Journeys Are My Diary

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Monthly Round-up – February 2017

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Watching: This month I watched Maze Runner, Sharknado 4, Anastasia, Sing, Batman Lego Movie and Green Lantern. I also watched Bitten, Helix and started Riverdale. As usual there was Dance Moms, Bones, New Girl, Big Bang Theory, Grimm, Blindspot, Casualty, Holby City, Let It Shine, Suits, Jane the Virgin and of course The Walking Dead started again.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): February has been crazy busy with orders but seems to have gone in spurts. I listed Moana ears and bows in the store on January 30th and so that caused the first wave of crazy. February 1st was also the last day for my 2K giveaway box, but I also launched a new monthly giveaway later in the month which was Beauty and the Beast themed (not to mention a loop giveaway I had been participating in finished too). I fiddled with some new bows, got some of Megan’s artwork printed on postcards, tried out some candle designs and generally ploughed my way through orders. I made a duvet cover and pillowcase, then bunting to match. I tried to work on new ideas for dresses but never seemed to find time – but decided to look for boy models, so I might list boys clothes. All in all, it was hectic and that’s not even mentioning when I sewed my finger!

And in other news…
– This month we have definitely spent more time being sociable. One night we had our friends Jon and Becka around for games and ended up staying up till 3.30 in the morning. Another night we have Jon and Becka, plus Nat and Dan around for dinner and though Chris headed to bed early, we went well past midnight.
– Amy and I booked to go to Beauty and the Beast afternoon tea at The Kensington Hotel in London. It’s not till May but I’m already looking forward to it.
– Lily chopped her hair short! The decision came out of nowhere and luckily she hasn’t regretted it since but I couldn’t believe she actually decided to go through with it.


– Valentine’s Day happened! The night before, Chris and I had a M&S Valentine’s Meal because it was our one night without the girls in the week. Valentine’s Day itself I spent the day with the girls and my mum, playing board games. Then when Chris got home we all exchanged gifts (that’s a sort of new tradition we have now) and then we headed out for some food and the cinema to see Batman Lego movie.


– I treated myself to a new lipstick and nail polish from the L’Oreal Beauty and the Beast range. I had to order from Amazon Italy but I actually had some euros left on my travel card so it worked out well. The Beast lipstick that I picked is perfect, but I haven’t tried out the blue polish yet. Hopefully I’ll do a review!
– For Galentine’s Day I sent Amy and Liv a gift, plus gave Nat something when she came around later that week. In return Amy sent me a Gaston Pop Funko and I love him.
– I booked to go away for my birthday weekend and I’m so pleased I have. I’m desperate to get back to the Harry Potter Studios, especially now they have the Forbidden Forest though a bit sad Chris might not be able to come. I’m still hoping to throw a murder mystery the night before we go away though.
– Lily and I worked on and off on her chocolate project, largely through half term. When Pippa’s birthday came around I used everything I’d learnt about making ganache and baked an amazing (even if I do say so myself) chocolate cake for her.
– I reformatted my laptop as it was dying fast and I honestly thought I would need to buy a new one. However it seems much better and much faster now so hopefully I can last out a little longer!
– Got a letter from Megan’s school, commending her on her hard work (this is the second one I’ve had since September. She’s also up to 16 certificates, which she needs 10 merits for each (so 160 merits in total!).
– Finally came Pancake Day and in true form we had pancakes for both dinner and dessert. We had stuffed pancakes with chicken, followed by sweet pancakes with various toppings.

Looking forward to in March:
– Can’t really think what March has planned to be honest but I know it’s a fairly hectic month. There is Lily’s birthday to begin with, followed by Amy’s, followed by Chris’ and then finally Mother’s Day. Lily has a school trip and a school play in March, plus her chocolate project is due so I imagine that will make things even busier.
– Amy is coming to visit for the weekend of 17th-19th. I haven’t seen her since we went to DLP so it will be nice to catch up. We’re also seeing the new Beauty and the Beast movie which I’m excited but nervous about.
– As I mentioned, Chris’ birthday is this month and we’re going out for dinner with friends and then doing an Escape the Room game. I’m quite excited about that too but I have to admit I’m worried it will be creepy!

