Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

Sometimes things become stale and you lose interest in something you were previously passionate about.  That happened to me (a little bit) with blogging and social media.  I suppose if I’m honest, I just didn’t have room in my head for the past 6-12 months for anything other than the wedding and trust me I know how sad that sounds.  There was a point in April where I started to think that I had early onset alzheimers as I kept forgetting everything.    There was an ‘incident’ where I rang Eircom to give out that I had not received my phone bill and when the copy arrived, I paid it and went to file it only to find the original tucked away exactly where it should be……I had no memory of ever receiving it.   My resident medical expert (my friend Mairead) assured me that I was preoccupied not sick and she totally forgave me when I nearly forgot her birthday and had to buy her a very impersonal voucher instead of actually putting any thought into it!   Anyway, after a recent bloggers meet up I have been completely re-inspired to blog.  It’s like I’ve found my voice again.  The word ‘Woohoo’ comes to mind

So with my renewed interest in blogging and my recent defection from the rest of the social media world I present my latest project……mademarian’s posterous.  That’s not as rude as it sounds, posterous is a new (to me) blogging platform which I was introduced to by Elly.  It’s rediculously easy to post to it and it’s perfect for what I call ‘non-wordy blog posts’.  I’m going to use this platform to post a photo a day in a  Photo 365 project to document my first year as a Mrs.  I’m also changing job/career so despite my best intentions now I may not have as much time for blogging as I’d like so this is a nice and simple way to make sure this year gets documented in some way. Hope you enjoy it.

Day 1 was yesterday 24th July and we had a barbeque at Mike’s parents house, however I didn’t get to take any photos myself so I will post Day 1 retrospectively.

So I did something really strange today, I deleted my facebook account.  I was inspired by Carina, and she very kindly posted a link to help do this, because it’s virtually impossible to find this option on the website.  It is easy enough to deactivate the account but not so much to permanently delete it.  If you want to be set free the link is here.

You might be wondering why?  Well, a few years ago I found myself sitting on my bum every night watching about 2 hours worth of Friends re-runs.  It dawned on me one day that this was a supreme waste of my time, so I cancelled our Chorus subscription and started blogging, reading and crafting instead.  I am much happier since that because I feel like I’m actually doing something productive with my evenings.  However lately I spotted that every time I had a spare minute I was logging into Facebook to “have a look”.  The first thing I did was delete the Facebook app from my phone and installed The Irish Times app instead, already a better use of those minutes that I spend waiting in queues etc.  But I was still using it at home so I decided to go the whole hog and delete the account.  Hopefully this will mean I will blog more!  I feel kind of liberated.

PS I had previously deleted my Twitter Account, deactivated my Linked In account and deleted my Ravelry account.  I think I may be virtually social networking free (apart from my beloved blog of course)

I book marked these two little projects a while back with the intention of using up some of my pretty paper stash, but they both involved Mod Podge which I had never seen in craft shops here.   I asked in my local craft shop if they could recommend anything that might do the same job, they mentioned that one of their suppliers had it and they could order it for me.  Once I got my hands on it, I dug out the links for the paper projects and got to work.

Covered Jar Lids

Covered bulldog clips

I’m just back from a fantastic weekend break in Clare which completely changed the way I think about perfume, but before we get to that, I need to tell you about our shopping trip to Ennis.  Despite living about half an hour away from the town I had never actually been to Ennis before so I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a large town full of boutiques, restaurants and independently owned bookshops.  I brought home four new books, a vintage sewing book, a vintage diet book, a biography of John B. Keane and a novel by Joseph O’Connor all for €17.  I also stopped into Crazy Crafts and stocked up on pretty papers, a new stamper and ink pad and some ribbon.  We also manager to fit in lunch in The Town Hall which I would highly recommend.

Then it was onto Lisdoonvarna to stay at the Wild Honey Inn. At €45 for B&B per person it was fantastic value for money.  It was spotlessly clean, lovely and bright and very toasty.   We had dinner in the bar and lunch the next day, both were excellent and it’s clear that the chef and owner Aidan McGrath has taken great care to create an attractive menu using local produce cooked simply but beautifully.

