Why is a Pigeon like a Writing Desk?

It's a pretty little writing desk!

Even arriving slightly battered and covered in stickers, it's very, very nice :)  Having lived it's time in the bedroom of my other half through his childhood, I think it had a difficult life. 

Despite spending the greater part of three hours gently scraping stickers from it's surface, and around the same sanding it, I'm still no closer to deciding what to do with it.

Keep it lovely brown?  Or delve into the world of duck egg blue and decopage...

Very tempted to paint it white with lemon accents, with a tiny teacup handpainted to fine black vines.  As inspired by my favourite teacup of all time.

From Whittards Coffee shop

Since all the photos last week seem to have gone down quite well, I thought I'd send you this week in photos too :)  

The train journeys have been used to listen to Harry Potter and knit hexipuffs from leftovers!  And the walks home through the botanics, though bereft of trees whose genetics will apparently forever puzzle me, was filled with pigeons.  When cleaning out ones bag, do be kind and feed the crumbs to local wildlife.  Sadly, my bag had rather enough crumbs to be getting this lot fed quite happily.  Oatcakes are a menace.  

The obsessive gradient dyeing spree continued, with a cashmere blend and featuring orange, purple and green.  

And the healthy eating?  The strawberry salad for dinner?  It turned into strawberry cake.  That didn't last long.  

I'm *still* trying to convince myself to knit socks.  What's your favourite sock pattern?  

xx

One day, I'll iron my tablecloth. 

Cuppa & Cake with A Girl Called Boz

Laura (A Girl Called Boz) is a brilliant artist who, among many other pretty goodies, made the brilliant Doctor Who theme stitch markers in my etsy store at the moment.  Using computer graphics and plastic as a creative medium, Laura creates some brilliant earrings, cufflinks and great other bits & pieces for her store (I might have the bunny earrings...)

Tardis Earrings :o

Tardis, Dalek & Stetson Stitch Markers :o

Hi!  Thanks for inviting me over for a cuppa and cake. I love that you call it a cuppa. Where I come from (North East England) they call it a cuppa, but over here where I'm living now (North West) they call it a brew! My family get most confused if I offer them a brew before midday, to them a brew is a beer!

 1. Helloo!  You mention a love for graphic novels, what's your favourite?
When I say I love graphic novels its like a subtle way of letting the internet know I'm a geek. I love all sorts of nerdy things like sci-fi movies, fantasy books and role playing games. I do love a good comic though. My favourite at the moment is Gotham City Sirens. It's part of the Batman franchise and revolves around the three main female characters, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman. I was so excited to find a graphic novel with three of my favourite female characters as the protagonists.

 2. When did you start creating these wonderful little bits and pieces of jewellery?
I decided to start making and selling my own jewellery pieces in university. Unfortunately, real life got in the way and I had to find a boring full time job to pay the bills. Last July I decided I was settled enough in a boring job that I needed a creative outlet and set about crafting. One day I just decided I needed to start work on my own creative business. Even though I was still working full time I fit the creating and marketing in the evenings and A Girl Called Boz was born. It isnt the dream job I wanted in uni, but its the start of something amazing.

 3. Your favourite cuppa & cake?
Oh I've just come off a diet so I feel spoilt for choice at the moment. I love a good cup of tea. Two sugars and a splash of milk please. Blueberry muffins are always nice, or something chocolatey. I've got a really sweet tooth!

 4. I particularly love the shrink plastic animals, where did you get the inspiration for these and is creating them a difficult process?
I follow a lot of illustrators on twitter that inspire me. People like Jam Grantham (@1985jam) and Stacie Swift (@Stacie_swift). One day I decided I wanted to learn how to draw using a computer program and just started having a go at it. When I'd done a few of them I discovered shrink plastic. The plastic is perfect for earrings but it doesnt make very good necklaces because its so light. Currently I shrink each piece by hand using a heat gun but I plan to try using an oven to make the process faster.

 5. Are you from an arty background, or is this something you picked up later?
I am from an arty background. I studied fine art at college, then applied art at university. I've always loved making things for myself and for other people and I can't imagine living a life where art or craft wasn't a part of it. If I didnt have A Girl Called Boz to keep me busy I'd be making furnishings for my home or planning Christmas presents for the family.

 6. Anything we excited fans should know about?!
Well I've just started selling cufflinks in the shop so theres now even more ways to wear your favourite animals. Im excited to extend the range so that there are more choices for men. I have also got a new line in the planning stages at the moment which is tea party themed. And I plan to make the animal faces into temporary tattoos too. I'll update the blog and facebook as soon as there's more details.

Thanks for having me over for virtual tea and cake. It was lots of fun!

Take care, 
Laura, aka A Girl CalledBoz.


You can visit Laura's shop here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AGirlCalledBoz?ref=owlprintpanda
blog here: http://agirlcalledboz.blogspot.co.uk/
and follow her on twitter:@agirlcalledboz
and facebook!: www.facebook.com/agirlcalledboz

And if you're a knitter, the stitch marker versions can be found here :)  

Did You Forget The Eggs? Eggless Banana Loaf & New Jobs

Yesterday, I made a wondrous discovery.  A discovery caused by lack of supplies, and sheer laziness.  Banana loaf works without eggs!  I added some milk instead and it's brilliant!

• 120g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 1tbsp vanilla flavouring
• very ripe bananas (~ 4 small or 2 large), mashed
• 170g self-raising flour
• 30g oats
• 50ml milk

NB:  same sugar can be used for the sugars if you want, and 200g of flour instead of oats if you don't have any.

• 1 saucepan
• set of scales
• loaf tin

1. melt the butter, sugars and vanilla together in a saucepan

2. take the saucepan off the heat and let it cool a little, then add your mashed bananas

3. add in the flour, oats and milk and mix well.

4. pour into your loaf tin and pop into a 160c fan oven for 30 mins or until the top has gone lovely and brown and/or you can stick a knife in it without pulling out dough.

Also, I am very excited today because my provisional job offer came through the door :D  (with many many pieces of paper to fill in and forms to find and other people to call to find said forms 'cause I have no idea what they are).

Is very cool.  I feel like I'm being let loose on the world far too early.  Nervous, but a good nervous!

What're you up to this weekend?  Any good news of your own?

Amanda :D x