// DIY Phone Case

This Sunday was one of those delicious, rare weekend mornings where you have absolutely nothing planned. 

After managing to remain dreaming away for a good 10 hours, I awoke refreshed and ready to make the most of the crisp autumnal morning and take the pup on a long stroll. 

Nothing sparks your creativity like the beautiful English countryside. 

This little project has been one that I have been meaning to tackle for quite a while, but with the usual hum drum of everyday life taking up the majority of my spare time, it's one that quietly got forgotten.

The DIY was inspired by an Etsy post I saw a few months ago of a hand made phone case made out of hand dried flowers. 

Anyone that knows me too well will be able to tell you that there is no way I would ever bother with the faff of hand drying my own flowers. I'm more one of those kinds of DIY enthusiasts who only tackles projects that involve minimal effort and minimal materials. 

Hence the major adaption to the original project.

This is the perfect DIY to let your imagination run free. Go as crazy as you like. Paint on a snazzy geometric pattern, or heck, print out and transfer Ryan Goslings face to the inside (the thought did cross my mind). 

Materials list for my version of the DIY:

1. Clear phone case (you can find these anywhere on the web for less than £5 - I got mine from amazon)

2. Glitter nail varnish

3. Clear nail varnish

4. Paint brushes

5. Selection of acrylic paints

Step 1: Prepare your work surfaces and ensure plastic clear case is clean on the inside.

Step 2. Paint the inside of the case with your glittery nail varnish. The more sparkly you want it to be, the more coats you need to do. It's all about the layers baby.

Step 3: Allow to dry. (The time it took me to boil the kettle and brew a cup of tea was plenty of time.)

Step 4: Sorry, I lied. This isn't step 4. I just wanted to document and admire the fact that I managed to grow all my nails to this length without any of them breaking. A rare feat.

The 'real' step 4: Choose your colour and mix a good enough amount to cover the case.

Step 5: Apply a thick layer of paint to the inside of your case, ensuring to cover all surfaces equally.

Step 7: Allow paint to dry fully and then apply a layer or two of clear nail varnish to seal.

Make sure you let your case dry fully before using it on your phone. 

As promised, this DIY really is that easy. They could make the perfect presents for friends and families. You could even personalise them with their names using a gold Sharpie pen. The possibilities for variation are endless. 

I'm already planning my next Kate Spade inspired gold stripe case.

Helena x

// Autumn Accessories

Anything involving black suede, leopard print or tartan is on my wishlist for AW13. They are the fail-safe staples that everyone returns to each winter. I'll be wrapping up and keeping myself nice and cosy in these luxury accessories this season. 

1.// Zara Boots 2.// Missguided Hat 3.// Ray-ban Sunglasses 4.//J.Crew Phone Case 

5.// Whistles Tights 6.// Zara Scarf 7.// Mango Gloves 8.// Zara Bag

Miu Miu inspired shirt collars.

Embellished collars are going to be really big this Autumn and we have already seen them starting to trickle into the high street shops already. As seen on my previous post Deco Utilitary I brought some fantastic art deco style earrings from H&M for only £5.99. Although I actually wore them as earrings in that post, they were originally intended to be embellishments for shirt collars. I had been looking all over the internet for weeks, scouring for the perfect collar pins, but all were either too boring, too punk (not keen on too many skulls) or too expensive. Then I thought surely, earrings will work just the same! So here they are, my very own DIY shirt collar pins, perfect for autumn. I'm thinking of having a look for some gold chains that I can glue to the backs which will hang down nicely between the two. But that's another DIY for another day ;)

 

 

Inspired by this Miu Miu shirt.

Nicholas Kirkwood collaboration with Erdem.

Jumper: Theory, Necklace: D&G, Earrings: Erickson Beamon, Bag: YSL, Skirt: Markus Lupfer, Shoes: Nicholas Kirkwood

I love nothing better than a good collaboration; so meet my latest shoe fetish by the ever talented Nicholas Kirkwood and king of the prints, Erdem. After being introduced by mutual friends, both designers were inspired by the architectural shapes of Le Corbusier to create these quirky, geometric, silk printed heels. Wear with feminine shapes and fabrics, but try to keep the outfit simple to show off the chunky heel and bold prints. Tip: try contrasting with statement jewellery. 

