the art of moodling

seed journal day 3 - s words

2012-01-12T22:59:00.001Z

A bit of a doodle page, thinking about what being a seed meant after Milliande's prompt here.

Am thinking about adding some colour, maybe around the outside of the acorn, maybe just the leaves, ....

Had a couple of things to post out this week so decorated a couple of envelopes as notecards to send with them...

I just love my scraps of bits n pieces :) And these days I can't do without my sewing machine - it would definitely be a chosen item if I was sent to a desert island!

Once upon a time there lived

2012-01-10T16:50:00.000Z

...two little pigs!

We're doing the story of the three little pigs at school so decided to make some sock pigs for the story over the weekend. There are a couple of sock pig designs out there but I just devised my own sock monkey style one as they need arms and legs to be able to build their houses, and run away from the wolf of course!

I added little curly tails made from fleece, and buttons for noses, eyes and a tummy button each!

The best bit about the socks I bought from Poundland (from a teacher's point of view anyway) is that they were animal socks and had a pig head on each sock :) I'll be putting them in my counting box :)

And why only two pigs? Because Quality Save had a whole pig soft toy for 99p and these two make great pig twin brothers for him :)

Happy New Year!

2012-01-07T20:10:00.000Z

Each January Milliande starts a new series of art journaling prompts, but it wasn't until the email popped into my inbox that I remembered! Last year the theme started with 'z for zebra'.

This year's theme is 'Seed Journals: growing a seed versus being a seed ..... a curious journey begins'.

This is such a perfect project, and has come at just the right time for me. My journal pages have always been 'time to play', but I had begun to feel that I needed a bit more of something. This theme is really making me think through the medium of my art journal...

I'm also really enjoying the organic nature of this January's prompts - they may be daily, they may be weekly, perfect for someone who was finding she ended up playing catch up all the time when prompts were every day! Feel this is a project for you? Join the gang over at www.milliande.com.

a flurry of Christmas making

2011-12-30T16:08:00.000Z

Last week I got quite a few last minute Christmas presents made, but since then I've been on a re-organising spree for some reason! That's in between 'playing' with my Christmas presents and visiting family etc!!! I hope you had a fantastic Christmas, we had a fabulous one in our house :)

This jar contains the ingredients of snowman soup. The head took a fair bit of fixing to the lid but I got there in the end and was pleased with the result!

Some of my friends and I decided to give handmade gifts this year (hence the snowman jar!). The teacup cakes felt a little like cheating as I'd bought the teacup silicone cases, but I still added the cake, and a collaged spoon!

I'm always behind with my cards, so I was still making these on Christmas Day!

These two little books didn't take long though; one of the girls at work asked me to make them for her children. I hope they liked them!

Best get back to the 'holiday jobs' - am trying to get my eldest son's room decorated, then there's the New Year party to organise - am planning on lots of star themed baking! Happy New Year!!!

a splash of watercolour = some funky, weird creatures

2011-12-22T22:08:00.000Z

This is kindof a bit of a late WOYWW as I visited my artist friend Graham on Wednesday, and took my watercolours with me. He's done some more work on his studio since I last visited...

It's such a warm and welcoming place...

... full of inspiring art...

I, meanwhile, just splashed some watercolour around on a couple of pages in my sketchbook.

Then hunted for some 'beings' amongst the paint splashes aka Carla Sonheim (Drawing Lab).

My favourite is the little 'thing' leaning up against the central spine of the book.

It was this large bunny I found first though. I just LoVe this technique, there's no way I'd be able to invent these imaginative characters any other way!

a happy owl!

2011-12-17T11:35:00.000Z

I think this owl might actually have a bit of a smile!

I'm not sure how, it must be something to do with his eyes! But it does answer my question - is it possible to make a happy owl? Not that that was the intention, I just had the design in my head and off to the sewing machine I went! I've also managed a couple of Christmas cards this week...

But most of my time has been spent teaching, and practising the Christmas play. I take classes in school whilst the teacher has her planning and preparation time. On Monday I was a wise man in the play, Tuesday a shepherd and by Wednesday I'd been 'demoted' to a cow lol!

I have the privilege of working in two schools and they both put on stunning Christmas performances. I helped with the dress rehearsal on Thursday in one and was a guest at the second on Friday. The schools, and therefore the performances, are both very different, but the creative talents of the staff, and the hard work of the pupils in both produced amazing results.

these boots weren't made for walking!

2011-12-11T21:55:00.000Z

My fab 'jabberwocky' friend Sue and I took a trip out to the depths of Staffordshire on Saturday afternoon to make paper shoes :) The workshop was run by the very talented Jennifer Collier (check out her paper vintage typewriter!) in her exhibition, workshop and studio space 'unit twelve'.

The current exhibition is entitled 'the ties that bind' and features an eclectic mix of aprons, including one made from a tin pail!

My favourite one had spoons in its pockets, and I LoVe spoons! I wasn't surprised to discover it was made by Priscilla Jones, who's one of my very favourite mixed media artists.

Both Sue and I loved the wonderful 'wallpaper' in the exhibition space, created with pieces cut from old dress patterns.

Through the exhibition space is the workshop area and a number of small studio spaces.

I got myself a couple of Christmas presents (my mother in law has been asking what I would like so she'll be happy she only has to wrap them!) from the very talented Jo Hill, Emily Notman and Louise Wilson.

I had to finish my shoes off at home. I changed the lace up ones slightly so as they look more like my own, and shortened the alice shoe design.

I added laces made from strips of cotton, lace and organza.

I added stitched flowers to my alice shoes, and press studs. Not a great photo I'm afraid as the glue was still wet further up!!

I love my paper shoes :)

AEDM day 29 and shared art

2011-11-29T20:01:00.000Z

(photo by Gwen of Foxglove Hill)

I met Gwen of Foxglove Hill through AEDM and greatly admired the flowers she was making at the same time as I was making my felt ones. So we planned a trade - my felted flowers are heading her way but her muslin ones arrived at mine today. Thanks so, so much Gwen, they are STuNNiNG!

Not much time for art over the past few days but I did manage to get some work done on some tags. I love circles and used some scraps of paper and my sewing machine to add some pattern.

I've been identifying patterns I like as part of my surface design course and interpreted this one using a previously inked baby wipe, some scraps of paper and my sewing machine. Now I'm off to celebrate with my sister - it's her 40th birthday today :)

AEDM and a day at the fayre

2011-11-27T15:42:00.001Z

I bought these little owl lights from Marks & Spencer to decorate my table at yesterday's Christmas market in Chorlton. I could have sold them about ten times over lol! In the end I wrote a label to say where to buy them from.

I was pleased with my stand, and am reassured as to the quality of my work and ideas (Malc laughed when I told him this, but I do worry!). My owls and spoons proved popular!

... and I sold a little handmade book. One guy made me smile when he picked up my fabric book and asked "Can you explain the purpose of this to me please?"!!!

My little collection of felt flowers looked great, but didn't find a home with anyone yesterday.

I bought a few presents from other stall holders though, including a little something for me!

I just love these 'Tatty Betties', and when I saw one of them was an advent fairy my excuse for buying me one was presented! The other is for my sister who is 40 on Tuesday, and the middle dolly is for my youngest niece. The girl opposite me was selling fabulous poster style prints so I got me this too...

The wonderful wisdom of Dr Seuss! Finally, my AEDM day 25 activity was a touch of sign writing for work!

celebrating books!

2011-11-26T22:20:00.000Z

WOYWW 129 and AEDM days 22 and 23 - craft fair prep

2011-11-23T14:15:00.000Z

Yesterday, straight from work, was my last ceramic class (it was just a row of three) and I made an angel with a textured dress. Unfortunately my phone had run out of battery so I have no pics. I had made a small rose from clay which the teacher then used to make a small mould for me. I created some little roses for the angel's dress. The plan is to make some felted, embroidered wings for her :)

I squeezed some 'art time' in today for 'Art Every Day Month'. Just a bit of doodling but without AEDM I'd have just not done any!

I'm off to work at the Bean and Brush later, teaching our Christmas ornament class. Today I've been busily preparing for the Chorlton Arts Festival Christmas fair which is on Saturday. Why do I never leave myself enough prep time?!!

