gary johnson’s green and white army??

well. you could knock me down with a feather, i tell you. gary johnson has been signed up as yeovil town’s new manager, with terry skiverton stepping aside as his assistant. no official word as yet on jonesy and weasel. i was joking around on twitter the other day with the hashtag #getsirgarybacktoytfc but did i ever really mean that? i mean, i never actually thought that was possible. it was all just a bit of fun after gary became unemployed. this is a very shrewd move on the boards part, as much as i hate them. gary has already managed to bring back the feel good factor for the sheffield united game. they have certainly gained at least 5 more away supporters due to gary’s return that i know of, and no doubt countless more will show up too. i havent felt this way about going to watch yeovil in a very long time. even in the slade years there was a little something missing. i dont know, maybe because gary was the manager when i first started watching yeovil, i kind of always associate yeovil with him. whenever we would sing “hey russell slade” or “hey terry skivo” to the tune of hey baby by dj otzi, i always had to correct myself when i immediately thought of singing “hey gary johnson”. and it has never felt quite right to me that we recycled that chant as ytfc fans for any manager who came after gary. to me, that was gary’s chant. and now, were able to sing that once again. i hadnt even contemplated going to sheffield united. on a tuesday night? in january? pissing freezing and i have very little cash after christmas – no thanks! but when it was officially official ( i mean, we all knew before 2pm yesterday, right!) i just couldnt miss it. i just couldnt warrant spending the night on my sofa knowing that people would be absolutely jumping along to “hey gary johnson” at bramall lane. and so, here i am, at home taking a half day from work, getting ready for a 7 hour round trip on a tuesday night, with a 9am appointment tomorrow in kingston that i will have to leave the house for at 7:30am. and why? gary johnson. the sole reason. as much as i love yeovil, i would never have gone to this game, in a million years. but now, i feel a little bit of that love coming back for ytfc. i have always loved them, from the start, but now, this just feels like it used to when i would get to the ground at 1pm on a saturday, chat to all the players as they made their way in, be one of the first through the turnstiles, sit on the little wall in the bartlett stand as was, and watch the lads run out and applaud the fans one by one.

this doesnt solve the problems. it goes a little way to making me feel more like part of the club again, just garys interview at the press conference helped with that. but it will take a miracle for gary to be able to sort everything out. unlike john fry’s thoughts, that its up to gary to get people through the turnstiles, well no, its absolutely not. a few more may be there on saturday to see his return but what about after that? will they keep coming? whats there to keep them coming back?

i intend to seriously enjoy tonight whether we win lose or draw, but dont go thinking i have changed my mind about this little football club. it still has a long way to go.

Tags: bit of fun, bramall lane, feel good factor, jonesy, sheffield united, shrewd move

bloom loom

today i received my bloom loom in the post!

i originally saw this on pinterest, the original website is here and i bought one pretty much immediately because i thought the flowers it made were so cute!

from craftcritique.com

follow the link to see how you use the loom! its basically weaving around the little pegs, to create the “petal” loops, and you can use multiple colours or just the one, do extra layers for chunkier flowers, whatever your heart pleases! i bought mine on ebay, just searching for bloom loom, and i believe including postage it was 3 pounds. you probably could, if you so wished, make one but i was far too lazy and impatient for that! 

my photos are, of course, bad quality (when arent they) but here is my first couple of goes!

 

and here’s one up on my wall, above the picture i made the other day, and was able to hang using the magical 3M picture hangers! 

i have to admit i used one of the flowers there because the hanger was peeping over the top of the picture frame because i hung it too high… but i think it looks pretty cute there

sorry its zoomed out, but incidentally see the top gear book in the bottom left corner, covering the light? yeah, that. the light is too bright when we are in bed, its not really a bedside light. especially when marty wants to stay awake and im trying to sleep, so we cover it over with the book to dim it a little. even with a low watt energy saving bulb, its too bright. im currently contemplating how i could pretty up the shading of the light, rather than a hardback top gear book!! hmmm…..

thanks go to marty for helping me with the links in this post he is a little gem sometimes! its great having an IT professional in the house!

rescued suitcase

i saw this little beauty peeping out the top of a skip on a guy’s driveway while i was out on the road doing assessments today. i dont know why, but i just really wanted it. for no real reason, and i have no idea what exactly im going to do with it. so it can stay in my boot for now! but im thinking mod podge is quite likely to be involved, maybe some pretty paper on the top, hmmm possibilities! but it was far too cute to just let it languish there in the skip!

