Blackmagpie

What turns my light bulb on

2012-02-12T18:01:00.000Z

I have racked my brain for the past week trying to figure out where in Dundee fuels my passion for designing, where do I go to recharge my battery's, basically what inspires me. I have no idea, I adore walking the dog at the Ferry beach, or up the observatory, there is always my love for Toast in the Ferry, maybe a jaunt across to St Andrews, Pitenweem and Anstruther but deep down they don't inspire me. Yes they allow me to recharge but I wanted to pick something that I have a love for, something that maybe not many people know about. So my place of inspiration... Drum roll please...The Chinese supermarket! Now before you go "WHAT!!!" Its all that packaging. Its beautiful, and don't get me started on the awesome dinner sets. Anyone that knows me, knows I have a fondness for all things Asian, this place is my little haven! So I suggest you all go have a look. They have currently relocated as their Gellatly Street shop is being refurbished, but currently you can find this little gem right next to Dundee Uni! Oh yeah if you want to read something that will make you think about Dundee as a whole being inspirational, you need to head over to Daniels blog! Hilarious!

yes that is ducks tounge

and pig uteri

A spark of inspiration

2012-02-10T09:48:00.000Z

So my footing has been found, yet again this is just more photos (i hope you are not getting bored of my constant photos). Anyway back to the point. Project 3, the project where you can do what you like. EEPS! i miss the days of pick a theme from three that usually involved flowers, sweets or vegetables. After loads of heartache and sore heads I settled on memories and secrets, drawing on inspiration from a really happy memory of my trip to Malaysia (KL and Borneo). It was great looking back through the video footage and laughing at how stupid I look in a head scarf!

A year ago today

2012-02-08T14:23:00.000Z

Just been trawling through old photos and pondering what I was up to this time last year! I was in India BABY! so I am going to plague you with photos because they make me happy.

Walking makes me itchy

2012-02-07T16:40:00.000Z

I've just realised that I barley talk about my work on here. Its probably because I'm sick talking about it, sick thinking about it, I just want to get on and make it. Alas we need ideas first! Maybe next week once I have found my feet a little. Anyhow exercise, I don't like it! However this weekend, in order to clear my head I stupidly said to my other half "lets go hill walking". The Gods were on my side this time as we had horrible weather, snow, this weekend so we didn't end up going as planed on Saturday Sunday was beautiful (gutted) therefore there was no escape. Lanky packed a picnic, I donned my thick jumpers and walking shoes and off we set towards the Sidlaws. I have to let you know there may have been a bribe involving a whispa gold! Honestly im glad i went, the view was great, the snow was pretty and my whispa was the best thing yet!

A day in the life of....Leona-Jayne Kelly

2012-02-04T01:30:00.002Z

So after Nikki McWilliams did a day in her life way back in August the narcissist in me wanted to do one too, cause you know everyone wants to know what I get up to. I decided about a week ago to do it for Friday the 3rd of February, which is funny as I'm a day later than everyone else without actually knowing there was a set day.

Friday 3rd February 2012

07.00 - First alarm of the morning, my giant phone vibrating like crazy, I roll over to find the dog sitting between lanky and I begging to go out for a walk.

07.24 - I dose in and out of consciousness as lanky and the dog leave the flat for their morning walk

08.00am - Second alarm of the morning goes off and I find the dog is back sitting next to me on the bed crying as lanky has gone to the shop for some milk for our breakfast.

08.13am - I jump in the shower after Lanky and enjoy the hot water as its freezing (literally) outside. I choose my outfit for the day and still half asleep attempt to put some tights on =/ I skulk into the kitchen to grab a Weetabix and dry and straighten my hair, Victoria rings the door bell at 8.45, Arthur goes nuts. A quick brush of my teeth and fixing of my hair; I haul my jacket on, grab all of my bags for the day and Victoria and I head out the door leaving Arthur watching Jerry Springer and listening to Absolute Radio with a schmacko. We tootle into college in my car and the temp gauge says -2, yipes.

09.04am - Victoria and I arrive a little late for college but Owen is not in the room, only Maggie, Daniel, Keiron and Nathan are in, that's about a third of our class. Owen came in two seconds after us and attempts to get the stupid smart board in our studio to work.

09.20 Owen has now given up on fixing the smart board and starts today's lecture, This is our contextual studies class where we are beginning to write another 2500 word essay on who we are as artists and our inspirations and pathways in life. Owen shows us a video of Wil.I.Am.

(Ive just realised that this is pretty in depth, i hope you are not sleeping yet!)

10.32 - we decide its break time and a cup of tea is in order, Daniel and I skulk off down to the shop to buy some milk. The class has grown in numbers by this point and nearly all of us have a cup of tea in hand. I need a chat with Owen about my essay as i am totally lost. After a good chin wag with Owen i have decided that i am going to write on the Therapy behind the making! cool huh!? We are encouraged to go and spend some time with designer makers in our field, so if any one is willing to take me for a few hours one day that would be awesome, i can provide cake, awkward chat and i make a mean cup of tea!

11.44 - My stomach and head are telling me that i am hungry, just another 15 minutes until i get to eat =)

12.39 - Lunch has been had, chips and beans with a can of coke and whispa gold, my treat for being super healthy this week. I also may have bought some beautiful fluff from the wonderfully tallented mr easyknitter.

the view from around my desk!

12.52 - Chat with Dean about my current project (smells that evoke memories)

After a week of living at this desk this would be the carnage that i have to tidy away

15.38 - I realised that i have to get organised pretty soon as i have to leave college early to get to work. quick trip to a room with printers and pack up the ridiculous mess under, on and around my desk =(

My name badge with my favourite film

16.45 - Time to start work. I am helping out the screens folks tonight, its pretty busy. Sweeping, serving hot dogs, checking screens....etc

18.35 - Its time for a quick break, sit and enjoy the quiet while i have noodles, an activia yogurt and some snack a jacks (woop healthy eating)

in the business these are called times, so when we know what to clean and check and when

19.05 - back to work. More of the same really, however its super super busy. I'm on ticket check from seven till eight so stand about pointing for an hour, then back to the cleaning and checking, changing toilet roll and the such

When i run out of hand room i use my arm

23.00 - the time i was due to finish work however due to all the busy and a 22.00 showing of the chemical brothers film i stay on later just to ensure all the guests in there are behaving. catch the last ten to fifteen minutes of the film, looks really good, everyone was having a good time

23.55 - leave work and notice that i have to actually de-ice the car, the temp gauge tells me its minus four, and by Jove it feels like it.

00.15 - come home to a sleepy puppy and lanky, we decide to watch some fringe (mmm Joshua Jackson) but i have stupidly left the hard drive in the car so down i slump in my Jammies. Run really quickly up to the flat, I shave my legs quickly in the shower (i wont go into details).

00.57 - So i am sat here in my bed having had some toast and jam, fringe is still on and once that is done i believe i will sleep =)

Thanks for bearing with me through the in depth description of my day. Feels kind of odd putting it down here, i mean now you know my time scale, you may end up stalking me or something creepy like that!

Goodnight folks

-------------------------------------
Other peoples day in the life of posts. Check em out!
Claire
Frances
Marceline
Tanya
Hilary
Daniel
Nikki

BA socks and a game of Zombie

2012-02-03T09:00:00.000Z

I have completed one sock =) it has only taken me since November, Slowest knitter in the entire world! These shall be named my BA socks as its probably going to take me the entire length of my BA to construct them. The yarn is Deeply Wicked in Link green by the very talented Mr Easyknits, and the awesome photographer would be Mr Robbins. Oh Yeah! the socks are Pomatomus by Cookie A.

Morris the Pumpkin

a hug for cake

< 3

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000Z

I love origami! My Cousin and my Partners Dad both recently got engaged (not to each other), so since I'm the arty type I made some cards. As I said I love origami! <3

Get the tutorial here

Green fingers

2012-01-30T14:28:00.001Z

Daniel and I are having a blog off! How it works I don't know, but I shall win, I always do =) my topic is much more interesting. GROWING THINGS.

I decided last weekend that I wanted to grow some herbs in a tin, and after a week of obsessing about it chillies were added into the mix. My Lanky boyfriend was dragged to B&Q where we discovered a fantabulous heated propagator, which quickly out shined my tin idea. Fingers crossed that something grows =3

Lanky doesn't like being on the internets! this is what he gets for photo bombing me

What does and urban Gardner use when a flat piece of wood isn't nearby? use a ruler =)

I made the mistake of saying "Lanky these look just like chilli seeds" it was met with a blank stare

Grow Grow Grow Grow

I used the tins in the end

All nice and tidy, now we wait!

