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My 37th Birthday

May 30, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

On the whole I avoid putting the actual age I am, on my blog. It’s not that it particularly bothers me (turning 30 never did) but I have to admit that inching closer to 40 does somehow make me feel old. However I’m sucking it up this year and trying to embrace it – and I’m going to let you know what a great birthday I had!

For a start, it was a Saturday (May 28th). Amy and Olivia came down to visit for the weekend, Chris was off work and even Amy’s O.H. was coming to spend the day with us! Though technically my birthday had started at midnight where Amy and I were still up and sitting in the dinning room, we soon headed to bed and started again properly in the morning. Chris sadly woke me at 7am when he got up and though I had hoped for a lie-in, it wasn’t to be! I got up and was greeted by many “happy birthday”s and Amy kindly made me a cup of tea! I sat down on the sofa to open cards and gifts from them all, which was really lovely.

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Photo 28-05-2016, 10 21 17

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The girls got me the Evil Queen from Snow White, in hag form. This is a Disney Tradition that I’ve been after for a while and I’m not sure why as she’s ugly as hell, but I love it regardless! Chris got me Seven Dwarves on a Log – again another Disney Tradition that I have loved for literally as long as I can remember. It was always far too expensive to consider getting but now it’s mine, yay! Finally Amy and Liv got me a box of goodies, including an Ursula decoration, Regina in Pop Funko, an art print of Belle and the Beast and a Tinker Bell scarf (I put it on straight away, so forgot to photograph it). There was also a limited edition print that Amy had found in a charity shop, which is literally amazing!

After this we sat around for a while relaxing, but the kids started to get hungry so I put on some breakfast. We had freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat, along with margarine, nutella and chocolate/peanut butter spread. We actually didn’t even manage it all which was a surprise between six of us.

Photo 28-05-2016, 09 47 17indexEveryone went off their separate ways then, to get dressed, to have another cup of tea etc. My mum arrived around lunch time to give me her gift and then Amy’s O.H. arrived too. After a while we headed out to Nottingham with the plan to play mini-golf but it actually turned out that we went shopping and ate at Five Guys. We headed home, got the girls to bed and then my friend Nat and her O.H. came around. We spent the evening chatting, laughing and drinking wine until about 1am.

While it maybe doesn’t sound like the most spectacular of birthdays, the evening was everything and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thankfully its a whole year now until the next one but I’m glad this one turned out pretty great.

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: Amy, Belle, birthday, breakfast, Chris, Disney, Disney Traditions, drinking, Evil Queen, Five Guys, hag, Lily, may, Megan, mum, music box, my birthday, Nat, Olivia, rose, seven dwarves, shopping, snow white, snowglobe

Wednesday Wishlist – Disney Style Books

May 18, 2016 by Bel Leave a Comment

I have to admit that I’m super excited about this week’s wishlist, because I’ve been working on it for absolutely ages! I don’t read half as much as I’d like to as I’m always busy sewing or blogging, but if I did, I would read ALL these books I have listed and many more. This week I wanted to show off some of the many Disney/Fairytale style books that I’ve come across over the last few months. Some I’d never heard of before and others being sequels to books I already own or have read.

Disney style books
Disney style books

Disney is one of my favourite topics ever but I love a good spin on it too. Nearly all of these books follow that idea and so hopefully if you’re the same, you’ll like the sound of a lot of these books.

Starting off with Poor Unfortunate Souls, this book has been on my wishlist for a while now. When we visited Florida last year I discovered Fairest of All and The Beast Within, both of which I regretted not buying. However for my birthday the following month, I was lucky enough to get bought both. This third book is about Ursula and honestly she is pretty much my Villain spirit animal. It’s not released yet but I would love to own this book and add it to my collection.

As Old as Time is a similar story, it’s pre-order and not released yet. However I’ve had my eye on Once Upon a Dream and A Whole New World (Chris just bought me this a few days ago) in hardback for a while (they just got released in paperback) and now spotted this Beauty and the Beast Twisted Tale coming out soon. I have yet to read any, but I plan to start AWNW this week!

