The best Harry Potter Content on the Internet

*BOOKMARK THIS PAGE - I will be adding to it as I find new content!* 

I am a huge Harry Potter Fan. The perk is that the initial upset on finishing the books is quickly over with the stream of amazing content on the internet.






= This video parody of Uptown funk has been floating around the internet - with very good reason. I love the original of the song - but this video and song parody is amazing.



= Here is a list of alternate castings for the Harry Potter Movies. Some of them work better than others....

Take a look here

A potential Alternative for Barty Couch Junior. Thoughts?

= The other really popular Harry Potter video this week has been this interpretation of the friends theme. Total genius.



= If I was getting married again I would draw inspiration from this amazing Harry Potter inspired wedding article. But (hopefully) I won't be.... so might have to steal some ideas for my next birthday party?

= One very clever person has put a video together that puts all the story plot of Severus Snape into chronological order.If you didn't understand the value of Severus within the plot, this is the video that will explain all. It literally had me almost sobbing at my desk at work this morning.




= If you are looking for further Harry Potter music videos - I discovered "Not Literally Productions" on Youtube completely by accident. They have got some absolutely amazing parody songs. This one about Gryffindor pride is one of favourites.









= Then this series of cross over truths appeared on my Facebook feed the other day. Mind = Blown.

= If you are after some inspiration for a fan fiction plots this article on a range of fan theories could be worth a look. 

10 Strange Fan Theories That Will Change How You View Harry Potter

= Confessions from JK. Rowling

15 times JK Rowling shocked Harry Potter fans

= You will love this article on Hypon.com. It is 17 facts that Rowling has told us about the gang after the books finished. It's a great resource if you're writing an in-canon post book fic.

= I need this quilt in my life. Where do I get one???

= This similarly beautiful selection of signs from a Facebook store. I would love something similar to this in my bedroom! The boxes would also be an amazing box to store my crafts in. 

= An art student designed these amazing illustrated Harry Potted books. Take all my money and make me one please! Find more images here. 

Hope you enjoyed my blog! Don't forget to follow me on twitter to stay updated. 

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— Kirsty Holloway (@MrskirstyHoll) March 24, 2015

Funky Interior Design Inspiration

For nearly a year now I have been working with an amazing lighting company called Shine Lighting. This has given me an amazing insight and appreciation of interior design. To celebrate this, here is some of my favourite interior design related articles/idea that I have found circulating around the internet at the moment.

Articles by me 




If there is time, I try to put together design related blogs inspired by my favourite design trends. Here are some of my favourites...

This was inspired by my love of reading and a lot of inspiration from Pinterest.

What to do with unused space – Reading Nooks

The next article was written based on a number of discussions with customers. I thought I would put something together that might be useful. 

10 Steps - Bathroom design made simple

Moroccan style is something that has completely blown my mind. I completely adore the combination of fabrics and colours and lights.

Living room inspiration - Moroccan design in 10 easy steps (or less)

Ideas by others

Another perk of managing the social media for Shine Lighting is that I get to see some amazing interior design articles.

My total love and huge collection of books quickly helped me fall in love with this article:

GET ORGANISED: STYLISH BOOKSHELF IDEAS

This is less of an article and more of just an amazingly clever idea for a coffee table. If you don't like fish, or water, then look away now.

About the only problem I can see with this idea is if you need to move your coffee table occasionally.... I'm thinking a sturdy frame with wheels? Personally, this idea does 2 things for me. It solves the problem of having no space for a fish tank and gives me a totally amazing dining room table. 

Aquarium Coffee Table

To continue the theme, this kitchen island is amazingly beautiful. If you have a passion for fish, the size of this tank will allow you to create an amazing collection. 

Aquarium Kitchen Island

Knitting, Sentry guns and Airsoft

Apologies for the lack of content posted up this week. This week has been a strange few days.






Thursday night was a straight finish work and go. My husband and I were picked up by my parents and driven off. We were taking a trip to see my brother for the day. So that was a really cool as it was the first time we've seen him since he moved out. It's amazing seeing him growing up as an adult.

After arriving home on Friday afternoon, we discovered that we had a puncture! That was so not funny as we still had to make a drive up to Coventry for a show the following morning. Thankfully though my husband and father-in-law are both mechanics. So after an our we have a successful puncture repair and a new valve. It was also a good opportunity to do the same to the 'spare tire'. By 6 we were on the road.

We arrived on time to allow us to have some dinner before going to bed. Win!

The following morning we started out early. We had been invited by our friends to meet this at the British Airsoft and Shooting Show. Our very clever friend at Beltec has partnered up with Red Wolf to create some amazing Airsoft products.

