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: LILAC BUTTERFLIES

The fifth outfit for my Beltane wardrobe is inspired by butterflies and the color lilac. Why lilac, I do not know, but the feeling of it is strong, and has remained so since year 2000. Here´s to the wonder of early summer with all of it´s fluttering beauties:

A snug top with strongly cropped sleeves combined with really loose and wide-legged pants. Beltane is tricky, because in the beginning (mid/late April) it can be freezing cold, and in the end (early June) very hot. Therefore I compromised with the length of the sleeves. These pants are my modern, and practical, version of the ever-so-lovely pioneer skirts. (I do not understand how the ladies managed it with them piles of fabric down to their toes back then, but they sure were stylish!)

The sketch. This is probably the best place to see the makeup. It hardly ever shows well in my photos, but it is there, I swear, and even in lively colors. First soft, light green eyeshadow all over the moving lid plus all around the eyes, fading towards the eyebrow. Second to the lids, I apply purple to the outer 1/3 of the moving lid creating depth and giving definition to my otherwise light eyes. On the cheeks I dust muted, dark pink slightly to give a youthful glow, and then finish it all up with a coat of nude beige lipgloss.

It is important that the legs reach all the way, nearly, to the ground to give my legs length. An important little trick to perfect proportions...  =)

On the back there is an almost invisible, huge butterfly stitched straight onto the fabric with matching lilac thread. Yes, I know, it does not show at all in this picture. But this is just to show how subtle it is.

Here´s a better view of the butterfly. For some odd reason I had a big urge to apply it, and in maximum size. So I did, but muted the outlines to keep it more sophisticated. I think it makes a nice surprise for anyone who catches it. The shape of the butterfly comes from the earrings I wear with this outfit. I simply eyeballed the earrings when drawing their big "sister".

The butterflies in the front are more childlike, adding the feeling of wonder I experience each year seeing the world  burst into life on Beltane!

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!

WILD GREEN SAUCE WITH BROWN RICE

  Beltane begins my harvesting season. Nature is now abundant with new, fresh, tender, soft, and mild-tasting wild edible greens. It starts small and slow, but after a short while there is so much food around that it makes me cry inside not being able to collect them all!

  Wild greens have been on my menu, daily, for about two weeks now. Together with my daughter I have also collected and preserved them in the freezer. It is easy to add greens in nearly anything, but my favorites now are a green drink and a green sauce over grains/potatoes.

The recipe (for one):

1 handful wild edible greens (I used dandelion, stinging nettle, and bishop´s goutweed)
1/2 - 1 avocado
1/2 clove garlic
pinch sea salt
water

+ Blend everything in a high-speed blender until the sauce is rich and creamy. Check for salt.

Enjoy over brown rice, or as a dip with oven-baked potato wedges. This sauce makes me feel happy and bubbly inside. Makes for a great, energizing, lunch!

BELTANE FASHION: TEENAGE FAERY

  As we all know, faeries live in our world, but we just don´t see them very often. =)
  Beltane, for me, is the teenage time of year. At this point the year has grown from a baby (Imbolc) to a child (Ostara), and now turned into it´s teens.
This outfit combines those two elements. This is what my Teenage Faery looks like:

Rather bold yet simple, without too many layers of details. Just like teenagers.

This was my sketch of what was about to take form. I´m still letting the inner child in me to play with these Bratz paper dolls. They are so cool. =)

The wrist warmers are handy at this time of year. It is still quite cold in the beginning of Beltane (mid April) but it can be hot even towards the end (early June). Or in the morning it is still very cool and in the afternoon really warm. Tricky.  I can pull the warmers up and down accordingly.

I´ve learned to dig pants with stripes. These pants are nearly leggings, but I prefer to keep them a bit loose with such a short skirt like this one. The mini skirt is actually sewn together with the pants at the waist, so it will not twist around. And there is a petticoat underneath to keep it from crawling up or any other place less attractive. Skinny jeans/pants have been hip for such a long time, but I still do not dig them one bit. Especially on me. This is the only way I think they can look good, or should I say I can look good with them on. Butt needs to be covered, or even a skinny little faery can look bulgy.

Makeup is surprisingly minimal. Teens don´t usually yet wear loads of makeup (or if they do, it is not done in the manner I want to embrace  =).  So I kept the colors nude, except for the pink lipgloss and a touch of pink blush on the cheeks, to give a healthy and youthful glow. This shirt is as hot as my pink can go. When I applied my new pink lipgloss on for the first time with this look, I feared I´d look too Barbie-like. But thanks to the other parts of the outfit, I think I managed to dodge that trap! Why do so many women want to look like plastic dolls? Embrace well cared for natural beauty instead.

I trimmed the sleeves by stitching a narrow zig zag around the edges. It is so suitable for all faeries and gives a girly and a bit of a romantic touch.

  In the beginning I did not have a clear vision of what this outfit should be like. I only had my hot pink, denim, and the mini skirt. I marched in to the fabric shop and screened what they had, and did the best I could. Could not find stretchy thin denim for the skirt. Had to improvise. Ended up buying a tad too little shirt fabric (because it shrunk soooo much in the pre-wash), that I had to improvise with the outer layer of the back piece too. Did you notice how it is shorter than the inner one?
  Making an outfit is always a path. You never know exactly what there will stand at the end. This end I like very much.

