Monday 1 June 2015

D.I.Y. Platform 9 and 3/4 sign

Hi everybody!!

Yes, it's been ages... again... But I'm here with an awesome tutorial for you! 



Now, everyone know's I love, love, LOOOOVE Harry Potter. Well, I've seen these Platform 9 3/4 sign's online- YouTubers have them and Etsy is selling them and apparently, a market in the U.K. has them. Alas, I'm in Ireland and currently have no money to spend on such items, so I decided to make my own! I tried googling it, to see if anyone has any tutorials for me to watch on it, but apparently, noone else seems to have posted one. Then, I thought I should.
So I did! 



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Some little notes for you on what I used and how I made it:
~The board I used was 38" x 5.5", but it can be any size. This just happened to be what my Dad had in the shed.

~Make sure to sand the board before you start so it has a nice, smooth finish.
~I drew the letters and numbers freehand and with a ruler- I had a photo of the sign at King's Cross opened in front of me. Link and link.
~I made the letters 4cm from the top and 4cm from the bottom and they go just past halfway across. But because the numbers are bigger, I made them 2cm from the top and 2cm from the bottom.
~The black paint I used is designed for use on model toys I believe, (a link to this paint is here) but it say's it can be used on metal, wood and other surfaces. The White is just ordinary Dulux wallpaint- you could use this or acrylic. ~I used 2 coats of black and 4 of the off-white and I didn't need anywhere near the amount of paint that I have pictured. This really doesn't use much. 
~This took me about 8-10 hours between waiting for coats to dry.
~I have yet to figure out how to hang it up, but I think picture hoops screwed into the back (one at each side) would be the best choice. 
~I didn't varnish it as I don't want it shiny, but you can if you wish :)


I made a video on it, so you can watch me make it. Here it is!


Please watch and enjoy :) Here is a link to the video on YouTube if you need it! 



Any other questions, please ask :) Let me know if you make one and how it turns out!
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Monday 30 March 2015

It's been too long! Update and a little gift I received...

Pray tell, how has it been 4 months since I posted?! Ah yes, studying. Well all my exams are over now, we have 1 assignment left to turn in and tomorrow marks the start of the four weeks of Work Experience in a salon... I won't lie, I'm not looking forward to it... working in a salon was never what I wanted to do. I do want to be a hairdresser, just not in a salon. The idea of getting stuck in the Rat Race is not for me- working 9am to 5pm every day just to satisfy societies idea of what's right?? No thank you. What I want is to work half of the week and spend the other half doing something I love, going for walks, drawing, writing blog posts... If I could somehow make a living from sharing hairdressing knowledge with the world then I think we'd all be happy!! I don't want to be coming home every evening too tired to do anything. However, I will do it until I'm qualified and have earned enough to be able to relax :) Alas, I digress. 

A few weeks ago, The Blogger Programme sent me a little gift with the simple request that I feature it in my next blog post! In fact, I was sent the same thing twice, possibly because I didn't make the effort to make a post about the first package. I feel guilty, but the course took up a lot of my time. (Excuses...)

What I received has already saved my bacon once or twice when I've been out food shopping and forgot to bring bags! 



As you can see, they are "tote bags"- or shopping bags to us Irish ;) They are ever so handy!! And I also received little packets of "Peppersmith" mints, one in "Fine English Peppermint" and one in "Silician Lemon & Peppermint". These are mints that are "actively good for your teeth by steering clear of sugar and using 100% xylitol which helps reduce plaque and tooth decay." According to the little note I got, having 5g of xylitol a day gives the benefit of stopping bacteria from producing acids when they absorb the xylintol. Meaning it's good for you to eat these mints! Splitting this 5g into several servings reduces the risk of acid attacks. 
Well, that's what it says anyway. I can neither confirm nor deny these claims, but I can say they are very tasty and knowing that munching on them isn't bad for you makes them 10x more enjoyable :D I especially like the lemon flavoured ones.
You can find a link to their website here , to their About Me page, here, and all about the xylintol here. So if you're interested in dental hygiene and taking care of yourself while still staying minty fresh, definitely check them out!
























Yum! I don't know where you can purchase them, but there is a link here where you can find out!

Anywho, I'm currently sitting here with a bag on my head with coconut oil on my hair, it's dripping down my face and everything is covered in oil, hahaha! I've never tried this coconut oil thing before, here's hoping it helps because my hair is slightly fecked from trying to get the blooming "Hot Purple" that turned blue out of my hair. Bonus tip, never use Crazy Colours Hot Purple... unless you want blue hair of course. Blue hair that will possibly never come out. Grrrrrr..... 



 I hope that now my course is over, I will be able to post more. My idea is to post daily (it will most likely be weekly, however) blogs on how my work experience goes. Someone might find it useful or educational some day :) 

As always, thanks for reading and apologies for it being sooooo long! And a HUUUUUGE thank you to the Blogger Programme for my gifts!!! :D
Have a lovely day/evening/ night! :) <3