Tuesday 30 March 2010

First tutorial

Hi folks,

Here is my very first tutorial for you all, the first thing I have made where I photographed the process all the way along.  Hope you have all had a lovely day and looking forward to celebrating Jesus this weekend.

First of all you need a picture frame and some a page of vintage music sheet.  The frame is an eco frame to help the environment.



To get the music sheet to the right size draw round the glass from the frame.






Next trim the music sheet along the lines using a guillotine,



Using a ruler, divide the music sheet into 12 boxes.  I did this by drawing a border first the dividing the area inside the border into 12 boxes.  Draw on the back of the music sheet to keep the front nice and neat.



It should look something like this:


Next you need to create a template for the hearts, I used an old box and drew half the heart along one of the creases,

Fold the card in half then cut out, you will then have a heart shapes template,



Place the template in the first square on the reverse of the music sheet and draw round it,


Repeat this process until you have a heart in each of the boxes.


Cut each heart out carefully with a craft knife,


Till it looks like this:



Cut out a nice piece of coloured paper to place behind the hearts,


Glue the reverse of the music sheet and stick the coloured paper onto the back.  Press it down to keep it stuck on,



Fold the cut out hearts in half,



Dab some PVA glue along the folded edge with your finger,


Stick each one into the gaps on the coloured paper and fold up the hearts,


Stick them all down,

Ta da!




Alternatively, if you can't be bothered with faffing around cutting paper, you can purchase this very item from my etsy shop!

Have a good week everyone!

Sunday 28 March 2010

ABC's of meeeee!

Hi everyone, hope you have had good weekend.

I got this from twisted tree, I thought it looked like fun!!
Here are the ABC's of ME!

A-Age: 26,

B-Bed Size: Double, (we only have a small house!)

C-Chore you hate: Filling the car with petrol,

D-Dog's Name: Poppy,

E-Essential start to your day: I have to have cereal, at the moment its oats and rasins with rice milk,

F-Favorite colors: bright blue, pink, light green, any spring colours really, (favorite colours change regularly,

G-Gold, Silver or Platinum: Platinum (but only if ethically sourced)

H-Height: 5'8

I-Instruments you play: Clarinet, piano and drums,

J-Jewelry you wear everyday: Wedding ring and engagement ring,

K-Kids: none yet!

L-Living arrangements: I live with my husband in a 1980's two bed semi,

M-Mom's name: Sheila

N-Nicknames: Hels,

O-Overnight Hospital Stay, other than birth: no, never been in hospital (thankyou God)

P-Pet Peeves: Rudeness, loud chewing!

Q-Quote:"How high does the sycamor grow, if you cut it down, you'll never know" (Pocahontas)

R-Right or Left Handed: Right

S-Siblings: Two younger sisters and a brother,

T-Time you wake up: 6.20 on weekdays, as late as possible on weekends!

U-Underwear: comfey!

V-Vegetable you dislike: Brussel Sprouts

W-Ways you run late: waking up late, choosing clothes, bad organisation generally,

X-X-Rays: Chest, teeth,

Y-Yummy food you make: fairy cakes,

Z-Zoo Favorite: monkeys.

Thursday 25 March 2010

Today's writers workshop

Today's writers workshop over at Mama's losin it is:

Why didn’t they ask you? Write a list of 5 or 10 sentences that begin with the words ‘No one ever asked me’; then, write about one of them in detail, or use them all in a poem, or use several in a personal description of yourself.



No one ever asked me if I wanted to be an artist,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a Christian,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to be white,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to be British,
No one ever asked me if I wanted two sisters and a brother,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to be half Welsh,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a writer,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to care about the environment,
No one ever asked me if I wanted to grow veg.

No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,

I was taken there at the tendee age of four and left alone
without my mother with a strange woman that I didn't know. 
I couldn't find my name above a peg for my bag,
I cried and wanted to go home.

No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,

One day the fire bell went,
We all had to line up on the playground,
I was afraid, I didn't know it wasn't a real fire,
I cried and wanted to go home.

No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,

I forgot my tuck for break time,
I didn't have anything to eat and it made me sad,
A boy gave me half his mint yoyo,
But I still cried and wanted to go home.

No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,

My mum put my lunch in an empty ice cream box,
One day I picked up the wrong box,
I had brought the leftovers of my birthday cake to school,
I cried and wanted to go home,

No one ever asked me if I wanted to go to school,

Now I am a teacher,
But I don't have a choice about going to school,
I still don't like very much,
and I cry and want to go home.

Is there anything is your life where you think why didn't they ever ask you?

Wednesday 24 March 2010

A hard week so far

Hi everyone,

I have had a pretty tough week so far, I am very tired now and have a headache, the kids at school have been rubbish.  Exhausting!
Anyway I can always cheer myself up by checking my blog and seeing another wonderful person has decided to follow my blog.  This makes me sooooo happy, thankyou all very very much, you are all very important to me now. 
Over the weekend I photographed a few more things for my Etsy shop do take a look and please let me know what you think.  I would like to know if I am selling the sort of things people like to buy?  Have I photographed them ok?  Do you think I have had a good amount of people look at the items?  I am so new to all this and not feeling very confident. Well here they are anyway:









Please please let me know what you think, I really love to hear your opinion.  I welcome comments!

Monday 22 March 2010

I welcome comments and followers

Hello you!!


You look so fab today. Really.

