It's been two weeks since we've returned to London, after a six month stay in sunny San Francisco.

It's great to be home and catch up with friends and family but I do miss the life we were beginning to make for ourselves out there. The people I met, the incredible views of the city from our apartment and the beautiful bay just a 10 minute walk away.

Oh and the sweet and salty Kettle corn! (I'm sorry but Pret's version just isn't the same.)

During my time in San Francisco I met some truly inspirational people and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to work with some of them to create something fun to inspire you lovely readers.

Here's a little sneak peek at the pretty to come over the next few weeks!

 (That's me faffing about with some ribbon.)

A Simple, Cheap & Chic DIY Series

As you may have gathered from my BUY or DIY? posts, I'm not the craftiest of people so the simpler the DIY, the better.

I wanted to put together a series of  DIY tutorials that were simple, cheap and chic.

And with the help of a brilliant photographer with an eye for details, a super talented florist with a passion for all things wedding and some utterly gorgeous vintage furniture and props to make my modern, city slick apartment feel a bit less so, I think we achieved just that!

Roses & Ribbons ~ The Inspiration

You may remember a while back I shared a Rustic French Farmhouse Wedding Inspiration Board, well it was actually part of the colour inspiration I created for this very DIY shoot.

I also created the board below focusing on hairstyles and floral ideas ~ that's Karen of Huckleberry Karen Designs, the florist, wearing a gorgeous peony headband in the middle!

Nicole Hill | Style Me Pretty | The Bride's Cafe | BHLDN| Huckleberry Karen Designs | Dirty Little Style Whore | Fuck Yeah Braids | The Glitter Thread

Why Ribbons?

Ribbons are easily accessible and come in a variety of colours, fabrics and price ranges so I thought focusing the DIY series around them would mean lots of you lovelies could tackle these projects regardless of your budget. And there's no fancy crafting skills necessary for these projects, I promise.

I envisioned spools of thread, vintage pins, flowing ribbons in satins, velvets and lace, dark, aged wood and lots of romantic roses. We added a few peonies and sprigs of lavender for good measure too!

The Florals by Huckleberry Karen Designs

The first time I met Karen of Huckleberry Karen Designs was at a Stumbleupon wedding event where she was sporting the biggest, prettiest, most fabulous pink peony hair accessory I'd ever seen. On closer inspection, I realised it was a real peony. Well that kind of blew my mind and I had to know how to make one myself. Turns out it's super easy!

Karen brought her in depth knowledge of flowers, beautiful floral styling and crafty nature to the table and created three gorgeous floral DIY projects that I can't wait to share with you. One of which I even got to model below!

The Furniture & Props by One True Love Vintage Rentals

I also met Amanda at the Stumbleupon event, where she was meeting brides and holy smokes you should have seen her area. It was unreal. All aged wooden ladders, chipped paint and eclectic beauty. Amanda is the owner, curator and stylist at One True Love Vintage Rentals and one of the friendliest people you're likely to meet.

She generously lent us a few gorgeous pieces from her collection for the photo shoot and I must say it was very hard saying goodbye to those beauties when she came to pick them up! She also lent us vintage books (many with ‘love' in the titles) which she uses for displays and centerpieces at weddings.

I also had a field day in The Ribbonerie ~ a whole shop dedicated to ribbons. Who knew spools of ribbon could be so darn lovely?

I rented a couple of large vintage spools and bought a few cheap basic spools. For the actual ribbon I went to fabric shop, Britex, and asked to see their cut-offs bin, I also used hemming ribbon which is dirt cheap (but just as pretty) for some of the projects.

 

The Photos by Simply Jessie Photography

What can I say about Simply Jessie Photography that I haven't said already?

I've had the pleasure of featuring her stunning photos here (a sweet and colourful real wedding) and here (a rich, beautiful woodland wedding inspiration shoot) and every time I'm captivated by the natural, timeless quality of her work. It was great to get to know the lady behind the lens, as Jessie was a fellow newbie to SF (having recently relocated from Chicago) as well as an all round lovely person.  

Photos by Simply Jessie Photography | Florals by Huckleberry Karen Designs | Vintage chair, table & books from One True Love Vintage Rentals

I do hope you've enjoyed this sneak peek of our DIY series.

The series will start next week so meet me back here first thing on Friday morning to find out how to make a beautiful real peony headband ~ hurrah!