Photo a day #57 - Canalside Again

Another canalside walk again this evening looking for a geocache. I found it!

Photo a Day #56 - 5 Stone!

Got my 5 stone certificate tonight. A big achievement and I feel much healthier for it and my energy levels have increased loads.

Photo a Day #55 - Canal Walk

Decided to take advantage of the lighter evening and go for a walk down the towpath near work to find a geocache.

Photo a Day #54 - Pink Goth Charm Bracelet

Am I getting a bit predictable with my photo a day yet? I imagine so.

Todays make was a pink, black and white gothy charm bracelet. It was bats, a haunted house and a few spiders and witches too.

Photo a Day #53 - Decluttering Books

I'm working through the books in the spare room to give us a bit more space. I bought a job lot of 500 random books on eBay for £20 when I had a Bookcrossing zone to look after but now I don't look after it, I'm working my way through them and seeing which books I want to keep, which ones are only good for crafting with, and which ones to send to a friend who looks after her own Bookcrossing shelf.

(A Bookcrossing shelf is a space in a public area where people can leave books for other people to pick up and take home to read free of charge)

I worked my way through 2 boxes of books yesterday but then ran out of labels to register them with. I ordered more and they are on their way so I can continue as soon as they arrive.

Photo a Day #52 - Scarborough

The view over Scarborough South Bay yesterday.

Photo a Day #51 - Skull Bracelet

My finished item of the day. I've made 2 of these before in this colour but kept one myself and sold the other one. I'll get it on Etsy at some point soon.

I managed to get up to 70 listing on Etsy today which is good news. I'm aiming for 100 so I can get higher up in the SEO search ratings.

Photo a Day #50 - Wedding Favours

We were at a wedding yesterday and the groom's Mum sadly passed away last year. So they had the beautiful idea of having party favours on the table in honour of her so she was at the wedding too.

Photo a Day #49 - Red Black and Gold - Continued and Finished

A bracelet I made with the bead stash from yesterdays photo for the February "Operation Tackle that Bead Stash" Challenge.

Photo a Day #48 - Red, Black and Gold

I haven't done a beading challenge for a while, apart from samples for work so as I had a clear beading mat, I figured the time was right.

The challenge I chose was "Operation tackle That Bead Stash" February challenge. A colour palette of Red, Black and Gold.

I went through my stash looking for inspiration and found these lovelies.

Photo a Day #47 - Teddies

Nipped into Asda to pick up a few bits and got distracted by a pairs of boots that I liked the look of. Tried them on and there was something in the toe rattling around.

I emptied it out onto the floor and found 3 headless teddies!

I didn't buy the boots, or find any heads.

Photo a Day #46 - Clothes Swap!

A few more photos than the usual photo a day today!

I organize a Plus Size Clothes swap in Nottingham with my friend Jen and today was the day.

We book a room upstairs in a city centre pub, drag loads of tables out and put all the clothes we have to swap on them and invite other people to join in. We only have size 16 and above clothes so that us larger ladies and gentlemen have an alternative to the regular size swaps and shop.

 

When you arrive you plonk all the clothes you have brought with you on the relevant table. (All the skirts on one table, all dresses on another table etc) Then help yourself to whatever you fancy. Simples!

At the end, we weed out anything which is a little small in size, keep a starter "seed" for the next swap, and send a box of donated stuff to a women's shelter. Can you imagine anything worse than being told you are too big for donated clothes when you have arrived at a shelter with nothing? I can't think of a worse punch in the stomach than that when you are starting again from scratch.

And here are the photos from todays swap. Some great stuff!

Everyone who came along went home with oodles of new-to-them clothes and we ad loads left over yet again.

Photo a Day #45 - Button Necklace

I'm on the seemingly never-ending quest to get 100 items in my online handmade jewellery shop.

Which means lots of photos and lots of writing. Today was taking photos of a necklace made from old buttons.

Photo a Day #44 - Potato!

The pub music quiz has started doing a rather lovely buffet on a Thursday night which is very tempting, especially as they lay it ou on the able next to where we sit.

But aside from being lovely, it's lots of white bread whcih I try to avoid, and meaty things and I'm a vegetarian.

To resolve the issue of pub munchies, this week I took along 2 jacket potatoes in my cardian pocket (Handy hand warmers and to snack on like apples) and a  punnet of grapes.

It worked! I only had 2 baby onion bhajis and no white bread

And I learnt that other people don't use hot jacket potatoes as handwarmers when it is cold, or eat jacket potatoes without fillings on them as a snack.

Photo a Day #43 - Boots

I said I'd never buy any but a friend gave me some and they are so warm!

