street art

Your Fave LIFESTYLE Photo’s from the Last 6 Months

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I post a selection of photo’s from this blog onto my Instagram and share a few general images everyday. Come follow me if you don’t already @vamp_it_up_mcr

I’ve gone through which photos got the most likes (on Insta) and divided them up into four categories, Lifestyle, Style, Food and er, Me!

Lifestyle

(Clockwise)

Gap Between Buildings When you walk down Whitworth Street heading to Oxford Road, you cross over a tiny bridge without realising and that’s the view of the canal and swanky apartments to your left.

Baby Jay I’ve only ever seen a Jay twice before so this little’un sitting right outside the window was lovely surprise.

Sorting my makeup and storage I chucked out anything old or crap and arranged everything here into one bag and base coverage and tools/brushes into a wicker basic. I indulged my left over OCD traits and lined up everything colourful for this photo; so satisfying!

Pins I have so many pins I have to rotate them on bags and coats. I need to make space on my pin board to display them all properly.

Skincare Routine After setting myself he challenge to get healthier skin in one month, I narrowed down my products to these and found a consistent routine and it worked!

Street Art This is a very old photo of the side of a block at the start of The Northern Quarter. The beautiful art (subject now replaces by Mcr bees) is by Faunagraphic who’s responsible for all of the nature inspired, pastel or brushstroke effect street-art in town. Check out that pretty fire-escape too.

Narwhals Narwhals Swimming In The Ocean (the pre-curser to the baby shark song) My Bloke got me these slippers last Xmas.

Bench In Our Tiny Backyard All my Dads work. I offer to help with our yard but he always refuses as he loves doing it so much. He’s like me, if he gets an idea in his mind, he knows exactly how he wants it. I’m not arguing as it comes out looking lovely every time ^_^

(Centre)

Sustainable (what used to be referred to as Eco) Purchases I got everything here from an online shop called Ecologue. Metal flask, really light but efficient; Bamboo toothbrush, the most comfortable one I’ve ever used and biodegradable; Cleansing pads, also made from bamboo and machine washable!

As always I’d love to hear your thoughts…

🖤✨Chrissie✨🖤

Manchester Street View: 7 Years Compilation

/ Vamp It Up Mcr (Chrissie) / 8 Comments

This month I’ve had this blog for 7 years! I’ve decided to have a look through all of my Street View and Street Art posts and some other event posts to make a best-of compilation.

Moss Side Caribbean Carnival held in Alexandra Park

Pride parade

Hulme/motorway underpass

Street art from the Cities of Global Hope campaign, spreading messages of social injustice and hardship

One of the statues created for the Commonwealth Games 2002 held in Manchester, with the Hilton Hotel & Apartments in the background.

Mega Mella held in Platt fields park

By Qubek

The giant maze of wonder that is Afflecks on Tib Street

A tiny staircase in a wall, where a pot rabbit was found sitting a week later!?

An Asian bar with veggie food

Heading toward Oxford Rd from Piccadilly (look left)

John Ryland’s Library

The Predator visits Market Street

Oxford Rd

Stevenson Square

My fave open fronted shop on Church Street for veggie and vegan food.

Tony Wilson ‘Mr Manchester’ the creator of Factory Records and The Hacienda nightclub – by Stewy

I hope you’ve enjoyed my eclectic tour of my hometown and maybe recognised some parts or found new and interesting parts of central Manchester.

The Mancunian Spray – Charity Art Battle

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The Mancunian Spray – Charity Art Battle commences on Saturday 15th of Semptember and will involve street artist creating their best effort to win the battle, as well as music, food and drink. It’s free entry and these things always have a great vibe to them. The point is to have fun while raising money the Manchester Mayor’s Homelessness Fund. It’s on until 6.00pm so plenty of time to have a lie-in after a Friday night out and a great distraction from a hangover!

Saturday September 15th

11.00am – 6.00pm

Baird Street

Manchester

M1 2WQ

❤Chrissie❤

An Afternoon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter

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I think the reason me and the bloke haven’t gone on more city breaks for long weekends is that living in Manchester can sometimes feel like a city break in itself.  It has a vibrant city centre including shops, bars, restaurants and unusual fun things to do, axe throwing, climbing, trampolining, mini golf with cocktails, Crystal Maze and Escape Rooms anyone? It has little mini town centre’s like Chrolton, Didsbury, Fallowfield and Denton with high street clothes shops, quality charity shops and independent cafe’s. For a city it also has surprisingly large parks like Alexandra, Debdale and Heaton park.

