made by munch

Big Day Makes

2011-04-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking maybe it would be nice to make some memorabilia for the royal wedding since we're having a big party. Seen some cute stuff on not on the high street .

this royal birdie bookmark is just adorable order it here

Lack of Motivation

2011-04-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

found a great article and site to help with my current negative state of mind

How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation Written by Editor, Pick The Brain - 376 CommentsCategories: motivation

Staying motivated is a struggle — our drive is constantly assaulted by negative thoughts and anxiety about the future. Everyone faces doubt and depression. What separates the highly successful is the ability to keep moving forward.

There is no simple solution for a lack of motivation. Even after beating it, the problem reappears at the first sign of failure. The key is understanding your thoughts and how they drive your emotions. By learning how to nurture motivating thoughts, neutralize negative ones, and focus on the task at hand, you can pull yourself out of a slump before it gains momentum.

Reasons We Lose Motivation There are 3 primary reasons we lose motivation. Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe you can succeed, what’s the point in trying? Lack of focus – If you don’t know what you want, do you really want anything? Lack of direction – If you don’t know what to do, how can you be motivated to do it?

How to Boost Confidence The first motivation killer is a lack of confidence. When this happens to me, it’s usually because I’m focusing entirely on what I want and neglecting what I already have. When you only think about what you want, your mind creates explanations for why you aren’t getting it. This creates negative thoughts. Past failures, bad breaks, and personal weaknesses dominate your mind. You become jealous of your competitors and start making excuses for why you can’t succeed. In this state, you tend to make a bad impression, assume the worst about others, and lose self confidence. The way to get out of this thought pattern is to focus on gratitude. Set aside time to focus on everything positive in your life. Make a mental list of your strengths, past successes, and current advantages. We tend to take our strengths for granted and dwell on our failures. By making an effort to feel grateful, you’ll realize how competent and successful you already are. This will rejuvenate your confidence and get you motivated to build on your current success. It might sound strange that repeating things you already know can improve your mindset, but it’s amazingly effective. The mind distorts reality to confirm what it wants to believe. The more negatively you think, the more examples your mind will discover to confirm that belief. When you truly believe that you deserve success, your mind will generate ways to achieve it. The best way to bring success to yourself is to genuinely desire to create value for the rest of the world.

Developing Tangible Focus The second motivation killer is a lack of focus. How often do you focus on what you don’t want, rather than on a concrete goal? We normally think in terms of fear. I’m afraid of being poor. I’m afraid no one will respect me. I’m afraid of being alone. The problem with this type of thinking is that fear alone isn’t actionable. Instead of doing something about our fear, it feeds on itself and drains our motivation. If you’re caught up in fear based thinking, the first step is focusing that energy on a well defined goal. By defining a goal, you automatically define a set of actions. If you have a fear of poverty, create a plan to increase your income. It could be going back to school, obtaining a higher paying job, or developing a profitable website. The key is moving from an intangible desire to concrete, measurable steps. By focusing your mind on a positive goal instead of an ambiguous fear, you put your brain to work. It instantly begins devising a plan for success. Instead of worrying about the future you start to do something about it. This is the first step in motivating yourself to take action. When know what you want, you become motivated to take action.

Developing Direction The final piece in the motivational puzzle is direction. If focus means having an ultimate goal, direction is having a day-to-day strategy to achieve it. A lack of direction kills motivation because without an obvious next action we succumb to procrastination. An example of this is a person who wants to have a popular blog, but who spends more time reading posts about blogging than actually writing articles. The key to finding direction is identifying the activities that lead to success. For every goal, there are activities that pay off and those that don’t. Make a list of all your activities and arrange them based on results. Then make a make an action plan that focuses on the activities that lead to big returns. To continue the example from above, a blogger’s list would look something like this: Write content Research relevant topics Network with other bloggers Optimize design and ad placements Answer comments and email Read other blogs Keeping track of your most important tasks will direct your energy towards success. Without a constant reminder, it’s easy to waste entire days on filler activities like reading RSS feeds, email, and random web surfing. When my motivation starts to wane, I regain direction by creating a plan that contains two positive actions. The first one should be a small task you’ve been meaning to do, while the second should be a long-term goal. I immediately do the smaller task. This creates positive momentum. After that I take the first step towards achieving the long-term goal. Doing this periodically is great for getting out of a slump, creating positive reinforcement, and getting long-term plans moving.

It’s inevitable that you’ll encounter periods of low energy, bad luck, and even the occasional failure. If you don’t discipline your mind, these minor speed bumps can turn into mental monsters. By being on guard against the top 3 motivation killers you can preserve your motivation and propel yourself to success.

boats

2010-06-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

i wanna make a papier mache boat see here

giant paper poppies

2010-06-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

lovely must make

find them here and here

tea towel

2010-06-24T15:46:00.000-07:00

ooh i could make my own t towels look at the tutorial here
and with theold tea towels i replace i could make bags aprons or cushions check out here

