pin stuff, do stuff: braided crown

Okay here's the thing: I used to have a fear of long hair. Other people's long hair. Obviously I'd never let mine get past my shoulder. I know, I know, it's completely irrational and crazy but true non-the-less. A friend of mine's mum used to have hair down to her knees - it really really freaked me out. Anyway, 10 years on and I'm over it (well maybe not knee length hair) but waist length is now totally bearable, in fact, more than bearable, I really love it!

My locks are currently the longest they've ever been and it's awesome. I can finally try out all the up-dos I've been coveting for the last few years including this which I pinned last summer. I admit that I've done a pretty botched job but it was fun taking the pictures so I'm going to share anyway. (Also, as my colour is still growing out, the braided ends look really red against my natural colour which looks pretty cool I think.)

I'm actually due have a cut next week but hopefully I'll be able to keep as much of the length as possible. Summer definitely = fun up-dos.

pin stuff, do stuff: paper flowers

After the shock of having to return to work on Thursday, I decided that this weekend should be as chilled as possible. I can confirm that this was achieved. Along with leisurely breakfasts, crocheting, two tea dates with two of my favourite people and watching a sh*t load of parks & recreation, I also made a tissue paper flower garland. Ta-dah!

Pinterest informs me that I pinned this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess 29 weeks ago, and I say: better late than never. It is the simplest DIY (tissue paper shaped like starfish layered on top of each other) in the world but I love it. Plus, this was kind of a test as I think I'm going to do something similar as part of the decorations at the wedding :)

I also made a little flower to pretty-up this hair pin. Yes, it's been a productive but chilled weekend - I hope yours was grand too!

pin stuff, do stuff: pumpkin cake

I've seen quite a lot of other bloggers do this and I think it's a very good idea. As I'm sure you all know and appreciate, Pinterest is a great procrastination site where loads and loads of awesome recipes and DIYs get pinned to boards with the intention "I must do/make that one day". But, if you're anything like me, these great ideas never seem to make it off pinterest. So this is me starting my version of Pin and Do!

I've got two boards which are reserved for future makes and experiments:
1. food and drink recipes and 2. arty/crafty DIYs

This year I've been pretty much ignoring halloween, except for buying a pumpkin, and I guess they're not really halloween specific anyway. Using just over a quarter of the pumpkin (and some other ingredients) I made a rather autumnal and tasty cake. 

I pinned this image from this site and pretty much followed the recipe to the letter except: using mixed nuts rather than just pecans and a larger sized tin as I didn't have the size the recipe required (it meant that my cake had to bake for an extra 30 mins at a cooler temp) but the results were excellent. I did manage to completely screw-up the icing (not entirely sure how that happened as I've made icing a million times before) but the cake tastes just as good without it :)

Have you been making anything recently as a result of extensive pinterest browsing?