Scraptastic Fun and Other Ramblings

Finished Object Friday: Don't Slouch Stripey Hat

2011-10-28T08:42:00.000+01:00

Nearly a year ago, I posted a WIP Wednesday about a stripey pink & purple hat I was knitting. If you'd like you can check out that post here.

And nearly a year on, here I am sharing the finished object with you! Now thankfully it didn't take me nearly a year to knit this hat, if my Ravelry project page is to be believed it actually took me about a week to finish it. But, as I promised I'm attempting to catch you up with my finished objects that I haven't shared yet.

This is a cute hat, and it definitely kept me warm when we visited the Alps last winter. We were in the ski resort of Avoriaz when we took these pictures, it's quite a bit higher than the resort we normally visit and the view was spectacular!

I used Fyberspates Scrumptious in Chunky and if I remember rightly the yarn was a little splitty to work with, but the finished hat is deliciously warm and oh so soft. I love the colour of this hat, pink and purple has got to be a winning combination in my book! If you'd like more details, take a look at my Ravelry Project Page for this hat.

Hopefully, we'll be visiting the Alps again this Winter (in which case I'm sure this hat will see some more use!) ,but we aren't booking anything just yet. It was such a poor season last year in terms of snowfall we're going to see how things pan out before we make any firm plans.

I'll be keeping an eye on Finished Object Friday posts today to see what everyone has been making, but I'd love you to leave a comment and say hello and let me know what you've been making. I'd love to have a look at your finished projects!

See you soon,

Emma X

PS - For those of you asking on my WIP Wednesday post this week what breed of cat Reuben is, he's a Siamese. I have 2 Siamese cats, Reuben who's a Chocolate Point Siamese and I also have Spencer who's a Lilac Point Siamese. Reuben is definitely the lazy one of the pair, and loves nothing more than chilling out on the bed!

WIP Wednesday: Ripple Along - An Update

2011-10-26T19:51:00.001+01:00

I can hardly believe that just 2 weeks ago I couldn't crochet! Well, maybe a tiny little bit to help me with my knitting but you couldn't really call it crochet if all I did was the occasional provisional cast on!

Anyway, inspired by Heather and Lucy's wonderful posts about a Ripple Along I decided it was time to take the plunge and give it a go. I've been admiring crochet blankets for some time now, particularly the lovely Ripple Pattern from Lucy.

You can read about me learning to crochet and my little baby ripple sample I made here, but now would you believe my blanket (well actually it's a Ripple Runner, but anyway...) is that big now! I can scarcely believe it myself, crochet is so quick.

The colours I'm using are some balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino I already had in my stash, but by chance they perfectly match the colours in my bedroom, particularly our bedding! That was great as it meant I didn't need to buy any yarn to get started on the project, so if I really didn't like it then there'd be nothing lost!

Oh and one of my cats Reuben was flat out on the bed while I was taking these photos, I couldn't resist snapping a few of him. Cute isn't he?

Anyway, as it turns out I really do like it and I can't believe how much I've done just by doing the odd few rows here and there as I watch TV in the evenings after work. I'm also really looking forward to working on this on Saturday when I'm going to Jenny's house for a lovely get together with some fellow knitters / crafters - Rachel, Heather and Clare.

Well that's it for tonight, I'm off to spend the evening watching some TV and a bit of crochet on my ripple! But first I'm off to check out what everyone's been working on! If you're here from WIP Wednesday or the Yarn Along please do comment and say hello. I'd love to see what you're working on at the moment!

See you soon,

Emma

The One About: A Handmade Wedding

2011-10-25T21:39:00.000+01:00

From the start, my wedding was always going to be a handmade affair. I love to make things, and so does my Mum and my bridesmaid Jenny. I think half of the fun was probably spending a lot of time on Pinterest and browsing the internet looking for pretty Wedding inspiration. If I'd had longer than 3 months, I would probably have made more but given that I only had 3 months from when we decided to get married this year to the big day I don't think I did badly considering!

The Centrepieces
One of the main things I found and fell in love on Pinterest where Manzanita branches as centrepieces. Which in hind sight was a bit silly really, considering it's a tree that grows in America and it isn't available to buy outside of the US! But, I decided I really wanted them and as we were having a small wedding I decided it wasn't outside of our budget to have them shipped over.

I also managed to find an eBay seller who was doing packs of vintage chandelier droplets in a variety of different shapes and styles that where perfect to hang from the branches. A lot of images online have tealights hanging from the branches as well, but as my budget didn't stretch to the hanging votive holders (seriously, £5 for one holder??? no thanks!) I decided to put tealights around the centrepiece on the table and it worked really well. In the evening the light from the tealights really caught the chandelier droplets and it looked so pretty!

The branches I went for weren't huge, but I think they worked well with the size of our tables without being over the top. Each vase contains 2 individual branches, and I had them on both round tables (yes we really did only have 2 round tables plus the top table - see I told you it was a tiny wedding!).

By the way, I'm considering selling these as I really don't have anywhere to put them in my house at the moment until we've done the loft conversion. I'd be selling everything to recreate these 2 centrepieces (the branches, the chandelier droplets and the vases) so if anyone is interested get it touch!

The Place Cards
Of course I also made most of the paper related things for the wedding! I did my own invites and RSVP's, table plan, table numbers etc, but I think my favourite thing was definitely the place cards!

I designed the main part of the place card in Photoshop myself and printed them onto matt photo paper before mounting them onto purple card stock and adding the lace and beading at the bottom. I think my favourite part of them though is that each one sat on it's own mini wooden easel, seriously I love these so much!

The Favours

I also loved our favours - tiny mini succulent plants! Originally, I was thinking that I would give seed sticks as favours, but not everyone enjoys gardening so I thought about what else I could give that was a little different but the same sort of thing. Mini cactuses were suggested by Mark, but I didn't like the idea of giving people a spiky favour so a succulent plant was the ideal alternative. Easy to look after even for the least green fingered of our guests, and hopefully a lasting memento of our big day!

The Top Table Decorations & Table Swags

I also put together the top table decorations, vases of beautiful white and purple wooden roses and candle trays. I'd have liked to have the same centrepieces as on the round tables, but I didn't think branches were ideal for a top table as they'd obscure the view of the wedding party for the other guests!

We also did our own top table and cake table swags, they are so easy to do with a little patience and some safety pins! I'd suggest getting the wider width for the swag to ensure it's deep enough and the narrower width for the bow and it really is so easy to do!

The Guest Book
You can also see our guest book on this photo, it's the photo of me & Mark with the large mount and we got everyone to sign the mount. I got the idea from Jenny's wedding and I love the end result, now we just need to finish the entrance hall so I've got somewhere to hang it! It was really easy to do, I bought one of the large prints with a wide mount from Ikea (a print with a mount is here, or alternatively you can buy the same size mount with a frame here) and simply adding in our own photo! Easy and cheap too!

The Wedding Cake & Cupcakes
My mum made all the cakes, both the wedding cake and all the cup cakes although I did help! The Tuesday before the wedding I spent all day at her house helping to decorate the cupcakes, which to be honest was the best thing for me as it stopped me panicking about other things!

She also made super cute covers for the cupcake stands to make sure no flies could get at the cupcakes once they'd been set out. It wasn't intentional, but I love the way they look like mini veils!

The cake she made was stunning, a two tier fruit cake and handmade sugarpaste roses. She was so fab, it really was a case of me looking through cake books and pointing at one I liked and saying "make me one like this please", although I should tell you at this point when I was little she did have a business making wedding cakes and for as long as I can remember she's always promised to make my wedding cake!

I adore the sugarpaste roses, and best of all because they are sugarpaste I can keep them! They are currently in a little cardboard box, which I need to decorate a little so I can store it away with the rest of my wedding keepsakes.

The cupcakes were a big hit too. After much taste testing we finally picked 3 flavours (it was actually meant to be only 2 but we couldn't decide!); Lemon, Fudge Surprise and Chocolate.

Oh and we're also selling 4 of these cupcake stands (sorry to turn this into a selling post, but I thought I might as well say on here before I put them on eBay!). They are beautiful 3 tier ceramic cake stands in Ivory with a delicate lace design around the edge of each tier. If you'd like to see better photos of the stand itself, just let me know! Unfortunately the matching stand the wedding cake sits on is not for sale.

I love this photo - hair and make up done, tiara on and putting out cupcakes. Fabulous!

The Card Box

My mum also made me a beautiful card box, it started off life as a plain box and she decorated it to match everything else I'd made. It was perfect to keep all the cards people gave us on the day together. This was one of those last minute makes where my Mum asked me if I had thought of making a card box and I said no, and there was no way I'd have enough time to make one myself so bless her she made it for me and just showed it me when it was finished. It was gorgeous and matched my other wedding decorations perfectly. Hurrah for Mums!

The Jewellery and the Veil

All of mine & Jenny's jewellery (including my Tiara and our hair clips) was handmade by a Folksy seller with real pearls. I wanted pretty jewellery without it being too blingy, and pearls fit the bill perfectly! I fell in love with the hair clip and she then made all the other jewellery to match to my specfications. She even made my Tiara based on a photograph I'd found online! I had a really hard time finding a Tiara as they all seemed over the top when I tried them on, but I was really happy with this one - a double wishbone with alterating freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals.

My Mum made my veil for me and attached it to the comb. I love the fact she made my veil, it really added to the sentimental value!

Jenny also wore the same hair clip as me, just in a slightly smaller size. Her jewellery, was one of my gifts to her to say thank you for being my bridesmaid!

The Flowers
One of the big time investments in the run up to the wedding was making my own flowers, as I made all the buttonholes and corsages as well as the bouquets, but as I decided to use silk flowers it meant I could make them ahead of time. The cost of wedding flowers is ridiculous, and because we were travelling up the day before making them myself using fresh flowers wasn't really an option so I started to investigate silk flowers and if you shop around you can get really high quality ones that look fantastic.

The bouquets are just simple ivory roses, but they have a silk chiffon wrap that drapes down (another Pinterest find that I decided I had to have as it matched the silk chiffon panels on my dress perfectly!) and the stems are wrapped in lace with pearl pins studded all the way up. Oh and of course diamanté pins in each of the roses for that added bling!

I don't seem to have any photos of the corsages, but they were all variants on the same theme. Compared to the bouquets these were made so quickly, a simple silk rose bud and an open purple rose (two for the groom, one for the other members of the wedding party) made sure they tied in the wedding colour - purple! The corsages were similar to the buttonholes, just a little bit more elaborate with some extra bling and lace added in for good measure!

The Bridesmaid Dress & Shawl

I've mentioned it before, but Jenny made her own bridesmaid dress - how talented is she? If you want to check out more details on it she's blogged all about it here.

She also knitted a beautiful shawl to coordinate - she didn't need it during the day (thankfully as we got lucky with the weather) and only used it during the evening so sadly there's no photos of it on the day, which is a shame because it's so pretty! She even used beautiful pearl beads to co-ordiante with the wedding theme. If you want to see more details she's also blogged the shawl here.

Seriously, how lucky was I to have such a talented bridesmaid?

Wow, I can't believe how long this blog post was! For those of you that are still with me after this mammoth post thank you! I hope I've not bored you all too much and you've enjoyed a little glimpse into the wedding. I've still got one more wedding related post planned, but I'll save that for another day.

I'll be back tomorrow for WIP Wednesday with an update on my ripple blanket... it's grown a lot since you last saw it!

See you soon,

Emma X

WIP Wednesday: Ripple Along

2011-10-12T12:37:00.000+01:00

So it's yet another miserable rainy lunchtime at work, and rather than browsing Pinterest for pretty things this lunch time I thought I'd share with you a new project I'm really quite excited about.

I'm joining in a Ripple Along that is being organised by the fabulous Heather & Lucy. I was so inspired by their beautiful photos of their colourful selections of yarn.

Photo from Heather's Blog Post - Lucy's Yarn Selection

Photo from Heather's Blog Post - Heather's Yarn Selection

And how pretty are the ripples? I've got a bit of a thing about bright rainbow colours at the moment, particularly in stripes so I'm loving these ripples. Gorgeous!

Photo from Heather's Blog Post - Heather & Lucy's Ripples so far

Photo from Heather's Blog Post - Heather's Ripple: The First 3 Colours

I love the colour selection in that last photo of Heather's Ripple, it's truely gorgeous!

Now at this point, I should really tell you that I can't crochet. Well actually I can, a little bit. And I really do mean a little bit - as in I can crochet a foundation chain for the purpose of doing a provisional cast on for my knitting! However I've been wanting to learn to crochet for some time now, and the announcement of this Ripple Along was the kick start I needed to give it a go. So on Monday evening I raided my stash and found these balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the perfect colours to make a ripple to go in my bedroom. Now I'm no fool, as I really can't crochet I wasn't about to try and do a HUGE King Sized Bed ripple as my first project, but I thought a small runner to go across the bottom of the bed was achievable. And best of all, I wouldn't need to buy any wool initially as I could make a start with these to see how I got on and whether I actually liked it.

Now I'm no fool, as I really can't crochet I wasn't about to try and do a HUGE King Size bed sized ripple as my first project but I thought a small runner to go across the bottom of the bed was achievable. And best of all, I wouldn't need to buy any wool initially as I could make a start with these to see how I got on and whether I actually like it.

So after consulting with the lovely Heather who told me a 3.5 hook would be best for this yarn, yesterday lunchtime I popped out to the local craft shop and bought these! A 3.5 for the Baby Cashmerino and a 4.5 for if I have a go with a heavier weight DK wool.

So last night, I settled down with my laptop and watched some YouTube videos and learnt first how to do a double crochet stitch and a triple crochet stitch. I'm not going to lie to you, there was much ripping out and starting again but eventually I got the hang of it. Or at least enough that I felt I was able to give the ripple pattern a go.

I'd like to point out that Lucy's instructions for her Ripple are amazing. The photos and the written instructions are really good and it's down to them I managed to produce this last night... A baby ripple! By the way please excuse the terrible photo - all these are Instagram photos from my iPhone in poor light (especially the last one) but you get the point!

Yeah OK so this was a particularly sickly shade of baby pink, but it was great to practise on and was a spare ball I'd somehow amassed in my stash. This was done as per the instructions on Lucy's blog (which you can find here) to do a sample before you start properly with a foundation chain of 31 (14x2) +3 for turning.

It really wasn't that hard when I followed the instructions step by step, and got over what I felt was the biggest hurdle - getting used to holding the yarn in my left hand.

By the way, you can just see my knitted chunky cabled blanket in this photo on my knee which is my other current WIP. It's over half way and I love it so much - but more on that one next week.

After this, I also did my foundation chain and first row (is it called that in crochet?!) for my actually ripple. After looking at the size of my sample, I decided to cast on 84 (+3) to make a nice size runner for the bed as I want it so the stripes go vertically along the bed not horizontally. No photos of that, as it was far too late by the time I'd finished it but I'm really chuffed I did it. I think the first row is the hardest, hopefully the next will be a lot easier!

So if you're feeling inspired, why not head other to Heather & Lucy's blogs and check out there posts on the Ripple Along. Heather's post is here and Lucy's post is here.

If you've made you're way over here from Tami's WIP Wednesday or the Yarn Along, hello! I'd love to see what you're making so please leave a comment so I can check out your current work in progress too! Also, if you're joining in the Ripple Along (or have felt inspired to start!) then please let me know as I'd love to see what you're making and follow your progress.

See you soon!

Emma X

Scrapbooking Sunday - Honeymoon Layouts

2011-10-09T18:06:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone!

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. It's a pretty miserable day here, and apart from a quick dash into town earlier to buy a couple of things I've been spending the day watching films and working on a Blurb Book for our Wedding Album! It's very exciting to look through all our wedding photos, I love them all so much. Not only the professional pictures (although these are amazing), but I'm loving all the guest photos too.

However, I thought I'd take a bit of time out of album designing to share some scrapbooking layouts!

It had been such a long time since I scrapped, I think I very much fell out of love with it for a variety of reasons, but the wedding was the much needed incentive to get back into one of my favourite hobbies.

We honeymooned in a beautiful hotel in Crete. We'd never been to Crete before, but we'd been to several other Greek Islands and loved them so we thought it would be the ideal place. We didn't fancy the idea of long haul (as the Maldives had been our original choice, but we decided against them at the last minute) and so we booked a luxury spa hotel instead. It was an amazing hotel, so far away from the usual standard of hotel we stay in on holiday - it was seriously unbelievable.

This layout was based on one of Shimelle's starting points and allowed me to use a huge amount of journalling to talk about the hotel and how much we loved it. I think one of the most important things I've found when getting back into scrapbooking has been to not be afraid of journalling, after all I scrapbook to tell a story!

The hotel room we stayed in had a private pool, yes really! It was amazing, and to top it off the hotel upgraded us to a sea view room as well because it was our honeymoon (along with a complementary botel of champagne and red wine, score!).

I used an 8x12 enlargement on this page, something I'll definitely be doing again. It's such an easy way to make an impact with a favourite photo.

Another of Shimelle's sketches, she really has helped me find my mojo again! This page is a real mix of old and new stash. While I've bought a couple of bits from my local scrapbooking shop, I've been making a real effort to use up old stash on my layouts.

The hotel looked amazing at night, there was light everywhere and one night we went for a wander around after our evening meal with the camera (and tripod!) to try and get some cool photos. None of the photos on this page are really worth a layout on their own, but I wanted to tell the story of what we did on this night of the holiday and I think all 4 together make a good page.

I'm still not sure about this one. I love the photo of Mark (and so I'm sure it'll get scrapped again) and despite everyone else liking it I just don't know. It all started off with me trying to use up stash, and part of me really loves it and part of me feels there's something missing. Either way, it's going in the album and as a plus point Mark really likes it.

