Journeys Are My Diary

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Closet Geek Update

September 23, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Obviously as you probably know, I now own a small business called Closet Geek, where I make handmade jewellery, pencil cases, hair bows and clothes. I also take custom orders – which recently has led to a prom dress and a Cinderella cosplay. Because of this it means I struggle to find time to blog sometimes, but I thought I would write a quick post about what’s going on over at the store!

businesscard

First thing to note is that my website itself (www.ClosetGeek.co.uk) isn’t having that many orders! I guess if I’d thought about it more in advance, I probably would have known this – but basically it feels like I opened up a little shop on a tiny off-the-beaten-track lane and the only customers I get are few and far between. However on a positive note, my Etsy store (which basically duplicates most of my store listings), has been really busy and it’s been so much fun sewing and making bows for orders. This last week I’ve had two “Little Miss Disgust” dresses to make (one even with a neck scarf), three hair bows and four necklaces. I even have an adult Little Miss Disgust dress on order.

I’ve pretty much completed the Back to the Future Prom Dress, which will hopefully be mailed off towards the end of this week. I’ve also properly started on the Cinderella dress (after a nightmare with fabrics). I’m hoping to make a batch of Villains hair bows, which will be a sort of “Halloween” launch, but permanently in the store once they’re launched. I’d also love to do a Superhero batch but I have no set period of time for that. Probably not quite in time for Halloween unfortunately, but in the not too distant future, I’d love to do a Disney Villains inspired batch of girls dresses too – which my girls are keen to model!

On top of all that, I’ve actually started working on ideas for Christmas. I’d love to make some geeky stockings and I’m currently in the process of working with some fellow bloggers on getting some designs made and reviewed. On the topic of reviews, I was also featured on Fashion Quirks YouTube channel this week. Carley, the girl who vlogs, featured my Golden Snitch necklace, a Cinderella carriage necklace (end of line), an Alice in Wonderland bow and also a Minnie and Mickey pencil case. The video is here if anyone would like a watch!

As well as all that, I have an order for several bows and scrunchies that I’m currently working on, I recently made a Harley Quinn dress for Lily which I hope to put in the store soon and also I have a Snow White rags, Woody, Minnie Mouse and Briar Rose dress to add to the store too. It’s all busy busy busy but I absolutely love it. I only wish I had clones of myself so I could make clothes, watch TV AND blog, all at the same time.

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Filed Under: Closet Geek Tagged With: Back to the Future, bloggers, blogging, Briar Rose, Carley, Christmas stockings, Cinderella, Closet Geek, crafty, dresses, etsy, Fashion Quirks, geeky, hair bows, halloween, handmade, Little Miss Disgust, minnie mouse, necklaces, online store, pencil cases, Prom Dress, sewing, snow white rags, superheroes, villains, Woody, youtube

Happy 2 Years Blogging!

January 21, 2015 by Bel 4 Comments

Sadly I’m not feeling very well today so I don’t have the energy to make much of a blog post. I had big plans for a Wish List but unfortunately its going to have to wait (along with my review of Into the Woods, Allegiant and my latest “My Little Box”). However my desktop calendar flashed up that today is my 2 Year Blogiversary and so I didn’t want to let the day go past unmentioned!

From what I’ve seen recently, a lot of people started their blogs in January. I guess that’s perhaps a “new year” thing, or a boredom after Christmas has passed maybe? Anyway, Journeys are my Diary wasn’t technically my first blog, but its the first blog I’ve considered myself a blogger with. While it started off similar to some of my other blogs, or even my livejournal account, its definitely turned into something more. While I definitely haven’t had as much time to work on it in the past, I’m really hoping that this year I’ll be able to focus on it more (not so far though sadly!).

So really I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who followers me here. Thank you to the people I now consider friends because of my blog too. I’m not always sure what it is that makes people read along or follow my waffle, but I guess there’s something interesting about people just being themselves. Whatever the reason, I’m glad you do and I hope to continue to entertain you over the next year. Fingers crossed, when I’ve found my footing (recovering from quitting my job and adjusting my tax credits) I’ll be hosting a giveaway to mark the event. However until then, you’ll just have to keep reading my waffle to make sure you don’t miss it ;)

Bel xoxo

Filed Under: blog stuff Tagged With: blog, blog milestone, bloggers, blogging, blogiversary

#LincsBlogMeet – The Event

June 25, 2014 by Bel 2 Comments

This Saturday just gone, was the first ever #LincsBlogMeet. It was organised by myself and Amy – a little idea we had at the beginning of the year, which grew into something much bigger and better than either of us had thought!

