Liebster Award Tag - Take 2!

Merhaba,

I hope you have all had a lovely week! Sorry this post is a LOT later than usual, I've kind of failed this weekend! Oops! Last week's language was French, and my lovely friend Mollie (hi) guessed it right. So well done!

A few days ago I was nominated to do the liebster award again by the lovely Samantha over at petiteolive.com. If you don't know what the liebster tag is, it is a way for new(ish) bloggers with less than 1000 followers to find new blogs and meet/talk to new people. It also gives their readers a chance to get to know them a little better. To do it you have to answer the 11 questions your nominator set, and set 11 new ones for the 11 people you are going to nominate. The questions can be as funny or serious as you want, it's a great way to have a little fun in the blogging community!

~Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging for 2 reasons really, the first was because it would work for the skills section of my bronze DofE award, and the second, that I just really wanted to be able to write something worth reading. 

~What is your favourite film?

This one is pretty difficult actually. I love so many different types of film, for example; I love 'Love Rosie' but also all of the Star Wars films and also the Harry Potter films. 

~If you could live someone else's life for one day, who would you be?

Probably someone cool like Jennifer Lawrence or someone random like spiderman.

~What three things can't you live without?

A notepad and pen, and my camera to record everything I see! Plus, I just really love taking photos.

~What is your favourite animal?

I absolutely love turtles, tortoises and terrapins! They're just so cool, but then I also love orcas... 

~If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I would either want to go to Australia to see my family, or glass beach, California! Imagine all the sea glass you could find! It actually looks amazing!

~What do you enjoy most about blogging?

Definitely the community! I love being a part of the Girl Gang (if you want to know more about it, it's Jemma's (from dorkface.co.uk) amazing idea.) I love that if you have an issue, there are girls there who can help and/or support you. People who always put a smile on your face, and people who are just generally amazing people! 

~If you were only allowed to eat one same meal, everyday for the rest of your life, what would it be?

No doubts here... Pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and pineapple! 

~Whats your favourite makeup brand?

Makeup Revolution. It's a relatively cheap brand but all the products are still brilliant quality and they make all their packaging pretty cool too. 

~Who is your inspiration?

Anyone who has followed their dreams, and my mum...

~Tea or Coffee?

This one is definitely the easiest question... neither! I don't like tea or coffee, but I do like hot chocolate! Especially if it has cream and marshmallows!

I nominate the next lovely 11 people to do this challenge:

1. Mel - melberryy
2. Nicky - teaandtakeaways
3. Alison - 73-95
4. Olivia - 73-95
5. Sophie Jane - sophiejaneblog
6. Leigh - denimanddaisiess
7. Maria - dazzlemxo
8. Robyn - robsblogss
9. Tilly - beatingaroundtheblush
10. Courtney - prettymadthings.com
11. Katie Iona - katie-iona

The questions you have to answer are:

1. If you had to be one animal for a day. Which would you be?
2. Fruit or veg?
3. Mascara or eyeshadow?
4. What is you least favourite colour?
5. How would you describe your personality?
6. If you could be transported to a fictional world which would you choose?
7. There is a zombie apocalypse and you can only use the item to your right to defend yourself. What is it?
8. What is your favourite book?
9. What was the best thing that happened to you today?
10. If you could speak another language, what would it be?
11. Describe yourself in 3 words


You don't have to continue the chain of the tag, but if you do, please tag me so I can read it! I hope you all have a lovely week this week! Don't forget to guess the language for a chance to be mentioned and linked next week!

Love, Grace x

Heart Balloons Card

Bonjour,

This week has been seriously long! It just feels like it's been dragging along, and even now, I can hardly keep my eyes open as I'm typing.

This card is cute for birthdays, Valentines or even Mother's Day (hint, hint, it's tomorrow if you're from the UK). It can be used for any age group, but is probably more suited to girls. Instead of the heart shaped balloons, however, regular round, wavy or oval balloons could be cut and used to make the card more fitting to a wider audience.

To start out, I'm using plain white card, but you could use any colour and thickness for this. Using a darker colour and white, cream or pastel coloured balloons would look pretty cool. I'm just using half an A4 piece for this, but any size would work, you would just need to either alter the size of the balloons or how many there are.

To cut out the balloons, I cut out small squares of coloured paper and folded them in half, before drawing half a heart shape and cutting it out to get an even shape. I have one of each colour, but if you're going for a specific colour theme, then use the best colours to fit your design. To finish off the card, glue the balloons in a shape of your choice and add some string or embroidery thread to make the balloon strings.

The card's actual look is down to you, whether you want just one balloon or multiple in a cluster. I hope you have someone to give this card too, and can try to make it yourself.
 

Don't forget to guess this week's language, either comment or tweet me @_littleblog. Last week's was Spanish. The lovely ladies, Hager from bmobshelldrawer.wordpress.com and Mel from www.melberryy.com guessed it right, so well done girls! And thank you for guessing!

I hope you guys have a lovely week!

Love, Grace x

All The Bright Places

Hola,

Sorry the post is late up, I was writing an email of complaint to EE for giving me a bad voucher code. Anyway, today I finished reading 'All The  Bright Places' by Jennifer Niven, and it was brilliant! One of my friends recommended it to me (and has been waiting patiently for me to finish it), so thanks for introducing me to such a great book.

The first thing is that I love the overall look of the book. It is light and pastel, and covered in images of sticky notes, which is cool. I think I'm also automatically drawn to anything blue, I seem to have a lot of blue books and general items!

The story is devastatingly lovely and had all the feels flowing. As it started, I wasn't sure where it was going, but as the story progressed, it really developed and pulled me in. The alternating chapters between Violet and Finch's POV gives a lot of depth to the story and allows you to see how two separate characters see the world and situations around them.

