The Stresses And Strains Of Being A Wedding Guest

The season is definitely upon us where the weather is (supposed) to be warmer and everyone is starting to get married. They say you hit an age when all your friends start to get married and that happened to me last summer.

Two of my very close friends got married last summer but this year I only have one wedding to go to and it is David's friend who is getting married. The wedding is fast approaching (its next week) and like a lot of other women sweeping the country the question on all our lips is "What the hell am I going to wear????!!!!" If you are a bridemaid its easy you don't have to worry about what to wear but being a wedding guest does bring some stress, or is that just me????

I am usually quite organised about this sort of thing and I started looking around the shops in preparation for the July sales. Yes a late July wedding is great for the guest as you can save a bit of money on the dress! So I though great! Monsoon here I come in July when your sales have begun and I will find something i like.

Seven dresses later.................nope I can't quite find something that 100% flatters me. The thing is I can be quite critical of myself and if I don't think I look good in something there is no way I am going to wear it regardless of what other opinions may be. I am going through a very critical phase which isn't helping the dress search!

So last night 5pm came I rushed out of work and headed into town, 13 dresses later I'm still not 100% sure!I've been to about 5 different shops and now I'm starting to run out of options and the stress levels are starting to rise a bit. There is also the thought that since all the sales are on everyone else will be hitting the shops and buying the same dresses. There may be a fleet of people in the same lilac monsoon dress I pondered over at one point!

So now what? I stop and start to think back to all the dresses I've tried on.

 Do i got for the £99 Pink Maxi Coast dress that I tried on in a rush after work on Tuesday? or the Classic style floral Laura Ashley dress that was £85 and a bit more "me".

The rational Camilla decided to make an appearance and think "Atleast with the Laura Ashley dress you will wear it more than once" so unconvinced and a little deflated we headed back to Laura Ashley to get the dress. I suppose I should now explain that I do like the dress but I don't LOVE the dress, I usually prefer to LOVE a dress before I buy it!

So I walk into Laura Ashley and head to the rail. Where is the dress????? Maybe it is still in the changing room???? Nope not in there either. So talk about bad luck! In the one hour I was gone someone else has bought it!!!! (Let's hope this person isn't going to the same wedding as me!) Now its 8pm and all the shops are closing...............

Weighing up the option I decide to head to the Laura Ashley website (thank you online shopping) and there it is sitting waiting for me to buy it. But could I stop myself from clicking on other dresses? ...............no............hello pretty summer dress. I didn't see you in the shop...........

So now I have 2 dresses on order, but I've missed next day delivery option so we still opted for next day delivery but it'll come Tuesday instead! Still with standard delivery it may not have even come in time! I fully intend to return one dress when they arrive!! So I guess I am sorted and can relax now???

Not quite.................. there is still a wealth of things to think about! Shoes, handbags, jewellery, make up, fascinator...............a bit tricky when I can't decide what colour to accessorise with. So now I've opened up another can of worms but this time I need to go shopping not quite knowing the exact colours............the joys of being a female!

Maybe I should have just worn the dress I wore to one of the weddings last year afterall????????? Hmmm...........................

New Stock and Teaching Classes!

This week's blog post is just going to be a short one. (Sometimes I think I rattle on too much)

I wanted to really showcase my new work on my online shops and spread the word of Camilla-Erika, plus I have some exciting news to share with you!

I am currently in the middle of photographing and uploading my new work onto my Folksy and Etsy sites. So far I have concentrated on Folksy, so if you would like to go and see any of my items click on this link!

http://www.folksy.com/shops/CamillaErika

Most of my new work has been made with Shrink Plastic and Resin however there are lots of other lovely bit and bobs in there too. Here are some of my new lines!

Seen something you like? Don't delay! Get onto http://www.folksy.com/shops/CamillaErika for a closer look.

The exciting news that I wanted to tell you was that I will be teaching some jewellery classes at I Heart Art, The Galleria Shopping Centre, Aberdeen next month!

Have you ever fancied making jewellery out of your grannies button collection? Or thought that you would love to embed a little charm or your favourite fabric swatch in resin? Or has the idea of drawing your own design on plastic and making it into a necklace grabbed your attention????

Well the good news is you can do any of it (or all of it) and I will be showing you how!

I will be running the following classes:

Resin Jewellery with Camilla-Erika

Wednesday 10th August 6pm-8pm

and

Wednesday 17th August 6-8pm

Price tbc

This is a 2 week course where you will learn how to make your own resin jewellery. You will be able to mix and cast the resin in moulds and embed any little trinket you like. Got a favourite button on charm? Love glitter? Or have a favourite fabric swatch? You can bring them along to be included. Week 2 will concentrate on finishing off your resin jewellery by transforming them into a ring or whatever else you fancy.

