I knew it was going to be a good day when we were immediately presented with a cup of tea each.  I mean what’s the point if you can’t have a cuppa at the same time.  Soon however the class started, the were basics explained and we dispatched around the shop to collect the beads for our necklaces.  I initially thought of going for a purple theme, as did Miss K, but ended up with a green one.  Those were simply the beads the caught my eye in the end.

Here they all are spread out awaiting further instructions.  More tea and cake arrived at this point which was all the excuse I needed for a break.

I spent much of the afternoon from that point onwards cursing my fingers which had suddenly forgotten how to work and trying not to look a complete incompetent fool.  At one point I was convinced I was about an hour behind everyone else and was seriously worried I wouldn’t get finished.  How embarrassing would that have been?   However it all came together quickly in the end so I’d been panicking over nothing.

And here is my finished Lariat necklace.  How beautiful is that!  Our hosts Jess and Patrick were wonderful, really friendly and encouraging.  We’re now eyeing up more classes for later in the year

Oh and I even had time to make a couple of matching earrings in the end as well

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This morning I needed to pop out and get some stuff for my mother while she’s in hospital. You know the sort of thing, toiletries etc, and decided that a pit stop for a cuppa was in order. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the tea shop had recently had a make over… Including a tree.

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I just couldn’t resist sharing this with you quickly.  Yesterday I went out for a wander in the snow and was hoping to find some pretty sheep in the snow.  That was why I wandered over to this field and spotted these two lovely beasties posing in such a comic way.

Dr Doolittle eat your heart out LOL

No ‘photoshopping’ here, just two sheep with a great sense of humour

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Anyway, thankfully she did and soon we were off in search of places to buy more supplies.  We soon came across a charming little shop in Long Melford, Suffolk called the Bead Boutique. 

Now I was originally along to

a) do the driving, 

b) offer moral support, 

c) drink tea, 

and d) take a few photos for the blog. 

(Not necessarily in that order you understand, tea is always a priority on outings.)

Well it didn’t quite work out like that, mainly because there were two charming dogs there and it would have been rude not to have a cuddle.  So in actuality I did 

a) the driving, 

b) drank tea (a little tea shop just down the road), 

c) fussed the dogs, 

d) took 3 shots, 

and e) fussed the dogs some more. 

So only a few shots to show you……

Still it was a fantastic day out.  We’re both going back for a bead making course next month, and I promise to take more photos then.

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Then it hit me… You might be interested in my new photographic project.  Why?  Well if I say that I’ve nicknamed it the ‘Crafting Project’ would that perk your interest?  It did!  Fantastic, then let me explain.

As you know I’m a keen crafter and also a keen photographer.  The photographer in me finds that I love working on projects with my camera just as much as in crafting.  So I’ve decided to start a photographic project looking at crafting.  I’m hoping to explore all sorts of aspects of this fantastic hobby/way of life.  No doubt my long suffering friends, who are now fairly used to me confiscating their tea and cake for shots, will soon get fed up of me pointing my lens at their knitting needles.  Hehe let the fun begin.

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This last week I fulfilled one of the items on my ‘tick sheet’ of things to do.  You know the sort of lists – 101 things I want to try with apple sauce before I die.  Anyway this item was to see the band Show of Hands in concert.  Despite being a fan for years I’ve never managed to be in the right place at the right time to see them before.  So when I heard they would be playing only 15 miles from my home I had my ticket booked within minutes.

I went with my good friend Miss J and we had a ball.  Naturally I wanted to take my camera and take some shots.  I always worry about this as I know many venues can get funny.  It’s impossible to confiscate a mobile phone because it has a camera on it, but, well……  My camera is a DSLR and stands out a lot more.

Anyway I tried to take my shots without annoying anyone (after all they’d paid for their tickets as well), or drawing attention from anyone who might ask me to leave.  I didn’t take that many but the results are up above.  Hopefully the slide show is working and you can see them.  Now I’m looking forward to my next concert (next week) and hoping I can get my camera in there as well

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I don’t often post the same stuff on both my photography and crafting blogs, but last week I went on an Urbex trip with some fellow photographers and decided to document part of the shoot with a time lapse video.  Urbex in case you’re wondering stands for ‘Urban Exploration’ and usually refers to exploring abandoned or forgotten places.  I’ve played about with time lapse before on my mobile using free apps (such as Lapse It) but this time I decided to use my back up DSLR and up the anti so to speak.  My main reason for being there was to take some more shots for my ‘Ghost Project’.

Anyway I had a blast making this video and added a gallery at the end with a few shots from each of us on the shoot, some music and voilà.  Anyway I hope you enjoy it…

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This is Fire my beautiful Siamese cat.  Unfortunately the time came for us to part earlier this week.  He was a wonderful cat with an amazing personality and he fought so hard against a variety of medical problems this last 6 months.

He’s left a cat shaped hole in our lives and we’re all missing him, even the dogs.  Salem my other cat is taking it especially hard and is very clingy.  Pebbles especially is finding this difficult to deal with as Salem keeps trying to cuddle her, the way he used to cuddle Fire at nap time.  Jake the dog has been amazing in the aftermath, insisting on cuddling with me far more than normal.  I love snuggling with Jake as he’s big, so I don’t have to worry about accidently squishing him.  All week he’s been cuddling in and helping me sleep.  Why is it when we’re upset we sleep better with another heart beat next to ours?

Anyway I started this year with 3 beautiful cats and now I’m down to one.  Simba went to the Rainbow Bridge earlier in the year after loosing her fight against cancer, Fire now joins her.  Sleep tight my little ones…

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The search for a great place to have tea and cake is something of a quest with myself and my friends.  Somewhere wonderful where we can meet up, share a cuppa (we’re almost all tea drinkers rather than coffee), perhaps have a little something to eat, and with the potential for cake.  It’s also about a lovely atmosphere and comfortable chairs.  Somewhere we want to go and enjoy being.  So when a new ‘patisserie’, also selling tea and food, opened up in Ipswich we had to check it out.  The cakes looked wonderful (if expensive) in the window and we were practically salivating when we went in.

And then it all started to go wrong.  The tables were crowded in so we felt like sardines and I was closer to the people on the table next to us than my friend.  The food wasn’t that great and the tea came on it’s own little trays that took up the entire table leaving no room for anything else (including our food).  Then after our food, we wanted cake.  It took me a whole five minutes to catch the eye of a waitress who mumbled that she would be back in a minute and wandered off.  So, feeling slightly claustrophobic, we waited while happily debating which cake to have for our much looked forward to deserts.  What did we get?  Well, when the waitress finally showed up again she plopped down the bill and walked swiftly off.  We gave up and made to leave.  At this point my friend, still craving cake, decided to order from the take out section.  This led to a conversation with the manager about why we were ordering our cake to leave instead of eating in.  Upon telling her she asked if being handed our bill had encouraged us to leave before we had planned.  That, my friends, was the moment I decided our quest must continue as you simply can’t help that level of stupid…

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