How To Make A Flower Crown

How to make a flower crown

Today I'm sharing with you how to make a flower crown! Perfect for a wedding, fancy dress or just as a beautiful headpiece to jazz up an outfit.

I originally planned to wear this crown for my wedding, however as this was my first go, it turned out a little bigger than I'd intended (I got a tad carried away adding more and more flowers!) so I'm probably going to make one that's a little more delicate for the big day. 

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty happy with how this flower crown turned out, so I figured I'd share with you how I created it!

I've made a video (see below) to go along with this post too if you'd prefer to watch rather than read :)

What you'll need:

1)  

Florist Wire

2)  

Florist Tape

(I used a mixture of the paper and parafilm kind)

3) Flowers (artificial or real) 

4) Greenery of some kind 

5) Wire Cutters

Step 1

Start off by creating a circle with the wire that fits nicely on your head. I was using quite fine wire so I twisted a few pieces together to give it a little added thickness and strength. I then used floral tape to wrap all around the wire so I had a neat base to work with.

Step 2

Position the greenery and start wiring it piece by piece onto the crown, overlapping as you go so that the base of the crown is fully covered.

Step 3 

It's time to start wiring the flowers. I've seen tutorials that say you're supposed to stab the wire through the top of the flower stem and then wrap it around the stem, however as my flowers were artificial, I had difficulty stabbing it through (and a few of the flowers, didn't even have much of a stem to wrap around), so instead I just looped the wire through the little hole at the top and then twisted it down so I had something to work with when attaching the flowers to the crown. It's difficult to explain so if you're confused you can check out the video and you'll be able to see this step more clearly.

I then used the florist tape to wrap and cover the wire

(I didn't want to be stabbed in the head with wire while I was wearing my crown so I may have gone a tad overboard with the tape!)

Step 4

Now comes the most fun part of positioning your flowers and wiring them to the crown.

For me there was definitely a bit of trial and error in this process!

Make sure to keep placing the crown on your head and checking in the mirror as you go, because the crown looks really different once you have it on your head!

This is particularly important if you're using bigger flowers as you want to make sure you're orientating them the correct way. It's also a good way to check that the wires are reasonably well hidden.

Because I wanted the flowers to be on the back of the crown, I just make sure to take lots of photos with the self timer on my camera as I went along to make sure it was coming together the way I wanted!

... and there you have it! :)

I hope it was helpful and I would love to see your creations if you give it a go!

Happy flower crown making!

Lauren

xxx

<align=center>

My Style Diary - Sunday Strolls and Lunch at JoJo's

Ah Sunday... how I love you...

Work has been particularly busy lately, so my Sundays have been extra precious. It's funny though because even though it's my one day of the week where I actually have the opportunity to sleep in, I seem to always wake up around 5am (which is earlier than my alarm goes off on a week day!)  I'm not complaining at all - I've said it many times here before, I love mornings - waking up to that soft morning light and birds chirping away (and the knowledge that I don't actually have to get up if i don't want to) is pretty lovely.

One advantage is that I get a chance to do a little early morning blogging :)

So today I thought I'd share these photos from a few Sundays ago. I'd had a particularly stressful week so Tom suggested we do one of my favourite things - go for a long walk and out for lunch.

JoJo's

is a restaurant my family used to go to when I was little. It's right on the river and we used to go for breakfast every now and then on weekends. I remember my Dad would always be partiucularly enthusiastic about these family breakfast outings :) There's a jetty that you walk along to get to the restaurant and occasionally you'd see dolphins swimming by... such good memories there :)

Tom and I are usually breakfast/brunch people and JoJo's doesn't open until 12 so we hadn't been together before. This day  though we figured we'd change up our usual ritual of Sunday morning breakfast and go for lunch instead. 

It was just such a lovely relaxing afternoon - good food, a beautiful view, time with my fave person... the perfect way to de-stress :)

This Sunday we're actually having engagement photos taken so I'm pretty excited about that. I have my wedding hair and makeup trial booked today as well so that should be a bit of fun! I can't believe it's been 11 months that we've been engaged (we're a little slow at getting our engagement photos taken) and actually less than 12 months now til our wedding! Time has just been flying away so quickly lately...

I hope you have an absolutely beautiful day Sunday.

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

Dress - Tea Party at Lucy's

Cardigan - Pull & Bear

Sandals - from Paris

Bag - Jigsaw

Wedding Planning Inspiration

Hello!

I don't know where the time has gone but somehow Tom and I have been engaged for 10 months now! We still have another year to go until our wedding but I'm starting to realise that when people tell you "the time will fly by", they're definitely right! While I do have a few of the bigger things sorted for the wedding (venue, photographer, videographer, and my dress!) I figured I should probably get started thinking about some of the other little details.

