IMBOLC ART

  In my mind there´s a picture, an ideal vision, of each sabbat´s soul. I want to get them out of there, to make them visible for everyone. It´s nothing I could photograph, it´s more like a dreamy state of being.
  I decided to paint them. Here´s the first one, Imbolc:

Dreamy light blue with hints of pale pink in the top left corner, and minty green in the bottom right (the hints aren´t as visible here as in reality). Painted with watercolors.

Flat paintings are boring. I want my paintings to have more depth, and I don´t mean only with the colors. I mean actual 3D depth. I glued these paper snowflakes on my painting  to really make them pop.

On the bottom of the piece, I glued a little light turquoise glitter on top of the mint color, to accentuate the icy effect I was going after.

I added these tiny Swarowski glue-on crystals to make resemble both stars in the sky, which are still a very remarkable part of this darker side of the year, and little ice crystals.

To give even more depth, I chose to use these bigger Swarowskis as well. Now that´s 3D!

This type of frame doesn´t draw attention to itself, and showcases the piece separating it from it´s surrounding. This baby ended up in our entrance hall. It´s the best place because you see it when you come home, setting you right into the mood of current sabbat, and is the last thing you see when exiting.

  I´m pleased with how this piece turned out. It wasn´t said that would happend, since I haven´t done painting in two decades.
  Not only am I happy now, but also encouraged to paint more sabbats!

IMBOLC FASHION: LIGHT BLUE DRESS (PERFECTED)

  The curse of being a perfectionist is, that while generally pleased with how things lay in life, you constantly keep looking for ways to make everything even better.
  That´s what I did with this dress.

Originally I made this look last year. But now I´ve fallen in love with this dress pattern, and rank it way higher than the one I used last time, how could I resist? Luckily they still had the same exact fabric left at the store. =) The fabric is rather thick, so it doesn´t drape as well as most. But apparently in this particular shape it actually does the look right, resembling more of a cartoon caracter´s dress (like the one in a beautiful film Arrietty).

I simply love an hourglass figure on women, because it is the feature that separates us from men.(To be honest, I´m surprised mine recovered this well from two pregnancies with enormous stomach. I`m not one of those ladies who get a "cute little bump". Even my own mother felt bad for me, saying that a belly that big must hurt! But gladly it did not.) Sadly a show-off waistline has not been fashionable, in street wear at least, for over ten years. But who cares, I do what pleases my aesthetic eye! And that´s what  I encourage everyone to do. A great motto I learned long ago, that applies to so many things, is: "It´s not right, it´s not wrong. It´s different."

Can you guess where the colors of this look are drawn from? Yes, those beautiful sunny Imbolc days with baby blue sky and shimmering white snow covering the ground.

I like to match makeup with clothes. To this look I used baby blue eye shadow on the inner lid, and shimmering dark grey on the outer. Must be careful not to overdo with repeating the same color, and giving thought on the overall appearance staying sleek. Because the blue eye shadow is so dominant, I kept everything else nude. Beige blush and clear lipgloss.

   Music is an important factor for me when sewing and creating overall. While making this dress I listened happy Japanese anime music. I like all sorts of musical genres, variety is the key.

YULE FASHION COLLECTION

  Although Christmas seems long gone, in my calendar Yule time extends all the way from early December through mid-January.
  Now Imbolc is approaching and it is time to sum up my Yule wardrobe. It´s all done and completed now, and instead of the usual five outfits, there are seven in this collection. Christmas and New Year both fall in Yule period, and they both have strong individual styles. So I made a couple of outfits just for Christmas and just for New Year.

This first outfit, St Lucy, can be worn all through Yule. It is merely wintery, not Christmasy.

The applique in the shirt is so rich, that only a pair of aromatherapy earrings is needed to complete the look.

Sheepskin tunic is also appropriate all Yule long. (I wear it with dark grey leggings, but I did not include them in the picture because I have not made them myself but are store-bought.)

Only tiny golden earrings are needed for this surprisingly masculine outfit.

The third outfit, Cottage look, is also wearable all through Yule.

This year I added new earrings for variety.

  The previous three outfits make the base of my artistic Yule fashion collection. In addition, here are the rest, which take turns. First two are for setting Christmas mood:

Gingerbread dress.

