My friend Ben

It has been 5 years since I lost my wonderful friend Ben to Cystic Fibrosis. He was an incredible friend; always thinking of others, he made me laugh A LOT and believed in making the world a better place. If you’re reading this as someone who knows me, you’ll already know that I have some ‘interesting’ taste in music. Ben would always persevere with me, sending me different music to listen to and would be so happy when I announced that I quite liked ‘System of a Down’ or ‘Nine Inch Nails’ (and didn’t mention Hanson in the same sentence!). Ben loved music and going to festivals and always wore his Glastonbury wrist band with pride.

In the last two years I have been involved in helping organise The Waterfront Festival in Nottingham (Ben would have been relived to hear, I don’t book the bands!). The festival raises money for the Nottingham Hospitals Charity Cystic Fibrosis unit and this year, Framework too. It is always all of the fun, with three stages packed to the rafters with music, a raffle full to the brim of ace prizes and a super atmosphere to top it off.

Front of Waterfront poster 2013

I think about Ben a lot and I don’t think this will ever change. I am extremely lucky to have had Ben in my life and he has, and always will be an inspiration to me.

Ben

 

My Mum’s 60th birthday

It was my wonderful Mum, Ali’s birthday last weekend and I decided instead of just making a card, that I would make an animation of the making of the card. It took a long time and my camera kept saying it was exhausted but it felt like such an achievement.

I would like to play around with this idea more and work with watercolours again.

Great day!

We had a great day at the Winter Market! It had such a positive atmosphere and felt full to the brim with community spirit. All the stall holders were lovely and made such interesting things. There was a huge range of things to buy, but also a band and plenty of activities for children. Here is the video my Brother Theo and his friend Dan Brown created:

I think it captures the day wonderfully! Here are some photo’s I took:

Labels are made!

The Winter Market is next weekend!! I am super excited and have made all the family, including me some labels. The winter scene is down by the ford in Hall Green where the market is taking place. The photo was taken by my Brother, Theo who is a super photographer and film maker. Our stall is going to have a right mixture of crafty delights, from record clocks, to tea cosy’s and Christmas cards. If you’re in Birmingham, pop down to say hello!

 

Making things!

I am really enjoying making things at the moment! Yesterday I went home to see my family and my Mum taught me how to make bobbles out of wool, and I got slightly addicted. It was extremely therapeutic and will make super Christmas decorations.

The two things I am making to sell at the Winter Market in Hall Green are Record clocks, bowls/plant pots and framed pin cushions for your notes, photos, as well as ones designed to hang all your earrings on. Here are two I made earlier:

Here is the info about the Winter Market which my parents are involved in organising. We are going to have a family stall and should be a super day!

 

Making clocks

Recently I have really enjoyed making record clocks. I was making record bowls for a while (where you make it all wobbly in the oven) and I thought it would be fun to make it into a clock. I was asked to be part of a wonderful project called ’20 Crafty Makes’ which is a new book filled to the brim with craft projects to get stuck into. They are a bargain  £5 each and 100% of the proceeds go to the Stroke Association!

If you’re around in Nottingham this Thursday, come along to the launch party to pick up your copy, but if you can’t make it, you can buy it online. I am very excited to be involved!

I love the video!

Whilst exploring New York, there were some moments that I wanted to document by video. Here are my favourites:

The Waterfront Festival 2012 (Lots of fun was had!)

Yesterday was such a wonderful day and I cannot stop smiling! It was filled with my beautiful friends, family and huge amounts of fun, all in aid of two great causes; the Nottingham City Hospital charity Cystic Fibrosis unit and Scope. There was such a good atmosphere, the sun shined, ale shandy’s were consumed (by me) and there were more talented musicians than you could shake a stick at! Rob White drew hilariously accurate caricatures of people and there were photographers and camera men everywhere (sometimes filming each other, which I thought was very post modern). There was a real buzz in the air! We waved at the narrow boats that went by (and they waved back!) and cooed at the signets sitting on the back of the mother swan.

The raucous raffle was a success and people went home happy with their prizes in tow, anything from a photograph of the Queen, tea and cake for two to a piece of signed artwork, generously donated by Nottingham Artists, Local businesses and celebrities. I had so many great conversations and met lots of awesome people, from the friendly security, to the people lending a hand on the day and excited raffle winners. Everyone wanted the same thing, to make lots of money for the charities, with the maximum amount of fun.

There were lots of families bopping to the music, including a friend of mines little boy Noah, who looked amazingly cute in his ear defenders. We had an awesome jive to Rob Green and I heard rumours that a few of my friends went on to have a hoe down to one of the bands, which involved dosey does! I would have liked to have seen that. As my nickname Nanna Rebs would suggest, I was slightly startled by the rock and roll experience of watching Baby Godzilla, but loved every minute of the interactive and unpredictable set. Being so near to the lead singer thrashing out a beat on the drums was loads of fun!

Being involved in something so positive, for causes I really believe in has been an incredible experience. I would like to continue to get involved but for now, I am sitting down, with my feet up and having a brew.

 

 

The Waterfront Festival – 23rd June 2012

I’ve been helping organise the Waterfront Festival this year and it’s getting close! We’re raising money for two worthy causes, The Nottingham Hospitals charity Cystic Fibrosis unit and Scope. I lost my lovely friend Ben to Cystic Fisbrosis so helping the unit in Nottingham is really important to me.

I’m really looking forward to it and we’re currently sorting out a corking raffle with a magical mix of prizes! People have been really generous so far and it’s wonderful to get such a positive response.

You can also enter our competition to win two tickets if you count the Rosie and Jim’s (remember that wonderful show with the awesome duck?) or you can just have a giggle at me and my friends in animal masks on a canalboat, tis up to you:

Exit Through The Record Shop

I am hopefully in this exhibition tonight! I am definitely attending and looking forward to it. Apparently there are over 200 records to be seen. Whoop Whoop!

Oh My Gosh

43 Mansfield Road

Nottingham

NG1 3FB