Snow Bunnies and baby booties

So as per usual it has been far too long since I lasted posted on here.  Every day life just seems to have a habit of getting in the way!  I'm finding it hard to juggle a day job with unpredictable hours with knitting and trying to get some art done :-(  It's times like these I wish that things were simpler!

Anyway first things first! I have to show you an amazing piece of art that I asked my lovely pal Carmen over at Whoopidooings made for me!  I commissioned her to make me a canvas of a snow bunny in her style but also my style.  This is harder than it sounds as we have the complete opposite taste in colours and stuff although I do like a lot of the same things as she does.  I sent her over some reference photos of things I really like....turns out I like a lot of bright pastel colours :-P

Here is what she came up with! Isn't it just the best thing EVER!! I am so pleased with him (even if he doesn't have a scarf on as was later pointed out to me)!  He's so smiley and happy, this is something I have never managed to achieve in any of my drawings of rabbits :-P  He is going to take pride of place in my work room :-)

I've also managed to do a little drawing myself.  I say little but my drawings are actually huge!  I have no concept of scale, I can barely fit the people on to A4 paper!!  I haven't got round to the colour stage yet and I'm not even sure if I like them but such is life!!

The top one is juts a random girl that popped in to my head, I had such trouble with the hair!  I realised I really have no clue how to draw hair that looks like its attached to a persons head :-P  The bottom one is a drawing of my fave DC character Hawkgirl.  Maybe they will look better when/if I finally get some colour on them!  They don't have much emotion at the moment!

I'm hoping to take part in Summer of Colour this year too.  At least it will give me a kick up the backside to post a little more often :-P I do love summer of colour though!  It's quite exciting waiting for the next colour prompts!!

So to knitting!  I had a custom order for a baby hat and booties!  The colour was a mint green or baby blue, I thought the mint green would make a nice change.  The wool that was chosen in the end was really lovely and knitted up well!

If anyone is interested in something similar its £5 each for the hat and booties and I can knit them in any colour you like providing there is wool in that colour :-P I'm trying to knit some to put in my poor neglected Etsy shop but I just can't seem to find the time!

Anyway that is all for now, see you all soon :-)

Summer Of Colour 4!

So it's been quite a while since I blogged.  Those of you who follow my other Blog will know why this is, for those of you who are interested here is the link to my other Blog Little Red Crafting Corner.  I've had a very difficult few years now but I'm hoping that things are finally on the up!

A few years a go I took part in the Summer Of Colour Blog event.  It's so much fun to do and a great way to make new friends and see some fabulous art which is always a plus for me! Basically you are given a colour and a week to make a piece of art incorporating the chosen colour.  You then post it on your Blog and post the link on the main page and then you visit everyone Else's pages! I think I'm making it sound far more complicated than it is!

This years Summer of Colour is about to start and I am determined to take part this year! I have to thank my wonderful friend Carmen (Whoopidooings) for reminding me that this event is happening! I still have days where things are a little tough but I hope having something to focus on will help me.

I plan to try and use new mediums this time around! Why not go a little crazy! I'm still quite scared to try new things in case i do it wrong but I want to be more like Bob Ross

"There are no such things as mistakes, just happy accidents"

I think this is a lovely sentiment and I am going to try my best to embrace it!!  For those of you who are interested in The Summer of Colour 4, please visit Twinkle, Twinkle for all of the details! Have a little nose round whilst you are there, its a lovely fun Blog!

So that is it for now! I'm off to get my thinking cap on, my paint brushes at the ready.......it's going to be a colourful summer and I can not wait!!

Feeling a little bit rusty......

I haven't done anything arty in, what feels like, a million years :-( I've had so many things to knit and work has had me rushed off my feet!! I've almost caught up with the knitting but work will be busy now until probably after Christmas which is a bit depressing!!

I'd like to say the reason I've not done anything arty is because I've been knitting, but in all honesty it's not!! I find it very difficult to put down my ideas on to paper! It's like I have a fear of it going wrong or looking silly :-S I remember when I was younger I used to run up to the top of the Castles we used to visit in Wales! I'd drag my Dad up and look over and wave down at my mum.....I wasn't nervous at all.  If you asked me to do that now I would deffo think twice because I know what can go wrong and I worry that it will go wrong! It's the same sort of thing with my art.  I've spent so much time away from it thinking I can't do it, that it's silly that I've now started to believe it!

