Merry Christmas!

Sorry the blog has been a bit quiet over the last part of the year, that should all change in the New Year. 
As you can see the Christmas Festivities have begun here! 
Merry Christmas everyone! 

Lucky Girl!

If being whisked of the Edinburgh, being given a shiny engagement ring, and having a bundle of presents wasn't enough, last weekend, I was up in Warwick having my first bridesmaid measurements taken, and collected more fab goodies from the lovely Gayley lady, and creative soul sister Rach :) I am one lucky girly, so I thought I would quickly share with you :)  I have a brand new mustard bag, so I can look like a real lady about town. Kenzo Flower Tag, which I just love. An Orla Kiely mug, that I simply must use whenever I am doing anything creative, because it makes my desk look cool :) and my first piece of Tatty Devine - ruby slippers, just call me Dorothy and show me a yellow brick road! Have a great weekend everyone :)

Edinburgh Birthday Weekend & Engagement

Still playing catch up with the blog, the days are just running away. It has been a couple of weeks since Edinburgh, but I thought it would be nice to share some of it with you :)

First stop, when we arrived in Edinburgh Friday afternoon, was Camera Obscura. So much fun! It took a while for Mr.J. to find the magical, childlike wonder in it all - yes we all know tricks with mirrors, yes we get how things work, but we also have imaginations, and are able to believe it is all magic, just for a few hours :) I loved the Vortex Tunnel, did the turning tunnel mess with my head and make me think that I was falling - yes it did, super fun! :)

From the top of Camera Obscura

 Mr. J. Looking a little unimpressed...

Mr. J. getting into the swing of things :)

Singing cats :)

Mr. J. at the top of Arthur's Seat. He was going to propose right there, but there were too many people around - (see person in background). It was buzzing with people climbing everywhere, would have been quite embarrassing :)

Views from the top.

On the way down.

We went back to our hotel so Rob could change shoes, and he gave me this :)

We went out for food and drinks to celebrate.

 On our last full day we wondered around Edinburgh. 

On Calton Hill

Final morning, it is my birthday. We eat scones, and drink, proper, thick hot chocolate, in Princes Street Gardens. We find a load of cool little galleries and shops that we had previously missed, and watch some weaving. 

Birthday treats on my return home. 

Hello 30s - Day 362 - 365 - That's it folks!

Here it is, the final installment, following the last few days, of the 365 day 'Hello 30s Project. I have enjoyed doing it immensely. Although I will never win any awards for photography (or ever intended to), it is nice to be left with a visual diary, that represents the last year. True, there isn't an awful lot of 'sitting on the edge of your seat excitement', but those things don't happen on a daily basis, some days are just, you know, days, but they are still just as lovely in their own little way. So here they are, the final days, Day 362, 363, 364, and 365. Enjoy :)


Day 362:

All packed and ready to go on the Thursday night. Rob had decided to take me to Edinburgh for my birthday weekend. I have never been to Scotland before, so it was all very exciting. We had quite an early Friday morning start though, so had to be organised, and have everything ready :)


Day 363:

By Friday afternoon we were looking over the rooftops of Edinburgh. :)


Day 364:

There was some walking involved (more on that in another post), and I thought, being in Scotland, that it was only right that I took a photo of some thistles. 


Day 365:

The Scott Monument, in Princes Street Gardens, well the top part anyway, I was a bit too close to get it all. You can walk up it, but after a fairly long walk the previous day, we didn't really fancy 287 steps, maybe another time :)


That is it! The end!


Maybe you are curious about my favourite days over the last year. Looking back over them, has made me realise just how many awesome days I have had, I feel so lucky! Here are literally just a few. 


Day 1- 5 - The Lake District for my 30th birthday, such an amazing place, and gorgeous accommodation.
Day 56 - Meeting up with Lyds, Liz and Trent at the Tate Modern, and seeing the Ai Weiwei installation, Sunflower Seeds.
Day 61 - One of numerous InMe gigs, that I went to throughout the year :)
Day 87 - pleased as punch, at the success of the giant rainbow cake I made for lyd's birthday. Even more impressive was that I managed to keep it on my lap, for the car ride over to their house. 
Day 91 - Christmas with the Johnson family - I am so lucky to have been so warmly welcomed into this family over the last 6 years, and they do Christmas so wonderfully, it is an absolute festive pleasure!
Day 105 - The Pudding Club, part of my birthday gift form Gayle and Lyds. Gluttony at is finest, I have never experienced anything quite like it.
Day 147 - Celebrating Lyds 30th birthday, with Lyds, Gayle and Sam, making cocktails at the Peacock Bar. :)
Day 224 - Celebrating Gayle's 30th with Gayle and Lyds, quaffing champagne and drinking tea, at an afternoon tea at The Athenaeum Hotel in Mayfair.
Day 245 - Going to Chessington with the Jones family. We always have fun, when my sister and her family come down to visit :)
Day 273 - Mark Watson at The West End Centre, Aldershot. Maybe the hardest I have laughed all year!
Day 286 - The whole of our week in Suffolk was glorious, but I was really drawn to Southwold. 
Day 363 - 365 - Well I couldn't miss Edinburgh could I???


And my absolute favourite day? 
Day 364, the day Rob proposed :) (More on that, Scotland and my birthday, coming shortly). 

Hello 30s - Day 331 - 361

Right, get ready, this is the update, of all updates! It is bumper!! There are only four days of the Hello 30s project left, and you will get that, at some point next week, so I wanted the rest up to date. Take a deep breath, and make sure you are armed with a cup of tea, and a chocci bicci!

