DIYDS (Do It Your Damn Self)

Rustic looking table decorations / centrepieces. 

It is my engagement party on the weekend and we are having a 'rustic/vintage' theme. This will also be the theme of the wedding. I am making the majority of the decorations myself and have come up with these adorable centrepiece / table weight / decorations. 

To make them, it only took 1 hour for everything and that made 6 individual jars. These are so simple and things can be swapped out and changed or added to suit whatever needs you might have. 

THE THINGS YOU WILL NEED:

Plants: Here I am using dried lavender and I'm not sure what this other thing is called. It is found growing in national parks and along the beach. As a child, my brother, sister and I would play with these and sing this song/poem (thats why we called the plants - pussy cat tails - even though they look more like rabbit tails) so I really wanted to incorporate them into the decoration somewhere. - eventually I think there will be some in my bridal bouquet.

You could also use any dried flower/weed I think thistle and wheat would look beautiful or even flowers native to your area. The possibilities are endless. 

Container and Filler: Here I'm filling mine with sand (that I stole from the beach by my sisters house) and these cute glass 'milk bottles' I picked up for $6 (for the six of them). You could use coloured sand, even fine gravel or dirt if you wanted, again the possibilities are endless. The vessel you use doesn't have to be a 'milk bottle' either. Different shaped jam jars or mason jars would be perfect too! Use what you have around you or something that means something to you to make it that extra bit personal. I used sand and these plants because I spent my childhood on the beach playing with these plants and there was always lavender growing at my house.

Use things that tell your story. Or just things you like the look of. (;




The 'Band' and 'Tie': Here the band I'm making out of some scrap hessian / burlap but you could use some brown paper (from the old school lunch bags) or a thick piece of ribbon to fit your colour theme. Fabric, lace again endless options and possibilities. The tie I'm using here is a thin piece of ribbon, that fits my colour theme of 'lavender and peach' (hence the lavender also in the jar). You could also use twine, string, lace, wool, wire. Possibilities.. Endless..

Also you'll need some PVA (Wood Glue, Craft Glue) Glue to adhere the band to the vessel. (hessian to the glass bottle) I made sure it was secure by tying the ribbon around it while it was still a bit wet to make sure it wasn't going to fall off later.

These are the things that I used, but of course this is all open to imagination!


METHOD:
Putting these together is the easiest thing. Firstly you can attach your band and tie. Make sure to measure and cut them to the right length. Depending on what you're using, it'll be different. But remember, measure twice and cut once. Don't forget that if you're tying a bow with your tie to allow that length when you're measuring and cutting. Once the band and tie are secured you can fill your jar with the sand/dirt/gravel etc. I recommend using a funnel and spoon. The sand got everywhere before I decided to use this. Learn from me. Once you've filled it up to the desired amount, you can start placing your plants in. Arrange however you like. Once the glue is all dry and everything is in place, you're DONE! It really is so simple!

I hope you try this DIYDS out and if you do, please share a photo of it. Comment down below if you'd like to see any more of my DIYDS engagement party decorations.

Happy crafting! X

How To - DIY

Using a Microwave to Dry and Press Lavender!

You read that right! This is a 'How To' blogpost! 

To cut a long story short, I am making my own engagement invitations. The colours I have chosen for my wedding are peach and lavender. To reflect these colours in the engagement party, these are the colours I'm using for the invitations. I decided I wanted some actual lavender with each invitation, however, invites will be sent out next week and there just isn't enough time to dry and press them the traditional way. So after a short google search I came across another method of using a microwave, I couldn't find one for lavender specifically, so I decided to wing it, and it actually worked really well. So I thought I'd share with you the process. 

 Things you will need:

Fresh lavender. Of course. Kris (my fiancé) went on the extremely masculine task of gathering the flowers for me. Fortunately there was a thriving plant at his parents house.







Paper. Here I've just got plain A4 paper straight out of my printer. I've folded it in half and then ripped it to size. Size will vary depending on the tile.









Paper towel. Here I have two sheets, but I've still got them connected. It's not essential to have them connected, but as I was using it quite a bit, the better I got at the whole process, I realised how good it was to have them connected and able to fold.








