Merry (belated) Christmas

In translation: Merry Christmas

But the holidays didn't go without preparations. This past Sunday I went to bed at 6am only to finish the decorations for the tree, almost 2 kilos of cookies, a handbag - gift for my sister, decorated our place a bit and sewed the late St. Nicholas' gift for my sister's family.

But.. I love being a great elf. :)

Hope your holidays are as wonderful and eventful as they can be.
Merry Christmas everyone! God bless you.

Christmas Decorations at my place

Nothing new that I love December and Christmas, right? Well if it is new to you check some of the previous entries, otherwise just keep on reading. :)
It wouldn't be a proper post if I wouldn't mention my fabric store. Yes, I was there a few times again and bought all these cute Christmas themed fabrics. If you have time go check them out as they are 15% off this week.

So they all have a purpose and I've actually already used some of them.

From the left the first one is now a table cloth that I absolutely love.

Second one, super cute hearts, are a part of another table cloth and also Christmas tree ornaments.

The next one is my favourite because of the reindeers and the print that is actually soft, sort of velvety, and used it to make gift pouches. (Picture of that coming as soon as I make another one.)

Then Christmas trees for Christmas tree ornaments. Tree-ception. ;)

The red with golden print will serve for out home decoration that is not yet done and also you can check it out on a Christmas bag I made.

Last but not least and the only one that doesn't have a purpose yet is the one with the loveliest hearts. I might just use these for some more ornaments for the windows or something. Or if you have any ideas, please do share. :)

I'll try to put a tutorial of this ornaments up tomorrow but maybe on Thursday or Maybe even Friday. Bear with me. :)

Then yesterday I got this Christmas sock from my dear Hilary and is now already up on the wall. :)

Oh and thought I'd try how to scene my table for Christmas. It's too early though so I put the cribs away for a few more days but I like it a lot so here it is.

Oh, plus, I tried this on my nails and it kinda worked. I was going for Christmas holly on my nails and well it's pretty good, OK at least, especially if you consider the fact that I don't have any special thin brushes. Anyway I like it because it's Christmaaas. :)

Hope you're enjoying your December. :)

Busy practices for opera La Cecchina

And tired. Too tired to put any interesting new posts on, maybe tomorrow, but not today, too much to do.

I just came home from Academy, 5 hours of practice is not such fun. And a few hours yesterday were not fun as well. And tomorrow they won't be either.
But in the end it will all be worth it so reserve your time on 9th and 10th January to come see La Cecchina - La buona figliuola, an italian opera buffa written by Niccolo Piccinni in 1760.
You can get your tickets and read more about the production here.

Slovenian bloggers: Slovenian Bloggers 25. 11. - 1. 12.

I started posting my blogs on this amazing site that brought slovene bloggers together. Voila. :)

Slovenian bloggers: Slovenian Bloggers 25. 11. - 1. 12.:

Ewie - with colors through cold days.

Lina - new in November. 

Marcela - meeeow! Donating.

Kaja R. shared her Spinach Grilled Cheese recipe.

Anja Vilinesa - out with the old in with the new. 

UniqaPoly - review and swatches of Sleek i-Divine eyeshadow palette Sunset.

Gin Shivers did some baroque nail art. 

Sabina - recipe for homemade granola bars. 

Tanita Weith - new shoes. 

Kat. - fall bucket list. 

Maja The Cake Baby - whole wheat cinnamon nutmeg cookies.

Adjusting Beauty - review of Essie Toggle to the top.

Maja - my everyday makeup products. 

Mateja - beautifull manicure with OPI DS Extravagance. 

Dancing with my cat - find awesome leggings. 

Mateja & Mateja - Mua shade 8 and Essence Hugs & Kisses. 

Maja Ena - before and after November. 

C`est la vie - Zagreb fashion week. 

Anja-Anja - empties October & November. 

Ula - today on her nails. 

Sanja wrote about her November favourites. 

Simona went shopping for some goodies in November. 

Deja - winged smokey. 

Pina baked some delicious muffins. 

N. Purcell started her happy December with new ideas. 

DIY Christmas Tree Nails Decoration and St. Nicholas

Saint Nicholas stopped by tonight! We went to see him yesterday already with my nephews and then at home he was super great this year and brought me a gift card for (yeah you guessed it) Svet metraže. And some other treats and I even got some presents from my sister. But that will be another post on Sunday about that because we'll have a family meeting and well, I think I might get some more. :D (I'm very humble, I know.)
Also yesterday we had a party with some friends from Academy and my gift partner brought me an amazing tea set. Thank you, Jernej, so much. It's already in good use.

