amount of wicker fruit and
bread baskets...


We have picked up a few of these at car boot sales
over the years, I don't think we'd ever paid more
than 50 pence for any of them.


The wicker table I gave a face lift. Remember?


This one we fill with Sangria on hot summer days.


A girl can't have too many wicker handbags, well,
that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it! :))


Just one of many, many wicker handbags I own.


My hobby room is filled with these vintage wicker
sewing boxes, this one is my favorite because it's
red and white and it got the cutest clasp.


This one is favorite number two.


Picked up this wicker "bucket" at a car boot sale
for 5 pence I believe. It now serves as a flower pot.


Small multicolored wicker basket, perfect display
for yummy treats.


My wicker chair in my hobby room, gift from my
mother in law. I also got a black and white one.

NEW HAT

So this is blog post number 600.
I say we celebrate that by post some pictures
of one of the newly made cocktail hats.

CAKE, ROSES AND HATS

Ha ha ha! The title of this post really sound like
I went to Mad Hatters tea party or something.
No tea party, just a rather relaxed weekend.
Pizza and movies in bed, just like it should be. :))
I didn't just pig out in bed, I made two new hats
and tried out one of the 1950's sewing patterns
I got in the post the week before.

The reason for the relaxed weekend was because
me and my man was celebrating being together for
3 years and 11 months.
I really looking forward to our 4 year anniversary
next month.
Our plan is to go to South London Pacific to see
The Keytones and have a cocktail or two.
I love that place, (it's a Tiki bar, what's not to love?)
wish we'd go there more often...


Got these beautiful orange roses.


Perfect timing, needed to trim down the old roses
anyway (want them to last as long as possible) so
they had to move to a smaller vase.


I also made two new cocktail hats.
For sale! Red hat click here, gold hat click here.


And raspberry cake. Yes, fat free. :)

RASCAL'S RASPBERRY CAKE

You'll need:
2 eggs
2 dl light brown sugar
2 dl flour
1,5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
3-4 dl raspberries

This is what you do:
Put the oven on 175 degrees °C.
Use a round non stick baking tin with detachable
bottom.
Put the raspberries in the baking tin.
Whisk eggs and sugar thoroughly with an electric
whisk.
Mix the dry ingredients and pour it into the egg
mix and whisk until smooth.
Pour into the baking tin and bake in the middle
of the oven for about 30 - 35 min.

Enjoy!

YESTERDAY'S FINDS

Yesterday me and my man took my father in law to
Barnet hospital to have some minor surgery.
We bumped into Tim from The Polecats in the lobby
on the way out, nice to see him back in the UK.
Didn't want to sit in the awful waiting room for hours
on end so we went scouting the local charity shops.
Did quite well...

Click on the images for larger versions.

1960's table cloth, £3.50.
I'm gonna do what my grandmother did back in the
days, she made full circle skirts or ponchos out of
table cloths she didn't use.


1940's leather gloves, £1.50.


1960's/1970's scarf, £1.


1950's girls dress, £4.
I'm in two minds about this dress.
I don't know if I should make a lovely skirt for myself
or keep it as it is, I might get a daughter in the future.
What would you do?


Close up.


1960's jumpsuit, £5.
Yes, I know this one is totally mad but I couldn't
resist it and it made my fat ass look good too! :))
It was £7.50 but I got it for £5 since the zipper
was broken.


Close up.

MY DAY

Today we finally had some sunshine so me and my
man took a long walk after our morning coffee.
We also went to look at a cute Victorian house that's
for sale. We absolutely loved it but both the garden
and the house itself was a bit on the small side even
though it got 4 bedrooms.
(It's not the entire house, it's semi-detached.)
The street the house is on really capture exactly my
childhood fantasy how it would look like in England.
I'm sorry to say that there's not Victorian houses on
narrow streets everywhere you go.
Wouldn't that be swell though?


Click on the image for larger version.

Afterwards I went to my local haberdasher to have
a look at fabrics, I ended up falling in love with this
cute bunny rabbit fabric.
My plan is to use it for a top, 1940's tie top perhaps
with light blue bias.


Click on the image for larger version.

When we got home we were starving so I made us a
very nice Tai soup (water chestnut, bamboo shoots,
baby corn, red and orange peppers, red curry paste
and coconut milk) served with rice.
For dessert we had my home baked Elvis cake and
coffee.
I made some cakes on Saturday for my man to take
to the recording studio as a treat for the band.
The Elvis cake was actually an experiment where I
used my recipe for the fat free apple cake, without
apples and cinnamon, of course.
Instead I added bananas and peanut butter.
What a treat it turned out to be!
Moist and full of flavor.



