May your day....

That is all :)

Charitable giving and possibly being a hypocrite while shopping and generally in life*

Warning - this is going to be a wordy, rambling mess of a blog post - I was pondering it the other day in the car! It also has nothing to do with Swirlyarts but 'person behind the blog' and all that :)

As you may well know I do like a good charity shop - both to buy from and also to donate to. I had a huge amount of fabric to donate the other day and it goes into the fabric bins at my local supermarket. There is normally only one bin but this time there were two - one for a cancer charity and one for The Salvation Army. Given the choice (as I was) I chose the the cancer charity as I really don't like The Salvation Army stance on LGBT issues (the article is on Huffpost Gay Voices so there may be some bias there but you can see more on Snopes here) However I have been into their charity shops, have bought from them in the past and even donated fabric to their bins so maybe a little bit of hypocrisy there? There is a very small charity shop in Burnley that raises money for the Catholic Church. I go there although I'm an atheist and don't like certain aspects of the Catholic Church or organised religion full stop. More hypocrisy.

I'm keen on sustainable fashion where the workers are paid a decent amount of money but I also shop at Primark. I like the idea of Fair Trade food but often buy non Fair Trade food even though we can probably afford most things Fair Trade. I don't like Nestle's stance on lots of things but I do like Aero bars and Quality Street. I have friends who boycott Nestle but I don't even though some of the things they do are horrible. More hypocrisy.

Maybe I am over thinking things (me?? Never!) Anyone else a hypocrite?? Thoughts and ramblings of your own are welcome!

*and the longest blog title award goes to.......

Be warned - extreme mess ahead and a pledge!

If you follow me on Twitter you will have seen me tweeting about tidying the craft room. However I'm not just tidying it, I am using up stuff instead of just putting it away - so cardboard is being punched into tags shapes rather than being piled up and fabric is being made into chicken shapes or business cards rather than being added to the scrap pile or being put on the shelves. If I had tidied up conventionally then it would have been tidier a lot quicker but this is what still waits me this morning.

My Desk

The other desk which hasn't been used for a while as it is piled high with stuff!

View from my door

Note you can't actually get in the door easily!

Big pile of stuff that has been moved from the stairs

Don't judge me!! So I have come to the conclusion that I have far too much stuff (Matt laughed and said had I only just realised that?) so I am not going to buy any craft stuff for two months. No buttons, no fabric, no pretty things! I am allowing myself some exemptions though.

1. I have been looking for a new sewing machine for a while - if I finally get round to sorting out what I want and find one then I am allowed to buy it.

2. I am excluding things like glue, thread, needles, sellotape etc as they are essentials. Buttons do not count as essentials!

3. I am allowed 1 thing a month - so if I see a roll of vintage fabric for 20p or a tin of buttons for 10p then I am allowed to buy it but I must use it/them (or part of) before the two months are up. BUT if I waste my 1 exception on vintage fabric and then see something else, tough!

Personally I think I could easily go for longer but we will see how I go with two months. Anyone else fancy joining me?

Brooch-a-licious!

After seeing Cam's post over at Curly Pops I knew I had to show off my brooches too!

These used to live in a drawer but I kept losing them so I found this hanger and added them to it. It now lives next to my dressing table :)

The vast majority of the sparkly vintage ones are from charity shops or some were gifts from my mum who got them in charity shops! The orange chicken at the top is from Alex and the orange flower is from Alice at Raspberry. The brown one on the right hand side has real heather and moss inside it.

The skanky and pervert badges are from Avenue Q - a musical which I urge you all to see if you don't mind a bit of bad language now and then - it's hilarious! The Haley's comet badge is Matt's from when he was little and my sister made me the light blue collection to the top right. They feature Cool Cactus, Disco Duck and Parachuting Pig!

The crocheted Santa came from a jumble sale and the black button brooch was made by me - I needed something that would go with all the colour that I wear! The circle brooch at the bottom is by Sophie Isobel and is entitled The Artist.

For more detailed pictures with notes then check out my Flickr.