So the month kicked off with the Oscars. (Ok, strictly speaking that was February, but I’d already written February’s memoir by the time we watched them on the evening of the 29th. Despite our best efforts to avoid spoilers during the day, we were all unable to avoid the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio had won best actor. This is great news as we’re with the popular opinion that it was about time!
It was difficult to judge the winning choices without having seen ninety-five percent of the films, but I still find the event enjoyable to watch. The fact that all the creative people in the film industry are being celebrated, I find really inspiring and convinces me that my next writing project should be a screenplay!….
Outdoor Photography Magazines
Bargain of the month: A stack of Outdoor Photography magazines from 2013. I love this magazine – particularly for the inspiration. It really makes me want to pack up the camper and go off on a photography mission. However, it costs £4.50 an issue (when did magazines get so expensive?) so after a little browse on ebay, this set turned up at less than £1 each and as a bonus they happened to be in Wells so I was able to save £8 on postage!
Craft room clear-up.
The beginning of March was spent tidying up my workroom. It really had become a little too crowded, so all the general crafting stuff has been relegated to the basement, and now I’m left with only sewing, writing, painting, jewellery making and pyrography things. Tidying up took a lot longer than expected, and there is still more to do. The drawer of my desk began filling up nineteen years ago when we bought it, and through two house moves it has never been emptied yet. I’m quite keen to tackle it because I’m quite excited as to what I might find in there. Anyway, it is very refreshing to be able to move about in my room and allows me space to have fresh thoughts again. Of course, I’ll also have to deal with the pile of stuff that I took to the basement – it will need some kind of storage system that will fit under the stairs – once I’ve cleared out all the crap that is currently under the stairs of course.
I had a lovely Mother’s Day and was woken in the morning by Rain and Jude coming in with a present, a lovely painted card from Rain, and a letter from Jude that I will keep forever. The present was a Gryffindor notebook (and I love the fact that Harry Potter has become so normal that WordPress has not underlined the word ‘Gryffindor’ as a spelling mistake!). This is definitely my favourite notebook so far (and I have an awful lot of them); it has a textured leather-style cover with a classy embossed border and gold foil coat of arms; smooth lined paper inside and a ribbon bookmark and elastic to hold it closed. I’m so pleased more Harry Potter things are getting licensed again – this one was less than half the price of similar ones at Harry Potter World or Universal Studios. It has become my blogging and You Tube notebook – a place to keep track of ideas and plans.
In the evening I had film choice, so we watched Sleepy Hollow, which might actually be my favourite film of all time. Really it should be watched at Halloween, but I’ve missed it the last two years in a row, so I thought, never mind, I’m not going to wait another seven months, let’s put it on now. Katrina (played by Christina Ricci) wears the most beautiful dresses and I love Johnny Depp’s performance as Ichabod Crane.
Also in March, I acted like I was all sensible and adult-like and went to an opera recital. Then to get over it, I acted like a fairy at the Avalon Fairy Fair. Other recent activities that I will blog about soon, are a day out in Bristol as we went to the open day at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute as Jude is considering taking a degree there. I’ll show you how I made some simple steampunk arm warmers and a woodland fairy ball gown. I pruned the willow hedge on that one warm day we had, and I discovered the vintage clothing kilo sale in Bristol. I’ve also been working on a commission for a pink and white bohemian wedding dress, so I haven’t had much time for novel-writing this month.
Work in progress
Easter weekend began strangely, because after a very short discussion, and far too spontaneously for my liking; we decided to re-arrange the living room. I suddenly found myself in Haskins, our nearest furniture shop, looking at corner settees, chaise longues and tub armchairs. By the end of Friday, Chris had untangled a
Loki
massive mass of leads; drilled holes in the wall under the stairs and moved the telly there. The room is going to take some getting used to in its new orientation, but I’m looking forward to the end result. I’ll give it a whole blog post of its own when the finishing time comes! The dog is very confused about the whole thing and is not happy about it at all.
Rain and I have been catching up on the Great Interior Design Challenge on i-player in our lunch times, so we have plenty of new ideas for the room. I can’t believe they came to Wells for the quarter finals! We were a fan of the last series too, and I bought this book for the both of us at Christmas. It’s actually a really useful book if you’re doing up your home.
March You Tube videos are fewer than usual because I’ve been so busy with this blog. Do you like the new look? I miss the old design, but this is much fresher and modern. I’m still checking all my past posts are in the correct new categories and I’m bringing over some of my costume and fashion-related posts from the tumblr blog I had for a short while. By next month, hopefully everything will be in place.
This one is just a quick look at an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding guest book or personalised scrapbook I made. It’s hopefully useful to see properly if you’re thinking of buying it from my WickedFaerieGifts shop; or if you’re into crafting, it may give a little inspiration…
Now this next video is supposed to show you how to age paper quickly. Quickly being the operative word here, but the video is seventeen minutes long! And that’s with me editing out loads as well. I am still learning with You Tube videos, and the main thing I have to work at is saying what I’m trying to say in much more of a concise manner! So this one is for you if you like listening to ramblings…
Lastly, here’s a haul video. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really see the point of these when I first started taking an interest in You Tube, but they have slowly grown on me. I sometimes find myself watching people I don’t know show me what they bought that day. It’s weird isn’t it? As long as I don’t find the person annoying, I can happily lose several minutes of my day if they pop up on my recommended list. Well, I just hope I’m not annoying. And preferably you have some interest in vintage fabric…
Well that’s it from me. I’ve started a new WickedFaerie Facebook page if you’d like to follow me there for news and updates. Please also click the Bloglovin button at the top right to get e-mail notifications when I post here.
If you’d like more to read, take a look at the piece I wrote at Writers’ Group last year, called ‘You Can’t Trust March.‘ Please let me know what you’ve been up to in the comments below; or let me know if there are any events in April you think I should try and get to. 🙂