Monday with a difference

It was strange trying to think of a topic for this week's Good Mood Monday as today marks the 3 years anniversary of my gran's death. I want to make this post a feel good post but need to discuss a few things first, so bear with me :)

The day I found out my gran died was a Friday, Friday the 13th infact, but it didn't feel like it was terribly bad luck thing to happen. The date didn't correlate with the idea of bad luck; she could have died a week later and it would have still beeen horrible.

I was in Wales at university when it happened and wasn't sure what to do, I couldn't jump on a train straight away, partly because it was about 8pm by that point but also I had uni work to do over the weekend. My first response was to see my friends, to not hide in my room. We decided to rent a film to take my mind off things. Wandering round the rental shop, I struggled to find a film. What film wouldn't make me cry? What film doesn't deal with family and/or death? Which film is totally unrelated to everything that was going through my head? The film I came up with was "Drop Dead Fred"

I LOVED this film growing up, as a child (and adult) with a fertile and somewhat overactive imagination, the idea that your invisible childhood friend could come back and help at the most difficult points in your life was brilliant. Plus, I would argue it is an exanmple of Rik Mayall at his insane best :D The strange thing is, when watching this film recently I finally got alot of refernces that went over my head as a child, making me question why I was allowed to watch this film as a 6 year old. However, I would argue that this film is the perfect pick-me-up for anyone needing to escape reality for an hour or so.

It has become a tradition of mine now to sit and watch "Drop Dead Fred" at least once on February 13th. So after this post, I'll be making a hot chocolate, wrapping a blanket round myself and settling down to watch the movie and remembering how awesome my gran was.

So after that little hearfelt message of love I bring you the real Good Mood Mondays post.
I want to talk about two things, both related to cats.

First the art of cat breading please click this link because every cat in the land must at least once be breaded and the results shared on the interwebs for everyone to see :D









Secondly, and I won't say much on this except Cat Yodelling is epic:

That's me done for today. Hope everyone has a good Monday and an awesome week all round :D <3

Superhero Monday

I spent alot of this weekend thinking about what to blog about for today's post and originally I was going to post about Sherlock and more specifically Benedict Cumberbatch, because if anything is going to help me into a good mood on a Monday it's Benedict Cumberbatch and his mysterious cheeckbones :D

BUT as I was checking facebook this morning I found one of my friends had posted a link to Superhero Valentines Cards. It was so epic that I needed to share.

It really doesn't matter if, like me you are a bit unconvinced by the point of Valentine's Day ( a discussion for another day) because this set is worth it just for the cheesy messages and the fact it has BATMAN AND SUPERMAN SAYING HAPPY VALENTINES!

This makes my inner geek very happy, and my outer geek giggle alot :D

The actual site can be found here so not only is it a fun idea but you too can cut them out and spend a fun filled afternoon assembling classic DC valentines :D

Hope everyone is having a good day, and that's it's a start of a good week.

see you in the future <3

Monday's here again :D

So another week has passed and it's Monday again. Don't worry though because my Good Mood Mondays segment is here to save you from a day filled with bleakness and sleep-deprivation :D

This week I wanted to share a video I found a few weeks ago. It's been making the rounds globally and I can understand why. When I first watch it, it nearly killed me with it's utterly loveliness and sweetness. If you like it PLEASE share it and help the cause. I'll put a link to the web address after it too.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and are looking forward to the week. My task for today is to finish my Jane Austen themed items for the shop :) (photos will be coming soon)

                            
                                     

The link for the organisation is here

Try to have a great day whatever you have planned, and I'll see you in the future!

♥

I'll show you mine, and you show me yours....

Workspace week :)

A big part of my first week back has been spent reorganising my studio. In all honestly I do this every month or so but this time I was gone for a full three months and left my parents with access to it. Last Thursday I came back to this:

  

With my cutting table dismantled and hidden somewhere under the window.

I set to work...first on the agenda was getting some proper shelving. I have lived too long without proper shelves in my studio, so after a quick trip to B&Q I have somewhere to keep all my costume books and various bits and bobs.

