It's Kinda Like This....

There is this mad woman who takes care of me . You must know the one. She is always complaining about me. Thinks I'm a right jack the lad. Anyway she's decided to take some time out, recharge her batteries whatever that is. I heard her saying that she wants to catch up on doing stuff and practice her photography and all that kind of jazz. I reckon it's about time she chilled out a bit and got off my case. She may be gone for 2 weeks or two months, who knows?

So that's how it is. I know what I'm gonna do for the summer so if you excuse me while I get some shut eye. This is the life!

Ciao. Miaow. Purr and all the other noises that cats make. Have a great summer. (Must dream of catching birds now.)

I'll Let You In To A Secret.....

As children, my sister and I didn't want for anything. We were well fed and well looked after. Occasionally our mum would pop around to the corner shop if she needed to get some extra groceries and would leave us alone for about fifteen minutes.

Now comes the guilty 'secret'. No sooner had mum closed the front door my sister and I would dash straight to the kitchen, open the kitchen cupboard, dip our fingers in the sugar tin and drink vinegar straight from the vinegar bottle! Now what was that all about?

On reflection mum was probably going to the shops to replenish the sugar and vinegar supplies wondering why it was disappearing at such a rapid rate!

The picture at the top of the post is a doll designed by Marie Osmond. I was an avid doll collector when I was a child and writing about the sugar and vinegar incident made me recall my childhood and remember some of the dolls I collected. I never threw a doll out so they are probably in a loft somewhere gathering dust. The dolls I had included Sindy, Patch, Barbie, Tiny Tears, Pippa, Sasha. Timey Tell, Tracey's Tea Party, Chrissy and her cousin and even blonde Action Man with a beard!!!

I started collecting dolls again as an adult, mainly artists vinyl and porcelain dolls. I no longer collect dolls and they are sadly packed away in tissue and hidden inside cupboards. I may dust them off one day and feature them on this blog so they at least get an airing!

Beautiful Bloom

I took this picture of a lone Peony in my garden before its beauty was blighted by the rain. The front of the Peony was tightly packed petals, so dense that the middle of the flower was unseen.

The back of the flower had more interest to me with the raspberry ripple effect on the base of the petals. The heads of these flowers are so heavy that the stem falls over if unsupported.

Looking through some quotes I found one that so aptly fitted my feelings towards this particular bloom. The following quote is by Auguste Rodin.

'The artist is the confidant of nature, flowers carry on dialogues with him through the graceful bending of their stems and the harmoniously tinted nuances of their blossoms. Every flower has a cordial word which nature directs towards him.'

I Want to be Creative.....

....but feel as though I am fighting against the tide. I enjoy creative pursuits but am beginning to question my creative ability.

Back in January I joined a watercolour painting class. I have struggled and found that the work doesn't come easy to me but I manage to produce an adequate piece of work by the end of each lesson.

In one of my recent lessons my tutor said that I was naturally 'left brained' and to concentrate on using the right side of the brain. She explained that the left side of the brain is associated with logic and order whereas the right side of the brain is the creative side. She said that when I am copying a drawn image, I should turn the image upside down and copy it like that to exercise the right side of my brain.

At the end of the session I went to the library and loaned a book called 'Drawing on the right side of the brain' by Betty Edwards. Maybe I can learn to become more creative. Now that's logic for you.

I have decided against showing any of my drawings and watercolour paintings at this stage but felt I couldn't post without using photographs. The top photo is a rubber stamped and mixed media designed card and the other two photo's are of my cross-stitched cards. I did these over a year ago and like to think that my work and skills are evolving all the time. (Click on photo's for close ups).

'Tagged'

I have been tagged by Sheila of Tea and Toast to answer the following questions, so here goes:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Waiting to go on maternity leave.

5 things on my to do list today (tomorrow) are

Buy food for the weekend.

Eat a slice of banana cake.

Eat another slice of banana cake.

Ironing.

Read 'Drawing on the right side of the brain'.

Places I have lived

London.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire

I'll answer that question if it ever happens.

People I would like to know more about

Nobody. I like people to have a sense of mystery about them!

She's at it Again!

I felt a card making moment coming on today so instead of getting outside to tackle the lawn (the rain has eventually stopped) I thought I would torment myself into perfecting my card making skills. (Click on the photos for a closer look.)

After wading my way into the spare room/craft room/junk room and hope to be 'studio' room one day, I armed myself with a few bits and pieces to make some simple cards - coloured cardstock, ink pad, scissors, stamps, decoupage papers etc I set to work on producing a couple of cards.

I was quite pleased with the end results! I decided to go for rustic fairies rather than sugary, glittery ones. Firstly I stamped a frame onto the card with sepia ink. I then made a mask for the stamped frame as I wanted to stamp some grass that looked like it was behind the frame. I then stamped the grass over the frame with the mask in place. Next I decoupaged up my little fairy. They are really tiny - only about an inch tall. To give an overall rustic effect I rubbed an ink pad all around the edge of the card and around the envelope too. Finally I stamped a tiny bee on the card and envelope to match.

I took one of the photos outside in dappled shade with a few strategically placed strawberries for effect!

These cards are far from perfect but they are made from the heart with as much care and attention as I can muster.

Here's to the next card making session. Perhaps I'll manage to make as many as three next time!