Kiss Me I'm Irish! Happy St Patrick's Day x

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New year, new look!

Back from the dead and with a new, fresh look! After reassessing my goals for this platform (previously, this was the main gateway for my craft business) I thought it was time to update the look, feel and function of luvfromamy to encapsulate a few of my other, "everyday" interests (such as music!)

Starting with a slight shift of branding for the luvformamy blog header...



And an updated colour palette...



Then moving onto the functionality/reason of use: WHY do I have a blog, WHO am I writing for and WHAT other social media sites do I want to link to...

WHY do I have a blog: I initially created this blog to share inspiring craft projects and talk about my own endeavours - which... still is the case! I also found writing regularly was a nice little hobby in itself, that sounds a bit like hobby-inception (haha writting about your hobbies on a blog.. which BECOMES a hobby in its own right!) It's nice to share my interests in a digital manner and create an online diary of activities and thoughts.

WHO am I writing for: Myself... I'm sure lots of people say that but I honestly write on this blog for myself. As you would have noticed, I took about a year off from posting on here.. and while I was still quite active on twitter/instagram I really, really missed brain storming post ideas and collecting projects. The online crafting community is quite a tight-knit so if I happen to make some friends and inspire others along the way with my posts that is FANTASTIC ❤

WHAT other social media site do I want to link to: Pinterest, twitter and instagram are favourite social networking site; I update them fairly regularly and each has their own purpose. I've also created a tumblr account (eek! total newb and not sure if I'll get the hang of it) as it's one of the biggest micro blogging sites out there and could be handy in collecting content for my main blog (this one!)

With the above in mind it was a great chance to re-align my intentions with information I wanted to offer/hand on hand (for example.. my shop and portfolio are not ready for visitors so it seemed silly to have a link available for something I was not 100% happy with).


I'm pretty darn happy with my re-design.. Totally loving the black glitter background and simplified social media icons on the side bar. The navigation is simple and will continue to be so when more options become available (re-designed portfolio, about me section).

Oh, you may also have noticed I've had a hair cut haha.. Just goes to show how a little change in appearance all round can make you feel BRAND NEW! :P

I hope you like my new design and thanks for sticking around! Speak to you soon x

My wish list - The Easter edition - 27/03

♥ Peter Alexander, Bunny fleece top - $69.90
♥ Sylvanian Families, Fawn rabbit family - $24.90
♥ Lark, Bunny love rabbit lamp - $159
♥ LaurasJewellery (Etsy), Polka dot rabbit brooch - $8.90

How lovely are all these?! I'd be quite happy for the Easter bunny to leave these presents for me :P haha! (THOUGH I'm sure nothing could replace Easter eggs).

The Peter Alexander bunny top would be A-MAZINGGG - I own the "mouse" velour zip up and it's terribly comfy (it's a struggle to take it off sometimes.. I could wear it to work right? Right?!) so I know the bunny top would be equally as comfortable. The floppy ears make it really quirky and I think it would suit me to a tea! :-)

  

Diy round up: Egg-cellent Easter!

Easter is just around the corner... But you still have time to make these EGG-cellent DIY goodies :-)

 

 ♥ Glitter dot easter eggs found via Better Homes & Gardens

 

♥ Easter wreath found via Too Stinkin' Cute

♥ Eggcellent love note found via Buzzfeed

♥ Ombre eggs found via Ashbeed Design

♥ Yarn covered eggs found via Better Homes & Gardens

♥ Blue Easter wreath found via Shelterness

Are you planning any Easter themed DIYs?

In stitches! Intro to commercial knitwear

Last week I took part in an Intro to Commercial Knitwear workshop at Kangan Institute's Fashion and Textile Hub. The 2 day workshop touched on various aspects of the commercial process including the basics such as identifying fibres (man-made and natural), textile terminology (wales & courses, cut & sew, fully fashioned, complete garment etc) and knitting techniques (jersey, all knit, intarsia etc). 

Here are some pictures from my time at Kangan... 