The thing is - I'm super excited about the wedding and pretty good at gathering inspiration, it's just the actual planning and decision making part that can get a little tricky! With the rabbit hole that is Pinterest, a myriad of wedding magazines to choose from and an endless number of photos to scroll through on Instagram, it can all get a little overwhelming at times!

I figured today I'd share with you some of my favourite sources of inspiration in the hopes that it might help you (if you happen to be getting married) as well as myself to focus on some of the "best bits" and not get so overwhelmed by the massive amounts of inspiration out there!

Here we go!

The Magazine

By far the best magazine I've come across is

Hello May

. When we first got engaged I bought a few different magazines, but Hello May has been the one I've found the most helpful and inspiring. It's different to the other glossy mags - featuring more "Real Weddings", less adds (instead they're more like "introductions" to cool vendors), slightly quirkier more unique ideas, and somehow it just has more heart to it. I love reading about the wedding from the couples perspective, how they went about the planning process and their favourite part of the day.

I particularly loved reading this quote by a groom talking about what marriage means to him -

"Marriage means: sharing my food with another human, sitting in the car for five minutes deciding what cafe to go to, going on midnight coconut ice cream road trips, play wrestling until one of us gets hurt, putting on our trackies and watching a kids movie, another coffee date, evening beach swims, cleaning the sink after washing up, learning to appreciate life's beauties, more coffee dates, and being able to wake up every day next to the most caring, beautiful person I have ever met. Did I mention coffee dates?"

I just thought that was so incredibly sweet, and it's nice to see little reminders of what it's all really about - appreciating the amazing person you're marrying!

The Podcast

I'm an avid podcast listener, so of course I had to find a podcast about wedding planning! Aleisha from the

Bridechilla Podcast

is an Aussie comedian living in London, and as she describes it, her podcast is all about "wedding planning without the bullshit!"

She's been podcasting for about two years now so her back catalogues is pretty huge (I'm still working my way through the older episodes), and she just gives really great advice from deciding on your guest list, to budgeting tips, fun ideas on how to make your wedding more "you", interviews with industry experts, as well as helping to solve any wedding planning problems during her Q&A Thursday episodes. She's hilarious and her podcast reminds you to get excited, have fun, enjoy the planning and not take things too seriously! 

The Blogs

There are just so many wedding blogs out there offering awesome advice and inspiration that I couldn't possibly choose just one favourite. A lot of these are ones I've found through Instagram or through listening to The Bridechilla Podcast and have really enjoyed the brief time I've spend reading them, but that I'd love to delve a bit deeper into when I get a chance. I think there's a lot of fab ideas to be gleaned from these blogs, but I just haven't had the time to really sit down and take it all in! This list is also a little reminder to me to check these out again when I get a chance!

Bridal Musings

- A beautiful site that covers everything you need to know about wedding planning

Magnolia Rouge

- The photos are just

incredible!

Secret Wedding Blog

 - This is one I heard about from The Bridechilla Podcast. The editor Raj features "mainly multicultural weddings, fusion weddings and interfaith weddings" which are a little different to what you usually see on other wedding blogs. I love it!

Style Me Pretty

 - do I need to say anything more? :p

The Youtube Channels

Watching youtube videos is one of my favourite ways to just switch off from real life and chill out a bit. I don't know what it is, but listening to someone chat about makeup/fashion (my usual favourites) and in this case wedding planning can be really relaxing. (It also makes doing the ironing way more interesting!)

These girls have shared their wedding planning on youtube and it's fun to follow along with someone who's going through a similar process to what I am now. 

Becca Kay

,

Hayley Paige

,

Alexandra Garza

,

Cider With Rosie

,

Bride De Force

,

Alexandra Beuter

,

Katie and Baby

I also love

Forestry Films

. They're wedding videographers and their videos are so beautiful and heartwarming. Here's my

favourite one

.

So there's a few of my favourite places to look for wedding inspiration (otherwise known as ways to procrastinate the actual planning of the day)!

If you have any wedding planning tips and tricks or suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Have a beautiful Sunday!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx 

Thirteen Little Things...

Hello Hello :)

I haven't been posting as much as I'd like to lately, but to be honest, I've been feeling pretty down in the dumps over the past month or so and I just haven't felt up to it. Nothing terribly bad has been happening, but I've just been really stressed at work, dealing with a number of quite negative people that have left me feeling totally drained. 

I'm usually a pretty happy, optimistic person, but being blamed for things that aren't your fault, or questioned about your intentions and skills (when all you are doing is trying your best to help people), really does get you down after a while.

After having a mini breakdown the other day, I decided I just have to move on and not let those negative Nancy's get to me anymore. It's much easier said than done (particularly for someone like myself who takes everything to heart), but I'm slowly getting there.

This blog is my "happy place"  - I want to spread positive vibes and for my little corner of the internet to be a fun, uplifting place to visit, so now that I'm in a better mindset I figured I'd dip my toe back into the "blogging pond" by sharing something that's been helping me to feel a little better, even on a pretty crappy day. 

