Our Debut Craft Fair!

Look what we did at the weekend!

Our very first craft fair,  Say No To Plastic in Glasgow’s Oran Mor!

Competition Time!

Ok, so the website has been up and running for a wee while now and we feel it is time to give something back! We’ve picked one of my newest additions – the Cameo Ice Cream & Black Appliqué to give away!

 How to Enter

Each of the following counts as one entry. Individuals may enter more than once using a combination of methods below. A winner will be picked at random on Friday 11th November so get cracking!

Follow @jenwhydotcom on Twitter and retweet the competitions details to your followers. This will be posted throughout the day. You will get one entry for every day you retweet us.  For example, if you retweet us on Thursday, Friday and Saturday,  you will be entered into the draw three times!

Like our Facebook page and share our competition details using the ‘share’ button below the post.  Again you will get one entry for every day you share or mention us to your friends.

If you have a blog you can be entered into the competition once by mentioning us and linking to our blog, facebook, twitter, or website.  If you do this, let me know by leaving a comment here with a link to your blog.

Finally you can comment here telling me what your favourite JenWHY cushion is for one entry!

Good luck!

F.A.O David Cameron

So David Cameron(sorry to drop the D-bomb) is URGING people to start their own business and ‘realise their dreams’ to boost the economy, create wealth, jobs and decrease the current incredible rate of unemployment. However if an unemployed person like myself who cannot get a job for love nor money wants to start up a business I am told that as soon as I start advertising(not as soon as I start making money) I MUST sign off. Has anyone heard of business that starts making money immediately? Let alone in the first year or two?! Obviously various grants are available but these, quite rightly, must be used on the business.

So If I want to start a business I will be homeless and starving next month. GOOD YIN CAMERON. That is a really attractive offer for me!

I’m not saying ‘pay me a wage to start my own business’ I’m saying let me continue to sign on until I find a part time job to support myself!

After six months of being unemployed they then start to push people into self employment, people who perhaps have no interest in it at all and people who will not succeed because they never wanted to be in that position in the first place. These people are helped out financially. But after 2 months I can’t get a look in, even if I can prove i’m serious, deliver a sound business plan etc.

I’m sick of Cameron spouting shite about what we SHOULD all be doing and then making it impossible to actually do it.

Pinterest Will Enhance/Ruin Your Life (Delete As Appropriate)

I have always been affected by ‘white page syndrome’.  Whether online or in a sketch book a white page is as intimidating as it is uninspiring. Throughout uni, I would always have pages in my sketchbooks that had been scribbled all over before anything of substance was drawn over it. This paragraph is the tidiest scribble I have ever created for the sake of inspiration.

I have spent countless hours of my life being ‘creative’ on Pinterest. For those of you who don’t know what Pinterest and would like to spend the next 5 hours of your life procrastinating creatively, you should click the link. If you value your time and have more important things to do such as uni work, I would perhaps bookmark it for later. Pinterest is described as

“Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.”

I think of more as a bookmark sharing website.  Share interesting tutorials, pictures of cute dogs, recipes, gifts, hot men, beautiful dresses all through a photographic medium. It really is one of those ‘gonna just go and have a look at it yourself’ kind of websites. You can browse the ‘boards’ of people you know (these are like mood boards) or those of strangers. You can search for specific things and people. It is an all round fantastic website and I don’t know why more people don’t use it. Here are some of my favourite things from Pinterest:

From http://www.motivateusnot.com

Image from www.thechive.com

This image made me laugh for about 3 days because this is EXACTLY how my baking turns out and EXACTLY what I end up thinking about it.  An undeserved feeling of accomplishment.

image from www.animaltales.info

I I loved this so much and laughed for hours – so much so I saved it to my Blackberry background and it has been there ever since.

Bolt by Jenwhy

www.jenwhy.com

Of course you can pin any image you like from any website. If anyone would like to join me on Pinterest and would like an invite you can leave a comment with your email address or email me it at info@jenwhy.com

Jx

Tags: baking, blogs, cakes, craft, funny, inspiration, pinterest, projects, tutorials

It’s All Fun and Games Until Your E-mail Stops Working

So it’s all go at JenWHY HQ! I’m stock piling cushions like there’s no tomorrow and I’m getting very excited about a new range of top secret interior adornment! I’m also busy organising my debut craft fair appearance(and freaking out a little at the same time) which will be fabulous! Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and meeting some new ones! The website is up and running and you can view it here.

Brand New Online Shop

This week I have mainly been battling with technology. I’m always having a tiff with my router and that stupid red flashing light that appears. I think I have a crap phone line or something but according to a very well known broadband provider, Jesus himself can’t fix the problem – you can opt pay him £100 to tell you exactly the same thing in person, IF YOU’RE A MADMAN. Thankfully I have not quite earned my MADMAN status so my bank balance is safe for the moment.

