Painted Glitter Turns 1!

When I set up my very own little space on the internet exactly a year ago today, I actually wondered how long it would be until the novelty of my new hobby wore off.

Yet here I am; a year down the line and I am more in love with blogging than ever.

Source

The blogging community is a far more amazing and supportive place than I could ever have imagined. 

You provide the perfect escape from day to day life and are the perfect audience for me to share my opinions, thoughts, loves and lusts. 

I don't think you guys realise how much that one little comment can brighten up my day; it means the world to me that so many of you care enough about what I'm saying to subscribe to my blog, comment and take the time to come back and visit again and again. 

In short, I'm seriously grateful to each and every one of you, so thank you.

Here's to the many more years of blogging to come.

Love always,

Jo xx

What I Wore | 21st Birthday Edition!

Yes I'm behind on my posts; bite me. I'll get there in the end!

Today I'm getting round to doing probably my last 21st-birthday-related blog post; my outfit of the day!

Dress - Primark | Necklace - Primark | Sandals - Next

Blue ring - Vintage | Scrabble ring - eBay | Above knuckle rings - eBay | Nail varnish - Kiko Apple Blossom

I actually received the majority of this outfit for my birthday. I knew I was getting the dress as I had picked it out whilst shopping with my mum. It's probably one of the most flattering dresses I own, it is just the perfect fit, has a really nicely structured top and is a thin, silky kind of material which just falls beautifully. I love the retro style print as well; it's not like anything else I have in my wardrobe. 

I've bought some gems in Primark recently so if you haven't been in for a while, I'd definitely recommend you pop in!

The rings all featured in my birthday present haul post (here), and the vintage one is now probably my absolute favourite. My mum bought it for me at a small market when we went on holiday down south, from a lovely lady who was telling us the story that it once belonged to her great grandma. 

I decided just to shove my hair back in a rough ponytail to make the outfit look a bit more casual as I didn't want to look too dressy, particularly as we weren't doing anything much until our evening meal. 

What do you think of the dress?

Love, 

Jo xx

Haul | 21st Birthday Presents!

I can't quite believe it was over a week ago now, but last week I had my 21st birthday! 

Luckily I don't feel any older and still act half my age so it's all good.

I thought I'd show you guys what I got; these pictures were taken before I had my birthday party at the local cricket club so since then I've been lucky enough to receive a few more bits of jewellery, gift vouchers, money, alcohol etc.

I know people sometimes complain about blog posts regarding birthday presents but they are my favourite blog posts to read, so just as a standard disclaimer I definitely am NOT boasting, I am just really excited and grateful to have received such gorgeous presents and I wanted to share that with you.

Now that's out the way, let's get stuck in!

My auntie bought me the VK's, Marilyn Monroe eye mask and red spotty ice pack (she blatantly knows me too well), along with some money, and my sister very bravely decided to buy me 21 things beginning with the letter J! 

Not all of these are pictured, but they included the Jack Daniels nail stickers (classy!), Jaffa cake keyring, and the gorgeous little Jane Austen book you can see peeking out just behind the acrylic makeup storage.

 The picture does not do this book justice at all. It's beautiful to look at and the paper is gorgeous; really thin and delicate so I'm not sure I'm brave enough to actually read it in case I ruin it! She also bought me the cute J scrabble piece ring, the gorgeous blue ceramic jar and the little colourful sticks on the bottom right of the picture. They are called Juicy Canes; I really wish I'd have taken a close-up picture of the ends of these because each rubbery stick is a different shape. They are so cute; and you chop them up into tiny pieces to stick onto your nails. They're so adorable, no doubt they'll be featuring on my blog anyway so watch out for that.

The gorgeous lilac Tresor Paris bracelet was a gift from a close family friend, I am so excited to own a genuine Tresor Paris bracelet! Everything else was given to me by my mum and dad, including the Real Techniques makeup brushes which I have been lusting after for far too long, a white rotating wooden pot to store my makeup brushes, the acrylic makeup storage, the vintage ring in the green box and the clothes in the image below.

Apologies for the bad photo quality, it was the best of a bad bunch!

My main gift from my parents was the party I mentioned before; I had such an amazing time and literally could not have had a better birthday if I tried. Don't you just love birthdays?

I'm also being taken shopping by my closest friends soon so that I can pick out some makeup for them to buy me, so I still have that to look forward to!

I am unbelievably grateful for all of my presents and I was well and truly spoilt rotten!

I have been doing a lot of shopping recently to get rid of the birthday money which is beginning to burn a hole in my pocket, so I think I'll try and get a few more haul posts up soon as well.

Love,

Jo xx

Homemade VW Campervan Birthday Cake!

I'd just like to start off by saying I've just begun my final stretch at uni: the last semester!

We've just been briefed on our dissertation so as you can imagine, having to get on with that plus my two other assignments and exams mean that my workload is absolutely sky high...
...and thats before my five day weeks at placement even begin.

Unfortunately this might mean my posts get a bit more scarce over the next few months, but please bare with me as I won't be neglecting you completely, honest!

Anyway, I totally forgot to write up this post, as back in December my sister turned 21 and as a little surprise, my mum and I decided we would bake her a cake shaped as a VW campervan!

We'd pretty much accepted this cake was going to be atrocious. I mean, come on...a campervan cake?
But we had a good go at it anyway and we were so chuffed with the outcome!

Okay, so I accept that it may be a little extremely uneven, and one side of the campervan went totally pear-shaped as bits of cake kept falling off the side so we just cheated and covered that bit with flowers instead.
But the fact it came complete with a dog kind of made up for all that.

All in all I'd count it as a success. I mean you can tell what it's meant to be, right?!

What do you think?

Have you ever attempted a bit of a crazy cake before?

Jo xx