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‘I Like’ Friday. The snail mail postcard edition.

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Postcards Snail Mail

Postcards.  I like to send postcards just as a little ‘hi there’ in the mail, they don’t take any writing, add the address and a few sentences and ready to go and brighten someone’s day.

Of course I wanted to make my own cards to send out.

These were all created with the ‘Phonto’ app and the ‘Little Moments by Fat Mum Slim’ app.  I chose these two because they allow you to use postcard dimensions rather than just a square.

I used backgrounds from the apps except the one photo on ‘Life is Good’ which I took at the Saint Louis Zoo of the flamingos.

They were printed onto card stock and I drew on the ‘postcard’ back to write the address and place the stamp.

Ta da, all ready to be written and mailed.

Happy Friday and have a fab weekend x

 

Get Messy Art Journaling – Happy!

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Last year I joined the fabulous group ‘Get Messy Art Journaling‘ purely on inspiration.  The thing is I had never ever done any art journaling and I had no clue about it or how to create one of these pages.

What I did know was that I liked the work I was seeing made by the talented folk of Get Messy, and deep down I thought I might be able to give it a go.

So, I did.  I got a sketchbook or two and started to make backgrounds and stuck a few bits and bobs down and did some drawing and doodling and I began to repeat this process in no particular order.  Some pages I liked and some I really didn’t, in fact I ‘finished’ a page this morning and didn’t like it one bit, so I started again and came up with the above page and I am super happy with it.

To start with I didn’t really follow the prompts provided by the group because I was getting bogged down in even making a page let alone following any guide.  This new season is all about ‘happy’ and I am dipping my toe in and this is my first ‘happy’ page, hopefully of many.

There is happy right in the art work, as soon as I started putting down the initial colours, I was happy to be creating this page spread, I found the picture of Ava Gardner in a 1947 Hollywood magazine and I loved the far away relaxed gaze she has.

I may add more to the page but I think it is done, onwards to the next!

Happy Thursday and happy creating!

 

 

#WIP Crochet Blanket and Drawing

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I am joining Catherine at Saint Cardigan for this post all about some of my work(s) in progress.  I narrowed it down to a couple of projects although I have a week’s worth!  Once you have had a little look at what I am up to, you can pop over to Saint Cardigan and look at what everyone else has been doing.

This crochet blanket is my second ever and the one I have already completed is pretty much the same, just in lots of colours.  As you can see, I am no crochet genius, I can do granny square stitch (I am sure it isn’t even called that when it is not an actual granny square) and that is that.

For this blanket I decided to start with a dark dark grey and as I crochet out, I will use lighter and lighter shades, ending with white or a super pale grey.  I am currently at shade two and I am liking where I am heading.  The pattern is from Pip Lincolne’s book Craft for the Soul.

Learning to crochet took me so long, I am happy to have actually made something and now I am making this lovely blanket and I should finish it, yay!

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This funny little notebook was at an estate sale this past week and I picked it up for 50c.  It is empty of writing or notes and each page has a grid and the Dewey Logo.  When I snagged it, I didn’t have a plan for it and as February started I decided to draw a house/building every day and I am drawing them in this book.

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This is day one and I am excited to have a sketchbook full of twenty nine or more buildings.  I already feel like I want to draw a page of windows and one of doors, so that will be a couple of extra pages.

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Day two was a block of flats!

I am already thinking what I will do every day in March.  Maybe a book of doodles or of faces.  Through January I drew a fish a day, all on the same page which worked really well as a daily creating project.  So I plan to do something along these lines every month through this year.  By December I should have a little collection of sketchbooks full of ideas and drawings.

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This was a super fun project and literally took less than ten minutes every day.

Do you have lots of WIPs?  Are you more of a start a project, start a project, start another project person?  Or do you start one, finish one?  I do have various things on the go, but the finish of each is in my mind unless it really is not working.

I hope you are making lots of fabulous things!  Happy Wednesday x

Weekly Photos 4/52.

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I am happy to see February, not that January was bad, it was a perfectly good month, but for some reason February feels like my new year.  January was a kind of warm up and a successful one, now we are second month in, I feel like I am more on course.  Better plans and more importantly, ideas to complete said plans.  Hurrah for February.

This past week has been a fun one, we have had some sunshine and warm days.

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I decided to have a go at making some postcards to send out to people.  To make some cards I used photos I have taken, like this one of the flamingos at the zoo with some text popped on.  Some I just used a plain background with text.  All done in apps like Phonto and Little Moments. I like these apps because you are not restricted to working in a square.  Fun!

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At the salon! This glamorous shot was taken in the Hipstamatic app.

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I picked up a box of vintage math cards and I have started to use them for an art project, not sure what I will do with them yet, but I will be working into them. Any ideas?

