Buzz

Greetings neglected followers. I've been absent for a while. First, a road trip from England across France and Switzerland to Italy. Once I returned, a move from my parents into my boyfriends humble abode. Now, an arts festival to co-ordinate.

Never fear, I plan to recreate my expeditions around Europe over the next few posts through a series of travel diaries and photo journals.

I was so in need of a holiday before I went away in August. Finally, trying to juggle earning some money, starting a business, crafting everyday and keeping track of theatre company stuff in the evenings had begun to take its toll and is proving a tricky beast to overcome. To be very honest (baring all here!), the last few weeks have been hard. I seem to have lost my way and I suppose my sense of self. I'm not sure where I'm going with my business anymore. I feel as if I am attempting something in a very talent crowded environment (deja vu of my experiences in acting, yet dissimilar in the fact with acting I got sick of seeing talentless people succeed). I look on blogs and amazing crafter websites and I see skills that far surpass my own and I think, 'who am I kidding? what do I possibly hope to achieve here??' I absolutely love knitting. It is my haven from the stresses of everyday life. And yet, there are so may people who are light years ahead of me in terms of mastering the techniques. Yet, I'm only young. I must give myself time to learn.

Amongst all this confusion and sense of exclusion from others, I have experienced some of the happiest moments of my life. I am finally waking up every morning with the man I am crazy about. He is my strength and I know that anything could happen to me in life, and I would still count myself extremely lucky because I have the love of an extremely genuine, honest, warm man who will always stand by me. We have been through a lot together and I feel we are stronger than ever right now. It makes me inexpressibly happy just to make him his dinner when he comes home from work.

With times of strife also come the times when you learn who you can really rely on. You may absolutely adore some of your friends but I bet you only one or two can be counted on whenever you need them, absolutely every time. The majority of my friends haven't a clue that I've not been good recently. I have resolved to work hard to maintain my close relationships and be more discerning when I'm being used, which I often find hard to discern.

I have a lot of resolutions this month. I've given myself a tall order but I'm also not going to be too hard on myself. Although I feel I have lost some of my personal sense of self, I feel I am discovering my identity with fashion. What I truly like and what suits me. For instance, my craves this A/W....Raccoon beanie, River Island

Parka, River Island

Boots, River Island

Thanks for listening. I think I really needed that.

Disappointing

Difference in size

Difference in colour

Difference in heel height

I must apologise for my absence in blogging lately, I've had a lot on my plate and I must admit my juggling of everything in life is starting to take it's toil on me...and I think this may be just the beginning!

Anyway, I thought I would update you after my last happy post about my 'fantastic' ebay purchase of a pair of Steve Madden wedges. Here is the result....an odd pair of shoes. One was literally a size, if not two sizes bigger than the other. When I emailed the seller upon receiving the package, she claimed she had no idea what I was talking about and that the shoes were an exact pair....so I took these pictures in evidence. There can be no doubt they aren't the same size, seriously! I sent them back and received a full refund but felt I should be honest in the feedback I left so no-one else would make the mistake of buying these shoes. And in return for not reporting her, I've just received a very childish, snotty email telling me I'm an 'awful, horrible' person for not giving her good feedback! The cheek! My trust in buying from Ebay has seriously been dented, I was so upset, and on top of everything to be sent abusive emails!

Tut tut tut.

Hopefully, I won't be going on holiday without wedges, I have a plan yet! Watch this space.

New Shoes

I've been searching for the perfect pair of wedges/clogs/espadrilles for my road trip to Italy for weeks now, and I've finally found the perfect pair. Where, you ask. On Ebay, of course. And, oh my word did I get a bargain. I paid a whole 6 english pounds (hard earned pounds, mind you!) for a gorgeous pair of Steve Madden tan leather espadrille wedges...

After some detective work, I came across the website...I am in love with so many pair of shoes that I may eventually need sedating. And I got such a bargain! Here's a few of my favourites. And below is one of my much admired bloggers, Lulu Letty, wearing a very similar pair to the ones I have recently purchased. I cannot wait to get my parcel in the post. There will be plenty of footsie photos, I can guarantee.

Urban Textiles

I am writing this with my eyes fixed firmly on the computer screen to avoid looking out the window at the storm raging around me. Okay, I may exaggerate an eensy weensy bit, but that's more rain than I've seen in all my 19 years and the lightning is of the the brightest azure blue. I'm not a massive fan of thunderstorms. I don't like saying they scare me because I know I'm not 8 years old, but I certainly feel the need for the protective arm of my loved one, and he never seems to be around when there's a storm!

Anyway, back to what I was actually posting. I was looking for some new shoes on Urban Outfitters yesterday for my globe trot road trip to Italia the week after next (ee) and I stumbled across their new textiles range. The scoundrels. It seems, and correct me if I'm being paranoid here, that whenever I have a spark of genuis regarding a design, Outfitters read my mind and get there before me. Their range of feather headpieces are alarmingly similar to mine (which were created first!) and I've been brewing ideas for patchwork duvetcovers and bunting incorporated cushion covers for the past few months and now I feel crushed. Sad times. Nevertheless, I will continue to endevour to be unique and individual and shy away from the mainstream...unless it gets there first.

Inspiration Hunt

Jewelera

Mama's Little Babies

LoucheLab

Neva Plume

Sigh. Today has been completely lacking in drive, motivation and inspiration. I'd originally set aside my day off to work on the Truly Scrumpy website, but yet again I sat down to work and within 5 minutes was tearing my hair out. So, I cyber tip-toed over to Etsy and scrolled through a few of my favourite shops (and a few suggested favourites, a feature I hadn't taken advantage of before) to get my creative mind cogs whirring in order to soothe my aching soul with a bit of craft therapy.

Unordinarily, I'm not feeling like trying my hand at anything today. Maybe I should see someone. This is truly irregular and I'm not enjoying it. I'm going to have a bash at making some mini knitted bunting for a new cushion cover idea I want to try out. I may have to wrap the wool round myself and the chair first, but here's hoping I'll be able to settle down...for a while at least.

Cushions

The first five cushions in the new Truly Scrumpy cushion range. They'll be having their debut at the Bizarre Bazaar tomorrow. The squid is my baby, took me the longest and I don't know if I can let him go. Let's hope I find a nice family to adopt him and treasure him for life. How ever long squids live...

Business Cards

Now we're talking! Truly Scrumpy business cards arrived in the post yesterday, just in time for Sunday. Hoorah! I am one excited little lady. What do you think? I can't stop looking at them.
I purchased them from a company called Moo. Really nifty site, they also do stickers, mini cards and postcards. I got 50 of these for around 15 quid, including VAT and postage and packaging. I highly recommend them if you're looking for a company to do some printing, you do all your designing online, nice and quick and easy.

My friend Maria created the illustration for me. I think it works really well alongside my signature feather hairclip image. Cheers Maria, you little gorgeous star!