Had been doing so well

I really had been keeping up with my new years resolution and then April comes and it all goes to pot. That does not mean I am giving up, just that I am admiting I failed but am getting back on the horse.
Saying that I don't have any pictures to add as I am at work so no camera although I did make a journal page saturday morning so I will add that on as an update soon.

So little bits and pieces of art have been happening, many idea's not may being seen to happen but work has been busy as well as having assignments due for my CIPD which of course I leave to the last minute. So I handed one in last weds and my other one is due in tomorrow and I have ALOT of work still to do on it. But I still have work so ploughing on with work stuff at the moment and then going to stay late tonight in the office to work on my assignment as it should stop me getting distracted at home!

So apologies for lack of updates but once that assignment is in, that should change til we get round to exam time end of May. The rats have really grown and we gave five boys to the adoption centre so now only have 22 rats. The girls are all in the big cage with their mums and the boys are the smaller cage. We plan to sell them soon which will leave us with the three mums and we are going to keep one baby. Huskey's only girl as she very different colouring to all the rest of the girls therefore I have a soft spot for her. No naming has happened yet as don't want to get too attached to them when we are not keeping them.

So thats it for now, Work, College, Rats and some seeing people. I promise a more arty update in the next couple of days

too long since an update

can't believe its been like over 10 days since an update. I had done so well with my once a week update for my new years resolution but I will keep at it. Mainly not very much on the art front has been going on and with Easter and us being away visiting Sam's parents I didn't really go online. What I did do was quite a bit of stitching so it is coming along nicely.


As for the rats, they are growing well too. Looking cuter everyday and part of us wishes we could keep them all but its not possible. Plus if you look at the cage suddenly it can freak you out if they are all at the front. Its like Ah. So much going on un-art related at the moment, trying to finish one assignment for weds and then one for the week after. Also got an interview on Monday for a role due the restructure of RM. Alot to think about and arts not getting a look in with all my time disappearing. Although maybe now is the time for Art to get some of my feelings out.

ATC

I decided to make a Zen ATC before heading to bed because its relaxing plus its been a while so it was nice. I made use of some of the other coloured pens I have, because normally I only make zens in silver. But the blue really added to the Zen.



Been very busy at work so not much else been going on although I did do a journal page tuesday after getting back from an awesome walk in the woods but I am not completely happy with it so might add to it.

Cockerel Progress

Not alot has been going on the art front round here as its been a super busy week at work. I have had a nice relaxing weekend though. Today I painted some backgrounds for one of the journals I have. The main thing that has progressed is the stitching I am working on. I want to get it finished so I can move on to another piece or move back onto the noah's ark piece to finally finish it. So my plan is to crack on with this although I am thinking about having some relaxing fun making a couple of zen ATC's.

However on the Rat front they are getting bigger. We cleaned them out today so got to have a proper play with the babies. Here is a picture of the oldest litter who have got fur and ears but cannot see yet.

bits and bobs

Its fun making use of the leftovers and using the cut-off's of the photo's I used for the scrapbooking was super fun. There was something intriguing about the bits of photo's being put together. Its like you are looking in on something but you don't quite know what it is so you have to put it together yourself. Well thats what I think anyway but thats the beauty of putting it all together. What will the viewer discover!

Here is an update of the cockerel stitching, see bit by bit it is getting there, who knows I might be finished by the middle of the year :) Well hopefully sooner than that, then I can find a new piece to create. I need days and days of free time and no work to catch up on all the fun and arty things and turn some of my idea's into reality

Proper Update

As said yesterday here is my proper update. I finally sent off that journal from my livejournal swap after doing a couple more pages. Its been a busy couple of weeks with us adopting 3 rats who are super cute, Sam buying a new car this lovely mx5
and then 2 of ours rats having babies. Well Nemi had babies on tuesday which was a big shock for me when I got home. And then Huskey developed a cyst so we took her to the vets saturday and noticed she was looking decidely round as well where the vet confirmed she was pregnant to and has given birth to her litter today. So there are many rats here. Because we adopted not bought, there was a limit to what pets at home could do but have lent us cages so we seperate Huskey before she had her litter and then when they get old enough we will split the boys out so we don't get any more. Then it'll be about finding new homes for them all.


On the art front I did finally create a scrapbooking page and I like it. It was nice to finally take the pictures from our roadtrip and make a page from them. I might do a second page but not today. Plus I have been doing more of the cockerel stitching, it really is slow moving but I am getting there bit by bit and apart from finishing some penpal letter tonight, I plan to do some more of the stitching whilst watching Lost :)

Quick Update

Do have things to add and have been meaning to all week but I am free time tomorrow so a proper update tomorrow it will be. However excited as I finally bought the road trip scrapbooking kit I bought over a year ago and have found the photo's I plan to use with it so looking forward to having a go at putting together my first ever proper scrapooking page tomorrow :)
More to follow tomorrow.

