What are you doing for your holidays? Anyone else been to/going to Cornwall?
Saturday, 31 July 2010
I have been on holiday!!
Finally my hubby and I got away to Cornwall this week on our summer holiday, a well deserved break for us both I think, we work damn hard! We had a wonderful time seeing all the sights and sounds of the eastern side of the county including vitising a couple of beautiful National Trust properties, two bike rides alon the Camel Valley bike trail, a wine tasting evening and a visit to the Gardens Of Heligan. Here are some of my favorite pics of the week:
Friday, 23 July 2010
Beautiful baby photoshoot
Despite some initial reluctance I got some lovely photos of this beautiful pair:
How cute?
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Hen party fun
This weekend I went to a really fun hen do of my friend Sarah in Cornwall. Here are some photos I took of the weekend with my lovely new camera; a Canon 1000D:
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
27
Because I recently turned 27, and inspired by the style of klmpink over at Scraps the City and Me I am going to share with you 27 things about myself which you probably won't know:
1. I have a serious fetish for notebooks, I love them, really can't get enough. I buy them because they are beautiful and I imagine all the wonderful and creative things I could do in them, but I get them home and feel their are too special to write in, so I now have an ever growing pile of very pretty notebooks. They make me happy!
2. I have a birth mark in the shape of a heart to the side of my right eye. I got it from bouncing on a bed one holiday when I was about 5. I fell off the bed and hit my head on an adjoining bunk bed, Had to go to hospital for butterfly stitches, my mum fainted!
3. My favourite book is Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. It is the most beautifully written book I have ever come across, so poetic, I loved every word, every phrase. I ready it whilst lying under a washing line full of clothes in my garden last summer.
4. I met my husband on the internet 10 years ago. We wee both going to Reading festival and met on the Reading Festival chat forum. We then started talking on MSN and then the phone. We met up at the festival and have been together ever since.
5. I love baking, but everything I bake burns or sinks and goes hard, so I cover my cakes in a thick layer of icing to make them look good.
6. I am not a real believer in star signs but I really do match up with the so-caller personality traits of Gemini. Gemini represents twins and I definitely have at least two personalities. I constantly feel I am being pulled in lots of different directions. I love so many things and have many many interests, I often feel frustrated that I don't have time for all my hobbies.
7. I have a small collection of figurines from the Magic Roundabout that my husband bought me when we first started going out.
8. I have an allotment where I attempt to grow my own vegetables, however, recently discovered that vegetables are almost as hard to please as people!
9. I worked for a year and a half as an accounts assistant of all things (if you knew me really well you would know this is totally out of character, I am an artist not a mathematician, Maths was my lowest grade at school!) However it was one of the best jobs I have ever had. Really enjoyed all the office banter.
10. I really love bad food beginning with C - Chocolate, Champagne, Crisps, Cake, Cocktails, Cheese. Yum yum yum!
11. I think that knowledge is power. I have a lot of opinions about the environment, how children should be raised, health and relationships which I want to share with everyone. Sadly I do not have the ability to retain the facts and thus end up sounding flaky...."Oh, I read this book once, can't remember what it was called, but there was this statistic about such-and-such, and I can't remember the details but it was really interesting.
12. I cannot stand milk moustaches. They make me feel sick. In fact I can't stand any liquid on the upper lip. Eyw gross.
13. I have never been to Paris.
14. I have the entire collection of The Good Life on DVD. I discovered the series when I was at uni and totally fell in love with it. I want to be Barbara good!!
15. I make the most amazing coleslaw. I never buy it because my home made stuff is far superior (even if I do say so myself!) I use a carrot, some cabbage, some onion, some chives or parsley if I have them and a twist of salt and pepper with mayo. It's delish.
16. I have a secret love of the TV programme Deal or No Deal, I love watching it when I come home from work with a large mug of Earl Grey.
17. My favourite place in the world in the beach in the Gower near to where my parents live. My husband proposed to me there and we used the name of the beach as one of table names at our wedding. We also made stone mane holders for the tables which we returned to the beach after the wedding.
18. I love Jesus and I don't care who knows it!
19. I have another fetish for doilies, particularly vintage ones, can't get enough of them, they are dotted all around my house where I have left them randomly. Now just have to get cracking with all the craft ideas I have for them
20. I got an A for GCSE French. I was predicted an E so was very pleased with this result. I didn't carry on with it at A Level but sometimes like to demonstrate my grasp of the language, particularly after a couple of drinks!
