Living Thankfully

Here is my entry for this week's Thankfulness journey, in no particular order . . . .

281. Being able to get an appointment with the doctor when I needed it and being able to see one of the female Drs at our practice.

282. Safe journey home for eldest son, on the train, so that he could spend some time with his grandmother (my mother in law) who is ill.

283. Her other son had managed to get one of the beds downstairs for her but had also managed to buy a stair lift off ebay so that when she is feeling up to it she can go upstairs too.

284. He has enough handyman skills to fit the stair lift himself.  My hubby and youngest both had fun trying it out!

285. Good visit with mother in law and her excitement when the district nurse showed her how to do her own injections and she got it right first time.

286. Safe journey back to his internship for eldest.

287. Bumping into a friend in town.

288. Awesome bargains in the reduced fridge when popping into the supermarket on the way home from an evening out.  Sirloin steaks and silverside joints for 1/4 of the normal price!

289. When it rained on a morning I was attending a school assembly by bus, it was one of the schools that is close to the bus stop and I was only in the rain for a few minutes.

290. Opportunity to combine Bible study with the creativity I love.

291. Almost 90 women on facebook reading the bible through in a year together.  Each reading the plan of their choice in the version of their choice but doing it TOGETHER!

292. The opportunity to tackle the mess that eldest's bedroom had become since he left and turn it into a room that will be his bedroom when he is home but also my craft room.  THAT is a project that will take months, but watch out for further updates.

If you wish to participate in blogging about your list of 1000 gifts or in Thankful Thursday, head on over to a holy experience, by clicking on the banners at the top of this post.

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Bible Study and Lino Cutting

Interesting title huh?  How am I going to combine those two?

Well, yesterday I was listening to the sermon at the church my son is interning at, and one of the things that was mentioned is that they want the whole church to study the same passage this week and then they are going to use some of the responses as part of the sermon on Sunday.  The thing that they want people to do is watch for 3 things within the passage.

A LIGHT BULB: Something that shines from the passage and takes your attention/impacts you.

A QUESTION MARK: Anything that is difficult to understand or a question you would like to ask the Lord about the passage.

AN ARROW: A personal application for your life.

Now, that is not the church I attend, it is much too far away and I love the church which God has us in right now, BUT I love that set of things to look out for.  In fact I want to use it in my regular journaling, and was wondering how to make sure I remember what the three things are, each time I come to it. Yes, I could print it out and make a bookmark but I wanted something a little more creative.
So I pulled out my lino cutter and some pieces of lino and got to work:

Things didn't quite go according to plan and I forgot that I needed to reverse the image of the question mark in order for it to be the right way round when finished.  I then started again and made the same mistake ARGH!  Finally, after getting up and going to do something else for a while I got it right!  Anyone want a back to front question mark stamp?

Here they are in use:

I'm thinking that I want to mount them on something, maybe some scraps of wood or something to make them easier to use. I'm sure there is something around here I can use.

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New Things Check In

It's been just over 2 weeks since I last checked in on how my Theme of New is going for the year.

There have been a couple of NEW things since then,
The first is another creative pursuit and actually has a number of NEWS within it.
I made myself a handbag.  A fully lined handbag, I've never done that before, so in itself that was new.
I made the front panel using some techniques I have picked up from Art journaling, spraying inks and then rubber stamping.  I've never done either of those things on fabric before.

And I made a fully lined, zipped pocket inserted into the lining of the bag, again something I had not done before.

The 2nd NEW thing is kind of related to that, in that it came through sharing those photos on facebook.  This is still ONLY a possibility, no concrete plans BUT our church has a connection with missionaries to one of the gypsy communities in Romania.  She commented on the photos on facebook saying she wished I would go out there and teach some of these projects to the gypsy girls because they are looking for projects for the girls to be able to make so that they can sell them.

I've talked to just a couple of people at church about it and am certainly thinking it might be possible. 

The first problem is that my passport expired in November, so I have begun the process of applying for a new one and am waiting for those forms to come in the post.  I don't think my photo will have changed that much since my last one, my hair is a lot longer, but that is all, so it should just be a case of getting a new photo, signing the form and posting it back off with birth certificates etc.  Maybe I'll pay the extra to get it checked at the post office before I send it.  So that's £77.50 I think, plus another £8.17 if I do the post office thing, GULP!

