The Body Shop Wild Argan Oil | First Impressions

You may remember I received this pack from The Body Shop from my amazing boyfriend for my birthday last year. I have been slowly working my way through the products and there are a few I would definitely purchase again.

One of these products is the Wild Argan Oil for skin and hair. Whilst I haven't tried this product on my skin as yet, I have been using it my hair recently and I am absolutely loving the result! I love trying to leave my hair as naturally curly as possible, however it tends to frizz quite badly throughout the day.

I have been using the Spray Gel for Curls by Toni & Guy on my hair for a few months now. I still love this product, however as much as it makes my curls stand out it doesn't have that all day protection from the frizz!

The pictures below show my third day curls using The Body Shop's Wild Argan Oil. I have never used a product that makes my hair stay this nice for so long! All I do in the morning is get up and go - no styling needed.

One of the things I really love about this product is that although it is an oil, it doesn't make my hair feel or look oily (as long as you keep it away from your roots!)

One spray on each side is enough to keep my hair frizz free for a good couple of days.

Have you every tried the Wild Argan Oil from The Body Shop before? I would love to know which products you use to help keep the frizz away!

What I'm Wearing
Crocheted Dress (Blazae- a few years ago)

xx

Bike Makeover | DIY

A while ago I wrote this post about the vintage luxury ladies bike that I picked up from Castle Collectables. The makeover has finally been finished thanks to my very helpful partner (who did pretty much everything!) I am so happy with the results (considering we have never attempted to makeover a bike before!)

 

Before the makeover - in good condition but quite rusted
 

To remove the rust, we used a combination of coke and aluminuim foil! Weird I know but it really works as the pictures below show. See this video for a run down of the process.

Before

After

Once the rust was removed, we used a crome polish on the rims & other crome parts to make them stand out.

Before & After

My partner then had to remove all of the paint from the frame of the bike. For this step he used Selly's Kwik Strip which is a metal paint stripper. Gloves and being in a well ventilated area are a must for this product. You apply the product with a paint brush and once it starts to blister / bubble, you remove the paint and the product with a rough sponge / scrubber. This step took a while as he had to keep going over it a few times (especially where the stickers were.)

Before

 

Paint Stripper at work

  

After



 

To paint the bike, we used a spray gun which my lovely dad got for me! (I am beyond excited about this and have so many projects lined up using this already!) If you are painting a bike you seriously need one of these. It made the whole process so much easier! We used a primer firat and then applied a gloss top coat in an off white colour. You need to leave the gloss paint to dry for at least a couple of days - after this it will be pretty scratch resistant.

Putting it back together!

It took me a while to find the perfect basket for this bike - I ended up getting one from Super Elliots Cycles in Rundle Street (for those of you who live in South Australia!)

We were able to keep around 70 - 80% of the original bike. Some of the screws had to be replaced as they were rusted quite badly. I also purchased a new seat, new wheels and new handle bar grips. We were planning on keeping the wheels but unfortunately they fell apart when we put air in them. I managed to get the bell and the stand from my sisters old bike which Mum and Dad still had in the shed!

I am so happy with the end result - but I don't think we will be "upcycling" another bike anytime soon :)

- J x

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On Trend | Upcycling

 

Over the weekend I read a great article in the Sunday Mail Home lift out titled "Move On Up" which talks about the trend towards upcycling furniture. If you have been reading this blog for long enough, you will have noticed my love for upcycling items and reusing them (a few items include: serving tray, side tables, and my bike - post finally up this week!)

The article talks about a few of the reasons why furniture upcycling is such a great idea. This includes the fact that it is eco friendly and the furniture is usually built tougher than the furniture we buy today (hence why it has been around long enough to "upcycle") It also give you a few tips when it comes to upcycling furniture.

One of the main reasons I love upcycling (apart from those listed above) is the satisfaction from taking an object that may or may not have been used for a few years or is no longer wanted, and turning it into an item that is loved once again!

I thought I would also leave you with a few of my own tips I have found along the way when it comes to upcycling.

1 | Check the condition of the item
When I purchased my bike for example, I really wanted to make sure that most of the bike was working and that I could keep and reuse most of the parts. The point is not to rebuild the item from scratch (you might as well build a new one yourself or buy a new one!) Obviously as you will see in my blog post about my bike makeover, I did have to buy a few new parts, but we managed to keep 70 - 80% of the bike itself.

2 | Have a vision
I think it is really important to have a vision of what you want to do with the object before you buy it or start working on it. I get a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest. Usually I find a few different pictures and decide what I could do to my chosen object (such as the photo above for my bike). I believe it is important to also follow this process before you buy an item so that it isn't left sitting in your shed waiting for you to decide what on earth you are going to do with it!

3 | Consider the use of the item
Do you only want the item as a decorative piece or are you wanting to use the item once you have upcycled it? This is a really important question to ask as it can affect how you finish off the piece. If you are wanting to use an item, the finish of the piece is really important as you are going to want it to last! For my bike, I knew I wanted to use it a lot after we were finished so we used a primer before we painted the bike and a tough gloss paint so that the paint would not scratch of easily.

Once you have considered the above - you are ready to upcycle! I have so many upcycling projects I want to do which I promise I will share on the blog!

Have you jumped on the upcycling bandwagon? Where do you love to shop or where do you find your items? I am currently loving Castle Collectables (for those of you who live in South Australia) I have mentioned them on the blog before!