My other technological stress is my email. It decided it was going to stop working for seven days and not tell me(or I didn’t notice – whoops!).  It emerged that in between my a capella renditions of Beyonce’s girl power anthems I had completely and utterly screwed everything up. Here I am singing about being an independent women, deleting and adding bits n bobs to the technical side of my website and BAM my email was gubbed. I ran straight to facebook donotpassgodonottweetaboutit and updated my status with the caps lock on – SERIOUS BUSINESS. Thankfully I have a plethora of incredibly skilled technically talented people on there and the problem was fixed within an hour thanks to Ian Adie.

It got me thinking what an incredible skill it is to be able to understand these languages. Maybe I’ll take a night class, or maybe I will stop fiddling about and leave it to the professionals?

Back to the sewing machine where my confidence knows no bounds!

Jx

Instant 2D Happiness

I’m going to look at this every Scottish summer day we have without sunshine.

Everyday then?

Print by Studio Mela

I found this when I was browsing this super cute blog, All Things Lovely

The Perspective of a Student

Now I’ve been in education for the majority of my life and I’ve always enjoyed it. I love learning new things and have always been a student of some institution or another. When I started working at The Life Craft as a tutor I thought I’d be the most understanding of teachers as I was so used to being the student. I wanted to make sure all my classes were just as fun as they were informative and that no one would ever feel nervous or anxious in the run up to their visit to The Life Craft. I also thought that my completely unpretentious and unintimidating attitude and exterior would be enough to put participants at ease.  However a recent experience has given me a brand new perspective.

I’ve been learning to snowboard on and off for about  two years. I started absolute beginner lesson at Bellahousten dry slope, then found transferring my skills onto snow difficult. This knocked my confidence big time and the snowboard went into the attic(where most of your sewing machines live right?). Anyone who has ever participated in any of my classes at The Life Craft will know that I go on and on about confidence being the key to progress and I believe this applies to anything, whether it be sewing, or applying for that new job! I’m always telling people to have belief in their own ability and watch their feelings of inadequacy melt away but for some reason when it came to snowboarding I did not practise what I preached.

I realised this when the shoe was firmly put on the other foot. I went from tutor to got-no-confidence-omg-im-sorry-i-ever-came-to-this-lesson-are-you-sure-im-intermediate. My god I had the absolute fear when I booked the class online and had to check the big scary INTERMEDIATE box. Despite meeting the minimum requirements I still felt completely and utterly inadequate.

So what did I do on the morning of the lesson? Faked it! I drove all the was to Snozone at Xscape telling myself that I was actually perfectly good at snowboarding. I imagined the most impatient of tutors and my reminding him that I had paid good money for his time and expertise and that I was ready to learn. And you know what it worked! I won’t lie there was at least one (gigantic) butterfly in my stomach but the class was great! The tutor was perfectly patient and I wasn’t removed from the premises and ordered to never return for being crap(SHOCK HORROR).

This experience gave me a greater understanding of the inner monologue of our lovely customer at The Life Craft as they debate whether they are in fact suited to a class. My advice? Read the requirements, do you meet them? Kind of? Then go for it! Whats the worst that could happen? If you would rather have more reassurance then why not phone us, or pop in and see us, we’re all rather lovely, completely unintimidating and we’ll be able to help you with any of those crafty confidence issues. So go for it, reach for the sky and you might hit the ceiling

The Troubles of a Tiny

Those of you who have met me before may have noted that I am pretty small, 5 foot small to be precise. Apart from having to chop a metre off any trousers or maxi dresses it doesn’t really bother me (thankfully I have the skills to deal with that kind of issue :p). I mean I’ve never had to worry about being taller than my boyfriend – he’s over 6 ft, hilarious I know – and I still get IDed at 23 which used to be annoying but now i’m flattered every time. I’ve also got size 3 feet which I love because all shoes look great and you can usually bag a bargain in the sales.

Hilarious height difference, he’s even slouching!

However there is one thing which is completely and utterly ruined by my height – gigs. I went to see Blink 182 for old times sake this week which was in the SECC and had no seating. Ok seating isn’t cool anyway but it greatly increases my enjoyment of any gig cos I can actually see. I spent almost the entire gig staring at the back of the tallest man on the planets head because he had obviously been on a mission to find the smallest person in the gig and ruin their night. Apart from gettin a piggy back from Brian every so often I saw ZERO of Blink. They were also so kind to design their set in a way which made sure only gargantuan humans would be able to see, not only the band members themselves, but also the screen which usually pacifies a tiny like me. Ah well!

So did I enjoy Blink 182? No not at all but at least I can tick that box. They weren’t a patch on Rod Stewart.

Fashion Faux Pas

Recently i’ve noticed that I seem to have acquired a strange set of fashion pet hates. For example I won’t wear navy and black. Ever. I genuinely thought everyone complied with the no navy/black/brown combinations but apparently it’s just me. Even if its a garment which has collaborated the two/three colours it just doesn’t sit right with me.