So my desk is a little ~~messy~~ busy today! Neater desks are available for view over at the Stamping Ground :)

I've finished three more pepper pot flower collections. My minions are looking after them whilst they dry!

I've also prepped some papers to make some small journals and cards with for Saturday (when I don't know lol!!! I can see a couple of late nights coming up).

AEDM days 20 and 21 - in the 'Drawing Lab'

2011-11-21T20:51:00.000Z

Honestly, I can't recommend Carla Sonheim's 'Drawing Lab' highly enough! It's just brilliant for getting you painting or drawing without that highly invasive 'inner critic' sitting on your shoulder whispering into your ear! It's also full of short arty exercises for when time is limited, perfect for me at the minute.

Yesterday was mostly spent doing school prep so just before going to bed I did some one-liners, drawing animals using one continuous line. Carla has a short video here on the Sketchbook Challenge blog if you'd like more info.

I started with pigs, then a couple of flowers followed by an owl who looks like a penguin!

I've been avoiding drawing cats as I'm not that keen on them picture wise, but finally gave in and love these manic kitties!

Then I gave some birds a bit of a go. For the last one I wondered what it would look like with 'walking legs'. Normally my brain wouldn't even let me have a go at drawing something like that as 'I can't do it', but with one liners they're not going to look like the animal anyway!

It was my first day back teaching today after having bronchitis. I was still feeling a bit wiped out so after a day with three different infant classes in a special school I came home and fell asleep! Woke up feeling the need to do something relaxing so flicked through 'Drawing Lab' and..

...decided to finally give Lab 8: Imaginary Creatures a go....and created a moustached penguin lying back in shock at..what?!! Hmm, that's in your imagination ;) I love how fun he is, yet I never would have drawn a moustached penguin lol!

It started off with layers of random marks made with watercolour paints. These yummy koh-i-noor ones were supposed to go in my eldest son's Christmas stocking - oops! They are such handy, stackable palettes and rather nice paints too. I bought mine whilst out in Wales somewhere, although checking online they're cheap enough to get George another set!

AEDM day 19 - found poetry on a spoon

2011-11-19T21:46:00.000Z

I love rummaging through old books and finding quirky sentences that make me smile. These snippets of 'poetry' were a little more controlled in that I just hunted for descriptive words relating to my chosen topic!

I started making these spoons earlier this year after seeing something similar by the hugely talented Kelli Perkins. It wasn't 'til I just checked for the link here that I realised how similar - oops!

I've got a few more inked up, it's the word hunting that takes the time!

Prompted by Gwen's lovely flower yesterday I got started on some felted flowers that have been in my head awhile. I added some merino wool and snippets of fabric to a piece of yellow felt, then free machined some flower outlines before cutting them out.

It was the container that gave me a bit of trouble. I bought five pepper pots from Dunelm Mill the other day for just this purpose, inspired by Sue Pelletier's wonderful snowmen. I just couldn't decide what to put in the jar!

I tried buttons, beads, even tiny stones, but went for snippets of fabric in the end. It still wasn't looking right until I added some snippets around the base and some cotton around the rim.

Just to show you the back - I stitched the felted piece to some old net curtain as two layers of felt, one of which was felted on top, was a bit think for the sewing machine! Ok, off to write more poetry. Thanks to all for the advice yesterday, much appreciated :)

AEDM days 17 and 18 - more of the seahorses!

2011-11-18T21:50:00.000Z

I've moved onto the next step with my felted seahorses, mounting them on a background. I used my dumfing machine (that's an embellisher for those unfamiliar with this wipso and twiglet term ;) ) to add merino wool and some other bits n pieces to a piece of cotton fabric.

I then moved over to my sewing machine and added some bubbles and texture lines. I started adding some french knots and tiny beads the other night, then realised I'd struggle to sew it onto the background with them there so stopped!

I've placed a second seahorse behind a rectangular mount. This actually took longer to do as I felted and sewed this piece without an embroidery hoop. Now to work out how to attach it to the mount! Any tips gratefully received :)

I'm not selling them framed, just thought I'd try one in a frame to see how it looked. I can't decide which type people will prefer though, the funkiness of the embroidery frame or the safety of being able to put the image behind glass. What do you reckon?

AEDM days 15 and 16, WOYWW 128 - nice parcels and some drawing

2011-11-16T20:59:00.000Z

Line drawings on my 'workdesk' today (the arm of the sofa!) of a hosta leaf and a hydrangea flower. I'm working in a large-ish square kraft notebook from Paperchase for a change (and also as I wanted to work in a sewn journal rather that a spiral bound one!).

These pages are part of an online course I signed up for called 'the art and design of surface pattern' with Beth Nicholls and Rachael Taylor. I came across this via another AEDMer's blog and it just tugged at me 'til I signed up! Beth's blog 'do what you love' is fab, and she mentioned how great the latest BBC documentary 'Frozen Planet' was. So, with plenty of time in front of the tv today...

... I did some blind contour drawings of some of the penguins. You just hAvE to watch these guys by the way, who knew there were criminal penguins!!!

My owls are coming along too...

And I'm pleased with yesterday's journal page playing with circles.

This is based on a photograph I took a few days ago of the bubbles in my bath water! I printed it out A4 size, cut out the larger bubbles and sprayed gold paint through this stencil. The other 'bubbles' were traced onto the page. Yesterday also brought me some goodies in the post...

... so now I can peruse your article Kate :) I also received the prize I won in a raffle at the Great Northern Contemporay Craft fair. These are so pretty!

And today's post brought these stencils I ordered a couple of weeks ago now from the US (and had forgotten about!)

Antibiotics are kicking in so feeling a little better, thanks so much for the well wishes :) If you'd like to see more work in progress head over to What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday at the Stamping Ground, and you can keep up with the 'Art Every Day Month'ers over at Creative Every Day.

AEDM day 14 - suffering with bronchitis :(

2011-11-14T18:52:00.000Z

I've been suffering with this cough for almost a week now, whilst on antibiotics for sinusitis, but it turns out you need different antibiotics to get rid of bronchitis! Up until today I've managed to get bits n pieces done, but today I slept the morning away and have just felt filled with lead for the rest of it :(

So today's AED is images that were discovered blog hopping which are heading for my inspiration journal. This was featured on Artful Interiors and is wallpaper by Ferm Living. I adore toadstool imagery.

I love the texture in the ceramic work of Michael W Moses. I discovered his work by searching 'ceramic art' on youtube!

This was also part of my 'ceramic art' search. I love circles, and the contrast between the grey circles and the fired colours is fab :)

I've been asked by the school I'm teaching in at the moment to do a whole school art project after Christmas, culminating in a display of some kind. I have no idea how I found this image but it's prompting ideas for the final display, which will incorporate felted pieces :)

AEDM day 13 - Grayson Perry at the British Museum

2011-11-13T23:00:00.000Z

We watched a fabulous documentary on Grayson Perry's "tribute to craftmanship at the British Museum" this evening. It was shown last week, but the wonders of digital tv meant we saw it on i-player after Harry Hill mentioned it on his show! I just LoVe that Perry's teddy is called 'Alan Measles' :)

What a real, honest, fun guy Grayson Perry comes across. Mad yes, but why not? And he made some great points about what real art is. And he's amazingly talented.

I've been sewing little owls today from felt for a craft fair I'm doing in a couple of weeks. After blogging daily for a couple of weeks now it was starting to bother me that I flit about so much between media. Would I accomplish more if I focused on one thing?

No, I think is the short answer lol. I am who I am for a start, and moving around different things keeps my attention better. Then there's the opportunity for combining them. I'm sure my work room would be tidier though, there'd be less in it for a start!!!

So today's 'art' has been mainly study and thinking :) Like a proper student ;) !!!

Thanks for all the comments. I spent this morning working through yesterday's entries over on Creative Every Day. I can't do it every day, I don't have time, but I can highly recommend it, I've come across so many blogs I otherwise wouldn't have done :)

AEDM day 12 - clay seahorse!

2011-11-12T19:13:00.000Z

I brought a piece of clay home from my class on Tuesday night and it's been calling my name since! So this afternoon I decided to translate my seahorse design into clay.

After creating a paper template of the seahorse, I rolled out the clay, cut around the template then added the stripes across his body.

