Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Christmas Style

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One of my favourite Christmas traditions is the “Christmas outfit” one. This is something that my mum did for us as kids and I have continued to do for my own. Despite the fact that both my girls are 12 and 8, they still like to match on Christmas Day. I think this is absolutely adorable, despite their difference in style. Finding something I like for them is a battle in itself, but luckily this year, my outfit pretty much picked itself.

Christmas Style

SimplyBe were kind enough to offer me a couple of items from their ladies range, in return for a mention on my blog. Little did they know that they would actually become my Christmas Outfit choices. The beautiful Joe Browns top that I chose, was from their women’s jumper range and retailed for £55. The heels I chose from their party shoe range, were by Heavenly Soles and retailed for £30. To make it my Christmas outfit, I also coupled it with a plain pair of black leggings, my Disney Couture Frozen snowflake necklace and also some snowflake earrings I owned already.

Both the top and shoes were absolutely beautiful and sadly my pictures don’t do them justice. Not only am I sure that I will wear them on Christmas Day, I’m sure they will get a lot more wear as well.

If I could dress my other half…

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Men's clothes

In association with House of Fraser, I was asked to consider what I would dress my OH in, if given the chance to dress him for the day. I have to admit I’m not great at guy clothes (I have two daughters and myself to dress) but since my OH has very little fashion sense himself, I decided just to pick out a few items I liked the look of and also in his favourite colours.

The men’s shorts were actually the first thing I picked out and they were one of many great choices that House of Fraser had to offer. I like the idea that they are like cargo pants, with several pockets, but shorter than the usual three quarters he would normally wear. In fact he usually wears greens (especially camouflage print) so these blue are quite different from anything he has in the wardrobe. Next I picked out a shirt and this was from Topman. In theory I would have him just wear the shirt, but I know he likes to wear them more of an “over t-shirt” style so I picked out the t-shirt from ASOS too. I love the colour combinations and I’m pretty sure they would all suit him.

Finally I picked out a few accessories. These trainer style shoes pull in the colours of the clothes, while also being pretty awesome. They’re by Ted Baker, though technically I found them on a site called Zalando. The watch is both cool and practical – and since Chris never wears a watch, I figured it would be a nice change. This particular one comes from GShock.

If you could dress your man for the day, what would you pick?

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Once Upon a Time Bounding – Captain Hook

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Pretty much everyone knows what Disneybounding is, but to be honest you can bound as any fandom. Myself and my best friends Nat and Amy are heading to Paris in June, for a OUAT fan convention called Fairytales. We are there for a long weekend (Fri-Tues) and we’re even popping into DLP while we’re there too. Because of that my mind has wandered as to what we might wear while we’re there. Today I’ve put together a Captain Hook bounding outfit – a) because he’s one of my favourite characters and b) because it’s probably who I will bound as. Colin O’Donoghue will also be attending the convention so that’s a major factor!

Captain Hook - OUAT Bounding

Since we’re going to be in Paris during June and inside a hotel, I probably won’t bother at all with a jacket. At the moment I’m torn between this type of a corset top or instead wearing a light black blouse with a waistcoat over the top (I’ve been looking for fabric to make this from). The jeans are black flocked velvet and I know I would get plenty of use from these. To finish off the outfit a few rings, a hair bow and the choice of a pirate ship necklace or even a replica of the one Captain Hook wears on the show. It’s a really simple bounding to put together and I can’t wait to give it a whirl!

My Christmas Wishlist 2015

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Over the next few weeks I’m going to be sharing some of my ideas for gift guides, including “for him”, “for her”, “for kids” etc. However I wanted to start off with a wish list of my own! This is my Christmas Wishlist 2015.

Christmas Wishlist 2015

 

As you will see, even at a glance, my wishlist is almost entirely filled with Disney. This is because Disney is probably my biggest fandom love, followed immediately by Harry Potter (which there are also several items for). Anyway, let’s get started!

