a gorgeous Christmas stitching workshop

Last Tuesday evening saw the postponed stitching class at Writtle Village Hall. Sharon, Helena and Georgia were on hand to help us with the evening's projects, a reversible notebook cover and a robin-on-a-heart tree decoration. I haven't finished my robin yet, but here are some pics from the evening:

Chosen fabrics (this is the hardest part, there's always a basket full of pre-cut pieces, and they're all beautiful... picking just one from all of them is impossible!)


Ready to draw around


Naomi in the middle of hers


Stitched, turned inside out and showing my two gorgeous fabrics


Stitched up with a lace & button bookmark added


Sewing embellishments on the cover & inside


Finished! (and yes, I know it's a shocking photo but I was busy stitching, what can I say?!)


It was a fab evening, I swear crafting works as therapy! Very excited about the 2011 dates planned, there are lots of exciting things coming up to make :)

Ravelry - woo yay!

Today I joined Ravelry.com... how have I lived without it this long?! My ongoing 'gypsy' blanket has gone into my project notebook on there, and I'm hoping I'll trip over some friends there, I know of at least two people that use it :)

In other news, the wind is insane... I don't ever remember it being this strong, I don't think! Hoping poor Poppy survives the night, I don't think the soft top will stand up to a tree falling on her :|

Having a bit of a rough week so have retreated to bed with a happy playlist on Spotify, some knitting (to practice for the squares I'm doing for Nikki's baby blanket), a book about greyhounds and a bottle of wine... good times :)

beginning-of-the-month things I love :)

• The Paperie online stationery shop: quite literally, heaven on a webpage;



• My bargain towels from Anthropologie (well, actually from TK Maxx, which I also adore, but they’re made by Anthropologie…)


• MR2 ROC's immense helpfulness when my tyres unexpectedly made me lose control of the car last weekend… a girl couldn’t possibly wish for a more helpful bunch of blokes;


• Kat Williams’ RockN’Roll Bride blog – I’m a complete addict, it’s inspiring on many levels (as a blogger, as a photographer, as a jeweller) and it’s just a wonderful way of spending time;


• My dremel, even if it does mean sanding my own fingers from time to time. I bought it mostly for its sanding properties but it’s enabled me to drill dominoes and Scrabble tiles to make necklaces, which will hopefully sell as well at my fairs this month as they have done at work and among friends;


• Galaxy hot chocolate from Slice, the café across from work – it’s like drinking proper melted chocolate and it’s the best pick-me-up on a cold or stressful day


• SMINT spearmint mints, everyone on the enquiry desk is addicted to them, but the ones we like the most only seem to be sold in Asda;


• Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson – it’s finally here, I finally have my grubby little mitts on it… and so far, it’s wonderful! I’m not the only mad person out there, I know at least one friend who bought it and took the afternoon off to start reading it. So there.


• Last but very definitely not least, the friends I’m so lucky to work with, who have been beyond wonderful this week, I’ve been a bit emotionally fragile and they’ve moved mountains* to accommodate my unexpected tearful moments. They’re always fabulous, but have been even more so in my time of crisis.

an antique trunk, a bride and a giant polar bear

It's been a bit quiet over here on the Craft Experiment... but I've been as busy as a busy thing in the meantime :)

Last weekend Julia and I popped out to Halstead Antiques Centre and came back with a gorgeous but rather large antique trunk. My car is not built for transporting passengers and large objects at the same time:

I've also been to my friend Janine's wedding, she was a very beautiful bride:

(that's me on the right and our colleague Sue on the left)

There's been a giant polar bear at work for a few weeks (he's gone now, we miss him - we'd named him Iorek after the bear in Northern Lights)

Not much in the way of crafts going on, sadly... a couple of cakes have been made but mostly I've just been running around meeting myself coming backwards. I have plans in place to try and rectify this over the next few months, so we'll see...

As I haven't updated for a while, and I managed to rescue some photos from my old laptop that I thought were gone forever (lesson learned - back up EVERYTHING, frequently)... have a picture of my gorgeous Harriet when she was a puppy, the first time she saw snow :D

And just before it ends, here's a pic of me with my Arts Trail exhibition at Chelmsford Library :)

a quick test from my phone

to see if I can blog on the move!

