Beauty Haul (April)

Lately I’ve had a massive obsession with beauty bloggers and beauty products so I went out at the weekend and splurged on a little haul for myself.

Sheer blonde leave in conditioner

I’ve always wanted nice hair, but I have curly thick hair that I’ve never found my style with… a while ago I cut my hair into a bob ala Fearne Cotton Esq. and vowed to look after my hair more and try many wonderful you tube video styles on it and I suppose trying different hair products is all apart of that.

Cue sheer blonde leave in conditioner, so far I’m liking this leave in spray it leaves my hair soft and so far I haven’t noticed any advanced greasiness before my next wash – that is a must for me, I feel like I wash my hair more than most due to greasy hair so extra grease is a definite no no!

Bumble and bumble samples

My friend and I were checking out the new bumble and bumble range at Boots as we recognised it from our many trips to Sephora on our recent visit to New York. There was a member of staff handing out samples of another product that saw us swooning and was very nice and helpful (a big like of mine!) and raided her secret stash to give us some free samples (a very big love of mine!)

I’ve been victim many times of the lets pay a silly amount for a product and it not work for you curse! So I do love a good-sized tester

Neutrogena blackhead eliminating scrub

Those little blackheads are the bane of my life, I’ve lost count on how much money I’ve wasted over the years trying to keep those little suckers at bay – from the tools to the lotions, the face maskers, the steamers, the scrubs and the strips ive tried them all so I thought I may as well keep trying… something might work in the end.

Revlon Nearly naked foundation

I’ve been trying to make an effort with my ‘day look’ which seems to be the way I look 99% of the time so I decided I would try to wear a little natural make up for work, to cover the redness and odd blemish I may have. I’m a great believer in the fact that I’m going to work not a fashion show or a disco so going to work in skyscraper heels is totally unacceptable in my job

Revlon Lip butter

These have been the talk of the beauty blogger world lately which started for me when one of my favourite bloggers from New York was coveting them, then I started noticing more and more positive comments so I decided on Sugar Frosting and Peach Parfait and now wish I got the Candy Apple

Herbal essence uplifting volume shampoo

I have thick to root curly hair but I always feel my hair falls flat after drying and straightening, so I love a bit of volume in my hair on nights out so I’m constantly on the search for products that may work and after watching a TV programme about how middle priced products normally work out better and more value for your money than the uber cheap or super expensive

Bioderma make up remover

Another beauty must have from the beauty blogger world I ordered the double pack off the internet and split it with my friend who also wanted to try it, and I’ve recently read an article saying that bioderm is heading to the UK.

 

My arch nemesis of this post has to go jointly to the black heads and the greasy hair…I will conquer you one day!

(Future beauty wish list purchases)

Cetaphil face wash

Revlon lip butter in Candy Apple

How to: Get out of a sewing funk

How to: Get out of a sewing funk

Get ‘sewcialising’ – chatting to fellow sewers over social networking sites like twitter can be so encouraging, I LOVE all the talented, kind, friendly and inspiring women (and men) I chat to on twitter. Anything from a sewing query to the pictures of the beautiful fabric they share can inspire me to get creating something of my very own that I want to show them!

Blogs – reading and commenting on other sewing blogs can spur you on in your sewing endeavours. Seeing what other people are sewing and creating then commenting on how lovely you think it is can be nice for the blogger to read as well as getting you involved in the sewing community.

Sharing – the knowledge you have may help solve a problem, helping others out is a nice thing to do, there maybe sometime you need help with a sewing conundrum.

Videos – watching how someone does something you find difficult can help a lot sometimes reading instructions and looking at photos isn’t clear enough when you’re just not getting it.

Pick a simple project to get you into the swing of things – make the 5 sleep masks, or the 10 pairs of frilly knickers!!! Sometimes immersing yourself in a project you don’t have to think about or get stressed over can help get your confidence back and show you that you can actually sew.

Try a little refashioning – don’t have the time or the energy to start sewing a new project but still want to do something, refashion some of your old stuff – sew lace onto a shirt or buttons to that pillow you wanted to throw out, take in that dress that’s too big for you, and dye that coat that’s seen better days!

Make do and mend – sew the hole in your old pj bottoms, take up those trousers – you know you could create a big list of items that need mending.

Join a swap – getting happy mail with things you may never have chosen for yourself can be very exciting, it can also a good way of stash busting….which can lead to more fabric buying.

Go on buy that fabric you’ve wanted – sometimes having a splurge can help get you back to sewing, creating with something so pretty is totally worth paying the extra pennies now and again.

Join a sew a long – working on a project that a few other people are working on too can be a great way to encourage each other along, its amazing to see how many different results can come from the same pattern, it can be also handy if you’re having issues with a particular instruction.

Schedule some sewing time when your favourite programme is on or choose a DVD boxed set to watch – sewing at the same time every week whilst your favourite show is on can help you get back into a routine, it’s a set time during the week that you know to keep aside for yourself.

Make yourself a sewing cd – something to put on whilst your sewing away, a mix of your favourite songs can help pass the time.

Just do a little bit – trying to do something sewing related for 10 minutes a day can get a lot done, even it’s some unpicking or sorting out that stash of zips.

Try not to pressure yourself – if sewing is your hobby, try not to put too much pressure on yourself and take it too seriously, your learning, mistakes happen and just remember how good it feels when you get something right and create something beautiful.

Do you have any tips or tricks when you’re stuck in a sewing rut?