If anyone has any tips that would be great :-P

This is the last piece of art I created! I was looking in to zen tangles and zen doodles! I really like the colour (of course I do it's red ha ha)! I was getting creative block on the actual doodling bit though.....they were starting to look very samey :-S

Well that is it for now! I hope you have all had a lovely week :-)

Summer of Colour (Strawberry and Lemonade Punch)

Hi guys :-)

This weeks summer of colour challenge was again a bit of a challenge for me! Mainly because I just haven't had the time to sit down and think properly about it!! The easiest route seemed to be to go literal again so that is what I did!!

I kind of like the colours in this but its not as creative as I would like!! Last time I said I felt like I should apologise but I won't do that this time! I will pick out what I like best about it! I really like the swirly pattern (I like swirly patterns, what can is ay :-p) and I love how the yellow and green go together!! I used my Moleskine again which is good as its pages are finally being filled!! I would like to start using the back of the pages but I have this thing about doing that......I'm the same with notebooks haha!! I also used pencils! I need better quality pencils I think but the colours are nice!!

So on to next week :-) I've seen the prompt which is Wild n reckless sherbet! This is a very funky coloured icecream which once again makes my mouth water :-P The good news is I already have some ideas so hopefully I will be able to produce something I am more happy with :-D

On a completely different note.....here is a photo of my Cat Lupin.....

She was trying to sunbathe but having trouble what with the lack of sun :-P Ahhh isn't she the cutest?!?

Anyway I am off to look at some strawberry lemonade punch art :-D All this talk of ice cream really makes me wnat a bowl...yum!!







Summer Of Colour: Baseball Nut (Fail)

Hi everyone :-)

It was a close call as to weather I was going to get this weeks Summer Of Colour done!! I had real trouble coming up with anything and the thing I did do in the end looks nothing like the Baseball Nut ice cream picture that was posted :-( I was going to do another ATC but I decided to use my Moleskine in the end!

I feel the need to apologise for this :-S I mean really, what does this have to do with baseballs or nuts?? :-P On the plus side I like the effect I got by just outlining the ice cream in the middle and i love the swirly background!! The colours don't show up great but the pinks are supposed to be the sauce that swirls through the ice cream and the yellow is the vanilla! I chose yellow because vanilla to me screams cream and I don't do cream haha!! It kind of looks like a mishmash of sherbet rainbow and mint choc chip......... I used coloured pencils and a black marker on this! I love colouring with pencils although the ones used here were quite cheap and not blendable at all :-P

I have yet to look on the Twinkle Twinkle blog for the next colour prompt but I am excited! I'm hoping I can pull something a bit better out of the bag this time!! I'm just off to look at all the other fab pieces of art :-D See you at the other side!!

Summer of Colour (Mint Choc Chip)

Hey everyone! So to week two of the Summer Of Colour Challenge! This weeks prompt was Mint Choc Chip (my fave flavour of ice cream might I add)! I must be honest I found this one very hard! I don't know if it was because I've been having one of THOSE weeks so my brain just wouldn't switch on!! Anyway I went literal with this one so I should introduce to you.......

Mr Cool Mint.

I used my pro markers to colour him in! I'm not sure I really like the blue background but it fits in with the Mr Cool Mint theme ha ha!! I've never done an ATC before and I found it hard to put any extra detail on him :-S All in all I like the idea but I think it could have been done a little better!! Also I think his choc chips look a bit like acne hahaha!!

Oh well I tried something new which was fun, and I will deffo be doing more ATC's in the future! So on to next weeks colour.....I can't wait to find out what it is!!

In other news, my lovely friend Carmen sent me a gift.....I will write a special post about that....but I just wanted to say thank you to her.  We only "met" quite recently but I like to think we have become good friends :-)

Celestial Sugar Skull!

I have not been on here in waaaaaay too long!! I would love to say it's because I've spent all of my time drawing but it's not! I've been working and trying to strip gloss of my stairs and knitting some bits......real life things haha!!