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I have some cool seed pods in the garden.  I noticed these as I was putting my tomatoes and sweet peas into pots to start life indoors.  I now have so many tomato seeds in tiny pots, I am not sure where I will put them all if they all grow!!

imageWe went out with the metal detector and found this fire truck with only one wheel.  It was about a foot down, so it took some digging out.  Don’t worry we filled the hole back in! I was impressed as we usually only find bottle caps and ring pulls!

imageHere is the truck all washed up (the wheel fell out).  It is a 1976 Hot Wheels ‘Fire-Eater’. Pretty cool!

A good week gone by and another even better one coming up I hope!  Have a wonderful week, happy Monday x

 

Taking Stock January 2016

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Hello

Today is chilly but sunny and full of blue sky.  I have been busy painting and drawing and printing some postcards which I am excited to write and send out!  The picture above is one of them.

I am going to put the kettle on for a cup of tea while I take stock for the first time this year.  Let’s see how it is going so far.  Fancy a stock take?  I have a blank list at the bottom of the post, so you can fill it in with your own stock taking.

Making : Chips (fries) and egg for lunch with sriracha sauce all over.
Cooking : Banana bread for breakfast.
Drinking : Yorkshire Gold tea.
Reading: ‘Drawing Blood’ by Molly Crabapple.
Wanting: To organize my time more efficiently.
Looking: At the birds bickering over the feeders!
Playing: Radio 2 over the interweb.
Deciding: How to get my hair cut tomorrow, just a little trim I think.
Wishing: For snow.
Enjoying: All the art I am making.
Waiting: For the kids to come home from school.
Liking: The library.
Wondering: If there are any estates sales around this weekend?
Loving: The new game we bought this week – ‘Dicecapades’.  It is super fun!
Pondering: What to look for if I find an estate sale. Old books, Pyrex bowls, postcards, cool stuff.
Considering: Who to mail my new postcards to!?
Buying: Vintage playing cards to draw on and use in art journaling.
Watching: ‘Life in Pieces’, ‘Project Runway Junior’, ‘Brooklyn 99’, ‘Home Fires’.
Hoping:  That ‘The Coloring Studio’ like the coloring sheet I submitted to the magazine.
Marvelling: At what you can do when you just go for it!
Cringing: At people who don’t hold doors for the person behind them.
Needing: New socks!
Questioning: Using old books as sketchbooks.  I want to and I intend to paint and draw in some books I have gathered, but I still feel bad about it.
Smelling: Like I have done a tough pilates class.  Mmmmmm sweaty!
Wearing: Jeans, sweater and boots.
Following: Paris Fashion week on Instagram.
Noticing: How much less walking I am doing now that both my kids get themselves to school and back.
Knowing: I am benefiting from working hard at the gym.
Thinking: About what to make for dinner, maybe shepherd’s pie.
Admiring: People who make amazing prints with a gelli plate, I need to practice.
Sorting: My art supplies to see what colored pencils I need.  I am always buying the same colours!
Getting: Fab books from the library.
Bookmarking: Recipes for dinner ideas.
Coveting: Paint pens.
Disliking: Dry skin.
Opening: The book ‘Creative Girl’ by Danielle Donaldson.
Giggling: At the book I just bought from the library a 1980’s gem called ‘Backyard Vacation’, just the cover makes me smile!
Feeling: Like drawing some lamps!
Snacking: On Nutella (naughty).
Helping: With homework.
Hearing: My own bad singing along to the radio!

Backyard Vacation book

Isn’t this a cool book!   Enjoy your own taking stock if you want to.

Happy Wednesday x

 

Making :
Cooking :
Drinking :
Reading:
Wanting:
Looking:
Playing:
Deciding:
Wishing:
Enjoying:
Waiting:
Liking:
Wondering:
Loving:
Pondering:
Considering:
Buying:
Watching:
Hoping:
Marvelling:
Cringing:
Needing:
Questioning:
Smelling:
Wearing:
Following:
Noticing:
Knowing:
Thinking:
Admiring:
Sorting:
Getting:
Bookmarking:
Coveting:
Disliking:
Opening:
Giggling:
Feeling:
Snacking:
Helping:
Hearing:

Weekly Photos 3/52

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Red!  Last week I found lots of red things to take snaps of as I joined Xanthe Berkeley and Hula Seventy in the yearly color/colour lovers challenge. So here are some Target carts all in a line.  My 11 year old may or may not have been standing next to me cringing as his Mum photo’ed shopping trolleys!

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It snowed mid week and we had a snow day on Wednesday, these sweet gumballs got little snow hats.

