Mystery Blogger Award #3

30th Jul 201928th Mar 2023 | Suzi Stamp

Copy of Copy of Mystery Blogger Award

I have been gifted the Mystery Blogger Award by Uniquely Cass who runs a brilliant blog about all things she is interested and passionate about. If you haven’t checked out her blog, please pop over, check out her blog and say hi!

I love receiving awards and am always honoured to have been chosen as a recipient for them. I love answering the questions posed as I feel that it let you guys get to know me better, it’s a brilliant networking tool and I really enjoy asking questions for others to respond to. So thank’s Cass for the award and the opportunity to share with others!

What’s the Mystery Blogger Award?

“It’s an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion.”

OKOTO ENIGMA

Rules

Put the award logo/image on your blog
List the rules
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well
Answer the 5 questions you were asked
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify)
Share a link to your best post(s)

Cass’ Questions

What’s your all-time favourite book? Creepers by David Morrell
What book series was your favourite growing up? Mallory Towers by Enid Blyton when I was in Primary School then the Point Horror/Point Romance books.
What is your go-to song right now? Dare – Gorillaz or Strange Attraction – The Cure
(Funny Question) Who is your celebrity crush? Samuel L Jackson or Richard E Grant.
If you could travel to once place for the rest of your life, where would you go? Somewhere quiet, warm, sunny, that had easy access to a beach and had beautiful views.

About Me

I really love green tea, especially Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose tea!
I have some really weird fears including pipes and toilet cisterns.
When I was younger I had dreams of becoming a teacher or a card and wallpaper designer.

Best Blog Posts

My Nominations

My Questions

What is the weirdest thing that has happened to you?
What is your biggest accomplishment?
What are you most proud of?
(Weird/funny) If you were to be arrested, what would it be for?
(Shameless self-promotion) Would you like to be featured as part of my Saturday Shout Out series?

Building My Flat Lay Kit

29th Jul 201928th Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Copy of Copy of Building My (1)

I have been thinking a lot about flat lay photography and building my own flat lay kit since I attended the Bloggers Bash a while ago. Since that day I have been going through my craft stash and really thinking about things I can use to create flat lay images. I also visited my local Hobbycraft store and bought a few items after deciding how I would like my flat lay images to look.

Before I went searching and shopping I decided to sit down and think about my blog, what it is about and it’s identity. I have a theme that runs through my blog of colour, being bright and fun. I try to theme the days using the colours of the rainbow…

Monday – Red
Tuesday – Orange
Wednesday – Yellow
Thursday – Green
Friday – Blue
Saturday – Indigo/Purple
Sunday – Violet

and this theme runs through the graphics I create for each blog post. I knew that I wanted to keep that theme with any flat lay images I would be introducing to the blog and other social media platforms.

Once I had that in mind I then started to think about the kinds of blog posts that I publish, I have several different categories that I post in, from craft things, blog items, personal, fashion, reviews, beauty and food. While a lot of these posts are not tied to specific days, they are re-occurring posts. I sat and made a list of items that could be used as photography props for these categories – make-up brushes, stationery, hair clips, anything that I could think of went on the list.

I then narrowed down what I wanted to add to my kit that would be permanent items and separated out those items that were of everyday nature and that I could grab at any point.

I decided that I wanted colourful background papers and had a vast stash from scrapbook and card making projects that I sifted through one afternoon. I sat and made 7 different piles according to which colours I had assigned to each day.

I had some Project Life cards and some Smash Book pads (which I can only seem to find now on Amazon) and La-De-Da papers that I also separated out and added to the piles. I really like that these cards and papers have patterns and quotes on them and think they could come in really useful!

I bought some wooden letters from Hobbycraft and spent an evening watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix and painting them with acrylic paint in their assigned colours.

I also bought a background paper from Amazon which was double-sided,

I ended up with two because the first one came really badly battered, the second one was not much better. They were really badly packaged, wrapped around a foam strip and then placed in a plastic bag, there was no protection at all. Lesson learned – cheap is not always good. I have had them placed under heavy books and some of the creases have become less noticeable.

I added to my kit some foliage and fake grass, all from Hobbycraft, that I can use to add interest to the background of my images.

I have gathered other items to add to my kit from my craft stash and other places.

I have also added a ring light for my phone and a gooseneck stand to help with actually capturing the image. I got both from Amazon with a gift certificate that I had been given.

Here’s the full kit so far! I have it all stored in a plastic box that I had laying around, and each day has been separated out into its own zipped folder ready for me to grab when needed. I have some things lose that can be used for any day of the week!

