My Youtube Videos!

I've had a Youtube account for years now, but haven't made any videos on it. Like I mentioned in my first post on the subject, for a while I made videos about makeup and beauty stuff but I wasn't really enjoying it. So I stopped and deleted all my videos.

Now two years on and I've started making videos again! But they're about books and I'm so happy I started. I'm so glad I found the Booktube community. I've had such a wonderful response from others in the community, that I really wasn't expecting. Everyone is just so involved and active, commenting on videos and replying to each other. It's so lovely!

I've made four videos so far and I've got a few more that I plan on making soon. Including the Taylor Swift tag! And a few other tag videos and some "get to know me" type videos.

Here's the videos I've made, except the introduction because I didn't make a thumbnail for that. I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to customise the thumbnails and make my own!

Click the link below the photos to see my videos.

Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix Book Review

This is the first review I've posted and I'm really pleased with it, this is such an awesome book and I wish more people knew about it!

November Wrap Up

First wrap up video, I was very excited to make this and very proud of how many books I read last month. I'm going to try and read more in December so I can talk about more books at the end of the month.

First Book Haul

Buying books is my new favourite thing, I've got another haul planned for next week because I bought loads of books online from a really cheap website/shop.

So these are all the videos I've made so far and I can't wait to make more as I read more books!

Book Selfies!

The other day I started deleting stuff to make room on my laptop. I went through all my old college work and music and made some space. Then I went into Photo Booth to get rid of all the rubbish photos I have on there.

I've had my laptop since my 16th birthday and now I'm 21 so I had a lot of photos! I deleted loads but I kept most of the good ones.

I also kept all the ones of me and the books I've read. I thought it was quite funny how many photos I took of myself reading!

I think these were all taken from early 2010 to late 2011, so I would have been 16/17

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

I remember reading this book and loving it! But I didn't carry on with the series because I didn't like it as much.

 

 GCSE Maths Revision Book - Does that count? I doubt I read much of it!

 It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

I saw there was a film coming out based on this book and I did some research and decided I wanted to read the book first, I'm so glad I did. It's a great book and a great film!

 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

After seeing Sophia Copola's adaptation of The Virgin Suicides and loving it instantly I really wanted to read the book. But I just couldn't get into it. I think I need to read it now I'm older, maybe I'll appreciate it more.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 

THIS BOOK! This is my favourite book of all time. It deserves it's on post entirely. I'm going to save that for a video though, on my new Booktube channel!

I read this book during the summer and then lent it to a friend, big mistake! I never got it back. So I bought another copy and read it again, that copy has a better cover as well!

 Harry Potter (1, 2, 3 and 4) by J.K. Rowling

I can't remember why but at some point during this year I wanted to read all the Harry Potter books! When they first came out I listened to them all on audiotape, so I'd never actually read them...

So I bought the first four from a charity shop, just to get me started. But I never carried on with it after these ones.

 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

 Harry Potter Companion books, also by J.K. Rowling.

Again, I was VERY into Harry Potter this year!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling. 

In the time it took me to read the first two books I've cut and dye my hair blonde!

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffret Eugenides (again)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I absolutely love The War of the World, I listen to Jeff Wayne's musical version every now and again. I used to listen to it with my parents when I was little, I will always love it!

1984 by George Orwell.

I never finished 1984, I just couldn't get into it!

This was when I was a bit obsessed with Doctor Who, especially Matt Smith. He has been my favourite Doctor. "Bow ties are cool"

I should start doing this again, on my laptop. I think it's a cool idea to document the books I'm reading, what my hair looks like and other little bits in my life.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what I read and how young I look!

Booktube!

I've started a Booktube channel! I've had a Youtube account for years and this one I've had since 2012, when I tried making a beauty/makeup channel and failed!

But I'm really excited about booktube! I've been watching videos about books for a few weeks now and I just really wanted to get involved and post my own. So I tidied my room, charged my camera and hit record! And this is my introduction video to my new channel! 

I spent the other night trying to make a banner/channel art for my page. It's safe to say that it's pretty rubbish, but I'm not a graphic designer and it took me all day to make the header for my blog, so the Youtube one was bound to either take ages or be crap!

I just wanted to make something quick so I could get started. Also, I'm liking the fact that I still have 10 subscribers from my old channel! I'm not enjoying that my channel is actually called TeenageWaasteland. That's what my old tumblr account was called and I thought it was really cool! Oh well, I've changed the settings and my name is what you see on it instead.

I've got a few videos planned/recorded that I'm going to post. I know I've already said it, but I am really excited about this and I can't wait to really get into it and have a few videos on my channel and maybe get a few subscribers and people I can talk to about books!

This is how much I love Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Please prepare yourself for an explosion of words and feelings. Because I'm not sure if I can put into words how much I love this book.

But I think the fact that I read it in three days says a lot. As soon as I started reading this book I just couldn't put it down

There's a quote on the cover of the book from John Green that says "Reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love, but what it's like to be young and in love with a book"

And I agree with this statement 100%! I am a huge John Green fan and this is one of the reasons I read Eleanor and Park. As well as the fact that it's set in the 80s which I love.