21. I would love to be a kept woman; I don't think I was made for working 9-5. I wouldn't want to not work at all but I would like to choose what I do from day to day and for it to always be changing. Darn mortgage!
22. I class myself as an environmentalist; I do as much as is reasonably possible to avoid further damage to the environment and thus I get really upset when people don't recycle.
23. Although I am not trying for a baby I really really want one!! I think having a baby would enrich my life. We cannot afford to have a baby but really are thinking that we are just going to have to go for it or else we might never be able to afford it.
24. For my wedding I lost 2 stone, and now I have put it all back on, plus a little bit more, so I am going to use my 7 week summer holiday (which starts today! Wooo!) to lose the two stone for my friend's wedding in September.
25. I don't like tea or coffee or hot chocolate but I do love a variety of other teas including green tea, nettle tea and my favourite, Earl grey.
26. I have to wear ear plugs at night and have done ever since I had a hamster when I was 17, it used to chew the bars and keep me up at night, it's a comfort thing now.
27. My guinea pigs are called Matilda from The Roald Dahl book by the same name and Florence from The Magic Roundabout.
1. I have a serious fetish for notebooks, I love them, really can't get enough. I buy them because they are beautiful and I imagine all the wonderful and creative things I could do in them, but I get them home and feel their are too special to write in, so I now have an ever growing pile of very pretty notebooks. They make me happy!
2. I have a birth mark in the shape of a heart to the side of my right eye. I got it from bouncing on a bed one holiday when I was about 5. I fell off the bed and hit my head on an adjoining bunk bed, Had to go to hospital for butterfly stitches, my mum fainted!
3. My favourite book is Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. It is the most beautifully written book I have ever come across, so poetic, I loved every word, every phrase. I ready it whilst lying under a washing line full of clothes in my garden last summer.
4. I met my husband on the internet 10 years ago. We wee both going to Reading festival and met on the Reading Festival chat forum. We then started talking on MSN and then the phone. We met up at the festival and have been together ever since.
5. I love baking, but everything I bake burns or sinks and goes hard, so I cover my cakes in a thick layer of icing to make them look good.
6. I am not a real believer in star signs but I really do match up with the so-caller personality traits of Gemini. Gemini represents twins and I definitely have at least two personalities. I constantly feel I am being pulled in lots of different directions. I love so many things and have many many interests, I often feel frustrated that I don't have time for all my hobbies.
7. I have a small collection of figurines from the Magic Roundabout that my husband bought me when we first started going out.
8. I have an allotment where I attempt to grow my own vegetables, however, recently discovered that vegetables are almost as hard to please as people!
9. I worked for a year and a half as an accounts assistant of all things (if you knew me really well you would know this is totally out of character, I am an artist not a mathematician, Maths was my lowest grade at school!) However it was one of the best jobs I have ever had. Really enjoyed all the office banter.
10. I really love bad food beginning with C - Chocolate, Champagne, Crisps, Cake, Cocktails, Cheese. Yum yum yum!
11. I think that knowledge is power. I have a lot of opinions about the environment, how children should be raised, health and relationships which I want to share with everyone. Sadly I do not have the ability to retain the facts and thus end up sounding flaky...."Oh, I read this book once, can't remember what it was called, but there was this statistic about such-and-such, and I can't remember the details but it was really interesting.
12. I cannot stand milk moustaches. They make me feel sick. In fact I can't stand any liquid on the upper lip. Eyw gross.
13. I have never been to Paris.
14. I have the entire collection of The Good Life on DVD. I discovered the series when I was at uni and totally fell in love with it. I want to be Barbara good!!
15. I make the most amazing coleslaw. I never buy it because my home made stuff is far superior (even if I do say so myself!) I use a carrot, some cabbage, some onion, some chives or parsley if I have them and a twist of salt and pepper with mayo. It's delish.
16. I have a secret love of the TV programme Deal or No Deal, I love watching it when I come home from work with a large mug of Earl Grey.
17. My favourite place in the world in the beach in the Gower near to where my parents live. My husband proposed to me there and we used the name of the beach as one of table names at our wedding. We also made stone mane holders for the tables which we returned to the beach after the wedding.
18. I love Jesus and I don't care who knows it!
19. I have another fetish for doilies, particularly vintage ones, can't get enough of them, they are dotted all around my house where I have left them randomly. Now just have to get cracking with all the craft ideas I have for them
20. I got an A for GCSE French. I was predicted an E so was very pleased with this result. I didn't carry on with it at A Level but sometimes like to demonstrate my grasp of the language, particularly after a couple of drinks!
