DIY: Studded sweatshirt

I'm sure I saw a top like this on the Internet somewhere, ever since I have wanted to create my own version. I saw this post on College Fashion about sporty sweatshirts and after a visit to my local Cotton On I had my very own sweatshirt for only $30!

It was a slight challenge finding the studs, after a visit to Spotlight where I had no joy, I resorted to good old Trademe and found exactly what I wanted. 50 x 10mm pyramid studs for $7.50. Sweet! I was a little worried about attaching them, but as the sweatshirt is thin cotton it was no problem. Now I think I have a stud obsession though, as I have around 30 of them left...what to "stud" next??

It's very easy to do - simply push the points through the material and fold over to hold in place. I would recommend hand washing the top as the washing machine is a bit rough on the studs.

This sweatshirt is great for weekends, I love a bit of detail and it goes great with my gray-wash jeans and shiny silver sneakers!

Cake Decorating Classes

I am so excited! Next week I am starting cake decorating classes. Above are some of the cakes I have decorated over the past couple of years, I learnt how to decorate while working part-time in a bakery while I was studying.

I usually make little cartoon cake toppers but I am looking forward to learning how to make flowers. I have my materials list now so I can't wait to go shopping next week to buy everything! For some amazing cakes check out this website; http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-photos.html

DIY: The ultimate makeup organiser

After many a night searching through my jumbled collection of eyeshadow, blushers, lipsticks and what-not to find the required makeup for going out, I decided enough was enough! There had to be an easier way to store all of this, instead of stuffing it into draws. I like things organised, and on display if possible - problem solved by a visit to my local Spotlight store!

I had long liked the idea of painting and decorating one of those DIY wooden boxes you put together yourself, and I stumbled on the perfect solution searching among them. Being a crafty person at heart (a vivid imagination!) As soon as I saw this Kaisercraft scrapbooking organiser I knew I was onto a winner. I imagined it full of brushes, bottles and pottles, eyeliners...perfect!! At $24 it wasn't too expensive, by the time I purchased some black acrylic paint and some scrapbooking paper it was up a bit...but worth it for the results.

After separating all of the pieces with a sharp craft knife (I would recommend sanding the edges for an extra smooth finish) I painted all the pieces with 2 coats of black acrylic paint. I then cut the scrapbook paper to the appropriate size (approx 2-3mm short of the edges for a nice finish) and glued them to some of the pieces of wood. For the piece with the holes for ribbon, I covered these with paper as I had no use for them.

I painted over the edges of the paper to get rid of the white edge and then used PVA to glue the whole thing together. I tightly tied string around the unit to hold the pieces firmly, and left overnight to dry.

And there you have it! The perfect makeup storage solution. It's narrow, so it doesn't take up much space and there's room for brushes, compacts, eyeshadow, even hairspray!