Finally added the Crafty Book Addicts community on LJ.  You may not be aware of how much I like to plan things, but I really like to plan things.  So instead of planning, I decided just to create it now (instead of sleeping) and worry about the fine print later.  that’s what happens when I don’t go to bed at a decent time!  So if you are a Book Addict (ie person who loves books) and a crafty one at that, then please go join up.  You must also be a member of the Book Addicts Book Group since we are a community for Book Addicts (and there would be no point if you weren’t now would there) and you must be crafty.  See the community for more info.

Zazzle has *finally* sorted out their email notification system and I got 267 emails from them today :p  Oh joy!  Every email I should have had since it “broke” arrived in my inbox this morning, and they just keep coming, so quite possibly it’s still not working quite right, as I know for a fact I have not had 32 new orders today lol but they keep insisting I’ve “just made a sale” *head spins*  Anyway, nice to see some emails instead of nothing.  Now I don’t have to keep checking manually to see if anyone has bought anything, or commented or “joined my fan club”.

Christmas mail delays are irritating me no end.  I am waiting for presents I ordered online to arrive in time for me to post them elsewhere, and I am (and this is a BIG worry) waiting for craft supplies to arrive in time for me to make other presents *chews lip*

Speaking of Christmas, I currently have negative money, and I found out today that I might also not have any heating for Christmas.  It is beginning to sound a bit like a Dickens novel, but I rang the oil company today and due the the “Christmas rush” they might not be able to get to me by Christmas!  Who’d have thought there would be a Christmas oil rush, it’s not exactly like a gold rush I suppose *strokes chin*  Anyway, should there be no heating, then I may be offline due to it being too damn cold to type, or sew or knit or read books.  I will be hibernating or perhaps moving me and the kitties in with the rele’s.

Finally added the Crafty Book Addicts community on LJ.  You may not be aware of how much I like to plan things, but I really like to plan things.  So instead of planning, I decided just to create it now (instead of sleeping) and worry about the fine print later.  that’s what happens when I don’t go to bed at a decent time!  So if you are a Book Addict (ie person who loves books) and a crafty one at that, then please go join up.  You must also be a member of the Book Addicts Book Group since we are a community for Book Addicts (and there would be no point if you weren’t now would there) and you must be crafty.  See the community for more info.

Zazzle has *finally* sorted out their email notification system and I got 267 emails from them today :p  Oh joy!  Every email I should have had since it “broke” arrived in my inbox this morning, and they just keep coming, so quite possibly it’s still not working quite right, as I know for a fact I have not had 32 new orders today lol but they keep insisting I’ve “just made a sale” *head spins*  Anyway, nice to see some emails instead of nothing.  Now I don’t have to keep checking manually to see if anyone has bought anything, or commented or “joined my fan club”.

Christmas mail delays are irritating me no end.  I am waiting for presents I ordered online to arrive in time for me to post them elsewhere, and I am (and this is a BIG worry) waiting for craft supplies to arrive in time for me to make other presents *chews lip*

Speaking of Christmas, I currently have negative money, and I found out today that I might also not have any heating for Christmas.  It is beginning to sound a bit like a Dickens novel, but I rang the oil company today and due the the “Christmas rush” they might not be able to get to me by Christmas!  Who’d have thought there would be a Christmas oil rush, it’s not exactly like a gold rush I suppose *strokes chin*  Anyway, should there be no heating, then I may be offline due to it being too damn cold to type, or sew or knit or read books.  I will be hibernating or perhaps moving me and the kitties in with the rele’s.

Reposted from EW.

Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup credited with helping to spark the next decade’s sexual revolution, died in Los Angeles yesterday from pneumonia. She was 85. In honor of the passing of this treasure from a bygone era, an excerpt from EW critic Owen Gleiberman’s review of the 2006 biopic, The Notorious Bettie Page:

“It has often been said that Bettie Page, the legendary ’50s pinup with the pert features framed by those famously severe black bangs, was the rare American sex goddess who was equally at home projecting the image of a good girl or a bad girl. Frolicking, naked, in the ocean foam, her leg extended with playful pleasure, she was all dazzle and sunshine: the girl next door who said yes yes yes. In her scandalous underground bondage photos, where she posed as a dominatrix with a whip held high, or as a masochist with a ball in her mouth, she vamped like a pussycat from hell, her eyes narrowing with mean delight — or widening in mock terror. Yet the mysterious alchemy of Bettie Page isn’t just that she could turn on a dime from light to dark, saint to sinner, virgin to vixen. It’s that she was somehow able to project both qualities at once. In the bondage photos, so shocking for their time, her warm, spirited, peekaboo vibrance doesn’t disappear; it’s there just beneath the surface aggression of her poses. As for her all-American cheesecake shots, they have a quality of delirious, laughing abandon, as though she were winking at the she-devil inside. What Bettie Page conjured — always — was the promise of pleasure without limits. She was a one-woman orgy in centerfold form.”

Good night, Bettie. Although it’s a cliche, there really is no truer summation than to say, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

More Bettie Page:
Movie review: The Notorious Bettie Page
Book review: The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups
Bettie Page weighs in on Notorious biopic

Read original article and comments to it here

Reposted from EW.

Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup credited with helping to spark the next decade’s sexual revolution, died in Los Angeles yesterday from pneumonia. She was 85. In honor of the passing of this treasure from a bygone era, an excerpt from EW critic Owen Gleiberman’s review of the 2006 biopic, The Notorious Bettie Page:

“It has often been said that Bettie Page, the legendary ’50s pinup with the pert features framed by those famously severe black bangs, was the rare American sex goddess who was equally at home projecting the image of a good girl or a bad girl. Frolicking, naked, in the ocean foam, her leg extended with playful pleasure, she was all dazzle and sunshine: the girl next door who said yes yes yes. In her scandalous underground bondage photos, where she posed as a dominatrix with a whip held high, or as a masochist with a ball in her mouth, she vamped like a pussycat from hell, her eyes narrowing with mean delight — or widening in mock terror. Yet the mysterious alchemy of Bettie Page isn’t just that she could turn on a dime from light to dark, saint to sinner, virgin to vixen. It’s that she was somehow able to project both qualities at once. In the bondage photos, so shocking for their time, her warm, spirited, peekaboo vibrance doesn’t disappear; it’s there just beneath the surface aggression of her poses. As for her all-American cheesecake shots, they have a quality of delirious, laughing abandon, as though she were winking at the she-devil inside. What Bettie Page conjured — always — was the promise of pleasure without limits. She was a one-woman orgy in centerfold form.”

Good night, Bettie. Although it’s a cliche, there really is no truer summation than to say, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to.

More Bettie Page:
Movie review: The Notorious Bettie Page
Book review: The Real Bettie Page: The Truth About the Queen of the Pinups
Bettie Page weighs in on Notorious biopic

Read original article and comments to it here

Arrived yesterday. Not sure what I’m going to do with it but it’s a great colour and really supersoft. Kitty coats? A Michelin man suit for me to protect against the cold?  A range of quilted bags?  Still undecided at this point.  I will have to mull it over and keep looking at it some more.  Of course that tends to happen and then I run out of time to make anything.

Other fabric arrived yesterday.  Had to pay customs handling charges for it and wait an additional three days for delivery which made me a bit less enthusiastic about it, but the fabric is great.  I got 8 yds of fabric from fabric.com which btw has a 30% sale on now on fabrics that they only have 20yds or less of, so a great time to pick up a bargain.  Just remember the costs if you are ordering from outside the US.

I spent some frustrating hours last night working on a new purse.  The frustrating part was caused by the fact that it’s tiny and very fiddly and if I charged by the hour the purse would be unaffordable.  After breakfast I’m going up to finish it off but I’m already hating it and I have two more of the little buggers to do today.

At least I stopped to watch Come Dine With Me, Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas Cookalong (with Gok Wan pashing on with Gordy) and the IT Crowd.  Quality stuff.

Photos behind the cut/read more tag.  Basically my workroom and the kitties

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Ha! I watched Heroes episode 12 last night.  I could have watched it yesterday morning but certain people demand that I wait for them *le sigh*  If you haven’t seen it yet then all I’m going to say is Sylar - lie detector - “there’s cake?”  LMAO  I am so making a banner with his face at that moment lol

Ok a few posts ago I mentioned I had ordered 3m of art deco silk taffeta.  It arrived this morning along with a gazillion other packages - it was better than Christmas.  Anyway after communicating with the seller about various fabric related and boring questions, he told me he didn’t have much left, so of course I then had to order what was left.  It was unavoidable.  I will now have 13 metres of silk taffeta to play with - ideas on the back of a postcard to…

Also arrived today was a big box of books from amazon (go Prime!) but unfortunately one of them is diabolical and has to die be returned.  I just wrote a reasonably scathing review of it on amazon which they may or may not publish but here’s some highlights just in case they don’t.  DO NOT buy this book under any circumstances

Creating Romantic Purses

I saw this book on amazon a few times and read the reviews which made it sound pretty decent.  It’s hard to tell from the cover but the two bags featured on there looked “ok” from a distance. Having now seen inside the book, I think you would have to have a screw loose to want to carry any of them around with you outside in public, let alone make them.  They are completely over the top, over-embellished, overdone and really reminds me of crafts you used to do as a child with lots of leftovers and scrap fabrics.  Truly appalling.  Less is more people, and if you are going to have more, let’s not have them looking like something your granny’s granny might have had stashed away. Lots of lace, fake flowers, buttons, beads, and lots and lots of fringing on everything. Another review mentioned that the authors looked like something from a Jane Austen movie - do not be fooled into thinking that must mean Elizabeth Bennett or Emma - they look like Mrs Bennet or worse Lady Catherine de Burgh (or her granny)  In addition to that, all patterns included in the book have to be enlarged at 335%!!!  They do have a website but it’s full of curtain tassles, fringing, fake flowers etc that really don’t need to be put on a handbag.  Don’t waste your time with this book.

Maybe the title and the cover might have given a clue to how bad it was going to be, but honestly at that small size what was on the cover didn’t look that bad and it got some positive reviews.  I did consider it a few times before and never clicked the “add to basket” button so I need to learn to trust my instincts where crappy books are concerned.  It’s being returned this afternoon :p

crafty photos coming up in the next post…