I have done a bit of drawing though, more Sugar Skulls of course! I do need to branch out one day but for now these work for me :-P

I wanted to do some sort of theme so I went for Celestial sort of! I'm not sure I hit the mark though, what do you think??

This is the almost finished version! I tried to use blue and yellows but I'm not sure the colour scheme is quite right! The silver is my beloved sharpie (I must get more of those) and the rest of the colours are my letraset pro markers! I love these pens so much!! I was once on a mission to collect all of the colours but I didn't even get halfway there.......maybe I can start again haha!!

I don't know if I should line the drawing with black or go for the dark blue.......decisions decisions haha! I always line with black as i like the very graphic look so maybe i should try blue for a change!! I also think I need to work on the skull shape. It's not looking too bad though!

In other arty news, me and my friend Katie (check out her website, she makes amazing paper cuts!) are going down to London in July to see the Summer Exhibition! I have been dying to do this for years so I'm sooooooo excited! The tickets are booked and everything! WAHOO! You can expect lots of photos from that trip!!

Anyway I hope you have all enjoyed your Diamond Jubilee weekend :-)

Sweet like Sugar Skulls.

Hello everyone :-)

I have been away far too long (I know I've said that before!), I am now playing catch up and its no fun :-P Its been a long hard slog in my "real" job for the last couple of weeks but I thunk things are settling down a bit now!! I've not been able to keep up with any of the drawing I started from Cameron's Blog :-( I do hope I can catch up a little bit!! The lesson's are such fun, I just need to set aside some time to really give them a go!!

I did manage to get some drawing done though, ok that's not strictly true! I drew the picture ages a go but I decided to take the plunge and colour it in!!

I have to say I'm quite pleased with this so far!  I love Sugar Skulls, I really find the colours and styles so interesting!! I'm hoping to draw more, maybe themed ones! If anyone has any ideas on themes i could do please let me know!!

It kind of looks like he has a moustache, maybe I'm subconsciously channelling Poirot here haha!! I think i need to take a step back and come back to it later and see if it needs any tweaking! Bit as the first thing I've drawn AND coloured myself in a long time I think it's gone quite well!!

That's it on the art front at the moment though :-( I must do better!!

And this photo is just because I love the necklace I'm wearing in it :-P Oh and the top!! Both were bargains! The necklace is from www.punkypins.co.uk and the top was in the Henry Holland sale! I literally LOVE Henry Holland clothes :-D

Hope you all have a lovely week!!

Drawing Lab lessons 4 and 5!

So lets be honest, I've not drawn for like a million years :-P I really meant to draw every day but I guess drawing a little bit is better than not drawing at all!! I finally, FINALLY got around to following the next lesson on Paint Myself Pretty. You're supposed to go to the zoo which would have been soooooo good as one of my fave things to do in the summer is go to the zoo!! BUT I haven't really had time and up until today the weather hasn't been that great round here! Cameron (from paint myself pretty) used video footage but this just didn't work for me :-P I'm not very good at sketching and moving animals present waaaaaaaay too much of a challenge for me right now!! So I used photos of animals I've seen in the zoo in the past!!

As I say EVERY time I post a photo......I really need to get a scanner ha ha!! So there you have my attempts! I only managed two but I plan to do some more later on (after me tea ha ha)!! I picked the fish because I've never drawn a fish in my life.  On the photo its a lovely blue colour! It was going quite well until I had to draw the scale pattern on the fins etc......I kind of lost heart then :-P

I picked the frog because I love poison arrow frogs! They are so small and cute and the colours are amazing! As with the fish, I've never drawn a frog before and I have to say I'm quite pleased with this!! I wish I could get more detail with shadows etc but for someone who really finds this sort of thing SO hard its not gone too badly!! My fave animals are monkeys so I'm hoping to attempt one of them next!

I'm hoping the lovely weather we are having here will stay as I always feel way more motivated when there is a nice blue sky :-)

Just for fun I have a funny photo of my cat Lupin! We are having to mind some Roberovski hamsters for a bit and as I suspected my cat is VERY happy about this! She sits watching them pretty much all day! I have to say I'm a little worried she will attack them but so far nothing too bad has happened!!

