Friday 31 May 2013

Two shades of red nails

So the big weekend has finally arrived where I will be wearing my first ever sewed dress, the Pin Up Dress.

Of course I had to go for a nail design which would be red.

I decided to paint three nails in one red and the other two in another. Also put a bit of gold glitter on two nails of each hand.

Base Coat: essie 'rock solid'
Red 1: Rimmel 60 seconds '320 rapid ruby"
Red 2: essie 'scarlett o'hara'
Glitter: essence colour & go '121 gold fever'
Top Coat: Maybelline express manicure

Now it's time to pack and go road tripping! So so excited!






Thursday 30 May 2013

Corporate Event @ The K Club

My employer invited my partner and me to a corporate event at a 5 Start Golf Club nearby.

We spent Tuesday night there and were blown away because we didn't got a normal room. For some reason we were put into a suite and !oh my! it was gorgeous. Really old fashioned and simply fabolous.

Yes, I do love a very modern interior but this was something else. It felt like a time travel and it was very special.

The breakfast, lunch and dinner we had there were also absolutely yummy and the service was outstanding.

I didn't take any pictures of the building itself, but you can check it out here.

Here are a few impressions of our suite and also the outfit I wore for dinner on Tuesday night.











Monday 27 May 2013

Red and white polka dot nails

Sunday was my nail design day. Time to get rid of the old one and come up with a new idea.

No, the nail varnish usually doesn't last a whole week. Usually on a Wednesday or Thursday I have to replace it with a quick fix, which is a something like a light pink or nude nail varnish.
No, I never leave the house without nail varnish. Addicted? Yeah, maybe ;-)


Base coat: essie 'rock solid'
Base colour: L'Oreal 211 'Opulent Pink'
Polka dots: Evie Mai base coat 
Top coat: Maybelline Express Manicure

After the pink dried I took my dotting tool and got dotted away ;-)





DIY: Easy T-Shirt Skirt (Part II - the long skirt)

Remember the T-Shirt Skirt I did about a week ago?
I still had 10 T-Shirt pieces left. After going through the tough decision which one not to use for my new skirt I got sewing.

Not sure if Abby is approving the way I sorted the pieces?! Do I see a little bit of doubt in her look??


The finish product from the front?


And from the side/behind (including awkward foot position)


Sunday 26 May 2013

DIY: Origami Skirt

Totally was on a roll yesterday! After completing the Pin Up Dress I was on such a high that I decided to use the new polka dot fabric straight away.

A lot of the fashion blogs I follow are showing Origami Skirts. Only problem: they are so so short. I don't do super short skirts. I don't like them and I also don't think that I should be showing too much of my legs ;-)

Masha, one of my fav bloggers made a blog post about Origami Skirts not too long ago. The one I liked the most was the white one.
So I decided to make my own version of it, just a lot longer.

I started with a sketch:

Based on the sketch I measured out and drew the three pieces I would be needing for the skirt:

Front piece I


Front piece II


Back piece


The new fabric is quite thin so I decided to line the skirt with plain red fabric, which meant that I had to cut out each piece two times. I did this by simply putting the two fabrics on top of each other to have exact matching pieces. 

I sewed each of the pieces together first and turned each piece inside out. Next step was to bring the three pieces together. 


To have it sitting nicely on my hips I decided to sew in two darts. After that it was time to sew the top hem. I simply folded the fabric two times to have a neat finish. 

Now it was time for the second zipper of my lifetime ;-)
I place it in the middle of the back piece (just in between the two darts)

To finalise the skirt I did a fitting by wrapping the skirt around me and drawing little marks on the skirt to see how much the two pieces would have to overlap. 
A few more stitches and the skirt was finished!

Oh hold on...I remembered the lovely customised cloths labels I bought last year to 'tag' any handmade knit wear.


And here we go, my long Origami Skirt: (This time I even made an effort and put on some proper shoes before taking the pictures.)















Saturday 25 May 2013

DIY: Pin Up Dress - Completed!

I really did it! The dress is finished and I like it. It's wearable and fits quite good.
It's a miracle. Not only is it the first dress I ever sewed it's also the first masterpiece with a zipper. No idea why I was so afraid of sewing a zipper, it was much easier than I thought in the end.

