Rowan's first art session

I decided it was time for Rowan's first art session.  As it was bath night last night I figured that was the best time to start.  I wanted to get some foot and hand prints whilst he's still tiny so I dug around in my art stuff (quite a task since I have a crazy amount of art gear that has become ridiculously disorganised over several house moves) to find some suitable materials.  I found some ink which was pretty inert (it's acid and lignin-free) so is probably safe to use on baby skin.  To be sure it would clean off ok I smeared ink from several inkpads on my own fingers first and wiped it off.  I'm glad I did this as I immediately eliminated three of my inkpads as some of it stained!

I started off taking photos, but Rowan began working himself up into a near apoplectic state, so I cut the session short and got on with bathing him.  Next time I think I'll time it better as I think he was hungry and in no mood to play at Jackson Pollock.

N.b. Rowan has had a bit of an acne outbreak, hence his flushed appearance.

Step 1:  Organise your inks and baby on a wipeable

changing mat 

 Step 2:  Make sure you have baby wipes very close

to hand

Step 3:  Realise your baby is still wearing the white

cardigan your mum knitted, so remove above apparel

before continuing

 Step 4:  Liberally apply ink to foot, making sure you

have a firm grasp of said foot so you don't end up

with footprints over changing mat, muslin, babygrow,

baby, self and surfaces you didn't realise were

within reach of baby's foot

 Step 5:  Wait for ink and tears to dry, and take 

photos of baby with artwork once he has calmed down

Cards, bookmarks, and wine.

Here are the cards I said I would blog about a month ago (ahem...)

The first is an anniversary card. It was from one of those build-it-yourself card kits I wanted to try out. It came out ok, but I object a little to the limitations imposed by a kit!

The next card was also from a kit, but I lost the chart so had to wing it a bit. I'm not a huge fan of the design, but as this was for my sister who loves both roses and tea, it seemed an ideal birthday card!

Finally, a cross stitch bookmark I made to accompany my sister's birthday present (a book, funnily enough). Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, the border of the bookmark resulted in some last minute chart adjustments as the working area was too narrow for the chart design. I also cut it a little too short hence why the design looks a little bunched at the ends. For the backing, I used the liner of an old jacket I have, which is a velvet-like material. It's called horse skin, but it isn't actually from the hide of an equine!
I like the design on this one, I just wished I'd measured twice and cut once! I blame the wine in the background. Evil vino, leading my crafts astray...

Birthday card

Below is the birthday card I made for my niece's 5th birthday. I hadn't realised how little children orientated craft stuff I had until I came to make this one. Or pink things. The number 5 on the card was originally blue, but I dabbed it with a pink ink pad and went over it with pink glitter-glue to make it more feminine. The wording was meant to be a purple rub-on, but typically it didn't transfer properly so I went over it with a souffle pen. I don't know why I keep bothering with rub-ons; in my experience they just don't work!

I will be posting a couple more cards soon, just waiting for the recipients to receive them first!

Bit of a medley

My Mum recently kindly gave me her card-making and scrapbooking stash, and I had great fun sorting through it and indulging my slightly scary tendency to categorise and organise stuff. To thank her, I made her a card from some of the items she gave me:

I have also made several cross stitched Christmas cards during the weekly lunchtime craft group at work, but I can't really share these yet as some of the people they are intended for read this blog, So I guess this is a rather pre-emptive heads up about a future post. A bit of a pointless paragraph really.

On an unrelated note, I get the coil removed next Thursday. I'm pretty relieved as I may finally get some energy back once my body's recovered. This last month has been ridiculous; 24 days of bleeding and counting.

Regardless of energy levels, I'm excited about going to Crufts tomorrow (I'm sure that's in part due to having a day off. It feels like ages since I had a day off!)

Wow. This post is a medley of disjointed crap.

Dog bandana!

I had a go at making a dog's bandana last week. I made it from an old pair of Gareth's cargo trousers:

The one with all the cross stitch

After completing 'Mermaid of the pearls,' it prompted me to dig out the cross stitch I've done over the years and post them here. I've tried putting them in a chronological order: Fist ever cross stitch. I think I was about 13 when I did this one.

First completed 'big project'

First attempt at designing my own cross stitch. I was

about 14 when I did this one.

One I completed on the many long train journeys to Plymouth
from Aberdeen and vice versa!




I love this design! I'll certainly look for more of their designs in future.

I finished this one about 3 years ago.

One of three birth samplers I made for my sister. There are no

photos of the other two as they are with my nephew and neice now.


A couple of bookmarks.

Random drawings

I was going through my art stuff recently and came across some old sketches. I thought I'd share them - they are by far not the best I've ever done (I miss my charcoal!).

I drew this a couple of years ago during a

particulary dull lecture. Probably on cell membranes.

I was surprised to find that this one was drawn

ten years ago. It was when I was working on

various comic characters for a comic that I never

completed. About this time I had a few issues to

work through and my arts took a bit of a sabbatical

for many years. I wish I had kept up with my drawing,

and often wonder if I should have done art instead of

zoology at university. Never mind, can't change past

decisions, only the one's you're going to make!

Sketches

Over the last 7 years or so, I haven't really done a lot of drawing or artwork. I'm not sure quite why this is, but I think it is in part due to not having a lot of time when at university (working weekends and attending uni weekdays did not inspire creativity or energy!) and for a long time my head just wasn't in a good place - a lot things in my life took a backburner whilst I dealt with various things.
Anyway, I've started drawing again and thought I would post some of my sketches. I'm quite aware they aren't particulary good, but after such a gap I wouldn't expect my skills to have improved! Random dragonfly and a non-specific wading bird! For some reason there is a very snitch-like object too!

I have never been very good at drawing people, I always preferred animals - not surprising I did a zoology degree then really! However, I was pleased with this guy!

Ok, anatomically not very well drawn, but practice makes perfect - or at least passable!