365 Project : 3rd March – 9th March
I’ve decided to start updating these posts on Mondays instead of Sundays. It makes a lot more sense as if i’m busy on Sunday (like I was yesterday) I don’t get a chance to edit and upload the photo from that day. But I shall still be posting photo’s from the first monday to the sunday. Hopefully this will make it easier to stay up to date with this project.
On the 3rd I made some delicious brownies! I really must do a recipe for these as they’re divine!
The 4th was shrove tuesday and of course meant that we ate lots and lots of pancakes! Yum!
On the 5th I met up with my sister for the first time in ages. We had some burritos and then went out for a couple of cocktails.
On the 6th we went skating late at night. I took some awesome creepy photo’s with long exposures. You can see more of these here.
On the 7th I took a few pictures of a new item, the gorgeous blue tie in the middle, and then spent the rest of the day editing.
- You can find my tie section of my Etsy shop by clicking the image!
The 8th saw me relaxing at home, still doing lots of computer work but taking breaks staring out to the sunshine.
Yesterday I went to Cantelowes Skatepark in Camden with Ash and some friends. I didn’t skate (I don’t have a suitable pool deck) but a good friend from Newtons Shred taught Ash to drop in and I managed to take some great pictures which I will be sharing with you all soon. We finished the day with cider and stew. Perfect!
Back at work next week and so not as much time to frolic, but I will still be making sure I take lots of photographs!
Claire x
365 Project – Days 21 – 27
Jan the 20th saw me excited over my work week. No closes? No finishing work at 1 or 2am? Actually on morning shifts for once? Definitely something I am rarely treated too.
On the 21st i must have moisturised my hands constantly. My mum bought me this hand cream from Avon as my job was making my hands very sore. It works wonders! I accidentally made the photo purple, I guess that will teach me from looking at the filters in bad lighting. oops!
On the 22nd we finally got news back from our old tenancy! We had to take legal action as our landlord was demanding to take more money off us than our deposit, but he was a big, fat liar and we got all our money back! It’s a shame it’s all gone on rent we owe for the current place and so we’re still as poor as ever, but such a relief to finally have it sorted! Plus it was right before staff party which meant I could enjoy myself without worrying too much.
On the 23rd Ash and I went to a little cafe for breakfast burgers to recover from the night before. They were delicious and our drinks even came with cute heart and triangle ice cubes! It was nice to get out of the house together on a (sort of) date as it’s something we haven’t done for ages due to lack of time and money. We’re hoping to start where we left off from with our Alphabet dating series soon. I can’t wait!
On the 24th I FINALLY finished a project! I’d planned out this tie for a while and now it’s done. It should be up in my shop shortly. Still many more half done, or not even started, projects to go though…
Yesterday I had a catch up with my sister over a cuppa tea and murder she wrote! We then went to IKEA to get her some items and I somehow came back with a car full! Oops!
Today was my first official ‘Crafternoon Tea’ with a good friend. She brought some tiny sandwiches, scones and cheese and biscuits. I made some soup. Then we crafted all afternoon with a cup of tea in hand! She made a big cushion cover and I made good progress on a dress I started in the summer!
Sorry they are all phone pictures this week. It’s been a bit hectic socially. Next week i will definitely try to take more with my big camera. (one week i might actually stick to it!)
Until then stick around for more sewing, products and some hopefully awesome photography.
Claire x
A Busy Weekend!
Sorry for the brief absence, between long hours at work and being sociable I seem to have neglected my blog. I promise I made the most of my free time whilst I wasn’t updating though.
Wrapped up warm, eating chocolate!
Last weekend I met my sister on the southbank and went to a chocolate festival! There were so many stalls selling all kinds of chocolates! Gifts, snacks, quirky little things, big delicious things, solid things, liquid things. You name it, they had it (in chocolate at least).
I bought an amazing Lion shaped chocolate I just don’t dare eat (i will have to take a photo for you all to see!) and we bought a bag of flavoured chocolate lollypops.
