Dream Diary_Steep Slope

I'm in a landrover with my boyfriend, and we are about to drive up a steep, muddy slope as part of an 'Extreme Sports Experience'. There is an old man crawling up the slope in front of us, so I shout that we should wait for him to reach the top. We get out the vehicle and start removing mud with our hands, in the hope that it will make the slope less steep.

Rat's not funny...

Whilst working on my current brief, I was troubled by the look of the waitress' left hand and was told by a friend to add in a thumb to the equation...which consequently ended up looking like a small shrew-like animal...So, I decided to add more features to the little critter and although it has no connection to the theme whatsoever, it makes me chuckle...

Pattern You Up..

For the latest brief we are to design book covers for the 'A Short Introduction To' series...I created these patterns as part of my initial designs (for the subjects 'Allotment Gardening', 'Ballroom Dancing' and 'Weather/Meteorology'), but have now taken a new direction!

How Dairy You...

I was given some super cute ribbon for my birthday, and decided to make good use of it by sewing it onto a skirt. I had a sheet of fabric from a charity shop which I really like the pattern of, so snipped up a skirt! I think it's an unusual mix with the fabric pattern and ribbon, but somehow it works! The flower 'corsage' (I think I made that word up) was in no way a desperate attempt to cover up a gap created by lack of ribbon...Oh dear! 

Funny Business..

Ever since I've been going out with my fiancée, he's drawn me little cartoons based on something that he or we find humorous at the time..He doesn't realise it, but they are actually SUPER ACE!! I love the style he uses to draw, and the humour he uses shows how aware he is of people around him and the different (often extreme) characteristics of humans beings. (You may notice commonly used names such as Danny, David and Greg)..I look forward to adding many more to my scrap book :)

 P.S. I thought they would look pretty ace screen-printed onto tshirts...

...the cheeky characters also look good on frost car windows...

Thank you for a magical Christmas break!

I have had THE bestest Christmas break EVER this year..Mainly because of my magical trip to Disneyland Paris, my engagement, and all the lovely presents and presence that people have given me. So, to say thank you I made these cards using a photograph I took of the Castle, and edited it in Photoshop. You can just never have too much pink...

THIS is an Art Attack...

A couple of friends got me a (vintage) Art Attack book, knowing that it was my FAVOURITE television programme of all time and I bought every magazine and made everything in it..(I do believe it initiated my love of art and design)...and I thought, 'What better way to spend a day than to create a papier mache monster-bin'...

 And so I did:

...Oh, and did I mention that last year I met my all-time hero, Neil Buchannon, and sang with him on stage...

(that's me in the middle, having a moment..)

Check out his snazzy band!! http://www.marseilleonline.co.uk/

Alice in bun-derland...

For my 21st birthday I decided to have a [tea]party based on the theme 'Alice in Wonderland', so with the help of friends, I baked and iced cupcakes and biscuits to place on the tables.. You can't tell in the photos, but the UV lighting made the icing glow!!

This is a photo of me and my [new!] fiancée.  I'm wearing the dress I made for the party,  which I created using a light silk-type fabric for the skirt, sleeves and headband, and made the apron using a white fabric and lace ribbon around the edge. The skirt proved difficult, but I ended up using netting underneath and bunching up certain areas and sewing in place..

'Tis the season to be creative...

This Christmas I decided to give myself the mammoth task of hand-making almost all of my Christmas gifts..and I wouldn't have it any other way :)

I saw chocolate 'slabs' similar to these in Marks and Spencers, but at a ridiculous price! So, I decided that I would make my own for a fraction of the price. I melted a (huge) bar of chocolate into a silicone cake tin, baked some mini gingerbread men and placed them in, used letter moulds to make white chocolate letters and added some marshmallows. 

I knew that my sisters were in need of a sewin box, so I decided to make them one each. I covered a gift box with fabric and sewed on some cut-out felt letters. I made little pins and needles booklets by sewing together sheets of felt and cutting out their initial letters with the same fabric from the box. I then filled the boxes with thread, scissors, tape measures and all the sewing essentials..

This was a dress that I customised for my best friend for her birthday. I bought some cute bird fabric and cut out heart shapes, and sewed them onto a lovely recycled-fabric dress..

This was a birthday 'cake' that I made for my sister's birthay..I decided that I would make something a bit different, so made up the recipe for Millionaire Shortbread and let it set in a circular mould...

Whilst at University, I thought I would take advantage of the Silkscreen Printing facilities. For my future mother-in-law, I drew a chicken design (she owns 3 chickens and loves them!) and printed it around the collar and on the pockets. I incorporated her name (Di) in the design.. 

My boyfriend's favourite computer game is the Half Life series, and hence his favourite character is Gordan Freeman! So I put my fear of the pen tool aside and created a silhouette of the character's face, so that his only his key features (beard and glasses!) were shown..  

Finally, I printed a shirt for my boyfriend's brother, who recently received a personalised number plate for his birthday. I reproduced this number (again using the pen tool) so that he could wear it with pride, even when he wasn't driving!