Prophecy Girl Pins

Tuesday 30 July 2019

It's always sad when you discover an indy company just as they are closing down. I found Prophecy Girl weeks before they closed down unfortunately. They sold a variety of nerdy clothing, patches and pins, no clothing in plus sizes, but patches and pins are something I am always after! With a name like Prophecy Girl, I went on the hunt for Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired pins and I was not disappointed.


I grabbed 3 pins, first up was this Team Buffy pin. I love the detailing, the Scythe crossing behind the main design, a reference to the final season and Caleb and the Turok-Han, Mr Pointy the stake, and the Claddagh, a nod to Buffy's ring from Angel.


I then couldn't resist the counterpart Team Faith pin! (I wish they'd have a Kendra one too, would have loved that). This time the detailing includes Faith's tribal tattoo, and the knife the Major gets her that Buffy ultimately stabs her with. I put one on each side of my denim jacket. Teenage greebo me always thought Faith was 10x cooler than Buffy.


And lastly the Slay Every Day pin. This one features both Mr Pointy and Faith's knife, with the Scythe, Olaf the Troll God's hammer, and the famous Vampyr book Giles shows Buffy when he first arrives in Sunnydale to show her he knows who she is.

Most of my pins are feminist pins, or Pokemon themed pins, so I think these make a great addition to my jacket. I know Joss Whedon has turned out to be truly hideous, and that the show itself is problematic for so many reasons, but Buffy was the first time I had ever seen a girly girl kicking ass and being so strong and independent on tv, and I adored it. I loved Willow and how her nerdiness could save the day. I loved Faith's take no nonsense attitude. I loved Cordelia's story arc from stereotypical preppy prom queen to an essential part of the team (forgetting what Joss Whedon did to her in Angel because she did not deserve that!). I loved Tara's quiet soul and how she overcame her abusive family. I loved Kendra's desire to keep fighting even when she had lost her watcher. I even loved to hate the bad guys, Drusilla inspired teenage me to have a blindfolded porcelain doll on my bookshelf. 

If you see any Buffy pins, I'd love some more!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Prophecy Girl Pins

Tuesday 30 July 2019

It's always sad when you discover an indy company just as they are closing down. I found Prophecy Girl weeks before they closed down unfortunately. They sold a variety of nerdy clothing, patches and pins, no clothing in plus sizes, but patches and pins are something I am always after! With a name like Prophecy Girl, I went on the hunt for Buffy the Vampire Slayer inspired pins and I was not disappointed.


I grabbed 3 pins, first up was this Team Buffy pin. I love the detailing, the Scythe crossing behind the main design, a reference to the final season and Caleb and the Turok-Han, Mr Pointy the stake, and the Claddagh, a nod to Buffy's ring from Angel.


I then couldn't resist the counterpart Team Faith pin! (I wish they'd have a Kendra one too, would have loved that). This time the detailing includes Faith's tribal tattoo, and the knife the Major gets her that Buffy ultimately stabs her with. I put one on each side of my denim jacket. Teenage greebo me always thought Faith was 10x cooler than Buffy.


And lastly the Slay Every Day pin. This one features both Mr Pointy and Faith's knife, with the Scythe, Olaf the Troll God's hammer, and the famous Vampyr book Giles shows Buffy when he first arrives in Sunnydale to show her he knows who she is.

Most of my pins are feminist pins, or Pokemon themed pins, so I think these make a great addition to my jacket. I know Joss Whedon has turned out to be truly hideous, and that the show itself is problematic for so many reasons, but Buffy was the first time I had ever seen a girly girl kicking ass and being so strong and independent on tv, and I adored it. I loved Willow and how her nerdiness could save the day. I loved Faith's take no nonsense attitude. I loved Cordelia's story arc from stereotypical preppy prom queen to an essential part of the team (forgetting what Joss Whedon did to her in Angel because she did not deserve that!). I loved Tara's quiet soul and how she overcame her abusive family. I loved Kendra's desire to keep fighting even when she had lost her watcher. I even loved to hate the bad guys, Drusilla inspired teenage me to have a blindfolded porcelain doll on my bookshelf. 

