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Disney Bounding
I love to sew and make cosplay costumes or even inspired outfits, but I have to admit I have never actually gone Disney Bounding. When we went to Disneyland Paris the first time, it was very much an impulse visit (we were 10 hours away, further south in France) and when we went again a few years later, it was far too cold to think about dressing up (it snowed!). The same was true when we visited the Christmas just gone but now in May we are going again and then myself and my two best friends are going in June too. I love the idea of Disney Bounding and it doesn’t take anywhere near as much effort as cosplay. Here are some ideas I’ve been toying with.
Pic Credit: Vivien of Holloway
Minnie Mouse is very iconic of Disney, as is her dress. As such, a Minnie Disney Bound is a pretty obvious choice. With all sorts of variety when it comes to red spotty dresses, it won’t be hard to find one in a style you like. Pair it with some yellow shoes and maybe even some Minnie Mouse ears on a headband and you’re all set to go!
Pic Credit: Jones and Jones
Pic Credit: Chi Chi London
This beautiful shade of blue dress says Cinderella to me and if you couple it with the right shoes and maybe even a plush mouse or too, you’re definitely on your way to bounding Cinders. Maybe a glass slipper necklace or some pumpkin earrings if you’re into the finer touches, but really you can’t go wrong.
For me, I much prefer the idea of being a Disney Villain to be honest. Luckily it’s fairly easy to shop for sexy black dress for Maleficent or the Evil Queen. That’s what I did when I was dressing up as Morticia Adams. In fact a lot of the Disney Villains are simple plain dresses, that can be made to look more bounding with a few accessories.
Whether you prefer to wear dresses or if you’d rather throw some top and trouser combinations in there too, Disney Bounding is really such a simple idea. When Amy, Nat and I visit in June we’re hoping to bound so stay tuned for whatever we pick to wear!
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This week we headed off to my friend Amy‘s house and while we were there, the girls took part in a mini photoshoot, for my new clothes at Closet Geek. I’m so so grateful to Amy for taking the pictures, not only because my store would look rubbish without them, but also because she captures my girls so beautifully. This is one of my favourites – Lily as the Queen of Hearts and Megan as Alice. There were some other lovely ones which I will share later in the week.
Week 40 – Monday Round-up
Only another 12 weeks and then I’m knocking this round up business on the head! I knew my close friends enjoy reading it but I find it such a bind and I’m sure its completely boring to the majority of my readers! Not to mention on a busy week it just feels like such a hassle and yet again I’m writing a very quick post today!
Monday-Friday was school as usual for the kids and work for Chris. Monday I started a new diet with DW Fitness and since its a 12 week challenge it will take me right up to Christmas! This first week I’ve lost 2lb and so I’m feeling fairly positive about it so far! The whole week I have been working hard on Closet Geek orders. I’m so completely busy that every moment of every day seems to be dedicated to it! I had a total of 13 orders over the weekend, 11 of which were handmade dresses and so as you can imagine it’s keeping me busy. Tuesday though I made a dress for Megan and I was really pleased with how it turned out. She even wore it over the weekend so that assures me she likes it!
Um what else? Girls were with their Dad on Monday night and stayed at my mum’s on Thursday. Oh that’s because I went to a Bloggers Event at HomeSense on Thursday night and that was really nice to get out for a change. Nat came around one day too. Think that might have been Thursday daytime! I’ve been updating the school website in what little spare time I have, plus making sure I attend the kids events at school. I went in to help school with the website on Friday afternoon too. Watched The Descendants movie with the girls at the weekend – wasn’t really what I expected but it was good in the usual Disney manner. I would say Mean Girls meets High School Musical really.
Think that about sums up my week! Got to go make 9 of the same dress now so update again when I can!
#ThatsSewGeorge – Crafty Project
As you know I’ve been busy sewing all sort of things recently but one of my most fun project was given to me by Asda. George – who make a wide range of clothes, bedding etc. for Asda, offered bloggers the chance to make something from some of their bedding. They have a beautiful range which you can find on their website. It was hard to pick to be honest, but it was especially hard knowing I was going to chop it up!
As you can see, there are some lovely choices and at really great prices too. I have plans for bunting, cushions and more clothes. However today I wanted to share one of my projects with you, and that was the Foxy dress I made for Megan yesterday.
Since I knew I was making a dress, I picked a king size cover, to make sure there was plenty of material. I used the main design as my outside print, but the back of the cover (which was a paw print design) as my lining. I also used the paw print pattern as a contrasting material. Both the sleeves and the waist band of made from this.
Week 39 – Monday Round-up
I know I always say this but I really have to make this a quick one this week. I have like 100 sewing projects going on, 10 or so of which are actually orders. Monday to Friday were school for the girls and work for Chris. I barely updated my instagram all week so I can’t even remember for the most part what we got up to!
Nat came around on Wednesday for the day time, I do remember that. And Thursday I spent the afternoon with Megan and Lily, at their Harvest Festival, then going to mum’s for dinner and finally to an open evening at one of Megan’s options for secondary school next year. The rest of the week is just a blur of sewing, blogging and trying to keep it together! It’s been more than a busy week this week, more like a chaotic one.
I got some new items listed in my shop this week, Amy’s Wendy dress got its outing at MNSSHP and I finished the Back to the Future prom dress that I’ve been working on. However like I said I have to make this short as I’m knee deep in a Cinderella dress and loads of other projects too!
Closet Geek Update
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!
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!
What I’ve been up to!
