Crotchety Auld Thing

I have finally taught myself to Crochet! My poor mother tried to teach me when I was in that awful, stroppy early teen stage, (Sorry mum. Also: looking forward to it, kids.) and so I not only didn't learn much, but I also held an aversion to doing so for quite some time. 

But no more! And I am embarking on my first blanket project! So many firsts! 

This is also one of the rare occasions that I actually made something that I pinned on pinterest. How did I save patterns and webpages before pinterest?  My memory is fuzzy. ANYWAY, the pattern is Something Pretty and I found it over at Millie Makes and it was nice and easy. I say was: I'm not finished it yet, because I keep deciding that I want a bigger blanket. Which was fine while my acrylic yarn supply was holding out, but now I have to pop down the shop and pick out another colour... Maybe a blanket isn't the best thing for a first crochet project! 

I've also been working on other bits and bobs, in between pretty much everyone in the family being sick. Having three people in the family in three different schools means an interesting cocktail of bugs makes it's way home. Joy. I also finished the robot jumper (Yay!) but then it got put in the wash was ruined. (Boo!) But the robots themselves are still intact, so I may have to find some way of salvaging them... It's like the project that keeps on giving!

x

New Toys!

I made myself a lightbox today! I came across this tutorial and thought I'd give it a go... Seems to have worked okay! Since it was such a nice day I thought I'd try and make good use of the sunlight and take some photos of my new toys....

The new toys are - Shrink plastic, new mini-business cards (which are going to multi-task as labels)  from Moo...

And I found a little craft shop in town that sells daylight bulbs! So now I can take nice photos at night time too! (Do you like my shrinky-tea lady? I think she's destined for the shop, once I find a nice brooch back for her.)

The main reason for wanting a working lightbox is that I'm gearing up to add these customisable  invitations to my shop.... I'm still mulling over the wording of the etsy listing, but it should be ready to go in a couple of days! I know that this one isn't particularly wedding-ish, but I thought it would be nice to design an invitation that could be used for any event - wedding or otherwise!

Hooray for productivity! 

x

Sketchbook Collection

Hello! 

Lets start off the new year with some pictures, shall we? 

I like to dig through my old notebooks and have a look at what I was drawing this time last year...

See how things have changed over time...

and how some things stay the same. 

So all the best to you, may your year be filled to the brim with good things, and oddly lacking in the rubbish things. 

x

HollyTron

P.S. In the long, three month gap between posts, I updated my Portfolio Website. I'm pretty pleased with it! You also may have noticed the slight change in arrangements around here - It feels good to have a fresh look for a fresh year! 

Echo!

I haven't blogged for awhile because I have been busy... usually doing things I want to blog about. 

I've been doing a little bit of this:

A little bit of that: 

with a sprinkling of the other:

I'm also in the process of making the Halloween costumes for the kids - They're dressing up as Link and Zelda this year (Their request - Nerdy Parenting WIN) and I found a handy guide for making medieval dresses Here which I'm going to modify. Should be fun, right?

So that's what I've been doing. What are you up to? 

xx

False Serenity.

Okay, so remember when I posted a few weeks ago about the Redcurrant Jelly, and I was all serene about how it didn't turn out the way I wanted but I was still happy with it? 

I might have gone back on that position a bit. 

In fact, while I was making the Blackcurrant Jam, (which I boiled the heck out of and thus turned into an awful gummy mess,) I thought I might try and give my redcurrant syrup another wee boil, to get it to set. 

Big Mistake. 

I got it to setting point and as I was pouring it into the jar it burnt. It tasted like sugary death. I was SO disappointed, and maybe a little bit angry with myself - all that delicious fruit wasted! (which is why I didn't Blog it right away - time has lessened the sting.)

So, since I won't be using them, I thought I would share these labels I made for my preserves. 

****Click here to Download the .pdf of the Labels!****

They're nice labels - They deserve to be on better preserves!

GUESS WHAT

I have plans. Not big, megalomaniac ones, (but not small, insipid ones either,) and they're going to be going hand in hand with a bit of Blog-Redesign.

Now, I know we've been through this all before. Which is why I'm writing this post and saving it as a draft, and I'm only going to publish it once the plans are ACTUALLY in motion. So if you're reading this, we're past the whole "Oh she SAYS she has plans and I'll believe it when I see it!" phase of the endeavor.

OK. So after all this build-up, you might be wondering what these plans are, and I have two words for you.

Printable Stationery.

.......

So maybe it falls in the slightly insipid end of the plan scale, - it's not going to cure cancer or anything -  but if you have an occasion to use stationery, (say, a birthday card!) and you want a quick, easy, inexpensive and relatively instant solution to your lack of stationery, (eg: OMG, I FORGOT TO GET A CARD FOR X'S BIRTHDAY AND I SEE THEM IN FIVE MINUTES!!!) I think printable stationery comes into the fore.

Having said that, I don't have any cards ready YET. But I DO  have, designed and ready to launch, note-paper and envelope sets, which I will also offer as personalized invitations. (ooh! Custom stationery!) I'm also working on designing birthday and greeting cards, labels and tags for home-made gifts, Paper Dolls and other Printable toys and goodies.

If all that takes off, I'd like to offer real PHYSICAL stationery and paper toys that are printed on lovely paper and comes in a package in the mail (because buying real things on the internet is always like buying a present for yourself!)

My Esty shop is HERE and will launch on the 24th of August, 10am GMT, which is less than a week away! 

Have I mentioned that I'm both excited and nervous? 

Because I REALLY am!

xx

Hollytron

AS AN ASIDE: On my trip to Google to check that I had the correct spelling of stationery, (as opposed to stationary - I play fast and loose with grammar and spelling all the time, but some things you have to get right!) I came across the Wikipedia page for Stationery, and was delighted to discover that the name came from the STATIONARY nature of the merchants who sold  goods near universities, and that the Stationer's Company were a big ye-olde mega-company and were the first to use copyright. 

History is Fun :)

x

Street Art

The kids in our estate have been busy in between the rain showers.

The political statement is the censored version - Some square had objections to a child under 10 writing bold words on the pavement. Imagine. 

Which made me think of a poem I'm fond of by Kenneth Fearing.

I just wanted to share that. ♥