New things to make

2010-06-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

i want to make some nautical cushions and some union jack cushions but in pastels

this is from another blogger - brill idea for wall art using cheap ikea frames from jonathans journey - can be seen on ikea hacker

need to make some big artpiece using these ikea artcards

Cath Kidston apron as seen here

Pvc peg bag made from retro spotty oilcloth available here

Janet Bell Gallery

2009-06-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

we went to Beaumaris to do wedding stuff today and found the most incredible litte shop. It was just like Etsy had materialised. here's the link to the online shop,

menai photos

2009-06-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

my favourite place

Menai Bridge
Anglesey

scrabble for a project

2009-05-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

the next project is to make the cufflinks for the boys. I really love all the scrabble tile jewellery out there so this morning off i set to the car boot in search of an unwanted scrabble set. I got lucky - vey surprisingly and am now the proud owner of a previously owned junior scrabble and also a draughts set lol thought i'd have a go at some round ones! i've ordered the cufflink findings off ebay - a set of 10 for £2 and 95p delivery. so with each game 50p thats a total spend of £3.95 so far - how very thrifty!
there's a tute for a scrabble pendant here

new blog find

2009-05-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

vintageheaven.blogspot.com

arty photos

2009-05-29T03:39:00.001-07:00

Lew has been playing with the camera!

card making flower idea

2009-02-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

click pic for tutorial

simple paper flower tutorial

2009-02-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

these look so fresh and pretty

click pic for post

Scrap Wreath

2009-02-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

what a lovely thing!

click pic for post

ooh new craft project

2009-02-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

Phone charms and zip pull! As all craft stuff it looks easy but will probably be really hard for me to do lol! and probably need loads of stuff i dont have! there's a tutorial here.

Its another way i can put to use the new beads i have made from wilko's cheap kids 'magic' dough. I asked the shop assistant what was magic about it - (the box didn't give any clues) and she had no idea but since it was 2 quid i got some anyway to have a play with lol. Turns out that when it dries its kind of like foam. So i a few weeks ago i made loads of little beads, round and square, and last night i used some beading elastic and made a bracelet. It looks quite good! Yesterday I was at spring fair for work and saw the most gorgeous jewelery by Jackie Brazil and even though i was completely exhausted having walked around every hall at the nec i went straight to the magic dough and made loads more beads and stuff inspired by the sweetie style bracelets. it should be dry enough for me to thread when i get home - cant wait! roll on 5pm!

Silk flower garland

2009-01-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

Martha tutorial here

Iron on transfer paper

2009-01-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Wow didn't know there was such a thing as this - dont quite know how i imagined people made customised t shirts! Anyway i saw this stunningly simple idea for a valentines pressie on Creature Comforts.
Ive looked for the transfer paper and the cheapest i found so far is here.

Maybe i could use this idea to put some detail on our wedding program fabric pockets?

Woven Book

2009-01-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

These blank books are made from leftover cardboard, yarn, fabric, and paper. How green is that?

Photo: Diane Gilleland

This is an interesting idea that could be adapted for tons of uses ans infinite design possibilities. The tutorial doesn't look that complicated either. It would also be a great way of using up all those scraps of paper and fabric i've got lying round. take a look here

heat embossing

2009-01-22T02:26:00.000-08:00

There's a brill tutorial here on heat embossing. really good pics and clear instructions. i need to get a heat gun and give it another go - the hair dryer didnt work at all!

Lovely homemade buttons

2008-12-01T06:28:00.001-08:00

i want a go at making some! there's a tutorial on making fimo beads here that could easliy be adapted. I think its a great idea for getting the exact colour and size of button that you want.

Pic from Etsy shop - click to visit.

I want these

2008-11-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

aren't these felt beads lovely and colourful. dont know what i'd do with them but i want some! here's a how to. click on pic to buy from the Etsy seller.

oh- so- cute clutch

2008-11-27T05:53:00.000-08:00

this is the next thing that i'd like to have a go at. I saw it on Etsy. Big surprise!

i'm being very ambitious. i dont have a sewing machine and i have never done anything like it before! i just love making stuff tho even if its horrible and nobody but me could love it!

anyway it stops me thinking about food or fags for a while so its all good.

Kel just loves

2008-11-27T05:44:00.000-08:00

the little mini denim bag that i made last night based on the woolly jumper tutorial i want to have a go at. i dont have any old wool jumpers so i used the jeans that i have been hacking into to make the infamous flowers from. then i adorned it with a flower made from minimunch's tie - just like i said i would. I'm pretty sure kel loves it lol! well somebody should - the poor little waste of material! Next time i must understand proportion better and the halterneck needs to be steep - like it says in the tutorial (silly me) otherwise its pretty hard to get any stuff in it and it is supposed to be a bag after all!

the next thing crafty thing to do

2008-11-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

is to make a bag from a wool sweater. That means first 'felting' it. gosh i'm excited so easily! actually the first step would be to find a wool sweater.

then i want to use a tie that mini munch has put in the 'sell it on ebay' pile in the spare room. not sure what i'll do with it .. other than make a flower! like this one. God I love Etsy.

The Fabric Flower Factor

2008-11-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

my utter obsession with making, reading about making, and blogging about making fabric flowers is a bit of a problem. well its a problem for kel. i'm loving it but it has somewhat taken over the wedding blog. and the lounge. and the dining room. (even my make-up bag has been adorned!)
so here is a compiled list of all flower mentions off the wedding blog in 1 cosy place
http://munchieswedding.blogspot.com/search/label/flowers

simple!

Munch made ..... a new blog!

2008-11-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

The wedding blog was becoming cluttered with a million how to's on fabric flowers and other crafty things so thought i'd like my messing abouts with fabric to have their own home. and here it is.