The next couple of books, Unhooked and Never Never, are both Peter Pan/Hook themed books. They both appeal to me to read, though I’ve heard nothing about them other than reading the information on Amazon. There is one on the next line down called Wendy Darling (and its a Part 1 I believe) and this is the same sort of thing. They all just sound like good books. Finally on this line is a book called Fairest and its part of The Lunar Chronicles series. I currently own Cinder which is by the same author and while I haven’t read it yet, I’m told it’s really good.

On the middle line is a book called Once Again, its by the same as the Twisted Tales but I think it’s co-written. From what I can gather its two stories in one, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Since I mentioned Wendy Darling above, I’ll skip on to Kingdom Keepers. This is a series that I only recently discovered and have to admit I’m thoroughly enjoying. The first book, Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, I actually bought for Megan for her birthday, but Lily and I ended up reading as a bedtime story. Once we’d finished, I moved onto Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dawn. Since we only read one chapter a night, it does take quite some time to work our way through, however Lily was lucky enough to get bought the next 3-4 books for her birthday so we should have enough to keep us going for a while. This particular book I listed is a sort of spin-off series I believe, called Kingdom Keepers: The Return. Obviously we will be finishing our current series, before heading off into that one though.

Finally on the middle line is another book which I believe is co-written, by Riley Pearson (the author of The Kingdom Keepers) and Dave Barry. There are several books in this series too and again I haven’t read any of them, but given that they are by the author of The Kingdom Keepers, I would definitely give it a try.

Finally on the bottom row is a couple of cheeky additions. Return to the Isle of the Lost is a sequel book to The Isle of the Lost: A Descendants Novel. All I really know of the Descendants is the Disney movie that was on TV last year, which I watched with the kids, but I did buy this book for Lily and we haven’t got around to reading it yet. Given that the first book is good, then we’d probably want the sequel too! My next cheeky addition is actually Once Upon a Time (OUAT) related and though there were several to choose from, this one is my top pick. OUAT isn’t technically Disney but it’s pretty damn close so any book connected to the series is something I want to read.

Finally that leaves three books which I only found today as I was searching for last minute additions. I honestly know nothing about the three picks but the blurbs appealed so I threw them on. Disneylanders and The Disneyland Quest, remind me somewhat of the Kingdom Keepers style book. The last one, is Fairy Godmother themed and is part of a series, some of which Megan owns but hasn’t read yet (The Snow Queen and The Sleeping Beauty). The series is called Five Hundred Kingdoms and from what I can gather, all the books can be read independently.

So these are some of my treasure finds but I’d love to know if you have any other suggestions!

Filed Under: wish list Tagged With: aladdin, As Old As Time, beauty and the beast, books, Captain Hook, Cinderella, Descendants, Disney, Disney After Dark, Disneylanders, Evil Queen, Fairest, Fairy Godmother, Five Hundred Kingdoms, Kingdom Keepers, Lunar Chronicles, Maleficent, never never, Neverland, Once Again, once upon a time, OUAT, Peter Pan, Poor Unfortunate Souls, reading, Riley Pearson, Sleeping Beauty, snow white, teen, The Disneyland Quest, Unhooked, Ursula, Wendy Darling, young adult

Wednesday Wishlist – Pop Funkos

May 4, 2016 by Bel 1 Comment

As always, I want a whole bunch of Pop Funkos and with my birthday coming up, I’ve started to think about which ones are top of my list. I figured I’d put together a variety options, in case anyone was looking to get me one ;)

Pop Funko Wishlist

 

Pop Funko Wishlist

I’ve tried to group the Pop Funkos somewhat, though it’s still a bit random. The first section is Disney. To be honest I would always be happy with a Disney Pop Funko but there are actually very few I really want. Merida, Alice, Mushu and the Evil Queen are my main picks. Honestly the Queen has been on so many lists now – she’s top.

Next is Harry Potter. I would like Harry, Ron and Hermione (though I have two Harry variants) but they aren’t my top picks. Since Megan has Luna, Sirius and Dobby would be my other choices so far, though I’d love Hagrid too.

Next is Superheroes and the main man, Stan Lee. To be honest there are hundreds of DC and Marvel characters that I would love to collect, especially when Chris started me off with Oliver Queen (unmasked). The new wave of Avenger ones are definitely better than the first wave, though I prefer the Iron Man from 3. Along with all these, Deadpool would be great but I had too many that looked like him (Spider Man, Flash and Iron Man) to add him too!

