Summer Breeze Hair Tutorial with Percy&Reed - Win the Look!

We've teamed up with haircare extraordinaires Percy&Reed to create a series of hairstyle tutorials perfect for all occasions this summer.



Look One, Summer Breeze, is a soft and bouncy, loose textured look that is perfect for festivals and wedding guest hair - in fact any occasion where a floral crown is appropriate! To create this look, the Percy&Reed stylists used Percy&Reed Abundantly Bouncy Volumising Mousse and It’s So Cool Heat Protect Styling Mist, topped off with our Whole Lotta Rosie headband in Burgundy. We hope you love this super easy tutorial!

What's more is that we've teamed up with the awesome Percy&Reed guys to allow one lucky winner to win the products used to create this look. There are loads of ways to enter below - good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

With thanks to Rhubarb Martini for the tutorial video and Ky Wilson at Percy&Reed East Salon for creating the looks

Rock n Roll Bride Magazine - Issue 3

So who's got their mitts on the latest Rock n Roll Bride magazine then? Issue 3 was launched on Tuesday and if you thought that previous editions were awesome, just wait til you get your grubby paws on this! Boasting 100% exclusive content, the beautifully designed glossy pages are crammed with wedding planning advice, real weddings, budget friendly bridal attire and 3 awesome DIYs - even if I do say so myself!

 

We were asked to come up with a bridal-inspired DIY idea for this issue, and the culmination was us contributing a super fun but uber achievable DIY tutorial for creating your own custom embroidered tattoo inspired fascinator. This was such a fun project to work on and seeing my face in print on the 'Contributors' page definitely ticks something off my vanity bucket list!

 

You can buy Rock n Roll Bride Issue 3 for £14.99 including worldwide shipping here - they've already sold 1/4 of the stock so be sure to snap yours up quick!

 

Weekend DIY ideas with Cut Out and Keep

Geeky Cross Stitch Rings by Owly Sh*t

What better way to while away a weekend than to get your craft on? We recently hosted a giveaway with the guys and gals at DIY mecca Cut Out and Keep to find the best festival inspired fashion DIY - and the winner of our £50 voucher was this Geeky Cross Stitch Ring tutorial by Owly Sh*t, so cute!

 

 

Let's Get Crafty - Polka Dot Cat manicure

After a particularly hideous wisdom tooth extraction this week, I needed a bit of cheering up, and nothing makes me mile more than a cute manicure! I trawled through my Pinterest board for suitably cheery inspiration and came across the super cute, polka dot and cat print mani.

Look how smiley the kitty's are! I hid my swollen face in a hat and scarf combo (thankfully its still cold enough to not look like a total freak) and popped down the Superdrug to pick up supplies.

I'd deffo suggest using false nails for this to improve your accuracy. Paint with 3 coats of white nail paint, doing a crescent shape on the ring finger from the nail tip down. I used Matt White by Barry M.

Once that's dry, get creative with a nail art pen! I used a Barry M one that was just like using a felt tip, none of the inconsistent nib stuff from yesteryear. Add the cats ears to the white crescent by dipping a cocktail stick in the white paint and drawing on.

It really is that simple! Don't forget to add a topcoat - my favourite is Renunail Top Coat by Dr Lewinns

 

 

Let's Get Crafty - DIY Chalkboard Bunting with Cut Out + Keep

It seems these days that no party is complete without a photobooth or a bit of bunting, but if like us you're a bit over the chintzy, floral kind, why not pack a punch with chalkboard bunting? I can just imagine this being used in a wedding reception's photobooth saying 'just married' for the happy couple!


You will need
Thin Wood
Chalkboard paint
A paintbrush
String
Hole punch
Chalk


Step 1
Start by cutting triangles out of thin wood. We used some scrap shipping wood that came as packaging with a piece of furniture. You can buy wood triangles in craft shops, if you struggle to find a piece that works well. You'll need about 12 triangles to be able to write a nice long message.

Step 2
Paint your triangles with a coat of chalkboard paint and leave to dry.

Step 3
Paint with a second coat of paint and leave to dry again.


Step 4
Punch a hole at either side of the top of the triangle. My wood was thin enough to use a hole punch.

Step 5
Loop some string through the hole.

Step 6
Secure at the back with a knot and then string through the second hole, securing with another knot.


Step 7
Leave a small length of string between each triangle and continue threading them all on to the string.

