A bit of journaling and more ATC's

Monster Mash but it should really be Zombie mash :)

Some new ATC's

This was a Secret Diary now its my book of quotes.

I have been busy making a creative mess in my sewing room today. Firstly I was inspired by a journal page on the journal soup FB page. I have not done any journaling for a very long time I still find it hit and miss. However I knew exactly what I wanted to do to create this page and I am so happy with it. Next I decided to tackle a bundle of unfinished ATC's that have sitting on my desk for the last few months. Some of them where just backgrounds and others just needed a quote or a little bit of embellishment. Now I have 16 new ATC's which I have popped in my handbag ready to give out should someone need my contact details. This morning I was in Home and Bargain and spotted this little secret diary for 69p and I thought it would make a great little book to keep all the quotes I find. I had written quite a few down but they where in several different books as well as on bits and pieces of paper, now they are all in the one place.

Some sewing for a change.

 

Today i was supposed to be doing research for my DD2000 module that is due on 4th of March but instead I went into my sewing room and made several fabric postcards. The first one was not meant to be a fabric post card it was going to be a stitched collage for the Standfast and Barracks brief but it did not get that far. I decided to turn it into a vintage style postcard. The second one is a thank you card for Tanya who lives in Bermuda for the lovely surprise Christmas card she sent me. I have been meaning to make her one for weeks but just never got around to it. However, I saw this image on a birthday card and new it was exactly right for a thank you card. I did a quick sketch and transferred it to fabric and appliqued it to the background of my fabric postcard. I don't think Tanya reads my blog so I feel pretty safe that I can share this we you and it will still be a surprise when she receives it. I hope to get over to the post office and pop it in the post tomorrow. I can not show you the other two cards I made as I know the people who they are destined for occasionally read my blog so I will save them two for another day.

All the imperfections!

No 65: draw your sink. I chose the bathroom sink.

My interpration of the bathroom sink.

No 43: Draw something made of china or ceramic.

I'm really enjoying this challenge. I hope I am not boring you all with post after post of my daily(ish) sketches. It wasn't until I popped the photographed image and the sketched image on my blog that I noticed all the imperfections.  Not round enough, not in proportion, to long, to short, the shading is wrong, the colour not quite right etc... the list is endless. A while ago this would have totally disheartened me, I'd have become upset and think failure! whats the point? Today however, I have a different out look. I tell myself "ok its far from perfect but I enjoyed creating it and I have learnt a lot during the process". Now I look at all the imperfections and try to learn from them. I am not saying this then makes the next one perfect, far from it but what it does do is give me a reason to move forward. In today's sketch I was totally baffled when I tried to mix the colour for the body of the teapot and cup. Normally I would just mix what I think resembles it then go straight to the page. This time I took a totally different approach as you can see from the image above. I took an extra piece of paper and did multiple mixes of colour until I find what I considered to be closet. I think this was the hardest part of today's sketch but again I learnt a lot. Especially about mixing the colours blue and yellow. I think I might draw this teapot and cup again and see if there is a improvement from the first sketch? However for now I think its time for cuppa. 

The spirit is with me....

Today I chose no 7 on the EDM list "draw a bottle, a jar or a tin from your kitchen". I opened a cupboard and the first thing I noticed was a bottle of Jim Beam. I have to say it's not my tipple but my DH's.  I knew this would be challenging straight from the off as I have no idea how to draw or portray glass. Again I have used my little travel watercolour paints but I have also used a couple of Derwent Inktense pencils. It is far from perfect but hey that's ok, these sketches, for me, are all about interpretation, observation and study. Its also all part and parcel of my new year goal to be more relaxed and enjoy my work not to fret, stress or worry that everything has to be perfect or has to have  big wow impact. Last year A lecturer asked us to watch a Video on TED, it is Elizabeth Gillbert giving a talk about creative genius. I have to say I have watched it several time because it is fascinating and I can relate to what she is saying. I won't spoil what she has to say for those who want to watch the video but I can tell you that my spirit was definitely with me today.

Creatively frustrated.

Girlie cushion.

Poppy taking a close inspection of the eggs.

My final interpretation of the eggs.

I'm so angry with myself because I fell off the daily sketch challenge and missed several days. There are many reasons why this happened, I got fed up trying to think of things to draw, I was off doing other things then realised it was late the day had ended, the list of excuses are endless. Yesterday I had the luxury of doing nothing but crafting. It started off great, I rummaged through my fabric stash and found a great girlie piece of fabric. I decided to make a bag An hour in and I'd made a mistake by sewing to many pieces together. I couldn't be bother unpicking it so the bag became a cushion cover.  Off on the computer whilst I had some lunch and several you tube craft videos later I fell in love with a little house pot holder and thought I could make one of those. I then messed about trying to make one for hours. It looked nothing like the one on you tube and I became extremely frustrated as I'd spen hours on it and it went in the bin. Then I decided to make several cards with all the scraps of paper from making the house. However, I was totally frustrated, I wanted to be creative but nothing felt right so in the end I gave up and decided to read Game of Thrones instead.

