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Showing posts from February, 2022

How to make hats and headbands for fancy dress - pirate and pilot

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 You can order pirate hats and captain hats from the internet. Sources I found were in the USA, UK, and China. Ordering from overseas may take longer, unless you are a member of Amazon prime or are in a hurry and are prepared to pay. Which is 'quicker'. Do you have time (now) to make, or time (all month) to wait? If you have access to a printer in an office, home, or hotel, this is easy. Download the headband or hat from the internet. Lots of samples are available in craft websites and teachers' aids to other teachers and teachers' and parents' aids to other parents. My main concern is the amount of black ink I am using up on my home printer. It costs money. You run out and delay important printing projects of agendas for meetings whilst you stop to change the ink. A headband uses less black ink than a full size hat. Ideally, use a piece of black paper. Or buy a set of different coloured cars. Or save cards from various products using the plain white or coloured bac

Australian vocabulary and accents - how is it different from British English?

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  Australian - British barbie - barbecue doona - duvet dunny - toilet medicine (pronounced like med-i-sin) - medicine (pronounced like medsn) rain is sprinkling - rain is drizzling sheila - female thongs -flip-flops Yogurt (first syllable like yoyo) - yogurt (first syllable like yacht) Useful Websites https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Australia

How to Find Free items, Buy Bargains and Re-sell Your Old Clothes Easily

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You can find something for everyone, from army surplus clothes to vintage wedding dresses and designer bags. Some of the high end manufacturers and stores are offering to buy back items which they refurbish, and give you a voucher to buy something new from their stock. I buy a lot from ebay, and occasionally from etsy. I know I could sell on there, but packaging and shipping is too time-consuming, confusing and troublesome. However, HEWI, standing for hardly ever worn it, has two levels of service One  gives you more money and lets you ship things out yourself. The other collects your unwanted items and takes a larger commission. if you need the space, anything is better than nothing. Are you hoping to find free items, buy bargains, or sell cheap or second hand clothes? Here are your hunting words: Useful Words army surplus stores, bargain basement, car boot sales, charity shops, consignment shops, flea markets, garage sales, op shops, opportunity shops, resale shops, surplus stores, t

How to restore a black cowgirl hat crushed in the mail - dress of the day 343

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 My black cowgirl hat was crushed in the mail. I was crushed - metaphorically.  I tried to unbend the circular wire edge. It was completely mis-shapen. I could not straighten it. The dome was creased. I thought of wetting it. Then wearing it. I would get black dye all over my blonde hair.  Put it on top of another black hat. That might straighten the central dome, but not the bent edging wire. Angela wearing the bent, black cowgirl hat. Selfie by Angela Lansbury. The brim was badly bent. The high centre was wonky. Awful. Unwearable. What is the centre part called? Not a dome. Parts of a hat? It is called the crown. Later that day, I carried a heavy mortar and pestle over to the dining table and placed it by chance alongside the hat. It was heavy. I moved it over the edge of the hat, to flatten the edge. That seemed to work. Would it stay? I didn't know - yet. I decided to leave it. Also on the table was a pile of heavy wooden chopping boards. I placed them on the other side of the

Two Items You Need to unpick trousers or skirts and remake into something wearable

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 I showed my friend Carolyn how I had cut a pair of trousers to make a skirt. I had shown her how to use pinking shears. Pinking shears from Wikipedia. The plainest have silver or black handles. I prefer coloured handles. If you have two pairs, you can remember which is which more easily. If the resulting skirt is too long, you can hoist it up at the waist. Or raise it above your bust line under your armpits. The next day Carolyn called me. She wanted to do the same to an old pair of trousers (Americans say pants) and turn them into a skirt.   She asked me, "Can you meet me for lunch - and bring with you your pinking shears!" They cost twenty dollars or more. If you use them to cut paper, they go blunt, won't cut, and leave frayed, ragged edges. Because of the shape, they are impossible to sharpen. Seam Rippers She also said, "The unpicking is going slowly because I don't have unpickers."  The usual term is seam rippers. They are much cheaper. Two dollars fo

How to create an avatar (cartoon) of yourself on Reddit

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  Angela Lansbury I made this in Reddit. I saved it and pasted it into Facebook.  A friend asked me: How do you create the cartoon? I replied: You go into Reddit. They offer you an optional avatar (cartoon) as an alternative to a profile photo. You select one from each set of choices.  The choices include Eye colour.  Hair colour.  Hat.  Object in hand.  I chose blue eyes, blonde hair, red clothes, a book in my hand. Reddit is a site where you can share news items or pictures. Other people comment and vote.  The system for creating the avatar is simple and free. Not a free trial. Free. I then went looking for a better avatar, because I wanted longer blonde hair and a fringe, and even to animate it. That will be my next venture. If and when I succeed, I shall write another post. I found readyplayer which says it creates a moving picture for developers to use for an app or game.   Useful Websites reddit.com https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avatar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A

