Kawaii Animals

The influence of kawaii is in so many mainsteam European and American products from lunchboxes to pencil cases to wrapping paper. Personally, here at Rapunzel’s Retreat, we’re a fan of the anime and manga stylings surrounding this trend. You may have heard of the Harajuku girls as well – either from the Gwen Stefani song entitiled Harajuku girls or from their amazing styling. Harajuku is a area in Tokyo near the Harajuku station which is a popular weekend hangout for fashionable girls who wear kawaii and lolita style clothing. Harajuku fashions have many subcultures including gothic lolita (victorian style lacy blouses and full skirts in black!) to classic lolita (victorian style full skirts and parasols in whites and creams) and even cyber punk styles and neon trends. Here’s a picture of some more modern Harajuku girls which are rocking the cute, girly, frilly pink modern lolita which can be seen in the Japanese Station’s area and crosses between lolita fashion and cool Kawaii style.

Harajuku Girls - Kawaii and Lolita Style

Kawaii influence has even spread to non-Japanese artists such as the UK based contemporary artist Fiona Hewitt whose love of cute and kitsch animals is shown clearly in her artwork. We currently stock a Fiona Hewitt Kawaii style Classic Hardware bracelet showing anime style animals in cute pastel shades which is currently priced £74.95 and is available for a limited time only in our ASOS marketplace store. Also if we were able to style a Harajuku girl that loved the gothic lolita style, we’d add our Classic Hardware gothic fairytale girls bracelet to the mix, priced currently at £64.95 on our website. Here’s an image of the gothic fairytale lolita style clothes from Harajuku.

Harajuku girl with a gothic lolita fashion sense

Classic Hardware Gothic fairytale Girls Bracelet

Kawaii Style Forever Sweet Animal Bracelet

Beauty and the Beast

Princess and the Pea

snow white

Pied Piper

cinderella

little red riding hood

Puss in Boots

(Image source www.eugeniorecuenco.com)

Our favourites include Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Pea and the Pied Piper. If we could only commission Eugenio Recunco to photography our gothic jewellery in a fashion shoot, that would truly be delightful! I could see the above models wearing one of our artistic bracelets and looking ravishing in them. Photography in this style would look amazing for our contemporary artist based Classic Hardware art Jewellery range. If the above photo shoot had you gasping in awe then you may like our fashion shoot the jewellery pieces we hand-picked to compliment the atmosphere of the above gothic fairytale photo shoot; a wearable art bracelet and puss in boots styled kitty art locket necklace.

Wearable Art Bracelet - Pretty Girls

Currently priced £74.95, this wearable art bracelet, designed by contemporary artist Camilla d’Errico and made by cult US brand Classic Hardware, fits the gothic fairytale theme with its black enamel eco-friendly victorian styled cameo design and beautifully detailed artwork depicting mesmerising girls and their exotic pets ranging from iguanas to wolves and snow leopards. It is truly a fairytale piece and we can fully imagine the lives of the five characters encapsulated on this wearable art bracelet.  This item is for sale in our ASOS marketplace store, along with a few others, as we’ve recently launched our range on the EU giant’s boutique marketplace website.

Wearable Art Locket Necklace - Cat

The second piece we’ve chosen as inspiration from the above photo shoot is our wearable art locket which is available on our website currently priced £64.95 and has the cute, impish feel of the pretty vogue shoot, along with its puss in boots playfulness and beauty. This cat necklace has space inside for two photographs of loved ones making it suitable as a truly personal present for someone you love.

We look forward to doing some more gothic fairytale posts soon!

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is reported to be a good example of steampunk (but not necessarily a good film!) Films and books are often disputed as to whether or not they are truly steampunk. Examples in literature include H.G. Wells and Jules Verne and a good film that’s pretty steampunk are the new Sherlock Holmes moves with Robert Downey Jr. (The finale of the Games of Shadows was wonderful so I won’t spoil it for you!) Because of this uncertainty and debate, there are many variants including cyberpunk, teslapunk (named after the scientist, Nikola Tesla), Clockpunk (which is set in the Renaissance era)  and other near variants Weird West and Science Fiction Westerns.

Steampunk fashion shows women dress in bustles and corsets and flamboyant petticoats. It’s a decadent and romantic movement that evokes a smoky, gaslight London and cobbled streets near the Thames filled with a mix of traditional frigate sailing ships and steam-powered boats.

