Who Needs That Many Shoe Horns? – Sponsored

by VioletLeBeaux | Dec 13, 2014 | Advert

This post is sponsored by Optus.

For more information about sponsored posts click here.

So this year we’re going a little nuts with Billy Idol Day (this is our version of Christmas because… Billy Idol rocks at Christmas songs). I’ve decided that I want to upgrade our holiday, no random mismatched wrapping paper, no last minute running around to post gifts, no nonsense, no stress, I’m going Martha Stewart on this! I’m even going to be taking a little time off (shocking I know!) to relax and just enjoy… relaxing!

Colour themes!! My lunch is going to be so cute, bring it Martha!

I even custom made little flags for our food with tape! Obsessive? Maybe >_>

This was our tree last year, his name was Billy and he only managed to stay alive for about 2 months afterwards :/

This year I made the tree out of lights!

We’re going to have our traditional holiday video game which we play all Boxing Day (recommendations anyone?? Must have puzzles, action and be for PS3) and candles will be lit rather than just sitting there to look pretty because I don’t want to waste them!

And yes to cake! I want something more spectacular than the first cake I did for this:

I’m also embracing the fact that it’s Summer here, so no weird fake snow and no all day roasting in the oven when it’s probably going to be 35C outside!

No to cooking a whole turkey again:

My favourite part of the holidays is also the one that has frustrated me the most this year: Christmas Crackers/bon bons. For some reason it is IMPOSSIBLE to find crackers in Melbourne which aren’t terrible. Even if they are like $50+ they still have plastic rubbish toys in them.

I want them to have awesome gifts inside but every single box of crackers I’ve found has nonsense like plastic mini screw drivers, fake moustaches and shoe horns. I swear that the cracker industry keeps the shoe horn industry alive >_> James and I have hunted through like 20 stores plus online looking for decent ones and now my last ditch idea is to put Kinder Surprises into crackers so at least they will have something to do in them which doesn’t involve shoe horns.

Seriously cracker companies, step it up a bit.

Of course, then the jokes start coming out. James is really into jokes, not good ones, but the terrible 100 year old ones that come in crackers. And every year something like this happens…

Q. What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?

A. A stick.

Q. What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?

A. Tinselitis.

Why don’t ducks tell jokes when they’re flying?

Because they would quack up.

…..

……………

……………………

Yeah ok maybe that last one >_>

Anyway, Optus have launched a campaign this year called “Give More Yes” in which you can pick up your own special cracker from any Optus store, pop it and receive a code to enter online for a gift! If you can’t make it to a store, you can pop a virtual cracker online! Their hashtag is #YESCrackers if you want to show off your present.

The prizes are things like gift vouchers to stores, iTunes, charity donations, surf boards, Christmas light kits and trees.

The gifts don’t include shoe horns. Sorry if you were excited to get a shoe horn to add to your collection >_>

All you need to do is grab your cracker and then head to the Yes hub with the code inside (or pop one on the website) to claim your prize! If you want to be extra giving, you can then give your prize to a Facebook friend or keep it for yourself.

Well I guess I had better get myself back to planning and decorating for our Billy Idol Day lunch, this isn’t going to Martha itself!

Do you guys have plans for the holidays? Are you going to celebrate something fun? Are you weirdly obsessive about shoe horns? >_> Either way I hope you have a lovely month!

Bonus pic: We accidentally captured Lottie’s exact moment of reaction XD

Easy Cherry Print Nail Art Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Dec 10, 2014 | Nail-Art-Tutorials, Nails, Tutorial

Today’s nail art is inspired by James’ favourite part of this time of year: cherries! He can barely eat them because of his allergies but he still loves them! So let’s get into it 😀

You need:

Yellow base polish
Red polish or acrylic paint
Green polish or acrylic paint
White polish or acrylic paint
Clear top coat

Begin by painting a yellow base coat and allowing it to dry.

To make the cherry shape paint two small circles which are almost touching each other. The right circle should be slightly higher up than the left.

I’m making this into a larger pattern so I painted pairs of cherries all over the nail randomly.

Next for the stems, using light green paint a thin line from each circle so it meets up the top and forms a sort of upside down “V” shape.

Add a small triangle at the top of the stem as a leaf.

Repeat on the other cherries. I also added a stem which went off the edge of the nail so it appeared like the pattern continued.

Once all of that is dry, use your white to add very small dots to the leaf and cherries to make highlights.

Lastly give everything a top coat using clear polish.

This pattern is so cute! … but now I’m hungry for cherries!

Hope you guys are having a good week and let me know if you try this out!

Want to download this tutorial in one handy file?

Click here to learn about the VLB.

Portrait – Let’s Paint! Watercolour Walk Through

by VioletLeBeaux | Dec 8, 2014 | Art, Artwork-Tutorials, Tutorial

Hello again! Let’s get into another watercolour tutorial, this one is more of a follow through than a tutorial. This is the end result, some kind of galaxy goddess something…

Hopefully you’re a little more excited about this than the sad bunnies on my note paper.

First up, sketch your basic outline.

Keep the details around the face fine.

While the hair out the back is long and flowing.

The most important part of paintings like this is the colouring. Think about colours that work well together. My favourite combination is bright blue/green/pink/purple.

I decided to go with the blue and green for the girl and then pink and purple for the sky. I like to start with the face details because if I don’t get that right then there’s no point doing the rest of the painting. Each line and area is a combination of the two colours.

The technique is simple, lay down a thick-ish line of water.

Drop on the two colours and move them with the paint brush until you’re happy.

While the face outlines dry I moved on to the fabric. I find it easier to do the outlines first then move on to the shadows etc once it’s dry using the lines as a guide.

Moving on, the hair is next. Large sections of hair first making sure to keep it so it looks flowing.

Swoosh!

Use your colours to indicate the texture and folds of the fabric. Keep an eye on where you’re placing each colour eg. use the darker blue for areas in shadow.

Overlapping the hair layers once they are dry creates even more layers.

The face and skin is shaded very minimally.

Now let it all dry.

Once it’s totally dry, erase any of the pencil which is still showing through.

Now to paint the background,we don’t want to get any of the pink/purple on the greens so cover the edges with masking fluid.

Cover the entire background with water.

And then drip the colour on.

More water and more colour.

You can see the water pooling and the paper beginning to buckle. So long as the water isn’t a danger to the other colours don’t worry about it. Water makes cool patterns as it dries.