Hello 2017

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On New Year’s Eve I wrote a post reflecting on 2016 and so today I want to look forward to 2017. As it’s already 3rd January I’m sure it’s probably clear that a whole “new me” is not on the horizon. I think I’ve learned from previous years, that that’s not the best route for me. Instead little changes, positive attitude and a hope for better things, is the direction I would like to go.

This Year I will:

  • Get a better grip on my finances. As I’ve mentioned on my blog before, I have a lot of debt – largely from my time as a single mum (I mean, I’m technically still a single mum but I have a very supportive partner now). For a few years, I just buried my head and the debt got worse but then two years ago it all hit me and I had to stop avoiding it. 2016 was the year I finally started to get that debt down and while I definitely managed to stop adding to it and clear one particular lump of debt, I still have a fair way to go. I have a specific target in mind by the end of the year and that will hopefully lessen my debt by about a third.
  • Work hard on my business, Closet Geek. It would be a lie to say I don’t work hard on it already as to be honest its my main focus, after the kids. I have thoroughly enjoyed working from home this last year and despite how crazy busy it has gotten at times, I wouldn’t change a thing. This year I am aiming to add at least 6 more product ranges (don’t ask me what, I have no idea yet) and hopefully more variations of the products I already sell. That said, I must remember to take time out and relax (which is hard because I often get into a flow).

  • Weight Loss is something I want to focus on this year. I haven’t jumped into any kind of diet yet as there is still a lot of bad food kicking around the house. However I am trying to regulate myself and not eat too my rubbish and when routine starts over again and I start cooking evening meals from scratch, I aim to make healthy dishes and avoid any junk. Last year I felt uncomfortable in my skin and it stopped me from dressing up, cosplaying and even feeling like I wanted to make any sort of effort. Its amazing what a knock on effect feeling overweight can have to all areas of life. I also want to try walking more often, especially as life isn’t so hectic that I need to save every minute of time by hopping in the car.
  • Last year was a wonderful change to family life, working from home instead of feeling stressed in the job I had previously (I actually can’t believe I walked out on that job 2 years ago – I’ve honestly never regretted it). I managed to attend so many of the kids events at school and I’m sure I will be doing so again this year. That said I want to make time outside of those events, to do things as a family. The kids love to play board games (we had a day doing that during holiday), go swimming and play computer games (Lily and I have played Lego Harry Potter for most days of the holidays) so I want to make more time for fun, not just scheduled events. I also want to make more time for Chris as he often gets neglected, just because he “understands more”. On evenings when he’s not at work, I need to step away from my sewing or even my computer and just be with him – doing whatever it is we feel like doing.

This year I would like to:

  • Moving house is definitely top of the list for things I’d like to do in 2017. Sadly not a huge amount of that decision is in our hands, but we need to try wherever possible. From the house going on the market last April, till now, we’ve only had two viewings. I think there has been many reasons to that but largely the price recommended by the agents is too high. We do have another viewing tomorrow so we will see how that goes but at some point this year we will have to make some firmer decisions – perhaps to change agents, sell at a loss, or whatever other options there might be.
  • During January I have a weekend away booked with the girls, to Disneyland Paris. However as much as I’m looking forward to it, I’d really like a nice week away somewhere abroad. Top choice for this year would definitely be Italy and ideally during the warm weather. Chris booking holidays at work can be a pain though as he can often only get out of school holiday time. With Megan now at secondary school I am loathed to take them out of school for a holiday, so it’s definitely going to be a juggling act – and of course available money. If we can’t get away this year, I would definitely love to book something bigger for next year – maybe a two week holiday somewhere further afield like the US.

This Year I will try:

  • Yesterday I was in a position (as I often am) where one of the girls asked if we could do something (something they had been asking for a while and have been saying “soon” to) and my immediate answer was “yes, tomorrow”. Now although that might seen immediate to you, it’s really only because it was that day or tomorrow that we needed to do it, before it was too late. But my reaction was still the latter, not the actual immediate. However after I walked away, I thought “actually, why can’t we just do it now?” and so that’s what we did. Basically I really want to stop putting things off till tomorrow and just get on with them. Because tomorrow never really comes and before you realise it, you’ve been putting everything off and never getting anything done.