Once Upon a Time has got to be one of my all time favourite TV series and I love the Pop Funkos too. The only one I have so far is Killian Jones (a Captain Hook variant) but I would love his regular version too. Regina is my top pick for OUAT though and she has been on many lists. Snow and Prince Charming would also be a great addition.

Last but not least is the odd one out of Katniss Everdeen. There are actually a couple I would like from Hunger Games (especially Effie Trinket) but Katniss is my top pick and I didn’t have much space left! Megan has her in the red dress and Mockingjay dress (with wings) so I would like this version for my collection).

What are your top Funko picks?

Filed Under: about me, wish list Tagged With: alice, Captain Hook, DC Comics, Deadpool, Disney, Dobby, Evil Queen, hunger games, Katniss Everdeen, Marvel, Merida, Mushu, OUAT, pop funko, prince charming, Regina, Sirius Black, snow white, spider man, Stan Lee, thor, vinyl figures

What I’ve been up to!

September 4, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

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!!

Closet Geek labelIf 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.

Woody Inspired Dress

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.

Back to the Future, Prom Dress

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.

Eeyore bow

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!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 50's prom dress, Back to the Future, Briar Rose, Cinderella, Closet Geek, cosplay, costumes, crafts, Disney, dresses, eeyore, hairbows, handmade, Prom Dress, sewing, snow white, snow white rags, toy story, Woody

Week 26 – Monday Round-up

June 29, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

Another busy week but I’m actually getting around to doing this post early (it’s Sunday night!). Monday to Friday the kids were at school but Chris was off from Monday to Wednesday. After taking the kids to school on Monday, I settled down to finish of the Murder Mystery I’d been working tirelessly. It took me all day but I finally managed it by about midnight! Obviously I picked up the kids, had dinner etc. but for the most part my day was solely spent doing this.

On Tuesday Chris and I took the girls to school and then headed to the storage unit. We needed to grab a few things, including the futon, which meant taking furniture to pieces and packing it into the car. After that we headed back home but we needed to go to Tesco and visit Chris’ nan too. We decided to go to Chris’ nan first and stayed for about an hour, we then went shopping and did a good weeks shop. Finally we got back home and Chris offered to put the futon back together while I took a bath. For a change it was a really long bath, because I got quite into the book I was reading. When the girls got home from school, via their few hours with their dad, I managed to catch him about Megan getting her ears pierced. He agreed and she was thrilled!

On Wednesday I took the girls to school and Chris was out on his driving test (sadly he failed). When I got home, he arrived shortly after me and while we wallowed for a little while, he soon headed up on his computer and I got sewing for the day. I picked out a pattern to do, traced it and cut it out. I then stopped for lunch with Chris before heading out to Boyes and buying some material. I got back and cut out my pattern pieces but then it was time to pick the girls up from school. Megan was having her friend Elizabeth back for dinner and so that pretty much took up the rest of my evening.

Thursday Chris was back at work but my mum was coming around for the day so I still didn’t get an awful lot done. She read through my murder mystery completely though (noting the odd mistake) and she liked it, so that made me feel positively about the party on Friday. She stopped for lunch and didn’t leave till I went to get the girls from school. After school we went into town and made an appointment for Megan’s ear piercing. We also picked up the Snow White Tsum Tsums which had just been released from Clintons. In the evening I had my nephew (or sort of at least) overnight as my brother and his girlfriend were working the next day when he was off school and they had no one for the early part of Friday. The kids didn’t get that long together but they were no trouble. Once they were in bed I baked some cakes, trying to bake them flat for the first time ever. It was definitely an interesting experience.

On Friday morning I had three kids to get up and ready but again they were no trouble. I took all three to school with me, met up with mum and sat with her and Charlie to watch Megan’s assembly. After the assembly finished, Charlie and I headed off so I could take him home, via McDonalds for breakfast of course. By the time I got home, I had ten minutes to grab my breath before heading out to meet Amy and Liv. I walked down to the train station to meet them and then we all headed back to my house. Since the girls were going to my mum’s that night, we didn’t need to go out and get them from school. In the end we all just chilled out together, headed in to town for a little while, played with some Tsum Tsums and watched Walle. After Olivia went to bed, Amy and I got ready for the murder mystery and finished the cake.

