guest post: blythe ponytail parades

Hello all you lovely Lark & Lace readers! My name is Violet and I am here to share a little bit with you while E.M. is in China being awesome!

I am an Indianapolis based wedding and portrait photographer and a blogger! I love creating and I use my passion for art in both photography and my blog. Last month I was able to photograph Erin's senior session at a local park in Broad Ripple, Indiana. I am so blessed to photograph stunningly beautiful people all the time! I went with filmy tones in editing this session and I was really excited about the results.


We were so excited to still have fall leaves on the trees for this session. Because it was shot in November, we could have expected any kind of weather, but instead got 80 degree weather and beautiful fall leaves. Indy is pretty bi-polar with weather :P

Thank you so much for having me today E.M.! You are awesome and I am so crazy excited to hear all about the wonderful things you see and do in China. Feel free to come say hi at my blog! I love meeting new people and fellow bloggers. You can also find me on Facebook here.

<3 Violet

Thank you so much for stopping by Violet! Everybody, I'm a HUGE fan of Violet's work and her blog is always full of adorable things. Please go and check her out!

guest post with Lauren!

Hi lark&lace readers! My name is Lauren, and I blog at www.laurendalessandro.com. I'm also the founder of The You Are Project,  an online magazine that aims to help women discover their identity while inspiring creativity and giving back to the community. 

This past Christmas, I really wanted to decorate my own cards, but I wasn't in the mood for a big messy project. These bejeweled cards are SUPER easy to make, but they are still unique and colorful. All you need to do is purchase a set of blank cards and envelopes (I got mine from A.C. Moore). I scored these amazing stick-on gems in the children's craft aisle at Target (I was WAY too excited about them--I love how saturated the colors are!). All you need to do is stick the gems on the cards in a variety of patterns and VOILA! You have the perfect card for a birthday, Valentine's Day, or just to let your friend know that you appreciate her.Thank you so much for stopping by Lauren! And to all of my readers, check our Lauren's blogs and follow her on all of her adventures. She has many planned!

guest post: we live upstairs

Hello lark&lace readers! My name is Leah and I blog over at We Live Upstairs. As an avid reader of E.M.'s blog, I jumped at the chance to author a guest post for her while she's doing amazing things in China, and I'm excited to share with you today! A few short weeks ago, I had the busiest weekend of my life. My birthday (and subsequent party), my fiancé's college graduation (and subsequent barrage of visits [both expected and surprise] from family members), and our anniversary were all back-to-back in the same weekend in December. And I don't know about you, but when I have some sort of event to attend, I like to put some effort into my outfit; it makes everything that's going on seem that much more special. So, as to not drive myself completely insane amidst days of pre-family house cleaning, gift buying, and party planning, I decided to choose one piece out of my closet to build three outfits around. That way, I at least had some direction and wasn't falling into a blind panic as family members walked in the door.

Dress: Vintage; Shirt: Vintage; Blazer & Tights: Target; Shoes: Shoes of Soul; Necklace: Old NavyThe piece I chose is a white, collared shirt with polka-hearts. If you look through any of my outfits, it will only take you seconds to see how much I love a pattern, and especially how much I love to mix them. I kept it fun for my birthday party with a patterned blazer from Target and a black velvet dress. This look was three layers deep, but it was ridic cold outside and I didn't need a coat!Dress: Old Navy; Necklace: Old Navy; Socks: Target; Shoes: UO We all know graduations tend to be dressy events, and quite a few of Matt's family members were visiting for the occasion, so I wanted to wear something classic and feminine- a wrap dress! I'm so glad I invested in this dress; I can style it so many different ways and I know I'll have it for years to come. And again, I kept it "me" with a pattern and some knee socks.Sweater: Thrifted; Skirt: Vintage; Socks: American Shoe; Shoes: Vintage

This last look is what I wore for mine and Matt's anniversary dinner at the end of the weekend. He picked out the skirt (usually I don't seek others' opinions on what I wear, but I wanted to be sure to wear something he likes for this occasion) and I added one of my favorite sweaters and more knee socks : ). 