Resolutions, revisited.

I discovered my list of new year resolutions while trawling through the contents of my old laptop the other day, and thought it might be interesting to see how I'm doing with them so far. Here goes:

Write more letters

I’ve not written as many as I’d hoped, but certainly more than last year. 6/10

Keep note of interesting/difficult/hilarious customers and incidents
Again, not as in-depth as I thought I would, or as frequently, and have lost some due to the notes being on tiny bits of paper, but overall I think I’ve kept track of the best ones! 8/10

Make a book of beautiful and inspirational shops & places
Haven’t even thought about this one yet, let alone done it. Maybe next year? 0/10

Visit National Trust properties
Have been to two, one more than once, and plan a few more before the year’s out. 6/10

Catalogue my books onto LibraryThing
I had such high hopes of doing this when I’d moved in – maybe by the end of the year I’ll have managed it? 4/10

Set aside time once a month to update LiveJournal
I haven’t actually even been to the LJ site in the last three or four months, so I think I can safely say I won’t be using it in the foreseeable future. In my new happy state I don’t need it to vent so much and I don’t find it as user friendly as it used to be – my friends’ posts don’t seem to be easily available as they used to. 0/10

Take more photos
Inadvertently, yes – mostly due to the weekend in Bath and needing to photograph DF stock, but yes, more than I’d expected to be able to. Still rubbish at uploading and filing them though, and definitely need to upload some to the Youthnet Flickr group before the end of the year, or there will have been no point offering my services. 6/10

Blog once a week
Not quite once a week, but more regularly than I expected. Plan to improve this before the end of the year. 5/10

Meet up with some ROC members
First meet was CAE 2010 which was, for me, an incredible success – next meet is bank holiday Monday and I think that’ll be just as good. 10/10

Go to at least one live show
Went to one in Northampton on 3 January and haven’t made it to a single one since – may have to re-enter this resolution in the next show season. 10/10 for the one live show as it was 90 miles in ice and snow in a RWD car, but 1/10 for failing to attend any others this year.

Rescue my belongings from storage/take a road trip in a van
My stuff is no longer in storage! Admittedly there are a few bits in the living room it would be really nice to shift soon, but I have all my things back and I did one solo road trip in a giant red van called Velma, and another one to London in a smaller van with Julia. Almost exactly how we planned. 10/10

Start & attend a craft club, or join a knitting circle/club
Joined Kitsch at the outset, have missed a few meetings but I love it and have even provided them with a book club! 9/10

Knit something
Hmm, so far not so much, I have patches for a blanket and plans to crochet some amigurumi animals, if that counts? 3/10

Make presents & cards for Christmas and birthdays 2010
Ok, so this one I’ve failed miserably at, I’ve not even managed to send cards to most people for their birthdays. Next year will be the year. 0/10

Get Folksy, Etsy & Misi shops up & running
Folksy has some items for sale, Etsy shop exists but has no listings and I’m not even registered on Misi. 2/10

Go to at least four craft fairs as an exhibitor
Having been accepted to Hylands monthly fair, starting in September, I have a fighting chance of achieving this before December, assuming all goes to plan! 6/10 so far.

Rescue and upcyle found objects & things from charity shops
Bangles, vintage buttons, rescued clothing & scraps of lace – I’m on the right tracks! 8/10

Learn to use resin and/or silver clay
This isn’t going to happen till I have more money & time. 0/10

Make an item of clothing
Hmm, may need guidance from Lou on this one. I have however made a patchwork wall hanging and two cushions. Halfway there?! 5/10

Collaborate on something artistic or crafty
Chloe’s tree charms for my bracelet sort of count, but I’d love to do something bigger that counts as an actual project. The Bibliocraft exhibition also sort of counts. 5/10

London days
I can’t actually remember the last time I went to London. Epic fail. 0/10

Reinvent wardrobe/chuck out stuff I don’t wear
I did this quite effectively during the move, but would love to add some more eclectic stuff to what I own & wear. 7/10

Bake a cake for work
A giant cake, ginger biscuits AND brownies. And it only took till my year anniversary of being here! 10/10

Make cupcakes
I’ve definitely done this this year, and brought them to work too, but I’m not sure I’m a cupcake kinda girl now I know I can make proper big cakes! 9/10

