Birthday Blues Shake Down

My birthday came and went. I am twenty friggin eight people. And as well as that fact rearing its ugly head, Im in a funk. Creatively I have no drive at the moment. And this is the blog post to prove it.

I originally planned on using this special day as a dealine of sorts. To try and pack as much creativity in the 20 days up to my birthday and maybe beyond. Shake myself out of this funk. It started off alright but then soon faded and died. Here are some of my creative exploits in pictorial form.

Did a few aerial silks classes. But really this is cheating cause I've been doing it for a few months now already. But man I got some great guns for my birthday.

You got tickets?...Tickets to the gun show!.

I've been filling up this folder on my computer with pictures I've happened upon during my travels through the interwebs. They immediately grabbed my attention and made me think "hey I could copy that". This was the first and only one I attempted. I would love to have the desire to draw more regularly.

I might try again, feel I messed up the little brother in my first try.

I wrote a letter to my good friend Jill. Dip pen and all baby!

I feel it's such a dying art that it has become creative rather than commonplace. And to add bonus dork points I made it out of pages from a book I was reading. I wrote on the blank backside of one page and turned another page into the envelope.

And it wouldn't be complete without the wax seal. The pyro in me loves these opportunities.

I finally figured out what to do with these resin molds I made years ago. I had experimented with resin and found objects and glitter and then I didn't know what to do with them. A necklace? a brooch? Then I remembered the ring bases I had bought some time ago and whammo.

Bling Bling Dolla Dolla Bill Yo. I just want to keep all of these. Love them.

I also tried out a new, big version of my feather accessories. Kind of a combination of feathers and fascinator. Nothing complete yet though. Meh.

And of course my ultimate creativity cheat. The jumble sale I attend monthly. I look a little manic here but it's a great picture of Tatiana, the creator and amazing girl behind this eco friendly jumble. Head piece workshops happen every sale among the other various free workshops. I always have a great time here.

So all in all I was a little more creative than usual, but it didn't jump start me into doing anything more in my life. But honestly right now I should be focusing on my career and my training. So for now I have cleaned off my work table and turned it into a study table. I'll still be creative in my life I think but not as much as I'd like to. But for now. We'll see. Procrastination and avoidance of homework usually ends up with me being all sorts of creative.

Love and Happy Birthday me,

~Valiant V

Photoswap 2011

PHOTOSWAP 2011!!!!!

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Remember last year when I did this? No? Then you just got here, get with the program people!

So this lovely blogger Rhianne decided to set this awesome event up once a year. Basically I trade rolls of film with a complete stranger from across the seas and develop their roll and see what they did and wait in anticipation for them to do the same. Here are some of my favorites from her roll.

Her name is Charity. Say hi Charity! She too has a lovely little blog set up. Go see!

I think she's from Canada....

If you want to see more check out my flickr set of the rest. And if you want to see what I did then you'll have to search through the groups photos to find mine (rubs hands together menacingly) muwahahahaha! I used a quad cam that took four photos in one shot so actually Im not hard to find in the group.

THE BEST PART!: you can participate too! Yeah anyone can do it.

THE WORST PART!: it overrrrrrr!!!! This year's photoswap is complete, but hopefully the world won't end and you won't be dead and you can still take photos next year ok?

ok thanks bye.

Love and Strangers Photos,

~Valiant V

Things I Must Do In London: The Ascot Racecourse

I have a list of things that I feel I must do while I am living in London. Iconic, and sometimes very touristy things that I think should be done to truly experience Great Britain.

#15 on my list: Feel like My Fair Lady and attend the Ascot races.

It's really just horse racing, but it's so much more than that. Like most things in london, it's very old and fairly posh. Basically you dress up fancy, kind of like you're attending a daytime wedding, wear an outrageously big or flamboyant hat or fascinator (think sputnik floating around your head made entirely out of feathers)

and drink a huge glass of pimms while watching the horses gallop by.

The place is pretty and HUGE. You can bring your own picnic and grab a space on the grassy area.

I was blessed with tickets to the premier area and it was nice to see how the other side lived. Actually, they lived pretty much like the grandstand ticket holders did only you couldn't bring your own food and drink in because you were supposed to be rich enough to buy their stuffs.

Anyway. As I said, I was given tickets to the event but very much last minute. So I had to improvise and make my own fancy fascinator.

It's basically felt, thick paper and pipe cleaners. I loved making it and thought it stood out among the others that day :) I'd make a tutorial about it but it happened too quickly and fairly late at night that I didn't make time to take pictures of the steps.

I had a great time there and I think I found a new creative craft. There are a few more events on my list that require crazy head gear and I can't wait to make more.

Love and Horse Races,

~Valiant V

Life Update Exploring My Hood

Im so sorry for not posting anything on here lately. I haven't been really busy lately but mostly I just didn't feel like anything I was doing was interesting enough to post on here. And I was just busy enough to not have time to make a tutorial for anything. So for now here are some photos of my recent escapades.

And by recent I mean it all happened this weekend. Why I only just started taking pictures on my phone this weekend I don't know.

There was a festival at the park near my house and they had setup a neat little stage. So cute but I missed the last show! Shucks. Hopefully I'll see these guys somewhere else in London.

Yesterday was the New Gallery jumble sale that I regularly attend every third saturday of the month. Here's the lovely lady in charge, Tatiana, taking photos of some headband making enthusiasts.

