Part 3- Putting it all together and what else do you need?

So today is

Part 2- Decorating a Mirror and Lamp

Ok so now you’ve got an inspiration board to look at, you are going to need a few other things to reach optimum blogging potential :P I’ll show you the rest in the next post but today we’ll focus on 2 very important parts: 1. A cute mirror and 2. a really good, cute light source.

Let’s start with the mirror. You’re probably wondering why you need a mirror, well you want to look good for all the photos you’re going to be posting right? Well having one next in your blogging space is very handy when you’re doing a last minute post or twittering photos. Now you won’t have the problem of taking 109281 photos trying to get your hair right etc. Also useful for taking self portrait photos so you can see if you are in frame and watching tv in the reflection if your desk doesn’t face it!

Materials:

• Glue gun
• Cheap mirror (mine was $3 from a discount store)
• 2 kinds of lace
• Ribbon is optional

My mirror has a thin plastic frame around it so I’m going to glue to that but if yours doesn’t then just glue straight to the glass. Ok starting with one end of your lace (the rufflier the better in my opinion) put a spot of glue in the middle of the bottom edge of the mirror frame. Don’t start at the corners otherwise you will have one corner that is slightly different from the others… and that would bother me.

Slowly continue gluing the lace until you reach a corner, glue right up to the edge like the picture below.

Now put a little dot of glue on top of the lace right on the corner.

While it’s still wet fold the lace over so it forms a right angle, it should look like below. Please be very careful when you do this, the glue is very hot and if you touch it it will burn you!

Keep going until you’ve done every side!

Now if you want you could leave it like this but I like over the top things so I want more lace! Flat lace works best for the next step. With this part it’s best to start at the corner because the pattern in the lace makes it easy to hide corners. Before deciding to start in the middle/corner check your own lace and see how it looks as some work better than others. You can use ribbon for this step if you prefer or put a strip of ribbon at the bottom etc. What are you waiting for? Be creative and get gluing!

Aaaaaand you’re done!

Time to test it out :P

Now part 2 of this! Decorating a lamp!

This is what I ended up with:

Lighting is super important plain and simple. If you don’t have good lighting you can ruin your eyes trying to squint and read tiny fonts online. When you look for a lamp (as well as being cute) you should look for something with an easily replaceable bulb, variable brightnesses and the ability to adjust which way it’s facing. Being so adjustable means you can not only use it for reading online but also for different lighting effects in photos. A while ago I was sent this lamp from Buyster which was exactly what I was looking for (being very adjustable etc) but it was quite plain. So It was time to start decorating!

Materials:

• Lace
• Ribbon bows
• Diamantes in various sizes
• Fake flowers
• Epoxy glue (make sure you check the packet for what temperature the glue is stable until as lamps can get very hot when left on for a long period of time)

Before you start test how hot your lamp gets when left on for a long time, if it get very hot in some places it’s best not to decorate there.

I decided to stick to a flowery theme and not go too over the top because James wanted to use the lamp too XD First roughly lay out what you want to do with your lamp, using epoxy glue means you only get one shot at the final product because once it’s stuck it’s not going anywhere. I decided to put lace around the bottom of the lamp.

After gluing my lace I added some large pink diamantes and pre-made ribbon bows.

Using a match stick with some old blue tack I dipped the back of each in glue and placed them. Be careful to hold them in place for a few minutes otherwise the glue will just run off and you’ll have a bunch of diamantes all over your lace.

I decided to cover where the neck and base meet with flowers. Because this part bends it’s not a good idea to use glue in this area so instead it’s better to thread a needle and sew the flowers in a circle around it.

Taadaa flowers…

As a bit of an after thought I added some diamantes to the top part. This part gets *very* hot if you leave it on for a while so my original idea of turning it into a gigantic hungry face of diamantes went out the window.

And there you have it, finished lamp! If you want to make one exactly like mine you can get this kind of lamp here.

Hope this was kind of helpful and stay tuned next time for Part 3- Putting it all together and what else do you need?

As always let me know if you have any tips for setting up your blogging space!

Gather all of your materials and decorations together. I suggest that you lay down some paper towel or tissues to work on so you can see everything easily and you don’t get your work surface all glue-y.

The type of glue I am using is called “Epoxy”, it comes in 2 tubes one is resin and one is hardener. There are other types of glue available for deco but epoxy is the strongest and most hard wearing, if you use a decent amount your jewels won’t be going anywhere! Epoxy is good for rigid surfaces (like plastic), it is not good for things that need to bend (like fabric). It comes in different formulas which take different lengths of time to dry, for a project like this use the 5min one. Also unlike some other glues it doesn’t smell bad so you won’t pass out from the fumes ^_^

We need to start with the largest items we’re going to glue. That’s an important rule of paving deco, put the big pieces in and then fill the gaps with everything else.

So squeeze out an even amount of glue from each tube onto a piece of plastic. I just used the packet that some of my diamantes came in.

Using an orange stick mix the two bubbles of glue together. Make sure the consistency is even and it’s mixed well.

