28 September 2014

Six Things Sunday

Holla! 

How have you been? What's new? Tell me EVERYTHING.

Here are six things that have recently made my face upside-down-frown:

1. Surprise Mid-Week Chocolate Brownies
My new co-workers are THE BEST.



2. A nice photo of my face!
I usually approach photos of my face by peeking through my fingers, not unlike someone watching a horror movie starring a hideous swamp monster. My fingers were poised for action the moment that the Flapper Hen Do photos arrived, so I was rather pleasantly surprised to discover the photographer had somehow managed to photograph me NOT looking like a swamp monster. It's a September miracle! 



3. Getting my craft on
This weekend I've been playing with the goodies from my Hobbycraft Haul. I decided my first project would be re-covering a lampshade I'd previously made-over in 2012. I was far from happy with my original, half-arsed attempt, which is why it never featured on here. 

Here's the "before" - a very sloppily stitched patchwork cover.



And here's the after:



I'm much happier with the second attempt, and the pompoms (which are actually bright pink, and not red) look awesome when the light's on too. 

Which version do you prefer?

4. Reorganising
I spent this morning decluttering and rearranging the furniture in our dining room, which moonlights as my craft room. I'm going to share the whole room later this year as part of my house tour, but here's a cheeky sneak peek:



I'm utterly in love with my new yellow trunks, and how well they go with the candy cane striped box (which is from Ikea) and the floral suitcase I made earlier this summer.

5. Awesome art
Yesterday I drove Tom and some friends to Hopfest, a free, local beer festival hosted by Dark Star Brewing Co. I'd planned to straight head home and craft up a storm, but after discovering there was a stall selling brownies AND moustachioed men singing sea shanties I ended up staying all afternoon. Tom and our friends spent the day drinking pint after pint of FREE BEER (I kid you not, it was absolutely free!!!), while the highlight of my afternoon (aside from the epic brownies) was the lovely Dark Star staff giving me and my friends copies of a seriously awesome poster I'd spotted in the shop, in return for a small donation to their foundation


Totally worth it, eh?

6. Call-Centre Twenty Questions
This week I had a(nother) hair dye-related disaster, although this one definitely wasn't my fault! The dye, which promised to turn me blonde(r), was defective and ended up colouring my already-blonde hair a horrible shade of browny-grey I can only describe as Geriatric Squirrel. Not quite what I was looking for...

I was contacted by the brand after ranting about it on twitter, and the sweetest girl from their customer services team gave me some tips on how to fix it and sent me some vouchers in the post. I try to see the funny side in all hair-related disasters, especially as the alternative is crying while super-glueing a hat to my head, but this time really WAS funny, because the brand I used don't make the shampoo which fixes dye disasters. This means the staff working in customer services aren't allowed to tell you the name of the shampoo, so you have to GUESS until they confirm it. Which meant the conversation ended with me asking "Is it part of the song that ends "knees and toes, knees and toes"?", and both of us laughing for about five minutes.

What's been making you jump for joy recently?

Katie xxx

P.S. I'm linking up with the fabulous Hannah's The Week That Was Captured, which is being hosted by Aby this week because Hannah just got married! Eep!


20 comments:

  1. Ha ha, the knees and toes- ha ha! Your trunks are marvellous as is the poster!
    The lamp is super as is the photo of you! Wow, your hair is wonderful- like a lion!x

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    1. Thanks Kezzie! That photo was just for you, you know :) xxx

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  2. haha, I wish I'd been there to listen to the shampoo call! The poor girl at the other end must've just been dying to say it! I love that your co-worker made you a brownie, brownies make everything good :) x

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    1. She said they have to wait ages for people to guess right- it must be rather frustrating/hilarious! Brownies definitely make everything good :) Thank you for visiting and commenting! xxx

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  3. hahaha! geriatric squirrel & 20 questions made me laugh a lot! your lamp is ace - love the anchor fabric, is that a recent purchase? I need some of that it my life! A week involving brownies and free beer is always a good one :) x x p.s your hair looks v.cool in that pic.

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    1. I bought it a while ago from http://www.misformake.co.uk/ - she stocks really lovely and unusual fabrics :) Thank you muchly for the compliment! xxx

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  4. LOVE THIS! You look stunning btw! I love the lamp and the beer bicycle! PS I want midweek brownie, no fair!

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  5. what a lovely work treat the brownie was. The bicycle brewery poster is great and what an entertaining story re the shampoo conversation, hehe!

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    1. It was a very lovely treat- although my new office is surprisingly constantly full of cake for a healthcare-related organisation :p xxx

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  6. Ha ha! Geriatric squirrel! I love your suitcases and the 2nd lampshade is definitely the best. Thanks so much for linking to #TWTWC x

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  7. 1. Do you think anyone would mind if I came and worked at your place?
    2. Oooh pretty lady!
    3. Before shade - not too bad. After shade - a definitely improvement. Loving the pompoms and the colours!
    4. I like! The colours work really well together and I do like the candy cane striped box.
    5. Free beer? Andrew would be there like a shot :-) Poster is a bit steampunk-ish as well, very nice!
    6. Wonder if that conversation was one of the ones 'recorded for training purposes'?

    And jumping for joy? Ummm, not at the moment (literally anyway) :-) But I am very excited about my new subscription to the Lucky Dip Club, shame I have to wait a month for it to arrive though! :-) xxx

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    1. 1. Definitely not- especially with your baking skills!
      2. Thank you :)
      3. I agree- pom poms make everything better.
      4. That's what I thought- I'm so glad they're the right size/ratio to stack nicely too.
      5. We've had a second night of free beer this evening AND won more beer in the beer-themed quiz. I think Tom is feeling like all his Christmasses have come at once :p
      6. I hope so- it will make their future recruits giggle :)

      xxx

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  8. Gawjuss pic of you! And I like both versions of the lampshade! I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't leave things alone when they're 'done'.
    Am v. jealous of the dining room/craft room. I just have a dining room/dumping ground. Need to work on that... xxx

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    1. Thanks lovely! I feel like the second one goes better with how our house is at the moment i.e. some of the decorating is actually finished and not just half-arsed :p
      Your projects are much bigger than mine though - I think I'd struggle to fit several extra pieces of yet-to-be-painted furniture in there. xxx

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  9. The re-done lampshade is awesome - really like it!

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    1. Thank you muchly! Thank you for leaving a comment :) xxx

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  10. I love the lampshade with the anchor fabric and I'm dying over those yellow trunks! They're perfect! I hope you got your hair situation figured out!

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    1. They're gorgeous, aren't they? So cheery - it's like storing my craft supplies in a box of sunshine! xxx

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