A tile. Or a plate - something microwaveable but 'heavy'. I was fortunate enough to have just had my kitchen re-tiled and had some lying around. I made sure the paper when folded was the size of this tile. Nice and square. (shape and size really have nothing to do with it, the bigger the tile, the more you can press at once)

Steps:

 One:

First you should align your papers like this, have the paper towel down first, then the 'printing' paper. Place it so the fold of the paper is with the join of the two paper towels. (this is why it's easy to have them still connected together) It makes it easy to fold over. Next arrange the lavender on one half. I arranged mine like this, you can do it however you want with how ever much you wish to fit on there.



Two:
The next few steps are quite easy, however I've included pictures for every little step to ensure a full understanding of whats going on.

Carefully fold the papers over so they're looking like this. If any of the lavender slide out, be sure to wiggle it back in place.

Three:
Gently press down on the papers until you can feel the lavender, then give it a firm push, this will keep them in place long enough for you to get the tile:

Four:
Place the tile upside down (so the shiny, smooth side is touching the papers) and make sure it is aligned with the 'printing' paper, you'll be able to see through the paper towel so this really isn't a very hard step. 

The two papers will act as 'blotting paper'. Blotting paper is what is used in traditional flower pressing.





Five:
With the tile in position, give it another firm push, pressing it all together. carefully slide everything as it is here, onto your hand and make your way to the microwave!
 





Six:
Place in the microwave like so. (I put some more paper towel on the plate of my microwave, this isn't essential, it just helps soak up any excess moisture)


Microwave for 1 minute on high. take a peak and see if they're dried and pressed to your liking, if not, microwave in 30second intervals until desired dryness is achieved. 

You will know when they're done as a strong smell of lavender will be coming from your microwave.


Seven:
Carefully remove the tile from the paper, use a towel or oven mitt when handling this, as it becomes very hot!

Take the folded papers out of the microwave and place down, carefully unfold the top layers, and there you have it, nice crisp lavender ready for arts and crafts or just placing around the house!

Left: Fresh Lavender - Right: Microwaved Lavender

I really hope you try this out and let me know in comments if you do, also, let me know any of your tips and tricks for this, have you tried this with other flowers? let me know!

DIY Hair Colour Tutorial

Pink and Purple Hair

 

 I've had ombré hair for almost a year now, and that was a huge step for me in the fact that I don't usually colour or do anything with my hair, despite wanting to. So since its fairly blonde for the majority, I thought I would spice it up with a bit of colour, this is temporary and lasts anywhere from 3 - 30 washes. I did this all myself and I'm really happy with how it all turned out. If you're interested in knowing what I did. Keep reading.

 
The Product:
Here is the dye I used. They're both by the brand 'Fudge' and they're the 'Paint Box' colour dyes.They have a HUGE selection of colours and you can find them, here. The colours I used are Red Corvette and Blueberry Hill. I mixed the red with some conditioner to make it less intense as I didn't have an actual pink colour.

I also have some hair separating clips (these are TONY&GUY) a comb, Gloves and an old t-shirt.

Before:
This is my 'Before' picture. There is no product in my hair, this is just how it is naturally. It doesn't matter if you have anything in your hair because step one is to shampoo it. The instructions I'm following are from the back of the tubes of dye.

 Step One: Brush and Shampoo.

Shampoo your hair to get out any product and to make sure you have a nice clean canvas to work with, then towel dry. The hair needs to be wet/damp for the dye to develop. I separated my hair into two layers, I clipped the top layer u and out of the way.






Step Two: Apply the dye.
Though I seem to have quite a lot of hair, its actually quite thin and fine, so I don't need a lot of dye, I started out by squeezing about the size of a marble into my gloves and then worked that into the selected hair. I made sure to totally saturate the ends with dye and have it slightly uneven as it blended into my natural hair, basically following my ombré, I didn't want just a straight line of colour.
 



When you have all the hair covered in dye, let down the other layer and keep them slightly separate, I personally didn't mind if the colours 'bled' together a little bit because I like that effect, however if you want clear defined colours, wrap them in plastic wrap and clip out of the way. 

 Step Three: Processing
Apply the second colour of dye, I triple checked that I had all the blonde I wanted covered. I left just a small amount blonde where so it doesn't look like such a harsh transition. I let both of the dyes touch each other during the processing stage. If you don't want them to touch wrap them in plastic wrap and clip out of the way, or use plastic freezer bags, just slide your hair in, tie up with clear elastic and then clip up. Its a lot cleaner. Plastic can help with the processing. Leave colour on hair for 15 - 30 minutes. Rinse out until water runs clear and then condition your hair as usual.

