tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44569736533116855532024-03-16T11:52:53.696-07:00Katy CloudsKaty Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-67770178854869988322023-06-04T03:00:00.004-07:002023-06-04T03:00:54.871-07:00Summer 2022 - Download Festival, Donnington Park<p> It's been a while since I was here writing about festivals. Covid took away a lot from the events industry, which I plan on covering in later blogs, in particular what it meant for festival production to have lost so many long-timers. Since events were basically off for two years, with the exception of a few that pushed through the trials of a late summer 2021 event, many individuals with expert knowledge of putting on festivals and events had to find other ways to make a living - which has left big gaps in production teams across the festival circuit. </p><p>Which brings me nicely to Download 2022. There's so much to say about how it came about that I was even attending, but I'll keep it simple. A friend of mine was looking for some help towing a trailer and setting up her cake and tea stall. I'd worked with her before, at Illusive a few years ago, and I know that her usual team was quite a laugh, so I agreed. What's that? I agreed to drive a long-wheelbase van and janky old trailer over 100 miles? I'm not sure what possessed me to do that, to be honest. I've never driven a van. I don't know anything about trailers. I don't even know my left and right.</p><p>With quite a bit of help, I got the thing there, and after a rather sudden reminder of why festival accreditation is a pain in the butt when you aren't going in with a band, we managed to site the trailer in the right spot and batton down the hatches for the first night.</p><p>I'd studied the line-up pretty hard before setting off. Mostly bands in the 'I know I should want to see them but I don't' catagory. Iron Maiden, Steel Panther, Biffy Clyro, Korn Kiss, The Darkness...the list of rock bands was long and I'm not going to sugarcoat it, not massively appealing to my more upbeat and less deathy musical taste, but, we move.</p><p>If you are thinking of attending Download 2023, here's my top tips:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fashion was black, black and more black. Vintage Iron Maiden shirts and leather waistcoats were the most-spotted sartorial choice. Bring your ripped tights and fedoras, everything you own that's black leather and a vape. Honestly, finding anyone with a lighter was nigh-on impossible.</li><li>The site is large and set around a racing circuit. At some point, you might even find yourself walking along it. Some of the camping is a very long trek from the car park. It's not as bad as many of the larger festivals, but you'll definitely be putting the steps in. Staff camping is way up on yonder hill, so if you are working at the festival, camping in the main arena next to your stall is the better option if you plan to get to work on time. </li><li>The Village is the best party after hours. It took us three full days to find, as you have to walk quite a long way and it almost seems like you are leaving the site and walking into a totally different area, but once you see the unmistakeable shape of stacked containers looming in the distance, you are nearly there. 24-food vendors, fairground rides and banging music draw revellers all night long.</li><li>Be prepared for things to get wild. I don't know if it was just because it was the first big festival in a while for people, or if it's always like that, but some serious partying went down at Download this year. From a viral snap of a gentleman receiving a bj in broad daylight in a main throughfare to rumours of outrageous parties in staff camping, there was a lot going on - </li><li>Book quiet camping for a curfew on noise or go all out and try one of the many luxury camping options - we saw everything from Gypsy caravans to mini container homes. Most regular Download goers book RIP which gives you some extra bits like posh toilets and warm showers and secret things that I didn't quite find out about! </li></ul><div><br /></div><div>Since it's been a while that I've written about festivals, I'm going to cover some of the things that I know I have looked for when researching upcoming events, which I know others are often looking for too. Sorry if you find talking about toilets boring :)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>TOILETS</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Download had plenty of toilets in each arena and they were cleaned every single night that we were there, we also got our own toilet as part of our stall which stayed spotless and stocked the whole time. Bit sad they didn't bother with using anything but the cheapest chemical toilet but as I camped in the main arena, I'm not sure what the campsite facilities were like. It was a bit of a mess by the late evening, but generally, reasonably good - I don't have experience of the disabled facilities, so if you do, let me know and I will add that information.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ECO </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Was Download eco-friendly? Well, the mess didn't make the headlines as at some other events this year. To be honest, at that point in the summer, I didn't know how important festival's ability to manage their waste properly was going to become, and it did really become more apparent over the season that some festivals really had this down, and others struggled with implementing even the most basic principles. I do know that litter was well dealt with at Download, whether that was the clientele or the production, probably both. One big problem which became apparent here and for the rest of the summer was disposable vape pens, one use, non-rechargable flavoured vape devices with a lithium battery that get thrown after a hundred puffs, all solid plastic. Festivals need to do something about this!</div><div><br /></div><div><b>WORKING </b></div><div><br /></div><div>There's a couple of dedicated staff camping areas but for reasons that I cannot fathom, they are MILES from the main arena, which makes no sense if they want people to get to their stalls on time, but there we go. We discovered this extremely long walk one night looking for the staff showers, because despite allowing camping in the main arena there were no staff showers there, not great for hygiene because I honestly wondered who bothered with that huge trek every day, you'd be covered in dust and whatever else by the time you walked back. As far as I discovered, having a staff wristband made very little difference, except being allowed in the main arena past midnight.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7gjox9iCb1ifIJN72nPfUkirm7G_qBwkH-Fk-u9Q0y-tLdsPPVc80xGDct-rO8hruB48c_DA0g4bo0fn7JbvEXpFfp6UKm8fWvoOVqJi0DC2tg1nddLAaO0rpS94faoH0HPJoAlpR_sMEziDSETuX-Ca-OlFwzi2aaSL2e9_kdWhvZYGOMDMMouP/s1024/Download%202022%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7gjox9iCb1ifIJN72nPfUkirm7G_qBwkH-Fk-u9Q0y-tLdsPPVc80xGDct-rO8hruB48c_DA0g4bo0fn7JbvEXpFfp6UKm8fWvoOVqJi0DC2tg1nddLAaO0rpS94faoH0HPJoAlpR_sMEziDSETuX-Ca-OlFwzi2aaSL2e9_kdWhvZYGOMDMMouP/w400-h225/Download%202022%20(1).png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>So, a week before we set off for Download 2023 I've finally posted this! Let me know in the comments of over on Instagram if you are heading for Donnington Park next week!!</div><div><br /></div>Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-91484379624429588572018-10-06T03:26:00.000-07:002018-10-06T03:26:24.726-07:00Dealing With The Seasonal Blues - My Personal Tips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Can anyone else really feel Winter creeping in? I'm not some kind of softball, I haven't turned my heating on yet or anything, but there is definitely a chill in the air. Every year around this time I get a touch of the blues. I realise I'm lucky not to get a full blown seasonal depression episode the majority of the time, although some years are worse than others. It's something I've learnt to recognise and put my own strategies into place to counteract the feelings of sadness, anxiety and exhaustion. I've shared some on this in previous years, one of my favourite posts is here and has several ideas for dealing with SAD. This year, I thought I would recover those ideas and add a few more. I hope this might be of help to anyone who has a similar outlook when October hits, but obviously, I'm not a mental health professional and if you find that you feel so low you aren't functioning properly, it's probably worth a visit to the doctor who can recommend various interventions.<br />
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<b>1. Talk About It</b><br />
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One of the things I've noticed in my thirties is that people are much more willing to discuss depression and feeling low. I have quite a few friends who I have in-depth conversations about the feelings that can happen upon me during this time and I am confident in saying it's almost certainly the thing that has helped me the most when it comes to pulling my socks up and getting on with things. It really helps to know that other people, not just random Internet people but my actual friends, are going through similar stuff. There can be a feeling of isolation that comes with anxiety and depression disorders and quite often realising that other people are feeling the same way can put a mind at ease. I'm not alone, these feelings are normal and almost everyone has them to some degree, some of the time.<br />
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If you struggle to connect with people in this way, I've noticed something that might help. Sometimes, people don't WANT to just sit down of an evening and start talking about their depression, why would they? There's still a stigma around mental health. But you can listen for clues and be the first to state that you feel something too and this can open doors to conversations that have a real benefit in dealing with SAD.<br />
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<b>2. Have Coping Strategies</b><br />
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I spoke in my post last year about some of the things that I do to overcome the blues. Seasonal depression in the most part is encouraged by a lack of Serotonin. Not getting that Vit D hit from the sunshine can really affect your minds chemical balance but there are small things you can do to boost your bodies production of the hormones needed to counteract depression. Eating dark chocolate, hugging, watching baby animals, exercise and creating self-care rituals all have an impact on how much Serotonin your body produces and at the very least, giving yourself a positive task to complete that you know has the capacity to make you feel better can have a great result. Don't sniff at doing tiny things for yourself - a face mask, a bar of chocolate and a favourite film, or spending time with people whose company you enjoy can prevent you from dwelling on the negatives.<br />
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<b>3. Read Books That Help</b><br />
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Autumn is a great time to cosy up with a book, in my mind - I don't get a huge amount of reading done during the hustle and bustle of the summer so I tend to save a reading list that I want to work through when Autumn hits. One of the books that has helped me most in overcoming my negative thinking patterns is Heart Of The Revolution by Noah Levine. It's a book on Buddhism for beginners and it covers a lot about letting go of guilt and focusing on positive experiences without clinging to them and being sad when they are over - this really resonates with me during times when I I feel down and it's a book that I go back to over and over. If Buddhism isn't for you, it's a great time to read a book that benefits you in another way. I'm just starting <a href="https://amzn.to/2C0NoU7" target="_blank">The Multi-Hyphen Method</a> by Emma Gannon. It's a book for people who want to develop various streams of income from their skills and aren't necessarily defining their success in terms of working a 9-5 job day in day out. Reading books like this inspires me to work harder at making my dreams a reality and it also takes my mind off my mild depression because I'm focusing on the future. Other books that have helped me through the winter months are <a href="https://amzn.to/2NptyDT" target="_blank">The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin</a>,<a href="https://amzn.to/2O6lBIW" target="_blank"> Eat Prey Love </a>(the book is infinitely better than the film!) and various books on mindfulness and motivation that I'll share in a future post. I'd love to hear your suggestions in the comments for books that have helped you through dark times. Next up for me is <a href="https://amzn.to/2BZnrnG" target="_blank">The Kindness Method</a> - about treating yourself kindly for a more positive life.<br />
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<b>4. Get Out Of The House</b><br />
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Probably the most over-egged bit of advice ever, I'm pretty sure there are few ailments that exist that at some point the patient hasn't been told that getting some fresh air might help. At school, Matron would suggest I sat by an open window for pretty much any injury - broken your leg have you Katy? Some fresh air will surely mend those bones! Now, if I see sunshine, I make a point of getting out in it. Vitamin D is absorbed through skin, so roll up your sleeves and trousers and get outside to take in some of that wonder vitamin - it's one of those irritating things that won't make an immediate impact, but increasing your sun exposure during September and October is proven to have an impact on the severity of your Serotonin deficit over the winter. <br />
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<b>5. Define and Deal With Anxiety</b><br />
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People will often refer to Anxiety as one illness, one mental health issue. "I have Anxiety" people will say. "I feel Anxious". Actually anxiety is a catch-all term for a number of disorders. Finding out which sort of anxiety you have and what triggers it can be a lifelong process. I've noticed that few people talk about the specific form that their anxiety takes. Is it too personal to discuss? Are people worried that others will view them as crazy? Do people use the term 'anxiety' because it's easier than explaining that they are terrified by social situations, health issues, accidents, crowds, heights etc. If you are able to define to yourself what makes you anxious, this can help you to avoid triggers. One of the forms that my own personal anxiety takes is health worries. During low days, I can spend several hours googling non-specific symptoms and diagnosing myself with every type of illness I find. On really bad days, my brain will start practising how I will tell my friends and family that I'm dying. It's stupid and it's a waste of time, but I since I started to pick up more on what triggers me to have worse moments I am able to try and avoid situations were those triggers might appear. I don't watch hospital based reality shows anymore and I've deleted myself from several health forums. I've unfollowed individuals who blog about long-term illness because their updates can start me off on a worry spiral again - when I am going through a low time, it helps to avoid things that make me feel lower.<br />
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<b>6. <a href="https://amzn.to/2zVoRyh" target="_blank">Lumie Bodyclock Starter 30 Wake-Up Alarm Clock</a></b><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lumie-Bodyclock-Starter-Wake-Up-Features/dp/B002TEXEAI/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&linkCode=li3&tag=katyclouds-21&linkId=146f5a71d956e2a001671c5cd260f479&language=en_GB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002TEXEAI&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=katyclouds-21&language=en_GB" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=katyclouds-21&language=en_GB&l=li3&o=2&a=B002TEXEAI" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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I mentioned this alarm clock in my previous post but it's so good I'm going to mention it again. It's about £60 on Amazon and at John Lewis and it wakes you up slowly with warm light that projects on the nearest wall in a sun ray pattern. Waking up feeling like I actually want to get out of bed is a complete change to normal because usually, as soon as the mornings get misty I want to huddle up in a ball at the bottom of my duvet and not speak to anyone for a month!<br />
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This isn't one of those vitamin D giving lights, it's just a more natural and refreshing way to start the day!<br />
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I hope some of these might have helped someone, somewhere. Please do comment your own coping mechanisms below, I'm always on the lookout for ways to boost positivity going into Winter.<br />
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Katy x<br />
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<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-36897745400803974292018-10-03T07:07:00.001-07:002018-10-06T03:27:51.063-07:00Crowdfunding Basics - The First 5 Things I Learnt When I Launched A Kickstarter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm really excited to start sharing posts about my recent journey into crowdfunding. As you may already know, I've been running a Kickstarter project in addition to working on my website, it's currently 21% funded with 19 days to go - not terrible, but not awesome either and I've hit a MAJOR plateau with no bids for several days.<br />
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I'm hoping to be completely honest in the upcoming posts around crowdfunding and I want to start off that way too. I'm not an expert on crowdfunding, or Kickstarter, or anything to do with launching a business this way! I was recently approached by a group looking for help to marketing their upcoming crowdfunding campaign through my marketing business. I really wanted to take on the project and I knew I had the marketing knowledge, but everything I knew about crowdfunding was based around one platform, and a few heady days of pledging money towards ridiculous projects like building a Death Star. Yeah, I invested in that.<br />
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I spent a few days looking into crowdfunding. I spent time on Kickstarters Campus forum and joined several Facebook groups. I watched a great Facebook Live featuring Leona from The Indie Rollercoaster which gave me a lot of info in a very short space of time! And then I launched. If you care to check out my campaign, you can below.<br />
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I'm going to share the first 5 things I realised after I launched - that I really wish I had known first!<br />
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<b>1. It's all in the pre-launch email list.</b><br />
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I didn't do this and I wish I had, I'll definitely do something in this vein if I relaunch or do another campaign. It's the advice that I have read the most regularly over the course of my research, - having a list of email addresses that belong to people with a potential interest in your product, or your campaign in general is an essential.<br />
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The most common way of collecting email addresses seems to be through a landing page. A landing page is a simple website, featuring a brief description of what you are are hoping to achieve and an email input. Some of the ones I have seen that relate to crowdfunding have a 'Countdown to Launch' feature, which has the potential to build a sense of momentum when your audience initially visit the page. I should have got this landing page up and started directing people to it through social. Forming a community should play an key role in any crowdfunding marketing strategy and the email list is the start of this. It can also be used later on to target potential backers with updates about your project, which could lead to last minute pledges.<br />
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<b>2. There is a certain format to most successful campaigns</b><br />
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When I first started reading about crowdfunding I saw a lot of advice replicated across the board. I pushed a lot of these to the back of my mind thinking they probably weren't relevant for my project. Spoiler: They were. You need to create a video because it shows who you are to potential investors, right there in your campaign link. You also need it because all the other campaigns have it and if you don't, it looks like you aren't taking it seriously. Who wants to invest money in someone who isn't taking it seriously? This was probably one of my major mistakes. I'm still considering adding a video to my project, just something simple explaining who I am, why I like making crowns and what plans I have for launching an Etsy shop next year. There are several other elements to the standard format, including setting 'stretch goals' - these are goals past your original amount. Often, if the project reaches the 'stretch goal' there will be an additional reward released. Pinterest was a great resource for me when it came to putting my campaign together - I've got an awesome Crowdfunding board here if you are interested.<br />
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<b>3. You'll need projections on what you intend to spend the money on</b><br />
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I didn't include this when I launched, but looking at successful campaigns afterwards I saw there was often a lot of detail about where the money would go. It's vital to remember that Kickstarter take 5% of your final total, IndieGoGo take 4% if you reach your goal and 9% if you don't. Paypal will usually have a charge of 3-5% too. Budget for at least 10% in fees to be sure. A pie chart looks cute and will make your funds allocation clear. Set a small margin for error too and don't forget to include packaging. I made a huge mistake in not working all of this out before to launched so be a boss and work out your costs!<br />
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<b>4. Kickstarter doesn't have a forum in the normal sense - you'll need to reach out further to get backers</b><br />
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I kind of assumed there would be an inbuilt way of reaching Kickstarter lovers with my project, but there really isn't, not in the same way there are forums on Etsy anyway. Kickstarter Campus is a section of the website to which you can submit a questions and anyone can answer, but I answered a question last week and it got approved yesterday. Frustratingly slow. Actually having a look now, despite it being a pretty basic question, I haven't had any replies. So, you are definitely going to need to reach out a lot further if you want to promote your project to people who already have a basic idea of what crowdfunding is. I ended up using Facebook Ads to target people who liked music festivals and also knew about Kickstarter, but I will talk about that in a different post along with the results from my paid Facebook Ad campaigns. Facebook groups I joined, which I'll share in a later post also, seemed very inactive and spammy. There is a reasonably helpful subreddit which you can share your link on, but unless it's a tabletop game or some sort of fiddly gadget it's not the best place to promote either. More to come on this subject in the future, but I wish I'd looked much deeper into this before launching.<br />
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<b>5. Rewards that are handmade, custom items are the hardest to fulfil.</b><br />
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Okay, so this point isn't based on my own experience, as yet I only have three backers that I need to make custom crowns for. But all the info I've read since especially around creating exciting rewards for your pledges has warned against offering handmade, custom rewards, Obviously, this forms the main part of my project, but what I should have done is had some sort of non-handmade reward. Enamel pins are popular but there are loads of ideas for amazing pledge rewards all over the web and in Kickstarter Campus. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/need-some-reward-ideas-here-are-96-of-them" target="_blank">Here is a great list of 96 ideas</a> for creating rewards that will engage people but not cost the earth to fulfil. Had I have known this previously, I would have included something small for £10 backers. Maybe a hand drawn postcard, or an enamel pin if I had of had the wherewithal to get them made first (although this could have been part of my budget if I had planned things better!)<br />
