Pinning Inspiration #11

To continue from this week's Marvellous Monday theme, this week's Pinning Inspiration looks at inventive floral displays!

Source: stylemepretty.com via Kei on Pinterest

This one is utterly beautiful, like something from a fantasy tale or faerie glen.

Marvellous Monday #21

Time for another Marvellous Monday!
This week, here are some flowers to brighten your day :)

Whether planted up, tied in a bouquet, or growing wild, flowers are a joy to behold!

Pinning Inspiration #10

Are you feeling artistic?
This Pinning Inspiration focuses on the art form, assemblage.

Assemblage is the composition of two and three-dimensional works using found objects. I see it as fairly free from rules and a great artistic process for any age group.

Source: musingrelics.com via Kei on Pinterest

The above work is by Lynne Parks. Her website, musingrelics, is full of intriguing, gorgeous pieces and lots of inspiration!

Marvellous Monday #20

This week's theme for Marvellous Monday is orange.

Orange is a wonderfully vibrant colour, reminiscent of warm summer days, sunrise and sunset.

Swishy Maxi Skirt DIY

Lately I’ve been having a bit of a ‘crafters block’ and the UK’s heat wave hasn’t helped. Hence why tutorials and crafty posts have been a bit thin here!

Despite the hot weather frying my brains, I knuckled down yesterday and knocked together this swishy maxi skirt (remember the bargain fabric?)

It took me around 2 hours, with a tea break. The method is fairly easy and uses just one seam, with gathers at the waistline.

Here’s a tutorial. You can use this method to make shorter skirts, too :) This works best with thinner fabrics such as cottons.

Pinning Inspiration #9

This week's Pinning Inspiration takes us right back to where the heart is: the home!
Today's theme is postage style (which is rather coincidental, since the writing of this post was interrupted by the postman!)

The above picture was taken in an (unfortunately short-lived) dumpling bar in Brighton. I totally dig the postage-themed cushion, particularly as it is stamped 'Japan' and the shop sold Japanese-inspired food.
Imagine how cool it would be to recreate this, with an old mail sack as the seat cushion (and yes, the base of the seat is an old suitcase...and yes, the floor is fake grass...that shop was cool, you guys).

Rambling aside, all kinds of postal paraphernalia can be used to create, and used to inspire, all manner of things for the home and for yourself!

Marvellous Monday #19

Time for another Marvellous Monday!
It's coming up to holiday season here in the UK; schools are reaching end of term (if they haven't already), people are planning trips and looking forward to escaping somewhere fun, relaxing and sunny.
Which brings us to this week's theme: the beach!

A trip to the seaside brings all you might want from a holiday. A place that is warm, where you can relax or do sports...

Pinning Inspiration #8

Whilst last week's Pinning Inspiration looked at cool uses for driftwood, this week's focuses once again on inspirational people.
This time around, that person is George Clooney.


Whilst he is well-known for acting, this post is going to focus on his humanitarian work.

Along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and others, George Clooney founded Not On Our Watch, a humanitarian aid and international relief organisation based in the USA. They work to bring the world's attention to international crises, stop mass atrocities, encourage governments to take action, and fund projects to protect people from harm. Not On Our Watch aims to give victims a voice.

The organisation was started to draw attention to the violation of human rights in Darfur, but has since spread its work to Burma and Zimbabwe.

Needless to say, George Clooney hasn't merely put his name and money to this organisation, he does the work. Whether speaking at rallies, visiting the countries to see the problems for himself, or contacting governmental powers to petition them to help, it's obvious that his heart is fully invested in the cause. His campaigning has even led to his arrest. In March 2012, at a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington DC, Clooney was arrested for 'civil disobedience'. Clooney allegedly intended to be arrested when he planned the protest, wanting to raise attention to the atrocities being committed in Sudan.

It was after a trip to southern Sudan in 2010 that Clooney co-founded the Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) with human rights activist John Prendergast. Launched in December 2010 and partnering with Not On Our Watch, SSP uses satellite imaging to monitor what is really happening in Sudan. The goal is:

"deterring a return to full-scale civil war between northern and southern Sudan and deterring and documenting threats to civilians along both sides of the border."

Source - SSP official website.

As yesterday was the second anniversary of South Sudan's independence, it seemed appropriate to write about this particular humanitarian work today! 

Regions along the border are still disputed territory and it's the work of SSP and Not On Our Watch that are helping to improve the situation. 

For more information on SSP, including how the project works, check out their website!

In addition to his work with the aforementioned organisations, George Clooney co-created the telethon Hope for Haiti Now with Wyclef Jean and Joel Gallen, which collected funds for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. A supporter of equal rights, he has also appeared in a play, 8, to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, and has volunteered to participate in an auction to raise funds for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

There are countless other charities that Clooney has supported, including UNICEF, Save the Children, Make Poverty History, Oxfam and The Red Cross. 

George Clooney certainly deserves to be saluted for the time, money and energy spent on his humanitarian work! In October 2012 he was honoured for his work at the Carousel of Hope ball in Beverley Hills. Yep, you've guessed it--another charity fundraiser.

For all his charity work, Clooney truly is inspirational. 

Do you feel inspired by stories of celebrity involvement in charity?

Does it improve your opinion of the celebrity?

Who is your favourite charity-helping celebrity?

Marvellous Monday #18

Monday once again, and the theme for this week's Marvellous Monday is You're Never Too Old or alternatively, Fabulous Pensioners.


