Ah what a year eh?! Brexit and Trump is obviously the headline of the year, but beyond that what has happened? Well, to reflect on my year, major changes have happened in my life in all sorts of ways. I finished my A Levels and headed off to university to study history. This has been the biggest thing in my year and caused me to over come all sorts of hurdles and this will form the majority of this post...

I am not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination. I see myself more as an ambivert leaning towards introversion. Yes I am, when you first meet me, shy, of few words, quiet, and yet I can be massively extroverted and loud once you get to know me and I feel comfortable within my surroundings. University for me was where all the extroverts of the world lived, the party goers, the alcohol bathers, the loud people. A situation I could never see myself being happy in, let alone enjoying! This means I have been terrified of going for as long as it became something in my foreseeable future. However, 4 months down the line of starting and I can honestly call university some of the most enjoyable months of my life so far. I have already made friends I hope I will still know 50 years down the line from now and have never laughed so often and so hard! University forced me to face my fears head on, from encountering new situations on a daily basis to calling up companies on the phone to sort out issues, because the parents are no longer there to take on my responsibilities for me. I mean I was sorting out a problem with M.A.C. customer services the other day, something I could not have done 4 months ago! I have also got train travel down to a T having had to use it so much in the past term. One day I'll get round to writing a guide to university for non-drinkers/non-extroverts, but I probably need to have completed my first year before being 'qualified' to talk about these things haha - look out for that next summer and start sending me your questions and fears you want me to address in the mini-series! 

My other achievement of the year was starting this blog! I have wanted my own online creative beauty outlet (if that's what you want to call it) since I was 11 and first discovered the world of the online beauty community on YouTube (something I am considering going into next year - YouTubeing that is), so watch this space! While it may still be early days and I haven't got an publish routine etc going yet because I'm trying to work out how to balance it with uni work, I have loved having an outlet for all my ideas :) I also got a new phone for Christmas (the Moto G4 FYI) so look out for slightly better photo quality haha!


And who's to forget that this was the year of Potter?? With an amaaazing new film (which I only saw the other day (hangs head in shame) and an announced 4 more to come I am so hyped for more potter filled years! And on my last day of term I won tickets to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child through the Friday Forty giveaway on only my 2nd attempt!!!! Ohmydays it was the best thing ever!! I won't give away any spoilers obviously, but the special effects are incredible, the theatre itself is beautiful and gah! I loved every second. If you are lucky enough to get seats in the stalls like I was (as the Friday Forty Tickets are reduced best seats), then the experience is heightened further. If you've seen it, you know what I mean :) I really hope that they release a DVD of it in the next couple of years so everyone gets the opportunity to see it as well as read it :)

So here's to focussing on the positives of such a weird year!

What were the highlights of your 2016? Lets have a natter in the comments 😊

Happy New Year!

June xx

So just before Christmas my mum had to get a new phone because her old one broke. However this new phone was too big for her old phone case. Therefore, I took it upon myself to make her a bigger one for Christmas :) Here is how I did it:

What you will need:

-2 contrasting fabrics (thin)
-thread
-needle
-sewing machine (although you could hand sew the whole thing)
-felt
-fabric scissors
-a button
-a tape measure/ruler
-a pen/fabric chalk
-pins
-embroidery thread (or something you can make into a loop for the fastening

1) Cut the fabric

Measure the size of your phone and add 5cm on to each measurement (width and length) so as to incorporate a seam allowance.
Using a tape measure or ruler draw out the size of the fabric you will require from the measurements you just took. The width should be doubled so that you can fold over the fabric later and and get both sides of the case. This should be done once on the two fabrics and the felt. Then cut out the fabric :)

2) Sew the fabrics together

Place the two fabrics together with the right sides facing each other and the felt ontop. Pin together and then stitch along 3 and 1/2 of the edges allowing a 1cm-1.5cm seam allowance with the sewing machine (there should be a line next to the needle you can follow to keep the stitching straight and the seam allowance at the same length). Don't sew half of one of the shorter sides together so you can turn the fabric the correct way round by pushing it through the hole - make sure you have removed the pins, cut the seam allowance off to about 5mm near the stitching and cuts off the corners of the seam allowance to allow you to get a sharper point in your fabric. Fold in the raw edges of the unstitched end and sew along the fold to close up the hole.