As I’m sure you know, if you read my blog regularly, I like to organise. For the most part that’s just dinner parties or murder mysteries, but it has always stretched to events like our Muggle Meet weekends, days at a theme park, birthday surprises etc. When I attended my first ever blog meet, MidsBlogmeet, I was immediately bitten by the bug and thought how much I’d love to organise my own. I suggested to Amy that perhaps it was something we could organise together and while things were slow to get started, we soon got stuck in there with our planning and sorting.

Saturday showed the results of all our organising and I’m pleased to say, I think we did a pretty good job! There were about 25 attendees in total on the day, which was far more than we had originally anticipated.

All the lovely people who attended our blog meet

For Amy and I, the blog meet felt like it really started on the Friday night. While majority of the goody bags stuff was sorted from the last time Amy visited, we had 4 more huge boxes to sort through, as well as Press Packs to put together. We were a little slow to get started, delaying somewhat as we waited for takeaway to be delivered, but eventually we cracked on. Sadly it was still 2.30am before we got finished and it was actually 3am before I went to bed. Not only that but we were both up at 7am, ready to get cracking with the day ahead!

Friday night, getting the final bits organised

Amy and I were parked and in town for about 9am the next morning. The first placed we headed was ASK Italian, the main location for our blog meet. We were delighted to find that they were all set up and ready for us, not only that but each and every person was gifted their very own ASK Italian Cookbook. The manager Anna, who I had dealt with while booking wasn’t in, but the Deputy Manager Stuart looked after us brilliantly. after dumping a few boxes in the upstairs room, Amy and I headed off to grab coffee.

The ASK Italian Cookbook

We grabbed a quick Starbucks and headed to the station. We were a little early but to be honest we were starting to feel a little nervous. As we stood outside the station, we tried to guess who might be there waiting for us – not sure if they should come over or not. In the end we took a Selfie and uploaded it to Twitter, so everyone who was coming would know we were there!

People started to arrive in dribs and drabs. For the majority of the half an hour, I managed to remember everyone’s names – if only to recall them all as each new person joined the group. By 10.30am we were still a few people missing but it was time to crack on with the Photo Trail. We re-arranged the four groups a little and then sent everyone off on their task to take 10 group pictures each. We made sure we covered the main Lincoln landmarks – such as; the Castle, the Cathedral, the Stonebow etc – but also companies who had supported the blog meet, such as; The Fragrance Shop, Lush and ASK Italian. While everyone was off on their trails, Amy and I headed back to ASK to get ready.

The Blue team was the winners of the photo trail and they were faster than we would have even guessed. Next came red, followed by orange and finally green. We had laid out name badges on the table, so everyone found their seat, looked through the menu and got comfortable. While everyone was settling in, Una from Weleda arrived – so she too set up all her bits and pieces, ready to give us all a talk.

Una’s talk was fantastic and I’m sure everyone enjoyed it. She talked about the Weleda range, the way its made, the products you can buy and even a little name dropping of everyone’s favourite – Simon Cowell. We passed around products to sniff and smell, some people even tested the odd thing here and there. Una answered everyone’s questions and it all flowed brilliantly. By the time Una was finished, everyone’s lunch was ready so they all settled in to eat their food.

Amy and I ended up eating standing. As we’ve both been waitresses in the past, this isn’t really that unusual. However it felt like there was just too much to do and too much to organise, to be able to sit down. That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed my Portobello al Funghi, as it was delicious!

Just as everyone was finishing their lunch, Julie from Boots arrived. Julie really saved us at the last minute, as unfortunately Lush were unable to come and give a talk. On Thursday night after work I had popped into Boots on the odd chance that someone could help us out. Julie had rung me on Friday morning and in less than 24 hours she threw together goody bags for everyone, plus did a brief but great chat all about skincare. In fact, I hadn’t even realised that medium to large Boots stores employed an independent Skin Care advisor, so that people can go in and get impartial advice, without a brand having a vested interest. Julie was very keen to come back and do another talk in the future for us – though this time with a bit more advanced warning!

After Julie’s talk was done, we moved on to the Beauty Swap. This was an idea that I’d had, which Amy thought was great. Basically the concept was to bring your full size or sample size beauty products with you – just the ones you didn’t want – and swap them for something you did want. Amy and I had rooted out a whole load of beauty products we were happy to part with and as everyone brought loads of stuff, it meant people had a really good choice of products to swap with.

The swap took quite some time, but when it was finished, that was also the end of the Blog Meet. During the meet as a whole, we’d done raffle giveaways but that’s something I’ll touch on in another post. As everyone left, we handed out the goodies and made everyone pose for group photographs. Everyone paid their bills, said their thanks and then left!

Team Green
Team Red
Team Orange
Team Blue

Amy and I cleared up, with the help of some of our close friends and then headed back to the car with the leftovers! We headed for more coffee, just to make it through the rest of the day, picking up the kids and heading home.

