Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

‘I like’ Friday the Art Challenge Edition.

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There are so many daily challenges around you could chuck a stick and hit a handful.  Challenges which last a week, a month, 100 days or a year are abound, you just need a fleeting glance at Instagram and the Interwebs to find the one for you. The first daily challenge I found and did for 2 or 3 years was Fat Mum Slim‘s Photo-A-Day challenge which is still going strong and I would like to say that it was one of the first daily prompt based challenges.  Take a photo a day using prompts suggested by the blog and post them to Instagram. Simples. I started to see more of these challenges as I started to do them, I am sure they have always been around, it is just I wasn’t looking. Isn’t it always the way, you see what you are looking for. Challenges for hand lettering, painting, sketching, taking photos, taking photos of only one colour, sketching with a specific material, art journaling, they are all out there and I have done …

Persimmon predictions

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  I learnt two new things this week, that there is a persimmon tree in the woods (I am sure there are many, but I only know of the one) and the seeds from the ripe persimmon fruit can predict the future. Only the immediate winter future, the weather to be specific.  Sorry, it is not a request service, open a persimmon seed and see what you will be having for dinner type thing. I must admit that I thought persimmons were a tropical fruit, so that shows what I know. Ain’t nothing tropical about our local woods! I read about it here and decided to have a go at checking for myself. So I gathered a few persimmon fruits from the woodland floor and brought them home for dissection. The seed are small and slimey little buggers as to be expected I suppose from a plum like fruit which got so ripe it hurled itself from the tree to the ground. I managed to wash some  seeds off and cut them in half and …

The ‘Artist’ Zine.

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I have never collaborated in making a zine before, in fact I have only ever seen a zine on the inter webs, never in real life. I was thrilled when I was asked to join in with a zine being made by the Zine Squad who are a group of art journaling ninjas who leap over the rooftops in the dead of night to gather ideas and techniques for their next zine.  So to be included in this group was a real pleasure, even if I need to work on my ninja moves! What I really enjoyed about the zine was that it came to me from Vanessa and Julia who had already worked on some pages.  The idea is to make some new pages or work with other peoples pages while leaving room for the next artist to work her magic. It felt like I could very easily ruin the whole darn thing which took me a few days to get over.  I mean this zine was heading off for other people to work …

Weekly Photos 37/52

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1. Flowers on the table.  Brought by our lovely neighbors who we shared some tomatoes with. 2. Shells from our holiday in Cape Cod. 3. I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this weekend. 4.  A hole in a rotting log full of water.  I think I see an angry face, I am always seeing faces in tree bark, maybe I am a crazy person! 5. Lots of fungi on fallen tree trunks.  They look like a flock of tiny birds. 6.  These mystery blue arrows have appeared on the trail, I wonder what they are for? 7. Sunset over a local building. Happy Monday x

‘I Like’ Friday -the art supplies edition

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Art supplies how I love them! This week I have been using all kinds of things and I thought I would share my favorites with you.  Hopefully you can share some of your favorites or coveted supplies (I have plenty of ‘wish list’ stuff myself). Paints – I often start with a background using acrylic paints in my art journal which is a good and a bad thing. Good because I don’t have a scary white page glaring at me, and I have something to work with and on. Bad because if I want to sketch something on the page, there is no erasing, no going back.  Of course there is more paint to go over a mistake if necessary! I bought a set of pearlescent watercolors this week and I like the subdued colours and the gentle sparkle. Kind of what I aim for in life – subdued colours and a gentle sparkle!  Now I am after some metallic watercolors which look fabulous. Journals – I always have more than one sketchbook on the …

Taking Stock September 2016

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I like to do a stock take every so often, see what is going on, how it is all going.  If you fancy  having a stock take too, I have added a blank list at the end of this post.  Thanks to Pip at Meet Me At Mikes for this Taking Stock list. Here goes, digital biro at the ready…. Making : I am still crocheting my blanket, it may be done by 2020! Cooking : Burgers and coleslaw for dinner. Drinking : Lots of tea. Reading: I have just started The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski and I am liking it so far.  My library website recommends books based on what else you have searched and this came up when I ordered The Girls by Emma Cline and there is a very long line for it, so I thought I would give The Girl Who Slept with God a go and I am pleased I did. Hurrah for libraries! Wanting: The weather to cool down, I am done with hot and humid. …

Weekly Photos 36/52

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1-3. We visited Sandy Creek Covered Bridge State Park on Monday last week as it was Labor Day here and everyone was off school and work in our house. It was an impressive bridge over a creek where kids can paddle and look for rocks and arrow heads. 4. Near the park was The Old Curiosity Shop which sadly was closed as it was a Monday. I wonder what treasure is in there! 5. We spotted this old sign in a field so of course I had to snap a photo. 6. Lunch at Fozzies,  a local sandwich shop with a trailer along with the raised beds and vegetables and herbs. 7-12. On Saturday I was up with the lark (and the dog) to go to Mount Pleasant Winery for a fundraiser for Pedal the Cause hosted by Core 3 Fitness.  I took photos for the event and I got to visit the wine cellars which were amazing. The cellars sounded like crickets and smelt like well, wine. I got to explore the winery and …

‘I like’ Friday. The Pumpkin Spice Syrup Edition.

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I do like a nice Autumnal coffee, a spot of flavoured syrup and lots of frothy milk. What I don’t like is commercial sweeteners or creamers or even flavoured coffee. This syrup is way better than the alarmingly orange Pumpkin Spice Latte at a certain coffee retailer in my opinion and won’t set you back $5.00 a coffee! So, what to do? Make your own flavoured syrup of course! I don’t have any fancy coffee equipment, I use a Chemex and this coffee frother, all low tech, and that’s how I like it. This syrup keeps in the fridge and I use about a dessertspoon full in a regular coffee mug, but you add what you need. Pumpkin Spice Syrup. 1 cup water A good handful of mulling spices 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger 1 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree from a can (measure carefully and save the rest for pumpkin bread) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract Bring the water and spices and ginger to the boil and heat gently for 5 mins to …

Get Messy Art Journal Season of Music week 6.

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We are at the final week of the Season of Music in the art journaling community of Get Messy. I really connected with just listening to songs and writing down on index cards some sketchbook page ideas. Colours, shapes, images and a line from the song usually. So I decided to randomly listen to some songs and see what I could make from them. For these pages I used credit cards to add colour, gelli plate prints I had already made, images from a bird book and some sketching. They are super simple, only two or three layers and I am happy with how they have turned out. Creative Every Day! Happy Thursday x

Weekly Photos 35/52

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I am a day late with weekly photos this week because of the holiday here in the States, of course this means that I will have no clue what the day is for the rest of the week! 1. A look at my dining table when I have my stuff all over the place as I mess about in my art journals. 2.This giant caterpillar was on the hot pepper plant early this week, we decided to leave him even though he was munching away at the whole plant including the chilli peppers! 3. The very next day the plant was almost bare, by the end of the week he had gone (hopefully to spin his chrysalis and not into a bird’s belly). 4. I indulged in a maple latte before my trip to Forest Park on Wednesday. Fall is coming! 5. A replica of ‘The Spirit of St Louis’ hanging in the History Museum. 6. Saint Louis residing outside the St Louis Art Museum. 7. Art inside the St Louis Art Museum. 8. A …