The first shout out in this tutorial has to go to Vintage Grrl, without her I wouldn’t have been able to make these awesome gloves because she hand spun the yarn for it! How freaking cool is that? Please go visit her blog because she is truly a very skilled and talented lady.

I was so happy when this arrived at my door!

Look at the lovely colours, it reminds me of yummy candy

This is what it looked like after I balled it. I couldn’t ask for a more “me” colour!

And this is what I made out of half of it… a pair of very frilly fingerless gloves I searched Ravelry for patterns but I couldn’t settle on something that I really liked so I took a very basic lace stitch and made a standard fingerless glove with ruffles ^_^

Now I’m going to try and show you how I made them. Please be kind because this is the first knitting/crochet pattern I’ve ever written so it may make no sense at all. I’m more of a visual person so I prefer to just knit and see if it looks right rather than following patterns to the letter but you girls keep asking for patterns so here goes nothing!

Row 1: Cast on 44 stitches. (please adjust the number according to the size of your wrist and hand)
Row 2: *Knit 2, purl 2* repeat until end of row. Repeat for rows 3-13.
Row 14: *Knit 2, K2tog* repeat until end of row.
Row 15:  K1, *K2tog, YO* repeat until 2nd last stitch, K1. Repeat for rows 16-30.
Row 31: Cast off 14 stitches. K1, *K2tog, YO* repeat until 2nd last stitch, K1.
Row 32-42: K1, *K2tog, YO* repeat until 2nd last stitch, K1.
Row 43: Cast off.

You should end up with something vaguely similar to this:

Now fold the left side in half, this will form the finger holes. Fold the right side in half too to make the thumb. Sew together.

You have something like this…

Make a second one. Also make sure you try them on to make sure they fit!

Now let’s crochet some ruffles. I used a very simple stitch to do this…

Single crochet in the first stitch, chain 2, 2xdouble crochet in the same stitch, single crochet in the next stitch etc. Repeat until you’ve gone all the way around the finger and thumb.

You have something like this…

Now you should sew a stitch between each finger. This is optional but I prefer it ^_^

Add some ruffles to the bottom ribbing. This time I just did 3 double crochet into each stitch.

Taaadaaa! And there you have it. Cute lacy fingerless gloves ^_^

Phew! I’m all tired from trying to remember how I made the gloves, next time I have to take more photos while I’m actually doing it and write it down as I go Now go have a look at Vintage Grrl‘s beautiful yarn!

Last weekend a whole lot of bloggers met up at Koko Black to eat a whole lot of chocolate. A whole lot of fun followed.

There are a huuuge number of photos from the day, around 30 or so bloggers turned up, each with their own cameras in hand. I’ve put my photos in a gallery here so you can have a look through easily and to avoid this post becoming just full of “…and this is me with ___” I’ve added some of my favorites below ^_^

Gallery:

Click for larger photos or navigate through the pages at the bottom. To get out of gallery mode just click the photo again.

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The lovely Penny from Jeroxie and I were the organizers of this one and Nuffnang sponsored our chocolate addiction. Yummy!

It was so lovely to be able to meet a lot of people I’ve been talking to online in person!

So many people came and it was fantastic! I wish I had gotten more time to chat with everyone there but I had a great time anyway!

The view from the other end of the table! There were even more people than this but we took the photos at the beginning.

Sarah from 100 Dates was a little bit silly to bet me that I couldn’t finish both my ice chocolate aaaand a hot chocolate.

I win!! Where’s my prize? I felt soooo full afternoon even though I forgot to have lunch before hand >_<

The silly scarf brigade

Makes it slightly difficult to eat chocolate…though not for lack of trying!

There was such a lot of photo posing going on! I don’t want to post every one of these so please do check the gallery above for the rest ^_^

This is Sylvia and I, we had been talking online for so long it was almost like meeting an old friend!

Alice and Ness who I was so happy were able to come! Having a few friends at events like this makes it so much easier to break the ice ^_^

Bunny who is the sweetest person I think I’ve ever met!

Of course Penny and I had to be slightly silly and take photos of each other taking photos because we have the same camera Though I deco’d mine this week so it looks slightly more pink and sparkly now

Everyone wrote their blog addresses down so we could catch up with each other again soon, here is the list, please go have a look at their blogs ^_^

• www.alookinmybook.com
• www.ihua.blogspot.com
• www.messtyle.com
• www.jeroxie.com
• www.thq13.tumblr.com
• www.eatdrinkstagger.com
• www.bunny-florentine.com
• www.poppygetsalife.com
• www.aurorahime.blogspot.com
• www.100dates.org
• www.healthypartygirls.com
• www.changsylvia.blogspot.com
• www.michelle-chin.com
• www.thecakemistress.com/blog
• www.jimmyamerica.com
• www.project-kathryn.com
• www. nessbow.webs.com

I think that’s everyone, if I missed you I’m sorry please let me know in the comments ^_^

I had such a wonderful time and I really hope we can have more events like this soon!