On the left hand side of the guide, you will see an Inside Out board game and a Ticket to Ride board game. I absolutely love playing board games, both with my family and with my friends. Though we already own a version of both these games, I would love these versions (just like I would love Disney Villains monopoly still). Inside Out seems like such a great idea for Game of Life and a United Kingdom version of Ticket to Ride sounds fun! On that same side you will also spot two DVDs, Inside Out and Tomorrowland. Inside Out isn’t released yet but Tomorrowland has been for a while, I’d like both to add to my every growing Disney DVD collection. Finally on that side is a Thomas Kinkade Disney calendar. I had the mini version last year but I would love the full size version as my main calendar this year. I love the art work and even better when you’re done with it you could always frame the pages.

On the right hand side I have clothes. The dress is an Alice print dress from Hot Topic which I absolutely love. I have another dress from Hot Topic in this style and its my favourite Disney dress. I also have this exact print in a scarf (which I’m wearing now) and I love it. Not only that it’s black and I know I’d get lots of wear out of it, even in winter paired with a cardigan and tights. Secondly there is a set of PJs and these are Beauty and the Beast from Topshop. Last year I treated myself to a pair of PJs from Topshop and though they had cuff bottoms on the trousers (which I thought I would hate) I loved them and as such would love this pair for this year.

Heading for the middle of the wishlist you can see its basically an array of ornaments and Pop Funko figures. However there is a Harry Potter umbrella in there too. I love the Marauders Map print and I know I would get loads of use out of this – especially living in the UK where rain is our standard. Also not an ornament is the Disney Villains bag. This is from Loungefly and have I loved their stuff for a long time. In this style there is also a Disney Villains wallet but as it doesn’t have card slots I know I wouldn’t use it much. This bag however is amazing and I would love to use it as my every day handbag. Not technically an ornament, this candle is also on my wishlist. It’s available from the Disney Store and comes in a few different colours. I’m not a huge candle fan but I find myself more drawn to them this time of year. Plus it’s Disney. No brainer.

Finally, onto the ornaments in the middle. There are four Disney Traditions/Showcase ornaments and some of these are firm favourites while others are new to my wish list. I have loads of Beauty and the Beast ornaments already but since it’s my favourite, I’d love to have them all. The ornament of Belle with the Beast has been on my wish list since last Christmas so hopefully this year I’ll get lucky and manage to get it. The one of Mrs Potts is new (or at least I haven’t seen it before) and since I have one of Lumiere and Cogsworth together, I’d love to have this too. That then leaves the Villains. Maleficent joined my wishlist over a year ago, for my birthday last year when we watched the new Maleficent movie. I love this figure so much but sadly it went out of stock last Christmas and I ended up with the Evil Queen instead. It’s now back in stock in most places so I’d love to add it to my collection. Then there is the “hag”, who is the Evil Queen from Snow White. I’m not exactly sure what draws me to this ornament as it’s pretty ugly but I love it nonetheless. Next comes the Pop Funko and sure enough one is Disney (sort of) and another is Harry Potter. I started out my collection of Pop Funkos with only Disney and I’ve tried hard to resist branching out into other Fandoms as its a disaster waiting to happen. However we do have several others, including some Harry Potter. I love this Voldemort figure and it would definitely be my next pick to add to the collection, though I would happily take any I do have (which is only Harry and Dumbledore). Regina Mills aka the Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time is another figure I’d love. She is my favourite character by far and I hope to cosplay his exact outfit someday. While OUAT isn’t technically Disney, its definitely a branch of it and therefore adding the OUAT figures to my collection is a must! Finally that leaves Katniss Everdeen. Until a few days ago I didn’t even know Hunger Games existed as Pop Funko figures. Now I know, I sort of want them all. Katniss is available in several different variations but I think this is my favourite – like I said though, I would take them all.

I could have gone on and on but hey, Christmas is about giving not receiving – so instead of concentrating on what I’d like, I’ll soon be moving on to what you can get for others!

Easy (Disney) Cosplay Tips

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So as you know, I love to make costumes and I love to cosplay. I’ve been to a few conventions now – LFCC last year, London MCM in May of this year, SFCC in August and a small Lincoln one in September, two of which I cosplayed for. However not everyone has the ability to sew (or the money to buy handmade) so I decided to share some tips about costumes you can threw together easily, using clothes readily available in stores and online.

