What I Did Today

Today was rather productive.

I drew some design ideas for a set of postcards.

Then I hunched over my desk all afternoon cutting lino.
(I really need a lower chair)

And then tomorrow I'm going to print them and pray they turn out good.

Need to decide what they're all going to be saying...

x

It has been too hot for my liking the past few days but our flat is magic and stays quite cool.
I was worried about the money plant for a while, he went all wrinkly, but I've managed to save him and he's looking pretty again now.

If you have any magic tips for having a window open but stopping mosquitos from getting in please share them. We got completely invaded yesterday evening and now there are loads in our bathroom, sitting there waiting to eat me. Even though our bathroom doesn't have a window, they just like it in there.

Also yesterday evening we watched Chaplin. I suggest you do to. Robert Downey Jr was brilliant.

Off for a day of housework and hopefully lots of art.

x

On Friday we went into London to see as many things as we could because this pay day says I'm not allowed in to London many times.
I'd been a sad geek type and printed out the Elephant Parade map and list of all the elephants so we made sure we found any that were on our route.

We went straight to Trafalgar Square and found the elephants there. I'm still so excited by them, I think they're awesome!
We had some lunch then went to the National Gallery for the 'Talk and Draw'. It was really good, they tell you about the painting then an artist gives you some drawing 'tasks' so you get to draw from the painting in a way that makes you think about it a bit more in depth than if you just copied it straight out. It was really interesting.

(Will's photo)We headed over to the pork bun stand, finding elephants on the way, and with our pork buns got the tube over to Green Park. We spent some time wandering about finding the elephants there too and Will made a friend in the form of a squirrel.

He was so cute and completely unfazed by people. He got so close, I think he was hoping we'd give him food, but we didn't have anything to give him. We're going to go back with nuts and see if we can steal him.

One of the elephants we found was called Mr William so obviously I had to take Will's photo with it.

After we'd got all the elephants in the park we headed up the road to Fortnum and Mason to see their Handmade exhibition which was really just a shop with name tags for each item. It was so pretty and I was hugely jealous of it all. I made a mental wishlist as we walked round and it got pretty huge.
Then we went over to the Barbican to see the birds play guitars but when we got there the queue was huge and they only let 25 people in at a time. We really wanted to see it and it's a shame we've missed it but due to the hot weather which kills me and Will's mental hours at work recently we weren't really up to standing in a queue for so long so we decided to come home.

It was a really good day. I'm already looking forward to going back to find more elephants!

Now I'm going to go find some floaty clothes to wear for the day seeing as it's supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. Looks pretty outside, but I don't function well in heat...

x

plasticine and crochet

When I got up this morning I found some new things on the coffee table.

Turned out Will had played with plasticine when he got in from work.

I think he's rather good at it.

So I took some photos.
Wondering where we'd keep sculptures though if he decided to make more durable ones...

I made a necklace.


It's not the clearest photo for any sort of detail and Batfink is in there getting in the way but I think the flower necklace is quite good.
It'll be in my Etsy shop along with some other awesome things before too long.

x

fuelling addictions

Today I was planning on doing some drawing but then it turned out I didn't feel like it.

So I made this instead.
I like it.
Thinking about how I can make it appropriate for my shop...

Then we popped into Welwyn so I could fuel my new addiction.

Now I have 2 brand new colours to make flowers and granny squares out of and I found the colour I'm using for my scarf twice as big for only half as much more!
And I got 2 knitters needles so I can weave in all the straggly bits.
I can't stop thinking about all the other colours I want, I wish yarn was free...

I have also just taken a flourless chocolate cake out of the oven and it smells amazing.

Good day :)

x

granny squares and a cat lady

I can do it! I'm really proud of my first granny square that I'm going to keep.
It's still a tad loose in places but I still think it's wonderful.
Now I just have to make a ton more so I can make a blanket and also get a needle that can weave in the ends.



Also today I did a picture.
When I thought of this it didn't occur to me that it was another girl with an animal head. Maybe I should do a whole series of them...