Do you have a flat lay kit? What items do you use the most? I’d love to hear about your kit’s in the comments!

Saturday Shout Out

29th Jul 201928th Jun 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Saturday Shout Out gives you all a chance to meet some new bloggers, find new blogs to read or get your blog noticed a bit more. It is my way of thanking the blogging community for being so supportive of me and my little blog and introducing new blogs that you may not have seen or read before.

What this means…

Every Saturday I will choose one blog, share a bit about it along with your blog link. I will also share your blog to my Instagram account and my Twitter account.

If you are interested in taking part then drop me an email to my.colourful.life@outlook.com with Saturday Shout Out as the subject line and I will send you a form to fill out!

Weekly Roundup 21/07/19 – 27/07/19

28th Jul 201927th Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Copy of WEEKLY ROUND UP BLOG (2)

Sunday 21/07/19

I woke early, my room was too hot to lay around in so I got up, made a coffee and had some breakfast while watching an episode of “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” on Netflix. I then decided to have a shower and then do a tip run before going to my local B&Q (D.I.Y store). I had just finished loading up the car and was about to get in and head off when my friend pulled up as he had come to help me as a surprise! We went to the tip and emptied my car of rubbish then we headed to town. I bought some wood to cover some of the slats on my bed then we headed to another shop called What? which sells all sorts of things. I wanted a bag to put my winter duvet in, one of those that you can use the hoover to shrink down, I also picked up some Rose Incense by my favorite brand. We came home and sorted the bed out then decided to go and get some food. We came home and I planted out some plants, mopped the floors and then we just sat and relaxed for a bit. By 7:00pm we were all tired (Roxy included) so my friend headed home, I made lunch for work then went to bed.

Monday 22/07/19

Work went ok today, I seemed to get a lot done and managed to clear my desk of all the outstanding paperwork that needed my attention. After work, I came home and got changed. My parents and both my brothers came over around 6:45pm for dinner. We had arranged to have a take-away as my brother was down from London for a few days. We all went out and walked to the take-away, we had opted to have an Indian meal. We made our orders and while we were waiting decided to go for a walk around my neighborhood. We picked up the food and came back to my house. We had a fab evening full of laughs and conversation and a few beers were drunk too! It was a bit of a late-night but thoroughly enjoyable, I can’t remember when it was last just the 5 of us.

Tuesday 23/07/19

Today was an ok day work-wise but it was really hot and humid and I struggled to concentrate. I left work at 4:40pm and got home not long after. I popped to see my neighbor who had a parcel for me and we ended up sitting in her garden drinking iced lime and mint squash and having a lovely catch up. My friend text and said they were going to pop by after work. I left my neighbor’s and came back to my house. My friend came over and we sat and watched a film while eating icecream. After they left Roxy and I headed to bed. Not long after we had settled down a storm started, there were a few rumbles of thunder, then the lightning started, the wind picked up and it started to rain. I decided to come downstairs and open the back door and watch it for a bit. The rain got really heavy but cooled down the air. The storm went on for a few hours but I’d gone back to bed and was asleep by the time it had stopped.

Wednesday 24/07/19

Today was another short day, by 4:15pm I had finished all that I needed to do for the day so packed up and headed home. It had been another hot and sticky day so I had a cool shower and then pottered around for a bit. My friend called by when they had finished work and we had some food while watching something on Netflix. After they had gone home I worked on some blog things before heading to bed.

Thursday 25/07/19

Another workday and the first part of the day seemed to go ok. I had a bit of a down afternoon when it transpired that my colleagues had been invited to something by my line manager (outside of the office thing) but no one had invited me. I just felt really isolated and sad. I had a parcel to pick up from the sorting office so left work early which was probably a good thing as I really didn’t feel like being around anyone in work for much longer. I collected my parcel and came home then went to bed. I slept for a while before my friend called round to see if I was ok. We spent the evening chatting and watching a film which made me feel a bit better about the whole work thing. I worked on some blog things after they went home and had an early night.

Friday 26/07/19

I was still feeling miserable and upset from work yesterday and decided to just go to work, get my work done and come home again once the day was over. I wound up working until just gone 5:00pm when my friend came to meet me. We walked over to the car park together and had a really nice chat. I headed home and got back around 6:00pm. I did some housework and then did some blog things before my other friend called round. We had a nice evening catching up over a few beers. I didn’t get to bed until the early hours of the morning!