You think he had done all the hard work!

100

2012-01-28T19:54:00.000Z

oh my word 100 posts already! So its Saturday night, im sat on my sofa wearing my jammies , a cup of tea not far away and a snoring dog trying to steal the duvet that we are supposed to be sharing! I was out being social again last night! I know not much like me, of course I had my knitting with me so i suppose that makes it ok. That Girl Gail was singing again, but this time it was at Henry's coffee house. I had a great night and even had a cheeky curry afterwards. Hopefully will have some sketchbook work to show you guys next week at some point.

My brain itches

2012-01-25T16:25:00.000Z

Photo taken from the DCA, Jane and Louise Wilson

Its mid way through the week and my brain is fit to burst (in a good I'm so fired up I could punch someone kinda way). One of our new mini projects is to set up a blog (cough) and write about Dundee as a place of inspiration for other creative individuals like ourselves. It has me thinking about this little space I have carved out for myself in the on-line world. I enjoy chatting away into thin air and sharing mainly my work and bits of my life. Posting regularly is something that I want to do however picking subjects to talk about can be quite hard when your life consists of going to college and work, with only 45 minutes in-between. something I am also very aware of is people who write their blogs like "I did this and then that and then this and that and that and this" GAH drives me mental, this is a style I wish to avoid. I'm trying to think of inspiration for my blog however I am unsure of exactly what, ill get back to you on this one! Ill leave you with a bit of chat on the current exhibition on at the DCA, now normally I go to these things and think
"Huh?!"

However I highly recommend this one, the photographs are beautiful. Daniel has a much more informative post about the artists themselves and the story behind it all so go over there and read that if you want to know more. The photo underneath was by far my favourite.

Photo taken from the DCA, Jane and Louise Wilson

110 < 3

2012-01-23T21:55:00.000Z

I own this teeny weeny camera, its an Ikimono like the one below. I took these photos over the period of a year so a bit of a mish mash from India, Allan and Shona's wedding and various other places.

photo credit

Escape from my shell

2012-01-18T14:36:00.001Z

This morning Daniel and I went for a walk from his house down to the pond about a ten minute walk away. I was quite chilly and as you can see from some of my photos a little bit frosty. We had a nice jaunt and fed the swans and the ducks, Daniel also did a wee bit of hand modelling. Now I'm back in my flat with a nice cup of tea, watching CSI:NY and cutting out 3 Inch triangles for my upcoming quilt.

......and relax

2012-01-16T12:41:00.001Z

So that's my assessments over with for this semester! Just enjoying some guilt free relaxation time. So as you can see its proper cold here in Dundee, minus 3 degrees to be exact! Therefore I have knit my tea pot an nice cosy, its slightly wild, some would say 'Really wild'.

He's fairly wild huh! I constructed him using the squishiest Toft alpaca yarn and some beautiful Noro Kureyon Sock yarn.

Ive also been out, yes, me, out in public. Gail was singing at the doghouse. It was a good night actually =) Anyway im off out to Hobbycraft.

Half way over

2012-01-08T21:53:00.002Z

My rubbish attempt at illustration! However that's all my college work done for hand in tomorrow! now its time to knit =3

Im going to be a STAR!

2012-01-06T22:33:00.002Z

Here is a really bad video of my project one scarf working with the touchatag reader and tag. Just so you guys didn't think i had stopped loving you!

Have a Happy 2012

2011-12-31T22:04:00.001Z

So this year has ended on a bit of a stressful low note! However instead of moaning I will just wish you all a very Happy Hogmanay, and I hope your first footer is a tall dark and handsome stranger!

Pretty face and a lot of substance!

2011-12-23T17:18:00.001Z

Whilst I'm putting off doing my essay i thought i would show you some of the less manic photos i took of my scarf yesterday. My model is the lovely Kim McGivney, and i have to say i haven't laughed like that in ages. Thank you heaps much to Miss Kim, and also The Burgh Coffee house for letting me take photos there :3

A cup of tea fixes most things

2011-12-19T16:14:00.001Z

College is stressful! This is what my face looks like most days.

Just a little scribbly

2011-12-15T11:30:00.001Z

Oh man, things have been crazy round here! Not really finding much time to do much of anything, however I thought id log on to show you my progress on project two. I'm actually enjoying it now, however I wish it were week two not week five. This is a scribbly drawing I did on one of my bad creative block days, basically I did it by reading through the story and drawing the images in my head, without looking at the paper and without lifting my pen off the page. Its a really rubbish drawing however there is something that I love about it! Anyhow here it is in its magnificent photoshoped glory!

and im back!

2011-12-02T20:27:00.001Z

So the past few weeks have been fairly stressful to say the least, so we are moving onwards and upwards. I don't have anything to show you in terms of college work as I am just getting started (with two weeks to go), however I did get something exciting through my door the other day that put a huge smile on my face. My swap parcel arrived! First I will explain what a swap is, its where you get given someone to send a surprise parcel to based on internet stalking, and someone different gets given you to send a surprise parcel to, and because I do this through the UK swappers on Ravelry, it is a knitting based swap (my favourite). My swap partner managed to stalk me amazingly well and gifted me with some beautiful yarn, yummy smelly stuff various other bits AND, a home made Christmas Pudding! om nom nom nom! Oh also look at my sparkly shoes!

Back to action

2011-12-02T10:03:00.001Z

Sorry about the lack of posting! I have been having a little bit if a creative block. Its all fine now however so i shall be back with you tonight with something exciting that came through my door :) , but for the moment look at how safe i am being with my new face mask that my safety conscious friend Hannah got me! It makes my face hot. (sorry for the rubbish photo, its off my phone)

Renewable Dundee

2011-11-26T23:08:00.001Z

Last week our tutor Dean said he had a competition brief for us from the Dundee Parliamentary Office to design a Christmas card for the mentioned office with the theme of a renewable Dundee. After our class doing some ridiculous brain storming we kind of forgot about it! But Dean encouraged us to enter and a few of us have (check out Declan's) So this is my shoddy attempt! the idea is Dundee is being powered by hamsters, Christmas hamsters of course. Do you think I will win the £250?

A good source of procrastination

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000Z

So the other night my Mummy and Daddy treated me and my other half to go see Bill Bailey with them. My favourite instrument that he uses is the Tenori on.

If you think this is as cool as I do and want one you can, if you have a spare £800 lying around. However if like me you don't, check out this on-line one!

Getting over a creative block

2011-11-20T15:45:00.001Z

So project two, my dear dear friend, the first project where I have been physically unable to start. Not due to a lack of research or inspiration, I just actually felt sick whenever I thought of this project or went to draw anything. I'm blaming a creative block! So after a chat with my tutor Dean, a very quick drawing of me, and lots and lots of laughter I believe I have broken through my creative block! HUZAH! So the brief for this project was to pick a live competition and enter it! Simple huh? Sure! So i picked the Puffin Design Prize in which I have to design a book cover for the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. I am quite excited to not be making an actual finished textile piece however I have decided to make some plush toys! So I shall stop yattering on and show you my progress! Also the third and fourth photos were taken by the awesomely talented Daniel!

Deans vision of my face

My Super quick drawing.

You know you cant help but look!

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000Z

Since I shall soon be showing you all my finished piece for project one, and also the fact that I'm having a total creative block with project two, I thought I would share with you a few (OK a lot) of my favourite pages from my sketchbook for project one. This project was based on the theme of on-line bullying and looking at protective layers and facelessness. Also check out Daniels sandwich

Extreme Pumpkin Throwing

2011-11-14T09:00:00.000Z

What to do on a dull Friday afternoon with a class full of slackers and a crochet pumpkin?

ITS HERE!!!

2011-11-11T20:12:00.001Z

OH MY GOODNESS! THE FABRIC HAS ARRIVED! Its beautiful and smells wonderful and oh my goodness. I have no words to tell you how happy I am with it so just look!oh and some photos of some of my crazy class mates. I forgot to say the photos of my fabric were taken by Declan Mair

The under rated Red Fort (Agra Fort)

2011-11-07T16:27:00.003Z

Update on the Digital fabric, well there isn't one! Its still not here. Why is it when you are so excited for something to arrive it takes the longest time (OK a week isn't very long for custom printed fabric but uhhhhh) So I thought id pop in and show you more photos from my India trip back in February. On the same day we went down to the Taj, we went to see Agra Fort, if I am being honest I thought Agra Fort was far more spectacular than the Taj (i mean i loved the Taj) but this place had such emotion surrounding it! Its really hard to put into words! So I won't and I'll let you look at the photos!

