LADYLAND

Party poppers are great for anyone over the age of five, but in the hands of babes I always get nervous that a misfired popper will lead to someone being maimed... or deafened... or even lose an eye. Just me? Anyway, here's a simple way to make a party popper that the little ones can enjoy too, plus they can refill them so you get more than one pop for your buck.

A paper cup

A balloon

Washi tape or masking tape

Confetti

Scissors

1. Cut a hole in the bottom of your cup, not too close to the edge because you need it to hold its shape. 2. Take your balloon, cut the top off and stretch it around the bottom of the cup. 3. Now tape around the edge of the balloon to attach it to the cup. Tie the end of your balloon to keep the confetti in, now fill it with confetti.

Hold the cup with the top pointing away from you, pull back the balloon and watch as the confetti pops into the air as you release the balloon.  

If your fruit bowl has become a holiday destination for fruit flies, make them an alternative they can't refuse.

Put white or red wine vinegar in a jar with some citrus fruit. Cover it with cling film and poke a few small holes in the top. Remove any other fruit and veg from the room and they will all flock to get drunk in your trap.

Once you have them trapped, put the jar in the freezer for half an hour to send them to their doom (cue evil laughter).

Life hacks every Monday on Ladyland. Have you got a good one? 

See our previous life hacks here.

I used to be the kind of girl who carried an oversized shoulder bag, roomy enough to cart around half of my possessions and sneak one’s illicit purchases home in… until one day my osteopath broke the news to me that the chronic pinching sensation I was feeling in my shoulder was caused by the repeated hoisting of six or so kilos of handbag at just the wrong angle. Plus, carting around a behemoth of a bag on the same shoulder every day was throwing my posture out of whack.

Apparently, this type of handbag-acquired injury is frighteningly common. I imagine it peaked when the more hardware you had on your bag, the better – what were we thinking dragging around all those padlocks and studs? We’re physically hurting ourselves with our handbags – how's that for a first-world problem... The solution? Ditch the excess baggage and aim for a more even weight distribution – get yourself a chic little crossbody bag, ladies. This is not just an excuse to go handbag shopping. Your posture is at stake – file this under emergency purchase. In the name of research, I’ve trawled the internet for some cool little numbers – and no basic black in sight. Full disclosure: I may have acquired one or two during the process. 

In the world of gardening it's all about planting ahead for the next season – now forward planning is not our strong point, but fortunately there are people out there who get a kick out of such things. Organised people. With calendars and stuff. One such person is Seonaid Royall, the green-fingered garden guru from Sprout Up and she tells us NOW is the time to be planting bulbs if you want to reap the rewards next spring. Here she shows us a wonderfully simple project you can create on your own, with your children or as a special gift.

Large pot with a hole in the base A few stones or pieces of tile Multi-purpose compost

Variety of bulbs, I used: 9 Tulip Purissima 4 Hyacinth Carnegie 15 Narcissus Jack Snipe 20 Crocus Jeanne d’Arc Chicken wire

1. Place a few stones over the hole in the bottom of the pot. It stops all the compost falling out but still allows drainage.

2. Look at all the planting depths for each bulb you have and select the one that wants planting deepest – for my bulbs it was the Tulip, which needed planting at a depth of 15 cm. If you don’t have this information a general rule of thumb is to plant the bulbs at a depth that is three times their height.

3. Measure 20cm down from the top of your pot and fill up to that line with compost.

4. Place the bulbs on the compost. They shouldn’t touch the sides or each other. Always plant bulbs with the point facing up.

5. Add more compost till you reach your next level. For my bulbs, it was the Hyacinths which required a planting depth of 10cm, so I added 5cm of soil.

6. Place the Hyacinth bulbs in the compost, taking care not to position them directly over the tulips.

7. Continue with your bulbs in layers till they are all in, top with compost (leaving approximately 7cm clear from the top), press it down lightly and water. 8. We live in London and are plagued by squirrels, so have found the only way to keep these treasures safe is to put a layer of chicken wire over the pot till they are established, and put the children on squirrel-chasing duty!

Next spring, you'll see results like this for your hard work now!

Need a hot tip on the best to see or do? Fancy a good read, meal or conversation starter? Check out what the Ladyland team is making, reading, cooking, coveting and pondering. Enjoy!

