DIY INSPIRATION - JEWELED CLUTCH

Basic clutch + oversized jewels + glue gun = statement bag. Done and done. My prep for Sydney Fashion week has begun and I've been busy knocking up a few special pieces to wear while I'm there. Looking forward to sharing them with you!

Image: Jak & Jil

DIY INSPIRATION - BEADED SWEATER

This bead applique sweater caught my eye not once but twice when I was stalking Paris Fashion Week street style recently. This would be such an easy project as long as you could get your hands on some oversized, geometric shaped beads. If not, try any sort of oversized beads or even a sequin applique - turns a basic marl jumper into something special.

 I love how the streets inspire me to DIY! Has anything caught your eye recently?

Can anyone tell me who makes this number? Am getting a Marni vibe but might be wrong.

Update - this sweater is by Vika Gazinskaya (seen in the top picture and all over street style blogs) and the beads are actually wood diamonds that are attached with snap buttons. You can see them up close in this video - fast forward to 1.54.

 Image: Grazia it

DIY ON THE RUNWAY - BURBERRY SS12 [inc BEADED HEELS!]

I'm so delighted to see that the Burberry SS12 collection is an extension of their resort wear that I fell in love with a little while ago. I couldn't resist tooting my horn about the inclusion of wedges with coloured bead embellishments - similar to the ones I made here inspired by the high heels in the Resort collection. It's great to see a look sticking around for long enough for us to have a go at making it! Why not have a go at making them yo'self?

Other Favourite DIY inspirations from the show:

• Wooden bead embellished belts and and collars 
• Straw hats with wool pompoms
• Raffia oversized collars
• Sunglasses with threaded rims
• Coloured wooden shape embellished trench coats
• Coats with knitted sleeves

Images courtesy of Style.com and The Blonde Salad

LOVING - COLLAR NECKLACES

Collars have been having a moment. For a looong while now.  Remember my collar DIYs here and here? Seems like an eternity ago. I absolutely loved this colourful post over at Frockshop's blog, and it's clear that now its all about the statement collar necklace. I recently bought this black beaded one from a local Hong Kong designer - and I've hardly taken it off!

 

Wearing: Beaded collar necklace, A Pair & A Spare silk tank, A Pair & A Spare knitted high-waisted shorts, Anniel ballet flats.

Psst... You might be seeing a little DIY collar necklace here in the coming weeks!

Images: Top collage images sourced from here.

DIY Burberry Tribal High Heels

I recently made my own version of the gorgeous bead embellished heels from the Burberry 2012 Resort collection. I crafted mine by creating beaded embellishments to go over my shoes. This DIY is such a simple way to update your wardrobe - you can even use chains or different coloured beads for a different look.

Wearing: DIY Beaded shoe embellishments, New Look wide heel shoes, tribal mini from Thailand, Country Road singlet, Karen Walker Number One sunglasses.

DIY:

You need - brown and red wooden beads and black string.

1. I strung the beads so that I had two red and two brown strings of beads for each shoe - about 15cm long each.

2. I then tied two of each color together, securing at each end with black string, and then tying that string together in a bow at the back of the shoe. Essentially you will have 'necklaces' of brown and red beads for each shoe.

Voila! The best bit about these embellishments is you can wear them with any shoes, they also look great on some black t-bar flats I have. Instant tribal wardrobe updater.

DIY Beaded Belt & Side Split Maxi Skirt

 Wearing: DIY Beaded Belt, DIY side split maxi skirt, country road singlet, river island gladiator flats, M&S cat eye sunglasses.

So I found an amazing beaded umm something in the Sham Shui Po Fabric Markets - we weren't really sure what it was supposed to be - a big collar perhaps. I cut it in half and made a belt with it - each half was perfectly symmetrical which was a bonus. I hot glued velvet ribbon on the ends and kapow, really fun belt. I'm making another belt for my friend with the other half (so we can be twinnies). Also, this is the full length version of the side split skirt I made for the wedding I went to. Very versatile. Hope you like it! Shop my closet here.

DIY Beaded Grey Marl Sweatshirt

The addition of cute beading to a laid back grey marl sweatshirt really does it for me. Found this pic over at AfterDRK. Putting it on my list.

I've also recently become addicted to a blog called Brisbane Daily Photo. Brisbane is my home town in Australia, and lucky for me the photographer lives in the quirky but lovable suburb of West End that I grew up in. For those of you living away from your orginal home town, you probably know how nice it is to be reminded of your favourite old haunts. It makes me a little bit sentimental to say the least (this is the part where my parents say 'ohhh well then why wont you come hooommme???')  From what I understand there are daily photo blogs like this for almost every city around the world - I think there is a search function on Brisbane Daily Photo which allows you to find your city. Head over and check it out.

Bedazzler!

This would have made all my DIY dreams come true as a little girl... Does this take you back? Thanks to my best friend in Brisbane for bringing this to my attention, now where can I find one?

DIY AW11 Balmain Inspired Mini

So it goes without saying that I was incredibly inspired throughout the fashion weeks to DIY just about everything I saw on the Runway. So, in collaboration with the Jenni from I Spy DIY and Erica and Lauren from Honestly...Wtf, we set about recreating our favourite AW11 looks. I completely fell in love with the shimmering horizontally textured fabrics in the Balmain AW11 collection. Who didn't? What I wouldn't do to own one of those dresses or statement jackets! Knowing that's completely out of the realms of possibility, as part of the 3 Designers 3 DIYs challenge I decided to make my own textured skirt using lace, ribbons, twisted fabric, beads and sequins.

These skirts below were my inspiration from the Balmain Show AW11, as you can see mine turned out a bit a little bit more subtle than the Balmain version.

The skirt was incredibly easy to make. This is how you do it:
You need: a black mini skirt (I bought a long skirt from a thrift shop and cut it off and sewed a hem), black lace, beads, ribbons, strips of black chiffon fabric, square sequins and anything else you want! The more random the better!
1. Sew or glue (I used a combination of both) the different ribbons etc onto the front of the skirt - keeping in horizontally parallel lines.
2. Sew twisted black chiffon fabric onto the front.
3. Randomly sew the sequins on the front - I put mine in the middle of the twisted fabric.
4. Do this to the back of the skirt, following the pattern on the front. Easy!

DIY Love Heart Back Top

Lovely to come across these two love heart back DIYs. So easy to do, simply cut a love heart shape out of the back of a top and then hem it - adding some beads along the way or ribbon. How cute! Both Paulinemma and Hannaliis have done amazing jobs! (If you haven't checked out their blogs I would do so quick smart).This DIY is definitely on my list.

DIY Lace Jewellery

Cut a cute shape out of some lace, and then add some beads or studs.

Image: All the pretty birds