Goodbye 2012 - Top 10 Favourite Songs

Last year on my blog I said goodbye to the year by writing a number of posts of my highlights of the year.  So I am doing it again this year!
  First up, we start with a list of my top ten favourite songs of the year.
Its not been the best year for music for me, nothing really stood out for me and I only went to four gigs which is about a quarter of what I normally do!  But the bands that I am a huge fan of have not disappointed me in 2012.  Coldplay continued to tour their 2011 album Mylo Xyloto and I was lucky enough to see their amazing show at the Emirates on the day of the Jubilee show so the atmosphere was electric and the show was full of glitter, balls, fireworks and smoke machines!  The band were constantly on our screens throughout the year and my favourite highlight was them closing the Paralympics ceremony.
  Steps made their long awaited comeback and I am not ashamed to say how pleased I was!  I loved them ten years ago and this was a great opportunity to reminisce my teenage years, so I saw them at the o2 in London!  It was the ultimate cheese fest and I thouroughly enjoyed dancing to all their songs and surprised myself at how I remembered all the moves!
  Muse brought out their 6th studio album, 2nd Law, as well as writing and performing the Olympic song.  Their album is full of experiments and heavily influenced by Queen in places as well as some dubstep thrown in!  I got to see them with last minute tickets sold to me and it was an amazing light and laser show!
  My favourite christmas song, the Power of Love by Frankie goes to Hollywood, was covered twice at the end of this year.  It was used in the John Lewis advert and sang by Gabrielle Aplin, a beautiful and haunting version which sent goosebumps down my spine and made the nation weep with their portrayal of two snowmen in love!  Then James Arthur covered this version on the X Factor with a slight dubstep beat thrown in!

So with this in mind, here are my top ten tunes of 2012!

10 - Spector - Friday Night

  9 - Walk the Moon - Ana Sun

  8 - Two Door Cinema Club - Sleep Alone

  7 - Noel Gallagher - What A Life

  6 - Coldplay - Princess of China

  5 - Paloma Faith - Never Tear Us Apart

  4 - Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

  3 - Gabrielle Aplin - Power of Love

  2 - Muse - Madness

  1 - Maccabees - Feel to Follow

                                                                                 x

Crafty Creatives Number 6 - What's In the Box?!

I missed out on blogging about box number 5 as I have been so busy and even my blog has suffered because of this!  But I have managed to find time to get crafty, so see my post on Crocheting which came from the Nostalgic Christmas box last month.
  This month's box theme is Ice.

Very blue!

I was intrigued when I opened it as it was heavier than usual!  This is probably due to the creative kit this month which is to make a bath bomb!  Very inspiring and I cannot wait to make mine!  What I love about this project is the different themes and the kits that come with it every month.  It means I get to learn a new skill and craft which I may not have taken up previously and I am so excited about this!

The big fluff of wool will be used for a project I have in mind but in the meantime I could not help but make a pom-pom for my christmas tree!

I have not made one of these in years!

Also in the box were these mini packs of beads and dangly bits!  Plus a choker which Im not going to use for jewellery but for something for a lampshade I have that needs decorating! Watch this space for that challenge!

These gorgeous and nicely packaged hearts are one of my favorites from this months box but Im not sure what I will do with them yet!

I love badges!

And these with the Crafty Creatives logo on will probably go on my bag so I can show off to the world that I craft using their amazing boxes!

Thank you Crafty Creatives for making my freezing and miserable winter a lot more warmer and brighter!

xxx

My First Attempt at Crochet!

Thanks to Crafty Creatives box number 4, I have taken up Crocheting!  But it was not without trepidation and almost giving up!

Their kit came with a ball of wool, a crochet needle, stuffing and instructions which made no sense!  By the power of youtube and blogging however, I managed to translate the gobble and three days later found myself following it line by line to come up with my finished product!

To begin with, I had to practice and this took several attempts -

In order, the first attempt was a little scraggly to say the least but it was my first chain and I was determined not to give up on the first attempt!  My second string was a chain into a single crochet making a double row and I was proud of myself for learning this!

Not quite sure what happened with number 3 as there seems to be a round chain in the middle and I think I got a little confused as to where I was linking up!

But by my fourth attempt I had it nailed and a much better outcome, I completed two rows of single crochet and it looked so much better!

So, after this result I thought it was about time I began creating my crochet mouse using the instructions from my kit and with help from the Crafty Creatives blog.

The first line of instructions still made no sense to me as it was different to what I had taught myself.  Instead of creating a chain, I had to make a round circle with my stitches and I had no idea what to do!  But after experimenting I finally got there and was on my way to creating this above, which appears to be the mouse's bottom and tail!

At this point I got very excited as I could finally see I was making something out of my ball of wool!

So, the more rows I made, the more my mouse was taking shape and eventually I got to a point where I could start stuffing the inside to make the body stay full.  This was even more fun than the crochet part!

The finished article!

Well, just the body complete anyway!

But I just had to show it off before I finished the whole thing because I cannot believe I have successfully crocheted!  I almost gave up when my brain would not connect with the stick, my hand and instructions but I got there eventually!

I will finish the mouse any day now, just have to do the ears, nose and tail and then I will put pictures on here to show you all that it can be done even if you think it can't!