Sunday Catch-up ~Moving Week

Awww man, I'm really not in the mood to be typing a catch up today, i think I need a laptop so I can play at the other house rather than having to type everything while I'm at Dads & so easily distracted. I was really busy today too so pretty tired! I also realise i've already missed at least one feature I would usually include in the blog around this time of the month which is pretty annoying, so I'm not sure if just to go on a little break until I have internet in the new house. What do you think?

My week started with the hype over the blood moon, but having not long got back off holiday I was getting tired pretty early and didn't manage to stay up past 1 :x However luckily I woke up about 4.30 randomly so I got this photo in my sleepy state then went back to bed!
Sadly the following day my degu Dash passed away, poor little thing. Understandably I was pretty upset.

Face had a couple of days off after that and hired a van so we could move our heaviest stuff to the new house. It was hard work! I mean, obviously, but I think actually harder was trying to pack stuff, I gave up in the end on trying to sort and just packed everything :x

A few days later I went to help Dad clean out the degu cage and we ended up spending far more time outside playing with fire than planned...or even intended XD It was fun though. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the moment. Or maybe that's my procrastination talking.

Today I went to a camera fair in Wolverhampton and spent far, far too much. Even though I had intended to under the excuse reason of 'home decor' ;p After we left we decided to try out our new purchases and the lovely weather with an explore around West Park.
Well, that was some of my week, how was yours?



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Saturday Scavenges ~Week 5

Well, we all know how this works by now so shall we check out a few of this week's finds? While I was away in Devon I went nuts finding stuff so it'll probably be those I'll be posting for a couple of weeks XD

A Part of Something you Ate / Add some very Tiny Decoration
I was avoiding putting food on this page, and when I was tiding up around my room I found these old Maccies Monopoly stickers that I'd saved for like a scrapbook page or something. So I figure it was kind of part of something I ate!
The alteration of some very tiny decoration is kind of hard to see on this small pic, but I just scattered little crosses and dots around the page.

Something that is Broken or Damaged / Add as many things as you can
Although this looks like the kind of thing I picked up on holiday, I actually got this little piece of rope from the daytrip around the welsh coast I went on with Dad a couple of weeks ago.
as the alteration was to add as many things to the page as I could find, I added a bunch of nautical things from around my desk, some specifically ocean-themed, some other things that I just thought would fit in X3

Something that can be Dragged and Leaves a Mark / Turn into a Landscape
I found some burnt wood from a beach fire on one of Budes beaches in Devon, so that seemed about right for this page.
The alteration was to turn it into a landscape, which I kind of took as to draw a kind of landscape...I did a kind of interpretive beachy scene to go with where I found the charcoal :]

Something that was Created by a Machine / Build it Up
This was kinda weird as loo roll isn't really something I have a habit of collection to keep, but this one has puppies on it!
I was supposed to 'build it up' so I just kind of stuck on sheet over another over another? I think i could've probably managed something better for this page :x

Something that was Made by Hand / Add a Grid
I made this little skull thing as I described on Wednesday's post x3 So it was a pretty easy choice to stick on this page.
The grid I chose to make into like a cross-stitch xp
Well, that's it for this week. Sorry I'm not particularly descriptive at the moment, I'm trying to fit everything in around moving atm and it's not balancing very well. Plus I don't have the net at my new place yet!



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Project Wednesday ~Crochet

I really wanted to write about this one as it's something I've only gotten into in the last couple of weeks, but i'm really having quite a lot of fun with it (when I'm not frustrating the heck out of myself for missing stitches or having to undo my entire idea cause I messed up....more on that in a min). If you've been crocheting for a while, or even know the names of a couple of stitches, you many want to leave now cause I have barely any idea what I'm doing but I just wanted to show off my no0b progress :x