Do the 50/100 book challenge & keep it up
Hit my 103rd book last night so definitely a success. 10/10

Visit Stonehenge
So near, yet so far. Not yet, may have to sneak to next year’s list. 0/10

Do the long overdue trips to see friends around the country
Sarah G, Ian, all six of my uni girls, Toria – doing much better than I expected this year! 10/10

Remember birthdays
Oh god, let’s not talk about how many I’ve forgotten. 0/10

Make jewellery etc for Ali & Jo’s weddings
Yep! Made a bracelet I wore to both and had a valiant effort on customising my mini hat fascinator 9/10

I'll review again in December/January, when I'm writing my list for 2011!

Looks like...

the Craft Experiment has expanded to include baking! :)

Bourne Mill, Colchester

bourne mill
Originally uploaded by creamykiwi

So yesterday was a typical lazy Sunday till my parents phoned and said they were going to see Bourne Mill at 2ish and did I want to join them there. It's in Colchester, I could hardly say no because of the long drive!

So I did, and it was unexpectedly beautiful! Mum has all the decent pictures on her camera, but here's a quick one I took of the weir and the trees surrounding the water that drives the wheel... you'd never guess the place is surrounded by houses these days!

Am quite impressed with the quality considering it was taken on my phone, too... not so much impressed with my composition though, I need to work at that :P

books, reading and suchlike

I’ve been thinking for a while it would be nice to challenge my reading habits and see if I can discover something different to add to my regular reads. Working in a library obviously gives me endless inspiration, and my desk is piled high with bits of paper on which I’ve scrawled the names of books & authors I’d like to some day read.

However, when it comes to choosing books to take home for the weekend, or dipping into books at lunchtime, there’s a definite pattern of what Sharon calls ‘fluff’, i.e. undemanding chick-lit, fantasy and young adult fantasy.

So inspired by the Reading Group Toolbox which I’ve been working with in recent weeks, I’m going to use some of their game suggestions in my own reading, and then blog about the results.

Ready… steady… GO!

PS I'm up to 85 on my 50/100 books challenge 2010, and have numbers 86 and 87 on the go simultaneously! :)

Seriously, where does the time go?! I made a resolution (yes, another one) to update this and the Ducking Fabulous Diary at least weekly, and to add to the Almost-Librarian whenever relevant things happened, and yet this hasn't been updated since 5th July...

I'd say I have no clue where my time has gone, only I know exactly where it's gone... building bookcases, sorting out boxes, an exploding laptop, washing and driving backwards and forwards to pick up all my last bits from home.

However, the flat now feels properly like home, Jules is coming back on Saturday night, I hope she likes the stuff I've done with it! I haven't hung much more art, thought I'd wait at least for the living room to see what we both feel like :)

In work, everything's insane but good, we're just so very very busy!

In photography, I picked up my camera today for the first time in absolutely ages... this is something I'd really like to get back into properly, I miss the whole process of taking photos and the community on TP (I feel another resolution brewing, how dangerous that could be!).

In jewellery I'm doing more fixing than making, but have finally submitted my completed application for Hylands House fair, and I'm now the proud owner of £5 million (yes, FIVE MILLION POUNDS) worth of public liability insurance. I hope no situation arises where anyone feels the need to sue me, to be honest!

In model horses, two of my favourite customs to date arrived yesterday from the exceedingly talented Chloe at Slightly Triangle, I'm very excited as one is a holy grail of a resin. Squeee! Pictures when I've worked out how to take them in this quite frankly abysmal light... energy saving bulbs are all very well, but at this rate I'm never going to get any daylight photos taken!

I had Wednesday off and discovered Dunelm Mill and rediscovered The Range - honestly, i could spend a small fortune in each shop! After being told off in Dunelm for carrying a roll of fabric around (it was an end, it really wasn't that heavy and I was being so careful not to hit anyone with it!), I got a bargainous and beautiful fabric which I later used to cover a notice board, and a little TV table, because we've not yet got a coffee table or a dining room table and the lack of somewhere to put my drink is driving me INSANE. From the Range I came back with a pastel blue non stick ladle (come on, everyone needs one), a cupcake recipe book holder (again, essential stuff), a cushion, a new duvet cover set and a pinboard. And two brushes, as Mum has nicked my decent decoupage ones.

