Copper continued ...

After painstaking hours upon hours of sawing and filing my components the pieces of my jigsaw were starting to come together. Only now do I truely understand the blood sweat and tears that go into sculptures! - quite literally in my case I may add - **  note to self filing small triangles into sharp points make mini hazards to fingers**  yet another battle scar to add to the collection and I carried on. 

Now the base metal was prepped it was time to let loose my textile mind and begin the layers of textures which also act as a great stress relief?! Oh the fun to be had with a hammer....

The contrast here of the smoothness of the natural copper to the surface texture I had created by hand gave me great inspiration to how the intricacy of my design could be given more depth 

Copper catch up

A few months ago I began my journey In the world of metal work and silversmith and gave you a few posts in the early days of this new venture. My intentions were to photograph and share with you the progression of my first collection ... But alas I got swept away in the magic and I am only now getting round to writing again. So here is a quick catch up of my work - watch and see the metal transform from raw materials into their wearable form. I certainly have a new love in my life!! I'd love to know what you guys think ..

Creative family : not so little anymore

This post is a little late as the christmas season is all over and done with, but I wanted to share this photo. I come from a very creative family, and I am one of 3 kids. Big sis lives in London, Little brother in Europe and Me? - the middle one in Scotland. That makes christmas special as we all take the trip home back to the nest. As it was just a flying trip for me we made the effort to go our for lunch and the brother in law to be took this snap of us. I love this photo as its rare we all get time to be together these days, but it also reminded me of a photo of us when we were young.
Soooo ok the order is slightly wrong ( flip them two around) but It's quite surreal to see us all together again almost in the same line up just 20 years down the line :)

Meet the siblings ... Hels and Andy

I remember this 'party' top, one of many my Mum made us when we were kids, and the starts of my interest in sewing ... the gravy tin? apparently the only thing that made my
brother sit still for the photo :)

Marvelous Moodboards

I've really loved being back in the studio and getting stuck into a new project. I love yesterday year and all things vintage and for anyone that knows me - knows my love of the 20s and Art Deco. Although I'm still early on in the course I've decided to look at the Art Deco era for inspiration, looking at lines, shapes and textures and got making some Marvelous Moodboards to get the ideas flowing, and boy are they flowing!! I'm really keen at the idea of making a contemporary necklace and - me being me - having the piece layered up and more wearable art.
Keep following my posts and join the journey to see the jewellery take shape :)

Silverhub Studios : metalwork begins

So its no secret I'm a creative sponge and love learning new skills and tricks, and finally after months of trying to juggle the day job and the fun job I've got the balance right and got accepted onto a jewellery design course. Really loving the day job has made me realise, although I love my textiles background there is more in me than stitching :) .. so I have begun my journey with Metal.
I have space at Silverhub Studios in the heart of Edinburgh, a friendly and cosy studio ran
by the very talented designer Lisa Arnott.
The beginners guide will set me up with the basic skills to carry onto the next course, and in the mean time gives me a personal design journey accompanied by Lisa,
to help me make my own bespoke piece of jewellery by the end of the 10 weeks.
The first session has got me totally hooked!! - we learnt to cut metal and create textures through embossing with a press and using different hammers to create surface textures.

My favorite though, has my typography love all over it, using small letter stamps
(similar to a typewriter) and a rather large hammer taking out the days frustrations and creating some beautiful lettering embossed in the metal ! only one session down and I cannot wait for the next!!
If you, like me are interested in jewellery design and stay in the Edinburgh area give Lisa's studio a look and fall in love with the wonders of metal work!

" fee ray : Last of the Day Dreamers "

A wee friend in the studio

Meet little Angus! Our adorable furry friend on loan from our friends while they were home for Christmas. Was nice have a curious kitty Cat around...and he seemed to like hanging around my old singer machine. Xx

Happy Hogmanay!

