DIY Birthday Card Ideas

Ever since I was very young I have made birthday cards. I would always make birthday cards instead of buying them, I think it's just more personal and I love being creative. When I was younger they were rubbish, full of glue, sellotape and even staples once! I lacked the element of neatness and simplicity. Now however my card-making skills has improved greatly (With a little help from Pinterest). Here are three DIY birthday card ideas, using buttons, ribbons and a black pen.

 I got the owl design from this one off Pinterest, I can't remember who the pinner was though.I used a fine black marker for the design and writing and found the ribbon and button lying about in my house for the bottom bit. Twirly writing generally looks good and use a font in Microsoft Word for ideas.

 For this card I used little bits of ribbons, cut into triangles for the bunting. I never really buy fabric ribbons as I normally have some from gifts or else you could use fabric from old clothes. I also added two buttons I had at home.

This last one just has three simple buttons in the middle, I drew in some string to make them look like balloons and chose another font for make the lovely writing.

Étáin

xxx

I also took a short break from blogging over the last week or so while I was in England but I'm getting back into normal school routine so we will just see how it goes.

Summer In The City 2014

Last weekend I travelled down to London for Summer In The City 2014 and it was honestly one of the best things I have ever done! I started watching YouTube videos in March 2013 and that opened me up to the whole YouTube and Blogging world and being able to attend this was amazing! To meet and see people who have inspired me to do what I have done or what I want to do. I didn't get to meet everyone that I wanted to meet as it was a bit crazy with the queues but still met quite a few and saw them on panels/on stage. The whole ticket system at meetups was a little disorganised with some volunteers giving out tickets hours in advance when we were told they were giving them out half an hour before but with thousands of people wanting to see one/two people there was no way to please everyone from their point of view. 

 

Day 1

On the Saturday we arrived an hour earlier but with a few thousand people already in front of us we didn't get in until after 12 so we didn't get to meet Zoella who was the first ever YouTuber I ever watched and she means a lot to me. We just wandered round for the first while, not making any of the bigger meetups as all the tickets were given out before we even got there.

We watched the LGBTQ+ panel with Tyler Oakley which was really interesting and we also watched some of the Music Panel.

We then watched a Q&A panel on the main stage with Patty, Emma, Luke and Jason, the Women on YouTube Panel and Glitter Time with Louise although we were standing at the very back so didn't see much as I'm so short. They were all brilliant!

Back in the main room I met Rhiannon from FashionRocksMySocks. She is a big inspiration of mine when it comes to my blog, I love her fashion sense and she has such a lovely personality! We also met Louis from FunForLouis. I love his vlogs and they really get me excited to travel the world and do a few crazy adventurous things. Travel is something I love so much and I can't wait to do more of it.

We then stayed by the main stage til the end watching Tyler Oakley, BriBry and Dan and Phil Live.

Day 2

For the Sunday we had the brilliant idea of arriving at 8. Turned out not so brilliantly. The lovely English weather decided it wanted to give us a thunder and lightning storm a long with a lot (and I mean a lot) of rain. The picture above shows us (Me, Sorcha and my sister Aoife) when it was just trickling. In the end they let us in an hour early after all 6/7 thousand of us chanted "LET US IN" and some people started to get hypothermia.

(Creepy angel statue on the top on Alexandra Palace that looked like a weeping angel)

We got in and went straight to the meetup lines as we were one of the first people there. We didn't make Tanya Burr but we got tickets for Jim Chapman. We were still dripping wet and cold but I bought a hot chocolate and a (dry) Dan and Phil t-shirt.

(Me with the one and only Jim Chapman)

Next we went to Glitter Time (again). It was so good the first time, plus we didn't see much so we went the second time but with a Q&A it's different both times. I was cry-laughing through most of it as she is so good and seriously should be a stand up comedian, she's so great live!

Back at the main stage we watched Joe and Caspar's Q&A, Musical Bethan and As It Is. All amazing and so good live!

Then was the amazing Emma Blackery! Watching her perform live was incredible! And then of course she shaved her head on stage, which raised over £26,000. It was such a great thing to do and I am so proud of her! The moment made me really want to do something with my life and not waste it away as I often do.

It finished up with Jack and Dean doing a live sketch which was a lovely funny way to finish up!
The whole experience was just incredible and inspirational and definitely one of the best two days of my life. I learned so much and had a great time. I can't wait for next year!

