Author: Clare at CatsEatDogs

Sketching with the Tinkersketch challenge.

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For the month of February I have been joining in with Tinkerlab and doing the Tinkersketch daily challenge. I tried it last year and only made it part way through the month. This year I am loving it! We are half way through February (yikes) and I am still going strong. I see some of the sketches on the #tinkersketch feed and these folks can draw, I mean really draw, their quick sketch is an accurate portrayal. I am more a shapes and colour kinda artist! That said I am very happy with what Tinkersketch has pulled out of my idea cache and I am looking forward to the rest of the month. If you want to see what everyone has been creating, check out the #tinkersketch hashtag over on Instagram. My favourite sketchers to follow are @squiggleandswirl, @soulsk8r, @annofdoodlesandjots, @daintydora, @markonthemark and of course @tinkerlab. Do you like to draw and sketch and make marks generally? I have only really just started to fill sketchbooks again and I am getting so many ideas, not …

Through The Lens Thursday #7 Candy

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  Rhubarb and Custard boiled sweets from the UK are the feature of my Through The Lens Thursday offering this week for the ‘Candy’ prompt. I remember buying sweets in bags from the local newsagent in the village where I grew up.  A quarter pound of sweets was a wonderful treat.  I was never a fan of boiled sweets to be honest, I liked jellies and dazzle drops best. What sweets did you love when you were a kid? Can you still get them? Next week’s prompt is ‘Twisted’, should be a good one.  

Onwards and Upwards. I am shutting down my small business and I am happy about it.

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Last month I made the decision to shut down my small business, CatsEatDogs jewelry. It wasn’t with a heavy heart or a sense of failing that I came to this decision, more the opposite. Once I started to close everything down I felt more and more that I was doing the right thing. There was no ceremonials, no ‘closing down’ sale, just me edging everything over the side of the ‘I’m have made a decision to move on’ waterfall.  I love that waterfall, it is dramatic and gorgeous and exhilarating, especially when you are at the top looking out over it taking big breaths. I closed down my jewelry business because it wasn’t.  It wasn’t a business, I have no clue how to conduct a business, small or otherwise.  I bought beads, arranged them into something I thought was lovely and tried (quite badly) to sell the finished product. I wondered if once I made the decision that I would start to regret it.  I would have to close my Etsy store, tell everyone I …

Weekly Photos 6/52

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  1.  I pass these dried Hydrangeas almost every day and I love how they still look so gorgeous even when they are all dry. 2. I snapped the full moon this week.  Look at the mega bright star just above it! 3. We found this walnut shell on the way to school and thought it looked like an owl. 4. I made some ginger molasses cookies. 5. A selection of the smells we will be using to make body balm and solid perfumes.  I can’t wait to get making and testing! 6. I also make pizza for dinner, mine is piled up with onions, mushrooms and kale. 7. I am loving the Tinkerlab February challenge, this one was following the prompt ‘Fairytale’.  I found an old paperback of Hans Christian Andersen tales at an estate sale so I drew in it! Have a wonderful and fantastic week!

‘I like’ Fridays

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Well this week has seen all sorts of decisions and new things for me, all good things!  We have seen snow and sun and ice in all kinds of order and the weekend is supposed to be sunny and warm so we are looking forward to that. I have been drawing and painting and reading and catching the train and borrowing library books.  I hope you have had a good week and are having a happy Friday. Here are a few things I am liking today – The new Jamie Oliver magazine which I bought today at the international newsagent nearby, I am sure I am at least one issue behind, but I get them eventually! Magma sketchbooks are so gorgeous to look at and they make sketchbooks for specific areas like fashion or idea generation. Home made scented balms and solid perfume, I am looking into the best ‘recipe’ and playing with scent combinations!  So fun! Our local Goodwill store, I got a lovely little vintage pyrex bowl and I found the boys a Nerf …

Taking Stock February 2015

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I am taking stock for the first time in 2015, the prompts and the idea is from the ever lovely Pip at Meet Me at Mikes.  If you fancy taking stock too, I have a blank list at the end of mine for you to copy and fill in. Making : Molasses Crinkle cookies, they are chilling for an hour and then I get to bake them. Cooking : Bangers and mash for dinner with lots of gravy and peas. Drinking : Coffee coffee and another coffee. Reading: I am having trouble sticking with a book at the minute, Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi, is pretty good so far. Wanting: My fragrance oils to arrive in the mail. Looking: At the sunny sky get darker. Playing: With scent combinations. Deciding: What to draw today for the Tinkerlab challenge Wishing: I could bottle all of my ideas. Enjoying: Making lots of little art works. Waiting: For the snow we have been promised this afternoon. Liking: The idea of some snow. Wondering: What to photo tomorrow …

Photo a Day January 2015

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1.  The Sky. 2.  Something Yellow. 3.  Me Today. 4.  I hear… 5.  Square. 6.  Round. 7.  Currently Reading. 8. Landscape. 9. Pattern. 10. Hello. 11. I see…. 12. Bright. 13. Lucky Number. 14. New. 15. Old. 16. Nature. 17. Jump. 18. Today is… 19. Homemade. 20. Window. 21. In a Row. 22. Collection. 23. Something Far Away. 24. Playtime. 25. Black+White. 26. Three Things. 27. Morning. 28. Strange. 29. Summer/Winter. 30. Fave Food. 31. On Top. Well January zipped by and here we are at the second day of February.  I hear Phil the groundhog saw his shadow today on this Groundhog Day in the USA, which means we will have another predicted six weeks of winter.  Maybe we will get some snow after all?! So, another month of Photo a Day is completed, thanks to Fat Mum Slim for providing the prompts. I think some of my favourites are 5 and 24 my new cameras, I have tried the SX-70 which works great, I still need to get a film for the Big …