Showing posts with label Frills 'n' Spills. Show all posts

Rambling in the woods... (PICTURE HEAVY)

Not blogging for a few days has been very strange, I have felt completely out of the loop as I have barely been online and I now have all of your lovely blogs to catch up on; both a daunting and exciting prospect! I realised how much time I spend thinking about blogging too as every other thing was blogworthy but my lack of internet meant that I had to just enjoy the moment rather than just try and document it without really experiencing it, does that make any sense?! 

Just for you Laura <3 
I did promise y'all some photos with my new backdrop and with the help of my little sister I have managed to deliver :) I have to say though, my favourite part of being home? Being reunited with my beloved leather jacket, 10 weeks without this is 10 weeks too many! It's definitely one of my favourite pieces in my wardrobe!
Dress: H! by Henry Holland, leather jacket: New Look, belt: stolen from my brother, socks: Marks & Spencer, shoes: Dorothy Perkins
My little sister, Isobel and I went out for a walk after dinner and the dappled sunlight was just gorgeous so she became very snap happy. The area where I live is quite isolated which makes getting anywhere an absolute nightmare but it does make for a very pretty backdrop for some outfit posts! Wasn't the sun today absolutely gorgeous? I couldn't believe how warm it was too: it said 24 degrees on the thermometer here :D


There are drystone walls made of gorgeous yellowy Cotswold stone everywhere and literally hundreds of trees absolutely everywhere! Unfortunately some of these photos came out quite dark so I have had to lighten them a bit but hopefully it doesn't look too unnatural or brash? My socks were a bit of a last minute addition as the nettles here are lethal. I learnt the hard way that bare ankles resulted in a lot of stings last time I was home!



Clambering up onto the gate was not my most elegant moment but that camera angle does make my legs look longer, which can't be a bad thing right?! There are so many horrific outtakes from today but I am relatively vain so I am saving them for a 'special' outtakes special post. I'm sure every blogger has a folder full of failed images on their computer judging by the number of snaps it took to get some half decent ones here! :P I like this picture though as it actually wasn't posed and I look quite happy which I like :) I told you I was vain!

Did you make the most of the sunshine? What do you miss most when you are on a 'blogging break'?
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Why do you blog?

I made the decision to link my blog to my Facebook almost as soon as I started blogging as I thought it would help increase awareness and drive traffic but whenever people find out that I have a blog, they invariably ask "Why do you blog?" and I am always caught off guard and fail to give a good answer. For those who don't blog, sharing so much of your life online is a scary thought and for many, it is seen as self-obsessed and narcissistic. I mean why would anyone want to look at pictures of you showing off a dress or a new pair of shoes? 




I read blogs before I wrote one and as many people did, I thought "I could do that too!" and so decided to set up Frills 'n' Spills with Danni. When I first started writing, it was scary but I soon found that the blog became my creative outlet. It wasn't just an online diary (no-one wants to read about arguments I have with my siblings :P) but rather a journal of experiences. It meant that I was able to catalogue the highs and lows of university, moving away from home and generally finding out a bit more about myself in the process. 




As cliché as this may sound, blogs and blogging are such an inspiration for me. I have been inspired to wear clothes which I would never have dared to even consider before and to conquer my fear of standing out and looking different. This little blog has inspired me to be more confident, dress better and (hopefully!) improve my writing and photography skills at the same time.  I like the fact that I can see a Topshop dress on another blogger with a similar shaped figure or a lipstick on another pale person and see whether it is likely to suit me. I'm not a 5'11" willowy blonde (my childhood ideal!) but I'm OK with that, blogs provide me with the inspiration to learn to accept this fact. I'm not gonna lie, there are days where I just want to chop all of my hair off or somehow stretch my legs out a bit more but 90% of the time I am happy with the way I look.  I'm sure that getting older also plays a part but blogging has encouraged me to expand my horizons and to grow in confidence, no bad thing surely?




