Hime Gyaru Tutorial – Sewing A Shopping Bag

Today I’ve got a quick and easy tutorial for you, a hime gyaru shopping bag.

Well even with the best laid intentions I didn’t have a particularly awesome weekend. In fact I would go so far as to say it sucked. I’m not going to get in to everything here but the one thing I will mention is my horrible hair dye mishap. I had been planning to give you all 2 hair tutorials this week but after the hair incident (which left me a strange ashy blonde with completely different coloured roots) you’ll have to wait for my hair to rest for a few days so I can dye it again hopefully back to normal.

So anyway instead of a hair tutorial I’m going to show you how to make a pretty shopping bag. I believe that as many aspects of my life as possible should be filled with beautiful things. It follows fairly easily that I don’t like plain old grey shopping bags. After reading THIStutorial on Craftster I was inspired to make my own portable, reusable, beautiful bag ^_^ Mine is quite different than the original because I wasn’t reading the pattern as I was going so it folds differently.

Let’s get started then! Here is what you will need for the shopping bag:

-Fabric for the bag (and lining fabric if you decide to use it, I didn’t and it’s perfectly sturdy) -Plastic bag for pattern -Lace, pearls or other decorations

Cut the seams off the plastic bag at the top and bottom.

Unfold it so it looks like this:

You now need to use this as a pattern to cut two pieces like this out. If you are using lining cut some of that out too.

I had some spare pink lace that I decided to decorate mine with. I laid out the lace in several layers to get the effect I wanted. Then I sewed it all down.

I sewed a layer of lace flowers across the top of the lace. Now you should cut out a piece of fabric for the pocket, I decided to put a lace bow on there so I cut that out too.

Now sew the pocket onto one side!

Next it’s time to overlock all the loose seams and overlock the sides and tops of the handles together.

Now it’s time to put those origami skillz to good use! On the sides you should fold them in on themselves like the original plastic bag was. The handles should fold in on themselves too. Do it on both sides and then overlock the bottom seam. I then covered the bottom seam with lace flowers to match the top.

The few last steps are very simple. Sew the seams around the top and handles so they are neat. Then if you included the lace bow on the pocket, gather it in a piece of ribbon. Lastly I added a string of pearls which will double as a handle when it’s all folded up.

Here is an animation of how it folds up! 1. Fold the bottom underneath 2. Fold the side in 3. Fold the other side in 4. Fold the handles backwards 5. Fold it under on it’s self and push it into the pocket. 6. TADAA!

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If you don’t want to put it in your purse you can carry it in with the pearls until you need to fill it with groceries etc

Time to take it for a test drive!

When you buy something then unfold it and tadaa!

Sorry that wasn’t my best tutorial, I wasn’t expecting to use these photos as a tutorial. I was very crafty on the weekend, I’ll show you what else I made next time! Let me know if any of you make a hime gyaru shopping bag too!

<3

Mochi Strawberry Daifuku Recipe Tutorial of Awesome

I hope you’re all ready for a no fuss mochi recipe!

Ok first off let me say that there are a bajillion photos ahead so if you’re on dial up this may not be the post for you… Now without further ado let me present….

Cooking with Violet and Susie!

Today on the Cooking with Violet and Susie show we will be preparing Mochi which will then be made into Strawberry Daifuku (also known as the yummiest thing on earth).

