Empties Video!

So today I thought I'd try a different type of video and do an empties video. I've been quite addicted to these on YouTube recently and love to see what people will use til the bitter end and whether or not they'd re-purchase it in the future. I must admit it felt a bit strange keeping empty bottles of things in a box, my inner neat freak was screaming! Anyway I hope you enjoy the video below:

What are you forever using up?

Pinterest- Tips for your inner pinner

Like many people, I have an addiction to Pinterest . It’s a brilliant and useful tool to find inspiration for projects and things you’re interested in. I recently had the privilege of attending a Pinterest workshop where I discovered I’d been using it all wrong! So today I thought I’d share with you some tips and ideas I learnt to feed your inner pinner!

Get your pins Discovered

If you’re a blogger or have a website, one of the simplest and easiest ways to get your pins discovered is with a “Pin It” button on your website. The bigger the better quite frankly as this will encourage your readers to pin your content, thus others discovering your content. Pins and Repins can also be discovered through the home feed of your followers.

 Make your pins helpful

Everybody loves a helpful pin! From DIYs to life hacks, they really are awesome. Giving detailed descriptions is also really helpful for example, a pin of a rustic wedding invitation with the description “wedding invitation” isn’t very helpful compared to “the perfect DIY wedding invitation for a rustic bohemian style country wedding. Made from DL card and paper doilie” Which one is more helpful? People searching for DIY rustic wedding invites will find the second description much more helpful and it’s much more searchable this way. Text overlays are another great way to create a helpful pin. It instantly tells you what it is, thus whether or not it is relevant and helpful to what a person is searching for.

Link your Pins

There is nothing more frustrating than when you find an amazing pin but there’s no link to where you can buy it or a tutorial on how to make it. Again if you’re a blogger that does DIYs and pins them, or a website selling a product, linking your pin can drive more traffic to your site! If you don’t source your images, you’re not making them a discovery tool which is the whole point of Pinterest…

Vertical Pins

Pins that are made vertically flow much better for a Pinterest experience. This is because Pinterest organizes images vertically, stacking them one on top of the other in a grid. As most people use Pinterest on their mobile phones, vertical Pins just look better than horizontal ones. They're particularly great for DIY and how-to pins.

Think about your titles and descriptions

Be authentic in your descriptions and think about the titles for your boards. Consider what other pinners search for. No one ever searches for example “my wedding” do they? Instead try “rustic wedding ideas” or “country wedding inspiration”, it’s much more searchable. Hashtags are pointless. They’re irrelevant on Pinterest just so y’know.

Feed your inner pinner

Pin on a regular basis. This will keep your audience engaged! And don’t worry about followers. Pinterest isn’t a social media tool, people are more interested in your pins than your actual profile. It’s nothing personal! Be creative and theme boards, dragging current and this seasons boards to the top of your profile and out of season boards (i.e. Christmas) to the bottom of your profile. Who wants to see Christmas in July? The best boards contain stunning imagery that grabs people’s attention. Show what inspires your from people to places, objects to ideas. There are so many options and ways to get creative.

So those are the tips and knowledge I picked up from the Pinterest workshop. I hope they've helped to give you ideas and information on the proper way to pin!

If you want to check out my Pinterest it's here:

Visit Kat's profile on Pinterest.

           

Have you fed your inner pinner today?

Summer Beauty Favourites

Hello hello hello! It’s that season again where I talk beauty favourites so lets start shall we?

Green people organic fruit scrub exfoliate

As summer is here an exfoliator is necessary to keep your skin looking fresh and smooth. I’ve been loving this organic one from Green People with its fresh citrus scent and gentle exfoliation. Its really effective at removing dead skin cells without completely stripping your face of its essential oils. Another big plus is that it’s organic and free from parabens, alcohol and other nasties so my skin is very happy!

This works Perfectlook skin miracle

As you can see this product has been used A LOT and I’ve got a lotta love for it. This instant tinted skin perfector hydrates and brightens your skin whilst giving you lots of vitamin goodies that your skin will thank you for. The tint gives you a subtle hint of a summer glow which is perfect for days when you don’t fancy heavy coverage. A touch of this and some bronzer is perfect for a summer no make-up make-up look!

Argan oil hydrating hair mask & Argan oil heat defence leave in spray

You may have seen my post on this hair mask earlier on in the summer. It really is the tits for giving you silky soft locks at a crazily cheap price of 99p! I was so impressed that I had to try the heat defence leave in spray too. It has that same lovely smell and does a great job of protecting my locks from being frazzled. Winner!

Body Shop Honey Bronze bronzing powder

No summer beauty favourites would be complete without a mention of some bronzer! This body shop honey bronzer is the perfect formula, being matte so no crazy shimmer going on bright sunny days (what are those again?) I also love the packaging and the design. I know it’s not an important factor but it is pretty. Ooh!

