Shabby Chic for a Shabby girl...

I've Dared to blog for a second time! a few days later than Thursday as it will also be next week because this week is the big play week! All will be told on how that went next weekend! :-) but for this week you can expect, some furnishing customization, life failures blamed on the weather and some happy talk of books, songs and kites...

Craft Corner;

I wanted to share a little customizing I did lately;

I have been redecorating my room a little at a time over the past few years really, as I'll be buying my Dads flat soon, so it is worth redecorating what was once a lilac room with silver skirting boards and a pink ceiling!?! (When I was about eleven, my Dad gave me a little too much freedom in decorating). My most recent project are my curtain poles; they used to be those awful cheap silver effect swirl ended things (to match the woodwork, and when I say silver I don't meana nice chic chrome I mean actual painted silver) as pictured with their first layer of spay paint below.

So instead of buying some new ones for around thirty quid, I thought I'd update them in keeping with the shabby chic look I am aiming for in my room (I recently got a bedside table in cream, with that worn down look at the edges). I bought some 'antique white' spray paint from Hobby Craft for under a fiver, and some sheets of glasspaper from asda for 50p and hey presto! After a few layers of spray paint I used the medium corse glass paper to rough up the edges back down to the silver enderneath, and it is hard to depict on the photo far away from it but I'm quite happy with the result!

I had a wobble after spray painting as I was worried they would look a bit naff once up on the wall but now I'm happy, they may not look expensive but if I spend money on expensive things to put in a house I'll never actually own one and I'll be 30 and living with my Dad before I know it! So for now, cheap works for me.

Song of the Week: Alt-J 'Matilda'

Oh I just think this is a lovely song, I have a niece called Matilda who I sadly don't see very often so it has sentimental value too because it makes me think of her. Its a crime that I don't yet have Alt- J's album, maybe it will be my last ever purchase from HMV! I'm old fashioned and haven't gone digital yet with my music purchases but having been reassured several times that if my laptop breasksI do NOT loose virtual song purchases, I might just jump into the 21st century soon... but to be honest I think I want a record player more I love going to my Mums and having a sing along while baking to her Beatles LP's (I may have been born in the wrong decade).

The week of the bad pretender...

This past week has been a bit of a failure if I'm honest. I blame January and all that comes along with the single worst month of the year; Firstly, I got the Norro Virus- bleugh! I know pretty much everyone has had it now so it cannot be avoided, but it meant that I missed a rehearsal for the play (which is this coming week, so no pressure there then! I'll be blogging about that next weekend.) As well as loosing a days pay at work I also was ill for my day off which was that gloriously sunny day- that one day all on its own before the bad weather hit- but I kept looking on the brightside and thought 'well at least I may have lost a bit of tummy weight for the play!'
Any way (touchwood) rehearsals have been going well since and I'm really excited to put it to an audience because we've been rehearsing that long its great to hear the audience's laughter at bits that we have forgotten are funny!

So all was well after that set back- then came the snow. I was driving to the train station after work on Monday to get to my second ever Acting class and it was gridlock- I couldn't believe it! I mean I don't even think the roads themselves where that bad, it was just the amount of people on them. I mean I know it was rush hour but not theat many people in Hull even work to all be going home at such a time! Anyway the story ended in me epically missing my train and my class which was so frustrating because the trains were actually running fine, sod's law eh? So I'll be itching to get back to class after play week, but it will be strange because I'll still be the new girl when others will have settled in. I will have to be on top charming form first week back :-).

Photo of the Week;

This was the London New Years Day parade, a photo I took when all the amazing kites where in the air (it has been 'instagrammed' of course). I was lucky enough to start 2013 on a high note as I went to visit my Landan friend. It was much more exciting than spending the first day of the year in bed in Hull with a hangover!

