Wednesday, 27 December 2017

Happy Christmas from Me


Hi everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas or just a great weekend.  I can't believe it's over already, does anyone else really have the post-xmas blues right now I don't usually but today I'm just like, why, why is it over so quick, where did it go!!  So I thought what better way to carry on the festive cheer than to write a festive blog post, I mean it's still Christmas week right!?

So I'm just generally here to say hi and hope you all had a great day.  What did everyone get?  Let me know in the comments, what was your favourite thing?  I will be doing a 'what I got for Christmas' video and post probably in a week or so, I'm currently waiting on a friend (as usual lol).  But generally I'm really thrilled with everything I was given this year and can't wait to show you guys.

I also uploaded a video on Christmas day which is a nice little festive Xmas haul and I filmed me putting my decorations up in my room as well.  I'm not one for putting decs up early, I usually try and do them the week before Christmas but it just didn't happen this year, and then even though I filmed that on Friday and planned to get it up on Sunday, I encountered some major very annoying technical problems (ie windows media player was being a general pain in the ---), so it didn't go up till Monday, but oh well, what can ya do!  You can watch that here, I hope you like it anyway, it was a lot of fun but a lot of work, worth it if you like it though :-)



Anyway, this was just a short little 'check-in' post and I'll write again soon.  Hugs to you all and until next time Stay Festive

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Monday, 18 December 2017

Christmas Wish List (Gift Guide) 2017


Hi everyone, firstly apologies for the lack of post the last couple of weeks, life got busy again and I did not feel at all well either.  Although during that time I did spend a considerable amount of time looking through online shops and contemplating what I would love to receive for Christmas this year.  Any (if not all) of these following items would all be extremely welcome under my tree but I also thought they would make great gift ideas for your friends and family (or a treat for yourself) too!


1. The first thing on my list is the one item I always ask for every year, a calendar.  But not just any calendar, it has to be the 'Me to You', Tatty Teddy calendar.  I just love these, the illustrations are always so cute and I've been collecting these for many years.

2. I've had my eye on this particular palette for quite a long while now but just haven't got around to finally buying it.  But every time I see it, I want it!  The shades are so rich and beautiful and I really love that these eyeshadows are scent free as well, for someone who's nose runs at the first whiff of a fragrance, scent free products are a god send.  I'm planning to do a video on all my best scent free makeup soon too, so this would fit in perfectly (any excuse to have it) :-)

3. Ok so this one is a little more specific to us Walking Dead/Daryl Dixon fans but I am in LOVE with this hoodie!!  It is a little on the pricier side, around £30 but I think for a nice warm fleece (and the opportunity to strut around with 'Daryl-style' wings on my back) it's well worth it :-D  I love that it looks so cosy and I'm keeping everything crossed that I'm opening this parcel on Christmas day.
*As a side note, these are mostly only available from China and are sold in European sizes, but they do sell quite a good range of sizes that are suitable for men and women.  I have linked this particular store on ebay, as they were one of the only ones I found that do a small size.

4. There are some really pretty and very different styles of earrings around at the moment and I'm kind of getting bored with all my old small pairs and I really fancy a change.  I really like these black tassel ones from Primark, they're only £2.  Silver triple star studs are gorgeous, these ones are £12 from Not On The Highstreet who also sell a large range of the open circle studs in a range of prices.

5. Going back to the Daryl wings theme, I found this amazing phone case on ebay and I want it so bad!!

6. And 7. Well, you can't have a Christmas list without some classic chocolate can you!

8. Ok back to the main gifts, this little beauty is the HP Sprocket.  Now, if you haven't already heard the whole of the internet talking about this little gadget, it is an amazing mini printer that syncs up to your phone via bluetooth, usb or wifi and you can personalize then print out all the photos that are confined to your phone, so you can put them in frames or in a photo album to keep and look through.  I just think it's the most amazing idea.  The best part is, although the special paper is a little on the pricey side; around £10 for just 20 sheets, the fact that you don't need ink to print really good quality photos is pretty innovative.  A little heads up, PC World are currently doing a fantast offer for £119, where you not only get the Sprocket but you also get an extra pack of papers, a carry case and a mini photo album.  Best Christmas present ever :-)

9. I don't know what it is about these cinema light boxes, that makes them so cool but I just love them and I've been wanting one for so long now.  I personally prefer the A5 size, plus I don't have room anywhere for the A4, but I just think the smaller, the cuter!