To my own surprise, The Elf outfit is the only one that celebrates the most obvious Christmas color, red.

This Yule I made new aromatherapy earrings to match the necklace, which I also remodeled this December. Live and learn. Perfectionism keeps one going. =)

The Fireworks outfit is for post-Christmas, when it feels like I´m ready for New Year´s mood.

All new diy jewelry this year.

Ball Drop in NYC is the other outfit for post-Christmas Yule time.

  I´m so happy to have completed this Yule collection! It´s an amazing feeling to know that I now have a fully working wardrobe for work, all year round!

SAMHAIN FASHION COLLECTION

  Here´s my complete artistic Samhain fashion collection, all five outfits:

The French Artist.

The 1800´s.

Besides Halloween, these spider & pearl aromatherapy earrings suit this outfit perfectly.

The Goth. Apparently lying flat on the floor does not do justice on the dress...

These fancy crosses are also aromatherapy earrings.

The Hobo.

Pentacle aromatherapy earrings.

Schoolgirl meets Ringu.

A pair of very classic bow earrings, found in numerous colors in my little shop Nelland Boutique.

  This collection of five outfits serves me throughout Samhain, each year from about mid-October until early December. It´s a bliss to pull out a new wardrobe each time a season changes!

BELTANE FASHION COLLECTION

  All five of my Beltane outfits are now pretty much completed. Here´s the whole collection at a glance:

"Outfit for a rainy day". The tunic is from last year, the pants... beige ones at least six years ago, and the green ones probably four. I found the green pair when digging through my closet, and added them here to give variety. The beginning of Beltane is still barren in nature, when the leaves and grasses have not yet begun to grow. That´s when the beige pair is more suitable. And once green spreads and takes over nature during the season, I can also switch to the green pants. =)

Green leafy aromatherapy earrings are perfect for this look!

"Lilac butterflies".

Lilac butterflies in aromatherapy earrings too.  =)

"Apple blossom- dress".

Drop-shaped silvery aromatherapy earrings.

"Teenage faery".

Bow and pearl, the very first type of aromatherapy earrings I created. Probably my most favorite still.

"Sleeping beauty" was the very first outfit in my Beltane collection. I made it two years ago, and have lost weight since. The pants became too large, so I gave them away. I did not have the time to make new ones this year, so the pants remain a project for next year. Sewing is time consuming...

"Pink rosy" aromatherapy earrings hit the nail to the head in this look!

  I feel like I´m quite well set for various occasions with this collection.
 Goodbye to not knowing what to wear!  =)

BELTANE FASHION: APPLE BLOSSOM DRESS

  This dress finished only two days before the ultimate deadline, of schools ending for the summer, last weekend. But I did make it, and was so happy to wear it for the occasion!

How classic is this?! A floral print dress with a feminine ruffle across the hemline. I believe that in our modern society these days, it actually takes some guts and a good self-esteem to pull this off. That´s what "equality" between men and women has done... (Plus if asked of the men at my work, they´d say they really are equal to women - they get paid like women! Ha ha...)

When designing this dress, all I had written down for the fabric was "nature print". I found this floral jersey, which surprisingly resembles apple blossoms when glanced at quickly. Very suitable for Beltane. The tone is quite cool, but it matches the tones of a cloudy early summer day.

There is a bolero hidden in all the flowers. Totally handy during Beltane (in my calendar from mid April to early June), when on one day it is hot and on the next nearly freezing cold. I can take it or leave it according to the weather.

The dress fabric is so busy with all of it´s blossoms, that I wanted to leave the rest to the minimum. Makeup is cool-toned to match the dress of course. I used light olive green and blue-ish dark green eyeshadows and cool pink lipgloss. The only warmer color applied here is the muted earth-toned dark pink blush. I pulled my hair up for simplicity´s sake and for the 1940´s feeling I inevitably get from this look.

Can´t live without my aromatherapy earrings, so I chose these drop-shaped silvery ones for the look. Bows with pearls were also tempting, but too traditional for the dress. I don´t want to look like a grandma (yet =).

There is a resemblance to the real deal.

Holy moly do the blossoms smell nice!