the cogs are turning

pinterest

i am literally addicted to pinterest at the moment. for those of you who dont know, pinterest is an online pinboard. you can “pin” from any website, if you see a picture you like, a craft idea, whatever. pinterest saves them all onto an easy to view pinboard so you can look back over it at a later date. i have pinned so many crafty ideas, i will never have time to do them all!  i use it in conjunction with stumbleupon. again, if you dont know what stumbleupon is, its like a random button for the internet. people “like” webpages they have found interesting, and by clicking the “stumble” button you are taken to a random page someone else has liked. you can set it to stumble on certain categories, and mine is always, always set to crafts! i was finding that its very difficult to find things again once you have liked them on stumbleupon. although it saves all your favourites, pinterest arranges things so much more easily, and its more user friendly. so i stumble for craft ideas, and pin them on pinterest. give them a go, and follow my boards if you would like some random craft ideas!

 

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earring storage

i have so so so many earrings. and i am always in a hurry. which means i very rarely wear any of them, because i simply dont have time to search through my jewellery box (or on top of the chest of drawers where i have tended to dump them after wearing occasionally) for a pair i want to wear. im exactly the same with necklaces. thrown into a drawer, all tangled up, i simply dont have time in the mornings to search through them! and then i had an idea!

i had this old frying pan cover which, for some reason, is really tiny. not sure what use it is really, it came in a set with a really big one. which is perfect for covering up a frying pan full of bacon, but the little one? i have literally never used it. and i have seen those really cute little earring holders where you just poke them through wire and secure on the back with the earring backs. and i thought, why spend money on one of those when i can make one out of this frying pan cover!

here is it pre-earring-ing

and here it is after!

i literally just poked the earrings through. the mesh was a little too close knit but if you push hard enough, you widen the mesh and they go through pretty easily. secure them on the back with the earring backs, and voila! i stood it up in a vase filled with purple beads (but the vase is purple so to be honest, it doesnt really matter what colour the beads are!) to secure it and keep it upright. you could also hang it using the handle, but i have literally no hanging space anywhere, there is something hanging on every nail in this house! and i think it looks quite nice as a display. 

now i can take my pick really easily every morning, and actually get some wear out of my beautiful and vast collection! 

Tags: craft, DIY, earrings, jewellery, storage

new years resolutions

ok, so its getting to that time of year again. normally, i dont bother making resolutions, because i am infinitely bad at keeping them and i just get depressed!! but this year, or next year, or whatever you want to call it, i have decided to make a few and really, seriously stick to them this time.

obviously i am on a diet at the moment, and joined the gym (i have been 4 times already by the way, so i have kept up my end of the bet!!) and one of my resolutions, apart from staying on the diet of course, is to go to the gym at least twice per week. one day at the weekend, thats nice and easy because i can go whenever, and one day in the week, at least. two if i can manage it, its all time dependant, but i will MAKE time for at least once. yesterday at the gym i managed to run 3.7k in just over 25 minutes, so i am making some real progress there. and i am even enjoying using the weights, apart from the devil abs machine, that is a real killer!! But it obviously works, as my abs are so sore the next day!!

my second resolution is a real biggie for me. and i think it may shock people! however. for the next year, starting january the 1st, i will not buy any brand new clothes. none. zero. wedding dress aside (i kinda have to buy that!), anything else i buy will come from a charity shop, or it will be fabric i use to make my own, or it will be something i have altered that i already own. no brand new clothes, at all, is a massive deal for me. but i just feel that now im losing weight, i am literally wasting my money. so, 2012 will be the year i buy nothing brand new. it also means i can get creative with the things i already own, tart them up a bit, adjust them, alter them as necessary. and i can have a good rummage through charity shops for nice bits, even just to cut them up and use them as fabric.

and last but not least, i will not carry over any work from one day to the next. because i see clients all day, then i write up reports of my visit within 3-5 working days, i am often leaving it to the 4th or even 5th day because im really busy. but then i have maybe 4 days work to do. its really hard for me now that marty finishes at a decent (well, i say decent!) time every day, because while he is here i want to spend time with him. whereas at his last job, 2 nights a week he didnt finish until 8, and thats when i would get the majority of my work done. but, from the first of january, i will do all my work when i get home on the day of seeing the client. this way, it means fridays when i work from home i have much less to get through, and i can spend time on all my admin tasks and catching up with clients on the phone etc etc etc and all that boring nonsense.

so, from the 1st january 2012:

i will go to the gym 2x per week, every week, and continue with my diet

i will not buy any brand new clothes, i will only make clothes / alter clothes

i will finish every work task on the day i get it and carry nothing over.