I then added texture to his various sections. In some areas I've pressed a shape in eg rubber stamps, pen top lid, a bizarre metal something..., and in others I added bits.

My favourite additions are the tiny bits of stamped clay which feature numerals! I then went on to play around with the clay a bit. I was intending to make an angel based on a cone shape but ended up with a slam pot! [that's what gives it the wrinkles down near the base, a good slam on the table]

It's a bit odd looking, but I like it :)

There's all sorts of great work going on for Art Every Day Month and you can find the links here. I've met lots of new people already :)

AEDM day 11 - felted seahorse

2011-11-11T16:54:00.002Z

What Art Every Day Month is doing for me is focusing my attention on following through an idea. My 'emergency' tags on which to make something if all else fails are still in their packet! I used one of yesterday's as inspiration for my felted seahorse.

I started with some curly locks and used them to 'sketch out' the outline of the seahorse using my needle felting tool.

I then added in various colours of merino wool before felting in bits of felt, organza and old scarf!

Next stop, the sewing machine ;)

edit:

oooo, just love it :) Now it will sit for a while whilst I decide what to do next!

catching up with AEDM day 10 and Sketchbook Challenge

2011-11-11T13:01:00.000Z

It's a very special Remembrance Day today as here in the UK we remember those in our armed forces who give or have given their lives in the line of duty at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011.

Yesterday and today finds me poorly at home with some kind of nasty cold that has settled on my chest. Yesterday was ok, doing a bit of blog hopping in the morning, but then the internet went down and didn't come back on 'til about half an hour ago today when I finally phoned our provider (turns out we have a broken modem) and he sorted it out for me.

So without the internet I sat in bed doing some blind contour drawings. For these you draw around the image without looking at the paper, only looking at the image, and use a single line. I couldn't use a real life picture of a seahorse to draw from (how much do we rely on google images!!!) so used this one, which I just LoVe:

Unfortunately I'd printed it out for my ideas journal and not noted properly where I found it! Sorry!

This idea is from Carla Sonheim's fantastic book 'Drawing Lab' which I find I go back to so much for ideas to get me drawing. Part-way through drawing some smaller versions of the seahorse I realised I could google an image on my phone!!! I also noticed how like dragons seahorses are, certainly around the head area anyway. No wonder I like them, I love dragons!!!

I then chose an image I liked, copied it and started some mad doodling. I'll add some colour at another time. All this was so taxing I then slept for 6 hours!!! I'm desperate to have a go at free-machine embroidering a seahorse but need some painkillers first :( I'll share day 11's AED a bit later!

ps Isn't YouTube fab sometimes? I have absolutely no need for daytime tv when I'm poorly...

AEDM days 8 and 9 - a fantastic evening playing with clay ...

2011-11-09T22:47:00.000Z

Yesterday was a bit manic (I spent the day teaching, went straight from school to another one to run a Numicon workshop and went straight from there to a two hour evening class) but culminated in leisure! Our local grammar school runs adult classes every November and I signed up for the ceramics one. It's just for three evenings in total.

After rolling out a piece of clay, we pressed lace, dried orange slices and other bits n pieces into the clay to create texture. We then wrapped it around a tube and created a cylindrical pot.

I then had a bit of a play, layering snippets of clay, and created a book cover. I'd like to incorporate my textile work into my clay pieces so made three buttons and saved the piece I cut these from to layer over a stitched and needle-felted piece.

AEDM day 9 started early as I woke in the night with chest pain (I've got a cold!...Again!!!) I need some ideas for next week's clay class ... well, I need to refine my ideas as I only have two weeks to do the work! After a bit of a hunt on the internet I found this fabulous work by Elizabeth Howe...

... GoRGeouS! I also found a blog stocked full of great inspiration - I love so much of the artists' work that Sara features. I now have plans for next week in my notebook :)

AEDM day 7 - an online colour tool

2011-11-07T22:47:00.000Z

Jane LaFazio featured this on the Sketchbook Challenge blog and I just LoVe it! It's slightly annoying in that it doesn't seem to be able to see yellows but I think it really has potential re looking at the colours you use in your work, and I also think that the swatches would make a great starting point for a second piece of work.

I did the circle painting first and was a bit disappointed by the results. As you see, no yellow! But my other image choices gave better results.

The program is called 'Colour Generator'. You just upload a photo and it creates a number of swatches featuring the colours you've used. Cool isn't it?!!

AEDM day 6 - an autumnal walk in the countryside

2011-11-06T19:48:00.000Z

I am very lucky to live really close to the Cheshire countryside so this afternoon saw us taking a walk in Tatton Park. As it's 'Art Every Day Month' I dutifully took my sketchbook and drew some of the things I saw and liked, as directed by Carla Sonheim in her book 'Drawing Lab'.

It still needs the colour adding to it, but I'm happy to have done some drawing!

I chickened out of drawing the deer though and just took photographs instead ;)

AEDM day 5 - drawing with my sewing machine

2011-11-05T17:53:00.000Z

... one of my favourite activites, which Kirstie Allsopp described as "the crack cocaine of the craft industry" on 'Kirstie's Handmade Britain' this week lol; not sure about that one but it is great fun :)

I used the designs I did in my sketchbook yesterday, stitching them onto patches of felt I had lying around near my sewing machine.

I had saved a funky label from a cardigan I'd bought from Fat Face this week and decided to add one of my pieces to this.

I 'drew' onto my fabric, then cut around the body of the flower before adding it to the tag and stitching a stem and adding a leaf.

Tonight we're off to a bonfire party :) I love it all, the sights, the smells, the treacle toffee and melted marshmallows, but fireworks still frighten me from a safety point of view. At least the dog is getting deaf as he gets older so the loud bangs don't bother him so much.

I'd just like to say that my heart goes out to those who've lost friends and family in the M5 Somerset crash last night. Involved in a crash myself this time last year, similarly in the dark and wet, I still cannot begin to imagine how horrific this one was. Surely they can't now raise the speed limit to 80mph on the motorways!

AEDM day 4 - a page in my work journal

2011-11-04T22:24:00.000Z

An idea I'd like to have a go with at work (Bean and Brush Art Cafe) is scratching back paint to the bisque, or layer of paint below. The photos on the left are of work I liked that I found on the internet. The bottom picture made me think of the work of Miro.

I have a lovely little book entitled 'V&A Pattern The Fifties' which, unsurprisingly, is full of wonderful mid-century patterns. I copied out some of the patterns into my journal.

I just love anything designed by Lucienne Day!!!

Art Every Day - days 1-3

2011-11-03T22:20:00.001Z

1st November '11

After teaching in school all day, I went into the Bean and Brush in the evening to write and decorate the boards for the new winter menu. Not art exactly, but definitely creative!

2nd November '11

A sinus headache, and a busy day yesterday meant I had a sleep this morning rather than getting some art done. I was in work at the Bean and Brush at 3pm and carried on painting 'Brian' the builder after Hannah had started him [he's in the children's corner and those are my paintings :) ]...

...before teaching an adult class...

...so looking forward to seeing these when they come out of the kiln as that brown glaze will be a gold layer over the green with bursts of silvery blue...

Again more creative than 'art'!

3rd November '11

Yay, finally got my art materials out tonight whilst watching 'Educating Essex'!

My new numerals stencil arrived this week so I had a good play. The 'sum' is a '50s flashcard, and the black swirls are from a cupcake wrapper from Asda!

November is Art Every Day Month

2011-10-30T18:43:00.000Z

I saw this over on Bonita Rose's blog 'A Life Unrehearsed' and for some reason, despite starting a new job, I decided it would be a great thing to join in with :) If you fancy joining in too, you sign up here. There's no pressure, just a good challenge to have a go at. I've invested in some luggage tags so that's going to be my minimum, and hopefully by the end of the month I'll have completed a number of them and maybe some pages and pockets for them to go into :)

From next week I'll still be working at the Bean and Brush but only for two days a week (Wednesday and Friday); the other three days I'm teaching in a local special school. I'll be working in a few different classes as I'm covering teachers' preparation time. I'm really looking forward to being back in school, although the break has done me a tremendous amount of good.