And there you have it, a sure-fire way to stay sane throughout a jam-packed weekend! Thanks for letting me share today, and thanks for having me, E.M.!

Love, 

Leah

Thank you so much Leah for stopping by! To all of my readers, please check out her blog, we live upstairs. She's always wearing something adorable!

diy fabric wreath (guest post!)

So I stumbled across the perfect craft last week, it used things I already had and the outcome was some beautiful gifts. I have been looking for some gifts that I could make a few friends for Christmas, I needed something relatively inexpensive and I wanted something my friends would really appreciate.

Earlier this fall I made a coffee filter wreath and it turned out amazing. I had grand plans of mass producing and selling them but it took so much time to produce that I never made another. I did, however, grab 5 small styrofoam wreaths from Target for $1. I also love sewing so I have a bunch of fabric in my back room. The other night I came up with these little beauties out of the two.

First you need to cut your fabric for the wreath.  My wreath is probably about a foot in diameter and I used maybe a half a yard all together for the five I made.  Lengthwise I added about two inches to what I thought I needed by wrapping the fabric around the wreath. Width wise I tried to keep it close to what I needed. You want to have enough to fold over but not too much extra on width. I attached in two inch increments by glueing it down shifting the fabric and glueing the next portion. You want to be cautious here to have your glue remain in the same general area mine was in the middle of the wreath. I then pulled the excess through the hoop and folded it and started glueing it down.

To make the flowers take your fabric and use a cd as a template and cut a circle out. Each cd size circle will make one flower. You are going to spiral cut your circle of fabric. now pick up the very center of the spiral and dot some glue and fold it over.  Do that one more time. Now you can start rolling your flower. I put about a 2 inch line of glue along the bottom edge of my flower and roll it all up. You'll want the bottom to remain flat so that the top varies with the different spiral sizes. If you just keep rolling and glueing you will have a rose in no time.

After you've finished making roses you'll want to attach them to your wreath. I like to start with the overlapping fabric to distract your eye from it. Add in enough roses to fit your aesthetic and voila; beautiful gift.

I also threw some buttons on a few of mine for a little more pizazz.

- Kristi

Kristi has been a long-time friend and a huge inspiration in my life. I think I've known her since I was about 10 years old, maybe a little younger? She doesn't have a non-creative bone in her body and I hope to have more crafts from her here in the future. Pop on over to her blog, you'll love her! 

diy skeleton belt

by Ashley Claise of Bashful Owl I have a couple of confessions; This is my first guest blog post. Also, it's probable that I found inspiration for this somewhere on Tumblr. Regardless, e.m. has asked me to do this post and I am very excited to show you kind people how to make your very own "Skeleton Belt". Let's get started!You will need: a belt, a hot glue gun and glue sticks, string, scissors, skeleton hands. As for the skeleton hands, I got a "bag of bones" from the Halloween section at a local department store for about ten dollars. The only bad thing about this is that I spent a little too much money to use only two pieces of this set. I would suggest that if you have an old plastic skeleton decoration laying around, chop it's hands off. A little morbid, but 'tis the season. 1. Try on the belt and determine where you will wear you belt on your waist and where you will position the hands. 2. Plug in your hot glue gun and let it warm up. 3. Lay the belt down on a flat surface and run a strip of hot glue where the middle finger of the hand will lay. 4. Press the skeleton hand onto the belt and hold until dry.5. For extra support, tie string around the belt and middle finger. String of a similar color is preferred. 6. Repeat steps 3-5 on the opposite side of the belt. Voila! Simple as that! You can incorporate it into your Halloween costume or, do what I do and wear it just about every day. I hope you enjoy this fun belt as much as I have. Thank you for reading my first post on lark & lace!

