NEW CAMERA!

The main present that I'd asked for for my 18th birthday was a Digital SLR camera… and I did in fact end up getting the Canon EOS 700D - I was so chuffed when I unwrapped it!

It's the first ever big fancy camera I've ever owned and the photos that you can take with it are extremely high quality (if you know how to use it?!)

Please excuse the dressing gown.

I took photos from both my new DSLR camera and my iPhone 5S camera to show the vast improvement in quality, focus and colouring that the DSLR gives:

^ Taken with the Canon 700D.

^ Taken with the iPhone 5S.

MY BEDROOM WALLS.

From when I was about nine months old (that was the age I was when my family and I moved into the house in which we currently live), my bedroom walls were bright yellow or saffron. This was until I was about 11 or 12 years old and decided that this colour was a bit young for me and I wanted a room that was a bit more grown up. So we (well, when I say we, I mean my parents!) painted the walls a lavender-like colour because I was really into purple at the time. Literally everything I chose to go in my room was purple, and I mean everything: the walls, the carpet, the curtains, the lightshade, the bed covers, the lamp...! As you can probably guess, I didn't really have much of an idea about complementary or contrasting colours.

This summer, I decided once again that I'd had enough with the current state of my room and really wanted a more adult room. When I suggested the idea of changing the colour of my walls to my parents, I wasn't expecting them to agree with my idea but strangely they actually did get on board with the whole thing! We agreed that we would redecorate this autumn when I have two weeks off from school. I knew I wanted a more neutral room (kind of like a studio room) because then I would be able to add different coloured accessories to make the room more my own (plus I'd be able to put up my awesome retro canvases without their bold colours competing for attention with purple walls!). I couldn't decide between having white, grey or cream walls but I eventually decided on cream because it seemed the warmest option of the three. Now I'm really excited to see my room when it's finished and show it off on this blog!

STEAL OF THE WEEK: IPHONE 5S CASE.

I was very lucky to have my previous phone upgraded to an iPhone 5S, so, of course, that meant I had to buy myself a cool new case! My previous phone case was in the style of a cassette and I knew I wanted to get something similar but not exactly the same. I knew I also wanted a silicone case again because it's really grippy and makes the phone feel more sturdy in your hand. When I saw this one on the internet, I knew it was the one for me!

I bought this case through Amazon, but it is actually from a company called Online Best Digital. I paid £1.79 for it and it had free delivery. On the Amazon website, it said that delivery would take between 7-23 days, however mine arrived in the post after 5 days, which was brilliant! My new phone is white like the case so the two go perfectly together. Overall, it was a complete bargain and a fantastic buy - I would definitely recommend this case to other iPhone 5 or 5S users! There is a link to the case on Amazon here.

STEAL OF THE WEEK: PUSH PINS FROM PAPERCHASE.

I paid a visit to Paperchase and picked up this pack of push pins or drawing pins (whatever you like to call them!) for £1.75 - reduced from £2.50. I am aware that you can get a pack of 200 from stores like Staples but those shops don't tell as cute stuff as this! In this pack, there are 18 little raindrop-shaped pins in assorted colours like purple and blue and there are two larger stripy cloud-shaped pins in similar colours. I got these because they go really nicely with the colour scheme of my room. Now I just need to find myself a board to use them on...!!

STATEMENT NECKLACE.

The other day, I went shopping and picked up my first ever statement necklace. I'd been scared to try them out before, but I saw this one and really liked it, so I thought to myself "Just go for it, Laura!" It's from the shop that used to be called Republic, but is now apparently called USC. The necklace was half price: £3 reduced from £6. I feels quite plasticy and very light, but it doesn't look it in real life, which is good! I'd been struggling recently to find a gold necklace in my jewellery collection to wear on a night out and I think this piece really fits the bill!

MAGAZINE FILES.

I wanted to get some new magazine files that were actually sturdy and could hold my school textbooks without falling apart whenever I tried to lift them up, so I went to (yeah, you guessed it) IKEA to buy this pack of 2 magazine files. These files are very strong and have metal corners and edges for extra reinforcement. They cost me £3.75 for the pack of 2 and they came flat in the packet so I had to build them myself. There were a few small slips of white card included for me to label the contents of the files, so I just made mine using a black fine liner to organise my AS and A2 Level textbooks separately. 

There are a few different colour options on the IKEA website here.

DIY PROJECT: MELTED CRAYON RAINBOW ART.

I'd seen many people on the Internet doing this awesome art project, so I thought I'd give it a go. It only cost me £1 altogether because the only thing I needed was the canvas! I found the crayons in the spare room when tidying up in there, I borrowed the hot glue gun from my nan and I already had the rest of the materials.

