Digital Diaries the Digital Baggage Edition

I've been following AVG's Digital Diaries research with interest. This week they released the 6th stage report, Digital Baggage that deals with the 18 to 25 age brackets and looks at how the harsh ways that this age group use social and the potential damage they can be doing to future career prospects. Just take a look at this infographic.

Makes you think doesn't it?

 

Help Find Todd

My good friend has lost his dog and after losing my cat a few weeks ago I know how devastated he is. Todd ran off chasing a rabbit and hasn't been seen since. Please share this post with everyone you know and help us to find Todd and bring him home.

Cute Kitten Alert

It's been tough on us since we lost our cat Rex and finding another Cornish has been tough but my Google skills have finally paid off because today we went to visit out new baby.
She's beautiful and I'm totally in love with her little pink nose! The downside is that we have 5 weeks to wait before we can bring her home but she'll be coming to us in style after debuting at the Supreme Cat Show in Birmingham at the end of November. We'll be there to cheer her on!

After an hour in the car home and after much heated discussion between Biba and I, we have settled on the name Aggy (after Agyness Deyn).

This is me meme : The Revenge

As my blog ages I've almost stopped taking part in tagged memes. I'm not sure why, perhaps as I hurtle towards my 40th birthday I'm becoming craggier?!

However, Tara re tagged me in a meme that she ran back in 2009 and again in 2011 where artistic control was passed over to those who love us most, our children. 

The result, stunning artwork aka stick men and potato mums that had us chuckling at each other for weeks.

My original meme entry was an old pic that Betty drew when she started in 4+. Yes, I do look like Popeye.

Today, I've changed considerably in the arm department. From spending too much time typing I'm told but at least the old Jazz Hands are going strong.
No idea what she means by the slogan T-Shirt though *cough*.

Betty's portrait of me

Biba went for an adaptation of me on Cybher™ day this year in a dress lovingly created by Yan and a pair of trusty Dr Martens boots. My arms seem to have shrunk in her eyes too!

So I'm going to tag...

Bad-Fiction

Typecast who can cheat and get her grand kids to do it.

CheshireMum

Patch of Puddles

Big Fashionista

If you are desperado to join in you don't have to wait to be tagged, just pop the link to your post over on Tara's blog.

The Gallery : Yellow : Rex

My beautiful Cornish Rex cat, Rex was killed a couple of weeks ago in a hit and run. We miss him so much and as the days go by it doesn't ease. 

Biba (10), found him on the road outside our house. It had just happened. He was still alive but barely. He was bleeding out of his ears and he'd lost most of his teeth in the impact. The driver thought it was ok to just keep on going. 

My Gallery pic this week is in memory of my little Rex with his fat saggy belly and his love of food, Sonny and me. He was more of a dog than cat in nature, loving to come on walks with us and insisting on accompanying Sonny to the school bus in the morning. He was a softie, a cutie and will always be missed.

For this weeks The Gallery. Do stop by the other posts you will find on the linky on Tara's blog.

How To : Make a Hama Beads Bowl

Not sure how this has happened but this week we have turned uber crafty. By that I mean that we've managed to sit down for three days running to enjoy some quality relaxing time together. 

We've been playing with Hama Beads... a lot. Making Christmas decorations, coasters, jewellery and just chilling out. Then yesterday I had a brainwave about creating a bowl from Hama Beads. I'm sure it's been done a million times before but we are generally a craft free, bake free zone so bear with me cause this is BIG news to us!

So, what you need to Make a Hama Beads Bowl in less that 30 mins is.

An ovenproof bowl

Cooking oil

Kitchen roll

Hamma Beads

Oven

Love

Tip a small bit of cooking oil into your oven proof bowl and give it a wipe around with a piece of kitchen roll then tip in some Hama Beads.

Spread the beads around the bowl. The oil will help to make them stick to the sides.

Pop the bowl into a pre heated oven for about 10 to 15 mins. Don't ask me what the temperature was because I forgot to look!

Keep an eye on it, cause it's not an exact science but when you see the beads starting to melt, it's time for it to come out.

Leave it to cool and then turn it upside down and it should just slide out! 

Should.... 

If it doesn't, you've screwed up or I have and you should probably never take any notice of what i'm going on about again...

But here's the one we made today.

And the bigger one we made yesterday. If it's your birthday coming up and you are expecting a pressie from us I hereby give you enough notice to come to terms with that fact that this is what you will be getting.

If you'd like to turn into a crafty queen you can get hold of all the Hama Beads you will ever need from CrafyMerrily.co.uk

We Love Hama Beads

We've had a fab girlie afternoon today deep in hama beads heaven. We've made butterflies, dragonflies, picture frames, hearts, necklaces, earrings and bracelets but more importantly, I switched off the tech and took some much needed time out with my girls.

I'm rather proud of my butterfly and Biba's bunny earrings (centre bottom) are amazing. I'm not so good at freehand but the girls are ace. They just get stuck in and go with the flow. 

We've been enjoying the Miss Hama Metallic Jewellery Kit. It's packed with 2440 mini beads in assorted colours, flower beads, elastic, design instructions and butterfly, heart and hexagon pegboards and even with our epic production line we still have stacks of beads left.

We also found a use for the little almond tins that we had left over from this year's Cybher™..... they make the perfect home for colour coded hama beads tins. 

Eat your heart out OCD pals:)

For more Hama Beads design inspiration we like to stalk SimplyCrafts.co.uk and MerrilyMe Pinterest.