Treats for your inner child

Minna Parikka pic via The terrier and the lobster

We saw Charlotte Olympia kitty shoes at the feet of fashionistas of all ages and a wide number of similar playful products are spreading in the market. Cuteness for grown up girls who continue to nurture their inner child, not for a form of any nostalgia of childhood days, but because they still want to have fun. Today we are allowed to play with our look like we never done before. Being adults was once connected with a certain dose of seriousness and consequentially a poised look. In a world in which everyone dreams an endless youth, lines are blurred.
 Nowadays we can hang around with a bag in the shape of a cup of tea and be a fashionable girl who is wearing Moschino and not a five-year old organizing a tea for her puppies.
"Don't play with your food" moms used to say. It's an impossible task with the irresistible tetris sandwich cutter pictured below, you can eat a row only when you clear it.
On the other hand, if we can wear boyfriend jeans, why can't we wear a tutu skirt for a day?
There are no strict style rules.
Needless to say, I love all this cute accessories.
While wearing my cat ear hat I ask you:
The cuteness of these accessories is too contagious to miss or you'll leave it to the (very) youngs?
In your opinion, is there a fixed age in which we should stop wearing kitty slippers?

Kitty flats pic via The Cherry blossom girl

Glitter Miu Miu shoes pic via Color Trial

Moschino boat clutch bag pic via Etoiles Dansantes

Moschino cup of tea bag pic via Etoiles Dansantes

Dolce&Gabbana metallic cage shoes

cat bag

tetris sandwich cutter

Moschino bear iphone case

cupcake hat

Things to do when you're stuck at home

via Friends wiki

If you're stuck at home for reasons out of your control, like a snowfall or a storm you'll suddently have plenty of spare time and no idea on how to spend it. You may regularly complain about how busy your life is, but when you get down the merry-go-round you don't even remember how it feels to have nothing to do. If it's not a regular day off, something you couldn't expect, don't spend the day looking outside the window hoping that things will get back to normal quickly. Read the suggestions below.

Chandler having a bath ppic via Friends screencaps

There's nothing you can do so relax!

Phoebe's granma famous cookies - recipe via Anne's Food

Bake cookies,

Monica dance pic via Sweet Potato runs

 then, eat them all!

Joey reading "Little women" pic via Fictional Characters reading books

Read the books you always wanted to read, but never had the time.

via fictional characters knitting

Learn to knit

via you tube

Watch reruns of your favorite show. I suggest knit, while watching reruns of your favorite shows.

pic via Friends screencaps

Keep up with blogs you love

Joey wearing all Chandler's clothes pic via Friends screencaps

Play dress up,

pic via Friends screencaps

then organize your clothes and when you'll be able to get out you'll know exactly what to wear.

ALL OF US AT MUSA

Wish You and Yours

Venus - Not Just a Pretty Face

Sci-Fi Deak Style
by John Deakins

Returning to our tour of the planets: Venus is the next from the Sun. It has near Earthlike gravity, but no moon. The good news is that it’s a unique environment. The bad news is that that environment is impossible for human life.

On a balmy day at the Venusian north pole, the temperature drops to a mere 600ºC. If you set out a block of lead, it would melt like margarine during a sunny Earth afternoon. Venus experiences a runaway greenhouse effect. Solar energy that enters its atmosphere stays there. At the Venusian equator, the temperature reaches 800ºC. The atmosphere is many times denser than Earth’s. Pressures are enormous.

The Venusian air is made of carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. There’s limited water. Even at room temperature, it would eat your lungs or skin for a snack. Worse, it’s never still. Hurricane winds of 500 km/hr blow continuously. The constant roiling and overheating lead to lightning. A few seconds on Venus sees more lightning hits than a day on Earth. No spacecraft From Earth would last more than minutes there.

We’ll assume that you’ve jumped the enormous hurdles of months-long travel times, closed ecosystems in flight, and radiation exposure. You’ve reached Venus: Now what?

It’s a little late to Ignore It. Past writers (Burroughs, Heinlein, Brackett) could set adventures in the steamy Venusian swamps, but you can’t get away with that. In the near future, you’ll have to use Live With It. Venus’ raging atmosphere and impossible heat have to be useful for something unique. You’re the SF writer: Work on it.

