The Wait is Over!

We can't believe we are finally able to share the new issue of Betty with you, we are so pleased that we are able to do so.  You can click the cover on the left hand side menu and there you will be able to download your very own copy to your computer (make sure you have your PDF settings in the correct format).  Alternatively you can view a low res version via Issuu, there is a small preview below, if you click on it, it will take you through to a bigger version.

Open publication - Free publishing - More fashion

That is how you can read the magazine, more importantly what is in it?  We have some fantastic and amazing contributors in this issue, we are so pleased that we got to work with these talented people from all over the globe - the power of the internet.  We will be featuring them more closely over the coming weeks on the blog.

The magazine itself starts off in Betty's World. We speak to the best friend duo who are behind Drink, Shop & Do, Nadinoo - the whimsical fashion designer,  and the oh so talented Lou Taylor a paper cut out illustrator who also features in Betty's Wardrobe.  Which takes us on nicely to the bit we enjoy the most, here we go off camping in a cream VW campervan, we get creative with packing for dream holidays in 'Postcards From'.  Next we step into the woods in search of the Cottingley Fairies, then we go a bit dotty and share with your our favourite swimwear of the season.  

In Betty's Guide we look at a whole variety of things; London for Under £20, an A-Z of Summer, Retro roadmap's and lots more.  The last section of the magazine is Betty Reviews, we put letter writing sets under the Betty microscope, investigate growing your own vegetables and ask some questions about how to talk about mental health.   Phew.....it is hard to explain in two paragraphs, we think it easier if you download it and take a look for yourself.

We hope you like it!  

Betty

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Tomorrow is only a day away...

We said Monday (we lied), however the magazine is all finished now and will be live tomorrow.  Unfortunately these things just sometimes take a bit longer than you think, we have the technical folk working away.  Inclusive of tea breaks, it will all be uploaded for you to download and read tomorrow morning!  We can't wait to see what you think, until then here is a sneak preview of the cover and our contents pages...

Check back tomorrow for the final magazine!

Betty

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The book that our bookshelf has been waiting for...

Some days we feel that we should have a dedicated Liberty of London corner on the blog with their latest news feed. We regularly have to stop ourselves from turning Betty into the Liberty appreciation society and have to limit our posts telling you about their always exciting, goings on. When we saw this via Twitter we just had to run and share it with you, excited is not the word. May we present you with a sneak peek at the Liberty Book of Home Sewing:

Yes! That’s right; the makers of all those beautiful fabrics and one of the best haberdasheries in London have never released a book before. It seems so obvious now we have seen this, a Liberty book is just what our bookshelf has been missing. Designer Lucinda Ganderton has used Liberty fabrics to showcase how to sew guides for interiors, shopping bags and more. The book is divided into 3 sections Essential, Organisation and Luxury, unfortunately it is not due for release until September (count down calendars at the ready) but we will be one of the first in line when it is, if the preview is anything to go by, it will be one of the prettiest books on our shelves.

All images from the Liberty Preview, and are property of Liberty of London

For more information and to view the preview in full, please visit Liberty's website, here.

Now, before we finish this post we have some exciting news!  The release date for Betty - Our Perfect Summer (aka Issue 2) is the 27th of June!  Which is next Monday for those not near a calender, we cannot wait to share everyone's hard work with you.  Watch this space for more details.

Betty

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From Russia With Love...

We said we would reserve Mondays for Betty's Wardrobe and today we have done just that.  Monday morning's need a little kick start some weeks and we are positive that if we owned Alexander Terekhov's Spring Summer 2011 collection, that we would be rocketing through our e-mails.  Now we don't want to start something of a debate, so our next statement may be a little controversial, but there is something about the harlequin diamonds, cat eye sunglasses and bat print chiffon's teamed with patent Doc Martins that reminds us a little bit of Luella (our heart sinks every time we think about its absence).

We don't know where to begin to pick out our favourite piece from this collection, however if we had to decide we would pick the rainbow jewelled embellished shift dress, the peach print bat print dresses teamed with patent loafers for the daytime and for our (imaginary) evening soiree we would very much like the floor length chiffon bat print dress please.

Alexander's illustrations have as much attitude as his collections, some of the little illustrated dolls have top knots and Iris Apfel inspired glasses, Betty loves! 

To see more from this collection and previous collections, visit his website here.

Betty

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Betty ♥ Lindsay's Sketchbook

Lindsay Nohl's sketchbook is a place that Betty could spend a lot of time daydreaming.  Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Lindsay contributes to a website called Paper Bicycle Creative, which is a website where a group of illustrators pick a theme out of a hat everyday and draw a pattern around it.  Below are a few of our favourite pattern contributions from Lindsay which can be found on her blog called, Lindsay's Sketchbook, and Paper Bicycle Creative can be found here.

We hope they cheered you up as much as they did us!

Betty

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Jacques Townhouse

We heard about the Jacques Townhouse last year when it was all over, however this year we are sure not to miss out - especially after seeing all the photos of vintage fun and frolics that we missed out on.  This year The Townhouse which will be in two top secret locations in both London (19-28 July) and new for this year, Liverpool (10-19 August).  

The Townhouse promises to take you away to a whimsical world decorated with tea sets, pom-poms and general vintage loveliness, guests will be pampered and receive a chic put up, a vintage make-up style or a manicure, once you have be preened and pampered there is a giant vintage dressing up box for you to complete your look before you step on set for your vintage photo-shoot!  For those that would rather stay behind the camera and wind down there will be an enchanted garden at each location where you can relax and receive a massage whilst indulging on some ice cold Jacques.  It sounds like the perfect way to spend an afternoon to us!  To find out more and to book your place at either the London or Liverpool townhouse, click here.