Favourite Famous Figure;

For this week I choose the author, Sophie Kinsella, as I have just read her book "Twenties Girl" which had me in tears at bedtime when I finished it the other night! It's about a girl who meets the ghost of her great aunt and follows their journey together to get back her Aunts necklace. The ghost, Sadie is in her prime at 23 in the twenties and all the references to twenties fashion, make up, slang and lifestyle really fed my fascination with decades past (I'm definatley on the 'Downton Abbey bandwagon). I was already a fan of Kinsella; her books are so uplifting and her characters so likeable and I'm still ploughing through the 'shopaholic...' series. It makes me laugh because the thought process of Becky Bloomwood is just like mine, the way she reasons her purchases, but I suppose that must just be a girl thing, right?

Lifes Ramblings...

You know when your friends (or sometimes creepy weirdo's) have clearly been having a browse through old photo's and decide to 'like' one of you all from years ago, when you were younger and thinner? Well, that happened the other day and it got me realizing how much I have actually let myself go! I'm only 23 so there's hope for me yet I like to think, I might always be just half a stone away from my target weight and my nail varnish will always be just a bit chipped and my hair always just a bit past really needing doing, but none of these things are new to the past few years- I've always been a bit of a shabby girl. The real difference is confidence, and while I am glad I am no longer going to seedy clubs in bodycon dresses- I like to think I am a bit classier these days- I wonder if I have gone too far and grannied up too much just lately? I mean, this may be why I am in an eternal state of singledom (I have recently accepted my fate and joined the group 'crazy cat women unite' on facebook) because I do not have a 'sexy' bone in my body. The weather doesn't help, through the winter months I live in bedsocks and my thick knitted cream cardigan, sometimes I layer cardigans too, not to mention my apitite increases ten fold this time of year! So bit by bit I am going to try and be a bit more, well, I wouldn't go straight to sexy, but a more youthful and glamorous maybe? wish me luck with that one 'cus I'll need it!

Tarra for now,

Snuggles and shiggles!

Charlotte xx

The Scary First Blog....!

Hello to the delightful world of bloggers! As it will no doubt be rather obvious this is my first time! Ahem, so to get things started I'll just say a little bit about everything that I hope to blog about every Thursday...

All things crafty!

I'm the type of person who finds keeping my hands still for more than a moment Incredibly hard, and I'm more of a jack of all trades than a master of one, which is a bit of a shame, but on the other hand variety is the spice of life! In the next few weeks I'm going to share some pics of things I have already done, including cakes, cupcakes, photo frames and customizing some home furnishings! I have some other tricks up my sleeve I hope to try too and hope any fellow crafty types can tell me what they think.

For this week I want to show you my fabric photo frames that I made all my lovely friends for Christmas;

Firstly, I got these 8x10 white frames from The Range which were a total bargain, and a batch of different coloured floral quaters from Hobby Craft.

I wrapped the fabric around the frame roughly and then cut it into strips.

Starting from the back of the frame i wrapped the fabric round each side with fabric glue, trimmed any loose edges and left to dry...

and here's a before and after shot of my customised frame! I filled them with photo collages which I made for just 99p on snapfish- everyone was really chuffed with them and they got a really personal gift for under a fiver!

Song of the week: Show love for Mr Bugg

Every week I'm going to share the song I just cant get enough of, because music is kind of a BIG deal to me, if you're 'just not really much of a music fan' you will no doubt need to stop reading now- I can't imagine we'd be on the same wavelength! However as much as I am a music fan I can not claim to be a music buff- song of the week wont neessarily be a song in the charts that week because I love discovering someone I haven't yet heard of- even if the rest of the world are already over them, haha! As this weeks' song of the week I've chosen Jake Bugg's 'note to self' (Album track 12); I was going to choose 'Two fingers' but after having the album on non stop in my car since I got it from from Father Cristmas I just had to give this track a mention. Whether you like his musical style or not ( I am obviously a huge fan) you just can't deny his talent, and the story to this song shows perfectly that he is wise beyond his years.

 

When I grow up, I want to pretend for a living...

