Drills give me thrills...

I finally got to (properly) use my BEAUTIFUL craft drill, that I got for Christmas, this weekend. Before I got it, I had wanted a drill for ages. Crafty power tools really get me excited, especially ones that you can hurt yourself with. I have the Dremel 4000, which is a corded, handheld multi-use drill, with a mini-me drill attachment. I love that I can buy so many different accessories for it and it just makes me want my own studio/craft space even more. 

I had used it a few times previous to the weekend; I attempted to use it to cut a bar off the foot of my bed (so that Ben could stop having to poke his feet through it to fit in, and could just dangle them off the edge instead), and I also started to drill some plates for a cake stand - but I burned out the drill bit. Whoops. 

I never thought I would use it to drill holes into shoes though. But that's exactly what I did. 

I had a pair of pink suede shoes with a mock wooden heel that I had bought before uni at Primark. I never wore them anymore, as the heel was a bit too low for a shoe of that colour (it makes sense, trust me). What to do with them?

Before

Well, I rummaged in the craft cupboard, searching for inspiration and found some paints - bear with me, it's good, I promise. 

I painted the pink suede with black fabric paint. For the heels, I thought it might need something tougher, so I sandpapered them and painted with black Hammerite, which has a lovely consistency and made them super shiny. Then, I decided to give them a bit of a designer touch and paint the bottoms with red acrylic. I'm pretty sure that the red won't last too long, but it's fun while it does. 

After painting

Then, after ordering some supplies from my Mecca (eBay!), I started drilling... and studding! I had two kinds of studs, some taller ones with screw-backs and some shorter ones which were rivets. I also added a drop of superglue to all the studs, to ensure they wouldn't just fall off - some of the threads of the screws were shortened by the amount of material on the shoes.

After studding them, Ben's Dad pointed out that I would probably shred my feet whilst wearing them, so I glued some black felt to the insides, to cover the back of the studs, and they are lovely and comfy now!

Ta-daaaa!

I am super happy with how they came out; they are just so FIERCE. They will look fantastic with a floral dip hem dress and leather jacket. Can't wait to give them their first outing! 

I did have a few injuries from this project - the studs stabbed me a few times, and I hot glued my fingers to the felt, which stung a little - but no drill holes anywhere but the shoes so, all-in-all, it was a success! Hoorah!

Here is the original inspiration:

Let me know what you think!

xx

Obsession: Ombre

Helloo my little chickadees :)

I tend to go through phases of liking things: certain chocolate bars, certain hairstyles, certain colours... And when I like these things, I become obsessed with them. OBSESSED.

Currently I am LOVING the ombre trend. Ombre is the french term for "shaded" and is a faded colour, using different shades of the same colour, from light to dark. 

There are lots of ways to create this effect, and boy, have I been trying them out! 

I thought I would start out small, and as I have been trying out nail art, I decided I would ombre-glitter my nails:

All you need to do to create this look is to pick your base coat, do a few coats of this and leave to dry, then paint the bottom half of your nails with glitter, then paint the bottom third with glitter, then the bottom quarter etc. Do a top coat et voila!

I also own a lot of pairs of denim shorts (7 at my last count...another obsession of mine), so I ombre-bleached a few of these:

Once lilac shorts, they now fade to a gorgeous pink

Light denim with a light fade

Dark denim blue fading to 80s white

It was a bit trial and error, but I found that the best way is definitely to soak the shorts in plain water first, then hang them in a bucket of bleach/water mix (I used a coathanger to hang them) until you achieve the desired effect.

I also ombre-bleached a plain rust coloured dress I bought in the New Look sale:

More of an orange colour now, fading to peach

And finally, as I have been growing my hair out from a pixie crop, I need new ways to make my barnet exciting - I bet you can't guess how.. that's right, OMBRE!

I began by colouring all of my hair to get rid of my roots with L'oreal's Florida Honey Blonde, and then attempted the lighter colour with their Lightest Natural Blonde, colouring an inch of the bottom for 20 minutes, then a further inch up PLUS the bottom inch for another 25 minutes... with no result! Ben, as usual, came to my rescue after sourcing a very 90s looking highlighting kit in Tesco while I sat at home in my PJS:

I was dubious, but... this time it worked!

I now have lovely ombre hair to match my lovely ombre clothes and nails! 

I think my next ombre adventure will involve fabric dye and plain dresses...

P.S. I apologise for the awful quality pictures - I am going to have to steal Ben's proper camera and take some pretty pictures for the next post!

Maisie the Mischief Maker & THE bike!

