Flower Vases

For spring it looked like it was all about shoes, while keeping the rest simple. We saw a lot of statement shoes, to build your look around. For me as a shoe lover these are the good times, because there will be a lot of beautiful statement shoe variants for sale. I wanted to create something myself to make my shoes eye catchers. The transparent fashion is still present. There are a lot of flower patterns or themes in the new fashion for summer, so, time to get my Jenny Ellens out of the closet and mix them with some flowers!

I wanted to design something with flowers that you can use on different shoes. I´m not too fond of ankle cuffs, like the metal ones that were in fashion for some time, but I felt ancle cuffs were the best option for this idea.

I already figured how I want to wear them. I will make a post, of how I did that, when I have found the right outfit. The way of wearing it like this, on the Jenny Ellens, is my favorite. It lets me think of a transparent vase full of flowers. I just love it!

The most fun part of these flower ankle cuffs is that they are very easy to make.

Things you need:

– I used high quality imitation flowers that I bought in a garden centre.

– PVC

– A4 paper

– Scissors

– Square ruler

– Pins

– Push buttons

– A tool for fixing push buttons onto a fabric

– Green floral wire

– Needle and transparent jewelry wire

– Pieces of leather or something similar.

– A hobby plier

Follow the steps in my photo collage.

1-4. the PVC

Start with a piece of paper and wrap it around your ankle. Use the size of your ankles to determine the length. Add 6 cm of extra length to the piece of paper, so that the piece can overlap around the ankle. Cut the paper in the right length and broadness you want the ankle cuffs to be. I made the cuffs 7cm broad. Next, pin the paper on the plastic and cut the plastic in the right size. Of course, you can skip the step with the paper and start immediately with the plastic.

5-7. The push buttons

Wrap the cut plastic around the ankle. Find the place where you want the pushbuttons to be. It is important that you overlap the ends of the plastic on the outside of your ankles, because you will fix the flowers on the overlapping part later. The overlapping part should come from behind to the outside of the ankle. Also pay attention that you fix the pushbuttons on the right side of the plastic. I placed the + buttons on the inside of the overlapping part and the – buttons on the outside of the part that is underneath. The part that is underneath should have some extra length left, if you want to place some extra – buttons on it so you can adjust the size for different sized shoes or boots. As you can see in step 16, I did that myself.

8.Cutting the flowers with the hobby plier.

Cut the flowers from their stalks. Leave enough of the stalk on the flower for the flower wire to be wrapped around.

9-11. Putting the flowers together.

Decide how you want the small bouquets of flowers to look like before you start assembling them. You can divide the flowers on color and size beforehand. This will make it less time consuming to wrap the flowers together at later steps. Also it will be easier to make the bouquets almost identical, if that is what you want. Don't forget that the bouquets have to be in mirror image of each other. Wrap every stalk with flower wire and leave a surplus of wire for wrapping the flowers together.

12. Use some extra wire to wrap all the stalks together for more sturdiness.

13- 15. Fixing the small bouquets on to the plastic ankle cuffs.

Put on an ankle cuff to decide the exact place you want to fix on the bouquet. Place the bouquet on the appropriate place on the plastic. Cut small pieces of leather (or a different kind of sturdy, flexible material of your choice) in the size where it will fit on the plastic behind the bouquets. Then place a piece of leather behind the plastic. This measure will help the plastic be more sturdy, so it won't tear from the weight of the bouquet. Fix the bouquets on the plastic with a needle and (transparent) thread in two places. Remember that you have to do one of the ankle cuffs in mirror image.

16. The extra pushbuttons.

You can fix some extra - pushbuttons on the under part of the overlapping pieces. So you can wear the cuffs on, for example, wider ankle boots.

This is the result I'm looking forward to wearing these cuffs myself. I wish you a fun experience making these! How do you like them?

pictures by: Jelmer steenhuis

For some of my other flower creations click here.