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For MCM Comic Con, I was originally choosing to go as Go Go Tomago. If you haven’t seen Disney’s Big Hero 6 then you’ll have no idea who that is – and if you haven’t seen it, then you should! Go Go is an awesome female character and her “everyday” look is really easy to replicate.

The costume is basically made up from a black leather jacket, white t-shirt, black (and purple) leggings, black shorts and black trainers. Depending on how exact you’re wanting to be with your costume, sourcing the exact items might prove tricky. However if you’re happy to improvise, you should get most things fairly easily.

I started with the leather jacket. Of course I wasn’t going to get actual leather, as that would be expensive. I headed off to Ebay to find something cheap and secondhand. The important thing to note about Go Go’s jacket was it’s style – the way it zips up, neckline etc.

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Can you spot the difference between the two?

After the jacket, the rest should come fairly easy. A simple white t-shirt, relatively non nondescript. Black leggings, with purple poking through rips – either a double layer of leggings, black over purple with tears cut in the black – or black leggings with rips, patched up underneath with purple material. Black fingerless gloves. Black trainers. Black shorts. Depending on how close you’re wanting to match, I’m sure you can find black trainers with a splash of purple and black shorts with a splash of red. Failing that you could always add your own – paint for the trainers and ribbon for the shorts.

Last but not least, this leaves the hair. Of course if you’re radical you could cut and dye your own (I actually tricked all my facebook friends into thinking I’d done that) or you can buy a wig.

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So long as you plan fairly far in advance (allowing time for shipping from China) you should be able to pick up a relatively cheap cosplay wig. Mine was around £10 mark and took about 3 weeks to arrive. There are some great bargains out there, for all things cosplay, the more time you allow and the further it can travel from!

Closet Geek – Store Opening

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Tomorrow my online store opens and OMG I’m nervous. Sadly I haven’t got half as much done as I’d hoped to, but probably more than I thought I realistically would. My new Closet Geek store can be found at www.ClosetGeek.co.uk and at midday tomorrow, my store will open! In the meantime, please feel free to sign up to the newsletter (I promise no spam) and you will receive a discount code to use on opening day!

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This post today is actually scheduled. As this goes live, I’m heading up to Berwick Upon Tweed, where my best friend Amy lives, in order to have a very last minute photoshoot. Her daughter Liv and my two girls Megan and Lily, will be modeling all the clothes I’ve made, in order to place them on my store. I will also have a whole bunch of hair bows, jewellery and pencil cases.

Eventually I hope to stock adult clothes as well as kids, but for now I’m concentrating on the Disney inspired stuff, with elements of other geeky fandoms. As of tomorrow my site will be live and hopefully I’ll be making up orders. Once the girls go back to school I’ll really get to grips with making new things and adding regularly to my store!

businesscardIf you have any feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact me! I probably won’t be blogging tomorrow as I’ll be busy opening my store and heading home from Amy’s. I’m always contactable via email, on Facebook, or Twitter etc. Thank you for all your support and I hope you love my store!

Just Sew Geeky

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As you probably know from my previous posts, I love to sew. My mum and dad bought me my first sewing machine at the age of 18 and I used it for a good year or so before it got stowed away and barely used. Since having kids I’ve used it every now and again, but it has never had more use than in the last 12 months. Last summer a group of us decided we would go to London Film and Comic Con and that we would cosplay. This was my first ever experience of cosplaying and I wanted to make my own costume. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, especially since I hadn’t used my sewing machine in a long time.

cosplay

Sadly now when I look at the photos, all I see is how much weight I had on at that time. I was beginning to lose weight at that point but since then I’ve lost about 1- 1 and 1/2 stone and feel so much better for it. Anyway, when I try to focus on the costume itself I’m pleased but I know I’ve done so much better since. In the following months I made young Anna and Elsa dresses for my two daughters, I made a Snow White costume for my best friend Amy and I made a whole stack of Disney inspired dressed for our holiday to Florida.