Margherita is unsure if she should feel nostalgic or terrified by seeing these pictures of her country.

Post London Fashion Week, Celia is looking forward to sashaying to this exhibition at the Fashion Space Gallery by the talented Simon Costin.

Would Selina take advice from this twentysomething? Yes, yes she would...

Bella thinks what this flower recycling charity does is absolutely awesome, and also a bit tear jerking.

Clementine is slightly horrified at the thought of this coming back into fashion!

Emma thinks all churches should look like this amazing explosion of colour. 

Pimp your game of pass-the-parcel by adding a watermelon layer! Or try it on a gift for a fruit lover. You could even add more fruity layers – yellow with black stripes followed by white, for a banana or pink paper followed by white with black spots, for a dragon fruit! ... surely there's room for a pineapple here somewhere too.

Green paper - I got mine from Tiger because they have some that's pink on the other side. 

Pink tissue paper

Green paint

A black pen

Paint green stripes on your green paper to mark out watermelon stripes. Depending on the colour of the paper, figure out if you need darker or lighter green paint to make it look like a watermelon. Now draw black pips on your pink paper. Then wrap the parcel in pink first then green. 

Congratulations! You have made a watermelon.

In our household we've been bonkers for conkers lately for two reasons: 1. They make for easy kids entertainment at the park, and 2. Every time I say 'conkers' in my mind and it comes out in Dizzy Rascal's voice when he says 'BONKERS'... which obviously adds to the autumnal ambiance of the park.

But, now there's another reason. Pop some in with your jumpers and they'll keep moths at bay too. 

Life hacks every Monday on Ladyland. Have you got a good one?  See our previous life hacks here.

Recently a new cocktail bar has opened in our neighbourhood, the result of a rampant (and much disliked) gentrification. The bar is in truth, still very much out of place, but the owners are really friendly and passionate, and they know their drinks very well.

On our first visit they offered us a delicious drink which reminded me of times in Paris and made me want to read Camus and eat saucisson and Comté cheese again.

So, feeling nostalgic, I’ve tried to make my own.

MUSKAT AND SODA

50ml Muskat 50ml soda water A couple of ice cubes An orange peel

Pour the Muskat and the soda water into a small sherry glass (if you don’t have a measure, simply mix half and half). Add the ice cubes and gently but firmly press the cut side of the orange peel over the rim of the glass. This leaves a light smudge of orange oil on the rim, which adds a subtle, zesty flavour to the drink.

A little note: I did try to dunk an orange peel directly inside the mix (out of laziness), but the cocktail changes flavour, becoming much more of a 'Muskat and orange juice', which is surprisingly bland.

If you've ever fancied showing off your domestic goddess skills to pesky, unexpected guests these 'icebox cookies' are your new best friends. Competitive? Moi? Oh nooo...

To be prepared, make a basic cookie dough, roll it into a large sausage, wrap in greaseproof paper and keep it in your freezer. Then, when you need to impress after school blow ins and digestive biscuits just won't do, take the dough from your freezer, roll it into whatever takes your fancy (or/and is in your cupboard)... and bake, job done!

As always, I turned to Martha Stewart for a simple dough recipe...

Makes two rolls of cookie dough:

290g flour 225g butter, softened 150g caster sugar 1/2 tsp salt (flakes are nicer) 2 egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla essence

This makes a pretty plain dough, very buttery but you can, and probably should, add more flavours:

Lemon, orange zest Chopped nuts, chocolate or dried fruit like cranberries Substitute some of the flour with cocoa powder or ground almonds Or add a tsp of Earl Grey tea or Matcha powder... I could go on but I won't!

1. Cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add your egg yolks, one at a time and mix well.

3. Add vanilla essence and your dry ingredients and mix to a dough.

4. Place half of the dough onto a large piece of baking paper, and roll it to form a kind of sausage.

5. Twist each end tightly in opposite direction, tie a piece of string and place into your freezer. Do the same with the other half of your dough.

Now the fun part: toppings!

Sprinkles (the smaller the better) Sanding sugar Chopped hazelnuts, pistachios, peanuts... Shredded coconut Crushed pretzels ...anything goes really!