The evening went really well and it was nice to hang with friends. The murder mystery worked fine too so that was a relief, though not having rounds of food to break it up with, meant that it all went pretty fast (we were naughty and ordered Dominos!). Even once we finished though, we all sat around chatting and since we were a small group, that was nice too. In the end we headed to bed around midnight.

In the morning, I managed a lie-in till 10.30am but I still felt tired! The kids arrived home around midday and since they all pretty much occupied themselves in the afternoon, Amy and I spent time together in the dining room – researching everything from Paris accommodation to cosplay ideas. We were still in the dining room when Chris came home from work at 10pm, though obviously we’d got the kids dinner and fed ourselves too. We headed to bed a little earlier than usual as we were pretty tired. However I managed to lie-in till 9am again the following morning!

This time the girls got up and occupied themselves quietly until we were all up. Then we all just sat together, had cups of tea and chatted. I took Amy and Liv to catch their train at 1pm, then came home and helped Megan with her homework. Chris and I spent the afternoon strimming and trimming the front garden and it took ages! Finally I came inside, hoovered around and then ended up sorting all my jewellery supplies out. After getting everyone (and myself) dinner, it wasn’t long before the girls headed to bed. I spent the evening cutting Chris’ hair and then when he went for a bath I watched Holby City while writing this blog post! We’re now settling down to watch Humans and I’m scheduling this post and turning off my computer. I imagine we’ll head to bed after one episode as I have to be up early in the morning!

Hope you all had a good week. See you again this time next week!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Amy, Charlie, clintons, driving test, friends, Furniture, gardening, Liv, material, murder mystery, party, planning, sewing, snow white, storage, Tesco, tsum tsums, writing

Wednesday Wishlist – Disney Pop Funko

April 8, 2015 by Bel 6 Comments

As the whole of April on my blog is “Disney Month”, today’s wishlist is Disney related – specifically Disney Pop Funko figures.

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This is my current collection of Pop Funko figures. To be honest I never really considered buying them myself, but when Amy bought Belle and the Beast for Chris and I, it seemed wrong not to! For my birthday last year, a friend called Jon bought me both the large Maleficent and also the mini Maleficent and Evil Queen (I believe he made an error when ordering). After that Amy bought me Lumiere for Christmas and Chris got Judge Doom from her too. The girls also have Anna and Elsa but I don’t class them as part of my collection, since they’re upstairs in their room. Between Chris and I we do also have three other Pop Funko figures, but they aren’t Disney so I skipped them from this post!

funko

So rather than list each of these Pop Funko figures separately, I’ll just say that you can buy majority of them from places like Amazon, Forbidden Planet and Funko Pop Vinyl.

Row A: From left to right, these figures are Cogsworth, Belle and Mrs Potts. As I already have Belle (in her yellow dress), the Beast and Lumiere, I’d love these three figures to complete the set. My favourite is probably the other Belle (in her blue dress) but I would really love them all.

Row B: Next up is Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. I was never really into Alice in Wonderland before but over the last few years I’ve developed a love for it (probably because both Lily and Chris like it). Wanting Alice is really because she just represents the Alice in Wonderland world as a whole, but the Cheshire Cat because he looks amazing and the Mad Hatter because he’s simply crazy!

Row C: For this row, it’s all princesses. As I have Belle already, it would be nice to have some of the others. Cinderella, Ariel and Snow White are fairly iconic princesses and would make a great start to my collection. There are a few others available like Merida and Jasmine, but these other three would be my first picks.

Row D: This row is Villains. Everyone who knows me, knows I like Disney Villains. These are just a few of the ones I like – Jafar, Captain Hook and Ursula. I also love King John, Scar and Cruella De Vil. They would all go perfectly with the Maleficent and Evil Queen I already have (and Judge Doom if you count Chris’) though I perhaps need a full size Evil Queen instead.

Row E: Final row is a bit of an assortment really – ones that don’t belong in a set or that I just don’t want the rest of. Tinkerbell, Boo and the Genie are just a few of the ones I’d like. In all honesty I would be happy with any Disney Pop Funko figure but there are plenty I would pick first, even before the others.

