Day 24 — Whatever tickles your fancy

A Crafty To Do list:

-tea stain blank note cards
-do something with the two vintage tea towels I have (possibly pincushions)
-make an apron (possibly from the fabric Amanda sent me)
-sew a primitive style doll (from random sketches in my notebook)
-organizes beads into the really useful box I bought for my beads
-make bunting (its been on one list or another for ages and I never get around to it)
-bake cupcakes ( :oP )
-order freezer paper
- zine zine zine zine... get help to figure out how to print a zine for my last two fairy tales
-work on The Poison Apple Tree story because I keep leaving it and never finishing it.
- make a terrarium with H out of an old candle jar.
-get the courage to make up some bits of stock and re-open my etsy shop (I'm not so sure about this one though)
-learn about resin jewellery making (which would mean annoying one of the very talented resin crafters I know) I don't want to make loads of things I just want to have a play to get it out of my system and move onto the next thing)

this probably isn't a quarter of the list(s) I have in my head and jotted down in notebooks but these are the first few things that came to mind and hopefully I will be able to get some of the crossed off my list in the near future.

Day 23 — A YouTube video

awesome.... I know its just the trailer but I absolutely adore Doctor Horrible's Sing Along Blog I even have the soundtrack on my ipod to play when I need an anti-hero boost...or when H asks to listen to it because he loves Doctor Horrible too.

Day 22 — A website

I would have to say that for a website I would choose Fail Blog and everything at Cheezburger really, it definitely makes me smile every time I visit it. I do read a lot of craft blogs that are very inspirational and most of those are listed on my blog roll feed on the side of my blog but sometimes you don't want inspiration you want idiocy, snark, and cute animals too.

Shirley Temples (Day 21)

When I was a kid whenever we would go out to dinner (and it wasn't Vietnamese, Japanese, or Mexican) I would always order Shirley Temples to drink. Every time we visit the states and go out to dinner I still order Shirley Temples and so far nobody has told me I'm too old to order a kid's drink. A few days ago while doing the shopping it occurred to me that I could make my own Shirley Temples, so I wandered round till I found grenadine and 7up and had a stupid grin on my face when Matt asked why I was buying red syrup.


ingredients:
• 7up or any lime flavoured pop/soda
• Dash or two of grenadine
• Maraschino (cocktail) cherries
• ice

Directions:
Fill a glass with ice.
Pour 7up (lime soda) over the ice.
Add a dash or two of grenadine and stir.
Garnish with the maraschino cherries.

enjoy!

cook's notes: some recipes call for ginger ale but to me the simplest thing is the best, plain 7up. For a more adult drink you can add vodka, but I'm not a big drinker and the kid in me wants sugar and cherries. H wont drink any but he likes making them with me and always steals a cherry or two, the jar is almost empty!

basil leaves optional, I thought they added a bit of contasting colour!

Day 20 — A hobby of yours

I think I may collect hobbies, like I collect books, beading, coffee, reading, writing, sewing, knitting badly, painting, sketching, gardening, and a somewhat near suicidal attempt at crochet. I love crafting, the touch and feel of fabrics, buttons and beads, papers and tattered book pages. My hobbies tend to switch on and off, I get obsessive over learning some new craft and then one day my brain will switch off on that and I will start up something new.

But whatever craft I'm dabbling in I think I still love reading more, getting lost in a story is one of my favourite things, to sit curled up by the fire, or in a bubble bath with a drink (coffee of course..or possibly a coke)and a new world to explore is bliss. I will read almost anywhere, even in the car on a straight road, as wiggly roads make me sickly. Books are stacked everywhere in the house, we only have one bookcase that displays cameras instead of books so I have little piles of read, unread and half read books scattered about the living room and bedroom. My books probably drive Matt insane but the stacks make me happy.

Day 19 — A talent of yours

I suppose procrastination isn't a talent then? I don't know what to say I don't think I have any particular talents... unless self-deprecation counts. I have a good imagination which isn't really a talent as such as a part of who I am. Does being a good cook count as a talent because that is something I enjoy and I think I'm pretty talented at. As clearly shown by my waistline.

Obviously I'm a crafter and dabble in all sorts of crafty endeavours but never had any special talent as such. I'm a terrible dancer, I cant really sing better than a slightly off key Janis Joplin, I have no musical inclination in the slightest, and I'm not sporty, despite having been quite good at defence in flag football and floor hockey in school eons ago. Matt would probably say I'm talented at being thrifty, because I hate to shop. :o)

Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy

A quick snap of part of the mantel with a pile of books, a book page painting and a fabric apple I made ages ago. I thought it says a lot about me, the things I love (books, doodling, fabric crafts) and are a part of me. The painting goes along with a little story I wrote last week, so writing is in there too. I blogged the story on my writing blog but will post it here if anyone wants me too.

Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

I'm not saying this is true art but its the last thing I sketched a few days ago, its a phone picture so terrible quality but I do like the finished sparrow.

Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

the album (Fleetwood Mac's the Dance) Matt gave me... or I possibly stole from him when I was still living in California and he came to visit. A lifetime ago but when I listen to this song it makes me think of back then.

Day 15 — A fanfic

I have read a few fanfics but on the whole I don't read all that many, and have written only a few which are probably quite terrible (no definitely terrible)but I figure that is was fanfics are for right?

I supposed the very first fanfic i wrote was when I was eleven or so and reading The Secret of the Unicorn Queen books. I loved the books to no end but they used the trope of the main character Sheila stumbling into an alternate verse where magic exists, she is loved, and fights the evil in that world then returns home leaving the friends who love her, the magic, and her pet unicorn, she left her pet unicorn and went home to her mundane life.

I hated the ending so I re-wrote the ending so that she went back to live in the magical world that she belonged in with her pet unicorn and everything was magical. I left the book with my written end of the story at school one day and someone stole it from my desk. I still carry a grudge about that.

Day 14 — A non-fictional book

I dont read alot of non-fiction but I do love craft books, cook books and the occasional witty travel writing a-la Bill Bryson. I bought the American Century Cookbook secondhand from a antique shop in Coeur D Alene, Idaho when H was still a baby. I payed very little for it, a few dollars (it was hidden on the sale shelf) its a fab little book that no only has some great recipes but the history of those recipes and iconic food stuffs. I can quite happily sit witha cup of coffee and flick through the pages, reading about Oreos, the history of Toll House, Sloppy Joes, and don't forget the pies. I know I like to play about inventing my own recipes but there is something magical about the recipes collected in this fabulous book.

Day 13 — A fictional book

My dad gave me a dog-eared paperback of the Stand when I was a kid, 11 or 12, and of all the Stephen King novels I have read, and the books that I have read since the Stand is still one of my favourite novels. My dad taught me to love books. And more often than not you can find me with my nose in a book, lost to the world I am reading about. Much to Matt's annoyance when I don't respond right away because I'm off in another world fighting dragons, saving star ships, killing vampires and exploring ancient and alien worlds.

I have re-read The Stand 3 or 4 times and may read it again sometime soon, there is something addictive in the epic battle of good verses evil in a world struggling in the aftermath of a super-flu virus that kills 99% of the human population. Its not just the protagonists that I love but the small details from the initial outbreak of the super-flu, though the destruction of civilization, and the struggle to survive in the aftermath.

Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy

We watched another episode of Glee last night ... its such a fab little show I love it... you know except for those bits where I have to hid behind a cushion due to my squeamishness at some of the more embarrassing songs. I know I watch to much tv but Glee just leaves me smiling for the rest of the day.

Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently

I hate my photo being taken so despite Matt being a photographer I tend to hide from the camera more often than not. I'm short, I'm fat and I'm filled with the credited amount of self loathing and low self esteem that entails. I snapped this photo of myself on the day before my Birthday (the last day of April) and that is the most recent photographic evidence that I am indeed a real person. Oh and my little camera broke a few weeks ago and we only bought a replacement last night (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

*blatantly ignores all 20 zillion of Matt's cameras and the fact that I already blogged this photo awhile ago *

Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

I'm putting this one on hold as I haven't got any photos of me on my puter so I will have to go look through the photo boxes in the attic.

Day 09 — A photo you took

Forget-Me-Not is a little antique/gift/junk shop in Coeur D Alene, Idaho that had a lovely collection of bits and bobs and I bought some lovely buttons from. I don't tend to take many photos myself as I have Matt to take them for me, but this one I snapped before we hopped back in the car to head home to my parents house. I love the scraps of fabric tied to some chicken wire and suspended from the porch ceiling.

Day 08 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

I really couldn't think of a photo that makes me sad, unless its a picture of one of the dogs that has passed on. So I sat and thought about it and looked through some photos on the family web album and chose this picture of Harrison sitting on a pumpkin in October 2007. Why does it make me sad? Because it was taken in October when he was 4 before school started and we stopped visiting the States so often because of school restrictions on taking kids out during term time. It makes me so sad because October is my favourite time of year, Halloween is my favourite holiday. I love the atmosphere of the states in Autumn, going to pick your pumpkin and everything is so autumnal and it just makes me happy to be there. I miss October days in the states most of all, because a grey miserable Autumn here just isn't the same.

Day 07 — A photo that makes you happy

H and Frankie
....and er my hands but mostly just the look on H's face because Frankie was snorfling in his ear.

Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy

A bit of camera geekery that I found on the interwebs.... and Matt ordered for himself of course. But how could he not order a Canon Lens coffee flask? coffee + cameras = a very happy camper. The flask, plus a smaller cup arrived at the studio this morning and Matt says he will bring it home so it can be christened with proper coffee. If you search ebay "canon lens coffee tumbler' there will be a bunch that pop up if you NEED to have this bit of camera geekery for yourself!

Day 05 — A favourite quote

"Now we're all sons of bitches."

On July 16th 1945 Kenneth Bainbridge, to Robert Oppenheimer immediately after the first atom bomb test explosion at Alamogordo, New Mexico’s Trinity Site.