Will's at work again and I'm full of the porridge I've had for dinner (had it for the first time ever the other day and am now a little addicted) so I'm going to go relax on the sofa and watch the Springwatch special seeing as I had a rather productive day :)

x

kiss' plane of awesomeness

my dad works at an airport and gets to see all the famous goings on.
look what i got texted yesterday

i love the little face logos near the front!
awesome.
but not as big as iron maiden's...


i'm off for an early night because i'm getting fed up with this not being able to wake up in the morning thing i've got going at the moment.

x

crochet and clouds

the weather has been good today.

i decided a while ago to learn knitting and crochet, i got myself needles and a hook at the same time. i found knitting easier and put the hook down for a while while i got started on my new scarf. i finished my ball of wool so until i get some more, my scarf is on hold so i have picked up the crochet hook to try again with some tiny balls of wool i have laying around from who knows when. i 'mastered' the 'single crochet', unravelled it and learnt the 'double crochet'.


a little wonky but not bad for a first try. which is also what i'd say about my granny square.

not quite right but not bad considering it took me quite a few different tutorials to finally get my head around it. i reckon getting some yarn that's the right thickness for my hook will help, i find the stitches keep being too tight or really loose. but maybe that's just me and i'll get better at it.

anyway, i'm really excited about finally getting good at it and then making loads for a blanket/throw.
now i just need to learn how to swap colours.

at this rate the coming winter is going to be oh so cosy.

i also had an idea for a drawing/collage which is looking to be quite cool hopefully.

will finished a painting this evening and after he gets out of the shower we're going to cook some yummy food.
i'm making guacomole and navajo fry bread while will's making chilli.
i'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

all in all, quite a productive saturday :)

x

tea stirring and thoughts

action shot.

have a shift today and sunday but am looking forward to saturday. will and i are both off and i'm planning a day of making art and then making an awesome dinner.

keep hoping it's not too much longer before i can leave 'work' so i can concentrate on my work...

also hoping i don't end up missing the quilts exhibition, all of a sudden time is passing by really quickly and i'm not sure i like it.

x

photo booth

it said on the outside that you could choose 'identical' or 'different' and it let us take 4 different pictures but then it made us pick one. still good though.

walked round a french market today with mum and a french man growled at me because i have leopard print tights on and said some french that i obviously didn't understand and made claw motions with his hand. i think he was being friendly though...

x

art and spring flowers

2 pictures i did. the bird girl is on my website too but i'm not sure if i'm going to add the lovebirds. i might give them another go.

pretty spring pictures.

we went and voted today. i've never voted before so i was quite excited. i felt quite proud after and we went and got hog roast baps from the bakery and in keeping with the new experiences i let them put apple sauce in it. i never normally have the sweet sauces on my savoury food but i really liked it.
good day so far.

tomorrow we're heading over here. a couple of the people exhibiting were in our class at uni so it should be interesting.

x

random happenings on camera

a shop window looking pretty

we love pork buns

this bike fell on will but he's alright.
if you take your bike on a non-bike carriage of a train, have the decency to stand with it :)

will takes me out for nachos...
and banoffee pie because he loves me.
we also love the pub. and sharing.

this is for my mum and dad. i took the photo and they're putting it on their wall.
it's all mounted and ready to go now thanks to will's spray mount powers.

x

elephant parade, trafalgar square

i made a friend.
(will took this photo)

we went into london today for a draw in the national gallery and we found a load of elephants in trafalgar square and then we found one in chinatown too.
it was brilliant, everyone was really excited. having their photos taken with them and generally loving the elephants. i like it when art engages people and they don't even really realise it.
i love london.

this is also will's photo. of me around the time i took the one below

i have since discovered it's all about conservation and there are 258 of them all over london.
we're going to have an elephant hunt and try to find as many as possible.

you should go see at least some of them if you can. they're brilliant.

x

love

will and i celebrated our 4th year together by going to london and eating really good food, including:
a brownie (shared) from st. pancras
chilli burger (him) and blueberry pancakes (me) with fries (shared) at the diner in islington
lasagne (me) and ribs (him) for dinner then
waffle (him) and apple pie (me) for pudding from the pub at the end of our road

it was lovely.

it rained but we didn't mind. we went in the national gallery and saw some art done by school kids inspired by renoirs the umbrellas.
we wandered about.
and we looked at pretty buildings.
and before it rained we sat in trafalgar square with tea.

love you william!

x