And in between all of this I managed to fit in the Fling, which was glorious, and a camping weekend with my car club, which was equally glorious if slightly less glamorous! Was the first time I'd met most of the mr2 lot, and they're wonderful :)

Right... early start tomorrow, am possibly stupidly taking the car to work, so will be leaving at daft o'clock. Must remember to take G's necklace, my laptop, the DVDs I owe work...

expansion

In view of my vast array of hobbies & interests, I'm expanding this blog to include cookery books, photography books and any other sort of book that takes my fancy along the way...

:)

(I know, I know, I struggle to keep to the craft theme and just generally waffle. But at least this way it stands a fighting chance of being relevant!!)

three weeks today!

O.M.G. Three weeks today, I'll be settling down in my new flat to sleep for the first time. Oh no, wait, I lie, I'll be settling down in a student room in Loughborough, having spent the day moving into my new flat in Colchester. Damn having to collect things I put into storage TWO YEARS AGO!

However, it's very exciting that in just three weeks, I will finally have the home of my own I've been dreaming about since I finished uni - it's only rented and it's only for a year to start with, but it's such a wonderful concept that I've even stopped worrying about how I'm going to manage financially, it's just so exciting!

And I'll finally be able to get Ducking Fabulous going properly - having somewhere I can leave everything out to work on regularly is going to be brilliant. This blog might even, shock, horror, have the odd post about things I've made from craft books I've bought/borrowed/been given!*

So yes... three weeks today I shall get the keys for our flat. Julia can't move in till the following weekend, which is kind of sad, but kind of good because it gives each of us a fighting chance of actually being able to find all our stuff and put it in our bedrooms. Or something.

Right, off to book a van and a room at uni - eek! 

*for new readers, this blog was originally intended to be just that - all about the things I'd made from inspiring craft books. But I got sidetracked.

packing carnage

I had no clue I had so much STUFF! The craft supplies are a big part of what I'm trying to pack, but honestly, moving out and trying to decide what to take and what to throw out is so much harder than I thought it would be.

I had a short internet break (lasted three days, lol) to try and focus some more on getting everything out of the living room and into boxes, but I've not got that far... and I've succumbed back to Twitter & Facebook. Damn.

On the plus side this means Ducking Fabulous might get a blog post or two, and the car got cleaned during my absence, and as I'm home alone (parentals are away in Dubai, hence me being able to take over the living room for days on end) it's quite nice to be able to talk to people.

While looking for boxes today I stumbled across some gorgeous fabric :D Bought half a metre each of this http://www.clarke-clarke.co.uk/design.php?hdnCollectionID=60&hdnDesignID=33&hdnColourID=433 and this http://www.clarke-clarke.co.uk/design.php?hdnCollectionID=60&hdnDesignID=98&hdnColourID=429

So excited - if I do nothing else tomorrow, I'm going to make something with them :D But if I'm going to do that I need to clear the decks, the debris of my life is EVERYWHERE...

vintage and new

I'm talking about acquisitions for my new abode, of course... the other day, in addition to the camera, I also picked up this gorgeous little coffee set (not that I drink coffee, but hey, who's checking?)

and then while trying to avoid traffic in Tesco the other evening (I know, my excuses for shopping get lamer by the day), I found this, and it was the bargainous sum of £3.60!

I think it fits perfectly with my vision of my new kitchen :D Along with the bedspread for my room and various bits and pieces I have planned (either to make or to buy). Squee!

I haven't abandoned the experiment...

It's just been a bit madly busy, that's all! A whole month since my last post... which is shocking, actually, especially considering that not that many of these posts relate to the original aim of the project. Which was intended to be to make at least one thing from each craft book that inspired me.

However, although I still plan to do that (more so after the move, I hope... ), this has definitely spurred me into writing more and crafting more, which are both unintended but rather nice side effects of starting the blog!

Anyway, more soon - I'm off to visit Toria's lambs (well, teenage sheep - sheeplets?) at the weekend, so next Wednesday is probably the next available day for photographs and blogging and gasp shock horror, maybe even making things!

My life is mad, I love it but I do sometimes wish it would be a little calmer...