Maisie was, at long last, microchipped and neutered in February, after which came a two week recovery period, inclusive of a plastic cone: 

Poor Maisie felt very sorry for herself; she couldn't clean herself, so she just cleaned the inside of the cone continuously, and she got a few itches in her ear that even I couldn't remedy with my silly non-claw hands - so the cone did come off a few times. Luckily the stitch remained intact, although her pride didn't - especially when she kept bumping into doors and chair legs due to her whiskers being stuck inside the cone. 

Snoozing on the most comfortable cushion...

We were both very happy when the cone came off, and finally she could be let outside.

I received Maisie after she was found in a boiler house with her sisters and brothers when she was only a few weeks old. The caretaker had said he would need to get rid of them, so after being weaned onto solid food, Ben brought her home to me at just four weeks old.

 

We thought she would be a wild cat, even though she was very nervous and shaky when she first came home, and when she was a bit older it seemed that we were right - she would scratch at the doors to go outside and sit on the windowsills meowing at the birds. 

I had taken her outside a few times on her lead though, and she had been very timid, but when she was allowed to be outdoors on her own, I set her down outside and left her for a few hours.

The garden is edged by tall trees and, as you can guess, Maisie found these highly entertaining. Three times we have had to rescue her from the tallest one (about 20 feet high), and the neighbours have rescued her once when I was out - only for her to climb back up and get stuck again ready for when I got home. 

She got herself up the tree again yesterday and we left her for five hours (until it got dark), and she managed to climb a quarter of the way down. 

After her adventures in the tree, she is less eager to go out, and it is much quieter in the house. I will keep putting her out though, and she can get herself out of the tree! I am sure that one day she will work her way all the way down and then she can go out as often as she pleases.

Looking like butter wouldn't melt

In other news, my bike was finished! Sod's law means that the weather's been awful since I got it though, so I haven't yet been on a bike ride with it.

Before

Hannah-ised!

Cloud Atlas Review

So I am *still* working my way through the big pile of half-finished books as my New Year's Resolution. The latest was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, which I finished last week.

All of these half-reads I have struggled to get into, and got bored of them. This was no different, and I actually didn't finish the first character's story (the book is divided into characters and their stories intermingle). Now, I studied English at university, and read classic literature, but sometimes I do find the classics a bit heavy going. I wasn't expecting to open the book and start reading an 19th century diary, which is why I got a bit fed up in the first place (I am also one well known for not trying hard with books and giving up before giving them a proper go). 

So eventually, I picked Cloud Atlas up again and made myself finish Adam Ewing's story. Except it didn't finish - it ended halfway through and there another began. NOW it became a page turner. There are seven characters/stories altogether, and trying to work out why and how they are linked is fascinating. 

There are many twists and turns which leave you yearning to know what's happening, and it really keeps you hooked. 

I also love a book with a good moral, and one that questions the way in which you lead your life. There are many questions about abuse of power and exploitation, and whether one person can make a difference, and it really made me think. With the recent Kony2012 campaign, it is a question that many of us have been asking ourselves; whether we alone can make a difference - and this book explores that. 

I would highly recommend reading this book, and I would highly recommend sticking with it all the way through, as I continued to struggle in places where I couldn't see where any of it was going, but it all unfolded in the end to a page-turning denouement.  

I now want to read more David Mitchell, but I must continue with my half-reads; hopefully it will turn out some more gems. 

Let me know if you have read it, and what you thought of it, or if you have read any other David Mitchell novels that you would recommend. 

xx

A New Love

My Nanna always taught me to have CLEAN, well manicured nails, and I cannot abide dirty fingernails - unless they belong to Ben, whom I know to be clean but very hard-working at his very dirty job. I also dislike extremely long fingernails, and I think this is because my mother told me to steer clear of men with long nails and a pinky ring, as they would probably be perverts (I apologise if you have long nails and a pinky ring and are NOT a pervert, but your hands probably make people think you are). 

Also, one thing that never fails to cheer me up is nail varnish, especially buying a new one. This may have been why I accumulated a rather large overdraft during university - lots of time + being away from home = new nail polish almost daily. I do have quite an extensive collection, which continues to grow on a regular basis - my latest is Rimmel's 280 "Sunshine" - see, even the names cheer you up!

I like to express myself through what I am wearing whenever I can - I really do feel that what you wear is an extension of yourself. This is one of the reasons I have hardly any black in my wardrobe (1 pair of work trousers, 2 LBDs, 1 black cardigan (+ a multitude of black tights, which don't really count)); when I wear black, I don't feel like me. 

