2018

review of things are what you make of them by adam j. kurtz

A review of ‘Things are what you make of them’ – Life advice for Creatives by Adam J. Kurtz

March 21, 2018

Rain kindly bought this book for me for Mothers’ Day, and I’ve since managed to fit in the odd five minutes here and there to read it. That’s one good thing about Things Are What You Make Of Them – it doesn’t take long to read! Oh that makes me sound like I don’t like it, which isn’t true. It’s a book for the current generation who take their entertainment and information in snippets; in bite-size chunks of Instagram stories. There are even perforated edges so you can choose your favourite little pages of words of wisdom to put up on your copper magnet board next to the foiled print that says Eat Sleep Create….

Could The Greatest Showman film spark a circus fashion trend?

March 17, 2018

(Alternative title: Clowning about in the woods!) I became a little suspicious back in November when I had the chance to browse some well-known high-street shops in a city. I noticed that the stripe trend had turned vertical, and wider, like circus tents! And combined with ruffles, the effect of these details does point to the circus! It’s been known to happen before with a popular musical movie: Do you remember the 1920’s fashion trend of 2013 that well and truly kicked off after the success of The Great Gatsby? I for one am not complaining, I love everything about the circus, particularly the wonderful clothing!….

How I’d do things differently if I wasn’t a teenage Mum

March 13, 2018

I’ve never really considered being a Mummy blogger – I’m not sure why – it just wasn’t what I wanted to write about; however this topic of conversation came up in the car a while ago, and as it was Mothers’ Day on Sunday, I thought I might do something a bit different and write about the subject in a blog post! Yes I am in a category. I am a statistic of the 90’s. I was a teenage Mum….

Cath Kidston gift ideas for Mothers’ Day

February 28, 2018

I was given this beautiful set of Cath Kidston hand creams and a lip balm for my birthday last year, and it occurred to me what a lovely gift anything by Cath Kidston would be for Mothering Sunday. Her products combine the two things that make the perfect present – something pretty and something practical….

How to rock the granny chic trend! Styling a hand-knitted cardigan

February 25, 2018

I don’t know whether you’ve noticed it, but I’ve spotted lots of people lately wearing jumpers and cardigans that look like their granny knitted it. They probably didn’t, because these people are probably young enough that their grannies are still in full time work and far too busy to be sitting by the fire and knitting. However, I was lucky enough to have a Nan who knitted and was proud to wear my royal blue school cardigans with massive sleeves that no-one else had. (At least I was until I was ten.) Maybe that’s what sparked my love of wearing things just a little bit different to everyone else. (Damn – I wish I’d thought of that argument when I was a teenager “Well if you didn’t want me to wear 1960’s mini nightdresses with Doc Martins, maybe you should’ve just bought me a Woodlands school cardigan with the logo on it like everyone else had!” sort of thing)….

10 Photos that will make you want to visit New England in winter

February 20, 2018

Chris and I recently returned from a month in Connecticut, near the city of New York, and each weekend we went exploring in every direction. I’ve put together ten of my favourite photos – and this was a challenge to get it down to only ten! – in the hope that the cold weather doesn’t put you off from visiting the New England area of America. I thought it was absolutely beautiful!….

Is a capsule wardrobe the right way to go? I tried it for a month to find out.

February 13, 2018

There are several YouTubers and bloggers I follow who live by a capsule wardrobe. They don’t just live by it; they fully recommend it, citing how wonderful it is to know they can get out of bed in the morning and easily choose an outfit that will colour co-ordinate and work for them. I have been fascinated by this, but to be honest, I’ve always thought it wasn’t really for me, I mean, if you want to see the state of my wardrobe/dressing room, then take a look at the tour coming soon to my YouTube channel! However, for four weeks at the beginning of the year, I went to stay in America (accompanying Chris on a work trip) so I really didn’t have a choice as everything I wore for a month had to fit in my suitcase. I’m currently typing this on the plane coming home and I thought I would share how I got on with my experiment with a capsule wardrobe….

Review of the Rose and Crown in Dunton Green

Review of the Rose and Crown restaurant in Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, Kent

February 9, 2018

There is a fundamental problem about going to visit my parents, and that is that the dog has to sleep in our bedroom. If he doesn’t he ends up scratching the door or waking everyone up whining, so instead I suffer with the noise he makes while he sleeps. Imagine something like a cross between an elephant and a sea-lion snoring whilst dreaming of mating, and you’ve almost got the level of noise our beloved Loki makes at night. (And day for that matter. Whenever he’s asleep basically.) So I admit, I was in somewhat of a tired daze the day we went to the Rose and Crown pub restaurant in Dunton Green to celebrate Dad’s birthday. However, I do remember the essentials well enough to write a little review….

How to wear your party outfits through winter

February 1, 2018

Now I’ll be honest here, I only had one Christmas party to go to last year, and really that was more of a small get-together than a party! However, I do have a few items in my wardrobe I was thinking about, and if you’re little miss socialite, I have some ideas that may help you make the most of those dresses you bought for the party season…

Being demoted back to work-experience girl by YouTube

January 18, 2018

I’ve been showing up to work at YouTube for close to three years now on a part-time basis. I didn’t start doing it for the money and I didn’t expect to get paid to begin with. I did it for the chance to get my name out there and reach people who might be interested in reading my blog or purchasing clothing from Threads of a Fairytale and hopefully entertain everyone along the way. I didn’t realise quite how much of my life it was going to consume. Each video takes a minimum of two hours to edit; and the longer ones such as travel vlogs; well that can be up to ten hours. It’s a lonely hard slog. Filming can take anything from half an hour for a quick sit-down and chat video (plus the time it takes to put on make-up, tidy up around me and sort out lighting) to several hours over a period of weeks for the more in-depth ones. Then there’s the head-space vlogging takes up – working out how you’re going to tell the story of your day; remembering all the little transition shots; giving a good blend of talking and showing; making sure there’s a comfortable mix of slow and fast pace to the video etc. It was a joy to get to the point where YouTube started to pay me a little money – maybe enough to get the bus to work and go halves on a coffee once a week. It’s not much at all, but it’s a little recognition of how hard you’re working and you start to see a little opportunity – a glimmer of hope that there might be some financial reward for your efforts. And then I received an e-mail from YouTube this morning telling me they are going to take this away…..

Choosing a word to live by in 2018

January 12, 2018

I’ve heard of this erm…what would you call it?…A theory? A challenge? An idea? I’m not entirely sure, but I’ve heard of this thing before, where you choose a word to guide you for the coming year. It’s a word you go to if you’re stuck; not sure which decision or choice to make; to inspire you; to basically help you out when you’re not sure where to turn or what to do. I’ve previously thought this wasn’t really an idea for me – I’m too haphazard and never really know where I’m heading or what is going to be important to me in the months ahead. However, this December I took part in the Instagram challenge set by Emily Quinton at Makelight, in which she set us the task to plan our word for 2018. Surprisingly, it didn’t take me long to think of mine…

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