It’s no secret that I like to read, some of my favourite places in the world are bookstores and libraries, the smell of paper and ink is enchanting. Indeed books hold a magical fascination to me, the ability to pass on knowledge from years or centuries past, to transport us to other worlds, other lives. I’m usually reading more than one book at a time, which is a bad habit. I read on the bus, on the train, before bed, in waiting rooms and even in the bath! (another bad habit.) Here are a few of my favourite links for bibliophiles.

Good Reads
I just found out about this site today and I am in love with the idea! Good Reads allows you to create a virtual bookshelf of everything you read, including reviews and a personal rating. They have a huge database that allows you to look up your favourite authors and series and you can add books to different ’shelves’ based on their genre. I’ve just started adding books to mine, but I’m definitely going to keep up with it from now on, because I often forget what I’ve read and when. You can see my profile here, please add me as a friend!

Project Gutenberg
Probably one of the largest and better organized online libraries. Here you will find a huge collection of texts and books that have been uploaded for public use (and enjoyment!) Its especially great for finding older texts that are no longer under copyright and rare and hard to find books. Sometimes I enjoy just browsing through to see what I discover!

The Invisible Library
I really wanted to link you to this site, which I remember enjoying a few years ago. Unfortunately by some strange irony, the ‘Invisible Library’ is now completely invisible, it seems to have dissapeared altogether! However, lucky for us, a few clever people have made their own records of the library, the first is the link above and the second can be found here. The Invisible Library is a collection of books which do not exist, they are books that are mentioned in other books. Makes for fascinating browsing, if only we could open the pages of some of these books for real!

What should I read next?
This is a fun little tool that helps you find new books you might like. Just type in the title and author of your favourite book and generate a list of those other’s would reccomend to you! I found my reccomendations quite interesting too. I believe by creating an account you can get more specialised reccomendations, but its fun to play with aswell.

What are you reading right now?

In celebration of Miss Charlotte’s Birthday, I thought I would do a link carousel on Dolls. Ball Jointed Dolls, also referred to as BJDs or Dollfies are jointed posable dolls made of a type of hard resin that form a popular hobby in Japan and Asia, and now there are doll collectors all over the world. It is certainly not a cheap hobby, your average doll ranging between $300 and $700 USD, but it is one in which collectors can express a great deal of creativity, doing everything from making clothes and wigs to painting faces and modifying the resin themselves!

Miss Charlotte is a Volks MSD FCS f-06 Snow Skin. To translate that, Volks is the company that made her, she is ‘Mini Super Dollfie’ sized which is about 43cm, purchased from Volk’s ‘Full Choice System’ which allows you to choose every aspect of the doll seperately and her head mold (or sculpt) is number f-06. She also has very white skin that volks calls ‘Snow Skin.’

VOLKS International
This is the english language home page for Volks, my favourite BJD company. They are based in Japan and are probably the most popular company in that nation, they have been around for a long time and are considered to be the originators of Asian Ball Jointed dolls, although they certainly took a lot of inspirations from existing hobbies and traditional dolls. I like Volks for their beautiful sculpts (heads) which vary in style from cute and anime-inspired to more realistic. They’ve just had their 10th Anniversary for the Super Dollfie aswell!

Doll Heart
Doll Heart make beautiful clothes, shoes and accessories for Ball Jointed Dolls. They are based in Hong Kong and run regular design competitions where doll owners can submit their own outfit designs and some are chosen to be made in to real outfits! Miss Charlotte has quite a few outfits and shoes from here, so she thoroughly reccomends them!

Japanese Doll Sites
I love browsing japanese doll owner sites, there are some beautiful photos, gorgeous clothes and face-ups (makeup/paint on faces.) Here are a few of my favourites: Sejour des Merveilles, Recollections, Vertus Maria, Robin’s Egg, Un Crossiant, KOREAN: The Silhouette, Chez Masha

Den of Angels Forums
The largest and longest running english language BJD forums. Den of Angels is a great resource for anything you could want to know about dolls. You will be able to find photos of dolls from all over the world, browse a marketplace of people selling dolls and accessories and learn all about the hobby.

Its no secret the most Princesses love animals the common image of a Fairy tale Princess is surrounded by songbirds or woodland creatures. In many stories animal friends offer help to maidens in trouble and sometimes they grant wishes too! Where I grew up we were surrounded by forest and so I spent much of my childhood around wild animals. At the Kings palace there are so many birds from little finches and honey eaters to a whole family of kookaburras and several packs of magpies. Sometimes there are bobtails and large monitor lizards that come out to sun themselves on a rock. I used to get up very early to walk down to the forest and see the kangaroos grazing and once we even had a wild fox who came to visit.