Do you have a favourite Disney Pop Funko figure?

Filed Under: wish list Tagged With: Alice In Wonderland, Ariel, Beast, Belle, boo, Captain Hook, Cheshire Cat, Cinderella, Cogsworth, Cruella De Vil, disney ornaments, disney pop funko, Evil Queen, Genie, Jafar, Judge Doom, King John, Lumiere, Mad Hatter, Maleficent, Mrs Potts, pop funko, Scar, snow white, Tinkerbell, Ursula

Thursday is Tag Day – Disney

April 2, 2015 by Bel 2 Comments

I found this tag while searching the internet and saved it for this period of time while I’m away. Right now I’m on my flight to Florida and I seriously can’t wait. We will arrive late tonight and while tomorrow is going to be a fairly quiet day, I’m so excited to throw myself into the holiday. Just my blog posts this month, majority of my holiday will be Disney themed and as such the first tag I wanted to share with you is also Disney themed. I haven’t specifically tagged anyone to take part but if you’d like to do it, then please do!

1. A scene in in any Disney movie you wish you could experience.

There are so many beautiful scenes in Disney movies, that it makes it hard to decide. Flying on a magic carpet with Jasmine and Aladdin, the amazing Ballroom in Beauty and the Beast, listening to “kiss the girl” in a boat with Prince Eric and Ariel etc. etc. However if I had to pick just one place to experience, it would most definitely be the lantern scene in Tangled, with Flynn and Rapunzel. The actual scene itself is so beautifully drawn and I would imagine that moment would be pure romance. That would just be such a magical moment to be a part of.

2. An unforgettable experience moment you’ve had at the Parks.

I’ve only ever been to Disneyland Paris, prior to this current trip to Florida. The first time was very rushed, trying to cram both parks into one day, after a 6 hour drive to get there and with a 6 hour drive to get back. The second was February 2013 and while we definitely had more time, it was still only three days. However at this present time, my most unforgettable moment was definitely the girls meeting Snow White. It was a picture perfect moment and one that will stay in my heart forever.

3. What non-Disney song(s) reminds you or brings back memories of Disney and/or the Parks?

This is sort of a cheat answer, because the song is from The Nightmare Before Christmas which when originally released, was under the Touchstone Pictures studio. It has since been reissued by Walt Disney Pictures though. The song “This is Halloween” will forever remind me of Disneyland Paris, because of the parade we saw the first time we visited (it was October). Whenever I hear the song, I automatically connect with the parade. It was awesome.

4. When was the first time you went to a Disney Park?

October 2009 was my first time. We were actually staying in the Dordogne on holiday and randomly we just decided to drive 6 hours to get to Disneyland Paris. The girls were both really young and when we visited again in 2013, Megan barely remembered it at all and Lily really didn’t. Now they are a bit older I’m hoping they’ll remember Florida better.

5. If you could choose any of the characters to be your best friend, who would you choose?

Since we only get a quick snap of what the princesses are like, in their hour and a half movie, its hard to really say which ones you’d get along with and which would make good friends. However I’d quite like to hang out with Belle, Rapunzel and Ariel – see which one I’d like the most. Probably it would be Belle, but who knows?

6. Who are your favourite Disney princesses?

Belle is by far my favourite princess and always has been. Partly its because she has dark hair, but she also seems one of the most level headed and easy to identify with. That said I have also liked Ariel for almost as long and Rapunzel ever since Tangled was released. Though she isn’t a princess, Megara definitely has to get a mention as she’s a totally awesome female lead character.

7. Name a scene/moment in a Disney movie that never fails to make you cry.

Just recently, while doing our Disney Countdown, I’ve re-watched a lot of Disney movies. While doing so, I’ve actually been surprised by some of the moments that made me cry, even though I might have seen them hundreds of times. There are three that I can really think of -the first being when it seems like the Beast is dying and Belle tells him she loves him. This always touches my heart. The second is in Tangled, when it seems that Flynn is dead and Rapunzel weaps for him. As with Beauty and the Beast, even though I know they’re not dead, it still brings me to tears. Finally, and the moment I’m picking, has got to be Monsters Inc. When Sully has to say goodbye to Boo, its completely heartbreaking. I always cry. Not only that but when Mike gives Sully the broken door at the end, only short of the missing piece that Sully has, I can’t help but burst into tears all over again.