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Living Thankfully

Here is my entry for this week's Thankfulness journey, in no particular order . . . .

267.  Although my mother in law is seriously ill in hospital an hour or so away it is an hour in the same direction as my husband works so he is able to visit on his way home from work with just a slight detour.

268.  Mother in law is hopefully coming home later this week.

269.  Eldest son has got a day off work Thursday and his usual free days are Friday and Saturday so he is able to come hoe for a few days and visit.

270.  Even though there are only 2 days to go until he is coming home we were able to get Advance tickets that brought the cost of the train down from £45 to £23. 

271.  Since eldest has to be back down there for morning service on Sunday (he is working as an intern at a church), hubby is going to borrow a company car over the weekend and we will all travel down first thing Sunday morning to be there for morning service.

272.  Had great fun making my birthday gift to me this last week. 

273.  Got a reasonable price on some more fabric so that I can extent the leftover fabric from 1 more bag to 2 more bags.  Hoping to then sell them and recoup some of the cost of my bag!

274.  A very interesting comment on my facebook when I shared photos of that bag, from a missionary acquaintance in Romania.  Have since spoken to a couple of people at church, only very briefly and think something could definitely come of it . . .

275.  Youngest is done with exams for another few months, so that's one less stress.

276.  Even though we are a one car family for a while again I still have my free bus pass, and that is helping me get around while hubby is at work.

277.  Awesome time celebrating my 40th birthday with church friends, after church this week.  Complete with me calling everyone into the food by blowing a kids toy trumpet and yelling "grubs up!"

278.  Some fantastic birthday gifts and apparently a couple still to come in the post.

279.  Lots of cards and wonderful messages on facebook!

280.  FAB AT 40!  THIS is going to be a good year, a blessed year.

If you wish to participate in blogging about your list of 1000 gifts or in Thankful Thursday, head on over to a holy experience, by clicking on the banners at the top of this post.

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My Birthday Gift to Me

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a sewing project that I would also be able to combine with some of the skills I have learnt in Art Journaling.

I found a great tutorial for a fully lined messenger bag but felt it was just a tiny bit bigger than what I wanted.  I really didn't drop the measurements by much, just took the main pieces from 11 by 12 inches to 10 by 11 inches.  It has come out more or less the perfect size for what I wanted.

I also wanted to make the strap adjustable, rather than a fixed length, so I used another tutorial for that.  This meant I could wear the bag either with a longer strap diagonally across my body

or with a shorter strap on one shoulder.

I bought the fabric from IKEA, quite a heavyweight fabric, but just what I wanted.  Well, I had been hoping to use the cream for decorating to make the front panel but they had no cream so I settled for the white.  I decorated the front panel before making the bag up.  I made sure to leave just enough space at the sides for the seams and not to go right into the bottom corners because I would be curving them.  However I foorgot to account for the fact that the front panel also goes over the top of the bag.  This meant I would lost part of the image I had worked on, if I made up the bag as in the tutorial.  So I added another piece to the top of the front panel, which made the front panel image all appear on the front, but come further down the front.

I used diluted inks to spray the front panel. Some of them I added mica powders to. Then I used permanent inks (I think it's Archival in Maroon) to stamp the words and the angel image. I filled in the angel image using some glitter pens.

I also decided not to use two different fabrics for the rest of the bag as in the tutorial, but just the one brown.  So, the underneath of the flap is brown, not white.

The two pockets there are plenty roomy enough for any essentials you might need to carry with you, such as chocolate caramel digestives!

There are two matching pockets on the back of the bag, which are just a little bit deeper than the ones under the front flap.

When you lift the front flap there is a zipper to keep everything in the main pocket safe and secure.

The main pocket has plenty of room for my journal etc

And also has a fully lined, zipped, inner pocket too.

All in all a project I am very pleased with.

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Susanna Reid - Longer Hair

It looks like the elegant and ever popular BBC newsreader is growing her hair out from a very short (and very cute bob last year). Here's her progress to date.

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Making Stuff

I've been making stuff.  Not a lot of fashion stuff lately, but lots of stuff.  My creativity is stretching itself a little, I think.. I have been drawing, painting, writing and crafting a lot and it's all just so much fun.

