Saturday 29 October 2016

Easy DIY Halloween Decorations


Hi everyone, as you know Halloween is absolutely my most favourite time of the year and I love to go all out, with costumes, decorations and binge watching some of my favourite horror films.  Every year as soon as it gets to the beginning of October, I love seeing all the Halloween stuff in the shops, but even though they seem to get better and better things every year, by the time you've bought just a few decorations it quickly starts getting expensive!  So one thing I love to do (as with my costumes), is make Halloween decorations myself.


So a couple of weeks ago I went on to Pinterest, and wow the amount of amazing decoration ideas!!  Some are a lot more time consuming and costly than others, but I also found absolutely loads of really simple and easy ones too.  So here's a few that I tried out, there's a couple of slightly more time consuming ones, but the others are really quick and easy and all of them will cost you hardly anything and best of all, I think with very little effort they look really cool and creepy :-)



First off Spooky Hanging Decorations For these you'll just need a few sheets of halloween-theme coloured card, ie orange, white, black etc, some scissors, pencil and glue, as well as a small reel of clear nylon thread.
All I did for these, was search for specific Halloween templates on google images, resize them on photoshop and printed them out just on to basic white printer paper.  I then cut out the templates, drew around them on to the appropriate coloured card and cut them out.  Then I just made a tiny hole at the top of each one, added a length of thread and pined them in the ceiling.  It's a good idea to vary the lengths of thread, this would look especially great with the bats.  Also there's loads of different shapes you could do like skulls, witches hats, broomsticks, candles or black cats etc!  I've included the templates that I used below, for you to use, just click on the two links and save the images.

Bat & Ghost
Pumpkin



Creepy Jars  for these you'll need two good size jam jars, I got these from Poundstretch.  You'll also need black and red paint, a roll of stretch bandage (20p from Wilko), some small plastic spiders (99p from Tesco) and a pack of eyeballs (also from
Poundstretcher).




These were so, so quick and easy and look really effective.  To start with I painted both lids with a couple of coats of black paint.  For the spider jar, I then took about half a reel of the stretch bandage and pulled it around a bit to make it look more webby, then pushed it into the first jar and just added the spiders.  I found it best to add a little glue to the spider's feet and undersides to help them stick and I also added one to the lid too.



The eyeball jar literally took me about 2 minutes, once the lid was done.  I just ¾ filled the jar with water, added all the eyeballs and then swirled in a tiny bit of red paint on a small brush and let it slightly colour the water, then I just made sure the lid was tight on and done!  Super easy :-)



Lacey Candles for these, all I used was a couple of empty toilet roll tubes, black paint, a small section of black lace, 2 small battery tealights and a piece of black card.


First off I painted both the cardboard tubes in black, one coat seemed to do the trick, then while they were drying I cut a section of black card (approx 6cm square) and cut a cross in the centre, then pushed the tip of the tealight up through the cross and trimmed off the little triangle bits so the light fitted in neatly.  After that, I added a thin line of glue around the top of one of the tubes and carefully led the tealight in the top of the tube, so the black card would stick to it.  Once it was dry, I just trimmed off the excess card and added the black lace around the tube.

For a nice added extra, I also found a couple of little clear pots (like the stacker pots you can get in a craft shop), I roughly painted them black and added some sheer ribbon and a bow just to add some colour and also to help the candles stand up. 



The light are ease to turn on and off too, just by turning the tube upside down and using a pen to reach inside and click the switch!



You may remember this next idea from my Halloween Party post last year, as I made them to add to our decorations.  Again, these were really easy but took a little longer as I had to sit and cut out all the images.  Like before I found the images on google and just printed them out.  Once they were cut out, I just glued them on to the plastic cups and added a tealight underneath, sorted!


And for possible my favourite item, the demonic mummified creepy doll This one took me roughly about an hour and a half in all.  I literally bought the cheapest doll I could find, this one was £2.50 in Tesco, I also used up about 2 and half reels of the stretch bandage and other than that I just used paint and a couple of pins.