1. Sprinkle the topping onto your work surface. I laid them out in lines to make four different types of cookies all at once. 

2. Take out your frozen dough from the baking paper and lightly brush with water.

3. Roll the dough over your spinkles, pressing down as you go. You can touch it up later if needed.

4. Slice the dough and place onto a lightly greased or silicon baking tray.

5. Bake at 175c for 13-15 min, until slightly golden on the edges.

6. Leave to cool, then eat!

Need a hot tip on the best to see or do? Fancy a good read, meal or conversation starter? Check out what the Ladyland team is making, reading, cooking, coveting and pondering. Enjoy!

Innovative architecture and gin, two of Emma's favourite things, together at last. 

Selina always knew that Hermione was a good egg...

Bella’s trying to pretend her house move isn’t actually happening by sneaking off to see this illuminating documentary about Nick Cave (and his typewriter).

Celia can't stop looking at these happy colourful collections, which in turn remind her of Dan Tobin Smith's installation seen during last week's London Design Festival.

Clementine wonders if her children would eat better if she served them meals like these.

Margherita has been hypnotised by this colour game (n.b. do not attempt if you are colour blind).

I'm a bit rubbish at make-up, so my box of lady supplies consists of a small pencil case full of cosmetics and a bucket of nail polish in every colour of the rainbow. This collection has expanded at an alarming rate since I've started following Wah Nails on Instagram – seriously, check it out. Nails for every occasion! Weddings, parties, halloween, Tupac's birthday (?!) 

So last week I tried out their super pointy, heart-shaped nails...

I wasn't sure how they would work out for a few reasons. Firstly, I wasn't sure if I could paint them neatly enough and secondly, sure, they'd look great on someone like Iggy Azalea while she does that sassy, pointy, dancing, but how would they fair sorting Lego, collapsing buggies and wiping bottoms all day? Nappy changes! Eesh!

Only one way to find out: beauty road test!

Here's how it went... NB: I had to stop taking photos at one point, so I've resorted to diagrams to show how I painted them. It was either that or ending up with nail polish EVERYWHERE.

So how did it go? Well, I managed to go three hours without breaking one, on a towel! ...and I managed to snag the towel in the process. On day two, a run-in with a car-seat buckle claimed another victim. 

Preparing my four-year old's party took a few more. Balloons and gaffer tape are to be avoided. By the end of the week my nails look more Iggy Pop than Iggy Azalea, but no one got injured! It was surprisingly not as scratchy as I'd imagined.

Make a teeny, tiny ledge from a Post-it Note to collect that little mound of dust that comes out of the wall when you drill a hole. One less thing to tidy up. Life hacks every Monday on Ladyland. Have you got a good one?  See our previous life hacks here.

In the last few years I’ve been trying to recycle as much gift wrap as I can. It always is such a waste of paper and materials, and in fact, such a waste of beauty too! Have you seen what Ladyland Emma can do? If I receive a present wrapped up in anything as remotely amazing as her Celine inspired wrapping, I just can’t bring myself to throw it away after it’s been used. So I try to store whatever I get and, at least, re-use it as best as I can. But sometimes you end up with a lot of creased paper and some of it just looks plain battered. So what do you do with crackled black tissue paper for example? You try to turn it to your advantage and… pretend it’s tarmac!

This is a gift wrapping idea great for boys’ presents (they get the added bonus toy) and for square boxes. Don’t try to use it on a weirdly shaped item – Gran Turismo is much better when it’s real.

scissors ruler glue (or double-sided tape) tape blue or white tack creased (or not) black tissue paper dark and bright green tissue paper (this can be a bit creased too) white and yellow china graphs or crayons a colourful toy race car (not green) toy road signs (optional)

Iron the creased tissue paper on a low temperature – this will smooth the surface but still keep the crackled ‘tarmac’ look. If you are using new black tissue, crumple it into a ball first and then iron it.

Put one layer of bright green tissue paper inside a layer of dark green one to add shades to your ‘grass’.

Wrap your box with the green paper and close it with some tape, leaving the ends open.

Make a fold on the black tissue paper on its long side.

