Tray Table Socks Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 31, 2010 | Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial

Ages ago I showed you very quickly how I decorated my tray table. I love this thing to death because it means that I can work out in the lounge room without having a gigantic burning laptop scalding my legs! Because it’s adjustable I can make it flat and do crafts and nail art on it too 😀

The problem with it is that on tiles every time you move it scrapes and make horrible noise. This is what the bottom of the feet look like, the tiles have actually worn through the paint! So my solution is to make it some socks to keep it’s feet warm 😀

You need:

Felt
Needle and possibly pins
Similar coloured yarn
Scissors
Lace for decoration

First detach the legs so it’s easier to work with. Lay your felt underneath it so you can measure how long you need it. You are aiming to have a long tube which will fit around the legs all the way up to the first hole in the side. My felt wasn’t long enough to do that so I had to use two pieces to make it long enough.

The cut out pieces, one for each leg.

To join the two pieces together I used a shoelace style stitch. This is to make sure it lays as flat as possible, you don’t want a wobbly table!

All sewn together into one piece:

After you’ve sewn them together, just make sure it’s still the correct length…

Now sew the other one 😀

Now thread your needle with the yarn. Wrap the felt around the end of the leg and stitch (or pin) it in place to hold it.

Using a blanket stitch start sewing the felt into a tube around the leg.

It should look something like this:

Keep going all the way up!

When you reach the top where the hole is poke the needle through it then wrap the thread around a few times. This will secure the sock at the top of the leg so it doesn’t wiggle down while you’re using it.

Now at end you started at use the yarn to close up the hole.

Looks like this:

So this is what it looks like with the socks fully on..

Now it’s time to decorate 😀 I sewed a ring of lace around the top of the sock.

Finished! Heehee they remind me of cute little Lolita style socks 😀

Much safer for the tile and a lot less of that irritating scraping noise!

Finished!

On another note, with all the questions I’ve been getting lately about nail art I’m going to do a FAQ like the Hime Style one I did a few weeks ago. If you have any questions you would like included just comment or contact me.

Nailart Pictures – Revisited

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 29, 2010 | Beauty, Craft, Nails

I’m here to distract you with nail art but I’m sure you’ve all noticed a few of the changes I’m making around the blog by now ^_^

I’ve been quite busy over the weekend and fixed a lot of the issues we were talking about last post, there is still more to come so when I’m finished (probably in the next few days) I’ll do a round up post of what has changed. Please keep in mind that I’ll be tinkering so if something doesn’t work, don’t stress just wait a little bit and try again 🙂

So it would seem that my heart shaped measuring bowls and spoons are a bit of a hit! I was inundated with emails and comments asking where you could all get one. So here are two websites that apparently sell them or very similar to them. These sites both stock the spoons and other cute things as well.

Hear Mum Roar found this site: http://www.littlebetsybaker.com.au/store/pc/Heart-Shaped-Bowl-143p962.htm

My Mother found this one which is definitely the same: http://www.chalet.net.au/home

Now onto what you all really want to see: NAIL ART!

Because I’m going to be spending the day making a heap of sets of nail art for my Etsy store I though I’d treat you to some eye candy 😉 I know a lot of you have only just started reading my blog recently so I wanted to show you some nail art I did quite a while ago, most likely before you all started reading ^_^ If you’ve been reading for over a year feel free to skip this one 😛 Apologies for the size of the photos, these were all edited back when my blog was even tinier on blogspot.

These ones are all done with a Konad stamper for a competition, there are non-konad ones at the end.

Omg back when I had red hair 😀

Hope you enjoyed and look forward to the nail art designs I’m doing today, some of them are pretty spectacular ^_^

Alice in Wonderland Nailart

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 19, 2010 | Beauty, Craft, Nails

The way we get to the end of this story is a little long and rambling but it ends in Alice in Wonderland nail art so I’m sure you won’t mind 😉

A few months ago my Mum went on holiday to the Gold Coast and discovered a shop called “Del Sol” which makes products that change colour in the sun. Very 1990’s right? Well that was my attitude until she mentioned that they made nail polished that change colour in the sun! 😀

She brought me home 4 of their polishes to try out. I was a bit skeptical at first but they actually change surprisingly well!

These are the colours in normal inside light: Red with silver glitter Blue with a pearly finish Clear with silver glitter Pink with a pearly finish

In outside light they change to: Purple pearl finish Red glitter Purple glitter Green pearl finish

I couldn’t remember the order I had them in while I was taking the outside photos so here are the photos matched up to their outside colours!

How freaking cool is that?