This faery is no longer in her teens, but who cares?! Beauty and style belong to all of us women, and many of us only get better as we pass our teens. Age is no excuse to look bad. I love the saying "Beauty is to a woman, what money is to a man"! Wise words...

BAG-IN-A-BAG: BELTANE STYLE

  My new favorite set of handbags, now in colors of Beltane:

 Here the bags are empty and one inside the other. Most often I only have so little stuff inside the big one, that the small one fits in it easily.

I found the perfect, subtle, warm, light green faux leather fabric for the bags. Faux leather is the perfect material because it keeps any moisture out, and is easy to just wipe clean.

Whenever I hit the town running errands, I place the big bag in the trunk of my car. It holds stuff I need to have with me just in case, like diapers for my little girl or my allergy medication, but most often don´t use. The small one I carry with me wherever I go, and I have all the important things in it, like the wallet, phone, keys, and lipbalm.

A stylish pair, aren´t they?

The lining crowns the whole look. It is deliberately left visible on the upper edge, because the root and stem of my Beltane palette is the combination of green and pink. Romantic images of perfume bottles and tiny roses are pictured in the cotton lining.

  I made a set of these same bags, but in different color, for my Ostara collection too. You can see it here. These babies have proven to be totally handy in real life! I´m happy to have invented them.

TOAD TIME

  I love frogs and toads! For some odd reason I find them super sympathetic and cute. And now it is their time to find brides and grooms, so they are boldly on the move. How cool!

"What are you looking at?"

"Vogue!"

 

PERFECT BELTANE EARRINGS

  These cute aromatherapy earrings capture the essence of my Beltane:

Sweet pink roses combined with essential geranium oil.

  I choose essential geranium oil as the scent for Beltane. It is rose-like, but much cheaper than authentic essential rose oil. And to be honest, I´m not sure which has a nicer scent, they´re both mesmerizing.

  I am often asked which essential oil is good in general. I would say they´re all wellness-promoting, so no matter which one you choose, you can´t go wrong. Essential oils do have healing properties, but besides them, you can also go by your nose. Choose the one(s) you like. That´s what I did with geranium oil, and got a bunch of wellbeing as a side effect.  =)

P.S I made two extra pairs of these earrings, which are now available on my shop Nelland Boutique for 20eur (free shipping & handling worldwide).  

WELCOME BELTANE!

  Yes, it is finally here, the very beginning of summer! The signs are all over by now:

Black crows are flying around in pairs.

The most obvious sign is the farmers beginning their annual field work. Here is white cabbage on the way.

Willow has outgrown it´s kittens.

Birch pollen is abundant and everywhere!

Even lady bugs are out and about. I have a love/hate relationship with these creatures. They are adorably pretty, but unfortunately I have had quite a few of them actually biting me over the years. I have not even taken them in to my hand or anything, they´ve just come out of the blue and bitten me! No fair...

Out of the barren ground they rise. Coltsfoot is like a miniature sun itself.

As a smart girl, my two-year-old points her finger at the fresh wild sprouts and says "food, food, food"!

From now on life can be nothing but sweet...

  Yes, the time has come to turn the wheel of the year to Beltane. Yipee!

HOT DAY´S COOL LUNCH

  This is the first year I have rhubarb in my garden, and I´m taking full advantage of it!

  Today was another hot day, and I literally had no appetite. But a girl has got to eat, so I made this for an easy-to-eat lunch:

Rhubarb kissel and summer squash scones. (As you can see, there is not much rhubarb left in the ground =)

Rhubarb is excellent for kissel. It dilutes in the juice and becomes mild, but still keeping it´s signiture tanginess.

Can I praise these scones more than I already have in this blog? My forever favorite bread. 100% healthy and tasty and quick and easy, and turns into so many different tastes and uses. This time accompanied by summer squash. No butter or spread needed, these babies are soft and slightly salty, and ready-to-eat from the oven.

The recipe for rhubarb kissel:

1/2 liter rhubarb, peeled and chopped
1 dl water
1 liter juice, your favorite kind (I used rhubarb & strawberry, low-calorie version)
5 Tbsp potato starch

+ Bring the rhubab and 1 dl water into a boil in a kettle. Let simmer for about 5-10 min, until the rhubarb has softened and is breaking into pieces.
  Add in the juice, but saving a little to mix the potato starch in for later, and bring to a boil again. As soon as the rhubarb mixture boils, pour in the potato starch and juice mixture slowly, stirring well while you pour. Mix and wait until the kyssel has bubbled a few times, then remove from heat and let cool. (You can sprinkle some sugar on top to prevent from crusting, but I never do. I try to omit "useless" sugar, and save it for a real need.)

The recipe for summer squash scones:

4 dl gluten-free flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 dl water (or as needed to make an easy-to-spread dough)
1 summer squash, shredded finely

+ Mix the dry, then add the wet ingredients. Place on a baking sheet layered oven tray, forming 9 flat scones. Bake at 225 Celsius for 15-20 min.
  Quick and easy, just the way I like it!


  If you are hoping to lose weight or keep from gaining any, I can recommend this. The foods contain relatively few calories to their quantity/size, so they will fill you up, but not make you fat.