It is the same with my nails; when they are plain I feel a little bit naked, and a big bit boring. I look down at my plain, naked nails and think "Oh I wish I had painted you." Funnily enough, this doesn't seem to extend to my toes, as they are covered up most of the time. I will usually only paint these if they are going to be seen, and especially if I am going to my BFF's house as she has a strange disgust/fear of unpainted toenails. 

Colourful painted nails are not enough. I have now fallen in love with nail art. PATTERNS? On your NAILS? Yes please. 

There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube, and I am addicted to F*** Yeah Nail Art! on Tumblr. (I just had to have a quick browse after linking you).

My first attempt - an homage to Cath Kidston (Yes, that's her bedding too):

Second attempt:

I hope you like them! My blue nails, I realised after I'd painted them, accidentally match my new bicycle that I bought myself at the weekend! It is a sky blue Claud Butler Windermere, but with Claud Butler Cambridge handlebars and seat - with an added kickstand, wicker basket, a bigger bell and possibly a shiny horn. Oh I do love shopping local. Pictures to be uploaded when the bike has been customised for me! 

Laura's Handmade Life - Amanda Addison

I love to read, and I love to craft - therefore I love to read stitch-lit! 

I see myself as more than a novice reader of this genre as I have read many knitting novels, including the semi-famous The Friday Knit Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, as well as the lesser known Divas Don't Knit and Needles and Pearls by Gil McNeil. I even wrote a paper on the links between gothic literature and knitting murder mysteries, such as Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton at university - Yes, I got fantastic marks for this essay. It's a shame the rest of them didn't follow suit. 

I am also one to, and I feel ashamed at this, judge books by their cover. In fact, Ben knows to buy me books which have pastel colours and swirly writing on - I more often than not devour these in a single sitting; trashy chick-lit is a huge non-guilty pleasure of mine. 

So, with the bunting and polka dots, shoes, tea and cupcake, and of course the aforementioned, almost-obligatory swirly writing, Laura's Handmade Life appeared to be a winner.

In some ways it was; the country life, the trips to the charity shops, the vintage clothing, and (eventually) the crafting give the story the key components to a book I should love. However, to love a book, you must also love the main character. Laura Lovegrove is a very whiney woman. There is no other way to describe her - She stupidly leaves a pan of melting wax on the hob and almost burns down her house. She burns all her vintage clothes, and then spends the rest of the novel moaning about it, even though she is stitching a new career from their scraps. She also moans about her husband, a man who wants nothing more than a self-sustainable life, a man who builds her a yurt for a craft room, and builds her a website to sell her goodies on. Admittedly, he does do yoga, but I would happily put up with downward facing dog for a purpose built craft room and home-grown courgettes to bake cakes with. 

As with many craft books, there are patterns included, but this is also where it has let me down. There is no recipe for the courgette chocolate cake, or the sachertorte that is frequently mentioned within the pages.

All in all, nowhere near the best stitch lit I have read. I wouldn't recommend it unless you wish to read 410 pages of a woman moaning about her wonderful, crafty, countrified life, with a few spelling errors thrown in for good measure.

(I am nice really)

Weekend Stitchings

I am slightly totally obsessed with my six month old kitten, Maisie.

Ben found her and brought her to me, four weeks old and covered in fleas, with a hard tummy full of worms. She was so weak she could barely walk. After being defleaed, dewormed, and several showers later, she was the cutest furball. She was also mine. My first ever pet, at the age of 23. 

She now has her own harness and lead, and I take her for jaunts in the garden (not yet spayed or microchipped, I don't want her being ravaged by the local toms), and she has claimed the windowsill in my bedroom, where I provide fresh water almost daily for her, in her very own pint glass; it stops her drinking mine. 

So, yes, she is a pampered princess of a kitten. She has had a few dresses (unfortunately not handmade...yet), and has a collection of pretty collars, ready for the time when she is ready for the big, wide world. 

But I needed to craft something to commemorate her, and our relationship. It was then that I stumbled upon a tutorial for embroidered pet silhouettes (I have since lost the link, but will continue to search). 

YES. 

A silhouette of Maisie stitched into eternity, alongside -of course- one of me.

After a few attempts, I managed to get Maisie to sit still enough for a profile photograph, and took one of myself too. I then fiddled around with them both to make them silhouettes and then added frames and printed. And then I began to stitch. 

This is it so far. I used satin stitch for the main silhouette and a running back stitch for the frame. The rest of the frame is visible through the material - I just held the paper and cotton together with the embroidery hoop and stitched straight through the paper. 

Once this one is finished I will begin on mine, and then the two will be housed in a vintage frame, me on top (the master, obviously) and her below.