How To Make A Cute Flower Crown

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 28, 2014 | Craft, Hair-Accessory-Tutorials, Tutorial

I feel like I can’t log on to any of my social networks lately without seeing someone wearing a flower crown XD I’ve made these before for tutorials but I had a bunch of random flowers rattling around my crafting stash so I figured time for a new one!

All you need for this craft are a bunch of random flowers, a hot glue gun and some lace or ribbon to stick it to.

Lay your flowers out into a line and add more to the middle so it’s kind of a tiara shape.

Cut a piece of lace or ribbon which is long enough to tie around your head. You could also use a headband but I prefer ties because they are versatile and headbands give me a headache.

Now glue the flowers to the lace one by one. You can use a piece of fabric or felt as backing but it’s not really needed because it’s going to be hidden.

Taadaa! Seriously easy, the hardest part is deciding on how to lay the flowers out.

Then just tie it on and you’re good to go!

Having them on a piece of lace means you can wear it in so many ways, I like to tie it around a big puffy bun!

New accessory in record time! I’ll have to go through my craft supplies to do things more often haha! Have you guys made anything fun lately?

Some Tips For Big Hair!

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 25, 2014 | Hair, Hair-Tutorials, Tutorial

Seeing as I get asked about big hair a lot I thought I would share some extra tips for getting that volume today!

To begin with, big hair works best if your hair isn’t completely clean. Hair has more grip if it’s a bit dirty.

Obviously the easiest way to get volume is to use a teasing brush but the techniques you use will effect the finished height. I prefer to take small sections and just tease the back side.

Hairspray is the other obvious tool. I know a lot of people who won’t use hairspray because they don’t like the feeling it leaves afterward. I used the be the same until I discovered brush out hairspray. A good hairspray will brush out completely at the end of the day and leave pretty much no trace it was ever there. This Garnier one is ok but it’s not my favorite, I really like Cedel’s spray.

For volume, lift up sections of hair and spray around the roots. Hold the hair up until the spray dries it in place.

If you have hair which doesn’t like to hold shape you can also seal the hairspray in place even more by holding a hair straightener on it for a few seconds around the roots.

Once you have a decent amount of volume smooth the very top layer of hair down with your brush. This part will make it look more naturally volumous but you do need to be careful when you brush because if you do it too hard you will brush out all of the teasing and ruin your hard work.

Give it a final blast of hairspray and you should have nice volume. If you are having problems getting the volume you want and you have very long hair you may find that’s because of the weight of your hair. Styles like this (especially those used in fashions like gyaru) often have hair which is cut specifically to make teasing easier. These styles often have layers which start very high up compared to other styles. Short layers around the top make sure that the hair is light enough to stay up in that kind of volume easily with minimal teasing.

Of course, if all of this seems too hard you can just cheat by using a hair insert.

Then all you need to do is pin it in place and brush your hair back over the top.

Big volume for the win!

So that’s it! Of course everyone’s hair is different so what might work for some will not work for others etc. That said, when it comes to big volume it’s really hard to beat good teasing!

Want to download this tutorial in one handy file?

Click here to learn about the VLB.

Violet’s Daily Romantic Make Up Look Photo Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 23, 2014 | Beauty, Beauty-Tutorials, Tutorial

Make up tutorial? It’s been so long!! I used to do a lot more make up video tutorials but they don’t really interest me as much lately because I think it’s easier to follow along with photos. So I thought I would do my basic every day look as a photo tutorial and if you guys like it maybe we’ll do some more looks 😀

This is the finished look:

So begin with your regular skin care routine.

If you’re me then stay in bed for an extra 10 minutes and complain about your skin later >_>

I alternate the order I do concealer and foundation depending on how much coverage I need that day. Concealer on top of foundation=more.

Cover dark circles with stick concealer. I use one from Innoxa. A very awesome friend taught me to love my dark circles because they’re a part of me which is never going to go away and there’s not one particular part of me which is any less awesome than the rest. I think that is one of the best outlooks on life I’ve ever heard but I still use concealer when I’m wearing purple or blue shades of eyeshadow otherwise the colour shades look like someone has given me two black eyes XD

Apply a little foundation all over the face.

Usually I only apply foundation in a mask around the cheek area of my face so blush has a smooth surface to grip to.

Smooth canvas ready for some paint!

This pink and purple area is where we will be working for the eyes.

Use an eyeshadow brush for the first part of the tutorial.

Apply white eyeshadow under the eyebrow.

And a light pinky purple shade all over the lid.

You should have something like this…

Apply a touch of white in the centre of the eyelid.

Now you need a pointed detail brush.

Apply a darker purple in a pointed C shape at the outer corner of your eye.

Something like this…

Add a little bit of bright pink in this area too.

Remember to do the other side too >_>

Use a fluffy blending brush to blend the eyeshadow completely together.

Apply a decent coat of mascara.

So far… the lighting makes it look like I’ve only done one side -_-‘

Next apply eyeliner.

Apply a thick line and wing it out to the side with a flick.

Now it’s time for eyelashes.

I use 3/4 lashes from Daiso usually.

Make sure you have glue which dries clear or black.

Now for some nice light pink blush.

Apply it to the apples of your cheeks in a round shape for a cute look. Make sure you buff it out really well.

Lipstick time! Add a nice bright lipstick and also a bright lipgloss to go over the top.

And that’s it, you’re all done and ready to go out!

Hope you found this useful, let me know what you guys think of this format and I might put some more together!

How To Make 3 Kinds Of Felt Flowers

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 21, 2014 | Craft, Other-Tutorials, Tutorial

For today’s tutorial I’m going to show you how to make 3 different kinds of basic felt flowers.

