DIY Sweet Tree - Cute Gift Idea!

Hellooo ♥

This is literally my third time trying to upload this post, how infuriating! Anyhow, hopefully it actually works this time! Right, so it was my baby sisters 21st (not so baby then..) last weekend and i wanted to give her a unique cute present that meant something to us both so what i eventually came up with was a flying saucer tree! My sisters fave sweetie is flying saucers so i decided those on a tree would look really really cute. I've seen a few of these online and decided that rather than pay in excess of £30 for one, i could definitely make one myself which would be all my own little touches and would mean more to my sister than one quickly bought online.

This is how it turned out:

Without going on and on, i think the tree went really well and i wanted to share a quick post on how i made it and the steps i took to make it look just as pretty as the ones you buy online!

What You Need:

Polystyrene Ball  - I used a 15cm one £2.99 from Hobbycraft.
Cocktail Sticks - I needed loads of these and got them free from my work.
Dowel Stick - I also got this free from work but you can cut a curtain pole or use bamboo stick.
Sweets - I used flying saucers - around 300!
Ribbon - Any colour.
A Pot or Tub - I used a garden pot i already had.
Plaster of Paris - If you don't have this you can use clay or playdough to pack the pole in.

Lets Get Started!

Step 1:

Firstly, i made a hole in the bottom of my ball and with some glue around the rim i pushed my stick into it and let that dry to attach the ball to the dowel pole. I then used plaster of paris to set my stick into my garden pot and let that dry overnight.

Step 2:

The next stage is to choose a ribbon colour you want to cover your pole in. I chose a really pretty glittery one from Card Factory for £1.99. Basically to attach this all i done was put a little glue at the bottom of the pole and wrap all the way up to the top, cut the excess and glue at the top to secure. It doesn't even have to be very neat at the top of the bottom as it will pretty much be covered. I put some pretty pink tissue crumpled up in the pot and some flower confetti. 

Step 3:

Now your pole and pot look pretty but you need to get on with the ball! This stage is the most fidgety and time consuming although still mega easy. My boyfriend and i sat for ages attaching saucers to cocktail sticks then starting from the bottom of the ball sticking them all in one by one. As i got further up the ball however, i realised that it was actually easier (for me anyway) to stick the cocktail sticks in first, then attach the saucer. Some of the saucers split and some lost their sherbet but, that's ok, just means you get to eat them ;).

Starting from the bottom makes it easier as if you leave that part until last you will find it difficult to go around the pole and fill all the spaces. A tip i would say is that the tree, in my opinion, looks prettier and bigger if you don't push the cocktail right into the ball, instead leave a little space between the sweet and the ball. 

Step 4:

Basically you just work all the way up the ball with the sweets until you can no longer see any of the ball. Then, when you reach the top you just go all the way around seeing if you can in-fill any spaces, then you're done! You can add any other decorative things you want to the pot/pole etc but i like mine the way it turned out and my sister loved it too!

Here's the finished product:

Hope you liked this little tutorial!

If you try this please please tweet me a picture i'd love to see @labellavida2 or tag me in an instagram pic, my insta name is Ashlee_yy

Also, i'm having issues with my posts showing up on blogger and it's really starting to bug me! If you have any suggestions on how i can fix this annoyance pleassse please tell me how!

A♥

Pastel Hair!

Hey Ladies ♥

So i don't know about you guys, but when i get bored i get really crazy ideas in my head and just decide to do random things.

Today, my random decision was to 'chalk' my hair after seeing images online while searching for dip dyed styles.

I have had loads of questions on how i did this since i posted a picture on various social networking sites so i thought i would do a quick blog post showing you a few simple steps so you can do it too!

I'm not going to lie and say this was quick and easy though. As i have really dark hair it took me quite a while and the pink was a nightmare but if you bare with it and do it a couple of times it is really quite simple and effective! So here goes :):

What you need:

A spray bottle filled with water (unless you're blonde, don't bother with this if you are).

Soft Pastel Chalks, or Hair Chalks.

A towel.

A brush.

Latex Gloves.

What you do:

Basically, you get your pastels and you pick your colours. I'm using a pink one and a blue one from this set i picked up for £3.99 from a shop near me called "the works" but you can find cheap sets like this online.

Then you have all your stuff ready and put on your gloves (this isn't essential but your hands do get pretty minging!). Also wear old clothing, it does transfer onto them, even when you're finished, but it washes off.

This is when it gets messy! What you want to do is get scared, like my face clearly demonstrates in this picture.. and make sure, like me, you have a towel around you to protect your clothing and neck.

(haha! No shame!)

So you want to section your hair into small sections and spray each section with water as you go. As i said, if you are blonde you probably won't need the water as the chalk is going to take to your hair much easier than it took to mine! I needed a lot of water!

While the section is wet, you want to run your chosen colour of chalk over it in one direction down the hair. Chalk is going to dry your hair a bit so make sure you don't rub up and down as this will matte your hair, just rub in one direction. You might need more water at this point if you are using more than one colour like i did.

Once you have finished that section, just move it out of the way and let it dry while you move onto another section. You want to do this all the way round your head to all the parts you want coloured and let it all dry.

When your hair is dry, it will probably literally be quite dry as the chalk drys your ends a bit and mine ended up looking like this:

Wait until your hair is completely dry and brush through. Brushing is going to cause chalk powder to go everywhere so do it over a bag or some paper or something, then use some form of heat tool (curlers, waver, straightner) to style and seal in some of the colour!

Then you have to clean up the major mess this makes, haha!

And you should end up with something like this :):

If you don't want to use artist's soft pastels like me you do get actual hair chalks online like here but i reckon they are just really the same thing!

I wouldn't reccomend street chalk as this probably isn't going to be pigmented enough, particularly for dark hair like mine.

Some people worry that this is bad for my hair but the worst i think it has done is dry the ends slightly! It washes out fine and hasn't seemed to have done anything else!

Obviously this isn't permanent and will wash out as soon as you want.

Overall, i really love the effect i ended up with and i will definitely try chalking again despite the mess i made!

Have you or are you going to try hair chalking? Make sure you send me pictures on twitter if you do!

A ♥