July 2013

Yet again it's probably closer to the beginning of September now than the end of July, but never mind! This month I have mostly been -

Celebrating summer with Pimms and BBQs

Graduating and going to Glyndebourne

More fun in the the sun, this time at my parents' house

 Paying a visit to BBC Maida Vale to rehearse for a Brighton Festival Chorus Concert

This month also market to arrival of my kindle, a present from my parents for my graduation, so I have of course had a sudden urge to read again. In July I read The Beach Cafe, Life of Pi and One Perfect Summer, which is fairly good going for me! Reviews shall follow just as soon as I get back into a proper routine come September, but in the meantime if you're on Goodreads you can find me here.

*all three links to books above are affiliate links, you can scroll down to find out more*

June 2013

June was a funny month, busy and yet quiet at the same time, and full of post-deadline recovery.

Aside from flitting too and fro between Dorset and Sussex I had my first ever go at patchwork which I shall be sharing as soon as I can. I really enjoyed making this block though, so there are definitely more of them on the horizon.

a trip to Brighton to celebrate my freedom / a celebratory tea cake at Bills on results day

Cheeky fabric purchases in the sale / rediscovering the joy of packed lunches at my summer job

What have you been up to this month?

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May 2013

Deary me, it's taken me so long to get this up that it's practically July! Never mind, better late than never.

first strawberries of the year / dissertation writing / emergency microwave brownie

printed.com delivery / serious list making / dissertation hand in

first afternoon of freedom / fish & chips with the parents back home / bedroom sorting

snuggles with my boy / playing with dad's train / a trip to Glyndebourne!

pretty bus in Lewes / mahoosive strawb! / slightly random list

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Printed.com

A little while ago the lovely Claire of Claireabellemakes had a whole series of giveaways, one of which was for a £10 voucher for Printed.com, a new mail order printing company. They sell all the usual things you would expect such as business cards and flyers, but they also print stickers (eep!). As tempted as I was by the stickers (I will happily admit I am a sticker addict) I wasn't overly sure what I would do with them, so instead I decided I would spend my voucher on these great Instagram polaroid-style prints -

I've been pondering the fact that I never seem to print my photos any more, so these seemed like the perfect step forward for me, and aren't they cute?

It was quick and easy to upload the photos I wanted printing as Printed.com pulls your photos straight from your instagram account, the delivery was quick and they're great quality. My prints also came in really cute packaging - you've got to love a bit of silver and hot pink!

So all in all a happy customer, and I think I shall be visiting the site again in a few months to print more of my as yet un-taken instagram photos. I'm thinking these would look great strung up with pretty pegs on a washing line on the wall in my room, at least that's the current plan anyway.

Please note: This is not a sponsored post, I just really liked the concept and thought you would like to hear about it too!

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April 2012

Just a week left until freedom, eek! So much stress yet so much excitement, I really cannot wait!!

Anyway, having handing in one of my essays earlier I'm taking a quick sneaky study break to post up what I've been up to in April. Boy does April the 1st seem like light years ago. So here's what I've been up to:

biscuit baking / making progress with my hoop art / first attempt at nail art

the results of said biscuit baking / making the cross stitcher keyring

visiting the Breakthrough Breast Cancer research centre in London - soon to be blogged once I've finished my dissertation! 

So that's it! A little less exciting than usual, but not too bad considering I'm finishing my degree next week!

See you soon, 

March 2013

February was a fairly quiet month with hours spent watching the Big Bang theory and Friends as I processed participants for the study I am running for my dissertation. Alas the deadlines are looming and 6 weeks from now I will just about be handing it all in and finishing uni. How scary is that?

At the beginning of the month my choir, Brighton Festival Chorus, had a concert which I baked up a storm for to try and entice some of the members to participate in my dissertation study. The cakey theme continued with my and varied tea and cake study breaks as well as a trip to Glyndebourne to see a new community opera (simply stunning!) and a trip home which involved snuggles with the puppy and a vesuvial rice pudding.

Towards the middle of the month Charlie tortoise woke up for spring (and appears to have taken one look out the window and gone back into hibernation!) and I got into the #PostCircle swing of things whilst continuing to bake my heart out and cook yummy meals to make the uni workload more bearable. I also indulged in a little cross stitch and in the last few days started a new project which I'll be sharing soon. There were of course more snuggles with a very sleepy squishy puppy.

What have you been up to this month? If you've done a roundup too please do leave me a link, I'd love to see.