The blogging community is the best part of blogging for me and I have met some really amazing people through it. The support and feedback I received when I posted about my struggle with depression simply blew me away. I have had millions of inane questions answered, clothing items tracked down and support in both the good and bad times. What more could you ask for? I genuinely thought that due to the sheer number of females involved in blogging, people would be catty and mean and I have been lucky enough to be proven wrong. Anyone I have ever met has been really lovely and I have never met a blogger who doesn't reply to an email or a tweet. I think Twitter really helps with getting to know the person behind the blog better and I know that I am an addict! Blogging obviously has it's ups and downs (see Jen's posts HERE for an informed and  insightful take on some common blog issues) but I have never regretted my decision to start a blog and I hope I will be able to blog for a long time yet! :)


Why do you blog? Do your friends and family know about your blog? 


EDIT: I meant to include Bee's post about Blogging vs. Real Life as she covers this topic much better than I do! I think feelings like this pop up fairly often if you're a blogger so it's worth sharing :D 
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Maria meets...

Welcome to a new feature on Frills 'n' Spills; 'Maria Meets...' I am hoping to interview and get to know a bit more about some interesting and creative people. I hope that this will be a fairly regular feature so I would love to hear your recommendations for who you would like me to feature,please let me know in the comments if you have any ideas! :D 




The first person I have interviewed is my gorgeous friend, Neha Bhargava who I met whilst interning over the summer. She writes a baking blog at Shortcake and Snap and her photography portfolio is over at Neha Bhargava photography.  




♥ Tell us a bit about yourself...


I'm 23, graduated back in 2009 from UCL in Human Sciences and now I work as a Technology Consultant at IBM. Whilst at university I was the Play Photo Editor of the London Student newspaper, so after graduating I decided to take my photography to the next level and started working on my fashion portfolio.


♥ So, who or what got you interested in photography?


Strangely enough, I just fell into photography. I started out doing digital art, moved onto vector art and then photography naturally followed. Also, can’t possibly go without mentioned the wonderful community at DeviantART who gave me bucketloads of inspiration and
support when I was starting out.


♥ Do you have a favourite photographer? (Celebrity or otherwise)

I absolutely love Patrick Demarchelier’s work, and also Andreas Sjödin who has done a lot of the photography for H&M in the past. I actually applied for work experience with Patrick Demarchelier’s studio in the wild off-chance that maybe they would want an
intern/slave to help out! Besides that, Jeff Hahn, a personal friend of mine. He’s an amazing artist, with real vision and presence.




♥ What are your views on sites such as Tumblr, WeHeartIt etc? Is it difficult to retain authorship of your work?   

Social networking is both a blessing and a curse. It’s fantastic to be able to get your work broadcasted out there but it’s never nice when someone claims the credit for your work. A lot of effort and preparation goes into everyone’s work, be it a photo shoot or just an evening meal. Equally annoying is when your work is put up without acknowledgement because a main part of it is to get your name out there and associated with your work! Enough with the moaning though, I think websites like tumblr are great for the snapshot “Hey look what I
stumbled across” moments to spread the word.

♥  I always feel nervous in front of the camera, how do you get your subjects to relax?

I’ve had my fair share of nervous models and subjects and I find the easiest way is to make them laugh, however ridiculous the means! Once all that nervous energy’s out, everybody can relax and just have fun with it. That’s what photo shoots really should be about.





♥ Who or what is your ideal subject and why?

I do like to shoot fashion, but my favourite subject is food because you can eat it straight after :D

♥ I just bought a new camera, do you have any tips for anyone starting out in photography?

Don’t just go straight for the top end camera that everyone’s talking about, it might not suit the type of photography you want to start doing. Do a bit of research before making such a big investment, so you could ask some friends who are photographers or can get you in touch with them, narrow down to a few choices and go down to a camera shop and ask for a side-by-side comparison so that you can find a camera body that’ll last you a good while. Also, get a good starter lens that’s multi-purpose, like an 18-200mm lens or something similar,so that you can learn the ins and outs of the camera body first.

♥ What is your 'go-to' outfit? 

Skinny jeans and a top that usually has volume towards the bottom. I like the idea of having something casual mixed up with elegance and a bit of punk. Either that or dresses – I'm obsessed with dresses.