If you see any Buffy pins, I'd love some more!

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

How I Edit My Blog Photos

Tuesday 16 July 2019

One of the common questions I see on blogger groups is people asking how they can edit their blog photos to look more professional. I don't have access to anything fancy, no Photoshop or expensive programme (some of my old blog photos were edited with Photoshop but when I got a new laptop I lost my copy of Photoshop). What I use is available as an app on a computer, and is available through the google play and apple stores. I use a programme called Afterlight, it cost 79p on my laptop, and similar on my android phone. I edit my phone photos through the app, as well as my blog photos taken on an actual camera. For the iPhone there is currently Afterlight 2 which is a more complex updated version, available for £2.99.


This is the original image I took using my DSLR, a Canon 50D. Full disclosure, I was a sort of photographer back before my carpal tunnel, so I know how to use a manual SLR which obviously helps my blog photos to an extent. However, as I stated before, I also edit my phone photos using Afterlight and I'm not using any fancy modes on my phone.

You can adjust a whole bunch of different things in Afterlight, I usually add some contrast to make the detail pop a bit more, and maybe increase the exposure slightly if it's a little dark. All of these options shown above are edited using a sliding scale, with previews, so you can see the effect before applying it to the image itself. With this image I'm going to increase the contrast slightly.
The thing that I love the most about Afterlight, is the filters. It comes with a whole bunch of built in filters that can really push a photo from OK to something much more finished looking.
Here I've opted to use one of the 'wander' pack, a filter called 'wicker'. I've used the built in slider to turn down the filter effects slightly, so it's at about 75% of it's full application.

Now this filter is a little cool toned, but I really like the depth and the green tones. So in this case, I'm going to increase the 'temperature' of the image and make it slightly warmer toned. I added about 15% warmth to make it seem like a lovely warm autumn day.
This took me a handful of minutes, but I think it took an OK photo and made it a lot more interesting and professional looking for my blog.

From this... 
To this!
Not a huge difference, but enough that I feel like they really add to my blog and look more finished.

The app is very similar on my phone, easy to use, and easy to undo any effects. Here's a before and after phone photo I've edited on my phone using Afterlight recently.

Edited vs unedited.
This isn't any major kind of edit, but I think the tones and the textures look a lot more interesting in the edited version on the left.
Little differences can make a lot of difference to the overall look of your photos. 
Here are a few more photos I've edited on my laptop and their originals.
Edited
vs
Unedited 

Edited
vs
Unedited 

Edited
vs
Unedited

I think it really helps my blog photography get that step ahead! And it's a really cheap and easy to use programme. I really pride myself on having blog photos that look professional and Afterlight really helps.

You don't have to have the fanciest and most expensive programmes to edit photos, so long as the exposure is roughly OK before you start editing.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

How I Edit My Blog Photos

Tuesday 16 July 2019

One of the common questions I see on blogger groups is people asking how they can edit their blog photos to look more professional. I don't have access to anything fancy, no Photoshop or expensive programme (some of my old blog photos were edited with Photoshop but when I got a new laptop I lost my copy of Photoshop). What I use is available as an app on a computer, and is available through the google play and apple stores. I use a programme called Afterlight, it cost 79p on my laptop, and similar on my android phone. I edit my phone photos through the app, as well as my blog photos taken on an actual camera. For the iPhone there is currently Afterlight 2 which is a more complex updated version, available for £2.99.


This is the original image I took using my DSLR, a Canon 50D. Full disclosure, I was a sort of photographer back before my carpal tunnel, so I know how to use a manual SLR which obviously helps my blog photos to an extent. However, as I stated before, I also edit my phone photos using Afterlight and I'm not using any fancy modes on my phone.

You can adjust a whole bunch of different things in Afterlight, I usually add some contrast to make the detail pop a bit more, and maybe increase the exposure slightly if it's a little dark. All of these options shown above are edited using a sliding scale, with previews, so you can see the effect before applying it to the image itself. With this image I'm going to increase the contrast slightly.
The thing that I love the most about Afterlight, is the filters. It comes with a whole bunch of built in filters that can really push a photo from OK to something much more finished looking.
Here I've opted to use one of the 'wander' pack, a filter called 'wicker'. I've used the built in slider to turn down the filter effects slightly, so it's at about 75% of it's full application.