Étáin

xxx

Sunset and lightning storms ~ OOTD

A while back I did a blog photo-shoot with friend Rachel. I still have a couple more outfit posts to put up. This was the last one we did just as the sun was setting. The sunset was spectacular! This was also the day of a crazy fork-lighting storm across the whole of southern Ireland and England and we kept hearing thunder. Shortly after these photos were taken the sky erupted with fork lightning for hours. It was pretty amazing watching it. We seem to be having a lot of freak weather lately in Ireland, but then again we always seem to.

 Here is the outfit. It is a quite simple mild summer day/evening outfit. It has my usual collared shirt and pastels.

Top ~ Charity shop (Primark)

Skirt ~ Topshop

Boots ~ New Look

Tights ~ Probably Penneys/Primark

Necklace ~ Unknown

The pastel ice-cream print top was from a charity shop in Sheffield although it is originally from Primark. The skirt I bought last year from Topshop and I adore it, I do tend to wear it with tights though as it blows up with the slightest bit of wind. I paired this with my New Look boots. I also wore a half-heart friendship necklace I share with my friend Sorcha who lives in England, I'm not sure where it is from.

I went to Summer in the City last weekend and it was amazing! I will have a post coming and it has really inspired me! (I might secretly have plans to set up a YouTube channel soon but shhhhh!)

Étáin

xxx

Cocoa Wonderland ~ The cutest ever chocolate cafe

 Lifestyle post today because I have been wanting to write about this for ages. I spent the last week in Sheffield with my friend, Sorcha. On Tuesday we went to Cocoa Wonderland on Ecclesall Road which has sort of become a tradition as the last three years I have gone there with her.

It is the cutest little independent chocolate and sweet shop and cafe. It is full of old fashioned shabby chic mismatched chairs, old fashioned teacups and rows of sweets, chocolate and chocolate related things.

It has adorable little details which just make the place so lovely.

My favourite place is the upstairs section. It's this little room with fairy lights and drapery hanging down from the ceiling, the walls are beautifully hand painted with designs and a long bench covered in cushions surrounds the tables in the middle. There is also chocolate related books on a little bookshelf for a customer to read.

Now comes the yummy part. I ordered a milky hot chocolate which is amazing! It's this delicious rich hot chocolate which you add milk to but it's so good. It's like creamy melted chocolate goodness, in a cup.

 We also played Scrabble as they have the game there.

 My sister and Sorcha both ordered these amazing drinks.

Hope you enjoyed this little lifestyle post. If you ever find yourself in Sheffield, have a little look in Cocoa. (I wasn't sponsored to write this post or anything, I just love the place).

This is going up while I'm on my way to London for Summer in the City. There won't be a new post going up until probably Monday or Tuesday because I won't be back from London.

Étáin

xxx

"Quiet people have the loudest minds"

 
Ever since I was small, I have always been a shy quiet person. Once you get to know me I don't shut up and I'm really outgoing. I hate being shy. It makes me seem like a stuck up person who doesn't want to talk to you but the truth is I try to say something and nothing comes out, literally nothing.


I'm also awful at describing things, especially feelings or something I have a strong opinion about so what I'm trying to get across might not be clear. Being shy and quiet is something that I feel non-shy and loud people can't fathom or understand. You can't overcome it or get rid of it. You can work around it though. That's why I love blogging so much. You don't have to be a great public speaker or talk to people who you don't know directly. You can be anonymous without posting hate. The internet is a little haven where I go and express opinions and be as loud as I want.

 This outfit is the type of style I wear everyday. Skirts, jumpers and shirts are my favourites for my day-to-day look. 

Jumper ~ Missguided 

Skirt ~ Primark/Penneys 

Necklace ~ Primark/Penneys

Rings ~ H&M

Bag ~ Bershka 

Shirt ~ Pimkie

Shoes ~ Penneys/Primark

I missed Sunday's post because I have been super busy in Sheffield and have had a nice time relaxing and being off the internet for a few days. Did a bit of shopping and charity-shop shopping so expect a big haul once I'm back.
Hoped you enjoyed it and feel free to comment (Would also love to check out a few new blogs so leave links). Also a big thanks to the all wonderful Rachel who took these photos.

Étáin

xxx