Button Jewellery with Camilla-Erika

Saturday 20th August 11am-1pm

Price £20

Come along and turn some of those buttons you have lying around the house into a beautiful piece of jewellery! If you have some favourite buttons bring them along, if you don't its ok I will be taking some along!

You will be shown how to make rings, earrings and other pieces.

Shrink Plastic Jewellery with Camilla-Erika
Thursday 25th August 6pm-8pm

Price tbc

This class will allow you to draw your own designs onto shrink plastic which you will heat up and magically transform into a pendant or earrings! Don't worry if drawing is not your thing we will give you some help and ideas!

For examples you can have a look above or on my folksy page to see what kind of wonders you can create!

If you are interested in booking onto any of the course please contact I Heart Art on 01224 905909

For more information check out the list of Classes and Workshops I Heart Art do.

http://www.i-heartart.co.uk/classes.htm

I look forward to seeing you in my classes! :)

New Week, New Crafty Skills

This past week has been all about me learning some new skills! Some crafty skills and some DIY skills.......throw them into a mix and what do you get? Well you get this..........

 

For a while now I have been admiring people upcycling and making old furniture a bit more jazzy. Moving house is the PERFECT opportunity to start dabbling in all sorts of crafts so when we went to go and buy our kitchen table and chairs I knew I wanted to treat them to a lick of paint. In fact you could say I have gone a bit nuts for spraypaint!

 

I have been spending so much time in B&Q lately choosing wall paint, choosing wood paint and spray paint but I still feel like a bit of a novice. No better way to learn that just to dive straight in!

 

Project one was this standing lamp that I bought at a furniture charity shop! I knew I wanted to duck egg blue it up and luckily I found the perfect colour. I didn't quite realise until I began painting with it that it was an oil based paint. This meant that it was a bit gloopy, it was smelly and it would take a while to dry. Oh well lets soldier on!

 

First task was to get all the lamp sanded down. Its a bit tricky with all those nooks and crannies! Then time to prime it and finally get the colour on!

 

Sanded down lamp

 

The duck egg blue lamp!

 

 

Voila! Didn't buy a big enough lamp shade though.....oppps

 

 

For my first chair I decided to use spraypaint. http://rustoleumspraypaint.co.uk/product/painters-touch

Rustoleum Painter's Touch. It comes in such a range of colours but I fell in love with this French Lilac colour.

 

First job was to sand down the chair to "key" it, basically for the paint to stick to something. I also decided to spray on a coat of primer. Primer acts in the same way it provides a surface for the paint to adhere to.

The spraypaint dries quite quickly with a 20 minute drying time which comes in handy when the Aberdeen weather decides to go from sunny to pouring with rain.

 

 

David helping me sand

 

 

The primed chair with its first spray of Lilac!

 

Next stage once the primer was dry was to apply the French Lilac colour. I find spray painting a bit addictive. You begin your project and you come to love the results and just want to keep on going. It is so easy and easy to get to all the hard to reach bits too! All you need is a bit of newspaper on the ground and voila!

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn't it look nice? I was in two minds whether or not to distress it a bit but to be honest i love the solid a colour! The lovely cushions are courtesy of my mum they go so nicely!

Chair number 2 is currently in progress so will feature very soon, a nice Guava Green it will be too.

Alongside spraypainting furniture I also had a go at soap making for the first time with the girls from my knitting group. I couldn't believe how simple it was! Simple = good = I want to do more. As I am writing this I am planning a trip to Hobbycraft to see what supplies they have. Soap is a very pretty, quick gift. Just find a box get some fancy paper and you can make it look really brill. This could be a good contender for Xmas 2011 presents. You have been warned!

How to Make Soap

Firstly you need to cut up the soap blocks and melt them. You can do this in an old pan or in the microwave. We did ours in the microwave. We had two types of soap opaque and clear.

Make sure you keep stirring the melted soap, you don't want a skin to form and it starts to harden quite quickly. It is a good idea to have all your materials ready before hand.

You can put whatever you like in soap. We had special scents and colours that we got from a soap making suppliers. Whilst you are stirring your melted soap add in your chosen colour and scent and keep stirring!

We had a choice of Honey, Sea Breeze, Lavender and Rose scents to choose from.There was also a lot of glitter flying around the table.