Flowers: Mica Decorations // Buy here
Shoes: Jennie-ellen // Buy here

Vogue Tee

Pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

As you can see a simple t-shirt. One of the ultimate basics. This month when Vogue released this t-shirt, I couldn't let it pass me by. I bought one immediatly. I´m a fan of the most simple t-shirts without any distraction of the female figure. I don't like impressive prints or a tee with letters on it, except this one. It is the exception in my wardrobe. I don't know why but love to wear the word vogue on my chest. Anyway, combined with some other good basics, my new outfit is born.

Tailored jacket: Claudia Sträter,

Tee: Vogue

Pencil skirt: Vanilia

Scaled ankleboots: Supertrash (wearing them with socks)

Bag: Pieces

Bracelets: H&M // Buy here

Bridal Update

Pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

Spring and summer are the most popular seasons for marriage. Obviously, because nobody wants to marry in rainy weather. One of my friends will get married in September. I know it´s far away but I like to think ahead about my options. So here is my first bridal guest update. Maybe you wil be a guest on a wedding soon and you can use this as an inspiration.

I used a dress from Addy van den Krommenacker designed for Steps. This one is from the Cristmass collection. I think it's from 2 years ago.

The dress has a soft nude tone, because of this the dress is perfect to wear for a wedding. The long, silk tailored blazer, tones down the glitter effect from the dress. Combined with nudepink heels and a redbrown leather clutch for a refined dressed-up effect.

Dress: Addy for Steps

Long tailored blazer: From a Bridal shop + DIY

Pumps: Dicapolavori // Buy here

Belt and bag: Vintage

Down to the last detail

Nail polish is more popular than ever. It's no wonder because the quality nowadays is much better than it used to be, especially so with Gellac. I just can´t get enough of the broad range of colors there are at the moment. For every occasion there is a color. For the women who don't like this, dont worry, there are other options that are quite beautiful.

Next to all those lovely bright colors this season, I saw some naked nails passing by. The pictures show my favorite natural option that I have at the moment. To me it's kicking the habit from using all those beautiful colors. Above all I still prefer a natural look. Its easy and a layer of clear glossy polish is all you need, to let your nails look properly taken care of. So.. It's easy and looks neat? The anwser is, yes!

Pink Gellac has a new product that is perfect for this so let's get testing... It's the new base plus. I have used this product for almost two months now. It´s officially meant to use as a base coat underneath a color, but I like to use it for this look. This product has a lot of similarities with a nail strengthener you can get at a nail salon. Only now you can do it yourself, at home! Unlike the gel layer you can get at the salon, you don't have to mix a powder with a liquid supplement to get the right thickness. This product is ready to apply from the start. Next to that it looks more natural because you can apply this product thinner and more precise.

I had the fortune to have my nails grown on the length I wanted them to be without breaking. Even if one of my nails is a bit damaged with a small tear in it. Cutting my nails wasn't neccesary, because this product is very handy at repairing for example small tears. The base coat is, when you use it without color, also easy to touch up when there is outgrowth. It stays on my nails perfectly for almost three weeks.

The ONLY Thing I did not like was the packing of the product, because it leaks from under the lid. I think that problem will be solved soon. All in all well done Pink Beauty Club you have launched a great product again!

For this result I used 2 layers of Base Plus and 2 layers of Top Coat.

After I did that I refreshed my natural white tip by coloring the nail tip on the bottom with a white nail pencil. Just look at the result. I love the rich layer of gloss on my natural nails.

Tip for the Base Plus: Let the layers harden under the uv-lamp for 3 minutes instead of 2. When I did 2 minutes, I lost a bit of the shine when cleaning afterwards.

You can find my other posts about how to use Pink Gellac here, here and here.

Pink Gellac Base Plus and other nail products // Buy here

White pencil: Essence // Here

Absence of color

Pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

Black and white have it all. Some people think they are boring, but in fact they can be very interesting. Like when you play with your silhouette, by wearing the right design and, even more important, the right cut. It´s the base of my wardrobe and it makes every outfit work.

When choosing basics I´m always careful. There are so many options to go with out there, but most are made of bad fabrics. The basics that I´m wearing today are made of viscose. Personally I love this fabric. It breathes like cotton, it can be colored a much deeper shade and as a result of that it will retain it´s color very well. This is very important especially with black.

