Update! What I've been doing lately!

The other day I realised I had worked 21 days straight without a day off. So it's not surprising I haven't had much chance to blog recently. In between all this mad working, working and working, I have also managed to make time for some fun stuff too. Here's a pick of the best bits of my life recently.  (Sadly none of them involve sleeping which is the one thing I could do with more than anything right now!)

Laura's Crafty Bay Shower

My friend Laura is 'due' next week and last weekend she held a crafty baby shower around hers. She was donated over 30 plain white babygrows a few months ago and decided she couldn't bare to have such ordinary clothes. So she dyed half of them and then invited lots of friends around to help decorate each one with fabric pens, applique, drawings, paintings, doodles etc. She ended up with a room full of original art work and will have the trendiest baby ever thanks to her fashionable new wardrobe. Mine was a 'Bollywood Star' theme where I foiled on sparkly letters which involved an hour of ironing. You can't quite see it in the picture of me above, but I also enhanced it with colourful stars. 

Fancy pants

As I never managed to complete the pants I started to make in the fancy pants class for my hen do, I returned to finish off and made these fab 'big pants' which double up as  great hotpants. The Japanese fabric has white bears flying in hot air balloons on it.

Chinese New Year

I ran two chinese themed workshops at the Geffrye Musuem, including making these traditional lanterns with chinese writing on - first time I've ever tried writing chinese characters although due to lantern restrictions the text is not vertical as it should be.

Asiana Bridal Show

Back in January I attended the biggest Asian bridal catwalk in the country to report back on the trends for 2011.

Backstage gossip

I went backstage to find out more about how the show is put together and  spotted supermodel Mehreen getting her jewellery fixed in place as well as got a better look at the clothes:

Coraline boots

The only item I bought in this year's sales are these amazing yellow boots. I wish I could wear them everyday but as they are my newest footwear I'm mainly saving them for special occasions.

Southbank Press trip

This week I went along to a Southbank Press trip where we were treated to a flight on the London Eye and best of all one of my lifetime fantasties was fulfilled -  a trip on a DuckBus! This is a road vehicle that miraculously turns into a boat and travels across the River Thames - amazing!

Valentine's day

I sneakily got Matt a present that I actually wanted for myself, some Marmite chocolate! Luckily he wasn't keen on it so I got to enjoy most of the bar! I also baked 35 chocolate brownies for the office with iced heart motifs but my camera was out of battery so I couldn't snap them before they got gobbled up.

 

New pet

Finally on Friday night I got a pet. She is a 6 week old African Pygmy Hedgehog. I will be putting up proper pictures soon, she's mainly sleeping and all I've snapped so far is this picture of her peering out from her travel box (she came home on the train) to catch a glimpse of her new home. 


Next week is going to be mental with magazine deadlines but I look forward to blogging more as soon as I can! 

Edwardian Bling

On Saturday, The Geffrye Museum held a Love Day that included some Valentines Crafting. I was asked to run a workshop for teenagers inspired by this beautiful Edwardian picture frame. It is absolutely stunning, the photo doesn't do it justice. It's totally sparkly and seems to be resin coated with gorgeous pearly shells and gold dust. I highly recommend visiting the museum to see it in person.

I came up with this concept to make your own version - participants made 'heart shaped' versions to keep with the Valentines theme but I stuck to having my own leaf frame just because I'm so in love with the original.

To make one, you will need:

• Stiff Card
• Black poster paint
• PVA glue
• Thick gold and pearly glitter (looks more like shreds rather than ordinary glitter)
• Mirror card

1. Draw the shape of frame you want to make on the card and cut it out. You will need to use a combination of a craft knife, scissors and possibly tearing by hand to get through thick card.

2. Then cut a rectangle of card so you have two pieces of card in total.
On this smaller piece draw a window in the centre, either a square or oval like mine, large enough to fit your photo in and cut the centre piece out.

3. Draw an edge around the main frame and along the edge of the centre frame and paint these black.

4. Time to get messy. Work on the two pieces separately, coat them in thick glue and then pour on the glitter - get a full coverage by pressing the glitter into place with your fingers.

5. Cut out some shapes from mirror cards and stick these on randomly.

6. Finish with some more detail in black paint.

Voila, your own antique Edwardian frame, perfect gift for a Valentines gift, maybe for someone in your family. My frame has a very old family photo in it!

My Valentines Wishlist!

Hmmmm, with just over a week to go until Valentines Day I thought I would do a spot of online window shopping. These are the lovely homemade goodies I would like to receive if anyone out there fancies getting me a present!

I love collecting hamburger memorabilia. Last year I received a 'Ham Bag' for Valentines - a hamburger shaped handbag, this year, I quite fancy a matching hat.

My most favourite Super Hero in the world is Batman, I have a fantastic Batgirl dress made of yellow PVC it's a clubbing staple although I get very hot in it! This would be the perfect accessory to go with it!

I'm vowing to follow more recipes this year, I'm much more of a bung in a little bit of this and a little bit of that type person, I hate the restrictions of instructions. If I had a gorgeous apron like this to cook in though maybe things would be different? It's fully reversible too - amazing!