  • When we went swimming, the girls and I, I was reminded of how much I enjoy it and, that despite not going very often, I’m still pretty good at it. While I don’t always want to go when they suggest it, I did realise I could take them and just watch (they’re both old enough now), but also I could go when they’re at school and just swim lengths. It would be a great way to make time for me, get fitter and even find time to shower! I don’t want to set myself a frequency but I would like to swim more.
  • As I mentioned last year, our friendship group is a little bit fractured now and so in the past 12 months I haven’t thrown any large group events. I think its probably easiest to just see each group of working friendships, by themselves, whenever there is time, rather than force everyone to get together. Last year we did enjoy a meal out as a group of friends, a cinema trip as a double date and a few times having friends around for dinner. I would like to continue that this year, making more of an effort but hopefully making time for everyone.
  • Finally I should probably give my blog a mention. At this time of year it’s always easy to say “I’ll post more”, or “I’ll post frequently” but the truth is when life gets busy, my blog takes a backseat. I also often find that I lose inspiration for what to write at times and it can become just one big life update that people probably aren’t that interested in. I’m ditching Project 52 (as I did towards the end of last year) as I always forget to take pictures weekly). Instead I might do something monthly, as I did with my round-ups (which definitely suits me better so I will be sticking to those). I’d like to keep updating about books I read (which maybe should have been another bulletpoint as I really should read more) and movies we see at the cinema but past that I’m uncertain of the direction my blog will take. I am considering various options though so watch this space!

September Round-up

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sept

Watching: I watched so much this month! Here’s the list; Jessica Jones (Series 1), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Series 1 & 2), Shadow Hunters (only a few episodes so far), The Shanara Chronicles (Series 1), Containment (weekly episodes), GBBO (weekly episodes), X-Factor (weekly episodes), The Purge 1 & 2 movies, The Smurfs, Criminal Minds (Seasons 2-11 and started 12), Suits (Season 6, weekly episodes), New Girl (weekly episodes), Designated Survivor (weekly episodes), plus the usual Casualty, Holby City and whatever else I normally watch! I of course started watching OUAT when it restarted too!
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): The second September started, so did Halloween orders. I’ve mostly been making Wendy dresses, but there has been a few Belle and Briar Rose thrown in there too. I also made a Jane dress for Liv to take to WDW and a boys Peter Pan costume. Other than that, it’s been the usual bows, pencil cases, bunting etc.

And in other news…
– Megan started Secondary School (which was major news) and Lily went back to school.
– Amy and Liv came to visit for the weekend.
– Nat moved out.
– Megan started helping me out with Closet Geek. It was hard work the first time but on her inset day she was a massive help.
– I ordered Rent on DVD and found out my Patronus on Pottermore was a Red Squirrel.
– It got cold. Like suddenly. Summer is definitely over.
– I watched a TON of TV this month (mostly Netflix) and worked pretty much constantly due to the amount of orders pouring in.

Looking forward to in October:
– I want to say orders calming down but I know they will still flood in for most of October, for the Halloween rush. Even when they do calm down, I have prep for Christmas Market to do but even still I would like to make a start on that.
– Half term. We don’t have anything planned but its nice when the girls have a week off as I don’t have to turn out every day and occasionally get a lie-in.
– Mine and Chris’ anniversary. It’s not really a big deal and it’s not for a wedding or anything, just dating, but this October we have been together 4 years.

July AND August Round-up

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july
Can you believe it got to August 21st before I actually got around to writing my July round-up? I had remembered earlier than that but with one thing or another, I just didn’t find time to write it up. However by that point it seemed a bit random to post so late in the month and I decided to save it and do July and August together. July will be far more vague but here they both are anyway!

Watching: Fringe (Season 4-5), Vampire Diaries (Season 7), Wayward Pines (Season 1-2), Sleepy Hollow (Season 3), Grimm (Season 6), Suits (Season 6), Transformers – Age of Extinction, Bones (Season 6+)
Reading: Cinder.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): A few more ears, some bunting, an Anna skirt, along with the usual orders of bows, pencil cases and clothes.

