Phase Eight Wedding Guest Outfit :)

Wedding season is quickly approaching and it always seems to create such a dilemma for women, WHAT TO WEAR?! Phase Eight has some gorgeous summery dresses on their website now, perfect for a wedding guest outfit. I hadn't been to a wedding until two years ago, my cousins wedding. I simply fell in love with the romance and magical aspect of weddings, it's such an honour to celebrate the love between two people. How many other days of the year do so many people get together to celebrate something happy and positive?

Phase Eight are holding a competition to create the perfect wedding outfit and here's my creation...

This stunning dress is the 'Pauline Frill Dress' (£120.00), I think the colour is perfect for spring/summer weddings, as it's bright and stands out. The shape is really flattering for pear and hourglass figures (I'm pear shape), nipped in at the waist and below the knee. Personally I don't like my legs, so I'm always searching for pretty dresses that cover up the top part of my leg, which this dress does perfect!

I chose the 'Hayden Fascinator' (£59.00), it's stylish yet subtle colour goes well with the bright pink dress. Fascinator's are almost a staple accessory to a wedding guest outfit and I think this one is really pretty.

The clutch handbag is the 'Hope Bow Clutch Bag' (£49.00), the Oyster colour matches perfectly with the fascinator and shoes. Again, it's a subtle colour as to not clash or overpower the bright pink in the dress. The clutch has a little strap if you prefer that option too, which is nice to have the flexibility.

Finally, the 'Tia Filigree Sandals' (£89.00), I love their sophistication and small heel. I've been to two weddings where I've worn really high heels and granted they look really nice but the penguin style walking that seems to take over and the constant look of pain, isn't a good look! I would always go for a smaller heel now and a heel that has little or no risk of slipping off, as these have no risk they're perfect!

What do you think of my Phase Eight Wedding Outfit Creation?

Jessica Simpson NEW Shoe Collection

Hand's up who loves heels? I am partial to the odd high heel but am also guilty of never wearing them and just looking at them, sitting there being all pretty! The only occasions I wear heels for are weddings and birthday's, any other event I consider wearing them but always decide it's not worth the risk of breaking my ankle. Yes I am a bit of a wimp! This doesn't stop me being interested in heels and they are always on my wishlists.

So when House of Fraser announced that Jessica Simpson had released a new range of heels on their website today, I was intrigued. They certainly aren't a reasonably priced range of heels, with prices starting at £75. But I do like the fact that there are some staple styles available in a variety of colours. This is great for picking a colour that suits you and what you wear! There are some very current neon colours in the range too. The range is suitable for the more summery, warm months with sandal style heels and chunky heels.

Waleo Platform Court Shoes £75

Jeorge Court Shoes £95

Sasa Wedge Sandal £85

Dany Platform Sandals £95

Parie Sandals £95

Jasmint Platform Court Shoes £85

Do you like the new Jessica Simpson Shoe range?

Blended Therapies - Aromatherapy Products

Blended Therapies is an online store that offers a wide range of luxurious, natural and aromatherapy products at reasonable prices. The range is vast, from products designed for gardeners, Dad's and Baby's to treat's for yourself! Mother's Day is fast approaching and there are some lovely gift sets that would make a perfect present.

Mothers Day Gift Boxes - from £12.00



Handbag Lavender Hand Cream £2.50

Dad Shaving Gift Set - £25.00

Teething Cream for Babies - £7.00

After writing the 'Lovely Gifts for Mum's To Be' blog post (see here) Blended Therapies kindly sent me one of their beautifully packaged products, their Stretch Mark Prevention Oil (£8.00). The key attribute of Blended Therapies products is that they are created using natural ingredients and based on aromatherapy. Pregnancy is one of the most natural thing a women's body goes through, so surely it only makes sense to treat it with natural products too. It's especially important when you have an unborn baby to consider too.

After talking to a couple of my friends and my sister in law that have been or are pregnant, a reoccurring worry for them was stretch marks! Stretch marks can happen at any time in your life, I have small stretch marks on my hips from when I gained and lost weight throughout my teenage years. So I can imagine if I get pregnant I will have loads of stretch marks. My view on stretch marks from being pregnant is that they should be embraced, those stretch marks are a sign that you carried your baby for 9 months and ultimately gave you your lovely newborn. Having said this I obviously don't know how I'll feel after having a baby. I know that a lot of women find stretch marks a real concern and they can really dent a women's confidence.

Blended Therapies have created a Stretch Mark Prevention Oil, which claims to 'prevent or lessen stretch marks'. The oil contains a mixture of apricot kernel and wheat germ, in their unique combination. These ingredients are 'known for their properties in improving elasticity and healthy skin condition'. It's easy to apply, just massage into the tummy area throughout the pregnancy. I have given this to my sister in law and she has used it a couple of times. She says it smells divine and is a very luxurious consistency, which isn't too greasy. The 100ml bottle is the perfect size for the length of pregnancy, as you only need such a small amount per application. She's looking forward to continue using it throughout her pregnancy!

Have you tried aromatherapy products before?

Please feel free to leave me a comment, I love hearing what you think :)

A tasty alternative to flowers :)

Bisquites is a unique and exciting company that offer the perfect and more reasonable alternative to sending flowers! They offer unique gifts that are stunningly presented and best of all - EDIBLE! Bisquites offer carefully decorated shortbread displayed in interesting and original ways, such as in a bouquet, bunting, wedding favours and gift boxes!

