My Guilty Pleasure(s)

Guilty pleasures is one of those awkward topics of conversation. I mean, what makes a pleasure guilty? And if it does make you feel guilty, does that detract from the pleasure? Or is the pleasure being taken from the guilt? It's all rather confusing in my opinion.

Personally, the things I take pleasure from, I don't feel guilty about. 

I am a hugger. I love to give and receive hugs, to curl up with someone I love for hours on end. I'm not guilty about that.

I love to scrapbook. I do this to help preserve these moments for the future and for my own mental well being. Therefore I do not feel guilt in buying things because I know that I will use them.

I enjoy reading. That's nothing to be guilty about.

I am currently having an eighteen year old (and going strong) love affair with chocolate. But I moderate. Therefore, no guilt.

I don't believe in forcing ourselves into negative emotions. The universe gives of plenty of those by its own volition, it doesn't need our help too.

May Favourites

Just a quick one with my may foavourites. I used a picture of my sister and myself, and a journalling card with numbers. It was quite a busy background, so I backed the two smaller pieces with some pink mettalic paper. And that, really, is it. See, very speedy.

My Earliest Childhood Memory

My earliest memory is from my fifth birthday. I was at school in Reception class, and our teacher had this tradition of the birthday bumps, where she would lift us up five times to represent each year.

So, little five year old me was very excited.

When it came to the birthday bumps, my teacher got up and started to lift me...

One...

Two...

Three...

And she stopped.

She muttered under her breath something about me being to heavy. The class clapped louder for me, but I was still hurt. I didn't get my five birthday bumps.

And they wonder where my self esteem issues are rooted.

I will admit that I was a chubby child, but there was something medically wrong with me causing it. There's nothing wrong now. It's just a shame that that's the earliest memory I can recall, that feeling that plagued the rest of my birthday.

Oh well.

Meaning of this name?

Crafts from a Ravenclaw began in the summer of 2011. I was fifteen, and trying to think of a name that would both protect my identity online, and give some idea of the content I wanted to make. At that point, I thought I was going to make a lot of Harry Potter inspired crafts, and, at the beginning, I did start out making a fair few. Yet, as I have grown up, my taste in craft projects has developed too.

Some may sit and think that the title is no longer relevant to the content I am creating. I would disagree. I am still crafting regularly. Although you're not seeing it currently on the blog (because I am useless at taking the required pictures), I am knitting and sewing still, but they're just not as interesting. I still make my felt hearts as a default present, I make simple canvas bags as presents too, and recently a friend commissioned me to make 10 pairs of bird wings for a school play, and 24 little drawstring bags. So I am still crafting, but these little things don't feel worthy of being shared.

The other part is Ravenclaw, so while, yes, I don't create as many Harry Potter items as before, I still feel this relates to me. I still love Harry Potter, and I am a Ravenclaw. I am hardworking and driven, and I aspire to be a learner. I miss my degree. 

The main craft I turn to now is scrapbooking, but the reasons for that, I think, require a different post. In my opinion, it's quite nice to look back  and see how this blog has evolved, how much it's grown, and how much I have changed. I like that this part of me has been documented, and I'm proud of what I have made here.

20 Facts about Me

1) I cannot resist a tube of rolos.

2) I was a competitive swimmer for six years when I was younger.

3) I'm pretty good at drawing hands.

4) I love vanilla candles.

5) I hate cats.

6) I tried to join a Harry Potter Society, but decided against it because it wasn't nerdy enough.

7) If I hadn't chosen history, I would have wanted to have been an atomic physicist.

8) Speaking of physicists, I'm in love with the film 'The Theory of Everything'.

9) I'm currently in a long distance relationship.

10) I was captain of my school's school challenge team.

11) I have four bookshelves in my room and all of them are overflowing, though not necessarily with books...

12) I feel the cold, and am most comfortable in mediterranean weather.

13) I'm slightly addicted to snapchat.

14) I'm not a tidy person.

15) I'd rather have a small group of close friends than a large group that don't mean as much.

16) I adore receiving letters.

17) I get more nervous doing a class presentation in front of twelve people than doing an assembly in front of nearly 700 people.

18) I love falling asleep to the sound of rain.

19) In my AS Levels, history was my worst grade. After my A2's, it was my best by a long shot. Amazing what a year can do.

20) I've had the same teddy since I was born and he still comes almost everywhere with me.

Coming Home

Chronologically, this layout is from a while back... it's from the first week of March when we collected all of my stuff from York to take home. I was quite sad with this and I cried a lot, but it's good to document both the good and bad in our scrapbooks. This is life, after all, and it's not all sunshine and roses.

I'm not very fond of this layout. I don't know if it's the colours or the papers or the embellishments, but something just doesn't feel right. It's like stroking an animal the wrong way. It feels wrong, but I can't place my finger on it. I got to use some sequins though, which was quite fun.

August Blogging

Hello there lovely people!

If you've been a long time reader, you may remember that back in 2013 I set myself the challenge of blogging every day in August. I have decided again to take up that challenge for the year of 2015 (perhaps make it an alternate year thing?).

This year is going to be slightly different. I hope to keep my regular posts going at their normal schedule, with this 31 Day Blog Challenge I found on pinterest (see below for image)

So this is day 1, with our introduction, and so on. Hopefully you can join me in this endeavour, and let me know what you think! Perhaps you can join me?