Scrap Review

Neeeew Site! Looks interesting, promises to be honest & it has some great writers so super excited to see what they have to say! See it here.

Boosh Me Up!

Snow Patrol were of course brilliant. The graphics & videography were immense & the band faultless! i was not impressed at having my bag inspected on entrance to the BiC & having them confiscate my Chocolate Yazoo!! My mood much improved though when Gary Lightbody went amongst the crowd (at first when he disappeared off stage we thought something was wrong). A woman shouted out that she was on her honeymoon & so he sang Run to the couple! So sweet! i am in love with Snow Patrol all over again.

i finally got my Christmas present from 'She who must not be named'. Long story, but basically she's been waiting 4 months for my present to arrive so we gave up & she bought me the Mighty Boosh on DVD instead. Gotta love the Boosh! British comedy at it's best.

i haven't posted about films for a while, so i thought i'd do a little post on some favourites that i discovered recently.


The Lives of Others is a brilliant German film, set in the 80's before the Berlin wall came down. The thought of living under such a controlling system frightens me, but the film has a hopeful message.


You may expect Lars & the Real Girl to be a comedy if you were to read the story outline, but it's actually a lovely, quirky, sweet & very touching film. There are some brilliant performances in it & the difficult subject matter is dealt with sensitivity. Plus you're sure to have a crush of Ryan Gossling (if you didn't already).


i watched Inside i'm Dancing based on the fact that James McAvoy was in it. i didn't bother to read the story outline and based on the title i was expecting something upbeat, which it is in places, but it has a twist that will break your heart.


If you're really not up for anything too serious then i'd recommend Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, a film by Judd Apatow (a film hero of mine). It's a parody of biopic movies such as Walk The Line & Ray etc. It's worth seeing for Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long & Jason Schwartzman's cameo's as The Beatle's.

i'm such a film geek, but i love it!

Punk Rock Scrappers

There is a new challenge blog in town called Punk Rock Scrappers. It promises to be a little different, which i likey. First Challenge is about 10 things that irritate you. Mine are a mix of generic things & personal stuff. This is my 'not impressed' face! ha ha! Those of you who know me irl will kow it well!


Last night was Andy's Hero's & Villains B-day outing & my Cruella De Ville outfit went down a treat! Unfortunately my phone isn't playing ball today so i can't share photos. We looove the fancy Dress. Plus there were a few people around who i don't get to see too often so it was all good.


*edited to add photo*

Have just booked my flights to Toronto for end of May/early June & i could not be more excited!! i'll be staying with my friend Adrienne, who i miss dearly, & i can not wait to see her!

Off to Bournemouth this avo to have dinner with my sister & her bf (Tom is making his famous pizza's! Yummm) & to see Snow Patrol tonight, it's gonna be good! Looking forward to the Oscars tonight, i'm keeping my fingers crossed for Kate Winslet & Dev Patel, go Brit's!

She needs a ticket to ride...

My passport runs out in June so i am in need of a new one. i have decided that Photobooths in England suck these days, the pictures no longer come in a strip, there's no funky curtain behind you and they take real close up pictures. i mean i couldn't even fit the full lengeth of my hair in this one, it is tres long now you know. i took a few pictures that i was happy with & then i realised that you're not allowed to smile in your passport photo so ended up with this, my eyes look frozen & i'm sure my neck isn't actually this long irl.

Passport renewals cost £72 these days!! Plus if you add on the £6.75 that the PO charge to check it & send it off (if you're going to be sending it by special anyway, you might as well pay the extra few quid to have the full service)plus the £4it cost to have the photos taken then you're looking at over 80 quid! :O

Needless to say i'm none to pleased about that. i can't seriously believe that the cost of administering a passport really comes to that much. Really rather grumpy about it all.


i'm very reluctant to give up my current passport anwyay as it has so many pretty pretty stamps in. Plan with the new one it to outstamp it. But as i really can't bear to be stuck in this country for ever more & i've seriously been considering running barefoot again i have to pay up. Meh.


Tip: The back of your passport may seem like the ideal place to store your luggage tickets, but the glue gets very sticky over time, don't do it!

Goodstuffs

Starting new job next week (can't wait)
Snow Patrol Gig this weekend
Anthropologie opening in Regent Street in the Autumn (eep!)
Here, There & Everywhere
Long weekend ahead
80's music
About to book flights to Canada (SO excited!)
Day trip to Bo'mo
Elsie & Rachels Class
Skins tonight
Fancy Dress plans
Pad Thai

Shoop Shoop!

Stylin'

My littlest Sis is destined to be a stylist no? i think she is really as cute as they get, but i am biased.


Sweet times.

Bonus!

As promised, something else i made with the B&B Kit this month.
Happy Weekend!

Scrapitude!

i am veeeeery proud & excited to announce that i am part of the Design Team for the Scrapitude Buttons & Buddies Kit for 2009!! i do believe that they are all subbed out until April, but if you want to join the kit club then please e-mail mail@scrapitude.net

So, being on the design team means that every other month i get to make stuff for the newsletter that goes out to people who subscribe to the kit. Plus i have to do a step-by-step project for the newsletter too. This month my step-by-step was on how to make patterned paper using sequin waste. As shown on this card:



And here's a few of my other designs using the February Kit (just click on the photo's to see them full size):






i have to admit, orange is not ordinarily a go-to colour for me. But it's quite fun scrapping out of the box & the colour combo's are endless!! i think i'll definately try & incorporate orange into my projects more regularly, these projects were fun!

