do a bit: September 2011

my creative space: sausage dog crochet

Not a lot going on around here really... I'm still trying to get my creative spark back! I think it's slowly coming back from it's holiday!! I've been a little creative this week... I found this really cute crochet pooch book at the local library... Ami Ami dogs, there are so many pooches to choose from! (Here is a little review)

It's a great little book with really easy to follow patterns and instructions! I'm making a cute little sausage dog! There are crocheted doggy body bits everywhere at the moment! I am really enjoying making him!

I'm hoping my little sausage dog will end up looking a bit like these cute little guys :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

my creative space: cars and plane stamps

I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday and also thinking I have plenty of time to do something for my creative space... then realised... it's THURSDAY.... Yikes!!! Luckily I had planned to do some stamps on plain t-shirts for my little man! I had already made the car and plane stamps, so I was ready to go!

:: some early morning stamping in my sunny little kitchen

:: YAY.. two cute t-shirts!!

Such a quick and easy little project to do and I'm so happy with how they turned out. I really like working with stamps, they do allow you to be quite creative!

I think I am slowing coming out of my creative rut... Finally!! Nothing like a kick up the creative butt by our creative space to get things done :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

creativity... where are you???

It's all been a bit quiet around here.. creatively speaking! I am really missing having a structured creative class to go to each week :( I'm feeling a bit low/blue, a little unmotivated and it seems there are quite a few fellow bloggers out there feeling the same way! Must be something in the blog air! I suppose, one does need a little break every now and then! I'm really hoping the creativity will kick back in again soon :)

Though, I did manage to finish my watercolour landscape.. hooray!! There are a few things that I would like to change/redo... it's SO not perfect but I'm pretty happy with my first watercolour landscape attempt!

:: landscape - watercolour on A4 watercolour paper

:: the original landscape photo - image source Cuba Gallery

Hope you all are having a more creative week :)

my creative space: triangles and planes

I bought my little "M" a pair of cute red shoes which he loved for only one day, then decided he didn't like them any more!!! Don't you just hate that when it happen.... Arghh!!!

:: unloved :(

I hate the idea of a perfectly good pair of shoe just sitting on the shelf... so I decided to attack them with a sharpie permanent pen and go crazy with triangles (love)! I think they turned out great!

:: loved :)

He loves wearing them now... hooray!!

A few weeks ago at Spoonflower - where you can get your designs digitally printed on fabric, they had a free swatch day!! I was very excited and have been wanting to test Spoonflower out for ages, so I did a simple little paper plane design! The whole process was actually really easy!

:: paper plane design on Spoonflower

I was so excited when I received my little swatch in the mail the other day... it turned out fantastic though the colour turned out a lot more orange than red from my original design, but I actually really love the orange. I'm going to have to order some... I have loads of ideas for it :)

:: paper plane swatch

Have you every wonder how pencils were make? Here is a little video from the etsy blog (scroll down to the bottom)... it's totally fascinating!! I just love that sort of stuff!

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

drawing course: week 8

Boo hoo hoo... it was the last week of my drawing course! It was such a great night, we all brought some food or wine and had a few breaks from drawing to enjoy a bit of a last day party! It's quite sad really, after 8 weeks you get to know these great people, then you'll probably will never see them again! It's been excellent to see how far others have come with their drawing skills from the beginning.. a few have really improved amazingly!

A few of us were feeling the pressure of the last night... wanting to draw really well! We were having a few problems relaxing, but it was a different story once we had a glass of wine :)

We started off with a few 1 minute drawing to warm up!

:: 1 minute sketches - charcoal on A2 paper

Next - 5 minute drawings and a portrait. I was a bit happier with these ones. Our model had really fantastic dreadlock hair tied up into a bun arrangement!

:: 5 minute sketches - charcoal on A2 paper

:: 5 minute portrait - charcoal on A2 paper

Next - we did some shadow drawing, where we drew/shaded the dark areas in the shadow. I really liked this exercise.

:: 5 minute sketch - charcoal on A2 paper

Then we moved onto 10 minute drawings and we had some more food and wine :)

:: 10 minute sketch - charcoal on A2 paper

I'm really happy with my last sketch of the evening! I'm not really good at drawing feet and hands in such a rush but I like my foot in this one :)

I have really enjoyed this drawing class so much and it was good to get back to basics, I felt that I learnt a lot! I would really love to do some more drawing or painting courses but I think the next thing I will be doing is photography! I really need to learn how to use my new camera... desperately!!

Hope you all are having a great Monday :)

30 minutes spare...