And finally a page documenting my fear of getting my head wet. I had a bit of traumatic accident in one of those wave pools when I was younger, and although I can swim I'm not really a big fan of getting my head wet. As a result I normally just sit in the shallow end or dangle my legs in the pool when I want to cool off when we're sunbathing - unlike Mark who dives in at the first given opportunity!

So you can all pick yourselves back up off the floor now, yes I really have been scrapbooking! I'm loving it at the moment, and I think it's because I have some big events I want to document and create full albums for. I've even separate out all my photos for the honeymoon album and written a list of the different layouts I want to make!

So if you've been scrapbooking, recently I'd love to see what you've been up to - leave me a comment as I've love to have a look at your layouts too. Oh and thank you for all the lovely comments on my snowboarder hat, it's my favourite hat and hopefully I'll be wearing it again next year when we go to the Alps again if all goes to plan!

See you soon! X

PS - Did you notice the AMAZING tealight holders in all the photos. They were a wedding gift from Jenny, I love them!

Finished Object Friday: Of The Snowboarder Variety

2011-10-07T11:47:00.004+01:00

Today, I'm sharing a project I finished a long time ago but my extended blogging absence has meant that I have lots of things to show you. check out my post from yesterday to find out why I've been absent, I do have a good reason I promise.

This is my Twisted Limone Head snowboarding hat. I love this so much, it's the perfect slouchy hat for me! The actual pattern is a modified version of the Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure. I altered the brim and made the actual hat itself long - if you'd like to check out the actual modifications I made you can see them on my Ravelry project page.

I knit my version with self striping sock yarn - this project is a great alternative to knit with a pretty skein of sock yarn, other than socks! Mine is made with Twisted Limone in a custom dyed colourway by the fabulous Karen. You can find her shop on Etsy here, although it sells out very quickly. Updates are on a Saturday, normally at 6pm although due to personal commitments this week it will take place at 1pm. Don't forget to check out the Twisted Limone Ravelry Group for sneak previews of what colourways will be included in each weeks update!

Ok well that's it from me today, just a quick post at lunch time. As much as I love working in an office that's located in the middle of a Nature Reserve, when the weather is bad (like it is in the UK at the moment) there is nothing to do on your break! So, I'm off to check out some of your finished objects before it's time for me to go back to work. If you're stopping by via Tami Ami's blog and her Finished Object Friday post, please say hi and let me know what finished object you're sharing today. I'd love to take a look!

See you soon, Emma. X

PS - Thank you for all the lovely comments on yesterday's post - I promise I'll be sharing more details on the big day soon!

So here's to you...

2011-10-06T15:06:00.006+01:00

...Mrs Robinson!

Yes it really did happen. In just 6 months, I went from saying "I will" to saying "I do". As you can imagine, it's been a rather crazy time - particularly as so much of the wedding was handmade, but more on that another time.

I guess the other thing to point out about the big day, was that we ran away to Gretna Green. Yes really we did! Although we did take our families, and close friends with us to celebrate our big day, but compared to most it was a tiny wedding.

Gretna Green wasn't the most popular choice with everyone, but it was what we wanted and looking back now we have absolutely no regrets. It was a fantastic day, and everyone who came said they really enjoyed it! I also can't fault the staff up at Gretna Green, both at the Blacksmiths and the hotel where we stayed and held the reception. They really have got weddings off to a fine art and helped make our day really special!

If anyone is thinking about getting married up there, all I'll say is do it! You won't regret it, we certainly didn't!

However, one thing I wasn't prepared to compromise on was the photography. I nearly changed my mind on our venue when I started hunting for a photographer in Gretna Green as they didn't exactly live up to my high standards! However, after looking further afield we did manage to find a superb photographer who travelled up to Gretna Green to photograph our wedding.

But more on the photography in another post... this just a small selection of the professional photographs he took for us, I'll be dedicating a whole post to his wonderful pictures!

And now, I can't believe we've been married over a month. Does it feel any different? Well no, not really but then again we've been together such a long time (and lived together for years!) that in that sense there's been no real change. On the other hand, having a new name does take a bit of getting used to!

However, it is lovely to be husband and wife and that was the whole point wasn't it? To get married.

So, I've finally broken my blogging absence! I've got lots of posts lined up for you, both about the wedding (of course) and about the crafting I've been doing. You'll never believe it, but I've actually been scrapbooking!

Thank you, and see you soon! X

An Annoucement

2011-06-17T15:10:00.006+01:00

Yes I know I've been teasing you for ages promising at announcement, but finally it's here...

We're getting married!

Yes really - Mark promised in March 2011 while we were on holiday in the Lake District and since then it's been a rather crazy time, as after much soul searching about what we both really wanted from our wedding we decided to have a small family only do with just a few of our closest friends. JennyStitches is going to be there, she's a bridesmaid!

But the craziest thing of all?

We're getting married this year! (Yes Rachel, you can pick your jaw back up off the floor now lol!)

Thursday, 1st September 2011 is the big day!

So I'm sure you can forgive me if I'm been a little absent on here, even after I promised I was making a return to the blogging world. It's just I've been a little busy...

The photo above is the photo I took that features on our wedding invites, that's my ring! Sadly you can't really see it properly on there, but I'll share a better photo of it soon along with some of my other DIY Wedding projects!

Only 74 days to go...

FO Friday: Every Cloud Shawl

2011-04-29T12:49:00.003+01:00

I can't believe it's been over a week since I blogged! In the excitement of all the long bank holiday weekends (and like many I booked the 3 days off inbetween to make the most of it!) I've been busy doing other things!

My garden has been taking up quite a bit of my time, in particular the veg patch but more on that in a seperate post. I've also been knitting, sewing and planning... and mostly enjoying not being at work! Don't get me wrong I enjoy my job, but I enjoy being at home even more!

I haven't finished any new knitting projects since I showed you my Bird in the Hand mittens, but after my 6 month blogging break I do have plenty of catching up to do in terms of showing you my finished objects!

So today, it's the turn of my "Every Cloud" Shawl.

I adore this, it was first real attempt at lace and it turned out perfectly. The pattern is Shaelyn which is available on Ravelry and I knitted it using the wonderful new yarn base from Twisted Limone - Zingy Silk Sock which is a beautiful mix of 75% Merino & 25% Silk and the silk gives it a beautiful shine and drape.

The colourway I've used is Silver Cloud, a stunning silver grey that led to the name of this project Every Cloud, which of course is short for Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining.

It was also my first attempt at beading - it's difficult to see in the photos but I beaded the last two lace repeats with tiny clear beads. Time consuming but definitely worth it!

And now I'm off, to check out what everyone else has been making over on Tammi's blog for FO Friday and maybe catch a little more of the Royal Wedding coverage while I carry on with my latest knitting project - this time, more colourwork!

WIP Wednesday: Chasing Butterflies Shawl

2011-04-20T21:01:00.004+01:00

Hello again everyone... Yes this really is me back for a second blog post within a week. I said I was back didn't I?

I loved reading the comments on my last post - it's lovely to be back in blogland, I hadn't realised how much I missed it!

So I'm back today for Work In Progress Wednesday (Hi to anyone making their way over from Tami's blog!) and I'd like to share one of my current WIP's with you - my Chasing Butterflies shawl.

Excuse the rather bizarre photos, lace isn't the easiest thing to take photos of before blocking so you get an idea of the pattern and here I've pinned it to a foam pad that is soon to become a garden cushion!

The pattern is the Spriteling Mystery Shawl KAL that is current taking place in the lead up to Knit Nation this July. The photos have been taken just after I finished Clue 1 - I'm loving the pattern so far. More difficult than other lace I'd tried before, but I'm really glad I'm trying it as it's not as difficult as I thought!

If you're not already joining in and would like to, it's not too late to start. The KAL is running right the way through to the end of May so there's plenty of time to catch up!

And now I'm off to check out everyone else's WIP's this Wednesday.

Oh and for those of you wondering about my "Big Announcement" it is coming! My photos are all ready for go now for the big reveal so it'll be soon I promise. It's worth waiting for, or at least I think it is!

Finished Object Friday: Bird in The Hand Mittens

2011-04-15T22:05:00.005+01:00

No, you're not imaging things - this really is me blogging! Was it really November since I last blogged? That's nearly 6 months ago!

There are many reasons I took a break from blogging, but the main thing is now that I'm back! I've got lots to share with you, including some HUGE news but that will have to wait for my next post I'm afraid.

I thought I'd start off my blogging return with a simple little post - a Finished Object Friday.

And this Friday it's the turn of my Bird in The Hand Mittens.

Started way back in December there's have been put down for quite some time, when I was actually knitting them they did knit up really quickly but I put them down about half way through the second one to knit other things and to be honest just forgot about them!

However, I recently decided enough was enough and it was time to finish them. So I did! I adore these, they are my first attempt at Fair Isle and I'm quite little hooked. I've already cast on for my next Fair Isle project in fact!

And my favourite detail, well it's the little bird on the inside of the thumb of course, hence the pattern name - Bird in The Hand. You can find the pattern here on Ravelry if you're a member. It does cost $6.00 to download but it's well worth it in my opinion. It's a beautiful and well written pattern!

So now I'm off to do some blog hopping and see what I've been missing. If you're here following the link from Finished Object Friday - Hello! Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you and I'd love to visit your blog and see what you've been doing too.

Until next time... and my big news!

WIP Wednesday {Fetchings Improved}

2010-11-17T21:17:00.002Z

So the hat from last week is now finished (and I love it!) but I still haven't had chance to take photos... a bit of a blogging fail I know but I'll blame an extra busy schedule and increasingly short dull days. Soon though I promise!

So of course I know have another small project on the needles, this time it's a stash busting project with some yarn I've had for ages and I'm actually revisiting a pattern I knitted some time ago, the incredibly popular Fetchings.

Please excuse the poor photo, but it's pitch black here, so good photos just aren't an option during the week anymore.

I've changed this pattern in several ways, it's longer both at the cuff and the top with an extra cable repeat and has a proper thumb gusset rather than an after thought thumb. The first one is finished and I'm half way through the second one and I definitely like them better with the modifications. I'll post full details when I've finished.

Now I'm off to try and catch up on my commenting and check out all the other What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday posts, and the new Work In Progress Wednesday; a spin off for knitters!

As I'm a little behind on my commenting and also short of time tonight, I promise to catch up on my commenting soon (tomorrow!) as I know there'll be so many fabulous posts I won't have time to check them all out tonight!

WIP Wednesday {Don't Slouch Stripey Hat}

2010-11-10T17:59:00.007Z

A couple of weekends ago I made a trip for the first time to a new yarn shop that has opened in Manchester called Purl City. I've been excited about this yarn ever since I found out it was opening... it's the first yarn shop that is within easy driving distance that sells lots of beautiful harder to find yarns. The shop was lovely, definitely worth a trip with lots and lots of beautiful yarns. Unsurprisingly I didn't come home empty handed!

However what was surprising was that Mark took me (of his own back!) and treated me to my pick of yarn! Well I wasn't going to say no and after much debate got these two lovely skeins of Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky, a yarn that really does live up to it's name as it's a scrumptious mix of 45% silk, 55% merino wool.

I couldn't make my mind up between these two colours... they were both beautiful and would both work as the hat I had in my mind that I wanted to make with them. Mark suggested I buy both and knit a stripey hat.... I wasn't going to say no!!!

So after some hunting on Ravelry I found a pattern I was happy with that was for a slouchy hat, and after some slight tweaks to the pattern it's knitting up just as I wanted it too!

Although, the hat is actually practically finished now (unlike the photo above that was taken at the weekend when I had some daylight to take the photo) and I love it. I just need some more daylight to take a finished photo, although sadly that will have to wait until the weekend.

And now I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to on this What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday (Or in my Case Work In Progress Wednesday - a new spin off that I've just discovered for knitters!).

Finished Object {Snowboarder Hat}

2010-11-07T17:12:00.004Z

Despite the fact I've been knitting for over a year now, up until now I haven't knit anything for Mark. I think the reason for this is threefold... I value my knitting time as I don't have much of it and so only want to knit things that people will appreciate. I have lots and lots of things that I want to knit for myself (and again not enough time to knit them all). Mark is very particular about his clothing and up until now hadn't expressed any interest in me knitting something for him.

So when he hinted he might like a hat, I sat down with him and asked him to pick a pattern from Ravelry.

He picked a hat that is knitted entirely in 1x1 twisted rib. Now don't get me wrong it's not a difficult pattern... but any of you knitters out there will know what I mean when I say it takes forever and is incredibly boring. This must have taken more than twice the length of time it would have taken me in plain knit stitch. But Mark likes it, so I'm happy - you could call it a labour of love! If you're interested it's a free pattern available on Ravelry here.

Today we went for a walk round a local Nature Reserve... Mere Sands Wood in Rufford if you're local and it's a lovely trip out. If you're lucky you might spot both Kingfishers and Red Squirrels there. No Red Squirrels today, but we did get a fleeting glimpse of a Kingfisher (although sadly too fleeting for a photograph).

However it did give us the perfect chance for Mark to wear his new hat (and me to get some photos of him in it).

It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning as it was a beautiful sunny crisp Autumn day and it was nice to get out and about before we got on with the inevitable task of decorating (as always!). However on a positive note the room we are now starting will become my craft room... ok so Mark calls it the Study, I call it my craft room ha!

Finished Objects {Hooded Things}

2010-11-01T15:52:00.007Z

It's that time of year again when there's no getting away from the fact that Summer is over. Don't get me wrong I actually really love Autumn, but I can't help but be a little bit sad that Summer is over for another year.

However, a definite positive for me is that it's the perfect excuse to get knitting! I've been knitting a lot recently on various different things, I just keep forgetting to take photos when there's actually daylight. However this weekend I finally got round to taking shots of two of my latest finished objects.

First up is this fab cowl, a quick knit that is really easy in super bulky wool. Great for instant satisfaction!

I test knit this for the lovely (Dawn) aka Yarn Sellar on Ravelry, and the pattern available for you to buy here for just $2.99.

Next up, one of my favourite knits so far. A cabled hood! Seriously I am in love with this... I'm a bit funny when it comes to hats. I have a fairly large head and lots of hair so me and hats as a general rule have a bit of strained relationship. When I first saw this "Through the Woods" hood I was in love straight away. The original knitted up by the designer was in a gorgeous deep red and immediately made me think of little red riding hood. However, to go with my snowboarding jacket I knew I wanted to make mine in purple.

So I ended up with the "Little Red Riding Hood Hood That's Purple Actually"...

Seriously, I adore this. It's so cute, and will be getting a lot of use when we go to the Alps (both in a few weeks time - (yay) and next year for our proper snowboarding trip).

It's actually a fairly quick knit as it's bulky wool, and not too complicated as the only real skills you need are cabling and picking up stitches. It's actually been finished for quite a while, but I got distracted with other projects and it took me ages to get round to blocking it and sewing the buttons on. If you do decide to make it I really do recommend following the designers instructions for blocking (including the bowl!) as it made so much difference to my finished hood.

If you want to knit one for yourself you can buy the pattern here from Ravelry for just $5.00. A bargain for such a fab knit if you ask me!

Finished Object {It's all Fine & Dandy}

2010-10-11T11:19:00.005+01:00

I don't know why I haven't blogged for so long, with all the best intentions in the world I seem to have struggled to find the time. Maybe it’s the crazy busy workload at work (which incidently I still love – despite how busy it is) or the increasingly dark evenings that have meant I’ve been struggling to find the time to photograph what I’ve been working on.

But that’s just it, despite my lack of blogging I have actually been really quite creative with several different projects… mostly finished and some really HUGE projects as well. But for now as a bit of an introduction into one of the several things I’ve been knitting here’s my fine & dandy scarf. I love this, it’s so soft (and was featured in its half knit state here) and I should hang my head in shame as it’s been finished for ages I just haven’t got round to photographing it until now.

But the beautiful weather we had this weekend finally gave me the chance to grab a few snap shots, although this morning there’s a bit of a nip in the air. I love this time of year, there’s something magical about Autumn and best of all it gives me the perfect opportunity to wear my various different scarves and hand warmers!

If you'd like to knit this pattern, it's called the Dandy Scarf by Dull Roar and is available on Ravelry to download for just $5.00.

It's a great pattern, and I knitted it as written apart from the fact I only put 2 tassels on rather than 3, but I seriously love this. And even better, Mark actually wants one! He tried to steal this as he thinks it's a great snowboarder scarf but then decided he'd rather have 1 in green. So watch this space, Mark in a hand knitted item coming up!

Beautiful Advert

2010-09-20T10:20:00.001+01:00

The first Kindle advert I saw was ok, the song was pretty but I didn't think much of the people sat in the deckchairs. Then I saw this the other night on TV... so pretty, so beautiful... it makes me really happy whenever I see it.

We did this type of photography in college and I adore it, there's something so whimsical about it. {Sigh}

It almost makes me want one... but I'm sorry Kindle, I'd still rather have an Ipad!

Finished Object {Ruffles Scarf}

2010-09-10T07:25:00.007+01:00

Sorry I've had a little absence again, I've been meaning to post for a while but life just seems to keep getting in the way. Work, the house, friend's weddings, family BBQ's, kniting with Jenny... the list goes on! Oh and my birthday!!!

I had a great time on my birthday, got some lovely presents and had a generally fabulous day as both me and Mark took the day off work and went shopping to Manchester where I got to spend my birthday pennies and Mark treated me to a few things as well. On the way back we stopped off at a fabulous woolshop The Black Sheep in Warrington and Mark let me loose with his money! I was actually very restrained considering I was buying with someone else's money, but more about that in another post soon.