For some time I have been searching for a top like this. Without second thoughts I also bought it in black. The ones I found before had a low cut on the back and under the arms, which made it impossible to wear a bra underneath. This shirt has a higher cut and so makes it possible to wear a bra. Because we don´t all have that flat figure you see in the media. Most woman have a realistic figure with beautiful curves.

The scarf is one of the pieces I can´t go without. It´s convenient in a lot of ways, that I wil show you later...

Top: Mango // Buy here

Tregging: can´t remember // Buy similar here

Scarf: Perfectlybasics // Buy here

Shoes: Zara // Buy here

Bag: Georges Rech // Buy here

Earrings: Sacha // Buy here

Need a Brush?

pictures by: Jelmer Steenhuis

Hair is very important to (almost) every woman. There are a lot of different styles, colors and ways of wearing hair. I think whatever your way of expression is, the look of healthy hair is just the right touch for your hairdo.

To me it is very frustrating when the structure of my hair looks fluffy or static. I have stubborn hair and often try to tame it, without ruining the natural curl. I'm very happy when I find something new that will help me make my hair look less fuzzy.

This is one of my older findings. A good hairbrush. You may not realize this, but a wrong brush can cause lot of damage to your hair. So buying a quality brush is a good investment.

I have tried a lot of different brushes. Brushes with metal or plastic bristles, with hairs of different fabrics, in different shapes and sizes and different qualities. Nowadays I know that I like the simple ordinary brush with plastic pins the most. I have been using this brush for such a long time already that I can't even remember when I bought it. It's so old even the lable wore off.

This brush really helps my hair. It's a good quality brush that won't damage hair by, for example, bad bristles with seams. It uses ion technology. It works by releasing beams that tame frizz and flying hair when brushing, much like a conditioner. It also has seamless bristles, so you don't damage the hair when brushing. Thanks to this my hair is less static and fuzzy, it also gives my hair a little more gloss. Not that it's a miracle tool, but it does help. How much it works is different for each hairtype I believe. A friend of mine has this one too, she has flat hair and the brush had even more effect for her.

Bruch: Braun // Buy here 

Florals That Pop

Floral crowns are not suitable for every oppertunity because it always will be an eyecatcher.

I recommend to wear one with a plain outfit that has a touch of boho in it. A big statement crown for festivals, a small white crown for a wedding or a colorful variation for a night out.

I didn't know what to think when I first saw a flower crown. It was in the video “Born to die” from Lana Del Rey. Because of her peculiar bearing and the shocking element in that videoclip I didn't like it at all. My younger brother kept on turning on her music and after a while the crown intrigued me.

Loving the 3d flower trend and so I decided to make my own floral crown, fitting for my festival outfit. I decided to make one with a lot of happy spring/summer colors.

Things you need:

– I used high quality imitation flowers that I bought in a garden centre.

– 5 mm thick iron decoration wire that you can buy in a hobby shop.

– 1 mm tick iron wire

– 2 different kinds of ribbons from a fabric store.

– Some transparent beads and thread for the finiching touch

– a hobby plier that has a part that can cut and a round part to bend small eyes

Follow the easy steps in my photo collage;

1-3 The iron wire:

Sidenote: Bend the 5mm tick iron wire around your head to get the right form and length before cutting.

4-6 the flowers:

Sidenote:When you cut all the flowers from their stalks leave enough to wrap around the 1mm tick iron wire

7-13 Placing the flowers:

sidenote: Before you start assembling the flowers onto the wire, decide how you want that the crown looks like so you can subdivide the flowers on color and size beforehand.

14-15 Finishing off:

Use the small ribbon to perfect the crown and for more solidity. Wrap all the iron and stalks under and inbetween the flowers with the ribbon.

16 Final:

Fix the wide ribbon on the ends of the crown so you can knot it on the backside when wearing the crown.

Tip: Use some sliding pins to fix the crown in your hair for comfotable wearing.

This is the result.

I hope you like it. Have fun with making your own!

Pictures by: Jelmer steenhuis

Flowers: Mica Decorations // Buy here