What a tricky month June has been in the world of politics. I think it is a real shame we left the EU, but just as I thought we might be ok, Michael Gove puts himself forward for the leadership. I think I would have to leave the country if that happens! Anyway, for me it’s been my busiest month of the year, as I was making cup carriers and bottle bags to be sold at Water Aid stands at Glastonbury Festival. I’m not entirely sure how my sewing machine coped, but in the end I delivered two hundred and seventy-five altogether….
Leather craft course
So although I haven’t got a great deal to tell you as this really was occupying all my time, I did take a weekend off to go to a leather-working course at The Cherry Wood Project in South Gloucestershire. I had a fantastic time and learned a lot in just a couple of days. The people were friendly, the food was delicious and I tried fresh crayfish for the first time. I came home having made a leather purse; leaf-shaped wet formed bowl; knife sheath and notebook. I’ll write a full report about it all soon.
The following weekend I was in Bristol for the team Etsy Sellers in Bristol craft party event. It was such a good day, and along with meeting fellow crafters, I
Etsy Sellers in Bristol Craft Party
also learned about product photography, using Instagram, how having a promotional video would be helpful and how to make an intricate tassel! The handmade cakes the organisers made were absolutely scrummy, and I was able to swap some scrapbooking crafty things for some ribbon and lace. I’m really looking forward to the next team meet-up.
I feel my Instagram pictures are improving and I’m starting to get the hang of hashtags at last! If you’d like to follow me, I’m under HelenHobden.
After that of course, it was Glastonbury Festival. I had feared from my visit the week before that it was going to get muddy very quickly, and as the sun never shone for long enough to dry it out, I was correct. At least it didn’t actually rain very often. I’ve written quite a detailed review of the festival, if you’d like to have a look. I’ll be going through my photos soon for a photography post as well.
You might have noticed a couple of new things on my blog this month. Firstly, I’ve started a regular feature I’m calling ‘Weekly Wardrobe.‘ There are several style inspiration and fashion bloggers for the younger folk of this world, but not so many for my age-group, so I thought this would fit into my blog as I’m often talking about clothing and fashion anyway. A fellow blogger of a similar age, Catherine, from Not Dressed As Lamb is campaigning against a ridiculous newspaper article telling women over thirty what they shouldn’t be wearing any more. She chooses a theme each week and other bloggers get together and share their photos. It has been fun finding new blogs through this to go and have a look at.
The other major change is the name! This is the sort of thing that probably should take weeks of planning and consultations with branding experts, but it all took place in about twelve hours! I went to bed on Wednesday night musing over whether I should change the name of this blog. Thursday morning while Chris was talking about how it should ideally be short words, I suddenly blurted out “When I grow up.” And an hour later, WhenIGrowUpblog.com was registered and away I am, changing titles etc. WickedFaerie has been with me for twenty years when I remember choosing it for my e-mail address. It was simply a cool word I thought of at the time, but I don’t feel represents my blog accurately. I’m not particularly wicked in either the evil meaning or the outdated ’80s cool meaning! I always had to spell ‘faerie’ to people, which was a pain, and it also implied this might be a fantasy or pagan blog. ‘When I Grow Up’ feels like a more contemporary title and represents the fact that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up! I’d be interested to hear your opinion on the name change in the comments 🙂
I’ve put together a couple of You Tube videos this month. The first spans several months and is entirely about me trying to tidy up my work room!
The second, once the room was actually tidy, is a proper craft room / sewing room tour. I know lots of people like having a nose around other people’s craft rooms, so here’s mine!
And lastly, I did a What’s In My Bag style video – Glastonbury Festival edition. I hope it’s helpful for anyone going to a festival for the first time and aren’t sure what they should carry around with them.
So that’s it from me this month. Let me know if you survived the mud at Glastonbury!