All the stuff you need:

• Plain white canvas
• A spectrum of crayons
• Hot glue gun (with extra glue sticks)
• Hairdryer
• Cardboard (from an Amazon box or something similar)
• Pencil, rubber and black fine liner
• Sheet of white paper or card
• Scalpel/craft knife
• Glue stick (Pritt stick)

What to do:

1. Remove the wrappers from the crayons. You can use the scalpel to cut down the sides of the crayons if the wrappers are too difficult to remove by hand.

2. Organise them into the order that you want. I would recommend not putting the crayons exactly in colour order because then there would be a big block of the same colour, and it's nicer to have a bit of variation while still keeping the general rainbow effect.

3. Plug in your hot glue gun and put a line of glue where you want your first crayon to go. Stick down your first crayon but remember to be quick as the glue dries quite quickly! But once it's dry, it is very difficult to move or remove. Continue this for all the crayons.

4. With a pencil, sketch out the design that you want at the bottom of your canvas on your piece of paper or card. The classic thing to draw is someone holding an umbrella because when the wax melts, the majority of your design is shielded, and it just looks pretty!

5. Once you are happy with your design, go over the pencil lines with a black fine liner and cut out the design.

6. Cut out a couple of pieces of cardboard in the same shape as your design, stick them together and then stick your design on top using a glue stick or Pritt stick. The more layers of cardboard you use, the more your design will stick out and therefore the less chance that the wax, when you melt it, will drip onto your design.

7. Stick it all onto the canvas.

8. Switch your hairdryer onto the highest heat and power settings and get melting those crayons!

BEDSIDE TABLE TRANSFORMATION.

Ever since my bedroom was last decorated 5 years ago, I have had to live without a proper bedside table, so I resorted to creating my own makeshift table from a large set of green, plastic drawers with a very old yet tiny chair precariously sat on top. The purpose of the chair was to make the whole construction a bit taller and more accessible from my bed. I couldn't have a bedside lamp because the "table" wasn't stable enough to hold a lamp securely. I found it really annoying at night having to get out of bed, just when I'd gotten comfy and taken my glasses off, to turn my bedroom light off and then try and snuggle back down again. It was also very annoying reading at night as well because the bedroom light got too bright after a while and hurt my eyes when I was trying to read. What I really needed was a new bedside table, where I could position a nice, softly glowing lamp to read in - so I went out to IKEA again and got one! There is a link to the table that I bought on the IKEA website here.

I spotted this table when just browsing through the IKEA website, trying to see if there were any bedside tables that were long and thin to fit in the narrow gap between my bed and my wardrobe. I was extremely shocked but pleasantly surprised to see that this particular table had the perfect dimensions to be able to fit there! The table is completely white and is just a tiny bit taller than the top of my bed. It has one drawer at the front, which you can open by pulling on the bottom of the drawer. Because of this, I was thinking of getting a unique drawer handle to fix onto the front to make it easier to open. Inside, there is a little secret shelf above the actual drawer, which is quite useful for books or other items to keep them dust free.

Because there is a lot of space underneath the table, I tried fitting by school bag and portfolio in the gap (because they are always hanging around on the floor in my room) and they fit perfectly! It's a great place for them when I'm on my school holidays because I don't want my bag out all the time. It was as if IKEA made this table specifically for me - it's just so right! The purple lamp on top of the table is also from IKEA, however I bought it a couple of years ago, and it casts a beautiful soft purple glow (once the bulb gets warmed up!) which is perfect for reading in.

Before:

After:

SOPHISTICATED EVENING OUT.

I wore this outfit for my friends' joint birthday party, which was at their parents' restaurant.

Jacket, shoes & watch
I talked about these three items more in my first outfit idea, which you can find here.

Top
This royal blue peplum top is by Redherring at Debenhams and, of course, I got it in the sale for a reduced price of £6! It is relatively thick compared to other peplum tops that I had tried on before finding this particular one. It has an interesting but soft texture, which the photo below has captured to some degree and the top has a mesh triangle on the back. The triangle doesn't go down super low but it is a nice little added touch. The peplum at the bottom of the top is really flattering on the female shape and emphasises your curves. It looks great under the blazer, which is quite straight, so there is a nice contrast between the fits of the two garments. I really love the vividness of this top - it's just such a gorgeous pop of blue amongst the other more neutral pieces.

Skirt
This simple black bodycon skirt is from Matalan and it probably cost about £5. I got it a couple of years ago and it has served me very well so far. It looks really good under the peplum top because of the contrast in fit again. I would definitely say that a black bodycon skirt is quite a staple to have in your wardrobe!


Disclaimer: I bought all of these items of clothing with my own money and photographed them myself.

STEAL OF THE WEEK: PURPLE CUSHION FROM ALDI.

I spotted this gorgeous purple cushion in Aldi (the home of bargains) for £2.99. I would have been happy to pay the original price of either £6.99 or £4.99 (I can't quite remember which!) because it looks a lot more expensive than it actually was! This is probably because it has this baroque-style pattern on it in a sort of shiny material, that looks different shades of purple when it catches the light differently.