The story starts with Eleanor moving back home after being away for a year. She meets Park on the school bus when there's nowhere else for her to sit, so she sits next to him. At first they don't talk and for a while he ignores her, until he notices that she's sneakily reading his comic books that he reads on the bus. One afternoon she gets off the bus but they haven't finished reading a comic so he gives it to her. And that's where it all begins! Over the course of a school year, they share comics, mixtapes and their hearts. That sounds so cheesey but I couldn't think of how else to put it! Because that's what happens! But it's not cheesey at all, it's so well written!

It's full of references to comic books, films and awesome music! The "soundtrack" of this book is amazing. You'll find yourself up at 2am reading, listening to The Smiths and wishing you could give Rainbow Rowell a hug for creating such a wonderful story with such magical characters.

You'll experience every emotion reading this book. It's got everything and it's beautiful.

I feel a bit like Peter Pan with my choice of reading material, the little boy who didn't want to grow up, like I'm refusing to grow up myself. Even though I'm 21, I'm still reading books about being 16 and falling in love for the first time. Not that I'm complaining, I love a coming of age story! And I don't ever want to stop reading books about teenage life and falling in love.

AND another thing, the cover of the book is the same colour as my other favourite book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Coincidence? I think not!

If you like The Perks of Being a Wallflower or anything by John Green then I think you'll love this.

(All the artwork in this post I found on Pinterest, they are by a few different artists. Here's links to them on their tumblrs. paperpie, siminiblocker and oh-clock)

I've Gone Cross Stitch Mad!

Over the last few months I've really been getting into cross stitch. I first started doing little cross stitch kits when I broke my ankle at the beginning of the summer and now I absolutely love it. I'm a little bit obsessed!

This is all the stuff I have in my cross stitch kit and how I store everything.

So first I have my sewing box, I bought it from John Lewis and it is the Daisychain print from one of their 150th anniversary collections. The outside is cream with yellow and blue flower details and the inside has a contrasting blue polka dot pattern. I love the little pocket and pin cushion, they're so useful!

In the top I keep the threads I'm using for the project I'm working on, as well as two pairs of scissors, a tape measure, a stitch picker and needles. I also have a few pens and pencils as well as the bits and pieces the box came with.

Underneath I keep my 10cm embroidery hoop, aida fabrics, spare thread, old patterns and mini cross stitches I've finished.

This is my bobbin box, isn't it amazing?! I got it from amazon but I have seen them in craft shops as well. You can also get different sizes, depending on how much space you need.

I have started organising my threads into colour order but I haven't done it properly yet as I did this quite quickly last night. All of my thread is from John Lewis. They have really good value embroidery floss there. You get a packet of 36 different colours for £5.50 so it's perfect for starting your collection. I got the cardboard bobbins from Ebay.

I have one cross stitch book and it's the Cath Kidston "Stitch" book. It's a really great book with beautiful photos throughout. It's full of different patterns and projects. It has tips and tutorials on different types of stitches and the projects in this book suit a range of abilities. 

This is my current project that I'm working on and it's from this book, it is the House Cushions pattern. But I'm not making the cushions I'm just following the pattern and making it into a picture to frame it.

Recently I found this Cross Stitcher magazine in Tesco and it's brilliant. It's full of different patterns and projects. I've seen one I really like in here and I can't wait to get started on it. This issue also came with a free gift - 6 cardboard sausage dog thread bobbins and neon thread! They are so cute!

I also use an A5 Black n Red notebook to plan any little cross stitches as well as copy some patterns from the internet. It has squared paper and is perfect for drawing your designs.

I'm so glad I started cross stitching and I'm really happy that I've found a hobby that I love so much. It's really satisfying to finish a cross stitch after you've worked so hard on it as well. Soon I'll be finished with my Cath Kidston House picture, I can't wait to frame it and hang it on my wall!

Pugs! Not Drugs!

This may seem weird, I'm writing a blog post about my blogging ideas book!

I just wanted to show you how cute it is! I got it from Tesco and it's just perfect.

Pugs are one of my favourite dogs and this is a phrase I say all the time.

So I got this notebook to write down all my ideas for future blog posts. I mostly bought it because I just LOVE getting new stationary and notebooks! But this one will serve a purpose and it'll look cute doing it.

As you can see it's has a plain white cover with this adorable but kinda ugly pug on it. I still love him, he's adorably ugly! It has a blue elastic strap on it, to keep the journal closed or to use as a page marker. I just use it to keep it closed, I don't want anyone stealing all my great ideas if it's left open!

On the inside it's pretty basic too, with grey lines that are kind of uneven so they look like they've been drawn on. Each page also has a few paw prints in the corner. The inside of the covers are both full pages of paw prints.

I like that it's such a simple design and that it doesn't have too many colours on it. 

I'm really happy with my new blogging book and I've already written quite a few ideas in it. I've been thinking of getting a new camera as well, but for now I'm just going to keep using my iPhone camera because it's alright really.