When i went to my first festival

So i thought id start off by reviewing my first time ever at a festival !!! to be specific LEEDS!!!

I must admit it was a bit of a faf from the start i bought the ticket in 2012 to get a cheeky bit of money off and as soon as i saw Eminem was headlining i knew i HAD to go!!!

I was so excited until it was the month before and i had no one to go with still :s i tried everything under the sun to find someone to come with me, the line up looked amazing and i was too excited to sell my ticket i was going no matter what!!! in the end i paid for my boyfriend to come with me as he booked the days off work. Now the party could really start .

We went food shopping first and managed to fill our tent with tins and of course plenty of alcohol and DIY'ed clothes.

I made a dress from a five pound top from H and M, studs and a flamingo print material i bought from ebay which i also made a pocket on a pinafore using the material out of.

I also made a Floral crown following MELONLADY (one of my favorite bloggers) tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceROFrs4Hms ,using fake flowers and an old headband, so simple.

So basically with it being my first time at leeds i pretty much took old clothes, D.I.Y'ed stuff and the usual dry shampoo. Dressed in my most hippy chick outfit complete with a tassle woodstock festival top and a teddy bear ear straw hat from ebay we let the adventure begin.

But as much as i was prepared things didn't exactly run smoothly. We got early bird tickets so got the coach from Warrington to Leeds which after turning up late and having no space underneath for our stuff we weren't in the best moods lumbered with alcohol clothes and our tent on our laps we tried to look on the bright side. I don't think we anticipated just how busy the early bird ticket would be or how we both didn't have super muscle strength to carry all of our stuff. In the end we gave up with the trek to Red camp site and settled on White, right near the arena, with a bit of ingenuity in finding an abandoned trolley we managed to drag our stuff to camp. The first night we just settled in and made some tea with one of many tins we had burritos.

 It also gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my  LMFAO onesie. i never really got the onesie craze and it is difficult to put on in a tent i will admit but my god it is soooo warm and cozy on cold nights i can understand the craze. we went on a few of the rides on the fun fair section although Andy (my boyfriend) went on some of the bigger ones as i'm a bit un-trusting of the fairground rides.

On the second day we made friends with a couple next to us and played a few drinking games in the sun. But later on things took a dreadful turn, firstly we had our gas stove taken off us even though it says on the website it was allowed. We were devastated all of our food was cold tinned stuff we had to survive on two biscuits a day for the next four days.....we were going RAY MEARS style.
This wasn't the disaster of the day however, later on
just  as we were getting firewood to have a camp out
 all nighter under the gazebo of our new friends it
chucked it down. In England, we all know what the
 weather can be like but this was something else,
 thunder and lightning and not to mention our tent
ended up like a swimming pool. With some quick
 thinking from Andy he ran like superman to get a
 new tent and rescue us from this next disaster, at
least we now had a pool to keep the beer warm eh?


The next morning armed with a programme disposable camera and a spoonful of optimism we planned out the day of band seeing.

I made us a little programme on my phone but we did see a few extra bands that we werent planning on seeing. This was it:

 Friday
NME Stage:Dinosaur Pile Up
Main Stage :Hadouken
                  :Don Broco
NME Stage:Tribes
                  :Haim
Main Stage :Fall Out Boy
                  :Nine Inch Nails
                  :Biffy Clyro

On Friday the best bands without doubt were Hadouken,Fall out Boy and Biffy Clyro ending the night was amazing. Their set list and laser, graphics and fireworks was a brilliant opening to the Festival. Tribes and Haim were fantastic too. The only one i was really dissapointed with was Dinosaur Pile Up which was the first band me and Andy saw
 together as a couple in 2011 at the Rock Sound
Exposure tour at Sound Control
Manchester i even wore my signed T-Shirt to the
festival.

We also had a look round the other tents
and went on the ferris wheel and saw just how big
Leeds was. We went in The bubble tent too
where you inhaled air that was supposed to reduce hangovers and make you feel generally great it was a unique experience to say the least.





 Saturday

Main Stage :While She Sleeps
NME Stage: Kodaline
Main Stage :Frank Turner
NME Stage: Bastille
Main Stage :System Of A Down
                  :Green Day
NME Stage:Skrillex

Saturday was a bit of a suprising day we went down to the main stage early to see who was on and a band id never heard of before While She Sleeps was kicking off the sets and i have to say THEY WERE AMAZING!!!! Even though id never heard of them before i felt myself head banging and loving the set, after that brilliant start to the day it just got better and better. Kodaline were no doubt fabulous but even though it was muddy as anything Frank Turner stole the show singing Those four words "iiiiiii want to dance" having everyone dancing in the rain.

Andy stuck in the mud but still loving leeds,
excuse his man bag he was holding my Kag in a bag.

 Things went a bit mad after Mr Turner as it was raining so heavy that everyone rushed into the biggest tent The NME, so unfortunately we didnt get to see Bastille, so instead we went back to the tent and had a few bevvys then came back for System of a Down. I dont think ive ever been in a muddy mosh pit before until i saw System at Leeds but it was Awsome! I first got into System when i used to go to a club in Warrington called Wired before it shut down, it was the heaviest club in our town and played Soil, System and many more before dance music took over the world or at least our town.