 Step Four: Rinse, dry and style.
I blow dried, brushed then styled my hair, with the NuMe Lustrum. For these curls I used the tapered wand (the one that looks triangular). I was so happy with how the colours came out and how the transition from my natural dark brown hair, to the small amount of honey blonde, into the pink/red and down into the purple.




Close up of curls/colours.
Here you can see the colours blending into one another and looking vibrant. Because the red was 'watered down' with conditioner, it came out pinky / strawberry blonde which I'm very happy with. The colour may was out quicker thought because it wasn't 100% dye. If you're after a pink colour you should probably by the colour you want unless you don't mind about early fading.





 After: End Result styled.

Before                            After

 Final Comparison.

Nail Art Tutorial

"Rocker Chic"

*Disclaimer - I am not a nail artist - don't get judgy*

Hey guys, I've been wanting to get into some cool nail art designs etc for a while now and about two maybe three weeks ago I ordered some stuff online so I'm currently waiting for that in the mail, but I saw this little kit on sale for $10.00 at Priceline. (not sure how much this one was originally) and I couldn't pass it up.People have asked me how I did it, one girl grabbed my hand when I was paying for something demanding answers, so.... Here is a step by step of what I did.

Clean nails.

Step One: Clean Nails.

I was already wearing nail polish so I just cleaned that right off, then I trimmed my talons to this super short state right here.

Nothing fancy, just basic.

The Product.

Step Two: The Product.

This is by the brand: MODELSPREFER. Its in their 'Beauty To Go' range. One thing I love about this is that in the top left corner on the box, there are some super cute nail designs there, just a little bit of inspiration if you need it.







It come with this tool as well, I didn't know this was included because as you can see it doesn't show it anywhere in the packaging, so this was a nice surprise. This is used for placing the studs on the nail. (Thats what I used it for anyway) Its a really handy tool for nail art in general, one end is slightly larger than the other, so it would be really good for 'dotting' nail polish and making little flowers - maybe I'll try that.

Three little bottles, to which I adore the packaging. The first is the colour, it has some shimmer/glitter to it, but it isn't chunky or bumpy or anything, it looks quite nice just on its own. If you can purchase it as it is the colour is called "Heavy Metal".

It also comes with a top coat, which is always very handy. FYI: These polishes dry very quickly which to me is a good thing because I'm so prone to smudging all my hard word, but I didn't do any of that with this product. The only mess that was made was by my own in ability to 'stay in the lines'. I always end up painting half my hand when applying nail polish, easier to clean it up later then to realise you've missed a spot. (my new motto)

The last little bottle is one full of the 'studs' It is such a cute little thing and there are SO many studs in there, I was scared of wastage, but honestly, don't be. I also did all of my nails with about 4 - 6 studs each, so to me, that's using a lot, I might just do a simple 1 stud design next time or just an accent nail. The options are endless.





Step Three: Painting the nail
Firstly paint all your nails with the desired colour. In this case it is the one included in the pack (next time I might use a nice deep red colour).




Step Four: Clear Coat 1
You're going to want to let the first coat dry, then coat each nail with a THIN coat of the top coat. Just to seal the first colour. Let that dry.

Then doing one nail at a time apply another clear coat to the nail,
roll one end of the tool into the clear polish (I used the larger end) use that to pick up the studs and then place it into the still wet clear coat on your nail. It might sound like a bit of an ordeal but it honestly takes about 3 seconds to put the studs in place and as you do more of it, it is so, so easy. You only need to coat the tool in the clear polish, perhaps, once every few nails? Until it no longer picks them up.

Using tool to press studs into clear coat.

Step Five: Apply to all

Told you I was messy, This is the un touched up just finished sticking them to my nails product. This is the design I chose to do. Once you have all the studs in place. Let them set - making sure not to bump/wiggle them (some of mine moved but I didn't mind so much, while the polish is still 'wet' you can move them back in place) Now that they're all dry, put on a coat or two of the clear top coat to seal it all in place and Voila! You're done. Just clean those bad boys up!

Finished Product! All cleaned up! I took this photo two days after originally doing the nails, none have flaked off, although I've had some near misses. Mainly when I run my hands through my hair, because the hair is thin enough (obviously) it can flick up the studs. So be careful. I might see if I can get my hands on some form of nail adhesive and give that a go.


I hope you found this easy to follow and you give it a go yourself!

**watch this space - youtube video tutorial coming soon**


Thanks!