The Curved Opinion

23 April 2013

A Belated Birthday

I've just realised that I have missed my blog's 200th post, so I have to wish it a belated happy birthday.

I'm not the same person who started writing this blog and in a lot of ways, that is as a direct result of creating the blog, putting myself out in the world and the people I have met and interacted with.

Along the way I have written about issues that I care about, had a good old rant when the mood has taken me and in the past six months have started posting about plus size fashion and shock horror, have even posted photographs of myself. Me, the girl who untagged every photo on Facebook with the merest excuse.

They say that they get out of something what you put into it. Well, I'll admit that there is a fair chunk of me in this blog but I have received so much more back. I've grown in confidence, I am a happier person and all my old issues are falling away.

Co-incidentally I have just been contacted by my first high street brand to review a dress and I have also had my first guest post published!! I have never been happier in my life than I am right now.

Happy birthday blog!

22 April 2013

Helping to Make Children's Parties Easier

One of the things I remember about my birthday parties as a child is the little touches that went into the party. The special invitations, the decorations, the party bags. I always remember that it was like a bit of a competition, between both the children and also the parents, as to who could hold the best party.

These days children’s parties are becoming even more competitive and elaborate. When you are working full time creating a full scale children’s party can be a daunting experience, not to mention costly but there are solutions if you know how to find them.

A friend of mine holds the kind of birthday parties for her son that you would dream about when you were a child. Last year was a safari theme, complete with cut out animals and trees, party boxes and banners, and a themed invitation. I remember at the time all the parents asking where she had got everything from.

It turns out that my friend Wendy had quite a creative streak and had designed and made everything herself.

Wendy has now gone one step further and has created her own shop on Etsy, with printable designs for parties, with everything from full party packs including banners, party boxes, invitations etc to separate pieces. Everything is customisable to your specifications.

As everything is sent as a pdf design, you can buy these designs from anywhere in the world and no postage is involved. You can simply print them out and put together at your leisure.

Take a look for your own children's parties. She is adding more designs every week and you can email with specifics requests. Here are some examples of her work, with photographs sent in from people who have purchased for their child’s party.

She can be found here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/WendysPrintableParty

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18 April 2013

Off With His Head!

Hello! I'm happy to tell you that I am now involved in a fashion challenge! I have been looking for one for a while now and after speaking to @BethTinkerbell on Twitter I am now a part of the Magnificent 7th.

We will be posting on the 7th of each month, and the aim of the challenge is to create an outfit to fit the theme, using clothes from our wardrobes, and yes that does mean digging deep into the depths and finding those long lost clothes! Hopefully one of us won’t end up in Narnia, but you never know with a bloggers wardrobe!

As you can tell, I'm more than a little late with this month's challenge but as I only joined this week, I hope I'm forgiven! This month's theme is monochrome.

After doing a little shopping in my wardrobe I came across this heart print dress from @verynetwork in the @So_Fab_Clothing range. I have put it together with a little red shrug that I bought from Next Inspire and also a red belt from @Asos.

Given the inclement weather we are experiencing I also added black opaque tights, my gorgeous black Hush Puppies shoes with heart cut outs and a heart necklace that I bought from a jewellery stall in a market.

All in all, I felt that the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland and given the day I've had at work today, I was sorely tempted to chop off some heads.