Use a ruler to draw the ‘double yellow lines’ and the ‘overtaking white line’ with china graphs or crayons (but make sure to fit the lines against the width of the toy car).

Fold the black tissue paper along the second set of ‘double yellows’.

Glue the ‘road’ onto the ‘grass’, covering the fold of the green tissue paper, and close the ends of the wrapping folding both green and black wrapping and sticking it with some glue.

Use a bit of Blu-tack to secure the race car and the road signs on the road.

The weather may have other ideas, but we have it on good authority that autumn will arrive at some point this year. So we decided, before we kit ourselves with a whole new-season wardrobe (and hemorrhage huge wads of cash in the process), to ask an expert – fashion editor and good friend of Ladyland, Erica Davies of www.modernmummusthave.com – for her sage advice. Here’s what she had to say….

In the seasonal style preference league, autumn comes out top for me. Hands down. Give me a crunch of leaves underfoot, that slightly irritating condensation on the windows and a chill in the evening air and I am one happy lady. It means great cashmere, new boots and several coats – which probably says more about me and my outerwear obsession than anything else. But this season there are some brilliant pieces combining all of the above which I have to make mine. And in the spirit of Ladyland, I'm sharing the love.

Overdraft at the ready, here are five of my must-have buys for the season – go on, you know you want them...

1. The Statement Coat My personal feeling is that everyone needs a leopard coat in their life. Leopard – and in fact, all things animal – has become such a classic it can now be considered a neutral in very much the same way as greige or blush pink. This cocoon-shape coat from Marks & Spencer is a veritable bargain at just shy of ninety quid – plus the print is on the safer side of Bet Lynch so you won't scare the neighbours (or the bloke). Clash up the print with florals, stripes and this season's spots for a modern way to wear. I promise this will be one autumn buy you'll be digging out for years. PS: M&S's coat collection is definitely worth a visit this season – I'm also after a navy blue boyfriend coat and a Per Una faux fur. 

 2. The Souped-Up Flat So when it comes to footwear this season we need to remember a few things. Flats = great, fringing = even better. These gorgeous classic-with-a-twist fringed loafers are bang on trend, plus have that all important AW masculine vibe going on. Simply put, that means they'll work beautifully with awkward-length trousers (fashion-speak for slightly cropped), as well as with cute denim smock dresses. The metallic adds a quirky edge – LOVE.

3. The Oversized Knit Just going to put this out there: oversized knitwear is way cooler than form-fitting numbers. Every fashion editor I know has been raiding the cashmere in M&S's menswear department for years because they prefer the way the knits hang. Zara's oversized navy cashmere number ticks my style box this season for its genius simplicity.

  4. The Blogger-Approved Denim MiH jeans has been having a bit of a moment over the past few seasons, with the 'Phoebe' turned-up hem boyfriend jean the absolute go-to for every fashionista. This season, old Phoebe has been slimmed down and given a patch update. Look out for patchwork in all forms this autumn – denim is a simple way to work the trend.

  5. The Must-Do Accessory Bin the pashmina. Ditch the wool. This autumn the only scarf worth wrapping up in is a faux fur statement. Subtle these babies are not. Helen Moore's 'Vixen' can be draped casually over one shoulder or totally wrap you up in cold weather, while Charlotte Simone's 'Popsicle' scarves are a celeb favourite.

Not so long ago, I received a message from a girlfriend that almost made me spit out my tea: "I hope you don’t mind, but I told John* I’ve been with you when I’ve been over at Ben’s*." John being her soon-to-be-ex; Ben being her lover. I was a little bit appalled – not so much because she was lying to her partner, but because she assumed I would too.

Sure, I lie to my husband all the time – but they’re just white lies. And that’s a completely different category of lying, right?

Take this typical exchange: “I haven’t seen that bag/top/bit of vintage kitchenalia before…” And my standard retort (sounding offended): “What? I’ve had this for ages!” The truth is, of course, that it is another new bag, or top, or vintage silver serving spoon... but if it’s been stashed away for months then technically I have had it for ages…

My little fibs trip off the tongue; they’re harmless. A victimless non-crime. And we all do it. To our boss: "It’s almost ready." (Err, I haven’t started.) To our mother-in-law: "It’s delicious." (Pass the salt!) To our friends: "I’ve double-booked." (Got a date with a Game of Thrones.) You can’t please everybody – including yourself – without occasionally bending the truth.