Where I live now there is less wildlife, but we still have a lot of birds in our garden. Turtledoves and magpie larks and tiny willy-wag-tails. Sometimes I see little geckos and skinks too. I like to take a walk down by the river where I can see beautiful waterbirds, lacey feathered egrets, long beaked ibis and spoonbills, pelicans and elegant black swans like this one.

Here are a few links that might be interesting to animal-loving Princesses.

Hand Feeding Wild Birds
An interesting article on gaining the trust of wild birds during winter and having them eat out of your hands! We used to have the kookaburras and magpies take food from our hands at the King’s place, but here the birds are more timid. Perhaps I will put up a feeder this winter, as I have been meaning to do so for some time.

Chickadees, Juncos, and Jays Oh My!
The blog of a californian bird watcher, most of these photos come from her own back yard! Great tips on attracting birds to your garden aswell.

Behind the Bins
Another beautiful bird blog, great photos and information on local birds. This one is from New Jersey.

Beginning Birding
Some excellent tips on how to start out bird watching, I was given a beautiful field guide for christmas by my Father and I can definitely say they come in handy!

Wildlife Gardener
A fantastic site about attracting wildlife in to your garden, everything from what plants to grow, how to set up boxes and homes and attracting everything from frogs to butterflies and small mammals. The site is british, but some tips will be helpful no matter where you live. I certainly envy those who can have hedgehogs in their gardens though!

Injured Wildlife
I know we all like to help animals in need, but sometimes we can do more harm than good if we don’t know how to handle them. This site has some great information on what to do if you come across and injured animal. We rescued an owl once, he flew in to the carriage at night and taking care of him was one of the most rewarding experiences I can remember. When we released him back in to the forest we were greeted by a dozen different owls on the way home, almost as if they were saying thank you!

Cute Overload
Of course I couldn’t do this carousel without mentioning Cute Overload. If you haven’t heard of it already its a blog devoted to posting adorable photos of animals, it can be a lovely way to cheer yourself up on a bad day (all though there can be an overload of bad english sometimes as well, I just look at the pictures.)

From Rapunzel to Lady Godiva, Princesses in tales and history are often famed for their beautiful hair and I’m sure many of us would also like soft, shiny, healthy hair even if not quite so long! After writing the first two parts of my skin care article I’ve had a lot of requests and great suggestions for a Hair Care lesson. However I think there are so many sites out there with fantastic information on hair, growing long hair, looking after it and even dying hair naturally that instead I would like share with you my favourite links and some excellent ones that have been sent to me so you may peruse them at your leisure.

Rapunzel’s Delight
A huge in depth resource for Princesses who have or would like to grow Rapunzel-like locks! Lots of information on health and lifestyle topics as well as remedies to make your own shampoos, conditioners and rinses. Also have a look at their galleries of historical photos featuring women with floor length hair.

Long Locks Salon
This forum is a great place to discuss various hair care tips and read up on what others reccomend for your particular hair colour and length. Some great advice for dyed hair and different styling ideas too, my favourite section is the Au Natural board. Thank you to Dalliann for this link!

Henna for Hair
Everything you ever wanted to know about dying your hair naturally using Henna and Indigo. You can achieve fiery red to auburn locks using Henna as a hair dye or black with Indigo. The two can be combined for various shades of brown. I found this site fascinating, as someone against using the harsh chemicals in salon dyes on my own scalp, I may even try dying my own hair with Henna soon! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Nocturne - Vintage Hairstyles
Vintage hair styles can be adorable or glamorous, from Shirley Temple ringlets to classic finger wave, Nocturne shows you how to create these looks. I want to try out their tutorial for pin curls some time, the style is so cute! I’m sure the rag curls tutorial will be helpful to Lolitas who want to achieve those beautiful ringlets.

How to Make a Daisy Chain
For a bit of fun and to decorate your beautiful locks, why not make a daisy chain or other floral wreath? Flowers have been used as hair accessories for time immemorial and they still look beautiful today. In the Victorian era it was popular to choose fresh flowers that match your ensemble to decorate your hair with, although these days we tend to use fake flowers. I remember making daisy chains whenever we went to the park, and this is exactly how we made them! Try it yourself, it will bring out your inner child and make you feel like a fairy princess.