Giant Chocolate Nougats
Emma and I then decided to retreat to the warmth of a pub and chat over a bottle of very tasty wine. Ash and my sisters boyfriend then met up with us for some lunch. Ash and Sam were men and had steaks, I had some delicious scampi. It was really nice, and the first time the four of us have done something together. The boys talked gaming and we all had a nice chat about TV shows we watched, soon though we had to leave. My sister had a party to go to and we’d invited some friends to a RollerDisco, the very same place Ash and I went on our first meeting.
The Rollerdisco was brilliant as usual although we left earlier than I wanted, probably for the best as I had work the next morning. Again we didn’t dress up and again I wished I had! There were some truly awesome outfits, lots of flares, bright colours, super heros. My favourites by far were the group dressed as retro games. My two absolute favourites being Twister and the Rubix Cube.
Twister
This girl had made a very pretty dress out of twister fabric. It was simple but it didn’t need anything else. She also wore a Twister board on her head, very creative although it looked a bit like she had just graduated!
Rubix Cube
This outfit was just so quirky and brilliant I couldn’t resist a sneaky shot! I wussed out at actually going up to the girl and getting a picture with her though, kinda wish I had now. She wore a Rubix Cube on her head and had a matching handbag. Her dress was a retro, colour block number and was pretty stylish as well is fitting in with her theme! I think I might have to steal this in future, i just loved it! She looked fab!
Don’t forget to enter my competition here or here!
‘Till next time!
A Shopping Trip and Business Discussions
On Saturday I went to see my sister in London. We went to Old Spitalfields market to have a gander of all the different products. There were some really amazing products and some great, quirky inspiration! It was actually a very good eye-opener for me who is having trouble with which direction to take my business next. I know I need a more cohesive theme but i’m struggling to find my niche. I recommend anyone having the same trouble to go and have a gander around other handmade shops, businesses and market places. Look at what they do, how they present their products and gain inspiration from their products (baring in mind that copying and inspiration are two completely different things of course).
I actually ended up buying this adorable Penguin Print from Katie Viggers and can’t wait to get it framed and up on my wall (although knowing me it will probably stay in it’s protective envelope for far too long)
We then wen’t for a bit of retail therapy around the corner in a shopping centre. I ended up spending far too much money in H&M but definitely don’t regret any of my purchases. I got an adorable dress with a christmas light print and mesh layer on top, a snazzy jacket and two pretty t-shirts (one bought for me by my generous sister who saw me pining after it). I also spent my Next christmas voucher on a snazzy pair of sunglasses!
A very successful shopping trip!
We then decided it was time for a bite to eat and had some business chat over a bowl of chips and a few drinks.
We brainstormed about my business and where i wanted it to go next. We talked about the items we had seen at the market and how I could make similar things with my own unique stamp on them. Most of all we talked about how I could make my shop cohesive and about how to market my products.
Dressed for different seasons, I promise it was sunny when I first put on my snazzy new glasses!
It was really useful to have a big chat about the shop and has really helped me to see what I want for it in the future.
I feel i have more direction with my business now. I just need to wait for a few more supplies to arrive for me to really get stuck in, but I promise there are exciting things for the future, i just need to make sure I stay motivated and don’t procrastinate too much.
‘Till next time!
A Famous Cousin
Yesterday I went straight from work to the south bank to meet up with my aunt, her partner and my cousin.
There was an Alternative Families festival thing on at the South bank Centre and, with my cousin being adopted and living with 2 mums, they thought they would take a trip down to see what was going on!
There was lots of cool things for kids to do all day, with alternative fairy tails (such as King and King and Tango Makes Three) talks about alternative families and much more.
We even found a jolly farmer with some baby animals we were allowed to feed and hold! I wont lie, I almost stole one of the lambs because they were so darn cute!
Looking extremely tired from my long week at work…
Tiggs (as we call her) managed to be picked for an interview and they used her footage, probably because of the most adorable quote ever:
‘Anyone can be a family, as long as they love each other’
We are all so proud of her, she’s come a long long way since she was first welcomed into our family when she was quiet and extremely shy. Now she is such a bright, bubbly, loud and completely lovely little girl! I definitely think she spoke some very wise words there and her mums should be very proud. In fact we all should be, and most definitely are, proud.