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Since getting back from Florida I’ve flipped flopped back and forth about starting my own business – sewing clothes. I have had an online store on Etsy selling jewellery for some time now and I’d love to combine everything geeky that I like to do and make a little business from it. Anyway… the title of this post was one of the names I toyed with – Just Sew Geeky. However I felt it was too sewing orientated (and I want to do more than sewing) and in the end went for Closet Geek. The sewing section of my site will probably be the largest – for the most part I’ll be offering inspired dresses and clothes for children. In the future I hope to be able to offer custom cosplay too, not just for kids but for adults. I’ll also add my Jewellery Ever After stock (and add to it), along with the inspired hair bows that Megan and I were making a few months ago. On top of all that I hope to add murder mysteries to the categories, but that’s a little way off right now. It’s a lot of work and I’ve really only just started. I have the bare bones of a site in progress, social media platforms set up and business cards ordered.

businesscard2At the weekend (just gone) I sat down to get some sewing done and discovered the foot from my sewing machine was gone. I’m absolutely certain I’ve put it somewhere “safe” but after two hours of searching, I still couldn’t find it. In the end I ordered a new one, costing a total of £8.79 (only £3.80 for the foot but £4.99 postage!). To be honest I toyed with buying a new sewing machine all together. I checked out sewing machines online and I found a really good range at Tesco Direct but as yet I haven’t made a decision. There is nothing actually wrong with my sewing machine at the moment but I have to admit I can tell it’s definitely on it’s way out. As I said, it was bought for my 18th birthday – and I literally just had my 36th last week. It’s old… though not as old as I am… and it’s going to need replacing soon, especially if I expect to be sewing on it even more often than I have been recently.

Though I’m bubbling over with ideas of Disney inspired dresses to make, my first project is actually a cosplay one. For now I’m going to keep it a secret but I’ve ordered vintage Simplicity pattern 9825 and turquoise jacquard material that I could really only find in the US. I’m excited to crack on with it so my sewing machine foot better turn up soon! In the mean time I’m going to head for Pinterest and start pinning some more ideas and also work on my online store! I’ll let you know as soon as I have an update.

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Wednesday Wishlist – Hot Topic

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hottopic

As you know, I’m in Florida!! Now, instead of gazing hopelessly at a computer screen and wanting all the Hot Topic products, I can actually go and get them! Today I’m sharing my Hot Topic Wish List with you and you’ll just have to wait and see if I come back with them all!

A. Dumbo scarf – ever since buying my Princess Quotes scarf and my Doctor Who one, I’ve realised just how much I like wearing a scarf. This Dumbo scarf is a little different to the ones I have, as its an infinity (loop) scarf instead. The print is so cute though and I think I’d genuinely get a lot of wear from it.

B. Belle compact mirror – I’m a huge fan of this more grown up style of sketch and as Belle is my favourite princess, this mirror really appeals to me, even though I’d barely use it I’m sure. It’s neat and stylish though and it would make a great edition to my handbag.

C. Anna and Elsa Pocket Pop Funko – I mentioned in my wishlist post last week, that Megan and Lily already own the Pop Funko figures of Anna and Elsa, but that they stay in their room, rather than with my collection. I’d love to get these pocket figures, just to sit with my collection and represent!

D. Once Upon a Time’s “Evil isn’t born, it’s made” vest/tank top – as yet, I haven’t bought any vest tops from Hot Topic, largely because I really went off them as an item of clothes, due to my fat upper arms. However as summer comes around again and now I’ve lost a little weight, I’ll be looking forward to embracing them again. This t-shirt is just amazing and it would definitely be one of my “must-haves”. There are loads more though, to be honest.

E. Alice in Wonderland/The Little Mermaid tights – If you read my shopping post a few weeks ago, you’ll know that in preparation for this holiday, I bought myself some new dresses. One of those was Alice in Wonderland and the other was The Little Mermaid. Obviously in Florida it will be far too warm for tights but when I come back I’d love to keep on wearing my dresses. As such these cute tights would couple nicely with each dress, to make an awesome colder weather outfit.

F. Daryl Dixon’s Chopper – I’m going to ignore the innuendo in the title of this product and just point out that it’s a Pop Funko figure of Daryl Dixon on his motorbike. While majority of my Pop Funko wants are Disney related, this is one of the few that isn’t. Daryl is a character from The Walking Dead and has long been my favourite character. I’d love to get this figure to add to my collection, just as he’s so awesome.

