♥ Cricut Mini Review ♥

Recently I got the opportunity to try out a Cricut Mini. I'd heard of Cricuts before, & wanted one, but they were a bit out of my price range (I think about £300 at the time). This mini version is a fair bit cheaper, it retails for £129.99. It's also not as big & bulky as the original, with less buttons. You have to have a computer & internet connection to use this one though, I don't think that's necessary with the original.
 

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Anyway, I actually got sent one months ago now, but I couldn't for the life of me get it to work. I didn't know if it was the software, or the machine itself. I did email Cricut support for help, but as they won't communicate via email on issues, which I found quite frustrating, as I have telephone anxiety. Because I was reviewing it though, I was eventually put in touch with someone who could help me via email. It ended up being that the first one was faulty, & I got sent a new one.

 

I was a bit apprehensive by this point, sure it was just me & not really knowing what I would do if I couldn't get the new one to work! Luckily, I plugged it in & it worked perfectly from the get go. Phew! So the first one was definitely broken when I got it out of the box. I do have to say though, if I'd actually bought the machine, I would have been pretty disappointed/annoyed at the lack of customer support, & probably just returned the damn thing & not bought another.

I set about planning what I was going to cut out (after a quick trip to Hobbycraft to buy some scrapbook paper & pink card), I knew I wanted to use the machine to help with labels for my shop, so in Craft Room (the Cricut Mini software), I made these labels for my headbands with some of the basic shapes. This brings me to my second negative point, I didn't realise that you couldn't use your own designs as well as the Cricut cartridges/downloads, so that was pretty disappointing.

Cricut just offers a range of clipart like images, you get a basic selection with the machine itself, & further sets are available off their website, but they aren't cheap. The cheapest is £1.99, for one project, up to around £50 for a font & basic shapes set. This is probably great for scrapbookers, & paper crafters, but disappointing for those that want to cut out original designs.

 

I made the best with the shapes I had on offer, & designed some simple labels & business cards for Dolly Darling. I do like them, & the headband labels especially are neater than my current handcut labels. It would have been nice to be able to cut out the Dolly Darling name in the same writing as on my website though.

I also tried out one of the basic projects that comes with the machine, these birthday cards, pictured below (you can also cut out envelopes, but I didn't bother). I think I should have changed the depth & pressure though, because the machine tore these a bit in places, despite using the same paper/settings I used for simpler shapes. Or slowed down the speed!

 

You are supposed to be able to cut fabric, cardboard chipboard, & vinyl with the machine as well as paper/card, although I think these require extra prep. I read up on the fabric at least, & you need to stabilize it before cutting, there are instructions to be found online, which I might try in the future. You can actually even buy a Cricut that cuts fondant icing, for cake decorating, which does sound fun, haha!

Overall, once I had got a working machine, I was happy with the whole process & how easy it was to use, just wish I could cut out custom images. There are other brands on the market which do offer this, so if I were to actually buy one myself, I would plump for one that had those features, rather than just a cartridge based system. If you'd prefer not to the designing work yorself & use it for things like scrapbooking, card making etc, then the Cricut does quite well for this - as long as you don't mind spending extra on the cartridges!

♥ Five Take: Project D @ Simply Be Review ♥

PROJECT D @ SIMPLY BE BRODERIE DRESS* // SOUTH @ VERY CARDIGAN // MISS SIXTY SHOES // ROMWE COLLAR // CHEAP FRILLS BUNNY BROOCH // ASOS BUNTING BRACELET // HANDMADE FLORAL HEADBAND // HANDMADE BOW BELT // FUZZY NATION DACHSUND BAG // JI JI KIKI CAKES RING* // DOLLY DARLING TEACUP RING

Hi everyone! Today I'm taking part in a one off Five Take, with 4 other fab bloggers, to show how we could style the same dress from the new Project D Collection at Simply Be. Check out how the others styled theirs:

 ♥ Lauren from Pocket Rocket Fashion ♥

♥ Amy from These Girls Turn Heads ♥

♥ Em from Oh, The Places You'll Go ♥

♥ Wendy from 52, 46, 54 ♥

We all picked out the same dress, although some of us went for the black version instead. Obviously I chose the ivory, & styled it in a very me way, with pink & purple colours, flowers & a novelty dog handbag. The dress itself is extremely pretty, with gorgeous scalloped edging, & pretty floral lace detail at the top which is covered by my cardi, sorry!). It's fully lined, so no worrying about underwear being shown through the dress, haha! It was just a bit too cold to wear it alone, as it's probably intended, being a summer style dress.

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The length is probably a bit longer than I'd usually wear, but not too long. I am 5"9 though, so if you are shorter, it will probably be past your knees. The fit is also great, I ordered my usual size 26, & it was a perfect fit, especially at the waist, where things can be a little large sometimes on me. It does have elastic at the back for comfort/ease of fitting.

The only problem I had is that the straps aren't adjustable, & I found them a bit big, which is probably why you can see the back of the dress dipping in these pics. The other downside is the price, this is £90, & whilst a lovely dress, I'm not sure I would have paid that much for it. I would have preferred to see it selling for £50 or less, but as this is one of Simply Be "designer" type brands, prices are usually quite a bit more than normal.

Daphne, my dachsund :P

♥ Georgina

♥ New Look Spring Outfit Wishlist ♥

BLOUSE // SKIRT // COLLAR // HAIR SLIDES // RING // SHOES

 

I think New Look has really been improving their plus size offerings recently, I've wanted to buy quite a lot of things. Inspire, their range of plus size jackets, dresses, skirts & more, has the pretty skirt & top pictured above for sale, which teamed with some more of their cute accessories, would make a perfect spring outfit. I always think their prices are reasonable too, with the exception of the shoes above (which are by cute indie shoe brand Shelly's), the whole outfit comes under £50. That's definitely not bad!
 

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I've noticed ASOS has started to stock the Inspire range too, so now it's even easier to buy. What about you, seen anything by New Look you like recently? I'd love to see your Spring picks!

 

 ♥ Georgina

 

 

Disclaimer: This post is in partnership with New Look, however all opinions are my own & I will never be paid to promote any brands I have not tried myself.



♥ Alice in Wonderland ♥

VINTAGE DRESS, VIA ETSY // DOC MARTENS // ASOS SATCHEL // OLD ENGLAND POCKET WATCH* // NEW LOOK BOW

I got this dress a while back, after seeing the lovely Ragini tweet about it. I rarely see vintage in my size, & if it is, it's usually not cute, so of course I snapped it up! It's a tiny gingham fabric, which I think you can just about see. I went with an Alice in Wonderland theme, which you probably already noticed, haha! Charlotte said I looked like I was a cosplayer, but there's nothing wrong with dressing up like a favourite character, I don't think!

♥ Georgina

♥ Pink Dalmatian ♥

HAND EMBELLISHED ASOS COAT // CAMBRIDGE SATCHEL // LE BUNNY BLEU FLATS // ASOS BOW // ASOS DRESS // VERY BLOUSE // DOLLY DARLING OPAL QUARTZ RING // OTHER RINGS UNKNOWN

Just before Christmas, I sewed some dalmatian fur to my old pink coat, & have only just got round to taking pictures. These were take up in Wales, unfortunately the last of my Wales pics, but oh well! I also have a little detachable fur collar I made to go with it ages ago, but I forgot to put it on for the pics.

A lot of my outfits in Wales no one ever saw, for it was pretty cold & I wore my coat most of the time. So this is what's underneath, a dress that I got from Charlotte, layered with my frilly blouse from Very. I didn't get good pics of my shoes, but they are my trusty bunny flats you've seen many times before.