Saturday 27/07/19

Today I woke early and had a coffee before going shopping with my ex, he wanted a suit for a wedding he would be going to the following weekend and wanted an honest opinion and help with finding the right one. We ended up going to Next and looking at suits in there. I was pretty amazed at all the different types of fit from super skinny through to traditionally styled suits. It was all a bit complicated. He wanted to get a jacket, trousers, waistcoat, tie, and shirt. We found a jacket pretty much straight away but then had to find trousers that matched, sounds easy but there were so many different black trousers and some of them were in a different fabric so didn’t fully match. Eventually, he settled on a pair then chose a waistcoat, several shirts were tried on until we found one that fit but they didn’t have the size in stock in the fabric that he wanted so had to go and try on a few other shirts. He found another style that fit and it came with a tie so that was all good! We came back to my house and had a coffee before going out into the garden. My lawn had grown a fair bit so my ex got the mower out and blitzed the lawn for me. After he left Roxy and I decided that we should have a nap so went for a lie-down. Once we woke up, around 2.5 hours later, we came down and I had a coffee, made some food and then decided to rethink my bed. The pallets were placed in a way that made it awkward to move around and I figured that I could possibly use just 2 instead of the 4 that I had been using. I had to move everything around in my room but I managed to get it all done and now my bed base is a lot better to get around! Since then I have been working on my blog schedule for August and sorting out some housework.

How has your week been? What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review – Frozen Grave – Lee Weeks

26th Jul 201926th Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Book Review (1)

I picked up this Lee Weeks book from the book swap shelf in work a few weeks ago. I was drawn to the book by the blurb on the back which said

Someone has a list of victims. And they’re crossing the names out one by one.

The first body is found in a dilapidated warehouse in London’s East End. Then another woman burns to death in her own home. She was alone but all signs point to murder. Two seemingly separate victims, but Detective Inspector Dan Carter and Detective Constable Ebony Willis are convinced they were killed by the same person.

And when a third body is found, the detectives start to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. But what connects the victims? And who will the killer go after next?

I love a good suspense, murder mystery book and this sounded right up my street. This is the 3rd book in the DC Ebony Willis series, and though I have not read any of the other books in this series I didn’t feel that I had missed anything, it was a good, stand-alone book in its own right.

The book starts off fairly fast-paced and leaves you wanting to read more, I felt that if I was to have read this at home I could have easily read it in one go but, as I read it in my lunch break in work I had to make do with short bursts!

The book follows DC Ebony Willis and her colleagues as they try to track down the killer of women whose lives are entwined with a man, JJ Ellerman, who gives off the impression of being a successful, rich businessman, though reality is that he is struggling to make ends meet while juggling several relationships, a wife and other big life problems.

I really enjoyed reading this book, although I was left at times feeling pretty confused as to who was who. The use of first names and then switching to surnames during the police dialogues was really hard to follow and I needed to re-read some parts of conversations to make sense of who was saying what.

I did think that the ending was a bit rushed and could have been stretched out a bit more but overall the storyline was well thought out and well-paced.

I’d really like to read some more of Lee Weeks DC Ebony Willis series just to get a better feel of all the characters.

Have you read anything by Lee Weeks? What did you think?

Top 10 Favourite Flowers

25th Jul 201924th Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Coming soon! (2)

I did have a whole other Top 10 planned for today, but after receiving some beautiful flowers from my Mum a short while ago I was inspired to do a Top 10 Favourite Flowers post!

Here goes… In no particular order

Sunflowers
Sweet Peas
Freesia
Rose
Bluebell
Lavender
Gerberas
Honeysuckle
Pansies
Jasmine

Words on Wednesday

24th Jul 201923rd Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

Wednesday (3)

Today, this post is going to be about something I have been thinking about for a long time – qualifications and skills, both of these things have been on my mind since I decided to update my C.V a few weeks ago.

We all have qualifications, G.C.S.E’s, A-Levels or the equivalent, some of us have N.V.Q’s or City and Guild’s qualifications, some of us have degrees and these are things that employers look at when we apply for jobs.

The other thing that we all have, that prospective employers are super interested in are the skills that we have obtained through different job positions we have held, these are listed under our “Work Experience” section on a C.V and often will be a brief description of what we do on a day-to-day basis in our employment.

But what about other skills that are self-taught and we have learned on our own? Those skills that have no qualification tied to it, nor any referee that can vouch for those skills? I have a “Hobbies and Interests” section on my C.V and have several things listed there but no real explanations of anything as, not only would it take up space but I have always been taught that professional qualifications and skills are the things that most (if not all employers) are most interested in.

I have always given a list of hobbies and interests on every C.V that I have ever handed out, but in the interviews that I have attended have never really been questioned in any depth about these topics.