10. Who doesn't need a little extra of this here and there?!  I'm currently trying to save like a crazy person for my trip to London in March, so every penny is happily and gratefully received.

11. These next two items are both from Zoella's latest homewhere range, and omg the colour theme of this range is just too cute. I love all the bits and plan to gradually get my hands on most of it, but firstly this long cushion I just know would fit perfectly in with my bedroom decor . . .

12. And as for this planner!!  I use a planner pad every day to organize my projects, which I bought from Home Bargains back in the summer and it's nice enough.  But let's face it, if you're going to do something, do it in style right?!  Incidentally, Superdrug have currently got most of their Zoella range on sale right now, so hurry if you want to grab a bargain!
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I have also been a busy bee filming more videos over the last couple of weeks and I even managed to vlog my fun day at Wales Comic Con, which I honestly think is actually one of my favourite videos so far!  So you can click here to head on over to my channel and please don't forget to like the videos if you enjoy them and why not subscribe too, that way you'll never miss a new video from me :-)
I hope you all have a really lovely Christmas and until next time, Stay Happy & Festive


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Monday, 27 November 2017

My Experience of YouTube So Far


Hi everyone, I have had my youtube channel for almost a year now and during that time, I have had many different and new experiences.  Aside from having to learn video editing from scratch, work out camera angles and learn what some of the actual features are for on my camera!  There's also been a multitude of other strange and interesting things I've had to deal with. . .


1. Faulty sd cards.  Getting a big negative out of the way first, one of the most annoying and disappointing things that has happened to me so far is filming several videos and thinking yeay they're all done ready to edit, only to find (when I came to edit) that either they hadn't recorded or the footage made me look and sound like an alien from outer space trying to contact earth through video!!  (The one above had to be deleted and re-filmed in the end).

2. Only for a video.  I've heard many youtubers talk about only doing their makeup just to film a video or wearing a pretty top only to be wearing comfy pj bottoms underneath.  Well yep, that's now a thing that happens when I film!

3. Bad lighting.  This is a real pain, when I plan a day to film and then it ends up being a really dull rainy day or it gets late in the afternoon and the suns gone in and then it's too dark to film.  It's so annoying!

4. Can't use it till I've filmed it.  I recently did a large Primark haul and there were so many bits (like the makeup brushes) that I was really wanting to use but I wasn't able to film the video for a few weeks and so I had a massive pile of stuff sat in my room waiting to be shown in the video and of course I wanted to show things all nice and new and unused!  This was quite a funny new thing for me because usually when I do a haul post on here, I just photograph things when I buy them and then add the photo when I upload the post, so this held new challenges and a lot of patience!!

5. Inspiration is everywhere.  I remember when I first started blogging, for the first year or two I was finding inspiration and ideas all over the place and now I'm thankfully finding the same thing happening now.  The only trouble is, it also happens a lot when I'm out shopping or looking online, I'll spot something and think ooh that would be great to show and talk about in a video, it's making me spend money!!

6. Re-watching old favourites.  One of the reasons I wanted to do youtube was because I wanted to do a lot of the old style videos that I used to love watching on youtube, before everything got so commercial and nearly every other video was sponsored!  I used to love all the old tag videos that people used to do and I really wanted to try and bring those back and do my own versions.  So for inspiration, I've been re-watching my favourite youtubers old videos from years ago and it's been really fun.

7. Music or no music.  Sometimes when I watch youtube videos, I actually get put off continuing to watch because the background music is too load and sooo annoying and then there's other youtubers that don't have any music but as they're really interesting to watch, they don't seem to need it.  So when I came to start uploading my first few proper 'sit down' type videos, I really wasn't sure which to go with; should I add a little background music but would it be annoying and put people off.  Or should I leave it and hope for the best (because honestly I don't know if 10 minutes of me rambling on is overly interesting).  So far, I've gone with music, I managed to find a nice subtle tune that's quite pleasant so I'm just hoping that's ok.  What do you guys think?  Please let me know in the comments and give me your honest opinion, do you like my videos with music or would you prefer them without?

As time goes on and I work on many other videos, I'm sure there will be a million other new things I will encounter, so I may do an update of this post another time but I thought this would be a fun one to do this week.  I hope you like it and don't forget to check out my latest video 30 Random Facts About Me, up on my channel now (and let me know about the music!)