RASCAL'S ELVIS CAKE

You'll need:
2 eggs
2 dl light brown sugar
2 dl flour
1,5 tsp baking powder
2 tbs smooth peanut butter
3 bananas

This is what you do:
Put the oven on 175 degrees °C.
Use a round non stick baking tin with detachable
bottom.
Peel the bananas and mash them up with a fork.
Whisk eggs and sugar thoroughly with an electric
whisk.
Mix the dry ingredients and pour it into the egg
mix and whisk until smooth.
Add the bananas and the peanut butter, mix well.
Pour into the baking tin and bake in the middle
of the oven for about 30 min.

Enjoy!

CRAFTY SUNDAY

My man went into the studio yesterday to record an EP
so I had the house for myself for the day so I decided to
have a little sort out in my hobby room and finish some
projects.
First I altered a 1950's bullet bra I got at a jumble sale
for 10 pence (1 Kr/$0.15/€0.10).
The cups were fine but the circumference was way too
big for me, so I shortened the clasp in the back and the
elastic in the front.



I also revamped the vintage scarf/shawl I got the other
day for £1 (11 Kr/$1.15/€1.15).
Last time I went to Sweden I got this purple pom pom
trim from my cousin and I was happy to find this scarf
because the colors really match.
It looks great together with my £2 1970's boots and my
£2 black Dorthy Perkins coat.


Click on the images for larger versions.

I started working on 3 1940's tie tops as well.
I would have finished them but I ran out of thread and
bias.

JACKPOT!

Got a 1950's halter top sewing pattern and a
1950's play suit in the mail this morning.
(Yes, we do get mail on Saturday over here.)

I snagged the pattern on eBay for £5.36 and
the play suit on Etsy for $20.
Yeah, I know I'm a bit nuts for buying summer
wear when everyone else is buying warm and
cosy knit wear and thick coats. :))
I do love summer and it's my way of escaping
the dull winters we got over here.
It's nice to have something to look forward to.


Click the image for larger version.


Click the images for larger version.

FRIDAY CHARITY SCOUT

I start to get tired of myself as a blogger, there's only
posts about what I won on eBay and what I managed
to snag in charity shops.
And guess what? Here's another one!

Had a feeling that I would find something nice today.
Also found yet another charity shop in town, thought
it was new but they've been there for years.
They had really good prices so I will definitely be a
regular from now on.


1950's/1960's shot glasses with stand, £2.80.


Vintage scarf, £1.


Miss Selfridge bolero, £1.55.

I also went into Primark to have a quick look on the
sale rails and found this cute dress.
It was the very last one and it cost only £5.


Click on the image for larger version.

EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT FROM MYSELF

I don't know about you but every year I buy myself
a birthday present, something I really, really like.
This year I found myself something extra special and
it arrived with the post this morning.
It did cost a bit more than I would usually spend on a
pattern ($38 including shipping) but I doubt I would
find this particular pattern again for less.



As you probably know by now I'm crazy about 1940's
and 1950's summer wear.
This one is from the 1940's and I can't wait to try and
make this ensemble for myself.

So, do you do the same and if so, what have you given
yourself on your past birthdays?

PRALINE NECKLACE

I got a new necklace yesterday.
I really like it because it looks like I got chocolate
pralines in gold foil around my neck. :)


The fascinator hat is available here.

DOCTOR DOCTOR

Got this little thing from my man today.
I love the fact that it looks like a little doctor's bag.

Oh yes, before I forget! I added more items in my
Etsy shop today AND there's a sale going on.
I lowered the prices on a lot of stuff and most of
my fascinator hats are also on sale!
Feel free to have a look!

LATEST PATTERN

Haven't really been able to do much lately,
I got this stubborn flu thing that just won't
go away.
Mostly I've been in bed watching movies
and scouting for 1940's and 1950's sewing
patterns, added a whole lot of them to my
wish list for my upcoming birthday in early
December.

It's rather funny how a wish list changes
when you get older, ten years ago I would
probably wished for something pricey, like
a corset or the latest mobile phone.
This year I only wish for sewing patterns.
Ten years from now I guess I've come to
the point when I got everything and only
wish for my kids to behave themselves. :))


Felt sorry for myself over the weekend so I
treated myself to this lovely pattern for the
slim sum of £3.46 including shipping.