Ps. Please excuse the pun of using my bicycle as my example of "upcycling" (get it!)

- J x

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2014 Round Up | DIY

If you are a little worried by the title of this post - don't freak out! I am not done with 2014 just yet ;) I saw this great idea on Pinterest (where else!) last year but never got around to creating one. I want to be organised with this project for 2014 hence posting about it in March!

Haul | Saturday Shopping

My partner and I are hoping to buy a house this year, so I have been trying not to spend too much money on things like clothes and shoes etc "luxury items" as some might say. I think I have been pretty good so far (considering I really don't have money to spend anyway haha!) but had a few items on my wish list I wanted to purchase.

I went shopping on the weekend and picked up a few items! Most of these items were paid for by vouchers I still had from Christmas or some Mum had from work so I really only ended up spending about $50 which I was pretty happy with!

So what did I get?

Boots - Betts Shoes - $90
I have been looking for flat black boots for ages so I was really happy when I found these at Betts! I love the buckle detail at the top of them and they fit perfectly.

 

Jackets - Cotton On - $30 each
These jackets from Cotton On Body are so comfortable and are perfect for the cooler weather that is starting to arrive in South Australia (not that I am complaining - I love the cold!) At the bottom of the sleeves there is a thumb hole which is great for keeping your hands slightly warmer.

 

 

Poncho - Miss Shop, Myer - $40
When I first tried this on, I really wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. My sister said it suited me (she is very truthful when it comes to trying on clothes which is great!) so I knew she meant it, but because I don't usually wear clothes this baggy, I was unsure. After having it on for a while and coming up with a few outfits in my head, I decided I did like it! I love that this poncho has a collar that can be rolled down. I think this is something you could dress up or down.

 

 

 

I still have a few more items on my wishlist (of course!) but I will slowly chip away at purchasing these.

- J x

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Camera Bag | DIY

My parter recently purchased a new lense for his camera and therefore needed a bigger camera bag! I found this tutorial from Creating Happiness on Pinterest and decided to check it out.

It took me a good half a day to piece it all together (I had cut out all the pieces the day before) and I managed to successfully sew a zipper for the first time! I think it looks so cute (although I was trying to go for "manly" haha) the tutorial had lots of pictures and instructions and was really easy to follow. 

If I were to make one again however, I would want to change a few things. 

- I would make the outside material more durable (which would require some research)

- I would want to come up with a better way to reinforce and pad out the bag. I used foam and carboard but feel like there is probably a better way!

In the end it's never going to be as good as a store bought one, but this will do us for now and I had a really fun time making it!

- J x

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Ironing Table | The Making Of

I have been wanting to make an small ironing table for a while now and my partner finally got around to helping me this weekend!

The idea came from this post from The Crafty Cupboard. I had a look around for a cute tray table, but couldn't find one that I liked / that suited my needs. Luckily my partner is a qualified carpenter, so I set him the task of building me a table.

cutting it to size // working out placement // almost there! just need some stabilisation

Once he had finished, I attached the fabric as per The Crafty Cupboard post and then painted it the slightly grey/white colour of our side tables.

I love it! It is so handy, and if you had a TV table lying around, it would be so easy to make :)

- J x

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Side Table Makeover | How We Achieved It

Last month my partner and I finally finished making over 2 side tables we received from a family friend (featured in my 30 Day Snap here.) I love the way they turned out so I thought I would share with you how we achieved it! 

NB: This is not a tutorial! 

 

The Process

This was what they looked like before. The wood was scratched and not in the best condition and the mesh inside the top square was falling apart. 

First of all we took the door off and painted the whole thing a greyish white colour (2 coats). My partner the took the door apart to make the 2 squares become one large rectangle and painted it.

He then inserted glass into the rectangle and made a frame around the outside. I think we got the glass for around $13 for both panels. We finished the outside of the door and the table with a coat of clear gloss to protect the paint.

For the inside, I found this cool self adhesive film from Bunnings in the wallpaper section. At around $4 for 1.5M I didn't think it was bad value! It took us 4 to complete the inside of both. This was the trickiest part of the project, and took me a while to complete. You have to be careful not to bubble the contact or let it stick to itself!

 

 

I couldn't have done it without using a Stanley Knife. It was so much easier to cut the contact with this (and a ruler!) than it was with scissors.

 

 

The Finished Product

 

  

 

I think they look so much better. I love being able to take something old and making it new again! It would have been such a waste to have thrown these away.

 

- J x

Haul | Queensland 2013

I cannot believe its been a week since we came back from Queensland! This week has been crazy busy. Anyway, I thought it was about time I uploaded a small haul post on what I bought whilst we were away. I actually purchased a lot of these items whilst we visited Byron Bay (about 45 minutes from Coolangatta) so technically I guess it is more of a NSW haul!

Roxy // $30ish (on sale) // Quicksilver, Byron Bay

Factorie // $4.95 (on sale) // Factorie, Byron Bay

Sportsgirl // $40.00 (purchased by the bf!) // Sportsgirl, 

Byron Bay

Ripcurl // $70ish // Byron Surf, Byron Bay

Mooloola // $39.95 // City Beach, Pacific Fair, Gold Coast

No brand // $10.00 // Local newsagent, Coolangatta

All of the pieces are very versatile and I know I will get a lot of wear out of them! 

- J x