Back To Education Stationary Ideas!

I just want to start this post off by throwing it out there that the title and original idea for this post was for back to school, not education. Then I realised that it’s not just kids and teenagers who get to have fun buying funky stationary, older teenagers and young adults get to as well!

September is by far one of my favourite months of the year and I’ve explained on various different posts over the years why. It just feels like a fresh start to me. It’s when you started a new year at school, college and university. Hey! It’s even when many start their first years at these places and you want to always leave a good impression to the others in your year and classes.

I remember in August as a kid my mom taking me to the stationary shops to pick up some new bits for school. It was always an exciting time! New books, scented gel pens and a fluffy pencil case and I was ready!

Things haven’t changed either, with 90’s trends making a comeback in fashion AND stationary we now have so much funky stuff to feast our eyes upon again! There’s holographic, fluffy, unicorn and even Hello Kitty and Pokemon! Talk about bringing back some nostalgia!

Today I am very tired from a night of awesome drinking and talking with my friend Jacqui, her boyfriend Chris and of course Dane. I didn’t want to write anything at all today. I’m not hungover, but I’m very tired and lethargic. Urgh!

BUT I was scrolling through the internet and decided to do this post. The summer holidays are coming to a close and whether you’re returning or even starting a new year of education, here’s so funky stationary ideas for you to have a look at! 😛 P.S. Pray for me that I feel better by bed time. 😛

Oh by the way, this post won’t contain things you’ll need such as special equipment for maths, art, science, etc. This is just the bog standard necessities. 😛

• Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Ruled Journal – £12.99 (link)

Now, although I am not a Harry Potter fan myself (sorry guys…) I know a lot of people who are, young and old! I find journals to be great not only for use as a notebook for classes, but also for personal too if you want to get any thoughts written down on paper. Although I’m not a Harry Potter fan this journal looks gorgeous and is definitely one that would get a conversation started for any Potter fan who would see it. It’s not cheap however, so this is a journal for something a little more special.

• South Park Barrel Pencil Case – £3.99 (link)

This pencil case was mostly added for nostalgia. I remember when South Park came out and everyone and I mean EVERYONE went mad for it! Then WHSmith brought out some pencil cases for it and all the boys in my year had one at some point or another. I wanted one, but they were forever sold out in my local store. This is definitely more for guys but sod it, girls can pull this off just as much! I don’t think this is anything huge either which is always good if you have a small bag.

• Hello Kitty Gel Pens – £6.00 (link)

Who doesn’t love gel pens eh? Especially scented ones! These aren’t scented but they’re Hello Kitty… What more do you want?! I always found different coloured gel pens to be great to use on certain projects and I’d like to say during revision too… I was one of these stupid kids who didn’t revise… How I would have been if I was as level headed then as I am now… 😛

• Green Marble Notebook – £2.49 (link)

This is actually a notebook I really want to get for myself… But I won’t because I have WAYYYY TOO MANY! This is a notebook for the more older members of education who may read this post. It reminds me of the notebooks they have over the pond… You know the black and white ones that EVERY SINGLE high schooler owns and uses to write secrets in. ANYWAY! This is gorgeous and would be great to use as a notebook for a certain lecture or class.

• Bramblewood Fox Notebook – £2.99 (link)

Yes, another notebook. BUT it has a fox on it and you know I love my foxes! I used to own a phone case with this same fox design on, which I adored! It’s just a bog standard notebook really, which you could use for classes or personal. I’d probably end up using it for classes. I find that when you have a really nice and funky notebook for classes, lectures or even at home for notes you just feel good opening it up to jot stuff down.

• Aquamarine Pencil Case – £5.59 (link)

If I had to have a favourite item on this list, I’d say this is it. As you all know I LOVE anything holographic, turquoise and mermaid themed. This just ticks all those boxes for me and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t at all want to buy it… 😛 It’s a gorgeous turquoise pencil case with a fish scale sort of texture to it. This definitely reminds me of something the “cool kids” at school would have used. Either that or a fluffy pencil case! WHSmith have loads of these sorts of pencil cases available, with quite a lot of them selling out. So if you like the look of these sort of cases, get on there (or even in store) pronto!

• Pusheen A4 Ringbinder – £4.99 (link)

I LOVE Pusheen and I have a feeling that if I had been a kid when Pusheen first came out, I would have saved up my pocket money ready for when school shopping came around to buy EVERYTHING I could! I remember in my last years of secondary school I used an A4 pad of lined paper inside of a ringbinder for when I jotted notes down. I don’t know how I did it to be fair, as years later I attempted to do that again when studying my MA and I HATED IT. Folders are really handy to have, especially during GCSE’s, but it’s always better to have a cute one.

