Rokit Designers Guild

this image has no relevance to the post but i liked it too much to leave out.

So a wee while ago now I closed down my etsy shop because everything was up in the air and i was really busy and i didn't really know what was going on.

but now my shop is back open with lots of new things. So what happened to my old stock?

Well a few weeks ago I went along for my first business meeting with a vintage chain store in London called Rokit.

We chewed the fat and I showed them all my products. They liked all my products. They took all my products. They helped me price all my products. Then they went and did this

It isn't complete yet as they've only just started putting up my items but in the end I should have my own link on the page with my logos and all my jewellery.

I AM SO HAPPY!

Of course I am still going to be selling from my etsy store for friends and etsians. This is such a big step for little monarch and I cant ever have imagined that what started as a way to curb depression and anxiety has now turned into this! It really is a dream come true.

I've been thinking about new ideas as well so keep your eyes peeled lovelies.

and don't forget the mystery giveaway. Its going to be good I promise you that much.

Talk to Me Tuesday

I'm calling this Post Talk to Me Tuesday because I was lucky enough to nab some time with the beautiful and clever fellow blogger Marmelindela and ask her some questions. She is a sweet heart who is oh so cute and has an amazing wardrobe. I admit I am no highly skilled interviewer but i made up some sweet little questions for her to answer and for you to enjoy.

Read her blog: Jesus and his lawyer are coming back...

On with the interrogation.

1. What name do you answer to?
My name is Marlinde van Zessen. A cute little boy used to call me Mindela because he couldn't pronounce my name. I mixed it up a little and there was Marmelindela.

2. Please tell us the year you were born. For those of us who are not to good with the old mathematics, that would make you how old?
I was born on the 7th of November in 1988. That means I´m 20 years old now and almost 21!

3. I was born in New Zealand and now I live in London. Whats your history?
That´s so awesome, I really would love to go to London sometime. I guess I´m pretty dull when it comes to places I've lived. I have lived in Rotterdam all my life. The good thing about that is that I know every part of the city and I always know what´s going on. But I would love to live in Amsterdam, I like big cities and Amsterdam is a really inspiring place. There is much more going on there. More festivals, more interesting people to meet, more art, more vintage shops, more flea market... Ah well, I will be looking for a place to live with my boyfriend in Rotterdam first, since it´s expensive to rent a house in Amsterdam and we have jobs here and friends. But we might move to Amsterdam when we are rich and famous.

4. If you were told you could only wear either skirts or trousers for the rest of your life which would you choose?
Definitely skirts! I rarely wear pants. They are always way too long for me. I only have two shorts and two pair of pants.

5. You take a lot of photos what machine do you use?
My boyfriend´s camera. It´s an Olympus E-300. I have to give my boyfriend some credit here because this camera doesn't have a timer so all the pictures of me on my blog are made by him.

6. I like to drink gin and tonics. Whats your fave?
I like white beer, I´m not sure if this is the correct English term for it... But it´s light coloured beer with a little lemony flavour. I get really upset when they serve it without a slice of lemon in it. On colder days I like to drink red wine.

You can´t see it, but I´m very upset in this picture because of the lack of a slice of lemon.

7. I like to wear flats. What do you prefer?

High heels. The higher the better. I feel tall and confident when I´m wearing them.

8. If you were given £1,000 what would you buy? The only catch is you have to spend it in one transaction and it can’t be for yourself.
This is a hard one. I think I might buy tomatoes with it, so there can be a big tomato fight as they do in Spain. It always seems like such fun!

9. What was the last 5 songs you listened to on your iPod? You can lie if the truth will cripple.
I don´t own an Ipod. I have had an mp3player, a really cheap one, but it broke. I bought a discman because I was afraid I would never listen to my CD´s again. I think the new CD of The Gossip is in there now. I listen to my discman with my cool vintage red headphones.


10. Hats or bags whats your weakness?


Hats. I really like hats. Everyone should wear one.

11. Were you bullied as a child?
No. Not as a young child that is. When I went to high school I got bullied a little. I had dreadlocks at the time and people at my school didn't really like that. But it got old really fast and I had a couple of very good remarks about them so they stopped.

12. I really like to eat nice food. Do you? Or do you prefer to eat air?
I like nice food! Lots of them. I make a killer couscous salad.

13. Last night i had a dream that i was surrounded by beautiful cats. Do you think you would dream this or are you more likely to be surrounded by dogs? Or mice?
That´s a cute dream. I dreamt something disturbing last night. I was best friends with an annoying gay show host who´s famous in the Netherlands and we made the lamest jokes about penises while riding the subway... But if I got to choose I would be surrounded by pugs in my dream. I love pugs.



14. Would you prefer to spend your Saturday DAY eating candied apples and playing in the hay, reading articles on pretentious artists or staying indoors?

Eating candied apples and playing in the hay, for sure. Do you want to know something that´s really unfortunate? They don´t sell candied apples in the Netherlands, not in amusement parks, not on carnivals, nowhere! I had one once while I was in France and I think they should sell them everywhere, they´re brilliant.

15. If it was raining outside and you wanted to have fun would you:

a)get over the rain and go out anyway

b) slip into something comfy and watch a film (which one) with your boyf

c) turn the music up loud get all dolled up with your housemates, share a bottle of champagne and dance around in the living room?

All of those options seem very good! I can´t choose!


These questions are a load of rubbish. I am sorry for wasting your time.

I liked them! I thought it was really fun filling this in. Thanks! X Marlinde

Isn't she the sweetest? I'm thinking Talk to me Tuesday could become a regular thing. What do you think? If you want to be featured well let me know and ill hook you up with some questions for you to go mad with.

Swarovski Personified

are you ready to be overwhelmed by beauty?

