Steampunk Manicure Using Actual Watch Parts

Published on 25/08/201327/08/2013 by Violetsteel

So even though I don’t post about it much I am still buying nail varnish and painting my nails like a woman possessed. Today I was creating a double page for my gorgeous niece, Macayla, in my Smash Book when I was hit with the inspiration to use watch parts so create a steampunk manicure!

I bought the parts from eBay some time ago to use in my scrapbooking endeavors, so while I was fishing through my embellishments trays, I was looking at the little parts and thought, “These would work as decorations for nails and would make a killer steampunk manicure!” It took me a while to fish through them and find the thinnest parts because I absolutely hate having chunky nail decorations, but once I had a few together I got comfy in front of the TV (where I usual do my nails) and got cracking. Some of the wider pieces I had to bend to get them to fit the curve of my nails which was a bit tough as they are made of very strong metals. I started with my usual base coat of OPI’s Nail Envy and then 2 coats of Essie – Licorice. Once that was dry I used a tiny dab of clear nail varnish on the bottom on each piece and used tweezers to place them on my nail. Once I’d done one hand I topped each nail off with a thick coat on Seche Vite then started on the other hand. A 2nd tick coat of Seche Vite was needed to finish it off.

This is how it came out…

Steampunk Manicure ©Violetsteel. Steampunk manicure created using watch parts.

It’s not something I’ve seen before and I’m really, really happy with how it came out and I’ve received really positive feedback on them.

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Published on 08/07/201308/07/2013 by Violetsteel

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Job Change

Published on 05/06/2013 by Violetsteel

I’m changing jobs!

So I’ve mentioned I got a job transfer down to Milton Keynes at the end of last year because of Pete’s new job. I have remained a part of the Business Test Team based in Stafford, and have been the only member working away from the team. So I’ve been doing work as dedicated resource for another part of the company based in Milton Keynes. As such it’s been kinda difficult being away from my colleagues and the accompanying support structure, but it’s been OK and I’ve just got on with it. It’s actually been a great learning curve too and I learned that I can actually do this job. My confidence as a Test Analyst was definitely lacking when I was in Stafford and there a various reasons why, but the move down here pushed me so stand on my own two feet. It’s been good. Financially however, I’ve been struggling a bit. I had to buy a car so that I wasn’t dependent on Pete anymore and didn’t have to wait around after work for him, and likewise put pressure on him to finish at 5pm if he still had stuff to do. So I bought my BMW. This meant I was financially worse of for the move down here. It’s not been terrible but each month I’ve been scrapping by.

Now the team I work for down here has two parts. One is the Customer Delivery Team that looks after our own internal systems and that’s what I’ve been testing the most, and then the E-Commerce Team which manages and maintains the bespoke rewards websites that we offer for our business clients. When I was first told about the job on the E-Commerce Team (directly by LS on that team) I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure is I wanted to be in Web Design and thought that the business knowledge I was gaining in my current role would fair me better in the long run. But the more I heard about the job and thought about it, I started to change my mind. I realised that even though I was fairly happy in my current job, I don’t want to do User Acceptance Testing for the long term. There are even aspects to the job that I hate (Documentation & scripting, I’m looking at you!), and the more I thought about it I knew I’d be much happier doing something more creative. The new job title is E-Commerce Web Content Editor and it’s helping to manage the general layout and content of the 60-odd sites we currently run and any new ones. The skills I currently have around the job requirements were a good fit and it’s not too intense that I didn’t think I was capable, plus the team itself is a great bunch of people that I already know I can work well with. It was also mean a nice little salary increase. Bonus!

So I decided to go for it. The Team Manager and LS who had told me about the position had already showed interest in me applying which helped boost my confidence, but I was still nervous for the interview. I needn’t have been. It went really well and lasted for nearly 2 hours which is always a good sign. It felt more like a relaxed chat with friends rather than a rigid formal interview. I walked out feeling good. The following morning LS asked for a chat to give me feedback on it, and I was told the job was mine if I wanted it! I immediately accepted.