I’m going to put a bow on my pink headphone first so using the orange stick I apply a little glue to the back of the bow and also to the headphone where it’s going.

Hold it in place until the glue becomes tacky then allow it to dry completely.

Repeat the process on the other side. I decided to use a bead shaped like a heart on this one. Apply the glue…

Hold the jewel in place.

For paving you need a lot of jewels in different sizes. Rather than buying 1000 of each size if you are doing a small project like this check the scrapbooking section of your local craft store for pre-stuck designs like the photo below. It has many different sizes.

Because they already have a sticky backing on them, they’re fairly useless to glue, you’ll find that if you use the provided sticky back they will eventually slide off your item or if you glue them with the backing on they will still fall off because the glue isn’t touching the actual jewel. So you need to gently pull the sticky backing off… I stick it to my finger and use my nail to pry them free.

And you should be left with this:

Now for this project you need some larger coloured diamantes too..

To pick up the diamantes one by one I find the easiest way is using a match stick with a piece of blutac on the end. New blutac is too sticky so roll it on carpet or fabric first so it picks up some dust and isn’t as sticky ^_^ Other people I know use tweezers but I find that awkward.

Starting with the pink bud add glue to a small strip down the back.

Starting with the largest jewels again place a line of 3mm pink diamantes straight down the back.

While the glue around it is still wet fill in around the edges with tiny clear diamantes. The key to this looking good is to try to fill in every single little gap as much as you can. Wait for it to dry before continuing.

Once the back is dry continue on the side,place a row of large pink diamantes and fill in around it with clear. It’s kind of like making a mosaic, trying to find the right gems to fit the right spot.

When that side is dry continue around to the other side until the jewels meet in the middle, the entire thing should be covered. When you’re done it should look a little like this:

Now let’s start on the other side! The principle is the same, but this time use blue jewels instead of pink ^_^

Do the sides first and then keep going until the jewels meet in the middle.

Once everything is completely dry it’s time to tackle that last little white bit where the cord comes from…

Holding it by the ear piece cover that in clear diamantes.

So then leave it to dry! If you think it needs it, you can give the entire jeweled area a clear top coat. I don’t generally do it because if you are using acrylic jewels it can melt the top layer and make the facets of the jewel less obvious. If you decide to top coat then go with a quick dry clear nail polish. This is what you end up with when you’re done…

Haha you can tell that James can home and took these pictures because they’re so arty!

I think pastel blue and pink look so cute together ^_^

You can see the paving a little more clearly here…

I hope you enjoyed this and it helped! If you have any questions feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer :)

Now if you love the ones I made and can’t be bothered making your own you have a chance to win them! Click here to see for yourself how you can get your pretty hands on the deco headphones ^_^

So today is

Part 1- Making an Inspiration Board

What you need:

-An old cork board, I stole mine from James :D
-Enough cute fabric to cover it
-Lots of ribbon
-Bows
-Lots of different kinds of lace
-Old brand bags (you know the ones that Lolita brands give out with cute designs?)
-Glue gun
-White paint
-Scissors
-Orange stick (optional)

So first thing’s first, gather all of your materials..

Cut out a rectangle of fabric big enough to cover the whole thing.

Take it outside and paint the frame white. If you use white acrylic like I did, you’ll probably need a couple of coats. Make sure it’s completely dry before you go on to the next step…

Now there are two ways to do this next step depending on how you plan on decorating the frame part. What you want to do is cover the cork part of the board with your fabric. If you think you’re going to cover the edge with lace the the easiest way is just to hot glue it in place along the edge. If you think that this part will be visible then grab your orange stick and start poking the fabric into the frame. It is probably quite a tight fit but if you use the pointy end of the stick you should be able to force your way around the edges.

You should end up with something like this…

Now get your ribbon and mark out diagonal point on the frame, make sure they are all even, use a ruler if you have to because if you’re anything like me, having uneven ribbons at the end will annoy you every time you look at it!

Do the same thing in the other direction. You should use your glue gun to stick each end to the edge of the fabric and poke the edges under.

Now get a bunch of little ribbon bows!

Glue them where the ribbons overlap and glue that point to the fabric too. Basically you create a kind of grid ^_^

Now time for lace :D

It’s a good idea to lay out your lace before you glue it to make sure that you have enough and it look good. I decided to use ruffled cotton lace on the inside edge because it reminded me of a pretty shop window.

Now let’s fill it with things that inspire us! You know all of the plastic bags you get when you make a purchase from a Lolita brand, I’ve always thought that the designs were too pretty to throw away but I could never think of something to do with them. Until now I just stored them in a cupboard but that just seems like a waste!

So get all of your pretty bags and cut out the designs! You can find cute designs in the strangest places, this one was from some underwear store but it had flowers and actually said “Lolita” on it. I don’t know what your chances are for finding one that says “Hime Gyaru” though XD

You can decorate the bits you cut out too, I added some diamantes :D

Now pop them in your frame! You can see here that when I was doing this I forgot to glue all the bows to the fabric, this is a problem because when you hang it up there is nothing to keep the pictures up! I fixed it up later so you can see the completely finished version in part 3 ^_^

So there you have it!

