Learning to crochet

I follow a lot of people on instagram who enjoy crafts and one particular favourite is crochet. After seeing countless upon countless of gorgeous cushions and blankets I decided to have a go myself. I asked on instagram what the best way to start out was and most people recommended youtube tutorials and a book. I got this book from Amazon and it was only about £6 I think:

I ordered my book and crochet hooks (£3 from Amazon) and got started. The first thing I did was learn a few basic stitches. You can see above I did a row of stitches. 

I then attempted granny squares: 

These didnt come out how they were supposed to and I became frustrated and gave up. I decided I wanted to make my friend a baby blanket and started a very simple double crochet stitch blanket.

I think doing this really helped me to keep the tension right (which is the hardest thing) but I didn't count my stitches (rookie mistake) and it ended up longer on one side than the other. 

I gave up my blanket because I didn't want to give my friend something half done and I wasn't happy with the way it came out. 

I spent a few weeks doing this blanket and I lost interest when I figured out my mistakes. 

Next project was one I'd actually finish!!

I did an autumn themed swap and made some wrist warmers:

Again these were a very simple double crochet stitch which was easy to master and had the added bonus of increasing my confidence with crocheting. 

I decided to finally try a granny square again after my success of making 2 pairs of wrist warmers. I ordered some Cath Kidston inspired wool:

...and finally mastered the granny square!

Phew! I've been very busy crocheting the last few days. I love, love, LOVE how easy these are to hook up. It took me a while to find a pattern that was easy for me to follow but once I found one I was on to a winner! I find the middle parts the hardest to do because they're so intricate and almost never turn out like the picture. 

I found learning crochet difficult only because of how much perseverance it takes. I'm not a patient person at all and doing this craft requires patience with yourself and not expecting to be perfect at it straightaway. 

Crochet has quickly become my favourite craft because it's easy to do in front of the tv and I don't have to sit in my cold and breezy attic sewing room! I'd recommend it to anyone remotedly crafty but it would be easier if you had someone to teach you!

Have you tried crochet? How did you find it?

Amy x

Skincare

I've never had an interest in skincare mainly due to the fact that I have 'normal' skin. It doesn't get very dry or oily and I only ever get spots when I'm really stressed out.

I started reading beauty blogs and watched the Caroline Hirons video with Pixiwoo. 

After browsing her blog the biggest skincare advice she had was to use a cleanser. 

I started cleansing and my skin immediately looked brighter and clearer. 

It wasnt until I started using loreal skin perfection that I was really impressed with how different my skin looked. 

I actually went out without any makeup on! Will definitely be buying this moisturiser again. It claims to even out redness and reduce pores (oh sure it does I thought to myself) however that is exactly the difference I have noticed, my pores are definitely reduced and I don't have as much redness around my nose (which used to be bright red!). It's only £8 in ASDA at the moment, absolute bargain!

What skincare products do you recommend?

Amy x

Painted furniture update

I blogged about painting furniture a couple of posts ago and thought I'd share the end results with you!
This chest of drawers was a freebie from my gran's neighbour (hurray!) and so I only paid for the paint and some new door knobs (which I'm yet to buy).

I painted the inside of the drawers duck egg blue:

I also painted this old mahogany side table and I think it looks adorable painted up!

After painting these two pieces of furniture I still have half a tin of paint left! Annie Sloan is expensive but it definitely lasts.

I wasn't too impressed with the finish on the chest of drawers, you can see brush marks when you look closely. When I painted the side table I watered it down slightly and the finish is much better. If you're going to paint furniture I would water it down first.

All in all I am very impressed with my furniture painting skills!

Would you consider painting furniture?

Amy x

 

Summer 2013

I had an amazing week off with Gary!

We went camping just outside of York. We then spent the day in York and I visited cath kidston bought some much needed new scales and my gorgeous rug (£20!). 

We had a chilled out few days but also went to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, explored Hardcastle Crags and shopped until we dropped in meadowhall! Had an amazing time with him, was so nice to spend more than 2 days together.

Hardcastle Crags

The giraffes at the Wildlife park

Sunset over Huddersfield

Pinched the picture Gary took from his instagram

Last summer we flew to Canada to visit my parents, who emigrated there, and then we went on a road trip down to San Francisco. It was incredible! This summer has been relatively boring in comparison, but it was just what I needed. I got a lot of crafts done and even decided to learn how to crochet! Very excited for my hooks and yarn to arrive. 

What do you like to do with your time off?

Amy x

Tips for scrapbooking

Once you have an idea for the scrapbook you want to make start collecting! Keep old train tickets, receipts, leaflets, anything that will add to your collection. When we went to San Francisco last summer I knew I'd be making a scrapbook so I collected loads of extras to make it more than just photos.

