A perfect gift

                 

  I treated myself to the beautiful keyring made by the wonderful Louise and her best friend Rosie. (She's her beautiful dog) and I couldn't be happier! 

It's so dainty and pretty it looks gorgeous in my keys.

I've decided it's the most perfect gift so friends and family done be surprised if you all get some of these. 

Head over to her Instagram page 

@thejanuaryrose 

Or her Website www.thejanuaryrose.co.uk 

And share the love.

GDL Fashion

         

        www.genderless-clothing.com 

What on earth is GENDERLESS clothing? 

It's a revolutionary idea that people DON'T need to shop by section (men/women) but can walk into a store and choose ANYTHING they want and not fit a stereotype. You wear it how you want because it's totally gender neutral. It's a tshirt revolution guys! 

We're calling it a Tevolution. #tevolution 

If you're fashion forward, sporty, androgynous, girly, gay, straight, transgender, gender fluid, black, white, tattoo'd, pale and "not into fashion" or just simply... YOU... No label, just fancy a new tshirt? Whatever. It's for everyone. The company and the ideals are the future and im so excited to be a part of it.  AHHHH! I could squeeze something. 

Who are SQUAD GDL? 

•Meet the Team• 

    Company and Brand Creator Lucy

 Marketing Director (bossy bitch) me!                   •Hello!!! 

Our photographer Abigale Lewis Photography at Green Pig Studios 

          The Official GDL Models 

        Cutest couple ever Jay & Amy

    Steph who's look is perfect for GDL

   And Cardiff Blues Rugby Player Tom

We are passionate about this brand and 2016 is going to be so exciting! 

Get your hands on our AW15 range now at the website. And watch this space ✨

Upcycling furniture - How do I do it?

Whats "up-cycle"? 

Everyone's talking about it, hash-tagging it, doing it but, What is it?

 It's the art of taking something used and re-freshing it, turning the "old" into something "new". 

OK, but where to start?

My upcycle was a table my mother gave to me when I moved into my house. It's always been used a side table and as nice as it was it never went with any of my white furniture. 

I decided I would paint it to match.

Done my research and found there are some great paints out there and wax to make your furniture amazing such as "Annie Sloan" and "Farrow and Ball" but honestly, I wanted to something cheap and cheerful and we used white dulux paint we had used for the ceiling last year! 

We used a sandblock to sand down any chipped or uneven edges (pack of 6 sandblocks at "what!" for £1) and then painted the legs with white paint. It only took one coat of paint! 

(Professionals would then wax it to protect it and give it a shine) I haven't waxed mine as of yet but will do in the future! 

This is the result of 45minutes spare time.

Ta-da! You can do it too! get in the shed and find some left over paint and have a go! 

If you don't want to ruin your furniture then there are an array of shops that will do it for you (for a fee of course!)

Some I recommend are:

Heavenly Comforts Aberdare. 

(She also runs Annie Sloan workshops if you would like to learn the proper techniques.) 

Her Link here:

https://www.facebook.com/HeavenlyComforts?fref=ts

Lynda Brogan's Shabby and Chic Furniture of Merthyr 

Her Link here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shabby-and-Chic-Furniture-of-Merthyr-Valley/358091494263652?fref=ts

From Shitty to Pretty Furniture (Brecon)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/From-shitty-to-pretty-furniture/304736056365681?fref=ts

Paper Tape 10 seconds makeover

Paper tape is my new best friend! 

You can choose any many different designs, colours, patterns and up cycle anything...Furniture, lampshades, frames, vases. All for as little as £2.99!

I chose a Cath Kidston-esque floral tape and decided to desecrate my welsh dresser. I didn't even use half of my tape which means lots left over for more creativity.

I just simply run the tape along the edge of my shelf and cut to fit.

TA-DA!! Shabby chic shelves in 10seconds. 

Enjoy xx

DIY Material Hearts

DIY Shabby Chic!

I absolutely adore the stuffed material hanging hearts I see in the shops! They range from £1.99 to £6.00 in various shapes, sizes and colours. 

BUT they are SO easy to make at home with pieces of material you already have or buy some nice floral ones from ebay, material stores, Ikea, fabric world Treforest (for south wales readers).