It was a fantastic day for us and I’m pretty sure everyone else enjoyed themselves too. While it was incredibly exhausting and so much work, I’m sure its something we’d both like to do again in the future. So watch this space… there may well be a #LincsBlogMeet2 coming before December!

We would love if everyone who attended the LincsBlogMeet, linked up their posts! Doesn’t matter if its a general post about the day, or a specific review of a company or product – please add your link!

Filed Under: #lincsblogmeet Tagged With: ASK Italian, blog meet, bloggers, Lincoln Blog Meet, link up, organising, photo trail

It’s #LincsBlogMeet today!

June 21, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

I’m not going to lie… this is a scheduled post! Right now, as this goes live, I’m meeting loads of Lincolnshire Bloggers outside Lincoln Train Station. To say I’m excited is a bit of an understatement, but I’m also a little bit nervous!

Amy and I, who have been organising this meet for the last 3-4 months, finally finished getting ready for the meet at 2.30am this morning. We’ve stuffed goody bags, wrapped raffle prizes and made sure all the wonderful companies and brands have got a mention.

Over the next week or so, I will be spotlighting all the companies and brands who have helped make the #LincsBlogMeet possible. However as today is the day we’re all meeting up, I wanted my focus to be on the bloggers we were meeting.

Here is a list of all the Bloggers who hope to attend – please check out their blogs as you might find one you love!

Natalie from Twice the Mum (@twicethemum)
Rhiannon from The Sparkly Panda (@rie_rie_)
Kariss from Shy, Strange and a little bit Manic(@kariss_leigh)
Charley from Rambling of a Beauty Blogger(@charleylucy)
John from Mr Wharff (@mrwharff)
Courtney from Courtney Farrow (@yentruocfarrow)
Sally from Sally Bee Makes (@sallybeemakes)
Emma from Made in Hunters (@madeinhunters)
Naomi from Floral and Beauty (@makeupbynaomix)
Siobhan from The Beauty Baker (@The_BeautyBaker)
Chloe from Alicia Deyes Writes (@_chloedeyes)
Kate from Pieces of Kate (@piecesofkate1)
Alex from Champagne and Lemonade (@lemonadelifeox)
Lucy from Lucy Jane (@lucyjane3110)
Megan from Student Style (@studentstylexo)
Jemma from Dreams of New York(@dreamsofnyorkx)
Eleanor from Creative Countryside (@creativecliving)
Jemma from Bamboozle Beauty (@bamboozlebeauty)

Filed Under: #lincsblogmeet Tagged With: blog meet, bloggers, Lincoln, Lincoln Blog Meet, lincolnshire

#midsblogmeet – Nottingham Bloggers Meet

February 25, 2014 by Bel 3 Comments

One of my goals for this year, was to attend a Bloggers Meet Up. Though it was a last minute spot and a last minute decision, I discovered a blog meet taking place this weekend just passed. I jumped at the chance to go and while it meant taking the kids with me, they sort of acted as a nice security blanket instead of having to go alone.

Image c/o Emma and Kelly

I have to admit that I was pretty nervous as we arrived at the Malt Cross in Nottingham, around 11am on Saturday 22nd February. However Emma and Kelly were there to meet us and both so friendly that it wasn’t long before we felt at ease.

For the most part, the Blogger Meet was just chatting and mingling between ourselves. I have to admit I found this hard, having Megan and Lily with me, though I suppose swings and roundabouts right? There were prize draws throughout the 3 or so hours and though I didn’t win anything personally, several of the girls left with some great prizes.

Lunch was served around 12pm and the food was really amazing. I’ll be honest and say I was quite surprised at how nice the spread was and how lovely it was that the kids got their own meals.

After lunch we had a visit from two ladies from the local Body Shop. They brought a whole assortment of things with them and everyone had a good try, sniff, rub and sample of all the bits and pieces. Hair chalks were a massive hit, especially with all the kids. My two made me promise to go get some from The Body Shop after we left the meet.

It wasn’t long past 2 when the meet started to end. We headed off fairly soon as the girls wanted to head to The Body Shop and I’d also promised them a trip to the Disney Store.

We were very good with out shopping spree, buying only the hair chalks we’d had our eye on and some mugs from the Disney Store. It was gone 5pm by the time we got home though and we were all exhausted.

Thank you so much to Emma and Kelly for arranging the meet and hello to all the people I met through it. I had a lovely time and I’m looking forward to rummaging through my goodie bag.

I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for more Blogger Meets in the future and maybe next time I’ll even brave it without the kids. However I’ll be honest, this Blog Meet has given me the bug… though now I actually fancy organising one myself! So watch this space!

 

Filed Under: where we went Tagged With: #midsblogmeet, blogger meet, bloggers, body shop, disney store, lbloggers, malt cross, nottingham, pbloggers

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a thirty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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