All posts filed under: ‘I like’ Friday

‘I like’ Friday the Art Challenge Edition.

Published by

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 …

‘I Like’ Friday -the art supplies edition

Published by

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 …

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

Published by

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 …

‘I Like’ Friday

Published by

Welcome to September! Blimey didn’t August fly by. Pumpkin Spice Lattes are upon us and Halloween supplies are appearing in the shops. I though I would share a few things I have been liking lately – Creative Bug draw-a-day challenge was a success for me in August, I made at least part of an art journal page every day following prompts supplied by Dawn De Vries Sokol in a daily video on Creative Bug. Follow my progress at CatsEatDogsMakes on Instagram. September is a little different in that they have a competition running for a new instructor. So I am going to have a go and use prompts by Jennifer Orkin Lewis who is August Wren on Instagram and well worth following if you like gorgeous paintings. Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst is such a good read. If you are looking for a good book, I would recommend this highly. Very character driven and a great story so far (I am about three quarters through). I have had Art Inc by Lisa Congdon from the library for a couple of …

‘I Like’ Friday. The Get Messy Art Journal Edition.

Published by

I have been having some great fun during this first week of the new Get Messy Art Journal season. ‘Get Messy’ is a community of art journalling ladies who hang out via the inter-webs and sometimes in real life.  If you are interested in creating art journals or are a seasoned art journaler, you may be interested in joining. For this ‘season of music’, I made a journal for the first time which was quite a leap, I thought I would not be into making a handmade journal at all. I make enough mess in my art journals and sketchbooks, what if I make the mess of all messes while making the darn book! I chose a small music script in the form of a book which was stapled together to unstaple and add my own pages as well as keeping all of the original music.  I used pamphlet stitch and added tracing paper, mixed media paper and watercolor paper. I soon ended up with a natty little handmade journal to fill. ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ is …

‘I like’ Friday. The Crochet Edition.

Published by

Making stuff is the best thing! I haven’t pulled out my crochet for a couple of weeks and today I thought I would hook a few stitches onto one of my blankets in progress. I have two blankets on the go because one was getting big and I wanted to take a crochet project on vacation earlier in the summer. So I started a new blanket and a new stitch to take away with me. The ‘vacation’ blanket which is at very early stages in size, is made using ripple stitch and I am very proud of myself for managing a new stitch!  The pattern is here if you fancy a go. The grey blanket is a giant granny square and I am starting with dark grey in the middle and getting lighter as I work my way out to the full size blanket.  The pattern is from the book ‘Craft for the Soul’ by Pip Lincolne. I am super pleased that I learnt to crochet, it is one of those activities which really makes …

‘I like’ Friday.

Published by

This week I have been liking all kinds of things, it has been hot and humid so there has been more indoor activity than outside. Grace and Frankie. I am at the last episode of Grace and Frankie  on Netflix now, so I am looking forward to season 3 next year (I hope!). Marcella I have only just started to watch this series (also on Netflix) and I am only a few episodes in, enough to have me gripped though. Part of the reason I like it is because it is a British drama and I eat those up, just to see the UK is enough to make me happy.  Even if it is part of a police drama. Hitman Anders and the Meaning of it all by Jonas Jonasson.  I was drawn to this book because it sounds like my kind of dark humor and it was written by the man who wrote ‘The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared’ which is one of my favorites. I am …

‘I Like’ Friday starring Kale from the Garden!

Published by

A few things that I have been liking this week of thunderstorms, sunshine,  pea soup humidity and humidity. Midori sketchbooks. I was admiring the work of Hey Hooray Design and her sketchbooks looked pretty cool. I noticed the Midori hashtag and went to investigate.  I found the Traveler Notebook inserts with blank pages at Jetpens and ordered a couple.  They are a great size 8″x 4″, tall and skinny!  The paper is not very thick but for pen and pencil drawings and notes, they will be perfect. Puzzle markers. Of course while I was on the JetPens site I could not help but have a browse and I came across these cuties.  Teeny tiny animal markers, they are like tiny post-its.  To be honest I thought they would be bigger (always read the measurement information folks!), but they are just adorable, so I was not disappointed. Neon highlighters and brush pens. I haven’t used my brush pens in a  while so I was pleased to roll them out for the Creative Bug Draw a Day class …

‘I Like’ Friday. The Coloring Book Edition.

Published by

My name is in print!  My artwork is also in print! I am so proud to have my coloring page in the new edition of The Coloring Studio by Stampington magazines. This is the second issue of the magazine (more a book actually!) and it is full of coloring sheets as well as tips for coloring and information in techniques as well as insights from the various artists featured. It is a beautiful magazine and I am so pleased to be part of this edition.  I picked up the first issue  because I was impressed with the illustrations to color in as well as the tips ideas which are not usually featured in a coloring book or magazine. So if you enjoy some coloring in, this is a lovely book to have, color and keep to admire. I hope you have a lovely weekend planned, we are heading on vacation to Cape Cod tomorrow, so we are all packing and trying to cram all kinds of goodness into our bags! Happy Friday x

‘I Like’ Friday. Get Messy Season of Lists Week 6.

Published by

I thought I was avoiding the prompts this week and then I realized that I had inadvertently incorporated the ‘write the list outside’ prompt very vaguely in the top page.  The prints are made with leaves, gathered from outside. Ta-dah! The list prompts have made for a challenging Get Messy season for me to be honest.  I don’t often incorporate writing in my pages with much success, but I wanted to give it a go. This week I decided to use the prompts not as a list but as a single sentence or idea, is one item classed as a list?  A single item list?  I think not. I do enjoy writing using a Sumi brush (Home is..) but it often takes a few run ups to get it right.  The thing is when you are working over a prepared background and it goes wrong, it is a ‘start again’ situation.  My first go at this page saw me miscalculating the word ‘paintbrushes’ and I ended up squishing it all up by the time I …