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I hope that these has inspired you to research certain elements of launching a crowdfunding campaign and creating a marketing strategy for crowdfunding projects. There is so much to learn! Please give me a follow on your RSS reader or on Instagram <a href="http://www.instagram.com/thelostandcrowned" target="_blank">@katyclouds</a> if you want to follow my Kickstarter project more closely. I'll be sharing a lot more about what I have learnt over the next few weeks.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGzIbKC7Q9v57Gwi68AEmVMcbPP-IYd47i2BLBMr4w8x0Msp0pbXHfTEVulHZL36oFiB_iUUqdXb_85YdGSCzRJCgTeqqY1VpcZms3IlU-orFqV6SKXUgOQz3aGD5qssmFZzhOd7AgW4/s1600/Copy+of+Automating+Tweets+where+and+why.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxGzIbKC7Q9v57Gwi68AEmVMcbPP-IYd47i2BLBMr4w8x0Msp0pbXHfTEVulHZL36oFiB_iUUqdXb_85YdGSCzRJCgTeqqY1VpcZms3IlU-orFqV6SKXUgOQz3aGD5qssmFZzhOd7AgW4/s640/Copy+of+Automating+Tweets+where+and+why.png" width="426" /></a></div>
<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-44288588325874580462018-10-02T04:13:00.000-07:002018-10-06T03:30:21.525-07:00Scheduling Tweets - How, Why and Where?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm now juggling three Instagram accounts, two Twitters and two Pinterests and that's before I take on any clients through Strange Marketing. I'm working hard to become more organised, trying to make sure that some content goes out on each platform, each and every day - no easy task!<br />
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Although I've written before about automation and why I think it's killing Instagram (<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2016/09/automated-posting-applications-are.html" target="_blank">click here for that cheerful piece!</a>) there are certain situations where using an automated posting platform is beneficial and can keep your content flowing smoothly allowing you to focus on other things.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJJlqXDLJwJmn4tl9UafXmGCkxgTDxwZYu0O_vmBuN9Ob1cjY3aXdqsXz-jYPoxzDHYeaGeHvmYNrvcARx8TkiKJ0Siez47xtdxzgt4GsRewAnsF5Y4plXpwpdvOqVZDyMksCBKI0MvQ/s1600/Why+Automate+Tweets_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="600" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJJlqXDLJwJmn4tl9UafXmGCkxgTDxwZYu0O_vmBuN9Ob1cjY3aXdqsXz-jYPoxzDHYeaGeHvmYNrvcARx8TkiKJ0Siez47xtdxzgt4GsRewAnsF5Y4plXpwpdvOqVZDyMksCBKI0MvQ/s640/Why+Automate+Tweets_.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's well documented that one of the curses of the modern world is the amount of time we spend bent looking at our phones. Obviously, many of us have chosen to work in the digital space and with that comes a requirement to be connected the majority of the time. However, I can't be alone in facing that awkward 'you spend more time on your phone than anything else' conversation with relatives or friends. It sounds pretty frivolous to explain that if you aren't there, posting content at certain times you won't gain the traction that you need to launch a project, or grow as an influencer. Automation means you gain a tiny bit of your life back, bundling the time spent tweeting into one handy segment - I do it on a Monday morning.</div>
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That's not to say that as a small business or Influencer you won't need to pop on and check reactions and reply to engagements - but it does mean that when you want to focus on your real life, your social channels are ticking along nicely, looking active and gaining interest.</div>
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In addition, automating your tweets means you aren't creating it on the fly. You aren't trying to type it out on your phone scrunched into a wet bus seat where you might not have access to all your file directories (please tell me I'm not the only ones whose iCloud hasn't updated in 134 days?) this ultimately means you have more control, as you'll have everything to hand when you create your posting schedule.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9kJhQ_G9CdMPQCylP2lU5z6hRBdW4kda9sQAIl_Ooy0i4Zot1V6yStyunJ4I2w3YfSfCjaO-Eig-5dWKrZxRICOV0fhF-NME4nupqhz8Tsi2WeRQT9DejFuVBpwOj9vCDu1UM2lGsKQ/s1600/What+Content+Works+Best_.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="600" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9kJhQ_G9CdMPQCylP2lU5z6hRBdW4kda9sQAIl_Ooy0i4Zot1V6yStyunJ4I2w3YfSfCjaO-Eig-5dWKrZxRICOV0fhF-NME4nupqhz8Tsi2WeRQT9DejFuVBpwOj9vCDu1UM2lGsKQ/s640/What+Content+Works+Best_.png" width="640" /></a></div>
The type of content that works best is direct links to your blog or other promotional tweets, general questions to the twitter community or cross-platform promotion of your other social profiles. Here is an example of one of my recent tweets that I created through Buffer and posted out automatically to my profile at an optimum time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ0z6wAgx0-g6t6hTJNVBI99BDeetbuOK2Lb8eNCtD0fh8VgozERURncoJYnYRSCO91qNPlYRmaDA8qZlIiFkHyYFPkjMzWLfvDiYAmXJPeC92H4dT6vkqLHY6xxZ7pMuVrC2FZ2skdA/s1600/twitter+automation+example.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="582" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQ0z6wAgx0-g6t6hTJNVBI99BDeetbuOK2Lb8eNCtD0fh8VgozERURncoJYnYRSCO91qNPlYRmaDA8qZlIiFkHyYFPkjMzWLfvDiYAmXJPeC92H4dT6vkqLHY6xxZ7pMuVrC2FZ2skdA/s640/twitter+automation+example.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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By using automation in this way, I'm making sure that my blog is being promoted throughout the week. I'll add to this with tweets of my own ad hoc, but knowing that my profile is looking active, sharing my blog links and generating engagement without me having to spend the time hooked up to my mobile.<br />
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Over the week, I'll mix things up, sharing blog posts from my back catalogue that haven't got a lot of love recently as well as questions that I hope will get engagement - when I was blogging festivals during the summer, for example, I threw a few questions about favourite gigs and live music events into the schedule.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCIlJWl_ogOkMhp_BsiLB7LZmpl5a6ylBOyOsf3aPVTcpPGbpRuca5URhfUitiNrbqI4FnntPZSmtYjyotQPGMS2cTxjB5m_PCJOrSTAInAjesjNNUY5Ry95CD5kvv6698Nqu3LZ_Sek/s1600/example+tweet.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="99" data-original-width="618" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCIlJWl_ogOkMhp_BsiLB7LZmpl5a6ylBOyOsf3aPVTcpPGbpRuca5URhfUitiNrbqI4FnntPZSmtYjyotQPGMS2cTxjB5m_PCJOrSTAInAjesjNNUY5Ry95CD5kvv6698Nqu3LZ_Sek/s640/example+tweet.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUncnI3BYuquQKr0i-N6PYmSlaYuYKDMIRPSBzbISj-1GKXnXxASmGVD2aeZqOnFdX8t_1-F9heZW1cZAZ-4MpFQidqne65V-cdpTQ7AK17p7kV4mq_LffuivBSY36C5GrVpreoxF2zN0/s1600/Which+Platform+is+right.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="100" data-original-width="600" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUncnI3BYuquQKr0i-N6PYmSlaYuYKDMIRPSBzbISj-1GKXnXxASmGVD2aeZqOnFdX8t_1-F9heZW1cZAZ-4MpFQidqne65V-cdpTQ7AK17p7kV4mq_LffuivBSY36C5GrVpreoxF2zN0/s640/Which+Platform+is+right.png" width="640" /></a></div>
In order to answer this question, I tried out three platforms. I'll include some thoughts on each below but I think it's pretty clear which one I would recommend!<br />
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<li>Hootsuite - I've got a premium Hootsuite account because I plan to use it when managing my clients social media. It's a market-standard platform with a lot of useful features and the ability to review and engage with multiple social platforms through it's interface. You can schedule tweets quite simply, just type what you want to say into a box, add a link or image and then select a time that you want it to go out - their Autoschedule features will post the content at a peak time for you. You can have 30 scheduled posts per month if you are a free user. One of the great benefits if you are using Hootsuite for business is bulk uploading, you type all your updates into a spreadsheet and mass upload them to be posted at optimum times!</li>
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<li>Recurpost - Oh Recurpost, I had such high hopes for you! Recurpost is a scheduler that works in a different way, you create Libraries around a certain theme (so, blog posts, jokes, memes, whatever you want to share) and then for each Library you create tweets. For each tweet, you then create several variations. You add the Library into a schedule which is optimised for your timezone and Recurpost will post out your tweets and variations until your library is empty and you need to start again. Main issues for me were that it didn't post images as part of the variations, just links, and when the Libraries were empty it was a real faff taking everything off the schedule and starting again! I can see this being really useful if you want certain content going out on certain days but for me there was a lot of unnessecary messing around.</li>
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<li>Buffer - The dream. Super easy to work, free users can add up to ten updates to their queue at a time, you can select what times they go out or Buffer will optimise it for you. It's really easy to add images to each update and to make it even easier, if you include a link, Buffer will pull images from the site for you to select which for many of us Pinterest-optimised bloggers means not sitting around waiting for images to upload, just type in the text, copy the link, chose the image and it's a go. I wish I'd known about Buffer before paying for a premium Hootsuite membership because it's so much simpler, the interface is nice and it works like a charm.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MLtLx6ce5a0_hnwrQg1yLjtReFHUiSkdfUcPX4adnLkB2YiNWkbNaZbVilY8FhMPcOIqynVelbzhwzKRsERjQedGRLPEL-jyp6yX8WcLRHLvPBdcDtg9h2I-4AtAcUlkmhpv0MKn2mc/s1600/buffer.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="804" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MLtLx6ce5a0_hnwrQg1yLjtReFHUiSkdfUcPX4adnLkB2YiNWkbNaZbVilY8FhMPcOIqynVelbzhwzKRsERjQedGRLPEL-jyp6yX8WcLRHLvPBdcDtg9h2I-4AtAcUlkmhpv0MKn2mc/s640/buffer.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I hope this has helped! I would love to here your reviews of platforms that perform a similiar task - I'm always looking for ways to streamline managing several social accounts and still growing on all of them.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttBGm8zfkcho2rehbHWej2NMEzbsbmGU0fAknboORe0LU4WZn4pWLx-4SACLP5wqK9NsqCMvsvxM4lV_8As2DJaAzsFigQR0U6lxMFWhwW6AsaBaMTEhq2_-vOFCoR75qRMcIzwtQUpw/s1600/Automating+Tweets+where+and+why.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="735" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjttBGm8zfkcho2rehbHWej2NMEzbsbmGU0fAknboORe0LU4WZn4pWLx-4SACLP5wqK9NsqCMvsvxM4lV_8As2DJaAzsFigQR0U6lxMFWhwW6AsaBaMTEhq2_-vOFCoR75qRMcIzwtQUpw/s640/Automating+Tweets+where+and+why.png" width="425" /></a></div>
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-70469259918672613282018-10-01T01:57:00.001-07:002018-10-01T01:57:27.317-07:00Blogtober & A Life UpdateHi :)<br />
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Happy October! I know October is a bit of a blogger cliche (no, I don't want my coffee to taste like pumpkin, a fruit I would never consider eating) but I love the lead up to Halloween and this year I'm hoping to get my boyf in his most extravagent costume yet - here are a few from previous years:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJztKJR5MDiTD0io2m5A47W5kjEyBNmipAvJ3zEG_Y2caTuvHWPJGIcHKJKRQf1-gRnKF6jXnKGhkceiDn3YbEPVoHUiJ5h4jYdbmR5OyuMTXuSwoB1bQq0ymwxdWA5yrOkv3xUwlnC4/s1600/14693657_164712470657816_5899457676378636288_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJztKJR5MDiTD0io2m5A47W5kjEyBNmipAvJ3zEG_Y2caTuvHWPJGIcHKJKRQf1-gRnKF6jXnKGhkceiDn3YbEPVoHUiJ5h4jYdbmR5OyuMTXuSwoB1bQq0ymwxdWA5yrOkv3xUwlnC4/s640/14693657_164712470657816_5899457676378636288_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBS7hxHUnLYXEcJ8fkapitqORLlqkeci0976_NVzpoc_r_EMk2UGY9Dpunkm6lYsseo2P6_9mCO6Teje4LbIrl_WnX1fStYeBLrGN_kYWshR93LBNBN8EVHLs1s1eUUSpRYH974r3lgZM/s1600/Halloween+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBS7hxHUnLYXEcJ8fkapitqORLlqkeci0976_NVzpoc_r_EMk2UGY9Dpunkm6lYsseo2P6_9mCO6Teje4LbIrl_WnX1fStYeBLrGN_kYWshR93LBNBN8EVHLs1s1eUUSpRYH974r3lgZM/s640/Halloween+2015.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This year I'm going to give Blogtober a try - a post day for the whole of October. I've been blogging for 15 years but I don't take it hugely seriously - I kind of want that to change especially as I'm launching two separate online ventures at the moment. The first is my digital marketing and Influencer biz - Strange Marketing. My Dad has helped me with the site and it's looking pretty awesome! Over the next few weeks I'll be adding a lot to the free content section which I hope will help anyone looking for guidance to setting up social media for their business.<br />
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You can follow Strange Marketing on twitter<a href="https://twitter.com/strangesocial1" target="_blank"> here</a> and on Instagram <a href="http://www.instagram.com/strangesocialmarketing" target="_blank">here</a>. The website is <a href="http://www.strangemarketing.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSPqaO99lB34KD0vSS66wnWmuwfqtnEzHxYqlmdCa4JsGXl8AKnZurqTIGloQ36tQWdbWinAQUP8_1YOPnKyIex32iaq4NLsGbjcOUW909ze5xj1jHRYp8SXCAXaxe3K68RG1lOpONBM/s1600/Strange+website.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1123" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSPqaO99lB34KD0vSS66wnWmuwfqtnEzHxYqlmdCa4JsGXl8AKnZurqTIGloQ36tQWdbWinAQUP8_1YOPnKyIex32iaq4NLsGbjcOUW909ze5xj1jHRYp8SXCAXaxe3K68RG1lOpONBM/s640/Strange+website.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm also launching my handmade crowns on Etsy this week - that's my main goal for the first week of October. So, if you have found this post from my Etsy profile, please do give me a follow on your RSS reader - I'm hoping to build a fun community of crown-loving guys and gals through my blog and my social platforms. Follow my crown-making ventures on Instagram <a href="http://www.instagram.com/thelostandcrowned" target="_blank">here</a>. You can also get a custom crown through my Kickstarter project which is running until 22nd October - <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1346887995/lost-and-crowned-light-up-festival-or-fancy-dress" target="_blank">here is the link!</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGKgmrrOCKp7lXZj4EvjcQEbv_XxMmDtROms62gz8Ng9VNPeyKxwjv8rgPQlneKto3Xiu-jDvu09tNOg1QYSgb11GY5yn6DmAqJbbzhr6wGJ4ZZjhA0kO0lxjgN66Gw9ghL_JjcmQsoY/s1600/white+crown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1400" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGKgmrrOCKp7lXZj4EvjcQEbv_XxMmDtROms62gz8Ng9VNPeyKxwjv8rgPQlneKto3Xiu-jDvu09tNOg1QYSgb11GY5yn6DmAqJbbzhr6wGJ4ZZjhA0kO0lxjgN66Gw9ghL_JjcmQsoY/s640/white+crown.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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So, please join me over October as I share lots of information about growing your social channels, crowdfunding and starting a new business - I'm really excited to see what can happen this month - What are your goals for October? Pop them in the comments!Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-8842190846878488562018-09-16T04:59:00.000-07:002018-09-16T04:59:35.406-07:00Curious Yellow 2018I'm kind of late sharing these photos and review of Curious Yellow this year - for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have been beavering away developing my own business! I'll share more over the next few months as I work to promote it and start taking on clients but you can check out the website and a lot of free info by <a href="http://www.strangemarketing.co.uk/" target="_blank">clicking here and visiting Strange Marketing</a>.<div>
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But, anyway I am here to talk about Curious and the fun and weirdness that we had in the beautiful Gibberd Garden. I've made a promise to myself that I'm not going to gush about the gardens this year, I'm pretty sure the majority of my blogs about this event are just me raving about the location so I'm going to try to avoid that as much today.</div>
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Every year I go to Curious Yellow, it is life-changing in some way, redefining how I see myself or my relationships. This year was no different and everything changed for me in the few days that we spent hidden in gardens.</div>
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The excitement in the lead up this year was SO REAL I almost couldn't stand it. I actually gave myself several anxiety attacks in the preparation because I couldn't believe it was finally here, after counting down for exactly 365 days.</div>
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When we finally arrived, the spot our friends who got there first had picked was perfect, and this year we came down the lane instead of dragging our camping supplies through the gardens which meant we had no idea what installations, tents or stages were in the main arenas until we were fully settled. </div>
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We heard some amazing music from Bare Jams and The Turner Brothers but my favourite set of all was Sweetcornbread in the Once In A Blue Moon cafe. Despite three days of pretty heavy drinking and misbehaviour (especially on the part of my bass-playing boyfriend below on the left) they absolutely smashed the fence out of their Sunday afternoon set and had the whole audience dancing to their fun music. It was about twenty thousand degrees in Once In A Blue Moon tent (<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2018/06/5-amazing-things-we-loved-at-hogsozzle.html" target="_blank">check out this post for more about their beautiful festival set-up)</a> so I didn't get too many good photo, which makes me sad because they looks so freaking awesome and I'm not even just saying that because I date one of them. </div>
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In a weekend full of wonderfulness, there were a couple of other things that stood out that I really have to mention. The incredible LCD screens in the smaller dance arena were controlled by a fabulous device call the Naztek which anyone could stick their hands in to create crazy digital patterns surrounding the DJ booth. I absolutely LOVE things like this, being able to interact with the set-up is really fun and brings a whole new dimension to the dance arena, especially at a smaller festival where everyone gets to have a turn - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bill.stickers.92/videos/10155033595833055/" target="_blank">check out a video by clicking here.</a></div>
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I also had a great time at the little open mic event held by some people local to us here in Hemel. Set in the folly, a little stone tower that I've always felt was a bit under-used, a variety of performers got up to sing. There was good, amazing and one or two who perhaps could do with a tiny bit more practise but where nonetheless, awe-inspiring for getting up and braving the small but raucous crowd. My friend Rachael singing Ballroom Blitz and our friends Dave and Ian deserved their applause for sure!</div>
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Song discovery of the weekend for me was this track by Asif Avidan which I heard covered in a pretty jaunty and joyful way by Bare Jams and then looked up afterwards and found the original for, it's a real corker, this guys voice is insane.</div>
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The rest of the weekend passed in a blur of whiskey, music and happiness, hiding in the undergrowth with some new found friends (thank you Grace and Georgia for concealing me when I needed some quiet time as well as the disposable camera photos!!) and wishing that time would pass as slowly as possible so we didn't have to go home!</div>
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In comparison to other years I would say the set up was better, more professional, the stage looked great and so did the bars. There were none of last years issues with the generator and there was something going on all the time. The main attraction for me is always getting to roam and explore the Gibberd Gardens on my own and with people new to the location and it didn't disappoint - if I ever have a reason to have a big outdoor party there isn't anywhere else I would consider, I really love this place so much.</div>
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I look forward to next year, as usual, but I'm not able to share a ticket link currently. I know that there have been some issues with getting things booked for next years party and the team behind Curious are currently trying to raise funds to be able to continue putting on the event - <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/curiousyellow" target="_blank">here is a link to their Just Giving page.</a></div>
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Thank you to Greg, Daniel, Charlotte, Liz and everyone involved <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">♥</span></div>
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-89395840153662335542018-09-06T05:54:00.000-07:002018-09-06T05:54:03.544-07:00Instagram Stories For Your Small Business<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Now the summer has come to an end it feels like it's time to really buckle down and get some work done. In the words of Bret and Jermaine, it's officially Business Time.<br />
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I'm working on launching my business, Strange Marketing (<a href="http://www.strangemarketing.co.uk/" target="_blank">visit the site by clicking here!</a>) and in doing so have been looking into which niches my expertise actually covers. One of the things I haven't seen a huge amount of people giving advice on is Instagram Stories and how to use them to promote your business and grow your brand so here I am today to give some of the knowledge that I gained as an agent to Instagram influencers in my previous job.<br />
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Instagram Stories is a feature of Instagram that allows you to create in-the-moment content that is visible to your audience for 24 hours. It's indicated by a purple and orange circle around your profile picture. When I look at followers or search for someone on Instagram, I like to see that circle around a profile picture as it shows that person is actively sharing new content, it's not a dead account or one that hasn't been updated for a while. This automatically makes them more attractive to follow.<br />
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Influencers, that is, users with a following of more than 10,000, have access to a feature that means they can add a link to their Stories. By swiping upwards on the screen, the watcher will be taken straight to the link. This is a fab way to get people to look at a blog post or go straight to a retail page where they can make a purchase, which can be extremely beneficial when it comes to using affiliate links. For the rest of us, who are growing their business and haven't hit that magic 10K mark, there are lots of ways you can use Instagram Stories to generate engagement, interest and purchasing action with a little clever thinking.<br />
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So, let's get to the meat, How can you use Stories in the best way for your business?<br />
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<b><span style="color: purple;">BUILDING YOUR BRAND</span></b><br />
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For any business, whether you design beautiful handmade goods or provide some sort of service (like my social media strategy services) it's important to build trust and be recognisable. The average internet user has an attention span of 8 seconds when it comes to content. If you can't get them in that time, they will swipe your Story away and be on to the next one. If everything you post looks different, random and unconnected, you aren't going to register in your audience's mind and they won't necessarily look out for your content.<br />
