Reorganise How To: Get Rainbow Bookshelves

Step 1: Empty your bookshelves/library of every book/ornament/piece of clutter

Step 2: Dust/polish/repair your empty bookshelves

Step 3: Store or chuck any ornaments and junk that you don't want to display

Step 4: Sell or donate any books that you have outgrown, won't read again and don't want to keep

Step 5: Organise the books and DVDs left over into colour piles (green spines, pink spines, yellow spines, etc.)

Step 6: Set up your new shelves by lining up your books in rainbow order. Within each colour organise your books by category (non-fiction, crime fiction, etc.), height

Step 7: Finally, add pretty decorations, display items or candles. Finish with fairy lights, rainbow Nepalese prayer flags, etc.

Your done, now sit back and enjoy!

Carpe Diem xx

How To Make A Bulb Lasagne and a Gardening Haul

On Monday I tweeted and Instagrammed to let you guys know that had a garden centre haul for you, and here it is! This might seem strange and off topic, but bare with me for a minute or two. My mum has been an avid gardener for most of her life but I have never really done any with her. So, at the age of 21 I decided to take up her offer of making a 'mini-garden' in a pot. With trepidation we set about making gardener and former BBC Gardener's World presenter Sarah Raven's 'Bulb Lasagne'. First things first, this is not edible and does not involve lasagne pasta, but it is in fact fun. The idea is to build up layers of soil and plant bulbs in a tall pot, similar to the layers of pasta in a lasagne, and allow each one to flower at different points in the year.

In order to build up your Bulb Lasagne all you need is soil and a tall/large pot. All you need then is two or three packs of bulbs that will flower at different times (for example February, March, and April/May). When you have layered up your bulbs, the largest and latest flowering planted deepest, cover with soil and some grit on top. As well as using tulips and narcissus you can also plant violas on the top layer. My bulb haul includes Queen of the Night (a tulip), White Dream (also a tulip) and Misty Glen (a narcissus). My aim is to create a unique, dramatic Shakespeare-inspired 'Black Garden', full of deep purples, blacks and contrasting whites.

Have fun!

Read Sarah Raven's guide to layering bulbs here:

http://www.sarahraven.com/bulblasagne

Carpe Diem xx

How To: Autumn Clean Your Wardrobe

It's that time of year when 'school term syndrome' starts. Research shows that a lot of people, in the habit of having started school and uni in the academic term beginning in September, make life changing shifts or decisions in August/September time. Forget spring cleaning your wardrobe or closet, fall/autumn is all about autumn cleaning! 

Step 1: Take all of your clothes and shoes out of their hiding places (yes, all of them!). This is likely to make a big mess of your room or house as most people have a lot of clothes!

Step 2: Get a plastic bag and put anything for charity, recycling or rubbish in. If you haven't worn it in 2 years chuck it out!

Step 3: Organise your clothes and shoes into piles categorised by type (short sleeved tops, summer bottoms, long sleeved tops, day dresses, autumn/winter dresses). Make a note of clothes that you need to replace on a shopping spree or repair.

Step 4: Hang up dresses, blouses and shirts that you will wear in the autumn and winter in your wardrobe or on a rail. Use wooden, white or slim non-slip hangers to categorise the items by colour or type.

Step 5: Wash and fold the summer clothes that you will wear next year and store them in clear storage boxes and containers. Do the same for summer shoes. Don't use plastic bin bags because they won't allow your clothes to breathe and will damage the material.

Step 6: Finally, fold and categorise your autumn/winter clothes that need folding and store them in easily accessible drawers.

And your done! Congratulate yourself and enjoy a stress free transition to autumn!

Carpe Diem xx

Thrifty Crafts How To: Make Bowls from Vinyl Records

In thrifty times a perfect craft that reuses old, unused materials can be a great way of 'filling your house for free'. Vinyl records can usually be found amongst family, friends or thrift and second-hand stalls, so why not turn them into a pretty and practical storage container in less than 10 minutes?

To melt a vinyl record into a bowl shape first heat an oven to 100-120 Celsius or 200-250 Faranheit. Then place a small glass mixing bowl (the kind you might make a cake mix in) on top of a baking tray. Put the record on top of the upturned bowl. Heat in the oven for 4-8 minutes, checking regularly. When out of the oven the vinyl should be floppy and fold into a flower shape over the bowl. 

Leave to cool for a minute to allow the bowl the set into shape before releasing the vinyl. Turn it upright and mold it into shape as it sets on the baking tray.

Alternatively, melt a vinyl by pouring boiling water from a kettle over it repeatedly. Be careful of the heat! This usually creates a shallower bowl.

Perfect for chip and dips, crisp bowls, a jewellery container or a catch-all for your front hall junk!