Last night I went to a record bowl making party at my friend Amy's house, and ended up with a fairy clock:

It started life as a Supertramp record.  :)  Amy had primered one side of it, and I sponged on a base coat of greens and golds, then painted on the numbers with a pretty copper paint.  Next came the fun part.. we stuck it in the oven (250 degrees seems to be the magic temperature) and melted it until it was soft, then molded it around a pie plate until the middle sunk down a bit and the edges got all lovely and wiggly.  

Then I added the moss and paper butterflies, and the little metal spiral beads, and assembled the clock mechanism (incorrectly, it turns out, but my wonderful hubby was able to fix it with some needlenose pliers).  I really love how it turned out!

I mounted it on the wall and discovered that, in form, it was perfect.. but in function, it's a little lacking.  The gold hands were practically invisible from more than a few feet away or from any angle that wasn't straight-on.  I colored them in black with a sharpie, and now it's a readable fairy clock.  :)

It goes so well in my fairy forest bedroom.  The one thing I wish is that the hands glowed somehow so I could read it at night.. how would I accomplish that?  Maybe glow in the dark paint?  Wouldn't last until 2am.. hmmmm...

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New Things Check In

So a week or so ago I wrote about my theme for 2011, New!  I figured it would be good to check in every now and again with an update on whether I have managed to do anything new during that time.

Yes, a few things NEW.
Firstly in my art journal I used something that was going to go in the trash, I used the foil off an after dinner mint, as part of a page.  See all those bits of gold on the right hand page? 

Then I did an assembly at a school that is new to my regular assemblies. I have done an assembly there before for Operation Christmas Child, in my role as volunteer presenter with them, but never one of my regular assemblies that are what I do for my job with my church. This school is in walking distance from my house, and the assembly went well. Some of the assemblies I do are not at all interactive but this one is and so far it seems to be going well. I had to make a prop for the assembly and managed to do that with things I already had, rather than having to go and buy anything.

I have read through the bible in a year before but on my own, never as part of a group and this year I am doing it as part of a group on facebook.  We're each reading whatever version we want to and using the "in a year" plan that suits us best but coming together on facebook and discussing, it's amazing.  In fact one of the things I want to do today is maybe ready a bit further than my readings for today so I can get a bit ahead so that if I have to miss a day then it won't put me behind my plan.

Also Hubby and I sat down with the calendar a couple of nights ago and pre planned date nights for 5 months!  We have never done that before, always planning week by week.  The trouble with planning week by week is that it can often get missed as life gets away from us.  We know eating out is expensive and there are always reasons to eat out on nights other than date night such as family events and so on, so we don't want to spend too much on date night.  I have done themed date night meals in the past, both Indian and Chinese, I have a little bit of dishware that goes well with each of those themes and occasionally will make a few paper decorations to go with the theme as well as making a spotify playlist of music from that nation. I think I will be having to do some research on both music and recipes as these are the themes we have over the next 5 months:
Australian
Chinese
American (for groundhog day)
Maylasian
French
Welsh
Pancakes (for Shrove Tuesday)
Irish
South African (must ask our South African friends at church for ideas)
Fun food (for April fools day)
Mexican
Japanese
Jewish (the week fo Passover)
Royal Wedding
Greek
Italian
Vietnamese

Finally something NOT QUITE new in that I had done it before but a long time ago.  I have started keeping my thankfulness journal again.  A separate journal that i keep on my nightstand and write in before bed most nights.  I try and write at least 5 things that I am thankful for in that day.  It is a really good way to end the day and is proving useful in reminding me of all the blessings I DO have in my life.
The last entry in it before I restarted it was 2007 and that was only 1 entry, so a failed restart, because the entry before that was 2001!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  10 years ago that I last did this consistently, so I think it kind of counts as NEW.

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Fleece iPad case

I got my hubby an iPad for christmas, and yesterday I made him this fleecy case.

It turned out a little bit girly, but it's pretty cool.  It closes with velcro at the top so the iPad won't slide out.  It makes me happy..  It's making the fraggles happy too.  I might add a strap or a charging port or something if I make another one.. but this took me 10 minutes, and is perfectly suited to its purpose.

I adore easy quick projects sometimes.  There's a certain kind of satisfaction that comes from finishing a high-end, labor intensive coat, but another kind that comes from 10-minutes-to-DONE!

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Blonde Long Curly Female Hairstyles

Blonde Long Curly Female Hairstyles

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Living Thankfully

Here is my entry for this week's Thankfulness journey, in no particular order . . . .