Hi lovely readers!

I’m very excited to announce the finalists for my Celebration Give Away I couldn’t believe how many people entered and the quality of the entries made it really hard for me to choose the 3 for you to vote on, I even had to ask James to help me! So without further ado…

Entry A!

Calling all princesses! VioletLeBeaux.com features everything a girl needs to be a princess, without breaking the bank! Creative, step-by-step tutorials show you how to use a couple gems and a bit of lace to turn everyday blah into something fit for a princess!

Entry B!

A blog dedicated to the frillier side of life, focusing on beautifying yourself and the world around you. Learn to customize and create clothing to your liking, decorate your living space, and be inspired by the luxurious “hime gyaru” look from Japan.

Entry C!

My blog? Well, it’s unique. There’s no other one like it. It’s creative, artistic, and entertaining. A place where all girls of all ages can come to, to find their inner princess. From tutorials, to sharing my personal life, violetlebeaux.com is the place where all things are possible.

So to vote please use the poll below or on the side bar. I will be leaving it up until Midnight my time next Wednesday. Only votes in the poll will be counted so make sure to cast yours!

Thanks so much for all the time you guys took to enter!

Good luck everyone!!

*EDIT* A couple of people have let me know that they can’t see the poll. It’s a Java Script poll so please make sure that you have all the latest versions of your software/browser etc and make sure your firewall isn’t blocking java. I am looking for a non-java solution to this so you can all vote so please be patient. */EDIT*

*EDIT 2* Ok.. Hopefully this will solve the problem. I have added a html poll below so that fingers crossed everyone will be able to see it. If you are unable to vote in the Nuffnang poll please vote below. If you can see the Nuffnang poll please use that. At the end of the time I will add the results together and find the winner. Apologies if this seems a little convoluted but I want to allow everyone the chance to vote to keep it fair. I will release the total number of results and statistics with the winner announcement.  */EDIT*

I’m still going through all the entries to my Give Away tonight so please be patient for another day while I pick the top 3 for you to vote on. There are so many awesome entries and I’m having a tough time picking ^_^

I’m thinking about deco a lot lately! I just did my new camera today and I can’t wait to show you all photos of it

In the mean time I thought I’d show you how to deco a cute little USB stick with your initial.

Firstly pick a USB stick in a cute colour.

This one is pretty cool because you can fold it in on itself.

Now lay your red jewels in the shape of your initial. I made this one for James’ Mum  so I used a “P”. It’s important to lay the jewels out so you can get the shaped exactly right and make sure the jewels line up exactly right.

Stick the red jewels in place using epoxy glue.

Now start filling in the gaps. As you can see from the photo below I am using a very basic grid pattern for the jewels, this means that the go in completely straight rows both vertically and horizontally. Because of the curve in the “P” I had to compensate with other jewels around it.

Continue the pattern on the bottom as well. Once it’s dry keep going onto the other side. Once you are finished you have something like this:

Very simple and quick but it really personalizes your USB beautifully!

Here are a couple of outfits I’ve been wearing over the last few weeks ^_^

This one was a nice casual outfit for a lunch out.

Dress- Target

Jumper- Thrift store (I love it because it has beautiful wool embroidery)

Stockings- Myer

Shoes- Payless modified by me

This one was a bit more dressy, I can’t remember what we were doing that way but I think maybe it was something glamorous like grocery shopping?

Dress- Angelic Pretty

Cardigan- Myer (I think?)

Stockings- Myer

Shoes- Wittner, modified by me

Scarf- Hand knitted by me

As per usual my favorite thing about the outfit is my nails

It’s just a simple 3 colour gradient but I love it! I’ve had requests for a tutorial on this too.

I like them because they are quite understated usually but when they get in the sun they are crazy shiny!

I’ve been experimenting with new hair styles too This is my favorite so far…

I think it looks quite complicated but it’s really easy to do, I’m going to take photos for a tutorial on this tomorrow

I think I want to make a whole more of these rose pins too, time for a trip to a craft store

A big part of Sneaker Sunday is the different types of sneakers we see! It’s all about audience participation and that’s why Valerie and I just love it when you guys all send your photos of how you wear your different sneakers. The best part about sneakers is that you can own all types of sneakers and no one would complain because they’re all different! The different sneaker brands available in the market make for such a wide variety of choices too!