21. I would love to be a kept woman; I don't think I was made for working 9-5. I wouldn't want to not work at all but I would like to choose what I do from day to day and for it to always be changing. Darn mortgage!
22. I class myself as an environmentalist; I do as much as is reasonably possible to avoid further damage to the environment and thus I get really upset when people don't recycle.
23. Although I am not trying for a baby I really really want one!! I think having a baby would enrich my life. We cannot afford to have a baby but really are thinking that we are just going to have to go for it or else we might never be able to afford it.
24. For my wedding I lost 2 stone, and now I have put it all back on, plus a little bit more, so I am going to use my 7 week summer holiday (which starts today! Wooo!) to lose the two stone for my friend's wedding in September.
25. I don't like tea or coffee or hot chocolate but I do love a variety of other teas including green tea, nettle tea and my favourite, Earl grey.
26. I have to wear ear plugs at night and have done ever since I had a hamster when I was 17, it used to chew the bars and keep me up at night, it's a comfort thing now.
27. My guinea pigs are called Matilda from The Roald Dahl book by the same name and Florence from The Magic Roundabout.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Artists who inspire me
I have just started making some new art work which is really differant from what I have been doing before. It is embroidery and text based and I will display some photos when I have finished a few of them. I wanted to share with you some of the main inspirations for there pieces of work and for art in general because I feel it will help people have a better understanding of where I am coming from with my work.
First of all an artist who has had a major influence on my work since I was studying Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University is Tracey Emin. Famed for her Unmade bed and narrowly missing winning the Turner Prize back in 1999,she inspires me with her amazing embroidered pieces and subtle mono-prints. These are the works that I really love, they reflect her life, feelings, emotions and opinions and for me, these are the essense of everything I create:
First of all an artist who has had a major influence on my work since I was studying Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University is Tracey Emin. Famed for her Unmade bed and narrowly missing winning the Turner Prize back in 1999,she inspires me with her amazing embroidered pieces and subtle mono-prints. These are the works that I really love, they reflect her life, feelings, emotions and opinions and for me, these are the essense of everything I create:
Next, an artist who I discovered only recently on my trip to St Ives embodies many of my belief's about art, how it can be accessible to all and can be a very simple idea. So many artists and critics think that Art must have many layers of meaning or that it should be subversive or contradictory or challenging. I just though her work was lovely and reminded me of the pure pleasure of prettiness niceness:
Thirdly is an artist who for a long time I dismissed as just being childish patterns and pictures, I thought it was just colourfulness and shapes for the fun of it, but I recently started reading a book about him and my opinion has totally changed. Hundertwasser draws his inspiration from a passion for the environment, he believed that beauty was the key to deliverance from evil and because God was creative it is right that we, made in God's image are creative also.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Deflated
Feeling a bit deflated today. Had a rather unpleasant day at work with some nasty pupils and some unsupportive members of staff. I am feeling particularly unhappy about the fact that I have not had one word of thanks from the pupils or the parent's of the pupils who I took to St Ives last week. Teaching truly is a thankless task.
I also don't get nearly enough time to do my own art work, half the time I am at home I spend recovering from school. I have had two very bad headaches this week that I have had to take pain killers for. Sorry for moaning but my husband is getting sick of listening to me moan about school so I need some other outlet!
On a more positive note, only one week and three days till the summer holidays!!
I also don't get nearly enough time to do my own art work, half the time I am at home I spend recovering from school. I have had two very bad headaches this week that I have had to take pain killers for. Sorry for moaning but my husband is getting sick of listening to me moan about school so I need some other outlet!
On a more positive note, only one week and three days till the summer holidays!!
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
40 followers!!
Very happy today to see that I have 40 followers of my blog!
I am going to do a giveaway when I get to 50!
I really appreciate each and every one of you who follow my blog, it brings a smile to my face every day to see that there are people out there who like what I post and are interested in what I have to say. Thankyou all very much.
I am going to do a giveaway when I get to 50!
I really appreciate each and every one of you who follow my blog, it brings a smile to my face every day to see that there are people out there who like what I post and are interested in what I have to say. Thankyou all very much.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Etsy Lino Prints
I really love lino prints, it is so easy to do a simple design and they never fail to look stunning. More complicated designs are just gorgeous, it really is art work. Take a look at these from Etsy:
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