It's March - time to assess my 2013 goals

By now apparently most people's new year's resolutions are long forgotten, so I though I'd go back and look at mine, to examine if I'm making progress.

Set up my own business – I’m taking an event diploma course at the moment, and building contacts and researching the market. I’m happy with my progress and I’m constantly getting new ideas.

Get out, meet people, enjoy - I feel I’ve been quite social of late, meeting friends and new people and generally enjoying Cardiff.

Do more cooking and baking – This week I’m baking cookies and trying out a new risotto recipe. I have lots of yummy supplies in my cupboard ready to bake J

Sort out my crafting – This week I’m selling my handmade cards for charity, which is exciting. But what I’m most happy about is taking a jewellery making class and making further jewellery projects.

So I don't think I'm doing badly at all!  What about you?

Very Vintage Cardiff

Just got home after a nice trip into town to the Very Vintage Fair in Missoula in aid of Barnados.  It was a lovely event and I enjoyed browsing the stalls, and the variety was great - crockery, clothes, accessories, hair clips, coats, cakes, brooches...  Vintage is such a great trend, with so many options, and I love being able to add vintage pieces to my home and outfits in subtle yet pretty ways.

Here is a tasty cupcake which I bought, and which I can confirm was scrumptious!  I hope a lot of money was raised for Barnados. In the coming days I will post more pictures of the vintage bargains I picked up :-)

Handmade soaps

Take a look at the soaps I made. I hasten to explain that I haven't made the soap itself - I ordered soap online, melted it on the hob (two pans, the one underneath with boiling water) and then poured it into the mould, placing it in the fridge to harden overnight.

The star soap is not dyed but I did put a few drops of fragrance in the melted soap. The pink flower soap includes pink dye and some fragrance. I like the moulds because they are a large size, which makes the soaps nice to hold when washing your hands and also makes them last longer :-)

It's Friday

It's Friday evening, and I'm off out for a curry.

Here's a pretty picture full of Friday cheer!

Handmade jewellery

These are the pretty items I made last week with Anastasia Beads. I had a one-to-one lesson on how to make earrings, a bracelet and necklace and it was really good fun. Although I really had to concentrate, it was relaxing too because the rest of the world faded away whilst I designed and beaded my pieces :-)

A big thanks to Anastasia Beads, for being so helpful and for such a great selection of tools and beads. Let's hope I can now make my own pieces at home!

Party!

The past few days have been busy due to my family visiting and my birthday - hope you like my gorgeous cocktail!

So expect lots of fun posts about trips out, dinners and pretty things over the coming days.

Marbling on cards and photo frames

 Marbling is a simple and underused crafting technique in my opinion. Every design is colourful and unique and make fantastic designs for cards and photo frames - I hope you like mine. I feel the marbling really makes an uplifting statement when placed with a family pic with happy memories.

So how do you do it, I hear you ask. Get a tray with a rim and half fill it with water. Then add coloured ink to the water with a pipette and blow to create an effect. I'd advise not to use more than two or three colours. Then carefully place the card onto the water surface for a few seconds, then admire your design!