And in other news…
– Pokemon Go became a big things for Lily. She doesn’t have her own phone and it won’t work on her iPad so I let her use it on my phone. I have to admit I don’t mind encouraging it – especially the walks to hatch eggs.
– Probably the most notable part of July was the girls finishing school for the summer, coupled with Megan leaving primary school altogether. The last two weeks were very emotional with School play, Leavers Do, Church Services, Leavers Assembly, Sports Day etc. However even though she was sad, school ended on a high note and hopefully she’s looking forward to Secondary School in September.
– We had some beautiful weather, actually like Summer for a change. It was really nice but of course didn’t last long!
– The girls washed Chris’s car, outside with Chris. They started on mine too but soon got bored and Chris ended up finishing it.
– Dentists. Enough said.
– Our first camping trip took place at the very end of July. We went to a place called Staxton, near Scarborough for the weekend and actually had a great time.

 

august

Watching: I completely caught up with Bones, right up to the end of Season 10. Criminal Minds (from Season 2-), Captain America: Winter Soldier (finally), X-Men 1, 2 and 3 with the kids. Daredevil (Season 2). Containment, Musketeers and Vikings.
Reading: Cinder, Reliquary.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): Harry Potter bunting, loads and loads of pencil cases.

And in other news…
– We went to Meadowhall shopping, to get Beauty and the Beast tsum tsums, shoes for Megan and of course FIVE GUYS! It was Nat’s first time too.
– Nat, Megan, Lily and I went to a Harry Potter convention and ball. We had an overnight stay at the Premier Inn, Nottingham.
– Chris bought Lily a starter set of Pokemon cards and then taught her how to play.
– We took our second camping trip, this time to Chichester, where we spent the day on a boat in the marina and got a brand new tent too!
– We got an ice cream maker to review AND made ice cream. It was pretty amazing.
– Placed an uber Hobbycraft order which was pretty exciting!
– Closet Geek turned ONE! I still can’t believe it really but its actually a great feeling. I love my work more than I ever thought possible.
– Went to see Suicide Squad at the cinema. It was really nice as Chris and I went with my best friend and her boyfriend Dan.
– I took the girls to the beach and we had a really great day. We went to Mablethorpe and the weather was beautiful. We had candy floss, ice cream and the girls got an airbrush tattoo.

Looking forward to in September:
– Megan starts school on 2nd September so that is both terrifying and exciting. I can’t believe she’s old enough for secondary school. I hope her first day goes well!
– Amy is hopefully coming to visit next weekend. I haven’t seen her since May so it will be lovely to see her and Liv again.
– (Not entirely sure I’m looking forward to this but..) Seeing the Halloween orders flood in for Closet Geek. I’m hoping its not as crazy as last year but its nice to be busy.
– Other than that there isn’t much going on this month so we’ll just see how it goes!

Happy Birthday Closet Geek

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Can you believe it’s been a year? I can’t!

Yes, that’s right, one year ago today, I opened my Closet Geek store. Something that started as just sewing for my own children, for Amy and I to cosplay and for Liv to wear to WDW, turned into this tiny little business selling hair bows, pencil cases and girls dresses.

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Now a year on, I honestly can’t believe how much support and love I’ve had. I hit 1000 followers on Instagram a few months ago and I’ve had over 1500 sales on Etsy. In addition to the dresses, pencil cases and hair bows I started with, I now sell Disney ears on a fairly regular basis, bunting and cushion covers. I take inquiries for custom skirts and cosplay, along with anything else people are interested in.

Though I’m yet to crack it yet, I bought a laser cutter a while back and I also experimented with screen printing. In the next few weeks I hope to dedicate more to time to them. I’ve also signed up for 4 days of Christmas Market in Lincoln during December, so prep for that will begin soon. I made a post called “Almost a year on…” on the Closet Geek blog, discussing some of my popular items and some of my favourite.

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I’d love to explore the possibility of Subscription boxes throughout the next year, plus more fandoms that just Disney and Harry Potter. I can’t wait to be writing a post that’s “two years on” and I hope that you’re all still following me to see it! Thanks again for all the support.

