Learning screen printing and making tea towels at Drink, Shop & Do

Apologies for not posting on here for so long. Since last posting I’ve been to New York which was ace, but have spent the rest of this year so far either feeling ill, in pain (dental) or working. I have to say that I’ve had better starts to a year, but one nice evening was last week when my friend Jo and I learning how to do screen printing and made our own tea towels at Drink, Shop & Do.

The process is pretty easy. You just cut out paper shapes, knowing these shapes will be the white bits to the design. Then you set the design underneath the screen printer, put gobs of paint on the top and then evenly spread the paint! It is even easier than I made that sound.

Anyway, here are our photos from the night:



That’s my design!


Jo’s finished towel. Ace, isn’t it?


And mine.

Hope you are all surviving the January blues. ‘Til next time. xoxox

Homemade gifts pt. 2

In my last post I wrote about some gifts that I made this Christmas. Now this post is about some homemade gifts I received whether it was made by the person themselves or made by someone else. I have to say I have gotten some great gifts so far and I’m not even done with Christmas yet as I have another one this weekend!

First of all, I received this owl cross-stitch from Ingrid who hosted the Yuletide swap at her blog Let Me See The Colts. I personally haven’t cross-stitched since I’ve been a kid, and this piece is inspiring. I have a ladybug/ladybird cross-stitch pattern that I won from a Shoreditch Sisters’ giveaway that’s waiting to be made…




Then I got a teacup necklace from Melanie K. I think I now have 5 necklaces made by her!



I got a Russian Doll broach from my friend Jo. She bought it on an etsy site, but I don’t know which one.



One of my colleagues’ 9 year old daughter was in our office last week as she was already on school holidays. To allievate boredom, she made these little boxes out of spare origami paper we had around the office, and put a paper crane inside, and drew the peace sign inside the box. So creative.



From Daniel, I got a little bird bowl from another etsy site!



And now that I know that Tatty Devine necklaces are handmade in London and Kent, I’ll throw this one in here as well. This is the Rabbit Sky Lab necklace I wanted! Also from Daniel:


Hope you all are having a good festive season….xoxoxo

Homemade gifts

Providing you have the time and sometimes, the talent, I think that homemade gifts are some of the best gifts you can give or receive. The other night I had a few friends over for a dinner party and I ended up making a couple of the gifts I gave them. I’m please to say the reactions to them were all positive! When Christmas is over I may do another post on homemade gifts that I received. One gift I have already opened is some black & white film from my friend Melanie. I am supposed to take photos with it over Christmas and then she’ll teach me how to develop the film in her darkroom! So providing that turns out well, that will be another post on here.

Anyway, for this Christmas, I painted Jarvis Cocker for my friend Jo. It was my first time painting Jarvis, and I made sure to get his tiny mouth and jaw line correct. That’s really all that mattered.




Then as my friend Kim is spending Christmas in New York and I lived there for 5 years, I made her a little New York guide, featuring my favourite places that I know are still around. This was accompanied by a mix CD (remember those? I’ve started to make them again!) featuring songs about New York or from artists in New York. Kim was pretty happy with these!


And ok, this isn’t homemade, but I love the idea of using magazine or newspaper clippings as wrapping paper, especially if a certain article reminds of you someone. So I wrapped my friend Melanie’s gift with a Christmas interview with Brian Cox, because why not?




I hope you are all enjoying the festive season so far… xoxoxox

Autumn at Kew!

Kew Gardens is one of the most beautiful places in London. Daniel and I are members, so for a fee, we can go as many times as we want all year! We went there this past Sunday and the autumn colours were out in full force. I also enjoyed the giant mushroom sculptures that are currently on display, and the Marianne North gallery. She created over 800 paintings in 14 years and they’re all in this one gallery. Daniel asked me if I could paint that many in 14 years. Maybe. Only if that was my day job, though!

Anyway, here are a few snapshots from the day..



Daniel, by me


Me, by Daniel


Marianne North Gallery


People’s plant memories…


This peacock just posed for our cameras.


Hope this weekend treats you all well…xoxox

The November Care Parcel Swap

About a month ago I signed up for Oh Comely magazine‘s November care parcel swap. I was paired up with a girl in the Midlands, and I got her tea, sweets, a couple gifts from Copenhagen and made her a watercolour painting (see my last post). We sent our boxes off to each other yesterday, and I got my box from her today! Well, she wins an A+ on presentation. I was blown away on the aesthetics of my care parcel, and was really touched she put in the time and effort.

It was a little bit like Christmas when I got home from work tonight:



I already had some of the hot chocolate tonight in my favourite mug. x

How did this girl know that I really love chai, cinnamon and mulled wine? I’m so pleased.

If you are interested in doing a swap like this, I’m pretty sure Oh Comely will do this again next year. For this year, look around, you still may come across one for the holiday season. xoxo

New watercolours

Hello, this past month has been pretty busy and a bit stressful at work, but tonight I finally did some watercolours. Here’s two of them – the first one is entitled “Autumn Lady” because of the colours I chose and the second one is “No Yes Free Why” obviously because of the words I chose to put in the painting. “Autumn Lady” will be posted off tomorrow, along with some sweets, tea and gifts, to the girl I’ve been partnered up with in Oh Comely magazine’s November Care Package Project. I hope she takes care of Ms. Autumn. xoxox



Copenhagen!

Hello! I’ve just returned from a short vacation in Copenhagen, where I met up with my friend Kim, who flew there from Amsterdam. The weather wasn’t the best, but overall we had a nice time. I finally got to see Christiania, a freetown in Copenhagen started by squatters decades ago. We also took the canal tour and did a lot of shopping!

Here are some of the photos:




Favourite places in Copenhagen:
Empire Cinema – Apparently the best independent cinema in Copenhagen. We saw the new black & white American film, Frances Ha, which we both liked.
Laundromat Cafe – There’s also one in Reykjavik. It’s half-diner/half-laundromat. The food is great.
Christiania after the Green Light District – If you visit Christiania, don’t let all the drug dealing in the Green Light District put you off. Keep walking through and soon you’ll be next to a beautiful waterfront, pretty houses, a great veggie cafe and feel like you’re outside the city (see some of the above photos).
Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus – An apparently busy bar, but it was quiet when we were there! The sangria was wonderful.
Tiger – I know this shop is growing all over Europe, but I doubt any of the shops are 4 floors like the ones in Copenhagen’s city centre! Perfect if you want a nice gift, like Scandi design, and don’t want to spend a lot.

xoxoxo

Scotland

Sorry for not posting as of late. Life has been busy and work has been a bit stressful. However, the weekend before last I went to Scotland for a few days with my husband as he had to attend a conference there. While there, I met up with some friends and overall had a great time!

Here’s a few photos:

Edinburgh:

Glasgow:

And this weekend I’ll be in Copenhagen with my friend Kim! Can’t wait!

Hope you are all having a Happy Halloween week/end! xoxox

Leaf ghosts

A very simple Halloween craft. All you need is some leaves, white and black paint.

Just clean the leaves and then paint them – and you have yourself some leaf ghosts!



You can also add glitter to make them a bit more glamourous, but so far I like mine the way they are. xoxo