Monthly Archives: April 2011


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DIY Fringe Purse!


Going through the closet I came across a piece of gray pleather, the origins of which remain unknown :) And today I decided to make a purse out of it. Super easy, the only thing – it took half a day. So if you want to repeat this DIY project, make sure you have plenty of free time! All you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Fold the material in half, inside out:

2. Fold in about half an inch on the bottom

3. Outline the future seams, using a pencil and a ruler:

4. Sew the sides, fold the top and sew it with a running stitch:

5. Sew the lining, take a piece of fabric, I chose the bright orange and white one, fold it in half, just like you did with the pleather, and sew the side seams.

6. Cut up tassels, I have a total of 22 of them, 11 on each side! You will need manicure scissors to cut lines along the sides of the purse and insert those tassels. Remember, tassels go in before the lining, otherwise you can end up cutting your lining.

7. Sew the lining to the top of the purse. Sorry I didn’t take a picture of that, but here is what it looks like on a finished product:

8. Make the handles, by cutting a strip of pleather, and then sewing it up with one seam. It will take a while for the handles to flatten out. The will look like hollow tubes for a while :)

9. Sew the handles to the top of the purse. The length of handles is up to you, I didn’t really think about the length of mine, because the length of that piece of pleather dictated the length of the handles.

And finally, this is how it looks on me :)

Happy DIYing eberybody,

Xoxo

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Princess Katie Inspired Manicure


I absolutely love Kate’s simple, yet classy manicure! And guess what, you can do it too. I just did. All you need is some beige colored nail polish. I used 3 Free by Butter London, in Hoorah Henri.

Applied 2 coats, and here is what my hands look like now:

Butter London nail polish has got to be one of my favorite brands now, along with Nars! I highly recommend you try it, and the names are fun too! All England-related, just like the world likes it these days!

Xoxo


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The Royal Wedding, Reconsidered!


And the sarcasm of yesterday disappears, as Kate steps out of the car in her wedding dress, her and William say their wedding vows, and depart for the Buckingham Palace!

She traded the hat for the veil and the halo tiara, which I am sure she will trade in for the crown at some point in her life. Beautiful and poised, can’t wait for her to become the Queen!

For now, she has become a new role model for millions of girls all over the world! The flawless skin, the shiny hair…

… never too much make-up, no bright nail polish…

… amazing body (a result of cycling, jogging and workouts with light weights)…

She doesn’t need beauty gurus, she can be one herself! England, you have everything to be proud of! Congratulations!


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Royal wedding, Royal joke?


Yes, it’s the Royal week, and everyone has been crazy about the wedding. I actually feel bad for Kate Middleton. Can you imagine waking up next to Prince William every day? And the Waity-Katie nickname? That sticks better than duck tape! My favorite nail polish brand – Butter London – has buttered it up, by creating a $14 memorial to the nickname, called “No more Waity Katie”

I think I am going to stick to Tramp Stamp, Thames and Hoorah Henri (for more fun colors and cool names from 3 Free go here:

http://www.butterlondon.com/lacquers/grid

Then there are the jokes:

Kate Middleton has said she is devastated she never got to meet Diana.

Not long now, mate.

***

BBC News: “Prince William and Kate Middleton have named the day they will be married; April 29th”

I believe it was named that already.

***

I just sent Kate & William a wedding present
20% of my earnings for the past 5 years.

***

Then there is the doll, does anyone still plays with dolls by the way? Hey, this one comes with a great value!

And finally, the guests… They are definitely something:

Count Kalnoky of Transylvania
Romanian aristocrat whose lineage dates from 12th century
WHY: Landlord for Prince Charles’ two buy-to-let properties in Romania, bought in 2006.
DON’T MENTION: Dracula, Transylvania’s most famous resi-dent, or the war. Kalnoky’s family were driven out by the commu-nists and he only reclaimed his land after the fall of Ceausescu.