So now onto another finished item, that I actually finished quite a while ago but just haven't had chance to show you yet.

My ruffles scarf.

I loved this pattern, it's very very simple and knits up really quickly. Great for TV knitting. The only slight down side is that you increase from 200 to 600 stitches in one row to create the ruffle which does take quite a while but it's worth it!

It's available to download from Ravelry here for just $3.50.

So I now have yet another item to add to my winter wardrobe for work, as everyone keeps telling me how cold it is in Winter there.

I'll be back much sooner this time, to show you more craftiness... promise!

P.S Thank you for all the lovely comments on the last post, they really made my day. I've been meaning to take part in WIP for the last 2 weeks but I've been busy on both days. Next week definitely!

WIP Wednesday

2010-08-25T18:45:00.007+01:00

So here's me taking part in What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday for the very first time! But I don't really have a workdesk at the moment... However I do have a WIP!

So here's me taking part in WIP (Work In Progress) Wednesday!

A little while ago I visited Woolfest, a wool based crafting fair in the lake district. I came away with numerous different goodies, including this rather beautiful skein of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend. A very very pretty wool, but one that requires a little work before you can knit with it.

Mark is becoming super skilled a holding these skeins up whilst a turn it into a ball, something that really does require two people otherwise you just get into a big tangle... or alternatively a skein holder, a device I do not own, yet! I say yet as I have a feeling Mark will probably buy one for me just to eliminate his role in this!

However, I do think they look really pretty... both as skeins and when they are wound into a ball.

So this weekend Mark helped me wind this skein into a ball, and I started to knit with it. And currently it looks like this... a very long thin scarf! It actually looks thinner than it is, as it's curling back in on itself and will continue to do until it's blocked. But I'm loving the colour combination of this variegated skein.

And if you're particularly interested you can see what this scarf will hopefully look like, and get the pattern from Ravelry here.

So that's what I'm currently working on, and now I'm off to check out all the other wonderful things everyone else taking part is making.

Doing it digitally... LSNED

2010-08-24T21:59:00.007+01:00

Once upon a time I used to be a scrapbooker. Yes really! Although to read this blog of late you wouldn't have known!

Somewhere along the line I fell out of love with scrapbooking. I actually can't remember the last time I checked out a scrapbooking shop, or even thought about making a page.

However more recently, now that life has calmed down slightly (i.e. college is over, I'm slowly settling into the new job and the house is slowly but surely coming together) I've been thinking about what scrapbooking means to me.

I still want to document my life. I still want to record more than just the photos I take. I want to record the story behind the pictures. I've also come to realise that time is an important issue for me; in the fact that I don't have enough of it! I love knitting of the fact I can pick it up and put it down with so little hassle.

Several years ago I bought a class from Shimelle... Learn Something New Everyday. It happens every September and once you've bought it you get to take part every year for no extra cost, and over the last few days I've seen this come up and several different blogs and it got me thinking. Maybe I'd like to scrapbook again?

My first reaction to this? "I don't have to scrapbook!"

But actually maybe I do... digitally!

I have image editing software, I have a laptop, I have a digital camera... surely that's all I need! No sorting through boxes of supplies, no making a mess, no clearing up said mess. Maybe this is just what I need.

So I've treated myself to a full digital kit. I've never bought digital scrapbooking supplies before... I was always a paper scrapper. And I'm sure deep down I still am, but right now I need to fall back in love with scrapbooking and I do think digital is the way for me to do it.

So I'm commiting to complete Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class... digitally. Eeek! And when I've finished I'll print the book on Blurb (I printed a portfolio book for my college photography coursework and I was very very impressed!).

I love this kit, it's so pretty and everything I love right now. Plus it all coordinates, and for the lazy days there's even page templates... hurrah! Fingers crossed, I'll be a scrapbooker again before I know it.

I'd love to know if you're taking part too so please leave a comment and let me know. If you're not and would like to, you can find out more details about the class here.

Finished Object {Cafe au Lait Fingerless Gloves}

2010-08-22T21:11:00.007+01:00

Finally (if a little later than originally planned) something crafty to show you!

I finished these over a week ago, but have only had chance to take some photographs today. I love these, and I learnt loads making them... including how to SSK (slip slip knit incase you really wanted to know!) and also how to M1 (how to create a new stitch - how I made the thumb gusset). A lovely pattern, and best of all it's free!

Cafe au Lait on Ravelry. They are also part of the August KAL (Knit Along) on the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics group along with a prize if you post a photograph of 2 finished mitts before the end of August.

However they have also made me fall even more in love with expensive wool. These were knit with 100% Alpaca... not the easiest thing in the world to knit with but it's ridiculously soft. However it's not exactly cheap either!!! But it's worth it, as I don't have the time to be a hugely productive knitter I can afford to treat myself to luxury wool. However it does mean I have to knit with what I buy!!!

I am currently being very good and have been knitting up my stash of lovely yarn. I've got another finished object to show you (but you'll have to wait for another post for that) and I'm well on the way to my next one. All knitted with my stashed yarn, yay for me being good! Although is it terrible that I'm now considering what yarn I'd like to buy to make up for the dent in my stash haha!

Oh and just incase you think I've only knitted one mitt... here's the photo that proves I really did knit both of them!

Emma, Emma, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-08-08T22:46:00.020+01:00

{Photo Heavy Post}

With Silver Bells

And Cockle Shells

And Pretty Maids All In A Row

I love having my own garden. Although I enjoyed the one in the house we rented, as it wasn't mine I never felt like I wanted to invest a lot of time or money making any drastic changes.

The garden we have now is pretty standard. A rectangle with grass in the middle and straight borders around the edge. Although it does also have a really cool bit that sticks out at the bottom that currently houses my greenhouse and very shortly will also be home to my chickens! But more about that in another post...

I knew straight away that one of the main things I wanted to achieve in my garden was something that was attractive to wildlife. It also needed to be pretty, but as a general rule those two things tend to go hand in hand!

So in my first few trips to the garden centres with the intention of buying plants I've been looking for plants with three main characteristics...

Attractive to wildlife... ok so that's pretty much a given isn't it!
Pretty hardy (I live in the north of England and to be honest can't be bothered with the hassle of moving things/fleecing them for the frosts)
Minimum maintenance. Ok so I don't mind some pruning etc but the last thing I want is a plant that needs an awful lot of input from me once it's planted. I just don't have the time!

And so far it seems to be working. Everything that's flowered so far has attracted plenty of wildlife. This ornamental German Garlic is currently in full bloom and as you can see is much loved by all manner of insects.

I can't remember the name of this one, but yet another plant that is well loved by wildlife, especially the butterflies!

However, as I don't have endless money to spend at the garden centres I've been doing what I can to get plants in other ways. Mark's Mum Yvonne has been brilliant in supplying me with many different plants from her lovely garden. Yvonne loves growing and propergating plants (and is a lovely knowledgeable companion for a walk round a garden centre - great for a novice like me!).

I've also been taking cuttings where I can. These cuttings of a Buddleia taken from my Mum's garden several weeks ago are really starting to thrive and I potted them on into bigger pots at the weekend and was pleased to see they've developed a really healthy root system.

I also took some new cuttings from my own garden at the weekend. My lavender plants that I bought a few months ago have really taken off with loads of new growth so I took a few cuttings with the hope of having lots of lovely lavender plants to put in my garden next year. They are still relatively small (and new) and so I took six cuttings in total (two from each of my three current plants).

As well as cuttings, I also have started sowing seeds in preperation for next year. As I really do hope to fill my garden with lavender (I'm hoping to plant a lavender hedge in the front garden!) I've also sowed some lavender seeds in the seed tray at the front of this photo. Lets hope next time I show you this seed tray it's full of lots of lovely lavender seedlings!

The seed tray at the back of the photo has also been sown, this time with lupin seeds! I love lupins... but so do the slugs and snails so I'm hoping to plant plenty next year in the hope atleast some will survive! Continuing on from the theme of obtaining things for free from other people's gardens these seeds where collected as seed pods from my Mum's garden a few weeks ago!

I'm also loving having a greenhouse in the new garden, a luxury I've never had before. Not only is this brilliant for my cuttings and seeds (meaning I can get a headstart for next year) but I'm also having lots of success with my vegetables.

My two peppers plants (I did have three but I gave one away to my boss at work) are doing well and are covered in lots of chilli peppers. Think I'll look at ways of preserving these as we'll never use them all fresh!

My cucumbers have also been a real success... we've already had several HUGE cucumbers off them already and currently have loads of cucumbers growing on them in varying stages of growth.

But the real star of the show is the tomatoes. We grew tomatoes with varying degrees of success last year... but this year they are fantastic. I've got five plants in total and they are doing amazingly well.

These three were given to me by a neighbour of Mark's Mum & Dad who had grown loads from seed and didn't know what to do with them all! They are a medium sized tomato (bigger than they look in the photo - about 2 inches in diameter) and are really juicy and sweet.

I also bought two different types of vine tomatoes as I love love love cherry tomatoes and buy them every week when we go shopping. It's lovely to not have to at the moment!

One plant produces typical vines of beautiful super sweet cherry tomatoes. They really are delicious!

The other one still produces cherry tomatoes, but in more of a bunch. Infact I think they almost look like a bunch of grapes!

If you're still with me after that marathon post well done! I'm loving my new found passion for gardening (even if Mark does laugh at me for buying gardening magazines and the fact I've put Gardener's World on series link!). However, as I'm sure you can imagine my garden combined with all the work on the actual house is taking up a huge amount of my time!

Oh and I promise the next post will be craft related, including a catch up with how I got on with my list last week.

Sneak Peak

2010-08-08T16:23:00.007+01:00

The sweet peas, one of the first things I planted in the garden this year, are finally coming into their own with an abundance of flowers. I love how you can dot tiny little vases of flowers all over the house.

However, as I was taking this photo I realised I was actually giving you a bit of a sneak peak of our living room. It's still far from finished. Well, actually the room is pretty much decorated but as Mark is making new furniture for it we've still got a lot of old stuff from the old house in it at the moment.

So, for now I can't share the whole room... but I can share our newly completed fireplace.

When we bought the house it looked like this.

Which, to sum it up, is not our taste at all. In any way what so ever!!! Although, if you want to be specific, neither was the awful carpet & curtains, the embossed wall paper, naff plug sockets, chipped scuffed skirting boards... ok I think you get the point? LOL!

So, as with every other room we ripped everything out. When we moved in, we lived with a hole in the chimney breast for a while as Mark was making the fireplace. But now, it's finally in.

And I love it!

The fire isn't fitted yet, Mark's mate is coming to do it at the start of the week as the gas & electric work is the only thing Mark hasn't done himself. That also answers why the stones aren't in it yet.

However I really do love the fireplace. And it makes me realise just how talented Mark is... it's made out of solid surface (a man-made stone) and looks just like marble. The photo really doesn't do it justice at all.

You can also just about see our new real oak flooring. A bit of an improvement on the minging green carpet don't you think?!?! I'm quite chuffed with myself on this as I helped Mark fit it, and even laid some of the boards myself.

As I mentioned before though, the room isn't finished. We've got a temporary TV cabinet as the one from the old house is currently in Mark's workshop being modified. We are also getting a new coffee table, storage that matches the TV cabinet for the other side of the alcove and some little tables/boxes to go at either end of the couch that can have clutter put in them (like my wool!). So... as you can tell there's still quite a few bits of furniture to make yet!

I also haven't found a wallpaper yet. I've looked at loads, but haven't found one I like enough yet. I'm thinking horizontal stripes but haven't quite found "the one" at the moment. However that may well be subject to change!

Demolition - Of the Home Making Variety {Part 1}

2010-08-04T18:44:00.004+01:00

I'm not going to lie to you. Buying our first home has been (and still is!) hard work. Our house is particularly old, but neither is it a brand new sparkly new ready to move into home. It's about 40 years old; and when we bought it, it hadn't been touched for about 20 years.

This meant some drastic action before we could even think about moving in. When we got the keys, we had a big decision to make. Did we move into the house as it was and do it bit by bit, room by room?

Or did we take the plunge, hire a HUGE (actually it turned out to be several huge) skip and rip everything out?

We decided on the second option. And when I say everything, I mean everything. We ripped out the entire bathroom, the entire kitchen, all of the carpets, all of the skirting boards, doors and architraves, the window sills. The entire central heating and all the water pipes were ripped out, along with the old boiler.

And the wall paper all had to come off... this might seem like the least of the jobs I've mentioned, surely demolishing an entire kitchen and bathroom has got to be harder that stripping wall paper?

You have no idea! I think I'm still traumatised now thinking about it. Every wall and ceiling had wall paper on it. Layer, after layer of wall paper. It appears that prior to us no one had bothered to strip the previous wall paper and had simply paper over the top. The top layer (again including on the ceilings!) was an incredibly think embossed vinyl that at some point had been painted white with a really thick gloupy paint.

It was a complete nightmare to get off and the task of wall paper stripping seemed to go on and on forever. As we were doing most of the work ourselves, the task of wall paper stripping was mainly up to me, while Mark got on with the more technical task of removing and replacing the central heating system and other similar complicated things!

Thankfully we had help. From quite a few different people (all of which was gratefully received!) but none more so than Mark's cousin Craig who came to stay with us for quite a while to help us with the house. Without him helping me, I genuinely think the task of wallpaper stripping might have driven me mad!

However, it's amazing how quickly things change. Looking back at these photos (and the ones I took when we first bought it), it's hard to imagine now that it used to look like that. I'll be back soon with a post that shows a room from the start, through the work that took place and then finally the end result!

P.S. In other news I've done some more knitting on my shawl and have nearly finished my first hand warmer... so I'm certainly on the way to completely my "list"!

Summer - Where did June & July go?

2010-08-01T22:49:00.007+01:00

Was it really mid way through May when I last made a blog update? That's 2 and a half months ago... how did that happen? Well really it's not all that surprising considering in that time I've completed my final year at night school, moved house and started a new job!!!

But 1 at a time...

The new job is fantastic. Definately by far and away one of the best things I've ever done with my life.

Day trips out are normal, chatting is encouraged and it's quite common to find us in the pub for one reason or another having a "working lunch". Such a change for me! Recently we visited one of our Nature Reserves near the coast for a day out, and it was gorgeous weather. The purpose of the day? It was a team building day out for the conservation team (which includes me now, eeekk!) and we just went for a look round.

Can you see the rabbits in this picture? They just ran out of the bushes by chance as I went to take the photo!

Love how we all have backpacks with our packed lunches in... we really were like kids on a school trip haha!

I'm actually happy at work these days, which is a far cry from how it used to be. But I won't bleat on and on about my work life on here... except from to say once more how much I love it!!! I had a job I hated for a long time, so right now it's amazing to get up in the morning and not dread going to work.

While I've got loads to share, I won't bore you all with a huge post about everything I've been up to for the last 2 and a half months though. Instead, I'm going to steal a fab idea from my dear from Jenny and write myself a list of goals for the coming week (and hopefully encourage me to blog a bit more)....

1. Blog at least twice... to update you with everything that's been going on with the house!!!

2. Finish knitting the first skein of my lace shawl... it's grown a bit since this photo was taken and in total will take 2 skeins to complete. I'd like it to be 50% complete by the end of the week.

3. Make a start on some hand warmers with the amazingly soft 100% alpaca wool I bought in the Lake District at the weekend. I've been given a heads up my office can be cold in the winter so I'm already thinking ahead!

4. Get myself back to Stitch & Bitch... again with the aforementioned Jenny!!! The combination of everything that's been going on meant I just haven't had time for it, but I can't wait to go back.

As I'm not at work tomorrow, hopefully I'll back soon with some progress. XXX

Changes

2010-05-14T21:43:00.005+01:00

I've been a rather absent blogger of late but I'm sure after this blog post you'll forgive me. Life has been getting rather hectic of late. Infact that's an understatement to say the least as some major changes have been happening in my life.

Firstly, remember the house I've been talking about? Well it's officially ours (and has been for a while but maybe that explains my absence from the online world!).

We've been gutting it and are finally at a point where we are beginning to put things back in, instead of just ripping it all out. However, there's still an awful lot to do and at the moment looks more like a building site than a home. The fact we are moving in less than 2 weeks doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either... but one way or another it will be done to a point that we can live in it. Decorating may come later, a functioning kitchen and bathroom and boiler/heating system are far more important as it the moment it has none of these after we ripped the old ones out (along with all the wallpaper, floor coverings, internal woodwork etc etc - you get the point right?)

So erm to say we have a lot of work to do is an understatement! Ha.

But that's not my only news. The huge big announcement that I'm super excited to make is that....

I'VE GOT A NEW JOB!!!!

Some of you will know I've not exactly been happy at Sainsburys for a while. Whilst I don't mind HR, it wasn't for me and I've now got a job with The Wildlife Trust.
Yes really. Could I be any more excited? No probably not although it is all a little surreal right now. I handed my notice in yesterday and in a little over 3 weeks time will be starting my new job. I seriously cannot wait, not only is it working for an amazing organisation but the terms and conditions are far better too.

So I'm sure you can understand why I've not got much time for anything at the moment. Crafting has taken a back seat and I've not touched a thing for well over 2 weeks now. Life is just too busy and now we've got the house every minute of my spare time when I'm not at work or doing my college work is spent at the new house.

So please bear with me, I will be back soon and I'll hopefully do a post with some updates (and photos!) of the house soon. It'll be great when it's done, but there's so much to do!

Because everyone else is doing it...

2010-04-18T22:18:00.006+01:00

I don't have an i phone. I have a HTC phone instead and so sadly the number of apps available for it are sadly lacking. Currently everyone seems to raving about the Hipstamatic App, which adds cool funky retro layers onto the photos you take.