She was also asked if she would like to appear on a future TV show called ‘My Life’ which she was very excited about. Again it is a show following Alternative families and sounds very exciting.
Tiggy kept saying ‘This is the best day of my life!’
I think she’s a star in the making!
The news video can be found below with her adorable quote, another cute boy and a book about Penguins! 😀
From Cinderella to King and King
‘Till next time!
Liebster Award
So I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award (ok so it was quite a while ago but I’ve only just decided to actually post about it) by CherryBlossomTears.
I wont lie, I usually don’t like these kinda things, they just remind me of the silly facebook things of ‘like if you agree if cancer is bad’ kinda spam posts. (I mean really, who doesn’t think cancer is bad? It’s just rediculous)
Obviously I know this isn’t exactly the same as that, definitely not as stupid, and when thinking about it I decided this is actually a good way to share facts about yourself for others and to maybe learn a little bit about the blogs your following. So here I am, answering my 5 questions and trying to think up some random questions to ask other blogs!
The Five Questions for Me
1.Where do you find inspiration?
In a variety of places. Sometimes I look at a fabric or bead and think ‘Oh, that would look amazing like this!’. I also love looking at nature and the shapes and feelings it creates (this is a theme I will be working on more in the future once my seamstress skills have improved, I already have designs drawn up!). The final inspiration, I guess, is my boyfriend. I can’t not include him as he was the inspiration behind my best selling item, the Minecraft Creeper tie!
2.How do you beat the blues?
Usually by either keeping myself busy or sitting down with some green tea and a big bar of chocolate! My boyfriend is also great at cheering me up with cuddles and spoiling me with treats.
3.If you could be a magical creature for a day, what would it be and why?
I’m tempted to say Unicorn just because they’re so pretty and prancy! But lets face it, being a dragon would be freakin’ amazing! I’d get to fly around shooting fire out of my nostrils all day!
4.What would be your ideal holiday?
Holidays where I get to explore, go on hikes, meet the people, find little unknown spots. I’ve been on several holidays with Explore and have absolutely loved them! I think the next big place I want to go is Africa, on Safari. Ash is originally from South Africa and still has family there he hasn’t seen in over 10 years and so we were thinking of starting to save up for a trip so we can visit them (although we need to be earning more money first!).
5.What does creativity mean to you?
Creativity is exploring your mind and letting it come up with something that is truly your own. I believe it can be found in all aspects of life and in everyone, it just manifests itself in different ways and isn’t always noticed.
So the five blogs I’m going to nominate are:
My Questions for You
1) What is the first thing you do in the Morning?
2) If there’s one craft you would like to try, what would it be?
3) What did you want to be when you were younger?
4) What do you tend to procrastinate over?
5) Where is one place you would like to visit?
For those with blogs chosen for the award– copy and paste the award in your blog. Tell who nominated you with a link to my blog. Share five random things about yourself and then answer my questions. When that is all done, nominate five bloggers that you follow and send them the rules, creating five new questions for them to answer along with their random things. 🙂
Sisterly Memories
Festive Sisters
I personally believe it’s quite important to be close to your family, maybe not necessary, but important. I never thought I was all that close to my sister when we we’re growing up and was pretty certain that the knocking out of my two front teeth and releasing the car seat so that I smashed my face into the dashboard were definitely done on purpose, but recently I have realised I was wrong. We we’re in fact very close, it’s just neither of us realised it. She swore blind that she hated my guts and I would have been convinced I was adopted if I’d never seen a picture of my father. How ever, as we’ve grown and we’ve seemingly become closer, I’ve started thinking about my childhood memories and realised that we we’re actually close all along.
Here are a few of my favourite sisterly memories:
Sea Otter
My family were lucky enough to go on a lot of holidays. One particular holiday my sister and I were playing in the sea and I noticed she was floating in a way that made her look like a Sea Otter. She asked what kind of noise sea otters made and I replied with ‘I dunno…mip mip?’. This lead to a lot of laughter and we even found a song (Island in the Sun by Weezer) where we decided the beginning lyrics we’re actually ‘mip mip’. I love this song and sometimes listen to it just to remember this moment and giggle to myself.