Thanks for reading and until next time Stay Happy
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Monday, 20 November 2017

A Primark Haul and Some Other Bits


Hi everyone, over the last few months I've been buying lots of lovely bits, mostly from Primark because honestly, it is completely impossible for me to go in there and not raid the entire homeware department!  It's so beautiful :-D

As well as Primark bits, I actually bought some clothes, which is actually quite rare for me, but a few months ago they were so many nice tops in the sale at Tesco and I must've spent about 2 hours with my friend trying on loads of things and came out with quite a bundle!

I'm absolutely in love with some of the bits I've bought and I can't wait to use them.  Some of them ie the homeware items are going to be part of my new bedroom that I have been planning for the longest time but the big house move that I will be doing, is currently on hold for a while, so sadly all the homeware items I've bought have gone straight in a box, safely packed away until after the move.





Anyway, here's a little sneak peek of just a few of the things and if you would like to see them in more detail (including a 'try-on' of the clothes, as well as see what else I've been buying lately, head on over to my youtube channel and watch the haul video.  Sorry it's a long one this week but I hope you enjoy it anyway and don't forget to give it a thumbs it as it makes me smile :-)



Until Next Time Stay Happy
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Monday, 13 November 2017

My Current Favourite YouTubers


Hi everyone, this week I have been really looking forward to telling you all about some of the new youtubers I have been sitting down to watch of late to help me relax, it's actually been a really long time since I last did one of these posts so I thought it was about time I updated you.  As well as that, I thought it would a nice way of sharing the love and getting the word out about some of these lesser known youtubers and I really hope you'll go and check out these lovely ladies channels.


First off, this particular lady has been entertaining me so much over the past year and has now become one of my all time favourite people to watch on youtube, and since I watch so many different people, that's saying something!  And she is, Lucy Wood :-)

I can honestly never watch her videos without feeling the need to leave a comment because it's so easy to want to chat and have a conversation with her and it means such a lot that she always takes the time to reply too.  She is so witty, and sweet and pretty and so 'relatable'.  I just enjoy watching her videos so, so much and always save them to watch when I need a pick-me-up!  I love her 'Average Girl Tries' series as well as all the chatty ones, her monthly Primark hauls where you just know there's always going to be an adorable new pair of pyjamas!  And I love watching her vlogs too.  But honestly this video 'The Power of the Teenage Girl', that she did back in May this year, is quite possibly one of my favourite ever videos on youtube, it's so well worded and so true, just amazing.  She may say she's an average girl but she's definitely cool in my book :-)


Next up is Alice (AliceTheBee)
Alice is honestly a total sweetheart, she's always so positive and full of energy, she's sassy and hilariously funny.  An absolute joy to watch and I love settling down to watch her videos with a cuppa and having a dam good laugh.  I first found her channel about 5 months ago when Marcus Butler did a video reacting to his 'fans' youtube channels and she was featured on there, I just immediately found her so interesting to watch and so enthusiastic.  I went straight over to her channel, watched another video (just to make sure) and subscribed there and then.  We now follow each other on the usual social sites and I really enjoy our friendly chats.  I've also discovered whilst watching her vlogs, she has a dam fine singing voice, one I can honestly say I'm quite jealous of!
I can't pick just one particular video to tell you to go and watch because they're all so good, so just click on the main link and go and see for yourself :-)


This next youtuber is the beautiful Cherry Wallis, now she already has quite a decent following but I have only been watching her channel for about 4 or 5 months and I actually found out about her through watching a zombie apocalypse film that she had stared in, along-side Bethan Leadley, another youtuber who I also now subscribe too. Cherry is a hugely in to all things Harry Potter and I love seeing all the new HP bits that she buys, she also does the most amazing makeup tutorials, fun hauls, craft diys and various other interesting videos.  I love that she's so classy and eloquent and her makeup always looks beautiful.  I was also amazed to find an old video on her channel of a song she recorded back in 2013 called Hero, it is so lovely and has a really catchy chorus, is there no end to this girls talents!  So if you are a fellow 'Potterhead', you will definitely enjoy her channel.