Unexplained Science can work, but only in the far future. Before we can exploit Venus, interplanetary travel will have to have become common. Could we terraform Venus? Twenty kilometers above its surface, the temperature drops to 15ºC (60ºF). The atmosphere is thin. We could take an airborne algae from Earth and a bacterium able to metabolize sulfuric acid, and play games with their DNA. Given enough lab time, we could create a hybrid organism that could float high enough to begin diminishing the CO2 and breaking down the acid, with its large potential chemical energy. After a few thousand years, we could reduce the planet’s temperature, transform the atmosphere, and begin seeding the surface with more complex plants. That takes a lot of patience.

Postulate anti-gravity. Build Cloud City, floating above the hostile atmosphere. All you need is a reason to be there.

Move an asteroid from beyond Mars and give Venus a moon: no atmosphere; plenty of shielding; many problems eliminated. Perhaps it could be a way-station to Mercury.

Build a Venusian beanstalk in orbit, with its “tail” intentionally dragging in the atmosphere. (You might use another metallic asteroid for your materials.) Sulfuric acid is a valuable industrial chemical that Venusian orbital factories might use. The excess heat, transferred up the beanstalk as electricity, could be used to power those same factories.

Timing is everything. We won’t be visiting Venus anytime soon.

John Deakins, B.A., M.S.T. is a four-decade veteran of the science classroom and lives in Arkansas. As an author, John has fantasy novels in print from the Barrow series.

To read an excerpt from Barrow book one, please click HERE.

Creative ideas to display your jewelry

ball of yarn - idea  via lush home

Whether your jewelry collection is full of Cartier's or not, you must be proud of it. Each item has a story to tell, you handpicked it, or it was a gift from your granma, maybe you created it and that's why it's so special and it deserves to be displayed as a work of art. Get inspired by these clever, pretty ways to create space for your jewelry while decorating your house. Elsa Mora  hanged shadow boxes like paintings, that's a very unique idea.  A tree branch decorated with necklaces will be terrific on a dresser. Look at the display above, who knew that a ball of yarn could hold your brooches or that rings could look so pretty inside cake holders?

cake holder - idea via Stylish dreams

organized drawer - idea via Stylish dreams

jewelry tree organizer - idea via Mnn

Use a bottle to display bracelets - idea by Up to date interiors

jewellery display by Elsa Mora

Sparkling Wishlist

From left: sequin motorcycle jacket - Miu Miu glitter sunglasses - crystal bracelet - Cinti crystal shoes

It's that time of the year again. Time to write down a lot of wishlists, for us, for friends, for dinner. We plan and we shop in advance to be sure that everyone we love will receive the perfect gift.  For most men is instead "that tire of the ear again". Despite our efforts to talk about our wishlist he won't get the message even if our communication couldn't be clearer and specific. "OMG, I love it" while pointing something inside a shopping window, "Those shoes could match my bag so well"....don't have any illusion about it. While you're dreaming about that fabulous necklace he already got the perfect gift for you, a rock climbing weekend for two.

Christmas is the perfect excuse to wear something sparkly. I still desire Miu Miu glitter sunglasses, Cinti elegant shoes and a sequin motorcycle jacket, the shiny version of my favorite jacket.

Basics 2.0

Etro blue top

When we think about basics, white blouse and black pants come to mind. Go-with-everything pieces that going beyond trends can be worn over and over again. Unfortunately when you take all seasonal connotation off your garments they can easily fall into the "boring" category.  Today we talk about basics with a twist, classic garments with personality, a compromise between classic and trendy. Update the white blouse and black trousers pattern substituting one piece at a time. Your look will be work appropriate while reflecting your style.

clockwise from up left: pink blouse - mesh black top - blue and lace top - red and lace peplum top

clockwise rom up left: cowl neck and black piping top - black and beige top - frill blouse - white and lace top

clockwise from up left: black and mesh peplum top - mesh t shirt - petroleum top - blue top

Pick an interesting basic is simple. Choose monochrome with a draped neckline or go for a  t-shirt shape in satin instead of cotton. You can see an abundace of  lace inserts above, an easy way to update a boring basic.

beige trousers - black joggers - black white pants - faux leather  joggers

Starting from black pants, change color, shapes and fabrics. Try black joggers, dare to wear leather ones.

Kickstart Your Career

by Jamie Lackey

I have had three stories appear in Penumbra's lovely emag. The first was published in the August 2012 issue, the second in the April 2013 issue, and the third in the November 2013 issue.

My writing life has been going pretty well since August 2012. I appeared in my first invitation-only anthologies, joined the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and ran a successful Kickstarter for One Revolution: A Year of Flash Fiction, my first short story collection.