It’s been a quiet week on my blog and that’s basically because I’ve been busy! The girls were back at school this week which took up a lot of my attention, but I’ve also been working hard on my new site, Closet Geek. I’ve been making and sewing, sourcing and thinking, browsing the web and just constantly thinking!!
If you missed the memo, my new site is sort of One-Stop-Shop (or it will be, eventually), for geeky apparel. Right now it stocks jewellery, hair bows and pencil cases, along with Disney inspired dresses for children. In the near future I want to add adult clothes, but at the moment I just do them on a custom order basis. If you want to keep up with what I’m going, Instagram seems to be my main platform as its great for visuals.
So this week I’ve been finishing off a Wendy cosplay that I’ve been working on for a while. It’s almost finished but not quite so I won’t share it here yet. However I have completed a new Woody inspired dress for girls and started working on some other projects.
I have two custom orders in process at the moment, the first one of which I’ve ordered fabric and have a pattern for, the second being quite a big project! The first one is the Prom Dress from Back to the Future. Know which one? Marty’s mum, Lorraine wears it.
The second is a Cinderella cosplay which I’m still looking at fabrics for at the moment. I’m pretty excited, but also a little terrified too! As well as that, I’m making a Briar Rose inspired dress and hopefully a Snow White rags inspired dress, fingers crossed they’ll be done over the weekend. I have loads more planned but I really need to get on with my custom orders.
Finally on top of all that, I spent almost one whole day making hair bows. I had some in my store but I’ll be adding more, again you can see those on my instagram. My favourite by far is Eeyore though. It was quite fiddly but such a good outcome.
In the future I’ll be adding a range of Villains bows. I’ll also be adding some Superheroes too!
So this is what I’ve been up to. How about you? I love working from home but I tell you, its hard to separate being at work and not being at work – switching off your brain and actually getting “me” time seems a thing of the past!
Week 34 – Monday Round-up (well actually it’s Wednesday!)
Well this week I am super late in making my round up post! I’m almost half the way through the next week in fact. It’s been a really great week though, with high and lows of course but mostly good! The kids are still off for Summer Holidays of course, though it won’t be for much longer now! We still haven’t really “done” an awful lot, but everyone seems okay with that and we still have our weekend in London coming up!
The beginning of the week, we didn’t do an awful lot to be honest! The girls went to their dad’s on Monday and had to wait at my mum’s while my car had it’s MOT. It wasn’t finished until almost 3pm (after the work needed was carried out) and after it was done I needed to get new tyres as well. So I headed to Tanvic, waited while my tyres were done and then made a random decision to try to Hobbycraft in Nottingham. It was nice to walk around but fairly fruitless, I had Burger King for dinner and then headed home. Tuesday I went over to pick the girls up from their dad and we came straight home. I used the day to catch up on TV and work on my new shop website – as it was due to open at the weekend. I also booked my train tickets to see Amy on that Friday, a decision I had been toying with a little over the week before. Wednesday and Thursday were both working on my Closet Geek venture, either on the website, taking photos or actually sewing. Nat came over for the daytime on Thursday but we just sat chatting while I sewed so I was still able to get plenty of work done.
On Friday morning the girls and I got up and ready, Chris took us to Retford station. However our train to York was cancelled and this began an interesting day of catching replacement and delayed trains. In the end we got to Amy’s about an hour and a half late and after catching the bus to her house and having a cup of tea, the girls had their photoshoot – the main reason we’d traveled over.
The rest of the day was spent with the girls on their iPads while Amy worked on photos and I worked on listings for my site. We stopped for us all to eat pizza takeaway and then one by one the kids went to bed. Amy and I ended up staying up till past midnight, getting my site ready but by the time I went to bed, it was all ready to go. The girls and I then played a sort of musical chairs with the beds overnight, each of us taking time in a different spot in a bed. We managed to find one that worked for us all and finally got some sleep!
In the morning we were up at 8am, the kids had breakfast and I had tea. We packed up all our stuff ready as Amy’s dad was taking us to the station and I checked to make sure all the trains were on time. We got to Berwick station around 9.45am which was plenty of time. The girls got some sweets and I got a sandwich, then we waited for the train to come along at 10.13am.
On the first train we had plenty of space so the girls sat together and I sat over the aisle. When we swapped at Newcastle, we had about 30 minutes to wait so we all grabbed a coffee and waited patiently. The next train we decided to all sit together, even though technically we had the extra space again. I knew I needed to open my store and the girls wanted to sit with me.
At 12pm I opened my store, the newsletter sent out automatically (as planned) and Amy and I pushed the opening on Instagram! There were loads of hits and plenty of positive feedback so that was great! Orders came in during the afternoon and that was great too. By the time the girls and I got home I was far too exhausted to tackle anything. We’d had Subway for lunch and had takeaway for dinner – but it was pretty great doing nothing! Once the girls went to bed I watched TV but I shopped and browsed for fabric, bows and even replied to someone about a custom order!
Finally it was Sunday and though I should have been making orders and promoting my site, for the most part I was just lying around watching TV. The girls went off with their Grandma to the beach for the day so it was nice just to grab some me time. I did spend most of the day on my iPad looking for fabric, charms and ideas for my stock generally. I placed a few orders and worked on some ideas. Chris came home and we spent the evening watching TV and snuggled up on the sofa.
So that was my week! It was exhausting but it was brilliant. Not to mention my site is now officially open! If you get a minute, please go check it out. You can find it at www.ClosetGeek.co.uk – not only that but you can follow on FB, Instagram and Twitter, all at @closetgeeksite
Closet Geek – Store Opening
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!
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!
If 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!