Saturday, 31 March 2012
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Live day in the life...
I've lost track of where we're up to with Day in the Life and have a busy day ahead of me so I thought I'd have a go at blogging what I'm doing as I go. Today is my last child free day before I return to full time work, so I absolutely have to maximise it! Check back and keep me company...First of all, I've been having a coffee and reading a free magazine, where I spotted my former colleague, Rachna, and her amazing Indian food. If you haven't already sampled her Bombay street food at various farmers' markets around the central belt, I can totally recommend it.
Next on the list is to scrapbook all my wedding memorabilia, so I can go from this...
To this...
Time for another cuppa first... Which reminds me, I have a contest to enter over at www.blu-shed.blogspot.com
For the first time in about three years, I'm completely out of glue tape, so my scrapbooking efforts are on hold for the time being. And nothing goes back in the box the same way as before, so I think we could chalk this one up as a deferred success! It was lovely to look through my old wedding cards, though!
I've tidied the living room and kitchen and put the dishwasher on, next up is sorting through a container of supplies...
And look what just arrived! At long last! I'll update the shop shortly: www.girlindustries.etsy.com What an apt photo of Laurafallulah for today, it's lovely outside.
Lunchtime!
The actual petrol station where I had my first ever job was on the lunchtime news. Exciting! This is what mobile blogging was invented for, clearly.
So I've spent the afternoon at the post office, in the supermarket and browsing Red magazine. There's a lemon and chorizo chicken roasting in the oven, along with patatas bravas and a herby salad ready to assemble.
After collecting the baby and having some play time, the little one went to bed and I had dinner with my husband. I had a look at a couple of new treasuries on etsy featuring my work, then watched an episode of The Wire (we're late to the party, halfway through season 3). Today wasn't the most productive, but I had a very relaxing day, and there's always tomorrow...
Next on the list is to scrapbook all my wedding memorabilia, so I can go from this...
To this...
Time for another cuppa first... Which reminds me, I have a contest to enter over at www.blu-shed.blogspot.com
For the first time in about three years, I'm completely out of glue tape, so my scrapbooking efforts are on hold for the time being. And nothing goes back in the box the same way as before, so I think we could chalk this one up as a deferred success! It was lovely to look through my old wedding cards, though!
I've tidied the living room and kitchen and put the dishwasher on, next up is sorting through a container of supplies...
And look what just arrived! At long last! I'll update the shop shortly: www.girlindustries.etsy.com What an apt photo of Laurafallulah for today, it's lovely outside.
Lunchtime!
The actual petrol station where I had my first ever job was on the lunchtime news. Exciting! This is what mobile blogging was invented for, clearly.
So I've spent the afternoon at the post office, in the supermarket and browsing Red magazine. There's a lemon and chorizo chicken roasting in the oven, along with patatas bravas and a herby salad ready to assemble.
After collecting the baby and having some play time, the little one went to bed and I had dinner with my husband. I had a look at a couple of new treasuries on etsy featuring my work, then watched an episode of The Wire (we're late to the party, halfway through season 3). Today wasn't the most productive, but I had a very relaxing day, and there's always tomorrow...
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
More clearance items in the shop...
I'm seriously getting down to tidying and reorganising my craft space this week and came across a stash of these moo business card-sized envelopes that I made quite a while ago. In the interest of making way for new stock, I'm discontinuing them at a one time special price over at my etsy store.
The print is so lovely and bright for spring - they are also ideal for a neatly folded note (the written or money kind) as an Easter gift if (like me) you're not that keen on chocolate!
Monday, 12 March 2012
The end of the line for train tickets
Grab some of my train ticket gift tags while you can! The UK government is talking about doing away with printed tickets and introducing smart cards for the entire network, just like the Oyster card system in London. Read more about it over on the BBC news website.
I only became a car driver at the age of 29, having always lived in major cities with excellent transport systems I never really saw the need to drive. As I got older, I decided it was another life skill that I really should get under my belt
Before that, I used public tranport all over the world on my travels and one of the things I love to collect are used tickets. I love the variation in design and format from country to country, and I hate that in some places (including the UK now) you don't get to keep your ticket any more. The traditional design of British train tickets harks all the way back to the days of British Rail and before, and everyone knows that Brief Encounter is the most romantic film of all time, even those of us who, ahem, haven't seen it. Well, I'm more of a Taking of Pelham 123 kind of a girl, myself. Yes, even the remake (which is surprisingly good, honest). Oh and Money Train, which reminds me that I have a very small stash of old subway tokens somewhere, from my first trip to New York in the 80s when, amongst other nicer things happening, I got caught up in this at the station underneath Macy's. Of course I have a PILE of more recent metrocards hiding away waiting to be scrapbooked, too.