It has all got me thinking…I have gained some really valuable skills that have been learned and self -taught because of my hobbies and interests, shouldn’t these skills be as important as those gained in work or educational establishments? In fact, in some ways, shouldn’t these skills be even more important and nurtured by employers?

We spend a great deal of time with our hobbies and interests, they are things that have piqued our interests and things that we want to spend time doing, learning about and honing our skills in, and that we have taught ourselves these things should be an added bonus.

For example, through blogging, I have learned a lot about WordPress, websites, SEO, layout, design, content creation, content writing, time management, scheduling, attracting and engaging readers, social media, Canva…the list goes on.

Every single hobby and interest has its own unique skill set which should be given the opportunity to be showcased and shown off to prospective employers. A covering letter used to be the go-to thing for being able to explain why you are interested in certain positions and any other relevant information that may be of interest to the employer when considering you for the job. Unfortunately, many companies don’t even want a C.V any more, everything is done by generic application forms which give no space to list any other skills you may have outside of the work environment.

And that, the lack of interest in any other skills, is where my frustration lies. I am more than just qualifications and stats that can be proven, used in a massive game of “Top Trumps” in order to single out the best candidates for the job. There is more to my skill set than I am ever given the chance to say, and I think that goes for most people. How can employers know that they have the best person for the job without taking into consideration us as whole people with skills that come from our “Hobbies and Interests”?

And more to the point, how can we detail our skills and experience outside of the jobs that we have had?

A Day In My Life…Work Day

23rd Jul 201923rd Jul 2019 | Suzi Stamp

A Day In My.png

Work takes up a huge percentage, around 33%, of my waking life, so today I thought I would share what a typical working day is like for me.

7:00am

I usually wake around 7:00am on a regular weekday when I am going to e working. I wake to the sound of my alarm and set it to snooze for 10mins so I can have a snuggle with Roxy before starting my day. I then get up, have a shower, get dressed and put some makeup on.

8.00am

I come downstairs and put the kettle on, let Roxy out into the garden and start gathering up my lunch stuff. I make a coffee and at the same time, I make myself a travel mug of coffee. I pack everything I need into my day bag, drink my coffee and find my car keys.

8:20am

I get into my car and begin my drive to work which doesn’t really take too long. I am usually parked in work by 8:45am. I then sit and have a quick read of some blogs while having a cigarette or a puff on my vape before heading into work at around 8:55am.

9:00am

I get to my desk at a few minutes to 9 most days. I log in to the system and unpack things I need for the day. I then look at the work that I need to do for the day. My manager has usually split each of my team work that needs to be done during the day, the work varies depending on the types of payment that we need to process. I assess the work that I have been allocated, normally I like to start with the things that take the longest and make my way down the pile in descending time order. I check my emails and reply to anything that needs to be answered, sometimes my manager will have emailed with how she wants work to be completed depending on where we are in the pay cycle. By 9:15am I have a plan in place and I start the day.

10:00am

I have my breakfast at 10:00am while I work as I have found eating before I take my medication helps me to feel less sicky. I have my breakfast and drink my coffee before taking my meds at 10:30am. I continue to work on processing payments while I eat and have my coffee.

11:00am

Thi sis universally known as Tea O’clock! At 11:00am I go and make a cup of tea (I drink Tetley Red Bush Vanilla, no sugar, no milk!) and fill my bottle of water up. Once that is done I then return to my desk and check my emails before continuing with processing.

12:00pm

The post has usually arrived by now so I will spend some time opening and sorting the post. Some of our post needs to be logged onto the system and then sent to our sister office for them to process. I usually log the post and pack it up ready to be delivered. This can take an hour or so.

1:00pm

Between 1:00pm and 1:30pm I have my lunch. 90% of the time I sit at my desk and have my lunch while reading my book. I don’t really like our staff room, it is too small and can be super noisy and hot and it can smell weird too, I always feel on edge in there but more comfortable at my desk.

1:30pm

By 1:30pm I have finished my lunch and will start back to work. I like to start my afternoon by balancing figures and making sure that the figures that have been sent to us match with what I have processed, and if not, find out why and make any amendments so that they all are the same.

2:00pm

Did you know that there are officially 2 Tea O’clocks in the working day?! 2:00pm is definitely my favorite of the two! I make myself a cuppa and re-fill my water bottle (that gets filled about 5 or 6 times through the day) then return to my desk to continue processing payments.

4:30pm

I have usually finished my processing for the day so work on paperwork and booking appointments for the last half an hour or so before I start packing up for the day. Sometimes I will work on a bit later (maybe to 6:00pm) depending on how many appointments need to be booked.