British blogger

Making a flower fairy dress for Threads of a Fairytale

September 6, 2018

I haven’t shared my work for Threads of a Fairytale here for a while, so I thought it was time I changed that! I’m also planning on blogging more often and linking more blogs with videos on my YouTube channel. There’s something about September that feels like a new year isn’t there? Even though this is the first autumn neither of our kids are starting a new term! So this dress is perfect for princess flower fairies off to the ball or alternative brides who would like to wear pink on their wedding day…..

No longer living in limbo-land! 3 tips if you’re thinking about emigrating

September 5, 2018

I feel like I’ve been living in limbo for the last two years. If you watch my YouTube channel, you may have noticed the odd subtle hint of something big changing soon. That change was a move to America for a year. At first it was a small idea that went away again when we found that we couldn’t take our dog, Loki with us. However, after our trip to Connecticut last July, we looked into it again….

What to do when your photos don’t match your Instagram! (A black and white photography project)

September 1, 2018

The use of Instagram means something different to different people, and I’ll write more about my feelings on that in another post, but briefly, I’ll tell you that my Instagram, @HelenHobden is fairly curated with some of my best photography included. However, whilst away in Connecticut, slouched on the hotel-room armchair, having a break from typing; I realised that the simple scene with my feet up on the arm would look great as a square-cropped photo in grainy high-contrast black and white….

Finding the perfect carry-on luggage. 6 Things to look out for!

July 22, 2018

Chris and I have been doing a fair bit of traveling lately, and both of us have been on the lookout for the perfect luggage. While your main suitcase, is of-course important, I think it’s the carry-on that needs to function at its best in order to fit your needs. This is particularly so if you’re traveling with only the cabin bag and not checking anything into the hold at all. I think I’ve found the perfect one, and I just thought I’d tell you about it…

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge + 7 things you need to know for next time

July 4, 2018

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge is something I’ve been wanting to do for years and years. There’s one fundamental problem though: Glastonbury Festival comes right afterwards! And you’re tired enough at Glastonbury without the added exhaustion of being awake through the night before. I’ve never been one of those people (no matter what age) who could just stay up all night and not feel it for the following week! However, this was a fallow year for Glastonbury Festival so we decided to finally do it!…..

british blogger sitting on the grass under a blossom tree

3 reasons to be glad of a wet bum

June 22, 2018

Something dawned on me at Glastonbury Festival on the Thursday night last year and this is the story behind it: Rain and I were sitting in a field on our little fold-up seats, surrounded by all sorts of weird and wonderful vehicle creations waiting for Johnny Depp to appear (in actual real life, right in front of us) to introduce The Libertine, soon to be shown on the massive screen in front of the ever-growing crowd. All of a sudden, a woman amongst the group of friends sitting near us jumped up, saying something along the lines of, ‘I think someone’s spilt their drink here – I’ve got a wet bum.’…..

Festival of Flowers; visit Milsom Place this weekend!

June 16, 2018

I was so happy to be invited to visit Milsom Place in Bath yesterday and see the preparations taking place for the Festival of Flowers. I love watching the annual Chelsea Flower Show on the telly, so to be shown around Milsom Place by multi award winning landscape gardener, Jon Wheatley, it was a real treat!….

handmade thank you cards with zig brush pens

Zig Kuretake Clean Colour watercolour brush pens review & a handmade thank you card idea

May 30, 2018

After some research, I put the Zig Kuretake Clean Color real brush watercolour brush pens on my wishlist and was lucky enough to receive a pack from my cousin for my birthday. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted brush pens like this! I think it must have been an episode of Blue Peter when they showed an artist who decorated narrow boats with beautifully crafted swirls that inspired me to recreate the style as best I could. When I grow up I want to paint narrow boats!….

Living with hypothyroidism – blame, balance, and being kind to yourself

May 24, 2018

This week is Thyroid awareness week and the 25th of May is World Thyroid Day. It feels like every day of the week and every week of the year is National or International awareness day for something or other. Well, this is mine. I hope we don’t get too weary of these sorts of days and weeks that we become indifferent about them. Anyway, I wrote more about my Hypothyroid disease story on a post a few years ago if you’d like a read of that first; and please scroll down to watch the video I made about it as well…

Review of Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London

A review of Agatha Christie’s play, Witness for the Prosecution, at County Hall, London

April 28, 2018

It was my birthday last week. And it was a big one. The kind with a zero. The weekend afterwards I celebrated with my family (which was lovely – look out for the vlog coming soon!) and I’m in the process of organising a day my friends are free at the same time to celebrate with them (I am determined to milk this for as long as possible!), but for my actual birthday day, I wanted to do something special. All the time the kids were young, I hardly bothered celebrating my birthday, but although we have had a couple of days out in more recent years, this time I really wanted to make it count. So, I went online to see what theatre productions are on in London at the moment. I’ll be honest, I wavered and nearly didn’t bother with the whole idea because my god, it’s expensive isn’t it? And why can’t they tell you the price of tickets until after you’ve given half your personal details, chosen the date and studied the seating plan?! We were also limited by the type of thing we’d all be interested in. Something we’d all love is of course The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, but at £1160 for the four of us to see both parts that day, we decided our Harry Potter fan-ship can be shown with Primark mugs and slippers (that wear through in 3 weeks) instead! However, something else we all enjoy watching on the telly together is Agatha Christie adaptations, and when I found out that Witness for the Prosecution was being played in an actual courtroom, that tipped the balance over Mousetrap (which I’m pretty hopeful will still be on for my 50th birthday!) and I booked the tickets….

How to go to a blogging event as a shy introvert. My Next Blogger Network event experience

December 5, 2017

I recently went to the Next Blogger Network event in Shoreditch in London, and I’ll be honest, it’s one of the most scary things for me I’ve ever done! The week leading up to the event was spent either putting it to the back of my mind and pretending it wasn’t happening, or feeling so worried I got a massive ulcer on the inside of my cheek! However, I knew once I’d forked out the money for the train fare, I would have to go, so I went ahead and did that first so I couldn’t change my mind! In the end, I feel it was a very successful day and I’ve come away from the event feeling very proud of myself and ready to go out and find another blogging event to go to! Here’s how I managed it…..

5 excuses not to do Blogtober this year – Blogging advice

October 2, 2017

Are you a blogger and feeling the pressure to take part in Blogtober? (ie publishing a blog post every day for the month of October.) Well worry no more; I have five good reasons why you shouldn’t do it! You don’t have the time. No seriously, you probably don’t. Unless you’re my friend Kathryn, who, in the space of twenty minutes at our village writers’ group, can write a well written, fully plotted short story of about two thousand words; or you’re that girl who put her hand up for seven extra sheets of paper during her GCSE English exam, really think about how long it takes you to write a blog post. Particularly if this isn’t your full-time gig and you’re also doing a ‘proper’ job and/or looking after a family. Unless you’ve been planning Blogtober for a while and have a stash of posts ready to go in advance; when exactly are you going to do all this extra work?…..

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