The Soundtrack to My Life

Inspired by Kez, the UK Etsy sellers have been posting their own soundtracks. The idea is to put together a list of amazing songs you could imagine playing in the background during certain stages of your life. I go everywhere with my mp3 player and music is one of the main sources of my creativity, so of course I couldn't resist going through my playlists and racking my brain to put together a list. So here it is, complete with an eclectic mix of songs that reflect the variety of music I listen to... Where possible I have linked them to the YouTube videos of the songs to give you a chance to listen and hopefully discover some new favourites!

* Opening credits: Heather Nova - London Rain
* Waking up: Jewel - Goodbye Alice In Wonderland
* Average day: Nerina Pallot - Learning To Breathe
* First date: Belinda Carlisle - Do You Feel Like I Feel?
* Falling in love: Sophie B. Hawkins - Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover
* Love scene: Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One
* Fight scene: Snow Patrol - Headlights On Dark Roads
* Breaking up: Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter
* Getting back together: Blondie - End To The End
* Secret love: Radiohead - Creep
* Life's okay: Alanis Morissette - Everything
* Mental breakdown: Melissa Etheridge - Into The Dark
* Driving: Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
* Learning a lesson: Melissa Etheridge - Truth Of The Heart
* Deep thought: Charlotte Martin - Everytime It Rains
* Flashback: Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright - Set The Fire To The Third Bar
* Partying: Goldfrapp - Fly Me Away
* Happy dance: Kylie Minogue - Red Blooded Woman
* Regreting: Auf Der Maur - Real A Lie
* Long night alone: Lene Marlin - Fight Against The Hours
* Death scene: Tori Amos - The Beekeeper
* Closing credits: Eva Cassidy - Fields Of Gold

In the beginning...

Having decided to start a blog I have been putting off actually starting it. It's the fear of the blank screen... Or perhaps, after finishing writing my dissertation a few weeks ago I've simply just run out of words...

For one the last essays I wrote for my BA I chose to discuss Susan Stewart's claim that the miniature finds use value in the infinite time of reverie. I read Stewart's book On Longing: Narratives of The Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection and felt enchanted by it so much so that I took inspiration for my Etsy shop name from it. And so, Infinite Reverie was conceived.

Last weekend after finishing my exams on Friday I enjoyed having a whole weekend for myself to create things. No looming deadlines, no to-do lists - just time to dream up new designs and then to create them. I find working with beads fascinating and I suspect it is exactly because they are small and they are beautiful. The miniature connects us to childhood, and to an other-wordliness, a reverie. The metaphor of a kid in a candy store is indeed apt when it comes to beads!

One of the pieces I made is this necklace that I've named 'Fairyality'. I had the design for it in my head for a long time and I knew it had to be built around a fairy - back then I hadn't even found the perfect fairy yet! But, here she finally is, and it's one of my favourite items in my Etsy shop.