27/02/2015

Little Miss Lorraine | Featured Shop of the Week

As of next week I will be starting an exciting new series on the blog showcasing the amazing local Australian talent of handmade and vintage shop owners. These small businesses can often be looked over for cheaper, more commercial goods. From experience, the quality of the goods and the customer service you receive from these small businesses far exceeds that of the larger department stores.

Each Wednesday I will be showcasing a new shop for you on the blog. I encourage you to read their stories and have a look at what they are offering. Support your local!

To start off the series, I thought I would let you in behind the scenes of my own Etsy store, Little Miss Lorraine.



Tell us a little bit about yourself

Hi there my name is Jess! I am a 20 something lover of beauty, craft, interior design & DIY. I am also a keen but by no means experienced Yogi. I have a wonderfully supportive boyfriend and together we live with our beautiful (and noisy!!) rainbow lorikeet Opal.





What made you want to start your shop
I love the satisfaction that comes from making your own things. I also love making things for other people which is why I started Little Miss Lorraine! A little hobby of mine to share some of my makes with other people.

Where did the idea for the name of your shop come from

My shop name "Little Miss Lorraine" is based on...me! I am only 5"1 and often get referred to (not by choice!) as "little Jess".  I am a Miss (for now!) and Lorraine is my middle name which I share with one of my Grandmothers.



Tell us about the products you sell and your processes
Little Miss Lorraine is a combination of vintage wares, handmade home decor and paper goods. Our vintage wares are in very good condition and have been sourced from loving homes. All of our sewn goods are sewn on my Grandmothers sewing machine, something she handed down to me before moving into a retirement village. Every single card and gift tag is handmade and a lot of thought goes into the final product.


A look behind the scenes!
What is the most useful piece of advice you have been given in regards to your shop
Don't let your shop get too much for you! If you become too stressed out over the amount of sales you have, filling your shop with stock and dealing with customer enquiries, you will end up resenting the very thing you love doing! 
What do you love most about your shop
I love the connections and opportunities my shop has opened for me. Connecting with other Australian Etsy & small business shop owners has been such a great learning experience, and I will definitely be continuing these relationships as time goes on. 

Tell us where we can find out more about you & your shop

You can find Little Miss Lorraine here:

Etsy: etsy.com/au/shop/littlemisslorraine

Facebook: facebook.com/littlemisslorraine
Instagram: @littlemisslorraine

xx

22/02/2015

Wardrobe Revamp | Collect Inspiration


The last post in this wardrobe revamp series was to detox my wardrobe. I managed to get rid of a whole garbage bag worth of clothes which I will donate, and another bag of clothes and shoes that will be thrown away. As I said, this will be an ongoing process for me, but I am happy with the result so far.

The next step in Into Mind's 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp is to collect inspiration for the kind of wardrobe you would like to have. This was a very easy step for me as I have been collecting pictures of inspiration via Pinterest for a while now! 

My ideal wardrobe is one that has a mixture of pieces I can wear layered in many different combinations as well as a few beautiful key pieces.

Here is a look at some of my inspiration photos from my fashion Pinterest board...


image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest


image from Pinterest


Follow my Pinterest board to see what else I have pinned! In the next post, I will be discussing my personal style and how these pictures (and more on my Pinterest) fit into that.

xx

 

20/02/2015

The Body Shop Wild Argan Oil | First Impressions



You may remember I received this pack from The Body Shop from my amazing boyfriend for my birthday last year. I have been slowly working my way through the products and there are a few I would definitely purchase again.

One of these products is the Wild Argan Oil for skin and hair. Whilst I haven't tried this product on my skin as yet, I have been using it my hair recently and I am absolutely loving the result! I love trying to leave my hair as naturally curly as possible, however it tends to frizz quite badly throughout the day.

I have been using the Spray Gel for Curls by Toni & Guy on my hair for a few months now. I still love this product, however as much as it makes my curls stand out it doesn't have that all day protection from the frizz!

The pictures below show my third day curls using The Body Shop's Wild Argan Oil. I have never used a product that makes my hair stay this nice for so long! All I do in the morning is get up and go - no styling needed.





One of the things I really love about this product is that although it is an oil, it doesn't make my hair feel or look oily (as long as you keep it away from your roots!)

One spray on each side is enough to keep my hair frizz free for a good couple of days.

Have you every tried the Wild Argan Oil from The Body Shop before? I would love to know which products you use to help keep the frizz away!

What I'm Wearing
Crocheted Dress (Blazae- a few years ago)

xx

18/02/2015

Wardrobe Revamp | Detox Your Wardrobe



As you may have seen in my last post, I have finally decided to undertake a pretty major wardrobe revamp! Step 1 from Into Mind's 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp was to establish what you do not like about your current wardrobe (click here to see what I dislike about my current wardrobe!) Step 2 is to clean out your wardrobe, and get rid of anything that does not match your new wardrobe style. 

