Instagram Collage... My 2012 Memories

Hey, I recently saw on Louise's blog Sprinkle of Glitter, that she had done a collage of all her instagram photos which I loved.

I love taking pictures, but am not very good at taking my camera around with me, I love Instagram because it is always with you and you can snap away at life's little moments that happen throughout the day. Looking back at my instagram photos from this year, each one had a different memory for me and reminded me of all the fun things that I had done and had happened to me this year.

I wanted to put these together a little like Louise did and display them somewhere where when I look at them, I am reminded of the fun I had this year.

I found his great company called Printstagram Who for $12 dollers print 48 miniature Polaroids from your instagram.

When the parcel arrived I was so excited! I am so impressed with the quality of the photos, I am not sure you would be able to do them at home which made it even better.. I knew that I wanted to put the photos on my landing as I have a large wall which is quite bare.

I had this old picture that i bought from IKEA about 4 years ago, I do still like the print, but if I am honest it does not go anywhere in the new house.

I used the frame as a guide and started sticking my photos down, I just used a Little PVA glue to keep them in place

I really love the look of them all a little uneven and a little wonky, I think it makes them look more like a collage. this made it super easy as it didn't matter too much how i stuck them down.

Once I was happy with the order of the photos, I just popped them intop the frame and they were ready to be hung on the wall.

This was super easy,  and in total cost me $24. I am SO happy with the results and am loving that every time I walk down the stairs, I am reminded of a really fun time I had in 2012.

I am hoping that I can do a new one every year and watch how my life changes.

What do you think of this? how do you display your photos?

I'd love it if you subscribed above..

Beauty Box Drop outs....

Hey Junkies, This is a little bit of a controversial post really, but one that I wanted to write, to give you both my opinion and find out what you all think of beauty boxes.

I was signed up to two different beauty boxes recently, Glossy Box UK and She Said Beauty. I had been signed up to these boxes for about 3 or 4 months and  just cancelled my subscription.

I originally signed up for the boxes after first hearing they existed through some blogs that I follow and some You Tubers that I am subscribed to. I thought "what a great idea!" sometimes in the past, I had felt myself unsure on what new products to try, and didn't really know where to start in finding something new and exciting to get. So, like most I thought of the beauty box as a great avenue to discover new products and brands that I may fall in love with. I also loved the thought that for £10 a month you were on a 'in' list and you would get really good value for money (everyone likes a freebie or a brilliant deal) I honestly couldn't see where it could go wrong! I even saw a You Tuber going through her box and getting a gorgeous nail polish from Ciate. So I signed up and eagerly awaited my first box.. ( I later found out that this was a Glossy Box USA..... another time, another post, but basically I think that the boxes are 100% times better value for money)

So the first one that came was Glossy Box ( July or Aug maybe) I ripped open the packaging and was really impressed with the pretty pink box, ribbon and the padding inside. I couldn't wait to try all the products, which in fairness I was really happy with. I got a Jelly Pong Pong lip Jelly, which I had never seen, but since have re purchased and love, and a shimmer eye shadow ( can't remember who did it) which I like, I would maybe not re purchase but use every now and again. - I thought for £10 this is great..

The next box came.... and I did not enjoy any one of the products, They were all skin care and face masks with a few spot treatments which I do not use. I was pretty disappointed but though that this is my preference and it may just not be my month.

I then got my She said beauty box, which I again wasn't impressed with, I received Collection 2000 bits and some more face masks... whilst I do love the Primer from Collection 2000 and have re purchased, this was the only product I liked and was not worth £10.

I started to think that this maybe wasn't such a good deal anymore, it wasn't what I had been expecting and I felt ripped off a little, but I thought to myself that I would give both boxes one last try to see if they could get it right....  three boxes later and a mountain of face masks I cancelled both subscriptions.

These boxes were not for me, and after a lot of thought, I felt that I wasn't getting a good deal and felt that these companies were ripping me off by charging me in total £12.95 for a bunch of sample items, that I could possibly go and get for free from the companies. The more I thought about this, the angrier I got! I don't know that this is the case, and would love for someone to correct me, but I feel that these companies are sent X amount of samples for free to send to their subscribers to advertise the organisations (acting more as an advertising agency) ... I get that to have a company you need to make a profit, but at £12.95 per box to send 5 crappy samples that were free, to me is a rip off...

