Ribbon Flowers

After watching a tutorial by Donna on YouTube on how she makes lovely ribbon roses, I just had to have a go. My first efforts (from left to right, below) were pretty poor to be honest and I did have a few issues with my glue gun - probably because I've had it for years and used it once!



However, I persevered and the final three were a bit better, although the white one was off centre and the black one covered in glue :) I think it's the kind of thing that needs perseverence and practice to get right - Donna certainly makes it look simple on her video, she is a very clever lady! I can't remember how to link to her video, but I will try and post it up here in case anyone would like to see it. (Excuse the quality of the pics here, but I took them at night and the light was horrible).



I thought that the roses would be nice on handmade mini albums as embellishments, maybe with beads attached? Anyway, I had fun making them...it was good to be creating something :)

Hi folks! Nothing much to report I'm afraid. Have done a little work on my art journal, but nothing quite complete yet. I will post some pics soon though. In the meantime, if anyone can tell me what I can use instead of ModPodge or what I can put over ModPodge to stop it being so tacky, then I would be grateful. At the moment I am putting tissue or greaseproof paper in between those pages I have modpodged to stop them sticking. I am really enjoying doodling and scribbling in the journal but I seem to have lost my mojo a bit - maybe it's all that studying? It certainly leaves little time for anything else and certainly is not conducive to creativity :( I haven't even done any baking!!! Very unusual. Never mind, I'm sure I'll get back to it even if it's a slow process.

Speaking of studying - my results for this last course should be out any day now. Usually, I'm pretty laid back about waiting for them...some folks are constantly checking online to see if they are out yet, but I usually just wait until someone says they're in. This time though, I am a little nervous as the result I get this time will affect my degree classification. I still have one last course to go to get my Hons, but this result now is the one that's giving me butterflies :-/ Yikes. Keep your fingers crossed won't you, mine are (quite hard to type like that actually...).

Oh, a wee bit of news - Miss Lucy has her own blog and you can visit it here - Cookies Cool Creations .

How the Time Flies

I can't believe it's almost a year since I last blogged. Seriously? Wow. Well, things have been busy I guess. Another OU course completed (awaiting results) and only one to go for my Hons Degree - this is what has taken up all my time. With each course there has been less time to spare for anything else it seems - crafting becomes all but non-existent and the urge to be creative has been squashed into submission. But now that there is a teeny break from study, that urge raises it's head above the parapet again! So, I have done a couple of journal pages so far...nothing terribly ambitious is it?...but still, it's something.

Otherwise, life goes on in it's usual way. Miss Lucy is heading from primary to high school this year and Adam grows in height and confidence every day.

It feels strange to post to this blog again and I wonder if I will have anything more to say?

Edinburgh Book Festival

We went back to the Book Festival again this year - we were organised too - took lunch, water and remembered our rain jackets (we needed them!). We were extremely lucky to get a couple of ticket returns so Lucy and Adam could get in to see Jacqueline Wilson and then even luckier when a woman behind me in the queue said she had a spare ticket and gave it to me so I could go in too (and she wouldn't take my money either - nice lady). JW gave an hour long talk with question time at the end and was really lovely. Really interesting and easy to listen too. The only tiny disappointment was that we didn't manage to get Lucy's book signed as she had to limit the numbers due to her health, but we were all thrilled to have seen and heard her. She is teeny!



I also met up with a lady from the Open University (they are one of the sponsors of the BF and had an area there) that had helped me when I returned to study with them 3 courses back. She was extremely helpful to me at that time, although I had never met her in person, and so I was delighted to finally meet her face to face and be able to thank her in person.

After all that excitement, we traipsed in the rain to watch the street performers in the rain at the Mound. I seem to remember it raining at the Mound last year too! It was fun though - the kids absolutely love it.

So, a good day had by all including Dave who even managed to avoid all tram works and find a very handy parking space.

Sock Pattern?

Some time ago I was knitting a pair of socks on four needles with some lovely self patterning wool. I say some time ago, but it was actually July 2008. How time flies ;-) Anyway, I've not got much (any) further forward and have lost the pattern and am trawling the net looking for another.

So, my question is - does anyone have an EASY pattern for a pair of socks? I would much rather begin with something that someone else has actually knitted and can vouch for instead of me stumbling through a pattern that may or may not work (surprisingly, this has happened to me a few times lol)

You never know, I might get further this time :-)

DIY

I hate DIY. Well, not hate exactly, I just loathe all the hassle that goes along with it. All the furniture heaving and towers of books all over the place that are guaranteed to fall at any moment, treacherous toys underfoot and so on. I've been decorating Lucy's bedroom and I'm (almost) finished. It seems to have taken forever but now it is a vision in pink (a surprising choice from the girl who has objected to all things pink and 'girly' up till now) - on one wall is Cheeky Wink - a dark pink, and the other three are tastefully pale in Mademoiselle - oh and traditional white woodwork. Good. I'm not planning any more DIY for a while :-)

By the way, thank you so much for all the comments that have been left regarding my course result. I do truly appreciate every one of them. Thank you. xxxxxxxx

Happy Dance!!!

I am totally gobsmacked and (almost) speechless... I got a Distinction for my OU course A363 Advanced Creative Writing!!!!! I sincerely cannot believe it. But I have checked several times and it is writ large in red letters so it must be true lol. Happy happy girl :-)