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! 

Hello 30s - Day 313 - 330

Day 313:

A pretty little tin of vintage style stamps. These little pretties belong to the lovely Anna. She let me borrow them, so I was able to start experimenting more with texture, in polymer clay, rather than just making canes. 


Day 314:

I started off using the stamps, on a small handful of pieces of Cernit, and quickly became addicted.


Day 315:

These are the baked Cernit pieces, inked up, and drying.


Day 316:

We finally framed the paintings of the chickens. I haven't actually framed any of my work before, so there was a lot of traveling, to and from, Hobbycraft, taking measurements, buying one mount, to check it was the right size, going back for a second, then getting frames to match. I am really pleased though, everything looks so much better in a frame, I hadn't realised. It means that I am now itching to frame everything in sight!


Day 317:

The Cernit pieces finally sanded, and lightly glossed, just enough to give them a slight sheen. I love the rustic look that they have, completely the opposite to my cane work, but probably much more suited to me - yes I am that scruffy little urchin sitting at the back!


Day 318:

So pleased was I, with those initial pieces, that I just had to make more! I was feeling really inspired, so rather than just use the stamps, I decided to make some beads, and doodle on them freehand. 


Day 319:

The finished polymer pieces from day 318. I only have brown, red and green inks at the moment, but I think they look so effective! 


Day 320:

Putting together another zombie cat illustration. Weirdly, I find it so much easier to create an image from lots of pieces, rather than creating it all in one go. 


Day 321:

Taking a photo of the final illustration, to promote it being in my Society6 shop, on my blog. 


Day 322:

Introducing my little vintage button stash. I bought these when we were chicken sitting, in Suffolk. A small cup full, for a £1, which I think is the cheapest deal I have found yet. It was only a small cup, but unlike a lot of places, where I have seen buttons pre-selected in bags, I was able to rummage, and choose the ones that I liked :)


Day 323:

My boyfriend apologises for the state of the plate, he hadn't realised that I intended to show it off. The important thing to realise here, is that is tastes amazing! Spanish chicken with chorizo, and fried potatoes! We shall not talk about how unhealthy it is, ssshhhh! 


Day 324:

Boyfriend and I, drove down to the New Forest for the day. We got up quite early (for us), and were convinced we should go home by 4pm, because it felt like it should have been about 7pm. We had great weather, and stopped first in Lyndhurst, for a spot of brunch, then went on to Burley. Not only did we go for a walk, but we also visited the New Forest Cider shop, (and bought a ridiculous amount of cider), and the Burley Fudge shop. 


Day 325:

I was supposed to be going to a UK handmade meet up, but I was in bed, feeling rough and sulking... as you do. Anyway, as I rolled over in a huff, the sun was coming in through the window, and running through my glass, and it caught my eye. It wasn't anything exciting, but for a split second, rather than feeling sorry for myself, I thought 'huh, that's cool'. 


Day 326:

Playing with threads... that is all. 


Day 327:

I had been having a bit of a clear out, and decided to get rid of a whole stash of old magazines. I wondered if there was anything creative that I could do with them, so I began rolling. 


Day 328:

... and rolling. This is bunch of pages, with glued cocktail sticks, in the corners, drying. Oh and just so you know, at the point of writing this, I still haven't made anything with them. 


Day 329:

Look how big the basil has grown. I'm a proud mamma, I'm not great with plants, but the basil just keeps going. 


Day 330:

Spiced roasted chickpeas. I decided to make these after seeing a recipe on Pinterest. It seemed like a good idea, for a healthy snack, especially as we had a tin gathering dust in the cupboard. They were pretty tasty. There is also a sweet version that I want to try :)