8. What is the first Disney movie you remember seeing?

I don’t know if it was actually the first one I saw, but my first memory of seeing one, was Oliver and Company at the cinema. Having watched the movie since, I didn’t really enjoy it all that much. However at the time I know I really did like it. Funny how things change when you get older.

9. What is your favourite Disney movie?

Like with my princesses, the same applies with my movies. Beauty and the Beast always sits in my mind at the top, but its definitely joint favourite along with The Little Mermaid and Hercules. Most recently I’ve added Tangled, Wreck It Ralph and Big Hero 6 to the mix though. It’s hard to pick just one!

10. Share a video or image that shows your love of Disney.

As I mentioned on Number 2 my most magical moment was when the girls met Snow White. This was my favourite picture from the whole trip and I will treasure it always.

snowhite

Filed Under: tag Tagged With: 2009, 2013, Ariel, Belle, Big Hero 6, boo, Disneyland Paris, Hercules, lantern scene, Megara, Monsters Inc., Nightmare Before Christmas, Rapunzel, snow white, tangled, The Little Mermaid, This is Halloween, Wreck-It Ralph

Disney Countdown – Days 65 to 59

February 1, 2015 by Bel Leave a Comment

countdown

Monday (65) – Jan 26th – Read a Disney book
Tuesday (64) – Jan 27th – Make or Draw something Disney
Wednesday (63) – Jan 28th – Paint Snow White peg-doll
Thursday (62) – Jan 29th – Play a Disney game
Friday (61) – Jan 30th – Watch a Toy Story
Saturday (60) – Jan 31st – Make Disney inspired food
Sunday (59) – Feb 1st– Paint Alice in Wonderland peg-doll

We started off the week with “read Disney” and all of us commented that we were glad as it seemed like we hadn’t read much of our book so far this month. We were less than half way through too, so we agreed to read a chapter every night, on top of our other Disney challenge. Tuesday the kids were with their dad so they drew pictures at Grandma’s house and brought them home. Megan seemed pretty disappointed with hers, though Lily was pleased. On Wednesday we had a lot to do and Megan made a rush job of Snow White. Since the picture, she has neatened her up and added the hair bow. On Thursday the girls were with Nanny but they were ready for school early and so played on Tsum Tsum in the morning. I’m pretty sure they played again after school too! On Friday our task was to watch Toy Story but unfortunately we were out from after school until the girls had to go to bed. Instead we watched it on Saturday afternoon. We also had Saturday’s task to do which was make Disney inspired food and since we didn’t have much in, we made crown/tiara shaped biscuits and once they were cool, the girls decorated them beautifully. Finally came Sunday and the task was another peg-doll because it was the start of the next princess chain. I can’t believe we’re into February now, meaning only 2 months to go!

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Filed Under: Disney Countdown Tagged With: alice, Alice In Wonderland, baking, biscuits, craft, disney dvd, disney food, drawing, never girls, peg doll, snow white, toy story, tsum tsum

Megan’s Birthday

December 15, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

I’m going to post later on today with my weekly round up but I felt like Megan’s birthday (and the celebrations generally) deserved a post of their own. Megan turned 10 last week and it feels like we were celebrating all week! The first sign of her birthday came on Saturday 6th, in the form of her birthday mystery party.

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I have been working on Megan’s party for quite some time. Not only did I agree to write her a murder mystery (without the murder) but I also ended up making four out of the eight costumes (four and a half if you count the costume my mum and I part shared). The first week in December was crazy busy – with the first 3-4 days being filled with writing the party and the rest being spent finishing off costumes that I’d been working on for weeks.

Though Lily’s didn’t quite get finished, Megan and Lily were young Anna and Elsa. I was pleased with their costumes and while I have a few additions to make, the girls were really happy to have “young” costumes, instead of the standard shop bought ones.

For Nat’s costume we had the great idea to do her costume part pink and part blue. It wasn’t quite how I pictured it but it turned out okay. Sadly Nat’s definitely didn’t get finished as it was missing sleeves, collar and the waist band. However it still gave the effect and I have promised I will finish it for her!