Ha ha so there you go!! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend :-) I will be back soon!!

Sugar Skulls and other delights!

OK so I have to be honest, I haven't been very arty or even very crafty recently :-( I'm just in one of THOSE moods where everything seems like its not going well but you can't think why.......does that make sense?? I haven't even done the next couple of lessons on Cameron's Blog Paint Myself Pretty yet :-( I WILL get around to that at some point!

So why the Blog post you ask? Well I have some older drawings I thought I would share with you for now!! The first are some little Whimsies I drew whilst following the Art, Heart and Healing over on Willowing's site! She also has a Blog here!! I had fun doing these, they came out way better than I was expecting! I can't decide if I should colour them in or not....what do you think??



I hope you can see them OK......I really should get a scanner! I actually have a scanner but it's A3 size so doesn't seem to scan smaller things in that well :-S Don't ask haha!!

The second thing I wanted to show you was my Sugar Skull! I absolutely love these! They come from the Tradition of Dia De Los Muetos or Day of The Dead.  Some of them can be a little odd looking but some of them are amazing! So colourful and interesting!! You can find out more about them online, you only have to google to find tons of stuff!

Here are some examples.....

And here is my effort!

I thought he was quite good until I looked at those examples I put on here :-S :-P oh well maybe he will look better with a bit of colour on him?? And maybe some more pattern? Eek!

And before I go here is a picture of my Craft room wall, it's a blank white wall that I plan to fill up with paintings etc.......

The calendars are a vintage travel posters from 1930's one and a Year of The Dragon Chinese scroll thingy! The painting is by my good Friend Carmen over at whoopidoo.....ings :-) He is taking pride of place up there!!

Anyway that is all for now, see you all soon!

What I wore today......

hello lovely people of Blog land :-)

I totally intended to do lots of blogging and lots of arty stuff this week but well you know how it goes.....life happens!! I was called in to work on one of my days off and work has been quite busy with various beginning of the year things!! Anywho I have to get myself back on track soon!!

I'm hoping to do the next lesson on Cameron's Blog tomorrow so I will be able to Blog about that soon! I'm quite intrigued as to what that will all be about!! It's been fun so far and completely different than anything I've ever tried before!

My lovely and amazing friend Carmen sent me a surprise gift the other day (thank you thank you thank you!!)! I was well chuffed, and slightly confused at first as my Mum txt me to tell me I had a parcel from Amazon......I thought to myself "But I haven't ordered anything from Amazon, god I hope no one is using my account....." DUUUUUURRRR! Anyway my surprise was a lovely art journal book called 'What I wore Today' by Gemma Correll.

It's such a sweet little book! I didn't realise it is actually like an art journal that you can draw in!! I wasn't going to draw in it at first but now I'm thinking why not!! You can follow Gemma on Facebook (Just search for Gemma Correll Artist) and she has a website (Here)! So if you want to learn more about her and her adorable drawings check those out!! I love her style, its fairly simple but so cute!!

Anyway that is all for tonight! Take care and I shall see you all soon, Hopefully with some new drawings to show you!!

Blind Contour Drawing!

The idea behind blind contour drawing (from what I could gather) is to find a picture/photo that you like and you copy it, the difference being that you don't look down at your paper and you're not supposed to lift your pencil off the paper!! In all honesty I really thought I was going to HATE this! I can barely stand my drawings as it is so to do something that is going to so obviously (in my head) not be great was not what I wanted to be doing!

But I gave it a go and you know what, it wasn't that bad!! The lessons I'm following on Paint Myself Pretty say to do this particular lesson with Giraffes so that's what I did! I do like Giraffes and it was fun trying to find cute pictures to use!



I honestly can't believe they came out so well! I know I haven't put any detail on them but I thought that was a step too far haha! Also I did take my pencil off the page to do the eyes etc of some of them which I know was cheating a little but we can keep it our little secret right?? ;-) I'm glad I gave it a go! I suppose it just goes to show that you just don't know how something will work until you try it for yourself and i should stop being so scared :-P

I enjoyed it so much that I plan to use the technique on some other animals I like......I'm thinking Panda's next! Who doesn't love panda's?!?

See you all again soon :-)