Well, despite my best effort Mark didn't seem all to enthusiastic about downloading it for his i phone... "What's the point? You can do that in photoshop anyway?"

And you know what, he's right! We went to one of our favourite places for a walk round today, Bowland Wild Boar Park and of course I took my camera and managed to get a few snaps. So this evening, with the aid of photoshop and some fake TTV textures from Flickr the photos from this afternoon have been magically turned into cool, retro snapshots.

OK so it's not so cool, but until I can convince Mark to give me his i phone and get another on contract (I'm working on it) it'll have to do!

I know I promised a crafty post next but it was just too nice to stay inside this weekend, fingers crossed with the lighter evenings I'll be able to be back with a crafty post very soon.

The Made From {Apple/Orange/Grapefruit/Lemon/Kiwi/Pear} Pear!

2010-04-15T22:41:00.008+01:00

I don't normally share photos for my college portfolios on my blog but I couldn't resist with this one. Probably because this afternoon when I took a step back for a moment and thought about what I was doing with my time on my day off from work it really did make me worry about myself... I was cutting up bits of fruit to make it look like other types of fruit.

Confused?

Here is my made from an {apple/orange/grapefruit/lemon/kiwi/pear} pear!

I can't really take credit for this idea, you'll find lots of these types of photos knocking around on the internet but I did it as part of my log book and creative thought process for my actual portfolio photographs. I did take a lot of other photos today too, that will hopefully feature in the final portfolio but I'll wait until it's finalised before I share them.

Again, I'm producing two portfolios this year: All Creatures Great & Small (which is actually finished I just need to decide how to present it) and the other one is about fruit (and possible veg as well). The title is still a work in progress as I don't want to just call it Fruit, or Fruit & Veg as the case may be. Any suggestions anyone?

Oh and don't worry, I'll be back with a {slightly} more normal {and crafty} post soon!

Evolution of a Knitter

2010-04-04T20:36:00.008+01:00

You may remember that some time back I decided that I wanted to learn to knit and posted this list of things I'd love to be able to create.

Well learn to knit I did! Mostly with the help of my trusty friend youtube but also with the invaluable help of my Mum (who actually recently corrected my casting on method meaning I now never cast on too tight hurrah!).

My first real project was a scarf, but after that with the small amount of confidence I'd gained I decided to try some handwarmers. They were very very simple but I was hugely proud of them when I'd completed them and once again I had the satisfaction of actually finishing something and being able to wear them.

Emerald Green Handwarmers

Spurred on with the success of my first handwarmers I decided to try again. This time I got a little bit braver and decided to try something that I loved but also scared me... cables! Once again, with the help of good old youtube I learnt to cable and made these.

Irish Hiking Scarf Handwarmers

Seriously, I love these so much. Again, these were relatively simple as they are essenitally just rectangles that are seamed up the side with a gap for the thumb. I always have cold hands and these have been worn a lot!

Sadly I forgot to take a photo when they were all shiny and new and this photo of was taken when they were starting to look a little bit worse for wear.

So, I decided to try something new for my latest pair of handwarmers. Knitting in the round! I've tried DPN's (double pointed needles) and hated them. I felt like I was trying to knit with a million legged spider and the final straw came when I dropped my working needle and all my stitches fell off. I gave up!

However, you can also knit in the round using circular needles (basically two normal needles with a plastic cable connecting them) and I decided to have a go using the magic loop method. So I looked it up on youtube (you can see a bit of a pattern emerging here can't you?) and had a go and finally I made something from my original knitting list... Fetchings!

I finished these today and I love them. It's the most popular pattern on Ravelry and best of all it's free!

Fetching

And these were not only knit in the round (so no seaming hurrah!) but they also have little thumbs. I'm really rather proud of myself!

I'm still working away on a cardigan that is coming along nicely but I needed a quick fix project that I could actually finish for some much needed instant gratification and also to use up some of my existing stash that is all early impulse buys with no particular project in mind. Mark would be proud!!!

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T15:13:00.005+01:00

I'll be back soon with some crafty goodness to share. In the mean time, Happy Easter to everyone whatever you're doing this weekend.

All images from weheartit.com

{ Hello Spring! } Quilt... Sneak Peak

2010-03-28T20:10:00.003+01:00

My poor old blog might be a bit neglected these days (mainly due to having no time what so ever with buying the house!) but I have been crafting. Infact the nesting urge seems to have kicked in big time at the moment and I'm full of ideas for blankets, cushions, canvases and other such homely things!

This weekend I've been sewing. Sewing my first full size quilt to be precise. After Micayla sent me the beautiful fabric I posted a while back I knew straight away I wanted to make a quilt. I dug through my stash of pretty fabrics and came up with quite a few that would go together. Cutting all the squares was quite a task as they are 4 1/2" (although made much easier because I bought a rotary cutter) and I've sewn them together with a 1/4" seam allowance. Having a 1/4" foot on my sewing machine made this really easy (thank you Mum!) and I strongly recommend anyone wanting to have a go at quilting invests in both of these.

So here's just a sneak peak as I couldn't wait to share (Pink & green woodgrain fabric - I can't get enough of this and will be making some cushions soon to match. It's by Joel Dewberry if you're interested although the Aviary range is now discontinued so if you like it and want some buy buy buy as it's selling out fast!).

The quilt top is finished and I now need to make another trip to to the fabric shop for some bias binding and a load more of the pink damask fabric for the back and I can finish it off.

However, this was really just a test quilt... to see how I got on with quilting on a large scale and I love it! I'm going to make a quilt for the living room and 2 runners to go across the bottom of our bed (one for each colour scheme - although how we can have 2 seperate colour schemes in one room is a story for another post!). I've already started collecting fabric for the living room quilt... a much more subdued affair of beige, brown and cream to keep Mark happy! That one will be far more about pattern than colour.

And as for the house, it's all coming along nicely and we're currently waiting on the solicitors. Fingers crossed we'll be setting an exchange date very soon!

The One About Lots of Things but Nothing Inparticular

2010-03-17T18:38:00.011Z

Do you remember a little while ago I posted that SJ was having a give away during a blog party weekend on her blog and how much I'd like to win a wonderful painted wooden canvas. Well, believe it or not I won! I couldn't believe it, it's such a beautiful canvas. And finally I've got round to taking some photos of it.

At the moment it's sat in a little easel on a shelf in my craft room along with a lovely basket of wool and my little wooden man to keep it company. I haven't bothered to hang it in this house as hopefully we won't be here for all that much longer. And in the new house it will go on the wall of my new craft room along with 2 other canvases that I've done myself. Exciting times!

I've also been meaning to show you this little bag I made for a while. I found it while blog hopping and immediately new I wanted to make one with some odd charms I had left from a patchwork project I did a while ago using the lush Wonderland fabric by Moda. It's a really easy tutorial that's free and the bag is the perfect size to hold a skein of yarn while you're knitting or even to keep you little bits and pieces in on your desktop while you're scrapbooking. I love mine and you can find the tutorial here.

And so what else have I been doing? Well knitting of course! At the moment I'm attempting my first proper item of clothing, a little shrug knit seamlessly in the round.

I'm knitting it in the wonderfully soft Cashsoft Aran by Rowan in a lovely fresh green colour, perfect for spring! At the moment it looks like this, it's coming on surprisingly quickly and has just enough going on in the pattern to keep me interested but is still easy enough to do without too much thought being needed! You can find the pattern here on Ravelry if you're interested.

And have I been scrapbooking like I said I would in my previous post? Well yes I have actually, although sadly nothing to share I'm afraid as it's documenting the ups and downs of us buying our first house so is a bit too personal for on her I'm afraid. However it did feel good to scrapbook again!

On the house front I'd like to thank you for all the kind comments and well wishes from my previous post, we're both so excited it's unreal! Sadly no more real news at the moment, we are now in the hands of the solicitors, estate agents and bank so it's just a waiting game really for now (although we are waiting rather impatiently and ringing them to pester about progress every day!).

However, all this waiting is giving us a lot of time to realise the size of the project we are taking on. It may only be a relatively small house but everything needs doing. We've made a decision that the first weekend when we've got the keys we're going to rip everything out. And I mean literally everything... the entire kitchen and bathroom, the carpets, curtains, wall paper, internal doors, skirting, ceiling cladding (it has wood cladding on the ceilings in the kitchen and bathroom, don't ask!)... Seriously, everything is going in the skip.

I joked with Mark that we'll do that and then panic and wonder what we've done! We are lucky though that we're in the position to stay in rented for about 4 - 6 weeks while we get the majority of it done. But boy will it be a busy and stressful few weeks! I've just got to keep telling myself that it'll be worth it in the end!

Sold!

2010-03-13T15:43:00.004Z

I've been missing from this blog for a while now, but we've been very very busy of late. After two and a half years of renting (6 months in the flat and 2 years in this house) we decided it was high time that we bought our very own house as we've been itching to make somewhere our own.

With the markets as they are and our contract up for renewal we decided there was no time like the present. And, after thinking we'd lost this house as the first time we offered it was refused and sold to some else. However they dropped out and now it's finally ours. Well, atleast it's sold subject to contract and as we speak is in the hands of the solicitors. Hopefully we should get the keys in a few weeks time.

It needs work. A lot of work. A new kitchen, bathroom and decorated throughout. We've been spending our evenings dreaming of solid oak flooring, modern kitchens and super swish bathrooms (but don't tell Mark I'm already planning the other lovely things like curtains, cushions and wall paper!). Seriously though, I've never been so happy that Mark's a joiner. I dread to think what it would cost for most people to do up to the standard we are planning... well put it this way we certainly wouldn't be able to afford it!

And that's before the loft conversion and extension at the back, although the loft conversion is likely to be next year and the extension a year or two after that. We went back for a second viewing today and went up into the loft space and it's HUGE. We'll easily be able to convert it without the need for a dormer.

So in the mean time, please do excuse me if I'm absent from here. I will keep you updated when I can and you know what... I think this has actually inspired me to start scrapbooking again!

One Good Deed... { Thank You Micayla! }

2010-02-18T21:51:00.007Z

Ok so I had other ideas for todays blog post but this definately took priority. The other things can wait until the weekend.

Some time ago a very good blogland friend of mine put out a plea for help on her blog. She had a lovely photo of her beautiful little girl but wanted to make the background disappear. Now I don't profess to be an expert on photoshop but I am probably a little better than most and I thought I'd be able to help her out so I offered and she gladly took it. Thankfully she liked what I was able to do with the photo... she had a photo she was happy with and I'd been able to practise my editing skills and felt happy that I'd done something nice to somebody else.

And that was that as far as I was concerned. I certainly never expected anything in return, however the lovely Micayla had other ideas.

I've had a rather rubbish day today, namely because of a horrible trip to the dentist but this surprise package certainly brightened my day. Micayla sent me a sneak picture of it all wrapped up before she sent it and I've been so dying to find out what's inside it ever since. So when it arrived today it certainly but a smile on my face!

Seriously, how adorable is the packaging? That fabric and lace flower is just gorgeous all on it's own! So imagine how excited I was when I opened it to find this inside...

A little stack of fat quarters! The top one was gorgeous, look at those little birds and vine print. Stunning! With one that gorgeous I couldn't wait to see what the other ones looked like.

How pretty are they? Micayla said she'd found something that was really "me" and boy was she right. I love them, I really do. And, rather spookily they totally match another fabric I've had languishing in my stash for some time.

I had intended to make a bag with this bird cage fabric by Michael Miller but never found the right pattern and it's been sitting around in my stash ever since waiting for the perfect project. Just the other day I got it out and sat it on my desk hoping inspiration would strike. And well, these fabric quarters are perfect with it and I know now exactly what I want to make, a quilt. I've been meaning to do a full quilt for a while after I did a little bit of quilting with my chair covers and now I've got the perfect fabric to start.

Seriously Micayla, you couldn't have got this gift more right! Although I do now feel like I need to edit a load more photos to justify it. Micayla, I love you so much you really are the best blogging friend. XXX

Be My Valentine...

2010-02-14T08:53:00.003Z

...7 years. Yes this is the 7th valentine I'm celebrating with Mark. How did that happen?

Seriously, where did the time go? I've been a bit obsessed with feeling like I'm getting old this year. Maybe it's the fact my brother is now 30, the fact that Mark isn't that far off 30 and that I'm turning 25 this year. Or that many of my friends are getting married and having babies, that we're looking at houses to buy or just the fact that someone born in 1990 is 20 this year!!! We realised this at work a few weeks ago and I still let it go. People born in the 1990's are still young kids in my head, not 20 year olds!

But moving on to something slightly more cheerful, it's Valentines Day! We celebrated last night with a good old Rom Com and the M&S Dine in For 2 For £20. And very nice it was too! The plan for today is just to chill out, watch some films and have a lazy day. I've started knitting something new (and much bigger than my previous projects) so I'm hoping to get some work done on that and also I'm going to dust off my sewing machine as I've got a project in mind that I've been thinking about all week that I want to have a go at. Hopefully I'll be back later to show you how I got on!

The fabulously talented SJ is having a blog party this weekend and is currently offering chances to win several different prizes. My favourite is this absoloutely gorgeous woodgrain canvas... it's gorgeous. Head on over to her blog for the chance to download lots of freebies and a chance to win lots of different fabulous prizes.

I wish I could paint. I can draw, infact I got an A in Art at GCSE down to that very fact. I really enjoy (and if I do say so myself I'm really quite good at) drawing with both pencils and chalks but me and paints never got on. Maybe I should give them a go again some time.

Snow... {of the French variety}

2010-02-07T19:28:00.011Z

Is it really only a week since I was last posting saying we were going away? This last week has gone by unbelievably quick but we've had the most amazing time in France. We really are so lucky to have friend's who own a place out there. The challet is just outside a little ski village called Les Gets, which is part of the larger Port Du Soleil ski region. No real photos of me skiing as we only took the little camera up the mountain with us and I haven't uploaded those photos yet.

However I had great fun, my instructor was fantastic and even got me on a chair lift with relatively little fuss and I can now even do parallel turns (some of the time!). It really was a great week, it's just a shame it went by so quickly.

The weather was a mixture of gorgeous blue sky days (like the day when I took the photo of the challet above) and also when it completely dumped it down with snow. Seriously, there was so much snow... I reckon around the challet there was easily atleast 4 foot of the stuff on the ground and when I was walking down the path towards the lamp post in the photo below I was sinking to above my knees and was no where near hitting the actual ground. Madness! At a guess, I reckon we had atleast a foot of new snow while we were there if not more. But atleast it did mean I could get some seriously snowy photos like this.

However, the slight downside of the location of the challet is that although it's on a main road the drive way is a private road and is up a bit of a hill. Normally a local French man clears it with his snow plough but it's broken so there was no way our little hire car was getting up the drive. This meant leaving the car on the main road and walking to the challet...

The photos above and below are taking half way up our make shift path, with the top one looking back towards the challet and the bottom one down towards the road... yes that little car is where we had to park the car!!!

Once we'd walked it a good few times it was fine and wearing snow boots meant it wasn't an issue... although when we first arrived in trainers and dragging suitcases I can tell you it really wasn't fun!

Ok so this photo is a wee bit misleading. We didn't actually dig any paths, we just walked it in our snow boots and stomped it down as far as the snow would compact meaning there was a walkable path and then tidied it up with the snow shovell. However, I thought it'd be a great opportunity for a photo to mislead everyone into thinking I dug this path... Hhmmmm!

We also bought a fab wood photo frame out there, so decided we needed a photo to go in it... After setting up the tripod I managed to get some lovely shots of us together. Seriously, I don't know why I don't do this more often! Love the shot below, I think that's the one that'll be going in the frame.

Oh and I managed to finish my second scarf before I went so I could wear it whilst travelling and Apres Ski... Super super quick knit with a chunky yarn that literally did knit up in an hour or two. The yarn is fab, it's thick and thin with variegated colouring so it creates great texture with very little effort. Plus, I managed to buy it half price from a woman at my knit group who was destashing... bargin! However, I love this one so much I might do another one in a slightly more subdued colour that isn't quite so bright pink!

I still haven't managed to get photos of my purple hand warmers, although hopefully I will tomorrow. I've been wearing them all holiday and love them so much I've already started knitting them again in another colour!

Booked It, Packed It...

2010-01-31T21:07:00.005Z

...and those of you who also like Peter Kay have no need for me to finish that sentence do you?

We're off to the challet again (photo below is from the last time we went) and I can't wait!

Very shortly we'll be heading off to the Alps for a week of skiing (or in Mark's case snowboarding!). I'm way more excited than I was last time... I've been having lessons at Manchester's Chill Factor E to teach me to ski as despite my best efforts I really don't like snowboarding. {Sigh}

However I really do have to say a massive thank you to my instructor Matt who got me to the top of the main slope... and an even bigger thank you for convincing me to go back up to the top again after my first run down it! But seriously, I am really looking forward to it and I'm so glad I've learnt the basics in this country so I can really make the most of my lessons over there.

So I guess that explains the lack of posts on here, there just haven't been enough hours in the day and my days off have been spent skiing! I have been knitting though and have several new finished objects to show off but that'll have to wait until we get back... however I should manage to atleast get some decents photographs of them while I'm over there!

Stitch & Bitch

2010-01-17T18:42:00.006Z

So I'm still knitting. I really am enjoying it as well, it's so easy to just pick up and do a bit whenever you've got chance. And I'm loving making things I can wear. So much fun!

I also went to my local Stitch & Bitch group with Jenny which was good fun, like a crop but instead it's in a Starbucks and you sit and knit and drink coffee! Can't wait to go back this week. So what have I been knitting?

Well a Pirate Headband for one thing. It wasn't supposed to be a Pirate Headband. It was meant to be a normal headband, but it wasn't until I'd finished it and put it on did I realise that it actually made me look like a pirate. {Sigh}

But never mind! It'll still keep my ears warm in France next month!