The Epic Taj

2011-11-03T17:17:00.001Z

While we are waiting patiently on the post lady delivering my awesomely digitally printed fabric I thought I would share with you all some more photos from my trip to India back in February. These shots were taken on a day trip down to the Taj Mahal (it took us four hours to drive the distance from Dundee to Glasgow). Now obviously you go to India you cant not go to the Taj, however its an image that you see so consistently when talking about the far east that I really didn't have very high expectations, I just thought I would be like 'Wow its the Taj!' However I was totally blow away by this building, its just Epic! In scale, detail, and the fact that everything is symmetrical! Anyway enjoy the photos and maybe I will post some more from my trip at a later date!

Current services shall be resumed shortly

2011-11-01T15:52:00.000Z

So today was the day that projects two brief was handed out! Oh my goodness, we have to pick a live competition and enter it, and I cant find one I like. Sad face. So have a photo from my recent trip to India while I go find a desk to cry under.

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000+01:00

I just thought I would pop in and show you what i shall actually be making using my digitally printed fabric! Basically its going to be a huge cowl in with you can snuggle into with a hidden secret. I really need to get some photos of my sketchbook for sharing, but that's for another day.

MyFace

2011-10-27T14:37:00.000+01:00

So my friend Declan (blog) takes photos, and he is actually quite good! He took this photo of me at Oxjam last Friday and he says its really good so being the egomaniac that I am I thought I would share it with you lot! What do you think?

Getting Photo shopped out my face!

2011-10-26T12:17:00.002+01:00

Over the past week or so I have been fighting the battle against Photoshop! I have to give a massive Thank You shout out to my WONDERFUL graphics/Illustrator boys in my class, I Love them all very much for putting up with my constant questions. Have a look at their websites if you have a few minutes to spare Jamie and Declan. I would link to Andrew but he doesn't have a website. Anyway these bad boys are inspired by a turtles shell and the last image will be sent away to get digitally printed >**< SQUEE, I'm super excited

Sorry for all the links but if you want to see some AMAZING Photoshop work have a look at my friend Hannahs blog.

House keeping

2011-10-19T22:30:00.001+01:00

Just cleaning my screens in preperation for exposing them hopefully at college on friday! Super nervous if it will work but hopefully.

its a feeeeeeesh (Image heavy)

2011-10-18T00:16:00.005+01:00

Over the weekend i participated in another course at the DCA, Japanese woodblock printing. Honestly i wasn't that excited for this class the few days before just because i was super tired and really didn't want to spend my whole weekend not in bed to be honest! I am so so glad that i did go as i really enjoyed myself! It was really tiring concentrating on cutting the wood but its a skill that i defiantly want to take forward! I apologise in advance for all the photos i am just so pleased with the results and want to show you the process. Whilst doing this class I had some awesome class mates (waves to Colin, Mairi and Stephanie) and the tutor Campbell was fantastic, so knowledgeable and a fabulous tutor!

Firstly we got to play around with our design, working with japanese ink and a calligraphy brush (which i loved)

After ages of not knowing what i wanted to print i stupidly said "im going to draw a fish" and i did, and there it is!

Our Japanese Woodblock.

Our image was then traced onto the woodblock to ensure we were getting all the detail from the original drawing.

I expected cutting the wood to be alot harder than it actually was, it was much better than lino.

Mr Fish all carved out.

I was also really surprised at how little wood shavings there were!

This is a fish head, not a heart!

The rest of the photos are just the board after it was printed with and my final prints!I love them!

My Class mates

2011-10-13T09:00:00.001+01:00

So I have been in my new class now for around 6 weeks. To start with I felt really alone and intimidated by all the people in my class but oh my goodness I love these guys so much! I'm currently on day one of the October holidays and I am missing seeing their faces! Here are a few photos of us all well...working hard!

Epic Fail Quilt

2011-10-03T22:37:00.005+01:00

So This quilt was a fantastic masterpiece that i conjured up late one night thinking about what I could make for Allan and Shona's wedding gift! It started off fantastically, choosing fabrics to match what i thought were close to purple (Shona's favourite colours). I even had the maths all worked out, but even after all this planning for some bizarre reason (I'm blaming the dog) nothing would match up. So after many hissy fits and late nights its finally finished. I have named it the Epic fail quilt, not because i hate it (I actually didn't want to give it away) but because nothing went right with this quilt but also because its MASSIVE like queen size massive! Maybe ill stick to a pattern the next time! Anyway LOOOOOOK!

1.Michael Miller, Lazy daisy gray 2.Lizzy House Castle Peeps 3.Mod Green Pod daisy doodle orchid 4.Diane Kappa Bonjour mod blooms amethyst 5.Mod Green Pod flutter bunch orchid 6. Amy Butler Love Cypress paisley mint 7.Diane Kappa Bonjour bright buds amethyst

8. Anna Maria Horner Maybe Blossom Innocent Crush 9.Jay McCarroll Habitat drop cloth plum

No blog post would be complete with a photo showing exactly how lazy my two boys are!

Safety Dance

2011-10-02T20:09:00.001+01:00

Hannahs Cushion

2011-09-23T18:49:00.002+01:00

So my friend Hannah is awesome first off, but secondly she moved house back in the midst of the summer. Being the most crafty person ever i decided her moving gift should be hand made (obviously). This project although it was small took me forever as it was all hand stitching. But i love it, in fact the OH didn't want me to part with it (don't worry Mr i bought double the fabric i needed so i could make another). It wasn't an original idea i stole it from Mrs Horner. What do you think? how do you feel about hand stitching? if you love it, or maybe like me just like it a little this is a wonderful ( i want to say quick but i cant lie) project you can pick up and put down as and when you please.

Come have a nosey round!

2011-09-02T21:12:00.004+01:00

So many of you that know me in the flesh will know that i am returning to Dundee college to study my BA in design and creativity. Not only has this been a big deal as in its degree number two but also Dundee college is now only down to two campuses meaning i had to up a move to the 'posh' new Gardyne campus. Pretty much all of you have asked the question "whats Gardyne like?" WELL, i thought i could show you. So come this way for a guided tour!

On your right you can see the lovely bright warm library

You will also notice that the computer total comes to more than 6.

The place is well sign posted although we still have no clue where everything is...like reprographics for example

There is tones of seating dotted about the place but never enough at lunch time!

Ahh recycling bins!

a quick snippet from the canteen, this is the SALAD BAR (yus no more chips!)

This is our Glass lift! yup entirely glass

Therefore when on the third floor you can see everything and everything can see you! everything being the canteen nook!

and the jazzy seating area. (its pretty high up and makes your belly lurch like a roller coaster) and no the novelty of having several lifts has not worn off yet!

This is the secret lift! its super hidden.

and up we go to the third floor, the best floor and the orange floor.

Look how high we are! (people like to look over the banister and watch you eat!...its creepy)

So across the runway we go. This runway goes across the middle of the canteen area

and as you can see its pretty high up.

Phew we are safely on the other side

And here we are, at the BA 'Studio' room 329

its a little bare in here (it is the first week) but look at my lovely class mates (although i still miss my old ones!)

You wouldn't believe how jealous the rest of the college are that we have shelves..also a sink (not every ART room has a sink :___: )

So we have no bin, or paper towels but we do have coat pegs =)

but i have saved the best till last. the toilets! there are like 4 blocks of toilets this size on each floor.

Please notice the lack of hole in the roof, manky toilets, two flush buttons and the soap dispenser are automatic!

So i hope you liked the quick look around. I shall post photos of the studio once we have settled in a little more and its less, well, white! Jealous? yeah i bet you are!

"Because no one looks at your feet"

2011-08-31T10:00:00.001+01:00

"Because no one looks at your feet"

Seems to be a common saying used a lot in regards to many family events that i have attended, or should i say in the build up to an event. It usually starts with my other half moaning that he doesn't like to wear proper shoes and he finds that they make his size 12 feet look even bigger than they already look, and by events i mean all three graduations we have attended, interviews, graduation balls, and lastly the wedding mentioned in the previous post! This phrase was said many times ,mainly by myself, in the run up to this wedding in regards to nearly everyone's shoe decision (well at the Dundee end anyway!) I truly believe that no one looks at your feet at these types of events, which upsets me a little as you can spend quite a lot of money on shoes that 'make' an outfit for no one to really pay any attention! SO i took it upon myself to photograph as many peoples feet at the wedding as possible so we can look back on that day and actually say! someone did look at your feet!