So back to the nail art story, I’ve been wanting to do some Alice in Wonderland themed nail art for years now but I’ve never been able to think of a design that would do it justice. Now that everyone is talking about Alice again I thought it was high time to try it out and the first thing that came to mind was colour change. You can’t get more Alice than that!

This is them inside:

This was also my first attempt at doing 3D acrylic. To be honest I’m not really happy with how these turned out, the idea was so much cooler in my head. Also I think that if I had spent more time practicing my skills I would like the end result better. I’m all out of the acrylic liquid now but I’m going to get some more and try again! Practice, practice, practice! The 3D parts are the Heart and Club card suits, the playing card and the White Rabbit on the thumb. I didn’t have coloured acrylic so I used clear and painted them after.

And outside:

I really loved the idea of the colour change polish but I don’t think I used as well as I could have. It works great on the index nail that says “Alice” because it looks plain until it’s in the sun but the other little details like the Cheshire Cat turning red-purple weren’t as obvious.

Another problem I had when taking the photos

Comparison between the two:

A close up of the hat and rabbit on the thumbs. The hat band changes from red-purple but because it was over the black it’s hard to see. The background of the rabbit also goes from silver glitter-red 🙁 I am really proud of my White Rabbit though! My first 3D thing that actually looks like it’s supposed to 😀

So conclusions: -I currently suck at 3D acrylics but I will practice and get much better! -These Alice nails weren’t great but I now have ideas for even more spectacular ones. -Colour change polish is completely pointless but also very cool.

Also on a side note the adorable Momoberi gave me a mention on her blog too and I didn’t find out until I’d already written that last post! She was inspired by one of my hair tutorials ^_^

Have a great weekend everyone! And I’d love to see some photos if you’ve done any Alice in Wonderland Nail Art!

Pompom Hair Band Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 15, 2010 | Craft, Hair, Hair-Accessory-Tutorials, Tutorial

Lately everywhere I look there are pompom hair bands so I thought why not do a pompom hair band tutorial!

Seriously it’s hard to turn around without seeing some kind of variation! I’ve been seeing them worn in hair and as bracelets or tied to bags. At first I couldn’t stand them but they’ve been slowly growing on me… and now I think they’re cute! The only thing is that here in Aus because they are more hard to come by they are very expensive, who wants to pay $20 for a hair tie?!

So I decided to make my own and it took around 10 minutes.

What you need:-Pom poms in various colours
-Stretchy jewelery thread
-Needle
-GlueDecide on the pattern you want and lay out your pom poms in a circle. I used 9 medium pom poms but you might need more or less depending on how big you want it and how squishy your pom poms are.

Get your stretchy jewelry thread and thread it onto your needle.

Pick up your first pom pom and thread it onto the elastic. Don’t go straight through the middle, go slightly to the side so you can fit as many pom poms onto it as possible.

Thread them all on!

Once you’ve got them all there, thread your needle through the first one pom pom again. Pull the thread tight to form a circle. Depending on how thick your stretchy thread is you might need to go through all of them again to make it extra sturdy.

Now tie the thread off in a double knot. Make sure to pull the knot extra tight but be careful it doesn’t pull the pom poms too close together or you won’t be able to stretch it over your hair! Finish by adding a tiny drop of glue to the knot for extra strength.

Taadaa! I am Wonder Woman deflecting bullets!

The lovely Super Kawaii Mama shows us you can use all kinds of sizes and colours:

Great for entertaining yourself as well.

And SKM’s doggie is an even cuter model:

And of course you could just wear it like a normal person…

Enjoy ^_^

Next post is going to be a Hime Gyaru FAQ so if you have any questions this is the last chance to get them in 🙂

Let me know if any of you make a pompom hair band too!

Violet's Nail Art Store Update #2 (and crochet bow/heart rings)

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 8, 2010 | Advert, Beauty, Craft, Nails, Notices

Today I wanted to give you guys first pick of my new nail art for sale ^_^

This is all going up on the Etsy store soon but I want my blog readers to have first preference. I’ve also made a few of those bow and heart rings that you all loved so much on Twitter. All the information on ordering is down the bottom, I hope you enjoy!

Set 1. Strawberry Fields

Description:
Yum yum strawberries, it’s that time of year again 😀 Alternating in red and pink these nails will catch some attention! Each small gold ball has been hand placed to represent strawberry seeds and they shine in the sun like crazy! Good enough to eat, though I don’t suggest trying to…

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly long nails with a rounded tip. Please note that these particular nails have been hand filed to shape, as such they are not completely even. Please examine the photos carefully before ordering. The largest size is 1.9cm wide and 2.7cm long. The smallest size is 0.9cm wide and 1.8cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price:US$25

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Set 2. Ribbons and Bows

Description:
These beautiful pastel nails have so much detail going on they are really eye catching! Alternating between pastel pink and blue each has silver glitter and then white candy stripes. Painstakingly hand painted on top in each corner is a big red ribbon bow. Perfect to wear for a tea party or just to look adorable every day!