Oh and George decided to get in on the action whilst taking photos of it, silly cat!

I am also finished a neck warmer that was my first attempt at cabling, which is nowhere near as hard as I though it would be! I'm realy chuffed with this actually.

I found that pattern for the neckwarmer from Rachel's projects on Ravelry, which is a great website with thousands of free patterns (all of my patterns so far have come from there!) and you can check out what your friends are up to and see what lovely things they are knitting too. My username on there is EmmaWoo, if you're on Ravelry too let me know!

New Year... New Me...

2010-01-04T19:13:00.006Z

So where did the second half of December go? Seriously I have no idea. I had every intention of keeping up to date with my blog but the madness of the season really took hold and before I knew what was happening we're already in 2010.

I got some truely wonderful Christmas presents which included a new camera bag, an external flash, a year long subscription to Practical Photography magazine, Skull Candy headphones (yes my very own pink ones so I no longer have to steal Mark's!) and loads of other wonderful things.

So what have I been doing? Well mostly learning to knit! My Mum gave me some vintage knitting supplies that belonged to my Nanna and my Great Grandma (as well as allowing me to liberate many of hers!). I think the most beautiful is this stunning vintage stitch counter that belonged to my Nanna... it's so pretty.

And yes I have also been knitting... not just taking pretty photos of knitting things! My first completed item was this chunky ribbed scarf, wonderfully simple and quick to knit. A win win situation!

And next, some (very simple) hand warmers. Got to love these (especially in all the cold weather we've been having) and again, very quick to knit up. Even for a super slow knitter like me each one only took a couple of hours.

Well, hopefully it won't be so long before my next post and I'll be back with more yummy knitted goodness to share soon (and who knows, maybe even some scrapbooking!).

JYC Days 3, 4 & 5

2009-12-09T21:46:00.004Z

Ok so I'm a little behind. But it's fine (I'm still embracing the no stress approach). I'm on a day off tomorrow and will play catch up infront of a good film. Or atleast that's the plan.

But anyway, here's 3 more pages for my journal!

Day 3 was a change from the prompt as I don't do hand made cards and a visit from my crafty friend Jenny made the perfect "December Daily" style entry about knitting.

Day 4 was all about perfection, which to me is a beautiful home filled with beautiful decorations and spending time with my loved ones. Bliss. But I do have to confess that's a photo from last year as I still haven't got the tree up this year...

And finally the counting down entry that features the photo of George. I love this photo of him and I love the birdies on this page... Yes George would no doubt be over the moon if he had a birdie waiting behind each door of his calender rather than milk and cat nip drops!

So that's about it for today. I'm off to watch True Blood now and then to bed as I've got another private ski lesson tomorrow. Eeekkk!

How cute?

2009-12-07T22:38:00.004Z

Ok so I had every intention of trying to blog every day in December. I failed. How does it work that when I have more time at the weekend I seem to end up with less time to do what I want to do? No I can't work it out either. Maybe it's working in a retail environment (ok so in HR but in HR for a HUGE retail company) that is meaning my christmas spirit is rather lacking this year. Christmas is not fun, it's bloody hard work!

But I am trying to get in the Christmas spirit regardless. I've still yet to put up the decorations (despite intending to on Sunday but I just wasn't in the mood). Hopefully when I get round to it sometime this week I'll feel slightly more festive.

However I am still keeping up with JYC, it's just lack of daylight and working long hours have prevented me from photographing them. I'll make an effort tomorrow. The release of Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince on DVD scuppered any plans I had for tonight I'm afraid! Ok so that is one benefit of working in a supermarket... super cheap new release offer + staff discount = mega cheap!

However, on the subject of JYC I'll leave you with this super cute photo. One of the recent prompts was about counting down and this year I'm afraid to admit I don't have an advent calender. However George does! Somehow in the madness I bought him one but not me or Mark. So cue Mark (well his hands at least!) and George patiently (or should I say not so patiently waiting) for his daily treat.

Ok so now I'm off for a little knitting before bed. Whilst wearing Mark's Skull Candy headphones. Ssshhhhh don't tell him. They're mine now! And if you haven't seen Skull Candy headphones before check them out here. They are mega cool, so many funky designs. We've got the wireless ones meaning I can dance round the house like a loonatic with them on. Maybe not so cool then... Haha!

Knitting The Night Away

2009-12-03T22:11:00.003Z

Just a quick post today. Have spent the evening making a start on my second knitting project (and first proper one). It's a scarf, for my holiday to the Alps at the start of next year. And I love it, I really do. So simple but I'm happy. Big wool + Big Needles = Instant Gratification.

Jenny came round and we quite happily spent a few hours knitting, drinking tea (or in my case coffee) and have a general knatter. Or "Stitch & Bitch" for want of a better phrase. Her knitting is amazing, seriously she's so talented. I can't even big to comprehend how she is doing her current christmas stockings. Check out her blog if you have a minute, you won't be disappointed.

Todays prompt for JYC is about cards. I don't do cards. I can't make cards even if I wanted to, they just don't work for me. So yes, I am a crafter and buy my cards. All of them. Really I do. Even the special ones... Believe me they get a much nicer card when it's bought! So I'm not worrying about it and today my journal entry will be a la Ali Edwards and a December Daily entry about knitting. It's a stress free project remember?

JYC and Fake TTV!

2009-12-02T15:08:00.012Z

Yeah alright, enough with all the acronyms! But hey, I know what they mean and I'm sure most of you do as well.

So I managed to take the photo this morning that I needed for the first prompt. Christmas decorations hanging on a bare branch outside. Totally inspired by this photo from Shimelle.

Anyway, when I'd taken it it still needed a little work to be what I imagined in my head. So after tweaking it in photoshop to "age" it and adding a fake TTV overlay I was happy and had the image I'd imagined in my head. For those of you who don't know TTV stands for Through The Viewfinder and is a technique done by taking a photograph using a digital camera through the view finder of a much older camera. But you can also recreate it using photoshop, there's loads of free layers about. I like searching on Flickr where lots of people upload shots taken of blank pieces of paper using their old cameras. The one I've used is here.

So I for my first page of the journal I wrote about what I want from this journal. Very similar to the standard one given by Shimelle but I've tweaked it slightly to include some stuff about photography.

And so the second prompts leads us to take about the weather. I captured this shot at sunrise hanging out of my bedroom window! I love winter and how easy it is to get excellent sunrise and sunset photos, the abundance of clouds at this time of year certainly help!

The second page in my journal talks about how I like cold dry weather but in this country it's more likely to be cold and wet which I hate. And of course about how I love the beautiful sunrises and sunsets at this time of the year.

This year I've decided to do my numbers different everyday. Some will be pretty similar, and I've made quite a few already but I'm loving mixing the styles up. Stops me getting bored anyway!

Tonight I'm going to try and do the cover to my album and maybe even make a start on my new knitting project. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with pictures to share.

And so commences JYC 2009... {plus knitting and eye candy}

2009-12-01T19:48:00.009Z

How did 6 weeks go by without a blog post? How are we in December? I have no idea what happened to this year. I really don't. It's hard to get my head round the fact that it's December, as some HUGE changes in my life are due to begin in the new year which is both so scary and so exciting that I can't quite begin to get my head round it.

However, for now it's December and that can only mean 1 thing... Journal Your Christmas 2009. I've nothing to share yet, some pictures tomorrow though. I've done my first page but I need a photograph to complete it. I know what I want to take but I need to get outside to do it and as I only decided this after it had gone dark it'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm not really stressing too much about it this year. Some pages will be fancy than others. Some will have no journalling. Some will have lots. But what every page will have is a photograph, photography is a huge part of my life and in my opinion it's the perfect way to document the season for my journal.

So what else have I been doing in my extended absence from blogland? Well I went to see this. And yes it was as good as I hoped. And yes I'm still into Robert Pattinson / Edward Cullen... I know it's a bit unhealthy but I can't help it! Haha, if only Mark was a vampire!

In other news, I've finally learnt to knit. Like I actually really needed a new hobby (or a new type of stash to buy!) but I love it. I recently purchases these beautiful yarns in the yummiest of colours to turn into something for my rapidly approaching ski holiday to the French Alps.

However, before I make a start on those I need to finish my first project... a very simple scarf. The perfect beginner project for me to build my confidence. It's nearly finished and I love it!

So surely going to watch New Moon and knitting can't have kept me busy all this time? Well no, photography is to blame as well. It's been taking over my free time of late, but I knew this would happen. College is a lot more intense this year but I love it, I really do. However, I will do my best to keep up to date with blogging my JYC entries... I hope!

If you go down to the woods today...

2009-10-18T20:34:00.007+01:00

...you're sure to find lots of mushrooms and toadstools!

We went to Bowland Wild Boar Park today, and even though the weather was rubbish we still had a nice time. We did the nature walk this time which we haven't done before, which leads you through some lovely woods that are full of different types of toadstools and mushrooms. I managed to snap photos of quite a few different ones.

Love these puffballs below, they look just like little round balls on the floor!

However, I think the only disappointment of the day was the Fly Agaric, aka the ultimate stereotypical red and white toadstool. I love cartoon type images of these but have never actually seen one in real life. When the handout told us they had these in the woods I was very excited, but when we finally found them they were all well past their best and rotten. This sorry looking specimin below was the best of the bad bunch. Oh well, maybe next time!

We also bought some Wild Boar steaks which we had for tea, they were very nice if a little fatty but a lovely flavour. If you're nearby in Lancashire I'd definately recommend a trip there, it's a great day out.

Camera Envy

2009-10-17T21:21:00.005+01:00

It seems a long time now since I got my Canon EOS 450d DSLR. It's over a year ago now and I went through a whole range of emotions. From excitement at getting one, to being genuinely scared of it (I didn't have a clue how to use it and actually didn't turn it on for 3 days!) and then finally I was so happy to finally have a decent camera I could learn to use properly.

These days I'm very much in my comfort zone with my camera. It feels natural to use it, and I know where everything is on it. I genuinely do love my camera. However, sometimes I find myself wishing it did a little more. Don't get me wrong, it's a great camera but I find myself more and more often wishing it did that little bit extra.

Another thing I find is that I talk about photography a lot, but it's funny how many people do actually really like their photography. It was by chance that I mentioned to someone at work that I'm doing photography at college and it was also by chance that he told me his friend who had just started at our branch also liked his photography. We got talking, and I realised just how much he liked his photography. Everyone rolls their eyes these days when he comes in the office as they know the topic of conversation will be photography!

He brought his camera in to work today. And I am in awe. He has a Nikon D2X (yes I know boo to the Nikon but seriously it's amazing). It is seriously just in another league, it makes my look like a toy. It's so big!

I had great fun today with it, although I did get that momentary fear as I realised I didn't have a clue how to use it. Everything was in the wrong place! But I soon figured it out and was snapping away with it. It's amazing, there's no other way to describe it.

And to give you some kind of a comparison of this camera to mine look at the photo below. The Nikon D2X is the camera at the back of these 2. The camera at the front (the tiny little one!) is a Nikon D70 which is a similar size to mine. See, I told you it made mine look like a toy!

And so have I been converted to Nikon? I think not. It's a very nice camera but I still want a Canon. However it has made me realise just how ready I am to upgrade mine to a medium format DSLR. The next step up into the professional range have so much more to offer, and the Canon 5d Mk II is definately on my most wanted list right now. For now I'll have to be patient (and convince Alan to take me out with him so I can use his!) but today really has made me realise that I do want to make the leap of faith and upgrade my camera. Yes I'll have to go through that learning curve all over again and will probably be scared of it to start and wish I still have my 450d but it'll all be worth it. One day, one day soon!

But for now, I've got serious camera envy!

8 Knits I Love Sunday...

2009-10-11T20:13:00.003+01:00

...and wish I had the skill to make. {Sigh}

Bear Hat at Red Velvet Art

Thigh High Footless Socks

Jane Slouchy Winter Hat

Pasha Slouch Hat

Perdita Beaded Bracelet

Long Wrist Warmers

Baudelaire Lacy Socks

Fetching Fingerless Gloves

I'm loving knitting right now and I'm already well on the way to completing my first project, a scarf! However, I can't help lusting over the huge number of pretty knits out there... I just need a bit more practise first!

The Big Knit 2009

2009-10-03T22:50:00.005+01:00

Because I really needed another hobby didn't I? Like I really have enough time to do everything I want to do and have many a spare hour waiting to be filled...

Not.

But seriously, I have acquired a new hobby. Knitting! Yes really. I blame Jenny, it's all her fault with her lovely knitted goodies that I've been admiring.... And then talking about it at work. So for my birthday one of the girls I work with bought me a "Learn to Knit with Barbie" kit! So much fun but the instructions made no sense what so ever. All I can say is thank goodness for You Tube!

And then, with perfect timing we are taking part in the Big Knit 2009 at work with Innocent Smoothies & Sainsburys. Basically, you knit little woollie hats and send them off to Innocent and they put them on their Smoothie Bottles and for every one sold Innocent & Sainsburys will donate 35p to Age Concern & Help The Aged this winter.

I've only just started, my first is a work in progress but it's coming along quickly and while it's not perfect it's not too bad!

If you want to join in you can find out just about everything you need to know (including some sample patterns to get you started) on the Innocent Website.

Back from the Twilight Zone...

2009-09-25T21:20:00.008+01:00

...kind of.

So where have I been? Well I was drawn hook line and sinker into the phenomenon that is Twilight. Mark bought me the film for my birthday last week and that was it. I ordered the books from Amazon and devoured them, reading them way too quickly like I always do (I read the final Harry Potter book in half a day when it first came out, I know I shouldn't but I just can't help it!).

And my only regret? That I saw the film first. I kinda make a point that I like to read the book before seeing a film adaptation as I like to form my own images of the characters and locations. After doing this one the other way round I see all the characters as they are in the film.

So what now? I need to try and remember what I did with my spare time prior to the Twilight obsession... whilst I try and restrain myself from rereading the books again!

However, I have still been playing along with LSNED... I just haven't got round to blogging any of it. I'll try and do a big catch up post soon.

Catching Up

2009-09-06T21:36:00.006+01:00

Didn't get time to blog last night so time to play catch up today. Infact if I'm honest I didn't scrap my page either, but as it was Sunday today I did the pages for both Friday and Saturday this morning.

So what have I been learning? (That also happens to be the reason why I didn't blog or scrap!)

That Saturday night is Pizza night!

Ok so I totally stole that phrase from Jenny's facebook status on Friday but I'm sure she won't mind.

And so onto the pages. Friday's came together easily and I really like this. Not that it was anything to do with the subject matter but I tried to keep with the colour tone in the photo and I do like it - and I stuck to the basket so yay for the basket once more!

Not so keen on the page from Saturday though. it's missing something and in my mind just doesn't work quite so well. But anyway, it's done and in the album so I won't stress about it.

And finally what have I learnt today. Well in complete contrast to Saturday night I have learnt...

That everything always tastes better when you've grown it yourself.

Yummy spring onions from our veg plot that I pulled up to go in a chicken and vegetable stir fry that I made for tea. A bit of a change to the junk food we had for tea on Saturday!

We've loved growing our own veg this year, it's been the first time we've tried it and we've certainly lived and learnt by our mistakes. The peppers (both chill and sweet) are doing well on the window sill in my craft room and are in various stages of ripeness (we've had some of the sweet peppers already and the chill peppers are just starting to ripen).

The tomatoes are amazing, so sweet and juicy and much much better than those bought in the shops. They've done really well and we've got loads on them. Oh and the lettuce is fine as well, onto are third crop now and I must say I'll be rather upset when I can't just walk outside and pick a few leaves as and when I want them. I love mixed salad leaves so I'm wondering if I'll be able to grow them all year round on the window sill. Has anyone tried this?

Day 4 - I'm still keeping up!

2009-09-04T20:01:00.005+01:00

Which is quite a big achievement for me. I think the planning and preperation before this started are really paying off, each page is so quick and easy to create. I guess for some including a photo every day might be a hassle, but well I love taking photos and they fill a big part of my page. Definately works for me.

So todays lesson?

That now the kids have gone back to school the time it takes for me to get to work in the morning has doubled!

And it's not good. Really it isn't. In the holidays (or at the weekend) it takes me less than 15 minutes to get to work. When the kids are at school it takes me 30 minutes. I hate traffic!

And as I remembered to take photos in the daylight today here are the pages I've made for the 2nd and the 3rd. I even included the receipt for the shopping tooked behind the photo Wednesday's page. It's not stuck down as the photo is only glued down on the other side and the clip holds it all down flat on the page. Will be interesting to look back on what we bought this time next year!

Day 3 - Winter's On The Way

2009-09-03T21:45:00.005+01:00

So the lesson learnt from today?

Layers, fluffy socks and turning the heating on for the first time all are real signs that winter is definately on the way.

No really it is. There's no denying it now as over the last few days the weather has really changed. I woke up this morning to rain and wind which continued all morning, well actually the wind has carried on all day and it's rained to a greater and lesser degree all day.

Not only that, but it's colder. When I got out of bed I was cold which hasn't happened for ages. And as it was my day off today that meant I wrapped myself up warm with lots of layers, the central heating went on for the first time and out came my thick fluffy socks. I'm dreading another winter in the office though. It's nice and cool in summer which is nice but it's quite literally freezing in the winter... And I'm a cold person anyway so it'll mean t shirts underneath my blouse and my fleece on constantly. But saying that we're getting the new uniform soon so fingers crossed it's warmer than the old one!

