Wednesday 24 December 2014

CHRISTMAS WRAPPING + A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Before signing off for Christmas I thought I would first wish you all a very Merry Christmas and secondly share with you the style of wrapping I choose this year. It's fair to say I may have been heavily influenced by pinterest and the best thing was I only had to buy the two rolls of brown paper which was £2 everything else I already had. So it turned out to be cheap Christmas wrapping as well. I will keep this short and sweet and end by saying I hope you all have a wonderful, fun filled, food filled, magical and spectacular Christmas.
 








 

In case any of you are wondering 'Mow' is my brother, his name is Matthew but when I was little I used to call him Maboo, then that some how got shortened to Mow. Oh and also Emma is my brother's girlfriend.



 

Monday 15 December 2014

CHRISTMAS TAG


With it only being 10 days before Christmas I thought I would do a Christmas tag.

What is your favourite Christmas Movie?
I absolutely adore Christmas Movies and own quite a lot, simply because every year my mum, brother and I all break up for Christmas on the same day and we always have a christmas DVD day. My favourite Christmas movie has to either be The Polar Express.

Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Christmas morning.

Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?
I'm not quite sure I can pick just one, but I think my favourite is...I remember one year when I was 8 and my brother was 7. I woke up on Christmas morning to hear that my brother had seen Santa's sleigh. He had woken up in the middle of the night looked out his bedroom window and saw Santa flying away in his sleigh. Even to this day when you bring it up he will say that he definitely saw something but it was most likely not Santa.

Favourite festive food?
It has to be Chestnuts....roasting on an open fire.

Favourite Christmas gift?
I've been given so many wonderful gifts over the years that its difficult to pick just one....but the one that sticks in my mind is the dolls house that I got when I was 10 (I think). I still have it and found out only a few years ago that my dad built it which makes it even more special.


Favourite Christmas scent?
I don't think I have a favourite festive scent....if I had to choose I think it would have to be the smell of Christmas Dinner cooking.

Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
My Mum always buys my brother and I new bedding which we put on on Christmas Eve. On the evening my family and I always go to church which we always walk to as its only a 15 minutes away, when we get back we always have something to eat and sit down and watch a Christmas movie and play a few games in our new Christmas Pj's. Christmas Eve is quite a late night for us but always a fun filled family one.

What tops your tree?
A star

What's the best part about Christmas for you?
Seeing everyone opening the gifts I've gotten for them, it makes me feel so happy.
As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) you always asked for but never received?
I can't remember ever asking for anything extravagant. When I asked my Mum she replied with 'Not really, you asked for a lot of pink plastic tat, that stuff wasn't cheap`. Ok then.

Monday 8 December 2014

A LITTLE CHRISTMAS WRAPPING INSPIRATION




 images from pinterest

Some people see wrapping presents as an absolute chore, but for me it's my favourite thing to do besides actually hand the presents out. I suppose it's my artistic flare coming through. I spend way too much time wrapping presents until they are absolute perfection, only to see my hard work destroyed in a flurry of excitement, but they do look oh so pretty for those few days they sit under the tree. Last year I did a tartan theme and this year I'm going to be using (if you haven't already guessed) brown paper which I will decorate with buttons, string, stamps, ribbon, washi tape and perhaps some twigs and leaves from the garden. I'm rather looking forward to wrapping my presents this year, more so than usual. I'm using every inch of my will power to stop myself from wrapping them too early. Fingers crossed I manage to keep myself restrained for another week. But for now I think I'll continue to scroll through pinterest.



 

Saturday 6 December 2014

DIY: MARBLED PLATE

 
     What you'll need:
~ Plate
~ Nail varnishes of your choice
~ Toothpicks
~ Water
~ An old container big enough to fit your plate into
 
Step One: Fill the container with Water, but allow enough space to dip the plate in without it overflowing.

Step Two: Begin to drop nail varnish into the water. Do this close to the water if you drop it from too far a height, the nail varnish will sink to the bottom of the container. I find two colours work best but you can use one.

Step Three: Next take a tooth pick and begin to swirl the nail varnish about


Step Four: Dip your plate into the nail polis. Gather the access nail polish using the toothpick by swirling it around the access nail polish.
 
Step Five: Remove plate and allow to air dry. Once dried you can take some nail polish remover and begin to clean up your design.

Step Six: Decide what to use your plate for.





I'm currently using mine to store my favourite perfumes on. Hope you enjoyed this DIY and let me know if you give it a go.

 
 
 
 
 

Monday 24 November 2014

SEALED WITHIN THE PAGES





I suppose its quite a cliché to start a book post with 'I love to read and don't remember a time in which I didn't' no matter how true that cliché is, so I shall start another way...
 