Today I began clearing the mess from yesterday and under the pile of papers, fabric ad glue was my daily challenge sketchbook. I decided I would pick up where I left off only this time I was going to get my inspiration from the EDM challenge list .
I wrote out the first 100 things to draw from the list in a note book, I think that enough to be going on with. I then went through the list and my sketch book and crossed of what I had already drawn. Today I chose the draw an egg, or eggs in carton or an empty egg carton challenge number 93. Today I used Winsor and Newton water colour paints and a fine liner sharpie.  My sketchbook is a Seawhite of Brighton A5 with lovely quality cartdrige paper. I would have like to have added more shading and a bit more depth but Poppy decided to eat and scratch at the egg box which quite quickly started to come away in big chunks so it was time to call it a day.

Challenges.....

Stamping images onto tissue paper

My January 2015 Tag Challenge

Tim Holtz January tag.

Fabric card for Paige.

I do love challenges and there are plenty to choose from on line. I am still a member of the Sew Gals Free motion quilting fabric post card challenge, where I make one fabric post card per calendar month and send it to a allocated recipient in return someone sends me a fabric post card. Sometimes the month has a theme, this month the theme is Monochrome? not sure what to do yet. Another Challenge which I set up myself is to send my niece Paige a fabric postcard each week during her time at uni. I have to say I've been quiet consistent with this challenge and only missed a couple of weeks. The just chilling Penguin is the first fabric card I have made in 2015 and will be on its way to Paige this afternoon. A few days ago I came across another challenge run by Tim Holtz. It is a tag challenge and I decided to have a go. Sadly I do not have a vast amount of Ranger or Tim Holtz products so the first thing I did was make my own stamped tissue paper. Here is my very first attempt at a craft Tag and below is Tim Holtz January tag. I'm not sure if I like mine as it's not very original,  I've copied his idea and layout but just adapted what I had in the craft stash.  Yes the jury is still out on this challenge not sure if its for me?

Mmm... cuppa tea and a fondant fancie!

The quote on the left came from a cushion I recently bought and I thought it was very apt after my fab Christmas gift.

My Design Matters Paints. I use these paints a lot they are water colour with intense ink. They can be very subtle or intensely vibrant plus great value for money.

Mmmmmm fondant fancies, one of my favourite nibbles with a nice cup of Twinning English breakfast tea.

A couple of days ago I was shopping in Asda and I noticed Twinnings English breakfast tea was on roll back so I popped a box in my shopping basket. As I turned the corner there was an end promo of Mr Kipling cakes. I could not fight the temptation and a box of Fondant Fancies fell in the basket for me and a box of mini Baternbergs went in for Colin. I wouldn't mind, its not like the cupboard isn't still full of chocolate's and biscuits from Christmas but here's me buying cakes! I should also mention that every day since the first of January I keep saying "my diet starts tomorrow" only I am not sure which tomorrow it's meant to start. Last night I made myself a cuppa and demolished two (I no greedy pig) fondant fancies whilst sketching the box. I wouldn't mind I sometimes sketch to occupy my mind when I feel the munchies coming on but obviously this was not one of those occasions.

A new sketchbook...

Inspired by a Christmas solider decoration given to me by Michaela and a quote I came across on the net.

This page was inspired by the sadness I felt when my uncle Billy had just passed away.

This page was inspired by the fact that I made a big pot of chicken soup a real blast from the past and when I saw the image on the internet it made me laugh.

My cute little guy always make me smile.

Practising whismiscal face inspired by Suzi Blu. I don't feel this page is finished maybe it needs a quote?

I decided on the 1st January that the new year had to start off with a new sketch book. I have done random doodles each day, sometimes adding a inspirational quote. I think my favourite page so far is the little clown. He belonged to Michaela when she was a teenager, we haven't got a clue where she got him from.  He used to sit in a little wooden car that she made in woodwork, on the fire suround.  I don't even know what happened to the car but the clown has been pinned to my notice board ever since I moved into the flat. Maybe he is my favourite because so far it is the only drawing that has been drawn from an actual object whilst the others where ideas taken from the Internet and then I adapted them to suit my needs. It wasn't until several days into the sketch book that I read a post on "tonesandtints blog" and discovered a sketchbook challenge  AJW Sketchbook challenge is run by Palma of A Creative Journey. I wish I had know about this before I started my sketch book as I like the idea of having a pre-determind list of ideas of what to sketch daily. I found by day five I was struggling to think of what I could draw. I have not joined that challenge but I might take a few of the sugestions on the list when I am stuck for inspiration in my own little daily doodles.

A New Year....

My beautiful gift from my fab Brother Tony.

I am eight days late but Happy New Year to all who read my blog. I was extremely spoilt at Christmas DH bought me a new windows phone and my brother Tony and his partner Donna bought me this gorgeous ladies bike complete with basket and bell. As well as a mountain of goodies from my sister and daughter, I was very overwhelmed. Christmas was quiet but we really enjoyed it.

Sadly the new year has begun with such sorrow, my uncle Billy passed away on the 2nd Jan. He was such a great positive man and I have decided that this year I to am going to be more positive and embrace 2015 with a passion in memory of a beautiful gentleman who was one of life's best.