Tips and Advice « WishWishWish

Tea for Two

November 28th, 2011

The Vintage Tea Party Book

Sundays; the perfect time for a bit of baking – something I’d been itching to do since I got my hands on the Vintage Tea Party book earlier in the year. With a few hours spare on a Sunday morning, I decided that I’d review the book properly by trying out a few of the recipes and sharing the results with you..and consequently gobbling them up. It’s a shame you couldn’t really come to tea, as the only guest I had was rather unwilling, but I turned him in to my “Mrs Nesbitt” anyway (Toy Story reference, anyone?).

I decided to try out the chocolate brioche hearts (or mini stars, in my case), classic scones, and a triple berry smoothie. Not exactly a balanced meal, but an extremely yummy one! Now, even these few things were a big enough task, and made a mess to match, so I dread to think what my kitchen would look like if I attempted a larger ‘tea party’, with actual guests. Still, Angel has included tips on everything from invites & decorating your house (including a nifty stencil of the Queen!) to vintage hair and make-up tutorials, which I thought were such great touches!

The images and illustrations in the book are my favourite thing – I’ve studied each page meticulously, as they are so beautiful! But on to reviewing the food. I chose a few of the easier recipes, as I’m not the most talented chef, but I even managed to mess them up a little! The brioche stars turned out a bit too salty as I went crazy with the butter when I was frying them, and the scones caught a little on top too, but still tasted perfect. Definitely okay for a first attempt!

If you have a space on your Christmas lists, or are looking for a present for a vintage loving lady, then I couldn’t recommend this book more. I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited by a cook book! It has such amazing ideas, including ways to present your food, too. There are some really creative party food ideas that look worth trying out.

Both Miguel and Oscar the cat enjoyed their afternoon treats in the end! x

Back To School Wishlist!

September 14th, 2011

Back By Popular Demand

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration. Perhaps 2 people max asked if I was going to compile a ‘back to school’ post again this year, but I didn’t take much encouraging, seeing as this will be the last year that I actually go “back to school”!! I’ve been happily nestling under the warm, safe wing of education for the past 17 years *gulp* and next year I won’t have the same silly excuse to buy a new pencil case or lunch box. Bit scary, eh?

I think all of my above picks are worth buying if you’re not heading back to school too. You don’t really need a new hat..it doesn’t hold any educational value or anything, but it’s pretty, and that’s what we like ; )

1. A French & English Confectioners leather backpack has been on my wishlist fooooreverrrr. How amazing would this be to carry your books in? Going back to school has always been an excuse for a new, roomy, hard-wearing bag. Whilst I haven’t got my mitts on this one, I had another bag for my birthday that is going to be perfect to lug my laptop around uni.

2. This Topshop Purse features the sweetest map of London, just the right thing to carry your dinner money in (the first of many tedious links to going to school!)

3. If you’re anything like me, writing lists is almost like a pastime. Even when I’ve only got the housework to do, I’ll go to the trouble of writing down “Breakfast. Shower.” As if I needed to be reminded! So imagine how hectic it gets when I’ve got uni work to contend with! These sticky notes from Modcloth would be the perfect solution to my note-making needs.

4. If you’re at uni (good luck to those of you just starting!), halls can be pretty glum-looking, so spruce them up with a print. I recommend Krisatomic – I love her 50′s Girl print!

5. Miscellaneous notebooks to write miscellaneous notes in! These, naturally, are by O-Check!

6. My dream diary is back again for another year! I maaaay have preordered the Frankie 2012 Diary as soon as I heard about it, too. I don’t need to explain why this is on the list, do I?!

7. Not strictly necessary, but I’m a hat girl, so it’s on the list any way! This one is from New Look.

8. I told myself that this autumn I’m going to wear more jumpers to avoid wandering around uni in my impractical coat all the time. I don’t really have any! And whilst this one is probably a wee bit too expensive, the colour is perfect!

9. I’m not one of those girls that goes to university in heels just because I do a fashion degree, no siree. A comfy pair of flats need no explanation!

WishWishWish Photoshop Actions

July 8th, 2011

WishWishOne

WishWishTwo

WishWishThree

One of my most frequently asked questions is how I edit my pictures. Whilst I’ve never thought I was particularly great at it, I do know my way around Photoshop, so rather than try to explain how I edit my pictures, I’ve created these Actions so you can do it too with the click of a button!

For those of you that don’t know what an Action is – it’s something that you can download, load to Photoshop, and then when you press the play button, it edits the picture that you have open for you. I’m not sure if that’s the best description – if you’re still confused and want to know how to use actions, just take a peek on YouTube as there are loads of tutorials.

As you can see from above, the actions are varying in their degrees of “vintageness”..but there is no reason to keep them exactly as you see them. Have a play around with the layers, and change the opacity until it looks perfect for your own image. That’s how I learned how to use Photoshop and familiarised myself with the various tools, so hopefully it will help you too!

