Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from a New Zealand summer! A lovely day of family and friends and lots of delicious food.

Pictured, a tower of mini pavlovas -rose, orange with black pepper, and coffee flavoured. Slices of orange and plums, and berry coulis to garnish. Toasted almonds in the wee bowl on top.

What do you call a tower of pavs? Apparently, it's a Pav-illion!!!!
 

 

 

What are you getting up to - or what did you get up to? There's no right way to do Christmas!

Sneaky Christmas gift opening before the 25th!

 I had a couple of outlier gifts arrive - one from a "Secret Glitter Elf" exchange with other people in the burlesque community in NZ, and one from a darling friend who also happens to be a performer.

Look at this lovely gift! The budget is $20, and the did so well.

This one was a really cool idea - a chain decoration made from fabric. Each loop has press snaps and I enjoyed organising what order to put them in enormously. Ellen knows me so well and chose the perfect colours. I have draped it artistically over the gifts around my tree. The rhubarb coloured mohair rug is thrown over all of the boxes and containers of makeup so the tree has a nice background.

SO artistic! Thank you Ellen! <3

Is it just me....

 ...or is this fabric motif somewhat...er...yeah.

I know, I am a child. Anyway I bought it, arguably BECAUSE of the.. er...rather than in spite of it. It is a rather nice brocade in metallic copper and black, and Constance I think would enjoy wearing it. and not even noticing the er....yeah.

She's like that, contrary to popular belief!

How goes your run up to Christmas? I'm pretty much under control, much to my own delight and amazement. 

The tree is up.

 Hi team, It's been a TIME. Since I got back from Canada I've had a nasty chest infection, requiring prednisone even. And we've sold the shop so lots of admin to do before the end of the year and handover.

I'd love to blog every day. Going Gently is my cliffhanger read, even when not much is happening, John tells us and it is a good read. But I am not good at habit forming.

There may be a reason for this - I had an assessment last week and am waiting for a report. Wish me luck because this may mean I'm not disorganised and lazy! 

Here's my tree. It is set up on the dining room table - which is usually CC's makeup table. But she's done for 2022 so yay!!!

Tiny but Mighty!

Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival

 Hi team! I've been in Canada nearly a fortnight and the SIBF has come and gone. I have limited secure wireless so here's a few stage shots for now.

THIS is the culprit that led to the cut cord. I love how sculptural it is, and of course it is very comfortable. worn with Snag Tights Pride Love is Love tights, oversized prop sunglasses as a headpiece and very cheap earrings I blinged up.

I renovated this costume which is one of my first ever, and made a fab new jacket at the last minute for it, then forgot to put it on. If you can see the creases just above the knee of my tights, that's a bandage. I had had a fun 24 hours, shall we say! More on that later. Love this look, prefer with jacket, not bingo wings!!!

I love this so much, I look like a small forest creature who has been turned into an MC and is bewildered! New costume, revitalised jacket with wings.

My last look on Saturday. rose gold/pink sequin dress and bolero from City chic, but I added rose motifs and rhinestones, turned back the bolero front to make lapels. Tiara borrowed from the Crown Jewels. One of these statements is a lie.

So, four looks over two nights! A lot of last minute work! Worth it. I have a show on the 16th and 3/4 are going to it, probably 1,2 (with jacket) and 4. :)

Off to have ramen with another friend. I love this place!

Cutting the Cord

 Sounds dramatic, but that is precisely what I did. On Thursday evening I decided to make a new costume to take away. what can I say, I find deadlines can be productive.

It involved laying a big chunk of sequin net on the floor of my studio, as the table is too small. Then I started happily cutting around the pattern and as I got near to the desk I felt a slight resistance on the scissors. Hmm, I am hoping I didn't have a fold tucked up under it as that would ruin the project but no,

RIP iPhone charger

it was my friend Polly's phone charger! He is staying with us this week and thank goodness because having an experienced drag queen in the house has really helped make decisions. Like, the new costume needs black stretch velvet, not the gold sequin mesh he brought over for me from Shine.

ANYWAY, like the good girl scout that he is, he had another cable so all was not lost!

As for the costume, it's FREAKING FANTASTIC and photos will ensue because as soon as I pressed it, I packed it!

Oooh, we're halfway there, oooh, packin' on a prayer!

The lid of my case is tightly crammed with big sparkly costumes and makeup.

 1.5 more sleeps until I get on a plane to Canadia bound for the Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival.

I'm part organised and part frazzled wreck. I bought jewelry on Thursday and I cannot find where I put it, so I have no earrings for one costume and no hairpiece for another. 

However, for the first time I know exactly where my current passport is. It is in this pile of crap on the kitchen bench. 

The front of my hair is now red, pink and burgundy. I'm experimenting to see if I can sculpt it into curls sitting on my natural hair. It's an ambitious plan.

I am excited, I cannot deny!