Getting my crafty on :-)

Yesterday I had a bash at making jewellery. I love unusual jewellery, and inspired by my endless hours of trawling through my beloved etsy.com, I wondered if I might be able to make my own pretty things.


There is a wonderful crafty emporium nearby called Michael's which I discovered when I was looking for baking accessories, and they have a large selection of beads and stuff. I popped in for a quick browse and before I knew it, an hour had passed and I had a basket full of twinkly beads! After a quick reassessment (and reality check) I narrowed the basket down to the makings of two bracelets, and this is what I made .....
 

 
First up is this little beauty. Now, I know it's nothing fancy or complicated, but this is something I would pay real money for in a shop so I am very pleased with myself!! And I even have enough beads left to make some matching earrings at some point - win!!







I'm going to file my second piece under Work In Progress as i only had a loose plan in the shop and it didn't quite pan out. I love the little felt flowers, and I think they look very pretty on the lace, so my new plan is to go back and get some more flowers in different colours and have a continuous band all the way round. I'll let you know how that goes.




So, all in all, I am rather pleased with my first foray into jewellery making!! You never know - you might even see me selling on Etsy one day .......?!?!?!?!

smug.com

I am feeling rather pleased with myself tonight! Finally, after several months of negligence, I started my guitar practise again - hurrah!! Granted, I am back to square one again, but I have had a lovely afternoon plucking away and trying to make recognisable notes :-) Hopefully this time I can actually make some progress ....

My second reason for celebration is that I cooked myself dinner! Well, not so much that I cooked, but more because Hubby called last minute to say he was going out with some colleagues for dinner, and I still cooked!!

Anyone who knows me knows that when left to fend for myself I generally resort to takeaways, frozen pizza, or Crunchy Nut Cornflakes - yum! I did consider popping round to Chipotle after he phoned, but I had already defrosted the pork for the pesto and mozzarella stuffed chops I had been planning, so I decided to have a go anyway.

Well, after my last couple of fails (I didn't even bother reporting Thursday's chicken satay fail - so bland!) I am delighted to report that tonight was a success!!

A couple of tweaks to make for next time:

1. Use thicker chops as they were a bit tricky to slit open to stuff. One was fine but the other was less stuffed and more strategically packed to stop the filling escaping through the many holes ...
2. More seasoning required in the coating 

But all in all they were bloody delicious - so much so that I ate the second one too!!

Cooking win = diet fail! Whoops ....... :-)
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