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My gooseberry bush is leaveless, but looking good against the snow and showing off it’s thorns.  I think I need to prune it in the spring and hopefully we will get a nice goosegog crop this year.

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Over half way through the Creative Bug Draw a Day challenge hosted by Lisa Congdon.  I liked my cactus drawing this week!

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The fabulous Craftwhack started a ten day sketch along this week and the first day was ‘Blind contour drawing’. No looking, not even a peek.  The top three were all done with no looking, fun but a bit creepy.  I am sure my eyes were on my head last time I checked!

The second one I peeked a few times and managed to get all the features almost in the right place!

The sketch along continues this week so it is not to late to join in!

Happy Monday x

 

 

 

‘I Like’ Friday. The natural grey edition.

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I decided to grow out my grey a couple of years ago, inspired by a good friend of mine who has the most gorgeous grey hair.  I was pushed to bite the bullet when some online friends decided they were going to embark on the same ship.  We pushed off and ditched the dye.

I wrote a post when I started my journey here and I updated as I sailed along and I landed on grey hair island happy as a clam.

Even though growing out hideous roots is an aesthetically painful process, best bet is to avoid mirrors and heaven forbid, no photos!  There is one photo of me at a friend’s party and my hair looks just awful, but I was almost half way by that time, so I  looked away and carried on.

As my hair grew, the red dye (what was I thinking) faded too, so the contrast became less.  I still wasn’t prepared for the final colour though.  What I wasn’t prepared for was how much I loved it.  My fabulous hairdresser supported me every step, no talk of colour at all and I thank her for that.

The other thing I wasn’t expecting was how my hair is changing colour still.  I have grown it longer which I like and I want it a little longer, just to see!

 

So I save money on dye and I get to use blue shampoo made specifically for grey/silver hair!

The only side effect has been that I need to wash my hair more regularly as it has resorted to it’s oily beginnings.  Now I have stopped abusing my tresses with constant chemicals, I should be happy to give it a wash before the extra shine hits!

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I hope that you are liking your hair this Friday!

Have a fab weekend.

 

 

 

Snow Day!

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We got woken at 5.35am by a phone call from the school district to say that all of the district schools were closed today.  Snow Day!  We really didn’t get that much snow, so I am not sure why we had the day off, but I heard no complaints in my house.

First job was to clear the drive and sidewalk, then off to explore!

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I took my camera into the garden to see what I could see. A shallow layer of snow was on everything from seed pods to the old Radio Flyer wagon.

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As we had our boots and coats on from shoveling the drive, we decided to venture out to the woods and the hockey rink.  We spotted animal tracks and checked on the creek to see if it had frozen over (not quite). 

The sun is out and some of the snow is melting, so I suspect we will have a school day tomorrow.  It was fun while it lasted though.  
Happy Wednesday!

 

Weekly Photos 2/52

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I got a Gelli plate for Christmas and I got it out to play with this week. I tried cutting out triangles and masking off trees or mountains (depending what you see!). I used card stock, printer paper and wax deli paper and they all worked well but gave slightly different results in many good ways.

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I planted some seeds this week and snapped some polaroids.

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We went to the Ice Carnival in the Delmar Loop this weekend and spotted these magnificent lions as we walked down to the Carnival.  They are guarding City Hall and doing a fine job.

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Spotted at the Scientology Church on Delmar.  What if you don’t pass?  No personality?  Yikes.

How was your week?  I hope it was lovely.

Happy Monday!

 

‘I like’ Friday, the secondhand edition

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Vintage book

I love me an estate sale, a yard sale or a trip to Goodwill or a charity shop.  Hunting down the bargains then maybe a spot of research on my latest find when I get home.

Last weekend I went to a local estate sale in the snow!  Yes, I am that keen to go and explore and maybe find a treasure or two.  I didn’t find a huge amount, mainly, between you and me, because it was a bit expensive.

I thought I would share what I did get.

Vintage Speedball Brayer

This was the first thing I picked up, I love the graphics on the box and I needed a brayer to use with my new gelli plate. It is clean and has no chips or dings.

Flower Power Cards

When I picked these up, I thought they would be great to use as an art journal base, maybe even alter each card to make a new set of art journaled cards.  I am not sure I can bring myself to paint on them though.

Vintage books

These two books are destined to be used as journals or sketchbooks.

Rotex label printer

This was the bargain of the day.  One whole dollar bought me this beauty.  We have been making 1980’s style labels since and you can get refills.  Yay!

Now I need to grab my paints and pens and play around in the books and use them as sketchbooks.  Who knew a trip to an estate sale would turn out to be an art journaling treasure hunt?!

Do like to explore sales?  There are not so many around at this time of year, but I there is always Goodwill and I plan to visit next week.  Fingers crossed for a bargain or three.

Happy Friday!