I have scrapped yesterdays photo of the shopping too, but as it's dark now I can't get a decent photo of it so I'll take one tomorrow. Seriously, I need a camera with better ISO sensitivity (especially when I can't be bothered running the photo through a noise reducing program). If I had to give one flaw for the 450D it would be the noise issue at ISO 1600... But then again if that means I've actually got more of a reason to upgrade to a 5D is that really such a bad thing!

Day 2 - Not Every Day is Extraordinary

2009-09-03T15:00:00.004+01:00

I had every intention of posting this yesterday but well, I was that tired watching tv and then bed was a far more appealing option!

So first things first here's the finished page with the photo from the 1st. Tried to keep it quick and simple as that's the only way I'll see this project through to the end.

And then what did I learn yesterday? Well that not every day is extraordinary, sometimes it's all about the everyday. Afterall, that's why it's called the "everyday" is it not? My day yesterday went something like this... Work, Shop, Eat, Scrap, Sleep. Nothing particularly exciting or interesting so I took a little bit of a closer look at the everyday and what I could learn from that.

And you know what got me thinking, the cost of living. A very current subject so I think it'll be interesting to look back at what things cost at this moment as the weekly shopping bill seems to just keep going up. There's only two of us but seriously it keeps getting more and more. Ok so we don't exactly try and cut costs but neither do we buy a lot of luxury items. And yes I do find it highly amusing that the only thing you can really make out in this shot are 2 Old El Paso kits!!! We do normally eat healthy I promise and the rest of the shop was much better...

Anyway I intend to scrap the receipt along with this photo as I was of recording the sort of things we are buying at the moment and how much they cost. Ok so not the most exciting of pages but I do think it'll be interesting in the future!

Day 1 - One Good Deed

2009-09-01T21:33:00.007+01:00

So today was the official start of Shimelle's September class Learn Something New Every Day and tonight I settled down with the basket of yummy stash I'd put together for the class and did the front page. Ok so it's rather a shameless scraplift of Shimelle's front page but it got me back in the swing of scrapping again and I did love the page.

Oh and apologies for the rather dodgy white balance on this, but it is 9.30pm here and I couldn't be bothered changing it in photoshop!

And so onto the first day of class. What did I learn today...

...That doing something for somebody else can have unexpected benefits.

And the story behind it. Well as I sais in the last post he is out of action at the moment and he needed to go into the workshop today so I said I'd take him in. As some of you already know, I start work early as it is and so this meant getting up even earlier than I normally do. But if I hadn't got up early I'd have still been in bed during the beautiful sunrise we had here this morning. Ok so it was even more stunning when I first got up but it still made a pretty nice photo by the time I'd remembered about LSNED and got my camera.

And how cool both the sun and the moon are in the shot? I didn't actually realise until after I'd taken the photo but never mind. I'll blame it on still being half asleep.

And so I've now printed the photo out and it's ready to scrap tomorrow. The class runs a day behind, so you scrap the previous days thoughts and ideas if that makes sense.

Oh and I got a delivery of the new Cosmo Cricket today, it's sooooooo pretty I can't stop stroking it!

Normal Service has Resumed

2009-08-31T20:57:00.007+01:00

Once again there has been a rather unintentional extended pause in my blogging and general online activities but life got in the way. Namely the fact that he fell off his mountain bike, dislocated bones in the back of his right hand and had to have them wired back together... not nice at all.

So for those of you waiting to here from me and I haven't got back to you recently I'm sorry but as you can imagine things got a little crazy round here. However, he's on the mend and things are returning to normal so I can get back into the swing of things again.

Speaking of which, Learn Something New Every Day starts tomorrow. And I'm all set to go. The biggest thing I've learnt so far is it pays to be organised. And I am. I think the best thing I ever did was to buy some baskets that I could organise supplies for different projects in at any one time. I have three nice magazine baskets that sit in a row on my desk and can just be lifted up and taken into the front room or wherever I feel like crafting. I'm lucky enough to have a huge desk and so can do this but I really do recommend the "basket" technique.

So what have I got in my basket? Well the basic tools of trimmer and scissors and then so pretty punches and stamps too. You can't really see it but the other week I treated myself to a huge bingo stamp and it's amazing. Woodbacked stamps are big in my world right now. I love them!

And then there's the other pretties. A selection of mainly Hambly patterned papers and overlays, dotted swiss and kraft card stock goodness with some vintage book paper and sheet music too. Mini thickers, tiny alphas, ribbons, prima leaves and an assortment of other little embellishments.

And do you know what the point is now? If it isn't in the basket it's not being used. Well, the only exception is my buttons (which are kept in a HUGE glass jar and embroidery thread). Simple really, there's more than enough to create the whole album in there and it's makes it so much quicker. I'm aiming to spend no more (hopefully less) than 30 minutes per night on this as if I'm honest I tend to spend longer than that watching TV or on the internet so it's hardly an impossible task! Oh and hopefully daily blogging too!

In other news I passed my City & Guilds Level 2 in Digital Image Capture with flying colours and have enrolled on the Level 3 which starts next week. So exciting!

Learn Something New - Preperation

2009-08-09T14:25:00.005+01:00

I can't believe it's already well into August, seriously. I know it's such a cliche but honestly, where has this year gone? Over the last few days I've been planning ahead to how I'm going to complete a couple of projects this year. Learn Something New in September, Journal your Christmas and also how I'm going to display the photos for are upcoming trip to Longleat for a VIP Safari.

And the answer? Simple and planning ahead is the way forward! So first projects first, I'm just about ready for Learn Something New now. I made a little album from scratch that takes 6x6 AC Page Protectors and then covered it in woodgrain sticky back plastic. I saw this in a previous issue of SI where Shimelle had used it for covers on a mini book and loved how it looked. I love woodgrain at the moment. I then added a pretty Hambly rub on and voila - album finished!

Then for the internal pages, I've gone for Kraft cardstock as you can never go wrong with kraft. I thought about making my own page templates in photoshop but then I got looking at the ones you can download and for the price, it really wasn't worth my time in making my own! I've gone for these by Ali Edwards which have the days of the week on them and are only $3.99 from Designer Digitals. I've then added a date to each of them using a free typewriter font I downloaded a while back. Cheap, cheerful and very very simple!

And so how am I actually going to do the project? Well, having done it last year I know what to expect so I do have a slight heads up. I'm going to use a small 4x2.5" photo on each page, a little bit of PP and some journalling and that's it. No embellishments... eeek! Simple I know, but it needs to simple and super fast to do otherwise I won't have time to keep up.

I can also feel pretty smug as this whole project has cost zero. The woodgrain sticky back plastic was off cuts of a bigger project I've done (pictures soon!), and I already had all the cardstock and rub ons. Plus, I've been "shopping in my own stash" for the PP and have picked out a load of beautiful Hambly overlays and PP that I've been stroking and not using for far too long. A little bit of a beautiful pp or overlay goes a long way and that's the theory I'm working with on this. Oh, and some dotted swiss cardstock too.... because every project needs some dotted swiss goodness!

Good timing or what?

2009-08-03T19:28:00.004+01:00

I decided to treat myself to a new lens on Saturday after a particularly hard week at work, the canon 50 - 250 IS telephoto to be exact as after nearly a year of photography with no zoom it was high time I got one!

So, armed with my new zoom we went out on the canal on Sunday and what did I see but a Kingfisher who to all intents and purposes appeared just for the sole purpose of me photographing him! He kept landing on a branch, waiting for us to catch up and then flying a little bit further on until he finally flew off into a field. Lucky of what? A Kingfisher has been on my list of things I want to photograph for ages, and on my first trip out with my new zoom I get the chance. Definately glad I bought it now!

It's been a while since I updated my blog, but in fairness I haven't been doing anything particular exciting (or atleast nothing I can share at the moment). However, I'm having to take a little bit of a step back from the virtual world of crafting forums and blogging, and also (shock horror) crafting. I have a limited amount of spare time and all of it has to be dedicated to something else at the moment. I'm not going to say it's going to be easier but it'll be worth it in the end. Afterall, what is the point if you don't follow your dreams?

So for now, the frequency of blog posts is going to drop a little. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll update once a week with some photos or maybe even something crafty if I manage to spare a little time to create. I am still hoping to do Learn Something New in September with Shimelle again this year, but instead will be focusing on just the words and photos. However, I'll still be about and will update when I can and will be keeping up to date with my friends blogs. And fingers crossed it won't be too long til I can share what this huge amount of effort is all about!

Scrapbooking, Sewing and Gardening... Oh My!

2009-07-22T09:33:00.015+01:00

Bit of a catch up post really with what I've been up to. But first of all a Swine Flu update. I finished my Tamiflu a few days ago but still wasn't feeling right so after speaking to the doctor who wanted me to come in so they could listen to my chest. As it turns out I've now got a chest infection and the doctor says it's hard to tell whether I've had one all along or the Swine Flu caused it as the symptoms for both are very similar.

Anyway, I was feeling a bit better last night so we went to Asda for a food shop. Big mistake, by the end of walking round (and I wasn't even pushing the trolley!) I was so knackered and short of breath it was untrue. Clearly I'm not better yet. But hopefully now I'm on anti biotics I'll be fine again soon but in the mean time all this enforced R&R is giving me the perfect chance to catch up on some long over due craftyness.

I love this photo of Jenny & James driving off from the church in the wedding car. Not your typical wedding photo but I really like it so I decided to scrap it to go in the "day trip" album (aka the adventures one featured in SI). I try and scrap atleast 1 LO from our daytrips and I love looking through the album. It's a great way of remembering all those trips out.

It's mostly been made with stash I bought from the fab local craft shop Crafty Hearts. If you're anywhere near definately check it out, you're guarentied a warm welcome and they have the most gorgeous stash. The Jenny Bowlin and Anna Griffin PP and the Thickers on this LO all came from there. The clear fabric circle is actual from the favours boxes from the wedding and the little white scalloped circle just under the photo is actually a drinks mat I stole from the hotel bar at the wedding!

I love this photo of me and Jenny (again taken at the wedding - Jenny doesn't wear a wedding dress in everyday life honest!) and when we saw it we both agree it needed scrapping. And this is my attempt. Made using the June ScrapAGoGo kit mostly, with other bits thrown in for good measure like the Jenny Bowlin Ticket and journalling card from Every Jot and Title at Etsy. Love that big embossed dot cardstock from Bazzill, it's nearly as good as dotted swiss!

And finally a bit of a self motivating LO for me made with lots of different bits and bobs from my stash. There's several things I want to achieve in my life at the moment and I am taking big steps right now towards achieving them and hopefully it won't be too long before the dreams become a reality. I made this to remind me that even when it feels like it's never going to happen that if I stay positive it will happen. Mark's a constant reminder to what you can achieve if you put your mind to it and I know if I work hard enough it'll happen! There's some hidden journalling on the tab before the photo of exactly what I do want to achieve and I think I'm going to leave this one out in my craft (maybe even mount it on a canvas for the wall) to keep me motivated.

And another sneak peak of the on going patchwork sewing project... I've made one but there's another one to go. Can you guess what it is yet?

A couple of people have asked where I got the fabric from. I bought it from a fab internet shop (although they also have a real shop) called Cross Patch. They don't actually have an online shop, but if you send an order request to them they send you a paypal invoice. Great service and super quick delivery too!

And finally a bit of an update from the garden. The lettuce crop is in full swing now and it's great to be able to have fresh lettuce whenever you want it. I just need to remember to keep resowing to make sure we have a constant supply. The other plants are doing well, the beetroot are well on the way and there's lots of green tomatoes appearing on the plants.

Well that was a huge update from me, hopefully I'll be back soon with the finished sewing project and some garden journal pages!

Mr & Mrs Say I Do

2009-07-18T12:07:00.011+01:00

Well if nothing else my enforced rest has meant I've had time to get round to some long overdue photo editing. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the wedding of this beautiful couple (and if you don't already recognise her it's Jenny my crafty friend!). I had a great day and got to try my hand at some wedding photography. Let me know what you think of them please!

The rest of the photos I've edited can be found on my Flickr here if you fancy having a look.

And speaking of Jenny, she's awarded me this fabulous blog award. Thank you! So, it's now my turn to award it to some other people so here goes.

Micayla - For being a wonderfully Mummy who still finds time to make the most beautiful crafty things despite looking after her most beautiful little girl Emily.

Yvonne - Mark's Mum and because she's quite new to blogging but I love checking out the photos of her garden and the other places she visits on day trips out.
Gertie - Because I'm completely in awe of her beautiful crochet and sewing skills. Just stunning.

And finally I'll leave you with a sneak peak of what I'm doing with that gorgeous Wonderland fabric I shared with you in my previous post. It's just so yummy.

Sew Lovely

2009-07-17T10:25:00.004+01:00

First of all let me say a big thank you for all the well wishes on my previous post. I'm still feeling lousy but atleast I don't feel any worse!

After much umming and ahhing I finally picked a fabric range to quilt with for real. And what did I choose? Well I fell in love with the stunning Wonderland by Moda designer MoMo. This beautiful range of fabric is inspired by Alice in Wonderland and is just beautiful beyond belief... And just how cute are those scissor prints? So perfect for creating something for my craft room.

Not only that but Moda do all of their fabric ranges in several precut options. When I started to look into it, the cost of a decent rotery cutter and a large quilters rule was about £40 and I just didn't want to spend that to start with... especially when you can buy them pre cut in either Layer Cakes (10" squares), Jelly Rolls (2.5" x 40" strips) or Charm Packs (5" squares).

Well as this is my first project I went for a small charm pack and it was a bargain. Only £8! It took a while to find a UK seller (I was beginning to think I'd have to get it from America) but in the end I found one and it arrived today. Sadly I'm too ill to do anything with it apart from stroke it lovingly but hopefully I'll be feeling up to doing something with it soon. So in the mean time here's what it can look like when it's all put together... I love the mixed up style of colours and patterns with this fabric range. It looks so pretty as a quilt.

And this beautiful quilt is for sale on Etsy from the seller Amy Smart if you feel the need to buy it! In the mean time, I'm off to try and finalise exactly what I'm going to make with this beautiful fabric. I have an idea in my head so I think I'll lay the fabric out and see how it looks.

Sick Day Scrapping

2009-07-16T10:16:00.005+01:00

Would you believe it... I've got swine flu!!! Well, according to the doctor I spoke to on the phone I have as they are no longer doing swab tests. I don't feel like I've got proper flu. More like a bad cold but he said that was quite common and many people are only experiencing mild symptoms.

So I've been given tamiflu and have atleast 5 days off work (confined to the house as I'm not allowed in contact with anyone) until I've finished the tamiflu.

I'm feeling lousy, but yesterday managed to do a LO with the new ScrapAGoGo kit that arrived. Bless my Dad, he delivered it to my house along with the tamiflu that he had to go and pick up for me. Mind you it did take me all day to do. I kept doing a little bit and then going for a lie down I'm that tired.

This LO is something of a scraplift. Well, perhaps scraplift is the wrong word. It's been inspired by the style of my dear friend Annadomini. Infact there's also several bits and bobs on there that she's sent me - the clip, journalling spot and the coloured scalloped circle all arrived in amongst the most delightful packages she's so good at putting together.

The plan for today is not very much. I'm hoping to catch up on a few pages for my ongoing garden journal but I seem to have been robbed of all energy. My arms and legs feel like they've got lead weights attached.

Messing about on the river... oh ok the canal!

2009-07-13T21:58:00.007+01:00

We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon on the boat. The weather wasn't perfect but it was great to get out and about after a week at work. Managed to get some photos too, and I finally managed to photograph something I've been after catching for a while...

There were loads of mayflies down the canal bank and road the pond of the garden centre we walked too. I even managed to catch this shot of two mating which I've never seen before.

The garden centre has beautiful gardens with amazing flowers. Everytime you go there's something new in bloom... but then again it is in an agricultural college so what do you expect!!! This bumble bee on a thistle looked so laden with pollen I'm surprised he could fly!

And finally, the shot that made the day all worth while. A dragonfly!!! I've wanted to catch one for so long and have never managed it. This one was lurking round the pond and seemed to like these flowers although he never settled properly again after this first time, despite me waiting and watching him fly around and around. Still, I'm pretty happy with this shot even if he isn't quite as spectacular as the HUGE electric blue one that was dive bombing us when we got off the boat by the canal. But still, he's a dragonfly and that's good enough for me!

And in other news the first veg (apart from salad leaves which we've been enjoying for a while now) are ready. I picked these lovely radishes yesterday and I'm going to make a potato salad with them tomorrow. Can't wait to try them. There's loads more to come but nothing else is quite ready yet.

And the plants on my windowsill are doing great too. We've got 4 great big peppers on the middle plant now. I'm really looking forward to them but I'm going to let them ripen fully and go red as red peppers are my favourite. Infact, the first plant is doing so well we've now bought 2 more to go with it. The one closest in the shot is another sweet pepper and the one furthest away is a chilli pepper.

Well that's it for now, I promise I'll be make with some crafting soon. Honest!!! The little "test" patchwork quilt is nearly done now. I just need to finish binding the edges. But it's gone well and I'm definately going to order some proper fabric to have a go at something.

The best things in life are free

2009-07-10T22:28:00.003+01:00

Mark gets a lot of his materials for work delivered on huge wooden pallets, about twice the size of the normal ones you see. And the company doesn't want them back. Infact he has to practically force the drivers to take back ones from previous deliveries when the drop some new stuff off.

So we decided to repurpose one of them and turn it into a raised vegetable bed. This is when I'm really glad Mark is a joiner, it took him no time to knock this up and it's just perfect. Ok so it won't last more than a few years as the wood isn't treated but who cares? The cost to us was absoloutely nothing!

This photo was taken a few weeks ago when we first did it. It's full of radishes and salad leaves etc etc that are well on their way now. I'll take photos soon of what it looks like now, it's amazing how quickly things grow.