• What Would A Mermaid Do Prediction Pen – £8.00 (link)

Holy shit. I randomly found this obviously whilst researching for this post and I hesitated adding it at first as I thought it seemed so daft. I just couldn’t resist though. It’s so dumb but also so funny! If you love mermaid related stuff this pen is for you and the younger you are, the more you can get away with having it. 😛 It’s not cheap at £8.00 however, but it’s just such a novelty! Definitely something to cheer you up when you’re feeling down.

• Gemma Correll Unicorn Pencil Case – £12.95 (link)

I love Gemma Correll’s designs and in the past I’ve bought and used her stationary items! I still to this day own my ringbinder I bought and now use it to house adult documents in, because I’m now a motherfucking adult. 😛 I saw this pencil case and knew it needed a place on this list. I’ve got a couple of mermaid items, so a unicorn has to be part of the mix too! This isn’t cheap but it is a brand and it’s massive too! This would especially be good for an art student.

• Getting Shit Done Sticky Notes – £3.50 (link)

I remember when I was at university in my final year I was organised as fuck. I bought some post it notes, expecting to use them seriously and in the end I used them as a way to piss about so that I didn’t have to do any work on  my dissertation… I got a 2:1 on it and overall so it’s not like they affected my mark. 😛 They were boring though, so whenever I see funny or funky post it notes I wish they had been around when I was studying. These made me laugh so much! I may have to buy them for the office and blog related work. 😛

• Scented Pencil Pack – £4.50 (link)

Smiggle is notorious for their scented stationary, even their pencil cases! It’s cool but I do wonder if they’ve overstepped the mark just a tad… I always give stuff a smell on the rare occasions that I pop in however. I have looked at these scented pencils in the past and it just makes me wish I was at school again! I’d have definitely bought the banana ones.

• Mini Cookie Eraser Pack – £4.50 (link)

Again another scented item from Smiggle and one I just couldn’t leave out of this list. I was always a sucker for cute little erasers as a kid and I still remember to this day my mom bought me some puppy ones for when I started year 1. I couldn’t bear to use the one as it was just too cute. I’m pretty sure it’s still in my room at home somewhere! These little erasers are just adorable and I especially love that they come in a little plastic tub so you can keep them nice and smelling strong before using them.

So those were my picks for what you could buy for going back to education with. This list was definitely aimed more at a younger audience, but if you’re an adult who loves anything cute and kawaii then this list is totally for you too!

What items would you suggest people to pick up? Please leave links down below! I’m forever on the hunt for cute stationary!

I said at the start of this post that I hope I feel better when it’s finished, and you know what? I actually do feel better! I’m off to spend the rest of my Sunday chilled on the sofa with Dane.

Until next time, take care all and have an awesome bank holiday Monday tomorrow!

Birmingham Anime and Gaming Con (Haul Inc.)

On Sunday me and Dane went to the anime and gaming con which was held in Birmingham. The con ran on both the Saturday and the Sunday and although we wanted to attend both days, Sunday stood out to us the most. We’re so glad we only went for the one day though. We had a lot of house stuff to do Saturday and if we had attended both days nothing would have been done. Oh the joys of being an adult and homeowner eh? 😛

The con itself was amazing and everything we imagined it would be like and more, so I thought I would write about it today for you all, as well as share what we bought at the con as well. Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of the con as we were too busy enjoying ourselves. I’m awful at getting pictures at places like this. 😦

As old readers will know me and Dane have been to a couple of conventions now including Birmingham comic con and Hyper Japan and this one was very different to those two. For a start the con as tiny in comparison to both of those, but that wasn’t a bad thing! We liked that it was small as it meant we got chance to really look at what everyone was cosplaying as and even get the chance to talk to people if we wanted to. It also meant that we could look around everywhere without having to queue, there not being enough room to walk around and even the worry of forgetting about looking at anything.

We also never bothered dressing up for the con as we’re boring farts and never really bother with anything like that. We could have worn our South Park outfits but meh. I wore my Iron Fist dress with Dane’s plaid jacket, tights and some brothel creepers. I loved my outfit and whilst I was a little self conscious in it, I felt comfortable for the majority of the time. I of course had to wear my Sailor Moon Luna bag that Dane bought me last year at Hyper Japan. I forgot how much I love that bag!

