Crafty Inspiration Needed!

Me, tired and grumpy!

So since Tuesday the week went downhill rapidly... On Wednesday the doctor completely butchered me trying to replace my implant, leaving me with a rather smashing bruise and a whole lotta pain.  And work yesterday was so busy that I didn't get time to go post my essay which meant today was spent travelling to uni and back just to hand in my assignment.  I am a grumpy little bunny right now!

Normally when I'm in this mood, I get a-crafting to cheer myself up.  But I'm in the mood for instant gratification; I could carry on knitting my cardi but it won't be ready to wear in the morning, and both my sewing machines are broken so I can't whip up a skirt or pillowcase.  I need something that will bring me instant joy!

So what are your quick evening off craft favourites?  Any websites I should be perusing for information?  Any hints would be much appreciated!

Hopefully after a glass of wine and a good night's sleep, normal service will be resumed tomorrow :)

Love Jen xxxx

Fangirl Friday 11.02.11 and What's My Motivation?

Oof. Uni work is boring today! I've read and researched for almost a million hours (no exaggeration...) and must now accept that the time has come to actually start writing.  It's feeling like a real struggle, and I keep finding so many more fun things to do.  Tomorrow I'm packing my bags and going to the mamma bear house in the hope that some countryside quiet will let me focus.


So tell me... how do you get motivated when you really don't want to do something?  I need all the help I can get!


And on with the roll call of what's been distracting me from 4,000 words of youth work management theory this week :)


Reading: 
Sadly not a lot apart from textbooks!  However, some things I ordered from Amazon arrived today, so added to my must-read list are Henrietta's War: News From the Home Front 1939-42 by Joyce Dennys and Wartime Women: A Mass Observation Anthology: A Mass-observation Anthology of Women's Writings, 1937-1945 by Dorothy Sheridan.


Dancing to:
A lot of Glenn Miller, as usual!  I've discovered the amazing effect opera has on my levels of concentration, so I've also been playing a lot of The Magic Flute.  And here's my two favourite songs of the moment...



Best TV introduction ever?





Watching:
I've hardly turned my TV on in the last week or so!  But when I have, I've been mainly watching / falling asleep to series one of Land Girls  Thoroughly fluffy and enjoyable :)


Generally loving:
Any time I'm away from my uni work.  Soy vanilla lattes.  Practising my ukulele.  Writing plans.  Convincing people in the office they should cheer every time I walk in the room.  All the pictures my sister sends me of her baby bunnies.  Catching up on The Archers.  Buying tickets for more dances :)  Twitter!  I finally understand it (maybe)... find me @Nana_Jen


And that's it!  Hope everyone's got a lovely weekend planned.  In with the studying, I'll hopefully be off to watch Black Swan, finally!


Jen xxxx

Friday Thoughts

In the future, Friday will be a day of musing on whatever has captured my brain crafting or vintage-wise. However, I’ve been at uni all week so the only thing that has captured my brain is the philosophy of religion and the theory of youth work, which I’m sure no one wants to hear about! So here’s a quick catch up of what’s been going on this week…

As I just mentioned, I’ve been at uni for most of this week, and the days have been very long so not much crafting has been done. My brain feels like it has been beaten up! I’ve got loads of work to do so need to sit down and plan exactly when I’m going to do everything and make sure nothing gets forgotten about. I’ve also just found out today that I’ve got a new job! It’s just an extension of my youth work (extra hours and such) but it’s made me a very happy Jen indeed.

In crafting news, I’m sitting down to sew my skirt today. Just been having a fight with my bobbin but we’ve managed to work things out amicably. It’s looking good! Hopefully there’ll be photos by the end of the week ☺ It was my friend Kayla’s birthday this week too and she said she wanted a monkey. As chance would have it, the girl that was giving me a lift to uni is also a big crafter and turned up on Wednesday with instructions on how to make sock monkeys! So that’s my project for tomorrow.

One final thought for this Friday… HOBBYCRAFT OPENS TOMORROW! Yep, so exciting it needed capital letters. We have a trip planned for Sunday and I can’t wait. Expect a full report soon!

Right. I have Belle and Sebastian on iTunes, a big cup of tea and my sewing calling my name.
Lots of love
Jen xxx