Demons inside her head

Self created movie stills. I don't have demons in my head though, don't worry.

2015, here we go!

Happy New 2015 everyone! I hope you all had a few wonderful festive days at the end of December, I sure had. The last few weeks I was busy finishing my internship (at a company that developes craft supplies, how cool!) and ofcourse, I was working on the first issue of Holy Glitter Zine. The first issue, Kitschy Magic, is out now, yaaaaay!! Take a look at it here!! I'm so proud of it, it's my little sweetheart :) And oh boy, there were 10 lovely contributors who all sent photo series, artwork and poems! That was so wonderful :)

Anyway, since it's a new year, I decided to set some new goals for myself. It's not something I normally do, but since I don't like resolutions, I thought this was a neat way to start 2015 :) I made it a fun list, but I wrote it in Dutch, so here are my goals for this year in English:

♡ publish at least two issues of Holy Glitter Zine

♡ create a personal website (using programming)

♡ open the Holy Glitter Shop (with selfmade goodies!)

♡ write a story (just for myself, no one else has to read it)

♡ finish at least reading 10 books this year

90s kids

Hey everyone, some time ago I celebrated my 20th birthday. Even though I hate not being a teen anymore and getting nearer to an age where I'm supposed to be grown-up, I absolutely looooved the party I threw. I've always loved theme parties and this year I thought it was time for a 90s themed party, hurray! So I already started collecting 90s toys and candy in September and on November the 28th, I decorated the room and invited some friends over. It was so wonderful! Many people were dressed up in 90s style clothing, one awesome friend made a one-hour long compilation of 90s clips, tv programs and commercials, we danced to the Macarena, played a game with a fortune teller, had cheesy tattoos from gums and ate A LOT of candy. It was my absolute favorite birthday party ever!

Here are some pics made with a disposable camera :)

Holy kid

I've always liked the kitsch side of religion, but lately I've gathered the courage to express that feeling in public. I'm not a Christian believer myself, and I know that many people (who are) wouldn't respect the fact that I'm walking around with Jesus' T-shirts and giant crosses on the back of my jackets. Anyway, it looks like 'using religion in an expressive way' has been kind of a trend lately. I've not only seen it in fashion (remember Jean Paul Gaultier's 2007 collection?), but also in crafting ideas, living accessoires (Holy Mary-shaped candles etc.) and in art ofcourse (a BIKE!). 'Wearing religion' has become some kind of accessoire these days, which even non-believers can afford to wear. And I have to admit, I'm one of them.

Don't get me wrong, I totally respect Christianity in all its forms. The fact that I don't believe, doesn't mean that I don't find it very interesting and sometimes even fascinating.

Anyhow, I (too) like to 'use' the kitschy outcomes of Christianity as accessoires in life. I love crafting kitschy/religious things, wearing a rosary just because I think it's beautiful and crocheting a cross so I can sew it to the back of my denim jacket and wear it in public. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as I don't ridicule religion or hurt Christians by doing so.

I didn't mean to give this post such a serious atmosphere when I started it, but it feels right to express myself like this :) To enlighten this post for a bit, here's a small moodboard with craft ideas I would love to wear/make myself someday.

Holy Glitter Zine

Hello there, my lovelies!

Finally, finally, finally! I've been talking about my idea to start a very own online zine for months now and FINALLY, I've started it! The actual zine isn't there yet (obviously), but I created all kind of social media for Holy Glitter Zine and I already have some people who would love to participate in creating articles, drawings, photographs etc. for the zine. Gotta love other creative souls ❤

 The theme of the first issue will be...

Imagine everything kitschy, sparkles everywhere, magical toys, creatures that you wish would exist, cute stories, magical places to visit, songs which lead you to your own fantasyworld etc. etc.

In short: everything that is kitschy AND magical a.k.a. the most girly teenageworld you've ever thought of! I'm so excited and I've got SO many ideas... My intention is to create a little zine with about ten-paged issues, but with all the ideas that are floating in my mind, I guess it will end up being more of a yearbook hihi ^o^

Also, I would love to have an online shop with items that'll match the atmosphere of the zine. So I already started creating many many items for the shop, so I guess that the Holy Glitter Shop will open soon too! Oh my, so much excitement!

