21st Birthday: Alice in Wonderland

On Sunday I celebrated my 21st birthday with an 'Alice in Wonderland' themed party. It turned out just as I had hoped and I was really pleased with how the decorations and theme came together. I'd taken a lot of inspiration from Pinterest so had spent the weeks prior to the event with hands covered in wallpaper paste and glue to complete all these half-started projects. I also had a lot of help from my Godmother who has a great creative eye and she did all the flower arrangements and another friend made my amazing cake - so a massive thank you goes to all those that helped. I had the best day and was throughly spoiled with the food, drink and company!

Behind the scenes: 21st preparations

As I mentioned, my 21st is this weekend and to celebrate I'm having an Alice in Wonderland themed party. I wasn't too keen on going all out with fancy dress because I visioned a more sophisticated affair however I still hoped to include some of the quirky elements of wonderland.

Here's a sneak preview of some of the things I've been making and creating for it because I really feel that homemade touches make an event extra unique.

 

The Invitation

Paper Mache Toadstools

Stamping labels and place mats

My month as an Intern

I've now completed my one month internship with Gilda's Tryst which
provided me with invaluable experience and a lot of practice in the field
of marketing and social media. Previously, I definitely took for granted
how much research is required to produce one online article and
therefore it is so time consuming for websites and companies who aim
to publish several articles daily. Gilda's Tryst is only a very small
company but I think that is better for an internship because it allowed
me to be given full responsible of weekly tasks such as the '10 Things 
We Love This Week' feature and I also did a styling shoot for their
online blog. Although they are a jewellery and accessories company I
also did a lot of  fashion research for A/W 13 trends to help them
choose their Autumn collection and I'll share these findings with you soon.

My time there seemed to pass really quickly but I'm pleased to have
finished now because I have lots of preparations underway for my 21st
this weekend so I'm busy with all kinds of paper mache creations
(finished product and event photos to follow)...

Styling Images

Cupcake treats for my last day

What to wear: Life as an intern

I'm now into my second week as an intern for Gilda's Tryst which
explains my lack of recent posts but I've been keeping busy writing
on behalf of them. My role is PR and Marketing for the jewellery
company who are based in a pop up store in St. Christopher's Place
- an ideal spot right in the heart of London. The typical day involves
a lot of research of fashion sites and blogs as well as hours spent on
social media and here's an example of the work I've achieved. As an
intern you must be willing to help out with any tasks you're given,
whether running errands to the post office or even modelling the items
modelled below but it all builds up invaluable experience so I'm really
enjoying what each day throws at me.

I was given the dress code 'smart casual' which is always difficult to
establish initially but here's an example of some of my favourite outfits.
I like to keep my tops and blouses simple but team them with this seasons
paisley and aztec patterns to inject colour - and of course, working for a
jewellery and accessories brand, I understand the importance of a
chunky statement necklace to complete my outfit.

Outfit inspiration

Modelling the Gilda's Tryst bracelets

Trending: Yellow

It's the colour of sunshine, the colour of happiness and the colour of 

summer. From shades of mustard to canary this trend is far more 

wearable than you might initially think so dare to wear yellow and 

you'll brighten everyone's day.

Riviera Chic

With the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby dazzling our screens at the moment I was thinking about how Tender Is The Night successfully captures a timeless elegance, a little more understated but this makes it even more wearable. Net-A-Porter's Christa D'Souza simplifies the key principles of the look for us: “The basic rule of Riviera Chic: keep everything super-simple, neutral and of the utmost quality.” Fingers crossed that it's as easy as it sounds...  

Chicken Wire Noticeboard

21st birthday presents are always difficult to choose. For my friends I always look for something special that they won't be bored of / have replaced within a few months but then, being a student, I've also got to throw price into the equation.

Considering all these factors, when it came to one of my closest friend's big 2 1 I knew it was going to require some creativity. My go to source for inspiration was Pinterest and it was there that I came across the idea to replicate this beautiful chicken wire notice board:

 I was attracted to the simplicity and elegance of this design but also felt it was an achievable project which I could complete in the few days I had before going back to university. Luckily I already had the gold frame but you can easily source similar ones from charity shops and junk stores. Here's my step by step to the finished project:

1) The original gold frame didn't really suit my vision so I gently sanded the frame and painted over the gold with 2 layers of cream paint.

2) Once that had dried over night I brushed a grey colour over the top but wasn't overly particular about getting into all the cracks the frame.

3) After all the paint had dried I lightly sanded the frame so that the cream paint showed from underneath to provide a distressed effect.

4) I stretched the chicken wire (you'll need an extra pair of hands to help) and stapled it into the wooden frame using the power gun.

5) For extra special touches I coffee stained the paper butterflies for a vintage effect and made a label (as a substitute to a card) which included spare wooden pegs so she can fill the frame with photos or memos as she pleases. 

I always appreciate hand made gifts so much more because you know that someone has put a lot of love and time into it. Overall I was really pleased with the creation (and so was she!) but think it's a great example of a 'money can't buy' present - quite literally in this case because it didn't actually cost me a single penny to make as I scavenged all the bits and pieces from around the house but ssshhh, she would never have guessed...