When I mentioned to people at work that I was going to the con I got a lot of questions such as, “Ooo will there be Japanese food there?” and to be honest I wish there was. Sadly there wasn’t any food stalls there but there was food offered by the place it was held at which was good! It was lovely weather on Sunday and it would have been lovely to have an ice cream van outside of the con… But I know that isn’t the organisers fault, problem, etc.

At the event itself there was always something going on which was great. There was the main hall where there were dealers and artists, a stage and a video gaming room. A corridor away there was the activities room and bar where you could go for something to eat and drink, watch anime, chillout, have your photograph taken in your cosplay outfit, play some games (TCGing, board games and RPG) and talks and workshops. Later in the evenings in this room they held karaoke and parties which we wished we had gone to.

We attended a couple of the workshops which were really interesting! The one Dane was most excited for was about the yakuza in Japan and although Dane knows quite a bit about it, I don’t and it was very interesting for me to listen to. The guy who got up to talk about it was great too and went into a lot of detail. The workshop I was excited for was about plushie making, which sadly got cancelled due to the host of it being poorly. There is always next time!

The stalls that were around selling things were good, although a lot of them were selling fake merchandise. As readers will know me and Dane collect Nendoroid figures so we know a fake when we see one! It was sad that we spotted three fakes and then saw that they had all sold. Very sad times.

Speaking of which lets get onto what we bought at the convention! We bought quite a few things most of them being mine to be honest. 😛

We picked up two Nendoroid figures from a seller who was selling legit merchandise. She was reasonable with her prices too! I bought Isabelle from Animal Crossing and Dane picked up One Punch Man. They’renow living in our Dane also bought me a cute little Umaru secret figure box too! I got one of Umaru lying down on her tummy which is so cute.

As well as fakery there were also some legit and lovely sellers at the event. Some who were selling their own work which is what we bought most of at the event. One guy was selling prints to people… A bit too heavily and forceful for us two. He was trying to get us to buy 10 prints for £40. Would have been a good deal if we wanted that many prints! We ended up buying one, this water Pokemon print for our bathroom.

As well as that we got two artists to draw for us, one of which isn’t actually finished yet. The first picture we got drawn was this chibi picture of me and Dane which is from one of our favourite pictures that we took not long after we got together. The artist is also going to draw and colour a digital image of us too, which we’re excited about! Another artist draw a picture of Dane from when he was in his band days. He would dress up in funny costumes whist on stage. This picture is from a costume he wore in Sheffield which of course is of him in a banana. It’s perfect and he loves it!

These are probably my favourite buys from the day, which are these two adorable Eeveelution t-shirts by Ohayou! who I’ve been a fan of for a while through Etsy. She does more designs than this which I really want to get. The two I picked up are one of a Sylveon print that says “dragon slayer” (if you don’t get it look it up) and one of an Umbreon looking sad… I couldn’t not take that t-shirt design home! The only thing I don’t like about these is the plastic feel of the print but it’s nothing serious. I’ll be wearing these all the time with some jeans, shorts and skirts. I plan to buy more of their goods in the future, or at least ask for them for Christmas. 😛

Alongside those goodies I picked up some little bits and pieces that were dotted around. I picked up some dog and red panda stickers, three Totoro pens, a Romantic Bear peel off lipstick (which I love! I have more of these on the way so I’ll be reviewing them all then), a pack of Eeveelution stickers, an ice verion of Ninetales sticker, a Lady Rainicorn sticker, a picture of Haiku in dragon form, and various badges.

As well as my opinion on the convention I wanted to get Dane to talk about his views.

Well, we had a really good time and were amazed at the incredible cosplay on show, but i think that was the biggest gripe for me. Too much emphasis on the cosplay aspect, not enough for those not so into cosplay to do. The talks were not very well organised and I felt sorry for a lot of the speakers as they had to alter their presentations due to technical errors and last minute changes and fillers. We didn’t watch any anime which is a disappointment as I was expecting a great chill-out atmosphere to watch anime and socialise. What we got was a tiny screen and a couple rows of chairs. To make people want to watch anything at an event you have to make it an improvement to what people may have at home. Personally, I can watch any of the anime shown on a much bigger TV, on a nice comfortable sofa with amazing sound. There was no incentive for us to take part.

I completely understand it is the very first one held in Birmingham so things may not always go to plan and there may not be enough funding to create the best convention ever. For the price we paid it was completely worth it and I can only expect to see it grow. I would like to see it in a bigger space with more artists and shops, more emphasis on gaming and the talks/panels, interesting food options and a more inviting experience for viewing anime.