I think many Princesses dream of living in, or at least visiting beautiful castles. The very image of these buildings evokes romantic notions of eras past, knights and nobles, banquets and balls, tapestries and tourneys, I think it must have been amazing experience to live in one of these grand estates. Today I present to you some of the most beautiful and famous Castles in Europe, I hope you will enjoy looking at pictures and reading the histories of these magnificent palaces and towers. Some day I would like to visit all of them!

Neuschwanstein Castle
Neuschwanstein was actually built fairly recently, as castles go, with construction beginning in 1869. It was the dream and creation of King Ludwig II of Bavaria (1864 - 1886) who was a fascinating Monarch, eccentric, romantic and reclusive, he built this Fairy-tale castle in the mountains as a private residence where he could live as a real King, even while his real powers were being taken away from him. You can read more about the Swan King here. The castle is an amazing feat of architecture, perched on the edge of a mountain it has some of the most beautiful scenery in Europe.

Château de Chenonceau
Sometimes called the ‘Château de Femmes’, Chenonceau is famous for the many powerful ladies who inhabited it at some time and added their own improvements to the small but charming Château. These included Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de’ Medici, Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont and Gabrielle d’Estrées. It is unusual in that it is partially constructed to bridge the river Cher, the river itself flowing beneath the castle’s supporting arches. It is also famed for its beautiful gardens.

Mont Saint-Michel
Rising out of a tidal bay on a lone rocky island is the Mont Saint-Michel, like an image from some high fantasy tale it evokes the imagination to images of Knights errant and pious monks on pilgrimage to this isolated place. Mont Saint-Michel was founded on the construction of a Monastery in the 8th century, it has withheld against invasion, been used as a prison and is now a world heritage site.

Leeds Castle
A classic looking castle with an intriguing history it has housed royalty and nobility since 1119. I find it particularly interesting for its links to several important Queens and Princesses. It was at one stage the Royal Palace is King Edward I his queen, Eleanor of Castile. Henry VIII gave the castle to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon and Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned there before she was crowned. The Castle itself is quite impressive, built on two adjacent islands on the river Len it boasts beautiful gardens, a large maze and even an aviary!

Konopiště
Although not as large and impressive as some of the other castles listed here, Konopiště in the Czech Republic is a personal favourite of mine. It was originally built as a fortress to protect the town of Benesov but has since been reconstructed several times in to the beautiful golden hued castle it is today. It forms part of a very tragic story as the last residence of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (of descendant of the same family of Marie Antoinette) and his wife the Countess Sophie. It was the assasination of the Austrian heir that became one of the events that led up to World War 1. You can read more about his life here. I was very happy to see this Castle appear in the movie The Illusionist, which I watched recently.

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of Victorian artists, poets, critics and writers who started as a rebellion towards the modern mechanistic style of art and shared a love for romantic symbolism and expressing nature and emotion through art. I was fortunate enough to see an exhibition of some of their most famous works a few years ago when it visited our local gallery. I was so enchanted by their style and the depth of their work that I have been a firm convert ever since.

Many of their paintings are quite easily recognised, but there are some treasures that are a little less well known but equally beautiful. I reccomend that if you ever get the chance to see one of these paintings in person, do not miss it! Prints and photos do not do them justice. Most of my favourites are by John Everett Millais and John William Waterhouse, who was heavily influenced by their themes but is sometimes classed a Neo-classical painter. Interestingly, I am not attracted to the works of Rossetti, amoung the most popular of the Pre-Raphaelite painters.

The movement wasn’t just about painting though, it inspired many creative people and spilled over in to home decorating, jewelry, writing, crafts and even artistic dress. You can learn more about this amazing group of people by following these links.

The Beautiful Necessity
My favourite Pre-Raphaelite blog! Grace takes a very practical approach to looking at Pre-Raphaelite work and explores its influence on modern culture. I always enjoy her illustrated posts which often bring my attention to some unsual detail I had not previously noticed. The author is a beautiful Pre-Raphaelite maiden herself!

JWWaterhouse.com
Whenever I need a little inspiration and beauty in my day I find myself inexplicably drawn here. Over 100 gorgeous images by this talented artist, each one telling a story. They also have a great community where you can read about other people’s experiences with the paintings and discuss the Mysterious Models who are featured in them. A great place to purchase prints too!

Earthly Paradise
Another beautiful blog. I love reading Margaret’s insights in to the meaning behind the artists’ and writers’ works, her recent entry on Beauty in Art was quite profound. Philosophy, Art and History all in one place, it is indeed Paradise.

