"Party on, Excellent"

It's safe to say that the past few weeks have been manic. But on the up side, all with pleasant things. I will admit it has left little room for hard crafting but has left me with some idea ammunition going forwards.

I have managed to cram in a Rock music themed 40th birthday party where I got to hang with the younger looking members of Kiss, Wayne and Garth from their very own Wayne's World, Alice Cooper, Slash, and a whole other handful of famous rock stars. Okay, so it was my partner in crime, Helen's 40th and her boys as Kiss, but after a few beers nothing mattered. Time was just taken up with singing along (badly) to Queen songs, rocking out with Guitar Heros, and of course, running like an idiot through the house with blow up guitars. Much fun was had.

Which was then followed with a trip up to London and my mothership Forbidden Planet where my hubbys pockets got robbed of cash. After all with my birthday on the 5th of November, is it my fault if someone (me) walks around going, "I want one of those, and one of those, and one of those..."

Which leads me to this weekend. I get to rock out at Alice Coopers Halloween concert in Alexander Palace. As you can probably guess, I'm very excited about that. Though I am now wondering where on earth this Alexander Palace is and why it takes so long to walk from Wood Green to the venue.

Hence the little to no time to craft :( But there is hope yet, week off work next week, so of course plenty of time to craft.

I have managed to kick out a couple of bits. Mainly request pieces for family members, but here's the snaps anyway.

Made for a friend and more will be made, livin' up Christmas

Made as a Christmas Gift, Moonstone and crystal pendant and earring set.

I was approached by a girl at work who loves her chocolate and wanted a pair of earring to go with (theme, not chew on). Now normally I hate the idea of even stepping over the ground covered by others, but when she gave me two fimo Magic Stars and asked for me to add the hooks I couldn't say no. She'd spent the money otherwise I would have pointed her to my second favourite haunt - Folksy. For a 30 second job of adding a little wire... I ended up getting a pair myself. They are much cuter on then this quick shot shows.

Not like I bought the beads, just hooked them up ;)

Oh... and here's some party shots...just because I can ;)

 

Messy work space

Today has resulted in absolute chaos - so all in all no change there then.

I have been busy Christmas shopping over the past few weeks, picking up the parcels from the post office where they have wandered off to when I haven't been in to answer the door. Spent so much money between Folksy, Etsy and a handful of sites that I am sure some of you will be happy for my pay out, whilst I think my credit card may be hating me with a vengeance right now. I was hoping to take some snaps before it got dark to put in the post but with the light failing and my living room looking like I might have dropped a packaging bomb at some point I figured I'll wait until Saturday to have a camera session.

Which goes to say my work space looks even worse than the floor right now.

The good thing is, my little cherries are being set into gift cards, along with their invader and Mario friends. When I wasn't opening parcels that in actual fact aren't really for me, I was busy cutting out the frames for these cards. I forgot how time consuming something like that can be. However I am hoping my hard work will pay off. Again piccys will follow at a later date.

However whilst I was busy with crafting I was wondering, am I the only person that buys handmade with a person in mind... then when you get it in the post you don't really want to part with it?

Not sure which I am finding harder right now. Contemplating tidying my work space, or deciding which items I am going to give away as gifts, and which I will keep for myself. Decisions, decisions...

So to those of you whom I do owe gifts - beware, a thief is loose in the area... I can't be held responsible! They ruined my work space too...

New Venture, start the Adventure - Randomling

Seems that everything is changing this year. Not sure if it's for the better or worse in some cases but at least some good has come out of the last few months. 

Redundancy still hasn't been announced, but it lurks around the corner like a child's depiction of the bogey man. So as you can imagine every last penny goes to paying the bills and keeping things up to date, just in case. However it would seem there are others out there that have had enough of the Man and the way he just seems to pee from a great height on those that work hard. Either that or city pigeons really don't like me ;)

However after very long conversations that included plenty of Coke (bottled kind), coffee, a fry up, some pretty lame sandwiches and a dog vomiting on the floor, it seems I am about to go into business. Now, having done the self employment before it's not that daunting. However keeping my full time job for now is going to put the pressure on. With a close friend of mine looking for a way to leave the 9 to 5 and having bundles of talent in the flora area, as well as skills in up-cycling old furniture we have decided to do business together. Which also means I have to get my finger out and start keeping this little baby up to date and fully functional. Naughty naughty me! (Anyone mind if I blame my cats?)

And of course, this little blog of mine will be the starting point (well that and a web page that's under-development). So with a pre-warning to my dear readers, I will soon be featuring the creative talents of my partner in crime Helen Campbell, and my sometime associate and Mother, Jean Hudson. Which at least means I can show off the talents of someone who can knit ;)

Whilst I often take on projects for others I rarely write about them for fear they won't appreciate my inane humour. However with a plan in mind, no stone can be left unturned... so I apologise to the woodlouse whose home I may disturb in doing so.

So wish us luck... I think this is going to be a bumpy ride, if not a fun and crafty one. 

With U in Mind is about to go global... soonish (is so colon, capital D).

Back to Nintendo

Well whilst I haven't paid much attention to my blog, I have spent countless hours in front of my t.v. trying to perfect my cross stitch. I wouldn't say I'm perfect, but I am getting there. I figured that I could watch a new charming t.v. series whilst geeking out to the past.

Those of you who read my last post will remember that I am trying to perfect my stitching skills in order to make a bag for the other half. A good idea... aside from the fact as I mentioned before my cross stitch skills were left somewhere in the 90's.

However, he loves his inner geek and wants something retro. And being a HUGE fan of the computer game (I use this in the broadest sense - those of you with young sons, brothers and 'big' kids will know what I mean), I figured lets go Mario. The worlds friendliest plumber - and if anyone has his number, drop it by me, I have a radiator that needs fixing before the next cold snap. But, all these little stitchings will not be going to waste. I figure, with my day off tomorrow, out comes the blank cards and glue gun. Waste not, want not. Or something to that degree anyway ;)

So here are a couple of my tiny critters, soon to adorn a keyring, card or some other form of media of my idle hands choosing.

This guy needs a background, but I thought, hey cute enough.

And inspired by 'Know you Mushrooms'

And in all fairness these have nothing to do with Mario... in fact some how Pac Man cherries and yet more Invaders found there way in there... but cute right? ;)

So I am off to 1st Unique Gifts, to see what the lovely Wendy and fantastic crafters of the world have been up to. I believe if you haven't already, you need to join in!