26th March 2013 :) - PASSED MY DRIVING TEST!

Firstly, apologies for no post in a while, it was a mixture of being busy doing not very interesting stuff, not having anything interesting to blog about, and being worried about said driving test.

But I passed!!!!!! Wooooooo!

So now I can quite worrying about it, celebrate tomorrow with a pizza lunch date with my lovely man, and get on with essay writing. Ok, so the last bit of that isn't overly interesting, but it needs to be done and only a few more weeks left to go.

One thing I have been doing is trying to find some craft fairs to do. I now have three, almost four, confirmed, and another few nearer Christmas in the works. So that is very exciting and I will give you more details when everything is confirmed and sorted completely. Definitely looking forward to taking part in fairs again as I haven't done one in a while :)

I'll try to keep posting regularly over the next few days but my lovely man is coming down for a few days tomorrow so I probably won't be able to post every day.

As a little crafty thing to finish off, here's my first attempt at a paper cut. It think it went quite well really :)

March 22nd 2013 :) - Cabochons

Just realised I forgot to blog earlier today! I've been pretty busy I guess which is why I forgot.

I spent the day in the library which was pretty boring but got lots of reading done. And I got there at 8.30 this morning, too early to be studying for my liking! But oh well, got some work done so that is pretty handy.

Had a busy evening photographing cabochons, answering questions for an online magazine feature (More to come on that sooooon!), and carrying on making my colourful seed bead bouquet. It still only consists of one flower, but got five more ready to make up tomorrow. Can't wait to get some of the colours together :D

Now for the main point of this post - cabochons! These are what I have been working on recently. I was challenged by a lady called Sam to make her some fun and large-ish cabochons. I'd never made any before so it really was a challenge to get them to work.

I started off with polymer clay, but didn't like the way those turned out so started again by covering some ultra light clay in plastic. This worked sooo much better! Have a look at these beauties which will all be on their way to their new home very very soon :) I can't decide which is my favourite... which is yours?

March 21st 2013 :)

How on earth is it possible for my room to have got out of hand AGAIN? I hate having a messy room yet I always let it get out of control.

It's as soon as I get my crafty stuff out. Then chaos happens and I end up trying to do work in a space about 6 inches square!

A quick blitz will have to go on my to do list for today :)

Yesterday was pretty successful! I got a bunch of stuff done, and did two and half hours in the library where I actually managed to read and understand a whole article, and I figured out how it will relate to my essay. Huge relief! I need to attempt to read the other paper today, and also got other uni reading to do.

After I successfully did uni work, I came back, watched Hairspray (Have you seen it? It's very colourful and happy and just a bit of fun really! It took 2 weeks to arrive, silly post! But it was worth it when it did arrive.), and carried on with the cabochons I've been making. They're going really well and are about to enter the final stage of their creation, hehe! Had a bit of a setback, but I figured out how to get around it.



After I did a bit on those, I started making a very colourful french beaded flower bouquet :) After I made the one for my mum, I decided I would like to make a really colourful one. So I bought some pink, orange, yellow and blue beads and got started on the pink flowers while watching The Holiday (One of my favourite films! I think I must watch it at least once a month and I don't think I could ever get bored of it. If you haven't watched it and you're a fan of happy, chick flicky type films, you definitely need to see it!). I got petals for three flowers made, and one flower completely finished. I don't think one flower quite makes a bouquet, but it's a start :D



Happy Thursday everyone, nearly the weekend!

March 20th 2013 :)

Yesterday was pretty hectic. I made a to do list and told myself I wasn't allowed to make anything until I'd done everything on the list. So I actually knuckled down and did everything on the list, including spending a very boring but productive three hours in the library.

It was actually quite nice to get some stuff done. I've been finding it really hard to concentrate on uni work since, well since I started uni really! But my motivation has got worse as uni as gone on, and now the end is in sight my motivation seems to be at an all time low! So to actually get some work done made me feel like I'd achieved something. Now I just need to do the same again today!