What to do on a Friday night, when you have just put the potatoes in the oven, Mr has gone to the garage/workshop to tinker and you have 30 minutes spare before sorting the rest of dinner out....

Make a flower stamp... of course!!!

I sketched my little flower design, trace it onto the stamp rubber and carved it out.... all in 30 minutes! I love it :)

Hope you are having a lovely weekend!!

my creative space: Father's Day screen print

Last week I was on a secret squirrel mission for Father's Day. I got my little man to make a card for Fathers Day, drawing with felt pens and some cutting and pasting paper on a card... very messy but lots of fun! I am really loved the abstract design and thought it would look fantastic on a T-shirt for his daddy!

:: Father's Day card by M

Wow what a little challenge I set myself!! I wanted it to look exactly like the card! It's quite a difficult one to do and 6 colours too! I was thinking "Am I totally insane???" "Yes" was the answer :)
I also had to hide it and keep it a secret from Chris/daddy... not an easy task when with a big piece of board with a partially screen printed t-shirt on it! I was praying that he would need to go looking for something under our bed!!

Anyway... once I had figured out the best way to do the screen print, I cut out the stencils for each colour!

:: cutting stencils for each colour

It was all pretty straight forward really, the only tricky bit was making sure everything lined up perfectly! A lot of masking tape got used to set up all the registration marks so the screens line up! With each colour I screen printed, I would check it against the card and make minor adjustments with a fine paint brush to make it look exactly like it, with the brush strokes and torn edges of the paper on the card.

:: 1st - aqua and blue :: 2nd - yellow
:: 3rd - red :: 4th - orange and dark blue

I am so happy with how it turn out and M's daddy just loved it :)

:: masterpiece on a t-shirt

Sometimes I think someone (the fun police) is going to tap me on the shoulder and say "Excuse me you are not allowed to do that anymore, YOU are having way to much fun!" :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...

drawing course: week 7

My second last class :( We did life drawing this week... I really loved it! I have done a little bit of life drawing about 20 years ago and I don't remember a thing really! But I found that I got into the swing of things really quickly!

First we did loads of 1 minute basic line sketches to get our bearings.

:: 1 minute drawings - charcoal on A2 paper

Next - 3 minute drawings: We drew circles for each part of the body and then drew the body outline, if we had time. This was a really great technique to get the body proportions right... I need all the help I can get!

:: 3 minute drawings - charcoal on A2 paper

Next - 5 minute drawings: We drew circles in pencil this time and then drew the outline of the body in charcoal. *Please excuse the smudging over the top of the drawings which is caused by other drawings on the facing pages. I had to use both sides of the paper as I nearly ran out of paper!

:: 5 minute drawings - charcoal on A2 paper

The next set of 5 minute sketches: We used squares and triangle to sketch out the body and then drew the body outline over the top with charcoal.

:: 5 minute drawings - charcoal on A2 paper

Next - 10 min drawings: These were my favourite from the whole evening! At first I thought I liked using the circle technique as it is give a smoother finished outline. But after chatting to one of the ladies during our break, she was using squares and triangle... I decided to switch and try the squares and triangle again! I am so glad I did as I much prefer the slightly more angular look it gives to the drawing when you do the outline. So funny, the lady I was chatting to decided to switch to circles!
Some of the positions the model was sitting in were quite difficult to draw especially where she has her leg tucked under the other... I think I did really well :)

:: 10 minute drawings - pencil and charcoal on A2 paper

It was such a great class and I am so pleased with how my drawings turned out... such a huge improvement from the beginning of the class!!! I really do surprise myself sometimes :)

Next week...my last week :( and more life drawing... Yay!!!

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there :)

This week I'm joining in with The Paper Mama's photography challenge "Heart"!

We went to Toronga Zoo last weekend and had such a great time.. M just loves seeing all the animals but best of all he loves hanging out with his daddy! They were just so cute together! So in honor of fathers day, here is my little photo of them at the zoo, fascinated with the seals :)

I "heart" them xxx

Hope you are all having a fantastic Sunday :)

my creative space: kitty and pom poms

This week I couldn't resist but make another knitted softie, this time a little blue kitty cat! I seem to have a thing about blue cats??? I just love making these, so quick and easy! I have altered the knitting pattern to make it a bit bigger! Now little bear has a new friend :)

:: new friends hanging out on the couch

:: first a bit of loving

:: then it was time for fun
- I think they are flying!

I also helped out my lovely mother in law Norma and made some pom poms for some beanies she knitted for charity. I just love all the bright colours :)

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at our creative spaces...