Overall we loved our day at the convention and it reminded us how much we love going to events like this. It’s made us realise how much we really want to go to Birmingham Comic Con in November so we’ll be booking to go to that very soon!

24th Birthday Presents!

So on Monday it was my birthday and I aged another year closer to my mid 20’s, boy I feel old! I’m hoping 24 will be a good year as being 23 was bloody rubbish!

Now I just want to add that I’m not doing this post to show off at all, I’m doing it because I want to show any nosy people out there (like myself) what I got as I love seeing what presents and gifts other people are bought and plus I love everything I was bought this year, especially the presents my boyfriend bought me, although one isn’t shown in this image as due to something that has happened I won’t be receiving said present until after the 24th of this month, although I know what it is.

I can’t really talk much about it on here sadly but the Pandora charm my boyfriend is buying me for my birthday is The Waving Cat charm! Due to not having this charm just yet my Pandora Bracelet post will be postponed until the start of February, but it will be worth the wait!

Anyhoo I received lots of lovely presents from my boyfriend, his parents, my parents and my aunt. As of yet I know my best friend has a present for me and I’m not 100% sure if my brother has a present for me or not, we shall see sooner rather than later.

So onto what I was bought and I apologise right now for dark images, when I took them it was pretty late at night (9pm to be exact) so I had to go with what I had I’m afraid!

The cute little teddy key ring wasn’t so much of a present but just a cute little thing that I got on the birthday card my Dad bought for me. I don’t know what I’m going to do with said key ring, I have contemplated putting it on my car keys but I’m not certain as of yet.

The butterfly bracelet here is by Bibi Bijoux and was a complete surprise when I opened the present on my birthday! Due to receiving my Pandora bracelet in November, I didn’t expect my Mom to buy me another bracelet. This is a gorgeous bracelet and has some little butterflies, a dragonfly and a crystal gem on it. It’s a very simple bracelet and can be worn for any occasion. My only problem with this bracelet us due to it being elastic it catches the hair on my wrist, which on quite a lot of occasions pulls them out, I won’t lie it bloody hurts! I probably won’t wear this bracelet as much as my Pandora, as I love my Pandora so much! But if I can try and wear this as an ankle bracelet during the summer, I’ll do just that. 🙂 Either way it’s gorgeous and I love it very much.

As I mentioned on Sunday my boyfriend and I went to West Midlands Safari Park on Sunday as an early birthday outing, as I didn’t see my boyfriend on Monday, which was sad for me. Still we had an amazing day out together and he bought me this Souvenir Guide Book which has been nice to look through after our day out. I’ll be making a post about our afternoon out on Sunday!

For my birthday he bought me this massive Yankee Candle in Sweet Strawberry. The sneaky devil asked me before Christmas what my favourite scent of Yankee Candle was and I told him this one and that IF he wanted to buy me one, to get a small jar. Bless his little cotton socks, he bought me a large jar and on Sunday night whilst we watched The Cat Returns, I burnt the candle. However I’m refusing to burn it anymore until I can pick up a large shade as it’s already started to well and I don’t want that! It was so lovely of him to buy me such a massive candle and it smells beautiful too, it’ll be perfect for spring and summer.

We have another present from my Mom, Paul Smith’s Rose EDP in a huge 100ml bottle! Back in my third year of University my Mom was bought this by my brother after I mentioned to her what a gorgeous smell it was. Whenever I smell Rose it reminds me of my best friend, as she wore this all the time when we were at University for nights out. After a while my Mom began to dislike the perfume and passed it down to me. Only recently I used up my 100ml bottle that she gave me and noticing this, she bought me a new one. It was lovely of her as I’ve really missed using this perfume. As well as my best friend it somewhat reminds me of my Gran, as whenever I wore this she would comment how lovely I smelt.

My boyfriends parents bought me three lovely presents for my birthday and when my boyfriend passed me the present and informed me who it was from, I was pleasantly surprised! I wasn’t expecting anything from them and it was lovely of them to get me something.

I was bought this real leather notebook with my name added to the front alongside a pink Parker pen! I LOVE stationary and it’s been years since I had a Parker pen so it’s lovely that they bought me one. It’s blue ink too which is lovely. After taking these pictures I started using the notebook and pen and so far I’ve written some blog post ideas down! I don’t know what else I’ll be using this blog for, possibly somewhere to write things down to help with my spending ban too. But for now, it shall be my blog book!

