MW's DIY: Cute Cushion Covers

Whirlers,

Sunday. Sitting at home. Raining. Mama Mango watching Star Plus - what should I do?! I decided it was about time I learnt how to sew, so I rummaged in the cupboard underneath the stairs and dug out Mama Mango's old school sewing machine...and, begged her to deter her attention away from Arnav and Kushi to teach me!

And, this is how it all went down:

(click on photo to enlarge)

What I needed: 

- Material

- Cushion 

[I purchased mine when it was on sale on the H&M website - 99p! But, this was a while ago - but I`d keep an eye out all the time - H&M have amazing sales all the time]

- Black cotton thread

- Scissors

- Measuring Tape

-Sewing Machine

Measuring and cutting the material:

Mama Mango obviously didn`t want me to cut and mess it up, so she laid the material down on a flat surface, placed the cushion on top and measured the material.

She cut three pieces:

1 x large piece, which would cover one side of the cushion

2 x smaller pieces, the height would be the same as the larger pieces, but the width would be half of the cushion size's width, plus an inch or so over  - this is so you can fold a little over and create a nice edge (as you can see in the image below on the two smaller pieces), as well as the "fold over" (to insert the cushion)

[e.g. if your cushion, width wise is 30cm, then half would be 15cm, but adding an inch or so = 18/19cm]

To create the neater edge: 

Fold the edge over a little bit (little over 1cm) and pin it in place, this will create a neat edge. Sew this all the way down. 

Once you have done this to one side to each of the smaller pieces, lay the cushion back ontop of the pieces put together, so you can get an idea of how much you would need to sew around the outer edges. Mama Mango measured it where I would have an inch space to sew:

Again, using sewing pins, along the edges so the material wouldn`t move, put through the sewing machine. 

Make sure one of the smaller pieces overlaps the other small piece, as this is how the cushion will stay in its cushion cover, like this photo:

Ensure you do the sewing inside out.

And, once you`re done, turn it back around and put the cushion inside, and you should end up with something like this:

So, that was my first ever sewing project - I hope it was easy to understand! If not, please do email/comment/tweet me! 

What shall I do for my next project? Although, it was scary and a pain - I did feel the final outcome was rewarding (lol!)

Do let me know if you also make a cushion cover!

xo

MW Goodies: Street Princess Jewellery

Hey Whirlers,

How are you all? I recently purchased some goodies from Street Princess, which I`m very excited about! Especially as I had my eye on  a 'Ellie' bracelet for a while.

Let me give you the lowdown on Street Princess. An online jewellery boutique where the Princess is Naheeda, a wonderful chick that I had the pleasure to meet a few months ago at a bloggers meet up in London. Naheeda takes great pride in her work, and it is reflected in the end product where her bracelets are all handmade and are perfect, masha`Allah. She initially did a whole range of jewellery, but is now focussing on her handmade bracelets for a short period. That explains why her rings and necklaces are in the amazing blog sale over on her blog.

I was given the opportunity to purchase a few goodies from Street Princess with 50% discount, and here are the pictures of my purchase:

I`m a sucker for cute packaging. It shows effort and pride in their work, and most importantly, wanting to put a smile on their customers face. Orgazana pouches and little card boxes that are filled with treasures.

Here is a close-up of the packaging. There are mini crowns on one side of the box, which signifies the princess in the name. Totally cute, creative and a lot of thought has gone into the packaging. My bracelets came in this, where it was further wrapped in pink tissue paper to protect the bracelet inside the box.

A further close-up of the packaging. This is the other side of the box, showing the logo of Street Princess. Again, much thought as gone into the whole image of the product as a whole.

With the products, I was give a post card from Naheeda with a personal message. I told you I`m a sucker for cute packaging and the extra effort into putting a smile on your customers face!

'Bow' ring - £2
This was purchased from the blog sale. How cute is this ring? This ring is perfect for me, with chubby fingers, as the ring is expandable.

Riley in Red/Gold
An example of how perfectly made this bracelet is by Naheeda.

Ellie in Nude
This is my favourite product from the purchase! I love elephants.
This bracelet is JUST TOOOOO CUTE!!! I took more photos of this bracelet as I loved it too much!