And lastly, is the very creative Hermione Chantal.  As many of you will know, I love crafting and making things, I'm extremely in to all things homeware and I could happily live in Ikea, and Hermione's channel pretty much combines all three!  She comes up with the most amazingly creative crafts and diys for making really adorable homeware on a budget.  She also uploads really great videos on ways to be more organized which are really helpful and is something I certainly need all the help I can get with!!  Aside from being really sweet and very pretty, she's a real pleasure to watch, her instagram feed is just beautiful, her videos are always bright and very well edited and the diys are really easy to follow (plus I just absolutely adore her name!)


Of course I've also been watching all my old favourites like Gabby, Jodie, Zoe, Hannah and Chyaz as well as a few other new ladies including Naomi Hallcro who I've had many a long chat with, the lovely outspoken Binky and the brilliantly funny Lilly Singh aka 'Superwoman' (how I've only just discovered her, is a mystery!)

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I hope you liked this post.  Leave me a comment below and let me know of any new youtubers that you've been loving lately for me to check out.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway I have ongoing at the moment to win yourself the new Tanya Burr Christmas Advent calendar, as it ends in one week today.  And if you fancy watching a chatty old-style 'What's in My Handbag' video while you have your cuppa later this evening, you can head on over to my channel and watch my version on there :-)



Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Tuesday, 7 November 2017

Crystal Sparkly Dreams 4th Blog Birthday & Giveaway


Hi everyone, yesterday was the 5th of November 2017, a very special day for me, no not just Bonfire Night, it was my blog's 4th birthday!!  How it's been that long since I sat down and wrote and uploaded my very first blog post, I'll never know.
But as always, to mark my blog's birthday, I'm doing a giveaway, because without my lovely readers, there would be no one to read my ramblings and to show my appreciation I like to give a little something back to you!


So this year, I am giving you all the chance to win the new Limited Edition, Tanya Burr 2017 Christmas Beauty Calendar :-)  You know how much I love Tanya's beauty products and you guys seem to love it too and as it's now that time of year again, I thought it would be the ideal gift to give one of you.
As always, to enter use the Rafflecoper widget below and the giveaway will last for 2 weeks from today.  You can find my YouTube video here.  Please read all the T&Cs below and I can't wait to read your answers to my question.  Good luck :-)

The Rules:
©    To be in with a chance of winning my 'Blog Birthday Tanya Burr Calendar Giveaway', enter via the Rafflecopter widget
©    Please make sure you leave your first name and email address or twitter name in the comments, so that I can contact you if you win
©    There will be only one winner
©    This giveaway is open internationally
©    You must complete all 3 mandatory entries before you can access any of the extra entry options
©    This giveaway will run for 14 days from Sunday the 6th of November 2017 until Sunday the 20th of November 2017, 12.00am gmt
©    Once the giveaway is over, I will contact the winner directly via email or Twitter, once the winner has been contacted they will have 72 hours to reply or a new winner will be selected.

Until next time, stay happy, thank you for entering and good luck

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Thursday, 2 November 2017

Easy Autumn Decor DIYs

Hi everyone, so I have really been getting in to the autumn vibe lately and I've been loving all the different seasonal decorations that people have been having around their house.  But despite my best efforts I haven't found any in my local shops, so I decided to make my own!

The first thing I did was take to Pinterest for some Autumn craft inspiration and there were so many lovely ideas, but I thought the ones featuring real leaves were the prettiest.  I wasn't able to get hold of any real ones and I didn't like the idea of the gorgeous colours fading and going brown after only a few days.  So I printed my own!


The first item I wanted to make was a little decorated candle, this was probably the easiest of all. 



After several hours (or more) of cutting out all the leaves, I just picked out a couple that seemed to look the best, stuck them on and added a length of string around the candle, done!




For the second decoration, I wanted to make a lantern.  


I had a nice jar left over from my fairy light lantern that I made last Christmas, so I carefully stuck a few dozen leaves that I'd printed on slightly thinner paper, over the main body of the jar, then added the fairy lights inside.  Voila. 



However after careful consideration, I decided it looked far better with a battery tealight inside, the gentle flickering glow looked far cosier that the bright fairy lights (and it photographed better, gotta get those insta pics!)


Lastly, I had the idea of making a lovely leafy garland to hang under my bedroom shelf.


Using the largest leaves, I simply pegged them to some micro fairy lights.  Adding smaller leaves in front of the larger ones to add depth. 


I then was able to just hang the garland on my shelf brackets and that was it finished.