Carpe Diem xx

How I Organize My Bags: In Bag Organizer Insert Review

Yes, just as you thought my organisation series had finished here comes another one! Hello there! Since my recent 'how I organize my handbag' posts for my small crossbody and medium handbags I bought this organizer insert for handbags. Let me explain, as I've said before I've always liked to think of myself as organised, but like many women my handbag/bags are often a disaster zone. As happens all too often YouTube magic occurred and I discovered bag organizer inserts. In short, organizer insert are pouches that keep everything you need all the time tidy, allowing you to transfer everything from one bag to another in one smooth move. I bought mine from WMA on Amazon. Even better, it was £3! £3 I here you ask. Yes, but it was made in Hong Kong and the shipping took over a week, but overall I am extremely pleased with this nifty gadget and would recommend it to anyone.

Here's what I keep in my organizer pouch at all times (from top left to right):

1) Lip balm: Boots Essentials Strawberry Lip Balm

2) House keys

3) Lipgloss: No. 7 High Shine Lipgloss 'Smile'

4) Antibacterial wipes

5) Soap and Glory feminine products pouch

6) Denman's travel hairbrush/mirror

7) Reusable tote bag

8) A Pen

9) A Notepad

10) My Mobile

11) Emergency medical kit

12) Lipstick: Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 'Vintage Pink'

Carpe Diem xx

2013 Travel Series: How To Pack Stage 3: Last Minute

The final and often most important stage of packing is not actually the packing itself but the 'last minute' stuff. It's likely that you will be using the vital things you need for your trip up until the last hour or so before you leave (i.e. toothbrush, hairbrush, phone), and you might therefore forget to bring the extras that aren't packed securely in your suitcase. To avoid this why not try these tips to avoid stress:

1) Make a 'do not forget' list on a Post-It, index card or journal to tick off before you leave

2) Keep a pile to one side of the clothes that you want to wear on the day that you leave to travel. Plan your 'travel outfit' at the same time as you plan your holiday outfits and pack your clothes

3) Make sure you keep everything that you might need accessible when travelling (medication, travel itineries, passport, etc.) readily available, for example in an outer pocket of your suitcase or in your hand luggage. I keep my important documents in a clear Rapesco folder

Carpe Diem xx

2013 Travel Series: How To Pack Stage 2: Packing

Organise everything that you want to pack in your bag or suitcase into designated piles. Start by packing towels, trousers, and tops in the bottom. Put the stuff that you will need to access easily on the top (jackets, shoes, etc.), as well as anything that might get damaged, creased or squashed.

Where possible compartmentalize your stuff into bags and containers to reduce damage from spillage or dirt. One tip I learnt last year is to roll your underwear and pack it into separate compartments in your suitcase/bag (see top left).

You can do this with the Eagle Creek Pack-It system: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eagle-Creek-Pack-It-Tube-Pacific/dp/B002YIP89E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=6QT9LQJEIZT2&coliid=IVJUSMH5E4G6B&psc=1

Love this jewellery organiser/roll: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Umbra-Little-Jewellery-Travel-Organiser/dp/B00A9SPC0G/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=6QT9LQJEIZT2&coliid=I9U688G67A3FK

Carpe Diem xx

Small Room Organisation: Tips and Tricks

1) Make use of shelving that reaches the full height of your rooms, saving you floor space and making use of available storage

2) In small rooms every inch counts, so whether its doors hangers or hanging wall storage make the most of behind the door storage

3) Freestanding storage and organisation, bookshelves, dressers, etc. can be the best way of adding a load of extra storage space in one, keeping unwanted or unsightly things in storage and out of the way

4) A lot of people use under bed storage but often not effectively. Try clear linen and extra free storage boxes to keep your things off the floor and safe

5) Microorganisation, or organising within drawers and boxes with smaller boxes and containers, is the most effective and underused organisation trick out there. A place for everything and everything in its place!

Carpe Diem xx

Fashion Thursday: Summer Graduation OOTD and Boho

Clothes:

Dress: H&M Black Skater Style

Ceremony Shoes: Clarks Black Ballet Flats

Spare Shoes: Office Blue and White Striped Canvas Flats

Jewellery:

Necklace: Dew Silver Star Necklace

Bracelet: Blue Silk (gift)

Earrings: Dew Silver Star Earrings

Makeup:

Mascara: Avon Supershock Black

Lipstick: Revlon Pink Pout

Eye Shadow: Maybelline Mocha Duo 

We also popped into Boho cafe in Canterbury for dinner before the ceremony (it was a late evening ceremony), which was amazing. I'd been there a couple of times before and had to have one of their amazing burgers (both the beef and the veggie ones are great) with homemade chips. I went for sloppy Joe sauce this time!

