What I Did Last Weekend

I meant to write a post about all the exciting, crafty things I did during the week, but I didn't do any. D'oh! So I will just have to talk about what I did last weekend.

Firstly, I bought these:

This purchase was completely justifiable as I needed pink yarn to finish the Pinks and Purples scarf, plus everything in the basket was on sale. Every single thing. So I'm sticking to my guns! Nyer!

Then I did this:

Before; After
I baked a cake for Boy. It was chocolate with rum and orange flavoured cream cheese icing. It disappeared mysteriously during the week. (It was quite yummy, if I do say so myself!)

Then I worked on this for a bit:

Actually, the Pinks and Purples scarf was the only thing I've been working on this week, on and off. On Sunday I was tidying off the desk in the hobby room, had a sudden hit of inspiration and made this:

double mini zine
I stole appropriated the idea from a zine I recieved in a swap, of making 2 mini zines and stapling them together so they have twice the number of pages of a normal mini zine. I wanted to make up a quick, little zine that would be fun and relaxing to make. I was inspired by another zine I had recently recieved which was in the form of a list, with a page dedicated to each item on the list. Going with the 'fun and relaxing theme', I decided to do 7 Things that Bring Me Joy. I've been going through a pretty stressful and annoying time at work lately, and I needed to give myself a 'relax and just chill out, dammit!!' kick in the butt. I could wang on about how I wasn't just making a zine, I was actively meditating, blah blah blah. But I really had a lovely afternoon designing it, drawing it, colouring it with watercolours, and drinking pots of green tea. Then I scanned it and printed it and stapled it, and it came out perfectly! I chucked it on my shop straightaway. I'm so pleased with it that I made some bookmarks a few days later to give away free:

I printed pithy sayings using different fonts onto a piece of cardstock. Then I cut it up and collaged them using some papers and stickers I found lying around. Then I laminated them. I don't know if they have any artistic merit, but they were a huge amount of fun to make. It was one of those rare situations where I had an idea and I was able to just get to and do it straight away. It gave me a great sense of satisfaction to be able to make them. I am giving them away in my shop with every purchase of 2 or more zines. (I know I have been selling far more zines than anything else lately but I figure, why try to buck the trend?)

Last but not least, I finished the amigurumi beer that I was making last week as a pattern tester. This is all I have to show for it:

Artists' (i.e. my) impression
You see, whenever I make something as a gift for a certain deadline, my camera dies for one reason or another, and I don't get to take a picture of it. It happened with Sparky's blue jacket, and her penguin, and her Babe Sweater, and now it's happened with the Ami Brewski too! I had decided to give it to a colleague at work whose last day was on Wednesday. Of course, on Wednesday morning, the batteries in my camera had gone flat and I couldn't take a photo of it! It keeps happening to me. I think it must be my Thing.
P.S. When I drew this it was the first time I used Boy's hinga-ma-jingy what's-it-called Graphics Pad, so the picture is a bit wobbly. It was fun though and I might experiment with it a bit more if I ever get time.

I'm a bit posted-out now, so I won't go into my June wrap-up and July goals this time. I'm gonna go play some computer games now! :)