Anyway, I would loooove to hear your thoughts about Kitschy Magic. What would YOU love to see in an issue like that? Tell me your sweetest ideas and ofcourse, everyone can participate. In fact, I would love that! ❤❤Please e-mail me then~!❤❤

 And if you'd like to follow/like HGZ on any social media, please be my guest (click on the buttons to go there). See you soon xxx

       

I guess it's obvious what this post will be about... I have to admit: I am, and always have been, a great MLP fan. I played with them when I was a little child (the ponies of the 1st generation, that is), I watched all the animated movies and loved them with all my heart. I'm a 90's kid, so I grew up with them and every Christmas, I knew a shiny, new pony would smile at me when I had unwrapped it. It's great that MLP still exists, though I don't really like their latest generation of ponies. I liked the chubbiness and the dreamy eyes of the 1st generation more. Anyway, the last two years, my interest in MLP has freshened again. I started collecting them again (I didn't keep ANY of my old ponies, such a shame....*crying silently*) by asking friends and luckily some of them still had a 1st generation pony for me. When going to a thrift shop my heart always pounds when going to the toy section, hoping there will be a little pony waiting for me... Unfortunately, the greatest part of the world knows that these ponies are some kind of vintage now and rather expensive when you want to collect them. I've been lucky a few times to find some ponies in a thrift shop, but I guess those were really blessed moments... Right now I have about ten little darlings, most of them are of the 1st generation, the others are from later generations. In this post I would like to show the most beautiful ponies I have, since I'm just so proud of them! (I know an almost-20-year-old shouldn't get too excited about things like toys, but I guess my Peter Pan Syndrome is to blame here).

These four are my absolute babies. I mean: LOOK AT THEM! When you look into those gentle eyes, try remembering your younger days filled with tattoo chokers and Spice Girls music... I was very lucky when I found the two dearies in the middle in a thrift shop. They were all dirty and discarded, so when I got home that day I washed them thoroughly and now they shine again! The outer two I got from a very kind friend who decided she could miss two of her own childhood friends :)

I know this one isn't exactly a 1st geneariotion MLP, but I just worship her so much, because she's such a pretty! I found her at a thrift shop too and at first I even doubted if she was a real MLP. I still don't know for sure, but I DO know that I love the fact that when you press the star-shaped button on her chest, she blinks at you and her horn and cape start to glow with light *o*. How amazing is that?! Besides that, I love that her face is covered in glitter and that her hair even sparkles. She can never outdo my 1st generation ponies, but she's getting really close...

If you have any interest in MLP (the old generations, or the new generations, it's all good by me!), please let me know. Or if you just remembered the care-free days spending your days with these beauties, please tell me your story. I would love to hear ❤.(One thing I like about the new generation ponies is their statement "Friendship is Magic").

Projects, projects, projects

I have been away for a long, long time. But finally, the time fairy allows me to enter my own magical blogworld again and so, here I am. As you can see, I love wearing animal masks! I'm still looking for a unicorn, but all I can find are very creepy ones with crazy eyes. Yikes! I'm working on my Adobe skills as well, Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign: I'm becoming a real Adobe fan :) I'm currently working on the Holy Glitter Zine in Indesign, can't wait to show you all when it's done! I guess the zine will be my new project for the next summer/year. I would like to have a great online version and eventually a printable one hihi. I got MANY other projects I would love to work on the next year. Here are some of them:

Ofcourse I got many, many more (maybe even too many?), but these are the one I'm going to focus on. If you know a website where I can get in contact with other snail mailers, let me know! And ofcourse, if you'd like to write to me or get some snail mail from me, that would be perfect! Just send me an e-mail with your address and I will send you a nice envelope :)

Femininity

Hello there! Another outfit post hihi :) 
I love dressing feminine. I NEVER wear trousers, just because I don't like them. You'll only see me in dresses and skirts. It feels so girly and comfy. And yeah, I just love being a girl :)

 Flower headband!!

❤❤❤

Last week I wrote some letters to some of my friends. Having penpals is one of the nicest things ever! Writing letters, decorating them with stickers or putting little presents in the envelope...I just adore it. And oh, the excitement when you come home and you see a shiny envelope on the floor, ready the be opened and to fill the floor with glitter. Just lovely.