I think the saying "There's something good in every day" is really true, and so even when I haven't been feeling the positive vibes, I've been trying to look for the little things that make me smile. It might be the tiniest thing that only lasts a few moments, but if you look for it, there's always something good in the day to be grateful for.

So here are just some of the little things, that have made me smile lately...

1. Seeing a rainbow on my drive to work

. I like to think of this as a sign that it's going to be a good day!

2. The beautiful cherry blossom (of is it a plum blossom?) tree that's blooming outside our apartment

. I see it as I head out the door on my way to work and it always brings a smile to my face.

3. The fact that it's just that little bit brighter in the mornings now as I'm waking up

. I'm so excited for Spring - it's always feels like such a fresh start and that everything picks up once September rolls around.

4. A big hug from my Nonna

- she's a little lady but gives the

best

hugs, and on this particular night, I really needed a good hug. It didn't exactly fix the situation that was stressing me out, but it definitely helped me feel a whole lot better about it all.

5. Sipping a hot cup of tea in the morning as I get ready for work

(or even better when Tom brings it to me on the weekend when I'm still in bed). There's something pretty amazing about the power of simple cup of tea.

6. Our little apartment

(okay so I guess this is actually a pretty big thing!)  - it's really coming together now and feels so cozy and homey. I feel so lucky that we have this space to call our own.

7. Snuggling into freshly washed sheets

- one of the best feelings ever!

8. Watching The Bachelor

- I originally only started watching it so I could chat to people at work about it and feel a bit more in the loop, but I've actually really got into it and now I'm hooked. It's nice to be able to just escape reality for a little while and enjoy some light hearted entertainment!

(For the record, I think Nikki will win - she seems like such a sweet, down to earth girl and they seem perfect for each other)

9. Listening to the rain while I'm snuggled up inside

- I don't think this one needs any explanation, the sound of rain is just so relaxing... 

10. The fact that I can now do proper dead lifts at the gym!

 I never thought I'd be into lifting weights, but I actually really enjoy it! It's all down to the fact that I have an awesome personal trainer -

Matt at Smart Fitness

. He's one of my friends from uni so going to the gym just feels like a fun catch up with my friend. If you're in Perth and after an awesome PT you should get in contact with Matt!

11. Watching my orchid that I repotted a couple of months ago growing

. The flowers are just about to blossom (for the third time now) and it's so exciting! Tom says I sound like a proud mother when I'm talking about my orchid... I've never kept a plant alive for this long before, so I guess I am a proud plant mum! ;)

12. Going for a walk in the sunshine

- even if it's only for ten minutes during my lunch break - it can really help to brighten up the day.

13. Picking Tom up from the airport

- my favourite part of the week.

He's coming home tonight and I'm so excited :)

After writing that list I'm feeling pretty good about things right now (the fact that it's Friday night is also probably helping with that!)

They're just simple things, but when you look for them you realise how many good things there are. They don't exactly fix all the other things going on, but when you're feeling grateful it's much easier to deal with the harder stuff (at least it seems that way to me).

What little things have been making you smile lately?

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Travel Diary - Girls Trip To Sydney!

Heya!

Today I'm sharing some photos from a very fun weekend away in Sydney :)

It was a rather spontaneous trip, with a couple of my best friends - Jema and Niki - who I've known since high school and who also happen to be two of my bridesmaids!

I flew into Sydney on a Thursday night and made my way to our hotel -

Swissotel

, where the girls (who had arrived earlier that day) met me with a seriously delicious prosciutto pizza. We spent the night just hanging out in our room and chatting (we hadn't had a girlie "sleepover" type night since we were back in the early days of uni, and it was just so fun!)

We'd all been to Sydney before (many many years ago in my case though), but had never seen Bondi Beach, so the next morning we hopped in an Uber to visit the iconic location. It's a pretty cool beach, and the weather was beautiful, although coming from Perth, it does seem a bit "hyped up". It was a nice beach, but nothing that we don't have in WA - although I'm happy to have seen it now at least! hehe ;)

After admiring the view and taking a few pics, we went in search of brunch and found a lovely little place called

Lox Stock & Barrel

which I highly recommend! It was so funny because the waiter was such a stereotypical "Australian Surfer Dude" - just the kind of depiction of an Aussie that you'd see in some American movie, so that gave us a good laugh!

The food was delicous - Niki and I went with the Brioche French Toast, while Jem stuck with scrambled eggs. The smoothie we had was awesome too but I can't remember what was in it sadly, other than one ingredient which was goji berries!

We had such a relaxing time, spending a good couple of hours just chatting and enjoying our food in the sun. It's actually so good to be able to catch up with old friends and spend real quality time with them - they're the kind of friends where I can just totally be myself and completely relax because we know each other so well. Nix and Jem are also a lot of fun - and things are never boring with them, so they make great travel companions! 

