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!

 

Blog Archives

how to buy jersey dresses
A guide to buying jersey dresses. Styling a Joe Browns floral dress
April 30, 2018
This jersey dress from Joe Browns made its way into my clothing collection recently, so I thought (for a change) I would share it with you before it goes out of stock! If there’s one item of clothing I’ve been reaching for lately, it’s been a dress made out of lovely comfy stretchy material! Jersey, by the way is what t-shirts are made of; a woven fabric with some stretch, sometimes with added elastane or lycra for extra stretch. Through winter I’ve been wearing them with a snuggly jumper over the top and thick leggings underneath and it meets that elusive requirement of being comfortable to wear, but still looks good enough to leave the house in. However, there are good and bad points that need considering when shopping for a jersey dress…..
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….
circus fashion
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!….
knitting is cool!
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)….
A capsule wardrobe
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….
long sleeved red dress
The red Christmas party dress
December 23, 2017
Red is the colour of choice for this season anyway, so what better time of year than Christmas to embrace the fashion? I bought this red dress from the Jameela Jamil collection at Simply Be back in spring, but sadly the event I bought it for was cancelled, and I’ve been waiting for the opportune time to fetch it out of my wardrobe! Christmas is practically upon us, and I think this red dress could not be more perfect for the celebrations! Pillar-box red is a colour that suits everyone, so don’t be a wallflower in black this holiday – get out the dress you know you’ve been wanting to wear!….
blogger event advice
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…..
fashion blogger over 30
How to style red velvet trousers
November 22, 2017
I’m covering two of autumn / winter 2017 fashion trends here: velvet, and red! These are actually two of my favourite things, so I was pretty chuffed to find them both together in these trousers from Joe Browns. I went very casual with this outfit, but as velvet is really a luxurious fabric, you could also style them up to be really smart. I could swap my old battered converse for a pair of heeled boots and there you have your day to night outfit sorted!….
style blogger over thirty
Styling cream and khaki and enjoying a warm day!
October 16, 2017
Khaki green is another regular colour that crops up in most autumn fashion style editorials in magazines at this time of year – some years more than most. I’ll admit, it doesn’t seem to be one of the major must-be-seen-in colours of fall 2017, but none-the-less I love it! It’s almost a neutral, and seems to go with every other colour in my wardrobe, except perhaps red and grey. And pale blue. Ok, so maybe not every colour, but quite a lot! It goes perfectly with dusky pink (of which I own a fair few items), black, and every shade of brown from dark chocolate to pale cream. On this occasion, I chose cream….
blogtober blogging advice
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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Linking with #iwillwearwhatilike at Not Dressed As Lamb.

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