Sewing Suprises inspiration and ideas

(this isn’t my image – ive stolen it from the internet)

Ideas to help you along the way…

March matches have been made and emails have been sent!

i thought id give you some ideas as to what you could send in your package…

Fabric

Sewing bits and bobs (buttons, zips, embellishments, bias, ribbon, snaps etc)

Homemade CD you can sew to

Sewing patterns

A personalised tutorial

The items can be yours/bought/thrifted/hand-made/vintage

It’s amazing that your partner could find inspiration from the tiniest little detail you give so get chatty! Don’t be afraid to ask questions but remember if there’s something you really want it may not be possible for your partner to provide it.

The whole idea of the swap is that you get a nice surprise.. And possibly things you wouldn’t pick up in the store or maybe even have easy access to in your country.

For example (if it was me..)

things you love other than sewing? I snail mail, love to cook, read and travel.

A list of favourites for me its owls, Paris, New York, skulls, butterflies, black, pink, vintage, Stars, Autumn

My sewing wish list – to sew my own dresses and actually wear them!

It could be stuff you collect, places you want to see, books you want to read, favourite quotes etc

As well as swapping a packages your creating a new friendship so go share.

***please remember where you are posting to when choosing the items you are sending***

https://sparklysupernova.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/sewing-suprises-swap-the-rules/

https://sparklysupernova.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/sewing-suprises-sign-up-march/

‘ta-da’ my sparkly new pencil skirt…

My first ever pencil skirt…

So finishing this garment had its good and bad points.

I succeeded in my first ever buttonhole attempt…then I got carried away with the lethal seam ripper and took half my waistband off opps!This was my second waistband as I thought the pattern size i had cut wouldn’t fasten around my waist. i have no idea why as the rest of the pattern fit me???

I ‘fixed’ it by cutting a small piece and sewing it onto the waistband, not ideal but it was my only idea other than to cut a whole new waistband.

My lack of seam allowance knowledge lead me to have a light patch of fabric going down the back of the zip and skirt but I turned it into a it was ‘totally supposed to be there’ feature!

Cost of fabric – £1.50 from a remnant stall at the local market

Zipper – around 80p

Time – this was my first attempt at proper clothing so I would say longer than it should have, major time was spent not knowing what the pattern was talking about (see previous post about basing…)

Will I wear it – maybe to a dinner with the girls… if I wore skirts to work it would be a good office skirt.

Id love to have pretty ‘bloggy’ photos of me wearing said item but for now my beautiful assistant dolly volunteered.

What I think I will do to make it more me is maybe take it up a little maybe to stop it looking a little boxy ill take it in towards the bottom and in a perfect world maybe I wouldn’t have the light grey stripe going down the back of it… but its all a learning curve

Seriously I thought basting was something you did to a turkey…

My first clothing attempt … Burda (8155) skirt.

Falling lucky with the fabric which was found on a remnant stall and purchased for £1 I decided I was feeling brave and I was going to attempt and conquer the pencil skirt pattern which was recommended to me by someone on twitter.

I’m seriously loving the encouragement I get from social networking – I wish these lovely ladies where my neighbours! I would bake them cakes and everything!

So the beginning part…

I decided to trace the pattern, thinking in the future when I am a sewing goddess I could make different sizes for friends and relatives. Tracing the pattern was easier than I expected – some greaseproof paper, weights (house ornaments) a pencil and 30 minutes later I had my pattern pieces.

I started out with good intentions reading the instructions and following them with military precision….then I got to the zip and it may as well have been written in French – as I mention in the blog title I had to baste the zip (cue googling until I found the sewing meaning of the word!) but by this point the damage was done and my oh this is going well I am a sewing genius attitude took a knock! So I made up my own instructions on how to sew a zip! AND it actually looks ok, whoop!

So now I’m onto the final part which is the waistband, I swapped the order of sewing as I felt more comfortable doing something’s first then got around to the others. I discovered a possible problem…the waistband didn’t fit my waist even though I cut it to exact pattern size!!! So I’ve decided to re-cut it to fit me and ‘make it work’ with the rest of the skirt as the skirt fits just fine….for now!

I’m hoping after a little buttonhole googling the skirt will be finished for this weekend!

So fingers crossed the next post is titled – ‘ta-da’ my sparkly new pencil skirt (that I’m actually going to wear) and there is a million pretty pictures to show you all my efforts.

But for now here’s a sneaky peak of ‘work in progress’…

Thank you for reading and for all of your lovely comments… I can’t believe I’m on the verge of completing my first piece of clothing when last year I doubted if I could even sew a straight line!

Sewing and other things…

p class=”mceTemp mceIEcenter”>This blog will not only be about my sewing attempts but it will also be about my other loves beauty, food, life, love…. why just limit myself to one thing right? So welcome to my very random world…

Let me introduce you to Dolly.

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Now I’m at the very beginning of beginners. Seriously the zig zag stitch seems to hate me.

Although I’ve attempted sewing classes at a local college as a fun course. It wasn’t very fun. Sometimes I hate doing things on my own and the class was over booked…. Also no one told me it was 'advised' you had your own sewing machine. I just wanted to give sewing a go to see if I was any good – not spend £100s on a piece of equipment which would be left to collect dust….I lasted 2 lessons – the stress of being at work all day and a very over booked class just wasn’t a good mix. So I quit.

I’ve decided to try to become a self-taught sewer..