Decoupage photoframe

A quick post to show you my latest craft project, it is so easy to do and really effective.

Ive decorated some more photo frames using a decoupage technique this time I used a street map of Amsterdam and a paper souvenir bag that we got when buying postcards on holiday, to frame our holiday snaps from Amsterdam.


You Will Need:
A photoframe
PVA glue
Small paint brush
Paper
a photo to frame!

The gift bag and map were perfect materials because they weren't shiny or too thick (these can be diffcult to paint on smoothly and can cause problems when glueing at the corners).

First cut your desired paper into small squares or strips like in the picture below

Using PVA glue paint a small section of the wooden frame and put a square of the paper onto the glue then smooth over with more PVA glue using a paint brush. Keep going lining up the paper squares and overlapping slightly at the edges if you want.

When you have covered most of the frame you may need to leave it to dry so you can cover the rest without getting sticky fingers.

The PVA glue will give the frame a nice shine when it has dried.

Pop your photograph in the frame and display!



Emily x

23rd Birthday Bonanaza

Hey so here is the post from my birthday weekend. To celebrate my friends, Ben and I went to Birmingham for 2 days of shopping, eating and drinking.

Nandos:


Hotel drinking:


More Drinking:

Urban Pie:

A bit worse for wear here but pie mash and mushy peas helped a lot! mmmmm.

You may have noticed I bought myself the Motel leopard shirt as well, it looks great! I added the bow brooch but it looks lovely without as well.


Hope you all had lovely weekends, its snowing here but not settling :( so I think we are in for a week of cold wet and miserable weather booo!

Emily x

Gucci

I got my Gucci watch.LOVE.

please ignore more shocking photographs I always seem to blog at night when the lighting is bad! oops! nevermind I couldn't wait to show this off a little :P


best christmas/birthday present ever!



even the box is luxurious! my carpet not so much.


I'm off home to visit my parents tomorrow and then I'm going out in Birmingham with my friends to celebrate my birthday. Expect a post about it all, I'm hoping to go to Cow Vintage as well and find some treasures.

Emily x

Not so much a Birthday post as I have yet to properly celebrate (im waiting until the weekend)

but I turned 23 yesterday :) me and Ben went to Jamies Italian for dinner, I had the rice balls which were lovely and then the Ossobucco Milanese for main which I wasn't keen on really. Ben had the squid rings (I love saying that I don't know why) and Angus steak with posh chips. I tried some, the steak was cooked to perfection!

I am a lucky girl! these were my presents:

Angry Birds pig I LOVE THIS GUY!


Bambi dvd

Swarovski stacker rings (so spoilt by my friends at work!) Not the best picture my digital camera doesnt seem to be focusing recently


a pink sparkly Chamilia bead for my bracelet as well :]


and money towards a watch which is partly from christmas money and birthday money from my parents and then the rest paid for by me.
I'm buying it tomorrow all going well so I will post a picture soon.

Emily x

The Hair

Like everyone I am obsessed with Zooey Deschanel her cuteness, her style, HER HAIR.

Im going to get my fringe cut in again this week. I always grow it out becuase I don't normally have time to revisit the hair dresser (my hair grows incredibly fast).

I am considering dying it darker as well but Im still hankering for dip dyed ends.

Anyway I watched the latest episode of New girl yesterday it is the funniest ep so far I think so hopefully it will continue to get better.

I then had a craving for more of her sweet hairstyles and clothes so I watched Yes Man and 500 days of Summer, lazy day I know.

then we went to a friends house for games night which included a very competative game of beer pong yay!


Good day :)

Graze 2

Our most recent Graze box did't last long we ate it all before I got a photo!


http://graze.com/b/k36fl

very tasty! it had our favourite, pistachios!

Emily x

Favourite Movie Stars

I know I have mentioned my love of classic movies so many times and I'm always going on about Marlene Dietrich. However I finally got round to watching Mr & Mrs Smith the other day and I just had to tell you how great it was!

Carole Lombard is fantastic it always makes me sad to think she died so young. The movies she did make though are funny and sentimental and I always feel like I know her really well when I read about her personality and see the roles she played.

Mr & Mrs Smith is an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Im no good at reviews so briefly Mr Smith (Robert Montgomery)finds out that he and his wife (Lombard) are not legally married. Instead of telling her right away he leaves it a day.
However his wife finds out and is waiting for him to A. tell her the mishap and B. propose to her again.

When he doesn't immediately propose she decides not to take him back and starts dating his best friend and business partner. I won't spoil it just incase you want to watch the film yourself but hilarity ensues with them playing games and teasing each other and there is a winter cabin retreat as well :)

My favourite Lombard film is still 'No Man of Her Own' maybe its becuase it stars Clark Gable who is quite dishy but its probably becuase they became a real life couple years later.

Clark and Carole were truly in love and then she tragically died in a plane crash. It is written that although Gable remarried 2 times afterwards he was never the same after Caroles death and he stayed in their marital home the rest of his life.

I'm a sucker for a love story.

Valentines Day soon! <3 ;)
Emily x

New week New start

Sorry about my depressing last post.

Today I feel much more optimistic, nothing has changed but I figure everything will work out for the best. As long as me and Ben are together it doesnt matter where we live and I am lucky to have any job at the moment so I will not be fussy if I have to look for a second one.

All this spare time has allowed me to catch up with some much needed crafting here we are the start of 3 new projects:

Stinky this little fellow is for my Moomin shelf. Last year I went to epic lengths to make these:
I felt now was the right time to add some of the lesser characters into the mix.He should be finished by tonight.