250.  The clock that fell on my head at church yesterday did no damage.  But does make me wonder if God has something to say about TIME.  hmmmmmm GRIN!

251.  Day 7 of eating better and things are still going to plan!

252.  The upside to my mother in law being in hospital for her clot is that she is getting a number of tests THIS WEEK that she would have waited until April for on an out patient basis.

253.  Because of where my husband works a visit to see his mom in hospital is kind of on his way home, just a bit of a detour.

254.  Eldest got back to his internship in Bath safely.

255.  Bible in a year group on facebook.  Going really well, lots of chat, lots of discussion.

256.  Day 8 of bible in a year and I am on track.

257.  Day 7 of exercise and the first day I have done nothing INTENTIONAL (yet!  There is still time).  Going to keep on keeping on.

259.  Got an awesome recipe journal from my Secret Santa at church.

260.  On a day when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, hubby took it upon himself to take down the Christmas decorations and getting them put away.

261.  When I needed a prop for the school assembly talks I do for my job, I had all the craft supplies already on hand, including a GIANT envelope.

262.  My youngest son did AWESOME on his GCSE mock (practice) and proved to his teacher just how good he is.

263.  2 reminders this week that usually difficult people are not being difficult on purpose, particularly those close to us.

264.  Hubby's brother was able to be at the meeting with the medical team for mother in law.  He is a pharmacist so has a certain amount of medical knowledge through that and both he and his wife are cancer survivors.

265.  Test run of a printing binding project went wrong.  Why am I thankful?  Because it prevented me having wasted the time, energy and supplies of doing the full run straight away.

266.  Discovered a new setting on Dance Dance Revolution that I had not known about before that allows me to get my workout done much quicker.

If you wish to participate in blogging about your list of 1000 gifts or in Thankful Thursday, head on over to a holy experience, by clicking on the banners at the top of this post.

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Updated Timelapse Video of the Forest Faerie Coat

I added the new photos in.. this is so fun to watch!  It makes me want to go make another one.  :)

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Green Forest Fairy Coat is Done!

It turned out Just Beautiful.  I absolutely love it!  I brought it to a party on NYE to let people try it on, and see how it flows and hangs on different sized people, and I have to say that this coat looked great on really, everyone who tried it on.  Maybe I've just got Proud Mom syndrome, but this coat is *delightful*.  I think it's one of the best things I've ever made.

As always, I'm really tempted to hang on to it.. but I have too many coats, there is no room in the coat closet, so I am going to list it up on my Etsy store later today.. I hope it makes someone as happy as it's making me!

Pictures, modeled beautifully by Vanessa:

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Pork Stir Fry

Here we have another of our photo recipes!

PORK STIR FRY
2 tbsp oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped (we used garlic in a jar, 1tsp for each clove)
1 tsp grated fresh root ginger (we used ginger in a jar, 1 tsp)
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped.  (Either wear gloves when you do this, or cover your hands with veg oil before and wash off afterwards.  These methods prevent you being left with chilli on your hands, which you can then get in your eyes or whatever.)
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and cut into strips.
3 carrots, cut into strips
1 large onion, sliced
250g pork, cut into cubes
1 courgettes, sliced
1 small broccoli head, divided into florets

Sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
2tbsp orange juice
1 tsp tomato puree
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar.

1.  Prepare your vegetables.

2.  Here you can see some extra leaves.  That's because I decided to add Pak Choi as well, because there was some reduced in the supermarket.

3.  If you can get it, just chop the root end off, cut the firm part into smaller pieces and leave the green leafy parts fairly whole.

4.  Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan.

5.  Add the garlic, ginger and chilli.  I also added the pak choi firmer pieces here.  You only want to soften and warm these, not brown them.

6.  Add in the pepper, carrots, onion and pork.

7.  Stir fry over a medium to high heat for about 5 minutes.

8.  Then add the courgettes and the broccoli.  We also added the leaves of the pak choi here.

9.  Mix the sauce ingredients together and stir into the stir fry.  Allow to bubble a little and toss the vegetables in the sauce to coat.

10.  Serve with noodles or rice.  When I took the photos for this recipe we were using microwave rice.  Not the cheapest option at supermarket prices, at all, but very reasonable in stores such as home bargains.

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