To my lovely fans and followers!
Happy Hogmanay from a very cold Edinburgh! Lets raise a glass to 2013 and make it the best one yet!
Xx

New Year New Beginings

Sooooo i thought it had been awhile since I last posted on this, but looking at the dates i did not think it had been almost a year!! so apologies my lovely followers that i seem to have fallen off the earth. Alas i have not, i am still very much on the planet and nesting in the beautiful Edinburgh! I have concentrated this last year on making the city i love my home and i have to say i am super exited for 2013 and the treats it has in store for me. I will be kick starting the new year with new beginnings all round!
 I have a new day job at a jewellery designers based in the gorgeous and historic Royal Mile in Edinburgh's old town and i am loving it! It has been the creative kick up the bum iv needed to get back in to crafting , and boy am i getting back into it :) ... New label and branding and a whole heap of new ideas.
So let me introduce to you ...
Miss Marvelous Makes
A creative crafts label offering handmade treats for you and your home. All lovingly made in my Edinburgh based studio (and rather cosy flat) by me, the crafty misstress of Marvelous Makes.

I feel i have finally found my identity and can't wait to get making.

I hope you will enjoy the new beginnings as much as I am, and as always your comments and feedback is valued. Here' to 2013 my Lovely Ladies and making it the best yet!
Happy New Year
xxx

I just found BOY a duo of musical brilliance

I've recently discovered this German duo and I'm really loving their music, she has such a soft and beautiful voice and their songs having been playing round in my head on constant repeat since I first stumbled across them, found myself singing them quite a bit too whilst pottering around the flat, always the sign of good music.

enjoy!

xxx

Remember when people used to write letters

ok, so it's no secret that I'm and old girl at heart and like to do things the old fashioned way so it wont surprise some of you that I've set myself the challenge of bringing back the lost art form of letter writing. Now my handwriting is not the best , and my spelling ... well haha that's as creative as I am ;) ...but I like to think the recipients will look past that and see that I've taken the time to sit down and written to them, so the first instalments are in the post and I'm hoping they will pick up the letter chain and write back to me, this has really got my creative blood flowing though, I'm planning on taking it further with a new to me but very old typewriter and plan to stitch into them and make each letter a work of post'able art.

So here is to turning off technology and taking the simpler approach to communication, may be a little slower but the simpler plans are usually the best.

xxx

1st stop . Cramond, Edinburgh

So I have given myself the task of seeing as much of Scotland as I can while Edinburgh is my base, and I've started as I mean to go on.

First stop : Cramond.

The folks were coming up for the weekend and decided it would be could to take them somewhere new, for them but also for me and make use of my Dad's car and going further afield that I would possibly be able to get to on my own.

So with the advise from my flatmate off we went to Cramond. A place I'd not heard of but told it was a lovely place on the coast and good for long walks. Which we needed to burn off the yummy but huge roast lunch we had - after all that's what Sunday's are for no?

This place was just as lovely as Maggie described it, a very peaceful place and a lovely long stretch along the waters edge for you to walk, if you time it right you can get across to the island when its low tide.

My Dad laughed at me, is that camera glued to your hands missy ... I really love my cameras though and I think I got some good shots this day, it was a very tranquil scene, the water was so still and the air so cold, although there were plenty of folk around walking the same route it was quite and almost eerie.

I'd like to go back here once I've acquired a bike, I think it would be a lovely cycle.

xxx

Switch London for Scotland

With the big sis living in London town I don't get to see her as much as I would like, and now I've moved I've added at least another 3 hours onto that journey its making it harder.

So after being able to surprisingly join her at my Mum's for New year while she was in the north east she took the train North and came to spend a few days in Edinburgh.

Sadly I had to work and well anyone that knows my Sister knows she's not an early riser so my few hours a day I got with her were limited but nice. Naturally we abused her hair dressing tool kit and she changed my hair for me, I'd grown tired of being a redhead as much as I liked it I felt like going natural again so I am for the time being a brunette again and quite content.

These photos were taken outside a lovely little bar I've found in the city called Monteiths.

Only noticeable by the bundle of fairy lights that guide you down a wicker tunnel, again lit by fairy lights and in to a warm and cosy bar with chesterfield arm chairs and yummy cocktails.