My friend taught me basically all I know- a chain stitch and some other stitch you use when you go back on yourself to make the piece bigger, I think of it as 'making a wall'. A-hem. Totally technical. I started with a couple of balls of wool she gave me- a light grey and a dusky pink. I knew what I wanted in my mind and after practicing a bit I soon found out I just wasn't coming up with much. So of course I did what anyone would do in the situation- head to Pinterest! I found this super easy tutorial that didn't include and confusing stitch/pattern thing, just a few pictures of what to do to make a skull, so that's what I did!
As a first attempt at making anything I was pretty pleased with myself, but it was only when I asked my friend to teach me to make a circle did I realise how little I understood what I was doing. No matter how many times I tried to follow exactly what I did as she did it in front of me, I just wasn't coming up with the same thing. Now I know how people feel when I try to teach them to make origami lucky stars x.x

Then I went on holiday. I took a ball of wool so I could practice, but because I had very little internet connection, I stuck to what I kinda knew- the skull. I made another out of the pink wool, but whereas the time before I'd looped the wool twice on every stitch to some very frustrating results, this time I stuck to single stitches and it came out so much smaller, and I didn't think there was anything I could do with such a small, wonky skull.
I did though, I stuck it in the Pocket Scavenger! Yay for something badly homemade! However, it had kinda put me off as in my mind I wanted a really chunky end result and I could see I just wasn't going to get it with the wool I had.

The next day we went to Barnstable in Devon, and I don't think I've seen so many charity shops in my life. While we were mooching a Sue Ryder though I found just the wool I'd had in mind, and bought a couple of balls of cream and grey. It's so plushy and I knew I needed a bigger crochet hook to deal with it, and luckily just round the corner was the famous Barnstable pannier market, which had a haberdashery stall where I found a massive hook!

I started playing as soon as I got back in the car, and it wasn't long before my ball of wool ran out, chunky wool is so easy to crochet! But it hadn't turned out quite right- it was all curly and I only had a mild idea why- my inexperience had messed it up. So I unravelled it and started again, and this time, I used my hands only to crochet, using a finger as a crochet hook XD It worked really well and before i knew it I'd made a fair sized 'wall', but it was only as I was admiring it the next day I realised my next noobie mistake- I'd not been keeping an eye on the edges and my wall had started to become a pyramid, here it's folded in half so it looks like I got one side super straight XD I was pretty gutted, but after thinking about it realised the best thing to do was to unravel it again and start over, so that what I did.

Round 2 of my 'couch blanket/throw' seems to be coming along well so far now I learnt from my past mistakes, in fact I've run out of wool and think I'm going to have to get some more online! I guess it really helps that although it's frustrating to unravel what you've spent ages on, it's not that difficult to build it back up and I can admit that every that's gone wrong has been my own fault and not some confusing instructions I'm trying to follow!
Have you tried crochet, or any other woolen craft? I'd love to hear your experiences!



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September Photo a day ~Week 3

This week's photo a day. Not always very descriptive of what I've been up to, but just odds and ends I wanted to take photos of x3 Because i was away Tuesday last week, I've decided to just put up what would've been last week's post :] This weeks will either come later in the week or next week, not quite decided yet!


16.09.15 I'm learning to crochet, and as my first attempt I made a little skull XD


17.09.15 I had to go get my biometrics enrolled for my citizenship application, using this machine was really weird, but I got a sneaky shot ;p


18.09.15 On the 18th we received the keys to our new house! Even though it was only 15 minutes before I was supposed to be in work! Face & I skipped out for a little while to check out our new space x3


19.09.15 The day after we got the keys we went away to Devon on holiday! Aha, it was typical timing, but I felt so in need of a holiday I didn't mind too much. This was the cottage we stayed in with the rest of Face's family. It was huge!


