Sunday 27 November 2011

ADVERTISE HERE

Hi! Long time no posts, hey :) Sorry lovelies I was unfortunately incapacitated in a surgical theater.
However, here I am happy and no longer in surgery!

Today, I begin my search for people/individuals/ businesses/etsy shop owners/ online stores etc. etc who would be interested in advertising on my blog for very very reasonable prices. If you are at all intereted, or know someone that might be, my email address is litttle.miss.sunshine@hotmail.com. Contact me so we can negotiate something!

I would love to have your advertisement on my page!!!!

xxxkatie

Monday 21 November 2011

Uses for Pure Soap

This post is all about my love of soap. Not dodgy, $1.00 packets of 5 soap from the supermarket which have all sorts of nasties and no glycerin. Real, pure soap made the good ol' way. I love the smell, I love the texture and I love how it works. I have so much of it, all around my house. Pure liquid castile soap, pure block soap and pure soap flakes. I shall now divulge some of the myriad uses of pure soap...




Pure Soap Flakes - soap flakes clean everything - The Pure Soap Flake Company - Pure Soap Flakes - soap flakes green cleans natrurally - green clean with soap flakes made in USA - 218-543-4829
pure soap flakes
1. For washing delicate clothes (expensive items you don't want to harm, lacy lingerie, vintage pieces, silks, woolens etc.) I poor about a teaspoon of pure liquid castile soap into the bottom of my sink/bucket and then fill with cold water. I use liquid castile soap for this because pure soap flakes can be very difficult to dissolve in cold water, whereas the liquid mixes easily. You must use tap water (room temperature/cold), as warm-hot water may damage delicate items or loosen colours in the fabric. Dry as usual, which is usually flat in shade for dedicates!


2. For laundering normally. Even in your washing machine. Pure soap flakes are great if you are using warm-hot water, liquid castile if you are using cold water. conditioning and smoothing effect on protein fibers such as wool and silk, and elicits a plush softening response in cellulose fibers such as cotton and flannel.  Babies clothes and blankets will be extra soft after washing in Pure Soap Flakes.


3. Laundering things for babies, people with allergies, hayfever or sensitive/atopic skin (or skin conditions such as eczema). Pure soap is unbelievably gentle, leaves barely any fragrance and will not cause any flare-ups in skin or allergies (for this I can vouch... I react to nearly every commercial laundry power with rashes and sinus allergies.)


4. Washing your hair! I know that people always tell you not to wash your hair with soap, but they are referring to the common soap which has been leeched of all its natural goodness and replaced with chemical nastiness. Pure liquid castile soap is especially good, as it has the same texture and consistency as normal shampoo, only is very gentle on hair and scalp. It even foams! When I finally got my scalp under control (I had eczema on my scalp because I am allergic to SLS(sodium laureth sulfate) which is in nearly every commercial shampoo and causes eczema in lots of people, I could start adding things to my liquid castile soap. For example, my current shampoo contains the following:


2 cups pure liquid castile soap
2 drops chamomile essential oil
2 drops rosemary essential oil
1 tablespoon of strong rosemary and lavender tea


Mix all ingredients together and store in an air-tight container. Wash hair as normal and rinse well :)


5. Bathing babies, normal skin or very sensitive skin. Add a little to your bath for super-cleansing water that is also super-gentle or use pure block soap as you would have used the yucky 'soap' you used to use which made you dry and itchy and smelled synthetic.


6. Washing your dishes! Dissolve a pinch of pure soap flakes in hot water and wash your dishes in it. Or add a little bit of pure liquid castile soap instead. 


7. Clean your countertops and benches! Mix 1 tbsp. pure liquid castile soap with a quart of warm water, spray it on the counter and wipe with a natural sponge. 

8. Wipe soiled leather furniture, upholstery or attire with a warm damp cloth first. Moisten a sponge with some soap and then rub the surface briskly. Then remove any soapy residue.  

9. Wash your pets

10. Clean valuable jewelry...and a drop of liquid castile soap to a cloth, and gently buff.

11. Wash any surface in your house. Walls, floors etc. etc. 

12. Clean your fireplace/oven etc and be amazed how well soap works!



The list goes on!!!!


If you know any other good uses for pure soap, please let me know!! I am a soap devotee!!

Sunday 20 November 2011

Places to buy cheap cosmetics online

Helllo, avid readers!
I am a cosmetic addict. I have so so many bathing, hygiene and beauty products. Its unbelievable. I don't even use most of it. I try it once or twice, then buy a new one. Tragic, I know. Wasteful, yes. BUT some good has come of it: I am now in a position to review and recommend many products!! It is like I was BORN to do a blog and write about beauty!
Well, buying lots of beauty products is an expensive habit. And I am sure that many of you share a similar habit, or simply like a bargain! Thus I have decided to compile a list of my favorite online beauty product purchasing haunts, which not only provide me with a range of products I can't necessarily buy here in Australia, they offer me super-low prices!
Let the list begin!

