So, last weekend myself and the lovely Louise took a cheeky trip to Liverpool in pre-celebration of her 21st birthday. I have only ever been to Liverpool once before and that was at night, so I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised (despite still being largely opposed to the scouse accent, sorry).
We had an early morning coach booked which, believe me, when you've spent the last 11 weeks of summer sleeping in til at least 12, WAS A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM. Nevertheless we were up and on it! We arrived in Liverpool and made tracks straight for The Beatles Experience which I was very much looking forward to. We found ourselves amongst a group of German tourists on our way in which was a very baffling moment, but luckily the nice lady at the museum plucked us outta there and sent us in the right direction. The museum was great, although we opted to not have the audio commentary headsets (which if I go again, I'm definitely avin'), but there was plenty to see regardless. The place was packed with memorabilia and a steady stream of Beatles music was filtered through the airwaves as we wandered round, making it very difficult not to get caught up in all the hype.
Beatles tights!!
Flattering Ringo bobble-head.
60's Jetsetter Style.
Obsessed with neon lighting..
Here's me, feeling magical.
Louise Lennon
I must say as well, that The Beatles experience had one of the best gift shops I've ever encountered-- like genuinely reasonably priced Beatles souvenirs! I shall be returning in December to purchase many' a Beatles themed gift (for myself).. I bought myself a cheeky patch for my denim jacket, Rubber Soul, obviously (best Beatles album). My favourite thing about the museum though was that it only confirmed what I already thought: George was the best Beatle.
In the seperate Beatles gallery, further along the docks, I was very proud to see that the majority of photos housed there had been taken in Huddersfield, my home town. It pleased me a ridiculous amount. Later on, Louise and I got a little lost (well, I wouldn't have said we were lost but Louise said we were, I just said it was an adventure) and somehow stumbled upon Mathew Street, home to the Cavern club and plenty more Beatles related little bits. Y'know, perfect touristy photo opportunities..
Me & John reppin' similar jackets.
We did a bunch more stuff in Liverpool, I promise we weren't total Beatles weirdos.. But I thought I'd keep this post all Beatles-y. Since my return I appear to have literally contracted Beatlemania. It's real. I can't stop listening to 'em and talking about them and researching. It's weird. And as a Rolling Stones fan I don't know how I feel about it! MICK JAGGER, GIVE ME A SIGN!
Come to think of it, how come there's no Rolling Stones museum? Hmm..
So, for the last of a very crafty few blog posts! I would've included these last few stragglers in my last post however they were both gifts for birthdays that were occurring between then and now. ANYWAY, here they are.
First off, I know you're probably sick of hearing about my recent hype for making picture tiles but here's my last little spin on it. (I say last but you just know every one of my friends is gonna be getting a cheeky tile for xmas). I should say that this was a very personalized gift, for my friend, Helen. She's a big Quentin Tarantino fan so I took that as my starting point. I then stumbled across some really nice prints by an artist called Ale Giorgini, which you can check out here. He conveniently had a few different Tarantino inspired pieces and so I selected the ones that I knew Helen liked best and got to work composing my masterpiece gift. (steady on, Laura). I used the same technique as before for creating the tiles which, again, you can find here. I then found myself a bit of scrap wood in me' dad's shed and painted it white before mounting the tiles at equal distances (I just did this using some strong adhesive, a "No More Nails" type thing).
And here's how it turned out.
When the adhesive had set I then stenciled on the film titles (admittedly, not very well) and voila! Helen was happy enough with it and it was a very easy make.
My next make wasn't that crafty actually, but a personalized "handmade" gift technically. An easy, cheap solution to making your own presents as well. This one was for my lovely friend and ex-housemate, Louise! Twas simply a print in a simple frame. I created the text on Photoshop and formatted it for printing before sending it off to Snapfish to print for me on some matte photo paper. I specially downloaded a nice, quirky font as well, just because nothing says less effort to me than Times New Roman!
Apologies for the low quality image!
Then all I did was choose a frame, basic white was all this particular print needed, I thought. Easy peasy.
Good news, it is now Autumn! That means jumpers, boots, scarves and plenty of tea! It also means that there's not long left til I go back to uni and, I must say, I am relieved. "Summer" has just been too long. This does mean though that there will probably be a decline in crafts to update you with, and for that matter, probably a decline in posts in general. However, for now, I have another little collection of crafty bits to show you!