I chose this cushion basically because my room is mostly purple (however, I will be changing the colour of the walls soon to white/grey/cream, but keeping the rest of the purple decor). It came with the inner cushion inside it already, and there is a zip across one of the longer edges so that you can remove the inner to wash the cover if need be. I think it goes quite nicely in my room, especially with this particular set of bedsheets. I will definitely be adding more to my collection of cushions in the near future!

MORE PINTEREST INSPIRATION.

I love this family tree themed wall and how the photos are in monochrome against the mint wall.

Brilliant idea - making decor mirrors out of vintage tennis racquets!

Surrounded by inspiration.

I want to do this to my wall - it's such a good idea!

Adorable.

SHANGRI-LA BATH GIFT SET PACKAGING.

A few weeks ago, I gave this bath gift set to a friend for their birthday, but before I did, I just had to take a few photos of it because I think that the packaging is just so pretty. I didn't get any photos of inside the gift set because I didn't want to open it, since it was a present. I bought this from TKMaxx, however you can see more of the products from this collection on fragrancedirect.co.uk here.

OUTFIT FOR A GIG/CONCERT.

I've never actually been to a proper gig or a concert before, unless you count the time I went to a Girl Guides event where some not-very-well-known bands played some never-before-heard songs for us and we screamed at them whilst wearing our Guides uniforms, trainers and bunny ears. I created this outfit so that when I do finally go and see one of my favourite artists or bands perform, I'll know immediately what to wear.

Jacket
The jacket is my £8 light blue denim jacket from M&S. I wrote a more detailed post about it here.

Shirt
The top has the year 1985 written on it in the design of multicoloured beads and gems. It cost me about £10 and it was from H&M. I like the idea of this top because you don't need to accessorise with a necklace because of the jewellery design adds the colour already. Besides, I wouldn't want a necklace smacking me in the face if I was jumping around at a gig!

Skirt
This light grey bodycon skirt is also from H&M and cost me £2 - it was in the sale! I thought this skirt was a good idea because the fact that it's fitted contrasts with the boxy top and bulky jacket.

Boots
I got these combat boots from New Look. I seem to remember that I bought them incredibly reduced in a sale at about £3. They would be very comfortable for walking around in and also for staying stood up for a long time at a concert.

NB: I would recommend taking an across the body bag for convenience and practicality.


Disclaimer: I bought all of these items of clothing with my own money and photographed them myself.

STEAL OF THE WEEK: DENIM JACKET FROM M&S.

Not long ago, I went shopping with my mum, and whenever I go shopping with my mum, we always have to pay a visit to M&S. Most of the clothes that are sold in this particular shop are for more mature women; not usually for young people like myself. On occasions before, I have managed to find the odd gem that looks quite youthful in this store. So, we were routing around in the final reductions section when my mum found this denim jacket. When she showed it to me, I immediately fell in love with it. 

It is a light blue denim jacket, very slightly cropped, with quite a large fit. What I mean by this is that it isn't fitted; you could quite easily layer things up beneath it in the winter. Before we found this jacket, I had already been looking around for one and successfully purchased a different denim jacket from H&M. That jacket was darker and of a slimmer fit and therefore, I think, slightly more formal than this one from M&S. I did decide to get this jacket as well because of the difference in colour and fit. Also, who could leave a denim jacket that cost only £8 - yes £8! - on the rail? I believe it was reduced from about £35, so it was a complete bargain!

It was only when I got home that I also realised that my new jacket had two inside pockets as well as the two on the outside! This makes it even more practical and wearable in day to day life for me.

 I really love the pattern of the material inside the sleeves of this jacket!

A TRIP TO IKEA.

My parents and I went to IKEA to look for a hanging wardrobe organiser for my room. I had seen a few relatively inexpensive ones (about £4-6) on the website that I wanted to check out in person before I bought one of them. However, when I did see them in real life, they were of quite a thin, plastic material that didn't feel particularly sturdy. I then spotted a larger organiser with 7 compartments, made out of a strong, canvas material with thick cardboard sewn inside the material shelves to give it more structure and strength. I had actually seen this one on the website, but immediately discarded it because I didn't like the beige/brown flowers design; it seemed quite old fashioned. In reality, however, it appealed to me a lot more. It has pockets and areas to hang belts and scarves on both sides. I think because of the durability of this organiser, it is a brilliant investment for £13. You can find a link to it on the IKEA website here.

I was walking through the rest of the store, (it takes so long to get out of IKEA; it's basically a maze!) and I spotted some plain cushions, 50x50cm in size, in different colours: red, orange, white, etc... so I picked a white one up for £3, as I am planning to make some nice cushion covers. There is a link to it here.