Whilst I’ve been designing and building websites since 1997, I haven’t really been keeping up with what’s been going on in the world of good web design during the past few years. Given that I’m looking for a job at the moment, I thought it would be a good time to get myself up to date with as many skills as possible.

As a result, I spent today teaching myself how to use CSS to build the structure of a simple new portfolio/CV site.

I’ve used CSS to define the look and feel of websites before, but I’d always relied on using tables for layout. With a little help from a handy tutorial in Web Designer magazine (and a number of emails to Paul), I managed to put together a two-column design that I was happy with.

Now that I understand how the structure and syntax of CSS works, I can start to experiment a bit with more complex applications. I might go and have a bit of a play with the Zen Garden website, or maybe have a closer look at the style sheet that makes this blog come together.

I still need to run the new website through some compatibility testers, and there are bound to be some final tweaks to do, but you can see the fruits of my labours here: http://www.designbyclaire.co.uk

Tags: CSS, Design By Claire, web design

Being based out in the garden, I’ve noticed that first thing in the morning is a really great time for birdwatching. The weather’s much cooler, especially at the moment, it’s nice and quiet, and there aren’t too many people around.

This young fellow was sitting on my fence for ages, happily singing away.

I’ve labelled him on Flickr as a young song thrush, because of his spots, but looking back through my pictures I’m thinking that it might actually be the fledgling blackbird.

What do you think? Are these guys both the same bird?

Tags: birds, nature, photography, photos, wildlife

At the risk of sounding like a miserable old so-and-so, I am really not enjoying this heatwave! My Shed is like a sauna, and switching on the fan only serves to move the too-hot air around a bit.

I went outside to stand in a shady spot in the garden, and caught sight of these magpies on top of my neighbour’s conservatory. I couldn’t quite work out what they were doing, so I pulled out the zoom lens and had a look. It turned out that they were drinking the drips of water from a leaky overflow pipe. Clearly they’re not enjoying the heatwave very much either.

My plan for the rest of the afternoon? Refill the bird bath, and see whether anybody else needs a bit of a drink.

Tags: birds, magpies, nature, photos, wildlife

When we got up yesterday morning, Paul said “let’s go to the zoo”. So, we bundled the cameras into the car and headed off to Marwell.

It was a scorchingly hot day, so most of the animals were doing the sensible thing and hanging out quietly in the shade. Unfortunately for us, this meant that we had to take most of our pictures through glass or mesh, but I have a few that I’m quite pleased with.

You can see my photos here.

I particularly enjoyed the part where you can get up close and personal with the Kookaburras - there’s a section you can walk through where they’re flying free. The two that we saw certainly weren’t shy! They were quite happy to sit still and pose for the cameras, from a distance of only a couple of feet away.

The bat house was pretty amazing too, although we didn’t take any photos in there on account of it being dark.

I managed to come away without smuggling any of the animals out in my handbag, which is always best. Although I’m sure the Gentle Lemur would have lived in my Shed quite happily.

Tags: animals, Marwell Zoo, photography, photos, wildlife

I started working for myself for two reasons.

1. I went to an event with a lot of independent traders, and came home thinking “I could do better than that”. And I did. For a while.
2. I became frustratingly and unpredictably ill. Working for myself gave me the flexibility I needed to work as much as possible when I was well.

For a long time I’ve combined working at various part time jobs with working for myself. This gave me a convenient source of regular income, whilst also allowing me the time to work on my own projects and business ideas. In 2008 I became sufficiently ill (ironically thanks to the medications I was taking) that I could no longer reliably hold down a part time job, so since October 2008 I’ve been working entirely for myself.

My bank balance sadly reveals that I haven’t been making a very good job of it, and so I find myself in the position of looking for a job again.

Unfortunately, the down side of being a “magpie” is that I find it terribly difficult to stick to just one thing. When it comes to getting a job and staying with it, that’s a bit of a drawback in terms of finding something that isn’t going to bore me to death after a few months.

Since I left University I’ve taught myself to sew, to make alterations, to draft my own patterns, researched historical costume and learned to make corsets, studied the Pre-Raphaelites, learned how to use a digital SLR, taken up wildlife photography, learned to knit, written and published my own knitting patterns, taken life drawing classes, qualified as a professional massage therapist, designed, built and run an online shop, made jewellery using semi-precious gemstones, studied historical crafts, written sewing tutorials, volunteered to study 19th century smocks and signed up to give a workshop on smocking, made my own slippers, recycled pillowcases into tote bags, made my own soap, bubble bath and body lotion, taken up clog dancing, researched sustainable textiles and fashion production, started writing this blog, set up my own t-shirt printing business… and that’s just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head.

On the job front, I’ve designed and built websites using a number of different systems, trained other people to use them, written instructions and documentation, typeset, edited and proof-read all sorts of things, fitted and altered bridal dresses, worked in a library, and sold cosmetics, fabric and books.

