Goodbye for now...

I realised today that it has been over a month since I posted on this blog. What with moving to a new town, starting a very intensive PGCE course (postgraduate certificate of education) and making new friends, I have not had time for crafting, let alone time to blog about it!

So, for now, I think it is time for me to put Heron's Crafts on hold. I have enjoyed blogging so much and hope that I will be able to return someday soon! In the meantime I will be keeping up with all my favourite blogs and I love seeing what you are all up to!

Loads of Love

Rebecca 

Off to Ireland...

Things are going to be pretty quiet around here for the next two weeks as I am off on holiday to Ireland where I won't have internet access! All current series and posts will be on hold until I return!

All I really need to say is...see you in two weeks!

Love Rebecca

Harry Potter Film Locations - Platform 9 3/4s

Where else to start than Platform 9 3/4s. In the first book, Harry is told he has to run through the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10 in order to emerge at the platform where the train to Hogwarts will depart. King's Cross Station have installed their own monument to this part of the story in the form of a Platform sign and half a trolley emerging from the wall. It is in the main part of the station so you can take a picture or two and pretend for a minute that you are starting your journey to the magical castle. 

Since I visited last year, they have also added a trunk and cage on the trolley!

BUT

Beware of queues!

Love Rebecca

Herringbone Duvet Cover - Completed!

I am super excited to be able to share with you the completed duvet cover that I have been working on for the past few weeks. I think the sewing took me just over two weeks - I was completing between 4 and 7 squares a day in order to get it finished in time to go to my new flat this week!

(It is photographed here on my parent's bed because my new bed has not arrived yet!)

I am so pleased with how it turned out. The colours are just as vibrant as I envisioned and the overall effect will succeed in adding a huge splash of colour to the new room!

I used this tutorial for the squares from Bijou Lovely. It was easy to follow and the pattern itself was not as complicated as I expected. The individual blocks looked impressive so I will have to remember this pattern for other projects!

Love Rebecca

Harry Potter Film Locations Guide

Over the past few years, my parents and I have been travelling to places in the UK that were used for filming the Harry Potter films. Not only was it fun to see some of the filming locations, but we also thoroughly enjoyed visiting some beautiful parts of the country.

I know that I am not the only Harry Potter fan out there so I thought I would share some pictures, opinions and tips about the locations we have visited so far. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing photos of places such as Gloucester Cathedral, Alnwick Castle and King's Cross Station.

Gloucester Cathedral

So why not join me on a Friday to explore the magical side of England.

Love Rebecca

Dartmoor Zoological Park (aka the 'We Bought A Zoo' zoo!)

Last week, my Mum and I travelled down to Devon for an overnight stay and a trip to Dartmoor Zoological Park. You may not have realised but the film 'We Bought a Zoo' starring Matt Damon is based on this zoo (in the film the zoo is in California so they adapted it rather a lot). After watching the film both my Mum and I read the book 'We Bought a Zoo' by Benjamin Mee and I think we both a bit in love with the place despite not having visited since Benjamin Mee bought the zoo. It certainly didn't take much convincing to arrange a visit for us and last week was the day.

Luckily it was lovely and hot, blue skies and sunshine - perfect zoo weather. And as is typical for us, we arrived early (30 minutes before opening!) so we were the first people up the hill into the park. This was great and we enjoyed looking round and visiting all the animals before the crowds really hit. After we had explored ourselves we went back to places for the feeding/talks that were scheduled for the day including seeing the feeding of the bears, tigers and otters. 

It was a fantastic day and I used it as an opportunity to practise using the zoom lens on my camera. Here are some of my favourite shots of the animals we saw...

We had such a fantastic day. The whole place felt really laid back, very un-commercial in a really good way and all the staff were really friendly. It was a perfect way to spend a summer's day!