I enlarged the pattern last night so that the annoying part of the dress was already done when I started this morning!


The first piece to cut was the skirt. After I did that I realised that I didn't have enough polka dot fabric, but not to worry! I still had some plain red cotton fabric. 


So I decided to puzzle the top ;-)


Shortly after starting the sewing I also realised that I didn't enlarge the pattern correctly, so I had to do a bit more of sewing Tetris. I added bits and pieces where I needed them. 
Eventually the top was finished!



Next I sewed the top to the skirt and sewed in the zipper. 
Hold on a sec:
Before I was able to do that I had to drive to a  shop to buy a different zipper. The one I had sitting at home for ages was actually to short. 
I was very pleased when I found out that the shop selling the zipper also had quite a few nice fabrics in stock! Finally a shop close by, BUT it's expensive. So I only bought another polka dot fabric...smaller polka dots this time. 


Totally happy with the zipper, I did the hem of the skirt and here we go: 

My first sewed dress! Pin Up Style! (The pictures are not the best and sorry about the socks. I will show you the full outfit after next weekend when the dress will go out the first time. Can't wait to show it off!)





The belt is a fake leather belt I bought a while ago. Saved me from sewing one.

Abby wasn't really impressed with the action going on in the living room. She had a big snooze instead! Isn't she just the cutest?








Friday 24 May 2013

DIY: Pin Up Dress - Weekend challenge

I will be going to a Hen weekend next weekend and I was struggling to find a dress to wear. There is one in my wardrobe which would be ok, but of course a new dress would be really nice.

Looking for easy sewing patterns I found this pattern for a Pin up Dress (sorry guys, it is in German). Bought a lovely red and white polka dot fabric the other day which would actually suit the dress nicely.

So I decided to make this dress my weekend project. It is my first attempt ever to make a dress and also to sew in a zipper. Please cross your fingers and stay tuned tomorrow. Hopefully I will be back in the afternoon/evening with some sort of success message!

By the way, I bought the fabric at Ikea. It is a nice cotton fabric and I have to admit that I am totally obsessed with polka dots. I own dresses, skirts, shirts, cardigans and all sorts with different kind of polka dots.
Buying the fabric at Ikea might be a bit odd when you first think about it, but there is just no nice fabric shop around the corner. If this dress is gonna be a success I will be starting to buy fabrics online, but for sewing the odd skirt it wasn't worth it up to now.


Thursday 23 May 2013

Review: essence nail art peel off base coat

I was pretty excited when I found the essence nail art peel off base coat (not a really smashing name, is it?) at my fav nail varnish dealer.
We all know that removing a nail design which involves some kind of glitter is not the most pleasant thing to do! Of course I thought that just peeling the whole glittery mess off the nail should be much easier and also a little bit of fun.

Here is the design I did on Sunday to try the base coat out:



I started with a thick layer of the essence base coat (as described on the bottle). You are supposed to let it dry for ten minutes (until it goes clear) and also not to wash your hands with hot water for three hours after application. So do your dishes beforehand ;-)

The next layer was a nice pink from Rimmel 60 seconds: 619 pulsating

After that had dried I applied the glitter! essie luxeffects 'a cut above' (it's my absolute fav glitter nail varnish! Sooooo good!)

To give it a nice finish I applied a thin layer of Maybelline express manicure quick drying protecting top coat.

I was pretty happy with the finished product!
Today was the day were it had to come off because one of the fingers had started to chip big time.
To be honest I was even kinda excited to peel it all off!

Being a multi tasking girl I did it while walking the dog in the park, so if you are in a park and there is a trail of pinky glittery stuff .....that was probably me.

I can't say that I actually peeled it off! To be honest it took me ages and only little bits and pieces came off. I pictured the whole experience a little different. More like peeling all of the nail varnish off each finger in one go.
Ok, I was walking while doing it but I would say that removing it the traditional way takes just as much time.
I will give the base coat another go soon, but I am not really impressed so far.