I wrote my friends to ask them if they want to participate in creating some neat things for Holy Glitter Zine. I hope they will, because I would like to put other people's creations in the zine.

If you want to participate as well, please send me an e-mail: lovelyswans@gmail.com. More info about the zine will come sooooooon

☆☆

Sunday Morning

Oh how I love Sunday mornings! It's the perfect moment for doing things you wanted to do the whole week, but couldn't do because you were too busy (grown-up world ggrrr). Here are some pictures of the things I did last Sunday.

  Attached some of my DIY brooches on a blue jean jacket

 Made my disposable camera much more attractive (MY LITTLE PONY STICKERS!!!)

Finally finished some new flower crowns

I also went to a festival which was located in an old factory, which looked sooo cool! It was a festival with dance and electro music. I don't really like that kind of music, but I had to do some promotion work over there and I don't mind going to a festival for free :)

Anyway, I also watched Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring this weekend. And Lost in Translation. And Somewhere. And all-time favorite The Virgin Suicides. I guess I just adore Sofia Coppola's work, there's no other reason for watching all her movies in just one weekend.

And here are some outfit pictures with the DIY denim jacket I just wanted to share with you. I want to share more outfit posts, just because I really like showing my (mostly DIY) outfits :)

❤Don't mind the silly faces❤

 

And by the way, I've decided and I'm going to create an online zine for teenage girls. It will be called

☆☆☆ HOLY GLITTER ZINE ☆☆☆

and I will share some ideas for it with you next time! If you want to participate in creating the zine or if you got some cool ideas, please tell me in the comments! I would like to put it in the zine :)

Hello there! 

I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I've found my magical dreamland again. A few posts ago I told you I was searching for my lost creativity and I succeeded by finding it again! I've found a balance between the grown-up world and my fantasies filled with magical thoughts. It still isn't perfect, but I feel happy and wonderful again. Luckily 'lovely swans' is a place where I can be my magical self. Thank you all for experiencing this astonishing world with me. *can't stop smiling*

❤❤❤

(btw I'm thinking of making an online zine, what do you think...?)

Beauty and the Beast

If I had to choose an all-time favourite Disney movie, it would be Beauty and the Beast. I love the fact that I grew up with it, but that I can still enjoy watching it nowadays (even when I'm 19 years old). In fact, my whole family loves this movie. When I was little, my mommy owned a Mrs. Potts teapot, it's such a shame she didn't kept it :(

Since I love the movie so much, I started to collect some lovely items which have to do with the movie and I'm even thinking of a tattoo design of the rose...So exciting!

Anyway, I would like to share some of the magical Beauty and the Beast items.

1. My adorable, little shrine... The little Belle sculpture is from Disneyland Paris and I found the photo frame (including the picture!) in a thrift shop.

2. I found Beast in a thrift shop as well. He looks so tough!

3. Some fake tattoos I ordered online a while ago. I don't know whether to use them or not, since it would be such a shame...

4.Charming Mrs. Potts, surrounded by tiny roses ❤

☆Digital Magic☆

 

I created these two three darlings myself, using Adobe Illustrator. I'm still a newbie when it comes to programs like these, but I really enjoy creating beautiful things like the ones above. It's a new kind of magic, it's digital magic ☆☆

Kitty Lover

Hi lovely darlings! Remember last year when (almost) everyone on the internet started loving kitty cats and adorable cat GIFs? I have to admit, I'm one of them. I don't know why, but my love for cats started last year and since then I haven't stopped liking cats. Actually, I love them even more! When I'm sad I just have to look at some cute cat images and I'm all happy again.

But okey, in this post I want to share a lot of items I own which are cat related. I can't help it, everytime I see something which has to do something with cats, I just HAVE to buy it. It's like an addiction, eek! I even own a hat with cat ears (the hat above, shame you can't really see the ears...)

 

 

 1. My magical cat ring (The Rogue + The Wolf)
 2. Most adorable cat bag ever! 
 3. My two favorite brooches at the moment
 4. Kitty cats collar clips
 5. This little cutie sits on my night table

❤~~MEOW~~❤