Above swatches 1) - 3) Use of colour with various stitch constructions 4) 5 x 3 rib on worsted wool

5) Aran stitch - used on the gorgeously ugly "cricket" style jumpers  6) 5 x 5 cable stitch

Knitting time! This is the start of a beanie :-).. Look how fine the machines needles are; it was really quite amazing to see an item knitted so quickly with such precision on the Stoll machines.  

The final product! A lovely grey beanie with the following specs: 

♥ Made from a pre-designed template, using 2/30 worsted yarn

♥ 2 x 3 rib of 20 courses (I think...!) 

♥ Simple jersey stitch for the remaining of the beanie 

♥ Sectioned fashioning marks for tapering

I knew hardly any of the above jargon prior to this workshop, but now am able to spec a piece of knitwear :-) As you can see from the pictures I added a chunky pink pom pom and rhinestones to the fashioning marks.

Identifying gauge using the magnifying stitch counter. Then writing down stitch notations once we classified the knitting technique. 

From design >  knitting > final product. Here you can see a snippet of the Stoll machine software - understanding stitch notations is really important when formatting a design. This scarf was made using slub yarn (yarn with different thicknesses throughout) and tuck stitches to create an "open" knit.

To finish up the workshop we knitted this lovely scarf in my two favourite colours! :-) The silver "specialty" yarn is really sparkly under sunlight.

I learnt sooo much during the two days... Although not directly related to the luvfromamy product range it certainly has opened my eyes to the commercial space and helped broaden my skill set. I'd definitely recommend Kangan Institute and hope to take part in future workshops :-)

If you like to attend the workshop yourself, or see more course on offer take a look at Kangan Institute's website here 

 

The best day in the world.. Pancake Day!

Pancake Day is this coming Tuesday, the 12th of February :-) Here's some tasty inspiration!! ♥ ♥ ♥

 ♥ All images found via pinterest.. Check out my board for source links

Don't they look faaaantastic!! My personal fav is with ice-cream, strawberries and icing sugar - YUM!

How do you have your pancakes? 

Celebrating Heartagram Day 2013

Happy Heartagram Day fellow H.I.M fans :-)

Take a listen to the above playlist (you won't be disappointed!!)

What is Heartagram Day you ask? Reaching a worldwide fan base, this special day is dedicated to Finnish rockers H.I.M, where fans can promote and share their love/favourite songs/videos.

Formed in Helsinki during the early 90's the band have since released 7 studio albums along with various greatest hits and remix compilations. Often described as Gothic love rockers, the band penned a new genre of music simply called "Love Metal" - the band mix their heavy musical roots (inspired by Black Sabbath, Turbonegro, KISS) with rrrromantic lyrics which often detail the darker side of love.

Heartagram Day is named after H.I.M's icon logo, the Heartagram which can be seen tattooed on frontman, Ville Valo along with many fans and celebrity friends. 

My favs:

♥ Album: Razorblade Romance & Venus Doom
♥ Song overall: Aahh I have too many but overall I'd have to say "Razorblade Kiss"
♥ Heavy song: "Venus Room" / Soft Song: "Heaven Tonight"
♥ Lyric: "I'll write down everything I've learned. And edit it down to a single word, Love" (Plus a lot more, but this word is so strong and very "H.I.M")

Check out H.I.M's wikipedia if you'd like to learn a little more, and keep an eye on heartagram.com - H.I.M are currently in the process of releasing a new album (yippee!)

Now for some pics and videos! :-)

 

 

Videos

♥ Acoustic "For You" performed on the popular Finnish music show Jyrki, 1998. I LOVE this version.. "For You" is one of my favourite song but this acoustic version blows me away. 

♥ "Pretending" official music video off the 2001 record, Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. This video clip is really trippy and uses a rocking dolly to give the moving illusion. DIZZY STUFF!

♥ "It's All Tears" from H.I.M's Digital Versatile Doom live DVD/CD. This song has a wicked bass line and really shows off Valo's vocal range (when I first heard "It's All Tears" on their first album I assumed there were two singers as I couldn't believe one could go that low and high in a sentence). This whole concert is excellent! 

Hopefully I've introduced this fantastic band to some brand new fans :-)