Blue!

2011-08-28T19:40:00.003+01:00

Oh man have i got something cool to show you lot! Today i had a class at the DCA, now i was extremely nervous to attend this class because i am a bit of a hermit crab and any situation where i don't know anyone makes me very uncomfortable, but i soon got over that feeling very quickly because what i was learning i became totally fascinated with! I had best inform you of what my class was huh? It was a class on Cyanotypes,which is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print! Anyway i found the process to be very addictive wanting to make more and more prints experimenting with exposure times and chemical layers, so this is something i shall definitely be trying at home! Do you want to see my results? some of them worked really well and others not so much but it was good fun, cant wait to get back in October and do my Japanese woodblock printing class! Ive included some photos from around the print studio just in case you want to have a nose like I like to!

Allan and Shonas Wedding

2011-08-26T22:16:00.004+01:00

Hey folks, i thought i would drop in and share with you what i got up to at the start of this week. As you can probably guess i attended the wedding of Marks youngest brother Allan to his now wife Shona! It was an event that we were all very hyped up for and you could say a little bit excited. We had a fantastic time and it was wonderful to have all the Clark side of the family together, well most of them. On Monday night we travelled through to Marks Aunty Terri's house just outside Glasgow. I just want to say a massive thank you to Terri as she made us all feel very welcome, lent Marks gran and I shoes and accessories (including a VERY sparkly ring!) and also did an amazing job of feeding all seven of us! It was then a super early start on the Tuesday morning to ensure that there was enough time for seven people to wash, eat and get dressed. We then travelled through to just outside Beith for the wedding itself! I have included a selection of photos of us all looking very well dressed and not acting like total idiots (if you want to see those photos just follow this link)

Sam, Marks Granda, Marks Gran and Aunty Terri

Myself and the Handsome Best man

The Three brothers, Martyn, Mark and Allan

The Bridal Party

"Our" side of the family

fancy cufflinks from Mark and Martyn

blackmagpie baggie in the wild

my frock was super swirly

Allan, Mark, Jake(Marks Dad), Fiona (Marks Mum) and Martyn

THATS ME!

Yummy food

Mr and Mrs Page

BAGGIE!

2011-08-19T10:00:00.001+01:00

So my other half's Brother is getting married a week on Tuesday, and his soon to be Mrs asked me to make a little pouch bag to hold the necessities (mainly phone! LOL) The fabric is all Shona's and i used an easy peasy tutorial over here at penelopewaits. It is made from a thick sateen with an organza for the outer and a white lining material for the well lining, i used plain white ribbon for the handle. and a cheeky wee silver bead (from India none the less) to ensure it stays closed! Its just so wee and cute (unlike my bag which had to be big enough to hold my knitting and massive phone :___: )

My ever changing hair

2011-08-17T10:00:00.002+01:00

So just some wee photos of my hair! Just for funs.

Start :Grey

Then : Bleachy

Nearly: WASHED!

Current: Blonde

Next (as in as soon as the dye comes) my hair will be a different colour...but which one i just cant decide?!

Head spring clean

2011-08-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

So yesterday Mark, Arthur and I took a wee trip over to St Andrews and Anstruther. I have been feeling really couped up these past few weeks so it was awesome to blow the cobwebs out!

Mr Fox

2011-08-13T23:07:00.002+01:00

HUZAH! another finished knitting project!

He is Mr Fox and he is super smooshy and warm! Currently i am really enjoying working on small projects that only take about a week to complete in comparison to shawls that seem to take me forever and a day. However, i am about to embark on a massive blanket project that should hopefully be done by Christmas time!

Ravelry details here and the coolest lady designer person lives here.

I can read dead good

2011-07-29T03:04:00.001+01:00

So i have finally read another book. Let me explain, its not because i dont enjoy reading i love it. I was a total book worm when i was younger, its just that now adays other things ocupy my time such as knitting, sewing, decorating, cleaning, cooking, working, playing games , watching criminal minds, the list goes on. It still amazes me to this day how i manage to sleep with all these activity! So back to the book. I was gifted this book by my bestest friend Mo ,who is a total bibliophile and buys me a book for ever major gifting period (shes trying to turn me!), for my 25th. I assume she chose this book as i have developed an unhealthy obsession for Studio Ghibli books (two of my work badges have Ghibli films on them, and always recieve a "whats that" when guests inquire). Anyhow this book is amazing! I havnt put it down since i started reading it! I mean i adore the film, but omg this book is just beyond everything. You need to read it! Also watch the film if you havnt already.

Dress making skills

2011-07-22T14:09:00.002+01:00

So Finally I have finished another Garment! Its a Kameez (I learnt how to make them in India!) and its made from Indian Batik silk blend from ACTUAL India, and I made it for my mammy! I'm just cutting off the last of the threads and it shall be winging its way to her by the end of today. HUZAH.

For now though I have to run as I'm off to pick up my new car

Sushi sock roll shawl along number 5

2011-06-15T15:23:00.004+01:00

SCORE a completed object (or a FO in the knitting world)

LOOK!!!

This scarf has taken me 6months to complete and has literally travelled to India and back! To start with i wasnt very sure on the colour combo (not a big brown fan) but now that its all knit up i'm in lurve!

Yummy Yarn

2011-06-15T14:40:00.005+01:00

Hi folks *peers in* just me! I thought I would drop by to share some of the Awesome that has been dropping through my letter box the past few days.

OH MY GOSH arn't they beautiful! These skeins of yarn are dyed by my favourite yarn man Jon of www.easyknits.co.uk (he taught me how to drop spindle spin at knit camp 2010) and he is a master of his trade as you can see.
This range of yarn is a limited edition batch with no two skeins being alike. But whats it called i hear you ask? it is fantastically named Deeply Wicked, and oh my word they are wicked...i had had to buy four. Oops! Any how if you are looking for some awesomely coloured yarn head over to Jon as its all awesome and fantastic to knit with (and crochet). Now to learn how to knit faster o_O

Exhibition opening

2011-05-04T18:00:00.000+01:00

Hello fellow exhibition goers! Welcome to my blog! I hope you have enjoyed look at my work and that of my fellow class mates, talented bunch arent they? I hope you stick arround on here and see what i get up to over the summer before i start my degree. Once again thank you for taking the time to scan my Qr code and i hope you left a nice comment in my comments book. Lj x

Its been a long time coming

2011-02-04T01:16:00.001Z

So finally blogger has an official application...yes andrioid phones have applications! Look at my puppy. Isnt he beautiful!

October Hollydays

2010-10-25T01:11:00.000+01:00

Hey folks! So my tattie holidays are such a distant memory as I'm now back into the swing of college and working! So to remind myself of the great time I had relaxing and not doing very much a little photo montage is needed. (because even rocky had a montage.)

To start off our holiday we headed up to Aberdeen to meet with Mum, Dad, Philip (my brother) and Claire (his girlfriend) to head out for our tea. The reason for this was my little bro turned 21. We had a nom nom nom tea and a few drinks. It was great to see my family as I get very little time to go visit them, which makes my face sad!

After our tea we headed up to Mum's for a few days of RnR. It was great, we took the doggies out for long walks and my Mum made us loads of yummy food. It was just great to relax and not worry about anything. I miss being home.

Molly and Od decided they would fight for a stick the whole way round our walk, as you can see my little Arthur decided that going in the water deeper than his belly was a bad idea.

Look at how pretty it is in the country when the sun is going down, Its so quiet up at Mums and it gets so dark which really helps me sleep.

I took Mark to Ratray beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches ever. The puppies loved it as they all got to run around like wild animals as the beach was deserted.

They dug holes all over the beach

We climbed up the highest sand dune to get a great view of the lighthouse.

Mark jumped off the top of the dune and very quickly realised that it wasn't a very good idea.

Of course we did more than just walk the dogs, we head many cups of tea with my Grunny, we swung in Mums new bubble seat and we just relaxed around the house. It was great but sadly too short.

When we got back to Dundee I decided that we should do something fun in the holidays because once real life kicked in we really wouldn't have much time to do anything. Our fun thing ended up being a trip to Deep Sea World which was AWSOME!!!! we saw some really cute seals, a handsome puffer fish, massive sharks and Mark got to pet a bearded dragon called Jack.

