2010 - Page 21 of 46 - Violet LeBeaux

Melbourne Snapshots!

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 24, 2010 | Life

This post was sponsored by Nuffnang and Panasonic. For more information on sponsored posts please click here.

And welcome to another edition to Snapshots! To be honest since I started writing the book etc I haven’t been going out as much so it’s taken a bit longer for me to get enough interesting things to put together into a post >_< I’m keeping my head down and being a good working girl though!

James has been refining his cooking skills which I am loving! He worked out how to make Krispy Kreme style donuts at home!

And he even filled them with chocolate custard 😀

Everything he’s made lately has been heart shaped which is completely adorable. This is some curry we had.

Omg I found the coolest idea the other day… It’s a hot chocolate dispenser! Overkill for normal people but fricking perfect for my addiction!

I totally need one!

We visited this lovely tea shop in the Dandenongs too, though there is a post coming with lots more photos of the inside. Look at all of those tea pots! I was in heaven :O

I thought this label in the cafe we went to there was hilarious!

For no reason here is a toy dog wearing rollerskates.

We went to a bead store in Melbourne Central to pick up supplies and the owners were so nice! The store was closing down and almost everything was $1. I went back so many times and every single time he remembered me and remember I liked pink things so he would pile extra cute pink free things into my bag XD So friendly!

I picked up this awesome jewelery stand there which I’m going to pretty up in and upcoming tutorial ^_^

Omg bunnies! You all probably think I’m crazy but bunnies are illegal to keep as pets in Queensland so this was the first time I’ve ever seen one in person. They look so soft and cuddly but I have a feeling they secretly might just like biting people XD

An awesome chair in Melbourne Central deserves a photo op right?

Oh one of the funnest things I’ve done over the last few weeks was finding this little store via Celeste! It’s up just past the Target complex in the city and it’s called Tokuya… You have to enter through an optometrist and go down stairs so I think a lot of people might miss it…

But it’s totally worth it because it’s a Japanese 100Yen store!

Everything is actually $3.50 or $4.50 which makes some things a bit overpriced and some things ridiculously cheap. There are things there you just can’t get anywhere else so yay!

There’s cooking stuff, deco, stationery, gift wrapping, make up, false eye lashes, nail polish… and the list goes on. They have just opened and they are still adding new stock but I’m so excited about it!

I met one of the owners and she was just the cutest girl ever! She loved my phone deco and she said they are going to get lots more deco supplies in soon.

Verdict: totally must go back!

With all the work I’ve been doing it’s been great to have packages in the mail to cheer me up too! I had been waiting for coloured acrylics for ages and here they are along with lots of new nails to start painting 😀

I got a Bodyline package too but that’s a review for another day.

The best thing in the mail this week was a package from Tiff! She went to Japan recently and was so sweet to bring me back souvenirs!

She wrote me the cutest little letter! I lover her drawing 😀

Totally sweet eyelashes:

And the best part, it’s from the Hikaria Bakery 😀

It’s a tiny banana and blueberry waffle magnet! Finger there for size comparison.

Look at how detailed it is, she is so skilled at making little foods! You can visit her store here. Very awesome!

Woo back to work now!

Rough Guide To How I Recycled My Filofax

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 23, 2010 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial

The last few weeks have made me really sick of the calender programs on my iPhone. I miss pen and paper, for like 8 years I used my trusty black leather Filofax for everything and it was with me every single day. Then I got my phone and I got caught up in all the applications so the filofax started gathering dust. After a few years without it I missed the poor old thing! I drafted my very first comic book in it so it’s very nostalgic! ^_^

Unfortunately the whole black leather thing doesn’t really go with my look anymore and with no cash to spend it was time for a re-think! There’s no point it just sitting there doing nothing, Filofaxes are there to be uuuused!

Digging into my fabric scraps box I found a couple of pieces for inspiration 😀 I think this post is more of a guide than a tutorial because I’ll just give you the general idea and you can take it and run with it how you like rather than making exact versions.

I decided on a light pink satin cover and ironed it flat. I then used hot glue around the edges of the diary to attach it:

Flattening the whole thing out I trimmed the extra fabric off.

