Blobby female figure

After finishing my fox blobby drawing I decided to edit the female figure I blogged about previously.

While editing I realised how much my style has changed over the years. As you can see, originally I didn't try to make even outlines, I was making them as much of a feature as the blobs themselves. While editing this drawing I noticed that I was still trying to even up the outlines! 

For my next drawing I will try my hardest to do it "old style"...

Currently Working On...

My big project that I am working on at the moment is one of the cross stitch kits I bought before we even had our first house.

The finished size of this piece is 40cm wide by 88cm high - way bigger than any cross stitch I have ever started! I'm used to doing little pieces so I have no idea why I thought it would be a good decision to buy two kits this size.

As it was so intimidating I started the flowers, quickly got over it and put it away for a few years. After getting it out again I opted to focus on the bottom half, completing one colour at a time and as you can see, so far so good...

I found it took me ages to find my place again whenever I came back to work on it so I made myself a grid with pink thread. It means I find my spot quicker and it makes it easier to check and ensure I haven't made any mistakes.

Hopefully once I finish this cherry blossom one I will promptly get started on my bamboo one! Then I can try my hand at making matching frames for them...

It's my birthday!

Well it is my birthday today, and I am so excited as I got my new fancy sewing machine!

I have a few sewing projects I want to complete, with the first being a new jumper for Trixie.

I can't wait to try it out, and I'm sure my husband will be just as interested in having a go on my new machine as I am, after all it is the one he wanted me to get! Isn't it funny how men can have such an interest in a sewing machine, but none at all in sewing?

Blobby Fox Drawing

It has been awhile since my last blobby drawing so I decided it was about time I finished this fox one. I think he is rather cute all curled up, but being the first detailed image I opted not to do my usual white edge with black blobs. I'll have a play with it and see what works, but for now I am happy with how it turned out! 

More etched glasses

We had a couple of parties to go to last weekend and my number 1 present to make for special occasions are etched glasses.

The first party was for my cousin (in-law) who had just turned 18. Since he drinks beer I opted to etch an 18 on a nice beer mug, which I then filled with mars bars.

The second party was to celebrate my father in laws wedding overseas. I know he loves wine so I etched their first initials onto some really nice large wine glasses I bought.

This is a great last minute gift idea, I buy glasses when they are on special and put them aside until I need to make a personalised gift. 

Sorry about the bad photos, glass is a real pain to photograph and unfortunately I needed the flash so the etching would show up.

More Coasters

One of the few crafts I have done recently is tile coasters. I really do enjoy the simplicity of making such a beautiful and useful craft.

I finally made a set for myself using a lovely blue, red, black and white floral paper. The colour theme in our old house was black, white and red. Red is my husbands favourite colour, but blue is my favourite colour and I really am sick of so much red! So when we renovate this house we will have the black and white theme again but our pops of colour will be both red and blue. These coasters are just the start of tying the two colours together.

I also made a set of coasters for my big sisters birthday using a black and red damask paper. My sisters favourite colour is red so I hope she likes these coasters. Originally I found a beautiful wrapping paper to use for her coasters but the paper was too thin and just wrinkled and creased.

And because I decided to make a production line to save on my paintbrush washing I ended up making another set of coasters using the metallic blue paper with the Asian writing on it. I'm tempted to keep this set for myself as well!

A time consuming wedding gift

When Suki died I was in the middle of working on a wedding gift for my sister in law as her wedding present. I had a deadline though which meant I eventually got it done over a few days so everyone could sign their names at the wedding reception.

Now I don't know if I have mentioned this, but I hate painting! For some reason I am just no good at keeping a paintbrush steady. Making this signature tree definitely tested my patience and my husband has heard me say numerous times - NEVER AGAIN! Originally I created the tree and birds on the computer, with the idea that I would get it printed and frame it. But my SIL wanted silver leaves...

I chose to create stencils out of contact paper and where necessary I just touched up the edges with my paintbrush. Doing it this way meant I didn't need to worry about mistakes while doing the coverage coats and I only had to do the edge once. The actual painting time was quick, it just took awhile to create the stencils!

I'm glad it worked and I will be using this method again if I ever have an annoying painting project!

Oh and there were no issues with peeling the stencil off after the paint was dry.

I am extremely happy with how it turned out, but boy was it hard to force myself to do the one craft I hate when I was so upset!