Deceivingly cute...

Just a quick post today just to say - how decievingly cute does my mischeivious cat Daisy look here! Don't let looks fool you though, she plays innocent to draw you in and the she attacks! We really need a beware of the cat sign!

The Bucket List...

I've been checking out a few other peoples blogs & I'm thinking of starting a bucket list? I'll include some of the things I've already done which I think I'm pretty proud of & enjoyed, but I think I'll need some help with some other ideas of things I could do! Suggestions please :-)



Update - I've added a 'bucket list' page - It's along the top with the rest of the links :-)

My Mum & Dad

Whilst I'm on the topic of old family photos, I thought I'd throw this one out there. My dad really makes me laugh in this one! So 80's! I think they both look so much like my brother & sister in this picture! It kinda wierds me out a little!

My Grandparents

A little while ago my Mum went over to my Aunties to dig out some old family history stuff and came across some old photos from before my Mum was born. I love looking through old photos, particularly of relatives who sadly, I didn't get to know in time. I like to think just by looking through the photos I get to know a little bit more about who they were. When I think of my Nana & Grandpa I think of a really regal upper class couple and I love that I hold them in such high regard. They taught me manners and my Nana in particular taught me how to be a lady :-) Certain words in which cannot be said by a lady, sitting up straight, and being presentable and polite as much as possible. I've got so much love for this lady & I couldn't imagine a 'Nana' any other way than mine! Sadly, I was quite young when my Grandpa died but I hear many stories about him and know he must have been a lovely man and I only wish I got to know him better. I think I would have adored him! I'll always remember staying at theirs when I was little and how we'd always have proper butter, Robertsons jam, & the toast would go in a basket underneath a napkin - we'd never have it straight out of the toaster! Anyway! Here are a few lovely pictures of them back in the day! Theres another picture somewhere from around the 50's I think, of them dancing - I'll have to speak to my Mum &  get her to dig it out & send me it. I think it needs framing. They look so happy in it :-) I also need to hunt down the picture of my other Grandad sat on a plane with his mates in the war having a laugh. Another one I think I need to frame :-)

My Nannie <3

My Great Auntie Brida (who was also an amazingly fab lady & Grandpa when they were young.

My Grandpa on the left.

My Grandpa on the back left.
(I love how he's dressed in this one!)

My Great Auntie Brida in the Polkadot dress
(I NEED THIS DRESS!)

My Grandpa on the right.

Chester Zoo!

Continuing with the blasts from the pasts! This time I've got some nice piccies from a trip to Chester Zoo! Again we had a lovely day and were blessed with GORGEOUS weather! I completely fell in love with the elephants. There was this adorable baby one that loved running underneath all the bigger elephants bellys and rolling around in the mud! I must have sat there for hours watching them! I also LOVED the monkeys. Anyone who knows me knows I adore it when animals do human like stuff. Well! Watching the monkeys I was in my element! I swear one of them even whispered something in anothers ear and then ran off! So Cute!!

I've learnt a new trick!

So I've been playing around on Photoshop & found a snazzy new way to jazz up my photos, and since its been a LONG time since I did some nice posts about the kind of stuff I get up to I thought I'd share some adventures I've been on and take myself on a little trip down memory lane :-)

In Decemeber 2010, Me & The Mr took a ferry across the pond to Brugge for a lovely day away in a gorgeously snowy & christmassy city. We had a lovely time & I HIGHLY recommend this trip to anyone (if you go at the right time you can go on the ferry for 2-4-1 and it'll only cost you £35 each for a two night stay on the ferry & a day in Brugge). We took a trip to the chocolate museum - you can't go to Belgium without doing the obligatory chocolate tasting, we explored the Bellfry tower (sp?) and just generally had a lovely time wandering around in the snowy weather (it was 2 days before Christmas and set the scene perfectly)

Here are just a few of my favourite snaps from our trip! :-)

I'd have loved to have gone again last year however University work would have to disagree with, as it kept me busy all over Christmas, but how about next year Dan? :-)

Celebration Lighting

For my last project I had the theme of celebrations. I like to use unusual materials and I have a keen interest in recycling so I wanted to incoroporate recycled materials into the project to give it another dimension. I continued with the colours from the Cable Tie Jewelry Project, to give a nice flow to the semesters work. I began experimenting using celebratory shapes - this led me to cutting out circles as confetti and this naturally developed into my confetti celebration light made from recycled plastics. Hope you like! 