20.09.15 A trip to Hartland Quay, our nearest ocean view :]


21.09.15 Visiting more seaside locations (as you have to do on holiday) x3 This is Bude, Cornwall.


22.09.15 Our daytrip last Tuesday was going to see Barnstable market :] I didn't get much but it was a lovely place to look around!
So that was last week, so much happened! I'll see if I can update you all in more detail soon :]



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Homesick

Today I've had a busy day. I've been all around Willenhall and Walsall chasing Post Offices that have a biometric reader that works. It all sounds a little odd, but while I have everything else going on, I'm also in the middle of a citizenship process. Although born and raised in the UK, because my parents weren't married I'm not a British citizen! It's caused me few problems really, but I've been thinking about having dual citizenship for a while, so earlier this year I went for it.
In the meantime though I've been thinking a lot about my 'home country' of New Zealand. I've lived there a couple of times, but I alway end up back in the UK. That doesn't stop me daydreaming about returning though, particularly as a lot of my family are over there, and most importantly my sister and Mum. I miss them most, of course.
Looks like it will be at least another couple of years before I get to go back now though, what with my passport situation and more importantly for money flow, the house! So I thought I'd just post a few pics of the country as an excuse for me to look back through the photos I've taken over there the last two trips :x Hope you enjoy them too.

















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Project Wednesday ~Mallorca Travel Journal

Well, a couple of weeks ago I said I'd give you a peak into my Mallorca travel journal, so here we are x] I'm so bad at keeping up with travel journals as I either get back into the room exhausted or find the TV being on too distracting. I also don't want to be antisocial to write about what a great time I'm having hanging out with everyone...

I got this travel journal from my sister who sent it to me from NZ. How cute? x3 It was really well organised too, already containing a pocket for extras and sections for things to pack, stuff to do before we leave and at the back, mini review spots for bars, shopping areas and cafes. Oh a few pages to keep addresses too so I know who to send postcards to x3

I decided to use this book for both my week long Spanish-island trips I took last year, so the first half was for my Mallorca holiday with Face's family. Every page had really nice but muted backgrounds to keep things interesting, and the first couple of pages sets I only wrote on. I'd taken my instax mini with me too though, so those pictures got included in the journal more often than not, like this one of the view from our hotel room.

  I'm always on the lookout for things to include to add something different to the pages and although I usually will keep anything, this time I was aiming for a slimmer journal so I stuck to things that weren't so bulky. The monster/mallorca sticker I got from a souvenir shop but I also have a thing for keeping receipts, particularly if they are in another language or have the shop (or in this case, restaurant) name at the top. On this one I even wrote who had what!

This is something I really enjoying doing for travel journals but almost never find the time- little sketches! This page had a prompt for sketching so I had the excuse to sit and do it while Face watched TV one afternoon/evening. I sat on the balcony of our hotel and just doodled the view. I've never been good at realism so true to my style, it looks a little cartoony. As you can see, I also didn't get a chance to finish my sketch, but I think I got the more interesting part in, of the harbour :]

I also cut up a few leaflets from places we had visited to include more pictures for interest and context. On this page I also stuck in Face & I's mini tren tickets after a ride we took which toured us all around Porto Cristo and some other nearby beaches.
I did quite a few more pages than this, but I think these were the most interesting ones. Quite a few of the others were just text, but even just now I got caught up reading as I tried to type this, so I guess that works for me!
I did most of this while I was in Mallorca, not bad for me! I admit though I had to complete it when I got back :x On the other hand, I still have my Japanese travel journal sitting on my desk waiting to be completed...I always need more time for craft! So I didn't do a bad job to get this one all done before I went off on my next trip.
Do you like to keep travel journals?



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September Photo a Day ~Week 2

This week's photo a day. Not always very descriptive of what I've been up to, but just odds and ends I wanted to take photos of x3


09.09.15 Going around the garden again, I'm still taken with the onions hanging to dry in the greenhouse.


10.09.15 Wednesday was a day of good weather and we had strawberries and cream for pudding x3 I sat by the door to enjoy the weather as I ate.


11.09.15 OMG. O. M. G. Waiting for this album for 11 years. And here it is. I am dying. I need this on loop just plumbed straight into my head for at least the next couple of weeks.


12.09.15 Last week when I was out at West Brom I visited their local Tesco. It has a massive foreign foods section and I always have to go buy some seaweed crisps. I also couldn't resist buying this sake to try! I still haven't cracked it pen yet, but doesn't it look pretty?