May Round-up

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may

Watching: Once Upon a Time (still watching with Lily and Megan, but also finished Season 5), Suits (5), Jane the Virgin (1-2), GAME OF THRONES (we watch it ASAP on Monday morning since it records at 2am), the usual weekly episodes of Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, The 100 etc etc. Walt Before Mickey, Maleficent, Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8,
Reading: Six Lies, Kingdom Keepers: Disney at Dawn, A Whole New World: A Twisted Tale, Fated, Wait for Me.
Sewing & Making (for Closet Geek): Ears!! It’s been all about the Ears this month after being featured on Sarah’s instagram. I’ve also made two Rapunzel dresses, a Pinocchio dress, an Alice in Wonderland dress and apron, a Briar Rose dress, a Wendy dress, a Woody dress, plus loads of bows and Tangled bunting. There was also an adult Briar Rose dress, a Beauty and the Beast skirt (again for Sarah) and made alterations to Lottie’s Dumbo skirt (and made her some ears too).

And in other news…
– Amy came to visit for the first weekend in May and it was SO nice because I hadn’t seen her since the beginning of March!
– Megan took her SATs (and got ill during them) but fingers crossed she still did well.
– Got the girls into several more food options including homemade turkey burgers.
– Chris bought me 221B Baker Street board game and we played and it was very reminiscent of my youth!
– We went to Paris for the weekend as a family, with my mum and sister too. We weren’t there long but I got to go up the Eiffel Tower which is something I’ve always wanted to do AND we went to DLP. You can read about it in my Travel Diary.
– It was my birthday. I turned 37! It wasn’t too bad though as I got some nice gifts and spent the day with family and friends.
– Disney Lego figures were released at the beginning of the month and I managed to collect them all. There were a few swaps involved and I did buy the last two I needed of Ebay!
– Tried to be healthy, failed. Tried to be healthy, failed. Tried to be healthy, failed…
– Bought a laser cutting machine but didn’t get it set up :(

Looking forward to in June:
– Going to Paris again. I have my regrets about booking it (it turned out so expensive and it’s 4 days away from Chris and the kids) but overall I’m looking forward to it.
– Sadly, nothing else. Hopefully some free time for myself. Maybe set my laser cutting machine up. Hopefully crack screen printing. Nice weather maybe?

20 Facts About My Disney Life Tag

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Amy over at Cocktails in Teacups tagged me in something called 20 Facts About My Disney Life and although its taken me a week or so to get around to it, I didn’t want to forget altogether! The idea is really simple – no questions, just list 20 facts about your life that are connected to Disney! Here are mine…

1. Every single room in my house has something Disney in it. Some rooms have more than others but there is at least one Disney item in each. Even my car has some Disney on its aerial.

2. I have collected Disney Traditions for the last 7 years and I have almost 30.

3. I have collected Disney Pop Funkos for the last 3 years and I have 14.

4. Amy is the cause of me starting both the Traditions and Pop Funko collections, as she bought me the firsts.

5. To be honest, I would collect pretty much anything if its related to Disney. We have so many Tsum Tsums, both plush and vinyl, I went through a phase of buying Disney t-shirts, I find it hard to resist Disney at Primark and most recently I started collecting Disney Lego Minifigures.

6. Tinker Bell and Belle have always been my favourite Disney characters. I don’t think it’s because of being called Bel (or “Bel”inda) myself, because I only shortened my name during my 20’s.

7. I started Closet Geek, largely to sell Disney inspired dresses. Though I’m happy to make anything, the inspiration for Disney related ones comes the easiest. 98% of my store is Disney.

8. I absolutely love making adult cosplay, especially Disney. All the people I would love to dress as are Disney characters but sadly once I’ve made them and put them on, I don’t really feel that great about myself in them.

9. I’m sad to say that I’ve tried hardly any Disney Park food. Despite visiting DLP a few times and Florida for 2 weeks, we hardly eat in the parks. I’ve never had Dole Whip, Mickey shaped ice cream, turkey legs or whatever else that Disney Parks are famous for serving!

10. Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney movie of all time. Not only is Belle my favourite princess, I love the Beast, I cry every time I watch the movie and I really love all the characters. I even have a BATB tattoo.

11. I own nearly all the animated Disney movies on DVD but I pretty much never watch them. I’m sad about this really but I just hardly ever but dvds on.

