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look what the postman brought me...




a nice little bundle courtesy of derek.

he has the nicest little chinese food store in brighton where he buys his noodles, and i'm a big fan of the sweets & biscuits they sell, so derek posted me a couple of bits (mmm...pocky). as well as the tasty treats he also included the nicest of nice cards (from a selection by sarah louise martin at really likes) and a copy of artyfacts (a monthly selection of art & design jobs, news and competitions from his university) - most handy.




^ he also drew some continuous line pics of the sweets inside the card - which was just to my liking.

it was quite a nice unorganised mail swap, as when i spoke to him today he told me he'd received the picture i made for him:




oh, how i like getting things through the post.

i also received a bundle of zips from ebay yesterday and got to work making some purses - (thanks to anna torborg for the handy zipper tutorial) - they weren't completely successful as they were a wee bit wonky but for a first attempt i was most pleased with the outcomes.




and that would be all for today, more to come tomorrow...

x

sew sew sewing

i've been whirring along on my pfaff today creating some embroidered illustrations. here are some pics of the work in progress:




i owe a certain mr.mok a picture for his room - he gave me a picture frame way back in september which i have been meaning to fill with some delightful illustrations but i have been very naughty and haven't finished yet (and i also broke the glass on the frame -oop- so need to get a replacement) anyway, the point is that i decided to make him a mini piece of art for the time being (whilst he is waiting for the main event) and that's what i did today.

i'm not going to post a picture of it though as i don't want to spoil the surprise - but here are some other finished pictures i made today using embroidery, felt and origami paper:




...and i'll post up the picture i made for derek after i've sent it to him.

in other news, i have used up my 200 photo limit on my free flickr account which is most disappointing - i guess i'll be upgrading to a pro account soon, but i'm not too sure. hmm.

x

paw

it snowed !!!


x

making things

i have some pictures to share with you of some crafty happenings that have been going on around here...

firstly, i have finally gotten round to making one of the soft trees designed by stephanie over at little birds. derek came visiting the other day so we had a fun little craft afternoon and made a tree each.


they go quite nicely together ---> blue for boys and pink for girls.

i have also been knitting away and made this finger puppet (papa bear) to give to my friend milkan as part of his birthday present.


the pattern is from this book which i got for my birthday from my v.kind brother. he if from a set of finger puppets - goldilocks and the 3 bears. and now that i have given him away i will probably have to make mama bear or baby bear so as i have one to keep - as they are terribly cute.

and here is the birthday card i made for milkan (hence the milk) - imaginative huh? not a weekend for thinking outside the box.


i hope you have all had a nice weekend too, whether it was spent relaxing or crafting away,

x

national hot tea month

yes, that's what i've discovered for the month of january. i'm a bit slow on the uptake but i'll surely be cramming an extra cup of the good stuff in tomorrow to celebrate!

i'm sure it is probably only officially an american thing but i feel this is something us in the uk should adopt too - because how good is it to have a whole month dedicated to a nice pot of tea.

talking of tea, i went to my friend derek's tonight to watch layer cake (which was actually a suprising good film - i worried when it heard it was a bit like lock stock but it was really much better) and he had mixed up the pg tips with some other funny tasting tea that wasn't to my liking at all (tasted a bit christmassy) ----> i am really a pg tips/tetley sort of a girl. so i hope that doesn't happen again too sharpish or i'll have to start taking my own supplies around

anyway, that is all about tea - i'll post some pictures of some creative goings on tomorrow!

x

.

i've got a lot of bits and pieces i wanted to share with you today. one of which is this lovely online shop one good bumblebee. they have sooOOo much nice stuff...some of my favourites are these and these (i love to make lists) and these and best of all are these lovely jars full of stuff (oh how much i want one) - they are full of lots of vintage crafty bits & bobs and they are all individually put together so are all different.

i think one would look just dandy sitting on my shelves.

i also wanted to show you these knitting patterns that sair gave me for christmas inside a vintage knitting bag:


they are quite amusing and the young girl with the bright red lipstick is a trifle scary, but i would like to attempt to knit myself a cardigan - don't know how well i'd get on though, it seems like a big challenge but maybe i'll try and get one knitted for next winter (mm...snuggly and warm).

in other news, two of my illustrations have been included in wallspankers issue 3 - a PDF sticker zine that brings together international artists and designers in a collaborative, sharing environment.


x

typographic

here is a logo design i was asked to create for a job interview i attended recently. the company was after a logo to celebrate their 10 year anniversary and the only requirements were that it had to have a 'space' feel to it (as the company is called Rocket) and should incorporate the colour orange somewhere in the design.

i ended up creating a new logo for the company as well as a variation on that logo for the 10th anniversary. the approach i took was to create a simple rocket shape out of the letters of the work 'rocket' which was adapted to use the numbers 1 & 0 for the 10th anniversary:


i was very happy with the end result (especially as I haven't created many logo designs in the past) and i also think the method i used worked quite well, so since then i have been playing around with making other type images in the same way:


it is a bit tricky trying to use all the letters but also quite fun trying to work it out & i think they are on the whole quite nice (& simple) type illustrations.

