The Am/Pm Routine Tag

Today I'm writing a chatty post! I saw this tag on Rosie's blog (http://rosieauthorwriting.blogspot.co.uk/) whilst I was catching up with my favourite blogs! If you want to see the blogs I recommend, please look at the list on the left hand side of my blog!

What is your morning beauty routine?
I don't have much of a beauty routine but I pretty much always put on liquid concealerwith a colour correcting primer and put my hair in a bit up and a bit down hairstyle. This is the basic 'routine' I suppose but I also wear more makeup on weekends. Makeup I wear on weekends varies but typically includes a bit of blush, bronzer (in summer), clear mascara (or black mascara every now and then) and neutral eye shadow. I don't tend to wear much makeup very often though.
What's for breakfast?
Normally I'll have toast with peanut butter, especially on a school morning because it's quick to make. Sometimes I have other breakfasts every now and then like croissants or cinnamon raisin bagels.
Coffee or tea?
Tea! I don't think I've had much coffee before actually. I normally have Yorkshire Tea but I also love to have chai tea in Winter!
How long does it take you to get out of the door?
On a school morning it takes me about 40 minutes in the morning to do everything (eat my breakfast, get dressed, brush my teeth, put my shoes on, etc) but on weekends I take a bit longer perhaps an hour?
What's your go-to make up look on a fuss-free morning?
A bit of concealer, tinted lip balm and sometimes mascara.
What is your evening routine?
I have a shower or bath and exfoliate my face with my pink grapefruit neutrogena face scrub and wash with my watermelon shower gel. If I have a bath, I also use LUSH products. I am loving the Sunnyside orange scented bubble bar at the moment!
Snack time! What's in the bowl?
After school I have a piece of fruit or a yoghurt but on weekends I tend to have something savoury like chilli peanuts or crisps.
How do you wind down and prep for bed?
After I get ready for bed (have a shower, pack my bag and brush my teeth) I watch a comedy whilst I do something else. I love to watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S on an evening whilst I do something creative like colouring or writing to penpals! Sometimes if I'm not watching a program, I might watch some crafty YouTube videos or browse pinterest. Also, I like to read a book on an evening sometimes. I do all sorts of things on an evening so it's not just one thing I can say!
Cozy up! What are you wearing for bed?
If it's warm I wear a shorts and t-shirt PJ set. If it's cold I'll wear long pyjama bottoms with a top.
What are some things you must do before you hit the hay?
Put tea tree oil on my spots and drink a glass of water. These aren't things I absolutely must do every day but I do these things quite often.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a bit more about me in this chatty post! I tag everyone who reads this to give it a go if they would like to! It was very fun to try something different on my blog!

Head to the comment section to let me know if you enjoy this type of chatty, chilled out post where you get to know me! I'd love to hear what you think! 

Colouring Quest Part 2: My Pencils, Pens & More

I have a confession to make...I am addicted to stationery! Whenever I go shopping I love to spend AGES in stationery shops such as Paperchase looking for cute bits and bobs for my desk or pencil case! Luckily for me (or not so luckily depending on how you see it) it's back to school season so I can find a whole new range of stationery! Since I like stationery, I have tons of pens and pencils so today I thought I would share the equipment I use for colouring and tell you a bit about how/why I use them. Let's get started!

The first thing I have to show you are the gel pens I use for details. Gel pens are fun to use every now and then because they bring a pop of vibrant colour (and maybe a bit of sparkle) to a picture that colouring pencils can't create. They're handy to use in the narrow spaces of lineart because sometimes no matter how sharp the pencil is, it still goes over the lines!  These gel pens are from 'The Works' but they're just generic gel ones that you could probably find in most shops.

 The next thing I have to show you are my Prismacolour pencils, these are probably what I use the most because they are great for blending and creating a variety of shades! Prismacolours are quite pricey but I believe that they are worth the extra money. They are shatter resistant, have a soft lead and the colours really stand out! This particular set (Prismacolor premier-48 pack) has a wide variety of colours and shades to use from. I have several coloured pencil sets and these are by far my favourites. You don't have to have expensive art supplies to colour really well though.

 Thirdly I want to show you my Stabilo coloured fineliners. I probably use these the least for colouring out of all the supplies because I tend to use the gel pens for details rather than these, but sometimes I like to add little finishing touches with these. There's a wide range of colours to use and are kept in a handy container. Although I don't use them as much for colouring, I do use them a lot for other things such as writing happy mail or making colourful doodles!

Last but not least, here are my blending tools! Here I have a Derwent blender pencil and some Royal & Langnickel blending stumps in varying sizes. These are SO useful because before i had blending tools, it took me absolutely ages to create a stunning gradient. But now, with these tools, although it still takes a little while it is so much faster to blend colours! In my opinion, the blender pencil is more effective than the blending stumps and slightly easier to control. However, you may think differently so if you're thinking of buying blending tools, I recommend that you try both. I've also heard that you can use baby oil to blend but I haven't tried it out yet.

