Visitors

Well, one visitor really. My auntie came down from Scotland to stay with me for a few days, hence my absence from Blogland all this week. It was mum's birthday on Wednesday, so we spent most of the day with her and she had a lovely time eating cupcakes and sweeties....mum's favourite things!

I've been trying to fit work in around being a hostess, but I never find it easy to be creative unless I can properly concentrate on what I'm doing. I have two events coming up though, so have been planning those, as well as finishing some pieces for my Etsy shop.

This coming Thursday I am the guest speaker at the local WI meeting! I'm going to be giving a talk about the kinds of things that I do, a few stories from my travels around the country, followed by a simple card making session and then a short quiz to finish things off. I hope the ladies enjoy it!

The following Thursday I'll be at Crafty-Nook in Durham teaching an evening workshop for around twenty five ladies, so that will be a fun night I'm sure.

I've been making good use of my arty birthday gifts and have been inspired to do some Zentangling which I haven't done for a long time.....I used to love spending hours on detailed "doodles" when I was a teenager! Anyway, I decided to draw some owls - well, two actually! Once I'd drawn them I filled them in with lots of different Zentangle designs and then came the difficult decision....to keep the drawing black and white...or...to add colour? No going back once a decision to start colouring was made, so I just decided to go for it and was pleased that I did......

 .....I was really happy with the vibrant results using my ultra fine coloured ink pens. Once I'd coloured the owls I painted the moon with matte Glue n Seal and made a wavy frame mask so that I could blend some subtle blue ink over the background...I was then able to remove the ink from the moon to leave it white again. I added a wavy border with a fine black pen and coloured some areas of it to match the owls.

This piece was going to go onto my Etsy shop but it was snapped up before it made it onto there! I have since created another Zentangled owl picture which I have added to my shop though, as well as this painting that I've called "Meadow Poppies"......

 ......I used my new Inktense watercolours for this one. They are lovely to work with, with very strong pigments that allow for all sorts of techniques.

Last night I was out at a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for two friends from church. It was a lovely change to be at a party, although the fact that the music from the time of their wedding was 60's music gave pause for thought......surely the sixties can't be fifty years ago?! I had made a simple card for them using a Martha Stewart PATP heart punch, some My Mind's Eye paper, a Sizzix die for the numbers and a little hand written message. Very simple but they liked it!

 It had been another hot day but, thankfully, I'd heeded the weather forecast and taken my brolly with me as the heavens opened and I had to walk home (or should I say "squelch home") in torrential rain. Still, it was very refreshing after the muggy day!

After church and then coffee at the church hall, I just got home before the rains came again today and then I sat down to do some more Zentangling. This time I decided on mushrooms - or toadstools if you prefer...they are the same thing anyway! This was my drawing once I'd filled in with various patterns....

 ....I think mushrooms really lend themselves to this style. I've now started to colour the design and this is the point that I'm up to as of tonight.....

 ......I really do like the monochrome look, but I have always been drawn (ouch!) to colours. Even as a little girl I used to carefully colour in the illustrations in my Enid Blyton books....I did do them very carefully!

The mushroom drawing will go into my Etsy shop once it's finished and put into a mount.

Well, I think I had better sign off now as it very nearly tomorrow! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend and apologies to anyone that I owe an email to - I will be catching up with everything as soon as possible.