Love Rebecca

London 2012 - The Encore

Last weekend, my parents and I went down to London for the Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium. It was amazing to be back there having watched two sessions of Athletics at the Olympics last year. Although the atmosphere was very different (missed the amazing Games-maker Volunteers!), we had a fantastic evening. We were there on Friday night which meant we saw Usain Bolt in the 100m. It was brilliant to watch and he was a great personality coming out at the start of the meeting and doing a lap of the track on a rocket!

Its hard to believe that a year has passed already!

Love Rebecca

One Big Project

Things are still quiet here on Heron's Crafts and I suppose that is because I haven't got any wonderful crafty things to share with you. Between sorting out my flat for next year and prepping for my PGCE course, I haven't had much chance to get creative. 

Except for one big project which is taking up any creative efforts I do manage to squeeze in! 

I am making a duvet cover for my new flat. This involves 500 strips of fabric sewn into 36 square blocks. Needless to say, the cutting out alone has taken a considerable amount of time! I spent nearly two days cutting out and I watched Princess Diaries while I worked (Amazing discovery that the actress who plays Christina Yang in Grey's Anatomy is Vice Principle Gupta in Princess Diaries - I was overly excited about this, but you had probably already noticed!).

Anywho... here is a sneak preview of one of the blocks, I have sewn 10, so just 26 to go!

What are you working on right now?

Love Rebecca

Capturing Moments of Pure Joy

I love photos, especially photos of all the family and for the past 5 years or so, whenever I have been on holiday with my parents, I have insisted on trying to take a photo of all of us. So on Spanish beaches, Scottish castles and Italian Verandas, we have set up the camera on the tripod, posed and caught all of us in whatever location we may be. And I love these photos, we are all present and smiling, set against a beautiful backdrop. Of course they are usually amusing to take, setting up the tripod wherever possible and then running to get into position in the 10 seconds afforded to you by the camera. These proved particularly problematic when we attempted to take a picture on a Spanish beach. I had it into my head that I wanted the three of us on the sand with nothing but sea behind us. However, in order to have some height, the camera needed to be set up on the promenade above, about 6 ft above the sand. I had to set the camera off, run across the promenade, down the slope and then back across the sand to where my parents were waiting, in 10 seconds. I was not fast enough and by the time I got in position, the resulting photograph looked something like this...

So my Dad was tasked with the job and we got a calmer picture like this.

And I love it, but you know, part of me loves the first one more - the one where I am grinning like a Cheshire cat, sunglasses still in place, barely in position and my parents are quite clearly laughing at my antics. I love that picture because it captures a moment of fun. 

Last week, my parents and I visited Alnwick Castle. It was used in the first two Harry Potter films and is a fantastic place to visit. Just before we were about to leave my Dad set up his camera to take a picture of the three of us. Whilst he was doing this my Mum and I were in the gift shop where I was buying myself a broomstick. Yes a broomstick - at £2.50 even the 'grown-up' side of me could not resist and I came out of the shop holding my broom as happy as a first year Hogwarts student about to take up flying lessons.

So when we posed for the photo, of course the broom came in the shot and the three of us could not stop laughing at the thought of three grown adults, posing for a picture whilst holding a broomstick of all things. So by the time the thirty seconds has elapsed (Dad's camera is fancier than mine) my Mum and I were still in fits of giggles and my Dad was trying in vain to warn us that the picture was about to be taken. And the result is literally my favourite picture of the three of us. Ever. I have several photos of the three of us in several locations that are great photos. But none manage to capture the moment of happiness like this one. In the moment that the camera went off we were happy, laughing at the thought of the broomstick in our hands after enjoying a thoroughly enjoyable few days in each others company - and that was all captured in this picture, which I will be framing to go in my new apartment! 

Love Rebecca

I am loving...

You know when you really love something and you just want to share it with people...well I thought I would do that with some of my favourite things right now!

1. Grey's Anatomy - My Mum and I are currently working our way through this medical drama and are laughing and crying frequently! We are at the end of season 5 (so no spoilers people!) and if you like good drama set to a great soundtrack with great characters that you can get behind, I really recommend this series!