The list of things I want to learn is as long as my arm (and growing by the minute), but the three things that are vying for my attention at the moment are training to become a qualified aromatherapist, learning to make my own shoes, and learning to make silver jewellery.

The problem with looking for a new job is that it’s very difficult to condense all of this into a coherent and appropriate CV! The other problem with looking for a job is that I don’t want one. Not a job in any conventional sense that I can think of anyway. The thought of having to pick one thing and stick to it seems completely ridiculous to me. How on earth would I choose what to do?

The primary skill that I bring to everything I’ve ever done is relentless enthusiasm.

I have a peculiar ability to be interested in just about anything - until I’ve understood it, figured out how it works, or learned how to do it for myself. After that I’m quite happy to move on to the next thing, whatever that might be.

Unfortunately, as far as I’ve been able to tell so far, that’s not a job.

I don’t need mountains of money. I’ve never aspired to be especially rich. But obviously I have bills to pay, so I need to earn some kind of a living.

So, I guess what I need to find out now, is how to get paid for being relentlessly enthusiastic about things.

Your suggestions are extremely welcome!

Tags: enthusiasm, job hunting, magpie, writing

I’ve been AWOL for a few days now - sorry about that.
I had a very busy start to the week, followed by an extremely unexpected trip to hospital!

I haven’t been up to anything much for the past day or so except for sleeping, so I hereby present a picture of a beautiful stag beetle that we spotted on the way back from the hospital.

He was not very pleased to see us, and kept rearing up and waving his pincers in a menacing fashion. At least he didn’t hiss at us. I know he’s only three inches long, but that’s still pretty scary!

Tags: nature, photos, stag beetle

Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour in the Reading Room at the Museum of English Rural Life, having a look at a couple of books about smocking that had been put to one side for me.

The books were Smocking: A Practical Beginner’s Guide, by Audrey Vincente Dean, and Smocking: Traditional and Modern Approaches by Oenone Cave and Jean Hodges. Both of them were really useful, and I’m currently on the lookout for second hand copies that I can keep open while I’m sewing.

As you can see, I’ve made a start on the prototype child’s dressing-up smock. It’s taken me all day to reach this point - I spent most of the morning cutting out the back, front and sleeves, and completing all the gathering. In the background of the picture you can just see the smocking dot transfers that help you to space the gathers very neatly.

My next mission is to try and find out whether honeycomb smocking is a traditional stitch used in the eighteenth century, or whether it’s too modern for me to use on this particular smock.

I’m going to be volunteering at the Museum on Monday, looking through their smock collection, so I guess I’ll be able to find out!

Tags: MERL, smocking

Remember when I told you that McCalls 5433 was going to be my perfect summer wardrobe? Well, here’s my first summer shirt!

The fabric is a lightweight quilting cotton - a vintage piece by Rose & Hubble. The print is called “Rosy Days”, and it looks a bit like an old-fashioned quilt. Inside the circles are flowers, hearts and posies in pretty little baskets.

The buttons are little blue plastic ones with a flower in the centre. I have no idea how old they are or where they came from - I unearthed them from one of my many inherited button tins!

The buttons aren’t functional - the shirt actually fastens with poppers. (This is because the buttonhole functionality on my sewing machine completely refuses to make nice buttonholes.)

The instructions were great, and the shirt went together very nicely. However, unless you’re a fan of hand finishing, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this pattern to a beginner. There are a lot of small details that make a big difference in the sewing of a shirt, and some of them can be a little bit fiddly.

I’ve really enjoyed making and wearing this shirt though, so it definitely counts as a success!

Tags: 5433, McCalls, shirts

This is the second dress I’ve made for Diane, using recycled 1970s print bedding. (The first one is here.) This one’s a very pretty, girly design with plenty of hearts and flowers. It’s made from half of a duvet cover, and Diane’s kept the other half to turn into a quilt.

If you’d like to order a pretty tunic dress, the sizes are here, and the prices are here.

There’s also one on Etsy, and I’ll be making more over the next few weeks!

Tags: 1970s, dress, raglan, retro, tunic, vintage

Red Kites are pretty common where I live. Thanks to their reintroduction into the area around the M40, I see them circling above my neighbourhood every day.

I’ve seen the kites being mobbed by gangs of crows before now - especially at the time of year when there are eggs and chicks for the crows to protect.

This morning I could hear an unusual bird song, so I went outside to have a look. I could see a single kite being mobbed by a group of much smaller birds. Definitely not crows.

It’s an overcast day and they were very high, so I wasn’t absolutely certain at first, but I think (mostly from looking up the sounds) that the kite was being mobbed by a gang of House Martins.

This was very exciting - firstly because it was a behaviour that I’d never seen before, and secondly because I didn’t know that we had any local house martins. Given that they’re frequently seen “near water and in the vicinity of woodland” I’m now rather surprised that I hadn’t seen them until today!

Tags: birds, House Martin, nature, photos, Red Kite