The first thing I did was cut off the frilly part of the hood as I knew it would only get in the way, then I made a start of the face.  I mixed a small amount of black and white paint to get a soft grey shade and painted the entire face, I then made it slightly darker around the edges.  Then using a smaller brush and added dark grey to the lips and pure black on the eyes.  To add more detail, I then added a little line of red pain to the bottom of the right eye and pulled it down slightly to look like a tear of blood!  I also added a tiny bit of red paint to the corner of her mouth.  Then with a clean dry brush and lightly dabbed the brush in the dark grey shade that I'd made up and just lightly added speckles and scratched to her head and cheek, and the same with red paint.
Next it was time to add the bandages, I went round the legs and arms first, then the head then the body, I also had to use a lot of double sided sticky tape to help hold it in place, as well as a couple of pins for decoration.  Finally, using the dry brush again, I added a lot of dark grey, dark brown and black paint very lightly to various areas of the bandage to make it look dirty and dragged around, as well as a good bit on the bottom of her feet, for when she walks around at night!! :-)



I've never done anything quite like this before and I'm actually really happy with how she turned out, it honestly even creeps me out and I have to shut it in the cupboard over night lol
***********
For a few other ideas, why not try -

A spiderweb jar - just add a few stickers, some ribbon and a tealight.

Spider chain - just cut out a simple shape and string them up across a wall.

Giant letters - These are super easy, just print out some big letters either on coloured paper or as a template, add a large bow and hang them on a wall.

Spider trail - grab a cheap packet of plastic spiders and stick them in a little trail up a door or over a wall

Creepy old lamp - just throw some black lace or netting fabric over a table lamp add a spider or two, done!

Large creepy doll - why not go the extra mile and create a bigger doll, you could make her clothes all raggy and messy to add to the creepiness!

Spellbooks - you could either cover a few old books or make some up from card, paint the covers and add some spooky writing.  I think these look really cool and I'm really looking forward to making these up next year.

I'm really happy with how all my diy's turned out, why don't you give a few of them a try and tag tweet me your pics, I'd love to see them.





Until Next Time Stay spooky
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Saturday 22 October 2016

The Spooky Halloween Tag

Hi everyone, I discovered a new tag and better still, it's a Halloween tag yeay!!! :-D  So here ya go. . .


1. Favourite horror or Halloween-themed song? I love this track called 'Transylvanian Concubine'.  It's from the original Buffy soundtrack and it just screams ;-) Halloween.  But I also love Michael Jacksons 'Thriller', it's a classic and the video is so well done.

2. Name something you wouldn’t want to run into in a dark forest or in an abandoned building.  Anyone else, I mean I could easily say a clown or Freddy, but even if I saw a regular person I'd be very cautious!

3. Have you ever played with a Ouija Board? 
Other than a make-shift one when I was a kid, with letters written on paper, no.  I just don't think they're something that should be messed with.

4. Favourite horror monster or villain? 
It's got to be Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street!

5. The creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone? 
Seeing a full on ghost in my house, you can read all about it here

6. If you were dared to spend the night in a “haunted house”, would you do it? 
No flippin' way!

7. Are you superstitious? 
No not really, I believe you make your own luck

8. Do you ever see figures in your peripheral vision? 
Sometimes!

9. Which urban legend scares you the most? 
Honestly none of them scare me, it's just silly made up stories.  But what does scare me are some of the frightening things I hear on the news like at the moment with all this clown stuff, they've even been spotted in my local town with knives and axes and it honestly makes me worried to go out alone!

10. Do you prefer gore or thrillers? 
Thrillers, I'm not in to gore at all, although being a TWD fan you kind of get used to it, I still prefer a good spooky horror when it comes to movies

11. Do you believe in multiple dimensions or worlds? 
You never know, I'm not ruling it out!

12. Ever made a potion of any sort? 
Yes, well I am a white witch...

13. Do you get scared easily? 
Yes, every little bump or creek or shadow and I freak, I hate the dark far more now than when I was a kid.  I am very sensitive to things and I have actual seen and experienced paranormal things many times (plus our house seems to be haunted), but I also blame all the horror films I watch too!

14. Have you ever played Bloody Mary? 
Nope

15. Do you believe in demons/the devil? 
Not in the biblical sense but I do believe in evil people, or maybe demons in human form and psychic vampires (google it)

16. You’re home alone but you hear footsteps in your house, what do you do? 
I'd grab anything that could potentially be a weapon and go and investigate!

17. If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose? 
Probably Scream, and I'd know not to do all the stupid classic things the victims do, like running upstairs instead of out of the house and screaming all the time so the killer knows exactly where they're hiding!!

18. If you could only wear one halloween costume for the rest of your life, what would you be?
  It would have to be a witch, a cool gothic witch :-)

19. would you ever go to a graveyard at night?
 Yes, I think that would actually be really cool, although preferably with friends!