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You can use fonts, apps colours or filters to give your Stories a cohesive look. One of my favourite Instagram Story users is Lauren from <a href="https://www.instagram.com/girlstolelondon/" target="_blank">girlstolelondon</a>. She uses the same colours and the typewriter font, often with a simple line underneath the text as well as an app which allows you to put two pictures or videos on one Story for the majority of her static (non-talking directly at the camera) content on the feature. Here's some examples, which I hope she won't mind me using:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtLNU3WYNumCH6lq14RSjOfv7blrejpWGA-JRaHp4bD0bz95ciXrdAAKXuJ1HMOCaqC5PdlzmL3Pj09RbEwsvOZZqRKgmKjWfyj7QVVSiGyUKry0JxHmV-PKsyov1wW6oYHRUVewqDR8/s1600/girlstolelondon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="810" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQtLNU3WYNumCH6lq14RSjOfv7blrejpWGA-JRaHp4bD0bz95ciXrdAAKXuJ1HMOCaqC5PdlzmL3Pj09RbEwsvOZZqRKgmKjWfyj7QVVSiGyUKry0JxHmV-PKsyov1wW6oYHRUVewqDR8/s640/girlstolelondon.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Use of black and white, a specific font and a defined style means that even when I'm idly scrolling through Stories, her content stands out and I instantly associate it with her. You can apply this tactic to your business really easily! Here are some ideas:<br />
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<li>Stick to specific colours and fonts for your text. Chose something that goes with your brand, perhaps your logo colours. Don't forget you aren't limited to the little circles of colour, you can use the dropper to select any colour visible in the image and if you 'long press' on one of the circles you'll be offered the whole rainbow! </li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWm5O6xZUO_bmNNqWKBhvE-24hsrbdaPbZZrf5K-wzAoJzebJI82j3y6XcXdRLvm_DnzElLLoeDsmAR7LGP2RdzQPH_MCje6KAokz3WMUAlZ-Qv94EPus8NwxBpUu4qPFl3B-6scSems/s1600/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+10+45+47.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibWm5O6xZUO_bmNNqWKBhvE-24hsrbdaPbZZrf5K-wzAoJzebJI82j3y6XcXdRLvm_DnzElLLoeDsmAR7LGP2RdzQPH_MCje6KAokz3WMUAlZ-Qv94EPus8NwxBpUu4qPFl3B-6scSems/s400/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+10+45+47.png" width="223" /></a></div>
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<li>Keep your text short and informative so that watchers can read it quick, even if they are shooting past your Stories. You can actually see stats about how many people clicked forwards, back or exited your Stories through your Insights. </li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmbhd4xgLjXNrk0RRquzlTAIub8qMq3oupXWWYLIetDbtQvDGTiHVyZmUnaGCjugLX04WnyJtktSJG_ZuvzH4OeFCQ3Y9B8bG8R7su3z6dXeKP2lkuhTPl7iuMHe64hTwEaUwBWXvbk0/s1600/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+10+50+34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmbhd4xgLjXNrk0RRquzlTAIub8qMq3oupXWWYLIetDbtQvDGTiHVyZmUnaGCjugLX04WnyJtktSJG_ZuvzH4OeFCQ3Y9B8bG8R7su3z6dXeKP2lkuhTPl7iuMHe64hTwEaUwBWXvbk0/s400/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+10+50+34.png" width="223" /></a></div>
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<li>Frames can look good, although you would have to add them in another image editing program. I like to use A Design Kit (available for Android and IPhone) on my Stories to give them a fun look sometimes, but I have to admit I'm much more likely to just stick a GIF on there!</li>
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If you are brave enough, use talking Stories. Talking directly to the camera isn't something everyone is comfortable with, but it definitely gives your audience a better idea of who you are and can help people feel that they 'know' you. I don't see anything wrong with whacking a filter on your face if you want to - using the same one with every talking Story is a another way of creating cohesive content.</div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><b>BEHIND THE SCENES</b></span></div>
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There are so many ridiculously beautiful Instagram feeds out there - I literally don't know how people have the time and inclination to only take photos that are pink and burgundy, but it's pretty common. The Instagram feed for my business is kind of beautiful and I'm really proud of it, the images run into each other (<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-to-create-beautiful-split-images.html" target="_blank">I wrote an article on how I achieve this here</a>) but it definitely means there isn't much room for sporadic content! Anything that isn't part of my carefully curated grid can go in Instagram Stories though, which leaves lots more room for sharing extra info and insights into the business and my day-to-day life.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOt-DWabR6UV5EbBx1N8fz7JIVcjDUtmS7OusRU8q_3KPDocg1swyVXIlR_zyXxwkzuC-SNzDpipDgNKjTRCFWPxWzSicrU2c5rXeWOZ15LtyaF0Vr7pLLNs_GkN2c7LHB3taKLmOclB4/s1600/Photo+01-08-2018%252C+14+34+32.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOt-DWabR6UV5EbBx1N8fz7JIVcjDUtmS7OusRU8q_3KPDocg1swyVXIlR_zyXxwkzuC-SNzDpipDgNKjTRCFWPxWzSicrU2c5rXeWOZ15LtyaF0Vr7pLLNs_GkN2c7LHB3taKLmOclB4/s400/Photo+01-08-2018%252C+14+34+32.png" width="223" /></a></div>
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One of my favourite people for showing serious behind-the-scenes is <a href="http://www.instagram.com/gummergal" target="_blank">Gummergal</a>, an American blogger, her feed is what dreams are made of with a perfect house and baby and outfits, the lot. But her Stories are hilarious and often show the real house behind the blogger, mess everywhere, food covered baby. It really helps to build a bigger picture of her life and makes everything seem ultimately more real.</div>
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Another account I love for using their Stories to show sneaky peeks of behind the 'gram is <a href="http://www.instagram.com/dreamlandclothing" target="_blank">dreamlandclothing</a>. I LOVE their fun eighties prints and their grid is beautiful, all purples and pinks and eighties influences without being too rigid. They use Stories to share peeks of new collections as well as silly behind the scenes stuff that wouldn't fit on the grid.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKevqv0cvsAlXfl8OYv4Tow4C6Swx-ncGAZI4CnZAeZ5p6DwhsO3zT-tkraWKlPod2SKbT67-yZrCc4QQZixXBbJ7AaF_nPzpup237THK6mqFva9JkNjwnQrz_ySgpioswr6dlHPk-aAo/s1600/dreamlandclothing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="810" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKevqv0cvsAlXfl8OYv4Tow4C6Swx-ncGAZI4CnZAeZ5p6DwhsO3zT-tkraWKlPod2SKbT67-yZrCc4QQZixXBbJ7AaF_nPzpup237THK6mqFva9JkNjwnQrz_ySgpioswr6dlHPk-aAo/s640/dreamlandclothing.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here are some ideas for doing this yourself:</div>
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<li>Share pictures of your work-in-progress. For handmade businesses, this can create some really fun engaging content for your fans and followers as well as show how much work, energy and effort goes into creating your product.</li>
<li>Sneak peeks of upcoming content (a corner of a new piece of art, an off-cut of fabric) can build excitement for your upcoming product launches. Or, use GIFs to cover up elements of an image to create suspense - more about GIFs below.</li>
<li>Create a video tour of your workspace, studio or office. People are always interested in this type of content and it adds to the picture that you are building of your business. You can use your voice or text to describe what you are showing. Don't forget you can film with your phone in the normal video setting then add to Stories afterwards, which means you can edit before sharing. Most apps for editing include support for video content now too. My favourite is A Color Story, whose filters give my video a dreamy quality and it's free!</li>
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<span style="color: purple;"><b>ENGAGEMENT</b></span></div>
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Getting people to engage with you and your business is the whole point of using Instagram, or in fact, any social media. Whether that engagement is a like, a comment or a click through to your website, creating content that gets people to interact with it is everything. Instagram Stories gives you lots of ways to get people to engage with you.</div>
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<li>Use polls. One of my favourite Instagrammers uses polls in the best way I have seen. Sophie Tea, an artist based in the UK who creates the most cosmic abstract paintings, uses polls regularly on her Stories to get her audience to engage, and both of the options she offers are positive. There's no room for negativity right? The majority of people want to answer polls and there's something almost automatic about reaching to tap the answer you most agree with, so this little psychological trick of offering only positive options does a lot to build positive brand awareness for Sophie.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSa7NpmJ991x0RMItLaYPUHblisKuWsuhKS1Bl73fpYktAqINcc8HUYZA5EqAv-WlB1Kx-UjQ4fXQa1ZJbSLzYTKkJ_6jssLanqesLVOIICamrAh-tkVwJAyCj08r0owe_LpWzz7sqpWI/s1600/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+11+15+50.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSa7NpmJ991x0RMItLaYPUHblisKuWsuhKS1Bl73fpYktAqINcc8HUYZA5EqAv-WlB1Kx-UjQ4fXQa1ZJbSLzYTKkJ_6jssLanqesLVOIICamrAh-tkVwJAyCj08r0owe_LpWzz7sqpWI/s320/Photo+06-09-2018%252C+11+15+50.png" width="179" /></a></div>
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<li>Ask people directly to message you. Every Instagram Story has the option to send the creator a message at the bottom. Remind your audience regularly that you are open to communication and you can also screenshot and share any lovely messages you receive, tagging the sender in. This has a significant impact on people getting in touch with you, as everyone wants shout-outs to build their own following. </li>
<li>Questions! Instagram recently added an option to ask a question to your audience and many of the people I follow use it to do something like 'Ask me anything' - you get the option to share the responses as part of a Story which creates great interaction with your potential customers.</li>
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<b><span style="color: purple;">TURNING STORIES INTO SALES</span></b></div>
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So, once you have created some fab videos that kind of all look like they are coming from you and share with your audience stuff that you probably wouldn't on your regular feed, it's time to get a return on your investment. When I used to speak to clients about the benefits of using Instagram, I would explain the three things they had to gain; brand awareness, gaining followers and direct sales. It goes without saying that brand awareness + gaining followers = direct sales! </div>
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Raising brand awareness is covered by all that stuff above. Creating a cohesive look and style for your stories, getting people to engage with you and sharing content that shows behind the scenes of your business - brand awareness level 100! Instagram Stories is primarily for your current audience as unless you are huge on Insta you are unlikely to show up on the Explore page. but there are ways to gain exposure to a new audience too. When I tag my stories with a location, even if it's just my local town, they get 100's more views and I tend to gain a few extra followers too. You need to add the location tag into each Story you do in a series - don't forget to add a slide that recommends people follow you for more great content! This works because people can follow locations. For more on following hashtags and locations, <a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2018/04/following-hashtags-growing-your.html" target="_blank">read my recent article here</a>! Add at least one hashtag to every Story too. I recently found <a href="https://laurenlambie.com/2018/06/20/109-popular-instagram-hashtags-entrepreneurs-using-today/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=435463964_14889040_1205" target="_blank">this great article</a> on popular hashtags for independent businesses.</div>
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Don't forget to use <b>'Link in bio'</b> whenever you are talking about anything that your audience might want to buy - you need to make it as easy as possible to find your products. There are some really cute GIFS you can add to your Stories that say Link In Bio too - use them often! I love GIFS, my favourite ones are the drawings that look like they are coming out of something. With a little ingenuity it's possible to create a really fun and engaging Story out of something pretty mundane. Use your imagination when searching for GIFs and you'll find some really unique artwork, it's definitely worth a browse every so often to find more obscure, underused images. GIFs also have the benefit of adding something moving and eye-catching to an otherwise static image which might be enough to get a casual browser. </div>
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I hope this has given you some ideas about how to use Instagram Stories to promote your business. There is so much more to cover, from highlights, to going live and all of the other features that Instagram offers it's community, but I kind of feel like I have rambled enough already. I'd love your own ideas, success and failures to form part of this resource for others so please leave a comment if you have anything at all to add! If you want further help, I'm currently offering a free 20 minute consultation as part of my business launch where I'll offer a review and some personalised ideas on how you can use Stories to grow your biz and get your audience engaging - drop me an email on katy (at) strangemarketing.co.uk</div>
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Have a wonderful day and please do follow my new biz on Instagram for more tips on making social work for your small business - <a href="http://www.instagram.com/strangesocialmarketing" target="_blank">@strangesocialmarketing</a></div>
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Katy x</div>
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-66925406930948340702018-08-12T09:25:00.000-07:002018-08-12T10:08:01.392-07:00How To Create Beautiful Split Images For Instagram <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdC4L45UOgdbgYEaEA0XgPVSDTDUHxMbfghKwA8wcYkD_V4tznU0Iz9w9LUWxHREcvxPsWBuTOOJBvn2sOaPV-o9se0-3TwR25_Uy8zvmfh9CXao1Pyvtoy3RUupaiqE3ARo4OvUMMtM/s1600/creating+split+grid+image+instagram+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="710" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdC4L45UOgdbgYEaEA0XgPVSDTDUHxMbfghKwA8wcYkD_V4tznU0Iz9w9LUWxHREcvxPsWBuTOOJBvn2sOaPV-o9se0-3TwR25_Uy8zvmfh9CXao1Pyvtoy3RUupaiqE3ARo4OvUMMtM/s320/creating+split+grid+image+instagram+2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I've been spending quite a bit of time over the last few months setting up my own little freelance venture, Strange Marketing - <a href="http://www.strangemarketing.co.uk/" target="_blank">check out my amazing website here! </a>When it came to starting an Instagram account for the business, I wanted to do something I've never been able to achieve on my personal account, images that flow into each other.<br />
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I first spotted this concept on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/spectrumcollections/" target="_blank">Spectrum Cosmetics Instagram page</a>. Whilst each of their individual images is a standalone picture, elements of the background serge into the next post. I think it looks great and one of the key things that stuck in my mind about it was that it's clear they have invested resources in developing their social presence - which makes sense for an incredibly success brand that's built it's entire customer base with Instagram.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUxLbkRP0lYgUruoLQbQuYn-fhQeyA34flhvDwJWDEt8J7s5EnszMP2XI0cb7rp8MqhuJQgeY_xxA3Ipn2aKjao5oMdBMtD3W5P8PKdDj89QaG_ZUG05I4UZhdZxScGVJT1Kp6AD428g/s1600/spectrum.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="635" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAUxLbkRP0lYgUruoLQbQuYn-fhQeyA34flhvDwJWDEt8J7s5EnszMP2XI0cb7rp8MqhuJQgeY_xxA3Ipn2aKjao5oMdBMtD3W5P8PKdDj89QaG_ZUG05I4UZhdZxScGVJT1Kp6AD428g/s640/spectrum.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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When it came to thinking about how I wanted Strange Marketing's Instagram to look, I knew I wanted there to be a 'bigger picture' but I wasn't sure how to go about doing it. I don't have Photoshop on my laptop and I also wanted to be able to create and post images while I was on the go.<br />
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I tried a LOT of different apps to make this happen and below I've given you some info about each app - spoiler, only one app really did the job and it's one you have to pay for - but I did find a free and pretty simple way to do it also which I've detailed further down.<br />
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I'm pretty pleased with how SM's Instagram page looks although I'm aware that my graphic design skills need improving on if I really want to make a splash, so any and all advice about composition and colours will be gratefully received. I'm excited to share more about starting Strange Marketing in the future!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKYOrtkkcuXYBJbVKNt_VGJ4GriU6RVd4Musu462WhezdpmERWsu3ntS88U2gxuGsayIjp8-aeYPJr7ORUbdD8bQuV8fC77asE23a4W7koxPYigYB4lSQ-S0xiqx5jCAW9dqv7UMJQJM/s1600/StrangeInstagram.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="328" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSKYOrtkkcuXYBJbVKNt_VGJ4GriU6RVd4Musu462WhezdpmERWsu3ntS88U2gxuGsayIjp8-aeYPJr7ORUbdD8bQuV8fC77asE23a4W7koxPYigYB4lSQ-S0xiqx5jCAW9dqv7UMJQJM/s400/StrangeInstagram.PNG" width="306" /></a></div>
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So, firstly, you need an image. The majority of apps that I found that can create this effect had the option of uploading a picture to them or taking one which you can then edit in the app with a limited variety of tools before splitting the image into parts. I used Canva to create my collages - you can upload your own images, resize and recolour them, place them in grids, add a huge number of elements to your design and it's free. I create these collages in a very large size (3000 x 3000) utilising Canva's 9x9 image grid and dropping different pictures into each space. I'm currently using a pretty flower picture that I took myself as the background. Here's the next large image for SM's Instagram feed:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgwUtuyg2WVl6kEIvWFROuMkNdnMJGNKsHOS6aCDx7emVD6fYCAKtr_MSJ4dg-km2c3R_0APpelXrYbJoo1hnIqgn6jgJAFjLT4HrxoaP48CPYDH1Q0DftjvWk5zhQX3r8KLBlbMwdFU/s1600/instagram3+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgwUtuyg2WVl6kEIvWFROuMkNdnMJGNKsHOS6aCDx7emVD6fYCAKtr_MSJ4dg-km2c3R_0APpelXrYbJoo1hnIqgn6jgJAFjLT4HrxoaP48CPYDH1Q0DftjvWk5zhQX3r8KLBlbMwdFU/s640/instagram3+%25281%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once you have the larger image created you'll need to save it and download it in PNG form (so you don't lose any quality) If you want to use one the many image splitting apps available, you'll also need to export your collage to a mobile device, I use Dropbox for this and I also save every image including the main and split image onto my laptop.</div>
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I tried a few apps but without a doubt, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/planoly-planner-for-instagram/id1014568284?mt=8" target="_blank">Planoly</a> is the better option. Unfortunately, you can only upload 30 pictures to it per month in the free version, but I feel it's probably worth investing in the next level up for £7.99 which allows a lot more uploads as well as access to all their other features, including adding batches of pre-defined hashtags which can really save time when you are uploading 9 images at once! It also saves the images and the split versions for you, so when you are ready to post you can just open up the app and add the images directly into Instagram along with the hashtags and location information. It's a real time saver. I messed up the first month of my free trial by deleting images once I had uploaded them because I wanted to change something - this still ate into my 30 free uploads and meant I couldn't add another 9 images to the upload section. You can't save the split images to your phone in any easy way either. </div>
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Some other apps that I tried:</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/giant-square-for-instagram/id638402155?mt=8" target="_blank">Giant Square</a> - Easy to upload images to split but it adds it's own watermark which I definitely didn't want. I know this sounds a bit mean, because I do believe that apps should be able to earn money for future development etc, but for starting my business venture I needed something that wasn't going to affect the overall image.</div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/9cut/id640482625?mt=8" target="_blank">9Cut</a> - Worked well but there was some reduction of quality which I was trying to avoid. </div>
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<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grids-giant-square-maker/id666575203?mt=8" target="_blank">Grids</a> - When I went into the app to remind myself of what it was I didn't like about it, it tricked me into signing up for a £4.49 weekly subscription! I seem to recall when I used it last week that the ads between every step were the main issue but I now seem to have a super version which works a lot better - at a ridiculous price! That's getting cancelled straight away.</div>
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In the end, I found the best way to get what I wanted - all nine images in the same quality, with no watermarks, ready on my phone to upload to Instagram at any time. I used a site called Img Online an <a href="https://www.imgonline.com.ua/eng/cut-photo-into-pieces.php" target="_blank">online tool which you can access by clicking here.</a> The site creates 9 separate images which you can download individually. There are a few options to select from and you don't just have to do 9x9 grids. I chose the optimize for Instagram option despite not knowing exactly what this does!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqsZsK-03ApEEjH9MsWhpm8eVQbsLjObAt-mXFfb5Fv1Tyy1OMcvF8U5GPGGFqQnFrj0UYrpi32tvmERQX0Kn99mFcX6Y_MjAN7sTqr6uNqUDAfk4OwW-vzq6ur6_QNTc7-amKJZ7Bak/s1600/SMinstagram3.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="761" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrqsZsK-03ApEEjH9MsWhpm8eVQbsLjObAt-mXFfb5Fv1Tyy1OMcvF8U5GPGGFqQnFrj0UYrpi32tvmERQX0Kn99mFcX6Y_MjAN7sTqr6uNqUDAfk4OwW-vzq6ur6_QNTc7-amKJZ7Bak/s640/SMinstagram3.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I then saved them to Dropbox on my laptop and was able to export from the Dropbox app on my phone straight into Instagram. I save my hashtags in a batch on the Notepad application and then just copy and paste them into my caption when I'm ready to post!</div>
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Here's how the first 3 pics look on my feed, hopefully you'll give us a follow over at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/strangesocialmarketing/" target="_blank">@strangesocialmarketing</a> to see the rest ;-)</div>
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I hope this has helped, whether you use an app or the online tool I would love to see your creations, tag me @katyclouds or my new business account, @strangesocialmarketing.</div>
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Katy x</div>
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<span id="goog_1543352381"></span>Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-35983161264954398372018-06-27T06:41:00.000-07:002018-06-27T06:41:40.020-07:00Five MORE reasons to grab a last minute ticket to Curious Yellow - UPDATED DISCOUNT CODES!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFKc9-gHKq1Lerr7Kzp0fW0m8kuNDD3oADW8lAUcoPoBr6rzjJBfNuDK4xl357EW-6P1hn5cWBmeWZivWiEuKPme1AEN7g8nfrrzANFvo_vHfizO0ZwiGWgcZaEzXMHX8q7rxMqj8EJs/s1600/24130378_1242642895835627_8699934859810534085_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqFKc9-gHKq1Lerr7Kzp0fW0m8kuNDD3oADW8lAUcoPoBr6rzjJBfNuDK4xl357EW-6P1hn5cWBmeWZivWiEuKPme1AEN7g8nfrrzANFvo_vHfizO0ZwiGWgcZaEzXMHX8q7rxMqj8EJs/s640/24130378_1242642895835627_8699934859810534085_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It's two sleeps until Curious Yellow and I'm beyond excited. My bags are packed, the chat group is buzzing and the weather is looking amazing.<br />