I've also been practising my patchwork. Before I spent a lot of money on expensive fabric I decided to have a go with some scraps I already had in my stash and it's turned out really well. I need to buy some wadding this weekend to finish it off and sew the layers together but it's turned out really well so far and I can't wait to do a proper one. Now just to decide on the fabric I want to use. There's so many pretty designs... decisions decisions!

Inspired

2009-07-02T22:55:00.003+01:00

I picked up a copy of the new magazine Sew and I'm loving it. It's a modern sewing magazine, the clothes patterns are modern and I just love everything in it. The second issue (which is the current one) even contains instructions on how to sew a lap top case!!!

So, I'm all inspired now to spend more time doing some fabric projects. I know this so isn't the weather for it but my first project is going to be a moden patchwork quilt. I love snuggling up with a blanket watching TV so it will also be a useful project, not just a pretty one!

I've been browsing Flickr and there are some really cool ones out there. I'm liking these.

Byneedleandthread on Flickr.

Red Pepper Quilts on Flickr.

There's loads more pretty ones out there. I don't like the fancy ones, I prefer the blocky angular designs with squares and rectangles in modern colours and designs. Now to find the perfect fabric!

My DIY Album Tutorial - Scrapbook Inspirations

2009-06-28T19:15:00.010+01:00

How excited was I to get this months copy of Scrapbook Inspirations? You may remember a while back I posted a small 6x6 ring bound album I'd made myself from scratch and asked if anyone would like a tutorial about how to make one? And then everything went quiet...

Well, the reason was that Scrapbook Inspirations wanted to publish the tutorial. I was so excited about it, and really wanted to share the great news but decided to wait until the issue actually hit the shops. So, if you do want to know how to make your own D Ring album from scratch go and buy this months copy!

Also, I was asked to do the sketch challenge and by complete chance they've both appeared in the same issue.

It's super hot here at the moment but we're also getting pretty regular thunderstorms meaning the garden is growing like mad. The vegetables are looking great, I'll be back with some more pictures of them soon.

Jenny Bowlin Goodness, how to store all that new stash and simple LO's

2009-06-25T17:36:00.010+01:00

Mark's been away this week. On holiday. Well, I call it a holiday... he calls it work. In actual fact he's working on his friends challet in the Alps in France so it's a working holiday I guess. He's due back home tonight and as he's been away and I haven't I decided I deserved a little treat.

As it was my day off today (and although I love it when I get a day off during the week it also means I'm at work on Saturday which I definately don't like!) so I got up early and did some housework before setting off for a local craft shop. Not the best of shops, but when I last popped in they had some of the Martha Stewart punches so I went in with fingers and toes crossed that they might have the lace doily punch this time. Alas no luck, all they had was the picket fence one.

But not deterred, I went to the other local craft shop which is much much better (but I always spend way too much when I go in!). They have so much lovely stuff, before they opened I could only got this kinda stash online. This time they'd got a load of Jenny Bowlin stuff in so it would have been rude not to get some! I also let some thickers and sheet of embossed Anna Griffin fall into my basket while I was there too.

I also managed to get some more 1 inch book rings for my new storage rail. Mark put this up for me while I was at the GoGoGetaway and I love it sooooo much. The rail and little clips are from Ikea and although it's definately not an original idea it's so clever and is a great way to store all those funny shaped packages. And incase you're wondering, all those butterflies are part of a canvas I've been working on for my craft room. It's nearly finished and I'll share it all with you shortly when it's done.

Now that we're taking a bit more of an interest in the garden I decided it would be a lovely idea to do some sort of a garden journal. At the getway I treated myself to a 6x12 cordroy album which is lush for that very purpose, and the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird range is just perfect for the pages. Nothing complicated, infact very simple easy to put together pages as I want this to be a journal/photograph album with a bit of scrapbooking thrown in for good measure. I seem to have less and less time these days so this is just perfect for my life at the moment. The journaling is done on the computer on photoshop using a free typewriter font I downloaded ages ago (sorry I can't remember where but it was probably DaFont) and then printed directly onto kraft cardstock - another reason to love 6x12... you can print directly onto your LO's using a standard A4 printer!

I've got some other really exciting news to share soon, but I'll wait til I can blog about it properly and share it with you.

XXX

Growing...

2009-06-08T15:05:00.005+01:00

The garden seems to change every day. At the moment there's a load of daisys that have magically appeared in the grass. Some might think they're weeds but I like them. Our grass isn't great but it's green and I think the daisys add something to it!

And the vegetables are doing well in their little grow bag. Mark's Mum gave us an old plastic green house cover but she couldn't find the poles for it, so Mark has built a frame out of wood and it's the perfect size for our grow bag. The tomato plants have just started to flower now, they're still small and only a few flowers but it's a sign something is happening!

The spring onions are just starting to come up, I love spring onions in salads so can't wait for these.

And the radishes are doing really well. Need to look into how to thin them out as they're really took off and are getting a bit crowded now. Think that's going to be a job for the weekend.

And as for the Getaway? It was brilliant. I met some fantastic people and couldn't have asked for a better group to sit with. I'll do a bigger and better post about it soon, with lots of photos when I've had a chance to sort through them all properly. If anyone knows a free and easy site to do a slide show on I'd appreciate you letting me know what it is!

Going, Going, Gone...

2009-06-04T22:44:00.003+01:00

I seriously can't believe the Go Go Getaway is actually here... after many months of waiting it's actually happening. Setting off early tomorrow morning for a LONG drive down south with two of my friends.

So what can I look forward to? I hope, a fantastic weekend with some great people and I might just manage some scrapping while I'm at it.

I'm now packed and ready to go, and I'll be back after the weekend with lots of photos and lots of scrappage hopefully!

I'm back, and this time with green fingers...

2009-05-28T20:03:00.009+01:00

I've had a rather prolonged absence from the online world. As my college course came to an end my portfolios and written work demanded all of my spare time and attention and sadly it was my time online that had to give.

So what have I been up to? Well...

I spent a week in our friends beautiful villa in Spain, where I spent most of the time relaxing by our own private pool. I can highly recommend it!!!

I've also been appreciating just how lucky I am at home as well, we live in a lovely little village that is on the outskirts of a city. The best of both worlds. I live just a 10 minute walk from this gorgeous place, perfect for a walk on a Sunday morning.

And we've also been trying our hand at gardening for the first time. Some of the plants (like the lupin) where here already in the garden, but I've been trying to look after them as best as I can and I'm now starting to see the rewards.

And we've also decided to try and grow some of our own vegetables! Mark's Mum Yvonne kindly gave us 3 tomato plants she'd grown and they are now in a grow bag and seem to be doing well.

And in the rest of the space in the grow bag we also sowed some spring onion and radishes, they've just started to sprout today so I must be doing something right!

I'll be back again soon, with some crafty projects to share. Now my college course has finished I'll be able to make more regular updates again and will have time to catch up with all my blogger friends.

Progress... And some LO's!

2009-04-26T19:15:00.012+01:00

Well my craft room is coming along nicely. I've certainly got it under control now compared to the state it was in yesterday when I made my last post. I fact, I feel positively inspired by it. Today I was Mark's apprentice and between us we've made some new storage and altered some of my existing storage to better fit the room and my needs.

All that's needed now is a trip to Ikea. I've sorted my stash and purged quite a lot of it. I could probably get rid of more but it's actually manageable now which is the main thing. However, at the moment there are lots of "piles" of things on my desk waiting to be put into the boxes and baskets I will buy from Ikea. However, the end is definately in sight!

12x12 paper storage. This was already in my room but has been modified slightly to fit better. It was originally made when we still lived in the flat and it lived in our bedroom. Now that I have my own craftroom it's been changed to work better with my other furniture.

And this fantastic piece is brand new... we made it today. I'm so excited about this one and can't wait to fill it. It's the storage I've needed for ages and have had to do without so it's so nice to finally have it! And for those of you who know about the Ikea Expedit yes it's very similar... that's where we got the idea. But this one is custom built my tiny little room.

So that's it for now, but I hope you like the sneak peaks... I'll do proper photos of my room when it's finished after my trip to Ikea.

And now, as promised here are some layouts! Yes I have been scrapbooking in my absence. These were done quite a while ago now but I never got round to uploading them. They're all photos from our recent holiday to the Alps.

The obligitory photo of the plane's wing documenting my "love hate" relationship with flying. Quite a simple LO really, October Afternoon and Making Memories PP, Maya Road chipboard letters and a Making Memories Passport tag.

I just had to scrap this photo... as soon as we got the challet and had got the fire going Mark got his snowboard and climbed up the hill at the back to have a go. He realy couldn't wait. On this one I've used October Afternoon PP, Making Memories Tiny Alphas, Maya Road chipboard Letters, a Rub On and fabric snowflake from my good friend Annadomini and a vintage ticket.

One of my biggest wories when we went was that there would be no snow as it was quite late in the season. This was made even worse when we landed at Geneva and there was no snow anywhere. However, there was no need to worry as when we got to the Challet there was about 3ft of snow. When you walked in it you sunk in up to your knees, and that wasn't even going all the way down. My snowboots were the best thing I took. On this one I've used a PP from the March ScrapAGoGo kit and some October Afternoon PP, Making Memories Noteworthy Journalling block, Making Memories Tiny Alphas, Making Memories Chipboard Letters and some super cool badges from Paperchase.

When we woke up on the second day it was really misty, and the valley the challet looks onto (this photo was taken from the balcony) was covered in a very low cloud. Was very pretty though but it did mean when we went up Mont Cherry later on it was a complete white out! I've used loads of different things on this. The PP and little rossette is from the March ScrapAGoGo, Maya Road Chipboard Alphas, Making Memories Passport Tag, Making Memories Funky Vintage Trim, a Mountain Picture again from Annadomini and lots of other vintage finds. Oh and the stitching down the side of the photo is all down by hand.

And finally I did this LO all about the woodburning stove in the challet and the wood we needed for it. The photo of the pile of wood on the left I particularly wanted to document becuase I stacked it all myself, I was so proud! Mark passed it up from underneath the challet and I stacked it on the balcony. The LO itself is based on the Sketch in Issue 51 of scrapbook inspriations. October Afternoon and Hambly PP and another spotty one I'm not sure where I got it from and it doesn't have a manufacturer on it, Making Memories Chipboard letters, Making memories tiny Alphas, Dymo Woodgrain Tape, and various other embellies including a cool "Boys Will Be Boys" tag from my friend Nabview aka Julie.

Wow, super big post from me and I've still got more LO's to share. Anyway, hope you've all had a lovely weekend and if the spring cleaning bug bites you too I really do urge you to have a crafty clean out. It was hard work, and at one point I had serious doubts but it was definately worth it in the end!

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

2009-04-25T15:13:00.004+01:00

But then again most things do don't they? Especially the thought of having a beautifully organised and well designed scrapbook room full of stash that you actually use. So filled with ideas I decided the first step in the process was a complete spring clean of my stash.

Bad idea.

I have no idea where it all comes from? Seriously, it must breed in the middle of the night of something because I'm sure I never bought all this.

I'm right in the middle of this clear out right now and I kid you not there is stuff EVERYWHERE. However, I have got past that half way point and I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Tomorrow me and Mark are going to make me some more custom furniture/storage. The original plan was to go and buy an Expedit from Ikea but I realised that I'd have to loose half my desk space if I got one (I have a huge L shaped desk that Mark made me). So instead, we're going to make some more custom storage that will work around the furniture I already have. And then, it'll be off to Ikea to purchase some other little bits and bobs to finish it all off - think baskets and boxes and a new chair!

But now, if I ever want to get it finished I really need to stop browsing Flickr and the Ikea website for inspiration and get back to it!

The wanderer returns... and another one leaves

2009-04-22T22:38:00.005+01:00

Apologies for my rather extended absence from the world of blogging. I guess life just got in the way. I've been so busy making the most of all this lovely weather we've been having, working very hard, completeing my photography portfolios and also working on some other very special projects that I'll be sharing with you in due course.

I've also waved goodbye to my big brother as he heads off for a 6 month trip round the world in a grown up version of back packing. If you want to follow his adventures along the "silk route" find him on blogger here at Back In Six.

I'll be back wigth another update soon I promise with some more photos of what I've been up to and maybe even a scrapbook page or two to share!

Hand Made D Ring Binder Album

2009-03-16T16:51:00.005Z

Ok so after a failed attempt a while ago me and Mark decided to have another go at making my own D Ring Binder album and hurrah it's actually worked and I'm sat here with my very own hand made album. I decided to start small and it's a little one designed to hold 6x6 page protectors as I'm using it as a photo album...

I did it to look like the American Crafts Modern albums with the fabric spine and plain chipboard covers and I'd really happy with it. This one holds 6x6 page protectors and tomorrow night I'm going to do a full size 12x12 one now I've figured out the best way to do it.

Would anyone be interested in a tutorial on how to make it? If you are leave me a comment and let me know and I'll put one together with photos and step by step instructions. It's so much cheaper than buying an album, which is important these days!

Oh and I will be back with a bigger update soon, I've got loads of LO's to share and photos from my trip to the alps... I've been meaning to blog sooner but life got in the way!

All The Gear? Absoloutely No Idea...

2009-02-23T20:54:00.007Z

Have you seen Julie Kirk's work? Her blog is here, she's a fellow Ordinary Treasures member and makes great use of unusual items in scrapbooking. Infact it was this project that she created that made me start looking at clothing labels in a whole different light.

Ok so that mini book looks absoloutely nothing like this LO, but it totally inspired me to start saving interesting clothing labels, which resulted in the creation of this!

Don't you just love those labels? The little label showing the different types of fit with the little men with measuring tapes was just perfect for this LO about some new clothes for me and who could fail to completely fall in love with that one of an open zip with the snowboard cartoon scene inside? They are both from a snowboard gear brand called Burton that make very cool clothes, and have very cool clothing labels to match!

The phrase "All the Gear, No Idea" was given by one of Mark's friends and I must admit it's just oh so true. I can't snowboard to save my life but will be giving it a go (again) when we go away.

Oh and the measure tape was something I found on the internet - a sight which offered a free printable tape measure to help you work out what size you were. Printed onto kraft cardstock I thought it looked pretty nifty!

Yet More Scrappage...

2009-02-16T20:05:00.007Z

...Am I ill you may wonder? What yet more LO's from the person who hasn't scrapped in an age. Yes my mojo is back with avengence after being missing for rather a long time. I'm loving being able to pick from the photos I'm taking for Project 365 and scrap my favourites for each week. Here are the next two for weeks three and four.

Week three saw me documenting another past time of mine. I do like cross stitch, it's really relaxing but I just don't have enough hours in the day to do it very often. This one is coming along (slowly!) and it's nice to pick up of an evening when I want to do something that doesn't require too much effort.

Used a variety of different October Afternoon papers I've had for a while along with Heidi Swapp letters I've had for ages (one of my first ever purchases infact!) and some cute wooden buttons from my Stash that I believe came from my dear friend Anna if I remember correctly.

I couldn't not document Mark's birthday for week four could I? This rather yummy looking cake was actually from his Mum but I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him cutting the cake. I've used Sassafras and Pink Paislee papers, Pink Paislee letter stickers and Making Memories Tiny Alphas along with a HUGE number of buttons from my stash.

And just to prove my mojo is well and truely back, I've just printed out another set of photos and am about to settle down infront of the TV and do some more scrapping. Happy days!

Snowboard Love

2009-02-15T21:38:00.008Z

You may or may not know that we are very soon off on a trip to the Alps... Yes really. Me, the person who neither skis or snowboards is going to the Alps in winter. But I did have other motives for wanting to go, it's just stunning scenery and I'd planned a "photography holiday". Well, problem was I didn't have anything I needed to go over there so it was time to go shopping for a jacket, pants, snow boots, gloves and a hat! Yes ok I admit I didn't really need the hat or the gloves but well, might as well get everything while I'm at it...

My biggest fear though was that I wouldn't get anything I actually liked, most of the cheap jackets just aren't my cup of tea. I wanted something retro and cool, and well a snowboarders jacket really rather than a skiers one! However, most I liked were over £150 which was well out of the budget... We went to Chill Factore in Manchester today for a look round to see if we could find anything and imagine my delight when I found this jacket by Bonfire in Snow and Rock reduced to just £77.

It's so cool, a moss green colour with these vintage winter snow queen fairy tale type sketches all over it. I'm totally in love with it and it really appeals to both the scrapper and the (wannabe) snowboarder within me!

Also notice the new hat! It's by Volcom and I don't dare tell you how much it cost... But it's way cool and was the only hat I really liked.

The pants are Mark's old ones that he's said I can wear... really just an excuse for him to buy some new ones but I'm not complaining. I love these, and the braces (not worn up but hanging down of course) look ace. To complete the look are some white snow boots and I'm all set to go! Ok so I haven't actually got the snow boots yet, the shoes I'm wearing are actually some new trainers I got today. Subvert had these Etnies reduced in the sale from £62 to £25 and I couldn't resist...

However, at this point a certain phrase that one of Mark's friends uses springs to mind... "All the gear and no idea" and I'm rather ashamed to admit that it completely is true! Mark reckons (and so do I) that I look just like a snowboarder in all this new stuff. Fact is I can't snowboard to save my life. So what do you reckon? Would you think I was a boarder if you saw me? Hopefully the answer is yes as that's the whole point!

Well actually at this point I should admit I couldn't resist and I persuaded Mark to buy both the trainers and jacket for me (and the soon to be purchased snow boots). He's so lovely and so good to me! But in all fairness he just wants me to look like a snowboarder so he's not alone, apparently 95% of people where we are going are Skiers! And he reckons they don't like snowboarders but I don't see why not. Ah well, we can't complain. It's our friends challet so we don't pay anything to go there, just flights and car hire. I can't wait!!!