Another classic holiday moment. My mother shouted ‘Pose!’ and this happened.
Miracle Cures
In primary school my sister caught chicken pox and then happened to give it to me. She felt bad about it and so baked a cake with smarties on top to resemble spots! I have my doubts as to whether she actually felt bad or just wanted cake but it still cheered me up immensely.
Another time she made me a tasty treat was again when I was ill. I had come back from an investigation at the hospital and the actual procedure somehow caused me to have really bad migraines for a few days after. One day my sister came home to find me in bed, curtains closed, duvet above my head, in the middle of the day. She obviously knew something was wrong, it was in fact probably one of the worst migraines i’ve ever had. She knows I just love pudding (i have a ridiculously sweet tooth) and she also knows I love bananas in custard and golden syrup. Because of this she decided to mix them together and made a glorious concoction of banana, custard AND golden syrup. It was so incredibly sickly and I felt so ill that it took me over an hour to eat. She kept checking on me and complaining about how little I’d eaten as I groaned from under the duvet, but eventually something in that bowl started to work it’s magic and the migraines I’d been having for several days suddenly disappeared completely. Ever since, when ever I’ve had a migraine I’ve made a bowl of banana and custard with golden syrup (at least when i’ve had the ingredients) and it has worked every time. Plus it really is deliciously sweet!
We couldn’t help but stop the car when we saw this hilariously rude sign.
Naughty Choir Girls
When we were younger we went to church a lot. I say a lot, I mean every sunday. I don’t think I really believe in religion now, and the sermons were reeeaaally boring, but I did love to sing in the choir and still do (although I only go to church occasionally when I go home). However for a child church really is the most boring place on earth and so we often found other ways to amuse ourselves, secretly so the other members of the congregation still thought we were the little angels we tried to pretend we were. This often resulted in us pulling funny faces at each other and mouthing conversations, normally trying to make the other one laugh to get them into trouble. Normally my sister won as I idolised her and found almost every joke of hers hilarious. We also had a few hymns that still make me laugh out loud to this day, my favourite of these being 2 lines taken from George R. Woodward’s : This Joyful Eastertide. In the last verse you will find these words:
‘Till trump from east to west,
Shall wake the dead in number’
Being young and silly we took this as a smelly fart that was so bad it even woke the dead. I don’t think either of us have ever managed to get the whole way through that song without laughing.
The old choir days. See if you can guess which one was me. Hint : I was a little chubbier
Of course there are many, many more moments which I just can’t think of right now. I am so glad I’m not an only child as I not only would have missed out on so much fun and laughter, and the occasional fight, but I also have missed out on having her as a best friend. I know she’ll always look out for me as she has done in the past, and she is also very supportive of my crafts. She always reads through my documents, most recently the CV, and helps me to improve. I really do appreciate her and hope I can be just as much help to her one day.
But that’s enough of this soppy post (although there might be one about my mother in the near future), it’s time to apply for jobs!
Have you got a sibling you’re extremely grateful for? Or do you have someone else who supports you in the same way? Or do you have any funny family stories or in jokes?
I’ve been a little busy…
Sorry for my terrible blogging, this last week has been a little hectic to say the least.
We all love a little Risk
Last weekend we visited some of Ash’s friends and had a nerdy weekend away in the midlands.
We ate chinese take away and played Lord of the Rings Risk into the early hours of the morning and generally had lots of fun.
Yellows defending their territory.
We have also been rearranging our flat as we’ve just bought a new desk for the grand price of 99p! We decided there wasn’t enough room for the both of us on one desk and that, even though it would be a squeeze, we could just about fit another desk in. Ash found a desk on ebay which is very similar to the desk we already have, just without the bookcase attached to the end. He bid on it and ended up being the only bidder! Lucky us!
So much room!
We picked it up yesterday and tried to figure out how to fit it in. We’ve finally settled on moving our desks in front of the window and next to our bed. This makes that side of the room very cramped, but the side with a tv is now lovely and spacious, perfect for playing my kinect! 😀
We haven’t quite finished setting everything up (we have far too much stuff accumulated for such a small flat! It’s ridiculous), but when we have it’s should be small but far easier for us both to get on with our own things. Finally I’ll have lots of room to sew!