After brunch we caught another Uber back into the city (a lot of Uber rides were taken during this trip!) to get started with shopping! As we were driving back though we realised we'd forgotten about the shopping we wanted to do in Bondi! On our way to brunch we'd passed so many cool little boutiques that we wanted to stop in, but afterwards we totally forgot. We decided we'd just have to make another girls trip to Sydney in the not too distant future and come back to Bondi then ;)

After shopping in the city, we headed to a bridal shop in The Strand Arcade called

Eternal Bridal

where I had made an appointment. They carry Hayley Paige dresses, which are some of the most beautiful, dreamy dresses I've seen and unfortunately aren't available in Perth. I had a particular dress that I was dying to try on and was so excited to have the opportunity to visit this store!

The arcade and bridal store were absolutely beautiful, and there were so many stunning dresses. I tried on the dress that I'd been looking at online, as well as a couple more and completely unexpectedly fell in love with the second dress I tried. By this point, I'd tried on

a lot

of dresses from numerous different stores in Perth, and none of them had really wowed me. They were beautiful, but none of them had made me think "this is my wedding dress". I'd actually been planning on getting the dress made as I honestly didn't think I'd find something after all the dresses I'd tried on!

This second dress was different though - I don't know what it was but I just felt so good in it, and I just couldn't stop smiling when I had it on! We weren't allowed to take photos, but I was able to skype my mum so she was able to see the dress too. We had some technical difficulties and took ages figuring out how to get skype working on our phones, but Lotta, the sales assistant was so incredibly patient and helpful and helped to make the experience so special!

I decided I needed to sleep on it just to make sure I was making the right decision, but I left the store feeling 98% certain that this was my wedding dress. In some ways it was absolutely what I'd been picturing, but in others it was really different, so I needed some time to think. (*spoiler alert * - I went back and bought the dress the next day!!)

After leaving the bridal shop on a high (I couldn't believe I'd probably found my dress), we headed back to our hotel which was conveniently right around the corner and then eventually headed out for dinner and drinks. 

We went to a place called

The Butler

in Potts Point and had such a great time there. It had a great atmosphere with dim lighting, candles on all the tables, beautiful paintings of plants covering the walls and an outdoor area filled with more plants and fairy lights (I think there were fairlights, I could be making it up, but there was some sort of pretty lighting out there!)

The food was fab and the cocktails were delicious (I'm not usually one to drink at all, so that's saying something!) and our waiter even brought over a free cocktail for us to share because "we were so nice" apparently! haha ;)

Speaking of "being nice" apparently (according to a few of our uber drivers), Perth people are some of the friendliest around. I don't know if that's completely true, but it's a nice reputation for us to have! 

After dinner we made our way to

Opera Bar

where we had a great view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, although it was too cold to stay outside for long! We nestled into one of the booths inside and somehow the time just flew by after that!

The next morning we were up pretty early as we had appointments at Mecca Cosmetica to get our makeup done! (This was a super girlie and also pretty splurgey trip).

This isn't something I ever do, so it was such a treat and I picked up some exciting beauty bits that have quickly become my new favourites so I'll probably be talking about them in a post at some point.

After a little shopping, we headed to the main event of the day - lunch at

Sepia

. It was a 9 course degustation menu and was amazing. I'm not a big drinker, so while the others did the wine pairing, I had the option to do a tea pairing! There were about six different teas that were chosen to go along with the different courses, starting from a rose ice tea that was served in an old fashioned champagne glass, and progressively warming up to a hot cinnamon tea to go with the dessert. Everything was presented so beautifully and it really was a whole "experience".

After lunch we made our way back to Eternal Bridal where I ended up buying my wedding dress!! I'm so excited about my decision and so happy that I really did have that "this is my dress" special moment! It also means another trip back to Sydney next year for fittings which I'm not complaining about!

The next morning, Niki had an early flight to catch, and Jem was still sleeping, while I (always the early bird) was wide awake, so I headed out on my own to explore a little more. It was a lovely morning actually, just walking around the streets of Sydney, stopping to grab a coffee and making my way towards the Opera House to get a view of the bridge in the daylight! :)

After meeting up for breakfast, Jema and I made our way to the airport and our awesome weekend drew to a close. It was seriously such an amazing few days and I can't wait to do it again sometime! I love travelling with Tom, but sometimes a girls weekend away is just what you need!

So that's it for today! Thanks for reading if you made it this far! I'd love to hear suggestions of your favourite things to do in Sydney if you have any. We only had a very short time so didn't get a chance to visit a lot of the places we would have liked, or do the bridge climb. I'll be heading back there next year though so hopefully I'll be able to fit a bit more in then!

Hope you're having an awesome Sunday :)

Lauren

xxx