We then enjoyed Green Day which started with the iconic pink Bunny taking over the stage, I do love Greenday but i desperately wanted to see Skrillex later so we decided to cut the set short but not before we'd heard.....Holiday, 21 Guns and them get a guy out of the audience on stage to sing with them before performing there whole album of Dookie back to back. Then after the excitement of Greenday we ran to the NME tent to see Skrillex perform, im not a huge fan of DJ'S or Dubstep but i had to admit the Spaceship he was DJingin and the graphics and lasers as well as the amazing atmosphere certainly blew me away. Just as me and Andy were ready to go he played the song from Wreck it Ralph and the graphics on screen so we HAD to stay.

The final day was the one i was looking forward to the most i put on my Eminem top and looked forward to one hell of a day.
We started the day off right using the last of our money and a cheeky fiver Andy found peeping in the mud to buy a couple of beers. Then it was time to gig.

Sunday
Main Stage:Mallory Knox
                :The Blackout
Alternative Stage:Lee Nelson
                :White Lies
                :Foals
                :Chase and Status
                :EMINEM!!!

  Mallory Knox and The Blackout were brilliant so energetic and a great set list and you know whats great about these bands the fact that Mallory Knox were just starting up on the main stage and said theyd hang
                                                                                 with the leeds crowd after, and The Blackout said they owed everything to the fans and had been attending leeds since they were fifteen going to the festival, working there, playing and even breaking in to it. You can just tell how dedicated and down to earth these bands are its great to see. We then went to see Lee Nelson on the Alternative stage before heading back to the main stage to be crushed in the crowd while watching Chase and status only to be pulled out of the chlostrophobic crowd before Eminems grand finale. He was fantastic although i have to admit for the final act on the main stage he wasnt as visually good as Biffy Clyro, there was no Fireworks or Lazers or even much graphics but i guess he was trying to show the artist back to basics just like his new album.

A cheeky pic of Mr Mathers with his top up

Even though this was the case he did surprise the crowd by playing a few of his old tracks including
my name is,  The real slim shady and having an extra special guest during his performance of Stan with DIDO. He did do some of his newer stuff which i wasnt a fan of including  I Need a Doctor and Love The Way You Lie as well as a cover of B.O.B ft Paramores' Airplanes. His grand finale was an encore with everyone going wild for Lose Yourself i dont think there was many people in the crowd that didnt know all the words.
All in all although we did have a few disasters along the way the bands were amazing and well worth going to see, however being how most of the crowd was 18 and younger i think my next festival might need to be a more peaceful adult one.....i know what a bore.

 I can now say i am no longer a festival virgin and i ticked off two of my things on my bucket lists; to see Eminem and go to a festival, and i have the wristband and Leeds Top to prove it.

How to make a doll in five days

So this my friend was meant to be having a baby shower today so I decided to make her a home made gift of a Disney Princess Jasmine doll, as that’s what she was naming the baby. However she had the baby early so it’s a good job I got it finished last night as I'm seeing her today.

I thought given I've started a blog and I love watching D.I.Y tutorials id do one of my own on this mini project so……….here's my HOW TO MAKE A DOLL IN FIVE DAYS step by step.

Start off with your tools your going to need, i had Toy Stuffing (about £2.50), black wool (£1.99) coloured material (all different fabrics came to about £5.00) and some accessories e.g. ribbon (30p) and then of course a sewing machine, threads, scissors, pencils and a stencil you can print off online as well as a helper (my sister) .

My fabric was from Abakhans its really cheap!!, here is the website
https://www.abakhan.co.uk/
The stuffing and wool can be found online or i got mine from
St Johns market in Liverpool

My sister assisting me with fiddly bits

Here is the link to the template i used also the lady whose
site it is has useful information on making dolls
http://www.dollchamber.com/?page_id=31&lang=en

The first step is to cut out your stencil design in your fabric, here i have the head and body attatched, a seperate bit for the back of the head two pieces of the back (the exact same as the head and body attatched only the head is seperate and the body is split in two) two arms and legs both doubled and a small circle for the nose. Then you must sew the two sides of arms and legs together so it is double the thickness but MAKE SURE TO LEAVE A GAP (preferably on the sides of the arms and legs as its easier to sew up later), this is to stuff it later!

 The body must also be sewn but only the semi-circle as shown on the white stencil, to do this fold the material in half and draw on the semi circle then sew it together. This creates the neck. 

 Once all these pieces have been sewn up its time to put it all together. So step one is to turn the arms and legs inside out so the messy sewing is on the inside. Then pin both arms and legs onto shape 1 with the neck you have sewn facing inside (neat side on the outside as you will be flipping the whole thing inside out) i have drawn a red line as to where to pin. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THE ARMS AND LEGS SHOULD BE SEWN AS IF THE DOLL WOULD BE IN A FOETAL POSITION not like a normal doll or your arms and legs will be stuck on the inside! Then sew up pieces 5 and 6 together (via the blue line in the middle of 5 and 6) straight down the middle and pin along the outer edge to the back of piece 1. Do the same with the back of the head BUT LEAVE THE NECK UNPINNED! , so only pin around the outside of the head (piece 4).