Not nearly big enough but at least it's a start :)

Yesterday included a visit to Ikea for storage items including this my new tower of fabric :)

Again, no where near enough space but it's a fun way of storing some of it and being able to see what I have at a glance :)

I also bought this because it's awesome :)










So now after a week of the shop being reopened and finally getting over the jet lag enough to do some physical labour I have a tidy and usable work space even if I am still sharing it with my mum :)

So I want to see your workspace :) even if it's just a desk with a pile of books and a laptop! Share in the comments and have fun :)

♥

Let's start again

I arrived home safely from my Canadian experiance on Thursday. Despite travelling constantly for almost 15 hours and being awake for almost 30 I haven't suffered from jet-lag too much whcih means my plans for reopening the shop today go ahead without a hitch :)

Apart from reopening the shop I'm hoping to start blogging more consistantly, and to help me with that I propose a weekly segment called "Good Mood Mondays" I know from experiance how difficult it can be to get out of bed really early in the morning especially when it's below freezing and still dark outside. Any way the point of this segment is to give a bit of happiness and cheer to your early morning monday starts. I'll be picking things that make me smile, giggle or that I just find sweet. If you have any suggestions I welcome any comments :)

So our first installment is at least a few months if not about a year old but it still makes me smile it's from XKCD and it's about the discovery channel :)

It's so happy and upbeat that it makes me feel better everytime I look at it. Ok so after that little interlude it's back to work I go: lots of things to make and do if I want to earn money in 2012 :)
Hop over ot the shop and say hi! Wednesday's Child Is on etsy

One Year On...

So it was pretty much a year ago I started this blog and even though I haven't posted as much as I would have liked I'm glad I keep coming back.

This year has been interesting in many ways. While some fairly major events have happened, both good and bad; this year has not been a year of complete highs and complete lows, for which I thankful.

One of the major events was me finally graduating from university. I knew from the age of about 9 that I would be going to university so as much as I would like to go back and get a masters of a PhD eventually it feels really good to say I have finally graduated with a 2.1 undergraduate degree. It also marked the end for now of my life in full time education. Apart from the year between college and university when I worked on my portfolio I have been consistently in education for 18 years and I am really ready for the next bit.

Which brings me to Etsy. Finding out about Etsy and deciding to open up a shop made a huge impact on my confidence levels. Come June, I will have been open and operating for a year. To be able to imagine actually making a living doing something I love is incredible and gives me belief in myself and my abilities.

While the start of 2011 was a bit rocky - losing 2 beloved cats in the space of 2 months - the majority of the year was fun. I completed a 13,000 word dissertation (was only supposed to be 10,00 oops ha ha ha) participated in the biggest anti-cuts march ever to happen in Britain and received my first "first grade" in a module at university.

The middle of the year hit a slight bump when on the return journey from my graduation ceremony my family and I were involved in 4 car crash on the motorway. 3 of the 4 cars were written off because of the damage but thankfully other than a few minor bruises no one was hurt. My parents composure and strength through that time was incredible, my brother had been sitting next to the point of most impact on the car and had the other driver hit us in a slightly different place we would have probably lost my brother. The echoes back to his first car accident were frightfully loud.

However, we came through this OK and now my mum has just finished her first term at university doing a fantastic masters degree in Art Therapy while my brother has traveled down to London to attend a very highly acclaimed university for his BA.

The last part of the year has been the most exciting and unknown for me. I had planned to move to Canada for 7 months starting in October and while my plans got slightly changed thanks to Canadian immigration I am now coming to the end of a 3 month trip which has included getting ot meet lots of new people, spend christmas and new year with my best friend and her husband and meeting my gorgeous god-daughter as she said hello to the world on the 18th November.

It has been an amazing experience for me and I am preparing to leave knowing I will always have a home here if I wanted it. It's been incredible watching my gorgeous god-daughter Anne grow up so much even in these 2 short months, from being new born to being so aware of what's around her and watching her learn to smile.

And in a couple of weeks I will be heading back home, my plans include expanding Etsy, working on some interesting projects with friends and saving up either for driving lessons or another trip to Canada. 2011 was good to me so let's hope 2012 is even better :D

<3

quick post 'cause I'm inexplicably tired

I've been very productive this morning. Made a start on both custom orders I have waiting which brings me one (or two depending on how you look at it) step closer to marking them off my do to list for Canada.

As of totay I have only 5 weeks before I hope on the plane over there so I'm trying not to hit panic stations too soon. But in general this is a bisy time as I'm starting to get things ready for the Halloween and Christmas period on etsy. I also have a tonof things to make for presents and clothes for going out there too. But I have my lists so hopefully it'll all go to plan. :)

I was going to end this post by showing you my studio or a picture of our tiny little chicks, but my studio is a mess and it's gale force winds and rain outside and I don't want to venture out :)

Instead here is a picture of my kitty Josephine hoarding her gold :)

♥