Journey of a first time blogger...

 

 

Hiya guys!  Hope you are all having a fabulous day! 

 

So, last week was my wee blog’s 1st birthday!  Yay!  Cannot believe that it has been a year since I started my blog!!  It’s actually flown in…and I’ve had SO much fun this past year learning new skills and finding new hobbies, and getting the chance to use my creativity more! 

 

Anyway guys, I thought I would recap why I started the blog and tell you all about who have been my inspirational blog idols – the people who have helped inspire me to be more creative and put myself out there to start up this blog!  As well as this, I thought I would list my top four most viewed posts and the top four favourite DIY crafty posts I have most enjoyed doing this past year!  

 

 

Let’s get started! 

 

I started my wee blog so I could have a place where I could post design tips, DIY crafty projects and photographs of my travels, in the hope that I would inspire some of you out there to try out some of these hobbies/little design-y tricks!!  And, I really hope that I have done that.  

 

 

So, I have two main blogger/vlogger/YouTuber idols that have defo been my inspiration for starting the blog and doing DIY stuff and putting myself out there in the blog world for all to see!!  And they are Mr. Kate  and Shameless Maya !  If you haven’t heard of these two, definitely check them out because they are amaze and so creative…plus you’ll get to see who has inspired me to use my crafty creative side more!!  

 

(To be totally honest, I’m not too sure how I came across them on YouTube (??) … but ever since I did, I have watched every video they have on their channels and keep up to date with their new ones!  Obvs!!) 

 

 

So, Mr. Kate is a super quirky and creative DIY blogger/interior decorator/stylist!  She is the first YouTuber that I really started watching and I think I actually sat one day and made my way through all her DIY videos, like her nail art ones.  This was definitely the main reason for me developing a keen interest in nail art!   

 

I loved art in school but I haven’t really had the chance to do much drawing/sketching since University, so since discovering how much I love, love, love doing nail art, I got the chance to start up art again…just on my nails this time…or other peoples nails!  Its just another art form that I have learned!  So I’m really quite lucky I came across Mr Kate’s channel otherwise I would have never found my passion for nail art!!  Which would be a very sad-faced Lin! 

 

 

My next YouTuber idol is Shameless Maya!  Again, she was one of the first blogger/vloggers that I started watching.  A bit different to Mr Kate, in that her videos are more about her, I guess, because mostly it’s about how she has shamelessly promoted herself through her social media – and got herself out there!  Her main tagline (or motto) is  ‘Do you. Be you. And stay true boo!’  Which is a fab saying…as you are you…so be you!  

Shameless Maya does a lot of camera ad tech videos too, which is good to learn as well, as I’m also into photography.  That is another thing I realised I loved when I was at college/university!  Having had ‘perfection, perfection, perfection’ drilled into us with mood boards and presentations and work like that has made me a perfectionist.  But I think it has also taught me or made me realise that I have a good eye for photos and displays and things like that.  I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I like to think I know what a good layout is.  

Anyway, anyway…her camera tech videos are interesting!   

 

 

So yeah, those are my blogger idols who have helped me realised to just be me, be creative, be helpful and write posts that hopefully people will read and like and realise themselves that they can also try the DIY things out too!  

 

Okay, that was a lot of text!!!  Hopefully if you have got to this part, I haven’t completely bored you!!  Now, you will get some visual-ness with photos form my top 4 most viewed posts and my top 4 most fave posts I have done this year!!   

(You can click on the title and it will direct you to the actual blog post if you would like to read more about it!)

 

 

Top 4 most viewed posts: 

 

1.      What to do with leftover loom bands!

 

 

 

...  this week I decided to clean out and arrange my craft boxes and I found a box of loom bands.  Remember them?  They were quite the craze in the summer!  …  I kind of went through a wee phase of making loads of them, a little bit embarrassing I know.  …  So, for this post, I’m not going to show the steps involved to make these creations.  …  

 

 

 

2.      Question/Answer post #1

 

 

 

This idea came to me after a couple friends asked me some creative-y/design-y questions, and I thought it would be a good idea to answer their questions through my blog.  …  Okay, this week’s question was about nail art, water marble nail art to be specific.  A friend had seen a video of it on Facebook and was wondering ‘how is it done?’  …

 

 

 

3.      Craft DIY Gift– Watercolour Bookmark!!

 

 

 

For this week’s post I thought I’d blog about what I made my lovely pops for Father’s Day!  I wanted to make a gift instead of buying one, like I did for mama for Mother’s Day.  So, I made something that he would use…a bookmark!  …  this was a good wee crafty project for it as my dad loves painting, so it was a good way of incorporating the artiness into the making of the bookmark!  …

 

 

 

4.      Funky Nail Art Design!! 

 

 

 

…  you might have seen that I quite like taking photographs with the whole focussed/out of focussed thing going on!  …  Well I just found out this week (in a nail art video) that it is called bokeh  …  a photography style which I guess many photographers use. …  As I have said, I saw a nail art tutorial  …  So, this week I thought I would try to give this nail art a try  …

 

 

 

Top 4 most fave posts I’ve done so far:

 

 

 

1.      Jewellery organisation: A cheap and easy way!!

 

 

 

This week I’m going to do a wee organisation-y post, an easy DIY that anyone can do!  …  This is quite an easy and fairly cheap DIY, that you don't have to spend a lot of money on for a cool, quirky little storage idea!!!  …    I tried a few things out but most of them never really worked  … It was basically just ‘trial and error’ to see what worked and what didn’t! 