Fall Couture '12: Elie Saab

Ok, so as usual Chanel kicked butt in this season's haute couture collections, but for me, the main contender had to be Elie Saab. Nothing says haute couture like yards of tulle, lace and intricate beading. The collection of 46 painstakingly beautiful dresses, was focused around four main colours: black, peach/nude, mint green and teal, and knowing that each piece was hand-beaded makes them seem even more untouchable than they already look.

The designers managed to do something that most women in this world find very hard to pull off; create items of clothing that reveal very little but still transform the wearer into a creature of grace and sexuality at the same time. This was mostly achieved by the thigh high splits, beautiful plunging back lines that stopped as they hit the thin belts resting gracefully around the models waists, as well as the occasional patches of lace or beaded tulle placed over hips and across collar bones.

Once again, Elie Saab have created a couture collection any A-list celeb would be proud to be seen strutting their stuff in down the red carpet. I for one know that if I had to wear one piece of clothing for the rest of my life, it would definitely be an Elie Saab creation.

I recommend making your way over to the Elie Saab website (here) to watch the show in full in order to fully take in the amount of work that went into each dress, as well as watch in awe just what these designers have achieved. Oh and also, check out how fiece the model in the picture third from the bottom is! She literally stole the show!

Liebster Award.

Last week the lovely Sofi from 'Style-Ramblings' (great blog btw) messaged me saying that she had very kindly nominated me for a Liebster award. This award is basically a way of getting the 'little guys' noticed. For those of us with less than 200 followers, this award is pretty much a form of recognition, saying 'hello, we know you're out there'. If you get nominated, you have to talk a bit about yourself, answer some questions from your nominator and then pose a set of your own questions to your nominees. This is a great way of spreading the word of up and coming blogs, so thanks again Sofi!

I wanted to nominate 'Too Much Blush' (a British beauty blogger). For someone who is not big on makeup (I literally own a mascara, a kohl eyeliner, a concealer and two lipsticks), I really love reading blogs about it. This blog is down to earth and seriously cute with all the pink and flowers!

The rules are simple:

1) Post 11 things about yourself

2) Answer the questions the tagger has for you

3) Write 11 things for your 11 nominees

4) Tag those nominees in your post and tell them about it on their page

5) No tag backs

Eleven things about myself

1.  I love two things more than anything else in the world; earl grey tea and my dog.

2. I have just graduated from Warwick University with a degree in Biomedicine but all I want to do is pursue a career in something that I get to use some creativity for. 

3.  I find it really weird that Blogger doesn't recognise the word 'blog'. Errr durr? :S

4. I want four little cheeky monkeys when the time is right. Preferably three boys and then a girl. Fate, are you listening? Womb, ignore that. You are safe for a few more years yet!

5.   If it was acceptable to wear wellies everywhere, I would. 

6.  I need a pair of Reed Krakoff shoes. Like now. Oh and a Chloe bag would be nice too. 

7. We are currently having work done on our house, therefore meaning that we have had to move out. This also means that I am having to share a room with my 19 year old younger sister. This isn't that bad as she is as cute as pie (although she does grind her teeth...jhfkdf BLEURGH creeps me out!), however, it does mean that we also have to share the one tiny inbuilt wardrobe, which has been...let's just say...interesting.

8. After living with a house full of English, History and Classics geeks for the past 2 years I have decided to read all the great books, philosophers and Odysseys for the next year or two so I can finally join in with their very interesting conversations/at least have a clue what they are going on about. However, I'd like to see them tackle one of my cell biology books!

9. Me and one of my besties from uni have already planned our dream cafe that we are going to open in our thirties. It's going to be in the very hip Manchester and we shall sell delicious homemade, organic, healthy food full of quinoa and kale etc. We will also have gorgeous husbands with beards, bring our beautiful babies to work and open up the cafe at night for acoustic sessions and jazz evenings. Oh yeh, and the walls will be exposed brick because we are THAT trendy.

10. I cannot, for the life of me, walk in stiletto heels. Give me a big chunky heel/wedge any day. (This doesn't stop me wearing them though. I am determined.) 