G. Beauty and the Beast/Rapunzel hairbrush – these hairbrushes first arrived on the site before Christmas and I really wanted one for the girls but honestly we don’t really need them. However I love the Beauty and the Beast one and would happily throw out my current one, in order to replace it with that. For the girls I’d like the Tangled one as it just makes sense – Rapunzel has long hair that needs brushing, so what better choice is there?

H. Rapunzel umbrella – I honestly do not need another umbrella. My first ever brolly was Sylvester and Tweety Pie and I still have it to this day. Just before Christmas I bought myself an Alice in Wonderland one from BHS and I think I’ve only used it twice. However I do love the lantern scene from Rapunzel and that makes this umbrella almost irresistible to me!

I. Villains backpack – for a long time I fancied the Beauty and the Beast stained glass window backpack, but really it was just a little “loud” in colour for me. However when this Villains one came along, I was sold. Anyone who knows me, knows I have such a soft spot for Disney Villains. That makes this backpack straight out cold – regardless of the fact I so rarely use a backpack!

J. TWD Crossbow keychain – I definitely don’t need another keyring and yet I want one. This keyring is Daryl’s crossbow (from Walking Dead) and a tag that reads “Fight the Dead, Fear the Living”. Mostly I want it because of Daryl, but it’s cool and it’s about time I had something to represent my Walking Dead fandom.

So right now, these are the things I have my eyes on! Look out for a Hot Topic haul post when I return from my Florida trip!

Florida 2015 (1 week to go!!) The Packing

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packing
OMG, it’s one week today until we leave the house and head off on holiday. Today I’m sharing with you the final process of our Florida planning – the packing stage. We’re not so organised that it’s all done already, but we are getting there bit by bit. The girls have stopped wearing the clothes they want to take and we have started to put clothes into the suitcases. We have check lists going and a bed dedicated to packing – so we’re definitely on our way to being ready.

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Above is a picture of the girls suitcases. They have one each which I bought them for Christmas. Majority of the dresses they are taking with them were also bought for Christmas, as they really had no summer dresses to speak of so I picked up loads throughout the sales and saved them till Christmas. In my last post I talked about the shopping we had done for Florida and the majority of the suitcase (other than dresses) is filled with the extra bits and pieces we’ve picked up, including shoes, sunhat, cardigans etc. This is probably about half of the girls checklist ticked off.

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As well as all the things they’ve already packed, we have several things unticked. These are largely dresses that I’ve made for them and fancy dress costumes. Ultimately the girls are hoping to get all the dresses they’d like (disney themed mostly) sewn and ready before we go. As such they are holding off on packing the fancy dress. If the “inspired” dresses get done, the dress up stays at home – if not, then I’m sure the costumes will get packed instead.

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The girls also have their flight bags mostly packed, these are upstairs alongside the suitcases. At the moment the girls are both still going to school every day and although they break up on Friday, their dad is having them over the weekend. Unfortunately they won’t get home until Monday night so I imagine there will be a lot of last minute packing on Tuesday – or I’ll be doing it for them.

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Mine and Chris’ packing isn’t quite as far along as the girls but it is at least started. I’ll be honest and say that majority of Chris’ packing was done by me, but I’m sure he’ll show an interest at the very last minute. He’s a “it takes 10 minutes to pack” type of person. While we both have the majority of our clothes packed (baring things we can’t do without in the meantime like underwear) but we are nowhere near with all the extras. Chris and I (and the girls) use our ipads, chargers etc on a daily basis so it just isn’t possible to pack those things. Also things like toiletries. makeup, hair stuff, will all be packed last minute too.

So it’s now one week till we leave. For the next few days I’m concentrating on sewing projects and making sure I get as much as I can finished before we leave. However once the girls go to their dad’s on Saturday I’m sure I’ll be dedicating a bit more time to making sure we have everything in order. Tuesday is the deadline for everything being ready as we leave first thing on Wednesday morning – to travel down to London, go to the Cinderella Exhibition and then stay over at a Travelodge. A week tomorrow we fly off to Florida and I can only hope we’re completely ready by then!