3) Sew into a phone case

Fold the fabric in half with the outside material on the inside and pin the bottom and side edges together. Either use a sewing machine to stitch very closely to the edge along the bottom and side of the case, or hand stitch along the edge if the fabric is too thick (I kept breaking sewing machine needles so had to resort to hand sewing... :( ) I would probably change to a running stitch if I was to do it again so the stitching didn't show through the edges on the outside...

4) Add the button!

Turn the case the right way round and sew your button onto the front of the case. Then take some embroidery thread (as it's thicker than normal thread), or a strip of excess fabric (which you could make into a strap by either making into a spaghetti strap (google it) so as to hide the fraying edges, or by plaiting with two other strips of fabric - just make sure the plait is really thin) and stitch onto the middle of the top of the back of the case in a loop (if you are very clever, you could insert this into the fabric by attaching it to the case when sewing all the fabric together in step 2 by attaching it a ¼ of the way along the width of the fabric with the loop sitting between the two fabrics (not the felt).

5) Fin!

To finish you could embroider the phone owners name or do an appliqué image on the front in a contrasting fabric (though that would be easier to do before you sew all the materials on the front). Go creative and have fun with it, this is just the basic idea :). You could also design it so that the back of the case is longer than the front and folds over the case to button onto the front to make for a securer fastening :) Or you could use velcro or poppers. The ideas are endless :)





If you have a go at this be sure you tag me in your creations on Instagram: @RougebyJuneKonrad

Merry Christmas!! (only 3 days to go hehe)

June xx

 So, 5 days until Christmas, but what's that I hear? The cries of a stressed human who has that one relative they don't know who to buy for? Or maybe a broke teen who has to buy 10 gifts but is on a strict budget? Don't fret! I've complied (oo fancy) a last minute gift guide for you all, aimed at multiple price ranges :)

Quote Posters

I made this poster for a cat-lover friend this Christmas after she said the above during dinner. Whether it be a one off phrase or a phrase they say all the time, a quirky quote poster is a great last minute gift for someone you don't know what to buy for - and especially fab for us poster loving uni students. I designed it on picmonkey.com and had it professionally printed by instantprint.com costing me £10.94 (including postage and VAT). This was probably not the cheapest way of doing it but I paid for next day postage so it got to me in time for Christmas... You can save more money if you have an A3 printer to hand- there may be one at your school/uni you could borrow or at your local library) - or print it on A4 and buy a cheap charity shop photo frame to spice it up a bit and make up for it not being generic poster size :)

Top tips for quote posters

1) Use multiple fonts - each line of mine is a different font.
2) Highlight the key words in the text by making them bigger, bolder and in different colours.
3) Include a simple picture to do with the main topic without a background so it blends into the background colour.
4) Don't use a long quote, paraphrase if you have to!
5) Point out to them that they said it by putting their name and the year at the bottom of the page (I've cut my friend's name off this for privacy, but it is there in the original).

If you don't like this style, you can parody other styles of poster such as the 'Keep Calm' ones or turn a funny picture of your friend into the style of a meme. The possibilities are endless. For instance my friend has had a thing about badgers wearing party hats for years, so this year I printed out a poster of a badger that I'd added a party hat to and captioned it!

Food Hampers

Who doesn't love food? This year for my grandparents I am putting together a hamper for homemade food to suit their taste. As they don't like many sweet things, I have only given them a few things (at one stage I planned on buying fancy cheese and making biscuits). To present them I bought professional looking food bags from amazon and labels from a local kitchen store to make it look extra special 😊 I couldn't find a hamper to present them in, so wrapped an old shoe box in brown paper and ripped up strips of white and red tissue paper to fill the inside of the box.