 

what are your new year resolutions? its time to get thinking about them!

Tags: charity shop, charity shops

gym time!

so, i actually joined the gym! within the perimeters that marty set me – join by the end of november. i have my induction on thursday, and went for the first time today to try it all out. i started with the treadmill, a nice easy way to start. i even used the little incline button! and once i got used to the weird feeling of treadmill running again, i managed to get up to 9kph and ran 3km total. i dont know why but i find treadmill running so much easier. still, the treadmill said i had burnt 160 calories and im happy with that! i tried out all the machines they have, shoulder press, chest press, leg press, and a little abs machine which looks like it will be really easy but its REALLY NOT. instead of lying down and crunching up, you are sat down, and bring your chest to your knees with weights on your back. its very very hard!! but man my abs hurt now so its clearly worth it. i even used the step climby thing, i dont know the real name for it, but you know the stepper thing? im sure you do. thats really hard too. but i must have burnt well over 200 calories in my hour long session, and hopefully its the start of many.

off to see adam ant tonight and absolutely cannot wait. its in portsmouth, a place i havent been to since i stopped working there in june. seems like ages but seems like yesterday at the same time! so it will be nice to revisit. and hopefully do a little bit of stalking and see if i can meet him! marty is in london watching machine head tonight (not much difference!!) and is staying over in a hotel. i cant remember the last night he spent a night away, i have been up to my parents but i have never really been here on my own in the flat. so that should be interesting!! i wont get home til fairly late from portsmouth though so it wont be a long night!

another little craft!

i saw this idea on stumbleupon and i cant remember for the life of me where, claim this idea if its yours!!

remember the little lights i bought yesterday?

well, i made them into a fabric chandelier! (yes, thats right!!)

i got a pot rack from the range (obivously) for 99p

i have been saving some old clothes for ages. well i say saving, they were in a charity bag that i just hadnt been bothered to take to the charity shop yet!! but my newfound craftiness is glad i never took them. i cut lots of strips of different types of fabrics, all in different lengths. Tie them onto the pot rack at the very end:

it will look like the above when you finish!

and then, add some fabric as a hook, tie it on, and add the lights!

 

sorry about the quality, my camera is SHIT, but im really pleased with it!!

future projects

while at the range today (yes, i am still going on about it) i picked up these battery powered christmas lights:

i believe they were 1.99. seriously now, go to the range!! i have big plans for these, look out for a blog post in the near future (tomorrow most likely, if i have time!)

i also got this spray paint while I was there, 2.49, its only a small can but it should be good enough for what i need it for! this one you may have to wait a little longer for, as i will have to be all outside and stuff, and as the only times i am outside when its not work time – its pitch black – this one might be a weekend job!! 

 

stay tuned…  

a few homemade pictures

i went to the range today. they have taken over the old focus building since they went out of business, so its pretty large inside. ive never been in the range before, and i swear to god if i ever do again, it will be when i have taken out a loan! its absolutely awesome! so many craft items, gorgeous pictures, nick nacks for the home, and their christmas display was gorgeous. i have been wanting to make a box frame for my mum for christmas for a while, but i couldnt find a deep frame anywhere. but of course, the range had one! and it was really cheap too, only 2.99

i got a butterfly punch from ebay, and got some different shades of green-y blue paper from the range, the punch was quite expensive, 7 pounds, but as youll see later i have already used it a lot already! the paper was 10p per sheet (sorry its a bit blurry)

 

i took apart the frame, and used the white insert as my background. I punched out lots of little butterflies from the coloured paper.

i then arranged them onto the insert, and put a little glue on the “body” part of the butterfly. I then bent the wings to make it look more fluttery!

 

 

re-assemble the frame, and youre done! it took me about 5 minutes, maximum, and here it is hanging in my hallway. sorry, the light isnt great! these blues are the same colour as my mum’s bedroom, so i think she’ll really like it!

 

 

also from the range, i picked up this massive frame, for only 5.99, its 20 inches by 16 inches.

this paper pack was only 2.99!! oh, the bargains, i am literally in love with the range. anyway, these squares were a little big, but i thought i would be lazy, and just overlap them!

 

i glued them to the insert as before, saves time with measuring!

got in a little more use of the butterfly punch….

and the finished picture!! i also got some of those awesome 3m strips i was talking about yesterday, the ones that leave no residue so you can use them in rented places. going to hang this lovely bit of random art in our room!

 

 

what do you think?