So today is all about showing you all how much we appreciate all of your efforts in Sneaker Sunday! All of the photos showcasing the different types of sneakers have been submitted to us and are credited to the owner’s they’re linked to.

Knock yourself out by taking a look at all the different types of sneaker posts and if you would like to take part in Sneaker Sunday, just email your link to either Valerie or myself.

Click the photos to have a look at these awesome blogs.

BGDino

Sylvia

Jessica

Super Kawaii Mama

Pure Girl Blue

The Fashionate Traveller

So what have all of you got planned this Sneaker Sunday? I’m going to a Masterchef Finale party tonight, I’ve never been super into Masterchef but I sure like to eat so it’s going to be fun!

So I promised a tutorial on cutening up a plain old umbrella and here it is ^_^

There are so many different things you can do with an umbrella and so I decided to do a few versions of this.

How you can decorate your umbrella will depend on what you’re actually going to use it for. For example if you want it to be a parasol and protect you from just the sun then you can do pretty much anything at all with it… but if you need it to protect you from the rain then you shouldn’t sew anything into the top section of it because the hole you poke with your needle and thread are just going to let water in!!

The key things I want my umbrella to do are keep me dry and fit in my handbag so I didn’t want to add anything too bulky or put any holes in the top. I decided to start off small and just add lace around the edge of the bottom of it.

What you need:

• Umbrella
• Lace
• Needle and thread

What you need to do is open the umbrella up completely. Thread your needle and start sewing lace on.

It’s quite self explanatory really ^_^ When you get to the corners you should pleat the lace so it sits flat then start up the next side.  I took this photo after it had been crushed in my bag for a week so you’ll have to use your imagination >_<

Keep going until you reach the end and tie it all off ^_^

Done! This is a way of just adding a little bit of something cute to a plain old umbrella. Nothing will be left un-cute by the time I’m finished ^_^

Though after looking at it for a few months I think it’s still a little plain so I decided to add some more details to it. I haven’t finished yet so you’ll have to wait until next time to see it all completed. I’m going to add small bows to each of the points and deco the bottom of the handle

So I’ll show you it properly finished by the end of next week! Hope you like ^_^

Hello! I am always quite hesitant to post stuff like this because I’m never sure if it’s really boring for all of you or not I keep taking huge amounts of photos because we’re actually going places and doing fun things so it seems like a shame to just let them sit in a folder somewhere!

These photos go all the way back to Brisbane ^_^

This is the cutest cake in the whole universe… Yay Breadtop! I think I need one of these for my next birthday!

This was all the way back when we had to clean our old townhouse before leaving. See having tall hair really doesn’t prevent me from vacuuming!

We bought one of those family meals from MacDonalds and the box was so comically big so I had to get a snap shot!

Before we moved James really got into baking, he made us fresh bread all the time He was very sad when we couldn’t bring his parents breadmaker with us but they brought it down as a surprise last weekend! Woo yummy bread again

Being very silly with a face mask from the Face Shop which I’m totally addicted too. They make you look like a scary Egyptian Mummy though!

And here are the obligatory trying-on-silly-glasses shots

Classy no?

And the lovely Super Kawaii Mama and I indulging in bubble tea. This was my first one in Melbourne but I have to say that Bubble Cup is no where near as good as Easy Way. Yummy!

James is quite the baker, his special is chocolate chip pancakes from scratch!

My current favorite drink! This is soooo sweet and delicious. Very hard to find though so I’m hoarding a bottle in the back of my fridge heehee!

And now a distraction… here’s a cute puppy! It’s kind of weird that I take photos of random puppies in pet stores >_<

Being awesome in my glasses Deco glasses for the win!

Omg this gigantic snake was outside our window in Brisbane!! Scared the hell out of me!

This was my delicious hot chocolate at our Pancake Manor going away dinner (the first of like 6 going away dinners!).

We’ve been meeting up with so many awesome people! Weekly lunch with the lovely Celeste is always fun. Although the first time, I ordered the spiciest pasta EVER without knowing >_< Totally my luck, I keep ordering spicy food by accident!

Celeste and I! She is just adorable!

I’ve been taking every single chance I possibly can to try out hot chocolates around town too! Haha I should start reviewing them!

Alice and I went to Koko Black to test out their hot chocolates and other delicious things

Look at these drinks!! They were so yummy

Haha oh no I’m turning into a food blogger Mmm food!

I’ve even started to try and cook nicer food at home. This steak is the fanciest thing I’ve ever made

Alice and I made macarons as well. We tried chocolate as well as green tea with redbean filling for a Japanese twist. They didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped because we couldn’t get the temperature in the oven right but still super yummy!

