Greeting card season so I’m going to do some more ideas this year 😀 I did some last year too so take a look at this post for a lace doily version. This one is how I make a bunch of mini cards with a basic design that I can personalise later.
So what you need:
Paper
Hot glue gun
Paint
Scissors
Sharpie
Some plastic hard surface you can glue to
nail file or plastic wrap
So first step is thinking of a decent design. I wasn’t feeling too creative so I just wrote love with some hearts. You need to write it onto the surface you’re going to stamp with, I’m using some random plastic container. The design needs to be backwards for the stamp to print the right way so I wrote it right way around on the wrong side and then flipped it over so I had a guide on where to lay down the glue.
So flipping it over you create the design using the glue gun to draw it. Where you draw will end up raised so the paint sticks to it and forms a stamp.
Now here’s the tricky part glue guns don’t tend to leave a uniform stream so some parts might be taller and bumpier that others. If it’s not even then your stamping will come out icky and patchy.
So the two options I thought of to prevent this was waiting for the glue to dry and then using a nail file to smooth it all out or putting plastic wrap over it while it’s still pliable and pressing into a flat surface. The second is harder to do because the glue dries quickly but it would provide a lot more even results and probably would be less effort than using a nail file like I did. If you’re going to do a lot of them then I would suggest taking time to get the design right.
Either way once you have your design finished paint over the top of the plastic.
And stamp it on to the paper.
Taadaa very childlike but a nice way to have something personal without taking a huge amount of time doing it. You could make it much more intricate or do something cute like your name. If you didn’t mind waiting for it to dry you could also use PVA glue for the design so it evened out and provided a completely smooth print image.
Cut out the paper into a card shape, fold in half and you’re finished. I like the stamp a bunch of these as thank you cards and then personalise each one with some mini drawings before I send them. I usually draw little faces in the hearts or O ^_^
So there’s one idea and more on the way. I’m pretty much making everyone’s presents this year so lots to share ^_^
Making my own fabric buttons is something I’ve always been interested in but didn’t really know how to go about it. I got these little button making kits in a random craft supply bag a few years ago and promptly lost them in my stash until I went through it recently.
Having them sitting there doing nothing seemed silly so I decided to give it a try 😀
They come in two parts like this which fit together. I decided on some pink polar fleece to make mine.Cut out a circle of fabric big enough to go over the button with overhang to spare. Mine was stretchy which really helped.
Fold one side over the large button piece and poke it in so it catches on the metal teeth. I used a nail file to poke it.
Keep doing it all the way around poking it in and pulling it tight.
Now fit the other piece of the button into it and press tightly. I needed a pair of pliers to shove it in properly.
The plier teeth squished the back in a bit but oh well it’s just the back!
Button!
This is the point you probably get a bit addicted to making buttons and next thing you know this happens…
So there you go! Now I’m trying to think of a way I could do this without having buy the metal parts, James suggested just gluing fabric over regular buttons. More thought needed but I’ll come up with a way 😀
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WOOHOO INTERNET AGAIN! Uploading a bunch of videos and things as I type this and seeing as all of my scheduled posts didn’t actually go live while I was away I’ve got plenty of stuff to post 😀 I’m too happy to even rant about the crappy TPG service. Saving that rant for later 😉
So let’s start with a hair tutorial!
Back when I did a tutorial on making this lace and learn hair comb a lot of comments were asking for a hair tutorial on the style.
I did a video tutorial on it already over here but for those who can’t watch or prefer photos here’s one of those too ^_^
So what you need:
Brush
Pretty hair comb
Hair spray
Bobby pin
Brush your hair out to the back and towards one side.
Stick a bobby pin to hold it in place like this, it will act like a crease to help the hair fold in the right place and look very neat.
Brush the hair upwards to it’s sticking out horizontally.
Now use your hands to fold it across like this:
Tuck all of the ends inside and fold them into the roll.
Should look something like this. You should run your fingers through the sides from right to left to make sure the hair is all sitting the right way.
Once it’s all folded inside it should look something like this:
Secure it with a comb on the side. To use the comb you should grab a bit of hair from the twist…
…pull it right to the side and push into the scalp back the way it came.
And it looks like this! You might want to put in some more bobby pins if you don’t think it’s stable enough.
Most likely you’ll need some pins in the top swirl part to stop it coming loose.
Hair spray over everything and smooth flyaways with your hands.
If you have any problems with the insides breaking out again just lightly brush the outer layer into place again using short strokes.
Now just style your fringe and that’s it!
All done! I didn’t notice the bit popping out until after I finished >_<
Other side:
Stylish and sleek, this is a good one for work as well as times you just want to look a bit more polished.
Hope that all made sense and let me know if you have any other questions!
A new segment I’m trying out where in I show my morning make up routine for various days and chat about what I’m doing that day. Not really a tutorial, more of a random girly chat while we get ready together in the bathroom 😉
Today’s style features blue which is a colour I’ve recently started wearing a lot more. I am in love with blue eyeliner at the moment.
See the full post here for more information: TBA
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A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!
Violet LeBeaux spends most of her time trying to think of ways to make life prettier, posting said ways on her blog and drinking very strong tea. She writes about big hair cute things, girly fashion, beauty finds, sometimes Hime Gyaru fashion (姫ギャル) and crafty tutorials.
She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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Music: Garageband unless otherwise credited
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Today’s morning make up showcases my new obsession with blue eyeliner.