1. Strawberry net. This is one of my faves. Cheap with a humongous range and lots if info about each productau.strawberrynet.com  (there is often an ad link to it on this blog somewhere)
2. Ebay...just search what you want. I have gotten brand new, unopen packets of things which would have cost me $50.00 in a department store for $5. www.ebay.com
3. Groupon. Cheap. lots of stuff! www.groupon.com.au/Beauty
4. www.fragrancesandcosmetics.com.au/  This site has a good range of internation brands that I can't get in stores at home. 


Also, as the Australian dollar is so strong, buying from the brand's official website (if the brand is, say American, or any other currency that is currently lower than the Australian dollar or whatever dollar you are buying in...) you can get a bargain if the site only charges in one currency eg. Benefit Cosmetics. It is much cheaper to buy Benefit cosmetics online, even from their official store if you are buying in Aussie dollars. 


Please if you know any other good sites, LET ME KNOW!! Also for cheap vintage/ reproduction vintage/ Lolita style clothing. I love finding new sites!!

Random Courtney Brimms Artworks

Here are some random Courtney Brims artworks I really like. Courtney Brims is a Brisbane (Australia) artist I have always admired. These days, I see her work quite a bit in all sorts of unexpected places, like on T-shirts in surf-shop windows when I go home to visit my parents who live in a town on the beautiful coast of NSW. Anyway, I think there is a perfection and realism which is ethereal when contrasted with the oddities present in each picture. Like each artwork is suspended somewhere between reality and an alternate dream-world which is on the brink of normality, only slightly strange. I hope you like her as much as I do!    www.courtneybrims.com/










I wish I could make my hair look like the girls in these pictures...It reminds me a bit of Marie Antoinette's famous hair-do extravagance! Perhaps I will try and recreate a wearable version and show you all! 
HOW TALENTED AND AMAZING ARE THESE WORKS?!?! enviable imagination and creativity. 

Twitter

Hello Dearies
I have decided to get Twitter. And so, here is my twitter thingy so you can follow me, and I can follow you!

http://twitter.com/#!/kawaiikatieblog

kawaiikatieblog   is my twitter username.
love love to all

and a random picture I like to end the post...

This painting is by Courtney Brimms, one of my favorite artists. I think I will do a post on her so you can all learn to love her as much as I do!

xxxkatie

Cute Cakes!

Here are some cakes I made recently...I think they are quite cute. What do you guys think??

All I did was:

- I made a simple sponge cake, and when it was cool, used a cookie-cutter to get rounds.
- I made a sandwich of two sponge cake rounds, with a filling of jam, strawberries and a dairy-alternative cream (I'm lactose intolerant...I will post some recipes and how-tos about cooking for allergies, as even the most skeptical people can never guess that my deserts aren't laden with dairy)
- I covered by round sandwiches with Queens brand Royal Icing (following the instructions on the box)
- Then, I decorated them with things I found around my house...some ribbon, a fake butterfly, some mulberries from my mulberry tree. But I did make one aspect of the decorations...I wanted to try to make some Marzipan roses, like those they use on fancy wedding cakes and the like.
- To make the marzipan flowers, I dusted my hands with a little flour, and set to work fashioning the roses petal by petal. I will try my hand at making my first video so as to show you how to do it. They turned out really nicely...people thought I bought them! Yay!

xxxkatie

Outfit Post: Lunch date

The other day, I went out to lunch with the charming Candi and enjoyed the delights of O'Sushi (www.osushi.com.au) which serves my favorite sushi (and I have been to Japan several times, but I prefer the western versions of sushi...terrible, I know.) Anyway, I also got to sip away at another one of my favey food/beverage items...Peach Ice-Tea!! Yum Scrumptious!

Charming, no?


It was so so so so hot that day, that a tragedy befell me. I had to remove my beautiful (yet unfortunately synthetic) red Showcase petticoat. It was making me too hot, cooking my lower body in a basting of my own sweat and heat-rash. Gross. So, there was the tragedy...my skirt was not as full and perfect as it was, and there  was no sweet little red petticoat detail peeking out the bottom of the dress.

You will see what summer does to a skirt which deserves a petticoat in the photos below

Dress: Hell Bunny
Belt: Hell Bunny
Bag: A jewellery box, whose inside i replaced so it could be used as a handbag. Brand unknown, as it was a gift and has no internal tags