It's my mothers...

...and that was the wrong use of an apostrophe wasn't it? My old english teacher, who gave up on trying to get me to spell properly, never gave up on trying to get us all to use good grammar. And for the most part I think I do but sometimes you just have to ask is it 'its' or 'it's'...anyone care to enlighten me?

Anyway, back to the story (ignoring the fact I haven't blogged since july). Almost everything that I get complimented on seems to either belong or used to belong to my mum. Yesterday, I went to a fantabulous dinner party, created by my friends over on http://ionanoo.wordpress.com/ and I borrowed my mums pink party dress which duly got complimented on. I wear all of my mums old jewellery because it is just so cool. I even have some of her old tights! Its almost becoming a catch phrase of sorts - its my mothers, its my mums...sigh! That said, even though I complain, I can't help but plan my next raid into her jewellery box to steal her now untouched but still magnificent collection of bangles ;)

Don't get me wrong, I love my mummy dearest but you get to my age and you're supposed to be breaking free, leaving your parents behind and I'm suddenly finding that I'm wearing exactly the same stuff that my mum did when she was 19! Ah well, lets just hope it is because she is such a cool chick and consequently, so am I :D

Hannah

Distractions....

Well, I have had a fun morning blog hopping - I love seeing everyones work, hearing casual mentions of loved ones, finding a cute new fashion style to find out. Yes, I love blogs. As you can probably tell from the evergrowing list of blogs on my right had side collum (spelling error?) which I think at this point in time surpasses the actual length of posts on this blog.

I think I should conclude from this piece of information that I am embarrassingly nosy. I say this like it is a new conlcusion. It is not. You are talking to someone who on occasions turns off her mp3 player but keeps her earphones in so she can people watch and hear on the bus. I don't do this in a cruel way - I genuinely find it fascinating how people live and behave. I think that is why I love history so much. I once described it as my way of being constructively nosy - I love learning about fashion senses, relationships, lives, food....It never ceases to amaze and ensnare me.

But sometimes, well, a lot of the time really, I get too caught up in looking at things rather than participating. I spend so much time on the computer just looking at others creations, that I never have time to make anything myself. I waste time. A lot. And I'm not quite sure how to stop. Yes, the distractions are often lovely but I need to find a cutoff point, the willpower to say, 'Hannah, you have reloaded that page three times already, stared at that page for 15 minutes and have not learnt anything new. You need to stop.'

Although this is something I need to work on (any suggestions gratefully accepted), I did think of a way to put some of my past misdomeanors (in the nicest possible way) to use. I am sure that anyone stopping at my blog will look at my list and think 'OMG - where can I start.' So I can help - each week, I'm going to be choosing one of the blogs to be my blog of the week. Just doing a post for it, giving it a bit of well earned publicity and hopefully giving some lovely reader (I must have some!) a juicy new blog to have fun with. I'll do a new post when I've got permission to use photos and whatnot (probably tomorrow-then it won't soincide with workdesk wednesday!)...and please do tell if this is something that you would like :)

Crafty Break and Golden Wedding anniversary

Well, I had a fantastic time last week and also this weekend. On monday I met up with a friend and we popped over to Stratford for the day - we went rowing, had a picnic where we were, quite honestly attacked by geese (yet again) and I managed to pick some random game thingy from the pick and mix box at a lovely fair trade store. I think that would be such a fantastic thing for all sorts of shops to do - just have a box, with wrapped up bits and bobs - it would add a lot more fun to shopping. On tuesday I went off charity shopping with another friend. We had a great time perusing the shops for various bargains and we tried out a lovely organic cafe. I had hot chocolate and she a beautiful smelling chai latte....much as I love hot chocolates, I know what I will be getting next time.

Then I went away to stay with one of my aunty's who is one of the most crafty people I know. She creates the most gorgeous bags and broaches and has a little hobby selling these things (a little hobby that has just paid for her to get a laptop - lucky thing!) We had a fabulous time - one of the days we went to Scrap Magic which is a scrap store near Bradford (off the Harrogate Road I think). It is a scrap store but one where you don't need to register to be able to use it. They have a pound a basket offer, which does what it says on the packet. I got loads of fabric scraps, bookmarks, wool....the list is endless.