Now this filter is a little cool toned, but I really like the depth and the green tones. So in this case, I'm going to increase the 'temperature' of the image and make it slightly warmer toned. I added about 15% warmth to make it seem like a lovely warm autumn day.
This took me a handful of minutes, but I think it took an OK photo and made it a lot more interesting and professional looking for my blog.

From this... 
To this!
Not a huge difference, but enough that I feel like they really add to my blog and look more finished.

The app is very similar on my phone, easy to use, and easy to undo any effects. Here's a before and after phone photo I've edited on my phone using Afterlight recently.

Edited vs unedited.
This isn't any major kind of edit, but I think the tones and the textures look a lot more interesting in the edited version on the left.
Little differences can make a lot of difference to the overall look of your photos. 
Here are a few more photos I've edited on my laptop and their originals.
Edited
vs
Unedited 

Edited
vs
Unedited 

Edited
vs
Unedited

I think it really helps my blog photography get that step ahead! And it's a really cheap and easy to use programme. I really pride myself on having blog photos that look professional and Afterlight really helps.

You don't have to have the fanciest and most expensive programmes to edit photos, so long as the exposure is roughly OK before you start editing.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Mid-Year Favourites

Tuesday 2 July 2019

I used to write 'favourite' themed blog posts fairly regularly. It was an easy way to share all those random little things I've enjoyed recently that don't deserve or require a full blog post. I haven't done one in absolutely ages, certainly not in 2019, so I figure a mid-year 2019 favourites seemed just right.


I love a good pin, and the Secret League do the most amazing Pokemon Go inspired pins. They had a sale earlier in the year so I snagged myself this limited edition Mewtwo pins, and the Level 40 articuno Team Mystic pin. I did get stung by customs on these even though they cost under the threshold on sale, because they put the full price as the value, but they are so well made and cool that I don't mind too much.


This amazing zebra print dress is from the Collusion range by ASOS. It is sadly out of stock now, but here's the funny thing. It's from the straight size range. It goes nowhere near my size, but someone bigger than me could easily have fit in this. It has a shirred top and a very full skirt section making it super comfy and stretchy. Keep an eye on the Collusion range for sure, because I can see them bringing this style back in other colours and prints.


My amazing Bloody Mary Metal moon ring that was a birthday gift from my husband Stu. It's called 'Knox'. Stu has their old style of moon ring, which was set in a more traditional crescent shape rather than on it's side, and he catches it on everything. I never catch on anything with the moon at this angle!


Our new bed! Our old bed was beyond broken. I had bought it 10 years before, incredibly cheaply, and it was always awful. All the lats were snapped, the mattress was long past needing replacing, and it was just so uncomfortable it was unreal. When we ordered our new bed we took apart and broke up our old one, just putting the mattress on the floor. If you've ever slept on a mattress on the floor you know it's not great. It was bliss compared to our old bed! This time round we got a divan style bed, figuring that the biggest problem with our old bed was the crappy lats. It's higher than our old bed and every night we climb into it and it's heaven.






I got to see The Spice Girls live in Coventry! I never got to see them as a kid, so when Stu surprised me with a ticket for Christmas I was unbelievably excited! We had standing tickets, but before they came on stage it was becoming fairly clear that they had mishandled who should have been allowed into the standing area and it was way over full. We opted to pinch a couple of seats and if they turned out to be anyone's we would move. Turns out they were actually empty seats and we stayed in them for the whole concert, we got so lucky, just looking at the amount of people squashed into the standing area was making us anxious. The Spice Girls were absolutely amazing. So much fun and everything I had ever dreamed of. I video called my Mum during 'Mama' and made her cry. Got so many daughter points.