It was my birthday recently so we went to V Revolution again. Is it possible to get tired of yellow stretchy cheese, too many sauces at once and fried/pickled things? Probably not.

If you ignore my double chin, I swear this burger was as big as my head. The Bloke commented ‘It’s a shame that your jaw isn’t hyper-mobile as well’ with a wink. I tried my first ever Long Island Iced T and was a little disappointed it didn’t taste anything like traditional iced tea but I did like the watery raspberry flavour. It would certainly do the trick on an empty stomach, even if you did eat a literal tower of food afterward.

I nipped in Forbidden Planet and the ever-friendly Travelling Man to pick up some comics thanks to Free Comicbook Day. I chose these four as I thought they were all pretty individual and something I might want to check out further.

 

I could have spent hours documenting the cute and sometimes thought provoking, wheat-paste art that was on every lamp post and bollard. But you know when you’d rather enjoy the feel of a place, rather than obsessively recording it?

I decided to try some new things and the lady who works at McCall’s Organics is so friendly and knowledgable about everything, you don’t feel silly asking for ‘kefoocha?’ and ‘Kimishi?’

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I bought Kingfisher Aloe Toothpaste as my teeth are getting more sensitive. My gut is also on the sensitive (read big giant diva) side so I got the above drinks and kimchi which have live cultures that help digestion.

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As the queues for gelato were astounding, I decided to treat myself to these dairy free dreams that McCall’s keep in their fridge.

 

 

 ❤ Chrissie ❤

 

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Manchester Street Art & Stuff part 7

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It’s been three years since I did one of these posts on this blog – three years! A few days ago me and the Bloke decided to go into town to get something to eat from V Revolution but we needed to work up an appetite first so we went for a wander…

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There was this guy standing in front of the cockerel when we wanted a photo so I said to the guy “Me and my bloke want a photo but you are literally cock blocking us.” He replied “Oh gosh, I didn’t even realise that erm, thing was there!”

Do you know any good places to find street art and things?

❤ Chrissie ❤

Street Art Manchester and Cities of Hope Global

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The Cities of Hope project has been going on in Manchester for 9 days in the Northern Quarter, where renowned street artists from around the world came to Manchester to create art focusing on social justice including homelessness, mental health and equal rights.

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Here’s some other street art and shots from around The NQ

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Don’t know if anyone remembers me posting this piece last year but I went to check if it was still in the wall and found a little dude chilling on the stairs!

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check out the drone

Look out for more street art and general Manchester street shots in future. I intend to do one a month if poss.

❤Chrissie❤

Making Instagram Albums to Share on Social Media

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I’ve been using the Insta Collage app to create mini albums to draw attention to my Instagram feed on social media. It’s really easy to compile, edit and share them and so addictive that I’ve made eight of them!

Edgy Urban

Edgy Urban

Pretty Urban

Spot the dove

Style Wishlists

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Geek and Alternative

Alternative

Cruelty Free Beauty

Beauty

Lifestyle Colourfulness

Lifestyle

Food and Drink

Food and Drink

Just Random Really

Cool Stuff

Why not follow me on Instagram for more piccies.

❤Chrissie❤

My Manchester Afternoon

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It snowed! Proper stamp in it, chuck it at each other, substantial snow! Doesn’t it make everything look prettier?  ^_^

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In the afternoon when I was feeling less fatigued (how can sleep make me feel fatigued?!!!!) me and the bloke ventured into town to do a bit of shopping and get some rice and three (curries) from This and That.

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You should probably Google SSOSVA

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What a fantastic sentiment!

I bought a string of fabric parrots with little beads separating them with a bell on the end and a string of sparkly fabric hearts, also with beads and a bell, from that crazy-cute shop Oklahoma in the Northern Quarter. Mum was delighted with her prezzie but I forgot to take a picture. Similar below, found on Flickr.

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We were delighted to see a beautiful sunset on the bus ride back. The sun appeared as a giant glowing red orb, situated between two buildings it was so low on the horizon it looked as if it were about to rest on the floor. I held up my camera and….A bloody double  decker bus parked right in front of my view -_-

I did get this rather cool shot though.