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There's still a few tickets left for sale, here are my (updated for 2018 but you can read the original post here) top five reasons for snapping one up...<br />
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1. The music is going to be AMAZING<br />
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Every year the team manage to put together a completely eclectic and original line-up with bands, artists and workshops that will blow your mind. One of my favourite things to come out of this event is collaborations between artists that met in the gardens. This year, (I hope I'm not breaking any of the secret line-up rules by saying this I probably am!) I know that The Turner Brothers (woop!), Sweetcornbread and Bare Jams, three of my Curious favourites are all set to play. I'm hoping that the Turner Brothers are going to be joined by our favourite rapping, beat boxing flute player, Archie XN Trick, whose been bashing out some fab content recently and will fit in perfectly to the Turner's party sound. In previously years we've enjoyed fab harmonies in the Once In A Blue Moon tipi with The Midnights, amazing singing bowls from the Consciousness Collective and serious late night dance beats from the Curious Yellow DJ's - I can't wait to see what is in store this year.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYUHB7YEKXcCZBWHmZ1RO4Qm-iccOarRfirxPnmmCif6LhRotuZeQBfDSXQcf7eD7CMCOc0s1zHdnKh26IOPn4HPnUonace7HIzUWIASaWPeB6wM5Qd1WPHmHDkbXqTspfChuvBWlXhg/s1600/20626918_1138287802937804_3232417751510854631_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNYUHB7YEKXcCZBWHmZ1RO4Qm-iccOarRfirxPnmmCif6LhRotuZeQBfDSXQcf7eD7CMCOc0s1zHdnKh26IOPn4HPnUonace7HIzUWIASaWPeB6wM5Qd1WPHmHDkbXqTspfChuvBWlXhg/s640/20626918_1138287802937804_3232417751510854631_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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(Photos from the Curious Yellow Facebook Page - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thecuriousyellow/" target="_blank">click here for more</a>)<br />
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2. The Gardens<br />
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I feel like I have said it before (just a few times?) but the Gibberd Garden is one of my all time favourite places in the UK. Last year I know a couple got married there so I'm kind of jealous that they stole my idea, because the setting is so romantic and wild that I can't honestly think of a better venue to say your vows. This will be our forth year returning to the valley, each year I've taken photos of the foliage and it gets better each year. The best part is the undergrowth along the freshwater stream, giant leaves, dragonflies and tropical-looking flowers leading to a magical stone tower with a perfect lily pool at the top. Note to self - stay away from the poisonous Giant Hogweed!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWa0-tlthVHWd6oEzrJfx_tvAOu-8ANv26bycZ7yYTvWNiOwBaO_Z5ghP4ClE_uut1ujiMnAb18f5d4IQauHMZNVAXMkR2Xf-aPknqUUOhR-SrKime7khGJ0EWcbzA3I4gK9H4kazeFZc/s1600/Curious+Yellow+Gibberd+Garden+essex.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="850" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWa0-tlthVHWd6oEzrJfx_tvAOu-8ANv26bycZ7yYTvWNiOwBaO_Z5ghP4ClE_uut1ujiMnAb18f5d4IQauHMZNVAXMkR2Xf-aPknqUUOhR-SrKime7khGJ0EWcbzA3I4gK9H4kazeFZc/s640/Curious+Yellow+Gibberd+Garden+essex.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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3. Friends<br />
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We had an amazing group at Hogsozzle a few weeks ago and most of the same people seem to have snapped up tickets already so I'm thrilled to be spending the weekend with my besties and a bunch of people who haven't ever experienced Curious. The actual festival is in it's 6th year, with this being the 4th at the Gibberd Gardens. There's a quite substantial bunch of 'regulars' and it will be seriously joyous to see their faces round every corner again this year but the best thing to be is a newbie that gets to experience everything for the first time - if you haven't been before, grab a few of your most spontaneous and fun friends and snap up a ticket using the links below, I promise you won't regret it!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5UAl-f-spL2yHRe-PkHBs8ZSdeejrI9k7_eD1sG-aIKuKqVQPBYlg0anO4POR1Haox2fis8orkXFr_Ol21MpFMwNgVMzMP3Mw95EkuHCbK56sNmkdoxcprbLCdj5EC4PvQSeh5wAbarQ/s1600/13584624_10154306693285763_8980757361158289902_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1047" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5UAl-f-spL2yHRe-PkHBs8ZSdeejrI9k7_eD1sG-aIKuKqVQPBYlg0anO4POR1Haox2fis8orkXFr_Ol21MpFMwNgVMzMP3Mw95EkuHCbK56sNmkdoxcprbLCdj5EC4PvQSeh5wAbarQ/s640/13584624_10154306693285763_8980757361158289902_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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4. The Theme<br />
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Not going to lie, when I first heard the theme I didn't get it, but after a lot of thought, and some helpful posts from the Curious crew I think I've got an idea. 'Fruit' is a pretty strange theme for a festival but it reflects everything crazy and fun about the weekend and there are loads of ways to interpret it - I can't wait to see how people have taken the theme and run with it! I'm making an updated, fruity, curious and yellow version of my light-up crown and taking a few fun, fruity themed outfits which I'll be sharing over on my Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/katyclouds.<br />
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5. The Weirdness<br />
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UK festivals get more commercial every year. Tickets are expensive to most of the big weekends. Everyone seems to be wearing the same thing. The same bands do the festival circuit and if you go to a few the chances are you will see something the same. Curious Yellow breaks the mould completely with a weekend of love, warmth and partying like there is no tomorrow. Everything is done in the CY way from magicians in the undergrowth to getting your water from a freshwater spring right in the middle of the garden. Spending your Saturday following the sculpture trail and discovering new corners of the garden, your Sunday rolling around in cocktails and listening to music you will be hard-pressed to find again in such a great setting - Curious is different. escapist and hedonistic and definitely worth the £90 ticket price for the weekend.<br />
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So, if you want a ticket, there's still (just) time.<br />
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<li>Go here: https://curiousyellow.co.uk/event/curious-yellow-2018/</li>
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<li>Enter your details and use the code 10TURNER2018 for an extra £10 off the ticket price.</li>
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<li>Receive your ticket and get packing!</li>
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(thanks <a href="https://www.facebook.com/darrenjameskernphotography/" target="_blank">Darren Kern Photography</a> for this fab photo of 2018's set up)</div>
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I can't wait to see you in the sunshine this weekend - feel free to drop me a note if you are coming along, we are organising a convoy from Hertfordshire and the more the merrier!<br />
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Katy xKaty Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-61654955710437271152018-06-16T11:36:00.001-07:002018-06-20T10:27:34.002-07:005 Amazing Things We Loved At Hogsozzle 2018What an incredible time we had at Hogsozzle this year, I must try not to gush too hard in this post because even two weeks later I'm still buzzing from the fun and frolics.<br />
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I definitely over packed for this one...<br />
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We arrived in convoy late on Friday afternoon, much later than my plan-loving brain had reckoned on. This meant we didn't have our pick of the pitches, and with 7 tents in our group we needed a large area to spread out. We eventually had to camp right at the entrance, which I was pretty miffed about at first but it turned out swell, we could see and hear everything that was going on and felt right in the action.</div>
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And the weekend began! There were so many amazing things at this years Hogsozzle, I honestly believe it was the most fun I've had at a festival for several years, the food, music and company was all spot on. Instead of the usual run down of what we did every second of every day, I want to change up my review style and I'm going to instead share 5 of the best things about Hogsozzle this year.</div>
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1. The Once In A Blue Moon Cafe<br />
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You have no idea the actual joy I had in my heart as I rounded the corner in the hidden wooded area and saw the first peeks of a tent I recognised from Curious Yellow last year. The Blue Moon cafe people really know how to run a festival chill-out zone. They they sell amazing vegan and vegetarian hot food that has actual nutrients in, they open early for breakfast and they take debit cards - in addition to a fab line up of smaller musical and comedy acts and I believe an open mic. The tent is beautiful too, I found out from them last year that it was custom made for them in India with a wonderful starry ceiling and lots of soft seating.</div>
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Late on Saturday we headed over to their fire pit and had a lovely vegan curry full of vegetables and for pretty good price of £7 for the 'deluxe' version with yoghurt and a flatbread. I also have to thank the guys for finding and keeping hold of my phone at one point in the festival! I can't wait to spend more time snuggled up in a corner with a rum, listening to music and chatting with friends at Curious Yellow in a few weeks time! If you want to find out more about the Once In A Blue Moon cafe, they have a <a href="https://onceinabluemooncafe.com/" target="_blank">website here.</a></div>
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2. Costumes and Crowns </div>
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As always, the fancy dress at Hogsozzle was on point! I spent most of the morning before we set up fixing up my LED crown, my first light-up festival piece that I'd made myself and it was a dream. I did a DIY on how to make your own which you can <a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2018/06/light-up-festival-fancy-dress-crown-diy.html" target="_blank">see by clicking here.</a> The best thing about it was that it lit up the portaloos which were pitch black otherwise!<br />
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These photos are from In Squared Photography's album of Hogsozzle pics, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/insquaredphotos/photos/?tab=album&album_id=422955534844787" target="_blank">click here</a> for more.<br />
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The theme this year was Fairytales and Fantasies and people really went to town with some mega costumes! There was so many giant sequins, wonderful facepaint and men in shiny leggings. </div>
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3. The Curious Yellow Takeover</div>
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I can't believe how lucky we are to be involved in two festivals like this that had such a fab crossover. Saturday night in the dance tent was all about Curious Yellow, which I've posted about lots and is coming up in just a few weeks. The DJ's took over with their unique dance vibe for the whole night and went down a storm. Seeing Greg and Dan from the Curious Yellow crew at a festival so completely different to the one they run was so fun and we found out that the Hogsozzle boys will be attended Curious Yellow in return!</div>
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I don't have any photos of the guys as it was really dark in the dance tent and everything looked drunk and blurry by then, if anyone has one of their set-up let me know :)</div>
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4. Friends</div>
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This was the first time we have been to Hogsozzle without the band playing, so it was all for fun and no stress about instruments or missing band members. It meant everyone could relax and enjoy the weekend so we took a pretty large group of friends with us, some of whom we don't get to see very often and it really made for an amazing experience. Hogsozzle is small enough that you can't really lose anyone, so every corner we turned there was a friendly face covered in glitter greeting us and we had some epic dance tent moments with our crowd. We've talked about Hogsozzle a lot at home so it was really good to show our gang all of the fun there is to be had and make some amazing memories to kick off the summer with!<br />
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5. The Paint Fight</div>
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So, four years in and I haven't actually taken part in the paint fight. Party because by the Sunday all of my clothes are already wet and muddy and I'm losing my voice, which means I don't especially want to breathe in a bunch of paint dust. This year I planted myself in a prime spot at the top of the hill, near the bar, overlooking the main arena. The incredible Rumpsteppers revved everyone up and it was one of the most epic paint fights I've ever seen, the color just kept on coming every time the beat dropped and everyone came away looking like they were from another planet - next year I promised myself I will definitely get involved, as long as the showers are working! Even though I was pretty far back most of my clothes have remnants of paint powder on them - a word of warning if you are reading this in 2019 and getting ready for your fist Sozzle - don't wear your best clothes for the paint fight!!!!</div>
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So that's it, my top 5 favourite things from Hogsozzle this year! There was so much more I could talk about but I don't want to repeat myself from previous years. If you want a fully detailed run down on everything that was Hogsozzle 2018, <a href="https://thatfestivalblogger.com/2018/06/10/hogsozzle/" target="_blank">I found this great post by That Festival Blogger</a>, who I didn't get to meet this time but I'm certain that our paths will cross again by the end of the summer! I want to give a shout out to the Hogsozzle boys for an epic, unforgettable party, Frosty for the paint fight photos, Hayley and Ian for driving, Patawawa for being awesome and also for bringing back the biff with me and all of my lovely friends for making it a beautiful weekend full of love and amazing memories <3</div>
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Next up, Curious Yellow in two weeks and I'm BUZZING! I'll be sharing some of our costume ideas for the fruit theme over the next few w<span style="font-family: inherit;">eeks, if you haven't got your ticket yet, snap one up quick because it's going to unmissable - use the code <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">10turner2018 on their website <a href="https://curiousyellow.co.uk/" target="_blank">(click here) </a>for a tenner off.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Photo credits: <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; text-align: center;">Alex Krook, Tasha Rhodes, Ian Frost and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/insquaredphotos/?fref=mentions" target="_blank">In Squared Photography</a></span></span></div>
Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-11038217660518472422018-06-07T16:55:00.003-07:002018-06-07T16:56:53.082-07:00All Curious, All The Time This weekend we are hitting up Alresford Festival with The Turner Brothers, my excitement and general happiness levels have stayed pretty high since Hogsozzle and I'm looking forward to getting back on the road with our tent and a bottle of rum!<br />
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Then, two weeks later is the one I've be<span style="font-family: inherit;">en counting the days to since it finished last year, The Curious Yellow. I've gushed pretty hard over this </span>genuine<span style="font-family: inherit;"> secret garden party since I first attended three years ago and I cannot wait to drive down that lane for the forth time on the 29th of June. Tickets are still available </span><a href="https://curiousyellow.co.uk/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">(click here)</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> if you fancy it, use the code </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">10turner2018 for £10 off.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white;">I still have an epic Hogsozzle post coming up in a few days time, but in the mean time I wanted to collect all the posts I've written about Curious in one place, starting from 2015. Click below for three years worth of reviews, videos, pictures and extreme joy from The Gibberd Garden.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-curious-yellow-weekend-gibberd.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmu2CBL9-1w5W2xyPf9XWr-uPfH-GCbuNCQCGzEGOtx7GTKnWbqC1wtm-rp2o8irjKfC0O-5k_yEQ6qh8BqbpnAUOlL30QfwzA9IBVoFHah7qCMACqtfrL63n4VH1plshuAQOqUyPvEAY/s200/2015+Review+%252B+Photos.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-curious-yellow-weekender-video-line.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5k4qvoCXND3Jk_6C4K3yfcXUlH3bRWutMxirbf0HSIF01Et5wz3GI_84CJLGBqs7N0dYAUrJLWtXCkPFsLJy6tVX9e7bAyQQCMoMRynK5s4VGdTnAEXJAHzkDrKDcyWpW8XEty8MPGc/s200/2015+Review+%252B+Photos+%25281%2529.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2016/06/summer-festival-bucket-list-2016.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz1jZDV3bDSHPmFTUb4Lup5YcUDcI9mFgp2LgfBxiV4dv_rJ3BuRss-zFsPVOIox__7PKUxgBmAt6ugvnkc8NzQB-9Kobu38rpqRut905PVtuKTRPN7hZHc6ZeWfZ-N_ZAeKj-EVV-GHE/s200/festival+bucket+list.png" width="200" /></a><a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2016/06/five-reasons-to-grab-last-minute.html" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44nxZadH_JA6rBWZD6wXukqh99TwJn8xIyZfdI3lv8VDhhLZO61B3uIMw5Nv9wZKvx99fd02E4HjWs_8aGUQZzsHsb2AMd24unCGwS9hH2r-Hv6nNosJ3RkkKdjGLj2Lf6h_GlWaWYuM/s200/curious+yellow+festival+ticket.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-curious-yellow-2016.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzrbEHkuwZvx26AdhaFS4XJoewueJem8rfVQ5G6Na6DFERZoXi5ZYK0bII9d8tnlDP6ERNRS_ljTP8-u2t6bv1mNSJhLAtL0NfiJmDCyH9nKMdkPcXXufCtle_DdfBMkjd7Y0hR-U_Ec/s200/curious+yellow+festival+essex.png" width="200" /></a> <a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.com/2017/06/curious-on-horizon-my-favourite-british.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsYQqI-FuglpRWdZSCgMw5g9uq2O5OZf5nW71hGHuLrSmUrAPbuzmj0qT25Dekj-DHPJMjVcbVbrwcnq7kA_N0XR6OyCkHWSId_ShLSgr3MVTmfzHZ3sK-DvBrk3xWZaXvj_zib2MSAQU/s200/curious+yellow+2017.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'll be adding a full round-up of the madness of 2017's event in a week or so, please add me to your Bloglovin or other blog reader to keep up. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thecuriousyellow/" target="_blank">Follow Curious Yellow on Facebook here</a> - let me know below if you are coming!</span></span></div>
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-27515158392877162142018-06-01T02:13:00.000-07:002018-06-01T02:13:22.093-07:00Light Up Festival Fancy Dress Crown DIYFirst things first, Hogsozzle was a blast. You'll be sick of me going on about it if you follow me on any other social media but I just want to take a minute to say I have the serious post-festival blues this week - I'll be doing a full post with loads of photos and thank yous to the incredible crew and stalls early next week.<br />
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Right now I'm here to share a DIY for the crown that I made to pull together my Snow Queen costume. I didn't get a decent picture of the whole outfit, it was pretty much just a white top and a big fluffy waistcoat other than the crown anyway, but I do have a lot of pics of me loving life in my light-up headpiece!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4IuRFaB5JAWZHb7UXBXY1Ht0W28WgZBvuOa2jbujpSoiJYLeO5iNPQdhkyK-1gN3Gwxdm7qTixcg7h494SzATVfNrV3-CCOBRFzZejCKq63k-sUxlj3JIZJvTQNXk3nasi9AMp6ie4U/s1600/IMG_3098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv4IuRFaB5JAWZHb7UXBXY1Ht0W28WgZBvuOa2jbujpSoiJYLeO5iNPQdhkyK-1gN3Gwxdm7qTixcg7h494SzATVfNrV3-CCOBRFzZejCKq63k-sUxlj3JIZJvTQNXk3nasi9AMp6ie4U/s640/IMG_3098.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I have to say that my usual attempts to create festival fancy dress don't tend to go this well. Right now, my crown is sitting next to me in almost perfect condition, still lighting up, ready to rock another event. This never happens to me. Usually anything I made falls apart instantly, gets lost or broken or simply begins to degrade without explanation. Not this baby. The materials are relatively easy to source with the exception of the plastic base which I was lucky enough to find behind my boyfriends sofa. The actual plastic I used is something to do with digital printing, it's about 3mm thick and matte white. I've found something similiar on Amazon as an alternative and linked in the materials list below.<br />
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The instructions below are for creating a Snow Queen crown similar to the one I've made, but you could easily change up the colours and additions to create something that suits your own costume needs!<br />
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You will need:<br />
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Heavy duty plastic sheet (<a href="https://amzn.to/2J0r1m9" target="_blank">try this one</a> in 3mm or 2mm if you don't have a craft knife)<br />
Sharp scissors or craft knife<br />
Gluegun<br />
Sellotape<br />
Metal ruler<br />
String of battery operated lights<br />
3 meters of 1cm wide velvet ribbon<br />
2 meters of thin silver cord<br />
1 meter of 3cm wide binding tape<br />
5 medium pompoms<br />
1 large pompom<br />
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First, measure your head circumference and add two inches. Use the measurement to draw a strip on the plastic (obviously using one of the straight edges as a guide and to reduce wastage!)<br />
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Mark an inch off each end, this will be where you join the crown together.<br />
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Mark the centre point.<br />
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My centre spike was 4 inches and the spikes on either side were 3 inches. I marked them off with a metal ruler and then drew another line 3 inches higher to use as a guide for the top of the spikes.<br />
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Once everything is pencilled in, start cutting. The plastic I used was just about thin enough to cut with normal scissors but next time I'll use a craft knife for a cleaner finish.<br />
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Now it's time to decorate! Use the binding tape for the headband. I measured the width of my band so that the binding tape would fold very slightly over and conceal the white edge.<br />
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Next it's time to add the lights. I started at one end and worked out there was enough for three lights per spike. Move slowly, securing the wires away from the base of the bulb with a bit of glue. Use your metal ruler to press hard onto each glue spot, this will harden it quicker and leave a flat finish. Leave the battery pack loose with some spare wire for now.<br />
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To wrap the spikes I secured the velvet ribbon on the bottom and slightly to the side with a blob of glue and wrapped it all the way around, covering as much white plastic as possible and making sure to wrap the wire of the lights tightly to the spike. The ribbon is secured with a tiny bit of glue at the top - use the ruler to harden and flatten as before.<br />