And glued down the edges. I was careful not to glue any of the inside pockets shut in the process.

The outside:

That was a bit plain for me so I decided to add a band of colourful floral fabric that was a scrap from a dress I made ages ago. I ironed it out and folded the edges over.

Very carefully I glued it around the middle.

Cuter already right?

I carefully covered the clasp thingy too and then cut a small hole so it could still click closed. This is it pre-hole:

And post hole showing how it closes:

I was so caught up I kind of forgot to take photos of the next bit sorry! Basically I used the floral fabric to completely cover the inside including all of the pockets. I’m sure you can use your imagination ^_^ I then added lace around the outsides to hide all of the glued areas. So it ended up like this:

I realised I needed some cute paper to write on too! Luckily I had a bunch of supplies left over from a Cristina Re gift bag I was given when we had out tea party earlier in the year so I set to work.

I used an old page of diary to find the right size to fit my diary.

Then I carefully cut it all out.

Hole punch at the ready…

Taadaaa cute paper!

I needed new dividers as well so I used one to get the shape and cut them out of thing cardboard.

Lastly I added some black and white flocked paper and stickers as decoration.

I used the flocked paper on the back too.

And there you have it! Super cute new diary/planner/Filofax thingy all finished and ready to be used!

I’m really happy with the way it came out and it suits my personality perfectly.

I’ve been using it for a good few weeks now and it’s made life much easier 😀

I actually enjoy writing on such pretty paper too 😀

Do you guys use a paper planner or are you all iPhone/Blackberry junkies?

Rose Print Nail Art!

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 22, 2010 | Nails

I’ve been playing with the 3D acrylic again and I wanted something to match my dress for Manifest on Friday. This is what came out…

I am slowly getting better with modeling the acrylics, I just need more practice! though I think some of the effect is lost because the layer of gel over the top was too thick.

I am very happy with how the painted roses turned out, this was my first time trying them too and I really like the effect.

Over all, quite happy!

My favorite of the 3D parts is most definitely the glittery hearts! Makes me think I need to use MOAR GLITTER 😀

Did you all have a good weekend?

Blue Circle Lens Review :D

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 21, 2010 | Advert, Review

I’ve been wanting to try blue circle lenses for aaaages so I was so happy when E-Circlelens.net offered to send me some!

Yay for parcels in the mail! I was very happy when the post man delivered this 😀

Lots of careful packing with Styrofoam so nothing was broken. Shipping was nice and quick too.

I received two pairs, firstly the Belita Blue which have a diameter of 14.5mm. They are US$40 and the manufacturer is Dueba

They are the ones I wore in the poufy hair tutorial…

They have a black ring around the outside and very dramatic bright blue. On the website they look really crazy blue but when they are actually in I think they are more subtle. On darker eyes these would be quite subdued but I think they would really pop on light blue eyes.

My eyes are green with a brown ring in the middle so they blended quite well, I have fairly large pupils though. I think they might work really well for girls with lighter eyes too. After around 7 hours I found them to still be very comfortable and my eyes were only a tiny bit dry.

Verdict: Look massive, very cool for day to day wear. DO WANT

Secondly I received the Super Star Blue set which have a diameter of 14mm. They cost US$40, last for 1 year and the manufacturer is New Bio.

These ones are smaller than a lot of lenses but the black ring around the outside makes them pop anyway.

These ones have a much more subtle blue to them. Well there really isn’t very much blue but they have tiny blue stars! How cute is that? When you are a reasonable distance away it kind of looks just light blue flecks in you eyes but close up they really pop!

I wore these ones for around 6 hours and they were comfortable too. The only thing I didn’t like was that because my pupils are larger than average every now and then I could see blur from the stars entering my frame of vision.

Close up you can really see the little stars. I think these ones are really fun for photoshoots!

I think on darker eyes the stars would be more obvious. These photos were all taken with James’ DIY ring flash so that’s why there is a white circle in the middle of my pupils, it’s not part of the lenses XD

Verdict: Very cute effect but best for photoshoots. DO WANT

If you would like to see more lenses like this you can visit E-Circlelens.net here

The Melbourne Way- Competition!

by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 17, 2010 | About Me, Advert, Life

This post has been sponsored by Nuffnang and Panasonic.