UPDATE 12.06.:

I tried it again. This time I applied a very thick layer of the base coat and let it dry for more than 10 minutes. Today was the day to remove the nail varnish and I must say it went quite well.
I was able to peel of big pieces of the nail varnish and also was able to remove it from some of the fingers in one go!
Not so bad after all....It won't go to the bin so and will be used for further glitter nail designs again!

Monday 20 May 2013

DIY: Easy T-Shirt skirt

As you know I lost a lot of weight over the last nearly two years.

I always loved buying T-Shirts when I was on holidays or the odd slogan shirt. Most of them are far too big now. So I ended up with a high number of T-Shirts I can not wear anymore. Of course I also didn't want to throw them away since they are memories of good times.
They were sitting in my wardrobe and waiting for something to be done with them.

Finally I came up with an idea. Inspired by several DIY projects like the upcycled T-Shirt scarf I decided it was finally time to give my old T-Shirts a new life.
Instead of sewing a scarf I decided to do a skirt out of them.

I started by cutting the print of the Shirts into squares. Start with the biggest print and take that as your measurement for all other T-Shirts. It's not an exact science. I basically cut the first piece and put it on top of the other T-Shirts to get about the same size.



Red is my fav colour so I ended up with six pieces in different red shades which were enough to make a skirt.


The first step is to sew three pieces together. I did the same with the other three pieces and finally joined the two stripes of T-Shirts. Next sew it together to have a tube. The good thing about T-Shirt fabric is that you don't have to worry about a hem. I just did a zig zag stitch all around the bottom hem. (Use zig zag for all your sewing to have a stretchy stitch.




Fold the top hem to have a canal to put the elastic band in (leave an opening of a few cm to insert the elastic band). Use a security pin to insert the elastic band and tie a knot. THAT's it! T-Shirt skirt full of memories done!
All together I needed about an hour. I will do another one with the other T-Shirt pieces too! They make a great holiday skirt. If you fancy you can wear them as a tube top or even make a tube dress out of them! Get creative! It's so easy!



Sunday 19 May 2013

The best low carb chocolate fudge brownies in the world!

Yep, I am not kidding. These are the very best brownies you can find! Not only are they low carb, they are also super moist and just yummy!

They don't contain any flour nor sugar so it's an absolute guilt free treat. I can't count how many times I have baked them so far, but ever since I am eating low carb these bad boys were a trusted friend when it came to chocolate cravings.

You can find the recipe here.

I pretty much follow the recipe. The only thing I adjust is the baking time and the amount of dark chocolate on the top. I usually use less baking time (25-30min) and less chocolate (50-70g)

What also tastes pretty awesome is to put a few nuts into the dough like hazelnuts or walnuts.

I am pretty sure you won't be able to taste the difference to a 'normal' sugar loaded brownie! Give it a go; they are really easy to pull off!



Saturday 18 May 2013

Spanish Tapas at Picaderos

As mentioned yesterday my BF and me went to a spanish tapas restaurant to celebrate his birthday.
Because it's a busy little place we only were able to get a reservation for 9.30pm.

I surprised Mark with his favourite starter and some bubbly at home:
Brown bread with iceberg lettuce, shrimps and smoked salmon


After drinking nearly two bottles of bubbly it was time to take a taxi to Picaderos in Maynooth.
We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Chile and a selection of Tapas.
The pictures are a bit dark, because I took them with my phone

We had meatballs in tomato sauce


Very spicy Piri Piri chicken wings


Green Olives


A selection of cold meats and cheeses


Prawns 


Chicken skewers


Everything was just divine and absolute perfect. I just love having all the little dishes. This way you can try a little bit of everything and order more in case the first order just didn't fill you up. 
But we were very full after eating all this! 

For desert I had a creamy Baileys coffee


My BF ordered a strawberry cheesecake which was served with lovely vanilla ice cream. Yep, I did try a spoon full even though I am on my low carb diet. It tasted absolutely delicious and was the perfect end to a perfect dinner. 


Full of food and wine we took a taxi home. 
If you are in the area you should really go to Picaderos and work your way through the very long menu. If you are not a big fan of tapas, they also serve gorgeous looking burgers, steaks and other dishes.