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Do the same with the silver ribbon, wrapping it round the spike to fill in any gaps. You could add another ribbon or thread here if you wanted but as my spikes where meant to represent icicles I didn't mind the flash of white showing through. You could also paint the plastic with acrylic paint before you start wrapping it.<br />
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Use a small pompom to conceal the joins of the ribbons, thread and binding tape.<br />
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Finally, I cut a hole in the big pompom and squirted some hot glue into the hole, wedging it hard onto my centre spike. I was most worried that this would come off but it held fast and I don't think I could get it off if I tried!!<br />
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I joined the two ends together with sellotape which I also wrapped round the battery pack. This means I could lay the crown flat if I didn't want it to get damaged on a long car journey and also makes it easier to change the batteries.<br />
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Done! I would LOVE to know if you try this method to make your own light-up festival crown and see pics of your finished piece! I'm so proud of this that I'm tempted to make some custom ones so if you don't have the time or materials get in touch on <a href="https://twitter.com/katy_clouds" target="_blank">twitter</a> or <a href="mailto:cakeadaykatie@gmail.com" target="_blank">email me</a>.<br />
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<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-90081413145434621892018-05-15T06:04:00.000-07:002018-05-15T06:49:53.541-07:00Festival Fancy Dress Inspiration for Hogsozzle 2018 - Fairytales and FantasiesFestival season is nearly here! I'm pretty pumped about getting out and about this year and if you follow my blog on the reg you'll know that Hogsozzle in Hertford is the first festival of the year for us. For the first time in four years, the band aren't playing but that isn't going to stop us going and making some epic memories! If you haven't got your ticket yet, HURRY UP - <a href="https://www.hogsozzle.com/?ref=katyclouds" target="_blank">Click here for the link.</a><br />
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Aside from the free hog roast, paint fight and dancing all night, one of my top favourite things about this little festival is the fancy dress. Every year we try tell people we are bringing how much the whole site goes to town on their costumes on the Saturday night but noone really gets it until they have been - there isn't a person on the side of that hill that hasn't made some sort of fancy dress effort!<br />
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So, this year, money is a little tighter so we are going to DIY a lot of our costumes. On Wednesday, I'm hosting a craft night at my house and I'm hoping to knock up something pretty mega so I've pulled together a bunch of inspiration from around the web. The theme is Fantasies And Fairytales which leaves quite a bit of scope.<br />
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I tried and failed last year but this year it's happening, I want an LED cage skirt. Searching online led me to the discovery that these are actually called a 'Crinoline'.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSPtv6jtjJFoxhR-bWR5kN59xZu9xZUQmsBxwV0PkCiWeXzIakjCEJAva8CYs5sh6vIgIgCqJdVbH2pAZHnQZPl9_txY2eRYdXq5B03bRJkveo55p560ofUWSEJstha8XMwrrHti3NiU/s1600/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxSPtv6jtjJFoxhR-bWR5kN59xZu9xZUQmsBxwV0PkCiWeXzIakjCEJAva8CYs5sh6vIgIgCqJdVbH2pAZHnQZPl9_txY2eRYdXq5B03bRJkveo55p560ofUWSEJstha8XMwrrHti3NiU/s1600/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+1.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://issuu.com/1968_magazine/docs/issue_12/63" target="_blank">SOURCE</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkyPT-mGCONIBCm9Eh4VzWCBXqm2sTWCi0rigpmytukEbh4mNiaUDatCXgvroO9epcd6VimMuFf4CR_S0b-EjJI_P_bVrcynfK_N4_YMSUGmOxwXLZBCiVHFbqoqsrrxtY_l6nyoeIGI/s1600/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixkyPT-mGCONIBCm9Eh4VzWCBXqm2sTWCi0rigpmytukEbh4mNiaUDatCXgvroO9epcd6VimMuFf4CR_S0b-EjJI_P_bVrcynfK_N4_YMSUGmOxwXLZBCiVHFbqoqsrrxtY_l6nyoeIGI/s640/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BLpgWMUB4qo/?taken-by=desiperkins" target="_blank">SOURCE: @desiperkins</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgFuxJsfAx-rRQwuBxmQiwwvseWnCS2UJsrix5xEj2Oo-xy3npLTjcvIuZ2X2yECZTeefk45GGOw6KSHbt9Dtm-1QQphLecBDTrIaNAt8qFovAp4IkCaSsJZc3jc2X3MGaIbOP72oBSSM/s1600/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgFuxJsfAx-rRQwuBxmQiwwvseWnCS2UJsrix5xEj2Oo-xy3npLTjcvIuZ2X2yECZTeefk45GGOw6KSHbt9Dtm-1QQphLecBDTrIaNAt8qFovAp4IkCaSsJZc3jc2X3MGaIbOP72oBSSM/s640/cage+skirt+diy+inspiration+4.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/122361583/white-color-crinoline-4-hoop-skirt-cage?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=cage+skirt&ref=sr_gallery_4" target="_blank">SOURCE</a></td></tr>
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My plan is to whip up one of these using O-rings and some stiff metallic fabric, then to stick LED strip lights on the inside. I found some neon string LED's, these come in five colours, I might purchase just the green one but the full kit is only £9.99 - <a href="https://amzn.to/2INiQZw" target="_blank">here is a link</a>. By the looks of it, the battery pack is small enough to hide in the waist area, fingers crossed.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/ESUMIC%C2%AE-Electroluminescent-Glowing-Strobing-Lightpainting/dp/B00Y06896C/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&qid=1526384449&sr=8-1&keywords=EL+Wire+Neon+Lights+Kit&linkCode=li3&tag=katyclouds-21&linkId=5fbfb2758e59a4a234c18598fde98935" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B00Y06896C&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=GB&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=katyclouds-21" /></a></div>
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-uk.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=katyclouds-21&l=li3&o=2&a=B00Y06896C" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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I've loved all the tassle bodysuits I'm seeing and I don't think it would be too hard to find a plain one to add my own ribbons or tassles to. I've been browsing Jaded London and Boohoo for inspiration, here are some of the fab ready made pieces that I've found ...<br />
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I've looked and looked but I haven't found a DIY for making these kind of bodysuits at home so I'm hoping to photograph my efforts, I'm thinking jewel coloured ribbons and potentially some dip-dying.<br />
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Primark have a fab festival range this year too, with everything under £20 and some great dupes of the giant disc sequin pieces that were all over Coachella. Obviously, the hassle here is going to be finding the pieces in store, because if your local Primark is anything like mine then hunting down individual things you've seen online is a bit of nightmare. Still worth it if you can pick up these bits...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKXrEnW6695BcVUEVkAX8-A3I4N5OLo6ZNtTw9uW5D8YH0QseyjjuRBi_s2d1hLGeBolD2Qm0gkoi3LhQbFKrspdKkW4YSEhfLXqBmvep3gNRWmJ2RaksMcao7-cT_Q-_wQv3VxhdTOI8/s1600/primark+festival+fashion+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKXrEnW6695BcVUEVkAX8-A3I4N5OLo6ZNtTw9uW5D8YH0QseyjjuRBi_s2d1hLGeBolD2Qm0gkoi3LhQbFKrspdKkW4YSEhfLXqBmvep3gNRWmJ2RaksMcao7-cT_Q-_wQv3VxhdTOI8/s640/primark+festival+fashion+.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
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No festival fancy dress outfit is complete without a crown, tiara or headdress of some description and they are definitely one of the most fun and interesting things to craft up yourself.<br />
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A few years ago I made a crown for the Cosmic Disco themed Hogsozzle, <a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/diy-cosmic-festival-flower-crown-last.html" target="_blank">click here to see how</a>.<br />
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This year, I'm hoping to go bigger and better with my headwear - I've been in love with <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AuroraMoonHeadwear" target="_blank">Aurora Moon Headwear</a> since I discovered her a few years ago, just look at this total beauty;<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8dsrKK6Bip2n63C2IgCNQPkEoxH-ODi3hA2C0ERFROOVQqwBA2XHTqE3RmkpV7WiUyLWcmovN_sw9HGnIgTo9snjfwiXQT-upD7bPLHtxsisiXDoEkdr35_azHb3TDOCom0cMCTjK_g/s1600/aurora+moon+headwear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="570" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx8dsrKK6Bip2n63C2IgCNQPkEoxH-ODi3hA2C0ERFROOVQqwBA2XHTqE3RmkpV7WiUyLWcmovN_sw9HGnIgTo9snjfwiXQT-upD7bPLHtxsisiXDoEkdr35_azHb3TDOCom0cMCTjK_g/s640/aurora+moon+headwear.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I don't think the budget is going to stretch that far (although I think for the work and energy that goes into her pieces, the price is amazing!) so I've been rounding up lots of DIY's and I'm going to have to do my best to construct something that doesn't hurt to wear or fall apart.<br />
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Here are some of the DIY's I've found but there are millions out there and obviously, head over to Pinterest for ultimate festival crown inspo.<br />
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<li><a href="http://jessicaandersdotter.com/halloween-diy-fairy-crown/" target="_blank">This</a> DIY shows you how to make a great base out of twigs and a glue gun</li>
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<li>Such a cute feather DIY from Paige Joanna <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGb09aoN0Ro" target="_blank">here</a></li>
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<li>Make a pompom hairband super easy with this <a href="https://www.brit.co/diy-pom-pom-headband/" target="_blank">DIY</a> from Brit & Co</li>
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<li>Super easy and cheap mermaid tiara video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRaMRkZUOQc" target="_blank">here</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://wearablesworkshop.net/2015/06/12/2/" target="_blank">Here</a> is a great DIY for making a light-up flower crown</li>
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I'll be posting about the craft night and sharing the successes and disasters that we whip up over on my Instagram, I'd love if you would give me a follow - <a href="http://www.instagram.com/katyclouds" target="_blank">@katyclouds</a>. I can't believe it's so close to the May Bank Holiday already. Let me know in the comments below if you are coming along to Hogsozzle and links, hints or hacks for making amazing fancy dress costumes that can withstand festival shenanigans.<br />
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Katy xKaty Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-17177914363370166332018-04-30T05:53:00.000-07:002018-05-03T05:06:45.512-07:00Following Hashtags & Growing Your Instagram Audience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7UEwaNXikY7ZDfSB8VtQ4VxPHcRpKMiX2AZC5Gk-uqOBI9zW7b3uE3o3woKP1ISrE5mW7z9emvNs1tLMuIvf21WmizCEEjQd0WQe7_SBtr8hIC7r-FSMcUaNeVQKkS-knIz075lwhFo/s1600/F+O+L+L+O+W+I+N+G+H+A+S+H+T+A+G+S.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7UEwaNXikY7ZDfSB8VtQ4VxPHcRpKMiX2AZC5Gk-uqOBI9zW7b3uE3o3woKP1ISrE5mW7z9emvNs1tLMuIvf21WmizCEEjQd0WQe7_SBtr8hIC7r-FSMcUaNeVQKkS-knIz075lwhFo/s640/F+O+L+L+O+W+I+N+G+H+A+S+H+T+A+G+S.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Do you follow any Instagram hashtags? If not, you are seriously missing out, not only on discovering amazing new accounts that aren't selected by Instagram to be on the Explore page but also on reaching a much wider and more relevant audience. I'm so excited to share this as discovering this feature has been one of the things that brought me round to LOVING Instagram again and actually seeing a benefit from using it to promote my blog and other online ventures. It's easy to feel stuck in a rut, that your images are only getting seen by the same few people - break out of the mold and start using these hacks (are they hacks? I feel like hacks might be one of the most overused words on the internet) to set yourself apart from the masses!<br />
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I've spent the last few weeks looking for information about this relatively new option and for once, the Blogosphere has come up wanting. I'd love to know about any other articles written on this subject from a similar perspective.<br />
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Here is how you do it, really simple. Just type the hashtag you want to follow and then click 'Follow' on the search results screen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqqGxHdjMI_U73bKZXJcZBGwwLfEzzn8LIcVpJGpVv3zhj7DoOArUqehpJmW0mxsIVZW3EjQFa6SJ5-lcze-LqugMOkq8DPVIhnz2jdBntZWhC0S7vOhYkshal1EtXTk1RdVSNh8TVcI/s1600/Shows+there+are+Stories+currently+available+featuring+this+hashtag.+Click+to+view+them.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="600" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqqGxHdjMI_U73bKZXJcZBGwwLfEzzn8LIcVpJGpVv3zhj7DoOArUqehpJmW0mxsIVZW3EjQFa6SJ5-lcze-LqugMOkq8DPVIhnz2jdBntZWhC0S7vOhYkshal1EtXTk1RdVSNh8TVcI/s640/Shows+there+are+Stories+currently+available+featuring+this+hashtag.+Click+to+view+them.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Easy right? The results will show up between content from users you have chosen to follow along with the username of the creator and the relevant tag.<br />
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I've always struggled with hashtags and which ones are the best to use. It's all very well that there are over 2 million posts under #nomnomnom but is anyone actually SEARCHING for that hashtag? It doesn't seem likely to me. I believe that there is a big difference between hashtags that are top searches and hashtags that are used on the regular. It's pretty hard to find this information online as it changes so often. One of the things you can use the follow hashtag feature for is to follow hashtags that you have been using on your own content, see how your content fits in and what other users are tagging their similar content with - #ukbloggers is a great one to start you off.<br />
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It's not the simplest thing to find out how many people follow individual hashtags, I have yet to find this information in a useful list form that I can link to. Occasionally, slid into my regular feed I'll see a little section like this which is another great place to find relevant hashtags to put in my caption:<br />
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Since I started using this trick, I've have a major jump in my Story views. As you can see above, following a hashtag means that all Stories marked with that hashtag will show up in their own little circle on your Explore page.<br />
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I've followed my hometown hashtag and I find that people tend to tag their Stories when they are going to the gym or eating out, it's given me a great insight into where is best for Sunday roasts in my town, as well as helped me to discover lots of local content creators who I like to follow and support. I now make sure to add a hastag and a location tag to every single one of my Stories and no word of a lie, it's improved my Stories views by hundreds. I used to get around 100 views on most of my Stories and since I've been tagging as much as is relevant, I've jumped up to getting an average of 400-500 views each and quite a few of those viewers turn into followers. The tags don't need to be super-obvious, you can actually make them small enough to blend in pretty well with your image if you don't want them spoiling your aesthetic.<br />
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Some of the biggest success I've had from this has come from locations and event tags. I've already mentioned above how using a tag relevant to my home town (literally just the name with a hashtag before it) has made a significant impact on my Instagram Story views, but I've also found that some of the best way to get views from new potential followers is to use relevant event and location tags on your images and Stories wherever possible because people are following these high-traffic hashtags.<br />
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When the #trippinwithtarte event happened, I did an experiment to see if this hashtag was getting a huge number of views on Stories. I used some actual Tarte make-up so my post wasn't a total sore thumb (keeping things relevant is key to turning all this extra reach into a growing audience) and I actually hit nearly 900 views on the Story.<br />
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I tag a location into all my content now, both my pictures on my main feed and my Stories and although I've been trying quite a few new things to grow my Insta, I'm convinced this has had a significant impact.<br />
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I also followed the #trippinwithtarte and several other major beauty launch hashtags and will continue to do so. This means I get some great beauty content and I'm coming across new make-up artists and beauty bloggers on my feed that I would never have found through the explore page. I try to engage with as much of this content as possible too, which also generates new followers and engagement on my own account. Now, I look out for hashtags that are relevant to the UK blogging community and I follow them to, I've really found some amazing Instagram profiles this way that have inspired me to become a better creator myself.<br />
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Once you have spent a few days adding these tags to your Stories and posts and finding new bloggers and creators through hashtags that you are following, you'll be able to start using this information to improve your reach and impressions. If you have found a tag getting you a significant increase in Stories, chances are it will have the same impact on the main content that you are pushing out, as it often means there are a lot of followers of this particular hashtag. I have found that many of the hashtags that I use regular don't have anywhere near the impact that I thought they would when I include them on Stories, so I've dropped them out of my regular copy & paste hashtag job and I'm switching in tags that seem to attract a much higher number of views.<br />
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The only way that a new follower will come across your Story is if they are actually searching for the specific hashtag that you included, so experiment with lots of different locations, events and individual tags to try and build a unique set of hashtags that will contribute towards getting your content in front of a wider audience.<br />
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Every individual will have a different set of hashtags that work for them and will be following a completely different set of hashtags themselves. <b>You can see which hashtags a user is following by clicking the 'following' number on their profile and then selecting 'hashtags' on the page that their following list is shown.</b> This is super interesting as it's a great way to find new hashtags to tag and test out, but it's also one of the things that promoted me to write this post. So few of my favourite social media agencies, influencers and content creators are following any hashtags at all! It's such a useful and interesting feature that I've made it my personal mission to try and get more people following hashtags in this way. Many of the bigger influencers that I follow have created their own hashtags for their fashion, travel or lifestyle content and this is another fun way to utilise this feature - you won't miss any of their content.<br />
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You could follow the tag for your favourite photo editing app, your favourite brands, influencers or charities to see their content more regularly. What about following the hashtag for a festival you are attending or your favorite resturant or holiday destination for serious lifestyle inspiration. Which hashtags are you following? I'd love to hear them in the comments below,<br />
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Katy x<br />
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<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-8591740876495112782018-04-24T06:42:00.000-07:002018-04-26T08:49:35.141-07:00Ultimate Festival Inspiration - Tassels, Sequins & MetallicsAll I want in life is sequins, biodegradable glitter and my friends in a field - four weeks until HOGSOZZLE!! (<a href="https://www.hogsozzle.com/?ref=katyclouds" target="_blank">buy your ticket here</a>)<br />
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We can't wait and I'm starting to try and put together some outfits for the occasion that I can add to the ridiculous amount of festival clothes I bought last year and create some super-memorable ensembles. I've put together a wishlist which I'll add to and edit over the next month and hopefully beyond - I hope you will find something that you love...<br />
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Amazing right? Bookmark this page as I'll be adding lots more items as I find them online and these sell out. I'd love to know what you think, if you make a purchase from my list or your favourite online destinations for festival garms, please leave a comment below, or hook up with me on<a href="http://www.instagram.com/katyclouds" target="_blank"> Instagram here</a>.<br />
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Katy xx<br />
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<i>- This post contains affiliate links</i>Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-83685268175043298712018-04-12T07:47:00.000-07:002018-04-12T07:47:04.664-07:00Camping Essentials For Sleeping And Comfort at Festivals (or on holiday!)I struggled with what to call this post. Sleeping Bag Information Post? Camping Essentials For Sleeping With Some Comfort In A Bony Field?<br />
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<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/what-tent-is-best-for-festival-choosing.html" target="_blank">Check out my Festival Tent Shopping Guide Here for lots of tent options.</a><br />
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You probably already have a sleeping bag tucked away in a cupboard, but just in case yours (like mine) ended up with four chocolate bars in the bottom stashed in the airing cupboard for a year, here's a guide to some of the best sleeping bags and other extras you can buy at every price range to give your weekend a little bit of extra comfort.<br />
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Worst case scenario, we once had a short notice opportunity come up to camp at a festival that we thought we were only going to for the day, although we had a tent we didn't bring anything to sleep on. Here is an actually photo of my trying to sleep on this occasion using our other supplies as a makeshift nest - the neck pain was real.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06x7yWdQ8x_ddJr-_3kVHHEpvy_PaC06h8yVLwX9wSr-UiyHgwYkbjQWQZ0AOGPQ2NYJQx3MN_c1C7v_jQMcAUEwBS4CTfUTILKHJa63DJSXlvWdLkonusV-jDuODuewFKe5IGyTLrN8/s1600/buresfestivalsleeping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg06x7yWdQ8x_ddJr-_3kVHHEpvy_PaC06h8yVLwX9wSr-UiyHgwYkbjQWQZ0AOGPQ2NYJQx3MN_c1C7v_jQMcAUEwBS4CTfUTILKHJa63DJSXlvWdLkonusV-jDuODuewFKe5IGyTLrN8/s640/buresfestivalsleeping.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I don't recommend this set-up.<br />
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First things first, do not underestimate the chill of a summer morning in the UK. You WILL need a sleeping bag and something to lay underneath it so the chill in the ground doesn't give you a cold.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVIf9VosJAsdOu9HwzOQe9shzqYcVE_CEbnOgTP32iPBjieP5K5l2BN5qCqVCzvW36CPqZmgRfNgGaz0KKQQHecs45a6gup8f4a38QRLn-it0Akt6plCinQDCRNXE_Afj3ktfUEQPhgc/s1600/sleeping+bags+for+festivals.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="720" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVIf9VosJAsdOu9HwzOQe9shzqYcVE_CEbnOgTP32iPBjieP5K5l2BN5qCqVCzvW36CPqZmgRfNgGaz0KKQQHecs45a6gup8f4a38QRLn-it0Akt6plCinQDCRNXE_Afj3ktfUEQPhgc/s640/sleeping+bags+for+festivals.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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1. <a href="https://amzn.to/2HuGOpj" target="_blank">Trespass Seista (click here for reviews, info and to purchase)</a> - £24.74<br />