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February 2013

February seems to have just flown by this year! I know it's the shortest month, but it seems like it was even shorter than usual this year. Things have been very busy of late so not much crafting has gone on, come to think of it I'm not sure any crafting has gone on (that most definitely needs fixing asap I think!), but a definite foody theme seems to have been appearing. Anyway, this month I have...

...begun my quest to become a soup dragon and started my 22 before 22 list...

...found a wonderful old photo of Sir Percival and admired Mum's tea plates...

...received a valentines parcel in the post from Mum...

...discovered farmers market eggs and got some bargain crochet patterns...

...had more farmers market yummies and made (not so yummy) cupcakes...

...had defrosting issues and rehearsed for a concert last weekend... 

What have you been up to this month? I'd love to see your instagram round up if you've done one too, just leave a link in a comment.

See you soon,

Alex

January 2013

It's the first of the month and I actually have an instagram round up ready for you! I think it's possibly the first time I've managed that.

Top: New Year's Eve with the old lady, my first crochet coaster, snuggled up in my jammies making good progress on my cross stitch, very early morning snow (no I did not wake up at the crack of dawn and proceed to jump up and down like an over-excited child)
Second Row: More snow, Hector doing his seal impression, a cosy afternoon spent hiding from the snow, cheesy llamas to aid the uni work
Third Row: My housemate made the most amazing sausage plait, yet another naughty study break, I made cherry and almond cupcakes and finished stack of crochet coasters
Bottom: More cupcakes, met a tiny ticket man, yet more crochet coaster love, had my first creme egg.

You can find out more about the crochet coasters here.

Now I know it's a little early to be eating creme eggs, and it does annoy me when shops start stacking the shelves with them on boxing day, but I really do rather like them. And it's nearly Lent you see and I'm giving up chocolate, so I need to get my fix in now!

Back when I was in 6th-form my school made us all do a General Studies AS level and it was a bit of an in joke that no one took it seriously. Apparently most years someone within the year comes up with a word or phrase that people attempt to get into the exam. In our year that word was creme egg. A lot of people said they managed it, mostly using the creme egg as a metaphor for life etc etc, but being the geek I am I steered clear. I'd love to see some statistics on how many people actually managed to fit it in though. And I wonder if anyone got docked marks for poor spelling, given the number of people that claim to have written about cream eggs.

Alex

Instagram round up: December 2012

At long last the mid-year assessment period is over, the essay has been handed in and the exams sat. Few, glad that's over! At long last after a Christmas spent revising and writing essays I can have a couple of days break at home with my parents before heading back to Uni for a new term and new modules (snow permitting!!).

So, now that I have a little bit of time on my hands, I thought that it was about time I got December's Instagram round up up here for all of you to see. Here we go...

Top: I indulged in a bit of Christmas cross stitching with my little reindeer. He's still being used as my bookmark at the moment actually - must remember to swap him over for something else! I also spent a couple of train journeys cross stitching on my travels between Sussex and Dorset. You can see the finished stars garland in this post.

Middle: I finished my job at a well-known high street fashion and home store. I was really sad to leave and am missing the lovely girlies who work there already. They spoilt me rotten and gave me this teacup Pandora charm to remember them by, seeming as they get through so many cups of tea a day! Church set up a stable in the quiet room for local schoolchildren to come and see and we decorated the dog's bed for Christmas. Hector ate the fairy lights about half an hour later.

Bottom: I made my mutant iPhone case that never quite got there and enjoyed our Christmas decorations.

Top: More Christmas decoration admiration and watching Hector rip open his Christmas Present. I started crocheting myself new, slightly more slimline iphone case, which I then posted about here.

Middle: I also started a cross stitched case using felt and waste canvas, although I haven't got all that far, and appealed to Instagram for help in choosing a button fr my crocheted case. I also crocheted a chunky hat for my cousin's beautiful new baby boy and met him for the first time.

Bottom: Finally to round of 2012 I had a Daddy daughter evening with Dad and played a rather lengthy game of Monopoly (Brighton & Hove edition!), Gloria did some posing, and I accidentally cut our Christmas cake into heart shaped pieces! 

As you can see I had a reasonably busy month which was surprisingly productive actually, considering I also did so much Uni work. I wonder what next Christmas will be like? Will it be quiet and filled with all the crafty things I wished I'd had time to do this year, or will I have a new job by then and be rushed off my feet?

aLittleBlonde