I moustache you a question.
I’ve also been on a few nights out, one with work, another with my sister with lots of movember madness and a quiet drunken pub night with Ash. All we’re very fun and left me feeling a little worse for ware the next day.
Work drinks are always fun.
I do have lots of fun posts planned for future, including a make-up tutorial, some tips for your CV and many more helpful things! I just need to get round to writing them…
Until next time!
Make-up tutorial teaser!
A Wedding in the North
As you will know, if you read my last update, i went up north as I was invited to a friends wedding in Lincoln!
I went up a day early so that I could see another of my friends who also lives up there. I hadn’t seen her in ages and so we had a nice girly night with nibbles and cocktails! Her house was full of paintings she’s made, I have my eye on a couple of them (i just need money first!)
If you’re interested in her blog and paintings then you can find her here. 🙂
Raspberry Cocktails!
The wedding the next day was nice. Thankfully the weather was beautiful! (It had rained the day before).
The ceremony was very…modern christian. Lots of christian rock and even a powerpoint presentation! Not really my cup of tea (I’m a bit old fashioned and prefer the old style hymns), but still lovely. It’s hard to make a wedding ceremony bad lets be fair. The reception afterwards was gorgeous! It was in a hotel with some beautiful grounds. Photo’s were taken outside in the sunshine and then we all went inside to eat. There was pork (as though it had been pulled off a hog roast) and lots of salads, wedges, couscous. Everything was delicious!
With the Bride
The speeches were wonderful. All quite short (at least for wedding speeches), but still packed with humour and emotion. Exactly the kind of speeches needed at a wedding. No one was bored, everyone was a laughing, many getting tearful. The best man wrote a poem, an extremely funny and tearjerking poem. Even the bride, who is definitely not a cryer, admitted she welled up. I would say his was the best speech out of all of them (although all were perfect!)
The rest of the night was spent flitting between rooms. Outside there were lots of benches and was perfect for sitting down and talking, although it did start getting very chilly. Inside there was a room set out with tables on one side and the other had room cleared for dancing. Lots of tunes were played ranging from old cheese to rock and even lots of dance tunes. Very good for getting people of all ages up and dancing! The was another room inside as well with lots of comfy sofas. I ended up on one of these sofas near the end of the night and very nearly fell asleep.
Gorgeous Table decorations
All in all a wonderful day.
The day after I thought I should go visit my mum whilst i was nearby (or at least closer than London). Unfortunately I could only stay for a day but I did manage to cram a lot into it! I walked my aunts dog, visited my grandparents, helped my mum buy an outfit for a wedding she’s going to, and met up with my other aunt and cousin.
Muddy George looking very pleased with himself.
I was actually quite sad to leave and come back down south, but I think Ash was beginning to miss me. Plus I had work the next day.
Hopefully it wont be too long until my next visit 🙂
‘Till next time!
Birthday and Olympic Celebrations
The 27th was my birthday and also happened to be the date of the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Obviously this meant a party was needed. I invited a few friends around, gathered some snacks and alcohol and made sure the tele was on the right channel. We played some fun olympic drinking games whilst watching the ceremony.
The ceremony itself actually surprised me, in a good way. I don’t know quite what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. It far exceeded my expectations. At first I wasn’t so sure, the whole arena looked like a field and, although the performance was good, I couldn’t see how much they could do with the set as it was. But then the towers majestically rose out of the ground and the whole stage was transformed seamlessly.
Then later James Bond goes to see the Queen. At this point everyone in the room were arguing as to whether or not it was really the queen. Then she turned around. We were very impressed. Thinking this couldn’t get any better, we all stared in disbelief queen jumped out of the helicopter! We we’re all in fits of laughter. I’m just sad that they didn’t get a stunt double to actually parachute down.
Then it got even better with Rowan Atkinson appearing as Mr Bean. I was obsessed with Mr Bean when I was younger and I made sure no one spoke whilst he was on screen. I always find it amazing that he can create so much laughter without even speaking. He is truly a talented man.
