Arts 'n' Crafts | Custom Advent Calendar

"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

Norman Vincent Peale

You may have noticed I've been on a little bit of a hiatus the last week or so as I've been busy, both with miscellaneous life stuff and with working on this wonderful project! I got an email from the lovely Bryony from Ocean loans offering me the chance to create my own advent calendar from Hobbycraft. I obviously jumped at the chance and I can't thank Bryony enough for giving me this opportunity. She sent me the wooden advent calendar house from Hobbycraft and a £25 gift card for Hobbycraft to buy supplies to work on it.

I wasn't sure what colour scheme to go with at first as my mum likes our house to be very traditional at Christmas. All greens, reds and golds. Since I've had my own little Christmas tree in my bedroom I've kind of gone completely opposite to that. My Christmas decorations are all different colours but there's a running main theme of pink, purple and blue. You may remember it from my What's On My Tree post from last year. Since this year is probably the last year I'll be living with my parents at Christmas and Eva and I have decided we'd like to have our Christmas decorations pastels, I decided to go for that aesthetic with my advent calendar.

Arts 'n' Crafts | Stickers Galore

"I used to be a huge collector, and my big thing was stickers."

Jenny Lewis

Today's post is basically me just showing off some of my sticker collection. I love stickers. I mean love stickers. I often find myself buying some and keeping them for a 'special occasion' that never really happens. I mean, what is a special sticker occasion? Well, I guess the sticker swap I took part in recently would count. I got out all the stickers I'd been saving and also invested in some to add to my collection and use in the swap and for future swaps. In this post I've only included the stickers I had before the swap. In a future post I'll show you all the lovely ones I got in the swap. It's been quite a while since but I haven't had the chance to photograph them yet. Anyway, on with the stickers.

My Week In Words | #46 2015

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."

Thich Nhat Hanh

Welcome to this instalment of My Week In Words. This week's post is another I almost feel silly posting because of the trivial nature of everything I've done this week with current events fresh and weighing heavy on everyone's mind. Still, here we are. This week's post covers from Sunday 8th to Saturday 14th of November. Enjoy.

Toys 'n' Stuff | My Little Pony Blind Boxes

Today's Toys 'n' Stuff post is about a couple of blind boxes I got a couple of months ago now. Eva and I had been looking for My Little Pony blind boxes by Funko for a long time and were thrilled to finally find them in Smyths Toy Store. I have to say that I was a little surprised because they're more of a collectable than a toy. They were cheaper than the Frozen blind boxes (featured in this post) we bought in Forbidden Planet, priced at £5.99.

Film Favourites: Non-Disney Animation

"Well, luckily with animation, fantasy is your friend."

Steven Spielberg

I always say that I hate naming my favourite anything because it gives me anxiety that I'll forget something or someone. When I take part in Twitter blog chats I usually avoid questions like this because it's particularly bad when I'm put on the spot. However, there are some things I can narrow down into maybe a top 5 or 10 when I give it some thought and sometimes these small lists come to me easily. This is one of those times. Today's post is five of my favourite non-Disney animated films. You may remember a while back I named five of my favourite Disney animated movies. You can check that post out here. Anyway, on with the list!

My Week In Words | #45 2015

"The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom."

Arthur Schopenhauer

Welcome to this super belated edition of My Week In Words. I would love to say it's late because I'e been super busy but that would be a downright lie. I was just procrastinating because I wasn't feeling it. I haven't really been feeling anything. So while I'm feeling like that I'm not going to push myself too much as I don't want to risk making this into a chore. Anyway! This post covers from Sunday 1st to Saturday 7th of November. Gosh, November! Can't believe it. Enjoy!

Bloo's Reviews | The Circle

"We are not criminals, after all. We are not criminals."

Today I am reviewing a beautiful Swiss docudrama called The Circle (Der Kreis). It was released in 2014, written and directed by Stefan Haupt and stars Matthias Hungerbühler and Sven Schelker. The film follows those involved with a magazine for gay men in Zurich in the 1940s and 1950s, The Circle, which served as a scapegoat for the murders of several gay men in the city. While we get learn about the background to the publication and are introduced to some of the wider social network that revolved around it the docudrama mainly focuses on the relationship between teacher Ernst Ostertag (Hungerbühler) and drag queen Röbi Rapp (Schelker).

Source

NSFC Songs | Drag Edition

"What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be."

Ellen Burstyn

We've all heard of the phrase 'not safe for work', usually abbreviated into NSFW. Well this post was inspired by that and by the fact I often find myself singing along to songs that, rather than not being safe for just work, aren't safe for company at all. Hence the title of this post. Company usually being my parents. Certain songs are better sang when nobody is around and thankfully I usually catch myself before anything too bad slips out but there have been times I've forgotten I wasn't alone.

Nobody does offensive and 'crude' songs quite like drag queens and I've been listening to a lot of drag music since I started watching RuPaul's Drag Race, so naturally I decided to make this first NSFC Songs post drag themed. So below are some of my favourite songs to sing when I know for sure there isn't anybody around to hear me.

Disclaimer: Remember these songs and videos may be offensive and/or crude, involving adult subject matter. So if you're sensitive to that kind of thing you're best just not listening or watching. You have been warned. 

My Week In Words | #44 2015

"Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler."

Friedrich Nietzsche

Welcome to the latest edition of My Week In Words. It's hard to believe this post documents the last week in October and that we're now into November. I've almost kept up these weekly posts for a year! Crazy. I was feeling a little off this week but had a good one none-the-less. Nothing like a little bit of retail therapy to pick you up. This post covers from Sunday 25th to Saturday 31st of October. Enjoy!