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This is the sleeping bags that we have currently. They are super lightweight and pack down into a tiny bag the size of your hand but I've never been cold whilst inside mine!<br />
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2. <a href="https://amzn.to/2qqWl1r" target="_blank">MultiWare 3/4 Season Sleeping Bag</a> - £9.59<br />
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When buying a sleeping bag, you'll often see how many seasons it's suitable for out of 4. This bag is thicker than the Trespass one but rolls up quite a lot bigger. My son has one of these for his school trips and it's pretty effective, the best thing about it is that you can open the whole thing out flat like a blanket or if you felt so inclined you could also zip two of them together to make a double.<br />
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3. <a href="https://amzn.to/2GRcqZr" target="_blank">Mountain Warehouse Apex 250 Sleeping Sack</a> - £15.99<br />
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Suitable for two seasons, which I kind of assume are Spring and Summer although that isn't immediately clear. It's useful to have a distinctive pattern so when you come to pack away you don't pick up the wrong bag - this also packs down into a tiny little sack so it's ideal for longer walks to your campsite.<br />
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A sleeping bag alone won't give you a huge amount of support for your back. If you are anything like me (by which I mean, if you are over 25 and have ever hurt your back) you'll know that sleeping on freezing cold, rock hard ground isn't the best. I'd strongly recommend some kind of airbed or 'lino' type mat to prevent cold transfer and give you a little bit of extra comfort. Most of the mats around now are significantly better than those awful blue airbeds that your Mum used to have for sleepovers. We tried to take one of those once and it got popped within about an hour. We dragged it out the tent and used it as a sort of communal picnic blanket but it ended up abandoned in the field, soaked in wine and regret.<br />
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1. <a href="https://amzn.to/2Hu8I4Z" target="_blank">Trail Extra Thick Self Inflating Camping Mat</a> - £24.99<br />
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Self-inflating camping mats are the future. You simply unroll, undo the valve, put your tent up and then your mat should be full inflated although you may need to blow a few breathes into it the first few times to inflate the cells properly. It's a clever vacuum system that means you don't need to carry and heavy air pump and the relevant batteries around with you. This extra-thick one looks cosy, we have the Vango version (below) but if I had seen this I would have gone for it.<br />
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2.<a href="https://amzn.to/2HdyLjh" target="_blank"> Hikenture Inflatable Sleeping Mat with Pillow </a>- £30.88<br />
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This looks amazingly comfortable, I can just imagine flooping down on it after a hard night dancing and it's a self-inflater too. Buying a mat with a built in pillow means you don't have to bring one from home, although I always do as I like to sit on something soft when I'm sitting around camp.<br />
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3. <a href="https://amzn.to/2qqqmiN" target="_blank">Vango Self-Inflating Camping Mat</a> - £28.10<br />
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This is the mats that we have and they have lasted 12 festivals so far and haven't succumbed to cigarette burns or punctures. They roll up and come with bags but they are slightly heavier than the sleeping bags, yet I always forget that they need to be factored into the weight of our belongings when we are loading up cars and trolleys. Definitely worth a buy, I've recommended them to so many people.<br />
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Once your essentials are sorted, see if your budget stretches to a few extra bits to make your campsite comfortable and welcoming. Here are some other bits and pieces that we have either used or really want to add to our kit this year.<br />
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1.<a href="https://amzn.to/2GUkY1y" target="_blank"> Sunncamp Inflatable Chair</a> - £11.95<br />
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What a bargain! Although you probably need a pump to inflate it, this style of inflatable chair has been my favourite the last few years and I'm chuffed to have scored this for our kit. I've usually found that someone else on the campsite will be happy to lend a pump if one is needed so I'm crossing my fingers and taking this along.<br />
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2. <a href="https://amzn.to/2qsIckq" target="_blank">Chill Out Wedge</a> - £14.99<br />
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I can't wait to bust this out! We got this as a gift last Christmas and it literally looks like a dream for lounging around camp getting ready for the night ahead. One of the main issues I have with camping is there is never anything to lean against to relax #firstworldproblems<br />
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3. <a href="https://amzn.to/2GWBCxG" target="_blank">iRegro Inflatable Sofa </a>- £24.65<br />
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I have a love/hate relationship with these things. They look great, you sink into them like you are floating on a giant cloud and they are weirdly easy to inflate, you just wave the opening about like you are trying to put on a duvet cover. But they are thin and they seem to be the thing I see abandoned most after tents at the end of a festival so I get the impression they pop quite easily. Keep away from cigarettes and sharp sequins!<br />
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I hope this has helped! Please do comment below with any links to your own essential camping kit :)<br />
<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-2076753989680649222018-04-09T10:19:00.000-07:002018-04-10T05:55:17.799-07:00What Tent Is Best For A Festival - Choosing a Festival Tent For Keeps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy Spring! I'm excited to introduce the first in a new series of Festival Essential guides that I am going to be posting over the next few weeks.<br />
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I've pulled together some of the best tent options I can find at every price point - please do leave me a comment if you have any questions or want to recommend a tent to add to the list. This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase a tent after clicking one of my links I get paid a small commission but there's no change in cost to you.<br />
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Whether you are a seasoned UK festival goer or have your first tickets booked for this year, the main piece of kit you are going to need is a tent. There are a huge range of options out there, as long as you don't leave it to the last minute you should be able to pick up an amazing tent at a really reasonable price that fits all of your needs and more.<br />
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First, establish the basics:<br />
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<li>How many people need to fit inside?</li>
<li>Are you going to have a large amount of luggage or any valuable items that you may want to leave at the campsite? </li>
<li>Are you going to a small festival where you will be able to come back to the tent regularly or are you headed to something huge where you may not see your camp for days? (Boomtown, I'm looking at you)</li>
<li>How much space do you have in the car for a tent, or are you travelling by coach and foot? The weight of your tent is going to be extremely important if you are taking a greener travel option than driving!</li>
<li>What is your budget?</li>
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Let's start with something ridiculously affordable. Unlike regular camping, at a festival you may find your tent crammed with sweaty people you have just met, poking through your stuff and trying to borrow your glitter - and they are all drunk. This combination at any time of the day or night means people rubbing their body up against the interior layer of the tent and just in case you weren't a Girl Guide, that means condensation will be able to penetrate the outer skin of the tent. Once you have touched the skin, water will continue to come through in that spot until you completely dry out the tent. British mornings, even in summer, are dewy and damp and there is no chance of keeping any of your stuff dry with a single layer tent. Most cheap tents tend to be single layer but I've found this amazing bargain for £24.99.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FUUEaGV__ke4mrNJJG3nArLkDxGCg64l19xI2KzSwtZPKdres43wKca41jEFii1uEBzQSfVFpfkQZY0DNcZLPk40ugLLnlgtynq8FNRGMa-_PJ2Fh_Rh1kq9rwksIyNJ1nenZGx6-Eg/s1600/Mountain+Warehouse+Patterned+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="996" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9FUUEaGV__ke4mrNJJG3nArLkDxGCg64l19xI2KzSwtZPKdres43wKca41jEFii1uEBzQSfVFpfkQZY0DNcZLPk40ugLLnlgtynq8FNRGMa-_PJ2Fh_Rh1kq9rwksIyNJ1nenZGx6-Eg/s320/Mountain+Warehouse+Patterned+Tent.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2qhmoJ9" target="_blank">Check out the full specifications and reviews by clicking here</a><br />
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Bonus features include mosquito netting across the vents (because bugs love your unwashed festival skin and high-alchohol blood) and taped seamed - you don't usually get this in a cheaper tent and it means that water can't seem in through badly sewn seams. Honestly, this tent is a total bargain if you don't need something for heavy use.<br />
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I hate pop-up tents. They are unstable and usually only have one layer (see above). If they make it through a festival weekend, they probably won't go back in the bag quite right and next time you try and get it out you'll get poked in the eye by a sharp piece of metal. I've hunted high and low for an option that won't get left behind in the camping field - because that's really uncool - and <a href="https://amzn.to/2Hmk1fp" target="_blank">this is probably the best one I could find.</a> A friend has something similar and it's so far lasted 2 years and 7 festivals but it's only ever used for one person.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnBF7QihU9baqAGP0rLVyuUyAWtZzWHv5T5K3xFJZiNo_7f8xxBiFuagD8n8KZjlkUi2tkylPu-YbaCN4qZSGJTOk5zmzEQFJZhhLuUqM38Irt502L0Rj81S_pryjWEcsWeIiNkLEoeE/s1600/Ancheer+Pop+Up+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnBF7QihU9baqAGP0rLVyuUyAWtZzWHv5T5K3xFJZiNo_7f8xxBiFuagD8n8KZjlkUi2tkylPu-YbaCN4qZSGJTOk5zmzEQFJZhhLuUqM38Irt502L0Rj81S_pryjWEcsWeIiNkLEoeE/s400/Ancheer+Pop+Up+Tent.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2Hmk1fp" target="_blank">Read the full description and reviews of the Ancheer Pop Up Tent here</a></div>
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If you want something that is going to last for several trips as well as 'regular' camping, and have room for everything you might want to take with you, you should look to spend a little more. As we sometimes have to store instruments and equipment in a tent, when it came time to upgrade from our trusty blue Eurohike 2-man, I knew I was going to be looking for something with a bigger porch. The Eurohike (<a href="https://amzn.to/2uZcSiH" target="_blank">linked here</a>) did us well for two seasons and eight festivals but the zips on the porch finally gave way meaning we couldn't seal off the inner compartment from moisture or bugs and some of the poles were starting to poke through their casings. </div>
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We upgraded to this beauty:</div>
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2qhs7Oo" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="242" data-original-width="600" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSwTLn4k7ubm7JgfF88eXT1oHVScGgu2_DofC5UEZSwOQyGCYso21P9fQKg9Q4p4L0hbC31DZtIkh-41oYooJeOBjR4Dg1ynUMjL1kPwpzL-fh3a-NmZUgK2eA4jOadux1MUeItD9qgQc/s640/Vango+Mambo+300.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It might not look like much but after struggling hunched over in dome tent with a tiny, unsealed porch area for two years it was pure luxury.<br />
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It has all the features that I knew we needed and quite a few more - you have no idea how gleeful I was over having large pockets on both sides. I can kneel with a straight back in the porch and at the beginning of the sleeping area and the whole thing is sealed off from the elements, which made a real difference on the side of a Welsh mountain at the end of last summer in the torrential rain, let me tell you. If you want something waterproof, big enough to have a late night gathering of festival souls and easy to carry, pitch and pack away for under £150, <a href="https://amzn.to/2uYBNmF" target="_blank">make this tent your bitch</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2qhs7Oo" target="_blank">Link to read reviews and see more images is here.</a><br />
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If we had a little more in the budget, I would have pushed for a bell-style tent. There are so many amazing polyester versions of the classic festival tent. I've found the one below which has some great reviews and seems to offer everything that you could need in term of waterproofing and ease of pitch. Having a tent like this means most of your possessions will become communal as people gather in the only tent with any standing room, but the payoff is worth it. All the space you could want and you won't get a hunchback like the rest of us dome-tent peasants. It's not double layered, but the extra room means that you are much less likely to rub up against the sides and there is an option to add an interior section as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9TQIesY27048aTPRtVEnmn942QZWlFeDiXLtcssad4JWlotJprkkye78WElS-g0DJD8bD_se2RlzDufEF_KACqd5ToA6bPwKx_-kZBa8keH045hyphenhyphenbfxsvEnHfwo2EyeJe3BirYJAuYQ/s1600/Grand+Canyon+Indiana+Tent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1500" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9TQIesY27048aTPRtVEnmn942QZWlFeDiXLtcssad4JWlotJprkkye78WElS-g0DJD8bD_se2RlzDufEF_KACqd5ToA6bPwKx_-kZBa8keH045hyphenhyphenbfxsvEnHfwo2EyeJe3BirYJAuYQ/s640/Grand+Canyon+Indiana+Tent.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2H7QTeh" target="_blank">Check out the 'Grand Canyon Indiana' here, along with reviews and sizing options.</a><br />
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If money was no object, I would go for something fun and traditional. All the tents I've included so far are made of polyester which is lighter and more waterproof than traditional canvas but I would cast those features aside in exchange for a rainbow bell tent from Boutique Camping. Check this beauty out:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqix-9HTQPNPtImQmqR9zM-67ylUHcicFkUrMpUKBntZ2jGRdIL1gpXaQHKm2FdA59uahjKrklEDojU1gD5rs8YhTor9xGTqltAvnp0PRL1tHI-GCnX-5tUSezg38-nw2-mffLfjq7uE/s1600/Rainbow+Bell+Tent+Boutique+Camping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqix-9HTQPNPtImQmqR9zM-67ylUHcicFkUrMpUKBntZ2jGRdIL1gpXaQHKm2FdA59uahjKrklEDojU1gD5rs8YhTor9xGTqltAvnp0PRL1tHI-GCnX-5tUSezg38-nw2-mffLfjq7uE/s640/Rainbow+Bell+Tent+Boutique+Camping.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Whilst definitely not as practical as some of the other options (you'll probably need some sort of trolley device to get it from the car park to the campsite!) you can't beat a bell tent for drawing you home after an evening of dancing. More room means you can bring things like foldaway beds, pop-up storage and even stuff to cook on. You can really pimp these out with flooring and flags, lighting and storage. If you know you are going to be going to quite a few festivals and you have the budget, one of these will last you forever if you care for it properly and it will feel like a home away from home with some personal touches. Don't underestimate the benefit of having a full length mirror if you can carry one as well!<br />
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<a href="https://amzn.to/2JwMr73" target="_blank">Check out all of the reviews and options for these beautiful tent by clicking here.</a></div>
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Finally, I want to include possibly the very best tent I have seen online. I want this tent so much that I regularly trawl the Lotus Belle Facebook and other social media looking for competitions to enter to try and win one. It's wildly out of my price range, but the features are off the scale. I can dream, right? Lotus Belle tents are inflatable, fully waterproof and huge, they would be such an amazing basecamp for a weekend at a music festival or just to take all of your friends camping in luxury. Not going to lie, they are pricey, but if you end up buying one, please do invite me along for a glamping weekend!! <a href="https://lotusbelle.co.uk/" target="_blank">You can check out their website by clicking this link.</a> The lovely people at Lotus Belle got in touch to offer my readers a special discount code KATYCLOUDFD for free UK delivery on any of their amazing tents. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LotusBelleTents/" target="_blank">You can also follow them on Facebook by clicking here</a>.<br />
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-88424121733213418332018-03-22T07:24:00.000-07:002018-03-23T02:05:54.366-07:00First Festival Of The Year - Hogsozzle 2018 Does anyone else feel like this winter has gone on for several hundred years? I've forgotten what sunshine feels like on my skin and I can't remember the last time I drank rum out of a grass-filled plastic cup. Honestly, these last few weeks of Arctic weather and cloudy skies has kind of taken it out of me.<br />
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So, finally, the Eternal Winter is over and SPRING is on the horizon. That means it's time for the band to start booking up festivals, yay! For the last three years I've been lucky enough to go to Hogsozzle in Hertford during the last bank holiday in May with our friends, an 11-piece band called The Turner Brothers - <a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Turner%20Brothers" target="_blank">all my posts about the band and their gigs are linked here. </a> This year the fun starts on the 25th of May and goes on until 27th - <a href="https://www.hogsozzle.com/?ref=katyclouds" target="_blank">get your ticket by clicking here!</a><br />
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I've shared so many pictures of Hogsozzle over the last few years that some of these may be familiar if you have ever read one of my festival roundups, but I've grouped my all time favourite pics by year throughout this post anyway, because you can't have enough festival throwback pics on freezing Spring days, right?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjghfjH53emUH-T3uMjhZy5wfFm8HkI1T3ZaOa0j7-SNCIstfsYTg-wHKNDj_HUQRz3CVDWA1hJIUqEdZ7Vu0YxrSdY2ZqjieMnCsoj_jv43fKpwI6-Sxr_HL0132mb1QAdbhzCSsIzDY/s1600/_AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2015+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjghfjH53emUH-T3uMjhZy5wfFm8HkI1T3ZaOa0j7-SNCIstfsYTg-wHKNDj_HUQRz3CVDWA1hJIUqEdZ7Vu0YxrSdY2ZqjieMnCsoj_jv43fKpwI6-Sxr_HL0132mb1QAdbhzCSsIzDY/s640/_AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2015+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hogsozzle 2015...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQubwz72ZcAeO1SjSz5AvP8HT0Nahrg251hzPAVTJSw4F5gcNQzcF8Ow3LHBhjGrL56Dw2te_IgGHIh0cLYCBSFbAl6wsLEBQS8cj1qaobbEwORJ7o8Ewdmo6wFCuECihaNtBnNf5EsU/s1600/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2015+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIQubwz72ZcAeO1SjSz5AvP8HT0Nahrg251hzPAVTJSw4F5gcNQzcF8Ow3LHBhjGrL56Dw2te_IgGHIh0cLYCBSFbAl6wsLEBQS8cj1qaobbEwORJ7o8Ewdmo6wFCuECihaNtBnNf5EsU/s640/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2015+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...more 2015<br />
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As the band have played the festival for the last four years running, they aren't on the line-up this year, but I'm hoping this won't stop us heading over yonder hill to the custom built festival site (the guys run Wilkestock from the same site later in the Summer!) and getting ridiculous - we've seen several of the same people year in, year out so I'm looking forward to reconnecting with all the friends we've met over the years.</div>
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Hogsozzle is a small festival with a friendly vibe and a serious focus on looking and being as silly as possible. My favourite thing to do there is to sit on one of the huge torn sofas perched on top of the hill and just watch the craziness happening all around.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0gp-HfIkmH21pQOcNfPUm8y-Es0Hym8fV5OWOQiKqvPpZbG0BKg99NTFHj5ZBxcyEdnEvoQ2fSoW88bbYUvyYiEx7FgoN5xLPxrLdULfEvDHbLKIsh-in8hVkMplMPMQCEDiTQGcAMQ/s1600/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2016+2+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0gp-HfIkmH21pQOcNfPUm8y-Es0Hym8fV5OWOQiKqvPpZbG0BKg99NTFHj5ZBxcyEdnEvoQ2fSoW88bbYUvyYiEx7FgoN5xLPxrLdULfEvDHbLKIsh-in8hVkMplMPMQCEDiTQGcAMQ/s640/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2016+2+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPC_XUIWCEqWDC7HyQvUuE0KPQYTCw5aqJMpt0TW3pwoxNZgX6eKOu40M_i9IdorrWahwIzta1C9h-BMuNyPkIaSn2J7i27oi2FrJFLyGPRdeQDk8ULSXaxNjeVnvDms7zwFW5HoNc9g/s1600/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2016+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPC_XUIWCEqWDC7HyQvUuE0KPQYTCw5aqJMpt0TW3pwoxNZgX6eKOu40M_i9IdorrWahwIzta1C9h-BMuNyPkIaSn2J7i27oi2FrJFLyGPRdeQDk8ULSXaxNjeVnvDms7zwFW5HoNc9g/s640/AA+Hogsozzle+Festival+2016+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> ...2016 continued</td></tr>
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Every year the staples of what makes this a joyful start to the festival season stay the same. A glorious powdered paint fight, a couple of huge sizzling Hogs (included in your ticket price) and a line-up of some seriously awesome dance and entertainment acts as well as some of the best fancy dress we've seen in the last few years - and it's one of the cheapest around too. You can snap up tickets on their official site by <a href="https://www.hogsozzle.com/tickets/" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hogsozzle 2017...</td></tr>
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I would love to try out their luxury camping this time round, each year we've have created our own little campsite area with gazebos and lights but I think trying the luxury camping would be super fun - there's bell tents for hire and the whole thing is set up ready when you get there. <b>I'll be doing some camping and festival essential guides in the coming weeks as we dig our kit out from under the Christmas tree and everything else we've piled on top and I'm always looking for recommendations and gadgets to take camping. </b>This year my essentials are going to include a solar powered fan, some kind of non-heavy, easy to carry chair situation and a battery charger that doesn't blow my phone battery with two uses - please do pop your recommendations below.<br />
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The line-up is looking pretty sweet too, no word yet on whether our dance tent favourites Mirrored Theory are going to be playing a set but I do know that Scratch Perverts have a slot and there's a DJ set by Dub Pistols which I can't wait to get down to but the biggest draw for me is the fancy dress. This years theme is pretty generic and I think you could probably dress up as basically whatever you wanted if you put a bit of thought into your backstory - Fantasies & Fairytales. Don't forget my shopping and inspiration guides if you are stuck for fancy dress ideas, just click the images below.<br />