We also, among other things, went to Texere Mill for a knitting group. However, we could also look around the mill which was just filled to the rafters with wool. We must have sounded completely crazy - going around oohing and aahing over all of this different wool. I know that I definitely picked up a few skiens of yarn and rubbed it to my face. That sounds absolutely crazy, doesn't it? Anyone else out there who can confess to being like us (I'm like that with fabric as well, but thats a story for another day). I also had fun with my 8 year old cousin making flower shapes and swirls out of glue after being inspired by an exhibition piece in Salts Mill, which was a giant hanging created with glue.

On the saturday, it was also my grandparents golden wedding anniversary celebrations ( their actual wedding anniversary is next week). As my nanny has been quite ill, it was just family and two guest and we had a really lovely time. I made the cake while I was at my aunty's - I'm fairly happy with how it turned out but the icing went all gaga and wrinkly on me. Don't they both look super cute, though? I also made a card but like an idiot, I forgot to take any photos of it, which is a shame.

Anyway, I've had a lovely past week or so. And just for the fun of it, heres an ATC that I made for a swap over on craftster. Its entitled clockwoprk and I was looking for a really grungy look - I had a lot of fun with my heat it up tool....I should use that baby a bit more often.

Goodbye for now,

Hannah x

4 months later

So, I managed a riveting total of 5 posts before I once again ground to a halt with my blog. And I am starting, for the millionth time, again. A completely gratuitous decision no doubt but hopefully an enjoyable one. The theory behind this great decision is that, now that I have finished with that great national institution of the GCSE I should have all the time in the world ahead of me.

Judging from the business of the past few weeks the summer, although fun, will most likely not be as calm and quiet as I had predicted (to my delight, I must add). In the past three weeks I have: had a picnic with some friends, where one decided to embark on a love affair with a tree and we were all chased my man-eating geese; visited my aunt wherein I ate magnums, had a bibliotherapy session and drooled over beautiful hand made books, had hot chocolates (and normal chocolates) and had a generally fabulous time in the penines; then carried on to my grandparents and watched carry ons and spent the whole time playing with adorable four week old kittens; had two induction days at a prospective sixth form; went on yet another picnic but with different friends and watched Shrek in 3D, which was actually very entertaining to my surprise as I have never been a big shrek fan; then I had yet another sixth form induction; yesterday, i went to a very sumptuous and tasteful garden party (yes, with other teenagers - more info on my firends blog http://ionanoo.wordpress.com/) where I stuffed myself with cake and got married to a wasp - wodger the fourth, while gazing at beautifully aranged flowers in tea pots. A very hectic time indeed.

But even through that busy period I have manged to do a little bit of crafting. I made an apolgy gift out of inchies to send out with an art journal which I had held onto for way too long. I have also swapped three ATC and am working on some dottee dolls for yet another swap that I am in. As I can't find my camera, however and you haven't heared from me in a long imte, here are a few creations from the back catalogue (any questions, just ask):

*Crochet fingerless gloves, where I was experimenting with crocheting the flower directly into the glove, rather than making it sperately and sewing it on (yes I am lazy)

*A cake created for a friends 16th birthday - the blob in the middle is a heart, and it honestly looked nicer in person.

*Crochet purse, witha lining and modelled by some chocolate bugs :)

So, just a few of the things I've been doing - I will be back to you all soon with more news and crafts hopefully,

Hannah

Charity Crafting

Hi guys,
I'm afraid I've only got a short post for you today with no pics - I've got a physics exam tomorrow so I'm procrasinating about doing the final bit of revision. However I do have a few links for some charity crafting which have a 'sell-by-date' so to speak so I wanted to get them out to you all :D

I've always wanted to do some charity crafting but never seemed to find the time, the charity etc. - in fact I always had an excuse ready. therefore I decided this lent that instead of giving something up, I would try and give something back and do some charity crafting. Consequently I have done a bit more research and found a few more charities that would like crafty support.

I just wanted to share with you this, well, I don't think you can calll it a charity - more of a reaction to the need of action in Haiti. This blog has been founded to send dolls to Haiti for children living in orphanages. On the blog there is instructions for how to make them, inspiring stories and much much more! They have a target of 181 dolls and any extra will be spread out to other children in Haiti. The dolls are being taken out to the children on the 31st of March so if you want to take part you need to shop these out to New York as soon as possible (especially if you are in the UK). They even give you a form so you can claim tax back for the postage costs, so you literally only need to use scraps from your collection.
The pattern from the dolls can be found here: http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/2010/01/dolly-donations-rag-dolly-tutorial-free.html
The blog in general: http://dollydonations.blogspot.com/

Please go and support this if you have any spare fabric/time - even one doll helps.