So soon I will be moving over to that team and getting back into the swing of working on web content. I can’t wait! LS will be my line manager, who used to do the same job by herself, and I know I’m going to enjoy it. 🙂

2012 in Summary

Published on 19/02/2013 by Violetsteel

This is long overdue! I started preping this post at the end of Dec and now here we are heading into the end of Feb nearly! Oops!

Anyway… 2012 in summary:

January

Not a lot. Nothing actually, but who the hell has money to do anything in January right?

February

2nd – Rammstein Concert

March

3rd/4th – We went up to Manchester to visit my old friend Geoff and meet his lovely wife Sue & daughter Sasha. We stayed overnight and had a great time catching up. It had literally been about 6 years since seeing each other.

9th – Astrid came up from London to visit us and we decided to Go Ape!

23rd – It was my wonderful Mother’s 60th Birthday. It sucks so bad being so far away from her at special times like this 🙁

April

1st – Visited Steve & Bergitte

28th/29th – Move from Peter James Court to Carisbrooke Drive
After growing sick of the shitty floral wallpaper we finally moved out of our flat in Peter James Court, and into a 2 bedroom house.

May

4th – My Uncle George passed away. He was my Dad’s twin brother (not identical).

5th – We attended Geoff & Sue’s Wedding. It was a magical day and it was also fantastic to see my friend Christine and her family too. In fact prior to this year the last tiem I’d seen Christine or Geoff was at Christine’s wedding in 2006!

30th – We went to watch the Olympic flame come through Stafford and had the opportunity to hold one of the official torches at work.

June

2nd – We visited our mate Gibbo & Debs in Northampton. We had a so called cheese and wine evening which also entailed drinking loads of Turkish Tiger, playing shot battleships (Deb & I completely did not cheat!) and getting completely hammered. Good times.

July

2nd – I went to see one of my favourite bands of all time play in concert. Garbage! I still fucking love them and they once again didn’t disappoint live. It’s the 3rd time I’ve seen them and they still rock it so hard. <3

8th – Myself, Pete and a few of our colleagues did a 5 Mile Run to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust & Heart Line. It was hard work but we did it and managed to raise a brilliant £823.50!!

22nd – My laptop died & I replaced with an HP. A blessing in disguise really as this on is so much better!

August

5th – For Pete’s Birthday I treated us to a Segway Safari at Go Ape! They are SO much fun. If I was rich I’d definitely buy one.

11th – We attended my cousin Amy’s marriage to Dean. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera and didn’t take a single photo! Afterwards Becky and I experienced a thrilling night out in the exotic Rugeley (ticked that box, not dying to do it again)

25th – Sadly one of Pete’s old school friends and someone he travelled though Europe with after high school, Lloyd Edy, lost his battle with Cancer. Only 31 🙁

September!!!!!!

6 Sep – 4 Oct – We were in South Africa for 4 glorious weeks! The first 2 were almost entirely spent finalising all the details for out wedding, then a brief honeymoon& then a bit of time to relax and enjoy ourselves with our families & friends.

15th Sep – Our best friends, Julian & Belinda (who were out Maid of Honour & Best Man) went to town on arrangements for our Hen & Stag Nights. Words cannot express how much fun and awesomeness was had. We are indebted for LIFE!

22nd – Our Wedding Day – Seriously the BEST day of my life. The help and support we had from family and friends was just incredible. We couldn’t ask for better people in our lives and they really made the day the success it was. The amount of work my Mum alone put in was just priceless and I can’t thank her enough for everything she did. The same goes for my Dad & Julian & Belinda, they all worked so hard on the details. Also the financial input from my parents & Pete’s parents was so generous, we can’t thank everyone enough.

