Christmas Day

My sister lives on one of the new housing estates that I hate because they are built on all the fields and have made this town grow and grow over the last 10 years or so until there's almost no fields left. Maybe i'm just getting old, but it makes me sad to see buildings where orchards and barns used to be. Anyway, one of the good things about where she lives is the fact that I think there is some rule about making sure every new development has some kind of pond/lake in it, because this place is just out the back of her house and it's where we went for a walk on Christmas day while her boyfriend finished cooking the meal.

You could probably walk the whole way round the pond in 5 minutes, but that's if you don't stop to feed the swans, or look out for tiny fish, or learn all about the mysterious 'parachute seagulls' that my nephew taught me about. There's often a few people fishing and there's a few mallards that live on the pond and some fat wood pigeons in the trees, we saw a rat once but the less said about that the better.

Later on Christmas day after we had eaten I got to unwrap the most amazing thing- something I have been waiting my entire life to get

Don't eat too much
xxx

I'm a bit too poorly to update at the moment- i've lost my voice and combined with some bad side effects from a new medication i'm taking i'm feeling a little glum. I'm especially sad as I fell asleep in the middle of 'A matter of life and death' yesterday afternoon, which is one of my favourite films of all time.

Anyway as i'm not fit to update or answer emails I shall instead direct you over to the Toy Society blog where you can read all about my toy drop as part of the Toy Society Xmas.

Fancy dress called and I answered

Sorry things have been a little sporadic round here- it's that time of the year I suppose. It's taken me forever to get over the BUST Craftacular, and now i've come down with a sore throat. In between times there was a party, which I managed to attend for a few hours before leaving early. The best bit of the party was the fact my best friend had to ask me who I was, I think she may have been drunk, but a wig, a ton of ill-applied make up and a swanky dress and I managed to slip into another character completely.

A Toy Society Christmas

The Toy Society is a lovely project that you may well know about already. This year they are hosting a Toy Society Christmas, with numerous members (that's people like you and me) signing up and agreeing to drop a toy this weekend. There will be documentation in the Flickr Group and on the blog. And yes...I shall be dropping a toy or two this weekend. I can't tell you where yet, but all will be revealed soon- I just hope that the children of Weston appreciate my strange creations.

Free Encouragement

Click on the image above to be taken to the site

The Free Encouragement Project has ended it's first half. One of these messages is from me- can you guess which one? I've picked one message from each update of the project, did I pick something that you submitted? As I was reading through all the messages it made me wonder if anyone had sent anything out to me, it would be nice to think so!

Congratulations to Jenny!

Congratulations the winner of my 510th post giveaway is Jenny, aka as birdhaus. Jenny takes wonderful photos.

I'm feeling generous so I decided to have two runner up prizes too, and they go to:

Mithi and Eugene. Let me know your details and i'll send you a selection of goodies in the mail- hopefully they will reach you before xmas.

Thanks to everyone who commented, I hope you stick around- I'm sure there'll be another giveaway when I hit my 3 year blogoversary in a few months time.

BUST Craftacular- the aftermath

I've never been so glad to see a poster in my life

my badge display

view from my table toward Tatty Devine

lovely decorations!

view from my table toward Lady Luck Rules OK

Phew! The Craftacular was amazing, and it's taken me until now to recover from it (i'm not the only one, Anna has only just written her review of the day up). Catching the train up to London was great- carrying my stuff from the station to the venue at the other end wasn't so much fun. Unfortunately at the last minute my friend had been unable to come with me, which meant I had to carry everything myself and also left me stranded high and dry at my table, only rescued by Anna and her other half for a loo break and a cup of tea, and Kate's sneaky sweetie supplies.

It was great to meet up with people that I hadn't seen for ages, and to meet people like Karen and Kaija who suprised me by turning up and making badges with me. I also managed to fit some bits of a puzzle together and work out who Miss B was, and where I had met her before. I hope I didn't have a blank look on my face for too much of the afternoon!

I had to leave at 5 and things were still going strong then- I wish I could've stayed til midnight like everyone else did, maybe next year...

Alien xmas trees

My original plan was to make mistletoe- I even did lots of research about it and made a special template, but at the last minute I decided to make these little trees- decorated with vintage crochet and buttons. As I sewed the buttons on I realised they gave the trees a strange kind of alien creature look and that once again I had succeeded in creating a demented ornament that would be hidden at the back of the tree for no-one to see. At least this year I didn't give them faces...

Also- don't forget tomorrow is the deadline for the 510th post giveaway- thanks to everyone who commented, i'll be picking the winner at about 6pm GMT.

Silver Jewellery from Ian Shipton

My former tutor Ian Shipton has been making silver jewellery recently- here's some I thought might interest you. They are approx 1" long and have fittings on the back so can be worn as a pendant or brooch.

