Hot off the press!

Hello Lovelies!! How are you all? As you may have guessed I've been a little busy with my job over the past weeks and so I find myself posting not as regularly as I would have liked.
My crochet hook has been gathering dust, but I'm raring to pick it up and get busy with a new project someday very soon.

Even though I haven't had a huge amount of time to spend with you guys or time to spend conjuring up creative havoc at home, my blog has been working by itself. Gathering little bits of attention from outside of blogland. Little bits of attention that I am hugely proud of.

I've been mentioned a couple of times in 'Gathered' by the creators of Mollie Makes magazine.

Having a little shout out in this ipad magazine is not only exciting because of the great magazine that it is. It's excting because it's a magazine that I read every single week when it is released on a Friday afternoon. A magazine full of creative treats and very talented crafters.

The lovely people at 'Homemaker' magazine have also taken a little bit of interest. To see my blog mentioned in their magazine  filled me with joy! WOOOOP!!!!

What really got me excited though was this little package I received two days ago from the amazing team at 'stampington.com' A package containing not only this cover letter:

but also the issue of 'Artful Blogging' that I have been lucky enough to be featured in:

I was contacted two months ago about writing an article for this magazine and was thrilled at the thought of having my work in a magazine. I didn't know much about 'Artful Blogging' as it is not available in the stores here in Europe, but instead sold nationwide in America.
I ordered myself a copy of the magazine online to have a little look at the type of magazine it was.
I was not disappointed. A fabulous collection of well thought out blogs all with a different spin on the blogging process. The photography was gorgeous!

I got to work writing my article. I chose to focus on the photography aspect of my blog and how I thought it was important for me to have a well presented picture blog, rather than a substantially written blog. (I'm not much of a writer!)

I sent my article off along with a collection of photographs and two months later this turns up on my doorstep:

A beautifully designed showcase of my work. I feel really honoured to have been given this opportunity. I can't tell you how happy and proud I am to see my work in a REAL LIFE magazine.

Six pages in total!

Lots of space for my photographs.

Along with little quotes from........ me!

I also feel very lucky to be published in this issue alongside so many other talented and creative people. HAPPY, PROUD, HONOURED AND OVER THE MOON!

I want to say a big thank you to the team at Stampington for approaching me to be in the magazine, but also to the editing team that corrected all of my punctuation and spelling mistakes :-)

I also want to say a MASSIVE thank you to all of you lovely people that continue to pop by, leave me encouraging messages and boost me creatively. I haven't had the time recently to respond to many of your messages, but believe me they do not go unnoticed. 

THANKYOU!!!

Together again :-)

The sun is shining and  Dennis is back home with me!!! I couldn't be happier! Quite a contrast to last weeks blog post :-)
There is nothing I love more than getting back into a routine of having Dennis around. Catching up on his recent travels and filling each other in on the details we forgot to mention when we would chat on the phone.
I adore hearing stories and seeing pictures of the amazing places he has visited and hope of someday visiting these places myself.
These three pictures are favourites of mine, I could sit for hours and get lost in the magic of these amazing destinations.

Iceland

Dubai

Cairo

Dennis and I are both extremely lucky to be doing the the jobs that we have.
Dennis gets to travel the world, whilst performing.  I get to dance in a show that I am truly proud of. Dream jobs, but it can be tough being apart for such long stints at a time. Because of this we really try to make the most of our time together.

Today (once I finished rehearsals) we spent the afternoon walking around the city and enjoying the Spring sunshine. Talking about everything and enjoying the sudden flourish of springtime colour.

We drank coffee, laughed and enjoyed yummy treats whilst sat in the late afternoon sunshine. 

Dennis munched on this delicious strawberry treat.

I (once again) went for the chocolate option.

We took a stroll back to the apartment and worked up an appetite by unpacking Dennis suitcases and getting him settled back in at home.

We ate a delicious dinner, whilst the sun set for the day. It was a lovely afternoon together!

For me there's nothing more comforting than having a little routine back to our lives, it makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
I hope you're all having a lovely week?

3. Emotional and needy (with a sprinkle of moody)

Hello Lovelies!
How are you all doing?

I've had another crazy busy week at work and whilst I've enjoyed it immensely I was certainly ready for my day off.
By the last show of the week I was a tad over-tired. I was mentally exhausted from all of the things swimming around in my head and physically tired from playing the shows.  These two combined meant I was well and truly ready for a spot of free time.
When I get too tired I usually turn into a bit of a monster! I'm either:

1. Crazy and energetic
2. Moody and irritable
3. Emotional and needy

When I woke up this morning it was obvious to me that I was "number 3", emotional and needy.
I didn't really know where to begin my day. I just knew I had a list of things that I had to get done before my work weeks starts again tomorrow. Washing, food shopping, opticians, clean apartment, prepare schedule for work, blog post, call mum, write to aunty..... It all seemed a little over whelming.