Another personal touch by Street Princess is to have SP on the ends of the bracelet to stop the bracelet falling off.
It took me a while to get used to this extra weight, and had to be careful not to let it fall into my food,
but again, reflecting the personal touches to Naheeda's work.

I did actually purchase another item, a tribal necklace in antique gold, but when I was taking photos the necklace was sitting in my new necklace board and I was too lazy to go upstairs and bring it down! But, that necklace is also very pretty!!

I think the amount of time and effort Naheeda puts into her jewellery is amazing and truly reflects it in the end product. She has nailed the personal touches, the handmade bracelets are flawless and she has created truly amazing packaging to go with her jewellery, surely to leave her customers with a smile on their face.

If you liked any of these products, please do check her out on:

Her website
-

Her blog

Her twitter

instagram: @StreetPrincess

where you will find even more of her products...

or, if you have any queries, do email her!

So, what do you guys think? Isn`t the Ellie bracelet just amaze?!

xo

MW's DIY: Necklace Board

Hey Whirlers!

Hope you`re all well and have entered my blog giveaway!

On with the post:

As a hijabi, I love wearing long necklaces as its perfect to show after my hijab has covered my chest, so I tend to buy a few, but they always get tangled up and I totally got fed up one day and I took a few pics to share with you on how I tackled this problem:

So, how did I resolve this?!

I actually lied, after I had edited this photo I had a look at the packet and it was 70p for 6 hooks.

I laid the board on a large flat surface (floor) and I laid the necklaces on the board, thinking, where it would look nice, etc. For shorter statement necklaces, I marked two hooks, so the shape could remain on the board, as you can see in the photos.

A nice and simple DIY that only took 5 minutes. You can obviously use different colour boards, but I already had a red lying around. If I really wanted to get rid of the red, I`d probably cover it with a cute material and reinsert the hooks.

If you put a lot of effort into your board and made it super pretty, it could easily be a feature in your room! 

How do you store your necklaces?

xo

MW's OOTD: Man(go)Made Maxi ;)

Whirlers!

I had a project at the back of my mind for a while, but the other day, a friend of mine totally inspired me to get creative and get on with it, soooo, I proceeded with and ended up sewing myself a maxi skirt out of my Ma`s kameez.

I shaped  the panels, so it would flow out towards the bottom and  I added a piece of elastic at the back, to form a shape, and to basically not fall off my hips.

I took a few snaps of me sewing it and then OOTD (duh) of it, check it out!

Ohhhh, its finally coming together!!

 

 

I think its not bad for a first attempt of making a skirt!

I had two TINY slits at the bottom, just to make it a little different. 

Vest: H&M

Blazer: H&M

Maxi Skirt: MangoWhirl (lolll)

Hijab: Zara

Accessories: H&M/Forever 21

What do you guys think?

xo

MW's Fashion Mood Board

Whirlers! 

I`m always flicking through magazines and whenever I find anything I like/could possibly pull off/hijab friendly, I tear it out of the magazine and pop it on my fashion mood board. And, then when I need inspiration for a new outfit, I just have a look at this and try and get creative.

I`ve been doing this for a little while now and I love it. I want a bigger one and actually put it on the wall, but Mama will say no, no doubt :( but, I definitely think its a good idea to put ideas on one place for inspiration!

Does anybody else have a similar concept in their room? I think theres an online version isn`t there? Pinterest, or something? Link me to your boards!!

xo

MW's Make Up Storage

Whirlers, this is my current make up storage at home.

1. This is an acyrlic make up organiser. I bought this from John Lewis for £10-11 and its so handy. I put my everyday make up in here, so its close to reach and just easy to put back to keep the area tidy. 

However, this can be achieved by buying those desktop pen/notepad holders, too.

2. These are my GlossyBoxes and they`re SO handy as the quality is so good and sturdy. They also look really pretty, so ideal storage boxes. They are filled with products that do not fit into the drawers, refill products, my extensive collection of bronzers and lipglosses and nail polishes. 

I think these are a great alternative to actually purchasing storage boxes, which can cost £6 for just an empty box? 

3. My uber soft pink towel that I use to dry my brushes on, any make up mishap, gets wiped on this. Its just handy to have on hand. (Don`t worry, it gets washed regularly, too.)

Pop in Primark and pick up a small face cloth to keep on hand when you apply make up.

