Week 1: Crafting

I have been inspired by Lizzyish over at Hum Drum Plm to set myself a blogging challenge. Now I don't have a name for my challenge, and I don't want to commit myself to anything too stressful, and chances are I will drop this after two or three weeks. I am going to challenge myself to do something creative each week and post a how to. "Creative" for this blog encapsulates crafting/gardening/cooking/styling a snazzy outfit/procrastinating successfully and anything else I deem to be creative that week.

Here goes!

Crafting Part One

String Things!!

You will need:

1 L of PVA glue

Corn flour

Balloons

Sorbolene/Vaseline

String (any string will work, steer clear of using knitting yarn though) and lots of it. I had about 120m of string.

Pole (broom handle works well)

Tarp/Garbage bags/Boxes/Old Towels

Two chairs
Bowl/Tray ok to get gluey

Some time, and a willingness to get messy

Step One:

Set up your two chairs back to back, and affix the pole to them. I was lucky enough to have chairs with holes in them, so I didn't need to tie the pole down. You want to make sure you are in an area of house that is ok to get a little messy or is easily cleaned.

Lay down your protective covering under the pole I used boxes and a towel for the comfort factor, and used the chairs to keep them in place. 

Step Two:

Blow up balloons to various sizes, the rounder the better. Attach string to the top of the balloon and then attach them to the pole. Hanging at different heights, and spaced well is a good idea. 

Coat each balloon in a lot of Vaseline/sorbolene. If you are planning on using the string balls as a lamp shade (which I was for one) be sure to mark a space around the balloon knot so that there is space to fit the light bulb inside. 

Step Three:

Create your glue mixture. I didn't measure anything, so this is just a guess. Use your bowl/tray. 

Mix 300ml of PVA glue with 1/2 cup of warm water and 1/2 cup of corn flour. Mix until smooth. 

I think mostly the water and corn flour are there to stop the glue hardening in the bowl. It was slow work and the glue didn't change consistency, even when left over night in the bowl. It does however make nice stiff string in the final product.... go figure!

Step Four:


Get your messy on.
It was easiest if I unravelled a whole bunch of string, and put it all into the glue mixture, then ran the string through my fingers to get the excess glue off before attaching to the balloon.
Start at the top of the balloon, and don't work systematically. It will look better if there are uneven gaps in the string. Continue until you are happy with the coverage.

Keep your friendly neighbourhood house mate (Althea version) on hand to pull up your sleeves for you when it gets too messy.

 This is what it should begin to look like. I ran out of string at this point. This is 40m of string, so you will need LOTS!!

The green balloon will hopefully be my lampshade, so It got a second coat of string.

The smaller balloons will hopefully turn into a wicked hanging, all strung together and woven through with some coloured ribbon.

Step 5:


Wait for over 24 hours.
Cut the knot off the balloon, and as the air comes out it should peel away from the string leaving you with a nice round string thing!

Note: I found that when dry the strings started to peel away from each other, another coat of glue mix over the whole balloon with a paint brush and more time to dry, solved this.

Finished product.

Step Six:

Style as wanted!

I'm using one as a lampshade, and will probably string the others up as a ceiling hanging to decorate the corner of my room that gets light shone on it, but is rather empty. 

Stay tuned for Part Two, where I will show you the finished product and how to hang them. Although I'm sure you all know how to hang stuff. 

Ex

Ps: Feeling the enjoyment out of a craft how to? I am!

... and that's blogging.

Blogging.

Apparently it's all the rage right now. I have various friends doing a blog a day for a month, and other friends doing a blog a week for a year. And then other crazier friends as well. And then here I am. It's not that I don't appreciate the constant things to read, I just can't work out how people find things to say.

Take the 30 Day Blog Challenge. (I dare you to take the 30 day BOG challenge). Who has enough interesting things to say that they can fill 30 blogs with stuff? The answer to that question is no one. No one can make themselves and their lives interesting enough for people to tune in everyday for a month. Unless you are doing a 30 day "I quit my job and I will now do something different everyday" blog challenge, I'm sorry, but your boring life will not keep me enthralled.