(Boots sitting on the glittery toilet seat)

Photo a Day #42 - Snow

Not much snow when compared to other places, but yesterday we had heavy rain, followed by snow, followed by glorious sunshine. And it is England.

Photo a Day #41 - Sleeping Beauty Bracelet

Having a play with some photos. I have a new bracelet display stand and some bracelets to list for sale. i think the new stand is a winner!

Photo a Day #40 - Homegrown Veggies

It's blustery out there but good enough for a quick trip out to to the garden to check on things and see what is happening. Found a kohl rabi, a swede and some kale!

The swede and kohl rabi were worse for wear but I chopped the bad bits off and added them to the pan.

Bead Soup Blog Party 2014!

It's time for the annual Bead Soup Blog Hop!

And this year you can only sign up today.

Photo a Day #39 - Batch Cooking

To make sure I stay away from takeaways and prepackaged food as much as possible I batch cook at the weekends and freeze it in portions.

At the back is vegetable stew (Using up 2 tubs of frozen beans I cooked in the slow cooker, some swede which had seen better days, some kale from the garden and some stock which was taken from some soup I made in the week as it was far too watery)

3 tubs of chick peas which I cooked in the slow cooker and are destined for the freezer. I bought dried peas from an Asian shop for pennies. No cans have to be recycled, and the packging is very minimal.

And some quiche which I like at the front cut into slices. These are going to the fridge to have with salad. The bottom layer is cous cous, and the top is pan fried veg mixed with cottage cheese and eggs.

Result!

And I went shopping to the market, Chinese supermarket, and health food shop too.

Photo a Day #38 - Reel Big Fish

I gambled my "photo a day" on a gig I went to at Rock City but I guess I'm not the best photographer at a club. This is the best one though!

They were really worth going to see. Loads of energy and great music.

Photo a Day #37 - Lemon!

I think this means that the lemon tree is happy. Hooray!

I got his for my birthday in October and he's turning yellow! his flowers fell off ages ago and he's also growing little lemons too. They are just under and inch in size.

Photo a Day #36 - Balti Girl!

We were doing our usual exchange of goods at the pub last night and Sally decided to be Balti Girl!

I took 2 bags of clothes and an aloe plant, and came back with a jumper, a dress and 2 cheese graters!

Something Old Something New Blog Challenge - February

Is this the most boring photo ever?

I joined the "Something Old Something New" blog challenge and these are the UFOs I plan on finishing for this month. Hopefully I will finish more, but I'm aiming to get these done and ready to move into stock, my jewellery box, or gifted.

The piece with a button in is a felt brooch. It just needs the brooch pin sewing on. It's half sewn on. Why the heck haven't I finished it? It's been in this state for months!

The pearls is a right angle weave bracelet with no clasp on it and all it's nymo tails left loose.

The rope piece is a necklace I made for a blog challenge and I was really naughty and hid the ends without a clasp on for the finished photo!

And the earrings have tarnished and need their headpins replacing.

Photo a Day #35 - Photo Space

This is my photo setup for taking shots of my handmade jewellery. I have two mini spotlights with daylight bulbs in them, a cube which came with the lamps, and a white wipe-clean vinyl photographic backdrop.

As you can see, my list of items to photograph is a work in progress as I make a lot more than I actually get time to photograph.

Photo a day #34 - Portrait of G

Here's G after he'd cleaned up the bubble bath which I'd made of the kitchen floor earlier this evening.

I put pots in the dishwasher which he'd left to soak in a puddle of washing up liquid. Oops!

And a bonus shot of what was on my bead board tonight.

Photo a Day #33 - TNA Wrestling at NIA Birmingham

The first photo is my "Photo a Day" but I thought I'd add a couple of bonus shots today.

TNA at the  NIA ready to start the show

G and I

Me and my Dad

Something Old, Something New Challenge

G tackled the spare room yesterday and found carpet again. He also found a huge stash of UFOs so this blog challenge seems to have come at the perfect time.

I am challenging myself to finish (at least) one UFO a month and, at the same time, learn (at least) one new technique a month.

Why not click on the picture link and join in too?

Photo a Day #32 - Mug

This is my favourite mug. It's a handmade down but I always choose it if I can. It's china so it's lightweight, and the right shape to wrap my fingers round on a cold day.

The junk in the background of the photo is a little crystal ball that was a good idea to buy at the time but it wasn't like I imagined when it arrived so am still thinking what to do with it. And my hairbow which hasn't made it as far as the bedroom yet.

Fifth!

A while ago I did an interview with Liz who I know through Boockrossing.

And she published her top 5 blog posts of 2013 and I made number 5!

Woohoo! Go check out her website. It's really good for some many things. Grammar, writing, technical and computing. I always learn something new and helpful when I read one of her blog entries.