So my hobby, my true passion is acting: Without boring you too much with my first case of bloggers' word vomit, I shyed away from Acting for five whole years since I lost my passion and confidence during college- a tragedy happened that I just couldn't deal with all that well and everything seemed unimportant in comparison, but that stories for another day. Anyway it had been a long time coming but I eventually bit the bullet and decided to give it a go again! I'm taking baby steps, first I joined my local AmDram society that I went to when I was 9 and I'm now rehearsing for my second show with them which is a rather nerve wrecking one because, for the sake of comedy we have to get down to our underwear- definatley not within my comfort zone but breaking out of that zone is what its all about! I also went on an acting workshop weekend course in which I was trained by two incredibly talented actors (I wont name them as I am new to blogging and don't know what the 'etiquette' is for referencing people yet) and given top advice by a highly respected camera man and casting director- I was so out of my depth I felt like a fraud! But luckily it couldn't have been a nicer, more supportive bunch of people. This week I started my first proper acting classes in Leeds (which means a mini- train adventure every week for this little Hullite!) which is on a Monday night, but this threw a spanner in the works because we rehearse our AmDram play on Monday nights and with only 2 weeks until the show it would have meant that I was missing two rehearsals- I'm very grateful that the society arranged some extra rehearsals for me so that I could do both!

This is the cake I made for my fellow cast &crew after the last AmDram play. (BADS stands for 'Bilton Amatuer Dramatic Society')

Photo of the week

I LOVE photography- I cannot claim to be that good at it but I have just invested in this Lomo camera (ebay bargain) so when I have the first film on cd I can share the photo's if any have come out ok!
In the meantime I want to share one of my favourite photo's from Chicago- I went there in 2011 and was so taken by the city- it is stunning! Here is the beautiful 'Cloud Gate' sculpture, more fondly known as 'the bean'!

I want to also take this opportunity to advise people to check out http://dress-it-up-6.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-me_2.html she's one of my best friends and I just love the photo's she takes- again I am no expert but this chick, I think, has real talent for photography; If she doesn't become a top events manager (which I don't see why she wouldn't) than I can totally see her photography being in magazines!

Favourite famous figure...

My blogs own 'follow friday' if you will, there are alot of people out there that are in the press as they work so hard at what  they do, but there will always be the bitter twitter trolls trying to bring people down. I believe strongly in 'treat people as you wish to be treated' and 'if you cant say something nice, then don't say anything at all', so sorry if it bores you but there will be no bitchy catty comments on here, my dears. My first famous figure is the gorgeous Jameela Jamil, soon to be the first solo female presenter of the radio chart show. I've followed Jameela's career for a while and used to regularly read her column in Company magazine. She is very witty and intelligent and I was inspired by how she turned her life around completely following a tragic accident. I also recently read that she has often turned down shoots for mens' magazines- it is a crying shame that young girls seem to choose reality tv stars as their role models much more than strong confident chicks' like Jameela!

Life Ramblings....

And finally (I'm 'shushing' soon I promise) every week I'm going to talk a bit about whats on my mind that week, because blogs are the modern girls diary, right?
So I thought an apt place to start would be new years resolutions, something most people make this time of year in the hope of 'new beginnings'. I know many people dislike resolutions as they 'set you up for a fall', but my trick is to make loads and you're bound to stick to one or more! For example, last year I made 11 and completed 7, diminishing my student overdraft, visiting some far away friends and getting a job in property to name a few.

I have the staple resolution to lose a stone (where has my 19 year old body actually gone???) and hope to get on the property ladder and follow my career dreams, create a weekly blog- waheyy!- but as I was sat watching 13 going on 30 on a typical, wild Saturday night ( I'm sure I've already made it pretty clear that I'm like, really cool... cough....) I got to thinking wouldn't it be nice to still look at the world like our 13 year old selves, just like the delightful Jennifer Garner does in the film... When I was that age I thought that by the time I'd be 23 I would be sooo sophis' with everything figured out and knowing exactly where I'm going! This is really not the case but maybe my 13 year old self would actually think I'm not doing so bad after all?

Anyway the kettle is calling me and I think if anyone was kind enough to read this I can safely say we're all blogged out for now (they wont always be this long) keep smiling!

Love & snuggles,

Charlotte ^_^