Even though I was shattered I decided to start my day with a trip to the gym. A good long run on the tread mill usually rids my body of any negativity and even though I felt tired, somehow a little workout always manages to fill me with energy.

I left the gym in a somewhat less emotional state and decided to pop into the book store as I passed.
I haven't read anything in a few months and so I thought I would treat myself to new book.
I've missed getting stuck into a good story and recently have been opting out of reading before bed and instead have been aimlessly surfing the internet.

Sometimes It's tricky finding a book to read from the store in Hamburg. There isn't always a huge selection of English books to choose from. Today however, I was more than happy with the choices on offer!!!! So happy in fact, I ended up treating myself to two new books.

The new Sophie Kinsella novel, "Wedding night"! I love Sophie Kinsella books!!! I know they are for girls, but I just adore them.
Dennis and I have read all of her books.  He was super jealous when I told him that I had just bought her brand new one.

The second book I bought was Ellen's book, "Seriously....I'm kidding" My reason for buying.....I just love my funny ladies! I love Ellen! SIMPLE :-)

I headed on home with my new books,  stopping off at the grocery store on my way back to my apartment.
I unpacked the shopping and cleaned the apartment. Stopping every now and then to text Dennis and say how much I was missing him. ( he comes home next week......just so you know). See..... EMOTIONAL and NEEDY!

Mum called. I had a brief chat with her, but was so stressy that I had to end the conversation. It turns out I had a little bit of MOODY floating around in todays emotions. GRRRRR I don't know why I was being like this, I especially hate it when mum sees that I'm in this state of mind.

I continued to clean the apartment and noticed that my orchid had flowered. AAAAAAH! That was nice to see!

I popped the orchid on my kitchen table to admire. I made myself a cup of coffee and opened up a little chocolatey treat I had bought at the grocery store.

With orchid on the table and coffee and chocolates by my side, I sat down and started to read the Sophie Kinsella novel. It was so nice to relax and get lost in somebody else's story for an hour.

So nice in fact that once I was finished munching my chocolates and had drank my coffee, I  realised that I wasn't feeling quite so tired and emotional.
I guess I just needed to stop for a second and enjoy being caught up in another world.

I dont feel like this so often and really hate it when I do. Everybody has their off days.
I called my mum again later in the evening and apologised for being so moody. She knows what I'm like and can read me better than any book. So she wasn't fazed at all. Thanks mum!

I feel much happier now.
I'm off to bed to continue with my book!
I hope you are all well?
Good night xxx

There's something fishy going on!

HELLO!!!!
How are you all? Gosh it's been such a long time since I caught up with you all!
I'm doing great, thanks for asking!
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had been offered a new position at work. I've been busy finding my feet and learning the ropes to my new job.
Things have been pretty busy to say the least.  At times I've been stressed, tired and a little overwhelmed by it all. However, above all I've been excited and I'm having the most challenging but rewarding time.

I haven't had a huge amount of spare time, which is a shame. So crafting has had to take a back seat. It's just a phase though and I'll have more time for my hobbies in a month or so.

Even though time has been limited, I've still needed my quick fix of creative crocheted loveliness. And so I found myself working up a cute and extremely fun project on Monday, my day off from work.

This project was a quick creative fix and combined all of the things I love about home crafting. Recycling, imagination and humour.

This project started off as a big glass jar I found by the recycling bins down the road. I washed it out and scrubbed off the label.

I added some ice lolly sticks to the equation. These were lurking in my craft drawer.

some lovely vibrant sand

My favourite crochet hook,  gardening wire and buttons for eyes!

Finally I raided the craft box for my stash of colourful embroidery floss.

I chopped up the lolly pop sticks and glued them together with the help of my trusty glue gun.

A lick of paint, and a splash of humour!

A sign ready to warn off any pesky fishermen!

Where am I going to put the sign? Next to the pond, of course! Just next to the thick green weeds that grow out of the deep blue waters.

Oh what's that?

A bright and cheery gold fish has popped by to say hello!
Oh he is a nosey little fish, swimming around the sign and splashing around my blog.

Well I'm certainly not going to take any notice of this sign when this little fish is about! 

Here I come with my fishing net.........Got him!

My new pet! Happy as can be in his spacious jar! He loves swimming around in circles and splashing around in the fresh water!

I think I'll call him Sammy....he looks like a Sammy.

This was a simple little project made using the Fancy Goldfish Amigurumi pattern by Kate Wood. A fun little "evening" project.

Oh I did enjoy that!!! 

Hope you're all doing spiffingly!?!