All Things Gold

For the past couple of months it seems I've had a growing obsession with all things gold. It probably all stems from this Ted Baker iPad case which I spotted in December (and Josh sneakily bought it for me for Christmas!) So today I'm sharing some of my newest purchases and presents...

After much deliberation, I finally upgraded my little 4S to a shiny new iPhone 6! I'm so pleased I took the plunge as I love my new phone and didn't realise how much I needed the upgrade. The 6+ was too big for my hands, this is much more suitable and still so much bigger than the 4S screen I've been used to. I'm planning on really pushing my iPhone photography this year and being much more creative with my 'pocket photos'. (I'll be blogging about the iPhone 6 camera soon!) My case was a cheap one from eBay - it's just a clear plastic one to let the gold shine through apart from two glitter bands top and bottom which make it extra sparkly. 

This Christmas I was treated to lots of new makeup, including the Clarins 'All About Lips' Christmas Gift Set (featuring two lip perfectors!) I came across this Ciate polish in the shade 'Spending Spree' in TKMaxx for a discounted price. This is the polish I wore on NYE and it's lasted so well. It's still holding up well today. I was also given a Ted Baker 'Shades in Waiting' gift box which as well as lots of other eye products, included these three eye crayons in metallic gold, silver and bronze. Beautiful creamy sticks which I've been testing out already. (Of course I needed my iPad mini to match) So I bought this metallic case on eBay - it's a semi clear plastic back with a gold tint and a gold smart cover...



Finally, I've got to mention this little rose gold beauty - it's a Links of London friendship bracelet and it's the perfect piece for layering or wearing alongside a watch. I was kindly gifted this by the company before Christmas and I've been wearing it so much over the festive season. It's one of those, wearable everyday and on special occasions bracelets.

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Hello, 2015

Happy New Year! I've been having a little bit of a unexpected blog-slow-down for the past couple of months. A few months ago I was blogging every other day and you may have noticed I've not been posting as much recently. This is for no particular reason other than I've been so busy with work and spending time with family/friends. I've also lost my way a bit with This Fashion is Mine. I have lots to show you and talk about, I'm sure some of the brand collabs I'm working on are a bit overdue but I will definitely get around to them.

I'm going to do a round up of all the things I've been loving recently and the things that have been keeping me busy (like The Sims Free Play on iPad) but this post is just a quick welcome to 2015. The past year has been full to burst, with graduating from University and setting up my own business. I may do a 2014 round up post too, I find they really help to remember and appreciate everything that's happened over the last 12 months.

I hope everyone's enjoyed their Christmas break and is looking positively at the new year. I haven't made any rock solid resolutions this year (unusual for me) but I do plan to work harder to grow my business, make more social plans, and in general - have a bloody good year!

As always, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram, and keep up to date with blog posts via Bloglovin. Links are below...

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Laura Ashley Xmas Crafty Workshop

On Sunday I was invited along to the Laura Ashley Festive Craft Workshop for Manchester bloggers, held at Rosy Lee in the Northern Quarter. I was really looking forward to it all week, if you're a regular reader of This Fashion is Mine you'll know I'm quite a crafty person. Lots of lovely Manchester bloggers were all in one room (more than I'd ever seen before in fact) and we were met by Ministry of Craft and the Laura Ashley team who led the workshops, teaching us how to make two Christmas DIYs using bestselling Laura Ashley prints.

First up, we made gift bags (or present sacks!) with a bunting design. I was a little taken aback to see all the sewing machines - my sewing skills are ok but using an unfamiliar machine is always a bit daunting. But the team were so friendly and helpful, I quickly got used to the new controls and the DIY was suprisingly easy to do. It's inspired me to create more mini present sacks for popping gifts into.

After a little break and lots of canape treats we headed to the paper craft area and were taught how to make gift boxes and fancy oversized bows. A selection Laura Ashley wallpaper was provided for the gift boxes, the perfect thickness for making these boxes (I'll be digging out some scraps of wallpaper I have left over to make more!) The gift bows looked really complicated but they were in fact super easy to make. Just lots of strips of paper, made into figures of 8 and then piled on top of each other!

Thank you to Laura Ashley and Ministry of Craft for such a wonderful afternoon - I trotted home with my goodie bag and crafts feeling very proud of myself! The Laura Ashley guys have already popped a blog post up about the event which you can read here and see more photos from the day.

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DIY Paper Flower Lamp

This Christmas, three of my best friends and myself decided we would make DIY presents for each other. This obviously suited me down to a tee! I couldn't wait to get going and I had all their presents completed by the end of November. I had the idea of embellish lamps for a while and originally I was going to decorate the lampshades with fabric flowers. After a long battle with an international ebay seller and a missing parcel I scraped the idea of fabric flowers and chose to make my own paper (or card) ones instead!

I love how these have turned out. I put myself under a strict budget to make sure I could afford all the items I needed, (plus wrapping stuff and Xmas cards) so these DIY lamps are actually really affordable. We swapped presents on Saturday night, when we could all get together, and the girls loved their lamps - so now I can finally pop the tutorial up on here for anyone who wants to give it a go.

What You Need

Small Lamp
Flower Craft Punch
Silver and White Pearlescent Card
Small Flat Back Pearls
PVA Glue (extra strong)

I bought my lamps from a home-bargain type shop. They were about £5 each. You can choose whatever colour you like. I went with a mushroom grey lamp and made silver and white pearlescent flowers. I bought my card at The Range and ordered everything else on eBay.

Start by punching out your flowers. Using card that is too thick will break your craft punch (so stick to thick paper or thin card) I found I needed approx 80-90 flowers per lamp. Yes - that's a lot of punching! Even so, I bought two A1 sized pieces of card and I still had lots left over even after making three of these lamps. So if you're just making the one, you'll be ok with two A3 sized pieces. 

You're then going to want to curl the flowers to make them slightly 3D and stick out from the lampshade. I pulled a thumbnail along each petal, curling the flower slightly as I went. This is something you have to practice but it becomes second nature after doing a few. 

Once we have our 3D flowers, were going to use PVA glue to stick a pearl into the centre of each one. You only need a tiny dot of glue - squash the pearl down and let it dry. The glue I used dries completely in about 10 minutes. This is a project you can do while sitting in front of the TV.

Now it's time to start attaching them to your lampshade. Remove the shade from the lamp base to make it easier to hold. Using a small blob of glue applied to the back of each flower, start sticking, one by one on to the lamp. I alternated with white and silver card. You'll find a pattern begins to emerge and you can follow this so no two flowers of the same colour end up touching. If there are any funny gaps left at the end, just pop a flower in! It won't spoil the overall appearance as long as the lampshade is pretty full. Go slowly, allowing time for the glue to dry. I spent a few hours on each lampshade. Treat them with care while the glue is still wet, once it's dry the flowers should be firmly attached to the lamp.

Plug in and switch on to see how the light bounces through your flowers! It's like a whole new design once the lamp is on. Don't leave your lamp unattended for any length of time, these ones take low-voltage bulbs and don't get too hot but a powerful lamp may overheat.

If you liked this DIY please check out the DIY Archive page for more of my crafty tutorials...

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