13.09.15 I had a busy Sunday between my computer, town and visiting friends, but I had my mind set of catching some autumn colour somewhere along the way :]


14.09.15 Last night I finally started my Fantasy Life game on 3DS. I'd been waiting for a good day but I was starting to drag it out so I just played it XD So far it's looking good x3


15.09.15 Spyro is so cute! She is waiting to be fed here, look at the little tongue!
Next week I am away to Devon so I'm not quite sure how I'm going to be posting the photo a day, as I can't really schedule it! I do all my blogging/photo editing from my PC and I don't have a laptop to take with me, hmmm. Any ideas?



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Homey Inspiration ~Living Room

Well, I've been mooching around again and got a few more ideas, this time I turned my attention to the living room x3

So here's my future living room/sitting room/lounge/whatever you call it, and I think it looks pretty sweet! But I don't know about you but the first thing I notice is that awful carpet. OMG that thing...has got to go. When we went to talk with the last owners of the house, they showed us photos from when they bought it, and guess what? The carpet was in when they bought it, 18 years ago! It's a proper high quality name though, and apparently will clean up like new if a bit of effort is put into it, but I don't think it'll matter how much effort I put in, that pattern won't go away!
To the left is the dining room, but I'll talk about that another day. To the right are the patio doors, and I've got plans for lounging around there a lot x3


Andrew Martin A couple of years ago I decided that all I wanted for Christmas was an egg chair. I'd been asking for a couple of years before that as well, since getting to doss in one in an airport and deciding it was the comfiest thing in the world XD Being the spoilt brat I am, Face got one for me! <3 It turned out to be a LOT larger than I'd anticipated and wouldn't really fit anywhere in the house and it was far too heavy to get upstairs, not that it had anywhere to go when up there < /3 It's lived in the hallway since hen, taking up a large amount of space and generally only getting used in the summer when I don't want to sit in the sun (it's too cold to sit in the hallway in winter). Now I'm super excited to soon be able to use it. It's a little tatty but it is really comfortable and in time maybe we will get it reupholstered. This union jack egg chair I think is really awesome and I'm kinda thinking maybe the whole room could have a union jack theme...is that super tacky? Ah, who cares if it is XD Anyway, Face really wants to wrap the back of the chair with some sort of vinyl but I'm not convinced yet! I'm hoping to put it next to the patio doors so in summer and maybe winter the sun will shine in and I can read or play my gameboy in egg chair bliss.


Basset Furniture Talking of chairs I have big plans for a couch too, though I think I may need to save for a while to get what I want! For quite a while now I've been dreaming of a corner couch, until recently when I found out about U-shaped couches! Which I suppose are pretty obvious now I know about them...but doesn't decrease their awesomeness xp This one is just a pinterest find, but other than cost I don't suppose it would be too hard to put something like this together if you buy one of those couches that come in separate clip-together pieces...

 
World Stores & Not on the High Street Until then though, we have a hand-me-down suite from Face's parents. I don't mind that, after all, I don't expect to have everything I want at once, and it's our first home! You have to have everyone else's things XD The suite is leather so I have plans to have a throw over it for warmth, and in summer, not sticking to it xp This grey throw looks pretty cosy but what I would really like is to learn to arm knit and create a big chunky blanket throw...but I think that's gonna take a while, I didn't really pick up knitting so it may take me a while to figure out, nevermind find where to buy a wool that would create this effect! This photo is one for sale from Not on the High Street and is over £300 so for now the smaller throw will be fine!

 
Asda Direct & Izac Less on Tumblr Of course, a home needs some decoration around the place and I was super keen on this ram skull decoration from Asda until Face totally shot me down on it xp TBF a real one would be cooler, but I'm not sure where the line between creepy and cool is and where is too far :x On the other hand, the wifi sampler is the kind of thing I hope to be up to this winter when I want to stay indoors and not clean everything. Maybe I will also sew one with the access code XD
I have a lot of things to do to make the house more of our home, but I'm sure it'll be a fun process x3
what do you think to these items? Is there anything you feel a living room needs?



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