Would you like to see a graduation series?

Carpe Diem xx

My Oral Hygiene Routine for Fixed Braces and an Update

I've largely been lucky with my fixed braces since I got them on a year ago, but recently I've had a few issues to deal with, which has led me to spread the word on the best oral hygiene products and my daily routine for keeping teeth sparkling!

Morning: Brush teeth and Mouthwash rinse

Corsodyl Daily toothbrush

Sensodyne Pronamel Gentle Whitening Fresh Mint

Colgate Plax Multi-Protection Antibacterial Mouthwash

Midday: Rinse with mouthwash

Colgate Plax Multi-Protection Antibacterial Mouthwash

Evening: Brush teeth

Corsodyl Daily toothbrush

Sensodyne toothpaste

Anytime: (I have small teeth and a small jaw so interdental brushes are a must, but get the disposable sticks because the normal brushes are expensive!)

Boots Expert Dental Disposable Interdental Sticks (contains 100 sticks per pack)

Orthosil Orthondontic Wax

Update: I can happily say my treatment has gone well so far. However, I did have a cover orthodontist adjust my brace last week. She left a small amount of wire on an upper and a lower bracket sticking out. While this is not a big thing, it has led me to have cuts in my gums and to develop ulcers, so I'm off to a walk-in clinic to get it sorted out! 

I hope some of this helps you out if you have braces too, good luck!

Carpe Diem xx

How To Improve Your Photography: Get The Most From Your Camera

1) Framing - Look at framing your image in different ways by using your surroundings and environment. A well-framed photo is much more aesthetically pleasing!

2) Angles - Take a series of photos of the same thing from different angles. Angles create interest in photography and diagonals can make or break a photo. Build a diagonal into your photo and work on the 'rule of thirds', with the central focus of your image in the bottom right hand corner third.

3) Lighting - Natural light creates the optimum conditions for taking a photo while the light in dark rooms or on sunny days can be either took dark, bright or synthetic. Try taking your camera outside on a sunny spring day for ultimate photography. Try it and you will perfect the Facebook profile pic!

4) Close ups - some of the most innovative and interesting photos are ones which focus on the mundane, small details of life that otherwise go unnoticed. Use a close up setting on your camera to take photos of small patterns, the texture of animal skin, etc.

5) Back ups - to get the most from your camera make sure that you print copies, back up on your computer with Google Dropbox (the Cloud), or save onto a USB drive so that you never lose your best shots. In the age of the digital camera it is all too easy to lose a photo forever.

6) Handbag - keeping a small camera in your bag or handbag is a great way of making sure you're always ready to capture a special moment or inspirational scenery. I have a Sony Cybershot for on the go and a Fujifilm Finepix for 'professional' shots.
7) Intention - Finally and most importantly, before picking up a camera think about what you want to photograph. Not the landmark or person but what you want to convey and why you want to take it (as a memory, for sentimental reasons, etc.).

Carpe Diem xx

5 Easy Ways to Do Shabby Chic

Learning a craft (knitting, crochet, etc.), or using the labours of others in your home, can really add that vintage feel and become a fun hobby at the same time! This bear was knitted by one of the ladies at my local hospice.

The best vintage and retro design containers, pots and jars can be free or found in old cupboards. Upcycle them and they become the perfect shabby chic organisers!

Old picture frames and pictures can really add to a room. Why not try reusing an old one and transforming it? It turned the picture in this frame over and used the blank side to create a collage of some of the vintage postcards that I've collected for years.

White is the shabby chic colour (or tint). Why not give old furniture a facelift by painting them white and giving them a distressed 'Les Mis Chic' look?

Fairy lights of all shapes, sizes and colours are the perfect finishing touch to a shabby chic interior, creating cosy decor and the effect of dramatic underlighting.

Carpe Diem xx

Watch Wednesday: Horizon: The Truth About Personality Review

Confession time, I'm definately a geek when it comes to Horizon documentaries. Michael Mosley is especially understated in the hour long BBC2 programme, which was aired last night. The scope of the investigation is far broader than could be condensed into one hour, but it was nonetheless fascinating, giving an insight into the latest research in genetics and neuroscience. The focus was primarily personality and specifically optimist/pessimist cognitive bias, which while it might seem depressing or degrading for some to be told they are naturally negative people, came alongside the news that we can change. Our personalities and characters can change, with the help of brain training and practice. To always see the positive, to adopt a stiff upper lip when approaching even the harshest of situations is at the very difficult if your not that way inclined, but as Mosley shows, is not impossible. Mosley's guide to happiness is revolutionary in parts and insightful in others, and for those suffering with anxiety and stress this programme is a must see. From now on I am adopting meditation!