I just wanted to tell you all that it is now super easy to follow my blog, simply click on Google follow button, and can I just tell you how happy it would make me if you did decide to follow my blog....It would make me very happy indeed!
I also want to tell you lovely lovely people that I really do welcome comments and I love to hear from you. It makes me smile to see a beautiful number next to that little comments button (a number other than 0 obviously.)
So to get the ball rolling...I teach a class called XC (stands for Cross Curricular, I will let you decide what that means) I did a task on identity a couple of weeks ago where I got my pupils to write one word to describe themselves for each letter of the alphabet. I did one for myself too, I won't give you the whole list but my favourite was E, for *enigmatic*.
What one word would you use to describe yourself?

Sunday 21 March 2010

Busy day

It's been a busy day today.  I have been photographing a couple more items for my Etsy shop here, then went to my allotment, camera in hand, and totally forgot to photograph anything.  I did plant some carrot, leek and spring onion seeds and did a bit of digging.  I was a little bit worried about why my pea and broad bean seeds hadn't come up, so had a little dig around, but I guess it's just been cold for them because there were some little flecks of green coming up when I looked closely.  It was so lovely to get down there.  I always feel refreshed and reguvinated.  It's such a calming place to be.
This afternoon I did some art work which I will probably post tomorrow when I have the daylight back to photograph them, haven't done any for a while so it was nice to relax and paint for a while. 
I then made some cup cakes:

Yummy!!  Will enjoy thos tomorrow!
I am really pleased that I have had lots of views of my items on Etsy,  I just hope so much that someone purchses something.  I am not sure how I feel if they don't sell!
Well have a great night and a lovely Monday.

Hels
x

Saturday 20 March 2010

Etsy shop now open!!

I am now the very proud owner of my own Etsy Shop!  Finally I have got round to photographing some bits as professionally as I can and opening up the shop.  I would love it if you visited: Serendipity child.

Here are some images for a sneak preview, any tips or advice on how to advertise and get more visitors to my shop would be most welcome.

















Actually this is all I have up at the moment, but I can't photograph anything else right now because it is dark!!
Hopefully be more up tomorrow.

Thursday 18 March 2010

mirror finally made

Finally I have completed my drift wood mirror which I have been working on for days.   I made it using drift wood left over from the name holders at my wedding.  Here is one piece in it's previouse incarnation:


It took me so long because it was like a puzzle piecing all the bits together.  To be honest I did run out of pieces but it doesn't matter too much.  I also made the mistake of nailing all the piece on.  I had proactically finishing it when my mum said why didn't I use glue....I did not know!  Glue would probably have been much better.  Oh well, I know for next time.

Here it is:

And look what else I found in my garden when photographing the mirror....my bulbs have come up!!  Yey, spring is here.

Please let me know what you think.

feeling bad

Well I am feeling pretty fed up right now, I am lying in bed feeling rather hot and puffy and stuffy and tired. I have got big swollen glands in my neck and I don't know why. It's not a happy day. I have been wanting to blog for ages but feeling like I shouldn't blog unless I have a photo to put up. Well hey ho, no photo and I am still blogging, because I needed to so sorry about that.
I have spending a little bit of time looking at other people’s blogs and came across this one: http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/. I like the people out there who are not afraid to admit they are losing the plot. In fact I have to say, I think it's the folks who think that they are normal who have something to worry about. Any hoo, she set a challenge in her blog to write about something and gave a series of prompts to choose from. My choice is to write about someone who is an underdog (she says this could be you). Well being from the UK "underdog" is not a word I use very often so I looked it up for a definition. The result was than an underdog is someone in a competition who is expected to lose. This got me thinking about the competition of life; who wins and who loses...



I know a family that had two sons; they were both brought up in exactly the same way in a loving home. As they grew up they both developed in different ways. The older of the two was creative and whimsical, he did what felt right and what felt good, he lived in a shack in a forest and dreamed of building a house there. He had many wives and children and spent his life trying to find out what it all means. He did not have a lot of money but spent his time helping others.

The other of the sons was logical and hardworking; he got a good job, progressed through the ranks and ended up in a very high position with a good pension. He was well respected and a considered successful. He had a wife and two sons of his own and they all lived in a large house in the country. His parents were very pleased with him and his choices.

The successful son looked at his brother and felt sorry for him, he thought that he must be unhappy and feel like he was a failure. The parents felt they have failed their older son and wondered what had gone wrong in the way they brought them both up.

But in truth both the sons were successful in different ways. Both had lived their lives the way they wanted to, both had made the right choices for them. The older son did not fit in to society's view of "success" but he was just as happy and kind and caring as his brother. Why then feel sorry for him? Just because someone is doing things differently, does not mean they are doing things wrong.

Tuesday 9 March 2010

My Owl Barn's Anthropologie Necklace Giveaway!

My Owl Barn's Anthropologie Necklace Giveaway!: "Use your imagination ;)"

Oh beautiful owl necklace, how I love thee,
Your pearlescent beads shine like the sun,
Your vintage charm would be perfect for me,
I would be oh so happy if I won!

Helsbells


http://www.serendipitychild.blogspot.com/

Monday 1 March 2010

first wreath

Hi everyone,
I cycled to work for the first time this year and feel so much healthier, thinner, fitter, more awake already!!
I made this over the weekend, hope you like it, let me know what you think:






It also comes with this detatchable bird!



As always please, please, please let me know what you think.