I appear to have almost finished decorating my bedroom! Expect photos when it is a little closer to completion.
In other news, I also completed a little drawing for my bestie. I had been meaning to send her something for the past year or so. Task complete:
Based upon “Little Potato” by Malcolm Dalglish. She guessed the reference.
I’m making slow progress, now and then. I’ve been painting my bedroom for a while now, though finishing touches are still required. I used my savings and borrowed some money to buy myself some new furniture, which is all quite exciting. I’ll probably post pictures when I have got it finished.
For Easter, I let my weird ideas reign and came up with these upside-down, white chocolate-covered cheesecakes for my family:
Recently, I did two spells of petsitting for my neighbour. They have such interesting plants and insects. The change in routine made me much more observant. Anyway, I made a small photo collage of the experience:
Today was Father’s day. After having neglected to make cards in the past few months, I managed to get another tiny card together:
A combination of my dearest puppins, Theo, and a case of the blues has left me unable to do anything creative for months and months.
Theo became a part of the family in late July. He takes a lot more looking after than I had anticipated:
For Christmas, I made him a coat for colder weather, which he has worn a couple of times and peed on once. It’s not perfect (it’s hard to try to fit a toile to a cheeky puppy), but it gave me the opportunity to use a sewing machine again after so many years. If I ever get a good enough picture of his coat then I shall post that up here.
I have been rather horrendous - there was no Christmas card, and no birthday cards for months (as I said: Blues). I was reluctantly persuaded to make a little birthday card for my Dad’s birthday. I was told that the card was an important component of the present because I can’t really afford to buy much. I used a little “inspiration sketch” I had made a long time ago and reworked it a few times. Yet another tiny card:
Hopefully, it won’t be such a long time as this before the next post.
Yet again I wasn’t a particularly good daughter when it came time for my mother’s birthday (and my sister’s birthday too). I managed to get a cold/flu which rendered me rather exhausted. I was definitely not up to creating the usual birthday cards. I grabbed the nearest offcuts of card to hand and put together two tiny “card-lets.” These are slightly larger than actual size:
For my sister, a flying SuperFutureRoboCat:
and for my mother, this little monkey face:
At the moment I seem to be going through a phase of not finishing pictures because every attempt I make doesn’t quite seem right. It’s a bit of a block, exacerbated by how much seems to be going on in recent weeks.
I’ve been a little on the quiet side, haven’t I? I’ve been spending far longer than one should reasonably expect on a project.
Before Christmas, a family friend asked whether I would be willing to take a photograph of the local area for them. I put off the “commission” for so long, as I lacked both a decent camera and confidence that I could produce anything worthwhile. In May I plucked up the courage to give it a shot (unintentional pun for you there), and set out on a mission to try to photograph the Thames estuary. It took about three trips at varying times of day, with varying light and varying tides, until I had a shortlist to send.
This was the first time I have attempted anything like this, so this is what I have learnt:
Anyway, I finally finished it all this morning and the picture has been passed along now:
Framed and ready to go:
A closer look at the original:
If by any chance someone else should be interested in a copy(?), I might put it up on etsy at some point.
Bringing things a bit more up to date…
A few weeks ago it was my sister’s fiancé’s birthday. I settled upon the idea of a zombie party for his card. I am not accustomed to drawing humans, let alone living dead ones. But there you go:
For Easter, I set myself a new project. I had bought a silicon chocolate mould with the intention of making fancy chocolates, but after a failed attempt I had to consider ways to utilise it so that the money wouldn’t go to waste. Cake. I baked little heart-shaped cakes in the mould, in various flavours, coated them in chocolate, decorated them and boxed them up for my family. Firstly, we have the chocolates themselves:
Then, there were the boxes. I was distinctly lacking in the appropriate craft materials, but I made the best with what I did have. Each person was given a selection card so they could pick their own. The box was inspired by vintage and retro packaging:
A closer look at the cover:
… and bad blogger. I am not particularly good at updating, just as I am not an especially prolific artist-type. Although, my mind seems to be a busy, buzzy hive of ideas at the moment, which end up jotted on scraps of paper on my bed side table. Maybe someday they will come to fruition. At the moment I am gearing up for Easter, which is quite time-consuming (going to be doing some making and baking).
Anyway, back to my main point… This is one of my most recent pictures - a Mother’s Day card. I was a bit of a bad daughter and she didn’t get the card until the day after. Oops! I think she appreciated it though, as it remains on the mantelpiece even now.
(I still have a fondness for stripes)
I come forth soliciting your advice. Lots of you, whom I admire, have considerably more experience in this field than I do, and I hope that you might indulge me by offering a little feedback. My relatives have been suggesting that I begin printing and selling my card designs for years now, and I have seemingly relented. As I have mentioned, I am a relatively unsure sort of individual, and so I am questioning this enterprise on various accounts:
(All my designs are coming out exceedingly twee recently)
I would be incredibly grateful for any kind of advice that you could give to me.
Thank you xxx