Step 8
Now the fun part. Write on your bunting with chalk. I used a ruler to give mine a neat outline, but you can decorate yours however you like!

And you’re done! Hang up and admire your handy work!


This tutorial is brought to you by our friends at Cut Out + Keep, who are kind of a big deal in the crafting world - so much so that Google just made them the stars of their latest ad! With over 60,000 crafting ideas and counting, from how to fishtail braid your hair to sweet treats like Giant Peanut Butter Cups I could certainly think of worse ways to spend my weekend.

DIY - Studded Boucle Jacket

As soon as I saw this little boucle style jacket from Primark (£19) I just knew it had oodles of DIY potential! My personal style mantra is pretty much 'I'll like it if you go and put some studs on it' which is exactly what I decided to do.


I've seen similar style jackets with a measly line of studs down the lapels but this was nowhere near badass enough for me. I wanted Balmain esque. A vertible butt-load of studs, if you will. A quick squizz on eBay found me this seller who ships from London - probably more expensive than the Asian sellers, but I'm an impatient soul and I wanted my jacket NOW. I bought 5 different styles and sizes of studs (1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) for a total of around £15 and I still have a LOT left over for other projects.

As well as your studs, especially if you are using the screw-back cone type, you will need a braddle to make small holes and a flat head screw driver to bend the spikes down.


And that's really it, you get studding! You could sort out a pattern but I pretty much randomised it, creating little blocks of patterns I guess - I just made sure they were nice and random.


The beauty of doing it this way is if you go a bit wonky, it doesn't matter as much as if you were following a particular line or something. I also ensured the cone spike studs were placed evenly apart as there wasn't as many of these and I didn't want to run out.




Once I'd finished one side, I mirrored my random pattern onto the other lapel and then added two final studs on each pocket.


What do you guys think? This took me around 4 evenings work while watching movies on my holiday last week - I've always got to be doing something, even when I'm meant to be relaxing!

DIY - Tie Dye Dip Hem Skirt

Dont you guys just hate it when a magazine publishes a photo of a product and then you can't find it anywhere? This exact scenario recently happened with me and a tie dye dip hem skirt from Zara. There it was looking all grungepretty on the pages of August's Company magazine but was it online? No. Had the shop assistants even ever seen it? Heck no.

So of course being the stubborn impatient type that I am, I decided to make my own version. And freaking cute it is too.

Tie Dye Dip Hem Skirt - How To

You Will Need:

Dip Hem Jersey Skirt - £15 from boohoo.com
Marbles
Elastic Bands
Dylon Hand Dye - mine's Velvet Black
Dye Salt

Use your marbles to tie the elastic bands round your fabric really tightly. If your fingertips start to go numb, you're on the right track.

Mix up your techniques- working your way across the fabric, try using lots of elastic bands on the same section, or for the ring effect keep tieing it up through the same column like below

Vary the patterns that you use for your ties. I mixed it up with different thickness elastic bands, varied the space between each tie, had some bands with just one elastic tie and some with multiple like above.

It does take some patience to complete the whole skirt, so I suggest sitting outside with a cuppa one afternoon (or in front of the Eastenders omnibus like me above!) And now for the exciting bit - dyeing!

Marigolds at the ready, be sure to prep your area well - use a washing up bowl or stainless steel sink (your bathroom sink will probably get dyed) and newspaper the around area. Make sure you're wearing old clothes too.

Prep your dye as per the packet instructions. The salt is really important as it will set the dye - especially necessary when you're using a blend material like this skirt.

Carefully submerge the skirt into the dye. It needs to be in here for around an hour so keep manipulating it every 15 mins or so. When your hour is up, carefully remove the skirt from the dye and begin to rinse. Keep rinsing the skirt (still tied up) until the water is almost clear. This takes around 10 minutes so by patient :)

And now for the grand unveiling! If you've tied your elastic bands tight enough you'll have to cut them off the skirt - make sure you use blunt ended scissors so you don't accidentally catch the fabric and end up cutting that. Advocating wasting elastic bands after just one use is probably frowned upon, but tell that to the postman that keeps leaving piles of them at my door. I'll recycle those ones, promise.

After a quick machine wash (with other dark colours!) and dry, ta da! My new favourite skirt. I wore this at the weekend with a simple black vest, leather jacket and studded sandals - effortless!

Will you be tie dying your own dippy hem skirt?