If you have any questions about my projects this month or about the kit, please leave a comment or e-mail me! And come back this weekend for a BONUS project :)

p.s. i am getting uberly peed off with my blog template since i changed it recently & am having great difficulty uploading my banner. If anyone can help, please do! The blog looks way boring without something pretty at at the top.

This weekend

i saw lots of friends
and realised i have missed them a lot
had an unexpected evening
drank orange juice
met an Australian
picked up some new postcards
slept a lot
watched Dan in Real Life
had pancakes made for me (thanks mum!)
was touched by an act of kindness
scored a Cathy Kidston bag in Tesco (yayness!)
watched several episodes of Skins series 1
read
lazed around
heard a real life love story
had songs played for me on the guitar (magic)

Bo'mo etc.

Had a lovely trip in Bournemouth, as always. Love spending time with my sis, hate having to say goodbye. We got stuck in traffic on the way so it took as twice as long to get there as it should have! So this is what 2 hours of our day looked like yesterday:





We had rain, hail, snow, the lot!

Keane were sooooo the awesome, even if we did show up to the gig just as they were starting! Quite gutted i missed their support Frankmusik. Note to self: show up to gigs early. It was round no5 for me seeing Keane live & i still had the best time. There's always such a happy atmosphere at their gigs.

We went to the most well stocked fancy dress shop ever today, it was on two floors, so huge! i was in my elelment, managed to get the last few bits for my next fancy dress do. i love planning my costumes! Plus there was the standard trips to Zara, Lush (where we managed to score ourselves some free facemask!), Shake-away, Borders & the local scrapbook shop. We were quite upset that the sushi place was closed though!

Really, really don't want to go back to work tomorrow. i really needed this break & it's allowed me to edge closer to my normal self. My time off hasn't been totally uniterupted though, i did get a phone call at 9.30 yesterday!!! i am still annoyed about it!

These songs are currently ruling my world:

*The Sun always shines on TV. A-ha
*Spaceman. The Killers How insane does Brandon Flowers look in this vid?!?! Infact that video almost ruins the song for me, it's so bad. BF looks quite unimpressed by it all!

How cute is the new owl line from Paperchase? i want everything!


And the new Harajuku Girl's Perfume's. They smelly yummy too!


And this Tee! Wish it was on my back! Give me the tee!


i have to confess something....yes i have joined the world of television viewing! You just fell off your chair right?! ha! Goes a little something like this:

Sundays: Shipwrecked & Being Human
Mondays: 90210
Wednesday: Gossip Girl
Thursdays: Skins

Lucky for me they're all repeated a few times a week so hopefully i'll be able to keep up, or i'll have to give up my social life! It's only week 3 but i've managed to keep good on it so far!

Road Trippin'!

Setting off in about an hour to one of my favourite places in the world, aka my sister's flat, aka Bournemouth. And the weather is still like this:


Hmm, we're going to have to take it really easy on the roads. But all is good in the world because...

*we're seeing one of my favoutrite bands in the whole wide world tonight: Keane

*i have a new journal to fill. Picked this up in Bangkok from Human Touch.


*i'm wearing my 'i wish i could afford real All Stars but i can only afford Matalan, Kicks'.


*And a new stack of about 300 photos just showed up :)

Yayness! The world feels a lot prttier and full of possibilty then it has in a long while.

Snow Crazy!

For us to get snow in the south of England is rare, but for it to lay is even rarer. It's 9pm now and it's still settled! It snowed all afternoon! It's the most snow we've had in 18 years! So the whole country has pretty much some to a standstill. We just can't cope with it, it's a joke!


i woke about 10am this morning and couldn't believe the view out of the window.
Yea that's my car! Luckily i'd already booked some time off of work so i just stayed in all day & dvd'd it up. So at dinnertime, you can imagine my surprise when i saw a television reporter on the local news reporting from my place of work!! Ha ha! i bet things were crazy there today. So glad i wasn't in!

Accessorise!

If you know me irl you will frequently be witness to my accessorising. Brooches, necklaces, scarfs, hats, bracelets, rings, earrings, hair bands. If it will make my outfit look cuter & more individual then i will wear it. It's the small details that make me happy.

My favourite shops to buy jewellery are Accessorize & This Charming Girl and i am known to pick things up at random markets on my travels too. i'm sure there are a myriad of other juicey shops selling pretty things but i already spend way too much as it is.

So i started getting into making my own accessories a few months back. First came the felt & button brooches and then i ventured into hair accessories. They are soooooo eay to make. Generally i use some combination of felt, ribbon, lace, material & buttons. Because i already have a huge collection of each.

This week's prompt over at Work Your Soul inpired me to make another hair band today. It's super easy & quick so i thought i'd do a little step by step on here, maybe you'll be inspired to start making your own accessories?! Apologies for the rubbishy photos, but it's so dark today, geting detailed shots was tricky! i hope these instruction make sense!

1.Gather supplies


For this project i used: material, ribbon, an elastic head band (you can pick these up really cheap in supermarkets and pharmacies), thread & needle.

2. Cut 3 strips of material (approx 15" long)


3. Sew one end of all three strips of material together

4. Plait the strips of material

5. Cut the elasticated head band to the desired length, so there are two loose ends

6. Sew together one end of the plait to one end of the elasticated head band

7. Repeat step 6 for the other ends of the plait & head band (so you end up with a complete circle)


8. Sew ribbon over the joints where the plait & elastic meet, so that it looks neat


Et Voila!




And here's a few other hair bands i've made recently:





Ha! These are all grey! i do make them in other colours i swear!

Oh and happy February! Good-bye January (thank goodness!). OHMYGOSHITSCOLD!! -1 and snowing :O