I've got a few more links, especially for UK crafters and if anyone has any links for me please comment and let me know. However I'll post these all later as I really have to dash and do trumpet practice/physics revision/homework - can you tell I'm rushing? Sorry its been a very wordy post (I did try and put a pic in but blogger wasn't loving me),
Hugs to you all x

A card...

Hi everyone,

Heres a card I got cracking on this evening (I'm sure you guessed from the innovative title :D). I'm not entirely pleased at how it came out....I thought it needed something else and then added the happy birthday in entirely the wrong place - unfortunately gel pen doesn't rub out! I also had a bit of a frustrating time with another card - I just couldn't get it to look right and couldn't find a way to make it work. Does anyone else have this problem? You sit there, shuffle everything about, add a bit of ribbon etc. and the layout just doesn't work?

However on a positive note, I do really like the flower (which turned into a tree :S !) and will definitely make more of them in the future. So waddya think people?

P.S. Please ignore my messy bedroom space!

Stars in my eyes....

Hi folks,

Well, as it is the last day of half term I'm very busy doing a bit of last minute homework - maths, RE, English etcetera. etcetera. Boy do I have some work to do in maths - I seem to have managed to forget everything so for every question of this exam paper I have to look up exactly how to do things again. So the point is, this is going to be a short post before I return to this:

Instead of been doing my homework this holiday, I've discovered how to make origami stars and am absolutely addicted to making these guys. I think they're so quick and easy to dyet look really pretty. I haven't quite managed to make the huge amounts that other people have made (I once saw a swap package where these origami stars were used as packaging to hold everything together - bearing in mind this was a very large box) I have made a little jam jar full. I've also been experimenting with turning them into jewelry and have made a bracelet but no pics of that yet as its going to one of the swaps I'm in. Here are some pics:

Bye for now :D

Introducing moi!

Oh my that does sound terrible doesn't it! Just a teensy little bit up myself - but I guess it works just as well as any phrase. Now a few of you might be a little bit confused, sitting there scratching your heads, staring at the computer screen and thinking 'I'm sure I've seen this blog before'. No, you are not going through a midlife memory destroying crisis - I did use to have some posts on this site. And then along came a broken camera, school work and all those other little things that can get in the way. But all that time I've still made things and read other peoples blogs; so, as I have just purchased a new camera (just an old £80 job, nothing fancy), I've decided to plunge myself back into the blogsphere with a new zest and what better place to start than an introduction.

First things first: I would like to apologise for the overuse and misuse of my camera - I am still a state of euphoria! So, some things about me. hmmm.....

I love skirts. And tights. And boots. Despite having extra chunky legs :D Not quite sure why but I feel a little bit more classy wearing them:

I have permed hair. And its gorgeous ( well it is when I can be bothered to get up in the morning and don't just scrape it back into a bun - like today so no picture). I've also just dyed it purple - not quite sure what the system is going to make of that when I get back into school after half-term.

I love black and white photographs. I always like to look at people and wonder where they're from and whom they loved and what they did. I'm also just discovering the joy of taking black and white photos:


I'm always reading. I read a lot of fantasy books (I have a bit of a love affair with Tamora Pierce - her books I hasten to add ;) especially books retelling myths and fairy stories, and also historical novels and classics (Pride and Prejudice anyone?) Its not uncommon for me to read one or more books in a sitting. For instance, I just read the whole of Troy by Adele Geras this morning.

As well as skirts, I also love jackets. I only have two, both of which were picked up in charity shops, but I wear them all the time. Please don't get the idea though that I'm terrible girly-girly - I hardly ever wear make-up and generally get up a scant 20 minutes before the school bus goes. Here is another picture of me, showing off my delicious brown jacket.

Crafty wise I do papery stuff like cards, ATC and I would love to do more altered books and shrines. However I procrasinate a lot and spend more time looking at other peoples things than excersising my own mojo. I also crochet a lot and you'll normally find some wool and hooks in my bag (what else is the ride to school good for?). I've picked up some knitting needles and will no doubt try that at some point. I also do a bit of sewing and jewelry making - I'm very can do and will just start at the more complicated end of crafting if I see something I want to make.

Ok, so I think that might be enough about me for now. After all, if I tell all then there will be no incentive to read on will there?

Bye for now,
Hannah

P.S. Who can tell me what another of my favourite book series are just from looking at my crochet basket ;)