My Favourite Things Part 6 and Two Projects of the Day!

Dear Scribblers

There's jewellery, like the Tiffany and Cartier kind. There's more jewellery like the catalogue and high street kind. There's another lot like the cheapy, cheapy plastic wear-once-and-break kind. Then there's the Alchemy Gothic kind.

Alchemy Gothic are a fabulous UK company that makes jewellery, personal and home ware of the interesting kind, and I love 'em! They were creating jewellery adorned with skulls, fantasy, gothic and vampires, as standard, way before anyone else.

They produce amazing catalogues in which each item is lovingly photographed.  How about owning the Necromancer's Sigil ring? Or The Order of the Black Rose necklace. Each has it's own special name, many have stories attached to them and all of them are exquisitely manufactured and weirdly wonderful and beautiful to look at.

I wore my first item of Alchemy Gothic jewellery about 15 years ago, it was a plaited leather cuff with a little silver-tone skull. I still wear it. Slowly my collection has increased. Each piece was bought because it meant something to me and whenever I do wear one of the rings, or necklaces, or bracelets. I feel that I'm attached to a little piece of fantasy.

Project of the Day 1: Do you have a favourite piece of jewellery? You know what to do... getting crafting and creating!

Project of the Day 2: Dig through your jewellery box. Is there any broken pieces in there? Instead of throwing them away, or leaving it stuck in the dark never to be worn again, how about adding it to a layout or project? Adding something you've worn, will make your crafting feel even more personal.

Happy Scribing!

My Favourite Things Part 5 and Project of the Day

Dear Scribblers

There's An Appealing Apple Apparatus For That!

Hands up all those who love gadgets? Got your hand raised? Me too!

I'm a geek freak in a good way. What way could liking geek-feast goodies be bad, right?

Give me any new tech and I'm a happy girlie... especially if it's made by Apple.

I love my shiny smiley Apple products. I first used Macs at work 15 years ago and fell in love with their design and usability. We were able to play video and music on it at a time when the office still used Windows 5.1 on the other PC on my desk.

My first owned Apple product was the iPod Classic which still holds a mega amount of music and plays as well as it did when it was new.

An iMac was next, then the iPod Touch followed swiftly after.

I received my MacBook as a birthday present two years ago, and for my pressie last year it was my iPhone 3GS.

Okay, none of them are the latest models, but they don't need to be. They all do the jobs they are meant to do, and all are a pleasure to tap and swipe. They just work!

I bet you can guess what I want for my birthday this year? That's right, an iPad! It's a struggle, but I'm waiting for the iPad 3.

One comment I would like to make to all craft project CD makers. There's so many CDs available in the market, especially if you watch UK's Create and Craft channel, but most of them are Windows only. Please don't forget Mac users, we love craft too!

Project of the Day: Today's project came about when I looked through some of my hubby's old photos and found one of his desk in his teenage bedroom. Along with a pile of ignored school work stood his beloved ZX Spectrum computer. (Look it up!)

Do you have favourite technology that you use every day? Have you scrapped or written about it? Make a layout or journal entry about your gadgets, be sure to add a photograph. Technology design moves on so quickly, just think how fun it will be to look back at it in 5 or 10 years time and think how dated it looks.

Happy Scribing!

My Favourite Things Part 4 and Project of the Day

Dear Scribblers

Do you ever find that you are in the mood of comfort food? That special little treat that picks you up when you're feeling low?

Well, I have comfort books. Just as fulfilling with none of the calories!

They are The Belgariad and The Malloreon series by David and Leigh Eddings. I've written a little about these books before, please click here to read that entry.

I first began reading these books when I was 17, after being lent Pawn of Prophecy by my boyfriend, and devoured the first five books, known collectively as The Belgariad, within a few months. The boyfriend is long gone, but the love for the books stayed with me, although I needed to buy my own copies!

Impatiently, I waited for each book of the second series, The Malloreon plus the three companion books that followed, to be published and read these with as much delight and gusto as the first. You can probably tell by how worn the books are!

So why are they my favourites? I love the characters, the fantasy setting, the plot, action and comedy. Each time I dip into them, it's like a reunion with old friends. They are my comfort books as there's no effort in reading them. I know what's ahead, I've been there with them before but I still enjoy every page turn and get as much from the next read as I did the first. 

I've read a lot of books and a lot of fantasy, even further stories by David and Leigh Eddings (who sadly are no longer with us), however no other set of books have affected me like these. I like to begin reading them again every couple of years, normally around October time, as the nights begin to draw in and the weather becomes colder, I turn to The Belgariad and find comfort in beginning my journey with my friends all over again.

Project of the Day: Please try the Project of the Day from the previous post.  Or, if you would like to try something different... 

1. Make a list of all the books that you would like to read. 
2. Create journal pages or a mini-book, adding the title of one of the books to the top of every page. 
3. As you read the books, take a photo, add the dates you began reading and finished it, and write a review. You can even include where you read the book, who you passed the book on to, photos of you reading, what stopped you from reading it. Anything that makes your experience personal to you.
4. Fill the book up as you work down your list. This helps as an incentive to finally get round and read all those books that you promised yourself, as you see the pages fill up with your comments and achievements.

Happy Scribing!