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!