Day 331:

New nail varnish. I blame the Joy the Baker podcast, Joy has a thing about pretty nail varnish, and it turns out that enthusiasm for painted nails is contagious. This image makes them look a nice teal colour. To be honest, they look better on here, in real life, they looked more green... interesting... but still green. Can't complain at £1.50 a bottle though, even if it did peel easily. Don't underestimate the importance of owning a bottle of clear, top coat, varnish... if, you know, you are likely to get drawn in, by all the pretty nail varnishes. :)


Day 332:

Remember those sticks of rolled magazine pages, that I haven't used? Yeah, you do! Well, I tried to roll some of those magazine pages into whirls too. I started making some kind of dish with them, with a balloon and lots of pva glue. You think to yourself, "I can roll paper! I can glue stuff together" - FACT - No you can't... well not as easily, or as neatly as you would like anyway. Every time boyfriend checked out my progress, it was one of those cringe moments, like you had as a kid, when your parents told you how good that splodgy painting/dollop of mushed up clay vase was. Hmmmm. Currently trying to find a spare spot in a cupboard somewhere, for my unfinished masterpiece, that I give up on, for now, but, refuse to give up on entirely. :)


Day 333:

I was planning on spending an afternoon creating another zombie animal illustration, until I realised that I had no backgrounds left. I spent the next 3 hours cutting my fabric into pieces, and ironing it. I never iron. It wasn't a fun experience. It is also one of those thick fabrics that likes to keep it's creases. There was some elbow grease, some spray, some steam, and some fabric sticking to the iron ( ;/ I told you - I don't iron). However, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I discovered that I could rub a bar of soap onto a warm iron, and then wipe away all the horror, that had become stuck to the plate - Hurrah for the internet!


Day 334:

Homemade broccoli and stilton soup :)


Day 335:

Finally started the illustration that I needed to fabric for. It was a bit fiddly, the tree is made from wire, and I wanted hearts and stars hanging from it, so tied lots of threads onto the branches.


Day 336:

Mr McGregor Pies! Mini vegetable pies, so cute, and very tasty! The recipe I found on Pinterest, can be found here. :)


Day 337:

Another photo, for the blog, to promote the latest illustration, in my Society6 shop.


Day 338:

Some days, the only thing that will help are Gummi Bears... bouncing here, there and everywhere... see, the tune is in your head, and it is making you smile a little bit :) It would have been more effective if this was a giant pile of Gummi bears... but I only had 3 left, when I finally remembered to use my camera.


Day 339:

New garden table and chairs, kindly passed onto us, by boyfriend's folks. Boyfriend worked hard oiling it, so that it will have some protection against the coming winter.


Day 340:

Cookies! Not a great success, they spread a bit, and cooked a bit more than ideal, but they were still full of shortbread tasty goodness!


Day 341:

I found out that boyfriend was taking me away, so I had to dig the passport out :) 


Day 342:

There have been a fair few picture of my plants, but as I looked up at my window, on this occasion, I felt quite proud. It was like I had my own little jungle. 


Day 343:

Added some more products to my envelop shop!


Day 344:

We bought a compass, as part of boyfriend's dad's birthday present. I would have shown you inside, but I couldn't work out how to open it (it turns out, it was just a bit stiff, but I didn't know that, and I didn't want to break it).

Day 345:

First signs of autumn, conkers!!! I love autumn. I love conkers, and I love pumpkins... and squashes in general, anything remotely autumnal actually.


Day 346:

Cutting out... again... I do a lot of cutting out. This time, felt!


Day 347:

Okay so we cheated, we bought a garlic flatbread to use as a base, and just added the topping, but these roasted vegetable pizzas, were surprisingly good! 


Day 348:

Reading matter. It is totally okay to like fantasy fiction and biscuit tins.


Day 349:

Boyfriend. Shining like a pretty star! You can tell how impressed he is at having his photo taken. He was off on a bike ride, with his dad and brother, to raise money for the local parishes, where his folks live. 


Day 350:

You may recall, in an earlier blog post, a little golden retriever puppy? Well she is not so little anymore...

...and has some odd seating habits :)


Day 351:

A new stash of vintage buttons!


Day 352:

While we were over at boyfriend's parents, they let us have a whole stash of apples from their trees. So now they are all sliced up, and in the freezer, ready for crumbles and pies this winter! 


Day 353:

Did I mention that I love Autumn? I love seeing trees, and plants, several different colours at once. Magical!


Day 354:

Smoothie. I  have spent a week trying to cut down on carbs (I love pasta, and bread, a bit like I love autumn), so thought I would have a smoothie for lunch... using some of the apples, that I hadn't frozen - there were a lot of apples!!!


Day 355:

Baking texture mat... except I didn't want it for baking, I wanted it for my polymer clay. I thought it would be nice to work on the mat, when I make decorations, and things with flat backs, just to make it look a little less plain. It works brilliantly. 


Day 356:

Pork, mustard, and .... apples!!! :) Wanted to try out our new big heavy pan. It would be nice if it was Le Creuset, but it isn't, it's Sainsburys. Still it did a grand job! 


Day 357:

I can't stop making little textured bead items!


Day 358:

Or inking them up!


Day 359:

The beads from above, finished.


Day 360:

Then I made more! This time I included some of my penguin decorations. They will hopefully be popping into my Folksy shop, at some point next week :)


Day 361:

The last lots of beads, inked up. Now I just need to get round to sanding them :)


Apologies if there are lots of mistakes and mishaps in the post today, I have a tired brain!