I'm not trying to offend those that have taken up this challenge, or anyone else that blogs. All I am trying to do is work it out. How do you have so many things to say? Do you know they are boring? Perhaps you should quit your job and do something interesting everyday for a month.

There are a few people who I think are successfully doing the blogging thing. My friend Lizzyish over at Hum Drum Plum is doing a blog a week for the rest of the year, but she is setting herself goals, and doing something new every week. This is interesting.

Nx over at bigmouthery is always blogging about interesting things, and he has proclaimed June as the month of Joy. You should get involved.

I was going to set myself a blogging challenge, but I wont. I will however try to update you on life in Perth in the next few days. Possibly cross off some of my 2011 things.

Blogger out.

E x

... and that's 2010 into 2011

2010 was a really good year. It was hard, and it was definitely challenging, but it was also fun and rewarding too. The goals I set for myself for 2010 were simple, and almost mundane. They fit into the life I was creating for myself, and while I struggled to complete some of the goals, others I had no problem with at all. 


In 2010 I had hoped to:
pass university
Yes! First semester was a struggle after never having done full time university, but by second semester I seemed to hit my stride, and I managed to graduate with a two High Distinctions, and an overall Distinction average (stupid English bringing me down). I graduated the other day, and I am very very proud to tell you that I am now a qualified Drama and English teacher. How's that for a career making year? 

get a paid teaching job
I am still yet to find that elusive teaching job. Having said this I have had nothing but positive experiences during the application/interview process. I'm still hopeful. 

survive the first few months in Perth
While I did survive the first few months in Perth, I did hit a very deep funk in about May. It was a tough month, and I missed home more than anything. But I survived, and am typing this from my Perth home. 

have a happy living environment
Indeed... except when the unspoken "No I wont wash the dishes" monster reared it's head. 

support my Brisbane friends and their endeavours in any way I can
I don't know, you would have to ask them. I tried to be a supportive as I could be from so far away. 

get my first tattoo
Incorrect. I am still a chicken, and this is going on my 2011 list. 

buy a manual focus digital camera
It is not manual focus, but I definitely upgraded from the pocket sized bullet that was my last camera. 

hunt for that vintage dress
Admittedly I did buy a few vintage dresses, and a vintage onesie, but none were designer. I have come to the conclusion that I am of the body shape that will not fit anything designer vintage or otherwise. I'm cool with it. 


***


2011 has started off on uncertain footing, with my home city being drowned, and the emotional toll of being legitimately poor taking it's toll. I know the things that I want to achieve this year, and they are no more important than any other year, and no less achievable. I must admit that I never look back at any of the goals I have set. I set them in order to lay out what I would like my year to be. All are attainable, and all are things I would like to accomplish in my life, it just so happens that they fit within this year of my life. With this said, my 2011 goals are as follows. 

• Get a teaching job. Relief or otherwise
• Downsize my wardrobe and donate what I don't need
• Don't be a chicken and get the tattoo
• Pay back my parents
• Bring back the spice to my relationship
• Cook more creatively
• Swear less
• Strengthen my friendships in Perth so they are as everlasting as the memories will be
• Sing in front of the "scary" WAAPA students
• Be a proud girlfriend in the front row of every show
• Relax into a sense of style
• Maintain the red

I like that I am now a teacher, and I like that I live with my man friend and it is no different to how it was before. I like that I reorganised the living room all by myself, I like that I can start really relaxing into who I am and discover who I am going to be. I like that I am 25, and I like that I still have so much ahead of me. 

E x

... and that's just about the lowest point

I'm poor.

I don't mean the "No I wont pay for lunch today because I will have to buy spastic amounts of alcohol this weekend, and want to have plenty of spare cash in case of taxi and midnight feast need, I'll eat Mi-Goreng instead, but I will purchase that apparently essential accessory just in case I might wear it" kind of poor.

I mean the "No, I wont drive the car today because I can't afford petrol, but I will walk most of the way there, Public Transport is just so expensive these days, I'll just order water - from the tap - at lunch today because I don't want to be seen not participating in life, I'm calling you from the home phone, shit I ran out of shampoo I'll have to use the bar of soap instead for a while, fuck I can't pay rent" type of poor.