I really enjoyed being on holiday but now as i said its back to work and back to college. I have loads of college type stuff to show you but its really late and I'm craving some toast so ill say good night and head off to my bed.

Why i hate the high street

2010-10-18T18:22:00.005+01:00

So I was down town today to pick up my undelivered Ross Noble tickets for this evening (yay I cant wait) when I asked page if we could go into a certain accessories shop to see the prices of bags so I can ensure that I am not over pricing things for college. Apparently hand knit is in at the moment, as is fair isle and granny squares! I was mortified to see that the above scarf was £22 whole monies! By mistake i screamed "I can make that at home, for cheaper!" So now i am home and rummaging through my craft stuff and remembered my Christmas parcel from my little bro (Sorry dude but i haven't used them yet)

PERFECT pom pom making devices!! i shall make my own pom pom scarf with the odds and ends of my pretty yarn stash.

Yep that's the stash, there is more now but we shan't talk about that. Well folks rant for today MAKE YOUR OWN! all the cool people are, and you want to be cool don't you? Right my tea is ready then i must go pack some spare pants for the EPICNESS that is Ross Noble this evening.

LJ x

Spinning spinning.

2010-09-23T16:22:00.001+01:00

Spinning spinning.
Originally uploaded by blackmagpie

Soooo. Its been a while has it not. My bad. What have i been up to, loads actually! I went to knit camp, i got a knitting machine, im back at college, ive finished a few knitting projects and started loads. Currently im spinning this. Isnt it beautiful? Its for a secret project so shhhh! I need to hand spin this first as i have some jute coming so i need to ddo this then the jute to give enough time for the knitting process. Well anyways i need to rush off to work. It was good to catch up. I musnt make it so long next time!
Lj x

i made a dress!

2010-07-29T23:54:00.000+01:00

so im back in action at the sewing machine! AT LAST! I bought this fabric at IKEA the other weekend so that i could make this frock, it only took a few hours to make and i learnt how to use shiring elastic ( i know you cant see from the photo but the top part is all elasticated) i really love this frock as it fits really well round the top but is slack round the bottom to hide all the lumps. anyway just a quick post to show you guys this baby, i shall hopefully be back sooner to tell you more about my holidays and what other things i have been up to!

2010-07-29T01:04:00.000+01:00

Another project finished. Horay. This is the clapotis (rav link),and no it is not some sexually transmitted infection, it is a scarf which took me ages to make (a month). I love it, its made from Araucania Ranco Solid, which is the softest, prettiest yarn i have knit with in ages! The colour is alot nicer than in this photo. Im currently trying to destash my stash as im off to the knitcamp in Stirling in two weeks and they have a market place so no doubt im coming home with more yarn than necessary so i gots to make room. I think i shall photograph all my yarn tomorrow (all the good stuff anyway) just to show you all exaclty what i have, that may be scary. Off to bed now the dog is giving me the evuls!

cherry tree hill

2010-07-01T12:06:00.004+01:00

Ahhhh today was a good post day. Today the lovely postie delivered me £15 worth of Love to shop vouchers (for a survey i did ages ago) and this squishy lump of yummy! The reason it has come to live at my house is that i won the Uk swap 2010 treasure hunt! yay. It was so much fun once again this year . Thank you so much to the organisers!!!! ok well im off to pet this little thing for a while and then get back to putting my kitchen together after the redecoration! photos soon. x

I finally finished a book!

2010-06-30T12:46:00.004+01:00

So as the title suggests i have finally finished this book! I received all the books in this series for my Christmas in 2009 in which i started it immediately and it has taken me up until now to complete and i am unsure why as every time i picked it up i was glued. The way in which the book is written it just flowed so well from character to character, it keeps you gripped right until the end. I wont give too much away in case anyone wants to read it, but i will give a brief synopsis. Its a Japanese thriller about four women who work in a boxed food factory, then one of the women does something terrible that requires the help of the other ladies and the story unfolds around this incident looking into the lives of every person that these women encounter.

thinking myself thin

2010-06-14T23:41:00.003+01:00

This was the Page and i's tea tonight. It is a recipie taken from channel 4's cook yourself thin, when i saw it on the tv it looked awsome and boy did it taste awsome. You should try it, takes around 30mins to make. We enjoyed it whilst watching Mary Queen of Shops!

Got your chin held high and you feel just fine, Cause you do, What you're told.

2010-05-17T23:47:00.006+01:00

Just a quick pop in to say hello! Im a busy little sewing Gnome at the moment. Just trying really hard to get all my college stuff done and up to date. I think im on track so far. Anyway iv had an extremely busy and productive weekend. I have three of my dresses completed and hopefully up to standard...we shall see what James says. I also helped my friend Sheila out at her arts and crafts group by showing them how to crochet! oh my, im hopeless and trying to explain something! oh dear, anyway i think it went OK and a few of the ladies picked it up really well, i had a good time. Thank you Sheila. hmm what other news do i have, oh yes my Gruns quilt (above) is complete and was posted today! HORAH! I have joined the UK swap group over on Ravelry for the second year in a row so everyone wave to my secret swap stalker *waves* its quite cool as you know the person your sending something to but you don't know who is sending something to you! i feel like a bit of a pervert sifting through peoples flikrs, blogs etc trying to figure out what to buy them! Well i gots to go off to bed now as i have "misplaced" my needle felting needle and need to go buy a new one tomorrow before college (eek, im going to the wool shop in newburgh and it will take all my inner strength not to buy some wool) Nite nite everyone!

Happy new month!

2010-05-05T12:19:00.002+01:00

Well hello folks. Just thought i would quickly pop in for a few seconds while my Batik pot is heating up. As you can see above i have finally finished something! HOORAY! its my Forest canopy shawl made from Colinette Art yarn, rav link, , i am so pleased with it, its so smooshy and beautiful, i am already planning another three! oops. i thought i would try listing the goals that i want to complete this month so its out there in the world wide interwebs, and you guys can hold me to it! good idea or plain stupid. we shall see. OK so for the month of May my goals are

go to the doctor about the brain stuffs
start and complete Marks Jayne hat (still from Christmas)
make some tasty sushi. nom nom
complete all my college work to a higher standard than normal
fix all of my broken clothes
make one new item of clothes
finish my creel skirt
tidy the back room!

so a month of finishing things off. lets see how it goes.

OK must run, the wax is calling me!

Love Lj x

ohs no

2010-04-12T22:17:00.002+01:00

note to self, don't listen to James.

Wash

2010-04-12T20:46:00.002+01:00

In the words of James Donald, Lets wash it and see what happens.

Awsome

2010-04-08T00:02:00.000+01:00

Marty Poppins

2010-04-04T22:09:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter! just a quick pop in to say hello. working on lots of things atm which i shall need to upload and I shall also need to upload my Berlin photos! hope you all had fun rolling you eggies!

Love Lj x

how much is 20KG?

2010-03-28T13:38:00.003+01:00

So currently i am packing my bag ready for my wee adventure to Berlin with the college. I'm excited but nervous, I'm no good on my own, and packing i always feel like i have forgotten something! just thought i would pop in and say hello! will hopefully have loads of photos when i get home to share. Didn't really have a photo to explain my packing so here have a photo of Doogan and i testing out my old Instax mini.

LJ xxx

stoopid LJ

2010-03-22T20:20:00.005Z

well had a bit of a dramatic weekend. On Friday the car broke, this made me very sad. Today we got news about what was wrong....turns out i had knocked the high gear and the low gear handle and disengaged the gears...makes me feel a little speshal!Yipes, had to get the AA out and everything. Well at least it is fixed now. Just thought i should pop in and say hello but i am away back to my crochet as i wanna finish what Ive started. The above photo is the baby blanket i made for a work friend for her new baby girl, haven't had a chance to pop round as well the car broke but i shall maybe go on Wednesday. Love Lj xxx

OH MY WORD ITS A MIRACLE

2010-03-21T23:24:00.004Z

two posts in one day

i was just browsing through a CD of REALLY old photographs. i just had to share. these are a few of my faves but you can check out the rest on my flickr

my friends and i at the Burns supper

My old boyfriend Richard and i before Prom

Me at the pub on a very rare occasion

you really should check the rest of them out!

away to crochet. NITE! X

something to make you laugh

2010-03-21T20:06:00.005Z

Enjoy!

