A Roaringly Good Time

Hi everyone

As promised, here's the post about what R and I created for our nephew's fifth birthday. He asked for a 'Dinosaur' themed party and that is what the family endeavoured to create. As a surprise, we created treat boxes and party hats, a banner, food labels and fun straws to match this theme.

 

We took a basic party hat design and used the shape for the cones and added a stegosaurus tail to the back of the hat. They were a big hit.

We were asked to think about designs for party bags but we wanted to do something extra. R and I worked hard on creating a layout and then manipulating it to create our treat boxes.

Whilst we were making them, I have to admit there were a few renditions of the 'Jurassic Park' theme tune!

We created four different designs: a Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus and a T-Rex. We used the same colours as the hats, and added a support in the form of a tail on each. There were twenty five children at the party so we made thirty of these little monsters. They were filled with treats like chocolate (dinosaur) eggs ready for the children as they went home.

Hope you enjoyed seeing our creations. Will attempt to blog again soon!

Andy

Getting ready for Christmas

Good evening everybody

As the sun will soon be setting on 2013, it is a time of celebration and reflection for many. I have not been prolific on the blog front over the past few months for various reasons and I would like to say thank you to all of you who have kept checking in and sending me good wishes. Although I haven't blogged much, I have not been idle on the creative front. Here comes a Christmas blog blitz that will show you many of the projects that we have been creating ready for the holidays.

Over the next four days, I will give you a posting a day. This is unheard of for me but I intend to do it as a small Christmas gift.

Even though work has been time consuming, we have managed to construct a rather Crafty Christmas this year. Both R and I have worked hard on projects to give our Christmas a distinctly individual feel. We have taken inspiration from online and magazines and have turned these ideas into our own distinct style. Followers of the blog will know that I do follow Alisa Burke's blog. Alisa was the inspiration behind our wrapping paper this year.

Do you like the new curtains?... !! This was the drying system for my sheets of pattened wrapping papers; very high tech!

The painting did not stop there. You may have noticed our tree topper this year? This bird house originally started out to be just a decoration but I really loved doing it. Here is the process - if you would like more details, please let me know.

You need to start by decorating your mount card. First layer, white acrylic

The second layer was fluid acrylic Copper (the same colours as the wrapping paper).

I tried to work out the measurements before I started cutting. Originally I created a net to get the basic shape, then added the roof from there. I drew on the back to make sure I got it right (it took a couple of goes!).

I then used a Stanley blade and a metal ruler to cut out the pieces.

A hot glue gun was used to put the house together.

Once I had the basic shape, I started to add in details such as the wreath and the bows.

 

As mentioned before, I did not intend it to be a tree topper. The bird house just evolved...  A hole created in the bottom allowed the top branch and Christmas lights to be inserted.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not the only one who has been busy. R has been hard at work creating some fantastic projects that are beautifully intricate and, to be honest, if I tried to make them I would probably get very frustrated.

Here is one of her mini Christmas trees, using Pine cones, florestry supplies and a cork.

These little beauties are dotted around the house along with her gorgeous Snow Globe Jars.

 

I hope that you have enjoyed this first Christmassy blog. These were all created during the first two weeks of December. Tomorrow, I will show you how we stepped up a gear; making cards and the house gets totally decked out!

Hope you will pop back to take a look. 

See you then?

Andy

It's all in Black and White

Hi Everyone,

What a week it has been. There was family to catch up with, and lots to do around the house. While sorting out our studio, I found a little treasure that I would like to share with you.

It is a small sketchbook that I created ten years ago at the start of my teaching career. Back then, I took the train to work and I would spend that time drawing and sketching. It is interesting to look back and see the symbols I created and to now think of how they may have influenced my more modern sketches.

Looking at these I can see a fossil influence, especially in this section of the first sketch. 

The first image shows an Ammonite and the second has an Ortheceras influence 

All of these were done with Biro to give a good gradient with tones. It is amazing how the tones and colours can vary when using just a black Biro. It all depends on the manufacturer. I have a collection of about ten Biros from different companies and each one is different.

The above sketches then developed into these drawings.

Looking at some of my more modern sketches, I have noticed that the same symbols are starting to creep in. I have even observed that they have started to show up in my paintings too.

I am also busily painting and will share these with you soon. I am at the stage of adding layers of colour and applying the details.

I have loved having an Arty Summer and hope that it will continue now that the 'Man Cave' is completed.

Enjoy these last few days of summer.

Andy