I've just finished prepping next month's 'technique of the month' - zendoodling on bisque! Very relaxing I have to say and I can't wait to see this little piggy when he comes out of the kiln all bright and shiny :) For each technique I make a step by step photo guide so people can refer to it in the studio...

Think this red and white coaster will look very different when it comes out of the kiln too!

I'm always looking for inspiration and found these on Etsy ...

... beautiful hand doodled pottery by Polly Harvey.

WOYWW 125 -little gnomie

2011-10-26T19:08:00.001+01:00

This morning saw me at my sewing machine again, this time making a picture of a gnome for my friend Kate, who's birthday it is on Friday. Like me, she loves gnomes, so I thought I'd have a go at stitching a picture of one.

Now I need to make me one as I love him so much! Especially the needlefelted beard :) He's made up of a variety of fabrics, and mounted using an embroidery hoop. The toadstools were a sock I found hanging around my sewing machine lol!

I'm sharing this as part of What's on your Workdesk Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by the lovely Julia Dunnit, where you get to see what everyone else has been up to today!

EDIT: I've discovered where the other sock went (and why there was a sock next to my sewing machine in the first place lol!) - my fourteen year old daughter Sophie used it to make a sock monkey :)

PDCC#104 and All things weird and wonderful, all creatures great and small (to be sung!)*

2011-10-24T11:45:00.001+01:00

* blog title shamelessly knicked from Sue's blog 'cos it fitted my post beautifully

I can't believe that this week sees the two year anniversary of The Play Date Cafe Challenge! Where has the time gone! I've not managed to play along since I stepped away from my place as co-collaborator with my fabulously creative friend Julie Ranae, and on the design team, but this week is half term and a bit quieter work-wise so last night I collected some fabrics and set too...

I LoVe this colour combo, that creamy yellow is just gorgeous, and I knew I had some old velvet curtains in a similar green to this so...

... now I have a new owl in my collection :) I started him by sewing some yummy aubergine coloured velvet onto a similar colour felt, then I attached this to a piece from the curtains. He's stuffed with a bag of rice so he sits up and doesn't fall over. He doesn't look very happy to me, and I'm wondering how you make happy owls! Any tips gratefully received :)

But then, Lucy Casson's creatures don't look happy, but the actual pieces make me smile! This is one Sue and I saw on a visit to Knighton on Saturday. As part of Powys' open studios event, Lucy Casson had some work on display, so we went and had a look :)

There are a few artists working in the Old School House,

...some with tastes similar to Sue's ;)...

(these were in the porch on our way in!)

...including another artist who works with recycled metal...

This is taken from a balcony looking down, how cool is that giant fish slice!!!?!

'The Voles think God is Dead!'

We had such a fab day out, and Sue's shared some different pictures on her blog if you'd like to share in our fun day :)

pop up books

2011-10-13T23:55:00.000+01:00

I found this whilst browsing a variety of book art online. I AdOrE pop up books and would love to make an elaborate one!

lots and lots of teaching, of varying different kinds!

2011-10-13T11:13:00.000+01:00

Tuesday evening saw me teaching the staff from Moorlands Junior School. We masked a variety of shapes on plates and mugs then added dots for pattern. They were a great group of people, and a number of them commented that they didn't normally like craft but that they'd really enjoyed themselves. I can't wait for their pieces to come out of the kiln as I know they'll be impressed with what they made!

Then yesterday saw me teaching a Year 5 class at Moorlands. In the afternoon I had an hour long art lesson followed by a flute lesson. The art I was teaching, but the flute one I got to be a pupil too!! I can now play the notes B, A and G on the flute, how cool is that!

After reading 'Ish' by Peter Reynolds to the class I did some 'one liners' followed by some blind contour drawings aka Carla Sonheim :) These nine and ten year olds were keener to have their drawings 'look' like the real thing but did give it a go. Bob's one liners above were my favourite - he was the only one not tempted to trace back along the lines...and he really looked for his blind contour drawings of a dragonfly and a butterfly!

I did mine on text paper...

... and added coffee stain around the outside of the image.

I did a deal with the class, if they did one blind contour drawing, they could have a second piece of paper to do a drawing whilst looking!!

After getting my books marked at school I hotfooted it to the Bean and Brush to teach my Autumn Platter. I love how different they all are! How fab is that 'keep calm' one! The lady brought a print out of the words and crown which she turned into a stencil, then masked the words underneath (...and drink wine!)

They'll all be heading for the kiln tomorrow once the Moorlands' pieces are out :)

Now for a bit of a rest today, and some journalling as relaxation :)

just a little something

2011-10-10T22:40:00.000+01:00

I really should keep a stack of postcard size cards to decorate and use for notes to put in envelopes with payment etc, but at least I always have tags to hand! I made these two today with scraps of paper, a new stamp I picked up at Port Sunny, and some stitching ...

I'd just like to say a huge thankyou to everyone who came by my blog over the weekend for Operation Julie's Smile :)

Everyday is a day to smile

2011-10-07T13:00:00.002+01:00

I'm so pleased to be one of over 120 bloggers participating in this amazing blog hop for Operation Julie’s Smile. If you came here from the The Craft's Meow Blog, then you are in the right spot. If not, you may want to start from the beginning at the Sweet Stamp Shop’s blog and take your time. You have ALL WEEKEND to hop with us and win prizes!

Nicole Rixon, of the Sweet Stamp Shop, came up with the plan for this blog hop when she heard of Julie's plight (you can read Julie's story here, or over at the Sweet Stamp Shop), and has gathered numerous prizes from both a wide range of companies, and from individuals, which are available to win by leaving comments, contributing to the fund, and/or hosting within the hop. Julie has spent many hours putting this hop together as her contribution to the event. And today is the day it all kicks off!!

If you've not visited me here before, welcome! I love to make all sorts of things, sometimes from paper, sometimes from fabric. Today I'm sharing a fabric creation that I made whilst on holiday in Cornwall this summer. I loved making these hand felted necklaces; the little tiny shells are ones I found on the beach near to where we were staying. This is my small contribution to the huge collection of over £1,500 worth of prizes available during this blog hop.

After needle felting merino wool and snippets of wool, ribbon and lace to a piece of acrylic felt I added tiny beads, a little stitching and the local shells. I'm definitely a 'snippets' girl, even in my work with paper I'm always using little tiny bits n pieces :)

Julie and I go waaaaaaaaaaaay back, meeting on the internet over ten years ago now, and I'm honoured to be able to help out my fabulous friend in getting her smile back. The above envelope is the result of one of the little packets of goodies Julie sent me last year (we exchange things when we have a pile of lovely stuff to share!). Julie sent me a punched shoe shape which I cut round to create a corrugated version, then layered it onto some collaged paper. This is featured in this month's ' the stamper's sampler', again due to Julie :) :) :) I still can't believe they gave me such a good spread, I even dreamt about it last night lol.

My British reserve means I hate asking for money, but I also know that if we all lived nearby we'd be helping out our friend in numerous ways, including financial, so if you'd like to make a contribution, click on the link in the sidebar.

To be eligible to win a prize, don't forget to leave a comment before hopping over to

Made by Fee

Good luck!

my art journals IN PRINT!!!!

2011-10-06T10:05:00.000+01:00

Oh I'm so excited, I still can't believe how much coverage the lovely Cynthia gave me in the latest issue of the stampers' sampler :) :) :) I'm also very proud of myself that I kept it secret all this time ;)

I have to say a huge, huge THaNKYou to Julie Ranae because it was Julie who told me about the stampers' sampler artful envelope challenge earlier in the year (and sent me a punched shoe shape which I cut round to create the one featured below!). I adore using envelopes in my journals, and to create journals from, so bravely trusted them to DHL and sent them off to sunny California!

Flicking through the magazine yesterday I could only find my work in pictures 4 and 6 above so assumed this was a heads up for the challenge being featured in the next issue. Taking it to work to show my colleagues I discovered that the challenge was in this issue...

...and then even later (duh, I really wasn't concentrating), found the feature Cynthia had run on my 'Stamped Journaling' :) :) :) I'm so happy, I still can't quite take it all in!!!

Thanks so much Cynthia for loving my work, and your sweet description of my talent too [whilst I describe myself as 'playing with paper, paint, inks and odds n ends', Cynthia says 'Sarah is clearly an artist and innovator as well as an experienced stamper' - how cool is that!!!!]