But today's post is not about Nicholas but about my Christmas tree nails I did two days ago. I don't have much equipment so it could be better but I tried my best and here is sort of a tutorial to see how to make your own. Of course the choice of colours is yours. Plus I was in a bit of a rush so there's no base coat, only top one.

Use tape to create a triangle for the tree. If you're putting a base coat make sure you use a tape that won't peel off that layer.

Colour and let it dry.

Take the tape off and then decide what colour you'll use for the decorations and what pattern you'll make.

I did the strips and a dot on the top, supposedly a star.

Add a clear top layer and voila.

And now you're ready to show off these nails in your fingerless gloves while sipping mulled wine in a decorated city center.
Enjoy your weekend. :)
PS: These guys are amazing!

DIY Advent Garland from Toilet Paper Rolls

This past two months I've constantly been seeing this idea on facebook sites and pinterest and everywhere and it seemed really easy. And it is. :)

I know it's a little late to put this idea on since advent already started this Sunday but you can always decorate your house a bit more. And you can do this with your kids because it's really super super easy.

Happy December is ON! :)

Started on time this year! And the fact that start of the advent colides with the date is absolutely perfect as well. :)
So even though the lights of Ljubljana are not yet lit (Tuesday, Dec 3 if you want to go check it out) I am in the mood for decorations and outfits and nails and songs, oh especially songs. And especially my favourite Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams.
Here's now what I came up with already and I'll put on more detailed collages soon, as usual.

Our 'December' Table Cloth in the making

New 'Happy December' Bag

Advent Garland from toilet paper roll

Biscuits, of course, like last year

New skirt and shawl, fabric from Svet metraže, thanks to Eva for the pic

As you know, I LOVE December. And spread this love even if just by giving a smile to someone, because this month is especially good for doing so, and it might, no, it WILL make someone's day. :)

Hope you like the pics and enjoy December. :)

DIY Project: Redo an Upholstered Kitchen Bench - Part 1

Today we, my sister and I, finally really got to start with our project to redo her kitchen bench.

The old one was just, well, horrible already. Old fabric plus it didn't even match anything in there, don't know what the previous owners were thinking honestly.
But the project goes a month or more back with a visit to Svet metraže, the fabric store, to look for the fabric. My sister decided for one with flowers on but of course they didn't have enough of it. But they said there's still some in the other store in Ljubljana and this lady says she'll let someone know to look into it. It all proved false after 5 days when I was back there asking what's happening and the guy in charge of that didn't know what I was even talking about. So he made some calls and discovered that there's none in that store anyway. Now what. OK, let's order some. And I went back home only to return in a few days to hear that this particular fabric is actually no longer in the making. Meaning that this industry in Netherlands that used to make it now just doesn't anymore. Moved it out of their plan. So no this particular fabric ever again. Ever.
And we were pretty much back in square one. Find the fabric.
(PS: Everyone is happy now that this happened actually, the fabric was kinda dorky and would fit a country house.)
Because we opted for a better fabric, tetris-like, that is super cool. So I go there to Svet metraže to buy it and guess what happened. They didn't have enough metres anymore. OK, let's call the other store, it says on the Internet they still have a lot. Turns out the site hasn't been updated on this matter for some time. They only had just enough for me but it was on reservation. Well for how long and what if they sell it then? And all this waiting and problems just when everyone was finally feeling good about the remaking and ready for it and want it done before holidays and all.
Next was a happy day though. The other store did have enough meters and they sent the fabric to the one I go to and I went to pick it up the next day, bought enough foam and we were good to go. :)
Then we decided to wait another 10 days because no one in our family has done anything like this before so we figured I should get some infos at this class in my fabric store that showed how to redo an upholstered chair. It looked super freaky and something I could never do, but I guess the 'one for all and all for one' saying works here. For today, my sister, her husband and their five kids all helped with redoing their bench. We started kinda late in the day and at first it almost seemed like my only role is to be the project manager and boss people around, haha. But the older two left then and the younger ones couldn't really help much so I did my share of (what proved not to be super freaky) job. We didn't finish all of it yet but here are some (poor quality) pics of the process, part one. ;)

And I promise to make better pictures for next time when we'll be finishing this up.
Hope you like it because we LOVE it. :)

DIY Yoga Mat Bag

About a month ago Polona contacted me about this special bag she wanted, a bag that would fit (not her laptop or oboe but) her yoga mat. Then it took us some time to find the fabric that she would like and the fact that she's currently not in Slovenia didn't help because I had to go looking for the right one myself. And then taking pictures, sending it to her, next time checking the prices, then figuring out some are way too thin to make a bag at all. Finally I actually found one fabric at home that I forgot about before.
And this one was the one.
Then it took some measuring and some precise, well a lot of precise cutting and sewing so that it would fit the best and not be too small but also not too big.
Anywho, I managed and here is the final product. It's already on it's way to Switzerland and I can't wait to hear some thoughts on it. :)

PS: Now I really can't wait for December to start, I actually already put some decorations on, haha, well just this fabric I found.
(I did though remove those bright coloured vases at least.)

