Have you ever heard the saying:
"A Friend Is Someone Who Will Bail You out of Jail,
but Your Best Friend Is the One Sitting next to you saying:
Shit that was awesome!"
Well thats me and Lauren...
It must be said, I have many, many wonderful deep brilliant friends, and a handful of incredible woman in my life that I absolutely adore and that make my life so brilliantly blessed - so please ladies you know who you are and you know you are very special to me too!
Enter trouble, compassion, fun, comfort, laughter, tears, through thick and thin she is the first person I have to call when something good/bad/exciting/funny/appalling/interesting/dramatic/brilliant/crazy/scary happens or if I'm just bored or just happy or just feel like chatting,
she is my best friend...
Lauren, shares my everything, laughter pain, silly concerns and tragic heart aches, she checks on me daily just because she care's, she is my stand in date, we have to have constant catch up's in extreme detail about every little thing that is happening in our lives - and I mean everything! Every detail and thought because no one else understands the way a best friend does. The funny thing is we have certain qualities that are the complete opposite to one another and in other ways we are the same and this has made our friendship valuable beyond measure, because we are constantly supporting each other while helping each other grow by showing each other the other side of the coin. We accept each other completely, love and support each other unconditionally, are unafraid to be honest when the other one does something that needs to be looked at, and all this while laughing, relaxing, loving life, living large and just enjoying each others company.
We live in different cities and yes, life happens but I experienced that when friendship is true, it cannot be defeated by distance... Friendship requires effort, understanding and care, even more so when you live far apart. Moving cities very quickly allows you to see true friendship and treasure it.
So for my darling Lauren's 30th Birthday although I could not make her Durban Birthday party, she did need a very special gift and so I decided to make her her dress. When I asked La what she wanted, she said:
"Its a flamingo party and I want to look like a Ballerina Barbie flamingo cup cake" Yip, you heard right, Lauren knows she was born to stand out and she embraces it, which I adore, so my mission was set.
I looked for inspiration on the net, but when I googled flamingo this is what I got!
La would think these were hilarious but wouldn't be caught dead in any of them! So it was back to the drawing board.
I then decided to start with colour, there are two types of flamingo's, light pink, white and coral...
And then super bright cerise pink, I think we need a good mix of both.
Then I looked at Cup-Cake's...mmm... now how can I incorporate that into a dress??? Maybe the shape of the Tutu?
Ok now the easy part, Ballerina-Barbie, Lauren is a Barbie, gorgeous from head to toe, so it will be easy to take inspiration from the Ballerina-Barbie and know that she will look good in the dress!
I made a traditional looking ballet leotard top, except it extended into a dress so that La could sit her bum in soft smooth fabric and not on the tule as that can be itchy. I added tule detail to make it look more like a whimsical ballet costume. I had never made a tutu before, it is literally layers and layers of tule which I cut and pinned and arranged and sewed layer after layer at a time (I am sure there is a much better, much faster way, but I didn't know one) and I got there in the end.
Then of course to finish it all we needed feathers so that La could
Shake her Tail Feathers like a real flamingo!
(I hope you singing the song in your heads)
And this is how it looked on...
La, no one else could pull that off, you really did look like a bright pink Flamingo-Cup-Cake-Ballerina-Barbie!
I love you millions and I am so sorry that I could not be at your party but I hope you had the best time (although I know thats impossible since I wasn't there to share it with you, wink, wink, oooh nuts - but as good as it could be in my absence) and I look forward to many, many, many, more years of crazy, fun, caring, brilliant, friendship. I love you madly, thank you for enriching my life so magnificently.
http://malvagallery.tumblr.com/
and
Thank you for your continued support and feed back
Have a wonderful week and remember to always
treasure your friendships J
