Tuesday 30 November 2010

christmas crochet!

this year has proven to be an expensive one, so i thought i would make some gifts instead of buying loads. i love getting handmade gifts and am hoping this is the same for my closest family and friends! the little gift boxes are paper mache ones from hobbycraft that i have covered in paper, and inside will be these crochet decorations cushioned in tissue paper. i decided on crocheting some stockings, wreaths, candy canes and christmas puddings which i think have turned out incredibly cute indeed! perfect for hanging on the tree. they may not have been expensive to make, but they have taken alot of time (but i reckon they'll be liked so it's worth it!)
the patterns for these i got from pottage publishing which is also where i got my crochet starter book and kit! so have a look if you want to learn or make some decorations of your own :)


'savour' - illustration friday



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Monday 29 November 2010

illustration friday 'savour' sketches



first thing that popped into my mind when i heard this weeks word, however took 2 attempts to get him looking hamster like! the first try looked more like a chinchilla. will hopefully finish tonight along with some crochet updates :) happy monday all!

Wednesday 24 November 2010

'sneaky' - illustration friday


my detective's back, looking sneaky as ever...

Monday 15 November 2010

NASA to space chimp one...

Ok, it's my friends birthday this weekend so another card was needed. However there is a story behind why she will find this funny! After a night on the town me and some friends were round her house and she decided to listen to her voicemail messages. One was a text that someone had sent to her landline so had the robot lady reading it. It was a joke about chimps being in space with a woman, but the text had obviously been too long for one message so we only got:

NASA has sent a woman and two chimps into space.
Radio messages were as follows:

NASA to space chimp 1 - Optimise life support systems and recalibrate radiation monitoring equipment

NASA to space chimp 2 - Check trajectory and compensate if required using formula (m2-3n) + (5-m3)

and then it stopped, and because we were hungover it was officially the funniest thing ever. We still laugh about it to this day. And that is why her card has space monkeys on it. Have a good week all!

Sunday 14 November 2010

busy-ness leads to just doodles, sadly...


still not had alot of time to do much this week, but i aim to change this! in the meantime, here's a seahorse i doodled and coloured. have a good week!

Thursday 11 November 2010

the grip of Call of Duty...



yes, it got my boyfriend too. instead of sitting around bored i decided to draw him. which in turn distracted him... mwahaha!

Monday 8 November 2010

'afterwards' - illustration friday



"First he wrought, and afterward he taught." - Geoffrey Chaucer
Thought this quote was rather relevant to me at the moment. As much as I am loving being back at college doing a teaching course (alongside re-doing my GCSE maths, ugh!) I forgot how much hard work is involved in learning! This also explains why this week I have only had time for a sketch, better than no drawing at all I guess. I'll get there eventually and it'll be worth it :)

Sunday 7 November 2010

crocheting lace (i must be insane)

Yes that's right, I've started learning the very slow yet amazingly addictive process of crocheting lace! Doillies all round for christmas presents this year...
Am using the book 'Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts Lacy Crochet' which is fab, although the patterns take a fair bit of studying for a semi-beginner like me! Highly recommend if it's something you want to try, although beginners may want to learn a teensy-bit more before attempting this stuff. So here is my first try which after many hours is still not complete, but oh it is so pretty! And yes, that is a crochet hook. It's a 2mm one (this is indeed very fiddly stuff!)


Tuesday 2 November 2010

'spent' - illustration friday

as most of my time recently is spent crocheting, what better than to have it the subject of this weeks illustration friday?
in particular my mum's purple scarf birthday present took me forever to do, but she was so happy with it it was worth it!

Monday 1 November 2010

it's november?!

before you know it it's christmas, and i do not want last years panic of 'i haven't even started my christmas cards!'
so, i have started already! here are the sketches of the first 2, i'm not sure how many designs to aim for (as many as i have time for i guess!)