Lookbook.nu inspiration

LOOKBOOK.nu: "Prom..." by Marta K

I've just discovered Lookbook.nu - I think via Lara Jade on Twitter - I'm not that into fashion but the photos are all so gorgeous it makes for very inspiring browsing :) I wish, wish, WISH I had more time to browse things like this, and more time & talent to create equally beautiful photos! This look, entitled 'Prom' by Marta K, is one of my favourites so far!

jetsetting madness

Wheeee, it's time for Italy! Poland was gorgeous, I'll write about it properly one day (I have insanely detailed notes in my diary, managed to keep it up for the four days we were there, so I'll see how I get on on this trip!)

Today I have driven down the M25, forgotten quite a lot of stuff, re-packed, dragged Hannah round town to do all the stuff I hadn't done before due to being disgustingly ill on Friday & Saturday, got a Santander person to explain confusing charges to me, reluctantly paid said charges, panicked about my engine management light, realised there's no need to panic until & unless it actually comes on, got very excited on Naomi's behalf because she got the job, faffed and chatted a lot, eaten chocolate and am now curled up on the sofa very much debating bed!

Only I can't go to bed till Hannah's finished packing, lol! Hopefully tomorrow will pass without incident, but I'm waiting to see what British Airways say about their strikes etc... is all rather infuriating when there are so many people out there without a job at all. Sigh.

Craft-wise, I'm inspired but not actually able to make very much at the moment, my jewellery and card-making materials & tools have all been packed away into two enormous boxes at the end of my bed. In theory I can get them out whenever, but in practice I think I'll be lucky to have them out at all except to finish the musical notes commission, and then I think it'll all have to wait until I've moved in with Jules.

Thinking of doing an existing jewellery post with the stories behind some of the jewellery I wear on a daily basis over on Ducking Fabulous, and maybe interviewing one or two of my friends about their favourite pieces too. It's always nice to see and hear about people's influences and likes and dislikes, and often special pieces of jewellery have stories behind them, where they came from, what they mean, what their sentimental value is to the wearer.

Latest obsession is crochet, the lovely Naomi taught me on Friday lunchtime and I love it so much that I'm taking a ball of cotton, a crochet needle and a book (called the Happy Hooker - brilliant!!) to Italy with me, for any quiet moments. It's the first time ever that I haven't taken a fiction book away with me, this time only the Happy Hooker and two rather lovely photography books are coming. (I haven't abandoned jewellery making, it's just these two are rather more practical in my current situation!)

Right, enough waffle for one day,  I shall blog on my return from (hopefully sunny) Italy!

C x

spring madness and creative admin

It's been absolutely silly in my life over the last couple of weeks, I'm not entirely sure why, but since I turned 24 I haven't had five minutes to do anything!

I popped down to Wokingham to celebrate my birthday, and 20 people came out to celebrate with me, some of whom I hadn't seen for years, so that was suitably gorgeous! :) Then stayed with my dear friend Lou of Contrariety Rose for a few days, which was wonderful - we did a day trip to Brighton for market research, inspiration and a daft amount of yummy food, and spent a day sorting out our websites & Facebook fan pages (for our shops, not for ourselves, lol) and also got to drive around in Poppy with the top down, and take some completely gratuitous photos of her at California Country Park, heehee!

It's always lovely to be around Lou, but especially so this time as we're both at similar stages with the trying to convert a hobby we love into something that makes money - I'm nowhere near an actual business yet and neither is she, as even when I sell it barely covers my materials, but it's so indescribably nice to sit and do essentially boring admin stuff like website editing and Facebook setup next to someone doing the same, so you can bounce ideas off each other, instead of having to make a special phone call when you think of something big that you need to discuss. But was lovely to do creative admin instead of boring admin, and saved me trekking my entire jewellery kit down south in my very lacking-in-storage-space car!

I also think, while my parents have been incredibly supportive, that it's rather lovely to have someone my own age around who has dreams & ambitions which are just as wild and big, rather than ones that have been numbed by the realities of life.

Oh dear, I'm in waffle mode, aren't I? I'm not sure I dare to update the Almost-Librarian, because I've been in such a stonkingly bad mood for the last day or so that I might just hurl abuse at customers through it! (Mind you, that's better than hurling abuse at them in person, I suppose).

