TheATeam: beautiful

Friday, 31 October 2014

D.I.Y~ Halloween mini Pumkin Candles

Hello Internet, April here,

This week I'm going to be showing you how to jazz up your Halloween displays with super cute, munchkin pumpkin candles!
~~(mouth full)~~

After pottering about many, many, supermarkets in my local area, hunting high and low for the perfect pumpkin, i finally found these babies,

~~Munchkin Pumpkins! Look how adorable!~~

These little cuties were bought from Waitrose £1 each!

So, after my last candle escapade -Here- i had loads of wax bars left, begging to be used!
and after finding an awesome pin on Pinterest, ~~which for the life of me, i cannot re find, to link,-sorry,~~ i felt totally inspired to create something similar. This is a really unique and simple yet effective decoration for all your halloweeny needs!

This DIY has a make time of half an hour;

-In depth instructions for candle making can be found here-

Melt wax via a double boiler,
Whilst the wax is melting, hollow out your pumpkins,
Use some sort of Vaseline or petroleum jelly to layer the entire inside of the pumpkin. This aids in keeping the pumpkin fresher for longer,
Dunk the metal end of the wick in to the melted wax pan then press till set in the bottom of the pumpkin,
Using a jug, pore in the melted wax till full,
As wax starts to set, tape the wick in place,
Place pumpkin in fridge till fully set

And that's munchkin pumpkin candles sorted!

I hope you love this DIY as much as i do, and i cannot even describe the beautiful mixture of vanilla wax with a hint of pumpkin, its delicious!

Toodlepip xx

Thursday, 16 October 2014

D.I.Y- Mason Jar Candle

Hey Guys,

April here, and i may have gone mental with candles this week!

(My whole window sill may or may not be literally full of candles, much to the despair of my fighter fighting father)

Since i mentioned "twinkling Yankee candle's" in my previous post, its inspired me to try and make my own candles since its cheaper, and lets not forget, more fun.

This is how i got on, and how to make your own...

I went online and ordered one mason jar, extra long candle wicks and a few blocks of wax, granted the wax colours weren't what i ordered, but i was too excited to giving candle making a go, that i didn't bother going through the hassle of returning it all back to amazon etc.

For this D.I.Y you will need;

1x mason Jar
1x extra long wick
2x blocks of wax
A non stick, cheap ass sauce pan that you don't mind messing up, and use it to create a Bain-marie/double boiler to melt the wax (click here to learn how to make a double boiler)
Some sort of jug, to pore the melted wax in to the mason jar
Some heavy objects to balance the jar against if you want to set your wax on angles

(you may need more double boiler set ups, depending on your pattern you wish to produce and/or colours you want to use)

[I used 2 double boiler set ups, so i could alternate the colours to make a zig-zag pattern]

(heavy objects) (double boiler)

Instructions for my specific pattern;

Melt your first whole wax block down (10 mins to fully melt)
Dunk the end of the candle wick (metal bit) in to the melted wax then place in the bottom of your mason jar, give this 5 mins to set.
Carefully pore 1/3 of the melted wax in to your mason jar, via a jug (you need to make sure the wax sets at the same angle when using both colours, or the pattern will not look right)
You can now turn the cooker that's fuelling your double burner off

(don't worry about the melted wax, it will set in the pan, but can be easily re melted when next needed)

You must allow plenty of time for each layer to set. I left each layer balanced between my heavy objects for half an hour then gave it a quick session in the freezer (10 mins) to make sure the layer is solid, this is so it can stand the heat of the next layer.
I then repeated this process 6 times over until the jar was full to create the middle zig zag effect,.
Leave the full candle in the freezer for an extra half an hour to fully cool down
During the setting process, sometime the wax sinks in the middle, if this happens you can fill the hole up with some more melted wax, or ignore it, and once the candles been lit, and melted down a little, the problem solves its self.

Here's a little time-lapse of the candle!

There we have it, a super cute, inexpensive alternative to a +Yankee Candle , I hope you enjoyed this D.I.Y - AND spoiler, i have something related to this for a Halloween special, stay tuned to find out ;)

Toodlepip xx

Saturday, 4 October 2014

"October-spiration"

Hey Internet!

April here, all cosy in my fluffy blanket sipping hot chocolate. All i need now is a tad bit of my guilty pleasure-keeping up with the Kardashians, and well, I'm in heaven.