Horizon: The Truth about Personality, 9pm BBC2, Wednesday 10th July

Carpe Diem xx

(Re)Organisation Series: How I Organise My Fiorelli Clara May Bag

I have badly needed to update my handbag collection (literally, not as in I've got 100 and am missing a purple tote with glitter sparkles) for about a year, so of course instead of buying one bag last week, I bought two. I bought the Clara May bag by Fiorelli (I'll get onto the name in a minute) from the Debenhams website and after waiting excitedly by the front door, it came in four days. 

I'm impressed with the quality and the design is long and flat like a sausage dog, making the bag Tardis-like and deceptively roomy. Confession time: I did slightly fall in love with it when I saw the name; May being my birth month and Clara being the Latinized/Italian version of my name! It also slightly reminds me of Chanel totes. What do you keep in your bag?

Here's what I keep in it permanently, shuffling the contents when needed:

Wet Ones

Fiorelli Purse

Tote/reusable bag, The Body Shop

Plastic wallet, Muji

Earphones

Clear ziplock bags (actually pretty handy)

A pen

City Lights makeup bag, Boots

Fiorelli Clara May Medium Shoulder Bag, Debenhams

Carpe Diem xx

Beauty Drawer: My Makeup Storage and Organisation, Benefit, Models Own and More

It's kind of a sin to admit as a beauty blogger that you don't own or use a ton of makeup, and even worse to admit that you don't want to, but I have to admit that my storage and organisation is even more important because of the small space I have to store it in. I keep a small but regular supply of products I generally know and like, as well as samples to try, so enjoy having a nose around my beauty drawer!

Striped Box, Accessorize: samples (Benefit 'That Gal')

Secrets Tin: 100ml travel bottles, travel makeup brushes (Real Techniques), Zinc tablets (Holland and Barrett)

White Wicker Basket (from set of 3), John Lewis: extra makeup sponges, spare toothpaste (Colgate)

Gaudi Mug, Barcelona: current lip products to use up (Rimmel Stay My Rose lipgloss)

Spare tissues (Kleenex Balsam travel tissues)

Yes, it does need a sort out, any ideas? How do you organise your products?

Carpe Diem xx

(Re)organisation Series: Hairy Cable and Cord Storage

I'm pretty sure anyone who lives in the modern world and not in a cave has got the cord/cable problem. There's so many of them, where do I keep them, how do I store them, how do I pack them on the move? Well that's been my problem. Travelling a fair bit over the past three years and chucking a pile identical black USB cables on top of my suitcase pile was not safe, so now I pack them in a designated case.

Individual cables are folded and tidied with different coloured elastic bands and I bought this plush-lined Case Logic Sat-Nav case from Amazon, to store the four cables I use the most on the go. 

Hope you enjoy my new organisation series as I clear out/declutter/reorganise my room :)

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0014DUHLO/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Carpe Diem xx

Fashion Thursday: Impulse Buyer or Savvy Saver?

Are you an impulse shopper? Do you amble around shops waiting for inspiration to hit, knowing that even though you haven't intentionally planned to spend any money, somehow you will spend more than you should? A classic impulse buyer with a bulging wardrobe?

This is a note to all 'organised' wardrobe mistresses. I've often been described as organised in other parts of my life, and so when shopping I am also (usually!). So this post is dedicated to my what I need/want next time I go shopping list, which gets more extensive the poorer I get and the more time that elapses.

What's your style? 

Carpe Diem xx

Simple Organisation Solutions for Offices and Home

Compartmentalizing things you might not use often into clear plastic box (e.g. Tupperware, Lock'n'Lock) can be a great space saving solution to storage. Not only practical but also makes finding things quicker as you can immediately see the contents of each box.

Keep a folder of stickers and labels for labelling storage containers and boxes or creating a 'reward system' sticker chart for daily chores or activities. It works for children, so why not use it to motivate you to stay organised and keep you on track?

Keep a labelled folder containing all you important documents (driving licence, passport, birth certificate, etc.) so that you always have it at hand and know exactly where they are when you need them. I use my favourite butterfly folder from John Lewis. Never miss a holiday, deadline or bill due to disorganisation again!

Carpe Diem xx

Fashion Thursday: Dungarees and Hippie Hipsters

MOTO Bleach Denim Dungarees, Topshop £38

MOTO 70s Pocket Flare Jeans, Topshop £45

Butterfly Rhinestone Midi Ring Pack, Topshop £7.50

It's 2013 and DUNGAREES are gracing the fashion pages. Took their time didn't they! I know I lived in them as a 90s kid, and had about 3 pairs. So embrace the flower power and let's kick off festival season with some denim magic.

Groovy!

Carpe Diem xx