Doodles

Just some drawings I've been working on from images in my mind. Pencil sketches --> pen drawings --> a touch of Photoshop. A little bit of fun :)

Tried and Tested Tip Number 31 [Origami Dress]

When I first saw this origami dress over at Forty Weeks and Then Some I knew I had to give it a try, and I thought it would be perfect for a friend's birthday card! The tutorial is over at Inklings and Yarns, and whilst there are lots of steps it was pretty easy to follow and I love the result!

I embellished the dress with a floral sequin and some good ol' glitter glue, and attached it to my card background - I used different types of paper in complementary colours and patterns to reflect the angular qualities of the dress. I love how the dress is "poofy" - it's so full of character!

So yes, I really recommend Inklings and Yarns tutorial for this dress, it came out perfect on my first attempt, and I can see it on many more cards in the future!

A Beautiful Glow

I looked out the window the other evening to see this...

So I simply had to go and investigate further!! This view greeted me when I made it out...

I love the colourful glow of the setting sun, and I love the structures left behind from the early spring flowers...

I have to admit to loving a little lens flare, even if most people aren't so keen!

The light quality was simply amazing.

And a ship sailed along the horizon as the sun disappeared for the day...

Sunsets

Whilst the weather has not been amazing here this week, the sunsets have been glorious. These were taken on three different days!

Tried and Tested Tip Number 30 [Art Space Organisation]

When I moved in to this house a couple of years ago, most of my art stuff was just put wherever was easiest. The logic was lacking, and the storage solutions I had just didn't work for me. Nothing had it's place, I couldn't find anything, and I didn't know where to put anything away.

The reason why I shared so few new creations on this blog for the first 4 months of this year was because I have (with help) completely redone my art room. I thought I'd share some of this with you, to help if you're having organisation issues too!

This image gives you an idea of just how messy it was. There was no floor left to stand on and nowhere to work.

The first stage for me was boxing everything up. I tried to box like things together to make the eventual unpacking easier. Anything which wasn't necessary was boxed up properly, rubbish was thrown away, and some things found new homes. All that was left was the furniture, which was rearranged to give me a larger floor space and better storage.

The biggest difference has been some wonderful shelving put up by my father in law, allowing me easy access to all my beading and paint supplies, and lots of clear glass jars collected by myself and family members:

I LOVE these sets of plastic boxes, and they have made a huge difference to everything having it's place, and being so visually accessible. The purple and white sets came from Home Bargains (as do the larger bead cases on the bottom shelf of the above picture) and the coloured sets came from eBay, as Home Bargains had run out of stock before I had finished!

I love having everything so neat and organised, but so visually available for me to browse through. I love that everything has it's home which I can take it from and put it back in - it makes life so much easier.

Eventually I hope to have everything in clear plastic boxes, but until my budget can stretch to that I'm making do with lots of labels! At least with all these things in the same shelving unit it's easier to track things down.

There are still little bits to sort and a few things that need homes, but I am so happy with how it looks now. Drawers are labelled to minimise rummaging; the wardrobe has been reorganised to house sketchbooks and notepaper etc; I have lovely big plastic boxes to hold my papers, fabric and wool supplies; and the laundry basket holding all my rolls of papers is a huge space saver!

I also made the effort to really streamline what supplies I want to keep on my desk, making much more space for me to work on larger projects:

Anyway, I hope something in this has inspired you to help organise your creative space!

A Lovely Evening...

[Available as a print.]

I was sat on the hill tonight above where I got married almost exactly 3 years ago. I was 20, and during our engagement I received comments about "giving up" my life so young. The truth is, when you marry the right person, they are a springboard - pushing you up towards other opportunities and being a greater version of yourself. It was a beautiful sunset tonight, and the gorse was in full bloom.

May The Fourth Be With You!

If you've never taken the time to look through my Star Wars tag, may I introduce you to it? Here are some of the geeky projects I've created over the last couple of years...

R2D2 Inspired Birthday Card

R2D2 Christmas Stocking

May the Force be with you artwork

Full series of Star Wars crochet

Over the next few months I'm hoping to have a section of this blog dedicated to geeky art, I just need to get round to it...!

D-d-d-daisy

[Available as a print.]