The Stampers' Sampler is available in the UK from Wendy at The Stamp Attic, and from Rainbow Silks.

Tomorrow I'm one of 120 bloggers taking part in a huge blog hop 'Operation Julie's Smile'. There are over £1,500 worth of prizes in the prize pot and the hop runs the entire weekend so should be a good 'un!

a couple of tags and a card

2011-09-30T10:16:00.001+01:00

My youngest niece was nine yesterday and as an arty type I thought she'd appreciate an 'arty' card (she did!). I also made a couple of tags whilst I was taking a break from the housework ;) One was an alternative to a compliments slip, the other in response to Carol's request for tags over at The Cubby Hole.

What's on your workdesk Wednesday 121

2011-09-28T21:16:00.000+01:00

These yummy slices of cake were waiting for me at work today, how kind of the clandestine cake people! Not much has been happening on my desk at home, but I did do some exciting work at the Bean and Brush today. When Graham, one of the bosses, saw my heart tile he asked if I could make something similar using the butterfly from the bean and brush logo across a number of tiles.

I cheated, kind of, and traced the logo from one of the windows then transferred it to the tiles.

I then painted the tiles black, and added 'crumbles' of dried paint in the butterfly outline. It took a couple of hours or so to finish this, and I can't believe I then forgot to take a photo! The tiles are now all waiting to go in the kiln, fingers crossed they come out as nicely as the heart did!

Take a peek at more desks over at The Stamping Ground with the wonderful Julia Dunnit :)

clandestine cakes

2011-09-27T22:26:00.001+01:00

Wow! A secret society for eating cakes met at the Bean and Brush this evening! Everyone had just arrived as I was leaving work and the cakes looked AmAzIng :)

My phone has decided not to email pictures to my laptop so they've had to go via my husband's mobile to get onto my blog, a right palaver but somehow fitting with the whole secret nature of the event lol.

As far as I can tell, everyone brings a cake, admires everyone else's then they all tuck in - how fab does that sound? I'm looking forward to finding out more on http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/ .

Operation Julie's Smile

2011-09-17T21:19:00.000+01:00

It's a big thing to accept help in a time of need, and I'm so proud of Julie for saying 'yes' when Nicole Rixon, her colleague over at the Sweet Stamp Shop, decided she'd like to raise money for our friend to have the dental surgery she so desperately needs. Although dental bills are rising here in the UK, they are nothing like those people face in the US, and part of me wishes that Julie had grown up here and had the resources available that I've enjoyed all my life. Julie shares her story over on her blog, Julie's Open Window

"Many of you may have heard that I recently

had to have emergency oral surgery which resulted

in the removal of my front teeth.

As a child, I struggled with brittle teeth due to

some health concerns and my parents did all

they could to ensure that I went into adult-hood

with the best teeth possible. Unfortunately with age,

the brittle teeth became a problem again and well,

long story short, the dentist recommended that

I bite the bullet and have them all replaced.

I made the appointment, had the consultation

and was handed a piece of paper that said to

bring $4,000 with me to have the rest of the teeth

taken out. I was in shock because the dentist made

reference to the idea that 'it could all be worked out' ; )

Well, here I am today, missing front teeth (and a few others)

and being frustrated because I believed that this was

a procedure that would be taken care of quickly.

The unfortunate thing, is that THAT amount was JUST for the

removal of the rest of my teeth...it does not account

for the 'permanent teeth' that would need to be put in place."

I was so thrilled for Julie when Nicole contacted me about this fundraiser. There will be a benefit blog hop called 'Operation Julie's Smile' taking place 7th-9th October with a variety of individuals, companies and design team members participating in order to help raise these funds. To date, about £300 worth of prizes have been made available, and with such a great collection of blogs it should be a great weekend. Which reminds me, I'd better get off the laptop and go and get my prize made, it's got to get to the US so Nicole can co-ordinate the prizes on the blog hop.

If you are interested
in getting involved in this creative fundraising event,

please contact Nicole Rixon at nicolehrixon@gmail.com

The deadline to be
a part of the hop is Wednesday, Sept 28th.

Participants will be notified of the blog hop order

between Oct 3rd-5th.
This blog hop is an opportunity to have fun,

feature your blog and raise money for a friend in need.

A donation button
will be made available to all who participate.

Operation Julie's Smile

that was quick!

2011-09-17T12:15:00.000+01:00

My prize, which I only heard about yesterday, arrived in the post today :) Thanks again Lucy, it's such a pretty print.

Anyone live in or near London? I'm definitely including this shop on my next visit down there! It was featured on the Uppercase blog and looks right up my street I have to say!

Enjoy your Saturday!

oh Happy Day!!!

2011-09-16T10:38:00.000+01:00

Well, days really! It all started yesterday :) After doing my first day in two years back in school teaching (Yay, I truly never thought I'd go back to the classroom!), I bobbed in to the Bean and Brush and my tile was out of the kiln...Wow!!! I'm so pleased with it I can't tell you :) It's all thanks to the lovely Kelly Hennessey's 365 Tile-a-day challenge, and her huge generosity in sharing her before and after pics on facebook. I was quite shocked, and pleased, that my before picture looked like hers...

...but I really wasn't prepared for it working out so wonderfully after firing. Thanks Kelly, we all LoVe this tile :) And it's proper 'upcycling' - all those chunks are leftover paint from customers, saved and dried.

Back to my school story, and yesterday saw me doing some supply cover in a local school. After suffering with depression/anxiety a couple of years back now I always said I couldn't see myself going back into teaching. What a fabulous day I had though! A true miracle :)

Thursday afternoons are 'options' afternoons in this school, where pupils are grouped according to their choice of activity rather than age. I had 28 pupils aged between 7 and 11 years and we spent a very relaxed afternoon zen-doodling leaf shapes. I think they're now addicted!

This morning I heard from Lucy who blogs as Little Lost Soul telling me I'd won the above print. I AdOrE ampersands and have just started a collection of cut out ones which I'm planning on decopatching and displaying above my desk. This print couldn't have been more perfect for me :) So huge thanks Lucy :)

Wishing you a very happy day too!!!! They are THE best :)

Paper Arts on a Mug

2011-09-10T14:07:00.000+01:00

I got a parcel yesterday - always exciting! This one was especially wonderful as it's the mug I ordered from Katie Almond and I just LoVe it :)

I'd seen her work in the craft shop at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester a couple of months back, and decided it would make a great 20th wedding anniversary present. Unfortunately, when Malc and I went to choose a piece they were all sold out! Apparently they just fly off the shelves.

Katie very kindly emailed me some pictures however, and I chose this mug which arrived yesterday! I love the combination of music, teacups and teapots and handpainted hearts.

It is now safely on display in my craft room (studio sounds just too posh lol!), along with my collection of jugs and other nice ceramics!

TOFF #10 Stripes and WOYWW #118

2011-09-07T18:15:00.000+01:00

Where did that week go?!!! I can't believe it's Wednesday again already. I've had a rubbish day, fighting off some stomach bug and generally feeling rotten, although I did watch 'The Adjustment Bureau' starring Matt Damon :) and got a journal page and a tiny canvas made - so maybe not such a bad day lol

The canvas is for a friend of mine who is moving out to live in Hong Kong for a year. It's tiny so she should fit it in her suitcase!

I had to tidy my desk when I couldn't find my blank inkpad...

...ta dah! It didn't take long either, as most things now have a home to go to. More images for desk junkies available from others very like me over at The Stamping Ground! The journal page I've been working on was for the 'Stripes' challenge over at The Octopode Factory. I added stripes to the snail a couple of nights ago so just needed to create a background and add some journalling. [This is my A6 passport size journal]

I found it quite hard to come up with something for this little snail as she is so sad! I wanted to do something more personal than making up a little story about her, but couldn't bring myself to write a list of 'things that made me sad' as I don't dwell on sadness!!! This quote jumped out at me yesterday and as she has her snail shell strapped on I decided she was really a worm pretending to be a snail ;)

the art of moodling's photostream

2011-09-06T06:53:00.001+01:00

the art of moodling's photostream on Flickr.

I've been uploading photos onto my poor, neglected flickr photostream!