 

 

2.      Easy DIY Embellished Dinosaurs!!

 

 

 

For a while, on Instagram and Pinterest etc. I have been seeing people update random items  …  to give them a new look!  It’s amazing how a bit of gold paint can make something random and ordinary look quite elegant and funky.  Love this idea!  …  I decided I would use up some nearly empty bottles of old just-about-gloopy nail polish.  …

 

 

 

3.      How to: Cat burglar Halloween costume DIY

 

 

 

Hiya folks!  Hope you all had a fab spooky Halloween weekend, dressing up, going trick or treating or just staying in watching scary films!!  …  I was a little bit stuck on what to dress up as  …  so after some ‘research’ I thought I would go as a Cat Burglar.  …  My post this week is basically about ‘my version’ of a Cat Burglar costume and the DIY aspects of it. …

 

 

 

4.      My week of making hats…

 

 

 

Since making my fave red bobble hat, I’ve had loads of pals saying that they loved it!  And they were asking me if I could make them one, which is basically what I have been doing in my spare time this week!  …  So, basically all I really use to make the hat is a 36-peg round knitting loom with the hook, and the needle to finish off the hat…and wool of course!  …

 
 

 

So that’s it for my super long (and hopefully not boring) 1 year birthday blog post!  I hope you enjoyed reading about who inspired me to start my blog…and totally check them out too because they are both fab creative people!! 

 

 

Anyway guys, that’s me…I won’t take up any more of your time!  Thank you SO SO much for reading!! 

 

 

Have a fabulous day and as always, take care!!

 

 

Okay, love you, bye x

 

Easy DIY dream catcher!!

 

 

Hiya guys!  Hope you are all having a great day! 

Sorry for not managing to get my post done for publishing last Monday…however it is up now and hopefully you will enjoy it!

 

So this week, I thought that I would add to a previous DIY post: ‘What you can do with leftover bits ‘n’ bobs’.  I had been meaning to make this at the time, but I ran out of material.  #craftyproblems!

 

Well, I managed to get my supplies and make this wee project!  So what I made was…a dream catcher!

 

 

It’s such an easy and fun DIY, as it you can design it any way you like and decorate it with bits and bobs you have lying around, like old jewellery/ribbons or string…and the usual feathers and beads associated with dream catchers.

  

So, other than that, all that was needed was: 

·        A round frame – can be anything, depending on the size of dream catcher you want to make.

·        Yarn – in any colour you want

·        Bits ‘n’bobs – feathers, beads, chains, string etc.

·        Glue

·        Scissors
 

 

Steps:

 

1.      For the round frame for my dream catcher I used a 25cm embroidery hoop, which I got from a haberdashery store for under a fiver (£5). 

 

 

 

 

I split the embroidery hoop into the two separate parts (basically loosening the outer hoop and taking the two hoops apart).  I decided to only use the inside of the hoop for my DIY, so I would end up with two hoops…and could make two dream catchers!! 

 

 

2.     I then chose the yarn I wanted for the inside of the dream catcher, the netting webby part, and cut a length to use. 
 

 

 

I didn’t measure the length I needed as I wasn’t sure.  But, if you end up with too short a piece then you can always attach extra to the end of the material by tying a square knot so the two pieces won’t come apart!
 

 

 

 

3.     The next step was to attach the yarn to the frame.  I did this with a square knot. 

 

 

 

Once attached to the frame, I wound the yarn around the frame and created several loops by single knotting the yarn on the frame (see picture below)
 

 

 

You can put as many or as little around the frame as you like.  What to remember is that the more you put around the frame, the smaller the loops are going to be when you get to the centre (which I found out the hard way!).    

So, the key is to make the loops loose and not to put a lot around the frame! 

 

 

4.     When that’s all completed, the next step is to put the yarn though all these loops and just go round and round until you get to the centre!

 

 

Make sure to tighten slightly as you go around.  That way you can see how the netting will look when completed.
 

 

 

5.     After the inside of the frame was finished, I went on to do the extra details of the dream catcher.
 

 

I started off by covering the wooden frame with white yarn, and I did this by winding it tightly, leaving no gaps, and using glue to keep the yarn in place. 

 

 

6.     Once that was done, it was onto the dream catcher details.  I decided to use green yarn, along with the pink and white, to create the strings. 
 

 

 

I wanted to do something extra with the yarn (as it would get all tangly since it is very thin yarn) so I made a crochet chain to create a thicker string of detail.
 

 

Another way to create the plaited look is just to do a regular plait! 

But, you can always just use thicker material, and just leave it as is, if you don’t want to worry about the strings getting tangled.   