I don't know much about jewellery as I never wear it, but Ian leant me this piece to show to a few people that might be interested and what I really like about it is the weight of it- I tried to remember all the technical details about how it was made but i'm afraid I forgot. This one costs £60 and if you're interested you can find Ian here, or leave a comment with me and i'll pass your details on to him.

Oh and yes, they are what you are thinking they might be.

BUST Craftacular!

Via the magic of the internets I am posting this even though I am already on train to London. In fact it's almost as if I wrote it a few days ago...

I'm hoping that by the time you read this I will have got done all the last minute things that are making me panic a bit, that I will have decided which shoes to wear and how to carry my badge machine, and most importantly that I will have caught the train!

I can't wait to see what everyone's stalls are like- I feel very fortunate to have been invited along to do my badge making workshop, and am so so glad i'm not actually selling my crafts at the fair- I just don't think I could cope with the pressure!

If you are able to come along to the Craftacular please do pop in and say hello, if you say you read my blog I will even let you make a badge for free...and if I have a dazed look on my face don't worry that's entirely normal.

If you aren't able to make it to London then why not take a look at some of the vendors who will be there and spend your time in a virtual Craftacular admiring their wares (and thanks to Jason for making my mini banner for the vendor page)

ps- i'm only going to be at the Craftacular until 5pm as I have to go and support a certain Grrim Rita in her first ever Roller Derby bout

I like my friends

I'd like to introduce you to my friend Nan and her dance troupe Underthrust.

Underthrust can be seen dancing here in this 'official' video for I Like Giants by Kimya Dawson. This song has a special place in my heart because a) it's awesome b) Nan's dance troupe dance to it onstage with Kimya and c) I sang on it onstage with Kimya in London a few years ago. (except I mucked up the words and had to go and be sick afterwards.)

Nan is also one half of Schwervon! (the other half being Major Matt Mason) and generally all round lovely (as are MMM and Kimya). I don't know when this turned into a music-related blog, but sometimes you can't help wanting to let other people know how great your friends are. Especially when they dress up in yellow sacks and do dances.

Tagged by Screaming Lulu

The very talented Lou Trigg (aka Screaming Lulu) tagged me over on her blog and I am prompted to respond thus...

The rules:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Random things about myself eh?

1. I am scared of custard
2. I am scared of mashed potato
3. I used to be scared of woodlice
4. I used to be scared of bats
5. I used to be scared of sharks. Actually I think I probably still am a bit
6. I like knowing facts almost more than anything else in the whole world- it doesn't matter if they are useful or even interesting, I just like facts.

Those weren't actually that random now were they? A bit of a theme running through them...

I'm going to show you some of the work I like from the people I tag (click on images to go to their shops, names to go to their blogs) :

Sarah McNeil

Claire Elizabeth Platt

Jeannette

Xin

Alika Cooper

Cathy Cullis

510th post giveaway!

Yay! It's my 510th post- far more exciting than a mere 500th post. As a way of thanking you for dropping by i'm offering a selection of goodies to one lucky winner.

Coming your way will be...

A pack of 4 stamp badges

One Blue Tit Screen Print



One copy of my new colour zine
Plus copies of some of my other zines I don't have photos of

One spooky doll brooch

And...I will make you 20 1" badges of your choice, i'll supply you with the template and you provide me with what you want to go in them.

Either comment here or send me an email with your details. I'll pick the name out a hat one week from today, so you have plenty of time to creep out of the woodwork for this one...

Kill Your Timid Notion

Bruce McClure

Last night I kind of took a trip back into my past a little bit, by attending Kill Your Timid Notion at Spike Island. I have a secret past as an experimental noise fan, many nights spent in rooms listening to non musical instruments make loud noises, whilst hanging out with men with serious expressions on their faces. Since I came to live by the seaside I have been out of the social loop for one reason or another and so the times I get to sit and listen to the warm fuzz of feedback are few and far between now. Last night I made up for that and i'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

Kill Your Timid Notion is a touring program and if you're lucky and live near Glasgow you can catch the last couple of dates this weekend.

Oh and if you were wondering- the next post will be the magic 510th post, complete with giveaway- so prepare yourselves!

Giveaways

It's only another few posts before I announce all the wonderous goodies you will be able to win in my 510th post giveaway, but in the meantime why don't you hop over to see Janet quick fast and be in with a chance of winning this from her:

click on the pics to be taken there

Janet also has some of these sachet sacks for sale in her shop if you miss out on the freebies.

Amy has a Robin tutorial up on her blog and a giveaway to win one if you share your favourite part of xmas with her.

Over at Edward and Lilly they are celebrating 150 blog posts with a giveaway

And the people at Sew Mama Sew have nominated Dec 3rd as Giveaway day- they are encouraging bloggers to post giveaways on the 3rd and will have a master list up on their site listing all the places you can go visit in the hopes of swiping some goodies.