2010-03-15T00:50:00.004Z

image property of Alice Sebold

Tonight the Page and I decided we should really take advantage of the fact that we both work in a cinema and use our free tickets to see a film that i have waited so long for. It must have been four years since i have read the book "The lovely Bones", it was the first book in which i sobbed my heart out, a very dark and sinister book with nice happy overtones of what heaven may be like. I must say that the film is nothing like the book. The main structure is there but there has been may artistic changes to get it ready for the screen, and for once it doesn't upset me that they changed many of the details. i don't want to give anything away in case i spoil the plot for you but i must say this even if you have read the book or not you will cry. i think even the page had a little blub! I would definitely recommend this film to anyone (except young people!!! ITS ABOUT CHILD KIDNAP FOR GOODNESS SAKE!). it gets a thumbs up from me. Well off to bed to ponder how to make the blanket for my textiles for interiors look good. Nite nite all x

Washing the car

2010-03-14T01:12:00.002Z

Yeah so yesterday i managed to tick one of the things off my to-do list, clean the car, it was awful inside and out. Finally its not embarising to offer people lifts in any more. HORAH. One down fifty other things still to do. I have been working on my college projects recently and i am struggling to say the least. I should really appoligise all i seem to do is list all of my things to do and say how busy i am. its just how i feel right now. i wish i could blog about my knitting that i have completed. or the skirts that i have made, but i cant as i havnt had time to do anything except clean the house, college, college work and actual work. IT SUCKS! On the upside im on holiday in two weeks so maybe, just maybe ill get to make somethings awsome then!

* Don't wake me i plan on sleeping*

2010-02-28T18:09:00.003Z

Well hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of posting. As i always seem to be i am so busy. College hand ins are next week and i cant wait to have them all done so i can sit and knit! Do not really have that much to say except im quite excited, i have ordered some books on dying from Amazon so i shall update you when they arrive. The above is my inspiration for my wrap for one of my classes, i shall post the finished item when its actually finished (i get to go to Newburgh tomorrow to get some wool tops HORAH). well im away to sit in front of the sewing machine for the rest of the night so i shall scuttle away now. LOVE Lj

2010-01-24T01:35:00.003Z

just a quick stop by to say hello. Its been a hectic week here at untidy towers, i have managed to turn my flat into the most untidy hovel ever, there is art supplies strewn across the floor and random scraps of fabric dangling from every surface. So my mission tomorrow is to get the flat in a nice tidy order, a place for everything, i hope. On a more exciting note i have signed up to take part in the Schmancy winter Olympics, we have to make a plush based on our given sport. i got a really good one, im so excited, i shall hopefully get started brain storming very very soon. Well ive had a long day at work so im off to play a little bit of castle crashers and maybe watch some glee whilst being snuggled up in my clean bed with an Arthur at my feet of course....mmmm heaven. What do you love after a long day? night night x

The start of a better week, hopefully.

2010-01-18T14:17:00.003Z

Well just a little moan to get the week started. I had an awful week last week, I've been ill (really ill) I've been exhausted not motivated and also someone crashed their car into mine. WONDERFUL. On a better note my dress makers doll arrived on Friday (a gift for my Christmas from mark), I finally completed the level on Castle crashers that i have been stuck on for MONTHS!!!! and my mammy sent me a pair of the most awesome tights (i shall post a picture when i put them on). well i really must go and work on my college work as i havnt actually done anything. blech. Above is my simple embroidery of Totoro. i love him so much.

oh my belly oh my b*m

2010-01-12T00:57:00.003Z

today started out as a good day. Mark, Arthur and I took a trip over to St Andrews. We walked around the town centre with Arthur in tow wagging his tale at everyone he met. We looked at some charity shops for cosy jumpers, i got a house warming for Morag, and a new purse with my Christmas moneys. I treated mark to a tasty lunch and we headed home. did a bit of college work and then i got a sore stomach and have spent the rest of the evening feeling sorry for myself working on my Totoro embroidery! So i thought i would share with you the safron buns i made over the holidays. My friend Morag gave me the recipie, they are so yummy...i wish i had some now. off to mope in my bed. Nite nite

New Year and a new me...hopefully

2010-01-10T22:54:00.006Z

Happy new year everybody. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Its been a busy one in the costa del LJ. We had Christmas dinner at Page's Grandparents and then New Year up North at my mums where she cooked for 18 of our finest relatives, she was a trooper. Was also really good to see everyone. Our New year was really good, filled with family and happy faces and sleepy puppies.

Since we have been home the page and i have not really done much except watch lots of House season 5, and try to get the flat back into a tidy peaceful state. As for my new years resolution i have actually made a few.

get on top of my moneys and actually start saving instead of squandering it all
make achievable lists of craft projects instead of overloading myself
finally keep ontop of the cleaning and general organisation of the Flat

so my crafty list / goals for this month are

Morags second mitten
Lengthen Dads hat
Marks Jayne Hat
Kathryn Necklace
Secret Embroidery number one
Secret Embroidery number two
Secret Embroidery number three
Embroidered Totoro
Knitted wire bracelet for Triona
fix all the stuff in my to be fixed pile

I thought ten would be a good limit. we shall see at the end of the month. well i gots to get back to my Thank you letters and the watching of house.

Anti Zombi hood

2009-12-05T01:00:00.003Z

*crawls in*

im sorry for the hiatus...i have been really really busy you see, knitting christmas presents, putting up the christmas tree, college, sleep you know the usual stuff that seems to consume your whole life!

Just a quick post to let you know the Zombies havnt got me yet, thats because i have my handy Anti-Zombie hood. As you can see from the photo it can also protect you from potential bites and chews even when you are out shopping. needs a little bit of work to make it perfect...not bad for the first one me thinks. I owe a HUGE thank you to my friend Triona who is my beautiful model and i hope that her biorg boob is working ok, and also a huge thank you to my otherhalfs brother who dressed up like a zombie for me at such short notice...thanks guys. OH and also my bestest friend mo who found me in such a state over the sewing machine...sorry mo.

Well im off to bed to crochet and watch some castle, if you havnt seen it yet you must. it combines two of my loves in life, murder she wrote and Nathan Fillion. And with that thought im off to bed, Nite x

its oh so quiet

2009-11-14T23:46:00.002Z

hey peoples. just me and the Arthur here. just dropping in to show you my frock is nearly done! horah, just the zip and the skirt hem to do and then its all ready for the family meal. nom nom

what do you think? i love it. i have also been working on my hood for one of my classes at college.

this is just the prototype to figure out how big the slits would have to be and how to put it together. it starts off as a collar and you pull it up and its a hood! it will hopefully work out in the end. Lastly before i run away to do some knitting i shall show you three of my drawings from college that i am quite proud of!

done with ink and the hard end of a feather

done with oil pastels

done with water colours

well im away to sit and knit until i need to pick mark up from work. Nite

Cake or Death

2009-11-12T18:25:00.006Z

hello again, just a quick stop to let you know what im up to before i run back to the fabric scissors and my hood pattern. So my dress is coming together, i have cut out all the pieces and all that needs done now is to put it together (easier said than done)

Sorry for the crap photo. i have also noticed that the sequence hasnt been cut straight. oh well, the fun of making your own stuff.

Also the postman has been visiting my door quite a lot this week with a delivery of fleece, a whole 9metre bolt. smooshy.

some of this shall become my hood for my college class, but the most of it shall be a surprise as its from someone's Christmas so shhhhh! Finally last night The Dooge, Mark and I all went to see Eddie Izzard at the SECC Glasgow. Oh how funny he was, i haven't laughed that much in a long time. *cough* tiger *cough* anyways i must scoot as i have to make a fabric test of my hood to see if my pattern works! EEk. Oh and before i forget the pattern for my dress is Vogue V1102.

image property of voguepatterns.com

Abscence

2009-11-09T17:39:00.003Z

Well hello again my lonely blog, i am sorry for deserting you recently. i have just been so busy and i have so many things to share. To get back into this blogging malarkey im going to tell you about the dress i am going to make in two weeks. which is plenty of time as i made marks graduation one in two days, but i feel this one may be a little more complicated. Firstly i must show you the scrumptious fabric i bought from the indian fabric shop on the corner of my street. Sajh=Dajh. i must say i stupidly was a bit nervous about going in, but as soon as i was in i shouldnt have ever been nervous. the ladies in there were super helpful and so nice. i learned that in certain shops (like this one) you buy your fabric in three parts (not in metres) you get a really fancy part which is the scarf, a kinda fancy part which is used for a top and a plain part which is used for the back of the top and the bottoms. all this material comes to about 7 metres in total. shall i show you what i got. oh its just yummy

This is the scarf part

This is the top part

This is the bottom part

beautiful arnt they. the pattern im using is a vouge one but i cant find it. ill let you know when i find it. well off to make tea. battered sausage and chips. yum.