I bought the pop-up card from the Golden Gate bridge and it works really well

I always try and make my scrapbook pages slightly different, so one page will be full of photos and another will just have one photo and embellishments. Be spontaneous! Don't try to make it too uniform. Wonky pictures are cute!

 

Collect stickers from everywhere! Hobbycraft and paperchase can work out to be really expensive so pick stickers where you can - small children, supermarkets, pound shops... I get a lot of my stickers from Canada where they're a lot cheaper. Stickers and embellishments really make a scrapbook, as do little pops of colour.

There are loads of websites that will print your pictures, if you want the polaroid vintage look check out Polargram.com who print 48 photos for £10, they come as you see above. The only problem is you can only print photos which have been uploaded to Instagram. This isn't a problem for me because I upload most of the things we do to keep a record, however check out other photography places like snapfish who do good deals on prints.

Me and Gary made our scrapbook in 2 hours and I cannot stop looking at it! It's such a great way of storing your photos and making something special with your partner.

Have you made a scrapbook before?

Amy x

Wishlist

I am always, always, always searching the internet for things I want to buy (it's such an unhealthy obsession) BUT I rarely actually buy anything straight away, I save the link or put it on my amazon wishlist and buy it when I know I still want it.
Things I am currently lusting after:

I've really been getting into skincare lately. I watched the Caroline Hiron's skincare video and read through her blog and decided I wanted to buy a cleanser. Then after picking a freebie of Balance Me cleanser in Glamour I am amazed! I've never had 'bad' skin in terms of spots or patchiness, the only problems I really have are that my nose is red and I look ill when I don't wear foundation. I've been reducing foundation down to BB creams and powder because I hate the feeling of liquid foundation on my skin. If I could get away without wearing foundation I would. Using a cleanser really helps my skin to glow and I don't need much foundation now to cover my flaws. I am going to buy the Liz Earle cleanser when my freebie runs out.

Since bleaching my hair blonde and dying it back brown the ends of my hair are dry and go frizzy, I've been using argan oil which really helped but I've now run out! Tempted to buy the moroccan oil pictured because bbloggers rave about it, however I bought pure argan oil which I used as a moisturiser too. I'm hoping the moroccan oil will be more moisturising than the argan oil because it's mixed with other ingredients. I'm also going to try the Tre Semme conditioner to try repair my hair further.

Last thing on my wishlist is a lace slip, I saw this on an instagram feed and fell in love. Desperately want something similar to this, it will be perfect to wear under dresses for work, and feels sexy but practical too. I've seen a few gorgeous ones on eBay so I'll be purchasing on of those soon.

Gary is off work next week so we're going camping, to Blackpool and then the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We're also going to redesign my blog so that it looks a bit more professional! Also watch out for a painted furniture/Annie Sloan review coming up.

Amy x

Painted furniture, filofaxes and wild dreams

I've had the last 2.5 weeks off work and so far I have achieved; not a great deal. I find it really hard to get motivated when I have all the time in the world! I find it much easier to get things done when I'm under pressure. Therefore my summer holiday has so far being delightfully dull. Well except for the first proper summer I've seen in the UK (extremely exciting!).
One thing I promised myself that I would do over summer is paint this chest of drawers (that I got for free!) with some Annie Sloan Chalk paint.

If you don't know what chalk paint is let me introduce you to this amazing product. Basically this paint will cover any surface and you don't need to prime the furniture first, you just slap it on! This is incredible for lazy people like me, and makes it really easy to spruce up old furniture making it look as good as new.
It took me a long time deciding which colour to choose. Annie Sloan gives some helpful hints on her website but a lot of the paint swatches are shown with another colour underneath. Therefore I took the plunge and ordered....original which is a creamy white. I really wanted to go french country but it wouldn't have fit with the other furniture in our room.

I've done one coat of paint on the chest of drawers and I can still see the pine colour underneath so I'm going to paint it again and hopefully it will start to look a little better.

Myself and Gary decided that we were going to start saving for a house and in the middle of dreaming about tiny cottages with stone floors and log burning stoves I had an epiphany. It was a sofa sent from heaven, all of a sudden I knew exactly what sofa I needed in our future home. Et voila:

I think my sister is right, I am boring. Who gets excited about the kind of sofa they want to buy!? Well me apparently...

Something else I've been getting excited about is my filofax! Having being inspired through instagram I decided to pretty up my filofax which is something I've been using for yeeeears (I never knew they had such a cult following!). I get very easily bored so I decorated my filofax and haven't touched it since, although it will be getting more use when I go back to work. I need to stop starting work in progress and then leaving them never to be used/looked at ever again!

 

Gary has the week off next week so we're going to the Doncaster wildlife park and to the seaside too. I'm very excited about actually doing something with my summer holiday!

I also have a job interview in 2 weeks to go from being a part time teacher to (nearly) full time, wish me luck!

Amy x