In keeping of beautiful things: A shopping tip

UK based An angel at my table will not only offer great items for lovers of flamboyant french interior design with a quirky twist, their site is also full of stunning, inspirational photos well worth a look.

link

In keeping of beautiful things: Closet care pt.I

I've had this in mind a long time, even before I moved actually but I think it's better now, my old closet was probably a bit too good. My current closet is a more common walk in with less space and shelfs so let's get to it.

First of all, get out all your stuff and start from scratch, if it's wort doing it's worth doing properly. The same rules as with the jewlery apply here: If you don't love it don't keep it!

Once you're done sorting that out you might want to think over how you want to divide the space, is your closet all lolita or do you have a dress up wardrobe that differ greatly from your everyday things? What's your closet situatuon? Do you have one big space or many small ones? Device a closet plan that caters to your style, your space and your needs.

This is my closet when it's empty, super boring, no shelf for shoes and a hat rack so high up that I actually can't reach it without a chair or something else to stand on.

In short not really my dream space but it's what I got for now.

I would do something about it but the apartment it a rental so I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to tinker around with stuff without upsetting the landlord and I don't even know how long I'm staying here anyway so I'll leave it be for now.First order of business is to find matching hangers for your entire closet, my favourite are theese black plastic hangers that you often get for free when shopping from Innocent world or Baby, the stars shine bright. I know alot of my friends hate them but I love how thin and lightweight they are, especially now that I have a smaler closet. They also fit all kinds of clothes becayse of how many different hooks they have.

As for hanging I have a couple of tips:

• Don't leave waist ties and bows tied for storage, if you don't tie them at the exact same place when you wear them it leaves the ribbon scrunched in the wrong place.
• Choose a display order for your clothes, it can be by print, colour, season, brand or whatever you prefer.
• Have one or a couple of ready coordinations on the hanger for wardrobe emergency occasions.
• The hangers "hook" shoul be open towards you when it's hanging, it makes it easier to take on and of the rack.
• If you have irreplaceble or expensive dresses you can give them some extra temporary protection by storing them in the clear plastic covers you get when you buy the dress new or dry clean it. If you're putting it away for a long time you should make a similar case but from a neutral coloured natural fabric.
• Keep an even space between the hangers and have them all face the same direction or it'll look messy.
• Don't hang cutsews and knits, they will stretch.

Coats and heavier jackets should probably be hung on sturdier hangers since mine are starting to get slightly bent from the weight. Bloomers and petticoats usualy come with litte ribbons on the inside of the waistband so that they can be hung on the same hangers as everything else but I was lucky enough to find a clip hanger that match my other things perfectly so I use that.That's it for part one!

In keeping of beautiful things: Declutter your life

It's been a while! This will just be a short entery in this series but I intend to post more tips on organizing shortly since I'm, big news, slowly preparing to move. Once that is over and done with I'll have an excellent opportunity to show step by step organization as I unpack and decorate. But that is for the future, today I will continue the focus on the little things, ergo jewelry! So we got the earrings out of the way but it doesn't stop there. Not only lolitas, but ladies in general, have a tendensy to turn into magpies and become hoarders of sparkely, cute things. And honestly, with so much gorgeousmess available, who can blame us? But there is such a thing as too much, if it starts to turn into clutter then you can't enjoy your things anymore. Necklaces and bracelets tangle, earrings loose their mate, you can't find that one ring you need for your outfit, it's terrible. In the end, taking time to organize will save you so much unnecessary ransacking through drawers so let's get started!

The first thing to do is naturaly to get rid of excessive things, be ruthless and keep only the things that you really, really love. If it was an investment you can always try to cut your loses and sell it but if it's just cheap, five dollar pieces, I would say don't bother with it. It's unlikley to be worth the effort so just throw it out!

Cleaning out is just the first step though, when you've done it once you need to maintain that order. Remember to control your impulses and not buy stuff just because it's cheap, think about wheather or not you will actually use it.

As for my storage, I keep my jewelry in the pull-out drawers of my make-up table and I prefer having my necklaces lying down instead of hanging but that's just a matter of taste.

I like them lying down because, I'll confess, I'm a box-o-holic, I keep everything from shoes, to bows and hats to necklaces in boxes. Most nicer jewelry come with cases from the store so just keep them in that unless it's really ugly.

For the pieces that come unwrapped from the store, there are other types of boxes who fit the purpose so be on the lookout. I ,for example, use a soap and match box.

I keep the boxes without a brand labeling open so I know what's in them and I stuff them with pink silk paper since they don't have those tiny velvet cussions that usualy come with boxes from the jewelry store. The paper isn't just for added cuteness, it works as a paddig whenever you bring your bling with you.

Now this is my pull-out drawer! I avoid stacking things on top of eachother, the best thing is to keep as much as possible visible so you always know what you've got. It makes it easy to pick what to wear with your daily outfits.

When you run out of suitable miniature boxes, it's time to break out the jewelry cases! They come in every shape and style imaginable so just pick and choose a couple that fit your general style of interior design. The egg was bought at a second hand shop for 50Kr. It can't be used as a display case so I keep plastic bangles and rings in it since they look like a tangeled mess if they are visible. The box was bought at an antique fair, also for about 50kr, but it's not old so you can find it or boxes just like it everywhere. Since I got mine used, the velvet on the inside is a bit worn but that doesn't matter, this case can be kept open so it needs to be filled up anyway. I used a throw away piece of red velvet again, left from my curtains, to create a soft bed for the jewelry.

Select pieces that go well together and with the box and arange them as you like, my theeme for this case is the interior design of a baroque castle, what do you think?

To be continued...

In keeping of beautiful things: Antique frame earring holder

I love beautiful things and I also love to display them in a beautiful way, so that I can enjoy them every day!

So I was thinking I'll start a little mini series here on Alice café, with simple tips on how to store your precious possessions in style.
First up is an baroque earring holder, to keep your beauties from getting tangeled.

Materials needed for this tutorial:

• Antique looking frame, leftover from one of my artshows, it was about 30kr at a junk store.
• A beautiful fabric, for me it's burgundy velvet leftover from a chair I redressed.
• A thicker felt fabric.

Remove the glass and instead of a picture, put the fabric in the frame. Put the board back behind the fabric and draw around it, cut the thick fabric to the correct size so it will fit in the frame. The felt will be what the earrings hang on to so if you have heavy studs or a thinner felt you might have to take two or three layers of it.
Put the board back in place and cut the excess velvet before you secure the back of the frame. You can pre-cut the velvet just like the felt but my piece, since it's a scrap, just barley covers the frame on the sides as it is.

Now it's it's just about done, all it needs is some earrings! I love it in this stage, I think it looks sort of like an old brooch.All Done! The jewelry is as beautiful as a piece of art and we have an earring holder fit for any princess, made entirely from scraps around my house!

See you next time lovlies ~