Heres the recipes I will be using if you are interested:

Dark Cherry and Hazelnut Biscotti

(Use proper butter, not marg! They took forever to dry out, but were the biggest success of the operation. Defo making them again at some point :) )

Tuiles



Pistachio and Cranberry mini Meringues

Any plain meringue recipe with chopped pistachios and dried cranberries added to the mixture (only one of the types in each meringue, not mixed together) They didn't provide much flavour, so unless you are sprinkling them on top for decoration, there isn't much point adding them to be honest. Ah well, you live ad you learn :)

Books

Books are great for the book lovers in your life. Whether its a book you love and want to introduce them too, or a book based on things they love that you think they'll love, you can be rest assured that if they love reading they will use this at some point - just make sure they haven't read it already...

I bought A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor for my Dad. This was originally a radio series he listened too, so fingers crossed he'll enjoy the book just as much 😊

My personal book recommendations are the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Dubargo and (the similar) Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan.

Bath Bombs

Makeup

 

Perfume 

Perfume is a little harder to get right, as it is so individual. Mini perfume sets, like this one from New Look (£12.99), means the recipient will hopefully like at least one of them. These are also, once again, great stocking fillers to split up and give out individually to people- especially if you're strapped for cash!

Jewellery

Chocolate

Phone Cases

Gift vouchers 

And if you're truly stuck, vouchers are the way to go. Whether it's money towards something they've wanted for ages, books, somewhere to visit together (like this Cat Café my friend and I have had our eyes on for aaages) or promise vouchers (such as the one above I just designed on Picmonkey that you are welcome to use). I'm also going to suggest subscription boxes such as Birchbox if you can afford it and charity sponsorships such as Guide Dogs which I used to receive 😊.

Any reccommendations of your own? Add them in the comments below!

Merry Christmas :)

June xx

So as Christmas is a month of charity, I thought I would share my charitable moment of the year 😊

I cut my hair earlier this year. Not a trim, but a full 13 inches... Its funny because for the past 8 years I had wanted as long hair as I could get my hands on, and at its longest, it reached the bottom of my back. 10 year old me would have been delighted and want to keep going. But not 18 year old me. hair getting stuck in coat zips and falling into my food all the time makes long hair less fun and games and more of a pain. Also, I always pulled my hair to one side then pull it back round the other a little to cover my ears and it started to form this cool lob shape. I wanted that lob cut. But what to do with all that excess hair? Donation seemed like the obvious choice for me so my charity search began. I knew of The Little Princess Trust already, but ideally wanted to donate it to wigs for alopecia because my aunt has the condition so I have seen the impact wigs can have for those with it. However, with zero luck I decided to donate to the Little Princess Trust instead who create wigs for children who have suffered hair loss through illness (i.e. cancer treatment). While you can ask people to sponsor you so you can raise money for the charity at the same time, the day I did it was so last minute (i.e. organised a week before, there seemed little point. You can donate to their website if you would like here: http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/donate-money/). The process was super easy and my hairdresser had loads of fun plaiting my hair and cutting it off in one chop 😂. If you are thinking of donating your hair I would definitely recommend it - just remember to take a tape measure so you know how much you're taking off, we had to borrow one from a lady in the hairdressers XD. Now for some before and after pictures hehe!

The faux-lob I was aiming for

Look how long my hair used to be - it was a struggle to get it all in shot XD

I didn't know I owned so much! And that was it plaited XD

SO MUCH HAIRR!!

The lady at the postoffice had to ask what I was posting - she didn't seem at all shocked about hair being sent off XD

If you are interested in donating your hair, you can donate as little as 7 inches (which is not very much at all). See here for more details - http://www.littleprincesses.org.uk/donate-hair/