Finally DIY Owls Handbags and Polka Dots on My Nails

You might've seen this on my Facebook page @Purcell's Purse or on my profile.
But now finally putting them on my blog as well since they seem to be the most popular bags of all times. I have to admit owls are super cute plus super trendy now so I understand the fuzz around it.
I managed to make 4 of them already which means 4 satisfied customers. You can see the pictures of two of them below. And be sure to mind the inner fabric, because they might not look different on the outside but the touch with the inner colour is priceless in my humble opinion. ;)
Hope you like them.

Follow up: Already sewed another bag, this one for my sister who had special ideas again so here you have an added yellow line, because otherwise this bag really lacks colours. ;)

Oh, also took the time to redo my nails.

PS: Can't wait for happy December to start so I can finally bake some of my favourite cookies.

DIY Music Bags and New Fabrics

 So studying on Academy of music makes you be involved in orchestras and other projects with other musicians. Obviously. And then everyone there is of course crazy about all things musical. And bags made out of fabric that has some notes and instruments etc on is no exception.

So lately Neža and Špela ordered these two bags, quite different in size and the colour of the inner fabric and of course both absolutely great.

I only took these two pictures of the bag on my phone, therefore not so good quality and no details.

And today I was in Svet metraže again. It's been five days since my last visit, folks, five (5) days. That means I'm so not serious as a customer. Forgive me. :D
But anywho, joke aside, today I've spent almost two hours there, oops, and spent quite some money and brought home some great fabrics for some ordered bags and some to spare and make bags with no particular order.

If you want a bag and check more of them out visit my facebook page @Purcell's Purse with a new edited album of handbags.

Autumn/Fall nails

Last week on Slovenian Bloggers there was this entry on Adjusting Beauty I knew straight away I will have to try it out. Wasn't sure how it will come out since I don't have an orange nail polish or a proper sponge or long(ish) nails. But I tried my best and came up with what you can see on the pictures below.

For base I used this old Visions nail polish that is kinda a sparkly beige. To create the 'orange' fall leaves colour I applied some red (essence fame fatal) and yellow (s-he) on cosmetic pad. After adding some gold shimmer (essence go bold!) I finished the look with clear top coat (Shana).

Now let's go out and enjoy this perfect sunshine and sparkle away with our nails. :)

Owl Attack

Instant improvement of one's fabric: add owls. :)

Which is what I did today. Bought 7 different owl fabrics for two reasons: handbags and handkerchiefs and cute. Oh, that's three reason. ;)

Hope you like them.

Keep coming back for there will be a lot going on in the future. Thanks.
@Purcell's Purse

DIY Twin Roses Handbags

Well it has finally been one weekend that I was free and got the time to take pictures of the new bags and get some me time, well not really but that's another story.

What I already got done during the week is sewing all these handbags, a total of seven (that is 7!).
(Yeah, and I always say I don't have any time, I know, I just took some, oops).

 These are the first two sets of twin bags I made this week, all four of them. And below there are detailed collages of the rose ones.

For the striped pink and green twins check out the previous entry.

And tomorrow I'm going back to Svet metraze (been there 5 times in the last week already) and buying some more fabrics for the bags that you've ordered. I can't wait and hopefully you can't wait either. ;)

Oh, PS: For the ones who read the previous post: I successfully persuaded my sister to start learning that Rachmaninoff. ;)

DIY green and pink striped twin bags

It's been too long, way too long since I sewed anything but now I'm back on the scene with my sewing maschine back on my desk and what else to do than start right away.

There has been a few people that had their birthdays and I'm so super late with everything that I only sewed these bags for them now.

These are for two of my dear friends, twin bags as I would call them, one bigger and one smaller. I picked the colours that I hope will suit them, I tried my best. :)
And Svet metraze helped me with that, especially my favourite salesman was being as sweet as always. ;) 

Hope you like them.

Keep sure to come back in a few days as there will be more entries soon and meanwhile check out my new page Purcell's Purse on facebook and follow me on pinterest and twitter. Thank you! :)

And if you feel like listening to some piano this is one amazing piece by Rachmaninov, that I'm trying to persuade my sister to learn. :)