First off, my "Flight Of The Conchords" T-Shirt, inspired by series 1, epsiode 1 of the HBO television show of the same name. This was a very cheap make and pretty quick and easy. Well, I say that, there was one t-shirt casualty (and a lesson learnt, Dylon broad fabric markers are rubbish). For the slightly more successful tee, I chose myself a nice green top (£3.50 Primark) and got to work drawing out my design onto it. To do this I traced it through the material using a thin yellow felt tip pen. Now, I probably wouldn't recommend the yellow pen, as my white lines never turned out, well... white. However I didn't have a magic ink fabric pen or tailors chalk. You could say I poorly improvised, unless you want a yellow design in which case GO ME. I then applied several layers of white, Dylon fabric paint on top of the yellow outline (sealing with heat between each layer). I then stenciled on a quote from the scene I was depicting (in pen first) and BOOM, done, easy.
Left: My first unsuccessful attempt is now a pyjama top. Right: The finished product!
I tweeted this end product to Rhys Darby, a comedian who plays Murray (the beardy man above!) and he replied saying "very cool!" which made me very happy.
And whilst I'm on the subject of T-Shirts, I may aswell show you the tee I hand-painted for the lovely Chester waaaay back in March, inspired by Chris Lilley's comedy series, "Angry Boys". Twas a well received birthday gift.
And that's your lot for now, more to come at the end of the week (because upcoming birthdays mean I can't spoil the surprises of my other little offerings yet!)
So for my stupidly long summer holiday (seriously, it's about 15 weeks) I have decided that, since I had no luck on the job front, I ought to get my productive hat on in other ways. And because I like making stuff, I'm looking for all sorts of crafty bits to get on with.
Apologies for the terrible quality picture.
Back in January I made this little gem and it looks great in my room back at uni. This year I'm keen to find more projects that I can try and hopefully get the same amount of satisfaction from making! (For those interested, It's a map of West Yorkshire, threaded between metal tacks that gather at a heart that's located around my hometown) It was surprisingly easy (and cheap!) to make and you can find a similar tutorial here. I couldn't find the exact one, my bad!
Last week I had a little go at making my own photo tiles, following guidance from a tutorial here! They turned out pretty nicely but I would like to give them a bit more time to perfect (I'll admit I rushed them a bit, resulting in paper bubbling!) I'll upload some pictures at a later date as I've given the pre-made ones away as gifts already. I can however show you the nice job I did of wrapping them for my friends, twins, Robyn & Ellen.
Can't get enough of brown paper packaging at the moment!
The only other remotely arty sort of thing I've been up to lately is a bit of drawing and painting, with varying levels of success! I have re-adopted my favoured style of painting portraits, in blocks of black and white. Really I think I only do this because it's my most successful way of making a painting look remotely like a face (as I'm terrible at drawing realistic people).. I've done a few different paintings, usually of familiar faces or iconic portraits. Most recently I've painted Jagger, Morrissey & Bowie and I'm pretty pleased with my results.
I thought I might keep you posted on some of the things that have been keeping me occupied/ amused over the past few weeks. I'm 11 weeks into the stupidly long university summer holidays with another 6ish weeks to go (what are we paying £4k for again?!). It is very boring, especially without a job/ money for activities so I've had to find a lot of new music, etc.
Music
Django Django - Life's a Beach (album)
I'm going to be honest. This is the first CD I've bought in a long time. Twas recommended to me by the lovely Chester and I surprisingly really like it. They have a really cool sound and I find myself humming their tunes to myself far more often than I care to mention. Above is my favourite song of theirs so far, Hail Bop.
Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (single)
I know the song isn't new, and it isn't new to me either but for about three weeks it was stuck in my head and so here it is in my "recent findings" post.. Good one, Laura.
I have recently found myself experiencing a bit of a disco phase. I realised this when I audibly uttered the words "oh yeahhh" upon noticing BBC4's scheduling of Disco at the BBC followed by Nile Rogers & Chic's Glastonbury set. Appropriately then the song of the summer has been Daft Punk - Get Lucky, and I'm still nowhere near over it.
Film
A fantastically inconvenient underlying health issue means that going to the cinema has become a bit of a no-go for me. I won't go into it too much, but basically the combination of a big screen and a high ceiling does something very strange to me, and I quickly find myself very dizzy. Therefore I have been at a massive disadvantage in terms of film viewing (which kinda sucks being a student of film & TV design). I'm desperate to see World's End and Monsters University, but alas, I will have to wait. My only ask is that people don't ruin these films before I have chance to see them!