I chose a Ditsy white and pink spring floral fabric for mine.

All you need is...

Fabric 

Fabric scissors 

piece of chalk

cotton

sewing needle 

some ribbon

microfiber stuffing 

30minutes spare time.

(you can get all these really cheap look on ebay or craft shops!)

Step 1.

Draw around a heart shape with the chalk and cut it out. Make two.

Step. 2

place your hearts together (inside out) and sew your hanging 

ribbon to the top of your hearts! leave a small gap for your ribbon

 so you can pull it out when you turn it inside out.

Then, start to sew them together.

step 3.

Sew to almost half way down each side then secure with triple stitch. 

Then cut off the cotton and gently turn your heart inside out.

step 4.

gently pull your ribbon at the top through the small gap! 

If its small enough it shouldn't need stitching back together.

 You should be left with a flap at the end of your heart. Like this.

step 5.

Get enough microfiber stuffing to fill your heart and gently stuff it until your happy with the shape, size.

you can make it as thin or as full as you want.

Then sew up the end of your heart. 

step 6.

This is how it will (hopefully) turn out! You can choose to 

embellish it with ribbon, 

button, sequins, fabric shapes. I left mine plain. (as seen)

step 7.

Find somewhere pretty to hang it.

On a draw knob, door handle, chair, bedpost etc to make the house 

pretty and give a shabby chic vibe.

You could even cut extra long length of ribbon and then use it as a bookmark. the heart hanging out of your book will make it look pretty wherever you put it down.

Simple.

Enjoy, Happy stitching. 

Feel free to comment or post your versions below!

Laura x

Pasg Hapus. Happy Easter.

Happy Easter Everyone :)

Hope you've had a great relaxing day with family, friends, doing what you enjoy today!

      

Went to my godmothers house for lunch and here were some of her cute Easter decorations. Even Stag got "Easterfied" poor thing.

I sent my girlfriend on a "Beer hunt" instead of an egg hunt which went down a storm and with each can of Guinness she found, the louder her excitement got. The neighbour then asked me later 

"Did you enjoy your egg hunt?" 

"all we could hear out in the garden was.. 

OOH I FOUND IT!!"

Oops. 

I did ask for NO CHOCOLATE because I'm on a never ending diet to shift my last few stone but of course, nobody in my family listens, has to shower us with Easter eggs so we cheekily melted them and dunked these delicious juicy strawberries then popped them in the fridge to harden for an hour. 

Now the fruit cancels out the chocolate, right? Right.

DELICIOUS! 

So instead of a lot of drinking and dancing all night this bank holiday we spent it relaxing with Family and believe it or not...

We cleaned the garden! 

I found my poor bike hiding under tarpoling.

Look how pretty she is...

Bobbin bubblegum Dip-Dye with white leather seat and handles.

Yes, I'm proud.
She needs some TLC from her winter hibernation but I can't wait to go for lots of bike rides this summer.

Anyway, "Hoppy Easter ALL" enjoy tomorrow if you're off.

Laura x

Designer Doubles

for the kitchen.

Designer Home without the price tag.

I love interior and home designers and they usually provide 

quality items that last a long time (with care of course!) 

but with the "designer" label comes the "designer" price tag and 

sometimes we just cant make the pennies stretch that far.

So, here are some options / purse pleasing alternatives...

Emma Bridgewater

 I absolutely love her collection and have started collecting for my welsh dresser! I absolutely love my polka hearts personalised mug but they come in around £30 each. pricey right? (worth it if you love her!) 

Here are some doubles I found in other items for pennies.

Poundstretcher plates side plate and dinner plate 

both for £3.30

                                     

Original Emma Bridgewater polka hearts dinner plate 

£15.95

I also found these "Polka Hearts"cute 

coasters in Home Bargains for 79p

BRIGHTEN YOUR KITCHEN WITH JUGS

Jugs are really handy to have around! It goes without saying 

you can use them for their purpose, Summer drinks in the garden, 

pouring drinks at meals times with the family 

or use them as a vase for your beautiful flowers. 

These aren't identical but they have the same feel. 

Duck egg blues, with pink florals.