And now to slightly more normally blogging, my fabric from a few posts ago finally arrived... It's just as gorgeous as I thought it'd be and I can't wait to get going with it. Just need some other fabric to go with it and away I go. The other scrummy fabric underneath is just lush too, soo touchy feely it's really soft and I just love the little balls all over it. It's going to form the main part of my album cover for my upcoming trip to the Alps. I think the little balls look like little snowballs.

In other news I've been scrapbooking again! Didn't get chance to photograph them today in the daylight but I'll be back tomorrow with pictures.

Yes really, I've actually done some scrapbooking...

2009-02-09T21:39:00.006Z

Ok you can pick yourself back up off the floor now. I've not only been scrapbooking but I've also actually got photos to share as I had chance to photograph them in daylight. So without further a do...

The tree nobody wanted, all about my £1 Christmas tree. Bo Bonny dotted cardstock, Anna Griffin PP and a cool paper bag I got from a cute little shop near me. Journalling spots are from Making Memories and the letters are K&Co. Plus assorted ribbon, tickets, blooms etc from my bag.

And then one all about my beautiful roses that Mark bought me for no reason inparticular. The "Love" card is from the Living Room Floor on Etyd, Bazzill cardstock, Hambly birdcage overlay, Woodgrain Dymo Tape, Making Memories journalling card and the super cute birdcages by the journalling card are cut from a fabulous sheet of wrapping paper by Paperchase. I love Paperchase...

Both of these Layouts are done using photos from my Project 365. I got this fabulous Kraft scalloped 8.5x11 album by Making Memories from my super duper crafty friend Jenny for Christmas and wanted to use it for something special. As I don't want to forget about my scrapbooking in 2009 I also realise I won't do as much as I did last year. I don't have the time anymore. So I'm going to do atleast 1 LO a week, picking my favourite photo from that week of my Project 365 so at the end of the year I'll have a Project 365 Scrapbook Album to go alongside the Photo Albums.

I still need to decorate the album, I'm waiting to be inspired as I want to make it something special as it was such a lovely gift from Jenny. I'm thinking maybe something fabric, but I'm not sure yet. I'll leave it for now, I know inspiration will strike soon!

Oh and yes I still have been keeping up with Project 365 if you're interested, I've just been really lazy about uploading them. I'll be back soon with a HUGE update post to catch up.

Tweet Tweet!

2009-02-01T22:29:00.006Z

A little break for 365 uploads today to my blog... I'll catch up with them tomorrow hopefully as I haven't had chance to upload them from the camera over the weekend.

I'm feeling a little blue today so thought some retail therapy might help cheer me up a bit. I wanted some bird cage fabric for a project I have in mind and whilst browsing the internet came across this absoloutely gorgeous fabric by Michael Miller from the Tweet Tweet range... It's just scrummy!

Anyway, many frustrated Google searches later and I just couldn't find it from a UK seller in the quantity I wanted. It appears to be somewhat of a hard to find item! So I turned to Etsy and it's not all that common on there but thankfully I have managed to get hold of some and it shall shortly be winging it's way to me all the way from America. I can't wait to get hold of it so I can match it up to some other fabric and turn it into a lovely bag!

Well that's about it for tonight, but I just had to share that gorgeous fabric with you. It's just too cute!

Project 365 - Day 29 Moscow Mule

2009-01-29T19:11:00.003Z

The current tipple of choice in our house is most definately a Moscow Mule and I wanted to document this for todays photo. It's not the prettiest of photos and you may wonder why I've composed it the way I have. Well truth be told I deliberately left all the empty space on the right hand side so I can write directly onto the photo with the instructions for making one to go in my Project 365 album.

We first tried them over Christmas. You may have seen the adverts Smirn Off ran over Christmas advertising them. To make one you need to...

Pour some vodka into a glass.
Pour in a little lime cordial.
Fill the glass with ginger beer.
Add a couple of slices of lime.
Relax and enjoy!

Ok so the advert doesn't actually mention the lime cordial but we like it with it in! And no measures I'm afriad, we just kinda pour it in and run with it. But they are yummy, I love them.

So go, give them a go. Even if you don't like ginger beer you'll be surprised. I won't drink ginger beer on it's own, I really don't like it (compared to Mark who loves ginger beer on it's own) but we both love a Moscow Mule. Delicious!

Project 365 - Day 28 Absoloutely Fabulous!

2009-01-28T19:54:00.007Z

There's something so unbelievably fabulous about a pair of sky high (or in this case 4 inch) stilletto heels. I love these shoes and they are just one pair from my huge collection of impractical high heels.

And in other news, it's Day 28 which means I have now offically been taking part in Project 365 for 4 weeks! Whilst I was determined to get into this project I also had some nagging doubts as I'm terrible for starting projects and not finishing them. However this one seems to be different, it's becoming second nature to take atleast one photo every day (although most days it's many more!).

I wondered if I'd struggle with working full time and still taking part in this but in all honesty I can tell you the answer is not really. Yes ok lack of light is somewhat of an issue at this time of year and perhaps explains why so many of my photos are taken using shallow depth of field to maximise the available light... or maybe it's just because I love shallow depth of field shots! Whatever the reason, I don't think it really matters. The important thing is that I'm taking photos!

Only 48 weeks to go....

Project 365 - Days 26 & 27 Hoorah for daylight and have your cake and eat it!

2009-01-27T21:39:00.003Z

Back to my Project 365 again for this post.

Day 26 saw me arriving home after work in daylight. Yes really, actual proper daylight instead of it being pitch black or sunset. I was so excited I ran upstairs to get the camera but then was a little stumped as to what to take photos of. Our garden is by no means the prettiest of places so being strapped for time my car made the ideal subject for me to play about with the fabulous limited depth of field I'm able to achieve on my 50mm 1.8 lens.

Not a wonderfully exciting subject I know but it's still a bit of a landmark photo for my project, marking the very start of daylight photos on a work day!

And then on to today and a very special someones birthday. As this person is opting out of being blogged for my Project 365 I was limited as to which of the photos I took tonight I could use. I had some brilliant fun shots but sadly couldn't use them for this... ok so he's in this one too but you can't really see him can you?

Tagged!

2009-01-25T22:57:00.002Z

I've been tagged by Katy to do a tagged challenge that's a wee bit different and really up my street...

Ok so here's how it works. You go to folder number 6 within your Photos on your computer and post the 6th photo in it.

Well I don't really store photos on my laptop so on my main computer folder number 6 in the Photos folder is called "Day Trips". Now there aren't actually photos in that folder, just sub folders (yes I am a bit crazy about organasing my photos really well but otherwise I'd never find what I wanted!) so I went to folder number 6 again which was a trip to Lytham St Annes. And photo numer 6 in there is...

This was taken specifically for my photography course to illustrate linear perspective (i.e. converging lines to show depth). Now this was one of the "practise" photos but I have to include it to show how I got to the final photo for my folder. The final one can be seen in this post here. Neither are the prettiest of photos but I took them to illustrate a particular principle of composition!

And now I get to tag 5 more people to play along...

Jenny - A fab friend and fellow scrapper who also lives in Preston.
Claire - Another friend who lives not far away from me who I'll be travelling down to the GoGoGetaway with who is also studying photography.
Yvonne - Mark's Mum who's getting more into photography every day.
Sarah - Yet another scrappy friend who is the desiginated driver to the GoGoGetaway and also happens to be a fab Stampin Up Demonstrator.
Julie - Last but not least the fabulous and very talented Julie (yes really she is, it's official you know after she won a BOB award!!!) who is one of those "cyber friends" I've made through crafting.

Project 365 - Day 25 and an Apology

2009-01-25T19:57:00.005Z

First of all I want to apologise. For those of you who regularly read my blog you're going to notice the absence of 3 photos from my Project 365. Now I promise you I have taken them and they will feature in my album but for now I can't share them with you.

You may or may not be aware that I'm studying for my City & Guilds Level 2 in Digital Photography. The course involves producing two portfolios of 10 images on 2 seperate themes. The photos I took for Days 22, 23 and 24 are all part of my portfolios and as a result for now I can't share them online.

I'm quite sad about this, as I'm so proud of them it's untrue. They really are some of the best I've ever taken. However, on the positive I will share them eventually as when I receive my grades back for my course I intend to upload them for you to see as entire portfolios rather than individual images. So whilst I have to keep them to myself for now I will share them when I can.

Howevery, day 25 I can share with you. Today we took a trip to a local seaside resort for a walk round which was lovely although very windy (and hence cold!) on the front but it was nice to get out.

This photo wasn't actually taken by me, although it doesn't take a genius to work that out as I'm in it. I did take a very similar photo of Mark but as he's said he doesn't want to appear on my blog for my 365 I got him to take the same photo of me.

So today the rules have perhaps changed a bit to my 365 since I'm not sharing every single photo (although I'm sure you can unstand why I won't be sharing those for my portfolio) and that I've featured one taken by someone else. Hhhmmmm, I won't be making a habit of it but after all it's my project and I make the rules!!!

And in other news I actually did a proper LO the other day. Yes not just an entry for my 365 album but a full blown proper LO. I'll share it as soon as I get chance to photograph it.

Project 365 - Day 21 A Winter Morning

2009-01-21T19:00:00.003Z

I made the most of my day off today and as well as getting all those jobs done that needed to be done (like new tyres for my car!) I also managed to fit in a lovely half hour walk. It was pretty cold this morning, the car was frozen when I went out, but the sun was shining and it made for a lovely brisk refreshing walk.

A lovely winter morning.

Project 365 Catch Up - Days 18, 19 & 20 and REALLY BIG NEWS!

2009-01-20T19:39:00.005Z

First off, the catch up...

Day 18 saw a really clear evening with loads of stars out so we couldn't resist having a look at them. I noticed the horizon was pretty light with the silhouettes of the trees standing out and decided to have a go at a wide angle shot. Love the fact that the photo has ended up looking like a sunset on the horizon but you can see the stars in the sky. Not sure how well it's turned out when I've compressed and uploaded with all the lost detail. but on the full size original it looks ace. This one is getting printed at A4 for pride of place in my album!

Oh and yes I realise this one doesn't have the white frame I'm using the upload my Project 365 photos with but it just looked silly with it.

Day 19 saw me doing a little something different in terms of craftyness. I've cross stitched occasionally in the past and have decided to do another little one, thought it would be a nice little ongoing project to relax with in the evening whilst watching tv.

And for tonight? A bit of a cop out really, I wasn't inspired and really couldn't be bothered so I just took this quick snap of a pineapple looking down on it as I liked the shapes. Am I that proud of this photo? No not really but atleast I still took one!

And now for the BIG news.....

{{{Drum roll please}}}

Ok enough with the suspense, I'm going to a Go Go Getaway retreat!!! How ace is that? And it's not even the one in October, it's the long sold out June one this year. I've been really lucky and managed to bag myself a spare ticket that came up because someone had to pull out.

I'll be travelling down with Sarah and Claire and am really looking forward to meeting some of my "cyber friends" in real life like Laura, Leanne and Rachel. How much fun?

Project 365 - Day 17 A Sneek Peak

2009-01-18T12:23:00.004Z

Those of you who follow my blog my have noticed two things recently. The first being a complete absence of any crafty projects or LO's and the second being that I keep promising to show you the actual album I've been working on for my Project 365.

Well here's a sneek peak of the number tags I'll be using to number each of my pages. I've been totally inspired by these numbers done by Shimelle. I simply designed them in Photoshop and printed them onto some text style paper.

I really do mean it this time when I say I'll be back soon with the full project to share with you!

Project 365 Catch Up - Days 15 and 16

2009-01-18T12:06:00.007Z

For day 15 I was a little stuck for photo idea so I pinched one previously used by the lovely Katy - I decided to photograph the contents of my handbag.

So on this particular day I had in my bag...

- My mobile phone, which is a very old one that I've had for years but I've had newer phones since that I've broken and I've always gone back to this Nokia).
- My purse.
- My car keys and my house keys.
- A little notebook I bought from the lifeboat charity shop at Lytham where I jot down any photography/crafting ideas as they come to me.
- My old digital compact camera. I used to love this camera, but sadly I outgrew it and it was replaced by a DSLR. However, it now lives in my handbag for those "just incase" moments where I might not have my 450d with me.
- A pack of chewing gum.
- Some Max Factor lip glose that is just scrummy.
- A Body Shop lip balm that has nearly run out but is soooo fab.
- A Max Factor foundation compact.
- A pen.

And that's about it, it changes daily but that's what I had on that particular day!

And now onto day 16 and time for George to make his first appearence in my project. We had a great time playing with him and I haven't been able to choose between the photos so I'm actually using 3 for this day. I won't make a habit of using more than one photo but occasionally I think it's ok.

Apologies for the slightly grainy first 2 photos but I had to have it on ISO 1600 to allow me to use a fast enough shutter speed indoors at night to get these photos of him playing.

And once he's had a good play he likes nothing more than to curl up a nice comfy lap and go to sleep... ok I admit it's me in my PJ's in this photo and Mark actually took it but I couldn't resist including it. He's soooo cute.

Project 365 Catch Up - Days 13 & 14

2009-01-14T20:55:00.005Z

Just didn't get round to getting my photo up yesterday, infact I didn't even upload it to the computer let along the lap top. A bit of a poor image but as I was going upstairs I noticed the most beautiful sunset out of the window. So all in all not the best of photos, the focus is a bit off and the composition is the best (but was the best I could do out of the window!!!) but it'll do.

And for today (Day 14) I've done a macro shot on the centre of one of the roses. They are only fairly small individual roses and I like the patterns and shapes each flower makes. I tried to emphasis this through the lighting I used making the deep shadows inbetween the petals.

I'm not sure why but it seems to have gone a bit fuzzy when I've compressed this photo to upload it, it's much sharper in the original photo.

And how do I feel about the project in general so far? I'm loving it, and I'm finding it no problem really to take a photo every day. It's a little bit more difficult to edit and upload each day but I'm managing to do it every few days so I think that's fine.

And for all those of you who started with me, I truely hope you are still playing along too.

Project 365 - Day 12 Abstract

2009-01-12T21:39:00.002Z

Ok for those of you who really want to know the photo yesterday was part of a binding from Mark's new snowboard! And just because I've been loving taking abstract photos of it, here's another abstract photo of the bindings.

And for those of you who just have to know, they are Burton Triad EST bindings on a Burton Fix 55 Jibstick...

Project 365 - Day 11 Can you guess what it is yet?

2009-01-11T20:02:00.004Z

Last week at my photography class we were set a bit of homework, to take some abstract photos of objects around the house and bring them to the following weeks class so I spent a while wandering around the house this afternoon with camera in hand.

As it turns out I've ended up taking mine all of the same object as it really did make for a fantastic set of different images. But the question is, can you guess what it is yet?

Project 365 - Day 10 Something Old (A Catch Up)

2009-01-11T19:24:00.004Z

I'm playing catch up tonight, I just didn't get round to posting this yesterday and although I had every intention of doing it this morning I didn't get chance. The day has ran away with me today!

One of my pairs of trainers, a very well worn pair of K Swiss. But for all they are scuffed and tired looking there are just so comfy, I love them.

(I'll be back shortly with Day 11!)

Project 365 - Day 9 Red Red Roses

2009-01-09T21:01:00.001Z

Not a long post today but I still wanted to share my photo of the day.

There's something magical about having flowers around the house, especially in winter. They make the house feel alive. I love to have flowers (especially if they are bought for me!!!) and so I'm going to aim to include a photo of every bunch of flowers I have throughout the year. It's going well so far as I've included the two bunches so far... the lillies and the roses that are currently on my mantelpiece.

Project 365 - Day 8 Appreciate the Small Things

2009-01-08T19:24:00.004Z

I love lillies. There's something magical about how when you buy them they are just green buds and then they slowley open over the next few days and there appears such a beautiful flower.

Sometimes it's important to appreciate the small things in life, a fact I very much want to focus on in my Project 365. Today, the simple beauty of a lilly just beginning to emerge from it's bud.

Project 365 - Day 6 Catch Up and Day 7 Retail Therapy

2009-01-07T17:11:00.004Z

You'll have to excuse me not coming online yesterday to blog my photo, however the good news is that I did still take one! When I got home for work I discovered that Mark had finished early and surprise me with a lovely romantic evening. He'd even set up this shot as he thought it'd make a good photo for my 365... how lovely! So I think you'll forgive me and understand why I didn't come back online.

Today I've not been to work and had a lovely time shopping this morning! I went to the new craft shop in Preston Crafty Hearts where I picked up a new circle punch and a selection of new 12x12 papers with the intention of using them for my 365 album (which is coming along very nicely thank you - photos soon I promise!).

On the way back I stopped off at a lovely shop that sells all kinds of beautiful unsual bits and pieces - mainly gifts and bits and bobs for the home. I managed to pick up some truely stunning wire birds and a similar metal one that are designed to hang from some ribbon. I'm going to have them in my craft room hanging from the ceiling in the corner above my computer I think but I need to put some different ribbon on them first. No photo of them today as it was so grey and dull and I want to get a photo of them in situ. I'm sure they'll make a great future entry to my 365 though. I also picked up some really cute tiny wooden hearts that have different words on them, thought they'd make great embellishments.

And one of the other things I love about the shop is the packaging! There bags are just amazing, I really love them and can't bear to get rid of them so I save them. I've got ideas about what to do with them, the smaller ones perhaps will become pages in a mini book and I might cut up the big paper one and use it as the background to a LO. What do you reckon?

And as you can see I really do like these bags... so much infact that they are the subject of my Day 7 photo to document my day of retail therapy!