Craft Projects: Fimo Clay Cupcake Charms

Over the weekend I nipped to The Range, which is a store in the UK that sells a little bit of everything.

Their craft section is pretty good and reasonable in price, so I went there to get some general items for the jewellery stall, packaging etc.

I picked up some fimo clay blocks while I was there, and spent an evening making cupcake charms :D

Here's what I used:

1. Some greaseproof paper
2. Facial wipes for your hands (these are handy when transferring to a different clay colour, I find washing and drying my hands leaves tiny fibres behind which catch on the clay)
3. Silver-plated headpins
4. A base colour for your cupcake, as well as some frosting colours
5. I used the skewers for quickly slicing through the clay, I recommend a knife

I used a light beige coloured clay and made a large roll of it, then sliced it by pushing a skewer through the roll, trying to split the roll into equal mini bits. I would suggest using a knife, I just didn't have an old craft-type one available.

I rolled each little section into a ball, then I pressed the ball either side into the greaseproof paper, rotating it so I ended up with a cone. I used a silver-plated headpin to press lines into the cone, then I turned the cone upside down and pressed it down a little, creating a flat bottom.

The bottoms turned out flatter than I was hoping, I'm sure there's a trick to making them taller. I also added blobs to the middle of each base, as something for the frosting to stick to.

Here are the finished cupcakes, right before baking. I decided to try some with white shimmer frosting, others with a red glitter frosting and some with pink frosting. As you can see, most of them have a headpin through them, ready for making into charms. I'm not entirely sure if any of these are good enough to feature in my jewellery though ;)

The pink frosting with white shimmery heart on top is my fave :)

I definitely don't work well with fimo clay, but it was fun to make them. Maybe with lots of practice I'd get alot better, haha.

Love,

Fiona x



Nottingham Make-Up Haul

Last week we decided to go to Nottingham and I bought a few bits & pieces, mostly make-up. I've been meaning to write this post sooner but I've been super busy getting ready for the stall.

Anyway, onto the goodies :)

Primark watch pendant necklace - £4.00

The first item was an amazing find in Primark. I absolutely love pendant watches, and this one is only £4.00. I have a really nice one I bought from River Island a while ago, but this one's great for casual wear.

Paul & Joe Lip Gloss G in shade 02 (found in TK Maxx) £6.99

I was so excited to find this lipgloss in TK Maxx, I've always wanted to try some Paul & Joe products, and the packaging is just the cutest. The tube has a raised floral detail and a beautiful pearly pink lid, the box is also pretty sweet as you can see from the photo. The lipgloss itself is in a beautiful light nude sparkly shade (as shown in swatch below).

Paul & Joe Lipgloss Swatch

Clarins Single Eye Colour Eyeshadow in Icy Turquoise (found in TK Maxx) £5.99

I fell in love with the colour of this eyeshadow, it's a beautiful shimmery deep blue (as shown in swatch below). They also had one called Pink Frost, which looked like a pale shimmery pink with light flecks of golden glitter, I was tempted to get it but I do have a similar colour so I was good ;)

I think the colour is quite pigmented and strong, stronger than I was expecting actually. I was just curious to test out some Clarins make-up, so far I'm pretty pleased.

Clarins 'Icy Turquoise' Swatch

I was pretty excited about picking up the next items.

Nars Blush in Deep Throat (bought from Space NK) £20.50

I've been wanting to own a Nars blush since reading so many amazing reviews and seeing so many swatches, but the price tag has always put me off. After having a good look at the testers in the Space NK store in Nottingham, I decided that Deep Throat looked like the best blush for me. I thought that Orgasm was quite orangey and a bit too pearly for me. And I could also understand why people say that Super Orgasm is too glittery, it really is! I could never pull that one off.

I also checked out the lipglosses, and I was rather disappointed. Alot of people really love them, but I really dislike make-up products that have that certain smell, I can't really think of a word to describe it. I love products that are either scentless, or have a lovely vanilla/almond undertone.

Here's a swatch of Deep Throat:

Nars Blush - Deep Throat

It's a bit of a rubbish swatch, but that was just a light application. You really don't need much of this for impact. I imagine I'll have mine for ages and ages. It has to be my favourite blush, ever.