20. In a zombie apocalypse what is your weapon of choice? 
Yeay, I was so happy when I saw this question :-D  Most definitely a sword :-)

21. Would you rather go to a Halloween party or go trick or treating?
Party, so much more fun

22. You’re in a horror movie.  Are you the final girl, the first to die, the comic relief, the skeptic, the smart one, or the killer? 
I'd like to think either the final girl or the smart one, I've seen 101 horror films, I've picked up a lot of tips for survival!

23. Do you have to watch something happy after watching a horror movie so you can go to sleep? 
No not always, they often don't play on my mind so much anymore, but I guess it depends on the type of horror I've watched

24. Whilst watching scary movies, are you the person who yells at the characters, the person with their eyes covered the whole time, or the person who falls asleep? 
Lol I've done all three of those in the past!  Mostly the one yelling at the stupid characters but again, depending on the movie, I have been known to hide behind a pillow too

25. Are you the one who gets scared, or the one who does the scaring? 
I get scared and jump all the time!

26. Favorite scary book? 
I don't think I've ever read a scary book!

27. How old were you when you saw your first horror movie? 
I think I was about 9 or 10, I saw The Fog (the original 80's version), which I still really like now

28. What was your first Halloween costume? 
I really can't remember, I'm guessing it was probably a witch lol

29. What are you going to be for Halloween this year? 
Sadly I'm not dressing up this year, me and my besties decided to have a girly-horror-movie-sleep-over with lots of nibblies instead, and I'm really looking forward to it :-)

30. If you could have a spooky halloween pet (black cat, owl, bat, rat, wolf), what would you pick
A black cat most definitely, I've always loved black cats :-)

I hope you like this little tag post, I didn't actually even plan to do this one, but I spotted the tag on Kayleigh's video and thought, yep gotta do that!  Please feel free to join in and write your answers in the comments and I tag everyone to this :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Thursday 13 October 2016

Autumn Beauty Wish List 2016


Hi everyone, when I first thought about doing this post I literally only had a couple of items in mind and then I thought well I need more than just a few items but I just couldn't think of anything new that I liked.  Then I started looking around online and realised actually yes there's loads of amazing new products out at the moment and I could have easily added more to this list!  These ones that I've chosen, are more on the high-end side but with Christmas coming up, isn't it the perfect time to start thinking about what to ask Santa for anyway?! :-)


1. Urban Decay's XX Vice Ltd Reloaded palette £43, wow what a mouth-full that is but just look at those shades, there's literally every colour you could ever need in there and the packaging is completely gorgeous!  I am a big fan of UD's eyeshadows, the quality is always perfect - blendable, pigmented and long lasting so I'm guessing these will be equally as great.

2.
Urban Decay's Naked Skin Color Correcting Fluid £17.50, again UD why such long names? But honestly I've heard so many good things about these, they come in several different colours including green, lilac and lemon, but I really would like the pink shade, it's supposed to be perfect for eradicating the darkest of under eye bags (and I certainly need help with that!)

3.
Kylie Jenner's Birthday Edition Mini Lip Kit (set #1), I was not fussed about these At All, I don't follow 'celebs' and I couldn't give a monkeys who she is (not sorry) but, I saw a youtuber do a review of these liquid lipsticks and I just thought the shades looked gorgeous!  So I got straight online to order them :-)  They were sold out on her webshop and most other places were quite pricey but I found these brand new on ebay for under £10, so I'm happy with that and very much looking forward to them arriving.

4.
Kylie Jenner's Creme Eyeshadows, as with the lip kit, I thought these looked beautiful and if you're a regular reader of mine, you'll know how much I love a creme eyeshadow.  Again these were sold out on Kylie's shop but I found these new on ebay for a great price and if you follow me on Instagram, you'll see they arrived a few days ago.  And as soon as the lip kit arrives, expect to see a full review and swatch of everything :-)

5.
Benefit's They're Real BIG Sexy Eye Kit £27.50, I was out with one of my friends a few weeks ago and we were having a good look at the Benefit beauty range at our local Debenhams.  I absolutely love the packaging of their products and I couldn't help but get drawn to these new tins, are SO nice.  The beautician showed us the eyeshadows and how the double-colour system works.  The shades are really pretty, very wearable and look very easy to apply with the little sponge too.