Decoupage storage draws. I saved this box from work it had all the beads in it for one of the jewellery brands we used to stock. So I have taken out the divides in each draw and am decorating the outside with decoupage. Ive chosen pastel colours and floral papers cut mainly from Cath Kidston catalogues! Anyway this is my progress so far I need more catatlogues haha.
I will do a before and after blog when its finished maybe by then I will know what to use it for!



Cake stand:

My cake stand sits on our kitchen table and most of the time is empty so I thought I would make little felt cakes to fill the gaps when it isn't in use. I used various tutorials from my craft library.

I followed the steps from 'Knit it Stitch it' for the cakes


I used Heidi Kenney's ice cream sandwich as the basis for my ice cream sandwich although they look nothing alike I did use her guide from the book 'Softies'


The batenburg was my own design and as you can see its completely the wrong scale haha So I might have to redo that one. Next on my cake list is an eclair.yum yum!

decicions

So my job is pretty up in the air at the moment for the second time in 12months.

I wont be getting any extra hours and becuase of my small contract I will have to get a second job or a new full time job. Im gutted, I dont want to leave my job I love it but I cannot live off a part time wage. I feel kind of let down as well because I had a second job at John Lewis and I left it so I could be flexible for my current job over christmas. I worked my arse off all through the holidays and as soon as it hits January I'm back down to 15hours a week.

I will struggle to find a second job because I know I want to be in the jewellery business and nothing else will do! Of course I know I cannot be too picky but anything else feels like a step backwards. Plus juggling 2 jobs is no fun I did it for 10months and my mind was all over the place yu can never really work your hardest when you are split in 2!

Me and the bf are considering moving from Cardiff perhaps to Birmingham in the hope of better job opportunities but we can't really make any moves until our tennancy runs out on our incredible flat :'( unfortunately we are already struggling to pay bills and things even when I am on full time hours so staying in this flat at least is not an option.

anyway thats what I'm dealing with right now just as I was enjoying 2012 and thinking what a great year it will be... BLAM! more news which basically stops me and Ben settling. We love Cradiff and don't want to leave and I love my job but we both know its a choice between dream location or dream jobs.

at least Birmingham will be closer to my family.

why do you always have to choose? :(

Wreck This! update

So I mentioned my 'Wreck This Journal' a while ago. I have had chance to add a little more to the pages of this super fun book.

take a look:



I havent finished the sewing page yet but I thought I would make a border and think about the contents later (still being too cautious instead of spontaneous with it).
I get loads of stamps because I live away from family my mum and grandma send me notes all the time <3
And I used watercolour pencils for the lines because it makes pretty rainbow smudges :)

Im going to try and get my sister to take pictures of her journal it would be nice to see what she has done with hers.

I love bags, if I had lots of money I would buy hundreds. As it is I don't have lots of money so I tend to get one bag and use it until it falls apart.
River Island is where I usually go becuase they are reliable and fashionable but a little bit quirky but if I could I would have one or ALL of these:

The Mulberry Alexa my queen of bags


Lulu Guiness lips clutch (probably in fuschia snakeskin but if we're dreaming why not one in every colour)


Modalu Pippa again not sure exactly what colour I'd go for there are so many lush shades available


What would your dream bag be?

And while we are on the subject of things I want here is a list of more affordable wishes:

Blusher - benefit/Top - motel rocks/Dress - miss selfridge/Bag - bag that style-ebay

Its my birthday on the 24th maybe I will be lucky ;)

Excuse me while I Graze...

Today has been a good day for post.

So firstly my Graze box arrived and this is what I got:


http://graze.com/b/xtzd3 this link will show the items in detail.

The korean chilli rice crackers were AMAZING.

Im not a fan of banana or olives but Ben loves them so I thought its only fair I don't cross them off the list and let him have some things he likes as well.

You get a little leaflet with the nutritional info calorie count etc and also some vouchers to give to friends for a free box. I can't wait to send one to my sister she will love it!

The best thing about the graze box...it fit through my letterbox! So if I hadn't been in I would have still recieved my yummy foods and not a pesky red slip to collect from the post office. BONUS!

I also got the top I ordered from RogueRetro on etsy

Its a floral haiwaiin crop top with a cute knot in the front I LOVE IT!



Rogue Retro is a great shop check it out:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/rogueretro

VICTORY! ...rolls

I am currently quite pleased with myself after managing my first sucessful victory rolls!

I have often tried in vain with much frustration. They could be a LOT neater but nevermind practise makes perfect!

Cringey photo so just focus on the hair.


If I was actually going somewhere I would probably curl the ends of my hair as well.

I have a lot of whispy 'baby hair' around my fringe area any ideas how to grow? tame? style? it?

If you are interested in vintage hairstyles here was my last attempt I posted

http://domesticblogess.blogspot.com/2011/03/1940s-hairstyle.html

(I don't know whats worse on that post the different cringey face I'm pulling or the fact I have the same cardi on, you may have noticed, I'm not cool)

and if you would like me to try some more hairstyles and post them let me know!

Why I love terrapins :]

I thought I would post some more pictures of my terrapins to show you.


They are a little blurry , the lighting in my bedroom is rubbish and terrapins dont stop moving really to pose for photographs!

If these pictures weren't enough here are some other reasons:

1. they have personalities.
2. they are histerical (watch them swimming against the filter stream, also they sometimes try to climb out the tank but their arms are just a fraction too small and they plop back into the water hehe).
3.they like to have a little stretch on their rock every now and then.
4. they paddle like mad against the tank when you walk in the room (probably to get food) but I like to think its because they are pleased to see me!
5.When they are scared they pop arms legs and head inside their shell just like in cartoons.

when you look at the tank from the corner it refracts and makes it look like we have 4 sometimes!

Shelby has spots on his belly/undershell Terrance does not. They are about 4years old we think, a friend gave them to us becuase they didnt have room for them anymore.

best decision I ever made!