Rear Admiral Sir Donald Gosling and Miss Gabriella Di Nora
WHY: Three years ago, Charles and Camilla used Sir Donald’s £50million 246ft yacht for a Caribbean cruise that cost taxpayers £220,000 for a 12-day break.
DON’T MENTION: Life on the ocean wave. Rear Admiral is a purely honorary title in his case, a reward for his generous contributions to Naval charities. Sir Donald, 82, served just five years in the Navy after joining as an Able Seaman in 1944, and after being demobbed, he turned reclaimed bomb sites into parking lots. He netted £290million when he sold National Car Parks 50 years later.

Timur Kuanyshev
Kazakhstani oil and gas billionaire
WHY: His entry to the royal set came from his old pal Prince Michael of Kent, who invited him over in 2009.
DON’T MENTION: Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen’s comic Khazakhstani character. In October 1993 Kuanyshev was allegedly detained by Russian customs with his wife and two associates. They were accused of smuggling $1,000,000 of undeclared cash for a Khazakhstani bank in their underwear. The case never went to court.

Xoxo

PS. I know that the royal wedding is none of my business, but since all the bloggers are going crazy about it, and YouTube Beauty Gurus are making videos about Kate’s make up, I thought I deserved a say!

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/04/11/royal-wedding-guest-list-just-don-t-mention-the-war-dracula-or-borat-115875-23052720/#ixzz1Kon6vyrH


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12 Days 12 Hairstyles, Marie Claire Inspired


I like teaching ESL lessons about Fashion, it’s just something I can relate to! So last night as I was looking for some interesting articles, I came across this Hair Styles Look Book, and decided to pull 10 looks that I will do for the next 10 days. I will be taking a picture of myself everyday, and will post all of them in a week and a half. Here is the link to where I found them (though I am not positive that it’s the exact same one, but I think I am pretty close :) )

http://www.marieclaire.com/hair-beauty/medium-hair-how-to-hairstyles?ha=1

There were more than 60 looks, but these are the ones I chose!

Don’t forget to check back in 12 days, and see how all these hairstyles look on me:)

Xoxo


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Fringe Top. Yael Aflalo Inspired.


This is the second DIY project inspired by Urban Outfitters blog. I mentioned it earlier, and if you haven’t seen that first top, then definitely check it out here:

http://beingzhenya.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/this-into-that-joyce-lee-inspired/

The second top was inspired by Yael Aflalo. This is what it looks like:

I came across a video on YouTube that showed a lot of great fringe DIY ideas, and apparently it’s very popular this season. So I decided to give it a try. Now I had the perfect white t-shirt to cut up. It was a PJ shirt, with some stains on the bottom (this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of them:) ). I chose a shorter fringe, because I wasn’t comfortable wearing a long one. And again, everything is hand sewn :) For step by step instructions go here http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/features/this_into_that?cm_mmc=Social-_-FB-_-blog-_-thisintothatfeature

And this is what I ended up with:

Also – would love some opinions on the necklaces! Which one do you think goes better with the outfit?

Thanks for checking my blog out:)

Xoxo


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Pick a Date!


I finally had time to go through the rest of the stack of my vintage magazines, and pulled the looks that I liked. And at first I was going to do what I did before, and simply put a date under the picture, but then I decided to let you do it! You can comment and tell me which look belongs in which decade. And, well, if you take this seriously, the winner might just get a prize, which is a vintage red coat from my collection! If you don’t remember what it looks like, here is the link!

http://beingzhenya.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/my-vintage-collection/

Now again, these are the looks for the contest, it’s going to last 3 weeks (April, 25 – May,15).

There are quite a few pictures, but I’ve combined some, so there is a total of 10 dates that you will need to guess.

The date range? From 1960′s to 1990′s!

Again you just need to guess the decade! But if you want to give me an approximate year, that would be great too!

Good luck!

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 5.

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

10.