11. I'm sad that this is the last 'bit about me'. I often find that blogs can lack a bit of personality sometimes (mine is no exception). I shall hence forth change my ways. My perfect writing style would be like that of Carrie's from 'Wish Wish Wish'. 

Eleven Questions from Sofi

1. Name one thing that makes me get up in the morning.

That would be the pain in my butt sun. No matter what time I go to bed, 7 o'clock I'm awake. I think you'd be safe to say that I was most definitely a morning person. 

2. Favourite artistic form of expression.

Definitely painting and drawing. I love nothing more than a humongous canvas and a big pile of oil paints.

3. Favourite soap smell.

The lynx shower gel that my boyfriend uses. Nom.

4. The best reward after a challenging day.

Well that would obviously be tea. But you can't beat a bit of country house rescue on 4od. Oh and the country living magazine. Jees I sound like such an old woman on here. 

5. Most listened to song of the week.

Spectrum (Say My Name) -Calvin Harris Remix, Florence + the Machine

6. Favourite restaurant/coffee shop.

Ok, this is really bad to admit this, but it's actually this small chinease buffet place called Oriental Star in Leamington Spa. My housemates and I used to visit it far too frequently whilst we were at uni. They basically do a takeaway box for £5 and you just go and stuff in as much as you can. I can honestly swear that I have never had food that tasted any better. After a long day at uni, there was nothing better than all squidging up together on the sofa and stuffing our faces whilst watching Supersize vs. Superskinny.

7.  Favourite holiday.

Definitely Christmas in the Alps.

8.  Place you would most like to visit.

I'd love to be whisked off to Paris for a long weekend :)

9.  A perfect evening is...

A BBQ in the garden with friends and family on a summer's evening.

10. Why blog?

I spent the past two years reading them and thought hey, I could do this too!

11. One thing you've learnt since you began blogging.

Do and wear what you want and don't care about what anyone else thinks. I've always loved fashion, but sadly when I was a bit younger and lacking the self confidence that I've grown into a bit more now, I used to never wear some beautiful items of clothing that I bought because they weren't what everyone else was wearing at that age.

Eleven Questions to my Nominee

1. What was the inspiration/reason behind your blog name?

2. Favourite season of the year?

3. Where do you shop the most?

4. Best cocktail you have ever drunk?

5. A really embarrassing fact about yourself?

6. Pet hate?

7. What's the best gift you've ever recieved?

8. Why start blogging?

9. What is your favourite hobby?

10. Best way to unwind after a long day?

11. Favourite movie?

I have really enjoyed this post and it's nice knowing that the few followers that I do have know a bit more about me now :) So thanks again Sofi for nominating me!
 

Deco Utilitary.

Woke up early this morning on my day off with one seriously long list of things to do. With my graduation last Thursday I had the excuse to go on a shopping trip in order to find myself an appropriate dress. I'm so happy that all the A/W stock is starting to trickle in as shopping as of late hasn't been great with this years S/S trends in stores (I've been dreaming of tweed, leather and studs since the summer collections were released!).

However, before I rushed off out, I finally managed to start having a look at mixing the blog up a bit. Since creating this site back in January, the layout and detail of the blog has pretty much stayed the same. So after coming back all fresh and relaxed from my holiday I decided it was high time I tackle some of that pesky html malarkey. I was hoping for more of a simple and elegant feel to the site's layout. Still got a bit of work to do to it but I'm getting there!

The shirt is a new one from topshop ready for the cooler months later on in the year. I'm predicting and hoping that utilitary will be a big trend amoungst the high street stores this coming season. However, I love the new twist on it this year. It's all about the mix of the two; rough and glam. The earrings from H&M were a steal at only £6. I actually bought the, for another use that I'll be posting about soon, but I loved how they went with this shirt. I quickly threw on my new buys before we rushed off to look at the work being done on our house at the moment (we've had to temporarily move out as it's one big building site for now), hence the odd outfit choice and th messy garden in the background!
 

If you were wondering, no, they aren't my hands.

Graduate.

Just a quick post today before I rush out! Yesterday saw in the culmination of my life's education and a lot of good times at university. It's true what people say, they really are the best three years of your life. Not only did I finish with a degree in my hands, I also made some great life-long friends. However, I have now entered the big wide world of work and don't really know what path to take yet. So if you know of anyone who is hiring, give me a bell ;)