Oh and for those of you that keep asking for photos of me without make up… here’s one

Alice made a heart shaped one, how cute ^_^

Alice brought me flowers too, all of the friends we’ve made here are so lovely!!

These are some of the other macarons James and I made. They are lemon and… wait for it… BUENO FLAVOR!!! That’s right! I worked out how to make Bueno macarons, thus combining my two favorite things! YUM

These ones were a gift so I put them in a little bag and made a handmade sticker to go on it ^_^

And the other side of the sticker!

I have so many more photos from other fun things and fun meet ups with new friends but I’m quite sleepy so next time ^_^ If anyone’s actually interested maybe I should do this once every few weeks. It’s a novelty for me to have this many interesting outings in such a short period of time!

This weekend it’s the Nuffnang Koko Black meet up too, what have you all got planned?

Morning everyone ^_^

Continuing on in my series of cutening up every day objects today I’m going to show you how I made my shower cap that little bit pinker

You need:

• Plain shower cap (got mine from Coles for around $2)
• Some fabric of your choice
• Eyelet lace
• Ribbon
• Needle and thread

So get out your shower cap and lay out your fabric.

Stretch out your plastic cap to find out how wide it is. You need to cut out a circle of fabric with that diameter plus a few inches for seam allowance.

Now a note on choosing fabric, because this is going to be getting wet often you will need to choose a fabric which dries very easily or else it will get moldy! I am using toweling. This is my circle:

Now thread your needle and with the edge folded under, stitch your fabric into the elastic of the cap. You will need to stretch out the elastic as you sew it in. This can be a bit tricky when you only have two hands so what I do is use a notebook or something solid like that to hold it stretched while I’m sewing.

When you finish you should end up with something like this:

Now this is where you can do one of two things… Either go nuts with the cute and add a frill to the edge here like a vintage styled one or move straight on to the lace. I personally find frills at edge to be cute but not practical because the water catches in them so I went straight to the lace.

Sew one edge of your eyelet lace around the very edge of the elastic.

Then sew on the other side. It should hide all of the edges of the pink in a nice little sandwich.

Lastly thread your ribbon through and tie in a bow. You will need to stretch it out and make sure there is enough ribbon there to go around your head.

You’re done! Ok so there is a limit to how cute you can actually make a shower cap, no matter what they always look pretty silly. But it’s Winter so it’s a very necessary item… and I think this is an improvement on the original ^_^

Hope you enjoyed ^_^

I love hair treatments, that’s no secret! I’ve been looking around for some new ones to try out but there really isn’t  much variety here in Australia. This particular one had come with mixed reviews from a couple of my friends so I figured I would give it a try

Even better, this one is specifically for blonde hair!

The clerk at Lush basically told me that it would lighten the blonde areas of my hair and to avoid applying it on the reds and browns so I would have the same colouring at the bottoms. It is also supposed to put more moisture back into damaged hair. So far my hair has mostly avoided damage from bleaching but I want to preempt any future damage *_*

The idea is that is has all kinds of natural lightening ingredients such chamomile and lemon juice so it should highlight your hair.  It won’t give you a proper colour change if you’re not blonde already but it’s supposed to give a kind of boost.

The packaging is quite plain but has lots of deco-ing potential

They thought with my length hair I could get around 3 uses out of this tub, though because I only used it on the top 1/2 of my hair I got 5 applications. At AU$25.95 per pot it’s not particularlt cheap because even if you get 5 applications that’s still around $5 a pop.

The consistency is kind of gloopy and slimy! It reminds me of a mango smoothy

Like most Lush products I’ve used, the smell is reeeeally intense. I really suggest having a look at the shop and smelling it before you actually buy because once it’s actually on your head  it gets very overpowering. If I had been clever and smelt it first I probably wouldn’t have bought it purely on personal preference.

It’s quite a messy job applying it in a fun sort of way! Make sure not to wear nice clothes though because it gets everywhere.

After washing it out my hair felt nice and smooth but to be honest I don’t think it was very much nicer than regular conditioner and by the next day it had pretty much worn off. Long term I didn’t see any noticeable difference in how soft or shiny it was.

I used the whole pot over a few weeks as recommended by the store clerk and I didn’t see any difference in colour at all in my hair. Among my friends who have also used it there was 50/50 split as to whether it actually made any colour difference.

Verdict:

While it made my hair smooth in the short term I didn’t see any long term colour or texture differences. Due to the lack of noticeable difference and the hefty price tag I probably wouldn’t buy it again. That said it was a nice treatment and I think it might work better on a different hair type. TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.

Can any of you girls recommend me a really nice hair treatment to try out?