After the boring stuff was done I was able to carry on with the cabochons that I've been challenged to make. They're looking pretty funky at the moment. I've got three on their way to being done but they need to be sealed so I can't show you yet! But when they're all shiny and finished I will definitely show you. I hope you'll like them :)

So today's challenge to myself is to read at least one article, if not two. I'd like to spend another three hours in the library and get as much read as possible.

I just wish the library looked like this!

Picture from here.

March 19th 2013 :) - Ink Playing.

Mondays are long, and notoriously boring. But Mondays at uni are very almost done, only one more left!

I had a couple of lectures and a seminar, but those weren't the interesting parts of my day.

For lunch I made sandwiches. I cut my bread, got it all sorted and put it together. turns out my bread was cut just that bit too thick - the sandwiches ended up about 3 inches thick! Oops! Tasty though :) I do love fresh bread.

Then in between my second and third classes of the day, my housemate and I went for a wander round the lake at UEA. It was so sunny and such a pretty wander which was nice. A very good break from lectures.

The evening was very slow until I decided at 9pm that I decided I was going to get my inks out and have a play. Possibly a tad late to start playing but oh well! I've had a request to make some cabochons, and as I haven't made any before I've been playing around with ideas before making something for real. This is how far I've got so far - plastic and ink. It's hard to get the ink to do what I want it to to make it look nice and I did have one disastrous attempt, but this photo shows the four pieces that I am happy with. Now I just need to make them into cabs without ruining them! Fingers crossed!

 

Today I neeeeeed to get work done. At least some reading so that I know where these essays are going to go. You'd think that the thought of only having a month left at uni would make me do the work and get it over and done with. Quite the opposite, it seems that I just don't want to do it anymore! Unfortunately I need to get these essays done, but after that, and in a month, I can stop worrying about uni for good (well, until results!) and enjoy a few months off before job hunting. The end is in sight, I just need to get my bum in gear and reach that end!

Have a good day everyone :)

March 18th 2013 :) - Mother's Day Flowers

I had a lovely Saturday with my mum. We went shopping and had a wander around Hobbycraft and then the normal Tesco shop that we do when she comes up :) As we were going round we realised that that would probably be the last shop mum did for me while at uni! The three years have gone crazy fast. And we noted how my first ever shop at uni where I bought everything needed to make food interesting cost around £45. This shop we did cost £40 and it wasn't even half a conveyor belt full! Can't believe how much food prices have risen.

I also gave mum her mother's day present finally. She loved it! And that means I can finally tell you what I've been up to :)

I have started learning how to make french beaded flowers, and made mum a bouquet.

Got a busy day today so I will leave you with some photos of the bouquet. I'm very pleased with it, and even happier that mum loved it!

March 15th 2013 :)

Bit of a later blog post today. I've had absolutely not motivation or want to do anything today, it has been highly unproductive! Which now means I have to do a bunch of stuff this evening - not clever!

Yesterday I did quite a good bit of tidying and decluttering! Got rid of about 4 bags of rubbish, and found a bunch of stuff to give away to peeps so it was pretty successful. Not completely tidy, but a lot better than yesterday morning :)

So this morning was unproductive, then went to uni for a bit, then came back to wait in for a lady who was picking up some craft storage from me.

What a palava! The lady couldn't find my house to start with, and then her car broke down right outside! She came in with her son and had a cuppa to warm up and wait for the AA man to come fix her car. We had a natter though and eventually she got back on the road, craft storage drawers and all!

That has been my day in a nutshell.
I may not be able to post tomorrow - my mum is coming up and we are going to do a bit of retail therapy, wooo! Then got a pizza date night with my housemate which will be really nice :)

Phew. Right. I better get cracking with the things I should have done earlier, oops!

I shall leave you with one of my all time favourite photos - Meet Bert, who has just got out of his bath.