116th What's on your Workdesk Wednesday - no gesso, sorry Rachel!

2011-08-31T13:55:00.001+01:00

Partway through working on this journal page the postman brought me a parcel -

... some Milton Bradley Flashcards I won on Ebay :) So the theme for my page became numbers; I added a selection of rub ons by 7 gypsies alongside one of the numbers from a card. There's also a snippet from the customs label.

I'm LoViNG working in these small journals. I used my Dylusions paints on a pre-gessoed page in my tiny Gorjuss notebook :)

This page, however, has no gesso in sight!

This is my passport size one by Muji, again pre-gessoed from Kate's class the other day.

More busy workdesks available over at The Stamping Ground hosted by the wonderful Mrs Dunnit :)

Kate Crane - a mini journaling inspiration!

2011-08-29T21:45:00.002+01:00

Saturday saw my good friend Chris and I heading up to Art from the Heart, Harrogate to take this class from Kate Crane:

It's aaaaaaaaages since I took a class so I was really excited. I love little books and have been really keen to get journaling in some, but for some reason I find it really hard. I can happily journal on small tags, or decorate tiny squares or envelopes, but adding paint to small pages throws me! I LoVe the colours Kate uses on her pages, well, everything about them to be honest! They're always STuNNiNG!

I'm usually a baby wipe girl, slapping the paint on my page; Kate had us paint with a paintbrush over gessoed pages. I HaTe gesso! And probably for the same reason most people like it - I don't like things to move once I've put the paint down, and I know how paint etc is going to behave on paper, gesso makes it behave differently.

I do LoVe the pages I made on the day though, and as well as learning a different way of adding the paint to the page I challenged myself to work in a different way.

It was also great to meet people from blogland,

http://patacake-patcrafts.blogspot.com/2011/08/mini-journalling-at-afth.html

http://gezzybscraftybits.blogspot.com/2011/08/well-i-promised-my-next-post-would-be.html

http://craftyshe.blogspot.com/2011/08/birthday-weekend.html

http://gotpaintinmyhair.blogspot.com/2011/08/fabulous-weekend.html

http://flutterbycrafter.blogspot.com/2011/08/warning-contains-scenes-of-sexual.html#comments

and not forgetting those without blogs, and to share in Sheila's birthday cake :)

I've worked on a couple more pages since the workshop - thanks so much for the inspiration, and for a great workshop Kate! I'm getting there I think, although I still don't get the nice, distinct areas of colour like you do ;)

unfinished; meant to try NoT working across a double paged spread in class

and forgot, so had a go here

no gesso; bit busy this page; little tag book in bottom RH corner

is covering up a picture I added last night and didn't like!

I am a very proud Mum today...

2011-08-25T19:17:00.000+01:00

my eldest boy got 4 A*s, 4 As and 2 Bs in his GCSE results. Well done George, great job!!!

[not easy to get photos of George but he didn't seem to mind this one at Easter!]

365 Tile a day

2011-08-24T17:44:00.000+01:00

My tile came out of the kiln, and I'm really pleased with it! Forgot to take a photo though - duh! I thought I'd share this inspiring video with you though, it inspired my plate here (please head over to youtube and 'like' this for Kelly, she's so generous with her designs and ceramic painting knowledge, or check out new tiles on her facebook page)

Have you ever been tempted to do something every day for a year? Or everyday for a month? I'd love to hear from you, and if you did it!!!

in the style of Sarah Ahearn Bellamere by train

2011-08-23T20:45:00.000+01:00

I treated myself to this beautiful book just before I went away. I LoVe the way Sarah Ahearn uses snippets of collage and colour, and also her use of white space. One of the activities in her book is mini scrapping using what comes to hand from a collection of papers in a box. I found this really hard on holiday but gave it another go whilst away again this last week. We celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary this week by taking a steam ride from York to Scarborough, first class no less!!

On the return journey I got out my scrapping kit again and had a go at some mini pages:

I might still add to these pages, I might not, but I'm pleased with the progress I'm making. My friend Chris and I are going up to Harrogate on Saturday for a workshop with Kate Crane, again working on mini pages - hmm, I see a pattern forming ;)

going DoTTY!

2011-08-22T21:24:00.000+01:00

I'm back at work, playing about with glazes again :) This idea's been playing around in my head for a while so it was good to get it 'out' as it were! After masking leaves, I added a number of coloured dots, inspired by some work I'd seen on Facebook. Whilst looking this up again, I came across a new blog to me: http://365tileaday.wordpress.com/. Today I decided to decorate a couple of plates for my hall table, one for the Autumn, ready to showcase conkers, coloured leaves and fir cones,

and one for the Summer, inspired by one of Kelly Hennessey's tiles

The Summer plate is my favourite and I can't wait for it to come out of the kiln :)

On another note, here's the newspaper article from the yarn bombing I organised about a month ago now. The article came out whilst I was away on holiday:

If you love meeting people, and want to bring a smile to your local community, I can highly recommend a bit of 'yarn bombing' ;)

bumbling down to Cornwall in our 1971 VW camper

2011-07-31T09:08:00.000+01:00

You've been Yarn Bombed!!!

2011-07-24T23:04:00.000+01:00

"Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarnstorming, guerrilla knitting, or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk." Wikipedia

Whatever you end up calling it, I can guarantee you will have an AmAzIng time! I have not had such fun in ages, we laughed and flirted and chatted - a wonderful, wonderful day. Here's to the next event!!!

It just amazes me that despite the internet being worldwide, you can meet someone down the road via blogland. This is what happened with Fiona and I, and she was more than up for helping me yarn bomb benches outside Waterside Arts Centre in Sale. Fiona's friend joined us, along with my friend Sarah, who had an impromptu crochet lesson at the same time :)

The bench looked FaB when we'd attached all the pieces of crochet and knitting together, all supplied by friends (and the four of us of course!). But we didn't stop there! We added crocheted bunting to another bench, pom poms and crocheted leaves to trees, and my little owl had a sit in a tree for a little while!

All of these images are courtesy of Fiona and you can view more over on Flickr. If you've never been involved in yarn bombing, I can highly recommend it. We were still buzzing after working on the bench and it's surroundings so moved onto the Bean and Brush for cake, tea and crochet, and left behind a very warm tree ;)

WOYWW 110 - the clatter of my sewing machine

2011-07-13T14:47:00.000+01:00

I really should oil it!!! It's a good job you can't hear it, but I thought I'd share what I've been up to, seeing as it's Wednesday and that's what Wednesday's are for!! Miss Julia likes to inspect our workspaces on Wednesdays, which is fine by me, I love to see what everybody's busy doing.

I've been stitching away on my fabulous Bernina, creating a collage for the Bean & Brush. I thought it would make a nice addition to the history wall.

The postcard is a copy of one from the Birkenhead series. George Birkenhead ran the post office [the Bean & Brush is located in the old sorting office] and two of his son's ran a florist shop next door, and became world famous for their ferns!

I AdOrE ferns. I love the magical look of them when they are unfurling, the smell of freshness when you brush past, and the stillness of the woodland that they invoke. Anyone else a fern lover?

Anyone up for a bit of yarn bombing?

2011-07-12T18:19:00.000+01:00

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to knit or crochet a piece 20cm wide and as long as you'd like it to be! Use up bits of wool, add texture with different stitches or just keep it plain, you choose!

The event is happening on Saturday 23rd July at a secret location near me [Sale, Cheshire] but it would be really lovely if any of my blog readers would like to join in. Just email me for my address, then post me your knitted/crocheted piece with a tag attached with your name and town/city. I'll blog it all when it happens :) Sorry it's such short notice, but it makes for a great challenge :)

the art of tea

2011-07-11T22:39:00.000+01:00

After lunch at The Lead Station, Beech Road, Chorlton today, a friend and I headed to The Art of Tea in Didsbury for 'afters' ie coffee and cake :) Many thanks to Jackie over at Dog Daisy Chains for reminding me about this fab little tea shop on her blog!