Here is what you will need: -1 microwave safe bowl -1/2 cup of white sugar -1 cup Mochiko (glutinous rice flour) plus extra for dusting (please note that one cup=250ml) -2/3 cup of water -1 punnet of strawberries (or your filling of choice) -1 chopping board -1 very sharp knife -1 spoon -Optional: anko to cover the strawberries in. Not used in this recipe but a delicious variation.Please make sure to buy GLUTINOUS rice flour, it is not the same thing as rice flour. Don’t even bother to try to substitute plain rice flour or you’ll end up with a disgusting floury mess. Also useful to have is a gullible friend who you can trick into doing most of the work. I call mine Susie. Another key ingredient is a boyfriend with a camera so you don’t get flour all over your nice camera. Silly photos optional. First get all of your ingredients together and wash the strawberries. Get your friend to take care of the boring task of cutting the tops off the strawberries. If you have small strawberries you should use one per Daifuku, if your strawberries are larger cut them in half. This recipe will make around 10-14 Daifuku. Measure out 1 cup of mochiko (glutinous rice flour) and dump it in the microwave safe bowl. Also add 1/2 a cup of sugar to the bowl. While you do something more fun (like getting 2/3rds of a cup of water) make your human slave… I mean good friend… mix the flour and sugar together very well. Now add a little bit of water and mix it around with a spoon. Don’t add all the water yet. It should look like this: I’m sure your arm will be tired from all that manual labour so get your friend to add the rest of the water and mix it up into a runny kind of paste. Kind of the consistancy of honey. /> If she doesn’t do it fast enough make sure to beat her into submission with whatever kitchen appliance is handy… When there are no lumps pop the mixture into the microwave for 2 minutes. Times will vary d
epending on your microwave, mine is 1200watts. You should also leave it to cool for a minute or so or else you might burn yourself. This is a good time for your boyfriend to think of more artistic or flattering ways to photograph you. Dancing is also a good way to pass the time.

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When you finally get back to your dough you may be slightly confused because it looks so gross and weird. Don’t panic. Spread some mochiko on the cutting board. Now mix up the dough with your spoon into a giant sticky ball. I can’t think of any way to describe it other than big sticky mess. Be very careful because it will be hot, the mochi retains heat very well. Roll the dough out onto the cutting board. Use the spoon to roll it around until the whole thing is coated in flour. The flour will help it be cool enough to touch, don’t be fooled though the inside is still hot and will burn you. Cut a corner of the mochi (dough) off, it should be just enough to cover your strawberry. Pull it out so it’s kind of a flat triangle. Take a strawberry and stick it in the middle, the following few pictures show me covering it and making it into a ball. style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 311px;” src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_axNtgCrpfKM/Sm1qoeY0F5I/AAAAAAAABIQ/9pc1WMBsWUg/s400/DSC_0132_090723_232.jpg” alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363059974852581266″ border=”0″ />Pinch the mochi closed and roll it in the flour so it’s not sticky. Taadaa strawberry daifuku! Make sure not to let Susie have any yet, she has to make her own! This section is titled “HOW NOT TO MAKE DAIFUKU”… or what James and Susie did. DON’T- Get the knife stuck in the mochi… DON’T- Get your fingers stuck to the mochi… OCCASSIONALLY- Laugh at your friend for getting her fingers stuck to the mochi… Especially as she desperately wipes her hands on the cutting board to try and get it off… DON’T- Try to colour the mochi with food dye after it’s been cooked in the microwave, this should only be done while it’s still a liquid! ESPECIALLY don’t just pour food dye over the top of it… this is asking for trouble.DO- enjoy having to clean up the food colouring you spilled everywhere. Totally worth it right? Now you should make many more! Use up the rest of the mochi! Taadaa! Again, take as much time to cam whore as possible, cooking is an achievement and d eserves to be recorded! Also make sure to send any beggers away empty handed. I mean you did all the work right? Why should they get any? See we’re still friends, promise! Not eat your delicious creation! Enjoy how warm the sugary outside is against the tart cold strawberry. Have a good Iron Chef style judging moment, you could even write a haiku if the mood takes you. Just try not to choke… I hope you enjoyed our tutorial! It was all very tongue in cheek in case my sarcasm didn’t quite translate over the internet… You should all make you own, I want to see your results! Hope you enjoyed the mochi recipe!

Bow Hairstyle Tutorial for Medium Length Hair

Morning everyone, as promised here is my tutorial of how to do the bow hairstyle like this. It’s been popular for a while but Lady Gaga once wore it.

Firstly apologies that the photos are a little bit dark.

Now let’s get started! Firstly you will need to wash and brush your hair, this style works best with clean hair. If you need to blow dry it straight do that too.Wow my hair is getting long!