23-27 Sept – Pete’s folks treated us to a few nights away at Thanda Private Game Reserve for our honeymoon. It was absolutely stunning and I didn’t want to leave. I seriously nearly welled up saying goodbye to the wonderful staff. I definitely want to go back there again. One of the best game reserves I have visited in South Africa.

October

27th – We saw Kevin Bloody Wilson on his last ever tour. So hilarious!

November

3rd – Another night staying over at friends. This time at my old colleague Gazz’s. Wow did we drink a lot of wine! I felt so sick the following morning and had to keep lying down while I was getting dressed. lol!

21st – Sue & Geoff came down to see us and bought us a lovely wedding gift and treated us to a lovely lunch. Little Sasha has grown to much in such a short time, and also has the cutest teddy ever! (Pete ended up buying me one in London)

31st – Another gig. Marilyn Manson & Rob Zombie – Twins of Evil Tour. Manson was a bit disappointing. He didn’t look like he could be bothered, however Zombie was fantastic!

December

15th – We visited J&B in London, on their stop off on their way to Denmark. So awesome to have cuddles and as always, so hard to say goodbye.

21st – Just before going to South Africa Pete landed a new job within the company but based in Milton Keynes. So I managed to get a transfer of my job there to so in December we were packing up out things again and moved to MK!

So by date that was 2012 in summary. However there were other notable things that weren’t date specific.

iPhone photography

It was the year of Fat Mum Slim‘s Photo a Day Challenge on Instagram. I think I missed about 3 days in January but didn’t miss a single photo for the rest of the year. And it’s continuing on in 2013.
I also bought myself an olloclip and is the best iPhone accessory ever!

I Sold my iPad and bought iPod Classic.

I read 15 books! The most I’ve managed in years, and not all slim ones either. Highlights were the Steve Jobs biography, Into the Wild & the Fifty Shades trilogy.

My nail varnish collection expanded considerably…

I also made more of an effort in creativity journaling & Scrapbooking.

All in all, it was a wonderful year!!

Protected: Animations

Published on 27/11/201227/11/2012 by Violetsteel

Hitched

Published on 28/09/201227/11/2012 by Violetsteel

TCT Charity run training.

Published on 13/06/201213/06/2012 by Violetsteel

Our first training session at The Chase. We did about 5 km in about and hour alternating between 1 minute of running then 1 minute of waking. We plan to do it again on Saturday and hopefully plot the full 5 miles. My legs are tired now. I’m hoping I don’t suffer to much with my ankles tomorrow too.

Back to red

Published on 07/06/201207/06/2012 by Violetsteel

I couldn’t wait any longer and dyed my hair red again 🙂 <3

Sore ankles

Published on 07/06/201207/06/2012 by Violetsteel

Well all the running training is taking its toll in my ankles. The achilles tendons have been very tight and painful since last week and having had feedback from my runner friends in FB I need to give them a rest. It a shame as we’ve only got 1 month to go before our actual 5mile run and don’t feel anywhere ready; and I’ve actually really been enjoying the training. Hopefully the settle by next week and we can get back at it.
Remember the link to sponsor me and raise some much needed money for the Teenage Cancer Trust is http://www.justgiving.com/muppetsmicromarathon

House Move, Permanent Position @ Work, Persistent Cough & Running for Teenage Cancer Trust

Published on 27/05/201228/05/2012 by Violetsteel

I have lots to blog about as it’s been quite a while since my last proper blog post, again. I don’t know if I’ll get it all down now, but will have a go.