So much to say...so much.

2009-08-16T00:25:00.005+01:00

So many things have been going on at the house of constant mess. Firstly my Mum and Dad came down and put laminate in my kitchen! horah no more yucky lino. Also they bought me a new oven, which i adore, it cooks things to perfection unlike my old one which had no temperature knob...so you got pretty good at judging how quickly things cooked at 230 degrees. The kitchen looks awsome. There has been a little bit more decorating going on in the kitchen but i shall save that in another post as its not quite done!

Secondly i started my first ever pair of socks made from Collinette Jitterbug yarn in Mardi Gras. i stared this on the 28th july according to my Ravelry and it is now the 15th of August...and i have one sock. im enjoying it i just never seem to be able to sit down and just knit. i do it in little stints.

Now i must declare my undying love IKEA. I just love that place, i

ts ability to make me spend money on things that i need, its actually thing i need not things i think i need. Take for example the above spice jars, these i needed as i currently have far too many spices loose in my tiny kitchen, so some pretty jars were needed. See what i mean. i also love Ikeas ability to make me spend way more than i want to. like yesterday i spent just under £100 pounds. my jaw hit the floor when the women said the total. but i dont grudge it as Ikea makes my world a better place to be. especially the soft furnishing section. oh the cushions how i love you. I even adore how they show you what your house could be like with all their wonderful stuff.

id like to state now how large my love for Ikea actually is. my whole flat (2 bedrooms) is full of Ikea stuff. all of my furniture minus an old chest which was my mums, two leather sofas which marks mum was getting rid of (i still have my ikea sofa though) and an old chest of drawers picked up from the recycling centre. apart from that the rest is ikea. and i dont care.

Anyways i shall now leave you with this picture of some awsome bits from Steppie that turned up at my door the other day. I ordere d this cute little panda scrabble tile ring for her and she sent me a ninja postcard also as i had to wait for the rings to be made. how awsome of her was that! i mean i dont mind having to wait. well the picture will go up in my kitchen where i shall look upon it often. sorry for the long post i just had to get all of that out of my system. i shall be back soon with an update on the kitchen once that is done and hopefully some finished socks.

2009-07-29T00:07:00.003+01:00

Look at this little dog enjoying his ice cream! Had a good day today, my Mum and my Brother Phil came down for a visit, i always hate not seeing them for a long time, and we walked the dog and had our lunch in the park. it was just a nice day. Work was fairly rubbish though, but hey it pays the bills, plus i usually enjoy my work. I finished a scarf for my mum.

She likes it so im pleased. Well i think its time to move on from makingscrafs. I think i am away to start knitting some socks from my beautiful Colinette yarn in Mardi Gras...yummy dont you think?

Home alone again!

2009-07-27T13:48:00.003+01:00

oh man i hate being on my own. My other half is away hill climbing with his grandad (which is good and im not annoyed at that) as they are going to walk the west highland way next summer. I just really hate being on my own, even if someone is in the other room ignoring me its fine, but to actually be on my own sucks. im kind of bored too! i mean there is loads i could be doing like knitting or cleaning but i just dont want to. Cant even take puppy for a walk as its like heavy heavy rain and he hates the rain. Anyhow i best go do something, ill leave you with the picture of my third Queen Anne's Lace scarf made it Noro, i love it and its all for me!!!!!

Graduation dress

2009-07-26T20:08:00.002+01:00

Finally a photo of the frock that i made for Marks graduation.Not too shabby for a first atempt.I got the fabric from my local Indian fabric store and its a beautiful green and i lined it with bright pink which shines through in the light. Yummy. Not really up to much tonight, just the usual Sunday night bits and pieces like tidying up and doing the washing. I am however sitting writing Thank you letters to every one for my birthday presents. I decided to make my own using lino cutting. I really like how they turned out.

The notepad on the right with the happy little cloud on it is from mpatrizio.
well off to finish writing these little suckers.

Birthday Parcles

2009-07-22T15:32:00.003+01:00

So my 23rd birthday was on the 19th July. I had an awsome day as my bestest friend Morag came up to see me and my Mum and Dad came down. I recieved so many nice things, im so spoiled!

My Mum and Dad got me so much Collinette yarn, my gran got me the massive balls of pink and purple yarn and Mark got me the recycled silk yarn. SMOOSH

Mark got me this most amazing Geshia dolly, isnt she amazing.

All my other parcles, yay a ball winder.

So thank you so much to everyone i really love all my parcles.

Birthday

2009-07-20T22:44:00.005+01:00

So yesterday was my 23rd birthday. it was AMAZING! i got to see my friend morag and actually spend time with her (which i feel i neve have enough of) and my parentals came down too, and i always love seeing them. I got way too much stuff, but i adore it all...maybe not so much the elk dried sausages...im so spoiled, so thank you everyone if your reading this! Tomorrow i shall photograph my birthday parcles and post some pictures, not a false promise like the last few i have made! but i have just spent the best part of 2 hours photographing all the yarn i got and uploading all the bits to ravelry! gah. all done now though. Arthur also got his big smooshy feet cut so now he has little tiny feets! how funny he looks. but yeah im off to bed to get my beauty sleep. night

Etsy is consuming me

2009-07-18T01:05:00.001+01:00

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf, originally uploaded by blackmagpie.

Or is it the other way around. I make every excuse to buy something on etsy and its bad, addiction like. For example, right this minute i am looking for note cards or paper to write my birthday Thank you letters on, i have been sitting here for the best part of an hour trying to decide whether to add the really cute panda scrabble ring that i have found...bad bad bad LJ. Well its my birthday on Sunday and i shall be 23, horah. My Mum and Dad are coming down for the day and also my bestest friend Morag is staying the night, which is awsome as i barley see her, PLUS she has just been on a tour of the artic circle so i cant wait to see her photos! Life in my little flat has been fairly busy, i have just posted my swap parcle for the UK swap group on ravelry, its a little scary as im not sure if my partner will like it. I really hope she does. Another thing i have been up to lately is making fish for the Pitenweem Art festival to be put in a net as part of an exhibition. ive made two so far, maybe aim for four? Finally i have been churning out Queen Anne's Lace scarf's i cant seem to stop. Well i must get to bed as it is Harry Potter mania at work tomorrow...Horah

we <3 Michael Caine

2009-06-25T00:54:00.004+01:00

we , originally uploaded by blackmagpie.

Well tonight was the anual Odeon film quiz. safe to say we didnt win....didnt loose either though. I have been up at my mums for a few days. i forgot how different life is up there. no rushing. no traffic. no neds. just peace and three dogs and a noisy parrot. Well its Page's graduation tomorrow so i am just away to put the finishing touches to my dress and dig out a suitable bag and then its off to sleep.

a day in the life of arth

2009-06-21T01:24:00.001+01:00

a day in the life of arth, originally uploaded by blackmagpie.

what does a little puppy get up to when his mum is sewing. he trys on the fabric of course. what a little cutie. i have spent the whole of my first day off from work sewing my dress for Page's graduation. this is the lining colour. any how its late and i still have hand stitching to do. blech. photos of dress tomorrow.

today it snowed

2009-06-17T00:28:00.004+01:00

Well not really. We had an Odeon day out to Xscape park in Braehead, where we had so much fun tobogganing...well it was more like sledging on a dinner tray but we all had a good laugh. then we stuffed our faces at the Pizza Hut Buffit...nom nom. Graham out ate me =(. Finally we went tenpin bowling in which my Page kicked everyones butts, but the best part was they had a Mario Kart 2 Arcade....oh it was much excitement. i was Peach of course and i won! Hurah. makes me want to put the Game Cube on.
Crafting wise i have been working on a dress for Page's graduation. its a simple frock made out of fabric i got from my local indain fabric store. Its green,kinda mushy pea green with embroidered flowers all over in the same green. then a pink lining underneeth which i am hoping wont look to bad. i MUST show you some yummyness before i head off to take in the washing

oh my word how scrummy are these.they are HUGE. i bought them from Lupin at bugs and fishes. super duper quick postage and amazing buttons. dont know what i shall make yet a ring i am thinking. anyway must dash so much washing!

button picture is property of Lupin at bugs and fishes.