As the evenings are drawing in and its 81 days till Christmas-yes i said the 'C' word~sorry.
I have been embracing the inevitability of winter, swooning over the autumn/winter fashion trends that are trickling in to our high street. I had to talk my self out of buying a navy over sized snood from Top shop earlier today, i don't think i have enough will power to last the whole winter!
~~send help!~~

Personally this is my favourite time of the year, its still warm'ISH', but you can cosy up on the evening, with your favourite +Yankee Candle glistening away in the background burning up some of the most amazing Autumnal scents. I love going on little evening adventure's, jumping and kicking up all the crunchy leaves, BUT Lets not forget that October has Halloween too! meaning i get the yearly treat of both pumpkin calving and pumpkin soup! best of all, still getting to play dress up! call it juvenile, but what is life when your too serious?

This is my personal representation of Autumn. I wanted to share my favourite colours, aspects and textures that make this particular season so inspirational and..well.. awesome :)

All these images have been taken from +Instagram using the hash tag #autumn go check it out if you want more autumn inspiration.

This post was inspired by the beautiful post that +Zoella did talking about her favourite parts of autumn, click 'HERE' to check that out!

Toodlepip xx

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

D.I.Y- Cheep Room Decor

Hey guys,

April here, This week im going to show you how to make a quick and easy decoration for your bedroom.

~~Fit for any room actually~~

Im calling this; Project Pin Art

This is a really fun yet simple effective way to decorate your room, or in my case, im putting it on my bedroom door.

The project has a making time of approximately 1 hour, however i was going slowly, relaxing to some chillstep- check it out its amazing to zone out on....
The project also has a total price of £5.50 so if you are looking for cheep way to either decorate a bedroom or university halls of residence, this project will not break the bank! :)

ps) I totally forgot about the wooden border around the canvas, so in the 'edge' areas i used a hammer to pop the pins in :)

I hope you have fun making this mini project and if you have a glue gun to hand, you could glue the pins in place on the back to make it more durable.

Obviously you can use any type of stencil, i just went on photoshop and printed out the letter A on A4 paper. You can also play about with the colour of the canvas either with paint or wallpaper, your choice :) alternatively in some retailers you can find multi-coloured pin heads, so be creative that way!

Check me out on both twitter for everyday ramblings and pinterest for more creative inspiration :)

Toodlepip xx

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Festival Tips & Tricks

Hey guys, April here!

I'm chatting about festival fun this week!

Looking at the bare essentials for your festival weekend!

~~(Just want to point out the images are NOT my own)~~

~~The festival I went to was amazing in every way except the fact that my camera died on the first day so I have no photo evidence of my incredible time.~~

This post is inspired by the Vlog Zoella did on YouTube looking at festival hair, makeup and clothing

Click HERE for the video and more inspiration!

Lets get cracking!

The best advice i can give for a newcomer to festivals is go in a big group! not only is it safety in numbers but it makes the whole experience more enjoyable, also people who have already been to festivals and know what to expect are also handy, they know the best places to pitch the tents etc... yes location of your tent matters!

~ Have a good tent!

people go down the route of getting a cheap tent and abandoning it at the end of the weekend, like me.... worst thing i have ever done! seriously have a good tent with you!

I went for aesthetics over durability/reliability....big mistake! i chose a £15 teepee from eBay, it was easy to put up and looked cute, little did i know about the hell i was entering my self in to. first of all it was unable to contain heat during the night, leaked every time it rained, and would instantly collapse the second a drunk person tripped up our tents guidelines. Not fun re-assembling the tent at 5 am!
Get a tent that is colourful, something that will instantly grab your attention, so you're not hunting for your tent in the dark in a dirty field

( take a small flashlight with you and keep it with you all the time to help guide you back to your tent too)

Have fun looking for your tent!

This is an ideal tent.. no guidelines and very colourful

~ Shoes!

Now I'm not saying everyone right now go buy £80 hunter wellies, because that's a lot of money...for wellies especially.
I'm saying choose something that's both warm and waterproof, and that's comfy to walk around in for 13+ hours a day

( festival shenanigans don't just end at the last performance, its when the party tents open up and the funfair is in full force!)

Just want to point out, everyone wears hunter boots to festivals.. don't follow the crowd be creative and start your own trend!

~ Don't be afraid of the rollers!

