All posts tagged: ‘I like’ Friday

‘I Like’ Friday.

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This week I have been liking all kinds of things including autumn seed pod gathering and photographing! Here are some of the other things I am liking- I finished The Wonder by Emma Donoghue in a week which is a record time for me (remember I am the slowest reader in the whole wide world), it was so good.  The book is full of memorable characters with lots of twists and turns. I am feeding a sourdough starter as we speak using a recipe from ‘Bread’ by Dean Brettschneider . This is my second attempt as the first time I got a measurement wrong and a timing wrong on my first go.  Hopefully I will have a sourdough loaf or two in the next couple of weeks. Do you make sourdough?  I really hope it all works well after all of the feeding and measuring. I am participating in NaNoDrawMo this month and I have managed  to complete every day so far, which makes three days going strong! The Durrells in Corfu is one of my favorites to watch …

Get Messy Art Journal Pages. Season of Dreams. Week 1.

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Do you remember your dreams? Do you write them down? How about dreaming in colour? I sometimes remember them but only very vaguely, unless I write them down (often at ridiculous times in the morning). When I write them down I tend to remember more as I write and end up with a garbled page or two of a dream. Then I go back to sleep and try and make sense of my sleep writing when I get up in the morning when more often than not, I have written more than I would have remembered had I not snatched up my notebook at 2am. The Season of Dreams started this week in the Get Messy Art Journal community. Getting creative in my art journal was not an easy task, the blank page and the blank mind almost stopped me from making any pages at all.  So I decided to look at my dream notes and grab some paints as one of my dreams was full of colours which I had written down. I usually …

‘I like’ Friday.

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The weather has cooled at last and it looks like Fall is centre stage! This week I have been liking: The bag in the photo I found at an estate sale and I love it so much.  It is a souvenir beach bag from Mexico, I think from the 1970’s.  It is housing my new knitting project…. This fantastic scarf at Creative Bug.  I have started it in red wool and I love it, the pattern looks complicated but it is so well explained on the videos, it is very doable.  I can’t wait to wear it. ‘The Girls’ by Emma Cline is a great book so far, I am fully engrossed and intrigued by the story and the characters. I love to read and I always have to have a book on the go, I am an impatient reader though, so if the book doesn’t grab me, I will cast it aside and move on. This one has grabbed me and is hanging onto my attention. Another book I am reading (I know, I …

‘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 …

‘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 …

‘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 …

‘I Like’ Friday

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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.

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Fridays I often write about things I have liked that week, so here is what I have been liking this week. Back to school on Monday was eventful or uneventful depending on your point of view. The boys went back to school for a grand total of three hours because the power was out. However as soon as they were all leaving, the lights came on!  I think the whole school sprinted out of the doors just in case the principal changed his mind!! I like that today is Friday and I don’t have to drag them out of bed or make packed lunches for a couple of days. I very much like the fact that the weather has cooled just a little bit.  When the summer is as hot as we get it, a little temperature drop counts for a lot! Cooler mornings and evenings are the best thing. Some other things I am liking this fine Friday are – Nib pen and ink drawing. I picked up my nib pen and ink today …

‘I like’ Friday. The Crochet Edition.

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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.

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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 …