Old books, those are my favourite. The one's that you need to handle carefully in fear they will fall apart. The one's where you need to blow the layer of dust that has gathered upon it before being able to open the front cover. And of course there's the smell, that glorious smell only old books have. I must admit I'm quite a fan of the oldies. But what I love more than an old forgotten book is when that old book has a handwritten sentiment in it. A lovely moment sealed within the pages.
1. Han's Christian Anderson's Fairy Tales, found in a charity shop in Carlisle.
2. Enid Blyton's The Mountain of Adventure, found in a vintage book shop in Tynemouth.
3. Enid Blyton's The Ship of Adventure, found in a vintage book shop in Tynemouth

Sunday 16 November 2014

A LITTLE NOTE ON HAPPINESS


Happiness... it's a bit of a strange one. There will be times when I think to myself 'in this moment right now, I feel completely and undoubtedly happy' and of course there will be other moments where I won't be so happy, and thankfully these times are just 'moments'. Recently I've been thinking quite a lot about happiness and in particular my happiness.
 
If your new to my blog then you might not know that I'm currently study Fine Art at University, however the course I'm doing is a Foundation Degree. A Foundation Degree is the first two years of any University course, you have the option at the end of the second year to keep it at a Foundation Degree or you can do a top up year which will bring it to a BA Degree. Anyway the point I was making is I have a lot of thinking to do as to what my next move is and where do I want to be in a few years time? and of course the biggest question of all what the hell am I doing with my life? 
 
After a good chat with my dad, it came to my attention that very few people have their dream job but that doesn't necessarily make them any less happier than a person who does. I think the point I'm trying to make is life doesn't always work out the way you plan, and that's ok. You may have a job that you hate but the people you work with are the people you couldn't quite live without. I'm beginning to think you don't need to love your job or enjoy it to be happy.



Thursday 13 November 2014

A WINTER'S DAY AT THE BEACH











I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something wonderfully peaceful about taking a walk along a beach in the freezing cold and blustery wind, then warming yourself up in a near by coffee shop with a large hot chocolate. Which is exactly what my friend Celene and I did a week or so ago. As always I had my Camera in hand and I happily snapped away as we wandered and talked. I decided to  pick a few of my favourite photographs to share with you all.

Tuesday 11 November 2014

SIMPLICITY IS KEY

  

 
 
 
Sometimes you just need a fineliner, a pile of scrap paper and a little spare time to allow your mind to go a little wild with doodles.
 
 

Thursday 6 November 2014

SHE SAT SURROUNDED BY STARS

 64 days...that's how long it's been since I last posted on my blog...64 days. I think we can all agree I've been slightly M.I.A (perhaps not slightly), however instead of focusing on those 64 days I thought it best to jump straight back into it.

I really just want to live in this illustration or at least hang paper stars from my ceiling.
  
 
 

Thursday 14 August 2014

OH JOHNNY, OH JOHNNY, OH JOHNNY


Every year on the 26th and 27th of July the town of Leyburn hop into their time machines and travel back to the 1940s. My Dad, Mum and I, along with our neighbour/family friend Mic and his faithful companion Ruby (the dog) all piled into the car and began the hour long journey back to the 1940s.The sun was shining  and the day was filled with live music, friendly people, fish and chips and a very refreshing glass of home made lemonade. (Must admit it did feel like I had been transported into an Enid Blyton book)

I had gone with the intention of taking as many photographs as possible but sometimes whilst looking through a lens you have a tendency to miss things and I wanted to create memories of the day not just photographs.

However, I hope you enjoy the photgraphs I did take.



Monday 4 August 2014

'THOUGH SHE BE BUT LITTLE , SHE IS FIERCE'





How are you all today?
 
As you can all probably guess I've been drawing today which has resulted in the above illustrations. 'What media did you use?' I hear you ask, why fineliners of course 'sigh' the addiction continues.
 
XO
 

Friday 1 August 2014

LET'S HAVE TEA IN THE GARDEN, IT'S TOO BEAUTIFUL A DAY NOT TO SHARE IT WITH THE FLOWERS...


 

 


 
Garden tea parties, is there anything better? Its not often I draw a 'scene' as it were but like I said is there anything better than a garden tea party. I'm still quite undecided if adding colour was the right choice, what do you think? I had planned on doing the whole thing in colour but I was worried I was going to loose so much of the detail. I think I might get some photocopies made up and experiment with colour on those first. And once again I used my trusty fine liners, yup I have a problem. (a big one).
 
Hope you have a lovely Friday and a lovelier weekend.
 
XO

P.S. their skirts are suppose to be up turned tea cups




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