Art Magick
Really gorgeous site and one of the few places I’ve found Pre-Raphaelite poetry online. I especially enjoy the collection of illustrated poems. This is a beautiful place to immerse yourself in, indulging in the beauty and romance of victorian poets and artists. Not sure where to start? Try A Garden by the Sea.

Amigurumi are adorable little crocheted dolls that are a popular craft in Japan. They can be any shape or size, but the standard style are about 12cm tall, with large round heads and small cylindrical bodies. They are usually animals, cats, dogs, bears and rabbits are the most common. Both Milky and Fleur are of this type, which seem to be very popular with Zakka stores and on japanese auctions.

Amigurumi are usually worked in spirals, and are different from the type of crochet where the rounds are joined. It is hard to find good information on Amigurumi in english, because the craft is often mistaken as ‘any crochetted toy/doll’ where as there is a definite japanese styling to Amigurumi. I have collected a few of my favourite links together here.

Amigurumi Kingdom
In my opinion, the cutest non-japanese Amigurumi out there! They are quite famous for their cupcake bears, that is little Amigurumi heads in cupcake wrappers. I think her photography is beautiful too, she always has pretty paper back drops. Good luck trying to buy any of her work though, it sells out so fast!

Avocadolite Farm
Hasn’t been updated in a while, but they make the cutest mini-amigurumi. Great inspiration for anyone wanting to get started in the craft. Have a look at the gallery of Ex-farm members who have already found new homes.

Anapaulaoli Patterns
If you want to start making Amigurumi, Anapaulaoli have some adorable patterns to get you started! There are so many cute creatures to choose from, someday I would like to learn crochet and make one of these designs!

Crochet Pattern Central - Animals
A great listing of free crochet animal patterns, there are a few amigurumi in here amoungst lots of cute designs for beginners and advanced!

Pompadour24’s Craft Cafe
One of many etsy stores exporting japanese craft and pattern books including some great Amigurumi books! If you search for ‘amigurumi book’ in etsy you should turn up some more results. I’d love to hear about anyone’s experimentation using the patterns in these books and how hard they are to understand.

My Favourite Japanese Amigurumi sites: *milky*, おまめ note, mickie, COPAI*N, Pousse, Colorful*K&K, Sunny Place, niko*niko Japanese text only.

I try and be fairly productive with my time, I have a busy schedule and love going to parties and meet ups and excursions. When I am at home for a day I write myself up a to-do list with little hearts which I tick as I do each task (and if I finish them all I draw a tiara ) However, I have to accept that there are some days that are meant to be spent doing nothing.

Nothing days are days dedicated to enjoying the pure lack of any comittments, you can stay in your pajamas, read a book in bed, watch old movies and not cook a thing for yourself. I don’t reccomend having them to often, but once in a while its nice to let go of the need to dress up and go somewhere or do something. These links may offer amusement for a few minutes or a few hours when you have nothing better to do, or are avoiding doing something you don’t want to!

Orisinal : Morning Sunshine
Easily the cutest flash games site on the internet! A friend sent me this link a few months ago, and whenever I feel like a little pick me up I love going to play the cute animal themed games. They’re all rather simple to play and the graphics range from cute and cuddly to greeting-cardesque. My favourite game is ‘Starry Night’ because I love the music, its like a lullaby, and the little stars make me smile.

Poupee Girl
This site is a little addictive for anyone who loves cute fashions and dress up dolls! It’s a japanese website designed for creating a photo-catalogue of your wardrobe. You upload photos of clothes and accessories you own and are rewarded with ‘ribbons’ which act as a currency to purchase clothes for your little avatar. I really enjoy the chance to look through other people’s wardrobes and have discovered some new favourite brands this way. You can see my Poupee Girl here, her name is Miu. Please feel free to friend me!

Etsy
Etsy knows how to make shopping fun. Apart from being a great place to find handmade items and crafts, they have some really original search functions. I love using the Color function to find an item in my favourite shade of powder pink, or maybe a rich dark blue. The Geolocator lets you spin a virtual globe to browse items from all over the world, but my favourite way to shop is using the Connections function, you need to be logged in and have some favourites saved, but it creates a beautiful cloud of images by connecting the items you like, finding other people who liked them and showing you what else they like. Most of the cute stuff I have found on etsy has been through this system. Sometimes window shopping really is more fun!