Don't be alarmed at the sheer amount of women walking round a field in their rollers!

Now since this was my first festival i had no idea what to do with my hair in regards to keeping it looking fresh... i just went down the lines of dry hair shampoo and hoping for the best.
This obviously wasn't the best/ ideal plan of action, because it was tied up by the Sunday.
I did however noticed how the women with longer hair were turning up to the festival with their rollers in, and i mean A LOT of women that had turned up on the Friday with massive rollers in and plastic bags over their heads to keep dry, i obviously missed a trick!

TRY-- leaving the rollers in all day Friday then on Saturday have a good spray of dry shampoo/ hair spray and your hair would be good till Sunday!

~ Food

I lived off super noodles for the weekend, enough said really....it was light and didn't take up much room in my rucksack. ~~My priority was the alcohol~~
There are food vans open more or less constantly so food is available.. but at a price. I paid £ 7.50 for a burger when i got fed up with the noodles...

~ Wipes!

God help you, if you forget the baby wipes! i took 2 packets, one for the loos and one for the face/ body, they are absolutely essential

~ Clothing

Now finally the best bit, deciding what to wear and take with you! its totally down to you, whether you wanna 'look good' or 'be warm' now obviously there is a nice middle ground between these sections but you do see girls in bikini tops in the freezing rain.. it looks silly and they are deffo gonna get ill. the best tip is to remember you are in England so the chances of rain is high, so remember some sort of hoodie or coat that you can pair with some cute shorts/long socks and wellies... wellies are essential for the inevitable rain/ mud situation here is a mood board of clothing ideas :)

There you go, some fun tips to survive your first festival! have an amazing time and don't get up to much mischief :)

Toodlepip xx

Friday, 18 July 2014

D.I.Y. Textile Owl

Hello Internet!

April here, to show you how to create your very own decorative owl!

Here I have created an easy step by step tutorial for you guys to follow

Tutorial!

Estimated making time: 1.5 hours

( this was me taking my time, simultaneously watching the dan and phil show on radio one, so I was slightly distracted ;D)

(lighting in my room is awful, sorry)

What You Will Need;

(btw, all these products can be found in your local haberdashery store and/or hobby craft)

2x black buttons

2x white thick felt ‘eyes’

1x cream thick felt ‘face’

1x brown triangle

2x grey thick ‘bodies’

2x fabric ‘wings’

2x thick felt ‘wings

1x fabric tummy

1x felt heart

1x handful of stuffing

not forgetting the thread

Obviously you can change the colours of any of the materials needed to create your owl, (its down to personal taste) I just used what fabric I had left in my scrap fabric box. You may also need a hot glue gun/ pritt stick, although I have created the whole project through hand stitching.

Step One- The Body

You will need to blanket stitch the sides of the owl together leaving a hole to pop in the stuffing, alternatively you could stuff with potpourri if you want a beautiful smelling owl.

You then obviously finish stitching up.

Step Two- The Wings and Eyes

To make the wings, put you fabric wing and felt wing shapes together, and blanket stitch around them. Follow this step again for the other wing too.

For the eyes, sew the button on to the white felt circle to make the eye, and then make stitches, like spokes of a wheel from the button around the edge of the white felt circle. This I feel makes the eyes more owl like. Follow this step again for the second eye

This is a front and back view of what your little owl should look like now J

Step 3 –Putting The Face Together

For this step you will need to either hot glue gun the eyes to the face shape or sew it, like I have. Then hand stitch the triangle shape to the face as shown creating its mouth.

Step 4- Putting It All Together

For this part you can stick together your owl with either a pritt stick or hot glue gun, however you can also hand stitch, which I did once I discovered my glue had

Dried out.

I used a basic stitch to put together the tummy and the body of the owl

(If you know you are going to be hand stitching the whole project stitch the tummy on the felt body before you stitch together the front and back shapes creating the body)

So, once you have finished gluing/tacking/stitching your owl together he should look like this!

I also added a tie, so I can hang him from my wardrobe handle.

This is the finished project! Hopefully you have an amazingly cute little fellow that you can use to decorate your room with!

Personally I have used my owl to hang off my ( very dull looking )

wardrobe handle

(just to spice things up!)

You however, could use him as a decorative potpourri holder to pop in your sock drawer, decorate your room with or simply give as a beautiful handmade gift.

Toodlepip xx