A number of hours later, we staggered out with a pile of books each from the second hand bookshop at the back of the cafe :)

I just LoVe the cover of this book/catalogue of Picasso's work :)

And how fabulous is this illustration, just one of many from a Christmas book from the 30s that I just had to have! An altogether wonderful day :)

summer time

2011-07-10T19:41:00.000+01:00

During the months of August and September, The Cubby Hole is holding an exhibition of arts and crafts. One of the features will be a collection of canvases entitled 'Summer'. I decided to use fabric, stitching and beading on my piece, oh, and a bit of 'dumphing' too lol :)

It's not finished yet, but I'm so pleased with how it's coming along. I'm so looking forward to this exhibition, it should be a fantastic collection of a range of arts and crafts.

a sculptor's home in the beautiful Cheshire countryside

2011-07-05T21:57:00.001+01:00

This is just one of the many stunning views from the farm near Tattenhall where the sculptor Stephen Broadbent has his home and studio.

This was the location for the launch of a new Artist Network event for artists in the Chester Diocese. Entitled 'Breathing Space' it truly lived up to its name. Stephen and his wife Lorraine have a wonderful home which contains many of Stephen's sculptures

...stained glass by Lorraine...

...chickens who knock on the office window...

...and fabulous inspiration around every corner...

In the afternoon Stephen asked us all to form something from a piece of packaging material using files and sandpaper.

We then had to put our piece together with someone else's to create a new 'sculpture'. I'd created a pebble-like piece, which I then worked into like a bowl. Unfortunately I went through the bowl's base so decided to add some more holes in the shape. When I turned it it looked remarkably like a face, a shape Simon, next to me, had created with his packaging. So we created a totem pole, entitled 'the embodiment of joy' LOL

I say 'we', Simon was happier taking photos ;)

Everyone's pieces were so different, yet fitted wonderfully together. I didn't get pics of them all, but here are a few!

I thoroughly enjoyed today, for many, many reasons - new experiences are so good :)

EDIT: if you fancy a longer tour of the day, Simon has a great collection of photos here

ready for the kiln...

2011-07-05T14:03:00.000+01:00

...is a commission for a 40th wedding anniversary

and a late birthday present for one of my nephews.

Tully was 6 yesterday and I bought him some lego but whilst at work on Sunday it suddenly occurred to me that he'd probably like something with his name on. I decided on a bowl as the most useful piece of crockery for a six year old ...

... then added some fingerprint monkeys (design courtesy of Usborne Books!!!).

Why is it only now that I'm realising that the tail maybe should have come from the side?!!!

finally entering a challenge!!!

2011-07-04T21:46:00.000+01:00

I treated myself to some gorgeous images from the lovely Lily Chivers the other week thinking I'd use them to enter the 'Take a Word' challenge - the theme was 'fantasy'. Two words later I've missed that one, but reading Sue's blog discovered that Lily has launched her own challenge:

The first challenge is 'Alice in Wonderland' which fits perfectly with these plates I designed recently as samples for our Mad Hatter's tea parties at The Bean & Brush :)

I was thrilled with this before it went in the kiln, and it looks even better now! How cool would this be as a real clock!!!

The Cheshire Cat came out well too although I'm not sure I'd fancy eating off of this plate LOL.

Over at The Octopode Factory Friday Challenge you can enter anything along the theme of 'Alice in Wonderland', and if you use Lily's images you are entered into the monthly prize draw. I thought I'd enter my plates so I had at least entered, but I'm now off to play with Lily's images in my journal :)

I've found a new addiction!

2011-06-27T22:14:00.000+01:00

Toadstools!!! Via another new addiction 'Pinterest.com'. This is full of yummy arty pictures to look at and opens up a whole new world of blogs and websites!

I came across these fabulous terrariums whilst looking for images for a Mad Hatter's Tea party at The Bean & Brush. How great is the use of those zips!

And I also spotted these, from LucyKateCrafts. Whilst visiting Amy's blog, I discovered she's written a book, with some amazing softie designs in it...

.. and with Sophie's birthday just around the corner I ordered one (it's a fab, fab book) and promptly spent the morning of her birthday making a toadstool.

There was a fair bit of dumfing going on in the making of this piece (that's use of the embellishing machine!). I also added some free machining to the top of the toadstool.

I was really pleased with how the base of my toadstool worked out (although when it goes in the terrarium it'll never be seen). I used a coloured baby wipe (from my journalling activities) and felted it to some plain green felt.

I can see me getting some more of these made...although the garden called me today and I'm working tomorrow so not sure when! Sophie had a Mad Hatter's tea party for her birthday so as part of her birthday present I made her a charm bracelet, similar to one I'd seen online:

I was really pleased with how this turned out too. I want one!!!

What's on your workdesk Wednesday...errr Friday!

2011-06-10T09:59:00.000+01:00

This was my workdesk on Wednesday, it's just taken me 'til now to post it!!!

I've been itching to play with some clay at work so went in early to have a go.

Helen, one of my talented ceramicist colleagues had been telling me about the wobbly pots they made at Uni which I was very keen to have a go at.

I smoothed it off a bit more after this shot, and the fun part will be glazing it after it's first firing...can't wait :) I was even dreaming about clay last night! [I have to say that the night before's dream featuring Robbie Williams was more entertaining lol]

Later, on Wednesday evening, I taught my second workshop at The Bean & Brush. These are proving really popular and we've had to put an extra date in for the third workshop at the end of the month :)

a box of curiosities

2011-06-06T22:48:00.000+01:00

I taught this workshop at The Cubby Hole on Saturday. It was a 'cheap and cheerful' workshop in the sense that many of the materials we used were mainly recycled. I just couldn't resist framing these photos of the materials in this way:

cans, broken china and an old calculator!

no I'm not reading Jackie Collins, it was cheap at the library!

my scraps jar, a squashed coke can....

What a lot of junk! But the work we produced certainly wasn't! The project was based on an old cardboard box...

...with the inside lined with book pages and filled with a variety of 'curiosities', including felted stones, weathered shells, steampunk goodies and a handmade pebble...

...along with a book made from a cardboard box, envelopes and bits n pieces collected on my walks around town...

I know I've said this before, but one of the things I love about teaching workshops is seeing how others apply my idea to their own colour choices and, in this case, themes too. Nigel's piece is so 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Dead Man's Chest'....

...whereas Christine went for a more delicate approach...

Wendy loves words and conversational 'witticisms' so based hers on the fact that the box had contained ceramic pieces entitled 'Hootie the Blowfish' [no prizes for guessing where the boxes were from lol]

Little Sue's love of purple quickly shone through her piece...

I really have had the most amazing weekend...the opening night of my art exhibition on Friday...workshop on Saturday...and Take That yesterday!!! So FaNTaSTiC!

opening night of 'The Art of Moodling' exhibition

2011-06-04T22:39:00.000+01:00

I'd like to say a huge THaNKYou to everyone who attended the opening night of my exhibition, and a very special thankyou to Carol and Danielle for providing the wonderful cheese and wine. It was a fabulous evening and everyone got stuck in to making their own mark on a huge canvas, even those who thought they weren't creative :)

I made my first video! It's just from my phone so no sound or anything but hopefully it'll give you a feel for the exhibition :)

I was back at The Cubby Hole again today teaching a workshop. We made boxes of 'Curiosities'. I particularly liked the tiny felted pebbles! Will post pics tomorrow, before I go to the Take That concert ...so, so, so excited! :)

happily dumfing :)

2011-05-30T23:46:00.000+01:00

I just LoVe that word! It's what Twiglet and Wipso call needle embellishing as it is the noise the machine makes.

I have spent such a happy evening with my sewing machine and embellisher side by side, working on pieces for my exhibition.

I've since added a few seed beads and the piece is framed and waiting to be displayed :)

eeek...a radio broadcast and an art exhibition launch

2011-05-28T15:13:00.000+01:00

I'm nervously looking forward to being on local radio later! Chorlton FM is broadcasting daily from the 16th-29th May across South Manchester and online. They include coverage of the 2011 Chorlton Arts Festival, for which I did a workshop last Sunday. I'm being interviewed at about 6pm, which I'm sure will involve lots of giggling on my part ;)

I'm also busy prepping for my first solo art exhibition at The Cubby Hole, Crewe in June.

I've been really enjoying 'moodling' with some paint and canvases!

With the odd bit of paper and glue thrown in ;)

Still lots of pieces to get finished ... I'm always on the last minute with these things - just the way I work best I guess!