Eventually we went out and about in Camden and had a good boogie.
Partying in Camden with the extremely attractive boyfriend.
If you read my last post you will have seen that I mentioned that my family had put a lot into the penguin theory. That is certainly very true, they’ve always been very supportive. It was my sister who first got me involved in making jewellery by taking me to a bead shop in Leeds. There were so many pretty shiny things I immediately wanted to make something pretty and bought lots.
When I first mentioned that I wanted to start sewing it was my mum who bought me my first machine last year. Just a small, cheap (for a sewing machine) john lewis model, but perfect for a beginner. I’m usually not the best at keeping up a hobby (I seem to get bored rather quickly and give up once i find something that’s hard) so I definitely didn’t expect anything more. But for my birthday this year my mum and her boyfriend completely stunned me. They bought me a brand new, full sized, 39 stitch, electrical sewing machine. For them to get together and buy me something it must have cost a lot and I can tell this is quite a good sewing machine. I’m so excited to use it!
Love at first sight!
It’s made me feel really motivated. The amount of money they must have spent on my hobby and has made me realise that I have to keep at it and do well, or more that I can. My aunt also bought me lots of books about selling online and at craft fairs which are proving to be very useful. In fact I think I will do book reviews of them all in the near future for anyone else thinking of buying them.
My family have always supported my sewing, buying things off me (my sister recently bought some bunting, my aunt bought some bibs), complimenting my products, telling all their friends to look at my facebook page. My boyfriend is even helping out, forcing me to do the admin and even helping when i’m stuck drawing a pattern, he really has been a life saver at times. I really am grateful for the support they give me and probably would have given up long ago if it wasn’t for them.
Flowers from my boyfriend 🙂
Yesterday I also got involved with the Olympics! My sister and her housemate had a spare ticket for volleyball so I of course decided to join. We saw the mens Swiss vs Russia and USA vs Poland followed by the Womens Australian vs Austria. Unfortunately we had to leave then as the others needed to get up early and so missed the last match, but it was an amazing experience! The atmosphere was electric and the players were brilliant. Lots of dancers came on during the breaks and got the whole crowd moving. Definitely was an exciting experience and I’m delighted that I had a chance to go.
Spectacular view
On the way home we actually saw the swiss team going back to their hotel. We congratulated them on their win and managed to get a photo with them! They were super nice guys (and extremely tall!), definitely backing them for a medal.
For now though, I have books to read and a sewing machine to learn how to use! (I haven’t tried it yet as I’m reading everything in the manual before I touch it)
So until next time!
Womens Volleyball
Just about Settled.
So we still don’t have internet fter being messed around rather a lot. First they told us the wrong date, then they didn’t even show up, then they decided they didn’t need to as we already had a line installed, now they’ve realised there’s a ‘fault’ in our line. They should have fixed it before the 5th but I don’t know when tht means we’ll actually have internet. Hopefully it will be sometime soon, i’m feeling very cut off from the world.
Our window
In the meantime i’ve been sorting out the mounds of belongings we seem to have and have been working at my part time job in a weatherspoons (where i’m currently sat for the free wifi). I have a few projects in line for the sewing machine which I will hopefully get cracking on with soon. This hopefully means that there will be an explosion of new items to upload when I finally have my internet sorted.
The 'Kitchen'
I did go back to the north briefly to pick up the last of my things (such as my microwave) and met up with friends and family whilst there. I got there last saturday night and went for a meal with friends (one of whom was going back to uni in plymouth the next day) and then from there went to another friends house for a catch up over wine. They’d just moved in and done lots of decorating and really made it their own. I hadn’t seen either of them since uni and it was so nice just having a nice chat with them and finding out what they’re up to, it was like we’d never been apart.
Clothes area
The next day i went back home and had a big roast with my family. Why is it that mum’s cooking always tastes so much better? After the meal my cousin performed some magic tricks for us which were actually very impressive!
Celebratory chinese!
I promise the next update will be a little more exciting…Or at least i hope it will be.
Till then keep smiling!
Bedding!!