Steampunk jewellery is often handmade by steampunk fans, crafting together internal pieces of watches with other cogs and metals to form something individual and stylish which are often either expensive to make from scratch or expensive to buy from craftsmen. We had the good fortune of coming across some wonderful pieces of vintage styled steampunk jewellery, which we are now offering in our online boutique, currently priced between £9.95 and £14.95 which makes them exceptionally reasonable in comparison to other steampunk jewellery on the market. These are wearable for both steampunk fans and those new to the movement as they are simply beautiful necklaces that are very vintage and in vogue. They can also be used as a ‘starter’ piece for someone going into their first foray of creativity in the steampunk world; bits can be added to these necklaces to create something even more unique. These necklaces make excellent wearable, everyday pieces. They are beautiful and intricate in their own right as you’ll see below. We hope you enjoyed this introduction to steampunk.

Steampunk necklace black watch and Eiffel Tower

This black faced clock steampunk necklace has an adjustable dial on the top so you can set the time and use it. Hanging on the brassy chain are two brown suede strips, a golden-brass flower shape and a silvery detailed Eiffel Tower.

Steampunk Necklace Air Balloon

This hot air balloon steampunk necklace shows one of the most delightful and unique 19th century modes of transport! The necklace has a rhinestone embellished hanging basket below a lovely parisian, vintage styled hot air balloon which has pastel pale green, blue, yellow and white sections to it. Hanging on the brass coloured chain is a vintage styled material tag featuring a print of the Eiffel Tower. The necklace also features a bronze bead and sequin and a metal Eiffel Tower. If you have a flight of fancy then the hot air balloon steampunk necklace is certainly one to float you away in the clouds.

Steampunk Necklace Surface is Hot Keys

The surface is hot steampunk necklace has a vintage, quirky feel and features a metal plate stating ‘CAUTION!’ in English, Spanish and German followed by ‘Surface is Hot.’ It has an industrial look to it with the metal links which attach to an intricate etched metal heart on the left and a keyring with a delicate key on the other side. A fine silvery chain with tiny black leaves (which have a gentle shimmer to them) are strung between the metal links.

All our steampunk necklaces are currently priced between £9.95 – 14.95. They are dispatched in a premium organza bag after being hand-wrapped in our branded ‘Rapunzel’s Retreat’ tissue paper. They make a wonderful gift or treat for vintage jewellery lovers! We delivery mainly to the UK but can provide quick postage quotes for those in other countries.

The artists she collaborates with to create these stunning signature jewellery pieces range from cute, manga-influenced contemporary artists who paint beautiful doll-like girls to somber, gothic, dark fantasy artists. We’ve chosen a few phenomenal pieces from the collection to showcase in our boutique that go far beyond being simple accessories; they are statement pieces of art worn as jewellery to reflect the uniqueness, personality and inner soul of the wearer!

Today, we’re going to feature three of their fabulous bracelets (we’ll save the locket necklaces for another date!). First up is Camilla d’Errico’s Manga Girls Bracelet. This is a quirky and gorgeously beautiful bracelet featuring hypnotic-eyed girls surrounded by animals from baby snow leopards to yellowed snakes.

Camilla d'Errico Manga Girls Classic Hardware Bracelet

The detail on these art bracelets are incredible, bearing in mind that the cameos of the girls are only 3cm long. The quality of the art is stunning. I, personally, have a bracelet by Bonni Reid and it never fails to garner people’s attention who are taken by in by its beauty.

Secondly, we’ve chosen to highlight in this blog Fiona Hewitt’s Animals bracelet, which is radically different from Camilla d’Errico’s style. This is fun, quirky, 50s styled, cute and kitsch to the max.

Fiona Hewitt Animals Classic Hardware Bracelet

With a vintage feel and a good dose of humour; a snail dressed as a traditional sailor, polka-dot pastel backgrounds and a cute bambi deer in the central cameo this is a gorgeously girly piece of jewellery. Softened, in contrast the the striking first piece, a silver plated enamel frame has been chosen to compliment the bracelets images. We currently have the matching necklace in stock.

Our third choice of the day is the contemporary artist, Kelly Vivanco’s quirky bracelet with attitude featuring animals which after a second take you realise look a little more human than you first thought; an owl wears a bobble hat, a bird wears a top hat. This bracelet is a really interesting piece and gives you an idea of the range in artists that Classic Hardware likes to collaborate with.

Kelly Vivanco Quirky Animals Classic Hardware Bracelet

And that concludes today’s introduction to the US designer brand Classic Hardware. These pieces, and more can be found for sale in the Classic Hardware Jewellery section on our website. We hope you enjoyed looking at these intriguing pieces. Next time, we’ll be exhibiting the darker, more gothic side of Classic Hardware.

All our bracelets are currently priced £69.95 and are eligible for free shipping in the UK. (Please email for an international quote.) All pieces come individually gift wrapped in tissue paper, sealed with our Rapunzel’s Retreat bird logo and placed inside a premium organza bag so they make wonderful gifts for friends and loved ones that are fond of special, unique jewellery.