This amazing contribution from Beltec to Redwolf's stand definitely stole the show.  It is a seriously amazing bit of kit. It stands over half the height of an average man and is fully controllable with a remote control. Thankfully it did not fit in our car - although if you added a chair it would be an awesome alternative for getting to work.

Here's a preview of it heading around the airsoft hall at the show. It clunks as it hits the floor as there is a concrete floor hidden below the carpet!

As part of RedWolf's stand they had also set up a home invasion game. Here is where my airsoft inexperience was made evident. Although, I managed a head shot on the first shot, my time was a fairly unimpressive 36 seconds. My husband managed a rather more impressive 14 seconds. That's why he runs an airsoft company and I help with the marketing/admin. Playing to strengths and all that....

We arrived home (after grabbing some cheeky takeaway food) late. We were both exhausted. To my utmost excitement we were met to a pile of post! 

One of the first things I found was this amazing core professional development certificate from the Institution of Direct Marketing. So this was pretty exciting. My results from my Professional certificate in Social Media Marketing should be through in the next couple of weeks. 

Another super exciting package that arrived was this box. It's got my 2 & 3rd issues of the Art of Knitting. It also has my freebies of some new knitting needles and a free pattern for a beanie hat with the required wool!

My Sunday was suddenly planned. With the arrival of the 10mm needles and my chunky emerald wool (which had turned out the week before) I suddenly had all the ingredients to make my cowl scarf. Having never done any chunky knitting before this was pretty exciting. On Sunday I managed to finished about half the rows.  I was feeling really pleased with my colour choice!

The issue I was starting to find on Monday morning was that the needles were about half the length I needed to cope easily with 150 stitches. Highly recommend longer needs (min 40cm) for attempting this chunky knit! We had a few holes in holes in the finished piece as I didn't notice when I dropped stitches. But I am rather proud of it!

It's super warm as well. Which was really useful as Tuesday and Wednesday have been really cold! 

Jan blog update 2015 - Craft update

Last year did not see much progression of any of my craft projects. I spent so much time planning on Pinterest and not much actual doing. This I did feel quiet disappointed about as I had wanted to get back in to crafting after uni.

That is why I am vowing to actually do and finish projects (or at least significantly progress in them).

Project 1: That Scarf

I'm not going to lie. The scarf is currently in the state it was pre-Christmas. The feature wall took up a lot of my time this month (not an excuse). Now that the big decorating job is finished I am hoping to have more time in the evenings to get this finished.

The work in progress scarf

Project 2: Fabric Patchwork Quilt 

On some positive note, I did manage to find a few spare hours to get on with my patchwork quilt (yay!). So I am feeling rather pleased with myself.

The design is inspired by something I found on Pinterest. However, rather than being seperated by white crosses, all of the crosses will be patterned. My thought was that this would be the best way of mixing the pattern fabric as individual squares might look a bit overwhelming.

Cross quilt patterns

Here is a quick sample of some of the fabrics that are going into my quilt. I've got a mix of fabrics I have brought and some that have been donated by friends and family for the project. The plan is to mix the block coloured fabric with the ones that have more white in the design.

Work so far...

I have started sewing them into crosses and used a large white sheet to formulate my design. The plan is to use the sheet as an extra layer below the patched side between the stuffing. I'm hoping this will secure the patched design.

Fabric Samples

Samples of completed crosses

For the back of the quilt I have a red piece of fabric with a printed image of the Hindu God. I brought it in Portugal as I wanted something in the blanket to remind me of the holiday. It will also give me the perk of a reversible quilt! I'll give you a sneak preview of it further into creation - so watch this space!

January progress...

So post Christmas work on the blanket has progressed from pieces to some of the crosses of the fabric actually sewn together! Originally I had began the design sewing together using invisible plastic thread. During this stage I discovered that that was not my best plan as some of that stitching is coming apart. So I am now using white cotton thread and make small repair stitches where necessary.

So here is a photo of my progress so far! I've given up on pinning them onto the sheet. This was manly because I was being an bit impatient. I really needed to see some progress to get my motivation going on this project.

Some of the more eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that my attempt at free wheeling this without a pattern needs more focus. The bottom cross with with flowers needs to be unstiched and moved across and up one square. Apparently spending a bit of time doing a line drawing pattern could be a good move.

