As this week is Recycle Week here in the UK. Now in its 15th year, Recycle Week is a celebration of recycling. The aim of the week is to encourage us all to recycle more – if you’d like more information you can find it here. I thought I’d take this as my theme for the week so what better way to kick the theme … Continue reading Recycling Week
Carrying on with the pirate party theme what children’s party is complete without party bags. Here’s a really simple solution – free printable labels that you can attach to ready made plain white bags. Free printable labels – Pirate Gift Bag Labels But if you’re feeling creative and have plenty of time you can make your own party bags. Here’s a link to some Halloween bags … Continue reading Pirate Party Gift Bags
My husband is just finishing off his second book of short stories and this time he agreed that I could design his book cover. I started off with a bit of research and as I’m not skilled enough to use any online design software opted for a Matisse style paper cut design taking inspiration from the genius designer Saul Bass. If you’re not familiar with … Continue reading Designing a Book Cover
A bit more of a standard rag doll than my usuals but a chance to practice my embroidery. I didn’t have a clear idea of clothing when I started but opted for a circus theme. Quite an easy little project if like me you’re a very amateur sew-er. Start with creating a simple pattern for the doll – body, ears, arms and trunk – I … Continue reading Rag Tag: Nelly the Elephant
What better reason to dust off that old copy of Mathilda, the Big friendly Giant or Danny, the Champion of the World than a day dedicated to the ultimate children’s writer – Roald Dahl Day. A man who gave us a rich array of memorable and amusing character and invented words many of which have entered everyday language and are now included in the Oxford … Continue reading Time for a Scrumdiddlyumptious Celebration
another portrait Continue reading Watercolour sketch
I was replacing the scent diffuser in the front room so thought I’d use the old one as the subject of my daily doodle as I loved the little, patterned pottery pot even if the scent wasn’t one of my favourites. Continue reading Daily Doodle: Scent Diffuser
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day the statistics are staggering – more than 800,000 people take their lives each year across the world and in the UK thats more than 6,000 people each year – an average of 18 a day. But statistics are such a cold metric its only really when this happens to someone you close to you that this really comes home. On my … Continue reading Sunflowers
I’ve been doing an online sketching course and one of the modules was from Liz Steel. What I like about the courses, aside from the useful tips and techniques is the homework they set. Today’s homework was to sketch an object with a complex pattern. I really wanted to sketch a building but the weather wasn’t great so I decided on a tea cup. The … Continue reading Tea Cup Sketch
The hair is a bit too drawn, the eyes too big and I tried teeth and failed miserably but other than that I’m pretty happy with this one Continue reading Watercolour Study
