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?

A Crafternoon at Hotter with Create and Craft TV

If you've known me a while or have followed my blog you may well know that two of my greatest loves are shoes and crafts, so when Hotter invited me to a craft workshop with Create and Craft TV I instantly said yes! 

With the Mothership (AKA Mum) as my plus one, we trotted on down to Hotter in Queensgate, Peterborough and were greeted by the wonderful Hotter team and introduced to crafter and presenter Mel Heaton plus the team behind Create and Craft TV.

The evening started off with bucks fizz and delicious nibbles followed by a talk on shoes from the Hotter team, explaining how comfortable and well made their shoes really are. Lots of styles were passed around from the Savannah sandals to the Hattie wedges to be oohed and arred at as well as the materials they use to give their shoes that comfort concept. Mum has always been an avid Clarks enthusiast but by the end she turned to me and said "why haven't I been here before?"

Then came the crafting… We were each given tools and various sizes of patterned paper to work with which Mel revealed were going to create a 3D gift tag. When I first looked at the vintage inspired tag my first thoughts were “ooh this is pretty” followed by “this looks hard!” but with the instructions from Mel, everything slowly started to come together to make a really effectively and beautiful gift tag. I got the chance to chat with Mel whilst crafting away and she admitted she was never particularly artistic at school but loves to make things, which just goes to show that anyone can have a go!

The tools we used were the floral crafters tool set from Tonic which I'd never come across and initially thought they could be giant nail art tools! Thankfully with a demo from Mel we were shown how to use them on the foam pad (which comes with the kit) to manipulate our circular card pieces into 3D petals and leaves. 

To add to the 3D effect of the paper layers, we went round the very edge of each piece with a foam pad dipped in ink. This really emphasised the edges and helped them to stand out from one another- something I would never have thought to do.  

To form the flower centres we cut some of the circular paper into spirals and rolled them up into the centre, securing with glue. We then used the tweezers in the tool set to hold them securely in place whilst they dried. This again was another little trick I picked up for future use.

During the workshop the Create and Craft TV team were snapping away with cameras (which made me glad I’d done a manicure) and asked me to say a few words for the camera. It’s so bizarre being filmed by someone else when you’re used to filming for yourself; editing out the parts you mess up/ don’t like but here’s how I got on and surprisingly for myself, I don’t think I did too bad! (I'll insert the footage or link to it once it's live.)

When the workshop had finished, the final result was a beautiful gift tag which when broken down into stages was quite simple and fun to do. Everybody’s was slightly different due to the way each individual folded, cut and manipulated the paper, giving a unique twist to everyone’s work. I thoroughly enjoyed the craft workshop, picking up lots of new tips and tricks as well as feeling inspired to create more paper crafts in the future. Watch this space!

Feeling rather pleased with ourselves, Mum and I had one last look at the shoes with Mum having her first Hotter moment! She chose the Tone shoes which of course are comfy and perfect for nurses. With nursing and being on her feet constantly, she found her perfect pair for comfort and stability.

All in all I had another fantastic evening at the Hotter store in Queensgate. (If you want to read about the first event click here. ) Both myself and Mum thoroughly enjoyed the craft workshop, both feeling inspired to create and craft more at home and to watch the Create and Craft TV channel which is on freeview channel 36. As always the Hotter team were also fantastic and I can’t wait get my hands on their upcoming autumn winter collection!

Once again I vlogged the event, this time with the help of Mothership so click the video below:

See you all again on Friday!

Updated Room Tour

So today I thought I'd let you have a nosey around my bedroom. I personally love watching these videos a) because I'm nosey and b) they give me ideas and inspiration on storage and decor etc. I did my first ever room tour video back in 2012 which I've also linked down below in case you're interested. I've since moved but you may notice things from my first tour in the second video.

My updated room tour:

My first room tour: (I say casual far too many times in this, it makes me cringe watching it back!)

Do you love your bedroom?