There will be lots more pictures in the next post of this series so check back again for the next installment and let me know if you all have any tips for setting up your blogging space!

What to do? What to do? Time to improvise!

Get some fabric scraps…

And cover that ugly plastic base!

Much better :D

Hmm…

Where can I find supplies? I know! The bathroom! It’s time to raid my jewelery supplies and hair accessories :D

Perfect for decorating: bracelets, necklaces, hair roses and more pearls!

And a gigantic Angelic Pretty hair bow!

Add the bow to the base…

Take some of your pearls and start clipping them from branch to branch.

Add more and more necklaces and then bracelets to the other branches.

Keep adding until you run out of jewelery!

If you have hair roses, clip them to the ends of the branches so they sit on the ends like they are growing out of the tree ^_^

Almost finished but…

The finishing touch… it needs a star!

Add a hair bow and you’re done!

Didn’t cost a cent and all of the pretty jewelery you’ve been collecting for years is displayed beautifully for the holidays.

Now if you want it to be even more pretty and you have some shiny beads (or a couple of dollars to buy these ones from Borders) then you can add even more…

I love these jewels, I think once Christmas is over I’ll make a bracelet with them!

I also found some pink baubles at a discount store for $2.

After lots of decorating it all comes together in the end…

Voila!

Of course it will look different depending on what kind of jewelery you have but the possibilities are endless :)

And it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon, especially if you can do it with someone you love like a very handsome photographer!

Do you all have special holiday traditions?

Happy holidays everyone! Let me know if you have any tips for christmas decorating on a budget!

Start by putting your slippers on the felt and tracing around the outside. Get as close to the size of the actual sole as possible, if in doubt it’s better to cut bigger than smaller because you can always trim it but you can’t add more felt if you cut too much! Cut one out for each slipper.

Thread your needle and with the new sole on top of the slipper sew it in place with 1 stitch. You should start at the very back of the slipper. Tie it in a double knot so it doesn’t go anywhere.

Now using a blanket stitch start sewing around the edge. If you need to know how to do a blanket stitch have a look here.

Continue around the entire edge. If you find there is slightly too much felt you should trim it a little bit. If there is not enough, stretch it because once you put them on the felt will get worn into position. When you’re finished they should look something like this:

Hopefully your stitching is a little neater than mine!

And there you go, with 60c worth of felt you saved yourself from buying a whole new pair of slippers! One thing to note- the felt is super slippery on tiles until you wear it in so don’t slip over!! That said it’s pretty fun to be able to faux ice-skate around my tiled house in the middle of a 35Degree Celsius summer :D

Enjoy!

Bonus outfit post:

Jsk- Angelic Pretty
Stockings- Myer
Slippers- Bras n things
Hair things: some junk store

See you all tomorrow when I’m not half asleep! Let me know if you ever give repairing old slippers this way a try!

This is what it’s going to look like at the end:

So first thing’s first, get all the materials. I’m doing a no-sewing version because my machine is packed up but if you replace the glue gun with sewing it will work just as well.

What you need to make my version of headband storage:

-Fabric
-Foam for the inside (I am just going to recycle an old yoga mat but you can buy proper foam)
-Ribbon or wool
-Lace and flowers to decorate
-Glue gun or sewing machine

Now if you’re doing a no-sew version like me you’ll need tape too. You can double your tape as a stylish accessory :P

Ok let’s get started! Lay out your yoga mat (ignore these steps if you’re using foam for the middle) and start rolling.

You should make sure that the size you’ve rolled will actually fit the headbands so test one out to be safe ^_^

Once you get the right size it’s time to tape it in place.

Now you should measure and cut the fabric out. You need a large rectangle which is long enough to wrap around the mat and wide enough so that it hangs off the end like the wrapper of a piece of candy. Make sure to leave a few inches extra for hems etc.

You should be able to mock it up like this:

Now after you’ve cut out your fabric it’s time to decorate the ends on the candy piece. I like frilly things so I used some frilly cotton lace.

Use your hot glue gun to fix it in place. If you want you can hem the edges but because they are going to be covered with lace (and I don’t have my sewing machine out) it doesn’t really matter.

Taadaa lacy edged :)

Ok now let’s make it up. Lay the mat on the fabric, make sure it’s straight and tape it in place.

Roll that baby up!

Fold the ends over and glue/sew it in place.

Now you should grab the end with your hand…

…and give it a good twist. Just like making a real candy ^_^

Grab the wool/ribbon and tie it in place.

This is what you should have now.

It kind of looks like candy but I think it needs a nice candy stripe :D So grab some eyelet lace and glue it to the wool/ribbon.

Roll it around in a nice spiral and glue it to the other end ^_^

I hid the ugly ends by gluing a cute flower over the top, of course that’s optional.

So this is it!

Now you just need to add all your headbands and you’re done :D

Tadaa! Candy head band holder :D What do you think? Nice and easy to store and they are all displayed nicely.

How do you guys store your headbands? Am I nuts for needing something this big? XD The sad part is that this one is full now and I think I need another one >_< Let me know your headband storage ideas!