When I finish a book, if it is a good one, with an interesting storyline, then I will spend a few days, maybe a week, contemplating what happened. It is true, when people say that a story will stay with you. There are only a select few that actually make this list for me, some have a great story whilst others just kind of fade, not that they aren't great works, they're just not my thing. In the words of Melissa Marr, "Life is too short to read books I'm not enjoying."

The advice I will give, without trying to give any spoilers, is that you will need tissues. The book deals with some very serious issues around mental illnesses. It also is written more for friends of those suffering from mental illness. There is also a section in the back filled with helplines for people to call if you know someone who is going though it, or are yourself. Niven was able to call on past experiences to aid in the writing of the book, which I think really adds a whole new layer and perspective to the story and the tragedy of it.

I hope you guys have a lovely rest of the weekend and a lovely week!

Love, Grace x

Language Competition

Hey guys,

(Have a random photo from my laptop for the blog image)

The other day I tweeted a poll to decide whether or not to start a small competition for each week. The competition came back as 100% yes so I'm going to start each post with 'hello' in a different language each week, and the first person, or couple of people, to either comment or tweet me the language it is in, will get a shout-out on my blog for the following week's post. I'll tell you the previous week's language each week as I link either your blog, twitter, or other social media of your choice, either that or just your name.

Hopefully it will be fun!

Love, Grace x

Friendship issues

Ciao,

I thought I would do something a little from now on, and start each post with hello in a different language each week. I also was wondering about making it a little challenge each week. I tweeted it over at @_littleblog so would love it if you would vote to let me know what to do. The other different thing I was doing differently is this post is going to be a chattier one dealing with some issues I've been having recently.

I thought I would do a post about it because I am 99% sure that almost every one of you reading this has experienced it, or will experience it at some point in your life. (If you don't, then I would really love to know your secret!) The issue is friendships.

I am an incredibly lucky girl because I have a lot of really amazing friends, and they're all lovely people (when they want to be). However, they do have a habit of arguing non-stop for a long time and yes, sometimes I'm a part of it, most of the time I am just on the sidelines and have to deal with most of the flack.

They will argue about silly little things, like someone said something bad about someone else, so they say something bad about the first person behind their back, rather than confronting them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not all-good, I do say bad things about people, but I also like to tell them when I don't like something they're doing. (Although, sometimes I'm too scared to, I'm scared to create an even bigger issue).

I just wanted to let you know that it's ok to step away. Whether you're the one arguing, or you're just in the background, it's ok. Sometimes I feel like I just need a break (usually at the end of term, so that's all good!) Even if you are in the middle of a shouting match, you can just walk away. It's definitely what I used to do, and it will probably show who your real friends are. Obviously don't be really rude and just blank them if you're having a conversation, say 'I need to step away for a minute to calm down', just to avoid any big issues.

I hope you all have a lovely week and don't have to deal with many issues. There will probably be a small post this week about what I am planning to start with the greetings in different languages.

Love, Grace x

Barry M - Gelly Hi Shine

Hi guys,

About 3 months ago I ordered a couple of things from Superdrug. It was mostly because I wanted to get a nail polish they were including if you spent £7, but I wanted to try out this because I think I was going through a phase of buying the same coloured products. I actually brought 2 lipsticks on the same day that were almost exactly the same colour, from 2 different brands. I also have 3 nail polishes all the same colour too.

I really love the colour and how well pigmented it is, and it comes out really well on the lips. It's got a creamy feel too, it doesn't feel like it is drying out the lips like some products. For some strange reason it smells and tastes like skittles. I have no idea how they managed it but it's kind of nice!

The only downside is that there is not very much in the tube so it probably wont last very long, which is annoying because I don't like buying a lot of the same thing over. Especially if it doesn't have much in it.

I'm sorry this is such a short post today, and that it went up at such an awkward time. Happy Valentines day and I hope you all have a lovely week!

Love, Grace x

Nail Power!

Hey guys,

Guess who forgot to take photos until 5 o'clock today... This girl *points thumbs at self*... fun times. Although, I did make some tasty cupcakes. So I guess something good came out of it.

This post will probably fail, because, to be honest, I'm not all that great at doing nail designs anymore. I used to do some good ones, when I was 13/14, but I think I've just gotten out of the practise of it.

The first one is supposed to be a galaxy look. It started off ok, when I had only done the base coat, because it was just a base coat. It then proceeded to go downhill from there really. I wanted it to look all cool and hipster like all the photos on

This was what it actually looked like:

Please ignore the random bit of fluff that decided to position itself right at the end of the nail and only make itself visible in the photos afterwards...

I tore a makeup sponge (that I hadn't used) up and used the rougher edges to dab the blue, purple and white onto the dark background in a kind of galaxy-ish pattern. (not really a pattern at all) It actually looked really cool at that point, It was blended and splodged pretty well, and I was actually pretty impressed with myself. That was, until I tried to add some glitter and poured it into a big mound in the middle...

I didn't use all of the polishes in the photo above, and unfortunately, I'm out babysitting at the moment so don't have access to them to tell you what they're all called. If I remember to add it tomorrow then I will, however, it is highly unlikely.

The torn up makeup sponge actually provided a pretty good stippling sponge for the 'clouds' of colour as it had a quite nice rough texture. This meant that when I painted some polish directly onto it, there were still spaces that meant the colour wasn't totally overpowering.

I reckon that the design would look a lot cooler actually on my nails, because there would be a group of them all together. However, I think I might leave out the glitter next time and just go for a plain top coat!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

Love, Grace x