We will see you there!

Betty

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California Dreaming...

It doesn't have to be California, it could be the South of France, Cornwall or Skegness, we don't mind where it is, as long as we get to travel there in a campervan from Snail Trail.  After buying the newly released 'My Cool Campervan' book, the second book in the series from Jane Field Lewis and Chris Haddon (take a look at their first book 'My Cool Caravan' in January's Hobbies), we are once again obsessed with owning one of these retro dreams.  We have been looking on eBay, but at the moment we don't have a spare £10,000 to buy our own - so step in Snail Trail.  

Our favourite Campervan from the book

They have a beautiful selection of four seater and five seater camper-vans, stylishly decorated, ready for you to hop in and drive around to your hearts content.  You can rent one for a whole week or a long weekend to getaway from it all, best of all each camper van is equipped so you can plug your MP3 player in to really live that road trip dream.  Look at the campervan they have named Betty, now we are not biased (we totally are) but it really is the best of the bunch, who wouldn't want to holiday in this sweet little thing:

Where would you want to travel in your campervan?  We are thinking Glastonbury 1971....just a thought.

Visit the Snail Trail website for more information here.

Betty

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Silent Sundays...

We wish it was still Sunday, alas another Monday rears it's ugly head but it's not that bad as we found an un-opened packet of Percy Pigs at HQ.  So whilst we guzzle those we thought we would share with you a blog post about fashion, as recently we have been focusing on the lifestyle part of things on the blog.  Fashion is the part of the magazine and blog that excites us the most, with that in mind we aim to bring you at least one piece of fashion news a week - that is if we don't find any more photos of Michael Jackson and Macca doing the washing up (they will take priority).  

So without further ado we declare Monday's: Fashion-day!  Ok, so we may have to work on the title as it's not witty or clever, but Monday is now dedicated fashion day on the blog.  Today we have something for you from across the pond, Georgia to be precise, one of Betty's favourite bloggers, Rhiannon Leifheit from Liebemarlene has teamed up with her photographer friend Jamie Hopper to create Silent Sundays.  They have set up their very own online boutique, stocking TBA, Family Affairs, Secret Squirrel's, alongside a thoughtful and stylish vintage selection.  Secret Squirrel and Family Affairs are notoriously hard to get your mitts in the UK and the USA so with their shipping fee of $20 for international deliveries, we are more than a little bit tempted.  The girls are quoted as saying 'The Silent Sundays girl is a romantic, with a bit of an edge' and we couldn't agree more after looking at their promotional video and look book.  Take a look for yourself below and let us know what you think:

You can visit Silent Sundays here.

Betty 

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Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney Walk into a Bar...

No this isn't the start of a bad joke it is actually our bad way of introducing one of the best Tumblr's we have seen - this week anyway (what we did before Tumblr is anyone's guess).  Last night whilst busily working / sitting on Twitter we saw 'Awesome People Hanging Out Together' re-tweeted by the lovely Mademoiselle Robot and we simply couldn't not share it with you.  It is exactly what it says it is, cool people hanging out together.  Which therefore makes them a thousand times more cooler by just being in the same room as the other cool person, don't ask why it just does - it is the law of cool.  Choosing just three to show a selection was a hard thing to do, so visit the website here to see more awesome people hanging out, what we wouldn't do to be a fly on the wall somedays....

Brigitte Bardot and Pablo Picasso

Andy Warhol and John Lennon

Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly

Who would you like to see in the same photo together, do you have an ultimate dinner party guest list to hand?  

Betty

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June's Hobbies

June means two things, Summer is finally here and you can finally read the new issue of Betty! To keep you busy for the next week or so whilst we get things finalised behind the Betty scenes we have June's hobbies:

Making Ice Cream Sundaes

Not just because we want to but because it would be rude not too, as this week is National Ice Cream Week! We will be carrying this title on throughout June so your weird and wonderful sundae combinations will be greatly received.  

Visiting 'Love is What You Want'

An exhibition of Tracey Emin's work is displayed at The Hayward Gallery in London until early August, love her or hate her you cannot deny her exceptional quilting skills.  Betty can be found admiring her neon signs or in the gift shop, visit the exhibition website here for more information.

Reading Submarine

Although the film came out on March of this year it has taken us this long to remember to buy the book, we are only two chapters in and we have been snorting with laughter in-between the pages on our lunch break.  Here is the film trailer to give you an insight into Oliver Tate's teenage hilarious teenage angst.

Celebrating the Longest Day

Every year the longest day comes and goes and we think 'next year we will be more prepared'.  Well this is our year, we have the 21st of June in our diary and we are going to gather friends together to celebrate Summer Solstice and dance long into the sunset.

Reading the New Issue of Betty

Click here to read issue one

We will be just as excited as you are when you can finally read the new issue, we are so nearly there - just a few more finishing touches and it will all be yours.  Also watch out for a change to the blog address, we will be moving it to our Betty Magazine home of www.bettymagazine.co.uk.  Don't bookmark it just yet, we will let you know when we are packed up and ready to go.

What do you have planned for the month of June?

Betty

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Images: Sharon Core, "Four Ice Cream Cones"-from the series Thiebauds, 2004, Tracey Emin, Jessica Clare,  Polly Farthing Vintage