I also created a little zip file with a few ‘Bokeh’ images for you to overlay and create a glittery, flared effect. For those interested, the images were created from fireworks at Glastonbury Festival! Simply resize the image, set it as a new layer above your original image, and then play around with the layer style – I recommend Soft Light!

So, without further ado, download the set of Photoshop Actions here, and the the 3 Bokeh images here.

If you have any questions, just ask in the comments and I’ll try and help!

If you’d like a step-by-step tutorial, I posted one last year! Take a look! x

Vintage in Vegas

July 5th, 2011

Happy 4th 5th of July!

This post was supposed to go up yesterday – it seemed fitting to post my Vegas vintage guide on the 4th of July, but sadly a broken click-pad on my Mac makes for huge difficulties in the editing department! But I’m heeeere now, and hope that my American readers had a fantastic day!

When I was over in Vegas, I dodged the shops that I could find in London and made a beeline for the kind of places that I really get excited about – small, independent vintage stores! Hopefully if you happen to visit Vegas too you’ll find this useful.

Now there isn’t a huge amount of vintage in Vegas, but definitely enough shops to spend a day visiting them. Whilst some of these places are relatively close to each other, I wouldn’t recommend walking, especially if you visit in the summer! I was lucky enough to have my friend Tracy and her air-conditioned car on hand to show me around, as I didn’t find the buses very tourist friendly and waiting for them in the heat is no fun either!

So, without further ado…

Charleston Antique Mall, 307 W. Charleston

This place was one of my favourites! It was an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful old things! Don’t be fooled by my pictures, they had a few small ‘rooms’ full of vintage clothes, but they weren’t as exciting to photograph! I fell in love with a long white lawn dress, but even at $47.50 it was out of my price range. The bright 60s and 70s dresses I kept coming across on the rails weren’t the kind of vintage items I’d normally see in England so it was great fun fingering through them. There was also some very ‘Vegas’ vintage, in the form of sequined bras and thongs!

If you’ve been to Brighton, you’ve probably been to Snoopers Paradise, and it really reminded me of that. It is well worth a visit – it’s far bigger than it looks from the outside!

The Attic, 1025 South Main Street

The bright, colourful Attic was a pleasure to look around. Their usual premises had been damaged in a fire but their new setup just across the road looked equally as impressive. It’s clearly a place where people go to find their ‘going-out’ attire, and for the most part the clothes were perhaps a little bright and eccentric for my taste. Saying that, I did manage to find a velvet 60s number with a huge pointy collar that was right up my street – the shop owners even offered to put it back for me, and even ship it to me in England if I wished! Sadly, I couldn’t warrant spending my last dollars on a new dress so it had to go back on the rail, boo!

The customer service here was amazing – and unlike most vintage shops I visit they had a huge section for men too!

The Gypsy Den, 213 E. Colorado

The Gypsy Den was probably the least me out of all of the shops I visited, but I think I might have loved it the most! It certainly lives up to it’s name – the tiny shop is full of little treasures – I could imagine a lot of fashion bloggers having fun here!

The friendly owner Katie customises clothing, as well as designing unique pieces of jewellery and headpieces. Thankfully for you, she sells them online too on Etsy!

The shop just had such an amazing vibe to it – I only wished I could have been there for it’s transformation into a music venue and arts space – if you venture outside the shop you’ll see a gypsy caravan that turns into a stage, and a tiki-hut bar that comes alive once a month for the events that are held there.

Calo Style, 1441 Las Vegas Blvd.

Towards Downtown Vegas, right towards the end of the Strip, you’ll spot a bright pink boudoir – Calo Style! Just a hop and a jump away from the famous wedding chapels, they certainly merchandised their shop well with a poofy vintage wedding dress on display as you enter.

I was really impressed with their selection of vintage swimwear, which I can’t say I’ve ever come across in England before. I fell in love with that yellow number above! I also tried on a frilly-cuffed 60s mini too but the age-old problem of having big boobs meant that it didn’t fit!

As well as being super duper helpful, the girls working at Calo Style were impeccably dressed too – I just had to snap one of them, doesn’t she look amazing?! I told her she should start a blog ; )

Buffalo Exchange, 4110 S. Maryland Parkway

Not strictly a vintage shop, but definitely worth a mention! At Buffalo Exchange, you can bring your old clothes in exchange for a percentage of the sale price, or new clothes! Please somebody tell me we have something like this in London because this place was great!

The stock is hand selected, and they only accept things that are in good condition, and are relevant, so a lot of the stock is barely worn highstreet clothing. I came across several American Apparel goodies at a fraction of their normal price, as well as some cheap vintage tops (remember that 70s embroidered blouse I wore to Glasto? $8!). I was also tempted by some brand new brogues but ran out of money! It felt a bit like eBay..but in real life..

I believe they have many other stores across America too, and I’d definitely recommend a visit as you never know what you’ll come across!

If you make it to any of the shops or you’ve been – let me know! I’d love to see what you bought! x