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2. Hot Crush Cards - These are hilarious! I have already bought this one for my friend Tori (they make a great 'just because' card). There are cards for several different celebrities and are really great friendship cards. They are 40% off at paperchase which makes them a steal at just £1.40! (July 2013)

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3. Starting a new chapter in my life with a new organiser. I am a sucker for organisational things and I remember when I got a job at 16 I went out and bought my first diary. It was tiny and I covered it with sweet stickers (literally they were candy canes and other sweets!). It was big enough to fit one activity per day but at this point in my life it did a fine job. When I started university I bought photo diaries which had more room in them and were a little more grown-up looking. And now I am graduating, I am heading towards the real word so I decided it is definitely time for a grown-up organiser, with dividers and space for addresses and notes. I found this organiser from paperchase and it was perfect - like a filofax, you can personalise it by adding inserts for sections you want/need! Perfect for organising my new life!

(Note- I am not paid by paperchase to endorse their products. It just happens to be one of my all time favourite shops!)

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4. Daily Odd Compliment on Tumblr - because some of these priceless and will be making their way to my best friends very soon!

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5. Bargain-Bin-Fabric - We went to Ikea on Thursday to start shopping for my flat and, of course, we paid a visit to the bargain corner. I love this fabric that I think was a display curtain previously. It only cost £1 and I am excited to come up with something to make with it!

What are you loving right now?

Love Rebecca

I'M BACK!

Finally, a new post here at Heron's Crafts - time to bump that depressing picture of my dissertation off the top spot! Its been nearly two months and so much has happened!

1. I finished my exams and got my marks back (I will be graduating next week, as a very happy girl!)

2. Said goodbye to friends made over the last three years at the Graduation Ball

The red carpet made be feel famous!
I am on the left, and my beautiful friend Louise
is on the right!

3. Spent a couple of weeks in York, soaking up all it has to over - museums, the Minster and Afternoon Tea at Betty's

4. I moved back home, officially emptied the house in York

5. Found a flat to live in next year when I undertake my PGCE at Warwick (the flat is in Leamington Spa)

6. Started a temporary, part-time job 

And now I have 9 weeks remaining of my summer holidays until I go to Leamington Spa. 9 weeks of seeing friends and family, going on holiday and hopefully getting back into crafting!

I am officially back on the blogosphere looking forward to sharing some sewing and crafting projects as well as some photos of my escapades as the summer unfolds!

I would love to catch up with what you have been up to whilst I have been AWOL, so let me know what you have been working on, or what you have been doing?

Love Rebecca

Dissertation finished...now about those exams!

So you may have noticed that its been quiet in my little corner of the internet recently. I am afraid that this is not likely to change for a few weeks. On Friday I handed in my dissertation, all 35 pages of it! 

Unfortunately, that is not the end of it...I still have two exams to sit so now my days are taken up with revision. Needless to say there is not a great deal of time for creative endeavours - much to my disappointment! Still I am comforting myself in the fact that there will be plenty of time for creativity and projects and subsequent blogging after my exams have finished. I just have to get there first!

So although I will be popping in here and there posting some things that I have ready, it won't be regular programming here on Heron's Crafts until at least mid-June. That is a time I am definitely looking forward to!

Love Rebecca

Cookbook Challenge Update - May part 1

I cooked a lot of recipes from Lorraine Pascale's cookbook whilst I was at home over Easter, so many in fact that I am splitting this post into two otherwise it will be ridiculously long. Yet again, Lorraine is hitting it out the park in nearly every recipe - I love having a cookbook that I trust so completely! Ready to see what we've been eating?...try not to get too hungry looking at these pictures (I know I will)

Speed: This took a little while but it wasn't massively labour intensive so it was okay

Taste: I liked the mushroomy-ness and of course the pastry, I am just not a massive beef fan so I didn't really enjoy the hunk of steak inside.

Repeat: Not likely

Speed: This was fairly quick and easy - I have never made soup from tomato juice and it made a nice change from tinned tomatoes

Taste: A little bit spicy for me but otherwise this was a tasty soup

Repeat: Probably

Speed: The jam took a little while but it was fairly low maintenance so I didn't mind at all, the toastie itself was very quick

Taste: Delicious! Absolutely the ultimate comfort lunch! I loved it!