When she finished hers I immediately thought in my head "want, gimme now!". I just had to take photos of the purtyness.

I also did some exploring of my surrounding neighborhoods on Sunday. This weekend was my first experience of Queen's Park. A posh little section with an awesome farmers market.

I am definitely coming back again for some Sunday dinner supplies. They even had fresh squid I was looking for last month when I tried to make thai squid salad for the first time. Yay my recipe will now be complete!

Ventured around other areas like Kensal Rise and found some cool graffiti and a store with a beautiful mirror that I want in my bedroom. I love my new phone. It has internet and a gps system so that I can venture around but not really be too lost.
mmm, golden tree mirror. And a wonderfully cute little store.

I haven't been working on anything new lately but hopefully I will get back into the swing of crafty things soon.

Love and Catching Up,

~Valiant V

New Project

It started with felt feathers. Then I kept seeing real ones along my walk to work and thought, hey...why not? They're free and purty and up for grabs.

THEN I finally found a bead store in London that sold bits and bobs to make my famed bow necklaces. So I bought some things to make earrings as well and...

Voila!

It's a real feather, dipped in gold fabric paint. Meh, not sure about this one BUT maybe if I find some more interesting specimens they would look better. We'll see, still working on it.

Love and Exploring,

~Valiant V

Manor Family Fun Day

Man that was a fun day! Here are some pictorial highlights of said event...

My booth all set up in the beautiful roundwood park. I felt like I was lacking inventory, not too many flowers this time, but it was just the right amount I guess because I sold a bunch of items!

One of my cutie customers. The bow looks so great in her hair yes?! She was quite the little salesperson herself actually. Working at her dads jumble table next to me.

Another table selling starter kits of different kinds of spring flowers and plants. With instructions and everything. So cute, and an automatic easy bonding activity with your children.

My amazing coworker Beth helping the book stall set up. She introduced me to the event.

5 pounds for 10 minute massage? Yes please! Too bad I had to keep an eye on the table.

The attraction that might have been the major reason for my success.

A very unsafe looking jumpy house!

All the kiddies were having a blast on it while the parents had a look around the tables.

And the fuel that kept me going (until the Pimms arrived).

Thank you to the Roundwood Park Cafe for hosting this event and to Jo for wanting to make the Manor Special school playground a better place.

Love and Charity Jumbles (I did it all for the kiddies),

~Valiant V

Upcoming Events

Roll up! Roll up! Just a quick announcement for my local readers....

I'm participating in a local family fun day as part of a charity fun day for my local special school!

So come on down May 7th from 11-3pm and help out the kiddies while getting your face painted with a brownie in your mouth in a jumpy house.

Cause that's exactly what Im going to try and do while Im there.

Love and Multitasking Fun!

~Valiant V

Repurposing Clothes AKA Old New Clothes!

I'm not sure what's gotten into me, maybe it's the great weather we've been having, but I'm on a crafty role lately.

I've been trying my hand at repurposing some clothing items.

Was given a grey blazer (thanks Jason!) that didn't quite look right as is. But there's a recent trend of the sleeveless blazer so I though Id give it a go.

I learned that I hate working on sleeve holes. Haaaaate. So my work is a little sloppy.

Will post more pictures if I actually am able to style this nicely with anything else I own. :)

I also found some wide leg jeans for (1 pound!) at the new gallery jumble sale and turned them into the shorts I plan on living in this summer.

It's so great, adding things to your wardrobe for next to nothing.

Love and new old clothes,

~Valiant V

Lazy Lunches Creme Sauce Ya'll

Another lazy lunch entry. I had purchased some pesto sauce from the store but wanted to make it a little more interesting. So I thought I'd try my hand at making a cream sauce.

Pesto Cream Sauce Pasta

Again my food pictures are not the best but it was tasty indeed and you need to try it.

Technically its called Bechamel sauce. It involves fat, wheat flour and cream. But the cream is usually heated a bit with onion and herbs like bay leaves before the strained product is added to the other ingredients. There's all kinds of variants and I made a really basic version with skimmed milk that wasn't "flavored". I know theres a proper chef-y word for that but whatevs. So I made a basic creme sauce base, then added some pesto sauce that I had purchased et voila!

Go for it ya'll!!

Love and turning ho hum into oh yum!,

~Valiant V

New Gallery Jumble Sale April '11

MY SECOND LONDON JUMBLE SALE!

I took part in a jumble sale in an art gallery space in Peckham. Wonderful day. Met lots of cool creative people. Got my portrait drawn, had some yummy cocktails during their happy hour later. fun fun.

My little booth!

The lower level are some odds and ends I thought people would be interested in.

A sewing circle.

They have workshops throughout the day in the space as well. Ellie was the teacher this time helping people to make mini cushions. so cute. People started making other things like fabric crowns and rag dolls and embroidering naughty words on their cushions.

Some of the other tables.

Will makes wallets and bags and oyster card holders made out of old plastic grocery bags! he fuses them together to make single sheets of this plastic then turns them into these lovely items. so awesome.

Ellie's table of repurposed fabric goodies.

Big cushiony pillows and aprons and totes too! And pretty teacup candles. I want to try and make those some day.

They had a portrait booth (instead of a photobooth) and I got a two minute session with the portraitist Clare Wallis. So purty.

Love and Crafty Adventures,

~Valiant V