Ok now you are going to need the following things for this version of the bow hair style:

-LOTS of bobby pins -2 Hair ties, preferably ones that match your hair. So you can see them I’m using bright pink and white this time. -A good hair brush -Strong hold hair spray, especially if you have unruly hair like me.

– Lastly a hair dryer if you want to set your fringe. If you feel the need take time to do some Charlie’s Angels style poses now to get it out of your system.

Okidokie. Now you’ve got nice clean dry hair, separate your fringe and clip it out of the way.

Now pull the rest of your hair back into a pony tail. It needs to be really high up on the top of your head. Think, popular school girls in the 80’s high.

I find it’s easiest to turn upside down. Secure it tightly with a hair tie.

Once you’re right way up you should grab the sides of the pony tail and put it until it’s tight.

At this point you’re probably feeling pretty stylish but soldier on!

Un-clip your fringe and take a section from the front of the pony tail. This is going to be the middle bit of the bow so make it appropriately sized for your hair.

I like to give it a bit of a pull so the ponytail moves forward a bit. From the side it should look like this:

Now clip it aside into your fringe so we can make the bow part. You’ll be feeling even more like an 80’s pop starlet now so take a few seconds to have a dance.

Now you should grab the remaining ponytail and brush any knots out of it.

Get your second hair tie and tie it as far down the ponytail as you can without having lots of fly aways. Now this part is a little tricky, when you do the last pass over of the hair tie, don’t pull the ends through completely, just leave them half way.

It creates a nice little neat bubble on the end…

And from the side you can see how it curls the ends under on the back.

Now what you want to do is fold it in half. Make sure to have some bobby pins ready so once you’ve got it in position you can pin it straight away.

You want it to look kind of like a fan.

Pin it very securely in place. From the back it should look something like this:

And from the front like this:

Give it a good dose of hair spray and lets move on to the next step before you run off and try to audition for an extra role in a Dr Suess movie!

This is the point where it starts to actually look like a bow… Seperate the folded hair into two equal sections with your fingers.

Squish the middle apart with your fingers and give it another quick spray.

Unclip the section that was attached to your fringe.

Next brush it smooth so there are no bumps and knots. Get a bobby pin (or two) and while holding it flat on your head, push the pins straight across in front of the hair tie. What this is doing is attaching the hair in my hand to my head so when I pull it up and back in a second you won’t be able to see the hair tie.

In the photo below I put the pins about 3 inches from my hand towards the bow.

Next pull the hair up… see no hair tie! Pull it backwards so it forms the middle of the bow.

Make sure it covers the second (pink) hair tie now and pin it in place. It should be pulled fairly tight so it doesn’t look like just another loop!

Ok so we’re alost done, we just have to get rid of that scragly bit on the back. How you do this depends on how long your hair is.

If you have long/thick hair you should split it into two parts and repeat the following steps on each side, if not just do what I do!

Take the last piece of hair and tease it a little. Nothing too dramatic, just enough to give it some body.

It should look roughly like this:

Now take that section and twist it a little bit.

This bit is a little tricky, to show in pictures… you want to fold the section in half so it’s a little smaller than the sides of the bow. Pick a side of the bow which has drooped a bit, I chose the left side. Now you basically take the section and shove it into the middle of the side of the bow you chose. To do this you kind of lift up the half of the bow and stick it in the hole in the middle… Make sense?

Pin it so it’s secure and so that nothing is sticking out of the bow half.

Next fiddle with the sides until you’re happy with how they’re sitting. And give it a last spray. The back is still kind of ugly so I like to cover it with a real bow. There’s nothing a good bow can’t hide 😀 Pick out something appropriate..

Pin it in place… If you need to, use the hair dryer to set your fringe in place…

And TAA DAAA! You’re all finished 😀 Good work!

Very cute! Make sure to spend some time cam-whoring your new hair style ^_^ Someone the other day mentioned this looked a lot like a Lady Gaga style, who knew!