Butterflies

I do think Butterflies are awesome which is why I always get involved in swaps which include butterflies because I know I will always get an idea to run with. This time I made use of a giant poster I got from a newspaper which had lots of butterflies on them and what they actually were. So my ATC's this time round are nice to look at and educational as well :)

It seems like Sunday always end up being an Art day as Sam heads back to Swindon in the afternoon so I can completely free time with no thought about work which allow me to be creative. I just need to get myself in the habit of being creative in the week as well. I also did a journal page which I will post when I remember

Sorting leads to more mess

I have a couple of days off work which is nice. Got leave to use up so took a couple of days. I was trying to sort through some stuff yesterday which only led to me rediscovering fab bits to use plus a couple of pieces of stitching I had started. So I decided to finish one of them which is a halloween piece. Its all completed not although there are supposed to be lots of french knots on it but I tried and tried and could not do them so I am leaving them off. Its look fine without it. I managed to do french knots well once for a Tatty Ted piece but rarely use them so then when it comes to doing them somehow they just don't work out.



I have also been doing a little journalling. Am planning to hit the post office tomorrow with many packages so wanted to get some things completed. One of which is Shirley's journal, part of the swap. I will be sending it on although have not received another one yet but thats good because otherwise I'd worry. Here is a page from it, I did a couple of others but don't want to give it all away cos I might not do anything else and then what will I chat about :) Although with the free time I am hoping to do some fun pieces :)

Slow and steady

I have been plodding along bit by bit with my stitching and so it slowly progresses. So much for my at least one a month from the calender. Its nice to get one a day but how would anyone stitch one a day :)



Been doing little bits in this journal which is part of a swap in my penpal group on livejournal. I need to get it sent on but still want to do a couple of pages. So I need to find the time. Plus its finding time to go to the post office. Damn them and their being open only during working hours :) Got many packages to send which I need to pack up and get down there. Still haven't had a proper chance to enjoy my awesome scrapbook kit and the many other bits I have bought from hobbycraft recently. Maybe this weekend.

Awesomest kit

I got some of the most awesome stuff. Firstly is this awesome scrapbooking kit which I picked up from CostCo when we joined at the weekend. It was worth joining up for that alone as it has sooooo many different pieces in it as well containing an 8" scrapbook and a 12" scrapbook. I had a look at some of the bits and plan to make some time to really think about what pages I want to create as I have so many photos. The question is when I will find the time.



Then my friends Jenny and Steve sent me awesome birthday gift, one of which was Watchmen Comic and the other was a make your own wire jewellery which looks awesome. I am already thinking what beads I could get to make great stuff and haven't even started making anything yet. There is this great bead shop on Gloucester road where you can get lessons in making jewellery and they sell loads of beads. Once I get the hang of it, I am totally heading there for some great beads.



Yesterday I watched Juno which was a great film, really loved it and whilst doing that I also continued with my cross stitch which was nice as it meant I managed to get quite a bit done and I felt like I really made use of my time by doing two things at once which was nice. Its not moving as quickly as I would wanted to work on at least one a month and we are nearly at the end of Feb. So much to do, so little time.

Mail in, Nothing Out

It was my birthday at the weekend as that kept me busy with drinks out with friends saturday night and then family do on the sunday as I share my birthday with my Grandad and he turned 80 this year. So not much art took place but quite a bit of drinking and eating.

Mail had been slow recently but now we have fit february it has perked up again which is nice. The cookbook that the blindswap ATC girls had been working on finally turned up and a beauty it is too. So many recipes inside as well, I am looking forward to giving some of them a go.

Also from a penpal group on Livejournal we are having a journal swap and the first one turned up for me to work in. Its a good size so looking forward to just having fun with it. Shirley also included a little book for me which is nice. Its always nice to receive extra's.

Apart from that been chatting a little online with people, getting to know some of the people on Artistic Avante Garde a bit better which is nice. Its always good to get to know new people who you can share your art with and learn from. Managing to keep on top of updating my blog, not as often as I'd like but have been doing it at least once a week so keeping to my resolution so far :)

Colours

Saw this on Janet's blog so thought I would give it a go. They didn't have purple so couldn't pick it as a colour and violet is not the same as purple.

Your rainbow is strongly shaded yellow and green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What it says about you: You are an intelligent person. You appreciate optimism. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality. You're good at getting people to like you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com

Journalling

Its been a good art week as having finished my exams I have had some time to spend as well as having had idea's and wanting to try out new thins. So I took a couple of the backgrounds that I painted last Sunday and added to them. The blue one made me think of reeds at the edge of a river so I didn't want to add to much to this so instead commented on what I saw in it. The other page was created as I had been flicking through magazines and had seen some images I liked so had picked them out to possibly play with at a later date. This image of the girl appealed to me, there was something swedish feeling about it. I had just torn it out so hadn't really though about the words surrounding it but when I started looking at the article with it, some of the words I associated it with the picture so decided to make use of them as well.

This final page I had been wanting to try adding the extra of the picture myself through drawing and although it didn't it quite go as planned I still enjoyed it. And it is something that I will keep working on as I think it creates an interesting effect. I kept the other half of the page to help me draw the image but I did the grafitti myself. I had planned to put more grafitti behind it but were unsure what to put. I might use the top half of the picture for another page and see what I create for the grafitti behind it.