I finally had a chance on the weekend to detox my wardrobe. The first step was to get everything out on the bed into piles "keep, donate, trash, revamp" 




Not much left!!




I ended up with a big garbage bag full of clothes to donate, as well as a bag full of things to throw out (mostly shoes!) 

I am not completely finished going through my clothes, and there are still a few things I will probably end up giving away (once I come to terms I no longer need them!)

Into Mind includes a fantastic closet detox cheat sheet for this step to help you through those tricky decisions!!

Now I have a really good idea where my wardrobe is lacking and what things I need to think about restocking! I also had a few things I really like, but need to revamp so look out for a post with before and afters for these. The next step is to gather inspiration for new wardrobe pieces - that post will be up next week.

xx

 

09/02/2015

Wardrobe Revamp | Rethink Your Strategy


I have finally decided it is time for a wardrobe revamp. I have been really unhappy with my wardrobe for a while now. Don't get me wrong, I have lots of nice clothes, but I can never seem to put together outfits I really love to wear!

I came across the blog / website Into Mind via Pinterest and found this amazing 10 Step Wardrobe Revamp guide. It breaks the process of a wardrobe revamp down into 10 easy steps which is great at making the process seem less overwhelming. Into Mind is a website full of amazing tips for the perfect style, minimalism and the perfect wardrobe. I will definitely be referring to the website for more than just this wardrobe revamp!

I will be writing a blog post for each step of the way and including a lot of progress pictures, links and helpful tips. I hope this will be helpful for people who want to undertake a wardrobe revamp but are not sure where to start!

The first step in the wardrobe revamp process is to establish what you do not like about your current wardrobe as this will help you find out where your wardrobe weaknesses are. Using the flow chart provided, I have worked out that my wardrobe no longer matches my personal style. My goals for this revamp will be to:

- Redefine my current style
- Introduce new elements (I am hoping to make quite a few pieces myself!)
- Get rid of clothing that no longer matches my current style

Step 2 is to detox your wardrobe. Keep an eye out for the post on this soon (as soon as I get a free afternoon to go through my wardrobe!)

Have you ever undertaken a major wardrobe revamp? I am excited to share my progress with you!

xx

 

07/02/2015

28 Day Heart Opening Challenge | Yoga





As I mentioned in this post earlier in the week, I am participating in the 28 Day Heart Opening Yoga Project run by my favourite online Yogi Candace from Yoga by Candace.

Candace asked us to choose a pose to work on throughout the 28 days and post weekly check in photos to see how far we are progressing.

Here is my first check in photo for the project!



I have chosen pigeon pose and will be aiming to move into king pigeon by the end of the month. Pigeon pose is actually one of my favourites, but I can't say I find the full pigeon pose easy

Have you every participated in a yoga challenge / project? I love Candace's projects as they really help you to further your yoga, not just focus on a pose a day.

What I'm Wearing
Cotton On Body Sports Top (Cotton On - a few years ago) // Supre Shorts (Supre - a few years ago)

xx

 

05/02/2015

Life Update and New Project Sneak Peek

Enjoy the Journey
image from pinterest

Thank god it's nearly the weekend! I have had a crazy few weeks back at work. You think your getting somewhere and then you turn around to find more piles of paper to deal with!

I thought I would check in and let you known what I have been up to recently and give you a sneak peek of an exciting new project I have coming up.




Etsy Resolution
I am currently involved in a project called Etsy Resolution run by Etsy Australia. It is a 4 week "course" to help you really establish your Etsy shop in the market. As you probably know, I have my own little shop on Etsy, Little Miss Lorraine, which I would really love to grow this year. The 4 week program runs through everything including setting up your Etsy shop, taking great photos, pricing items and how to utilise social media. If you have your own Etsy shop I highly recommend you sign up to this course!




Tailoring Course
I have also signed up for an online tailoring course run by the Burdastyle Academy. I really wanted to take my sewing to the next level this year, especially when it comes to making / refashioning clothes. This course teaches you how to make your own patterns, how to adjust patterns and a few basic repair techniques such as replacing a broken zipper. I am really looking forward to doing a few more sewing courses this year so watch this space to see my progress.



28 Day Yoga Project 
Candace from Yoga by Candace has just released a blog post detailing her new yoga project for February after the success of her strength project throughout January. I have to admit I haven't done very much yoga in the last 2 weeks of January which I am very disappointed about! I am hoping to be more proactive during February so I am looking forward to this next project. I will be posting pose updates here so keep an eye out!




Exciting New Project...
I have a very exciting project coming up very soon which I cannot wait to show you. It is something I have wanted to do for a while now and I've finally got my act together to make it happen. The picture above might give you a clue as to what the project is about...blog post up this weekend about it!!


I hope you have all had a wonderful start to 2015 x

xx