I shall definitely be heading back there again soon.

xxx

Home in time for Christmas

Christmas made perfect with the reindeer on Princes Street

The folks in Princes Street Gardens

Walking Arthur's seat with my brother on Christmas Day - it was a little windy?!?

note the scarf I knitted while bed bound with a broken foot - defo a winter warmer

It's quite nice to read for myself and some of my older followers will remember my posts from last Christmas longing for the days of living in Edinburgh and the trip I took with my Brother where I set myself the time scale of living there by the following Christmas

- and iv gone a done it :)

As my timing was a little bit mad, the family decided to break with tradition of Christmas at my Mum's and all decided to come north and spend it with me in my little flat in the city.

I have to say, I am a traditional girl at heart but I welcomed this change, for the first time in years I was given Christmas off so we spent Christmas eve at the market and fair on Princes Street made extra christmassy by the reindeer's that were out for the day and then heading home for a lot of chocolate watching good old classics like home alone.

It was even nicer that my Brother made it home from France for the weekend, a surprise to the folks I wish I could have witnessed ( - priceless reactions I'd imagine) but all the same was lovely to be able to show him my new home. On Christmas day itself we seemed to join in what possibly is a Scots traditional in the local area of walking Arthur's seat. Living in the surrounding areas its a really lovely view and a great place to walk.

I like the simple things in life and it made me smile that everyone who passed us wished us merry Christmas, such a simple gesture but politeness that I feel is usually lost these days.

Walking with the family in tow in the very high winds that like to batter Edinburgh, gave me time to think and reminisce of being a child and going off into the country with the family for weekends of walking, something at the time seemed boring and something I did as the whole family was doing it and I wasn't going to be left behind.. I realise now how lucky I was to be able to go those places and have that family time in the great outdoors.

This a pact I've made with myself, to see as much of Scotland as I can while Edinburgh is my base, and ideally do most on foot.

Something about the Scottish air that seems as though you can breathe deeper and clearer.

The explorer in me is excited to get out there and see what I can find

xxx

last walk along the river

I think once thing I always took a little for granted was the Newcastle Quayside, a city famed for its bridges and it really is a lovely place to walk and take in the view. On my last day before the long drive north myself and the folks went for lunch on the quay and took a nice long walk, it was a lovely day and just as we were walking home the sun started to go down and the river looked stunning and picture perfect. I must admit I did get a little bit blurry eyed it hit me walking along the water what I was leaving behind and that mad panic moment of

am i doing the right thing?

but life is a journey is it not? and I think mine is just about to start ..

xxx

farewell to my home town

My lovely work ladies, you made working days fun

My lovely Louise and Leigh , best wives a lady could ask for <3

So there it was , after a year of trying I suddenly find myself with only 2 weeks left in the city I've spent the last 24 years in, but I don't have time to freak out I've a heck of a lot of stuff to pack up and say goodbye to my lovely ladies.

What other way would I say goodbye and spend my last night here other than a quiet booth in my favourite bar and some divine cocktails with my friends, this is the first time its hit me what I'm leaving behind, I'm very lucky to have some of these ladies in my life and I am going to miss them but also look forward to their weekend visits

xxx

ooops where did that time go ....

Firstly I'd like to apologise for the lack of posts and quite simply looking like I've fallen off the face of the earth ... not quite more fell over the border .... eventually! so I guess these next few posts are more a catch up. I seem to have acquired 5 new followers so to you ladies, welcome to my ramblings I hope you enjoy them.

So since my last post was in August ( eeek! sorry) this is a quick round up of what happened and hopefully you will see how I've not had time to sit down.

So seemingly last time I wrote I was still off work with my broken foot and slowly getting cabin fever and looking forward to returning to work ... for what was only a short time as when I returned I was given those horrid words of ''possible redundancies'' . . I escaped this but what I was offered made it almost impossible to stay so alas I found myself back at home and jobless.