I've seen this picture countless times and it never fails to make me smile!

Wreck This Journal Update #2

For a while, I ran out of steam on my Wreck This Journal. It languished on a shelf whilst I got on with other things. I've done most of the 'easy' things, and the things I was most inspired to do.
Some pages are works in progress, such as 'a page for positive thoughts'--I'll fill this up over time!

However, I have completed some more pages so here's a little progress report!

I'm pleased with how this page turned out. It's not perfect, but WTJ isn't meant to be. It's supposed to be destructive!
As you can see, I got bored of my neat and tidy method on the right hand page. I like to fill both pages so the left hand page ended up being a bunch of flowers and a leaf that I picked up on a walk.

'Sample various substances found in your home.' This took me longer than it should have done, as substances have always been to hand! My colour themes went out of the window pretty fast.
I actually got a little help from this one--I took my Wreck This Journal with me when I went for a catch up with a neighbour, and she provided some soup and grape juice from her fridge! (Being a creature of creativity, she also provided me with a foot and number sticker for the front cover!)

'Collect the stamps off all your mail'.

Does anyone else get disappointed when post arrives and it doesn't have a traditional stamp on it? So many letters are franked nowadays, so many parcels arrive with a printed, goldish sticker-stamp attached that has been run off the machine at the post office. So rarely do our brown paper packages come tied up with string and stuck with a rainbow of postage stamps!

But I digress. This page took time, too, as stamped post doesn't show up often. I kinda cheated on this one as well, as I turned out a bunch of old postcards and chopped all the stamps from them ;) Technically it's still off my mail, but they're old!

There are still a few dozen pages waiting to be started, finished, or even looked at. Then there's the occasional blank page that I'll fill in as I like, and pages I don't know how to fill--we don't tend to have stickers on our fruit, or a compost bin (both needed for pages...) So I guess I'll have to think around those!

Do you have a Wreck This Journal?

Are you enjoying it?

Pinning Inspiration #7

You're driftwood floating underwater
Breaking into pieces, pieces, pieces
Just driftwood hollow and of no use
Waterfalls will find you, bind you, grind you.

~ Travis, Driftwood

Contrary to Travis' poetic lyrics, we all know that driftwood has lots of uses, and creative ones at that!
So here is this week's Pinning Inspiration, on the very subject.

Source: anthropologie.com via Kei on Pinterest

Driftwood projects don't have to be very involved--they can be as simple as gluing or tying a few smaller pieces around a glass candle holder. (Isn't this one from Anthropologie gorgeous?)

Goals Progress #2

At the beginning of the year, I came up with a list of goals for 2013. The last time I looked at my progress was in March, so it's time for another little review!

A llama, because why not.

01. Make 100 unique necklaces

Done this. However, they're not all for sale!

02. Start up an Etsy store to sell said necklaces!

I set up my Etsy store months ago and recently added new stock!

03. Create some sewn items to sell on etsy, too

There's nothing on there at the moment, but I do have some 'Monstars' to sell and am planning to make more along a theme.

04. Prepare blog posts much further in advance…

Iffy on this one. Weekly posts such as Marvellous Monday and Pinning Inspiration get prepared in advance but a lot of others are still created 'on the fly'. It would be helpful if I tried harder at this one!

05. …but don’t get bogged down with following ‘blogging trends’ (unless they’re interesting to me)

Doing well at this, I think. I don't even know what the current trends are in blogland!

06. Likewise don’t feel pressured to create ‘seasonal’ crafts/posts (Halloween crafts at Easter? Why not!)

I'm managing this one, too. I'll make seasonal crafts if and when I feel like it. Perhaps it means I'll get fewer hits during seasonal times such as Christmas, but at the same time I hope that makes this blog a peaceful getaway from seasonal madness! 

07. Get a hair cut. Seriously. It needs doing. 

Did this earlier in the year. Now it's grown and needs cutting again, but I have an appointment at the hairdresser tomorrow! Hurrah!

08. Practice photography, both for blogging and in general

Not doing any of this, but I'm still addicted to instagram.

09. Write more original fiction outside of NaNoWriMo.

Haven't written anything recently! The creative part of my mind has been fixated on sewing and jewellery-making.

10. Have a big clear out and sell things on ebay.

Did this once, did this twice, ebay is still a huge drag but I'm in the process of yet another clear out so I guess I'll be heading to ebay once again soon!

11. Use Royal Pavilion & Museums membership card more before it expires!

It expired and barely paid for itself. Booo. I love the Royal Pavilion as it's fascinating to walk around, but I didn't renew my membership this year.

12. Paint.

Haven't done much of this lately, either, but I did spend some time splattering a costume with paint yesterday (splattering my feet, arms, and the garden in the process!)

13. Finish reading ‘Tired of London, Tired of Life’ and actually do some of the stuff in it. 

Finished reading ages ago, but haven't been to London to do anything from it yet!

14. Complete ‘Wreck This Journal’ (I got one for Christmas and its so much fun)

It's still in progress! I'm getting down to the 'harder to finish' bits, such as 'Compost this page. Watch it deteriorate.' part. We don't even have a compost bin...

15. Write more ‘personal’ blog posts (like this one!)
This goal has fallen by the wayside a little...

Did you set yourself goals for 2013?

How are you getting along with them?

Marvellous Monday #17

It's Monday again, which means it's time for another Marvellous Monday!

Is your day shaping up to be good, or are you in need of a lift? Here are some cute animals to do just that!