If you Mum has a beautiful, well kept and stylish home then getting an item to fit the current feel of her home is vital. Last time you visited what was the colour scheme? What textures and shapes does she prefer; plump, soft cushions or sleek minimalistic lines? From there you can chose an item that will fit in with her likes and dislikes within her home decor colour scheme. We’ve chosen to highlight three of our favourites from the range which include everything from vintage door plate hangers and Scandinavian Tea Light Holders to Prairie Butterfly Garlands and a rather classic pressed rose petal heart.

One of our favourites is this blue floral cushion which is large, soft and delicate. The pattern evokes a Parisian vintage feel and it has wonderful detailing that make this a special and unique piece. It works well in soft, feminine sitting rooms with a duck egg blue, pastel or cream/white based colour scheme.

Vintage Blue Floral Cushion

The Vintage Blue Floral Cushion is currently priced £15.95 and it’s a large cushion measuring 45cm x 35cm x 13cm. Here’s a close up of the pretty detailed pattern:

Blue Floral Vintage Cushion

For something inexpensive and sweet, how about a Vintage styled rose petal hanging heart, currently priced £2.49. This comes in two different styles the open heart or closed heart. They can be used to decorate in many areas in the home. This can be displayed in a window or hung from a drawer knob or strung together with a fine wire into heart bunting. Here is a picture of the closed hearts.

Vintage Pressed Rose Closed Filled Heart

Otherwise, how about one of these pretty little intricate boats with moveable parts for the bathroom or windowsill. Nautical is a top trend for 2012 and she’ll be delighted to have a little something like this. The seagull dangles and moves around freely on the top wire which also rotates when touched or spun around. We actually have bought these for my partner’s mother-in-law in three of the different shades and she adored them. A personal, individual present on mother’s day is most appreciated!

The boats are current priced individually at £5.60.

Nautical Boat with Seagulls

The majority of the time, we are able to ship to a different dispatch address in the UK and Standard Delivery is available until Monday 12th March 2012, Next Day is available until Thursday  15th March 2012! When ordering let us know your comments so we can add your special message. Small items will be hand-wrapped in premium tissue paper and sealed with a Rapunzel’s Retreat branded logo for that special touch! We hope you enjoy browsing this new section of hand-picked favourites assembled for the one you love!

You may have heard about it already as it has a huge fan base of women that love it for sharing fashion, hair, makeup, home decor and cute animal pictures. Today we’re going to go through a brief tutorial on how to utilise this website to create lovely mood boards for use in home decor. It’s a fantastic way to gain inspiration and clarity of your vision for a room in your home.

Firstly, you’ll need to get an account. As Pinterest is currently in its Beta stage of testing you need to request an invite. It seems usual for Pinterest to send out an invite after 3-4 days or thereabouts. Otherwise you can ask to be sent an invite from a friend that already has a Pinterest account. It’s easy to setup and once you’ve completed your log in details you’ll be presented with this:

It’ll automatically add you some followers from categories that you’re interested in like and then you can create your own boards. As you can see here:

You can amend the names of your boards to match whatever you like ‘Rosie’s Pink Bedroom’ or ‘Shabby Chic Dining Room Ideas’ or ‘Yellow Things’ for instance. Then you’ll need to follow the instructions on this page carefully:

This will install a bookmark button on the bookmark bar named ‘Pin It’ so that whatever you’re looking at on the web can be pinned onto one of your boards.

It’s a fantastic pictorial bookmarking tool so you can gather ideas and inspirations on an online pin board. You can see what works, what shades and textures and signature furniture pieces go together with what accessories. It can be invaluable in the home decorating world and I’m positive that Pinterest will grow and grow. It’s quick, easy and most importantly a really helpful tool. There are other services very similar to this available but we can only review the one’s that we’ve tried. Rapunzel’s Retreat certainly has a soft-spot for this tool – we’ve been pinning away. Here’s an example of one of our boards:

You can also check out another board, ‘Rapunzel’s Retreat Home Accessories,’ featuring some editorial shots of our gorgeous, quirky home accessories which we’re delighted to say that other people have been re-pinned to their boards:

We hope this brief overview has given you an insight into how mood boards can be created using Pinterest.com and we hope you pin and re-pin to gain new inspiration for your home!

We spent quite a while perusing the home and gift halls and then went onto the jewellery and accessories area where we found a couple of lovely, new suppliers which is rather exciting and fits in with our plan to expand and diversify into ‘fairytale jewellery’. In particular we found three suppliers that we’re keen to place orders with in the jewellery department.