Price: US$25

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Set 3. Purple Passion

Description:
These nails are a beautiful dark satin purple. They are very different to most nails you would come across, the only thing that shines on these babies are the silver glitter half moons at the bottom. Pair them with a slinky dress and you’re ready for a night on the town!

Price: US$15

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Set 4. Loving the Leopard

Description:
This set has been so popular I’ve made another one!

There is no hiding from these nails, you won’t need to camouflage! With a bright purple base and fluro pink leopard spots these nails sure make a splash! The tips have been dipped in bright pink glitter and a matching pink diamante has been added to polish off. These are guaranteed to grab attention!

Measurements:
Included in each set sold are 20 individual nails in 10 different sizes. These are fairly short nails with a square tip.The largest size is 1.8cm wide and 1.9cm long. The smallest size is 0.8cm wide and 1.2cm long. They will arrive on cardboard backing wrapped in pink fabric with ribbon details as pictured below. Gift wrapping is available upon request.

Price: US$15

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Set 5. Burn Baby Burn

Description:
Fire is ultimately cool but who has the time or effort to set their own fingers on fire everyday? Now you can have the look without the third degree burns! With an orange/red base and flames of red, yellow and orange people might be fooled into calling the Fire Department, wear at your own risk!

Price: US$15

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There are still a few sets left in my Etsy store of the last batch, click here to see ^_^

Bow and Heart Rings

Please note that I can custom make these in any colour and size combination. If there is something you want that is not here just comment or send me an email ^_^

Pink Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn, it is very comfortable to wear and is attached to a matching crochet ring.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

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The inside of a bow ring. The ring section is crochet as well, its quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Pink Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

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Pink Crochet Bow Ring with Pearls.

Hand crocheted from pink cotton yarn and beaded with plastic pearls to keep it light weight. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

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Blue Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

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Red Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

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Red Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from red acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

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Black Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

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Blue Crochet Heart Ring.

Hand crocheted from blue acrylic yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$5 including shipping.

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Black Crochet Bow Ring.

Hand crocheted from black cotton yarn. It is attached to a matching crochet ring which is quite stretchy and very comfortable.

Price: US$6 including shipping.

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Ordering Information!

Custom Orders:

I will take custom orders, please comment or email me ([email protected]) with what you are interested for a quote 🙂

Ordering:

Before you order please take the time to read all of the information.
You can order by either commenting here or by emailing me using my Contact Page to let me know which set you would like to buy and your email address so I can send you a Paypal Invoice. Please note that the email address you put in the comment form can only be seen by me so if you are uncomfortable publishing your email either put it there or order via the Contact Page. Anything that doesn’t sell here is going to be put up in my Etsy shop, if you would prefer to buy via Etsy let me know and I will create a listing for you 🙂

Payment:

Payment must be made via Paypal. All prices are in US Dollars.
Australian buyers have the option of doing a direct bank transfer in Australian Dollars but must contact me for details.

Postage:

Shipping fees are included in the listed prices. Shipping is via Australia Post. International shipping will be by standard Airmail (unless you want to pay extra for express).
Insurance is not included in the price, if you would like to buy insurance please contact me. If you do not opt to buy insurance I cannot be held responsible for lost packages.

Notes:

Please note that these nails are all hand painted and as such they are all unique. They are not mass produced and therefore they have small irregularities. Please view the pictures carefully to be sure before you place your order as I will not accept refunds if you just change your mind. Larger photos are available upon request.

As a lot of you would already know James and I will be moving cities soon, it’s very exciting! We’ll be living in an apartment so we’re trying to compress all of the things we have into as small a space as possible… what this leads to is us having a big clean out sale ^_^ I’m not going to constantly spam you about the sale here so I’ll just post the link and tell you that I’m updating it with new stuff pretty much every day so check back often! There are all kinds of things there including clothes, jewelery and other bits and pieces.

If you want something just email me an offer!

Click here to go to Violet and Jimmy’s Online Garage Sale

Thanks very much for looking at my nail art!

How to Store False Eyelashes in a Cake… yes a cake.

by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 3, 2010 | Beauty, Beauty-Tutorials, Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial

How to store false eyelashes? Challenge accepted.

