Radio Cafe, BBC Radio Scotland

Check me out, I'm going to be on the radio!



For more information, or to listen in during or after the broadcast, just click here.



The last time I was on the radio was in Nashville a couple of summers ago, when I was here for the evening:

And the time before that, it was co-presenting with this guy, when I was a radio DJ back in my student days...

Twitter

Oh yep, and I'm on Twitter now. Just to be clear about me being ahead of the curve, I was on it before Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry were talking about it on TV on Friday night, and before the management consultant at work on Friday asked us to show hands if we were on it.

I was the only one out of 100 who put my hand up. But the others might have just not wanted to tell anyone...

In other news, I updated the shop a little bit today, with new paper products. As ever, these can be customised to your heart's content, are super-upcycled envelopes, which used to be envelopes and thought they were going into the bin.

Happy Burns Night

2009 is official homecoming year in Scotland - everyone is cordially invited to 'come home' and celebrate everything that Scotland has to offer. I'm just home from attending an event at Glasgow Cathedral to mark the launch of homecoming, which officially runs from today until St Andrew's Day.

I was particularly surprised to note the company name of one of the participants in the concert - Joann Gilmartin, originally from the same part of Glasgow where I'm sitting right now, runs Glasgow Girl Enterprises out of California. Sounds eerily familiar! I hope some of the young performers from the concert go on to similar exciting ventures in future, I was very impressed by the standard of singing, recital and playing of traditional instruments.

Had I known in advance that the event was going to be streamed live on the internet, I would have let you know, but until I find someone who has recorded and is hosting it, why not enjoy some haggis, neeps and tatties and look out a few lines of Burns yourself?

What I did at the weekend...

Our little car went in for a service on Friday and needs a part to fix its gearbox. So we were reliant on Shanks' Pony yesterday and we decided to have a walk just along the road to Glasgow Green, and the People's Palace. I've been to the museum a few times before, but not in a little while, and it was a lovely day so I tore up my to-do list, got the fiance all motivated with a promise of a pub lunch and off we went.

By the time we'd walked, ooh, all two miles, we were ravenous, so first stop was West, which is technically our local, if you don't count football-related pubs (we live next door to a football stadium). It being a Saturday, I indulged in a chocolate fudge cake and I was not disappointed.

After stopping to admire the disused railway station, our next stop was the museum. The People's Palace is dedicated to the life of the everyday Glaswegians, way back into history, and right up to the present day. I'm fascinated with social history, and particularly enjoyed the air raid exhibit and the example of the one-room living from tenements at the beginning of the last century, about the time when my own tenement flat was built. It also put me in mind of the tenement museum in Manhattan, which is a must-see. We have our own equivalent in Glasgow, the tenement house, which I'm still to visit even though I'm into my 8th year of living in this city.

Of course, crafts are never far behind when you're thinking about social history, and there were a great couple of examples of upcycling from back in the day - a footstool made from powdered milk tins bound together and upholstered, and the traditional crocheted rug made from old sheets and clothes that you see all over the world.

I even picked up this postcard...

Today we're not so lucky with the weather so I'm having a day of crafting - I worked on a new project last night which I'll be sharing with you shortly. A good friend is singing at the Cathedral later during an afternoon of celebrating the poet Robert Burns, so I will be popping out to that later.


Hope you have had a fun and productive weekend, wherever you are!

The new office

This is the new, finished, room! It's become a home office, so that on the rare days when we get the opportunity, the fiance and I can work from home - not at the same time, though. It made more sense to turn it into an office than a craft room, it means the fiance can have his little minimalist haven, and I can spread my craft stuff all over the house! Well, not quite. I have bought a couple of the HOL storage units from IKEA and have managed to keep most of it packaged away.



We're still working hard to get the last waifs and strays of belongings to where they belong - if you've ever combined two households into one flat, or inherited a home, or done a full house move, you'll know what I'm talking about.



One day, I hope I'll have a walk in closet for my crafty inventory, a bit like the one I reappropriated when we were away at Wheen Farmhouse. Until then, I still have this picture...

Oops!

I just realised I mentioned the Christmas tree brooch I made for Secret Santa at work, but didn't post any photos.

Let's put that right straight away:

This went to my colleague Karen, along with some super-delicious lemon cookies I found the recipe for on OhFransson! I made a practice batch the night before and they went down a storm both at my office and my fiance's place of work. Warning: you get a lot of delicious and moreish cookies out of one batch!

I've been updating my etsy shop this morning and lurking in the forums. I always learn something new when I'm in there, and today was no exception. I've started to use 'oops' as a tag in my store for the not quite perfect items, as I heard this is the done thing right here on this thread. Since updating my tags, I've had a lot more views of my broken hearts listings. I hope someone can find some use for them, they are still so pretty, just not quite perfect.

Well, it's a rainy Saturday afternoon, I've done all my chores and I'm going to go and put my feet up and read the paper. I have a party to go to tonight, so a bit of pampering is in order.

Still working on the destashing

And here is the latest item to come fresh from the stash:



A simple double rib scarf and hat for my friend's little girl, who turns 2 any day now. I've really enjoyed working with the spare felt from the Christmas tree brooch I worked on for my Secret Santa. There's something about little tiny hand stitches and putting lots of care into every one. It's not a task I can do on auto-pilot, and I notice and enjoy every minute.

New craft room in progress

Here's the before (above), and current (below) photos. The after photo will be here some time in the next fortnight!

Happy New Year

New Year means new products, and here are some napkin rings I designed and made, ooh about an hour ago. Made from what used to be a NEXT handbag, that served me well for five years until my ginger cat, Kipper, used the handles as a teething ring. Grrr. I'd love to hear your comments...

There are only 4 more days to submit upcycled projects to the Extreme Craft Creative Reuse project, so if you've been crafty and made some new stuff out of old stuff lately, click here and get involved. They are hoping to showcase 1000 items, and looking through the submissions folder, there are plenty of extra spots still available.

Get creative!