Welcome to the family: Diana Mini Lomo

I have an announcement - there is a new addition to the family. My Mini-Diana! She is a true beaut. (Oh and she's sporting a fantastic map of the world, never to get lost!) I have to thank my dearest IzzWhizz entirely for this new family member, totally inspired (and totally crazy!).

Diana Mini 'Compass' Lomography Camera

This is my first toy camera, we've had one or two teething problems but I'll skip over those boring details. Suffice to say the results are COMPLETELY unexpected and unpredictable. I'm not a gambler by nature, but dropping the shutter on this baby is a complete gamble.

Expect to be bombarded by some psychedelic, weird and wonderful shots as the Grand Lomo Experiment gets underway!

DIY project: Necklace organiser

The other day I was scrabbling to find the perfect necklace to go with my outfit and realised that grappling with this giant knot of jewellery was not an ideal scenario:

The previous state of my jewellery drawer - Chaos doesn't even cover it!

So I got to work with a few simple items to assemble into a nifty little necklace hanger. (Assemble is the operative word here, this is as simple as it comes!)

All I used were:
1. A rustic chunk of drift wood. I picked this bad boy up on a trip to Hayling Island at Easter (yes that is exactly how long it took me to get round to putting this altogether!)
2. A fluro lace I picked up with my trainers and was saving for a project just like this!
3. Some hooks I found in the toolbox

Drift wood, laces and hooks

All I did was knot the lace around the drift wood at either end and screw in the hooks along the wood. I hung it up by the lace neck to my dressing table and, voila! Luckily this chunk has a number of protrusions that are perfect for hanging on, bingo!

I love the character of this wood, it's nobly and gnarly and fun! Get out and see what you can find!

Ok, this isn't my entire collection of necklaces, but I need to spend some time untangling them first!

It looks lovely above my dressing table! :)

DIY project: Crystal embellished sweater

So to go with all this Autumnal weather we're having it's time to spruce up the wardrobe. I am useless at layering, far too complicated! So one big snuggily cover-all sweater is right up my street.

I was super lucky to spot this giant GREEN (swoon) sweater in a thrift shop in the Lanes in Brighton on a girly weekend away. And even luckier when we found out that everything in the shop was half price, bin-go! So I nabbed myself this bargainous deal and my diy mind went into overdrive:

It's a giant size XL and super snuggly, but my favourite thing is that is has someone else's name ironed into the inside. So XXXX if you're out there, your old sweater has gone to a great home and is making me very happy right now! :)

I decided some further embellishments were required to give this the bling factor. I already told you, I'm obsessed. What I used:

Swarovski sparkles! I know you've already seen these, but they are just TOO pretty!

Plus some nifty tweezers and fabric glue.

The comes the fun bit! Get crafty with the sparkles and glue to embellish the eagle! Careful with this glue, it's toxic so use in a well ventilated area and the tweezers really help you avoid getting glue EVERYWHERE!

The tweezers were a godsend! 

As well as embellishing the eagle I added some bling to the lettering.

This was a pretty simple project and the results are bling-tastic! Now I feel I can wear this sweater out anywhere, it's given it a big lift and a smidgin of fashion qudos! This is what the finished article looked like - I popped it on with some patterned leggings and little black boots, yummy! I'd wear this to hit the shops, indulging in a long sunday roast or just relaxing with friends.

The finished article!

Worn with patterned leggings

Or hang out with the cat! :) Ok he's the neighbours', but he likes to visit us when they're out!