Like I said, I am sure that this may not be the case, and these companies really do want to reach out to the beauty lovers and give them an opportunity to try new things, but I think it is less about the benefits to us consumers and more about what they have been sent that month for free...

Rant over... but my personal reasons for cancelling are..

• Too many Face creams and face masks
• Charging me £12.95 for things I could get for free from the companies
• The Brands were pretty average
• Too many samples, I did not receive one full size product
• Beauty Box Ambassadors always had better products than me..
• Charging me for the box super early and not sending it to me for weeks
• I could go and buy a new lipstick from MAC for £2 extra which I would love more

Things that would make me think about re-subscribing...

• Less products, more full size
• More makeup brands
• Less Face masks and moisturisers
• At least one of the products to be high end
• Sending me the box early in the month

I know that this post has been a little ranty and some people may not agree with me. I would really love to hear what your thoughts are and weather you feel I should give them another chance...

What are your thoughts? are the USA boxes better than ours in the UK?

Pic taken from

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/05/16/the-booming-business-of-beauty-boxes/

Crafty Mrs... My DIY Blackboard

Recently I have been obsessed wit Pintrest and have pinned so many different crafty DIY tutorials, one that I thought I must try was a DIY framed blackboard, which is something I have wanted to buy for a while. 

I had a week off the day job this week, so whats a better time than to get cracking on my new DIY skills... so I headed off to Hobby Craft. In all honestly I ws pretty disappointed with Hobby Craft and could not find anything that I needed, so headed to the Range ( a shop that literally sells everything) and manges to pick up everything I needed other than the chalkboard paint which I picked up from Homebase. 

In all, all the bits, minus the paint brushes that I already had, cost me a decent £18..

Step 1 - I got this box frame for about £3.50 from the Range, I decided I wanted it as a box frame so I had a ledge to rest the chalk on once it was transformed. 

The first thing you want to do is take the glass out of the frame and discard safely, you will then need to get the back board out ready to paint.

I got this paint from Homebase for £11.99 - I would not bother purchasing the magnetic stuff, as it is  not magnetic! 

Stir the paint well, for about 5 minutes as it does separate quite a bit. Then apply a thin layer to your back board and leave in a dry area to dry. 

This paint takes around 2 hours to dry... so whilst it is drying Ill move onto step 2 

Step 2 - I picked up some mint green acrylic paint from the Range, which cost me £1.50 (bargain) I wasn't sure how porous the frame wood would be so I also bought a small tester pot pf white matte finish paint from Homebase to mix in with the green to ensure that one, I had enough and two, it dried well on the wood. 

I then applied a thin layer of this mix all over the frame and the inner frame. I had to keep going back to ensure that I had reached every spot. 

Step 3 - This is optional, but I wanted to add some letters to my blackboard. I bought two packets of children's craft letters from the Range that cost me £1.20 each. I decided I wanted these to be coloured. 

I used the chalk that I had bought to colour the letters in, I then sealed this with some clear nail varnish... 

I then arranged my letters and used some super glue to attach the board... 

Voila...

What do you think? Have you got any DIY tutorials for me to try? 

Thanks for reading.. 

Hair Mare

For those of you that follow me on twitter, you will be aware that I have been having massive issues with the condition of my hair. I have been bleaching it and straightening it, toning it and curling it over the lase few months, which as you can imagine, has left its evil mark on the condiditon of my hair.

I have been trying a few different hair masks to try and inject some moisture back into the strands! some have been ok, others have been rubbish, but my favourtite by far has to be Osmo - Berber Oil Mask .

I picked this up from Sally's for £10 ( alot cheaper than some I had bought) you can use this everyother day as a conditioner, or you can apply before bed if you hair is very dry - I have tried both ways and found that leaving it in over night gave me the best results.

It smells absloutly delicious, I don't think I have ever smelt a nicer hair product (it even beats Aussie)

This for me is a definate staple!

What is your favourite hair product?

Thanks for visiting! don't forget to enter my 200 follower giveaway!