As Mother's Day is fast approaching (it's the SAME day as my birthday this year!) I was kindly sent one the Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet and couldn't believe how beautiful it was! Each of their products is carefully displayed in a gift box with a ribbon, wrapped in tissue paper and each individual biscuit is wrapped in cellophane and a bow. The biscuits are melt in the mouth shortbread and with the icing on each biscuit, they are seriously moreish! One excellent attribute of Bisquites is that the best before date is very good, my bouquet was delivered at the beginning of February and it's best before date is the 7th April 2013.

They really make the perfect present for Mother's Day, as a Thank You, Birthday's, Anniversary, Get Well Soon, Wedding etc.

A range of their stunning bouquets...

I think you'll agree that these bouquets make a lovely alternative to sending someone flowers and with prices starting from £16, they are cheaper than sending flowers too!

Here are some of the other unique gifts Bisquites offer:



£13.50



£3.50



£4.95



£3.50

How cute are these biscuits?

Please feel free to comment below :)

I MADE: Vintage Inspired Notice Board

As you probably know by now I LOVE anything crafty, especially on a Saturday night (shows how wild my life is!). I have really wanted a shabby chic notice board (not a very glamorous name but I'm unsure of their 'offical' name) for a while now but kept finding ones that were either too big or too expensive. So me being me decided to try and make my own for the cheapest way possible, without looking cheap and tacky!

I managed to make this vintage inspired notice board (if anyone can think of a better name for it please let me know?!) for about 50p!!

What you'll need:

A strip of strong cardboard, I cut mine out of a box I got through the post and therefore FREE! It can be as big as you want your notice board to be.

3 different material patterned tape, I got these FREE with 'The Art of Papercraft' magazine last year (always look out for new crafty magazines coming out, as they often have very generous free gifts to entice you). There is also a wide range on ebay.co.uk too.

Wallpaper sample, the wallpaper I've used I got a roll for £1 in the NEXT sale last year. You could also go to a DIY shop (like Homebase) and you can rip off 'samples' of wallpapers for FREE.

Alphabet Stamps, I have used these ones in previous 'I MADE' posts and they are from ebay.co.uk but I got these for Christmas.

6 Wooden Pegs, I got a set of 40 wooden pegs for 77p from Wilkinsons, so for 6 pegs that 12p.

Rustic String or ribbon, depends on what you want the finished look to be.

Superglue, from Poundland

Strong Thick Brown Tape
Scissors

Ruler

How to Make:

1) Cut your wallpaper so that it's about 5cm bigger than the cardboard, all the way around. Then neatly 'wrap' the piece of cardboard like a present. Fold all of the sides over and each time make sure you stick it down well with the strong thick brown tape.

2) Once the wallpaper is stuck down, measure 5cm from either end and mark with a pen. Take your piece of string (make it as long as you want it to be, the longer it is the lower it will hang) and place each end on top of the 5cm marks. Stick the string down with the brown tape, ensure it's completely stuck down as this will hold the weight of the notice board.

3) Now on to the decorated pegs that make this notice board, well a notice board! Choose one of the patterned tapes and measure it to the exact length of a wooden peg. My tape was wider than the peg, which isn't a problem, but it doesn't want to be longer. Carefully stick the tape to the wooden peg, making sure there are no bumps and lumps! Repeat with the different patterned tape with the other five pegs. I decided to do two pegs of each pattern.

4) Now on to the labels that I've stamped onto the tape, to get the best results your patterned tape will need to be material, so that the ink soaks in and doesn't smudge. Decide what you want the wooden peg labels to say, it could be the days of the week, names of children/family members, could be used to display table plans for a wedding/event, let your imagination run wild! I chose: To Do, Lists, Bills, Receipts, Vouchers and IMPORTANT. Using the alphabet stamps and black ink (again, you can use whatever colour ink you have) I stamped on the words to each peg. This is very quick and easy to do, just make sure you stamp on the words in the same direction on each peg.

5) Your nearly finished, position the pegs on the hanging notice board how you would like them to look. Get the superglue and very carefully put three dots on the back of a peg (top, middle and bottom). Place the peg back in its position and hold down for 30 seconds or until it's stuck down. Repeat with the other five pegs.

6) There you have it, a beautiful vintage inspired notice board that you can personalise! If you want to make it bigger just use a longer strip of cardboard. Ideas for other designs:

Families - using pegs with each person's name on would work really well. Then you can attach anything you need to remember for each person, for example swimming lesson times, after school clubs, school letters, dentist/doctor appointment times etc.

Wedding - if you made a bigger version then it could be used to display your table plan. On each peg, stamp on 'Table 1, Table 2 etc' or your tables names and then attach a list of the guests names to their tables peg. You could also display one of these notice boards at the wedding venue with piece of paper and pens next to it and ask your guests to write messages to the Bride and Groom and attach them to the pegs. A lovely memory for the married couple!

Couples - stamp the days of the week on to the pegs, so that you can attach your plans for the week on the relevant days. A clear way to display what's happening during the week and there's no 'You didn't tell me!' excuse! Or the same as I stamped on, another way to keep organised.

Businesses - you could stamp on new orders, pending orders and old orders on to the pegs and attach the relevant documents. A pretty way to display paperwork!

This design can really be used for any purpose and it's so cheap to make! 

 What do you think?

Will you have a go at this craft project?