When I Grow Up
est. 2004
A Creative kind of Life. A blog by Helen Hobden
I still haven’t worked out what to do when I grow up! I’m mainly a writer, an artist, and a fairytale dressmaker with various crafty hobbies! Here (and on YouTube) I share bits of my life, thoughts, and what I’m learning along the way. Let’s find magic and inspiration; join me for this creative living adventure!

 

Yearly Archives

2012

Fabric Art Workshop by Susan Stein
September 4, 2012
This book explores techniques and materials in more ways than you could possibly imagine! I like the step-by-step instructions for each technique – they are straight forward and easy to follow with plenty of pictures so you can follow them with no problems. I’m not particularly a fan of the books that tell you how to achieve the projects that the author has made – they leave no room for imagination – so this book is ideal for me. For example, it won’t tell me how to make a mono-print elephant tea cosy; it simply tells me how to do the mono-printing. (Which is good because I don’t really want an elephant tea cosy.)
Bikini Babes
August 31, 2012
I’m lucky enough to be going on holiday soon, so I’ve actually been the target audience to all the swim wear on offer in the high street. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted looking through rails of clothes and trying on various combinations of bikini tops, tankini tops, bikini bottoms, coordinating skirts and one-piece swimming costumes. It’s actually been doing my head in. You can’t do it quickly either! In order to try on swimwear, you have to take (almost) absolutely everything off! (Then of course, you need a different size and being a British citizen, rather than an American one, (and not shopping in high class, super expensive establishments), this means getting at least partially dressed again, scurrying across the shop and back to the changing rooms hoping for better luck this time.) ….
Mixed Media Explorations by Beryl Taylor
August 30, 2012
This book is fairly old now, but I only recently discovered it and really hope Beryl Taylor will have a new one published soon because I can’t get enough of her work! Mixed media is a relatively new thing in the UK, but over in America, they’re experts. Beryl Taylor is a mixture of both; living across the pond now, but grew up in England. Anyway, as a brief explanation, mixed media art usually involves a range of materials and techniques, including stamping, painting, sewing, quilting, embroidering, beading, gluing and lots more!
Alternative Wedding Dresses
August 23, 2012
Celebrities and friends are getting married all over the place and photos are appearing everywhere from Hello magazine to Facebook. Unfortunately I haven’t had any invites this year (not even from Kate Moss!) but I do love looking at all the wedding dresses. Of course the wedding of the year was Prince William and Kate Middleton, and whilst I did like her dress, I preferred Lily Allen’s vintage style dresses. The price for all of the ones we see in magazines are usually somewhat astronomical and out of reach for most of us, which makes handmade dresses on sites such as Etsy, even more appealing. The dress above by blackmirrordesign is no doubt a brave statement to wear as a wedding dress, but if you like it; why not? Surely your wedding day is the best time to wear something that truly reflects you.
Festival Clothing
August 6, 2012
In the UK, Glastonbury Festival is the biggest music festival, and in my opinion, the best as well! I have been going for years and now I’m lucky enough to live practically on its doorstep. If you haven’t been, it’s difficult to explain quite how fantastic, or to imagine how big it actually is. There are 150,000 tickets sold, the site takes up 1,100 acres and I’ve just counted 58 stages on the line-up! There are the main music stages, the dance village, the late night weirdness places, the kids’ field, the circus and theatre fields, but it’s the Greenfields where you’ll find the traditional vibes of the 1960s and 70s, and also where you’ll find the best handmade clothes. I’ll definitely be checking those out when I’m there.
The London Dungeons
August 4, 2012
I have no photos as cameras were not allowed and I refuse to be ripped off by buying the photos they take! Here’s a tip to save on the ticket price (which, for 4 people is £97 on the door and £77 online); you can get buy one get one free by travelling by train and filling in the form you can get from the info booth or ticket booth; or by cutting out any of the Merlin attraction tokens that Tescos are doing on things like orange juice and cereal. However we paid for ours in full using Tesco vouchers, so we didn’t have to pay a thing. Brilliant!
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