As Amy’s was the first I started, it was also the most finished. Missing only the collar piece, Amy’s dress for Snow White was otherwise complete. I was really pleased with it, especially the sleeves and I hope she was too!

Finally, my mum and I shared costumes. For Nat’s birthday, I had been the Evil Queen – knowing she would be the Evil Queen a week later for Megan’s. As such I was responsible for getting the cape, crown, balaclava etc. I didn’t really make any of it, except for ironing on white for the collar, to cover up the purple.

I didn’t get as much time to work on the food as I’d wanted – but we had a rough theme. There were Anna’s sandwiches, Anna and Elsa’s chocolate stack, Olaf”s carrot dip etc etc. Anything without a theme, feel under Sleeping Beauty’s bites. Megan asked if we could put blue food coloring in the lemonade and so that was our drink. As a “party bag” we bought Disney themed mugs for everyone (since everyone was a Disney character) and then placed a lottery scratch card in each. Sadly there was only one win and that was for £1. Megan’s Uncle Chris was nice enough to give it to Megan too.

The party went well and while it didn’t go quite as smoothly as I hoped, Megan and Lily enjoyed it and that was the main thing! That saw the end to Megan’s party, but certainly not the end to her celebrations.

On Thursday of last week, it was Megan’s actual birthday. Despite giving her free reign to wake me whenever she woke, it was only 6.45am when we got woken and we’re usually up at 7am anyway. Chris and I got Megan an electric keyboard, some Frozen loom bands, a Where’s Wally book and a Hidden Mickey’s book. Though it didn’t arrive until later in the day, we also got her a new set of headphones and a bag for her iPad. Lily bought Megan a Ravenclaw scarf and honestly she’s barely taken it off since.

As well as that, she got quite a lot of money from people, largely in dollars – ready for our Florida trip. I think at last check she had just over $200. On top of that she got a year’s membership to Movie Star Planet, a new dress, a novel, £20 for Next, £20 for Toys R Us, a board game and £10 in cash (I think that’s everything!!).

The day was spent at school and work but afterwards we all went out to Pizza Hut for a family meal. There was ten of us in total and actually it was really nice.

That saw the end of Megan’s birthday itself, but the celebrations still weren’t over!

On Friday night, Megan had her friend Katai over for a sleepover. Katai recently moved to Zambia, but she is back for Christmas. As such it was Megan’s one request, to have Katai over for the night and then spend the day with her on Saturday. The weekend started with popcorn, crisps, chicken strips, cheese bites and cherry coke, while watching movies. First we watched Enchanted and then The Game Plan. After that the girls went to bed. The next day we had a very chilled out morning and finally around lunch time I sent everyone upstairs to get dressed. God knows how, but it took them an hour to get ready and it was about 1.30pm before they were ready to go! We headed over to Lincoln with the plan to get dinner and then go bowling, but in the end it didn’t work out that way.

We went to a pub called Woodcocks for lunch and even though it was 2pm, the pub was still incredibly busy. It took an hour to get food and then because we ordered dessert too, it took almost two hours in total. When we eventually left, we went over to my mum’s for a little while, just so Megan could have longer with Katai. However we headed back after that, dropping off Katai on the way home. This officially saw the end to Megan’s birthday celebrations and now we’re moving on to Christmas! I can’t believe its only a week and a half away now!

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: Amy, Anna, birthday cake, cake, costumes, Elsa, Evil Queen, harry potter, Lily, Megan, Megan's birthday, Megan's party, mum, mystery party, Nat, party, Pizza Hut, presents, snow white

Week 47 – Monday Round-up

November 24, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Last week I was really organised and wrote my round-up post as the week went on. However with a crazy busy week last week, that’s gone out of the window this time! I feel rushed and busy, like I don’t have time for everything I need to do – and I know it will be a couple more weeks before that improves. In fact, as such I might not be blogging much for a while.

Monday to Friday was work and school for everyone! It’s so weird having Chris work normal 9-5 hours (well 8.45 – 5.30 anyway). He started his new job at BT on Monday and I’m pleased to report he’s loving it. Me on the other hand…. well let’s just not talk about it!

