I've been awarded the Liebster blog award!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I was awarded the Liebster blog award by Mary Jane of Paper Blossom stationary.  This is an award given to blogs with fewer than 200 followers, with the intention of helping fledgling bloggers off to a good start or to help raise the profile of more established bloggers struggling to have their voice heard.  You can see MJ's original post on the award over here.

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Amy on Pinterest

I love blog awards, they really reflect what a supportive, creative community the blogging world really is.  Craft bloggers seem an especially nice bunch, so far I've seen very little spamming or flaming out there as I peruse my blogroll of a morning (unlike Livejournal back in the day, sheesh...).  Of course you're always going to get the odd bad apple, but on the whole I find the online crafting community to be super lovely.  I'd love to one day meet up with some of the folk whose blogs I so admire, especially Zoe, Tilly, Karen and Debi (who actually resides here in Edinburgh!).  Ooo, and Kate Davies, another Edinburgh resident!

Source: purlbee.com via Amy on Pinterest

But, since none of these fine folks need help with their blogs, without further ado I wish to award my Liebster award to the following peops:

♥ Quidam Ela - Aberdeen zoology graduate turned Publishing Admin turned card maker, Elaine is a hot-shot dog trainer and is currently working on the biggest craft project of them all, a babchick!

♥ Mindless Receptacle - authored by the same Elaine as above, but more focused on her drawings and hilarious, laugh out loud stories about the nightmares of renting and general thoughts on life.

♥ Connecting Love Carolyn - a lovely feel-good blog about life, the universe and everything from my lovely friend Carolyn (another Aberdeen graduate, there's a theme building here...).

♥ Stinging Needle - a knitting blog from another vet student turned craft genius, Imogene.  Imo is my go-to girl whenever I'm stuck with a knitting project, she's only been knitting a couple of years but has already churned out several majorly impressive projects, including this amazing reindeer jumper

Once you've been awarded the...award, you pass it on to another 5 bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers.  And so the cycle of nice continues.  I know I've only given it to 4 bloggers, but going through my blogroll I realised that these were the only blogs that had fewer than 200 followers.  Hopefully some nice person out there will have handed it out to 6 people to make up!

Source: abeautifulmess.typepad.com via Amy on Pinterest

And because lets face it, no one reads blogs for the words, I've included some of my not-so-recent Pinterest finds.  I haven't properly been on Pinterest in weeks now, exams got in the way.  I'm ready to get back on that hoss now though!  I've already been experimenting with some new beauty regimes from Emma's everyday styling routine ♥

Instagram - awesome app or creative crap?

I'm sure by now most of you reading this will be aware of the amazingness that is Instagram.  For those of you who aren't aware, it's a new app that started out on the iPhone and is now available on Android (yay!) where you can take photos and use Instagram's settings to add various filters to your picture to enhance certain colours or give your photo a 'vintage' feel.  You can add borders and highlight certain features and if you so desire, you can also use Instagram to share your photos via Facebook or Twitter.  You can follow friends and see the photos they're posting, you can 'like' photos and comment on photos. 



This is what I've spent the last 8 years doing.  Fingers crossed it's all over now!

I have to admit, I was super jealous of iPhone folks when Instgram came out.  I'm rubbish at taking photos and the idea of being able to click a button and tranform my grainy, out-of-focus picture into some kind of bohemian, creative, mini work-of-art was quite appealing.  Since I've started using it, it's really quite addictive and if any of you folks out there want to follow me, my username is 'secondfiddle'.  I'd love to follow you too!




The view from the window of the hotel by Loch Lomond.  Andrew and I went away for the weekend and enjoyed doing nothing in luxury.

This all got me thinking though, is Instagram really a good thing for photography in general?  I mean, it's amazing from the point of view of letting normally photo-inept folks like myself produce something that is almost passable as a decent photo, but at what cost?  There is part of me that worries that apps like these erode the creativity and skills and dedication that lie behind producing an amazing photo without the use of apps like Instagram.  People spend years of their lives learning about photography and cameras, honing their skills to take amazing photographs of the world around them.  Instagram, whilst its main appeal is how easy and user-friendly it is, almost belittles those skills, by making them available to the mass market with the click of a button.




For the first time in about 6 months, I have time to play with my hair!

For example, I've spent years learning to knit.  I can knit reasonably complicated patterns and produce clothes and accessories that could pass for shop-bought items.  I'm proud of my skills with knitting and I like that it's something that not everybody can do, it makes it 'my' hobby.  Obviously I like sharing that hobby with friends and like-minded folks on the internet or in knitting groups, but if everyone could knit, it would remove some of the sense of achievement, of having worked hard and practiced at a skill to the point where not everyone could reproduce what you can do.