Kickstarter is a crowd-funding site for creative projects. It's similar to a PBS pledge drive--you back projects and receive related rewards. People have funded books, movies, and games, as well as new tech gadgets, dice, jewelry, and tons of other things.

I write a lot of flash fiction (stories that are under 1000 words), so when I decided to create a Kickstarter project for my own fiction, I chose to write one flash piece each month to post on my website. If my funding was successful, I'd collect the new stories, along with some of my other previously published work, into a book. My backer rewards included print or electronic versions of the finished book, credit on the dedication page, and the option to give me a story prompt. I wrote thirteen original stories for the project, each one to a theme dictated by one of my backers.

I set my goal at $1200, and I exceeded it by enough that I was able to get some amazing cover art by Lukáš Zídka. I printed the book through Amazon's CreateSpace service, mailed out copies to my backers, and posted the book to sell on Amazon.

The most fun part of the project was seeing what kind of prompts people came up with and writing the stories. My prompts ranged from "zombie shark" to "cheerful apocalypse" to "something with flowers." I enjoy writing to a prompt (which is one of the reasons I love Penumbra's themed issues so much) and it was a lot of fun to come up with an idea and write a story for a specific person. It was also really wonderful and validating to receive support from friends, family, and complete strangers, and it was exciting to see how people reacted to their individual stories.

The hardest parts were getting the ebook sorted out and trying to promote the book after it was finished.

A lot of other awesome people and publications are using Kickstarter as a funding platform, including Neil Clarke, Ellen Datlow, Daily Science Fiction, and Crossed Genres, and it's been a great experience for me.

Jamie Lackey earned her BA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Her fiction has been accepted by over a dozen different venues, including The Living Dead 2, Daily Science Fiction, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. She reads slush for Clarkesworld Magazine and is an assistant editor at Electric Velocipede.

Learn more about Jamie Lackey on her website. Follow her on Twitter, and like her on facebook.

New Lands and New Possibilities

by Chris Pavesic

Speculative fiction is not a new invention. It has existed at least since Beowulf (probably earlier, but without print or other recorded versions we cannot say for sure). Indeed, speculative stories cover the globe and are found in all cultures and in all epochs. In these tales humans place their sense of wonder about the world and its creatures, life, death, love, hate, and the other mysteries. Authors use speculative stories to try and help them understand the world around them and bring readers along for the imaginative journey. The territory just beyond the borders of their experience becomes their artistic playgrounds where anything (and everything) is possible.

There was never an era in recorded human history when people did not wonder what might lie beyond the next hill (or beyond the next star-system); those storytellers—and then authors—filled the blank spaces on their maps with their imagination. The authors of speculative fiction—writers like Homer, Malory, Tennyson, Shakespeare, Stoker, Poe, Wells, King, and Rowling—and the stories they and others created—Beowulf, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Mists of Avalon, The River of Dancing Gods, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and The Hunger Games —are part of our literary and cultural touchstones. These authors worked at filling in (and then expanding) the map with the worlds they envisioned— Discworld, OZ, Gormenghast, Wonderland, Xanth, and Pern to name just a few.

In uncharted places, some cartographers would write the warning “Here There Be Monsters” on maps. Writers of speculative fiction were never content with this, however. Questions about the types of monsters, their purpose, the reasons for their creation, and their motivations needed to be answered, and indeed answered in the most entertaining way possible. The men and women who battled against them needed to be described and honored in print for their achievements and explorations, even if the battles were only in our imaginations. Conan, Drizzt, Haroun, Coraline, Stark, and Dresden—Joseph Campbell described these types of literary creations as “the hero with a thousand faces” because these archetypes appeared again and again, always ready to start down the path and begin the hero’s journey in these new, uncharted lands. And because they were interesting—because we wanted to see how they fared against both the figurative and literal monsters—we readers would follow these heroes into the speculative landscapes. What we learned on these journeys about our own lives, world, values, beliefs, and so forth was just as illuminating as what the heroes learned about their fictional world(s).

Being a reader (as well as a writer) of speculative fiction, I realize that I can picture many of these landscapes more clearly than I do many of the places of the “real” world. Without much effort I can pull memories of pushing through pine trees covered in clumps of snow like Lucy just before she reaches the lamp post in Narnia, I can remember the terrifying, oppressive darkness and ruined grandeur of the dwarf mines in Middle Earth (and also the quiet English-like flower and vegetable garden settings of the Shire complete with the round doors of the hobbit holes), and I can recall the thrill of standing on the deck of the Neverland pirate ship, complete with the smell of the sea and the splash of the salt water on my face. (And because I am an avid reader of these stories, I need to stop this list before it grows intolerably long!) These settings unfolded the marvels and perils of all that I had always suspected was just past my immediate horizon—indeed just over the next hill; I just had to muster the courage to start my own hero’s journey and find them for myself.