I'm Running For Charity!

So lately I've taken up a new hobby! And I have to say - I'm totally addicted. However instead of just freely running to my hearts content, I've now got something to work towards. I've decided to run the 3 Mile Sport Relief Event for charity & I'm in need of some sponsors! My aim is to raise £50 which goes towards people in the UK and you can find out the types of things the money helps with here. If you'd like to sponsor me, please visit my giving page here & give as much as you can. No matter how big or small your donation, every little counts towards me reaching my target & helping others. Thankyou! :-)

Cable Tie Jewelry Project

For one of my more recent projects, I designed a range of products made using cable ties. I enjoy working with multiples and plastic and I think this project was really qute sucessful making a rather statement end piece. I dip-dyed nylon cable ties in a range of colours being inspired by African tribal jewelry. I really loved the colours I found in this one picture, of this African woman wearing a huge choker style necklace. That was what inspired me for this project.

1st Year Creative Thinking Module

So this module, really wasn't one of my best, so I apologise in advance for the work I'm about to share! Creative thinking wasn't the most enjoyable modules, despite me having high hopes for it when it first began! It seemed a little 'makeitupasyougoalong'. However, It did open our minds and teach us not to dismiss initial ideas, and be more accepting of those first thoughts! 

 

This project was to find an object and look it in ways you've not looked at it before. We had to draw it in every single way we possibly could so that it no longer was just the item is started out as. We had to draw elements of it & abstract it, to teach us to create more design oppurtunities from an everyday object. For this project I picked a vintage brooch, I think I managed to 'abstract' it as when it came to the group crit - no one could tell what it was! Don't know if this was necessarily a good or a bad thing! I do like how I've managed to capture the sparkliness of the crystals in the brooch, as this was quite a challenge.

This project was a creative tiles project. We were each given a random theme, something that you wouldn't necessarily look to for inspiration, and I got given mechanics - luckily as I have 2 mechanics in my family, I've been brought up around engine parts and exhausts all my life, so I had a good idea how I could incorporate these into design. We also had the added challenge of making sure that whilst the tiles should each be different - they all had to match on each side. This was a massive challenge to all of us as it's a lot trickier than it sounds!

1st Year Drawing Elective

Alongside our standard modules we covered within the course we also had to pick an elective module, so in the first year of university I chose to improve my drawing skills with the Drawing for Textiles elective. In this we we're given a brief every few weeks to challenge ourselves to draw something we wouldnt usually draw. This usually was comprised of drawing a collection of items together with some kind of rhythm or flow to them. We also had to use media outside of our comfort zone. You can probably tell that I love to work with pencil, & I really enjoy really intricate detailed tasks. I thought I'd share with you some of the drawings I did and tell you a bit about them :-)

This series of drawings was based on a collection of the contents of our handbags. We piled everything out on the desks and selected a collection of items that had a theme to them. I particularly like the added feminity that the water colour drawings have to them, and feel that that media suits the objects well.

This collection was based on the idea of opening a surprise. The drawings are meant to be viewed in a sequence and bring an element of intrigue to the viewer. I particular like the way I've managed to capture the texture of the cord fabric, and feel that it gives the idea that the bracelets are something really precious bundled up inside.

This is my favourite collection of drawings I did for this module. I love the higgeldy piggedly element the angles of the sketchbooks bring. My particular favourite has to be the pencil drawing though as I think I managed to capture the light and shadows falling onto the books rather well.

Last but not least, the shoe collection, this was my first project I had, and we were just told to bring in two contrasting objects that had a relationship, so I went with male & female footwear. I like the bold difference between the feminime curve of the heel, and the chunky broadness of the mens shoe. My particular favourite detail has to be the shading of the mens laces in the pencil drawing. I love to draw with lines & so I sat quite happily drawing these laces for hours!