Project 3: Learning to Knit - New magazine subscription to "Art of Knitting"

The art of knitting

In another attempt to get my creative juices flowing I have also subscribed to a knitting magazine. "Art of Knitting" - if you want to know more about it this is a really good review of the first issue. I've been knitting for years (hence the resolution to finish the scarf) but have never progressed past the basic cast on, knit stitch, cast off. So when I saw this I figured this would be a great opportunity to learn some new knitting skills! :)

The first issue (as you can see) is only 99p, the second issue is £1.99 and then every issue after that is £2.99. So, in comparison to other similar magazines it is really cheap. Part of the method to teach you every stitch is to use a different stitch for coloured squares. Eventually over the course of the series I'll hopefully knit myself a throw.  I will keep you updated on my progress. By subscribing you also get some free gifts as well - I love free gifts.


As you can see I have finished the first square! It is white and garter stitch. As this was a stitch I was familiar with it was pretty quick to do. However, I was able to make use of the video tutorials to learn how to cast on properly! So I felt rather pleased with myself.

Garter Stitch Square

This magazine also includes patterns to help you learn other skills. So I will get started on those once the wool arrives. My plan of not starting new projects might flounder here.... But I'll hopefully learn some new skills and create some funky knits! So watch this space.

Jan 2015 New Years resolutions - Get Healthier

I seriously cannot believe how quickly January has gone by. This has been a really good month for me though. Having now finished the month, I now feel healthier (slightly) and really pleased with how the month has gone.

Exercise

I have not actually managed to get more exercise inserted into my schedule. Unfortunately, I have not prioritised the time. So I need to prioritised

I have successfully moved my push-bike home.





Eat Healthier

However, I have started putting together weekly meal plans (around the 12th Jan) to consciously start getting more vegetables into my diet.It's also had the added benifit of keeping down my weekely shopping bill. The weekends I leave unplanned as I have know idea where I'll be. So we tend to have some sort of pasta dish or use frozen food from the freezer.

• Monday - Carrot + Ginger soup (home made!) with bread rolls (From Tescos)
• Tuesday - Left over and frozen home made curry with Indian style cucumber salad and rice. 
• Wednesday - Take away (Neither myselfor my husband could be bothered to cook
• Thursday - Mushroom and bacon kedgeree
• Friday - What ever is in the cupboards as my husband is out and I'm cooking for 1. 

• Monday - Lamb Korma (homemade) with Narn.
• Tuesday - Omelletes (Made by my husband) with leftovers from the fridge
• Wednesday - Sausauge taglittelli + fresh spagetti (this tastes so much better than the dried stuff)
• Thursday - Take away (we slipped again)
• Friday - Baked potatoes (frozen ones due to time and laziness) with beans, cheese and calslow.

• Monday - 'Quick and easy' carbonara (although I questioned the healthiness as I poured double cream into my saurcepan)
• Tuesday - At the In-laws
• Wednesday - Takeaway (we slipped again)
• Thursday - Fried egg sarny and chip butty (my husband cooked)
• Friday - Jacket potatoes with Chilli Con Carne

My lunches have gone from microwave and pre-prepped meals to below. I usually also bring in leftovers from the night before. So my diet is including much more fresh food.

Warmed lamb korma with salad

I'm really in the mood this month to try out some new recipes. If you have any favourites you would like to share please post below!

So how have you been finding your new years resolutions? Are you struggling or finding it easier than you thought? Post/ Comment below!

Jan 2015 - Resolution Update Reorganising

January has become the month of choice to redecorate my bedroom. I've managed to take out 8 carrier bags of clothes to the charity shop. There was quite a bit that I found that I'd forgotten I owned to begin with! Any denim has gone in a bag to create something with - watch this space.






I've completely taken my desk apart and replaced it with a storage unit. We got one of those 9 box white units from B&Q. They do a range of fabric boxes to fit the shelves (although the colours are a bit limited) and additional shelves to half the height.

B&Q Shelving unit

This has massively reduced the space being taken up at the end of the bedroom. So we have now freed up some extra space for a seating area in the bedroom.

In addition to creating a new seating area, we have also now created a brand new feature wall in the bedroom. My husband loves graphic novels and so he participated actively in finding the prints for the walls.

Marvel Universe Feature Wall

The marvel wall was inspired by our new table. We brought it (for £55!) off our friend  (Shabbylicious) who is fabulous at upcycling  furniture. This new table is definitely one of my favourite things in my bedroom. We got it just before christmas. But we have finally sorted the room out enough to move it in! 

The room is definitely not finished yet. But it's a really fun project. It's on hold for the moment though. We're being given a second hand double bed this month. We have one of those solid ones with no space under the bed. 

Our current king size bed takes up a lot of our floor space. We'll be reducing this is to a double and gaining space under the bed. That should help me clear the floor space a little more. 

Keep tuned for further updates!