It’s no secret, I love cake. No I don’t think you guys get it… I looooooove cake. So much so that the first thing I thought when I was trying to think of a way to store my false eyelashes was cake… and you’ll see why in a minute 😀

If you’re anything like me you have a lot of lashes. Here in Aus they don’t come in the nice little trays, they come in stupid plastic packets which mean it’s really difficult to store and reuse them. My counter tends to look like this after a few days…

Very ugly, very messy and very unhygienic. So what to do? When I found this cheap craft storage box at a $2 store I had a great idea 😀

I decided to turn it into this:

Yep. It’s an eyelash cake.

The storage container looks like this when it’s filled up. Each compartment has it’s own lid so when you need one set they won’t all fall out and it’s transparent so you can see them all at once. It’s exactly the right size so your lashes don’t get crushed or out of shape.

So let’s get started! This is what you need for cakey lash storage:

-Paper clay. I picked up a kit from Singapore but I’ve seen this same kit available on Etsy as well. -Container -Cute ribbon -Icing bag with nozzles -Optional if your paper clay kit doesn’t come with white icing you can use acrylic modeling paste (read more here) -Small false flowers

So this is what came in my kit. It has lots of molds and a couple of colours of clay and a ready to go icing kit.

I wanted a strawberry for my cake so I made one with the mold like this:

Put clay in both sides of the mold.

Squish it together..

You get this:

Remove the extra and you’ve got a strawberry.

You can make pretty much anything you want by hand as well as it’s really easy to work with. I made some macarons, hearts, icecream tops and some of those swirly chocolate wafer stick things.

Also squish some of the yellow clay flat and cut out 8 fairly equal triangles like this. These are going to be the slices of cake on top so make the roughly the same size as the container sections.

I make a bunch of clay bits and pieces at a time because they need to be left to dry over night.

The next day!

Now that everything is nice and dry let’s get going! Turn your container upside down so the lid parts are on the bottom and coat the top sections with epoxy glue.

Glue the triangles you made on 😀

Now decide on the design you want on the top. I like to lay mine out first so I know that it will all fit!

Before I go ahead and glue it all, here is a mini tutorial inside a tutorial on making the wafer swirl things. After they’ve dried you can add the chocolate. I paint mine with brown nail polish 😀

Paint the swirl… fairly self explanatory! Let them dry really well before you add them to the cake!

Now back to the cake!!

Time to cover the edges, get your pretty ribbon and glue it around the edge. You should align it as close to the bottom lids as you can without obstructing the opening/closing. Don’t worry about having a large gap towards the top, we’re going to fill that with icing 😀

I decided to put flowers on the top of mine, glue whatever you decided to put there ^_^

Time for icing!

Fill your icing bag with whatever you’re using for the icing (please use the paper clay or acrylic modeling paste rather than silicon as silicon attracts a lot of dirt in the bathroom) and get any decorations you have for the top close at hand.

Start icing around the top gap of your cake 😀

You can use whatever icing method you like, I just did this: http://www.wilton.com/technique/Shell

I did two lines of icing to fill the gap up to the ribbon.

Next pipe a gigantic swirl in the middle of the flowers 😀

Then while the icing is still wet you should add in any decorations you want. I added the strawberry, two wafers and some diamantes 😀

Make sure to leave it to dry at least a day or so then it’s ready to use 😀

And there you have it! A delicious way to add to your bathroom collection of sweets! And oraganise your collection of lashes!

Also if your collection is bigger than 8 pairs (like mine is) you can just add more layers to your cake underneath ^_^ YUM!

So it would appear that my bathroom now has an unintentional sweets theme now XD

Do you have tips or tricks? Can you tell me a better way to store false eyelashes?

I’m here to distract you with nail art but I’m sure you’ve all noticed a few of the changes I’m making around the blog by now ^_^

Now onto what you all really want to see: NAIL ART!

The way we get to the end of this story is a little long and rambling but it ends in Alice in Wonderland nail art so I’m sure you won’t mind 😉

Lately everywhere I look there are pompom hair bands so I thought why not do a pompom hair band tutorial!

Today I wanted to give you guys first pick of my new nail art for sale ^_^

Set 1. Strawberry Fields

Set 2. Ribbons and Bows

Set 3. Purple Passion

Set 4. Loving the Leopard

Set 5. Burn Baby Burn

Bow and Heart Rings

Pink Crochet Bow Ring.

Pink Crochet Heart Ring.

Pink Crochet Bow Ring with Pearls.

Blue Crochet Bow Ring.

Red Crochet Heart Ring.

Red Crochet Bow Ring.

Black Crochet Heart Ring.

Blue Crochet Heart Ring.

Black Crochet Bow Ring.

Ordering Information!

Custom Orders:

Ordering:

Payment:

Postage:

Notes:

How to store false eyelashes? Challenge accepted.

Explore…