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<a href="http://katyclouds.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/festival-fancy-dress-pirate-inspiration.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1600" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibKugmP9QkedRJGbZxF_9IpEG8xu5ReHrTqh8ghyphenhypheneqshRMIJh3ypFbMOhyphenhyphena0eokgq_y2-AsGrXx63prgcQV0PnssCklYhlrDo2RKS_p19eaU2O_iCHNwqrKAxYeuGgUl3FToAg74UDRPk/s400/pirate+fancy+dress+costume+festival+dress+up+love+happy+summer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Will you be coming to Hogsozzle this year, or any other boutique festivals? <a href="https://www.hogsozzle.com/?ref=katyclouds" target="_blank">Buy your Hogsozzle ticket here</a> and let me know you are coming, I'd love to join you for a dance in the Pig Pen! I'd be interested to hear about more small, friendly weekends we can get booked in for the summer. After the last few months of snow, ice and staying in I'm definitely ready to start planning an epic summer. Don't forget to drop a comment down below if you've read this far, it really means a lot to me when people comment on my blog posts :)<br />
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-37775129109564715032018-02-02T07:08:00.000-08:002018-02-02T07:08:25.799-08:00Why Do Brands Take Influencers On Expensive PR Trips?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EuP3j_7O1ZBOgSezamBZDpqto-32UwJuEfik8djJ6-v2Er3ICm0JoyShgFKCcivd2XhvPI4vdEbiqKsfvbEJID1ts6_zR1Du1EC6mQSRTBkxpze0Ln5-MhcPFhkf1czGKQ2LhLtBtXE/s1600/ADK_0017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6EuP3j_7O1ZBOgSezamBZDpqto-32UwJuEfik8djJ6-v2Er3ICm0JoyShgFKCcivd2XhvPI4vdEbiqKsfvbEJID1ts6_zR1Du1EC6mQSRTBkxpze0Ln5-MhcPFhkf1czGKQ2LhLtBtXE/s640/ADK_0017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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What a week for new beauty releases! I've seen the most insane PR packages and trips. I honestly love how fast-paced the beauty industry is moving at the moment. I spotted 4 separate 'blogger' or launch events happening yesterday across my social media feeds and they each looked their own kind of incredible.<br />
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When launching a new product or store, introducing a new face or having a rebranding, the current preference for glitzy, no-holds-barred events is a part of a trend called Experiential Marketing. It's been predicted as being 'big' for several years on digital and tech blogs but it's taken some time for brands to get used to spending their budgets in this way and so we are just starting to see something really awesome happening in the sphere of Influencers. Brands are beginning to understand that not every aspect of marketing can be measured in a quantifiable way. Experiential Marketing is about giving consumers an experience that will increase their propensity to purchase, even become an advocate for, the brand. In turn a wider audience is then exposed to positive feelings about the product. This snowball effect is extremely valuable!<br />
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At the Benefit Cosmetics #raiseabrow event last year</div>
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I was inspired to write this post after I saw quite a bit of moaning on Twitter. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Two nights in a country hotel for a new cleanser? </span>The Maldives? For a MASCARA? How can this possibly be beneficial for the brand and why are they splashing out thousands on a very small minority and then charging a high price for the product when us mortals have to purchase them? <br />
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Brace yourself, sensitive snowflakes.<br />
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<b>If you are going to work in social media, expect brands to pay you for your content and ideas and promote yourself as an expert in the subject, you need to know your shit. </b><br />
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I'm really surprised by some of the people I've seen negatively commenting on bloggers attending events, especially when the general mood of the blogosphere finally seems to be turning in a 'support each other' kind of direction. So I've written below some of the ways that these launches can benefit the brand in a much wider way than just promoting the individual product and how it benefits you too.<br />
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Brands have had to completely change the way that their marketing budget is allocated in the last three years. From point blank refusing to pay bloggers to signing up content creators on £100,000 contracts, things have gone from zero to hero for those of us that love to write about and photograph our lives. When I first started working in Influencer marketing, I was convincing decision-makers of the three ways that working with Influencers could help to grow their business.<br />
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<li>Increasing the number of followers their brand accounts had</li>
<li>Raising general awareness of the brands existence</li>
<li>Direct sales (became a lot more relevant with the advent of Instagram Stories 'swipe-up' function)</li>
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All three of these are measurable to some extent. You can watch a brand's follower count go up when you see an influencer posting about them. Brand awareness can be measured in tags and mentions and direct sales are counted by total sales, of course. A combination of this data should help a brand target the Influencers to keep working with, the type of content that works for them and so on. This ability to use the data to hone future campaigns is a secondary benefit which works infinitely better online than it can do in print as you can test different content and users easily with A/B testing. This is where you trial something on a selection of your potential audience, and something else on another group.<br />
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At the launch for Deciem x ASOS</div>
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Each of these desired results has certain ways it can be achieved - for example, if you want to increase your follower count then running a contest that involves following that account would be an ideal way to achieve it.<br />
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So, we have all these ways of creating campaigns, mixing and matching your desired results with A/B testing of audiences and content. Brands usually have to select what they want from a campaign. <br />
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<b>Experiential marketing does all of this and more.</b><br />
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But what brands really want these days is for their fans and users to be creating content for them, independently. This is the holy grail of online marketing in the current climate. Imagine you are launching a product and you've given it a kooky hashtag. If you check that hashtag daily, you want to see people tagging your product in their images. In the case of beauty brands, this is so valuable because of the possibility of using so many different products in one images. You could easily feature 15 or so brands in one picture of your made-up face and tagging with the brands individual hashtags is the first step towards getting that brand to notice you. If they notice you and your image is of a high quality, you might get shared on their page. Boom, 4 million people are looking at your photo, This can have an earth-shattering impact on your own follower count.<br />
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If a brand seems to be sharing a lot of Influencer's content to their audience, sending out amazing PR packages and taking bloggers on holidays that most people can only dream of, it becomes aspirational to be noticed and featured by these brands. This in turn makes their products more desirable, as you aren't going to be featured on Kylie Cosmetics page wearing a knock-off dupe liquid lip. For those bloggers that don't actually take pictures of their face but create elaborate flatlays and studio set-ups - the same goes. They need to buy the product to create the content. Then their followers see them buying and recommending the product and go out and buy it too - this is where micro-influencers fit in and play their part in the campaign. Essentially, creating content on a brand's behalf in exchange for a potential feature.<br />
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This is the crux of Experiential Marketing - for the cost of hiring an aquarium for the day and giving away some of your product in mermaid packaging, you can create an experience that gets shared millions of times, something that isn't always possible to get when paying individuals to create content - although that's obviously incredibly valuable too!<br />
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One of the negatives I've seen so far is that EM is more difficult to measure. I don't know how brands are going to be analysing whether the thousands and thousands they spend on events with spaceships coming from the roof, covetable merchandise (who else wanted a Too Faced sunhat last summer?) and masterclasses added to their sales. This will be really interesting to watch and research. I'll be keeping an eye on new launch hashtags and how long it takes content to start getting created by aspiring make-up artists and micro-influencers.<br />
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The Boohoo Spring/Summer Press Day 2017</div>
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I LOVE the movement towards this type of promotion and PR. It means brands have the opportunity to really infuse their personality and their ethos into launches, making it an exciting time to work in the beauty (and fashion and lifestyle and fitness...) industries. Once the longer term effects on sales and brand awareness can be measured I believe there will develop a whole secondary industry dedicated to putting on these type of events with the most success. In the meantime, the only way anyone gets to be involved, whether it's an all-expenses paid trip to Bali or a pool party in central London, is to create amazing content - moaning about it on Twitter won't get you anywhere at all.<br />
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I hope this has given some background as to why brands are creating these experiences, I would love your comments below on amazing events you have been to and how they made you feel about a product or brand - please do leave a comment.<br />
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I'm currently available for consultation and digital content projects. You can email me on <a href="mailto:katycloudsofficial@gmail.com" target="_blank">katycloudsofficial[at]gmail.com</a> or tweet on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/katy_clouds" target="_blank">[at]katy_clouds</a><br />
<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-35384837372321745552018-01-11T02:48:00.002-08:002018-01-11T02:48:35.846-08:00New Years Eve at the Ceridwen Centre with SweetcornbreadI was dreading NYE this time round. The last few years had been underwhelming, my bank account was empty after Christmas and to be brutally honest, our plan to spend the weekend halfway up a mountain in Wales did not fill me with excitement. How stupid I was!<br />
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The idea was for Sweetcornbread to play a five hour set at the Ceridwen Centre's Alternative New Year's party, which was being held on their farm in Carmarthenshire. They had played there before as the band have friends that live and work at the venue. For once, I didn't have the usual pre-gig strops from my bassist boyfriend, this should have been my first clear indicator that it was going to be a little special.<br />
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The five hour drive was killer, I'm not going to lie. Most of it was in the dark and being squashed up in the back with the instruments and our supplies for the weekend didn't do much for comfort. At one point we stopped at a Welsh service station and I feel like I could be forgiven for thinking we had landed on Mars - who knew Mcdonalds chips could get any thinner? Why do they have a completely different version of the cheese bites? We arrived at the Pen-Y-Blanc farm in the pitch darkness - all I knew was there was a lot of steep hills to traverse and we were going to be staying in The Old Dairy.<br />
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We were welcomed warmly and shown to our space. I've shared with the whole band and their girlfriends before and it was tight and noisy with a very intimate feel to the toilet so I was expecting the worst. I needn't have worried! The Old Dairy had lots of room for us, the farm owners bought double mattresses and there was water, snacks, tea and coffee on tap as well as under floor heating and some beautifully equipped, far-away-from-the-living-area washing and toilet facilities. I wish I had taken a picture of the ENORMOUS stack of giant floor cushions in the room because they were literally the cosiest thing ever!<br />
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I started to notice other little things. The signs in the toilet, the biodegradable toiletries, the recycling bag - the farm operates on an extremely green basis and they have a green septic tank - I fell a little in love. I had a brief chat with the owners son-in-law and he said the farm has solar panels and various recycling and green facilities and continue to work to improve their <span id="docs-internal-guid-511994c1-e4d2-b3b2-37fb-6d9651827462" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; word-spacing: 0px;">sustainability.</span><br />
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We spent the first evening in a local pub, the John Y Gwas. I have to say our hosts were a dream and the pub itself was exactly as you may expect from a village that seemed to cling on to the side of a mountain. The toilets were something out of Stephen King's It and the locks were on the outside of the doors - only in Wales! We made plans to visit the beach the following day and retired to our cosy Dairy.<br />
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I took quite a few photos at Poppit but my favourite part of the beach trip was the 20 minute drive through tight, winding Welsh villages. At the time we went my phone was out of action but I must make a note to try harder to get candid snaps of things I want to blog about - a goal for 2018!<br />
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Back at the farm and we got ourselves ready for the night, with the band resting and some of them downing double Lemsips to counteract the bastard flu everyone seems to have now we are back (I've avoided it so far, but I tend to be the last to the party anyway) At the Dairy, wafts of the most fragrant lamb tagine were starting to drift over from the kitchens and I set upon a large bottle of gin - it's a blur from then onwards...<br />
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Dodgy panorama of the band trying to sort out their set list, mostly I've included this because Jim's head looks hilarious.<br />
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One of these individuals was determined not to have a nice picture with the band *eyeroll*<br />
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The party went down beautifully and the band were a smash - despite a slightly awkward countdown for midnight itself which started way too early! The band played a set of covers and original tracks and got the tipi rocking!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI2NlgwIlHZbUjHocOpAsjNKDqjmmwBeRDCvk10cSHBMk2m48latOKMetMkLOE7hNHeCLOEH0bWYWOrzpUUCfBHXKgdvFAPA6SBR-rudd9oAxEpDECA4F7poQqsxY_JYFu99XI-c7Iumw/s1600/IMG_0692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="1160" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI2NlgwIlHZbUjHocOpAsjNKDqjmmwBeRDCvk10cSHBMk2m48latOKMetMkLOE7hNHeCLOEH0bWYWOrzpUUCfBHXKgdvFAPA6SBR-rudd9oAxEpDECA4F7poQqsxY_JYFu99XI-c7Iumw/s640/IMG_0692.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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We loved the photobooth - I got pretty attached to this red wig at one point.<br />
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I've popped some photos of some of the farm and accomodations below but their website is <span id="docs-internal-guid-511994c1-e4d3-d400-104a-b652ab2d8bb0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre; word-spacing: 0px;">definitely </span>worth a look if you are looking for a green (or just beautiful) venue for your wedding -<a href="http://ceridwencentre.co.uk/" target="_blank"> click here</a>. They have all the facilities you could possibly want for your big day - including a stunningly private mountainside wooden hot tub, fired by logs and with incredible views over the valley. I really wanted to give it a go but we didn't start the fire off early enough and we had to leave - I would have been more than happy to spend another few days soaking in the cooked breakfasts, fresh air and genuine warmth of Simone and Roger and everyone at Ceridwen. Thank you so much for showing me that New Years Eve doesn't have to be rubbish when you step out of your comfort zone.<br />
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The hot tub of dreams</div>
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Gypsy caravan under winter storage - I believe this is used for the bridal suite for weddings - so romantic.<br />
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My favourite - a lovingly restored bus with all mod cons, position overlooking the beautiful valley.<br />
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Thank you all at the Ceridwen Centre for an amazing weekend!<br />
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Katy xKaty Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-9975703706929557352017-09-25T12:16:00.000-07:002017-09-25T12:18:50.458-07:00Picmonkey Free Has Gone<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlZ2sImP-51FNNGH5RhSJxfs3YN7W4kpeY_7ptTTVrpZMp4qQN48p-9dwxGvbq9QMdY7r4H1TYv1vqebaujCip8yeMYLbIP5AKjF-Jmv0IyjZcM1ze_RTOnip22Mh_YHr63YkWcKWPyfo/s1600/picmonkey+free.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="640" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlZ2sImP-51FNNGH5RhSJxfs3YN7W4kpeY_7ptTTVrpZMp4qQN48p-9dwxGvbq9QMdY7r4H1TYv1vqebaujCip8yeMYLbIP5AKjF-Jmv0IyjZcM1ze_RTOnip22Mh_YHr63YkWcKWPyfo/s640/picmonkey+free.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
I have advocated Picmonkey for years. I love the fun, fresh interface, the fonts, the overlays and most of all how kept developing and growing it until it became almost invaluable to a huge number of people who haven't had the time, money or inclination to develop skills in other major design programs.<br />
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Over the years, I've written a bunch of articles about the free features on Picmonkey - some of those posts have been shared on the Picmonkey site and one of them is my highest-viewed blog post of all time. It still get's hits, despite being an old and completely redundant way of making your avatar a circle for social media - I still get questions on the post! <br />
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Despite all my tutorials featuring only the free elements of the program, I've paid for membership on several occasions, once for a significant number of months. I was also gifted a year long membership at one point as a thank you for the tutorials that I was writing. I strongly believe in supporting independent businesses in the technology industry and I completely understand that not everything can be free.<br />
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Last week I saw the title of the announcement email and my heart sank. I knew straight away that it was likely that something was going to changing at Picmonkey and I crossed my fingers it would be something positive. I couldn't believe it when I read that as of that moment, there would be no free access at all, other than a 7 day free trial which required credit card details. This obviously cuts the majority of students and young people who have relied on Picmonkey when their parents won't splash out on design software for adding fonts, overlays and filters to their online content.<br />
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The most irritating thing about the change is that because a long, long, long time ago, I've had a free trial which then turned into a subscription to access the Royale features (which are amazing, in particular the addition of the Hub) I am now not entitled to a free trial of the incredible new features that Picmonkey has obviously spent time and money in developing that now needs recouping. I ended up using someone else's card, with permission obviously, as I had just taken on a small freelance project that required a basic graphic. I was overwhelmed with all the new Royale features, especially the Hub, which offers a way of saving the layers in your images. This is going to make it really easy for me to whip up images for my blog, which are all just a background with two white rectangles at different degrees of Fade. The text effects are pretty good too - I'm grateful to finally have drop shadow.<br />
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Picmonkey said they wanted feedback and that they were listening but they didn't respond to my several tweets asking them to reset the system so you could have another trial if you had already had one in 2013 or something - so I've done what bloggers do best and vent these issues here - but I'm anxious to make it clear I absolutely think it's worth the money and I will be continuing to subscribe. I love the interface without the ads and the addition of new overlays that can be used in millions of different ways is fab too.<br />
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I hope they listen to feedback and provide some way of showing off their brilliant features without needing a credit card.<br />
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Katy xKaty Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-75253685624594380242017-09-23T08:31:00.000-07:002017-09-24T02:11:07.619-07:00Copyright And Using Music In Your Content<div class="MsoNormal">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEGM-Wv2eOr8a7xyx1ibQotA16Ru1y7vkuwwLr6gUvXfDzYylgrGUvw9Q1YWWEPvTqmBJlVjCOiXVD3iR5UvCaOhpdXFrLwFTo0HT5kXMziVTLOP7J3z91chCE_Jug1kWpAVadw-9Pwg/s1600/music+copyright+issues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcEGM-Wv2eOr8a7xyx1ibQotA16Ru1y7vkuwwLr6gUvXfDzYylgrGUvw9Q1YWWEPvTqmBJlVjCOiXVD3iR5UvCaOhpdXFrLwFTo0HT5kXMziVTLOP7J3z91chCE_Jug1kWpAVadw-9Pwg/s640/music+copyright+issues.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Instagram
deactivated my account! What’s a copyright warning? What music can I use on my
Instagram videos? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">These have been
the burning issues in my inbox this week and I’ve been doing a LOT of research,
so I wanted to share in one place everything I’ve learnt about the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">I work with a
range of influencers in my day job – many of them, especially in our ‘beauty’ category,
utilise music in videos that they create for collaborations and
organically-generated content. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">I'm not a legal expert, so my advice here is focused on the specifics of avoiding issues with Instagram and YouTube when it comes to using music that you don't have specific permission to use - I've included links below for various sources of more information regarding the legalities, what is classed as 'Fair Use' and what else you can do to keep your account safe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Here is
everything we know so far, and if you are just here to find out where you can
obtain Royalty-Free and Copyright Free music for your own videos and content,
scroll down to the bottom for the links.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-IYpbafI3IWshKtubrVB-0xMCUN4ptq9AK66riN_GQcc0cj1VG1A5c1sP6Oz0iczC1nYg64zaTfFM2pQsJgTfl3rrw-F1LrbR9_6O7UhfgzgN7olo3r5dg-7rON7Wd_facoZo15DVMI8/s1600/Facebook+Algorithm.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="700" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-IYpbafI3IWshKtubrVB-0xMCUN4ptq9AK66riN_GQcc0cj1VG1A5c1sP6Oz0iczC1nYg64zaTfFM2pQsJgTfl3rrw-F1LrbR9_6O7UhfgzgN7olo3r5dg-7rON7Wd_facoZo15DVMI8/s400/Facebook+Algorithm.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Facebook now
owns Instagram and this has meant a number of changes to both platforms. The
ridiculous and useless integration of Instagram Stories into Facebook’s mobile
app is one of them (seriously, do you have ANY friends that use it? I don’t.)