PDCC83 a sweet farewell EDITED

2011-05-26T05:01:00.003+01:00

...although a rather sad one! I've not been able to play along in the Play Date Cafe for a few weeks now, since starting my new job, so the time has come to step down and say goodbye.

I LoVe this image that Julie chose for my last week. We've been in this together right from the start so it's not an easy goodbye to say but it's been a ball, and I'm hoping I can call in every now and again and play along!

I was going to do a journal page but when I saw these tiny birdhouses in Dunelm Mill I decided I just had to have one (well, five to be honest!). As it's colour splash week I chose to use black and white on the birdhouse and use the bird as the splash of colour.

I used my favourite punches to decorate the birdhouse...

...and the tiny bird is made from felt :)

I am honoured to have been part of such a fabulously talented team over at The Play Date Cafe and know that the friendships we've built will continue for a long time to come.

EDIT: Now the girls surprised me with both a blog hop (which ends here so welcome blog hoppers!!!) and their choice of their favourite piece from my time at the PDCC. What a wonderful, wonderful design team. You made me cry, but thanks everyone!! There's no way I could choose a favourite PDCC project, there are so many I LoVe. The PDCC has challenged me to stretch my creativity in many different directions, and it is one of the many things I love about this challenge - I could make whatever I felt like, even cakes!!! But Colour Splashes are my very favourite :)

blog hopping

2011-05-25T09:58:00.000+01:00

Papercraft 2 - Book Teaser Video from Gestalten on Vimeo.

I've enjoyed a long, leisurely breakfast with my laptop this morning and came across tonnes of gorgeousness in blogland. I found the above link on 'Paper Forest' and there's tonnes more 'papery' inspiration on the blog, including mention of an exhibition in Vermont entitled 'Paperwork in 3d' which looks AmAzIng!

Beatrice Coron

'Poppytalk' is another wonderful blog I stumbled upon. It contains so much eye candy you may be there a while! She shares some of Matte Stephens' images, which I LoVe...so fifties!

Matte Stephens

And at some point in my wanderings I found the Soma Gallery's website in Bristol, UK (hurray!) which is stuffed full of wonderful images but my favourite is Graham Carter's seahorse:

Art of Wooing by Graham Carter

i just LoVe lace!!!

2011-05-24T14:26:00.000+01:00

The lace plate came out of the kiln :) This effect looks fabulous in black and white but I gave it a go with a deep turquoise and just LoVe, LoVe, LoVe it!!!

We're offering this technique in a workshop on 20th July 2011. I can't wait to have a teacup and saucer with matching plate in this style - hmmm, would also make for fabulous gifts ;) Got a few birthdays coming up in the summer :)

Chorlton Arts Festival 2011

2011-05-21T21:20:00.000+01:00

I took my 'Big Paint' to Chorlton today. This week it's Chorlton Arts Festival and there's been tonnes going on already. I passed this fabric covered tree on my way home, and am looking forward to visiting a variety of exhibitions later in the week.

The 'Big Paint' started with a blank-ish canvas of watercolour paper, and ended with pieces like this:

These will be made into little paper folded books and displayed in the Chorlton Arts Festival Hub.

It's not easy to see much difference via photographs but I'm really pleased with how my journalled 'plate' came out of the kiln.

I stamped with both conventional and unconventional items, and painted through lace.

And I just thought I'd leave you with this image which greeted me from the children's corner as I came down the stairs of the art studio when leaving work yesterday:

journaling on a plate

2011-05-18T10:44:00.000+01:00

Well, a stand for hot things in your kitchen to be precise but you get the idea! I spent the last couple of days on a workshop provided by the suppliers of our ceramic paints for The Bean & Brush, and I got time to PLaY :)

I've been wanting to try some of the art journaling techniques I use on paper on ceramic pieces instead, and yesterday was my opportunity. Especially as I learnt how to do this using lace (not a great photo I'm afraid):

This was another technique that was on my list to learn! So after decorating this plate I had a go at journaling. This went in the kiln last night so I should be able to share the final look of the piece in the next couple of days.

Things are mad busy around here still - I'm teaching my first workshop for The Bean & Brush tonight. It's full but if anyone is interested in doing it, please let us know as I'm more than happy to run it again.

Meanwhile, I'm also prepping for my exhibition at The Cubby Hole, Crewe which starts on 4th June. If you're interested in attending the preview night the evening before though, please drop me an email and I'll get an invite out to you :)

let's remember with a plate!

2011-05-05T21:19:00.000+01:00

Over the last week or so I've been doing lots of painting. The first piece was a commemorative plate for a street party held last Friday.

There's space around the edge for attendees to sign it with a special pen. I gave the piece a bit of a 'Rob Ryan' cut away letter style.

At the Bean and Brush we all spent the weekend painting commemorative mugs for the celebratory opening party on Monday afternoon.

We had a great production line going.

The first pieces are now out of the kiln and looking fab (pics soon!). I also painted a commemorative plate for the opening of the cafe, which all the staff have now signed.

I have to say, I am liking all this painting! Next on the list is a couple more examples of commemorative wedding plates, which can be signed by guests, or left unsigned.

This one uses the couples' fingerprints as the base for the lovebirds. William and didn't have time to bob in on their way home to Anglesey so Graham and Michelle volunteered their fingerprints ;)

the bean and brush family art cafe...

2011-05-04T09:50:00.000+01:00

... is now OpEn!!!

The Mayor of Trafford came yesterday to officially open the art and craft studio upstairs. I got the job of doing a clay print of his hand, and as you can see, we had a great laugh!

Paul did a grand job with the photographic recording of our opening party and yesterday's Mayoral visit - take a look here if you'd like to play 'Spot Sarah'!!! In fact, the only person from my immediate family who doesn't feature in this gallery is my Dad - don't know how he escaped as there are shots of my sister and family (all five), my brother and family (all three), my Mum, and my husband and 3 children.

Now to enjoy a much needed day off :) Although I might just have to bob into work for a yummy coffee and cake later ;)

PDCC78 - romantic pinks and reds in time for THaT wedding!!!

2011-04-21T05:01:00.000+01:00

For those of you who are regulars in the cafe, you will know that these are some of Julie's favourite colours - she's a real pinks and reds girl whereas I lean more towards the teals and blues, but I LoVe, LoVe, LoVe this colour combo.

These are real Cath Kidston colours :) and bring back great childhood memories for me of blue/pink/red melanine cups with white spots. They also look fantastic on the Union Jack, which I seem to remember seeing in this colourway in John Lewis but I may be wrong. Perfect colours I feel for the upcoming Royal Event next week. Are you celebrating? I have a tea party and a bbq to go to, and turned down another invite as couldn't fit it in!!!

Apologies for the terrible images today. I'll change them later when I can get hold of a camera (still no sign of my phone); these are scanned. I used My Minds Eye papers to decorate a library folder thingamajig ...

...and I decorated the little card inside to match, adding a new Stampotique stamp I got from The Cubby Hole last weekend :) I'm going to use this piece at the front of a wedding memories book for a friend who has just got engaged. I'll write in their names and the date of their engagement.

Don't forget to visit the fantastic (and they really are!) projects from our DT and guest designer this week over at The Play Date Cafe, or on their individual blogs ~ have fun creating, and don't forget to let me know what you're doing on the 29th April 2011!

and this week's guest designer

Hanna Craner

and huge thanks to this week's sponsor

I have had...

2011-04-16T22:16:00.000+01:00

... the most fabulous day down at The Cubby Hole! I taught a felting workshop for the first time and although the table started off fairly empty and most un-Sarah like, by the afternoon we'd got lots of supplies around and about and we all felt (ha ha, pun not intended but funny so I'm leaving it!!) much more comfortable.

Still no phone, so no pics as yet :( Hoping Tracy'll blog her pieces so I can nick her pics, although I have caused her a massive amount of money today as she fell in love with my embellisher.

in the play date cafe this week...

2011-04-14T20:58:00.000+01:00

...I went AWOL! Why? Because I mislaid my phone on Sunday and still haven't found it. With the kids off I was already losing track of days, now I'm discovering my brain really doesn't work without my mobile - I forgot it was Wednesday yesterday!!! And no pics cos I use my mobile phone camera - HeLP!!!