Then you are ready to sew! follow the entire body line of shape 1 and sew along this edge all around so all pieces will be held in place. This is shown in BLUE.
Then simply remove the pins and turn inside out via the gap you've left in the neck! then its time to stuff!!

I just used the back of a pencil to put the stuffing in the arms and legs and to push down the corners to create a bum. Once the doll is fully stuffed sew up the gaps. The neck may have a bigger gap than intended if so just cut out a piece of material big enough to cover the gap and hand stitch. Now you have your basic doll.

 The next thing i did was the hair. Because i was making a Princess Jasmine doll i used black wool but you can choose whatever colour for your hair. I did this by getting a magazine (any A4 sized notebook would work) and wrapped the wool around it. then cut it across one side to create lengths of hair. Then its a long process of sewing it on by hand one at a time.

Be patient with this it will take a while.

Then decorate how you wish. I tied up her hair with green ribbons made from strips of fabric and created her headband from a strip of fabric, a circle of gold ribbon and a circle of green velvet.

Then i made the clothes and accessories. I added a gold thin piece of ribbon as the necklace, Gold cotton as the earrings and the green velvet fabric sewn on with a gold ribbon trim for the shoes. For the clothes this was a little more tricky as i had to ask my work colleague for help. So For Princess Jasmine its not your average dress Disney princesses normally wear, she has hareem pants and a crop top. Firstly for the top i cut out a square larger than the dolls body and used an over locker to elastic-ate the arms and neck line (I use an over locker at work so an industrial one was easy access, however if you cant find one of these you can elastic-ate the fabric by pulling a piece of cotton through the fabric to rouche it. Also my work colleague has a sewing machine which is able write letters so i had her sew Jasmine on the top.

 I also created a belly button by sewing a brown piece of cotton. Next i made the pants. These were a little trickier than expected so i would recommend trying this out on a piece of scrap first.
Firstly cut out two pieces of fabric for both legs (so four) a lot bigger than the dolls legs (about 3 x bigger), when cutting out be sure to do an R shape (as seen below) then sew the edges leaving the crotch unsewn. If your pants are patterned sew on the non patterned side. After this turn the right leg inside out so the messy sewing is on the inside then put the left leg inside this on.  Simply finish it off by sewing the crotches together and turning the left leg inside out so you have a neat seam. I added elastication on the bottom of the legs and top and sewed velvet green on the top in order to give it a bit of detailing.

here is a link on how to make regular pants
to understand what i mean
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xZNDJ-wUnI

Then the final bit to do is the face, i wasnt entirely sure how to do this so i just thought id go for it. firstly i used the circle you cut out of the fabric you used for the body put a small amount of the stuffing in it and then sew around it in order to create a small ball. Then sew it on, this is the nose. Once you have a central point to work with its time to do the rest of the features. I got a picture up of Princess Jasmine off google and drew a rough draft of her eyes and lips. I chose a heart shape for her lips and went on to repeatedly sew red cotton into the shape and then used a black thread to make a smile right across the heart. Next was the filling in of the eyes for this i used white, black and dark brown for her eyelids. Finally i created the eyebrows as though they were peeping through her hair. Its up to you how you create the face depending on what you want your doll to look like. You could even do a Scouse Brow if you wanted haha.

I added a personal finishing touch by sewing LOVE LAURA on her bracelet made of ribbon and a small heart so baby Jasmine will know who made her dolly. I hope she likes it and this step by step was useful to some of you. Id love to see some of your creations too. you can tag me on instagram with your creations @theukelelady http://instagram.com/ukelelady

Who is The Ukelelady??

Hey guys

I'm new to this blogging scene but thought id tell you all a bit about myself and what this blogs going to be all about.

My Name is Laura I'm 22 (Just turned on 10th September) , just in case anyone wants to send me a belated birthday prezzie ;). I'm from Warrington, UK, or as I like to call it the 'bad land' , basically my passions include music, films, socialising, anything zombie and of course The Ukulele.

I have a BA (HONS) degree in Film Studies and want to be in the film industry as a journalist. I can play the drums, steel pans and am not ashamed to say used to be in a brass band playing the Euphonium and even did a spot of modelling this year. I try my hand at anything and am always up for a new challenge, currently I'm learning to drive and the Ukulele.

I literally love all films especially horrors which is why I thought now would be the perfect time to start a blog with my favourite time of year: Halloween to prepare for :)  Oh I should say as well as a total zombie nut I'm a bit of a massive geek so with it being the fiftieth year of Doctor Who prepare for lots of Geekery.

This blog is basically going to be my place to review and comment on films I love and why, rant and rave about random every day life and discuss fashion other bloggers which inspire me and my favourite section of all D I Y!!!

I hope you all enjoy what I write and if not I'll be recommending bloggers that inspire me if you want to scoot on over and have a look at their blogs instead that's fine.