Once it is all mixed up nicely (like a cake) you can pour it into moulds. We had silicone soap making moulds but you could also use cupcake cases (we started using these once we run out of moulds!) However if you use the cupcake moulds you won't get such a defined finished shape.

I decided to add some buttons into my soap, not exactly practical but pretty! I was going for the more decorative soap that sat in a bathroom. However I suppose you could use it and as the soap wore down you got some buttons to donate to your next craft project! You can also add dried flowers such as lavender, rose buds, poppy seeds etc.

Once you have poured your soap into the mould and everything is added in you need to leave it alone to harden. We were a bit impatient and took them out earlier than recommended! But keep an eye on it and you will see how long it takes. The recommended time to leave them is 4 hours.

 Not quite 4 hours later this is what we had......

My clear button and glitter soap before its ready......

...And once it has hardened!

This was the opaque soap with some buttons inserted

And buttons added on the top

Fancy giving it a go? Go for it! It is so easy and the results and well worth it!

The absentee returns!

I thought it was about time I jump back on the horse and get on with doing my blog again! Apologies for the long absence, it has been MORE than a while. But I have a good excuse.............I promise.............my life has been taken over by boxes!

Yes that's right I've been moving house!

 The past month has been manic, with moving, making sure the flat we are moving out of is left in a good condition so I got my deposit back (which I did!) and decorating I've not had a moment to rest. Work has been my rest, but now things are starting to calm down, boxes are being emptied, things put in the loft and walls stripped of wallpaper. We are slowly getting there! I can now breathe a sigh of relief and start doing the things I used to do before the moving bug caught a hold of me and controlled me for so long!

David and I on our first night in the new house! No furniture and no cooking stuff.

Look what Northern Rock sent us! A welcome pack full of goodies! What a great surprise!

So what is there to update you on? Well of course there is the house. With its ups and downs (and there have been both) we have been very lucky to have David's dad to help fix a multitude of ailments. He really is a bloody good handy man! The current decor is a bit dated shall we say so the whole house will be given the decorating treatment over the coming months! Project number 1 - Decorate the living room.

Who would have thought stripping wallpaper and re-decorating would be so time consuming......... I was a little naive when it came to this DIY malarkey. Hmmmm take the wallpaper off and paint? I think not! I learnt very quickly that re-decorating was not going to be a walk in the park! You need to strip the wallpaper, fill the odd hole (if needed), sand down the wall, then paint???? No no no!

"If you want to get a smooth finish I recommend putting lining paper on first before you paint" David's dad advised. "Then you can paint".

So far it has already taken us about 3 weeks to do it and we haven't even finished doing the lining paper yet.  David and I aren't the most experienced when it comes to DIY but I tell you this is a learning curve! Here are some in progress photographs! At least I have finally chosen my wallpaper and paint. The beautiful Hockham duck egg blue wallpaper by Laura Ashley which will be complimented by Antique Pearl paint from B&Q which we got mixed up especially by using the eau de nil colour from the wallpaper! Exciting!

The wallpaper with many paint samples!

Lining the dreaded walls............

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So the house aside I have a few other things I wanted to touch base with you about!

A few months ago my work colleague approached me and asked if I would like to design a book cover for a publication her and her friends were putting together. With the title of "Shades of Time" the book consists of a variety of short stories and poems centred around time. I came up with an image which represented the past present and the future and it thankfully approved and used.

Here is my orignal artwork I did.

The other day I got an email from my colleague saying that an author has read and reviewed the book.

The author is a lady called Leila Aboulela and she started her review by mentioning my design.

"Shades of Time, the latest publication from the Lemon Tree Writers comes with an attractive cover by artist Camilla-Erika Campbell. I found myself spending more than an average time studying the image with its three clocks, its past postage mark and the hint of a future" 

You can read the full review and find out more about the publication here

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Secondly and very importantly I wanted to mention about my business. Neon Haze Designs has under gone some re-branding! Some friends advised me to consider changing my business name to my own name instead and after some deliberating I took their advice and did just that. (Yes you were right all along David!) So its time to say goodbye to Neon Haze Designs and hello to Camilla- Erika.

Apart from my name not much has changed in terms of my product lines. I closed down my old folksy shop but fear not as I now have a brand spanking new folksy and also etsy shop too!

Please go and have a look at my new shops on the following links!

http://www.folksy.com/shops/CamillaErika

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CamillaErika

I have also decided to get some business cards and postcards professionally printed! Here is a photo of the front of the postcard.

So remember if you want to go shopping head to the above links! You can also find me on facebook under Camilla - Erika

That's all for now folks, I'll be back soon with another crafty update I promise!!!

Ciao for now!