We have moved! In 2008 we moved into a block of flats which at the time was an upgrade from the downstairs flat (aka bottom half of a converted house) we first rented upon arrival in England. But after living there for nearly 4 years, we were really sick of the sight of the floral wallpaper and stained carpet. So were decided to look around at houses for rent and it turned out that one of our colleagues had a 2 bedroom double storey house to rent that was just becoming available. We took a look and decided to take it. No letting agent to go through any more, bonus! We had to buy a few appliances, so now own our own fridge-freezer and washing machine. I feel so grown up. lol! We moved in on the 28th April. It was a huge amount of hard work but so worth it! We’ve been here 1 month now and already it feel more like home than anywhere else we have lived. It’s great to live somewhere that we genuinely give a shit about and want to improve. We have our own garden and thus private outdoor area, a fireplace in the lounge, a large kitchen, neutral walls, great bathrooms, a fantastic hueg open grass belt literally 10 meters from our front door, and I finally have my dream bookcase from Ikea. I seriously couldn’t be happier. AND we finally got to give our shit letting agent the finger. Those arseholes were less than useless and I’m stoked to never have to deal with them ever again. They totally tried to rip us off with our deposit with supposed repairs to the shit flat, but Pete negotiated with the fuckwit owner and got most of it back. Though I didn’t want them to have a single penny of our money but if I had dealt with them again I would have gotten too angry to be reasonable, and then we wouldn’t have got anything. lol. Though we are still waiting for our agreed amount back and I look forward to phoning then tomorrow and asking where the hell our cheque is. Phew! Rant over 🙂 So yes, moved, and very happy. 🙂

I’m still enjoying my new job. The only aspect I don’t particularly enjoy is test scripting! 😛 But I hear all my tester colleagues saying the same thing. Planning tests is fine, and probably the most challenging part of the job as I’m still learning, but scripting is just tedious. It basically consists of writing a set of instructions within the test management software. Depending on the type of test, it can be as simple as “click this, and this will happen”, and some tests can be so involved the script can end up quite lengthly. Then you may have over 100 tests to script for a particular piece of work. You get the idea. Running the tests themselves however I really enjoy. That’s when we actually get to find defects and report them for fixing. But I digress, I’m still enjoying it 🙂 I’m only on contract at the moment and my 6 month contract was just renewed at the beginning of May. Now 2 permanent positions have opened because of other staff leaving, so I am in the process of applying for that. It’s definitely stressful as it’s a full reqruitment process happening, including CV & cover letter application, then an apptitude test and interview; and I HATE interviews 🙁 but hopefully I will be successful and then I’ll be permanent and not have to worry about my job security, or doing another interview any time soon! *fingers crossed!*
Also work has been insanely busy and we’ve been doing loads of overtime. 2 weeks ago we worked until 9pm, and this was in the middle of dealing with the arsehole letting agents so I wasn’t such a happy camper. But the overtime pay certainly makes it worth while, and negates the pay cut I took for this job (which was worth it).

I have had a persistent cough for about 1.5 – 2 years. I had it once before and it lasted for about 2 years before going away. I’ve seen the doctor frequently about it, and had 2 endoscopies to check my throat and upper oesophagus, and tried numerous treatments without much luck. I went back again 2 weeks ago and requested to try a nasal spray (again) as I’m conviced the cough is caused by mucus. So I’ve been using it for 2 weeks and I dare say it seems to be working! I can’t express the relief I feel to be able to go through the day and night without coughing to the point of nearly vomiting. It’s great. So fingers crossed I’ve finally found a treatment that doesn’t involve taking morphine based pills 4 times a day. 🙂

Pete and I are taking part in a charity run with some of our colleagues (Please stop buy a sponsor me, every dollar, pound or rand makes a huge difference). The company we work for is teamed up with Teenage Cancer Trust as an official fundraiser, so a few of us that work together have decided to get our butts off the couch and do a 5 mile run to raise some funds. The run itself is happening on the 8th July, and I think Pete and I are the only ones who have been properly training for it. Christ, I NEED to, I’m so unfit! Since we now have a lovely area of open grassland next to our house it’s easy to go running after work, so we’ve been trying to run a few times a week. The first few runs we did I thought I was going to die, but slowly it’s starting to get easier and I’m starting to enjoy it! Hopefully I’ll improve my fitness and loose a few kgs for our wedding in September! Not long to go now!