Hope you enjoyed this, if you have any questions just ask… Or if you are completely confused here is an awesome video which uses a similar technique to mine:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYn23fg-bO4]

Btw, I will answer all my emails tonight, sorry for being late guys!

Let me know what you guys think of the bow hair style and the tutorial in general!

 

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Back! Outfit of the day, the world of Violet's Shoes (Mini Tutorial)

Outfit time!

Firstly thank you all for your well wishes while I’ve been ill! It made me feel much better every morning to wake up to everyone’s lovely comments 🙂 I’m all rested up now and should be fine to blog 3 times a week again!

Unfortunately I’ve run out of jewels to finish my decoden tutorial at the moment but I’ll be right on it when the next batch arrive! My next post will be some of the things I’ve been deco-ing lately so you can all get your rhinestone fix 😛 Actually I did something a little bit funny with my deco while I was sick… I’m going to keep you guessing until next post though!

Now on to my outfit… OMG I love these shoes. They are incredibly painful but they look so pretty! Here is a close up…

Sexy right? The cut out bit is velvet so they even feel nice.

This brings me to today’s topic… shoes. It may be hard to believe but up until about 6 years ago I was the biggest tomboy you imagine. I refused to wear skirts and you would be hard pressed to find me in anything other than my scuffed old pair of converse chucks. In fact that’s where my old screen name chucks_bitch came from.

These are my newest acquisition. Cute but still comfy so I can shop all day, oh and work etc. They were a birthday present from my Mum, thanks Mum!

So long story short I missed out on those years where young girls are supposed to learn to walk in heels and I’m just doing it now. I got the first pair that I regularly wear last Christmas and haven’t been able to stop since. So much pain though! I’m very stubborn so I picked the highest most ridiculous pair and assumed I would be fine… I have now learned my lesson and am easing in much more sloooowly.

 

Mini Tutorial time!

 

Now a couple of people have asked me how I did this. It really couldn’t be simpler.

Step 1. Buy cute simple shoes on sale. Step 2. Buy matching flowers. Step 3. Get some thread and a needle and sew the flowers on to the shoes. Note, don’t sew through the leather just in case you ever change your mind! Step 4. Enjoy your new awesomely cute Hime-Style shoes 😀

See easy…

Lastly are any of you guys who use Nuffnang having problems when you log in? I can log in but I my stats won’t seem to show up… Just wanted to know if I’m the only one before I go and bug tech support!

Anyway it’s good to be back! Hope you enjoyed the outfit post ^_^

How to kill an afternoon…

Step one take a computer tray table thingy. Btw this is one of the best things I’ve ever bought! Now I can write and work from in front of the tv 😛

Add a bunch of pink fabric and lace.

Use a glue gun to have some fun. If you still have lace left over at the end, you haven’t done a good enough job.
Taadaa, you have successfully wasted an afternoon in which you probably should have been working or doing something productive.

Super cute though right?

Cleaning is stylish… how to organise your make up

How to clean up your make up area collection.

If you’re anything like me your bathroom tends to end up like this after a week or so of being lazy.

Ever mindful that this amount of messy-ness looks unclean and is probably unhygienic I set about to find a nice solution that was stylish and didn’t cost me anything. As usual I was aiming to follow Hime Gyaru/Lolita stylings.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I didn’t think I was going to make this into a tutorial while I was doing it! On to raiding my craft stash!

Materials: 1. Pretty paper 2. Old Boxes 3. Glue 4. Black lace 5. Ribbon bows

Instructions: I was fortunate enough to find some old boxes that looked like drawers so it was pretty easy. You can use whatever you have on hand or make them from scratch.

First I gathered my materials.

Then I used the pretty paper to cover the old boxes. I glued it on nice and securely and made sure the drawers still fit together.

Next I wrapped the lace around to decorate it and when I was happy with the finish I glued it in place.

I then added the bows.

Once everything was all dry I put all my make up into the pretty new boxes and TADAA!

So I guess that’s how to clean up your make up collection…

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