More craft-related, I have joined a knitting group! It's called Kitsch, and it meets in a pub in the evenings, which can't be bad! Was a bit nervous about going, but turned out Wednesday was the inaugural meeting, and it's very informal, just sit and knit and chat :) and the girls that came were all different ages, but all absolutely lovely. So hopefully I'll be able to carry that on even after I move to Colchester - I could always bring the car to work twice a month, couldn't I?

And now I must go and type up my notes from yesterday's training, and see if I can make it short enough so I don't bore the other EOs to death...

Birthday knitting

Today is my birthday! And as such, being a modern young woman in my early twenties... I'm knitting! Mum's knitting with plastic bags (a wonderful pattern from Erika Knight's gorgeous book New Knits) and me with some rather gorgeous purple wool :) Admittedly I've only done two rows so far, I keep getting sidetracked by birthday cake, but I'm hoping it'll work and I can put wooden handles on it.

In other news, I scrapped the zoo trip because the weather was appalling, but did manage to do some househunting today, just driving around with the parentals and seeing where we like that's within reach of both the station and the hospital.

And now I'm just enjoying having nothing to do! :D

A parcel day and some random photos :)

Saturday was an epic parcel day. Well, only two, but it seemed quite epic! One I was expecting, this one:

 New foldy things for the ends of necklaces in gold and silver, charm bracelet bases, earring backs and child-size rings :D

Then I had a parcel I wasn't expecting, which turned out to be this one from the very lovely Dandan :)

Yep, those are gingerbread biscuits (and very nice they are too), balloons which are actually heart shaped, not as rude as they look in my photo, and a gorgeous pink letter addressed to "Lalakins" - which I sometimes think I might change my name to!

As I'm in a photo-y sort of mood, here's our cockerel, King Creole. He's very gorgeous, but he's only recently discovered he can cockadoodledoooooo and so from about half four till about ten every morning, he does it every few seconds just to prove he can. By the time I get up for work, having been awake for a few hours listening to him, I'm quite ready to have chicken for dinner, lol! But here he is in all his glory:

 

As Wednesday will mark six months since I started at Chelmsford Library, and those six months have been some of the happiest of my life, here's a photo of me with some of my work friends at Prezzo a couple of weeks ago...

 

 Left to right: Me, Naomi, Lindsey, Christina, Shirley, Jo

And that's all for today! :) Just a photo-fest really, hehe!

Knitting: my new obsession

Today I have checked out seven books on knitting and crochet. I am going to learn all the different stitches and how to make beautiful things if it's the very last thing I do, lol! (And at the rate I'm going, it will be the last thing I do - I'll be at least 95 before I can knit as well as Gran does, lol!)

But I figured knitting might be easier to transport to Lou's at the end of this month than all my beading stuff... we'll see, anyway :) Not entirely sure how I'm going to get the books home...

scanning books and vanishing remotes - way too much technology!

It's so hard to fit craft into life! However, I've managed to make some things for Ducking Fabulous, and Mum's been experimenting with decoupaging photo frames, and I have a good partnership going with Gran where she crochets flowers and I make them into necklaces! I'll have a crafty family if it's the last thing I do, lol!

Just finished reading Cecilia Ahern's wonderful Book of Tomorrow, I do love her books very much :) I'm not sure where that takes me with my 2010 book challenge, I must update that from work tomorrow. No, not me being lazy, I keep the list on my work email along with my ever growing lists of books I want to read and craft books for this blog! Incidentally I'm aware I've not done much in the way of things from books recently, I think perhaps that aspect of the blog may be temporarily on hold until I move out... there just isn't the time and space here to do that.

My next big project is scanning all the books that live here and packing them into boxes ready for the move - ordered a barcode scanner (squeee!) in preparation for doing this, I know I'm not moving till June but I really do need to shift some of this stuff out of the flat, I'm slowly taking over and it's not fair on my parents!

Also bought about three million knitting needles, and Mum and I are going to try to learn to crochet this week while Dad's away... hmm, I get the impression this may not be the most successful enterprise ever, lol! We've spent an inordinate amount of time over the last two days hunting for our Sky remote which has mysteriously vanished - if you see it, please send it home with a Paddington-style tag around its neck (do remotes even HAVE necks?) - we miss it!