4. THIS IS MY BABY!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! This is an acrylic desk organiser, I think two drawers cost £10+ from MUJI and you can stack them up. (I`m going to add a few more drawers, after exams are over) I think these are so ideal for any girl who has lots of make up and loves to keep it organised. The top drawer is filled with my lip products. Second drawer is filled with bronzers and powders. Third drawer is filled with mascara's and eye shadow brushes. Fourth, is filled with my palettes. 

I couldn`t think of a cheaper alternative, to be honest as I`d been looking high and low for something like this. Can/have you think/got an alternative to purchasing these drawers?

5. This is an acrylic pencil pot, which I converted into a make up brushes pot. I think these are so handy. I bought this from Rymans Stationary Store for £6, I think? 

But, you can easily achieve this by going into a charity shop and find a nice mug/glass beaker for £1 and make that your make up brush pot. 

* This is my handy and cheap alternative to a hijab pin cushion. You know when you get a watch, there is an inside foam/cushion that holds the watch? Those are PERFECT to store your hijab pins in. Instead of spending £4-5 on a cushion, have a look in your watch box and see if there is a suitable alternative and pins can be poked into it. This idea was discovered by my best friend, so all credits go to her. <3 *

What make up storage do you guys have? Give me some inspiration.

xo

MW's Snapshot Saturday

1. Mum works with Christians, and she made me wrap little presents for them. I do love wrapping. I made my own tags. Will do a seperate post on that later.

2. From the #bbloggersmeetup. I had 'Satay Chicken' - nom, nom, nom.

3. My current obsession - Pringles - Texas BBQ Sauce flavour! My favourite. Even got my parents hooked.

4. NARS Day and Night Palette that I got given as a complimentary gift. Will do a seperate post on that later.

How was your week? 

xo

MW Wedding Fun

Whirllers!

Went to a wedding reception over the weekend, and I just had to share this awesome concept! My friend had a seating plan, with the correct type of mint cover infront of the correct gender. And, it was just so fitting for the occasion. You can tell a lot of time and thought went into it. Its those personal, smart touches, which make you smile!

In case anyone was wondering, the couple are BEAUTIFUL and the night was truly memorable. I wish the couple an entire lifetime of happiness and to continue keeping each other smiling. Perfect for each other.

What do you think? Cute, right? Have you seen cute touches like this before? Share.

xo

P.S. Just wanted to take a moment to say Hello/Salam to all my new followers that I gained from participating in HFW, which by the way was really fun and great to see such a wide hijabi community on blogs. Hope you`re all doing well. I WILL reply to everyones comments/follow back after the 16th, as I will be a little preoccupied for the next couple of weeks. And, I like to take my time doing those things (lol). So, please don`t think I`m rude...and my battery is about to die...catch me on Twitter. Theres a link on the right (I think?) Love to all. xo

MW's Scarf Storage

Heyyy Whirllers!

This is how I store my scarves!

Right at the back you can see my plain pashmina's, colour co-ordinated.

Infront of that you can see two baskets. That's where I keep my everyday hijabs. So instead of piling them up like the pashmina's at the back, I've got them in handy baskets that I can just grab out without ruining the rest of the hijabs. If I ruin the hijabs within that basket. Not a big deal can easily tidy up!

Underneath, I have my other scarves, my woolly ones, the thin ones to throw on over shoulders, etc and, I have some in containers to keep them compact, and again easy to grab out.

I've messed around with different ways of storing hijabs and this has definitely been the most ideal for me.
How do you store yours?

Lemme see how you guys do it!! Might be inspirational for me!! Make sure to comment and link your tag so I can see!

xo

MW's Top Tip: Hijab Pins

Tonight I wore a black and orange salwar kameez, and I wore a black hijab with it, but I wanted an orange pin...didn't have one. So I just applied 2 coats of orange nail polish onto a hijab pin. Left it to dry (poked into my hijab pin cushion). Few minutes later - ta da! I now have an orange hijab pin to match my outfit!

Easy peasy!! So, next time you have a nice outfit but don't have the perfect pin colour? See if you have a nail polish in that colour and get painting!!

xo

*Edit*

Here is a pic of the hijab pins I painted. I painted a white one into a deep plum colour and the baby pink one into a rather sexy pink, instead. So much fun!! lol