 

 

7.     Lastly, to finish off the details I decided to add some old earrings to some of the strings and to the frame. 

 

 

  

 

And that was it!  Pretty easy!   

This was how my dream catcher turned out.
 

 

 

 

 

It’s quite a cool creative wee DIY as you can make it to suit your own style and décor of your bedroom! 

 

Anyway guys, I hope you enjoyed this post!  Thank you SO SO much for reading!! 

Have a fabulous day and as always, take care!! 
 

Lin xxx

DIY Ripped Jeans!!

Hiya guys!  Happy Monday!  Hope you’ve all had a great weekend! 

A couple weeks ago before my holiday, I decided to try a DIY ripped jeans project, so I thought I would show you how it turned out!  I had been wanting to try this out for ages so I was quite happy to finally get it done!  It’s actually quite easy, and you can end up with a really cool pair of ripped jeans. 

Plus you can decide where you want the torn parts to be…and…you don’t have to spend a load of pennies buying a torn up pair of jeans!! 

I actually made two pair of ripped jeans – both with different stretchiness, thickness of material, style of jean – so I’ll show you both!

 

DIY Ripped Jeans #1

 

 

For this pair, I used high-waisted super skinny black jeans that had lost some colour in the wash.  Obviously as the jeans were streaky from losing dye, I couldn’t really wear them unless it was just around the house - however I thought that was a wee bit of a waste as I only got them last Halloween and have only wore them a few times.  So, I had actually been planning to try bleaching them a little bit to cover the streaks, until I saw a YouTube tutorial where you can DIY your own ripped pair of jeans, so I thought I’d do that to them as well.  I’ve put the link to the video, at the bottom of the post, as usual.

 

What I used:

·         Jeans

·         Scissors

·         Tweezers

·         Something that can be used to mark where you want the rips to be (which can be easily wiped off, like chalk or pencil)

 

Steps:

1.      I marked where I wanted the rips to be.  I put them an inch apart, like it said in the video, and I put quite a few so the area of the rip would be quite a large one that would cover the whole knee area.

 

2.      I then cut along the markings.

 

3.      To get the stringy look, all I had to do was to pull the teeny vertical threads of material out, using the tweezers, being careful not to pull the horizontal threads and snap them.

 

4.      Once all the rips were made and I was happy with how it looked, I started to bleach the jeans.  What I originally wanted to do, before creating the rips, was to bleach an ombre look to cover the streakiness…but after making the rips in the jeans, I thought I would bleach the stringy threads of the rips.  This, however, didn’t really work out!  What actually happened was that the outer area of the rips were the ones that got lightened.

 

 

5.      After I realised that this was what was happening, I decided to go back to my original plan and do the ombre fading – and how I did this was to use a spray bottle (with bleach and water) and spray the areas of the jeans I wanted to ombre.

 

 

(Remember, if you are using bleach – use in a well-ventilated area and remember to wear gloves) 

Lastly, I rinsed the jeans with cold water before putting them in the washing machine and leaving them to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

The only thing about doing the DIY on these jeans was, because they are a stretchy material, the horizontal threads were elasticated so they were a wavy and not as neat as a less stretchy jean.  However, once it was all finished and the jeans were on, the overall look is funky!

 

DIY Ripped Jeans #2

 

 

So, for this pair I used low-rise/hipster/low-cut skinny slim leg jeans.  I’ve had these ones for years – I bought them when I was still at university and they have been worn hundreds of times, so they have lasted a while! 

They were one of my fave jeans to wear back then, but they don’t really get a good wear these days. So I wanted to revamp them, so I can wear them again…plus they will be great for summer (our lovely not very warm Scottish summer!).  They will be quite nice with wee boots for autumn too!!

 

What I used:

Exactly the same as DIY Ripped Jeans #1!

 

Steps: 

1.      Like DIY Ripped Jeans #1, I marked where I wanted the rips to be and cut along the markings. 

2.      In this photo you can see what the horizontal threads look like when the vertical threads have been pulled out from the jean.  I kept removing the vertical threads until all were removed to reveal the horizontal ones! 

 

3.      I continued to put the ripped areas where I wanted them until I was happy with the result.

 

 

 

 

So, that was it!  It is a pretty easy DIY that can be done on other pieces of denim clothing – shorts, dungarees, jackets… 

It’s quite a funky thing to do if you want to revamp an old piece of clothing!  And honestly it doesn’t take too long to do!  Mine took about half an hour for the amount of rips I put in the jeans.  Obviously, the timing will vary depending on how many rips you want in the jeans and how detailed you want them to be.  And you can do this on any style of jean – skinny, boyfriend, slim, slouch – and it can also be done on men’s jeans too! 

If you don’t want lots of threads, you can just have one long cut at the knee area (or wherever you want) and have a few threads pulled out around that cut.  It all depends on what you want…it’s your DIY Ripped Jeans, so you can do what you like!

 

Anyway guys, I hope you enjoyed this post!  Thank you SO SO much for reading!! 

Have a great day and as always, take care and I’ll catch you all next time!

 

Lin xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YouTube source: 

DIY Distressed Boyfriend Jeans by LaurDIY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ruLJ9i5nBA