I first found Crystal Renn back in the early days of this blog when I was featuring my top picks of the day. see here. I instantly fell in love with her not because she was a 'plus size' model but simply because she was absolutely stunning and gorgeous and we had similar body shapes (although she is lovely and tall and i am unfortunately petite in stature).
I came back to her today because on sunday i read an article on her in the observer and all my original feelings flooded back to her but this time twice as much as the life she has led is amazing.
In a nut shell she battled with an eating disorder for many years and had a tumultuous relationship with her mother.
I love discovering empowering women who have overcome eating disorders (particularly bulemia) and gone from being a frightened skeleton to a beautiful woman.

Crystal Renn I have a crush on you.

I love this untouched image. reminds me of what i see everyday when i hop out of the shower. and looking t her I realise - it aint that bad!

dont forget my mystery giveaway is going on all month so enter now!

Little Monarch is alive

So for awhile there I was taking a break with the etsy shop as I had many things to do and not enough time to do it all and things were happening and everything was up in the air and I couldnt make time to sell anything.

Go take a peep.

but now I am back. a lot of my items have been removed from the shop but they have been put somewhere else for the time being and I have made fresh stock for all you little royals out there.

Go take a peep.

you'll find lots of bubblegum cutesy kawaii jewellery inspired by barbie, ken, sindy, jem and the holograms and sweets and lollies.

Go take a peep.

going to the chapel

if I had a boyf this post would probably make him run for the hills but I dont have one so I can dream as much as I want about every little girls fantasy - their wedding day. I was never one of those girlie girls that had a scrapbook full of wedding ideas and subscribed to bride magazine etc etc but over the past two years I have developed a bit of a crush on weddings and looking at how different people celebrate one of the biggest days of their lives. my budget would be extremely small so I would stick with the DIY mentality.

ive been gazing at photographs of extreme prettiness all day today and have come up with my own make believe wedding.

Te Maari+ too much time on her hands = desperado

thanks to http://www.oncewed.com/ for all the beautiful inspiring photos and ideas

Zack + Lauren = welcome signs

orchard + wedding = blissful setting

Sarah + Richard = Photography (Our Labour of Love)

Matthew + Jamie = bridesmaid accessories

Ed + Ginny = brides lace/tulle/ribbon dress

Patrick + Elise = true <3

dont forget to enter the giveaway! click here. click here to do so

do do do do doooooooooooooooooo

Somehow during the course of my working Thursday I got hooked on googling old thriller/horror/vampire films. I fancy a cosy friday night at home in the lounge in front of the tv with a range of good old fashioned thriller films and a bunch of girls to watch them with. or a really cute boyf. either will suffice.

here are some of my fave images.

Sybil

I started out with Sybil. I remember watching this for 7th form Social Studies and being transfixed by the fact that this woman had 13 different personalities!

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?oh what beautiful eyebrows miss crawford!

The Fearless Vampire Killers

Roman Polanski directed and starred in this masterpiece. His wife,Sharon Tate, plays the beautiful maiden with the red hair. not long after this film she fell pregnant with Polanskis child but horridly became one of the victims of the brutal Charles Manson.

The Birds

I cant remember when I first watchedthis film but I remember being bitterly disappointed by the end. Tippi Hedren is a bit of a babe though and the darkness of the overall film makes up for it.

sorry that this is a very loose post with not much drection but it has given me a bit of inspiration for more jewellery ideas. too bad i havent got the right supplies and am too lazy to go out and hunt for things.

Dont forget to enter my mystery giveaway.

So little time, so much to do + GIVEAWAY

wow where do I start. It has been a rather full on weekend followed by an incredibly manic monday. On sunday The Annual Spitalfields Show was held and all of you who are avid little monarch readers will know that over the past month I have been furiously working at crafting the most spectacular carrot cake londoners have ever seen. I think I achieved this.

I made the cake Saturday night and took everyones comments and suggestions into consideration when altering the recipe etc etc. I am not usually one to skyte but this cake was FANTASTIC! it looked amazing and tasted divine.

I even displayed it on a handmade cake stand.

The visitors to the show loved it and I even managed to get one marriage proposal out of it. There were about 30 categories that people could choose to enter and in the carrot cake section there was 5 entries including mine. They looked like this:

The judges went into the tent and gave out a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes as well as 2 highly commended to the 5 carrot cakes. From the pictures I would love it if you could judge for yourself and tell me where you would give the prizes. I am eager to know and thought it would be a little bit of fun. PLEASE BE HONEST, IF YOU THINK MY CAKE LOOKS THE WORST TELL ME.

Heck why not do a little giveaway as well. everyone who leaves a comment judging the carrot cakes will go into a mini prize draw (to be drawn on the 14th October) for a mystery prize. I cant tell you what it is going to be as I dont know yet but it will be D.I.Y, very pretty, personal and just gorgeous. may or may not be jewellery. if you have any preferences include it in your comment :-)

so go on enter and good luck.

Mondays news.

Little Monarch the etsy shop has gone on holiday for awhile. BUT do not fear as an even bigger and better Little Monarch is on its way. keep your eyes peeled and your ears open.

I am also in the final stages of making an agreement to send away all my aeroplane pieces to Cabaret Voltaire in Switzerland. This place is AMAZING! it is basically the place where the Dada art 'movement' was born and where Hugo Ball et al. would go for poetry readings, performances etc. They have a little shrine and gallery there as well as a great little shop selling handmade designs and my aeroplanes may be one of the things on sale! I cant believe it! I feel like Little Monarch is going places.

While I am having a good old blab about myself, I got my haircut a few weeks ago and it looks like this.

and earlier in the day I made a chestnut mushroom and stilton tart with cream cheese pastry. It looked like this.

I am such a rangi in my bare feet...

thanks to Katy for taking the pics.