I'm not unemployed...

Nope I'm not. I'm a struggling author :p

This struggling author thing would work a bit better should I have a rich father or maybe if I didn't need to pay bills or anything and didn't need to get a job. But struggling author sounds better than unemployed. I decided a few nights ago to seriously get down to some writing and actually get some stuff finished. I have lots of short stories but have rarely finished anything longer which I have been happy with. I've had an idea whizzing about my brain for ages and so I decided to go with that.

The only downfall is an aching arm. Unfortunately when I decided to become a struggling author it was the middle of the night and pen and paper were closer to hand that the laptop. I've filled a whole notebook so far and have made the possibly crazy decision to continue on paper. It gives me more freedom to lug it around places and gives the long suffering Daisy (the laptop) some rest. After all she has done a degree; three years of being on all day every day and now being needed for several hours a day to apply for jobs. The poor things has been run ragged. 

I've also been meaning to do some new years resolutions so in honour of Chinese New Year here they are. (And doing them now also means I can give progress reports).

1. Get a job (see above)

2. Diet. After a slight hiccup called Xmas I am now well back on track. I even still managed to shed some pounds despite indulging in a bag of minstrels whilst wallowing in self pity last week. 

3. At Christmas I cleared out our recipe book cupboard which was bulging at the seams. I weeded out books we don't use or only use one or two recipes from (the recipes we use have been typed up and are nice and neat in a folder) and even found a few duplicates. The cupboard is now full rather than overfall and I made the decision that as we have so many recipe books I have to choose a book to try a new recipe from each week. This seems to be going well and everyone seems pleased at the discovery of some new recipes. 

4. Start writing again. (See above).

Epic Craft Post

Ok so I didn't keep my New Years Resolution, but who does? Anyway I have been a busy little bee with uni work and lots of crafty things. So here is an epic craft update with lots of pictures as this does claim to be a picture blog after all!

First off, I don't think I posted this at Xmas, here is the Xmas cake I made (well helped make!) but I decorateed it all by myself! For my first solo attempt at Xmas cake decorating I think it went pretty well. Especially my discovery of edible glitter!

I've also started in two bags. One for me and one for my best friends birthday (which was in January so yet another 'I owe you') I only have a picture of the one I'm making for me as the other one is in fact a pile of fabric still as I've only cut pattern pieces out. These should both be finished during the Easter break when I can use my better sewing machine that lives at home with my parents. I only have a mini one here which is good for making plushies but not s good for bags. But thanks to my Mums xmas present I have inherited her old sewing machine which I can use when I go home or if I'm really good I can use hers which has lots of fancy stitches! Here is my bag:

It's made up of 4 different fat quarters and a fifth will make the base and strap. I like how the chinesey and japanesey fabrics fit in with the shape that reminds me of a Far eastern boat!

Keeping with a Japanesey theme I made this card for my best friend who had an interview for at the Japanes embassy for a job teaching english in Japan for a year.

As I said it was best friends birthday in January so I made her cupcakes. This also meant I could use some of the very pretty cupcake cases I had given to me! Here they are:

Sticking to a cupcake and birthday theme it was my sisters birthday last week and I made this cupcake card for her!

I have also added a new craft to my collection - knitting. Thanks to the loom my lovely friend Talia gave me for Xmas. I've made two hats on it and have a third one in production. Here are my first two attempts:


And last but not least here is the cross stitch I have recently finished. I have no idea what to do with it now! If I frame it I'll have nowhere to hang it so I want t do something different with it.I had thought about putting it on a folder which I could use to keep patterns in but any suggestions are more than welcome!

I think thats all of my recent projects now! Apart from a little black cat plushie which I made for a fancy dress costume (I was a witch!) which I forgot to take a photo of before sending it off to Kent to its new, rather wonderful owner! It wasn't very well made so I think the lack of picture may be a good thing. I also have just started on my last xmas present - a plushie (but I can't tell you what yet!) which I need to have done by the 12th March when its wonderful owner comes to pick it up!

I shall try not leave it so long that I have to do such an epic blog post again!

New Year, New Blog

Yes, I have decided that as one of my New Years resolutions shall be to make this a proper blog where I actually update it and update it about interesting things not mindless nonsense! There may even be pictures!

Since I seem to have found a new fascination with quotes I feel that is the way to go with the blog for now. Using quotes to give me inspiration. So here we go first post of the new blog!

'The most exciting phrase to hear in Science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not 'Eureka' but 'That's funny...' '
Issac Asimov

I seem to find that most discoveries come quite by accident; take craft for example. I set out to do one thing and it all goes dramatically wrong but somewhere along the way I discover something else that works well. Another example is searching books in the library - I search the library catologue, note down the call number and then wander towards the appropriate shelf and never leave with the book I went looking for - always one I've discovered quite by accident on one of the surrounding shelves.

Does that mean we should just leave everything up to fate? Probably not, if we didn't try out and do things; set out to make a certain discovery or to reach a certain point we would never discover the little things along the way. It's the little things that make the end goal even more special.

So if things aren't going right, don't fret as something good could be just around the next corner. Something I could do with taking into account a lot more often. Surprise can be the best thing in life.