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">One of the more behind the scenes changes has been that Facebook as implemented
a cross-platform music-tracking algorithm with a pretty high level of
sensitivity. What this means for the average user is that even if you <i>have music on in the background of your
videos </i>you could still be issued with a copyright warning and even account
deactivation. We aren’t currently sure how far this extends and there’s no
evidence that it applies to Instagram Stories, but I’d strongly recommend
erring on the side of caution and not using music that you don’t have the rights
to anywhere on either platform, especially if Instagram is a source of income for you as you could potentially be accused of using music without a license for commercial use </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagHUJbZcME-H7baL1xjD_6Un8ZdUM11klwEmshzR4v0-o5tckVhvk8hzHlkwQcJzZ2s-yyg5uaEFRcUQJY6J_x99-ck3C3qubTamm86ufGokxGIxhRcOf3cLwb1411N_iGc2H6mUVyQ0/s1600/instagram+music+copyright.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="700" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagHUJbZcME-H7baL1xjD_6Un8ZdUM11klwEmshzR4v0-o5tckVhvk8hzHlkwQcJzZ2s-yyg5uaEFRcUQJY6J_x99-ck3C3qubTamm86ufGokxGIxhRcOf3cLwb1411N_iGc2H6mUVyQ0/s400/instagram+music+copyright.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
I've spoken directly to several employees of Instagram and I have quite a bit of information about what is and isn't okay. <br />
<ul>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Don't use music you have purchased from iTunes on your Instagram videos or YouTube content. The permissions granted to you in downloading music in this way do not cover use as background to your digital content. </div>
</li>
<li><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Do find royalty-free music through a third-party website - you'll probably have to pay a fee and make sure to read the terms and conditions properly - it might be okay for you to use a track for personal videos, but not okay for commercial use, which usually carries a higher licence fee that for personal use. Commercial use covers creating content for brands, by the way.</div>
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Don't think you'll be okay if you credit the artist - attribution is not a way out of respecting an artists copyright.</div>
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Do connect with upcoming artists that might grant you permission to use their music in exchange for a credit on your posts and definitely get their permission in writing and take a screenshot of the message, you can use this if an issue does arise to prove you have permission to use the track. </div>
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Don't try and get round the rules by 'putting music on in the background and pretending not to realise that counted - Instagram won't care and their software is clever enough to put up even small snippets of music</div>
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Do make sure you check the email address associated with your Instagram account, that's where any warnings about copyright violation will go to.</div>
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Don't make the mistake of thinking that old content won't be spotted - you need to remove any content you have up that has music that you don't have specific permission to use for your account to be completely safe.</div>
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Do tag any artist that gives you permission to use their product and write "Music by @soandso, used with permission from the artist"</div>
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Do check out this list <a href="https://www.youtube.com/music_policies" target="_blank">(click here)</a> of permissions granted by artists for their music to be used in YouTube videos</div>
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</ul>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiue1YFNG9YKfTsLhGzvR5eFQ1iB2iH8Hn2vBjilxwQ61c_4bEkISHrM9L9u53GbhqzL8Uvq6B5fcdsIFXzoWCzggjMpToFnMbOoFxT8WTIgPMDy3pazWb-F_tQDuTFyksUNnKbjrt3es/s1600/instagram+account+deactivated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="700" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiue1YFNG9YKfTsLhGzvR5eFQ1iB2iH8Hn2vBjilxwQ61c_4bEkISHrM9L9u53GbhqzL8Uvq6B5fcdsIFXzoWCzggjMpToFnMbOoFxT8WTIgPMDy3pazWb-F_tQDuTFyksUNnKbjrt3es/s400/instagram+account+deactivated.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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(This section refers only to Instagram as I haven't got experience in regaining accounts on other platforms)</div>
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If one video gets taken down, get permission to use a piece of music and put it back up. If you suddenly find yourself with an inbox of copyright violations, don't panic. If your account is still active (or even if it's not, see below), it's salvageable. Go through and archive all of your content that has music playing. This might seem like a pain but it's nothing compared with regaining those 8, 12, 20 or 100K followers back will be.</div>
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Steer completely clear of using music for a few days and then make sure you read through the resources below to start building a library of music that you have permission to use.</div>
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If your account has been deactivated - there are still things you can do to regain control. Firstly, try and make a note of what you think might be causing the issue (Do you have old videos with Rihanna songs way back on your feed? Can you hear an Ed Sheeran track in the background of your prank video?) </div>
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Head here: https://help.instagram.com/contact/606967319425038 </div>
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Fill in the form. My advice is stay concise, explain what you think is causing the issue and apologise. Make it clear you understand why your account was removed and will do everything to rectify the situation and it won't happen again. Steer clear of emotional pleas because they get thousands of requests a day. The team at Instagram's Intellectual Property department will review your case within a few days and hopefully will give you another chance - if they do reactivate your account, be aware that it will still have a flag on it that indicates to the platform that you have been caught violating copyright. You won't get your account back if you do it again.</div>
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If none of this works and you aren't getting anywhere with the form - I do have several email address for the IP department at Instagram and would be happy to pass one over - <a href="mailto:cakeadaykatie@gmail.com" target="_blank">you can email me by clicking here and I'll tell you my most current contact information.</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_miaC709qnDi6Sz0F3F_hz6L2agqMvmkkUkWAErEWeygJbH_TWTqXfhl7h3oUkkRYdSWFOdEEPO1i5PlNZBDrLpadhUXrYgGMSpYuRCQ2vuQi4vQvRY_ZZU_ehli5OTOpbacJXNicn8/s1600/resources+for+royalty+free+and+copyright+free+music.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="109" data-original-width="700" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_miaC709qnDi6Sz0F3F_hz6L2agqMvmkkUkWAErEWeygJbH_TWTqXfhl7h3oUkkRYdSWFOdEEPO1i5PlNZBDrLpadhUXrYgGMSpYuRCQ2vuQi4vQvRY_ZZU_ehli5OTOpbacJXNicn8/s400/resources+for+royalty+free+and+copyright+free+music.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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I'm going to add to this post regularly when I find further links, resources and information on this subject, so I'll try to keep the below up to date. Please do feel free to add a link to your favourite resource, royalty-free music, artists looking to connect with content creators etc in the comments and I'll be happy to add them here.</div>
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<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-in-sound-recordings" target="_blank">Copyright In Sound Recordings - GOV.UK</a></div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/pages/copyright" target="_blank"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/pages/copyright" target="_blank">Use of music that originates from Soundcloud</a></div>
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<a href="https://help.instagram.com/126382350847838" target="_blank"><br /></a></div>
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<a href="https://help.instagram.com/126382350847838" target="_blank">Instagram's Copyright Policy</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/copyright/#support-and-troubleshooting" target="_blank">YouTube Copyright Hub</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/music_policies" target="_blank">List of Artists that have granted permission for use in YouTube content</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html" target="_blank">Apple's policy for granting permissions and licenses</a></div>
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Here is a list of places that you might consider obtaining music that you have the correct permissions to use</div>
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<a href="https://www.fiverr.com/etherfunck" target="_blank">This guy on Fiverr will create you a completely unique piece of music in your preferred style and grant you the necessary permissions to use it in your videos - commercial use too.</a></div>
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<a href="https://www.instagram.com/archie_xn_trick/" target="_blank">This musician has worked with several of the influencers I know in exchange for a credit</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.adweek.com/digital/royalty-free-music/" target="_blank">Here is a great list of places to get music</a> and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/digital/6-places-video-creators-can-find-royalty-free-music/" target="_blank">here is another list from the same site</a></div>
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I hope this has helped, I'm happy to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge and please do leave a comment if this post as been beneficial to you.</div>
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Katy xx</div>
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<br />Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-77626848913955354622017-09-15T08:27:00.000-07:002017-09-15T08:27:34.570-07:00What is an Echo Chamber and Am I In One?<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWKym1B3AOeiyJmYrqfW2ogXvwTi21geDLu9uaQ3IyHui3JvFXknPyOK0jwoTtimUXvua72tbP6NUFDy5qqUWdJpT9u0awdYS1J_bdsU19XGuNZQvOjR9BulsMeRENCwj5c6PafJPZlc/s1600/internet+echo+chamber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1600" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWKym1B3AOeiyJmYrqfW2ogXvwTi21geDLu9uaQ3IyHui3JvFXknPyOK0jwoTtimUXvua72tbP6NUFDy5qqUWdJpT9u0awdYS1J_bdsU19XGuNZQvOjR9BulsMeRENCwj5c6PafJPZlc/s640/internet+echo+chamber.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , serif;">An Echo Chamber,
when referring to the online community describes how you will hear your own
views validated, amplified and reinforced. It leads to a dangerous thought
process – “everyone feels the same as me” – to put it bluntly, they don’t.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Think about the
people you follow and interact with online. If you are in a metaphorical Echo
Chamber, most of the individuals that you interact and engage with on a regular
basis fall into the follow categories. People you admire. People who inspire you.
People who have similar jobs, social economic backgrounds and lives as you.
People who have similar views. These people probably feel the same as you about
the big issues of the day. Feminism, Terrorism, Racism, Equality, Global
Warming. All big issues and most people have a strong enough view that they will
openly admit they come down on one side of the fence. I haven’t met anyone who
is ‘on the fence’ about global warming. I have met people who think it doesn’t
exist and people who dedicate their lives to protecting the environment. These
issues encourage strong views.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">The problem is,
the current climate on the internet is building to one of an almost fanatical
intolerance towards any sort of debate or disagreement. I was recently blocked
from a popular feminist’s Twitter feed because I stated (and I still believe,
rightly) that it was ridiculous to try and ban the word ‘Feminine’ in relation
to feminine hygiene products. Personally, I’d rather spend the time campaigning
for girls who have to skip school because of their period in this county (this
happens – google it) than trying to get yet another part of our standard
lexicon banned – I don’t agree that seeing the word should ‘trigger’ anyone and
I personally think that if it does, they should grow a fucking backbone – don’t
worry, I know this is a #unpopularopinion but I’m still entitled to it. I’m #sorrynotsorry
if that triggers you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Deleting and
blocking people who have different views to you isn’t going to help you accept
and be tolerate of the world around you. It paints a false picture, that
everyone feels the same way and you are on some sort of crusade together
against the trolls that disagree.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">If all of your
friends are super-liberal, middle class white people around the same age, how
are you ever going to be able to understand and interact with anyone not in
that socio-economic group? If you are blazing through your life thinking that
you are right and that’s it, because the group you surround yourself with
completely agrees with you and anyone who doesn’t is triggering some sort of
anxiety in you so deep that you feel the need to erase their terrible opinion
completely from your mind and vision, you need to branch out. Not everyone is
the same and not everyone will always agree with you and that is a beautiful
thing that the most intelligent, successful and happy people in the world are
able to understand. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">Beware the Echo
Chamber. It can convince you that everyone is in the same boat, that everyone
thinks the same. It can encourage normalisation of behaviours that are not
accepted in wider society. If every single person you know smokes Cannabis and
talks about smoking Cannabis and treats it very normally, does this mean
society as a whole is accepting legalisation? Nope, it just means you have surrounded
yourself with people whose moral compass points the same way on this factor.
Try going to a Woman’s Institute tea party and having a discussion about using
CDB oil to treat rheumatoid arthritis. You won’t get very far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">This isn’t a dig
to anyone who does delete people who disagree with them. You might want you
online space to be all fairies and rainbows and happiness and butt-licking, but
it’s vital to be aware that in doing so, you are creating a false and fragile community
that doesn’t offer a real reflection of the world, in the wider scheme of
things, you are doing something even more dangerous to your own mind –
convincing yourself of a false reality and closing yourself off the a diverse
and beautiful world of opinion, debate and disagreements.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3-yrIlT1p2oyYYbm0V5hI_J8Li2OXP92MgfpPl3Dzp9H7hLTT00Fx3Kt8pQQ9dqI25QUkvL1LK8I6IQ1PLU-8KJjk-N8-LnFXdcJp-Cux8Pshme9wNfo8wy83OqH0SfxgEogWzJ3FqU/s1600/998cc982748c1a1f6ce8392cb635a101--wise-quotes-quotes-inspirational.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA3-yrIlT1p2oyYYbm0V5hI_J8Li2OXP92MgfpPl3Dzp9H7hLTT00Fx3Kt8pQQ9dqI25QUkvL1LK8I6IQ1PLU-8KJjk-N8-LnFXdcJp-Cux8Pshme9wNfo8wy83OqH0SfxgEogWzJ3FqU/s640/998cc982748c1a1f6ce8392cb635a101--wise-quotes-quotes-inspirational.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "cambria" , "serif";">I want your
opinion on this post – negative, positive, on the fence, you don’t like my
hair, whatever. All opinions are valid here – I don’t want to be in an Echo
Chamber. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-58790171874633395222017-07-27T08:51:00.001-07:002017-07-29T01:45:59.867-07:00Beauty Boulevard & Burt's Bee's Festival Survival Kit I will never get over the misery of having to pack up and leave a festival and evacuating Curious Yellow was actually too much to bear for a week or so - I've drunk a lot of wine, let's put it that way.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
I'm hoping to do a full 'review' of the magical weekend The Turner Brothers and groupies had at the Gibberd Gardens in the next few weeks when I have collected photos and I don't get a pang of sadness when I realise it's another 339 days to wait until the next one. In the meantime, the thought of going to Boomtown and then Magic At Landed the week after is getting me through the misery.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Enough complaining! I'm here to share details of the fun festival survival kit I received in the post this week - I was gifted these items but not paid for my review.</div>
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<div>
So, confession. This isn't my first festival survival kit, previous kits had a focus on heat protection, allergy protection and safety. This kit has a focus on the real important stuff, glitter.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLyZO_-AiLvWl1iRY0gVjQkV6fUiiu-ePmaNJptQ23GqnSuqf44FUrVq3tr3AsuqLKuZ5glQz3jxiQ1z-_edoaL0CNgNjqpdRka1lC_eBS54Rqo6PpkCFNLP72eRvdxHJN-LYqyDkikQ/s1600/19883895_10154518648116782_968819498_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="959" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDLyZO_-AiLvWl1iRY0gVjQkV6fUiiu-ePmaNJptQ23GqnSuqf44FUrVq3tr3AsuqLKuZ5glQz3jxiQ1z-_edoaL0CNgNjqpdRka1lC_eBS54Rqo6PpkCFNLP72eRvdxHJN-LYqyDkikQ/s640/19883895_10154518648116782_968819498_n.jpg" width="639" /></a></div>
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<br />
Pictured is a selection from the kit but the full content were:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://beautyblvd.com/shop/glitter-lips/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnubLBRC_ARIsAASsNNnLdsKF_gqaXBZLxZP74ZYxA523kiJlAkrGiq7F6xipU-xzKF1h6nUaAowREALw_wcB">Glitter Lips by Beauty Boulevard</a> in Vintage Pretty and Breathless<br />
<a href="http://izbeauty.co.uk/Iz-Beauty-of-London">iZ Nail Lacquer</a> in Glastonberry and Dancing In The Rain<br />
<a href="https://www.burtsbees.co.uk/">Burts Bees</a> Facewipes and Ultra Conditioning Balm<br />
<a href="http://izbeauty.co.uk/index.php?route=product/search&search=colorsmash">Colorsmash Hairspray</a> in Indigo<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/Thanks%20so%20much%20for%20understanding!%20%20We%20also%20noticed%20that%20Jay%20is%20painting%20her%20nails%20with%20the%20silver%20cap%20attached%20to%20the%20brush.%20This%20should%20be%20removed%20before%20painting%20as%20otherwise%20the%20bottle%20doesn't%20shut%20properly%20which%20can%20lead%20to%20the%20polish%20drying%20out%20(lots%20of%20other%20people%20have%20done%20this%20too!)%20The%20cap%20is%20actually%20designed%20to%20be%20used%20as%20a%20finger%20rest%20while%20painting%20:)%20%20Those%20were%20the%20only%20other%20specifications,%20so%20to%20clarify:%20-%20Remove%20cap%20before%20unscrewing%20the%20lid%20of%20the%20nail%20polish%20-%20Reshoot%20make-up%20look%20using%20holographic/glitter%20product%20-%20Prep%20skin%20make-up%20beforehand">Beauty Boulevard Premium Glitter</a> in Space Cadet and Pegasus<br />
<a href="http://izabellehammon.com/wild-violet-glitter">Glitz iT</a> in Wild Violet<br />
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What more could I possibly need for a festival? I mean, other than a tent, a sleeping bag, a large bottle of gin...<br />
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When I saw the above glitter I thought, I probably won't use that weird orange one, but in fact it turned out to one of my favourite glitters ever, huge chunky hex pieces and a duochrome bright yellow orange sparkly. It was SO hard to capture in photographs but here is a shot of it on my and my friend Kelly along with some errant Turner Brothers...<br />
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I created a half face glitter look on the second day using the Wild Violet glitter, which is a mix of chunky hexagons and holographic teeny bits, the glitter from the Breathless Glitter Lips kit and the chunky glitter from the Pegasus pack of Stardust...<br />
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The glitters all come with a special gel or a glue, which is also infused with glitter, and a brush suitable for application on your face, lips, body or hair, I can't wait to take my growing glitter collection to Boomtown and hopefully wear some much more make-up heavy and fun looks. These pics are from Once Upon A Time In The West, which I had about five minutes to pack for and thought was going to be tiny and wet, so I didn't take the majority of my festival supplies with me - regrettable as it was actually a wonderful little event and the <a href="http://www.theturnerbrothers.co.uk/">Turner Brothers</a> performance was one of the best I have seen all year, love those guys!!<br />
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Have a great end to your week, and do give the links above a little click to check out the huge range of glitter, sprays and over awesome festival must-haves from these brands!<br />
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4456973653311685553.post-72312342235872647152017-07-21T07:43:00.000-07:002017-08-29T03:28:20.912-07:00How Do I Get A Blogging / Influencer Agent and Do I Need One? <div>
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In my day job, I'm an Influencer agent at a major talent agency. I manage the calendars and collaborations of people with significant Instagram, blog or Facebook followings and I work on pitching them to clients to fulfil briefs that require influencers.<br />
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In a typical day, I might receive requests for:</div>
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<li>Beauty Influencers with a high UK audience</li>
<li>Fitness Influencers that are currently not sponsored by protein brands</li>
<li>Mummy influencers with children under 5</li>
<li>Gaming Youtubers who want to trial new game apps</li>
<li>Travel Influencers who want to go on paid adventures</li>
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My job is first and foremost to fulfil the briefs that come in and to make sure that our department is reaching out to companies to let them know that we are here and we have the influencers that they need to fulfil their digital content needs. I spend a lot of my day talking about the three major benefits of Influencer marketing, raising Brand Awareness, gaining Follow Acquisitions for client's social accounts and generating immediate direct sales driven from an influencer posting content created around a particular brand.</div>
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Obviously, to do all of this, I have to have a roster of Influencers, bloggers and content creators that I can call on. These individuals need to span the complete spectrum, from very small, up and coming beauty bloggers who might consider creating a post in exchange for gifted product and a mention on a big beauty brands instagram page, to major Youtube stars that can gain millions of views and downloads for a new app.</div>
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I find these influencers in lots of different ways, including going to blogger events, networking with other agents and beauty PR's, scouring Instagram and...incoming applications.</div>
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The point to this post today, was to give some information about what an agent does and why you might need one. I speak to a lot of up and coming influencers and bloggers who feel that getting an agent is the next logical step to take them to the upper echelons of the blogosphere. To put it bluntly, it's not.</div>
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My job is not to develop you, not to grow you into a major influencer. That's your job. The content that you create, the organic content, is what will make you stand out among a see of want-to-be influencers and social media stars. I get approached by people with 10K followers in Instagram saying they are ready for an agent - you aren't. The brutal truth of the matter is that an agent is only going to be interested if there is decent money to be made and at that level - there isn't.</div>
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Don't get me wrong, I'm still interested in hearing from you. I often get invites, emails about gifting (or 'seeding' collaborations and other opportunities that our higher-level beauty influencers simply won't consider and it makes the agency looks significantly better if we are always able to fulfil a brief, plus I'm obviously interested in watching your Instagram and blog grow in popularity until such a time that you do perhaps require an agent.</div>
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So how do you know if you really need an agent? Here's a little checklist.</div>
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<li>You are getting approached by brands and being offered paid collaborations</li>
<li>You don't know how much to charge these brands, but you know that your platforms are definitely worth money</li>
<li>You need help with invoicing and the admin side of Influencer work</li>
<li>You want to turn previous collaborations that have been on a gifting basis into a longer term paid collaboration with a brand</li>
<li>You are getting people pretend to be you on social media</li>
<li>You think it's time you were verified</li>
<li>You have more than 100K followers or subscribers on at least one channel.</li>
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If more than two of these sound like you, it's time. Get contacting agencies in the space you want too work.</div>
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Influencer platforms are springing up everywhere. I get several emails a day about them. From Influenster to River and millions more, these platform promise that they affiliated with all the top brands and will bring the work to your inbox without you having to lift a finger and in some cases, they do work. I would recommend them if you aren't quite answering 'yes' to two or three of the above questions but you are ready to dip your two into paid collaboration.</div>
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An agency manages your Influencer career. You'll be assigned an agent who will be your go-to. You'll speak to them several times a day sometimes about opportunities, working with them to get the best rates and the best collaborations. They will reach out on your behalf to brands that you have always dreamed of working with and they will make sure all of the invoicing and admin stuff is done for you so you can sit back and do what you are good at - content creating.</div>
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Don't get me wrong, there's a place for Influencer marketing platforms and I don't see them as my competitor, but they fulfil different roles and it's likely you'll need one before the other.</div>
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Now you have established that you are ready for an agent and you aren't looking for someone to help you develop yourself as an influencer, but someone who can pitch you to global brands and start getting you those big-money deals - it's time to put yourself out there. I'd strongly suggest going for a well-known, reputable agency that has a good roster of influencers. Here are some other things to check out:</div>
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<li>Does the agency have an office premises? You don't want some fly-by-night managing the career that you've worked this hard on</li>
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<li>What's their reputation? Talk to some brands about the agency - you probably have PR contacts already and most of them will know the big agencies and the right contacts there - they might even recommend a particular agent to you</li>
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<li>Do they have people that you admire on their roster? If they only have one or two minor reality TV stars from 2006 they might not be best for your 400K beauty platform</li>
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<li>Do the people that they represent seem to be working quite a bit? A reputable agency will always be happy to share who else they represent - check out their Instagram feeds and blogs and establish if they seem to be getting good opportunities. 5 teeth whitening companies in a month would be a no, an amazing-looking trip to the Bahamas with a cosmetic brand would probably be more of a yes!</li>
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<li>Are you able to speak to someone on the phone and if so, do you like them on first impressions? I won't take anyone on that won't speak to me on the phone.</li>
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<li>Do you they ask you to share your Instagram insights and other stats and seem interested in verifying how you have grown yourself, or do they seem over keen and not interested in your history? This is a red flag for sure, you don't want to work with an agency that takes on people who they don't properly verifying - brands will pick up on that super quick!</li>
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Finally, do your research. The right agency won't pressure you into signing a contract or true and promise you all the best jobs. Working with an agent is about selecting and pitching for the right opportunities that will resonate with your audience and keep your following trusting you. No agent should ever promise anything - they probably won't be able to deliver and you'll be in too deep to know what to do. </div>
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I'm happy to give advice on this subject, and even consider adding you to our roster if you have the potential and I believe that our clients will be interested in you. You can find my work email over on my Instagram, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/katyclouds/">@katyclouds</a></div>
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Hope this has helped! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section and I will reply with haste x</div>
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Katy Cloudshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02342209589152936307noreply@blogger.com3