One morning whilst we were up in Wales, a strange noise woke me up. It was a weird scratching noise, I thought it might be rats fighting (do they do that?) outside the door, but it turned out to be this little chap, who seemed pretty eager to get to the bird feeders! Unfortunately he did not succeed, although he came back about 4 or 5 times to try his luck. I ended up putting a bun on the windowsill for him, since he seemed so desperately hungry, haha! He didn't come back after that, so he must have appreciated it :P

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Anyway, talk to you soon,

Georgina x

♥ Easter Egg ♥

ASOS DRESS // ASOS FLATFORMS // H&M CARDIGAN // BAG FROM TKMAXX // HANDMADE GARLAND // HANDMADE BOW RING // REPUBLIC HEART RING // PRIMARK FLOWER RING

We don't really do much to celebrate Easter in our family, but this year we were invited for Sunday lunch at my Grandparent's, so I decided to get dressed up in my favourite dress for the occasion, along with my most Easter egg-y shoes! It was actually quite warm & sunny, compared to how the weather has been recently. Anyway, I had a lovely time, hope you all had a nice day too :)

 ♥ Georgina

♥ Fuzzy Floral ♥

ASOS SKIRT // ASOS BAG // H&M JUMPER // TOPSHOP SHOES // NEXT SOCKS // MAGASIN CROSS STITCH RING // ASOS HAIRBOW // EVANS PEARL BRACELET // BOW RING (PRESENT FROM CHARLOTTE)

Hey everyone! Sorry for being away for so long, was up in North Wales as you know, & was supposed to be back last Saturday, but the snow meant we couldn't get home till this week! Back now though, obviously. I wish I could post whilst up there, but no phone line=no internet. Somehow I only ended up taking 2 lots of outfit posts whilst I was up there, this being one of them.

 

To be honest, I'm rather glad to be home, the first few days were fun, but then I got a dreadful (& I mean dreadful!) toothache, & was in pain for the next week. Had to go to the doctor up there & get some tramadol, although even that hardly made a dent on the pain, just made me drowsy. Then we had the snow, although not on the peninsula, where we were, it was all across our route back to London, so we had to stay for a bit longer than planned. Hope you haven't missed me too much, haha :P

The dogs love the garden up there, it's about an acre, so lots of room for them to run around in! Sorry, Button didn't want to make an appearance for these pics, but I snapped a few good ones of Walter & Dillon!

♥ Georgina

♥ Flamingo Poppy ♥

EVANS DRESS // H&M CARDIGAN // ASOS BAG // CLARKS SHOES* // VINTAGE FLORAL BROOCH // DOLLY DARLING DEER BROOCH // MERRYFIELD POTTERY PINK WAFER BROOCH // HANDMADE POPPY CROWN

Hey everyone :) It's been almost 2 weeks since I last blogged, oops! I didn't mean to leave it so long, but haven't really felt in the mood for it recently. Yesterday I took some outfit pics for you all, it was bloody freezing, & also very windy, despite the sunshine. I may have dressed a little summery for the actual weather, eek!

 

I got sent these lovely suede mary janes from Clarks, which I am really pleased with. The heel height is perfect for me, I really cannot walk in anything higher than 2.5 inches, haha! Charlotte actually got sent these too, we both picked the same pair, but hers are in black, they also do them in a greyish pink/purple colour. I really like the mustard, but I've been finding it so hard to style! I need more colours that go with mustard, any tips? 

The dress is an old one, you've seen it before if you've read my blog for a long time. It's by Ruby Belle, & was part of a limited collection at Evans in 2009(?). Sorry about the creases, it wrinkles really easily! Grr! I really wish Evans would do stuff like this more, but I suppose I have ASOS for the trendy stuff. I haven't bought anything but tights from Evans for years now.

 

Anyway, I'm actually off to North Wales again tomorrow, so I really should go & pack now, haha! I will be back on the 24th, so after that I should have lots of new posts for you, since I get the chance to take a lot more pics up there.

♥ Georgina