You can see my Pandora bracelet on the notebook, but that shall be saved until last!

The 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die was also a present from my boyfriends parents and I have to add how this book weighs a lot! I do read a lot (although in the past year I don’t recall even finishing reading one book! :S) and my boyfriend commented on the idea of every time I read a book featured in this book, to tick it off which I think I will do. I know when I move out and such I’m going to have a huge book shelf, as I use my window shelf for books at the moment and it’s pretty full now.

Okay now The Body Shop products aren’t actually presents from anyone, I bought them myself on my birthday. As a Love Your Body member it means I get £5 off purchases on my birthday, as well as 10% off purchases anyway! So I decided to use that to buy myself some hand related products as I don’t exactly need any body products and I was rather close to buying some face products to keep at my boyfriend for whenever I go to his. I picked up the Hemp Hand Protector in a huge 100ml tube, which retails for £10.00. When I opened up my membership for LYB I got a small 30ml Hemp Hand Protector for free, which was nice and since then I have kept it in my handbag and use it throughout my shifts at work. As well as that I picked up a bottle of their Sweet Lemon Hand Cleanse Gel, which retails at £2.50. This has actually been discontinued from The Body Shop now, which is a real shame as it smells amazing! I think every time I’m near The Body Shop in future I shall have a look for one of these to pick up as they’re lovely to keep in your handbag!

So my purchases were meant to come to £12.50 but I paid less than £5.00 for all these as I also had 25% knocked off of my purchases too! I love The Body Shop and since November they are fast becoming one of my favourite shops!

Firstly I apologise for the first image being a tad on the bright side, but due to how dark my room is I couldn’t get a decent pictures of my shoes without flash being used. Although I have paid for these myself, my new DC skate shoes are going to be another present from my Mom who insisted I buy some new skate shoes as my near 10-year-old Vans are seeing their last years now (I hope not!) and that a New Year should mean some new shoes! I knew I wanted some DC skate shoes and especially the Court Graffik style, which is what these babies are. My boyfriend has a couple of pairs of these trainers and so does one of my friends and they just look awesome with both skinny and baggy boyfriend jeans! My boyfriend has a pair of these in black and purple, which I wish would fit me otherwise I’d have stolen them by now! I’ve wanted a pair of these style DC skate shoes since the age of 17 after finding a pair of black and red ones I wanted, sadly when I want back to Schuh to buy them, they’d gone and they weren’t online to buy either. I haven’t found them since then, but if I do in my size I’ll soon snap them up! Anyhoo I tried these on as soon as they arrived and I love them!

Yes they aren’t exactly fashionable but deep down I’m still a skater kid and I love to dress down in my baggy jeans and baggy or tight fitted t-shirts, alongside with my skate shoes. PLUS skate shoes are some of the comfortable shoes to wear when you have to walk a lot, fact!

Finally we have come to my Pandora bracelet and what charm my Dad bought me for my birthday. I haven’t yet had chance to wear this out with my new charm on it, but I’ll be doing that over the weekend, which will be great! I didn’t know which charm I wanted and had a good look on Pandora’s website for some ideas. It had stated on their website that this elephant charm had infact sold out and had sold out in stores too, so I gave up hope of getting this one and looked at another elephant charm instead. When we got into the store I had a look at the charms to see that the elephant charm I had seen in the first place was in there and for sale. So after a while of deciding between this, the other elephant and a turtle I decided upon this one! I love this charm, it’s so cute and right up my street. My bracelet so far is mostly animals, which is strange to me!

I have seen some more charms I would like, so I’ll be making another wish list later on this year (probably June) and surprise, surprise, I’ve found charms with some colour to them!

As well as that I also received some money, £10 from my aunt and £30 off of my brother which was lovely of them both! I’m going to put my money away in my savings, as I don’t really need anything right now and as I mentioned earlier this month on this post, I’m currently on a spending ban.

I also received a Fearne Cotton dress from my Mom but I’ll be featuring that in a What I Wore post sometime soon!

Anyhoo, apart from my best friends and my boyfriends Pandora present which will be added here as and when I receive it those are all the presents I received for my birthday! I love them all so much and couldn’t ask for better presents.

I don’t have a favourite out of everything I received but the present I am the most excited for is the notebook and pen that my boyfriends parents gave to me as I love notebooks so much and I was after a new Parker pen so I couldn’t be happier with these.

I hope you liked this post, if you have any questions about anything I received for my birthday then  please feel free to ask in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care and I hope everyone’s week is going well!