Ashley is an Indiana-based photographer, blogger, and resident cutie-pie. I'm so glad to have her as an l&l contributor! Check out her blog and her photography.

makeup for any special occasion:

Hey all, today I have a look that is wearable for all special occasions. Whether it's a date night, Christmas, New Years or even Halloween which is around the corner! 

Materials Used:

Face: 

1. Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer in Medium (Sephora $42.00)

2. Revlon Colorstay Aqua Finishing Powder (Target $14.99)

3. Andy Warhol for Nars Illuminating Blush in Satellite of Love (Sephora $29.99)

4. Nars Blush in Super Orgasm (Sephora $29.99)

5. Revlon Eyebrow Pencil in Medium Brown (CVS $5.00)

6. Benefit's Watts Up Highlighter (Sephora $30.00)

Eyes:

1. NYX Cream Eye Primer in Pearl (Beauty Store $6.00)

2. Makeup Forever False Lashes in #156 (Sephora $16.00)

3. Eye Glitter Pot in Disco (Halloween Store $4.50)

4. Kat Von D Eyeshadow Palette (Sephora $20.00)

5. Kat Von D Eyeshadow in On the Road (Sephora $16.00)

6. Tara Tarantino Sparklicity Powder in Opal (Sephora $11.00)

7. Makeup Forever Aqua Shadow in Black (Sephora $20.00)

8. Sephora Jumbo Mascara (Sephora $12.00)

9. Urban Decay Heavy Metal Eyeliner in Spandex (Sephora $16.00)

Lips:

1. Kat Von D Liquid Lipstick in Lolita (Sephora $19.00)

2. Kat Von D Foiled Liquid Lipstick in Forever and Never ($19.00)

Don't be alarmed by the amount of materials! I happen to have a ton of makeup and just used whatever I had to my advantage. You can use any colors you want. 

First, I applied the Nars foundation and set it with the Revlon powder then lined my eyebrows.

Next, I applied Nyx cream eye primer all over my lid. Taking the eye glitter pot, I carefully applied the glitter to the inner portion of my lids. Be very cautious when applying glitter. It can fall into your eyes and cause a lot of pain! Pat it down firmly to make sure it doesn't flake off Then taking Kat Von D's True Romance Palette I used Hyper Ballad (Pearlized Silver) mixed with Scandinavian (Pearlized Taupe) in the center of my lid. Using Ville (Pearlized Eggplant Purple) I blended it into the other two eyeshadows.

Finally, I took Kat Von D's Eyeshadow in On the Road and applied it to the outer-most corner of my lids and blended it into the middle. To bring back the 'sparkle' effect, I took the eye glitter pot and with a small amount, I lightly dusted over my whole lid. Using Makeup Forever Aqua Shadow and an angled eyeliner brush, I lined my eyes. Taking Urban Decay's Heavy Metal Eyeliner, I lined the inner corners of my eyes, then using Tara Tarantino's Sparklicity powder i dabbed the opal powder on top of the wet eyeliner for a multi-dimensional sparkle.

I then applied my false eyelashes and a coat of mascara. To get a soft natural glow, I used Andy Warhol for Nars Highlighting blush all over my face. Focusing on my temples, the hollows of my cheeks and my forehead.

Then taking Nars Blush in "Super Orgasm," I defined my cheeks. Sometimes the color of the blush is too bold, so I went back and re-applied the highlighting blush all over for a more muted effect.

In Picture 13, I drew a line down the bridge of my nose with Benefit's Watts Up Highlighter. This will help give my nose a defined look. Then taking a medium brown shadow, I shaded the sides of my nose and blended.

To finish off the look, add any accessories and you're good to go!

I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and have fun!

- Hyuns

Hyun-Ha is a lovely soul and photographer based in the Philadelphia area. She has a really cute dog and is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. Follow her on Instagram for daily makeup inspiration, @hyunnybuns.