But anyway, back to the train ticket gift tags. I have quite the stash of tickets to turn into tags still available, but even before they are withdrawn, they are getting harder and harder to come by. The advent of ticket collecting machines and over-zealous conductors who deface the tickets to prevent fraud - I haven't seen a date stamp or ticket punch in a long time, now it's just biro and bad handwriting - mean that I get fewer and fewer tickets in reuseable condition, despite my long commute by train most working days. I have around 100 in stock and ready to post, so large orders can be accomodated. I'd love to see my tags used as place markers at a trainspotting couple's wedding, or a special dinner for a steam buff. I first started making the tags because I love foreign travel and travel tickets of all kinds, and there has to be at least one other person in some other part of the world that feels the same way!
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Hello everyone, it's been a while...
A combination of poor weather (so therefore terrible photos), spending time working on new products and prototypes, having to go to my day job, look after the family and even do a bit of socialising (I went to the theatre in February and the pub in March - that's a big leap forward from my one night in the pub in the whole of 2011!) so the blog took a little backseat for a couple of weeks while I got my house in order, literally.
So the craft room situation is still unresolved, but I've been eBaying surplus supplies like mad over the last couple of weeks. It's still the very definition of "worse before it gets better" right now, I mainly craft elsewhere in the house and use it as a dumping ground between the odd naptime or evening crafting session. I really want to change this, as the room has the best light for photos in the whole house, and the best light for working, and as the nights are starting to get lighter I want to make the most of this. Years of eBaying have led to me collecting way more packaging than I need - just in case - and I have been trying to resolve this by finding better ways to send things in the post. I try to upcycled and reuse wherever I can, but some of my best online shopping experiences have been when items arrive looking just like a present so I am trying to be selective, and mindful of the quality of the packaging I use.
February was one of those months where EVERYTHING broke down, too, so the amount of admin that goes into fixing stuff like the car, the roof, the washing machine, the doors is quite astounding. Lately I've noticed more and more that people you want to hire to fix stuff are incredibly hard to find. They don't answer their phone, and then when they do, and you make an appointment, they don't turn up. And then when they do turn up, they can't finish the job all in one day. I've heard a lot of people saying the same thing recently, it's so annoying. And time-consuming.
In the interest of moving stock from my craft room and out to the real world, I've been replenishing the collection of goodies that I send to Vertiline in Love down in Sheffield, do stop in if you're in the area. The shop is housed in the Nicholls Building which sounds like an amazing place to visit and go shopping.
I still haven't done my scrapbooking and I have BIG IDEAS about doing my garden, I really miss growing veg and now I have a much larger space of my own to do it in, I really need to get cracking. However, my new product list is finalised and now I'm up to my eyes in making, experimenting and refining before I can share my new range with you in April. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of something very very new!
So the craft room situation is still unresolved, but I've been eBaying surplus supplies like mad over the last couple of weeks. It's still the very definition of "worse before it gets better" right now, I mainly craft elsewhere in the house and use it as a dumping ground between the odd naptime or evening crafting session. I really want to change this, as the room has the best light for photos in the whole house, and the best light for working, and as the nights are starting to get lighter I want to make the most of this. Years of eBaying have led to me collecting way more packaging than I need - just in case - and I have been trying to resolve this by finding better ways to send things in the post. I try to upcycled and reuse wherever I can, but some of my best online shopping experiences have been when items arrive looking just like a present so I am trying to be selective, and mindful of the quality of the packaging I use.
February was one of those months where EVERYTHING broke down, too, so the amount of admin that goes into fixing stuff like the car, the roof, the washing machine, the doors is quite astounding. Lately I've noticed more and more that people you want to hire to fix stuff are incredibly hard to find. They don't answer their phone, and then when they do, and you make an appointment, they don't turn up. And then when they do turn up, they can't finish the job all in one day. I've heard a lot of people saying the same thing recently, it's so annoying. And time-consuming.
In the interest of moving stock from my craft room and out to the real world, I've been replenishing the collection of goodies that I send to Vertiline in Love down in Sheffield, do stop in if you're in the area. The shop is housed in the Nicholls Building which sounds like an amazing place to visit and go shopping.
I still haven't done my scrapbooking and I have BIG IDEAS about doing my garden, I really miss growing veg and now I have a much larger space of my own to do it in, I really need to get cracking. However, my new product list is finalised and now I'm up to my eyes in making, experimenting and refining before I can share my new range with you in April. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of something very very new!
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Normal service will be resumed... shortly!
We've had a house full of ill people! I am in the process of getting caught up, laundry first. But my blog is on my list, and I'll get to it. I thought February had been a tricky month, but March has rushed me off my feet...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)