However, it's getting late and I'd better disappear, have lots to do before I can go to bed! Good night all! x

Fifty Books 2010

I suspect fifty might be rather underestimating it this year, but here goes with 2010's challenge!

1. Having the builders in – Reay Tannahill – not my usual type of book as it’s listed under historical, but looked like an interesting one and had me in stitches! Very well written and a lovely take on the historical genre. 
2. The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook – self explanatory, amazing yummy things to bake. Read it cover to cover, baked two batches and plan to test some more with Julia.
3. Magical Kingdom for Sale – Sold! – Terry Brooks – Book 1 of 5, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one, but again well written and in one of my favourite genres (fantasy) – this time a proper fantasy world with fairies and witches and such, juxtaposed with a lawyer from modern-day New York. Fabulous, can’t wait to read the rest of the series!
4. Confessions of a reluctant recessionista – Amy Silver – New arrival in the library so thought I’d snag it before anyone else did, fabulous chick-lit for the economic crisis!
5. In the pink – a rural odyssey – Molly Watson – it had a horse AND a girl in a pink dress on the front, need I say more? Based on the author and her sister’s real life escape to the country to hunt for a year after accidentally buying a horse, it was funny and fast paced, but I think would be less exciting to anyone who’s not as vociferously horsey as I can be!
6. Having the decorators in – Reay Tannahill – the sequel to ‘Having the builders in’ and it was equally wonderful! Characters from the first novel are developed and sneaky new ones introduced, the uninvited guests are hilarious. Very much looking forward to exploring more from this author in the future.
7. Weekend in Paris – Robyn Sisman – a sparkling voyage of self-discovery awaits 21-year-old Molly Clearwater when she resigns from her job as a secretary after an insult from her boss. Fed up of being boring and serious, she boards a train to Paris on impulse and returns a changed person. Inspirational, fun and poignant all at once. 
   

I have EGGS!!

... cupcakes here I come! :D

The soft splat of snow

Today was a Snow Day. It was also my day off work, and I was thwarted horribly in my attempts to bake by the lack of eggs anywhere. Briefly contemplated an eggless sponge, but they're never quite as nice so have decided to postpone the baking for another day.

Instead, I went for a walk (to source eggs - fail) in the snow, which was wonderfully peaceful and broken only by the occasional 'splat' of snow falling from the trees above me.

Came home, had lunch, got my craft stuff out - standard day in the life of Carla! In between watching antiques shows, refilling the printer and waffling at my parents, I made this:



I'm very pleased with it, but it's cheating slightly because Gran knitted the flower for me, and while she was inspired by a book I gave her, this one is of her own design. But incorporating it as I would a bead, and adding the clasp (which has been looking for a project to attach itself to for ages, since the bead fair in fact) and the result is, I think, quite pleasing :) It sits asymmetrically on the collarbone, and the design could be adapted for different colours and sizes of flowers, and obviously different lengths as well. It started quite a lot longer, but I kept shortening it till it sat where I wanted it to.

I intend to hang onto the idea and create some more for Ducking Fabulous, but this one will live with me, as the beads were a present from Jen of Ordinary Little Art and the flower was the first that Gran knitted for me :)

Enjoy the snow, all - I'm going to attempt getting to work tomorrow but if the roads are too slidey I shall get my books out and do some more crafting!

Meep, a whole month since my last post

I'm hopeless at this blogging thing, I always feel really inspired but never seem to have time to actually blog. Sniff.

Anyway, my new year's resolution is to blog more, among a whole miscellany of other things I'd like to achieve during 2010. Lots of which are crafty, in fact!

The Craft Experiment is alive and well, but has been somewhat neglected of late due to me having an interview to prepare for :) Despite it going much less well than I would have hoped, I got the job and I'm now a permanent Enquiry Officer, squee! Which means I can move in with Julia in July, and also means I can start the rest of my life how I mean to go on - making things!

Used some of my Christmas money to buy one of these http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/keyword/cupcake+pan/product/13072 which I can't wait to try out! And have invested in the Hummingbird Bakery's recipe book, one for me and one for Jules, so that'll be added to the list and edible craft shall be performed. Or something! :)

So hopefully 2010 will be the year that I don't abandon a promising young blog...