So that's it for part 2 of 'Colouring Quest'! If you enjoyed it, make sure that you come back for the next part and follow my blog to keep up to date with new posts! If you're waiting to see my finished colouring pages don't fret! I'm still busy colouring! I'll be uploading some soon but whilst you wait, if you want to see sneak peaks of the colouring, follow this link!

Let me know in the comments what your favourite set of pencils/pens you have and what supplies you recommend for people who love to colour! 

Read With Your Cuppa' #6

Youtuber to Watch

LittleHotTamale is a crafty YouTube channel full of happy mail inspiration! Meg's channel inspired me to start penpalling because her tutorial videos looked so fun! If you wondered how to make that squashbook that I shared, you can find a tutorial for making squashbooks on her channel! If you're looking for any more happy mail videos, you should also check out my new YouTube channel where I will be sharing lots of mail themed videos along with lots of other crafty bits! 

Fun Activity

Colouring is a relaxing activity that I love to do! It can also help artistic people develop their colour application skills. I have noticed that as I colour more and more, my shading and blending is improving! I recently started my 'Colouring Quest' blog series all about one of my favourite hobbies at the moment:colouring! If you are considering buying yourself a colouring book and a pack of pencils, you should check out my blog series to help you learn!

Snack to Try

Frozen yoghurt or yoghurt bark is a delicious snack that is easy and fun to make. It is simple to personalise with your favourite fruits, nuts and other toppings! To make, line a tray with grease-proof paper, then spread yoghurt on it, next put your toppings on it and finally freeze it for a few hours or overnight. Once the yoghurt is fully frozen, you can snap it into small pieces and enjoy! It is a slightly healthier alternative to sugary desserts so you should try it as a tasty treat!






Recommended Website

TofuCute is an online kawaii shop which sells cute Japanese products such as plushes, sweets, stickers, pens, novelty erasers and more! TofuCute is based in the Uk and ships worldwide so it is easy to make an order. I made a post in the past with my kawaii items and if I buy anything else, I may share them on this blog again!

Recommended Magazine

One of my favourite things to read at the moment is Daphne's Diary. I love that every page is so gorgeous with pretty patterned backgrounds, cute doodles and more! The content of this magazine is very creative! there's craft projects to try ad businesses to inspire you. There's not just crafty articles though, there's some travel spreads that are gorgeous to look at. In every issue there are a few little goodies such as stickers that I love to use in happy mail as well as in other creative projects. I reccommend this magazine to anyone who loves to create because you'll love pouring over every pretty detail in here!






Over to YOU:
What things do you reccommend? Let us all know in the comments!

Colouring Quest Part 1:My collection

Have you started colouring yet? It's been proved that colouring brings logic and creativity together to help develop our motor skills. It also helps with stress so is a great activity after a long day at school or work! I love colourng for many reasons, so I decided to start writing a new blog series called 'Colouring Quest'! In this brand new post I'll show you some of the colouring books from my collection! I have a wide variety of books ranging from nature books to fashion books. I hope you will enjoy exploring my collection in this colouring quest!

Firstly here's my 'Colour Yourself A Whimsical Woodland' illustrated by Heartfelt Illustrations. I find this colouring book interesting because once I have coloured all of the pages, I can display them all together  in a massive picture! This would be great to decorate my room with because it will show my colouring techniques! The paper is of very high quality so is lovely to colour on. Check out Heartfelt Illustrations facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/heartfeltillustrations/ !

Here's my 'Day of the Dead' colouring book. It is created by the artist Thaneeya McArdle. I became fascinated with Thaneeya McArdle's work when I studied her in school a while ago. The bright colours and busy patterns drew me in straight away! I love this book because it is full of culture. The Day of the Dead is a festival celebrated in Mexico where people remember loved ones that they have lost. It is often thought of as another version of Halloween but it is quite different. The festival is not meant to be scary like Halloween but instead a joyous occasion. This book is great for beginners because it has a small guide of how to colour in the first few pages showing how to use colour and even has fully coloured examples to inspire you. This colouring book is different from the rest of my books because I can choose whatever colour I want and it will still look fabulous! You can see Thaneeya McArdle's websire here: http://www.thaneeya.com/ .

The next book in my collection is the 'vogue' colouring book by Iain R Webb. I am excited about this book because I read vogue every month for inspiration for my fashion designs. Each picture in the book is based on a page from Vogue in the 50s. I love the 50s aspect of it because I love the feminine and elegant fashions of that era. There is a little nugget of information about each illustration which is interesting to read since it gives a better understanding of the picture. With this book, you even get to colour in your own front cover (differently to the original). I was pleased to see an introduction from the artist before exploring the pages because it is motivating to see someone successful talk about fashion.There's space on several of the illustrations to draw your own patterns onto the fabrics as well as adding colour so you can personalise the pictures. You can read more about thsi colouring book at: http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2015/10/02/vogue-colouring-book-illustrations-release !