All you will need is some felt and either a needle felting needle or needle and thread.

Let’s do the red spiral one first. Start by cutting out a large red circle.

Next draw a spiral in the circle and cut it out. Wrap the spiral tightly around itself so it forms a rose shape. You can vary the shape depending on how tightly you wrap.

To hold it in place either stitch on the back as you go or use a needle felting needle to stab all of the layers together. Felting needles are so useful for these kinds of flowers because it’s much quicker than stitching.

Easy!

You can vary the size by making a bigger or smaller circle to begin with.

Now let’s give the yellow pointed one a try!

Begin by cutting out a heap of petal shapes in varying sizes. Also cut out a a smaller row of petals which are connected at the base. Begin with the line of petals and pinch each one in half. Stitch it or felt them in place so it makes a vein in the middle of each. This is going to be the center of the flower and give it shape.

Now starting with the large petals, lay 5 of them out so they overlap in the middle. Felt/stitch in place. Continue laying out groups of 5 petals getting smaller and smaller until it’s a full looking flower. I used around 15 petals.

Lastly roll the small middle petals into a spiral and stitch/felt them into the middle of the flower. This should cover all of the beginnings of the lower petals too.

Done!

You can see how much height the middle petal shape gives too.

And lastly let’s make the little blue one!

Start by making a small version of the yellow flower. This version only has 8 petals and they are all the same length. Then with each of the petals, fold them backwards and in half.

Stitch or felt the petals in place so they form little folds.

And there you go, a pretty little flower bud!

And there you have it, 3 cute little flowers which are ready to use as accessories or embellishments.

Let me know if you give any of them a try!

Lunch Time Spring Bento – Cute Food

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 18, 2014 | Baking, Cooking-Tutorials, Tutorial

Spending more time thinking about my food is something I’ve been trying to do with my whole Lazy Inspiration thing but I tend to only gravitate towards cute sweet foods rather than savoury things too. It’s really stupid because I actually don’t like that much sweet food, I prefer savoury in general -_-‘

One thing I’ve been trying to get into the habit of is having better lunches. When I’m working I tend to just forget to have lunch or if I do have lunch it’s something quick, easy and terrible like reheated pasta nonsense.

I want to be a bit healthier and have more variety in my diet now so I’m trying to have more bentos for lunch. I find that having a set number of spaces makes me think about what I’m going to eat and fill each one accordingly!

So this is a totally random one I put together for lunch a few days ago. I bought this Hello Kitty box from a random import shop in Brisbane years ago but I never really used it much until I started this.

Inside it has two big spaces and 3 small ones. I aim to have one big main food, one big salad and the small ones are for sweet things, fruit and sauces.

These were left over things I just scrounged out of the fridge.

I set an egg to soft boil while I was working on the other parts.

I used a rice press to make little mini onigiri with tuna and cream cheese in it.

Yum!

Next I sliced up an apple for the fruit portion.

I wanted it to be well presented so I used some icing flower cutters to cut out cheese flowers.

The only thing more beautiful than flowers: cheese.

Then it was a matter of putting things together.

Top left: Tuna onigiri
Top right: Crushed noodle, apple and soft boiled egg salad with furikake seasoning

Bottom left: Special Greek candy from Cel (YUM!!)
Bottom middle: A strawberry with cream cheese
Bottom right: Cut up apple

This is probably a quite a bit more than I would normally eat but having a good combination of reasonably healthy ingredients stops me from feeling so full and bleh in the afternoons.

Also, totally pretty and fun to make.

I thought that doing this would be more of a chore than it turned out to be. I actually really enjoy trying to find new things to put in each space.

And having cute things like the bunny soy sauce container doesn’t hurt!

So there you go! It takes a bit of effort but the amount of happiness that it brings is totally worth it! Do you have any recipes I should try and include next time??

How To DIY Decoupage Shoes! Tutorial

by VioletLeBeaux | Jul 14, 2014 | Craft, Shoe-Tutorials, Tutorial

I did a video tutorial on these shoes quite a while ago but thought a photo tutorial would be in order as well! The idea is a very simple one: take old shoes and decoupage them with old magazines into adorable new shoes, win!

I used old Japanese fashion magazines for mine so I could reminisce about old school Lolita fashion from like 7 years ago.

For this tutorial you will need:

Old magazines or pretty paper
PVA glue or similar
Water and bowl

Begin by tearing all of your magazines up into small pieces. Make sure to consider whether the colours of each piece will go with the rest of them. It’s better to rip everything up at the beginning because once you have glue all over your hands it’s quite difficult!

I picked mostly white and pastel colours of old dress collections.

Mix a solution of equal parts glue and water in a bowl and put the pieces of paper in to soak. Leave them in until they are wet all the way through. The time this takes will depend on how thick your paper is.

Prepare your shoes. I’m using some old leather ones. If your shoes are patent or shiny it can help the glue to stick if you buff them lightly with sandpaper or a nail file to remove the shine.

Take your first piece of soaked paper and apply it to the edge of the shoe. Always start from the edges and work inwards. Smooth it down so it’s completely flush to the shoe.

Now take your second piece of paper and overlap it half way over the first one. Overlapping will give the structure more strength.

Continue overlapping pieces until you’ve done the entire shoe. Around the top of the shoe fold the pieces over the edge. Don’t cover the sole because that will get worn down quickly.

Done! Allow this to dry completely and then coat the whole thing in a layer of glue to seal it in. If your paper is transparent when dry you can add another layer.

Now just repeat on the other shoe.

Depending on the kind of glue you use these will probably not be waterproof at this point (it is just paper) so if you plan on wearing them in the rain etc I would suggest adding a coat of sealing lacquer to the top as well.