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This Into That. Joyce Lee Inspired.


If you’ve ever been in an UO store, and you like vintage, retro and chic just like me, you know that it’s love from the first sight. Needless to say their sales are a gift from above! And of course I follow Urban Outfitters on Facebook!

A couple days ago I saw this post:

http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/features/this_into_that?cm_mmc=Social-_-FB-_-blog-_-thisintothatfeature

And immediately clicked on it! What I found was a great inspiration for at least 2 future DIY projects. One of which I have finished yesterday, and I am half-way through with the other!

Now the project that inspired me was originally created by Joyce Lee, Urban Outfitters PR Assistant.

She turned this:

Into that:

I also had a button down shirt that I wanted to experiment with, if you remember, and if you’ve been reading my blog, you probably know that I am talking about my vintage shirt with bicycles. But if you don’t remember, don’t worry, here is a pic for you, one more time!

So I decided to experiment. Off came the sleeves and the collar:

Then I hemmed the top:

Made the straps out of a sleeve (still have one sleeve left over :) )

Made some pleats on the back:

And here is the final product. The front:

And the back:

And finally on me:

I hope you enjoyed it. I know I did!

Happy Easter everyone,

Xoxo


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Easter Pie. Breaking Traditions.


The Russian Easter tradition calls for a tall pie-like baked product, also know as “Kulich”. Now, not being a fan of the phallic symbol meaning, very often ascribed to this specific product, I decided to make an easter pie, using the same recipe, and my new oven!

1. Start off with melting 1 stick of butter (150 grams), and beating 5 eggs into it.

2. Add 2 1/2 cups (350 grams) white sugar

3. Add 7 oz (200 grams) of Cottage Cheese

4. Then 2 1/2 cups of flour

5. Don’t forget 2 tbsp baking powder! Then mix all the ingredients

6. Add some raisins (that’s the traditional filling, though this year I saw them add candied fruit). Pour/scrape/do whatever you can to get the batter into the pan! Here is mine, sitting in the oven @ 350 F/180 C.

Leave it there for 40 minutes or so! And Ta-Da!

You can add icing, or powdered sugar, but I used 0% fat cottage cheese, so what icing are you talking about? :)

Oh yeah, we ate some of it too!

Xoxo


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Matching Vogue


Last night in another boredom frenzy, after having forgotten about an ESL student, I started flipping through a 2008 Vogue with Natalya Vodyanova on the cover. And from there came my great inspiration, no, not from Natalya, from the Vogue! I came across this page

That reminded me of my amazing H&M gray sweater, that I could incorporate into my outfits, and match the ones in Vogue. So here is what I did!

1. I matched the ruffles perfectly, the only difference – my dress was teal, instead of white. Personally I prefer it that way!

Sweater: D&G

Skirt: Christopher

Clutch: Undercover

Sweater: H&M

Dress: Bought in Russia (that’s not a brand, it was actually bought in Russia at some discount store)

Necklaces: H&M, freecycled (free), gift from mom

Clutch: Target

2. I felt like a total loser, because I had a perfect piece to use for this look, and now I can’t find it. The chances are  - I threw it away! Pissed at myself I know. But I used what I had, and this is what I ended up with for Look #2!

Everything is D&G

Sweater: H&M

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Shirt: Saks Fifth Avenue

Necklace: Thrift Store

Clutch: Hand made

3. I chose not to copy look number 3 from Vogue, I am not a huge fan of gray sweatshirts, I had one from Walgreens or CVS (I think it cost about 6 bucks!) So instead I created my own look with a different sweater.

Sweatshirt: Topshop

Undershirt: Paul Smith Women

Skirt: Prada

Dress: H&M

Sweater: Voices of Europe

I hope you enjoyed my little “copy cat” experiment! This, again, proves that you can match your outfit of the day with almost any look from the Vogue Magazine, using the pieces you already have in your closet and a tidbit of imagination!

Xoxo

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