I was invited by Eleanor to attend the pre-opening party for her amazing new store 'The Elm Tree'. I got to spend the night marvelling at the amazing handmade goods, chatting with new & old friends, eating delicious baked goods (especially Jess' brownies, oh my goodness) and decorating my very own pot plant of basil. I named him Basil, Bas for short.

This fantastic store sells an array of handmade crafts from around 20 different artists and designers around Sydney. It is truly inspirational to see the amount of talent these artists and designers possess. The central theme of the store is a focus on sustainable products, handmade in Australia. This includes products such as toys, clothes and decorative pieces as well. Also, the store is setting up art classes in book binding, journaling, decorating and more. The timetable for these workshops can be found on The Elm Tree's Facebook page.

It's definitely worth a look if you're in the Parramatta area.

Go and visit.

LIKE The Elm Tree on Facebook: Here

Instagram: @eleanormccomb 

Eleanor's AMAZING Blog (she's a crazy talented artist): Here

The Elm Tree is located within The Connection Arcade on Church St, Parramatta.

Have a look and support local artists.

-C.

DIY Eyeshadow Palette (C Palette) ✌

I've been wanting a Z-Palette for a while now, you know those empty palettes you buy online & then you add either your de-potted/de-panned eyeshadows or you buy the singular eyeshadows from MAC or your other favourite make up brands?

Well, I couldn't justify spending about $20 for an empty palette. I kept thinking of possible solutions and I couldn't think of any until I saw a post made on a makeup group I follow on Facebook.

The woman who gave me the idea actually bought a magnet set she found in Big W and the case is a PERFECT size for a palette. So I went off to Big W, bought the magnet set for $10 (on sale) and got to making my own make up palette. My new palette even has Ariel on it! So kawaii!

I am SO happy with the results! It makes me feel like I just bought a whole new palette and I only had to spend about $12 on the actual case and strips of magnets to glue onto my de-panned eyeshadows. Everything else used in this DIY was found around my house.

What you will need:

• Metallic case (empty)
• Magnet strips with adhesive backing
• Scissors
• Old eyeshadows
• Candle (or hairdryer)
• Matches
• Needle
• Safe working area, covered to avoid damage.
• A steady hand.

Here's how I did it:

I collected my random little eyeshadow palettes from my collection and de-panned them.

This involves heating up the bottom of the plastic casing over a candle (or with a hair dryer) and prying the eyeshadow pan from its plastic casing using a small dressmaker's needle.

PLEASE NOTE: Always use caution when using an open flame and needles, and ALWAYS work with good ventilation. The plastic does emit some foul smelling fumes when you're doing this so it is safer to work in a well ventilated area for this reason. Persons under the age of 18 should not do this alone and adult supervision is required. Heck, I'm 22 and I needed my husband's supervision. This part of the process was scary!

After doing that a couple (hundred) times, you then attach a magnet to the back of the de-panned eyeshadow. The strips of magnets I bought were about $2 from my nearest $2 shop.

After doing that to all of your eyeshadows, arrange them how you like on your palette and enjoy!

Seriously, this was the best! I get to use my forgotten eyeshadows now and I love how they're all in one convenient place.

Because I didn't buy a Z Palette I decided to call this palette a C Palette because my name is Clarissa and... the first letter of my name is C... and, well, you get the picture.

I recommend this to anyone who has random eyeshadows laying around and wants them all in one place.

Oh! Before I actually did this, I typed up a Word document containing all the colours and names of the individual palettes I used. I did this so I could look back on which colours I was using IF I WANTED TO, but I probably wont.

Time it took to complete: About an hour
Total price $12

Stay classy.

-C.

Colab. with Carla!

So, I have a friend named Carla.

We've known each other since the moment I moved to the area, which was in 2002. We were in year 6 at Winston Hills Public School together.

We've gone through every awkward phase together. Her with her colourful plastic jewellery phase to me in my all black emo stage with accompanying emo fringe. Awesome.

We've gone through highs and lows together and experienced the good and the bad.

Anyways, I took some photos for her blog yesterday and she's going to be featuring them in her blog which you can find...

HERE

I hope you can find her blog because the link I added wasn't too big. She blogs all about design stuff, fashion and inspiration pieces, make up and her everyday life. It makes for a really interesting read.

She's got some pretty cool stuff in her room, & her jewellery collection & ability to piece items together is impressive. She's always had that eye for knowing design and fusion. I guess that's why she specialises in that sort of thing. Design. Carla. It just goes together.

You'll be able to check out the blog post soon.

Until then...

Stay classy.

-C.