And also my lameness in debating if I need the new iphone 4s.
After my usual foundation routine I started by applying a thick winged line of liquid blue eyeliner.
James and I have a tradition of one upping each other in our phones.
My blue liner obsession started with this Mirenesse one, it’a such an interesting colour.
It started out when I got the iphone 3g and he swore he hated it.
To give definition I added a thin black line using liquid liner, very close to the lash line.
Then he stole it and I didn’t see it for 6 months while he played Bejewelled.
Eyeshadow time.
I applied a light blue all over the lid. I kept it very pale so it wasn’t too intense.
So after 6 months James got his own phone but he got the much better 3gs.
Blend up with some cream shimmer.
Finally this year I beat him again.
I added dark blue shadow matching the liner into the corner and crease to give a little depth.
My contract was up first so I got the iphone 4.
Use a fluffy brush to blend it in together well.
Of course now the 4s is out, his contract is up so I’m considering letting him upgrade.
I used a thick coat of mascara and regular false lashes.
Then stealing it to play bejewelled on as a payback.
Clearly we are both very mature.
With this look I only use a little bit of blush to avoid that 80’s feel.
Hmm so who will win the battle of the phones?
As always lipgloss is the last step.
It’s almost as bad as our scrabble games.
So there you have it, pale blue eyes which are quite wearable and a vicious cycle of phone out doing.
I hope this was a useful video, please check out the blog post linked in the description for more information and tutorials.
Thanks so much for watching.
Bye!
A lot of people have asked if I’m going to make any bunnies to sell. The short answer is yes I would love to make some to sell but I want to do it right so I’m not going to rush things. I’m finalising the pattern at the moment and I have a couple of questions which it would really help me if you could answer 😀
At the moment I’m planning to take pre-orders in 1-2 weeks for the first batch of bunnies. I’ll be away a bit in Dec and they take time to make so I can’t promise they would get there in time for Christmas but if you were getting them as a gift I could send a special bunny tag or something so you can give them as gifts and then I would send the actual bunnies in early January depending on how many are ordered.
Thanks for all of your wonderful feedback, I can’t wait to learn Miss Bunny’s real name!
Thanks again and on to the tutorial!
I haven’t decided how to make my Christmas cards this year, we don’t really celebrate it but everyone we know does so I send them out anyway XD I thought I would show you some of the designs I came up with while trying to decide on my final cards.
This version is a simple yet pretty lace and fabric greeting card.
What you need:
Paper/card
Lace
Fabric
Hot glue
Scissors
First thing’s first, let’s make the card. Take an A4 sheet of paper and place it down landscape. Fold it in half left to right and then again top to bottom. Unfolded it should have these creases…
Folded up it will look like this, it’s a basic greeting card but the way it’s folded will allow you to tuck all of the ends of the lace inside so they can’t be seen.
Cut a heart out of your fabric, you really could use any shape but this fabric looks so cute in hearts!
Hot glue it to the front of the card:
Decide how you want to arrange your lace, I decided on a strip up the top and another on the bottom.
Glue the lace in place around the outside of the card.
Unfold the card and glue the ends of the lace to the inside. When the glue is dry add some more on top of each piece of lace and fold the card up again, this will keep it all in place.
Taadaaa!
Cute card and they don’t take very long to make at all. I really love how simple it is to do, you could personalise each one with a different fabric shape too if you wanted.
Do you guys hand make cards or just buy them? I like putting the effort in but I know most of mine just get thrown away so I’m tempted to not bother any more and spend the time making something better!
A blog and Youtube channel about a girl and her quest to make everything sparkle. New craft, hair and beauty tutorials every week!
Violet LeBeaux spends most of her time trying to think of ways to make life prettier, posting said ways on her blog and drinking very strong tea. She writes about big hair cute things, girly fashion, beauty finds, sometimes Hime Gyaru fashion (姫ギャル) and crafty tutorials.
She lives with her adorable boyfriend Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
Twisted Updo Summer Hair Style Instruction
Today’s hair tutorials is for a simple twisted updo.
First brush your hair and pin your fringe to the side.
Brush backwards as if making a low ponytail.
Brush back to one side and slide a pin in the bottom middle of the back and hold it in place.
Now to make the twist.
This is what it looks like from the back.
Pull up and to the side with the pin.
Twist slightly and fold the hair into itself.
Use your fingers to brush through and smooth the non-curl side so the hair sits straight across.
So the technique is twist and fold so the ends are on the inside.
Brushing up through the one side with your fingers makes it look a lot more like a twist than accidentally forming a bun.
To secure with a comb, grab the edge of the twist through the comb and pull to the left.
Flip it and push back into the twist anchoring it to the scalp.
You may need extra pins.
So this is what it looks like when going it from the front.
See the top part forms a cool spiral kind of thing.
Add extra pins into the spiral to secure the top part and use a lot of hair spray to keep it in place.
You can also lightly brush the sides to make sure they look smooth.
The final step for this is styling your fringe. I love using the VS Sassoon Big Styler for this because it gives a lot of volume.
And that’s it, all done.
It can take a few tries to get right depending on how well your hair is behaving at the time.
It’s a nice sleek and stylish look that goes well with so many fashion styles that it’s worth the effort.
I hope this was a useful video, please check out the blog post linked in the description for more information and tutorials.
Thanks so much for watching.
Bye!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
