A New Start, A New Office!

Yesterday was my first day being self employed. Yippee!  I am now working with Chris full time on our business The Band Boutique. We provide awesome (even if I do say so myself) bands and musicians for weddings and other events. So come and check us out if you need entertainment for your big day. 

Anywho, currently our office is also our bedroom, dining room, and lounge, so it is quite choc a bloc with stuff! I spent most of sunday arranging my new little area. It was tiring work but I was very happy with the end result. What do you think? 

My office supplies were initially looking rather dull. I had a red in tray and a silver post holder thingy. They were not very inspiring, so I decided to do my usual trick of getting out the old Plasti-kote paint and making them pretty colours!

Much better don't you think? I'm actually excited to start work now just so I can sit at my desk.  It's not quite finished yet though, I'm sure there's a few more things I can do to perk it up even more.

Laura xXx

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DIY Natural Face Mask

The other day I tried out something a little different. I had seen lots of DIY facemasks online and decided to make my own out of stuff I already had in the cupboard.

Please be warned, whilst wearing this mask you WILL NOT look pretty. I actually kind of scared myself when I saw myself in the mirror, I looked like something from the blue lagoon! However, rest assured that your skin will feel silky smooth afterwards!

Ingredients

• Half an avocado
• I teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon honey

As you may know, I am a bit obsessed with avocado. I had run out of different meals to add it to, so I thought I would put it on my face instead! Anyway, all you need to do is either mash the ingredients together or mix them in a blender.

Before using the face mask, make sure you have cleansed your face thoroughly, then apply a hot wet cloth to your face to open your pores.  Leave the mask on for about 10 minutes then wash off. Now you should have lovely soft skin, hurrah!

Laura xXx

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A day/few days in the life

Did you all have fun bank holiday weekends? I have been abandoned by Chris as he has gone sailing with his dad to Vasiliki. Boohoo! I have been making up for not being in a foreign country by doing 4 very exciting things.  

1. I went on a girls night out with my 3 best pals, where I had 3 cocktails! 

2. I went to a dance show featuring Chris's very talented sister. 

3. I went Bridesmaid dress shopping with my 3 best pals and Chris' sister (my new 4th best pal). 

4. Chris's mum and I went for a little outing on a hunt for the very elusive 'succulent'.  I have been trying to find one of these for ages, but I think that the new trend has caused them to sell out at every shop I have been to! On this occasion however,  I finally found one, hurrah! And I am now a very proud plant parent.

I think I shall name him Spike. He looks like a Spike don't you think? There may be more than one of him in this pot but I shall cross that bridge when I come to re-potting it. I may have to think up some more names then! Spike is of the Haworthia variety of succulents. I believe he could be a  H. margaritifera but I am not sure. Anyone know?

I shall dutifully water him in the summer months (but not too much!), and let him sit in a sunny spot (but not in direct sunlight)! I am sure we will become great friends!

I also bought some other bits and bobs on my travels. A cute little spray bottle to water him with and some air drying clay to try my hand at a new craft.

I made something with my new clay. Can you guess what it is? A fish, a worm, a stick, a bullet? No, you are wrong. It's not actually finished in this picture so I agree it would be hard for you to guess. Maybe I shall tell you some other time.

I ate an ice lolly as is obligatory on sunny days like this.

I tried out my new (and first ever pair of) prescription sunglasses!

...And decided it was really too hot to be wearing double denim. Phew!

Also, if you are a fan of Succulents, you really must check out all of OhNoRachio's succulent posts which have been making me very jealous. I am totally loving both the planters and the succulents in this post. As well as the fact that there may soon be OhNoRachio planter kits! I will definitely be getting my hands on one of those! 

Laura xXx

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Top Pick of DIY Necklaces

I don't know about you but I have been seeing some awesome DIY necklace tutorials recently. Today I have picked some of my favourites to share with you. I love how these are all really statement pieces and they are all so different from one another! So grab your shrink plastic, clay, rhinestones, paint chips, penne pasta or safety pins, and lets get making our own jewellery!

I found the tutorial above on Buzzfeed. Its an awesome way of making your own initial pendant using shrink plastic. 

This tutorial is from Stars for Streetlights. I love the way Stacie has made her own beads using clay, and they look like banana chips! I would love to try a turquoise and pink version of this!