Step 1.

Press play on the video below. It’s “Super Jet Shoes” by Perfume and it’s my favorite song at the moment. It’s been stuck in my head for several months now! This will be your soundtrack to my life ^_^

Step 2.

Hover your mouse over each of the images below to see the difference between how the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 sees life and how I see it. You might have to hover a few seconds for my view to load but don’t give up, they are all there!

Step 3.

Put on your Super Jet Shoes (mine are my boots) and let’s get going!

My constant companion for the day is my phone. Music, friends and fun are just a second away with this…

ThePanasonic Lumix TZ10 is around the same size as my phone though it’s a little heavier. I have been keeping it in my jacket pocket ever since I got it. It has a lot of features that a gigantic camera has like a big zoom but it still has a little body. Great for snapping on the go. The “Intelligent Auto” feature makes it quite difficult (even for someone as uncoordinated as me) to take a bad photo.

We have started to catch the tram places now to see friends but it’s so different to Brisbane public transport!

Quick start up means you can get photos in a few seconds and snap stuff you wouldn’t normally see like the inside of a tram without the driver.

I actually think trams look like gigantic electric kitties. The second I saw them I was reminded of Susie who is obsessed with kitties!

The big back wires that hang everywhere remind me of spider webs or maybe knitting… or maybe gigantic knitting spiders.

Fancy “Intelligent Auto” feature means I can take photos in terrible lighting without having to fiddle with stuff or have the technical knowledge that James does.

Sometimes not having a car can be tough with getting all of our groceries or bigger items home but it’s much easier with a little help ^_^

Of course you really just can’t go past the shopping here 😉

We visited Chadstone that day too and it’s massive!

Do you see a bit of a continued theme here yet??

More interestingly is what happens when I see something like this…

That happens quite a bit. I really try to see what something could turn into rather that what it already is 😉

I wish our landlord allowed pets but I can always dream!

Very big zoom which allows you to take covert photos of other people’s pets from the tram 😉

That pretty much sums me up I think… I hope you’ve enjoyed being in my brain for a day!

This shot was taken using the “Pin Hole” setting which is my favorite of the ridiculous amount of settings. I’ve been using the food setting lots too ^_^

So all of the photos in this post were taken with the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 aaaand thanks to Panasonic and Nuffnang you guys have the chance to win one just like mine! Well maybe not *just* like mine because I’ve already deco’d mine mwahaha 😉

So about the actual camera, I’m going to do a big proper pros/cons review on the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 this week in terms of being a good camera for blogging and showing the quality of the HD video etc but here is a quick run down of my 3 favorite features:

-The big thing with Panasonic Lumix TZ10 is that it has built in GPS so if you go on holidays or you’re traveling around town near landmarks it will remember where you were and tag your photos with the location! The drawback to this is that unless you specifically switch the function off, it chews through battery even if the camera is off. The photo organization software it comes with also only works on a PC so I wasn’t able to test it.

-My absolute favorite feature is that you can register people on it so when you focus on me it actually says “Violet” and comes up with a little heart, how cute is that?! You can even register your pets!

-It can also take HD videos and fits neatly in my bag or pocket which is very useful for blogging!

This is the basic information from their website for the more tech savvy of you:

Key Points for the Panasonic Lumix TZ10:

Built-in GPS for easy organization of the photos you took on your holidays!
25mm wide-angle 12x optical zoom f/3.3-4.9 LEICA DC VARIO-ELMAR lens…allowing it to have twice the shooting area of the standard 35mm lens
Double hand-shake correction allowing you to take beautiful night shots at slow shutter speeds without blurring
Record movies in HD with no loss of image quality!
12.1 Megapixels
RRP AU$650

More information for the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 can be found here.

NUFFNANG COMPETITION TIME!

If you like the look of this camera you can enter into the draw to win one very easily ^_^

To enter just leave a comment on this post and answer this question “Where in the World would you take the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 and what photo would you take?”

Comments here will go into the draw to win the grand prize!

You must be a resident of Australia to enter, please view the full terms and conditions on Nuffnang’s blog here.

Good luck everyone and I hope you enjoyed being in my silly pink brain today 😀