How to re-use a discarded child's heart design dress as a dickey: dress of the day 342

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  Child's dress, discarded. Photo by Angela Lansbury. I simply cut up the two side seams with pinking shears. I use pinking shears to stop the fabric from fraying, because i do not have the time or inclination to sew up the sides. If you have a sewing machine or time for hand sewing, you could sew up the side edges. If you cut neatly up one side of the seam, one side is already securely oversewn.  Hand sewing the sides would not take long. I could complete it whilst listening to a zoom meeting, such as a Toastmasters meeting, so long as I do not have a role. I can turn off the video. You end up with an arch of fabric on two spagetti straps. If you buy a dickey online, the better and more expensive ones have a piece of elastic under the arms to hold the dickey in place. Glossary dickey - false shirt front, consisting of a neck filling piece, at the front, u shape or v shape or square, sometimes with a collar and a back piece. No sleeves or cuffs, but you can occasionally find sleeve

Pink and red hearts for Valentine's Day? How To Sort And List Clothes Colours For The Year

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What colours can you wear to change with the seasons? Sort your wardrobe by colour or season. List your outfits by themes and patterns. Then you won't be hunting for hearts, as I did, on Valentine's day. Match the colours to the season, the day, or your birthstone. Spring Colours Pastels Pastel pink Yellow daffodils for March, with green and white Summer colours Vibrant colours Pillar box red. Emerald green. Royal blue. June roses: red, yellow, pink. Autumn Colours & Patterns Autumn or Fall:  Rusty orange or brick red, mustard yellow, khaki green. Leaf patterns Winter Colours Winter white Green trees and plants Mistletoe, holly, fir tree Santa and santa hats in red and white Seasonal events JANUARY-February Chinese New Year. (lunar, dates vary) Red. February 14   Pink for Valentine's Day Pink hearts Red hearts Any hearts March Mid-March (variable date) Hindu Holi Festival of Spring/Colours/Love. Also celebrated by Indians, Nepalese, some Sikhs and some Buddhists and com

In the Pink: Pink Petticoat; Pink bow kitten Dress of the day 341

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  Angela Lansbury. Photo taken by Carolyn Street-Johns on Angela's mobile phone. Come back for more details of clothes later. Pink Petticoat From Mustafa's 24 hour department store Pink Clogs Look like Crocs but not Crocs. White Cape Blazer You will find many styles of cape blazers on the website of Shein. About the author of this blog post Angela Lansbury About the Author Angela Lansbury BIOGRAPHY Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5  The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When. Blogs  travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com translateforfun.blogspot.com Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time. Meetings include Sat Feb 19th. See our Facebook page or contact through Toastmasters Internati

How to choose hangers for the bride, groom, mother of the bride, bridesmaids, ushers

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  David Amazon Hangers Hangers can be plain white for the bride and black for the groom. Or add a bar to hold trousers. Or indentations for straps and loops. Or a white silk or synthetic flower for the bride attached to the base of the hook. Or a bow tie for the groom, best man and ushers, in black, or the chosen colour scheme. Add a detachable sign or bag to hold a ring or lip balm, or to hang on a wardrobe door or bedroom doorknob. The wording can be painted on, printed and stuck on, or engraved. The wording can be in white, black, silver, gold, or a colour.  Hangers can be personalised by name or function. Add the words bride, groom, mother of the bride, mother of the groom, usher, flower girl, bridesmaid, matron of honour, best man, ring bearer, page boy. You can paint hangers. In colours. Or with names. Or dates. If you are onto your second marriage, like Liz Taylor, the word bride is safer, and the hanger can be used for your second wedding or passed on to a daughter, sister or m

How To Sort Your Clothes By Colour? Lessons from the colour blind, Colour Conscious and Creative! Co-ordinated for all year, day and night time, funerals or weddings, Valentine's Day and special occasions

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 Brides wear white. A simple colour scheme. White dress, white shoes. Co-ordinated. Colour schemes are chosen for the theme of the wedding. That gets the bride into good habits!   Uncle  Ronald. My colour blind late uncle Ronald had all his clothes sorted into sets with labels: Blue shirt goes with blue tie. White shirt goes with black tie. Since he had recently died, I was the executor of his will, this made me very sad. Now, several years on, I can turn this story around. Isn't that great? Yes! He was able to go out, perfectly co-ordinated. His life was in order. At least, his clothes were in order. The handwriting was not his, so somebody else had helped him to organize the colours.  What a useful lesson. I could do the same. You could do the same.  He had very few clothes. Less than a dozen shirts. Less than a dozen ties. In a morning, afternoon or evening, he could have listed all the colours and sorted out the scheme for the rest of his life. You and I could do the same. I al