This lovely rhinestone necklace looks like something you would buy from an expensive shop, but no! It was made by Anna from Plan B. I think it looks stunning.

I would never have guessed that this necklace was made from paint chips! Check out how it was done at Sincerely Kinsey .

This may be the weirdest one yet, it is made from penne pasta! I love it! I am definitely going to try this one as it looks so easy and almost free to make. You can find out how it was made at By Wilma.

Stylecaster shows you how to make this awesome tribal necklace out of safety pins! I remember making a bracelet like this when I was younger, but this one is pretty spectacular.

I hope you have enjoyed my little selection of DIY necklaces today. I will definitely be trying some of these out for myself! Have you got any tips to share on making your own jewelry?

Laura xXx

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Before and After - DIY Colourful Vase

Today I have a fun and simple DIY for you. We are going to turn an ordinary glass jar into a pretty colourful vase! All you need are the following:

• A glass jar
• Plasti-Kote Paint (The colour I have used is Aqua Satin)
• Washi Tape
• Newspaper for protecting your surface

I used an old Roses glass jar. It used to be full of the Roses the sweets, now it is going to be full of the flower instead! You can use whatever you can find. If you haven't got anything bigger why not use a jam jar and use it to hold smaller cuttings of flowers. Here is how it looked before;

First up, you need to clean your jar. Next, protect the area you are going to be using to spray the jar by covering it in newpaper, and make sure the area is well ventilated. Spray the paint onto the jar using the instructions on the can. 

Mine took 3 coats in total. Leave it to dry. I love how the raised pattern of the rose came out on the side of the jar. I decided to add a bit more decoration to the vase by using washi tape to cover the top area where the lid would screw on. The great thing about this is that I can swap it for a different pattern whenever I like!

What do you think? I think its great when you can make something pretty out of something you just had lying around. Also, I am quite obsessed with this colour at the moment! Chris bought these lovely flowers for me by the way, he is a good boy isn't he!

Laura xXx

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April Review

In Life

The big news this month is that I have handed my notice in at my day job! Some may say this is slightly crazy since we just had our offer accepted on a house! It was a tough decision to make, especially since I am a creature of habit and am terrified of change! But it was time for something different, and sometimes you just have to be brave and jump in! Chris and I want to grow our business,  The Band Boutique, and at the moment he just doesn't have the time to do it all on his own, so that is where I will be stepping in. If you are looking for a band or musician for your wedding or event then I am your gal! Also I am really excited to spend more time on this blog! Commuting to work has been taking up at least an hour and a half of each day, so I will have loads more time to spend whipping up ideas. My last day is May 10th, so wish me luck, I may cry!

Also, Chris's sister Rosie asked me to be one of her bridesmaids! Yippee!

What We Watched

Trance- We went to see this at the cinema. This film had more twists than a twisty-turny thing! It was quite difficult to keep up because it is largely about hypnotism and I wasn't sure what was real and what wasnsn't. But overall it was very enjoyable.

Grabbers - This is kind of a Sean of The Dead with sea monsters instead of zombies. I was a bit dubious because I hadn't heard of it before, but it was actually quite good! And the CGI sea mosters were better than I expected.

Despicable Me - We decided to watch this after spotting it on LoveFilm. Cute characters and an evil "genius" as a protagonist. What's not to love?

Evil Dead (The original) -  I know that this is a cult film, and if I was cool I would love it, but I'm afraid I'm not and I didn't! I actually found it quite boring (gasp!), sorry Evil Dead fans, this one was just not for me.

Evil Dead 2 - I had heard that the second film was better than the first, but again I was disappointed. It was basically the first film again with a weirder beginning and end. 

Shaun Of The Dead - I caught this on the TV. It's one of those films that you can't tear yourself away from even if you have seen it loads of times before! I have always loved Sean Pegg and Nick Frost since Spaced, and I think that everything they have done since has been great too!