Secondly I have a massive problem with boys who wear awful shoes. By awful shoes I mean rubbish trainers, usually white, ones that are so fitted they look like a foot glove. Or those simpleton work shoes with a massive rubber sole. Unless you’re an electrician and might actually need that rubber sole, steer clear! EUGH. Honestly that can turn a boy from hot to creepy in seconds. The only thing worse than crap shoes is POLO NECKS. I’m talking Alan Partridge biscuit coloured stretched-over-moobs polo neck. There is something super creepy about a guy in a polo neck (Not to be confused with a poloshirt which I am 100% in favour of).

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not some annoying fashion know it all who looks you up and down (don’t you hate that?:|), quite the opposite infact! I’m sure you’ve seen me on one of my ‘kids-tv-presenter-days’ so who am I to judge? However some things boggle my brain unbelieveably, namely wedding trends, or lack thereof. Brace yourself, if you are female and walked up the aisle in the last ten years There’s a VERY high chance i’m going to offend you.

THE STRAPLESS WEDDING DRESS is my absolute most hated trend. Why haven’t you moved into the wedding archives already strapless dress? What happened to sleeves, halternecks, and high necklines with low backs? WHERE HAVE YOU GONE?Apart from anything else strapless dresses are up there with the most difficult to pull off(but not down eh!), and the most uncomfortable to wear but still women of every shape and size are doning them for the most photographed day of their life. Perhaps I am so very aware of this because I previously worked in a bespoke Bridal Boutique as assistant designer. The first conversation with the client always went like this:

Me: So do you have any ideas?

Client: Well I was thinking strapless…:|

Me(in my head) OH FANTASTIC, how WILD of you, you ABSOLUTE NUTTER

How is it that when a size 20 women comes to you asking for a canary yellow dress(yes that DID happen) you are allowed to politely advise her otherwise but when a bride-to-be comes in and askes for a strapless number that will do her no favours you’re supposed to just go with it? The game’s no straight, but anyway thats an argument for another day.

The image that recently restored my faith in bridal fashion is this one:

Fiona Barratt in Vera Wang

Isn’t this just beautiful? Proof you can look absolutely beautiful by being a little it different. Imagine putting a black waistband on a ivory wedding gown? Bloody brilliant. Vera, Fiona, I salute you! <3

World Cup of Tea Please

So everyone’s talking about the World Cup. I’m not a football fan at all, I think, in Glasgow anyway, it causes more trouble than good. It causes a divide and then religion gets involved(or is it the other way around?) and it gets messy. It also jams up the traffic in the east end of Glasgow that I frequently get stuck in and that DRIVES ME CRAZY!

However the World cup seems to bring Scottish football fans together(unfortuntely it doesn’t quite unite Britain but one step at a time eh?) which can only be a good thing. I watched the Ivory Coast vs Brazil game the other day and I must say I sort of enjoyed it. It was interesting to find out that I had subconsiously absorbed random bits of world cup knowledge that kept coming out of my mouth during the game. I almost got an insight into why people like football! Steady on, I said ‘almost’. I’m never going to enjoy any program that comes in the way of me and Coronation Street.

Anyway when I was watching the game I couldn’t help but let my mind wander all over the place to a completely unrelated topic. I was thinking about different nationalities and all the countries i’ve visited and beautiful people i’ve seen. I was also thinking about being British, Scottish, Glaswiegan and how we are percieved. I’ve always been proud of where I’m from but sometimes you can’t help but cringe – ever seen Ibiza Uncovered? I almost surrendered my passport after watching that! I was wondering, if I could choose to be any nationality at all what would I choose and why? I mean, you would look like that nationality, adopt their culture, eat their food etc. I thought about this for ages, and decided that I think if I could be any nationality apart from Scottish, I would want to be Spanish. This is perhaps due to the fact that i’ve been visiting Spain since I was a baby, worked for a Spanish company for 4 years(Zara – loved it), love Paella, Sangria, Lacasitos and I think their traditional dress is so romantic and beautiful. I how much fun would it be to swoosh about in a flamenco dress? LOADS I bet!

So in honour of my previous life nationality i’ve found some lovely things on folksy that are all Spanishy and make me want to go on holiday!

Gorgeous Spanish inpired earrings from Emily Storm Designs

These fabulous prawnie cufflinks by Bee Smith Accessories

How cool is this piece of pop art by Dominic Joyce?

This fun Hola! necklace is by Much Too Fun. Cute eh?

This print by Sally Boyle Applied Graphics has to be my favourite. It reminds me of the Nerja Donkey Sanctury that we visit in Andalucia. They do fabulous work with very little money so we always make a point of visiting and adopting one of the animals. You can adopt the animals online too, why not have a look at their website?

So, if i’m Spanish, what would your nationality of choice be if you had to change it, and why?