Magpie Monday - How to be beautiful

Just a quick Magpie Monday post to show a few books I've found recently. This Warne's Pleasure Book for Girls was published in 1933 and makes a nice addition to my collection. It was £3.00 from a charity bookshop in the Lake District.

What's that Lassie? Gertrude's fallen down an abandoned well?

The stories include 'The Unlucky Hockey Stick', 'Barbara's Speed Boat' and 'The Queer one of the Family' and suggest the usual mix of school shenanigans, high drama and unintentional hilarity.

I also found this 1988 Bunty annual for 40p, which contains a rather alarming story about a group of school boys attempting to obtain their (foxy) matron's vital statistics so they can buy her a new dress. When they're not hiding in her wardrobe, they're 'accidentally' bumping into her so that someone can sneak up on her with a tape measure! It's all a bit Benny Hill.

[click to enlarge pictures]

Finally a few extracts from a book I found at a carboot sale. It's called 'What Every Woman Should Know', and is a collection of clippings from the Daily Mail of the 1930s. 

Liz Jones: how to look snooty

There are plenty of handy household hints -  "sour milk makes a good cleaner for gilt picture frames" - recipes, and indepth analysis of the latest fashions; "blouse jackets are trumps for Autumn". I think my favourite part is the beauty pages though - woe betide the fashionable 30s woman who attempted to wear the latest 'tip-tilted hats' with 'the least suspcicion of a double chin' or with 'sagging cheek muscles'. Charming phrases such as 'bingo wings' and 'cankles' had yet to be invented, but it seems there was no shortage of imaginary flaws to focus on. Do you know anyone who suffers with "that fleshy lump at the back of the neck that is so disfiguring"? If contorting yourself between two mirrors proves that you are indeed afflicted - don't worry. 'It can be eradicated by the right exercise'.

If your face is OK but your figure lets you down - why not take up ice skating this winter? Personally I don't know anyone who puts on 8lbs in the summer which they then  lose in the winter - salad vs stew, I don't think so - but if this is your problem you'll be pleased to know that 'as you skate the flesh is actually massaged away between hips and ribs'.

 

Sadly I don't have much time for daily skating - am I doomed to be fat?

Yes.

Lakota x

Sharing this post with Liz at Magpie Monday and Thrift Share Monday

Don't forget it's Ta-dah! Tuesday here tomorrow.

Ta-dah! Tuesday - Minute Make - Button earrings

I'm usually a big believer in large earrings, but occasionally one's lobes need a rest. Whilst I'm intrigued by body modification, the stretched ear look is not really my bag, so very occasionally I have a break from the dangle. I'd had these mother of pearl star shaped buttons knocking around for a while, and decided they might as well adorn me as anything else. Thirty seconds of heating up a glue gun and I had one pair and was looking through my button tin for more appealing designs.

The cards say you'll be making new earrings. Or possibly being attacked by crayfish whilst bathing in the nude. Hard to say.

These are the type of earring posts you need. 6mm with flat pad and a scroll back. I recommend at least silver plate unless you want manky green ears. They're around £3 for 25 pairs, so you can make plenty for friends.

You'll want to make sure that no hot glue squeezes through the holes to the front of the button when you're attaching the backs, or you'll be left with unattractive hard glue 'bobbles' when it dries. To stop this happening, squish the button down firmly on a blob of blu-tack - hard enough to leave its imprint. Then do your glueing, allow to dry, and remove from the blu-tack. Ta-dah! Perfectly preserved.

I did make some drop earrings too. I bought these coconut shell heart buttons on ebay with the express purpose of turning them into earrings. You just need to add two jump rings and an earring wire.

Happily, they weigh a lot less than an actual coconut, so there's little chance of ending up like this:

Yes, yes, differing cultural ideals of beauty blah blah blah. But kittens could swing off those.

What you been up to? Link up!
Oh, and thank you for the most edifying response to my silly poems.

Lakota x

Other easy-peasy jewellery posts here:
Plectrum earrings
£20 note bangle
Nail varnish rings
Lego heart necklace

Poems...

Haiku
Mum at the school gates,
Do you know that your leggings
are see through? Guess not.


Anti-social
I don’t want to eat in your virtual café
(Your ‘about me’ says you’re 43)
Adding o’s does not make something funnier – LOOOOL!
And you can’t use apostrophe’s.
I don’t care that it rained on your washing
I don’t care what you’re having for tea
I’m beginning to think you’re a racist
And I’m not sure that Facebook’s for me.

Lakota x