And because I want to justify my dossier of deceits, I asked some experts to weigh in on the matter. Ian Leslie, author of Born Liars, offered some comfort: “Any lie I tell I can pretty much justify as being okay,” he tells me. “Maybe I think I'm saving someone from being upset, or making a story more interesting. My definition of a white lie is the same as everyone else's: ‘I tell white lies; he is a liar’.”

Besides, anyone who claims they never lie is lying. Back in 2002, American psychologist Robert Feldman filmed students meeting people for the first time and caught his subjects telling an average of three lies every 10 minutes – if it’s typical to lie that much to a stranger, I shudder to think how much I do it to people I’m close to. Feldman also found that women are more likely to lie to make others feel better. So does this make us the mistresses of the white lie? I asked my friends for some of their go-to fibs. Sound familiar?

“Who doesn’t pretend they’re sick to get a break from work?”

“‘My phone was on silent’ is a favourite.”

“My weight and the number of men I’ve slept with are often underestimated.”

We’re all taught that honesty is the best policy, but it seems we’re opting for white lies to help navigate moral grey areas. So where do we draw the line?

“There might not be a logical answer to the question of what is a ‘white’ lie versus a ‘black’ lie,” says Leslie. “But maybe there is an emotional one for most of us. When you're telling a lie and you get that sick feeling in your stomach... you know it's wrong.”

Clinical psychologist Dorothy Rowe, author of Why We Lie, offers some hard truths on the matter: the garden-variety white lie is the easiest lie to tell, she says, but there are consequences. “Firstly, you’ll get caught,” she tells me. The deeper issue, however, is not that we’ll spiral into greater deceptions in our relationships, but that we’re deceiving ourselves.

“The reason we lie is to protect ourselves,” she explains. “We’re kidding ourselves that we’re being nice and kind and thoughtful – what’s really behind it is that we don’t want the person we’re lying to to stop liking us.”

But what about my harmless, if habitual, shopping lies?

“It becomes one thing after another. When you say something like, ‘I got these Jimmy Choos from a friend who bought them, but they were too small,’ you then need to remember the story of where you got those shoes. They’re complicated lies to remember,” Rowe warns. “Sensible people lie as infrequently as possible – they have more control over the events in their life; they’re less likely to be called into account.” I want to be one of these sensible, in-control people. So I decide to go fib-free – it should be easy, no?

First up, a friend I just saw asks if I want to meet up for lunch, and even though I’m kinda talked out, I can’t say ‘no, I’m busy’, can I? I also decide it’s high time to come out of the closet about just how much stuff is in it. I fess up to my husband about my tendency to price-down, backdate or, okay, conceal purchases. He’s less than impressed, to say the least, and I wonder if I was better off telling fibs.

At this, Dorothy admits: “I don’t think it’s possible to live in society without occasionally telling a lie – but we need to be very clear in our own mind why we’re telling it.”

I also wonder whether my friend realised the position she’d put me in with her message – or whether its gravity was lost because all she had to do was hit ‘send’. “Emails remove us from the scene of the crime, as it were,” says Leslie. “There are fewer ‘tells’ to give us away, and we're less likely to get that sick feeling when we can't see the person to whom we're lying. On the other hand, it makes it more difficult because digital messages never disappear. The truth is always out there, somewhere.”

What have I learned? Lie if you must – but make sure you’re a good liar. Be mindful of why you’re doing it; consider whether the truth is a better alternative; and if it isn’t, at least lie to somebody’s face.

Need a hot tip on the best to see or do? Fancy a good read, meal or conversation starter? Check out what the Ladyland team is making, reading, cooking, coveting and pondering. Enjoy! Margherita is reconsidering the colour pink after seeing these beautiful photographs.

Emma might give batik dying a go after seeing this DIY.

Bella wonders if most mums agree with this? And even if they don't, it made her laugh.

Use a T-shirt to dry your hair instead of a towel to reduce frizz. A towel will dry out the follicles too much, leaving the surface rough and causing friction, which in turn creates frizz. A T-shirt is gentler on the follicles and leaves some moisture in.