On Monday, the girls had Singing Stars after school and so I got the weekly shop at Aldi’s done before heading to mum’s for a cup of tea. I then picked the girls up from school and headed home. We watched I’m a Celebrity when we got home, at the same time as working on their “Disney craft project”. Afterwards I spent the evening sewing, very close to getting Amy’s Snow White costume done! The next day my brother came around in the evening and so not much really got done (other than hanging out the washing, dishwasher etc.). We watched three episodes of OUAT but we’re still two behind (three now). I think he’ll be coming this week too, in order to catch up properly.

Wednesday it was Nat’s turn to visit. I finished off the Snow White costume and then started on her Aurora one. I’d had the crazy idea to dye pink into blue to make it look like her dress was changing colour and the two of us were dying pink at 11pm that night! Thursday was sort of a relax day – Nat got some great news (which unfortunately I can’t share with you!), I treated Chris and I to Chinese for dinner and then we spent the evening hanging out and watching TV. It was well overdue since it seemed like I’d seen everyone but him in the previous days. However I knew I had the following day to crack on with costumes and writing Megan’s party, as the girls’ dad was having them the following night.

I was very glad to see Friday. It was a long and busy week and I was looking forward to a still busy, but no work weekend. I dropped the kids off at school with their overnight bags for stopping at their dad’s and headed to work. Afterwards Kristy and I went into town and I treated her to her first ever Starbucks Red Cup! We then wandered around H&M and Primark before heading home. Once I’d dropped off Kristy and got home myself, Chris text to say he was leaving work early. However he called ten minutes later to say he’d been knocked off his bike (again). I jumped in e car and headed back to Lincoln. Long story short, he was hit through no fault of his own and we had to wait ninety minutes for recovery of his bike. We got home for about 8pm and neither of us felt up to doing anything. We managed an hour or so of watching TV before eventually heading to bed. That was my planned evening to get stuff done and it all went out the window!

We woke at 8am the next day, even though e kids weren’t in and we didn’t have work. I ended up starting to sew, just to catch up some time. At 9.30am Chris called e bike garage and arranged for someone to come look at the damage on his bike. We then headed out to pick the girls up from their dad and then head to mum’s for lunch. While mum helped Megan with her homework, I attempted to work on Megan’s mystery party. I didn’t really get very far though and before we knew it we were sitting down to eat and then heading home. Once we got back, the girls and I had I’m a Celebrity to catch up on. Megan hadn’t been feeling well for a few days and she took a definite dip. In the end Lily and I were the only ones who headed out to see the Christmas Lights be switched on in Gainsborough. Lily had a hot dog and I had some pizza, we also bought candy floss. The lights were disappointing and not as good as the year before – I also missed it not being all four of us. When Lily and I got back, Megan was asleep on the sofa but she stirred not long after. She managed some sausage roll and candy floss but then both girls went to bed. Chris and I spent the rest of he evening together as I was too tired to do anything of importance. I did manage to get some things ordered for both Nat and Megan’s parties though.

Finally it was Sunday and a day with nothing planned at all! The girls wanted to watch X Factor and I’m a Celebrity so I set up my sewing machine in the lounge, hoping to sew AND watch TV. While I did get both done, my concentration wasn’t at it’s best. I made numerous mistakes – one of which was quite humourous in that I stitched a sleeve on upside down! It all got a little stressful at times but I stuck with it all day. I called takeaway for dinner and we all shared that together. I eventually gave up sewing at about 11pm and headed to bed. I now have Megan’s pretty much completed (bar some details) and Nat’s is well on it’s way.

This week has been okay, but very stressful in the sense of “sew” much to do and so little time. In all honesty, the only way I’m going to make it through this coming week and maybe even the next, is to take a bit of a backseat when it comes to blogging. This evening I’ve had Nat round, Tuesday will be my brother, Thursday is Parent’s Evening and Nat’s birthday and before I know it, Saturday and Nat’s party will be here. I can’t honestly say I’ll be posting anything at all this week, so it may well be Sunday before my next 52 Project appears and then Monday with my round-up. Please forgive me for taking a break this week but if I don’t, my sanity might snap altogether! I look forward to updating you all with my costumes soon though!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: Aurora, BT, Chinese, Chris' new job, Christmas lights, costumes, Disney, Elsa, gainsborough, I'm a Celebrity, Lily, Megan, snow white, takeaway, X Factor

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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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