Body shop All-In-One Instablur

If you want a primer that’s value for money, keeping your make-up in place and makes your skin feel amazing- this is the one. I have been loving this for a good few months now and can safely say it does the job and bloody well too. With seriously oily skin that has a habit of letting my make-up slide off my face I was sceptical of the Instablur but it helps reduce shine whilst keeping my make-up firmly in place for a good 12 hours. At £14 I’d say it’s pretty damn reasonable and I’ll even say it’s as good as Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. Yup, I went there! 

So these are the products I'm loving for the summer months and feel really benefit skin and hair in the hotter weather! What are you loving?

Craft a home of Happiness- a round up of recent crafts

Some of you may or may not be aware that I moved house at the beginning of January. It was quite a big move, as I’d previously lived in Cyprus until September 2014, then moved into my mum’s temporarily until our house was ready. To say this was a stressful time is an understatement, what with Chris being away in the Falklands and me having to do the move with just my Dad to help out (thank you Dad you life saver), but we’re very much settled in our little home now and I’ve been doing my best to make it as cosy as possible.

As a keen crafter I love making bits and pieces, so adorning our house with things I’ve made on the cheap is something I really enjoy and find very satisfyig. Chris and I don’t want to splash lots of cash but certainly want to project our personalities on the place so here’s some things I’ve been crafting..

It’s OK Banner

You may have seen this banner before as I did a tutorial on it back in March. I’d been lusting after one for quite some time but every time I’d go to buy one, they were never in stock! Frustrated I decided to create my own (which was much more satisfying), making it a bit smaller than the original- perfect for this little corner of our living room.

 Chartreuse Canvases

Sooo we’ve got this bedding… Could I find any art work to match it? No. Or if I did, did we like it enough or thought it was worth the price tag? No… We took to Pinterest and came across these wonderful quotes and typography (originals here and here) and I got out my watercolours and gave it my best shot to re-create our own. We changed up the colours and went for chartreuse, greys and blacks. It took me so long to find a proper word for “yellowey green limey but not too green or too yellow” and chartreuse is the word!  I must admit I was pretty chuffed and relieved at how they came out and Chris praised me too- yay! The canvases I picked up at my local Factory Shop- two for £6!

Polka dot table cloths and pretty pretty curtains

Now I’m no sewing expert, in fact I’m quite the novice!  Thankfully I have a Mothership with much more expertise and knowledge to guide me so when I told her I wanted to re-vamp the kitchen a bit with curtains and a tablecloth she was happy to help. The table cloth and curtain material both came from Dunelm and are just adorable! The table cloth was incredibly easy to make. Measure your table, allow some excess and have the material cut- done! It’s oilcloth so it doesn’t fray and is easy to wipe over too. Sorted! The curtains were a bit trickier but so satisfying to make and now I know how to make them I’ll definitely have another go in the future.

DIY Dog Bed

Our home wouldn’t be complete without our hound Harry. He’s such a big part of the Rayment household and I wanted to make him a lovely dog bed whilst in keeping with our living room. I came across this lovely fabric (which if you look closely has a dog pattern on) and thought it was perfect. I did another tutorial on how to make this (here) but it’s crazy simple and I guarantee it’s something you could do! He loves it as I made sure it was a nice big bed for him to stretch out on and I love it because it’s not a typically garish dog bed- yay!

Sundae Candle

Back in April/ May time I took part in the Craft Blog Club’s spring clean gift swap.  In a nutshell the challenge was to spring clean some old craft supplies whilst creating a secret gift for another craft blogger. I made a sundae candle for Robyn of Simple Little Pieces plus more (see post here) and made an extra one in case I cocked up the first one! Thankfully her candle came out lovely, leaving me with one too which is a cheery fun decoration for our kitchen. It’s confused plenty of our friends mwahahaha…

  

Craft bench make over

Having the perfect craft area is crucial for spreading out materials and having space to create and again I couldn’t find anything I liked within my price range *sobs* so yet again I rolled up my sleeves and decided to make my own out of materials I mostly already had. My desk started off as a teeny tiny laptop desk with a shelf balanced on top. After sourcing the same desk, I drilled another spare shelf top on top and with a lick of paint I created a long craft bench. One end is aimed at being office like, with laptop and printer whilst the other I leave clear to use my sewing machine and create other craft projects. It was super cheap to devise and I think the chalk based paint helps it fit with our shabby chic guest room. I’m planning on doing a craft room post in the near future so watch this space…

And those my friends are a few little ways I've made our house a little bit more homely on the cheap whilst incorporating crafts! It’s so much fun and god do I get a kick out of it when people ask “where did you get that from?” and I can reply, “I made it myself.”

 What have you made for your home?