♥ Desert island book, film, album and blog/website?

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith (amazing sci-fi book, which is only bettered by Spares, but personally I think this one is the best). 

Film would have to be Serenity as it’s a fantastic sum-up to the original series Firefly, even though you don’t get to find anything out about Shepherd!! 

Album would be Adele 19, at the moment, because I’m completely in love with her voice. 

Finally, blog would be Tartelette – beautiful photography and delicious recipes.




A HUGE thank you to Neha for letting me interview her :) If anyone wants to be featured or has any ideas about who you would like to see next then let me know in the comments :) 
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So Long, Farewell.



I’m afraid the title’s just as ominous as it seems; the time’s come for me to wave goodbye to Frills ‘n’ Spills and venture on to something different.

For a little while now I’ve felt a bit distanced from the blogosphere; some big changes are happening in my life and my mind has been wandering here there and everywhere. And it’s this change, in life and in myself that has helped me decide to flee the nest of Frills ‘n’ Spills and settle in my own little square of cyberspace.

Way back in 2009, me and Maria began sharing our thoughts, inspirations and dreams, spilling them onto the computer screen with trepidation and excitement. If I’d known back then that so many wonderful people would actually take the time out of their own lives to read our ramblings, I would probably have been far too nervous to even start. But you did. You took the time, the patience and the thoughtfulness to come back again and again, letting us share our feelings with you and helping us along the way.

As the blog has grown, so have I. What started for me as an uncomfortable admittance of insecurity and fear has blossomed into a release, a haven. So why move on?

The best way to describe this for me is like a chapter, a glorious part of my life that has now come to a natural end. I’ll cherish it, savour every word, but for me there’s no sense in holding back, in not turning the page to see what happens next.

And what will happen next? Who knows. I’m going to stay in the blogosphere, I can’t honestly imagine my life now without it – without that wonderful release of creativity, emotion, and of course without those beautiful people that I’ve met, talked to and befriended along the way.

To try and explain my feelings at the moment seems impossible, too difficult to evoke with words. But I do hope that this attempt at explanation hasn’t left you in the dark. I’m not disappearing, not from blogging at least, but will be saying a final farewell to Frills ‘n’ Spills as I carry on learning, growing and writing in a new blogging home that I hope to settle in to very soon. Maria has assured me she’s going to carry on writing for Frills ‘n’ Spills, sure to grow and develop in her own way as we both start anew.

So for now it’s a farewell wish from me. I have so many of you to thank, for sticking with me, with us, even during those nervous first steps we took. I will, of course be around on twitter and facebook as well as a new url, ready and eager to continue old friendships and hopefully create some new ones, but for now all that’s left to say is goodbye, and thank you. For everything.


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This week has been...the Maria version!

As Danni is currently somewhere underneath a massive pile of work, I have (temporarily) taken over! SO what have I got up to this week? 

I've had a night of girly cocktails...



...partied with Mr. Mark Ronson- seriously he was SO good, he even played  my favourite song of his: Somebody to Love ME. I fell in love after the first listen...



... finally got to meet Carla and some other lovelies at Plus London! [Cue utter fangirling!]


...had the best salad in the world


... received a lovely little parcel from Sarah which totally made my week!



...and woken up to Elle magazine, courtesy of Lisa...


I have been fairly ill these past couple of weeks but these little things have been making me smile, despite my horrendous workload and test on Monday [sob] luckily Spotify threw up this little gem a couple of days ago Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley: 123 Masterpieces! and I have been jiving away ever since.

What have you been up to? Any feel-good tracks to recommend? 
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This week has been...

Caffeinated

  Lyrical

 Sleepy
[You mean you don't take your nap by the telephone box? Oh...]

Childish

 Worthwhile

 Trashy

 Cute

It's nearly Wednesday....how did that happen?! Just when you'd quite like the weeks to slow down (a rarity as I usually just want the holidays to come as quickly as possible) before you start panicking about deadlines, time seems to work on a whole new, super-sonic scale.