I also invested in a couple of MAC Lipsticks:

L-R: MAC Cremesheen in Creme Cup + Speed Dial - £13.50 each

I've wanted to try MAC lipsticks for a long time, but I'm not really a lipstick person generally, so I figured I'd buy them and never use them. How wrong I was. I absolutely LOVE Creme Cup, I've used it almost every day since I bought it. I'm applying a thin amount of it and using a bit of my Vaseline Cocoa pot on top for a bit of extra gloss. Speed Dial is the nicest pink, but the smallest amount is super bright, so I have used that one less. As mentioned above, I hate badly scented products, but these lipsticks are heaven to me because they smell of vanilla :D

While in the MAC store, I browsed the eyeshadows as well as the lipsticks. I think my favourite eyeshadows are Satin Taupe, Expensive Pink and Patina.

Anyway, here is a swatch of Creme Cup & Speed Dial:

Top: Creme Cup

Bottom: Speed Dial

Wow, this is a pretty long post!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend so far. I have tomorrow off work (yay!) so I'm looking forward to a day of jewellery making and preparing for the stall.

Today I got myself some fimo clay with the intention of making cupcake charms. The results were.... rather bad, but I did remember to take pictures, so I'll share that crafty project with you in my next post :)

Love,

Fiona x

The Happiness Project

A few days ago, I linked up with Lindsay at Scenic Glory to join her Happiness Project, which is a weekly marking of progress towards a goal. I have tons of things I'd like to focus on, so I imagine my very own little project will last a long time ;)

This is technically week #2, but it's my first post, so I'm calling it week #1.

This week I have decided to.... get organised.

Here are my goals:

1. Get my savings account sorted out.
2. Finally tidy the cupboard.
3. Transfer all important dates (currently on scrap bits of paper) into my diary.
4. Eliminate the 'clothes for ironing' mountain that seems to be growing, eek.
5. And the fifth one is quite exciting, I need to get myself ready for a stall in a summer fete, in less than a month! I'll be talking more about this one in upcoming posts I'm sure.

So I'll check in next Thursday with this and hopefully I'll be ticking off my goals :)

Love,
Fiona x

Sparklerose + Flonightingale's Fabtastic Giveaway! *CLOSED*

*CLOSED*

As mentioned previously, Sparklerose teamed up with Flonightingales to offer a fabulous giveaway!

Following a review of Flo's lovely Sparkle Bow Earrings, we decided to create some pieces to offer to our lovely readers.

Lots of lovely goodies!

Here we have:

A beautiful handmade bracelet from Flonightingales, featuring owls and mushrooms.

A pair of cream sparkle rose studs from Sparklerose.

A cute Eiffel Tower charm necklace from Sparklerose.

Two Nails Inc Polishes in Wellbeck Street and Maple Street.

Flonightingales Charm Bracelet

Eiffel Tower charm necklace

Sparkle rose stud earrings

To enter:

1. You must be a follower of Sparklerose and Flonightingales, as this is a treat for our readers :)

2. For extra entries, you can 'like' Flonightingale or Sparklerose on Facebook, or follow Flonightingale or Sparklerose twitter pages. Just comment separately to say which of these you've decided to join :)

Be sure to leave your email address so you can be contacted if you've won, as well as your GFC name.

For the extra entries, leave your name and/or twitter name where appropriate.

This giveaway is open internationally.

The deadline for entries is Wednesday 17th August at 12:01am, the winner will be announced the following day :)

Good luck everyone!

Love,

Fiona x

*CLOSED*

Sparklerose Make-Over

I decided to give Sparklerose a make-over.

I've almost had Sparklerose for a year, and I'm in the process of creating an Etsy store, so I figured now would be a good time to shake things up a bit :)

At the moment, half of the old design is lying about, but I'll hopefully be finished up by tonight.

I just need a break from my laptop before my eyes turn square..

The next post will be a giveaway, one previously mentioned that's a collaboration of Sparklerose and Flonightingale. Keep your eyes peeled :)

Love,
Fiona x