Hey everybody!

So I've got something a bit different lined up for you today - it's my flatmate's birthday tomorrow and, as a college student, I'm pretty short on cash so I decided to put on my artsy hat and get crafty! At uni we call it a "crafternoon"... Anyway, I've seen these melted crayon canvases a lot on Pinterest and Tumblr and I made one for myself a couple of years ago and it turned out pretty well, so I thought I'd give it a go again so that my flatmate would have a funky new piece of room decor! So, without further ado, here's my DIY guide to making a melted crayon canvas!

You will need...

• A canvas, any size you want! You can get them pretty cheap on Amazon.
• A pack of wax crayons
• A hairdryer
• Either superglue or double sided tape

My messy work station!

I know I'm way behind the crowd but I've been super busy recently! Anyway, I set aside this evening for a lazy night lounging around in my dorm room eating Doritos and watching TV (I know right, I'm such a cool student staying in on a Saturday night) and finally caught myself up on Glee.

I'm totally bummed that this is going to be the last season. I've grown up watching this show since I was twelve years old and only just starting high school and now here I am, an official adult in college. I've been really excited about this final season though since all the promos look great and I'm in love with the entire original cast, so it's great that they're finally bringing them all back to McKinley! So, without further ado, here's my ridiculously over-excited review of season 6, episodes 1-3! I'm going to go ahead and assume that if you're reading this, you're also a major Glee fan and have therefore seen these episodes so don't need the entire plot explaining! However, if you're a major Glee fan but haven't yet seen the episodes then I advise you look away now just in case I ruin anything for you!

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Loser Like Me

So when this episode starts, pretty much everything is falling apart for Rachel - her TV show was a bust, she's forced to move back home, her parents are getting divorced and her life seems to have no direction anymore! While I must admit that it started to seem as if nothing more could go wrong, which is a pretty frustrating situation to be in when watching one of your favourite characters, Glee turned it all around with an AWESOME rendition of one of my favourite show tunes, Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors. If you haven't already watched this, check it out now because Darren Criss and Lea Michele are just... perfection.

Aside from this insane level of perfection, the Dalton Warblers continue to be an insanely talented group (although I must admit I'm missing a little bit of Sebastian in there somewhere!) However, the presence of Chris Colfer and Chord Overstreet as main cast make up for this loss, plus the return of DAVE KAROFSKY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! I won't go into major detail as to why Dave's back but talk about a plot twist and a half! I'm loving it though and I can see that Glee's mixing it up a little bit this season while also staying true to its roots. In terms of the episode as a whole, I really can't complain. Cast = great. Songs = great. Script = great. Glee is back baby!

Homecoming

Jagged Little Tapestry

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As most of you probably know (I've said it enough times!), I moved to a new city last year to start university, which meant I got a brand new dorm room! Now, I don't know about you, but I'm all for bedroom decor and making a place your own, so naturally I got ridiculously over-excited at the prospect of having a new room to decorate! The thing with dorm rooms is that they're very small, and your university may well have rules as to what you are and aren't allowed to do with your room, as well as there already being furniture/wall paint/curtains! This can leave you with limited options in terms of decor, but today I decided to show you a few little things that I've done here and there to spruce up my dorm room and make it feel a little bit more like home. Enjoy!


Make it your own

The easiest option in terms of low-maintenance decorating is the wall! Tack up some photos and posters of all the things you love and your room will start to feel homelier in no time. For me, I've got more than one home in more than one country, plus I absolutely adore travelling, so I bought a world map at the university poster sale and pinned up photos of my various homes and holiday destinations around the map! I got the polaroid prints from a website called Instabear - they'll take your chosen photos directly from Instagram and print them as polaroids for you! No hassle whatsoever!




Add a bit of botany

I've always found that plants tend to make a place feel much more homely - not sure why, they just do! I invested in this cute little cactus as there was a plant sale going on at my university! Pretty convenient really. I'm terrible at looking after plants so a cactus is absolutely perfect for me, plus those little pink flowers on top are apparently "everlasting"!

Storage spaces

Since university rooms have pretty limited space, you have to make the most of what you've got. Storage is essential, but that doesn't mean it can't be cute! I've invested in a few lovely storage pieces that keep lots of my stuff together neat and tidy and even add to the decor of the room! This first piece is from WH Smith and I got it in a "buy one get one free" sale, so my flatmate and I got one each! It's great to store all kinds of things in, such as pens and stationery and even big notebooks.


I found this second piece at a charity shop - I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a makeup or jewellery box because of the mirror on the inside of the lid, but I'm far more into stationery! The little compartments are perfect for storing fiddly things like paper clips, staples and drawing pins.


These boxes from Wilkinson's are just great for general use. At the moment, I've got one box with stationery stuff, one box with saved cards, cinema tickets and mementos of the like and one box with sweets, chocolate and all of my unhealthy snacks! The great thing about these boxes is that they fold down to be flat if you're not using them!


Finally, pen pots are essential, but that doesn't mean you should just grab any random cup! I'm in love with both of these pots. The first is from Wilkinson's and says "Let your imagination run wild" on an ancient-looking piece of fabric with a little string bow tied around it, and the second is from an independent shop. I love elephants and the colours on this pen pot are absolutely gorgeous!


Cushions and blankets for extra cosiness...

An easy way to make your dorm room feel more homely and cosy is to buy a couple of cute cushions or blankets! I was in love with this owl cushion from an independent boutique for a good few months before I actually saved up the money to buy it! The blanket, however, was incredibly cheap (still wonderful and warm!) and from Primark. Both fit wonderfully into my pink/blue/green colour scheme, which you may or may not have yet noticed...!


Bits and bobs

Finally, I have a few bits and bobs just floating around; it's lovely to have things that are just truly yours. In this photo, you can see a set of vanilla fragrance sticks from Primark (we're not allowed to have candles in our dorm rooms so I had to settle for these to create a nice aroma instead), various jewellery holders (the earring holder was my mum's and the necklace and bracelet holder I found in the corner of the pound shop! Talk about a bargain!), some cute fake flowers (see back to my paragraph on botany), a bowl of potpourri (a present from my boyfriend and, again, helping with the nice aroma) and finally a set of adorable little Russian dolls that I bought at a Christmas market this year! I had Russian dolls when I was a child so just couldn't resist when I found this little set.