6.
Tanya Burr's 2016 Beauty Calendar £25, I spotted this on Tanya's new blog post over the weekend and I couldn't get on Superdrug quick enough.  I loved having her calendar last year, the products are so lovely and it's so fun getting a new lipgloss or eyeshadow every couple of days leading up to Christmas.  So I already knew I wanted to get it again this year.  Of course Superdrug was already sold out but since Feelunique were full price and Superdrug had £10 off, I decided to be patient and wait for it to come back in stock.  And thankfully the next day, I had an email to say it was, so I ordered it straight away and it is now waiting for me to go and collect from my local store, I can't wait to get it home and start opening it - c'mon December hurry up!

7.
Urban Decay's Moondust palette £35, I have seen this palette with my own eyes and oh my gosh, these eyeshadows are stunning!  They're so shimmery, so glittery and the pigmentation is amazing.  This is most definitely very high on my Xmas list!  Love the name too :-)

8.
Soap & Glory's Kick Ass Concealer £10, ok this may not be new but it's definitely worth a mention, plus I really need to get a new one.  The translucent powder in this set is SO good, I literally use it every single time I do my makeup without fail!  But now I've 'hit-pan' and the concealers have started to dry up a bit so I must renew.  It's most definitely one of the best concealers I've ever used, if you don't believe me, have a look at the little review I did a couple of years ago, when it saved me from embarrassing myself on a first date!

9.
Sleek Makeup Precious Metals Highlighting palette £9.99, again I've seen so many people rave about this.  If you're looking for a super shimmery, very glamorous highlight then this is the one to get, these shades are so gorgeous, perfect for the upcoming party season!

10. And finally,
Benefit's They Real BIG Sexy Lip Kit £25, again this was another of Benefit's new products I spotted while browsing the range.  These lipsticks are so pretty, the packaging, the shades, the tin I just love it and I want it, I need it in my life!!  Ok it's just a lipstick set but definitely something I would be very happy to receive this Christmas :-)

I hope you like this little post and it's given you a few ideas of what to add to your Xmas wish list this year.  And keep a look out over the next two weeks because I'm going to be uploading some very spooky Halloween themed posts for you :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Friday 7 October 2016

GlassesShop Review & Discount Code

Hi everyone, a few weeks ago I was contacted by a company called GlassesShop.com who very kindly offered to send me a free pair of glasses and asked me to write a little bit about what I thought about them.


After clicking on the link to their webstore, I must have spent a good half an hour or more looking all through their website, I was spoilt for choice and there were so many styles of glasses frames I liked!  They have a great range of regular glasses and sunglasses and they even offer prescription sunglasses (for men and woman) too!

I finally decided on the Augusta Aviator Silver sunglasses, I really liked the shape and the mirrored finish.  I also decided on these because the sunglasses I already have are a very similar style but were only from Poundland and certainly aren't the best quality, so I thought it would be nice to have a better pair.  So I emailed them back and within only about 4 or 5 days, the sunglasses arrived, very well packaged in a sturdy little posting box.


I thought it was lovely that the sunglasses also arrived in a glasses case too, it's quite a standard case but I like the look of it and it stays closed well, perfect for popping in your handbag!


The sunglasses themselves are really lovely, I love the sheen on the lenses and the side bars are really sturdy.  I hate it when some sunglasses have really flimsy side bars and they just feel like they're going to snap off!  But these are nice and sturdy and help the sunglasses stay in place, on your face! :-)


Very sadly though even though I really like them, as you can see they are quite a bit too big for me.  I have quite a small slim face, so whether it's just that or their woman's range is generally on the larger side I'm not sure.  But I am a little disappointed I can't wear them!  They do have a 'try on' feature on their website which is a nice option to play around with, you can upload a picture of yourself and digitally try on the glasses/sunglasses but it's a bit fiddly and I didn't really find it useful for me, also the sunglasses I chose actually looked too small for my face using this feature, so it turned out not to be very accurate either!

Either way, it's been a fun experience and I would definitely recommend having a look if you're after a really stylish pair of prescription glasses/sunglasses, the styles are very chic and the prices are very reasonable, as well getting a very friendly and helpful service.
And if you fancy having a look and want to consider buying a pair, they have very kindly given me this discount code GSHOT50 to give to my readers, for a very generous 50% off! (excluding sale frames).  So head on over to GlassesShop.com and bag yourself a bargain :-)

Until Next Time Stay Happy

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