What I Read

Bright Young Things - Not to be mistaken for the film of the same name, this book is actually about a group of twenty somethings who all apply for a mysterious job advert, and subsequently are drugged  and kidnapped, and awake on an island. With no idea what they are doing there the group start to get to know eachother.  Unfortunately this book seems to have lost its ending, just as it is getting good the book just stops, leaving us with a million unanswered questions and not in a particularly good way either! The one thing I did enjoy about this book was a nostalgic references to 90's films, games, bands and TV programmes, other that that, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Life After Life – This was a really fantastic book. Thanks to my new twitter buddy @acaseforbooks for suggesting this to me. You can read the full review here, and I strongly recommend that you do!

The Hundred-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out Of A Window And Dissappeared Oh my goodness, I loved this book! It was just the kind of light relief I needed after reading some fairly depressing books of late.  I will probably do a full review on this shortly so stay tuned.

In Blog Land

You may have noticed that the other day I posted my very first video! I am really excited about this because it was something I was terrified to do, but now that I have done it I am really pleased, and I am keen to do lots more in the future. I have got ideas for DIY's and Vlogs already! The video is actually a tutorial on how to put in Bobby Glam hair extensions, which is a bit of a departure from the norm, but I'd love to hear what you think of it!

My Favourite Posts

WHEAT FREE ROCKY ROAD RECIPE

80's HAIR TUTORIAL 

DIY CROSS STITCH BRACELET 

DIY FANCY BROGUES

TOP 10 TIPS FOR FLAWLESS NAILS

Laura xXx

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My Adventures with Bobby Glam Hair Extensions - Video Tutorial and Review

Hey guys, check out my new hair! What do you think? Ok, I have to admit, not all of it is mine, some of it belongs to Bobby Glam! Here's what my hair is like normally ...

I was excited to say the least when Bobby Glam approached me and asked if I would feature their product on the blog. I had never used hair extensions before, and to be honest there was a time when I would have never dreamt of sticking someone else's hair on my head! It seemed rather a strange thing   to do. Perhaps some of you feel the same? However, recently I had wanted to try some out for myself after I had seen my boyfriends sister wearing them, and she pulled them off stunningly! She curls hers, so for an evening out she would just pop them in, and perhaps curl a few sections of her real hair too. It sounded super easy and I would never have guessed it wasn't her real hair.

As you can see, my hair isn't exactly short anyway, but I liked the idea of adding a few extra inches, and also the extra volume I would get. Once the extensions were in I thought I would have a little bit of fun styling them, so have a peek at some of the simple styles I tried out and after I will let you know my thoughts in full.

If you stick around to the end of the post you might even see a cheeky video tutorial! Even if you aren't interested in the tutorial I would love to hear your opinion on the video. It is my first one which is very daunting but also quite exciting! Hopefully there will be many more to come in the future on all sorts of subjects, and I would love to hear your feedback. Anyway, back to the hair!  

I even managed a fishtail braid! Which is virtually impossible to do on my normal hair!

Just in case you were wondering, here is a picture of what the set looks like when it is not attached to my head...

I can't compare these to any other brands of hair extension, since it is my first time wearing them, and I am certainly no expert! Please remember that these are just my first impressions and I have not yet worn them for long periods of time.

Having said that I have heard that Bobby Glam do some of the thickest hair extensions, and they certainly added a lot of volume for me! I found the length of them perfect too (these were the 16 - 18in set). Long enough for me to feel the difference, but not too long that it looks fake.  I am sure I could pass this off as my real hair to people I haven't seen for a while!

To get the colour I had to send Bobby Glam a picture of my hair, they matched me as Iced Coffee, and sent me the triple weft set. When they arrived I was a little worried that they may be a tad too dark, but because the hair has a few shades in (one of which matched my colour exactly) it seemed to blend in pretty well. I have been thinking of dying my hair a slightly darker shade and I think they would still work well with that too.

I found them easy to clip in (once I had figured out how to do it), and they seem to blend seamlessly with my own hair. My only criticism is the fact that they did not come with any instructions, and to a hair extension novice like me it was a little confusing.

So, to help solve the mysteries of hair extension application I have made you a little video of the way I figured best to do it! I have found there is also a fun game that can be played with this video, it's called "spot the frame where I am not pulling a silly face". There are very few! It turns out that I am very expressive when I talk. Enjoy!

Disclosure - I was not paid to write this review for Bobby Glam, but I was sent the product free of charge. Everything I have written (and said) is my own opinion and was not influenced in any way.

Laura xXx

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