By publishing speculative fiction, Penumbra has joined this vast literary tradition. With each issue the authors add new dimensions and nuances to the unexplored places on the map. New worlds are envisioned by authors and new landscapes are explored by readers who are yearning to push past the borders of their experience to see places that are out of reach only for those who lack the imagination to make the voyage. In the pages of the magazine readers may discover (in highly personal ways) other arrangements and interpretations of experience that directly relate to their daily lives. In those new imaginary places on the map, we may indeed find a sense of wonder—complete with monsters and high adventure—and we also may broaden our knowledge of our own world and find new inspiration to continue on our own hero’s path. Anything (and everything) is possible.

Chris Pavesic lives in the Midwestern United States and loves Kona coffee, fairy tales, and all types of speculative fiction. Her stories, “Going Home” and “The World In Front of Me,” have been published in Penumbra EMag. Between writing projects, Chris can most often be found reading, gaming, gardening, working on an endless list of DIY household projects, or hanging out with friends.

Stay in touch with Chris on her blog.

3 quick and easy DIY blush recipes

pic via Maybelline

Who knew that would be so easy to make our own makeup products at home?
Lately two of my blog friends shared their recipes to make cheek tint at home. I shared with you an easy blush recipe some time ago and since the three recipes are all easy, quick, clever and different from each other I've rounded them up in this post. What's your favorite texture? Cream, liquid or powder, you've got 3 different ways to make your diy blush at home below. Tasha added anti-age ingredients in her recipe and Auna packed her cheek tint in a professional box, I've provided tips to make blush in any color.
Pick your favorite recipe and transform your kitchen into a beauty laboratory for an afternoon.

Cream blush recipe by Tasha Delrae

Organic cheek stain by La vie en rose

Homemade blush recipe by Matter of Style: DIY fashion

DIY fringe scarf inspired by Isabel Marant for H&M

diy fringe scarf

Did you shop Isabel Marant for H&M? I didn't join this year but I shopped a few past collections. It's a kind of surreal experience that has a little to do with reason, but with muscles, sweat and adhrenaline. It's not a football match, it's serious shopping. Women queueing outside the store aren't girls,  they are soldiers with a mission, athletes waiting at the starting blocks and when the shop opens, when the scared H&M employees open the doors, no one can stop those girls from having what they want. The queue is still manageble while controlled by bodyguards. Some girls have the right to shop, others don't and have to watch them shopping outside the fence, how cruel! It's the tough rule of the bracelets. Mystical objects conquered by the bravest camping outside H&M. As the prophecy says " One bracelet to shop them all". The competition to grab these bracelets is fierce. Many girls are serial campers, staying among them you will listen to their stories. Someone camped outside apple stores for the launch of the ipad and waited seven hours standing, others camped for a spot front row to a concert, if you're a novice you cannot beat these early risers, but don't give up.When all the owners of the bracelet stop showing off their trophies, their freshly filled shopping bags, everyone can finally shop. It's a fight for the leftovers, a tank or a belt, whatever is it. You can feel it in the air,  no one wants to go home without buying anything. If you waited for long keep calm. Many girls filled their hands with everything they could possibly grab, but they rarely buy everything. Slowly, but steadily even that iconic piece will be back on display. You may now notice some gals lose their savoire-faire and fight tooth and nail to grab that designer piece. Be careful when you put your hands on the prize, the feeling of accomplishment may overwhelm you and you may hear the crowd clap hands in your head as you walk your way to the cashier. A swipe of the credit card seals your victory.  You overcome cold, competition, you rushed, but got a designer piece for free. Well not for free, but it must have been 70% off. Wait, the credit card statement says you spent $299 at H&M for a jacket...

It's shopping, sometimes we get carried away. Words like "limited edition" and "designer" are music to our ears of  fashionistas and H&M knows it well. It's because shopping is also an emotional experience.
One of my favorite pieces from the Isabel Marant collection is the fringed scarf. I had some fun crafting an inspired version in red  that is one of my favorite color of the season.
Are you always rational when shopping? Did you ever regret a purchase?

the inspiration: Isabel Marant for H&M silk fringe scarf

You'll need:

• 70 x 70 cm  or 30x30 inches piece of fabric (I used jersey fabric) 
• 280 cm or 120 inches of fringe trim
• 4 big glue on studs
• 32 small glue on studs

Cut a 70x 70 cm or 30x30 inches square of fabric. 
The size of the scarf can be varied to your needs. You can get a nicely big scarf with these measures that can be wrapped around the neck.