So, to get back to the point of this post I have to tell you about the Burren Perfumery.  It’s a bit of a trek to get to it but it’s so worth it, as soon as you step out of the car you can get this gorgeous scent wafting through the air.  Inside the shop the staff will talk you through each of the perfumes and anything else you are interested in.  The perfumes are a million miles away from the commercial perfumes you buy in department stores, they smell like real things, for example fennel, mint, lavender, flowers and herbs.  Most of which comes from their own herb garden. The perfumes don’t contain any parabens or any other ingredients that might be bad for your skin.  My personal favourite is their botanicals range which consists of Spring, Summer and Autumn inspired scents, these are very reasobably priced at €35 for 100ml, I bought the Spring scent in keeping with the season that’s (almost) in it.  They also sell a range of handmade soaps, scented candles, creams and balms.  You can read all about it on their website but trust me, you wont be completely converted until you go there.

Here’s a picture of my new mug, ordered from here.  It looks lovely beside my Orla Kiely mug.

Also, here’s where the magic happens, as in, that’s the table beside where I sit on the couch.  Most of my day to day craft supplies are in those boxes. The lamp is from Ikea.

I have actually been crafting all week but the light is so bad in the evenings that there’s no hope of getting a decent photo until the weekend.

I know that some people are cynical about Valentines Day and my other half has the noble opinion that you should tell the person in your life you love them every day, not just once a year. I know he has a point but I love any excuse to add a few decorative touches to our living space.  And of course there are hundreds of ideas for Valentines day crafts.  I didn’t exactly out-do myself this year it has to be said but these little felt hearts were so simple that if I had the time, I would have made hundreds and dotted them all over the apartment.

I simply cut out a heart shape in pink felt, then cut out a smaller heart shape in pink gingham (I used my new pinking shears so I didn’t have to sew them) and fastened them together by sewing in a heart shaped button.  They are accompanied on my mini Valentines display by a Love Bug Winnie the Pooh and the cards we exchange on Sunday (that is if my other half isn’t too “noble”) will go here too.  By the way, my Love Bug beanie was a gift from my Mother in Law to be, not my other half

The cards we exchange on Sunday will be our eighth set of cards.  Here are the others that I have received…..all hand made I might add. Each one pretty much documents what I was interested in every February for the past seven years. From left to right; an anti-hallmark theme, Paul Smith, my first blog, Sex and the City, The West Wing, The Sopranos and last year the theme was craft.  Each one has the same general lay out and says “The Insert Interest here Valentines Card for Maz”.  I love this idea but I have been assured that the mould has been broken and that my eighth card will be different…..watch this space.

I’m off to Dublin tomorrow for the Knitting and Stitching show…….woohoo!  It should be a craft nerds dream.

Buying ribbon is one of my favourite things about being a craft enthusiast.  I love how it is stored on giant spools and I swear, I get butterflies when I see it being measured out. Oddly I prefer to buy ribbon in yards rather than meters.  The imperial system seems austere and grand compared to the mathematical metric system.

Here is a shot of some of my ribbon stash.

My ladybird trim was a birthday gift from my friend Mary B, the ladybirds on the pink ribbon were a gift from my friend Margaret.  Most of the rest of what you can see in the photo came from a gorgeous shop in Dublin called Rubenesque.  You’ll find the shop on South William Street and you’ll know it by the ribbons hanging from the door and railing.   It was like a wonderful, colourful sweetshop….only with ribbons instead.  Easier on the hips!

Here’s a closer look at that canvass ribbon with the crafty theme.

Am I the only one who loves wrapping presents?   Maybe that’s why I love Christmas so much……..anywho I just wanted to share a picture with you of the wrapped version of the baby blanket I posted about recently.  It’s pretty hard to wrap soft presents nicely so I just used some tissue paper and tied a ribbon around it.  I can’t decide if it looks messy and silly or cool and casual……what do you think?

These beauties weren’t exactly made by me but they were grown by myself and my Significant Other so I decided to show them off here on the blog.   Growing your own veg has because super trendy in the last year or so but when you’ve only got a tiny balcony you’re very limited in what you can grow.  I’ve been growing stuff on my balcony for nearly three years now but this year we managed, beetroot, various lettuces, chives, flat-leaf parsley, bay, coriander, thyme, tarragon, rosemary and mint.  We also have a basil plant on our spare room window