Polyvore
Oh dear, here is where the part of me that secretly wants to work for a fashion magazine comes out! I spent about an hour on Polyvore this evening creating this adorable little coordinate. Its for a Valentine’s Day picnic, cute little gingham dress, straw hat, roses and a basket of pink candy hearts. Polyvore lets you play with images from thousands of sites to create magazine style spreads of your favourite look. It’s great for trying new ideas and developing your sense of style, you can even add images yourself and I noticed quite a lot of lolita in there. I think it’s best thing since photoshop!

It’s no secret that I’m a big Marie Antoinette fangirl. I have been completely fascinated with her life, story and image since I first watched Rose of Versailles, many years ago. I’m not the only one it seems, because there are some beautiful and interesting websites out there devoted to the last Queen of France. I hope you will enjoy these links!

Marie Antoinette Online
Our first stop is very informative, MA online has some excellent articles and biographies in different languages. I believe the articles have different authors however, so take them with a pinch of salt and remember that everyone has different opinions on this controversial Queen. There is also a nicely presented image gallery and a forum.

Le château de Versailles
The official site of Marie Antoinette’s home in france, Versailles has been beautifully restored and is now a museum of french culture and history. You can find some gorgeous images of the palais here, including panoramic views of the Hall of Mirrors. There are notes on the history of the buildings as well, from the Sun King to Napoleon and of course, MA herself.

Antoinette’s Closet
One of my favourite Marie Antoinette websites! All about the gowns worn by the Queen both in history, and in the many films that feature her. Excellent reference images and inspirations for lovers of period fashion. There is even a gallery of fan made costumes. I would love a replica of one of her dresses someday. If you look under “The Queen of France” you can see images of the few surviving pieces of her possession.

Marie Antoinette Style
A lovely article by Miss Gala on dressing in a modern version of Marie Antoinette’s style. Inspired by the sumptuous movie by Sophia Coppola, she reccomends powdered hair, pink blush and a little glitter for added sparkle! Rich perfumes and hair jewels give the finishing touch.

The Marie Antoinette Flickr Group
To really immerse yourself in her lavish lifestyle and gain some royal inspiration, I suggest setting this to slideshow, putting on some Mozart and enjoying a bowl of strawberries in cream, with a silver spoon. Portraits, film stills, photos of Versailles and the Trianon, dolls, furniture, crockery, sculpture, jewelry everything here is a visual feast. Enjoy!

I love doll houses and miniatures. Apart from the undisputed fact that a tiny version of something is always infinitely cuter, I think Doll Houses offer a way to indulge in a fondness for period decor and luxurious old homes even if one can’t have a life size manor.

I had a little Victorian doll’s house when I was younger, but some day I would like to build a Chateau, inspired by Versailles but a little simpler, with blue panelled walls and painted ceilings and gilt furniture. It would take me a very long time to finish though and I have some other projects to complete first, such as my vanity.

I hope you will enjoy these links as much a I did. There are some really amazing dollhouse artists out there!

Greenleaf Dollshouse Kits
Greenleaf make a wide range of dollshouse kits. These come uncompleted for you to put together and paint yourself. From charming gingerbread cottages to grand manors they have so many different styles. I love imagining who would live in each of these houses.

Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle
This is my favourite dollhouse ever! It was put together by talented craftspersons using exquisite materials such as chinese jade and real jewels. Each room tells the story of a famous fairy tale and is amazingly detailed. There is even a library with miniature books. I wouldn’t mind living here myself.

The Dolls House Emporium
Another dollhouse store. They make some beautiful houses and furniture but I think they are a bit expensive. I just like looking at the high quality photos and getting ideas. I especially love their conservatories. Don’t miss their 3d dollshouse tour either!

Hogwarts Dollhouse
For the Harry Potter fans. This is a really stunning piece, every room is so full of miniatures all heavily influenced by the movies. It is such a big dollhouse I imagine it would be even more impressive in real life. I like the Gryffindor common room, it looks so cosy!

Fairy Woodland
For something a little different, houses for fairies instead of dolls! They’re made from natural materials and would blend in well in their woodland habitat. I adore the tiny fairy furniture and think it would be simply magical to have one of these in your room, all lit up from the inside!

Dollshouse Castle
Ok, I admit, I have a weakness for Castles. Here is another beautiful example, luxuriously appointed with marble bathrooms and chandeliers. The photos taken of the interior make them look like real rooms. It is 9 feet high, can you believe it? I like the piano room and the tiny gold and silver chess set. So much work goes in to these houses, they are masterpieces in themselves!