Books
Jon Richardson - It's Not Me, It's You
I actually read this back in June but it definitely warrants a mention as a lovely little read. I'm a big fan of Jon's stand-up and found myself reading the book in his voice (in my head of course). It's a very sweet book and I found myself desperately just wanting to cuddle him throughout.
HITRECORD & Joseph Gordon-Levitt - The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (vol 1)
I was recently gifted this as a belated birthday present from my lovely friend Helen and it is just delightful! It's exactly what the title describes it as, a tiny book of tiny stories, most about 3 sentences long and each with a pretty illustration. A cute little book to flick through when you find yourself with a spare few moments.
I might be (possibly) a bit premature here, but I am so ready for autumn to rock up. I'm a true Brit, in that, I actually don't mind our unreliable climate and cold/ cloudy days don't really bother me. I'm not saying I don't moan about the weather when it is like that, but like I just said, I'm British.
My early longing for autumn comes this year after receiving the autumn trends catalogue from H&M. Now all I can do is wait for it to be appropriate to buy a parka. Summer brings about the debate of: "Is it acceptable to wear black tights in the day?" to which I always have to reply "sadly, no, but SOON". Here's a little visual plan of the absolute style icon I plan to be in the colder months of this year.
H&M £49.99*
I desperately want a parka. The debate (in my head) rages on; blue or green? I'm leaning towards blue. Also, It's so refreshing to find a medium length coat without that awful furry trim around the hood.
H&M £19.99 / £9.99 / £14.99*
I cannot tell you how "pro-jumper" I am. I love a good jumper. I frequently don a jumper in the winter months so I'm gonna need a few new ones this year I reckon.
H&M £19.99 / £9.99*
I don't know how adventurous I dare to be when it comes to jeans. Dark blue and black jeans suit me just fine. Just remember to check their thickness though, nobody wants chilly legs. And on the subject of chilly legs, I have decided that I'm going to venture to the world of knee high socks this year, not sure why, but there you go. A good woolly hat is a necessity as well so I shall be keeping my eyes firmly fixed on Primark's menswear section for that. I will also be on the annual hunt for some fierce ankle boots.
Autumn also brings around my favourite celebrations; bonfire night and halloween. With any luck, this bonfire night, I'll have someone to keep me warm whilst watching the firework display (!). I'm also already looking for a bitchin' halloween costume idea although it's likely to just be "mad scientist" again because that required little to no effort and I still looked vaguely attractive/ not like a corpse.
Fancy dress is a big deal at uni.
I can't wait to get back to the daily wearing of scarves. Summer, you can stay a bit longer, but not much.
*Online prices shown. I have noticed some inconsistencies in pricing when it comes to H&M online/ instore/ catalogue, just so you're aware!
So, MARCH.
I guess all sorts has occurred since then, really. I'll keep it brief!
Friends Most of my friends are great, of course there are always those few that seem to fizzle out and gradually disappear, but for the most part, I have some good'uns.
Lovelife There's a man on the scene. All I'll say is, it's not Facebook official!
Birthday I am now 20. It's a pretty big deal. Now my niece is 0, my nephew 10, me 20 and my sister 30. OOH! Had a cracking 80's themed birthday party, totally made amazing by the effort people put into fancy dress. Received some excellent handmade gifts/ cards as well!
Holiday Had a lovely trip to Lanzarote at the start of June with my dad and best friend from uni, Abi. It was extremely windy and sometimes a bit windy, but luckily we consumed enough cheap sangria/ cocktails to not care too much. The food was phenomenal, I don't think I've ever eaten so much in the space of 10 days.
Family In February we had a new arrival, baby Holly. She's gorgeous, a proper smiler with a little chubby head (I can relate, I was a real chud of an infant). Otherwise though, current family relations are strained again, with several parties not in contact, which y'know, just makes you feel great.
Summer Currently in my 7th week of the summer holidays and a little bored to say the least. Annoyed at the lack of job prospects and frustrated that many of my friends live either on the the other side of town (which is proving troublesome when you don't really have anywhere to stay) OR they live down South. Or y'know, are out of the country and totally unreachable!
Plans All I've really got are some vague visits planned to friends across the country, that could or couldn't happen. I also really need to pass my driving test this year- I'm working on it, but funds could soon see that stunted again. I have some professional bits and bobs to design/ create before going back to uni, i.e. website and business cards, as well as some deep research into the topics I want to design for AND a dissertation topic. It's all just hitting me that this year actually counts, which is a bit scary.