The awesome but creepy wallpaper in our hotel room

If someone tomorrow came up with an app for your phone where you could punch a few buttons and produce a fairisle knitted sweater, I'd be slightly irritated.  I'd feel like what was the point in spending all those years learning and practicing, when I could have just downloaded a free app and produced the same result.  I know you could argue that to the trained eye a sweater 'knitted' by an app I'm sure wouldn't look the same as one knitted by hand, just as I'm sure to those who know what they're looking at (i.e. not me), an Instagram photo looks completely different to one taken 'from scratch' using real photography skills.

I know the two aren't mutually exclusive either, I'm sure there are photography buffs out there who also have fun with Instagram and similar phone apps.  You could argue that these apps are just another part of the diverse field of photography, an addition to a varied and diverse range of techniques.  I don't know enough about photography to know if people are bothered by Instagram or find it fun.  I just know that if someone did something similar with knitting, I'd have something to say about it.



Tron was glad to see us when we got home

In the meantime though, I'm enjoying Instagram and I hope you enjoyed the Instagram photos in this post.  I'll be upgrading my phone soon and plan to take far more photos of my life than I do at the moment and I'm looking forward to putting some of those through Instagram and playing around with the results.  I just wanted to share some thoughts on the process as I went.  Now that vet school is over (for the moment at least, don't want to jinx it!) I'm looking forward to writing some more meaty, possibly thought-provoking posts, as well as the usual crafting, thrifting stuff.

P.S. For those who follow my blog through a reader, I've updated the blog to include links to my Pinterest and Instagram.  Just check out the right hand sidebar!

Trading knitting for thrift

Just a quick one, I'm 4 days away from my first finals exam (terrifying!) and have so much to get through before Thursday, I feel like my head might explode a little.  But, it's Sunday night, it's the Diamond Jubilee and I haven't managed to have any fun so far on this amazing 4 day weekend.  So I've decided I'm taking an hour off tonight to watch The Apprentice and eat some Baileys chocolate cheesecake.



So, whilst I have a few minutes waiting for the kettle to boil, here's a little craft project I've been working on over the past few weeks.  It's for my friend Lydia, who recently gave me an amazing Joules bodywarmer that she found left in her Gran's holiday rental cottage and took for me.  It fits perfectly, it's raspberry pink and goes with everything and I've worn it pretty much every day for the past 4 weeks.  Plus, it's thrifted (kind of, I feel guilty for the poor person who left it behind but apparently it had been there for 6 months and was starting to go mouldy so I don't feel too bad!) so ethical and I didn't have to spend £70, which is how much they are new!



I'm really pleased with how these turned out, they were made with New Lanark yarn leftover from Andrew's Transformers gloves so another wee stash bust as well.



I'm planning a second pair for me, but at the moment I'm working on another knitted lamb.

Ooo, once exams are over, I have a blog award to give out!  Mary Jane, of Paper Blossom Stationary awarded me a blog award, it's given to bloggers with 200 or less followers and I have to pass it on to 5 more people!  So watch this space, I'll be handing out that award soon, thank you MJ! ♥

Summer plans

I'm sorry dear readers, but I have nothing exciting to say at the moment, so I'm going to decorate this post with pretty pictures from my Pinterest. I'm deep in Study Land, emerging only to purchase over-priced cups of tea and glower at the ridiculously overdressed women in George Square library. Someone needs to tell them that appropriate clothing for studying is old jeans, bodywarmer (it gets cold in the library), cable knit cardigan (aforementioned coldness) and glasses. Pashminas, super-short miniskirts, over-done make up and Uggs have no place in the library, for no other reason than you annoy the hell out of me. Especially when you conduct 20 minute 'whispered' conversations with your BFF about how 'my art history exams are like, sooo hard'. I'm going to be super judgemental right now and just out and state, vet medicine = harder than art history. So take your annoying stage whisper downstairs to the cafe.

Source: coletterie.com via Amy on Pinterest

I honestly don't have a problem with art history, just for the record.

Source: purlbee.com via Amy on Pinterest

The online craft world has changed so much in the few weeks I've been offline. Blogger has changed, Pinterest has changed...alright, just those two but that's enough to be getting on with. I'm so far behind with my blogroll and Pinterest, so many pretty pictures and posts just waiting to be looked at! In time, little Amy, in time...