Next I'll be showing you another fashion themed colouring book called '1960s Fashion' created by the company PEPIN. I'm looking forward to experimenting with different medians for this book because it is created so that you can even use watercolours on it! Most colouring books aren't designed so that you can use paint but these illustrations are one-sided! I like how both of my fashion themed colouring books are from a particular era. It is useful for people interested in fashion design to have fashion colouring books because you can practice shading clothes to show the folds in the fabric! I like how there is a lot of space on each page because I can create backgrounds for the designs if I want or I could add to the illustrtion. There's endless possibilities with this colouring book (and the others) to be unique.

The last group of colouring books are called 'Secret Garden', 'Enchanted Forest' and 'Lost Ocean'. They're all by the Scottish illustrator Johanna Basford. If you know anything about adult colouring books, chances are you know Johanna Basford. She calls herself an ink evangelist because she draws everything by hand with fineliners. I hear that she draws her pictures much bigger than the final size so that it is easier for her to draw the immensely detailed pictures. What I love about her books is that they are a good mix of very detailed and slightly less detailed pictures. The reason I love this variety is because you can try out different techniques for each picture. For example in less detailed ones you can create stunning gradients whereas in the more detailed ones you can use fineliners and a good colour scheme to create an equally brilliant yet different effect. The paper n her books is of good quality but I reccommend still using coloured pencils for the original editions to avoid bleeding through pages. I love the little extras such as the pattern on the dust cover and front cover as well as the fold out pages that are sometimes included!

Well that's it for the first post in my new blogging series Colouring Quest! I hope you've enjoyed having a peek at my colouring book collection. Hopefully if you're looking for a new colouring book I have inspired you to choose one of my recommendations or have a good rummage online and in stationery shops for the perfect fit! In future posts I'll be sharing more colouring content such as my completed pages and my tips.

Tell me in the comments what you's like to see me write about colouring! What books do you have in your collection?

Outgoing Squashbook

Hi everyone! In my last post I showed you a video of some mail I created. You all seemed to enjoy it so I thought I would share another mail themed video from my new-ish YouTube channel! In the video below I show you a squashbook I created for my penpal Rosie from http://rosieauthorwriting.blogspot.co.uk/ ! I hope that it inspires you all to give penpalling a go because it's really fun! I'm really excited to grow my channel in the future! However, I won't just upload videos on this blog (I just thought it would be an interesting change). You can expect a few more traditional posts coming up soon with more written content! I'm looking forward to uploading some colouring book themed posts very soon! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video! Please go over to my YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiYCgnUUFL5DNiKM2mIEO_w and subscribe to see more videos!



Let me know if you enjoy seeing happy mail themed videos from my YouTube channel in the comments! See you soon! :D

Outgoing Ocean Themed Flipbook

Hi everyone! Today I have an exciting post for you! It's been a while since I last posted but for a good reason...I have created my first ever YouTube video and I'm sharing it with you right now! In the video below I show you a flipbook letter that I have created. A flipbook is a creative letter for your penpal that has several pages to flip through and often has a theme. My swap partner and I agreed on the theme 'Ocean' because we both love the wonderful colours and creatures of the sea! It was a lot of fun to decorate my letter with a variety of my favourite stationery including washi tape and stickers! Not only am I sharing with you my first ever YouTube video, I am also showing you my first flipbook! I recently got into creating happy mail so I am trying out lots of different techniques! I hope to make a tea party themed flipbook soon for the same swap partner where I can use my new doilies! By the way, the picture of the beach scene inside the flipbook was drawn by Kenza from http://5starartists.blogspot.co.uk/ .If you haven't already, go check out her blog because it's full of awesome art! Let me know what you think of the video and the flipbook in the comments. Would you like to see more happy mail posts from me? I have lots of outgoing and incoming mail that I would love to share!

Updates

It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd update you on what's been going on! I've been quite busy recently, that's why there has been a big gap between my last post and this one! :)

 I am currently planning a few exciting things for my blog including:

. An art collab with 5StarArtists and anyone else who wishes to join (details here)

. Some fashion posts! I have lots of ideas but aren't sure where to start.
. A What's in My Sketchbook no.2 (check out the original for older sketchbook here)
. A colouring post with my tips, completed pages, recommendations and more

What else have I been up to?
.Looking for a penpal (female, about 12-15, creative). If you are interested then please leave a comment with a few facts about you (such as your hobbies and the country you live in). Check out the extra information later on in this post.
(Thank you very much to everyone who has shown interest in being my penpal! I now have quite a few lovely penpals so won't be swapping addresses with anyone else for the meantime. Thanks again everyone. :D)
.Finally starting a fashion portfolio/scrapbook!
.Working on a school art project!

Extra Info for People Interested in being my Penpal:
Country: UK
Hobbies: fashion design, art, reading, crafting, adult colouring, doodling, baking

Sorry that this was just a quick updates post, keep tuned for new posts! If you want to see specific posts I am planning on writing/currently working on then check out my coming soon page!

PS: The penpal doodle was drawn by me using my drawing tablet in Sumo Paint!