The first is the UK distributors of Classic Hardware an american brand of Gothic fairytale jewellery which involves some amazing artists such as Kukula, Camilla D’errico and Caia Koopman. I’ve been a massive fan of Kukula for ages since discovering her softly sweet gorgeous doll-like paintings which all have a slightly sinister, provocative or sad twist. I’ve actually had an iPhone skin of one of her pieces of art for a couple of years now which I love. Very excited about introducing this Victorian-era pop culture brand.

Secondly, we found a niche vintage accessories supplier that stocks dainty, delicate, fine chains with sparrows and scissors on for an ultra girly, feminine feel. And lastly a wicked, brand new steam punk jewellery collection with a wash of coppery keys, trinkets and air balloons adorning chains or suede necklaces with pocket watches on. Steam punk, if you’re unaware of it, is a fabulous movement based on a literature subculture involving a Victorian era feel mixed with industrial (steam engines, air balloons, clockwork and cogs) to make a lovely tinkering collection of parts, often linked together on necklaces and bracelets. We were so impressed we placed a pre-order as they’d arrived with the wholesaler literally two days ago.

We look forward to introducing new pieces and jewellery to our collection over the coming weeks!

Oh, and as most Spring Fair wholesalers prohibited us taking pictures of their stock we haven’t got many good shots of the inside to share - though we have some snowy and foggy pics of our walk from the car park up to the exhibition halls showing the iced over pond on our long march to the entrance!

Products featured in this hot pink look include the Scandinavian frosted cupid tea light holder which is beautifully etched featuring the eros love icon inside a heart shape, the hot pink felt place mats and matching coasters. The wooden heart name card holder adds the personal touch to the dining experience and for fun, a blackboard heart has been pegged onto the wine glass for people to write little message to each other on as it comes with a small piece of chalk on a piece of string. Finally the pressed rose petal closed hearts and open hearts fill the bowls completes the look to make a delightful mix of hot pink and ruby reds to make a flirty, girly table setting.

This shows a close-up of the beautifully made pressed rose petal hearts. These can be reused as home décor items as each can be hung so looks beautiful hung from drawer knobs or in windows. One of our customers even bought 8 and made them into a delicate string of bunting. In the distance, you can see the Scandinavian tea light holder.

These hearts also make wonderful home décor gifts for Valentine’s day. The vintage cream rose garland has been wrapped around the base of a light and the mini grey and white hanging heart and pressed rose petal hanging heart make a love filled corner to this dressing table.

Also to keep things modern choose shabby chic, worn or vintage styled items. One of our favourite ways to add this trend to your home is to incorporate a little driftwood such as the driftwood heart bowl which hints at lazy sunny seaside strolls in an afternoon without screaming ‘I’m styling nautical this spring!’. To a cosy guest bedroom we would accessories with some driftwood boat bunting and instead of using pot pourri would fill some small bowls with seashells mixed with beads or faux pearls or tip out the coloured glass pebbles in the bottom of vases and add layers of sand, seashells and faux pearls for a decadent, unusual twist to traditional flower vase fillers.

Lastly, for a more obvious hint at the trend, we’d add some of these gorgeous vintage styled trawlers to bathroom windows and let the wire seagulls twist and turn in the spring breeze from an open window. Because, after all, the nautical look wouldn’t be complete without a boat or two in a white-washed shabby chic bathroom!

Definition-wise bunting is usually reminiscent of hanging flags – hence typifies the repetitive triangular or rectangular cotton fabric shapes hung upon a piece of string or fabric. It’s often festive or celebratory in nature and also sometimes patriotic (think England flags adorning windows during the world cup, for example!)

Garlands on the other hand, by definition, were usually a wreath of flowers or leaves worn on the head (think Titania from Midsummer Night’s Dream) by someone to be honoured, quite often competition winner’s in races, for example. You can however deck your house with garlands nowadays, often these will be a string of Scandinavian hearts or paper/fabric flowers, roses or even a string of words making a memorable phrase.

Bunting and garlands are one of my favourite ways to make a room sparkle. Where to use them? There’s plenty of options. We have the cream vintage rose garland (pictured above) wound up and around our staircase, some mini patchwork bunting (top image) hung across the top of the windows and window ledges and also some vertical-style hook garlands hanging straight down the side of a bookcase, softening its sharply defined edges.

As a closing note, the terms bunting and garlands, nowadays, when used regarding home interiors are somewhat interchangeable (in fact you’ll probably see bunting listed as garlands on our very own site somewhere!) and in a modern context it loosely refer to decorative objects which hang either vertically or horizontally by a chain or string, regardless of whether it’s flag-shaped or not. Also the garlands could potentially be used as a headband although we wouldn’t recommend it as most are made of metal and wouldn’t be comfy

We hope this little historical rundown has been informative and sorts your bunting from your garlands!

Rapunzel x