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Later in the evening it rained heavily which made the windows look like they were covered in thousands of tiny diamonds.

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This has made me realise how long it’s been since I’ve done a photo-story for all of you lovely lads and lasses!

Chrissie ❤

Favourite Posts of 2014

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Yes it has taken me until the 7th to figure out exactly how I want to round up my 2014. Here we go.

Funny Search Terms Directed To My Blog – and my opinion on them. People are weird!

Skincare Review: The Cornish Seaweed Company – Not as gross experimenting with seaweed as you might imagine (although a little odd) and amazing results.

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How To Run A Successful Blog On A Budget – The first time I really had the courage to say “Yeah, this is doing pretty well!” and all of the tips I wish I’d known as a budding and very skint blogger.

Statement Logo Tops for A/W – I love street-art and graphic designs and urban fashion so here we are. I’m now addicted to Polyvore! The Bloke finds it ‘one of the most redundant things you could do with your time, oh, apart from Pinterest.’ Smh.

The Perfect Rockabilly Dress – Yes that’s right, me, in an actual dress for once!

skull and roses 50's Rockabilly dress

I Heart Instagram Tag – This was a really fun tag to join in with and I realised that I’d developed my own style.

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Are You Being Too Nice? – This was one of those posts where you are bothered by something in life and you just sit and write and come up with some good points.

B. Makeup Master Class and Product Review – I learn how to contour for my face shape, how to layer powder and cream eyeshadow for staying power, I’m reminded that ‘medium’ is indeed too light for my skin tone and that gel eyelinner is tricky but worth it.

B. Cosmetics Superdrug

Food Intolerance Symptoms and Information – ALL that I’ve learned on this subject from personal experience and a lot of research.

Scars Are Your Survival Marks – They are part of us and we should show our body more appreciation, even if it isn’t perfect, whatever that means.

Unexpected Benefits of Having Big Boobs – Short and silly!

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Moretti Gran Tour (Italian Street Food and Beer) – I still drink the beer and I’m still waiting to be taken out to an Italian restaurant to eat more delicious authentic food.

Do’s & Dont’s of Surviving A Drunken Night Out – From personal experience I’m proud/embarrassed to admit!

OOTD: Rocking Country – My fave summer outfit when I’m not wearing some kind of maxi. I’ve been told I look much younger in this outfit than my 33 years, which is always a bonus :0)

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20 Ways To Know If He’s The One – It’s not all sickeningly romantic, promise!

How to Upcycle, Recycle and Re-home Anything! – Waste not, want not.

OOTD: Moroccan Inspired – I bought this skirt in a sale (size 16) for £4.00 and gathered in the waste.

OOTD: Spanish Gypsy Inspired

How To Create The Perfect Outfit For Any Occassion – Wish I’d figured this out in my teens and early 20’s!

A Discussion: Teetotallers & Drinkers – As a rather enthusiastic drinker it was so interesting to get other peoples perspectives in this Q&A between everyone.

The strange Truth About Being In Your 30’s – Not young, not old but definitely more ‘you’.

Photo Story: John Rylands Library – Stunning external and internal gothic architecture. There be dragons!

John Rylands Library

Why Should A Womans Appearance Equal Her Value – I’ve never understood this concept and find it so shallow.

Way of Wagamama Event – First time I’d ever tried the food their and it did not disappoint. Lovely to be able to ask questions to the chefs also.

Where to Buy Cruelty-free Everyday Items on the Highstreet – When you are first starting out on your cruelty-free journey or if you live in a fairly small town or you’re on a budget, it can be a little daunting. It’s simple to gradually incorporate it into the weekly household shop though :0)

10 Reasons Why Bad Weather Can Sometimes Be Good – Ever the optimist.

Alternative Valentines Rules – I won’t mention that this is shortly going to be applicable again – oops!

Manchester Street Art – Part 6 – I need to get out there with my camera again. A shameful amount of time has lapsed.

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Stephies Street View – I loved compiling my friends snaps from around town, she has a really interesting perspective on all urban things.

Funky buddha tunnels

 

Thank you all for your comments, support and humour in 2014.

Chrissie xx