Emma Bridgewater 6 pint jug £85 

or 1 1/2 jug for £34.95

Gisela Graham limited jug RRP £29.99
Found in HOMESENSE CARDIFF for £6.99

CHALKBOARDS / WEEKLY PLANNERS

If you are crazy busy (like I am at the moment) 

you need to get organised. Buy yourself a diary or

a visual aid to remind you.

I found this AMAZING shabby chic chalkboard in 

HOME BARGAINS for £1.79!!!! I still can't believe 

what a steal it is! 

Happy Penny Pinching! x

Money Savvy

Learning to be Money Savvy.

My Home is my little piece of heaven. It's beginning to shape into a place I want to spend ALL my time. Over the past 4 months of winter I've been swapping the heels and champagne lifestyle for slippers and cups of tea and I'm not depressed or sad, I'm really quite happy. Saving the pennies for key items for my home. 

I do EVERYTHING on a budget. I have to. I don't have a tonne of money. I wasn't born into money and unless I work really hard, I never will have any. So I work 2 jobs every week 6 days a week. Then during the school holidays I do my third job too. Then after all that working I want to hold onto as many of those pennies as I can but I'm a shopaholic. 

I spent my student loan on a holiday to mexico with my best friend Kayleigh Dears (That's a story for another blog!) 

and am digging myself out of a student overdraft month by month, I am absolutely  terrible with money. Or used to be. 

Enter the purse pleasing, penny pinching lifestyle.

I literally search high and low for what I want and the price I want. So i'll share my finds with you, hopefully inspire you with the things I find along the way. I love shabby chic, vintage, but also clean, country and even modern spaces. I love designers such as Emma Bridgewater, Laura Ashley, Cath Kidston and you'll say "They are not purse pleasing." "£70 for a cushion isn't on a budget!" but you have to find alternatives, seconds, style duplicates or wait for the SALE!  When you get fed up of the same four walls even a bit of upcycling, room re-arranging can make a space feel totally different. Charity shop finds can be amazing too. 

You can see more of my home on my instagram page. Lauraamie27.

by using the hash-tag: 

#Lauralucyhome

Oh The pressure of a blog name.

Oh the pressure of a name.

Well,

My first blog. I've always entertained the idea of a blog

but never got round to it. Finally on an Easter Half term I find

 a moment to do it, type in my name and... 

SORRY, NAME UNAVAILABLE. What?! 

But that's the name I chose, the name I want. 

Furious.

Take 2. Begrudgingly I type in my second, halfhearted name.

SORRY, NAME UNAVAILABLE.

You ARE kidding me?

This goes on for a series of names so then I decide WELSH! 

I'll find the perfect name in welsh. But no, every welsh female 

interested in the same things I am have come and taken any 

half decent welsh blog name. Goodness gracious, Oh the pressure of a name.

I sat looking around my house for inspiration but no luck.

 I went to bed with a headache and vowed the blog wasn't for me.

Wake up the next day and start my "spring clean" where I find 

my gorgeous Laura Ashley boxes hidden away on a cupboard upstairs

 in the spare room and decide they need a bit of showing off. 

 Be be Its spring, they are floral, they are moving to the livingroom. 

I can't afford new ones I'm on a budget here. 

As I'm wiping off the dust I think to myself THAT'S IT! 

I love doing everything "on a budget" I rush to the laptop, 

QUICK find the flipping charger I've found the perfect name 

"Girl on a budget". Type it in as fast as my fingers would let me.

SORRY NAME UNAVAILABLE! For the love of...

"Female on a budget!"

SORRY NAME UNAV-  OH F*** SAKE!!!

You can tell feel my frustration by this point. 

I sat in dismay looking at the keyboard thinking there 

are far too many bloody blogs out there, when, 

Dreamer on a budget springs to mind. I tap it in. 

BLOG NAME AVAILABLE with a beautiful purple exclamation mark! 

No yellow or red. HALLELUJAH I've found a name. 

It may not be the most thought out, intellectual, 

inspiring blog name in the world... BUT ITS MINE! 

and guess what?!

If you type in "Dreamer on a budget" into the "create blog" section. 

Guess what its going to say?