Decide where you want to place the studs and draw your pattern on a piece of paper. You will able to place all the studs exactly where you want and in the same place in the four angles.

Cut the paper and place the studs into the holes. Iron the studs in place.

Remove the pattern and repeat the steps above on the other angles.

Stitch the fringe on the edge of the scarf all around. I used a zig zag stich.

Reach for the Planets

Sci-Fi Deak Style
by John Deakins

Before we visit the stars, we need to reach the planets. Each presents unique problems, but all share nasty holdups. Travel time will be measured in months or years. We presently can’t sustain humans in a closed ecosystem that long. Never mind interstellar voyages: You’re going to need suspended animation for humans to reach any planet.

Cosmic rays will leave every (normally shielded) astronaut with brain damage and cancer. Jupiter and its moons are also a hot-spot of radiation, because of Jupiter’s near-brown-dwarf status. Suspended animation will require lead coffins, in addition to other problems.

Mercury, innermost, would allow us to use the Sun’s gravity as an assist inbound. We’d have to fight it outward bound, unless we use the Sun as a gravitational slingshot. Even so, we’re talking 1.5 to 2 years for flight. Solar radiation increases as you move toward Mercury.

Mercury’s solar face is a maelstrom of heat and radiation. There’ll be no landing there. It’s still very slowly revolving; every square meter was blast-furnaced sometime. Smelted metals – gold, platinum, uranium - will be accessible from almost any landing. Unlimited energy exists only a few kilometers from the light-dark demarcation line.

Mercury’s back face remains near 20ºK. The Sun never shines there. Energy would need to come from broadcasting satellites using solar super-power. Except for scientific studies, there’s not much reason to land there.

The only barely habitable area is Mercury’s twilight zone, at the demarcation line, at most a few kilometers wide. We could set up a station, in shadow, not too far from solar power, and mine heavy metals. Outside, we could use the element lead the way we use copper on earth. Lead becomes super-conductive in Mercury’s shade, and there ought to be plenty of lead available.

Problems? Getting there will be the biggest problem, but let’s set that aside. Mercury has oxygen, as metal oxides in rocks, but it has no elemental hydrogen or nitrogen. Those must be imported from Earth. Those essential elements were cooked out and lost into space long ago. Once again, we require a closed ecosystem (which we have yet to create) only the humans must remain awake.

As an inner planet, Mercury will have higher than Earth’s background radiation. All building materials will be radioactive, not enough to kill immediately, but enough to sterilize, cause cancer, or produce brain damage, over long exposure. That means either a terminal deployment, or regular, hideously expensive and difficult crew rotations.

How do you approach Mercury? For the flight, Ignore It works best. Concentrate on the need for humans to be there. Remember: If your story line is powerful enough, the reader won’t ask embarrassing questions about suspended animation, radiation, or missing elements. If the human need is great enough, every problem can be moved over to Live With It. Every Mercuryman will plan to die there or in transit.

If you use Unexplained Science, create a radiation-proof energy field for ships and Mercury base. Good luck. Using real science, Mercury remains almost out of reach.

John Deakins, B.A., M.S.T. is a four-decade veteran of the science classroom and lives in Arkansas. As an author, John has fantasy novels in print from the Barrow series.

To read an excerpt from Barrow book one, please click HERE.

Unconventional wall hangers

plastic antler hangers - pic via Carolines mode

My ideal coat hanger would be a closet in the hallway to store all my coats and to have extra closet space as well because, you know is never enough. The reason why I'd go for a closet instead of a coat hanger is that many (cheap) coat hangers in the market just aren't pretty. I'm looking for a piece of furniture that, beyond functionality is also a creative idea capable to add character to the room. Yeah, design, I'm looking for great design that is not always as expensive as we may think especially when we make it! 

Caroline of Caroline's mode customized a plastic antler hanger to display her enviable collection of Chanel bags while Ideas magazine shared a tutorial and a template on how to make a coat hook with birds.

 

Three more unconventional wall hangers below.

tree branch wall hanger via karma kiss

scissors wall hangers pic via one must dash

Perfect hangers for sewing enthusiastics.

Birds on a branch hanger tutorial by Ideas Mag

Check this tutorial, I think this could be done with any shape.