  
These pretty decorations were so, so easy to make and (apart from cutting out all the leaves) only took about half an hour to create.  I'm really happy with how they turned out too :-)

If you would like to have a go at making them, just click on each of the links below to open and download all the leaf pages (don't worry, they're free)
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

If you do make them, don't forget to tag me in the pics as I'd love to see your creations. 


Also if you would like to see me making them, click here to watch my video :-)


I hope you liked this post and don't forget to check out next week's post to be in with a chance of winning yourself a prize in my Blog Birthday giveaway :-)  And Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Saturday, 21 October 2017

A Fresh Start & A New Beginning


Hi everyone, as I mentioned in my last post, I want this to be a new fresh start for my blog and along with that comes a few new and exciting things that I have been working really hard on over the past months, one of them is my YouTube channel.

I first started it back in December last year, just uploading little vlogs, I've also added a couple of other random bits like a mobile phone review.  Even though I feel that was a good way for me to start off and get my confidence in front of the camera more, I still had a long way to go before I felt happy to start proper 'sit-down, main channel' style videos.  But now I have and I'm really happy with them and I'm really excited to share them with you at last!  I was originally waiting for my room to be finished and look all pretty in the background but sadly at the moment that's been postponed for a while, so I didn't want to keep waiting and waiting, I wanted to get on with it here and now.  I have pre-filmed a good batch of videos ready to upload as I didn't want to run out too fast and not have chance to film more if life got busy again, so they're not very 'seasonal' but I thought just go with it and I'll gradually catch up as I go along.  So if you have any Christmasy video ideas or videos you'd like to see, please let me know.

I would absolutely love it if you would pop on over, have a watch and leave a comment letting me know what you think; did I do a good job, do I sound daft, do I waffle too much etc!  Any feedback would be really gratefully appreciated. Also let me know on there if you found my video through my blog, that would help me a lot too.
Since I've started doing videos, I can already see a difference and an improvement in the way I speak, the style and quality of them, so I'm really happy I making progress and learning so quickly and hopefully over time I'll be able to make even better videos for you guys to watch :-)

And finally, I really, really hope you like the videos I upload, I have quite a lot planned and, like with my blog, I want my channel to reflect all the things I love talking about so the videos will be quite varied.  I want to cover all kinds from tags to favourites, hauls to craft diys, baking and decor etc, etc, you get the idea!  So if you would like to keep up to date with everything I upload, I will of course post about new videos on here or on my various other social media sites Twitter, instagram.  But also please feel free to subscribe to my channel and click the little bell icon, so that you get notified as soon as I upload anything too.  I would love for you guys to join me on this new journey and I would be incredibly and eternally grateful for your support


In my next post I'm going to be sharing with you some of my absolute favourite youtubers at the moment, gotta share the love :-)
Until Next Time Stay Happy

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Hello, I'm Back!

Well hello, how are you all, it's been a bit of a while!

In fact it's been exactly 5 months and 2 and a half weeks since I last uploaded a blog post.  It wasn't exactly a planned break, it just sort of happened.  Things were pretty crazy and busy at the time, and then they got even busier and then even crazier and then before I knew it, it had been a long time since I'd had chance to sit my bum down and write anything. 

The more time went on, I just didn't know what to write about or how to come back and for a while there I wasn't even sure I wanted too but then I remembered how much I love writing and how much I love getting your comments.  So for the last couple of weeks, I've been putting pen to paper and really trying hard to come up with some good stuff to write about.  Life is still a bit crazy and soon it will be getting very busy again but I've decided, no matter what, even if I just upload a little post sometimes, I won't be leaving this little corner of the internet again if I can help it.  I've missed it and you too much! :-)
Also I just want to add to that, a huge thank you to all my lovely followers that have stuck with me, I've even had several of you asking where I've got to and if I'm ever going to upload a post again.  So thank you so, so much, it means such a lot that you've kept me in mind and you've stayed around.  I hope you'll like the posts I have planned and don't forget it's soon going to be my forth blog birthday (wow that's gone quick), so I will be doing my annual birthday giveaway for you and I have a cool prize all ready for the lucky winner.

If you have any particular ideas blog posts that you'd like to see, please let me know in the comments and I will reply to everyone as always :-)
So, until next time, lots of hugs to you all and 'Stay Happy'

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