Shopping and Art

This weekend has been an awesome weekend firstly because I had no plans, no commitments, nothing I had to do. That included any thoughts about college or work, having been off work for a week so no idea what I could worry about and having had my final exam Friday and had many drinks to celebrate it meant this weekend was all mine. So having started working on my cockerel I decided to pop to hobby craft to get the extra threads I need to complete it and ended uo buying all this stuff. As you can see I bought my threads but also picked up a book on rubber stamping which was on sale as were the 30 ink pads so hoping to have some fun playing around with all that at some point. Then picked up some ribbon as it was 3 for 2, plus are great for sending to other people.

So having been to hobby craft I go busy and made a couple of ATC's which I haven't done in ages which was nice. One is complete, and one is nearly complete. They are both so I can send returns for my unusual alphabet swap which I am very behind with.

Having had that fun, I spent some of last night and today continuing my cross stitch whilst we watched Hitman which was cool. And then I have done some more today. After Sam left this afternoon I decided to paint some journal page backgrounds which was fun. Its been a while since I got any paints out and I bought some new brushes the other day so having a bit of a play around was good. So they are currently drying by the patio doors whilst I had a quick flick through a magazine and got some great bits and pieces from it that I am planning to use for some journal pages of the future. I have quite a few journals on the go at the moment. I have one that is going between myself and Lia, I have a journal in a group swap so I am just working in the final one for that although we might start a new round. Can't wait to see mine. Then I have joined a journal swap on a penpal community on Livejournal which is just starting. Then I have a journal from an ATC group swap although this might be the last one as due to them having taken so long and been way-layed we are sending them back to the owners. So as you can alot of journal action has been happening all whilst ploughing along whilst watching tv with my cross stitching which is starting to take shape now.

Inspiration

Thats right, amazingly now when I need to concentrate on revising and am not having to worry about work, now I am being hit by bits of inspiration and I don't have the time to think about following it. But I still keep doing bits anyway because I don't want to lose this inspiration. So this WIP I had previously I finished off with some writing today in the library.
I have been taking it with me to the library everyday so that when I take breaks or get hit by something, it is there to hand. And so some art has happened.
I have continued with the cockeral stitching as well so there has been a bit more progress with that as well.

Once my final exam is over tomorrow and I have had many drinks, whilst recovering on Saturday I plan to use some of the time to develop some of the idea's I have had over the last few days.

Cluck Cluck

Firstly I made a start on my cross stitching project that I showed previously. As you can see its not got far yet but I an working on it, my exams are weds and fri so then I will have more time for these sorts of things.

I also did a journal page today whilst watching Phantom of the Opera and catching up on correspondence. Got a thing about patterns but I did enjoy creating it, there is just something about the squares and the way they are made up of squares.
Apart from that its been all work and revision round here. But not for too much longer.

injured foot

Thats right during a fun weekend in Cardiff, I have injured my foot. We were staying in a nice hotel and getting in their swimming pool Saturday afternoon I slipped along the edge of the step, you wouldn't have thought much of it, apart from hurting lots. And this is the current state of my foot. It doesn't hurt generally but maes walking a little difficult at times. But that didn't stop us heading out for some drinking that night and dancing at an 80's club called Reflex. All the 80's music was awesome so we had a good laugh and headed back to the hotel sometime past 11.

As for Art, none was done over the weekend although I did do some revision yesterday afternoon at the hotel. I need to do some more this evening as well as my exams are just over a week away. However I have a plan for some cross stitching. I got a cross stitch pattern a day calender which is awesome and I plan to complete as many as I can this year (well that I like anyway). So here is the first one I plan to do, Angie in America loves cockerals so I thought she would like this. I like to cross stitch for others otherwise my house would be way too full of cross stitched stuff :) Plus its nice to give gifts.

Good idea's wasted

I have had some good ideas recently but no time to put them into action. Admitedly as usual they come at bad times like when I am driving, one of the best times to think. Thing is I know when I find the time, I won't feel the same about the idea. It won't have the same appeal, like the moment has gone, the feeling that went with it won't be there and in my mind I won't think it'll work so it never happens. Well maybe it will happen but we shall see.

Bit late for Christmas stuff ....

But I was behind the whole way leading up to Christmas and I have a couple of small stitching kits so I am thinking work on them now and then they'll be ready for Christmas Cards next year :) Plus cos I am busy studying at the moment its small projects that I can just pick up and put down which is nice. This working and studying is hard work. But I have learnt a lesson from this first semester, keep up with everything during the term and start my assignments earlier.

So true to my resolution I have made time for a little art and to update this blog. But it is only the first week of the resolution so we shall see how it goes. Last night (and I mean late) I got some inspiration and started doing some stuff in my journal. Both pages are works in progress because on the left is just the background for something and the right was me spilling my mind on the page but I was to ass some colour to it. It was nice to be being creative again but no time for it at the moment. Need to focus on these assignments :)