12. Over the last two years I’ve started to buy a lot of Disney artwork. I think it started with the Disney Kinkade pictures being released (and I bought one at LFCC) and ever since then I’ve noticed artists at cons and online a lot more. This year I have discovered lots of new favourites and I made a post called Artist Spotlight.

13. I love this new movement that is “Disney blogging”. I honestly wish I could be a full time Disney blogger, but I don’t think I have enough interesting to say about Disney to do it all the time! Not that my life is any more interesting or anything, but I think I would run out of Disney stuff to say.

14. The only songs I know all the words to are Disney songs. When we were younger my brother and I would listen to VHS tapes over and over to write down the words and then learn the songs. We would even break them up into individual parts and we had a folder each with our own parts in it. I should probably be embarrassed about this but I’m not.

15. I’ve always worn scarves a lot but mostly it was just winter ones that I continued to wear once I walked back in the house. Over the last 2-3 years I’ve started buying lots of sheer scarves (I blame Hot Topic) and all but one are Disney!

16. I’ve been married (and divorce/separated) twice so I’m not especially keen to do it again. If I did though, it would have to be a really unusual or extravagant wedding. Ideally I’d like it to be either in WDW or Disney themed (where people dress as Disney characters).

17. Nearly all my mugs are Disney themed. At times they have got a bit out of control and Chris has now put a ban on any more mugs! However I recently moved a few to my display cabinet and tossed a few non-Disney ones out so hopefully I’m free to add a few more now!

18. For the first time ever, I’m seriously considering an annual pass to Disneyland Paris. This year I’ll have been at least three times and getting a pass might be a great excuse to go more. I would love to go during Halloween.

19. I can hand on heart say I have never wished to be a Disney Princess. To be honest, if I had a choice, I would be a sassy Villain or a character like Megara.

20. Before I started sewing, I had a couple of years where I made cakes for all my friends and family. Each person had at least one spectacular cake during that time. My all time favourite was the Tsum Tsum one that I made (with Megan’s help) for Lily.

I very rarely tag anyone in these things but if you’d like to do it then please let me know you have!

Shopping Online as both a buyer and seller

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As some of you may know, I run an Etsy store/website called Closet Geek. I sell handmade items that are geeky themed, such as; hair bows, pencil cases, jewellery and kids clothes.

closetgeekBeing a shop owner has helped me to see a whole new side to online shopping – the difference between people who “favourite” items, compared to those who actually buy for example. It has made me curious as to how people can leave 4 (out of 5) star reviews, but write whole paragraphs about how fantastic the item was. Deciphering addresses is often tricky – especially those in other countries. At least with UK I can recognise missing house numbers or half post codes, but it can be hard when its abroad.

As a shopper, I like to browse. I add things to my cart – sometimes with no intention of checking out – other times with the intention, but seeing the postage or not being able to get a code to work, getting put off the whole process. I get sick of putting in the same information each time, being asked to make an account with password, just to proceed and so on.

The video above is from a company who hope to take some of the complication out of online shopping. They want to make the process easier which in turn will benefit both the buyer and the seller. It’s definitely worth a watch and I have to admit I love the term “Cart Abandonment”. I know that’s something I’ve done a lot. The idea of just having to put your address in once, to have more control over delivery and really just to ease the whole process, is definitely something I would be behind. This is something I would be interested in looking into in the future.

For now though I will continue to browse stores such as Hot Topic and the Disney Store, glad that for the most part I abandon my cart, otherwise I would quite possibly be bankrupt!

2/52

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Photo 12-01-2016, 17 57 12 Photo 09-01-2016, 17 19 25
Quite by accident, this weeks pictures also include products I have sewn! Lily decided to dress like Harley Quinn (I made the dress), she put her hair in bunches by herself and even found her new black boots to go with it. In her stocking at Christmas there was some Harley Quinn perfume so of course there was a squirt of this included too! Megan on the other hand was modelling some “Mickey” mouse ears for me, that I made over the weekend. These were my first ever attempt and I was really pleased with how they turned out. They are Cinderella themed and I’m sending them over to Liv, to go with the Cinderellla dress I made her for Christmas!