Yearly Archives

2016

How to make simple steampunk armwarmers

Steampunk costume A little while ago I made several steampunk outfits, which Rain kindly modelled for me at the village Tithe barn. They have all been sold now, but the armwarmers I made to go with them have remained popular. You only really need basic sewing skills for these if you fancy having a go. I used lovely stretch cotton velvet and antique Victorian lace for mine, but you can use any fabric with a small amount of stretch, and decorate the ends with any trim you have to hand….

Vintage clothing kilo sale in Bristol

Both my daughters and I are interested in vintage fashion, so whenever an event related to it comes up, I take the opportunity for a Mother/Daughter bonding day out! This was an event Rain had heard about, and when we approached the Paintworks building, we knew we must be in the right place due to the hoards of students with their clear bags of clothing. It’s basically a vintage clothing sale where you pay £15 per kilogram…

How to take close-up photos without a macro lens. (Plus pretty spring flowers)

I have three lenses for my Panasonic GM1, and none of them are macro. I don’t really want or need another lens at the moment, but I do want to try a bit of macro photography. The last time I had a macro lens was back in the day of my Minolta Dynax 500si film camera, so it’s fair to say it’s been a while! I bought this pack of two extension tubes as I’d heard it’s a good alternative. One or both fit between your camera body and lens to give a macro effect, and this is how I got on…

How to exercise in public without worrying about your arse.

This is an ongoing struggle for me and I’ve written a lot more about it than I expected to! I suppose I am picky when it comes to choosing clothes anyway, but not being your average size eight gym bunny, I have certain requirements when it comes to covering myself at the gym or exercise class. “Covering myself” being the operative words here – I am not going to be wearing a crop top and hot pants….

Happy 12th Birthday WickedFaerie blog!

I know! I couldn’t believe it either! Twelve years I’ve been writing here. Admittedly, it’s not always been with the most regularity in the world, but if you’ve been following me for a while, you will have noticed a few recent changes. The main one being, I am now updating two to three times a week if I can. I’d really like to make this a place you’ll want to come back to often to see what I’m writing about…

A visit to Bristol and BIMM

The other week it was an open day at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) in Bristol. Our youngest daughter, Jude is thinking about taking a music management degree there soon, so we went along to see what it was like. We left so early in the morning and the traffic was surprisingly good for a Saturday, we actually arrived in Bristol with an hour to spare. All was fine, and we killed time browsing a few shops, but somehow we ended up walking the wrong way up the road, had to backtrack and ended up getting there ten minutes late!…

Monthly Memoir – March

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!….

Hastings Pier – The story of the photograph (and photographer!)

Welcome to the first of a new regular feature I’m starting on this blog! I began a keen interest in photography about twenty years ago, and when I was seventeen I spent a stupid amount of money in credit interest buying my first SLR from a catalogue! I practiced a lot and took five GNVQ courses in photography at college in the evenings when my babies were little. I thought I’d go over some of my favourite photographs from back then and more recently, and tell you a little about how, when and where they were taken. The first is this one of Hastings Pier, which was in my very first exhibition….

Avalon Fairy Fair, Glastonbury, Spring 2016

I couldn’t believe it was time for one of these fairs again. They’re only twice a year, but they seem to rock around far more often than that! They’re in Glastonbury town hall and I usually go to every one if I can because it’s so full of such interesting stalls…

Spring Equinox and Handmade for Easter

Easter is the main festival we celebrate in England that I feel most uncomfortable about because I am not Christian. I feel that Christmas has evolved to mean something different to people – often it’s about celebrating time with family; however Easter is purely and simply about Jesus. For the last fifteen years or so I’ve done a mini easter egg hunt for my kids at Ostara, the spring equinox, which this year falls today. The Pagan religion interests me and resonates with me, although if pushed to label myself I’d say I was agnostic, bordering atheist with leanings towards Paganism, Buddhism and Christianity! So anyway, whatever your beliefs, I’ve put together a selection of handmade items that would be lovely as gifts at this time of year….

How to age paper quickly + Spellbinders distressing tool review & ink review

Every now and then my workroom floor gets completely covered with crafting paraphernalia while I make some books. By that I mean either plain journals where I just decorate the cover, or complete wedding guestbooks where every page is decorated with places for the guests to sign their name or leave a message. Well this has been the case for the last couple of weeks. At the moment I’m making a large steampunk themed guestbook, which, when finished, will be an example for others that can be made to order with the couple’s names and wedding colours etc. So, I thought I’d tell you how I age my paper to give that lovely distressed vintage look….

Butlins, Minehead

I’ve just been looking through my saved drafts of blog posts, and came across this one that I wrote four years ago! I think it’s worth publishing because the tips will still be useful, but the prices will be out of date now. My friend Traci and I took our village Youth Club kids to Butlins in Minehead, Somerset for the day… Well, first I have to say I was pretty impressed with the place. There was a friendly atmosphere and it was spotlessly clean. It was also well laid out and difficult to get lost in, which is useful when you’ve got 10 kids to keep an eye on….