x

some photographs

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tablecloth

i hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. i am having a pretty relaxing time really - what with lazing about watching 24 and going out for a yummy roast dinner with sair. before getting back to more 24 though (it's so very addictive) i thought i'd post something i discovered earlier today which happened on friday: a virtual tea party!

it was organised by risa and it involved lots of other bloggers who posted up their pictures of tea-related things and what they were doing throughout the day (all of which has been compiled on risa's blog muerto de risa so we can see what fun everyone had).

i think it is such a lovely idea and it's a shame i only just found out about it as i'd have loved to join in - hopefully there will be one again sometime in the future...

but for now i'll post up a belated tea related item:


it's a circular tablecloth i found in a charity shop for £1 and it has the most lovely pattern of teapots and hearts (a lucky find indeed).

after all this talk of tea i am now feeling rather parched so i am off for a cup...mmm...hope you are all having a lovely sunday.

x

some drawings

i have been feeling that i haven't been doing much drawing of late (which is very naughty of me) - maybe i should have started one of those 'drawing a day' challenges at the beginning of the year - then i would be encouraged to spend some time drawing each day....but it's a bit late now (we're almost halfway through january - ergh! time really does fly)

anyway, in a break between watching 24 (i got the series 2 boxset yesterday) i got round to churning out a few little pics:


and here is a blue tit i drew from my lovely RSPB calendar from 2006:


(i'm really not that good at drawing birds)

oh, and when i popped to the shops yesterday i couldn't resist buying this bag because of the lovely bird pattern on it:


mmm....

x

lovely things

i just wanted to share a few pictures of some of the presents i received over the holiday period. my birthday is on the 30th of december so it was like a week full of celebrations around christmas and new year (the best week of the year i reckon).

anyway, i received a lot of things that i loooooove so very much from friends and family (who are all super people) so thanks to them and here's a little peek at some of the booty...


i think i may have talked too much about my new years resolution to learn crochet because for my birthday i got both a book about learning from my friend george and a starter kit (crochet hook and needles) from the lovely tom. so, i thought i'd keep you posted on my progress - here's what i've done so far:


as you can see i haven't got very far...i think what i've done so far is correct (chain stitch is it?) but i have no idea how to do anything other than keep making a string of stitches like this....i am a bit confused by the book instructions at the moment.

i think learning crochet might be a bit trickier than knitting as my mum was on hand to help me while i was learning to knit but she is a total beginner at crochet too so we're both stuck. dear me.

i'm off to have another bash at it now though - i feel suddenly inspired. wish me luck.

x

so pretty

well what do we have here

today i thought i'd post some links to some nice things i have seen of late.

the other night i went to see the new james bond film casino royale and i actually enjoyed it far more than i had been expecting (i'm not a big james bond fan).

i also really liked the title sequence.

i loved the fact that most of the imagery was made up of card-related items (particularly the different suits) - i think my favourite parts are the guns firing and the people being stabbed with diamonds and spades (not that i'm into stabbing or anything, it is just nicely done, heh) ---> it is an approach that i particularly like to use i my own work - making imagery out of quite simple objects that are relevent to the subject at hand.

mmm....

another thing. when i was looking for the title sequence online i found this post which had a top ten list of favourite film opening sequences. some of them i completely agree with. i love the titles for catch me if you can and seven. although there were some that weren't on the list that i would have definately put in such as napoleon dynamite, and i seem to remember almost famous having some good credits (but my memory may be mistaken there).

all these beauts make me want to work on creating film titles - it would be most interesting

and it seems a shame not to include any images in this post BUT tomorrow i may post up some pics of some of the delightful things i received for christmas/my birthday (how exciting!)

x

christmas is over

which is a shame really as i really got in the holiday mood this year - much more than usual anyway. so, before i leave christmas behind totally i thought i'd post up some more festive images...

knitted stockings for some lucky friends




monoprints that were used on my christmas cards




and some images of our festive christmas eve in the pub




time for some new years resolutions

following a splendid new years eve spent in london at a friends flat i have decided to turn over a good few new leaves this year and have made a handful of new years resolutions. here is a sample selection:

---> learn crochet (i have started! - have one row hanging off my hook at the moment and now i am muddled)
---> respond to e-mails and messages quick smart (i don't mean to be slow, i just lose track)
---> no watching rubbish on the tv (unless i am multi-tasking i.e. knitting/crochet)
---> go swimming at least once a fortnight (that i am doing - have been twice already so am doing better than planned)

and that is enough to be getting on with for the time being. oh, apart from the very most important one:

---> get a super new job (this is a must!)

i'll make sure to keep you posted on how i get on.

x