Look on the bright side

2009-05-17T22:55:00.003+01:00

its been a really busy weekend. i was through in Edinburgh helping Lothain Road Odeon open their new Ben and Jerrys. Its such a cute wee cinema and the team are amazing. so that was my Friday night and Saturday all day. i also got some bad news while i was away, my baby puppy Arthur was ran over by a car. he is ok, going for X-rays tomorrow. I also have my hand in for intro to stitch tomorrow. just got to finish my sketch book. hmmm. just watched the Mist. that is such a funny film. well off to get ready for bed. The picture is of a doily i made for marks degree show.

BOBMASS

2009-04-10T23:59:00.000+01:00

Happy Bobmas! from Ravelry on Vimeo.

Happy Bobmass Peoples!

i <3 Ravelry.

The cupboard of craftyness

2009-04-07T00:40:00.004+01:00

So we are back. sorry that i was MIA, not that anyone reads this.
I needed a permanent space for all my crafty goodness so i decided to wreck the cupboard which was used for junk. So after forcing Page to sort through all our stuff it finally looked like this.

Then after ripped out the partition, painted and put some carpet down it now currently looks like this.

I am completely in love with the purple. Away to build some Ikea furniture and hopefully move in.

my secret garden

2009-02-15T02:49:00.003Z

Well first i should say a very happy Violent times day to you all. hope you all got something nice and mushy. so this is the first wall of my model finished, thank goodness. it is for a brief at college where we are given the dimensions of a space and we have to decide what we want to exibit and then basically design the whole gallery, so i decided my exibit would be Amigurimi and i had the brilliant idea that i would knit my model to look like a garden!....stupid stupid stupid stupid! i shall post more as soon as more is done! well im off to bed for the night. throwing hearts and glitter your way.

tweet tweet

2009-01-26T22:48:00.006Z

i just order this soy sauce pourer (the little green bird)
(photo from unicahome)

Isn't he a cutie. Can't wait for him to arrive.
One of my 2009 things is that I need to get back into reading. As you may know I work at a cinema, and when I saw that there was a poster up advertising the so called new Tim Burton film there was a feeling of excitement in my belly, i then saw the full poster and was a little disheartened as it looked so kiddy and I'm kind of a dark fairy tales kind of girl, think The Brothers Grim, not all Disneyed up! I have then gone on to read that LOADS of bloggers were receiving boxes in the post, which is quite exciting. so i went on to read what all the fuss is about...and now i cant wait, i ordered the original cover book from play which arrived today so as im sleepy and it is now 11.30 at night im away to curl up with Coraline. Shall report once it is finished. Oh and a Happy New Year to any Chinese people out there and a massive Happy Burns night for all the Scottish folk out there...was a little gutted we didn't get a google logo =(

sleepy...so sleepy

2009-01-17T00:19:00.004Z

this has been one hell of a week, i am so tired and i have tooth ache from my wisdom teeth! ouch. even my tongue is sore. lets not get bogged down with the moaning. Before Christmas I crocheted a cuppy cake for one of my tutors (Susan - she is wonderful) any way she showed said cupcake to another tutor (Claire) and she really liked it, so to cut a long story short Claire collects cupcake stands and likes to buy cupcakes to put on them, so she asked if I could make her one. I really enjoy crochet so i said i would love to. so i made a half dozen and made a white bakery style box wraped them up and left them with Dermott (Susans husband who also works at the college) as i wasnt in on the days that Claire was. so today when i went to Susans class she took me down to see Claire. she said that she really liked the cuppy cakes and she had them on her 2 tear cake stand( i have asked for photos so i can see), she then vanished and came back with a brown bag. i wasnt expecting anything i just really like to make things. so i went back up to my class and i opened the bad to discover that she had given me a tea towl with a drawing printed on it that she had done. I was nearly in tears and how thoughtful this gift was, it was almost a swapsee. i love the tea towl, it will be hung on my wall proudly! it also has such a lovely story about the May Island and seeing the puffins with her dad. i have also visited the May Island which is a beautiful place. I went there to scatter Stellas ashes. The puffins were stunning, it was just fantastic, so if your ever up near Dundee you should go for a visit...the boat trip alone is worth it! Right i am away to download Castle Crashers! woooo.
My purty tea towel. ( i really must master photography)

i have so much to do...so much

2009-01-13T02:21:00.005Z

hello peoples well as the title suggests today just feels like a day that i have so much i want/need to do, and yet not enough time to do it. AGH. i feel this post shall just become a rant of what i want to do. well lets start with what i did yesterday, i changed the bulb in the living room lamp, i also changed the bulb in the kitchen down lighters and the bulb at the bottom of the closey stairs (woo i no longer feel like i am going to fall down them) i painted the first coat in the weird pink DIY cupboard

Before
After 1st coat

so obviously one of my things to do tomorrow shall be give that its second coat and then put everything back in it....horah! that cupboard has been annoying me for ages now. ok i shall make a list

sweep closey (since the bulb is fixed you can see all the dirt
finish my Odeon TL work book
make up retail bingo cards
post Thank you letters
post mum's OD embroidery

go visit my friend Charlotte
make a magpie for my banner
make a tag to go on a present for said Charlotte
put away ironed washing
go to work

it may not look like a difficult list but i really am struggling with getting motivated at the moment so something very small can take me forever to get round to doing.
on the up side today i got a few things done. i have written most of my christmas thank you letters, laminated all of my online patterns ( i love being organised) , did a HUGE shop and i am currently sitting on the sofa with my duvet and the laptop reading blogs and buying pretty things. like this pattern from Portabello pixie

doesnt it just look so colourful and wonderful, you should check out her blog and website too. its just full of colour and wonderful patterns if you have small children. i am so excited for this to arrive so that i can crack on and make one for myself! (picture is property of portabello pixie) so i shall leave you all with that scrumptious cupcake and wish you all a good night.

Night night x

And we are back

2009-01-11T21:59:00.004Z

So normal life resumes after the festive period. How was all your Christmases and New years? I hope they were filled with good memories and lots of sparkly things. I had a fantastic Christmas. I spent Christmas eve working, but Graham bought us all pizza which was awesome (thank you Graham), then Mark, Arthur and I travelled home to my Mum and Dads, picking up my little brother on the way through Aberdeen. i recieved some fantastic parcles, like my HUGE zebra print bag from my Mum and Dad, an eyelet punch and some embroidery hoops from my brother and my Arthur necklace from Page that is an awful picture. check out my flickr for a better one.This was made by Thirtydash9. I love it so much. Did you get anything nice for Christmas?
I am back to college which is great, still really enjoying. Working on some really good briefs so we shall see how that goes.
So 2009, what are my goals and my aspirations. in no particular order

Get my money under control
spend more time with Arthur ie taking him for walks on my own
Spend WAY more time with Page
stop sitting on my bum writing lists about things i want to do and actually do them
and my main one is...to tidy up our garden.

Lets expand on the last one shall we. We live in a block of old school flats, which are beautiful and look really good from the outside (except out front door) but we share our back garden with two other blocks and the majority of those people never stay there for too long, i dont know how many neighbours we have went through in the past 6 months never mind the three years i have lived here. now we own my flat (well my mum and dad do) so this is a long term investment and i completly adore my flat the only thing that lets it down is the garden and the closey! so my plan and ambition for 2009 is to make it look as nice as possible. First i am going to start with fixing the light at the front door and the bottom of the stairs so its no longer dark as you go down the stairs and also the front one to stop the junkies p**ing in the front door (i do live in Dundee afterall).secondally to move all the rubbish that is sitting at our back door

yes that is two broken doors, a fridge freezer, a broken rocking seat, some cans, some washing? and a sofa with an old radiator heater and some carpet hiding behind. and that is all at my back door! Wonderful isnt it. so my mission today is to shift as much of that as possible. i dont know if i can lift the fridge/freezer or the sofa but i shall try.
I shall take photos of the closey soon but there is also some charming grafiti on the wall, its not nice grafiti like a cool tag or anything, it was just some silly kids with some black spray paint! beautiful...so i need to visit BnQ and get a colour match. woop. once i have more pennies. This is what the back garden looks like now.

Meh its not too bad, well no it is really...LOADS of things need to be done, mainly picking up dog poo, replanting grass, tidying up, pulling out weeds, fixing the hole in the wall, getting rid of the mochty smell that hangs around...oh yeah and fix my washing line which goes from my window to the telegraph pole...old school tennanment style.
so that is all from me just now, sorry about the massive post. hope you are all keeping well.
Love Lj