TFI Friday!

Woop! It's Friday! For me this means two whole days of chilling, crafting and exploring woodlands (weather permitting). What will your weekend bring? Something good I hope!

I may also fit in some time to carry on trying to organise my life by sorting out the overwhelming levels of 'stuff' I seem to permanently accumulate!

Here are three things which have made this week that little bit brighter and brought some happiness my way....

Honey Badgers - oh, I'd seen the 'Honey Badgers don't give a shit' meme splashed across the internet - but it wasn't until I saw this video that I truly understood just how magical honey badgers are...seriously...not only do they not give a shit, they also seem to be mini geniuses - I can't recommend this video enough - a few days later and I'm still speechless.


Tanya Burr Make-Up - I have a sneaky suspicion that in general Tanya Burr (and her new make-up line) is aimed at a much younger generation than the one I'm a confirmed member of. That said - I love her positive approach and some of her make-up tutorials are so simple yet so effective. I've invested in a few of the lip glosses and nail polishes from Tanya's new range and they're so lovely - good quality for the price and such pretty colours. 

Tanya Burr make-up at Feel Unique

Captain America: The Winter Soldier  - I've seen this twice in the cinema now, (which is a serious record for me - these days I'm lucky if I see a film once in the cinema - I've fallen firmly into the 'I'll wait until it's on Blu-Ray' trap recently). I absolutely love this film. The story, the acting and the action all add up to a little slice of Marvel magic. If you generally like the Marvel films and haven't seen it yet then I couldn't recommend it more - Sebastian Stan is amazing, Nick Fury gets an awesome action sequence and Black Widow kicks ass - oh, and Chris Evans is on fine form....I will say no more!

I hope your week has brought some little pieces of joy your way - I'd love to hear about it if it has!

Bye for now

Kat xx

Collection Crush - Zara Home Parrots

Thanks to a recent shopping trip to Brighton I have now discovered the joy of Zara Home. I always knew Zara clothing was really quite lovely, but little did I realise that they were also the suppliers of gorgeous homeware - which it is now my mission to own some of.

My love for houseware involving birds is fairly well known by now, so I was absolutely delighted to see that much of Zara's new collection involves Parrots! Here are four of my favourites:

Clockwise from top left:

Laminated Parrots Tablecloth

Parrot Jug (my most favourite of all the items!)

Parrot Tray

Parrot Jaquard Tea Towel

The important questions are...
- can my home cope with any more bird-related items?
- how many pieces of quirky homeware featuring animals/ birds/ fish/ insects (you name it) could be considered too many?

I have a sneaky suspicion the answer to the former is yes, most certainly and to the latter that there is no such thing as too many.

Am I right? (please tell me I'm right.....)

Bye for now

Kat xx

International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club

I just wanted to share this little gem I stumbled upon whilst heading down one of those rabbit warrens the internet so kindly leads us down when we let it (I love those times when you stumble across something quite lovely by complete accident).

I'm proud to say that I have some Geek Girl tendencies - my entertainment leanings are certainly considered to be on the Geek spectrum, so I was really happy to find this community of geeky girls looking to communicate the old fashioned way - as penpals - by signing up to the International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club.

Round 13 is currently open for sign-ups - so if you have a geeky passion and would love a pen pal then get over to the site now (it's free and very quick to sign-up, which makes a nice change - hurrah!). Importantly - it's not just for girls (although people are matched up with a pen pal of the same gender and from a similar age group).

I'm really looking forward to finding out who my pen pal will be...expect some future posts on geek-related stationary!

Bye for now

Kat xx

Stitch n Tell and a Motif Monday Teaser

I was hoping to have a new cross-stitch design ready for you today, but instead I've been doing a bit of stitching to make sure that the designs work in reality, and working with my boyfriend who has quite the talent for pixel art, which happens to transfer very well to cross stitch. This little guy is the end result of today's collaboration...does he look familiar?

That's right, it's Loki himself - burdened with glorious purpose and all that. It doesn't show too well in the photo, but the gold parts are stitched in a metallic thread...which looks lovely now it's finished, But almost got thrown across the lounge a couple of times as it is so frustrating to use!

From next Monday I'll have some weekly little motifs for you....and you probably don't have to be a genius to work out who you'll be seeing first! Your vey own cross stich Loki could soon be yours (and a few other Marvel characters to keep him company).

If there are any characters from film or TV who you'd love to see in miniature cross stitch form let me know and I'll see what we can do.

Bye for now

Kat xx

Sunday Best - Hurray for the Easter Bunny!

Happy Easter lovely people! I hope your Easter Sundays are filled with happy things. Mine will be spent having a picnic, going to an Easter fair and trying to resist the lure of chocolate!

Link to Bunny Etsy Treasury

I've been rabbit obsessed lately - it's taking all my will power to stop myself from adding a lionhead rabbit to my menagerie! So it seemed like an appropriate time to put together a treasury on Etsy of adorable bunny goodness. Click on the link above to be taken to the treasury on Etsy if you'd like to find out more about any of the items.

I'm fairly new to the world of treasuries, but I quite love them! I'm hoping to share a new one each Sunday - I hope you like them :)

Bye for now

Kat xx

Stitch 'n' Tell - Adventures with Paper

Does anyone else find that they have a little stash of unmade free kits from magazines? I've made a vow to work my way through them...with a view to having lots of little emergency gifts ready for forgotten birthdays. Or...and I'll whisper this because I'm aware it's only April...*Christmas presents*.

Today I made this super quick but very cute notebook, from the April edition of Cross Stitcher magazine. It was my first attempt at cross stitch on paper and I love how it looks so much! The design of the notebook is so cute anyway...I love typewriters. 

I have a sneaky suspicion this little gem won't find it's way into the emergency gift stash! 

I really want to try more cross stitch onto paper/ card - although I'm not sure how to make such neat holes - a tiny paper punch perhaps? If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them.

Bye for now!

Kat xx

Castles in the Air

I came across this quote in a book I was reading yesterday and instantly loved it. I've been thinking a lot about developing my writing skills recently, and this poor little neglected blog of mine keeps jumping up and down in the back of my mind (somewhat like Donkey in Shrek - pick me! pick me!).

Life recently has been busy (although I'm very aware that these days it's very difficult to find anyone who isn't impossibly busy), but it's been a good kind of busy. Lots of plans - castle building if you will, but now it's time to lay those foundations.

I still love crafting and creating things - one of my biggest joys by far, but added to that I've also officially rediscovered my love for reading (hurrah), make-up (nail polish collection = out of control) and *drumroll* ....gardening!!!

Why the three exclamation marks after gardening? Well if history is to believed I have the ability to kill the hardiest of plants - and a crippling fear of slugs - I'm conquering both of these afflictions and building a pretty (but tiny) garden. My mum would be so proud - her garden was truly a thing of beauty.

I'm planning to be back around these parts a lot more from now on - but more importantly, lovely reader - how have you been? What's new?

I have some serious blog-reading to do, so bye for now and see you again soon!

Xx