Got my creative mojo working overtime

I've been feeling really arty and crafty lately which has been really nice. I've done a few smallish paintings and been working on the t-shirt refashion swap that I'm running. I've just got the finishing touches of that to do and then its ready to send out. I've also been making a fair bit of jewellery :)
This is one of my recent paintings and my current favourite.

I think my extra creativeness has come from the really nasty cold I've had this week. I haven't been able to go into work and I think I've had a temperature yesterday and part of today so my brains been extra strange. I also think boredom is an excellent motivator. I absolutely hate colds and flu and I'll do pretty much anything to take my mind off it so I think that's what's happened.
I've also been having fun trawling through you tube and have been watching loads of Steven Wright. If you're not familiar with him he's an exceptionally surreal American Comedian. I've loved him for years and remember first seeing him on telly donkeys years ago, probably late 80s early 90s.
I've also been reading some Bill Bryson which has also been making me chuckle :D. I'm reading A Walk in the Woods and it has had me chuckling most nights. I can't believe I hadn't read anything by him till now. My bf's a big fan and so is one of my best friends but I'd never quite got round to reading anything till now.

Oooops

I think I've turned into a girl :/ I keep buying clothes and I've worn skirts twice this week. I'm going to blame it on the sunshine. For some unknown reason this seems to happen most years. Its not like Spring and Summer are a new invention but every year I have a little panic about not having any clothes for the summer and go a little crazy.
I need to tighten my belt (in every sense) as I've overspent this month and had to transfer some savings. I've also still got another week to go before pay day :/
In my defence I did go to Camden twice this month. I challenge anyone to go there and not come home with some naughty purchase. I got the most amazing wrap skirt. Its shocking pink (one of my favourite colours) with black net over the top. Its wonderful and long and so comfy. I'm a little dubious of wearing it to work though as I have this little paranoia about wrap skirts as they don't just come undone. One minute you're dressed and the next minute you're not! I might be shocking pink too if that happens :/
My repotted Pansies are mostly doing okay. I few of them have gone a bit on the straggley side but on the whole they should be okay. Mr Cyclamen on the other hand doesn't look too healthy. I think he's getting too much sun in the spot he's in and has gone a bit frazzled looking. I'm going to try watering him a bit more and see if that perks him up. Fingers crossed.

Spring has Sprung (fingers crossed)

I've just come (well a couple of hours ago) from our allotment and spring is definitely looking like its here \o/. The raspberries have lots of fresh shoots and don't look like giant, dead sticks and the lavender looks like lavender again, rather than a pile of dried twigs and our neighbour had daffodils and tulips flowering. Our bulbs appear to be a bit more laid back and don't even appear to have buds yet but that's fine. They'll be flowering soon. Unfortunately the weeds are also back but, well, ho hum you can't have it all. Also weeds are only weeds because they are growing somewhere you don't want them to grow. They're also incredibly tough and often quite beautiful so I shouldn't be too hard on them.




I've also been making more jewellery bits and bobs. I'm making some sweet inspired bits for Rhibi, who I'm partnered with in the 2nd round of the sweetie swap. We've set a limit on ourselves as we are both on pretty tight budgets so I bought a fivers worth of goodies yesterday and thought I'd make some other bits and bobs to add to it. I didn't seem to have my mojo for the first round which is a bit of a shame but hopefully Rhi will like what I've made. I've made jelly snake (except made from fimo) pendant and earrings and a lollipop pendant and a rainbow beaded bracelet.

Good posture, zentangles and pretty flowers :)

Finally got my posh new chair from sit kneel chairs yesterday \o/. Its very posh with purple seat and kneeling pad.
The idea is that rather than slouch in your chair you sit on the top pad with your knees resting on the bottom. It forces you too sit more upright and with a much better posture. The tough bit now is getting used to it. Yesterday I was sat on it for a couple of hours but ended up with a bit of a backache. I don't think you realise how bad your posture is until you try and change it but my back will get used to its new chair. And its a nice bright purpley colour so you can't really go too far wrong :)
I've also been keeping up the zentangling so by request here are a couple of my attempts.


Not exactly ready for the Tate but I've been having fun doing them :)
Also I have bought myself some more seeds for the trough that we keep out on the balcony. This year I have gone with labelia, sweet peas and morning glories. They are all pinky, purpley, bluey colours so they should all look pretty together and the sweet peas and morning glories should climb up the railings and look extra nice :)
Hopefully it will look as nice as last year and we'll have something pretty to look at when we sit out on the balcony.

Room to grow

Yay for me! I finally got round to repotting the Winter Pansies I started off before Christmas. I had them growing in a pot inside a sealed sandwich bag and had been meaning to repot them for months. Sorry plants for the wait but I finally did it tonight. While I was at it I also repotted my Iris bulbs and my Cyclamen. The Iris's had got some aphids climbing all over them so I had to give them a good clean under the tap to get all visitors off. They are all hopefully feeling happier now and have some room to grow.
Now I just need to get my arse in gear and get down the allotment a bit more often and get some new stuff growing there. Thankfully we were quite productive in the Autumn so theres plenty growing (in amongst the weeds) so we shouldn't get any nasty letters from the council just yet.
I've also been making and have made myself a business card holder. It was a little project I came up with last year when I was doing the Recycle swap and I'd been meaning to make one for myself so I finally did that too. I also made a how-to and have uploaded that to Cut Out & Keep so hopefully that will be on there by the morning :) All in all a quite productive evening.
Just one last thing. I've been following Trish from CO&K and she recently posted something about Zentangles on her blog and since then I have been zentangling away like a mad women. That's not too hard considering I was a mad women to begin with, but nevertheless they are pretty cool. If you want to know more just check out below.