I'm an avid believer in fate and how everything is mapped out for you, you just have to follow it through and after these last few months I'm an even bigger believer.

if i hadn't broke my foot, i wouldn't have been off work for so long, and wouldn't have had that time to hammer the Scottish job sites and apply to everything I found and then wouldn't have lost my job through my sickness level ....

but that is exactly what happened and within a week of leaving said place of work I was offered a an interview and then a job in my beloved Edinburgh.

FINALLY after a year of trying it all started to slot into place, so me being me and not doing things by halves had 2 weeks to say goodbye to my home town and friends and move over the border to start my new life ... and just in time for the new year ...

yes I must be mad to move my entire life 2 weeks before Christmas but that is what I did and somehow managed to pull off without too much stress.

So now my ramblings come to you from the lovely city of Edinburgh and I'm glad to say within days I felt totally and home and just wished id been able to do it sooner.

lets see what mischief I find myself in, in this town :)

xxx

An Afternoon Affair

Anyone who knows me knows my love for all things vintage, including old traditions and past times. Afternoon teas are up there at the top, after a mammoth baking session from boredom I found the perfect excuse to get my ladies round for some good food and a natter.

Everything was there from triangle sandwiches, to scones and pink lemonade all served up on Cath Kidston china.

what more could a girl want ?

xxx

The Best Victoria Sponge Recipe

Bake x2 shallow round cakes to be sandwiched together to create the classic cake

Once cooled remove cakes from tins to and prepare the butter-cream filling

Spoon generous amounts of jam on each half of the cake

Carefully spoon half of the vanilla butter-cream onto one half of the cake

Then add the strawberry flavouring to the remaining mixture and spoon on the 2nd cake

Sandwich the two halves together and voilà a fabulous kitsch twist on the classic Victoria sponge that looks and tastes like marshmallows ... yummy!

Sponge Cake Ingredients

* 225g/8oz margarine

*225g/8oz caster sugar

225g/80z self raising flour

* 4 medium eggs

* 2 tsp vanilla extract

* milk to loosen mixture if needed

* jam in preferred flavour

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180'c

grease and line two cake tins
cream the margarine and sugar together until soft and fluffy

beat the eggs and add a little bit at a time

Sift the flour and fold into the batter a little bit at a time using a large metal spoon

add the vanilla extract and milk if needed

fold until the batter mixture is smooth and even consistency

divide into the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Butter-cream ingredients

* 140g/5oz butter or margarine

* 280g/10oz icing sugar

1-2 tsp milk to bind mixture

- add 2-3 drops of prefferred colouring/flavour

Method

Beat the butter in a bowl until smooth and add half of the icing sugar

Beat until smooth and add remaining sugar

add milk to loosen the mixture slightly if needed and add the colouring of flavouring of choice

Soooo seen as I am off work at the moment with my useless foot I am starting to go a little crazy being stuck at home. So to keep my self out of mischief I arranged an afternoon date with a friend for a catch up and promised some baked goods. It is a long time since I have baked, or even eaten a Victoria sponge cake, and I do agree that the traditional recipes are often the best and shouldn't be messed with, but my creativity took over me and I produced my own twist to the classic. Not veering too far from the path I decided to to use blackcurrant jam instead of the usual strawberry, and made both vanilla and strawberry butter-cream filling which I must admit created a cake not for dieters but tasted divine.

With a fun and feminine look this cake smells of marshmallows and is as light to eat, the perfect cake to take pride of place on the table for our afternoon tea gathering.

xxx

Amelie .. moi? ... merci! x

So as I mentioned I got the barnet chopped today, nothing too drastic just a wee change.
Now that Iv decided to grow out the mad moment shaved head thing, I felt I needed a new cut that would disguise it so I can grow it out in secret.
I have always loved my hair in a bob, even though it makes me feel 5 years old again, or maybe that is why I like it?

So iv said hello to a new bob and fringe, when playing around with my new camera app on my phone I discovered a green tone lens and I do like the pics and as they came out it reminded me of one of my fav french films ... Amelie!

Now I wish I looked like Audrey Tautou .. but we cant have everything can we girls !? :)

xxx