And the final thing, but no photo because I don't want to share it publicly. My new car. A couple of months ago my car suddenly made a weird clicking noise when I turned it on. Had a mechanic come out and look at it and bad news, it needed a new engine. After exploring the cost of putting a new engine in it, it was almost what the car was worth, so I began a new car hunt. I've never picked a car before. I had bought small cars I could afford, or cars from family members, but I had never gone out and actively made a choice that I wanted a particular car before. When I'd test driven one particular car, I fell totally in love. And then I set out the hunt to find it in the colour I wanted to. I had almost given up hope when Stu found the perfect car, in our price range, in the colour I wanted. He had told me he would find me my dream car and he did. I love his determination! It took weeks to finally get my hands on it, and I absolutely adore it. I'll be honest, I've never really looked after a car before. I've always been messy and my cars have always born the brunt of that. Not this car! It's immaculate and I treat it like my baby. I feel incredibly lucky to have been in a position that we could do this and I'm so grateful.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx

Mid-Year Favourites

Tuesday 2 July 2019

I used to write 'favourite' themed blog posts fairly regularly. It was an easy way to share all those random little things I've enjoyed recently that don't deserve or require a full blog post. I haven't done one in absolutely ages, certainly not in 2019, so I figure a mid-year 2019 favourites seemed just right.


I love a good pin, and the Secret League do the most amazing Pokemon Go inspired pins. They had a sale earlier in the year so I snagged myself this limited edition Mewtwo pins, and the Level 40 articuno Team Mystic pin. I did get stung by customs on these even though they cost under the threshold on sale, because they put the full price as the value, but they are so well made and cool that I don't mind too much.


This amazing zebra print dress is from the Collusion range by ASOS. It is sadly out of stock now, but here's the funny thing. It's from the straight size range. It goes nowhere near my size, but someone bigger than me could easily have fit in this. It has a shirred top and a very full skirt section making it super comfy and stretchy. Keep an eye on the Collusion range for sure, because I can see them bringing this style back in other colours and prints.


My amazing Bloody Mary Metal moon ring that was a birthday gift from my husband Stu. It's called 'Knox'. Stu has their old style of moon ring, which was set in a more traditional crescent shape rather than on it's side, and he catches it on everything. I never catch on anything with the moon at this angle!


Our new bed! Our old bed was beyond broken. I had bought it 10 years before, incredibly cheaply, and it was always awful. All the lats were snapped, the mattress was long past needing replacing, and it was just so uncomfortable it was unreal. When we ordered our new bed we took apart and broke up our old one, just putting the mattress on the floor. If you've ever slept on a mattress on the floor you know it's not great. It was bliss compared to our old bed! This time round we got a divan style bed, figuring that the biggest problem with our old bed was the crappy lats. It's higher than our old bed and every night we climb into it and it's heaven.






I got to see The Spice Girls live in Coventry! I never got to see them as a kid, so when Stu surprised me with a ticket for Christmas I was unbelievably excited! We had standing tickets, but before they came on stage it was becoming fairly clear that they had mishandled who should have been allowed into the standing area and it was way over full. We opted to pinch a couple of seats and if they turned out to be anyone's we would move. Turns out they were actually empty seats and we stayed in them for the whole concert, we got so lucky, just looking at the amount of people squashed into the standing area was making us anxious. The Spice Girls were absolutely amazing. So much fun and everything I had ever dreamed of. I video called my Mum during 'Mama' and made her cry. Got so many daughter points.

And the final thing, but no photo because I don't want to share it publicly. My new car. A couple of months ago my car suddenly made a weird clicking noise when I turned it on. Had a mechanic come out and look at it and bad news, it needed a new engine. After exploring the cost of putting a new engine in it, it was almost what the car was worth, so I began a new car hunt. I've never picked a car before. I had bought small cars I could afford, or cars from family members, but I had never gone out and actively made a choice that I wanted a particular car before. When I'd test driven one particular car, I fell totally in love. And then I set out the hunt to find it in the colour I wanted to. I had almost given up hope when Stu found the perfect car, in our price range, in the colour I wanted. He had told me he would find me my dream car and he did. I love his determination! It took weeks to finally get my hands on it, and I absolutely adore it. I'll be honest, I've never really looked after a car before. I've always been messy and my cars have always born the brunt of that. Not this car! It's immaculate and I treat it like my baby. I feel incredibly lucky to have been in a position that we could do this and I'm so grateful.

Much love,
Kitty xxxx