I have just finished my final year of university for the foreseeable future (those of you that know me, know that this is some kind of epic statement), and I am about to embark on the first year of my career (again, mammoth statement) and I am literally pinching pennies. Honestly, I found two dollars on the ground yesterday, and skipped my way to the bus station.

I am quite shaken by my new economic status, and while I am home in Brisbane for a holiday it is not a nice situation to find myself in. At the end of the stay I am half expecting to have my parents hand me a bill, that will tumble down the stairs in front of me it is so long. On that bill will be things like laundry, room rates, mini bar costs and my dignity.

I'm not keen for Christmas, that's for sure. Getting presents you love, but giving presents you could only just afford is not a winning combination.

But hey.... at least I do have a roof over my head.

xE

... and that's a little random

With two short weeks left until I finish my second degree, I have been reflecting on my year and what the future holds. For someone with a constant urge to study, a less than constant influx of income, and a never ending capacity to see new and exciting things in small mundane moments, it is a surprise even to myself that I am starring down the barrel of a yet another degree, and a possible career.

I am, unbeknown to myself at times, often at odds with the world around me. I am either too cold, when I should be hot. I can find interest in the strangest of things, and while I really enjoy studying, I am apparently starting to become too old to be seen as "that student who has studied for years to find what she loves" and more of the "bizarre girl who loves an assignment, is not quite an older age student, but is too old to fit in with another bunch of first years".

I am 25. And in this day and age that means a lot of things. It means I am no longer covered by my family medical insurance, I am no longer eligible for Centerlink unless I am on the dole, and I am at that age where Grandma's are allowed to ask the dreaded question "So when are you getting married?" The answer is not yet, if ever, and no I do not want to explain why I am in a happy relationship and marriage is not on the cards. That's exactly why I am in a happy relationship.

But I'm getting distracted.

Two shorts weeks are comfortably wedged between me and the end of my second degree. Which means that two short weeks are sitting between me and what is potentially my first real career (mind you the idea of a career is a whole other blog post waiting to happen). I am acutely aware of the fact that by my age, countless people have had one career and are on to their second. I am also very aware of the fact that while I have been studying to be a teacher, my younger sister has already gotten a psych degree and moved on to criminal studies and my Dad has silently given up on me ever having a 'real job'.

All these factors aside, I have learnt a lot on my final Prac, not all of which relate to teaching.

Things I have learnt on Prac:

• You will never win over a class without a smile
• Wearing badges that are obscure leads to students wanting to know more about you
• Falsely accusing a quiet student of talking will make the whole class shut up
• I desperately want to do a Diploma of Special Needs Teaching
• Me and my mentor teacher are not twins, no matter how many students ask us if we are
• Catholic schools are not as scary as I would have expected
• Catholic school students are not as well behaved as I would have expected
• Catholic school consequences are much scarier than I expected. 
• Teaching English is not that scary
• Teaching Musical theatre is very scary
• I need to define what I mean by "teaching"
• I am in desperate need of a group of friends that appreciate me
• My housemates are brilliant at making me laugh, but sometimes I just need someone to listen
• I've lived with my man friend for 10 months now, and it feels no different to before
• I really appreciate Tim Tams and their magical healing goodness
• Picnics on the floor of our bedroom with ginger beer and chicken and cheese sandwiches are the best way to make any day better
• Yes I am a Nana, and I will choose to stay home, cook dinner and watch a movie no matter how enticing your party sounds
• "The Game" is excellent
• Students often have hearts of gold
• A cartoon every week from a student about you and your mentor teacher is very appreciated
• Etsy is a trap
• Spending time in the art rooms playing with clay during your free periods is a much better use of time than lesson planning
• Having a mentor teacher who may as well be you in 7 years is hell fun
• I definitely want to be a teacher. At some point. 

I'm not really sure what the point of this post was, but I sure do feel better now. 

E x

... and that was uneventful.

I turn 25 a few weeks ago, without so much as a wrinkle or grey hair.

Who would have thought it would have been so painless?

E x

... and this is Sunny.

This is Sunny. She us comfy and yellow and so fun to ride.

E x