Source: rufflesandrosescrafts.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

In the meantime, this is to officially announce that my Etsy shop is no more. I'm away on my last 3 weeks of placement (eeh! So exciting!) next week so I've taken the opportunity to shut it down for good. I might come back to selling on Etsy in the future but under a different name and with a different product idea so for the moment, Etsy, I bid you adieu.

Source: aforestofapples.blogspot.co.uk via Amy on Pinterest

The Pinterest pictures in this post are my vague plans for 'if I don't have a job and have time to have a life this summer'. Looks like fun, non?

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Amy on Pinterest

Frances' birthday cushion

It was Frances' birthday yesterday so I bought her a sewing book, since she's the latest recruit to the awesomeness that is sewing, and made her this cushion. I already had everything I needed to make the cushion, which was amazing because I have no time to go shopping now finals are only 8 weeks away.

It's wool tartan (Laura Ashley off-cuts donchaknow) with a red velveteen bow and it fastens with a zip that is just a little bit too small, I didn't have one the right size in my stash and I didn't have time to buy another one as I'm terminally disorganised.



It's so satisfying to see something that's been sat in your stash for years, become something pretty to give to a friend.



I also made another card inspired by the lovely Beautiful Mess tutorial I linked to in that post. This time I went for rectangles, rather than hearts, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. I used pink thread on the opposite side, so it looked a bit funky when you opened the card. I could stick some pretty paper over the back though, to make it look more professional, though I quite like how the stitching looks to be honest.





I'd like to make sets of these as presents in the future.

Mushroom cushions

My friend Karen (of John Deere tractor card fame) recently commissioned me to make her a pair of cushions to give to a friend as a wedding present. The theme was 'mushrooms and fungi' as this particular friend works with mushrooms. It was the first time I've been asked to do something like this, so it was pretty exciting coming up with a vague plan, looking up pictures of mushrooms online, drawing my felt mushroom and deciding on fabric. I decided on the striking Amanita muscaria mushroom, since it would look good against the brown wool background and is a well known mushroom, leaving less room for people to look at the cushions and wonder what the amorphous brown blob in felt is.



All in, this project probably took about 4 hours. I've had the week off for Easter, so I've been at home trying to get some studying done. It's been a nice break, doing the odd hour here and there on these cushions and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.



It's funny, sometimes being given a theme for a project makes it easier to come up with a plan than if you've got all the options open to you. If Karen had just asked for cushions, I think I would have been a bit lost, sometimes you can be paralysed by choice. Do you go with florals? Polka dots? Plain? Modern? Vintage? Bright colours? Muted colours? The list could go on forever.



Sometimes I find this when I get the urge to sew something for myself. Do I use my small amount of precious sewing time to have a go at altering some of the vast trunk of clothes I have under the bed? Or do I go for something simple that's guaranteed succes, like a zippered pouch or cushion cover? Do I want to push myself and learn a new skill, or do something easy that I can do whilst watching X Files? Do I want to use some cheap, not terribly nice fabric in case I botch up (then if it works, not want to use it because it's nasty material), or go straight for the lovely stuff but then what if it goes wrong? Sometimes you can have so many choices that by the time I've decided what I want to sew, it's time to get back to studying.



Another nice thing about this project was it was all from stash material or buttons. Remember the buttons that Karen gave me? Well, some of them are now gracing these mushrooms, ready to start the next stage in their lives on a newly-wed sofa ♥

Knitted lamb

Don't all knitted lambs need hooded jackets? Well, they do in Scotland, where it went from 20 degrees C and sunny last week to -1 and snowing this week. Luckily this little dude has his own coat, complete with toggles.



I used Fuzzy Mitten's Fuzzy Lamb pattern, which is a lovely free pattern for those of you on Ravelry. I bought the pack of 5 patterns for clothing, because every lamb needs a bad ass hoodie. And a superman cape. And a t-shirt. And dress...it's a cross-dressing lamb.





I've knitted two of these so far, they're so quick and satisfying to knit. Such a good stash-bust too, I've made them all from wool I already own, which is nice because I a) have too much wool (if such a thing were possible, ha!), b) have too little money and c) am moving house over the summer hopefully and am scared by how much stuff I own and how many stairs I live up. I realise that losing the odd ball of wool is not going to make a difference to the HUGE quantity of STUFF we're going to have to shift, but it makes me feel better in my head. Plus that's what men are for right? To carry all your shit up and down 3 flights of stairs?