MINTY GREEN SUMMER DRESS FOR A LITTLE GIRL

  Both of my kids have too few summer clothes to wear (shame on me). I´m desperately trying to find the time to fill in the gap, and I can but wonder why sewing has to be sooooo time consuming...!

  Here is my two-year-old´s newest garment:

Still dodging pink, I chose this minty green-and-white-striped fabric. It is a little sporty even, and to steer the feeling of a tennis court away, I chose a model with a ruffled hem.  

This dress was a good ground to add these padded butterflies I got some time ago. (Yes, the same kind as in my own Lilac butterflies- outfit.) They are so girly and cute, who needs pink anymore?  =)

No gimmicks in the back, letting the butterflies on the sleeves be the focus.

A narrow cotton lace circles the very edge of the hem, again, to reduce sportiness. After all, this dress is for everyday wear, not sports events.

  It has been cool here lately. But now I feel like warm days should find our way, so I can adore my girl in her new dress!

EATING PLAN FOR LITHA

  Eating simple and raw keeps fascinating me. I have tried many different ways of eating in the past, including petit macro and raw foods, and have found both good and bad in most. But none have felt perfect for me, so the search continues.

  I love carbs. Often I have been left craving for more carbs, and therefore indulged in generous amounts of chocolate in the evenings (I seriously wonder why I am not heavier than my current state!). So I figured incorporating more fruit and berries in to my diet might help fight the sugar cravings.
 I searched the net, and found banana diet and fruitarian diets, which both sound like the way I want to try next. Besides, what could be a better time to start eating more fresh produce than now, in the middle of summer?

  Here´s my own plan for this Litha:
 

Breakfast:
green tea, plain
raw fruits and berries + handful of nuts/seeds

Lunch:
water
raw veggies + grains (this can be anything imaginable like salads, dips, sandwiches, pasta, brown rice, lettuce wraps, etc.)

Dinner:
green tea
raw fruits and berries + handful of nuts/seeds
dried fruit for dessert (to imitate the concentrated sugar I´m used to in chocolate :)

  I know if I followed this plan to the letter, I would never have to step on the scale again. But I take baby steps, and think of it like a guide map rather than a book of laws. And I do not want to upset my stomach by making too drastic changes!

  Delicious, energetic, and healthy midsummer to all!

 

WELCOME LITHA!

  The time has come to greet Litha again. Earlier this week I emptied my wardrobe of Beltane clothes, and replaced them with Litha ones. There are three outfits still missing, so I have my hands full trying to get them done!

  Meanwhile, nature is in it´s fullest green, and flowers are blooming everywhere. The nights are light and short, and I freaking love this time of year! It has started off pretty rainy this year, but none the less, it is midsummer!!!

  Here is a little something my eyes have feasted on in the past few days:

Three years ago I planted these rhododendron to our backyard just to see if they would survive. I´m no gardener, and I do not want to spend my time trying to keep reluctant plants alive. But these turned out more than willing to grow and bloom.

In fact I´ve never really even liked rhodos, but there is naturally good soil for them in the far corner of our yard, so why not? And now seeing them bloom this gorgeously, how could I not like them?!

In fact, I could watch this beauty year round!

And then it started to rain again... Too bad for a sun lover like me, but naturally good for the nature.

  I can´t believe it is midsummer next week! Yipee!

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!

BAG-IN-A-BAG: FREEDOM STYLE

  So far I have made only sabbat related handbags. Now it was time to make a pair of timeless, year-round, bags for my Freedom-collection. That´s the one I wear the most during these maternity leave days anyhow.

See the whole deal in my column Nelland Living on PaganPages.org!

  I surprised myself by the sleek and modern outcome. Cool!