Repeat? Yes!

Speed: This was a slower cook meal but it was also a put it in and leave it so very little effort involved

Taste: Absolutely delicious! I really enjoyed it - very comforting with mashed potato, a real warmer of a meal!

Repeat? Absolutely!

Speed: Fairly quick and easy to make

Taste: Absolutely gorgeous - I love cauliflower cheese so much - absolutely the best way to eat cauliflower!

Repeat: Yup!

Speed: Another slower cook meal but definitely worth it, low effort

Taste: Delicious and comforting with mashed potato and the lovely wine sauce!

Repeat? Yes!

What have you been cooking this month? Any favourite recipes?

Love Rebecca

Revision Survival Pack

THAT time of year is upon us. The time when exams are everywhere and students of many ages are working hard to consolidate all the information they should have learnt during the past year in order to succeed in their upcoming exams. And I am no different. I am less than one month away from my third year University exams and revision is in full swing (as well as continuing dissertation work). All of my friends are also hard at work and we are often together in the library. All the revising all the time can get a bit much so I decided to make little revision packs for my closest friends to help them on their way. These are a thoughtful gift for anyone currently immersed in revision and can be a sweet relief from the stress that revision can bring. So what did I include in my pack...well all the essentials of course (wink!)....

1. Stress Relief Pills (aka smarties) - find a cute little jar and fill it with smarties or m&ms or some other small candy - whatever floats your boat really - I chose pink smarties for my friend Tori due to her love of pink - this was just another way to personalise the packs

2. Stress Relief Capsules (aka Bubble wrap) - this is a bit of a joke item, guaranteed to raise a smile - bubble wrap, for popping when stress needs an outlet!

3. Emergency Chocolate - This is a revision pack must - for those moments when you don't get it, or you have just been staring at the page for so long and nothing is going in anymore! I bought some Dairy Milk bars and wrapped them up in 'emergency' wrappers - the instructions on the back advise 'For best results, eat entire bar'.

4. Countdown Calendar - this is possibly my favourite item in the pack. The calendar contains all the dates between the date of giving the pack and the first day of freedom after exams, which allows your recipient to cross off the days and see themselves getting closer to freedom!

I put it all together in a brown paper bag and added the 'Keep Calm and Carry On Revising' label to the outside.

Below is a PDF download that will allow you to create your very own Revision Survival Pack for someone you know going through exams. All you need to do is add the countdown days and print it out on white card and you are set!

Revision Survival Pack Download

Good Luck to everyone studying and working hard for exams/assignments!

Love Rebecca

 

Blog Love: Made With Hugs and Kisses

You know when you stumble across a blog and fall in love...almost instantly...well I did that and I wanted to share with you one of my favourite new blogs...Made With Hugs and Kisses.

Made With Hugs and Kisses (great name right?) is written by the lovely Hannah who is almost finished with her teaching degree. She is a self-taught dress maker and sews beautiful garments like this gorgeous dress - you should definitely hop over and check this post out - you will never believe where she sourced the fabric from!

Not only does Hannah share her creations but her series I Spy With My Sewing Eye is one of my favourite things to catch up on. She features creations from loads of great blogs and this is a great source of inspiration.

And...she has started a new series called Spring Clean Your Sewing Space - I am looking forward to reading the guest posts over the next month and pick up some handy hints!

This last month I was a blog angel for Hannah, and I must confess I struggled thinking of things to do this month without blowing the secret...I loved reading her posts so tried to comment regularly, I followed Made With Hugs and Kisses so I wouldn't miss post and I pinned some of my favourite creations she has shared. 

I really wanted to do a massive shout and point you all in the direction of this fabulous blog, so hopefully, today's post has managed to do that. Now I am off to write Hannah a lovely email, come out of the blog-angel closet and hopefully get to know her a little better!

Happy Angelling!

Love Rebecca