But in spite of said time-flying, and subsequent raging panic, I've gotta say this past week (and a bit) has been lovely. Took a little trip to Warwick last week which, despite going to Warwick University (actually in Coventry...very confusing), I'd never visited. It was adorable, and warrants a separate post so for now I'll just say if you like sweet shops, bunting and vintage warehouses, it's a goldmine :) And not at all boring as my sleepy picture would suggest!

Also got a nice £20 incentive for taking part in some social research at Uni - it's a project I've been part of since starting and have had interviews for the last three years asking general stuff about my experience of Uni, Sociology, and life in general really. They're going to compare the responses we've given over the years....can hardly bear the thought of my naivety in the first one "oh yeaaah the work's like, greeeeat. Everyone's lovelyyy, all fine and dandyy thanks". Oh first year.

Anyways, apart from that I've pretty much done a bit of Uni work, watched trashy TV and been a massive fatty. A block of galaxy may have been demolished yesterday....I was too greedy ashamed to record that.

Oh and what are everyone's opinions on Big Fat Gypsy Wedding? I watched my first episode last week, got immediately hooked but am now reeling from this week's episode. I mean, grabbing? REALLY? :( boo.


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How to...curl your hair using rollers

At the end of 2010, we asked you what you wanted to see more of on Frills 'n' Spills this year and a few people asked for a tutorial on how to use rollers. I apologise now for how silly I sound on this video, I was super nervous and I hope you don't laugh at me too much! 




Let me know if you try this and how you get on! 

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Cream of the Crop

If you'd have told me back in 1995 that the meshy white crop top I adored would someday go out of fashion I would probably have cried. I loved it, not least because it made me feel like a Spice Girl. And therein lies the reason it was so hideous.



Fast forward 16 years and the humble crop top is beginning to adorn those spring/summer window displays that are creeping in, tempting us to re-enact those good ol' days of Zig-a-zig-aah.


I've bought a couple in past seasons, though have always plumped for an oversized style to avoid revealing too much of the nation's nans favourite pet hate...the midriff. Now though, I've got a pair of high waisted jeans to combat said peeve and just so happened to stumble upon this sequinned crop top in the Republic sale for a mere £10.

Is it a bird? Is it a lizard? No. It's a crop-topped blogger.

 I can't help but feel a little reptilian in this - the sequins remind me of shimmering scales, and boy do they make a noise. But noisiness aside, I kinda like it. Almost as much as my white crop top of '95. Almost.

Face didn't want to play. 
(Actually secretly practicing Spice girls dance moves)


So while the crop top might not be back in all of it's neon-mesh Sporty-Spice proportions, it's certainly making a well deserved comeback. Now, to practice those dance routines...


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This Week Has Been...

On fire
[read: AWN FIYAA]

Scented

Curly 
[thanks to this]

Organised

Turquoise 
[who doesn't want nails to match their candles? Hmm?]

Sweeet 
[first ever Creme Brulee. Hopefully not the last!]

Hunky
[Fancy  a personalised message from an Aussie cutie? Umm, when is the answer ever going to be no here?]

Eye Opening 
[pre-mascara vaseline = non stubby lashes. Win!]

Long-winded

and sensationally calorific.

All in all it's been a good'un I'd say. Plenty of food, friends and faffing around - always a good combination!

I'm beginning to learn that planning is key. I tried living the last-minute lifestyle, cramming in work quickly, stressing over unfinished essays or unmet friends and frankly, it hardly lasted a term. I just can't do it. I'm a geek at heart - give me a diary and a set of new pens and I'm ready and raring to go.

Oh God. That really was quite nerdy. I guess what I'm trying to say is that being organised is no bad thing for me, especially this year. Whether that's planning essays, work or socialising...it's all going in the diary from now on. 

Plus, I get things to look forward to which, in the midst of endless dissertationness [yep, it's a word] is always, always a necessity. Good luck to all those who're handing in theirs soon, I know there's a few of you! And please, go and have a drink on me when you've finished...

...monopoly money counts as payment right?!

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