September air dry clay

After the fun of the Geek challenge, it was time to dig out the air-dry clay and see if it was still usable after so long; I'm amazed to say that it was! Hooray for Fimo :D

Fimo Air Dry Clay 

So the challenge for September if you remember was to make a cute animal however it appears that I couldn't tame my thoughts in time to meet this.
After several attempts and squashed animals I thought I should use the clay as it was starting to dry out after all the use so I came up with this little witch and her companion cat.

Yes I know that it might look like a sheep but it is supposed to be a cat *blushes* .. I made a few curls on his neck to start with and it looked ok but after adding more I realise now that it looks more like some kind of sheep oops.

Witch and her sheep er cat

I slept on it and tried again but the cute animal just didn't want to come out of hiding so I ended up with ..

Baby Vampire Goblin???

After this the feet at least inspired me to think oh I could make a cute rabbit: but I ended up with

Is that a pumpkin or a garlic?

Then finally I managed to think up this little guy ..

Hi ho, hi ho

It's off to work we go

A little mole all ready for digging his next hole!

I am still waiting for him to dry out properly so he can have some colour added to his cheeks :)

A little late for the challenge but still on track for September goals so I am happy and that leaves me with the weekend to honour my own challenge of playing around with some wire.

Geek Challenge

I have really enjoyed the whole geek theme challenge for Crafters Corner and I think I might keep running with it for a few more projects afterwards too.

Of course my main geek love was always going to be World of Warcraft. With such a wealth of artwork, lore and creativity to inspire me then how could I resist it spilling over into my craft work.

The only problem was too many ideas to use!!

Although the greatest interest to me from WoW at the moment has been the Lords of War series which we have seen 3 and I am eagerly awaiting the rest. If you want to check them out then follow the link to youtube .. the artwork is fantastic.

Warcraft: Lords of war

After watching (ok several times) I decided to try my hand at orc drawing. Obviously no where near the standard of other artists however I was happy with the result although I think maybe overall I actually preferred the initial sketch. 

Sketch outline

With shading added

The shaded version felt like it was lacking something so I used coloured pencils for his eyes

Kargath Bladefist

I think this need a frame (maybe something using stones hmm) to call it finished though and maybe a bit more practice at the shading but it's a start.

It wasn't quite what I wanted to put up for Crafts Corner and decided I would create something using the felt and thread I had been hoarding.

After thinking through the many things I could try and actually trying one idea out (saving that for a gift though, so pics later on maybe), I decided that a warcraft pet would be the best idea to make.

And which better one than this little cutie - Pandaren Fire spirit  

I drew out a basic shapes on some card and used it to cut out felt shapes for the body and then one for the eyes, the rest of the face markings were just cut freehand out of orange felt.

The lips were drawn on and embroidered as I debated whether or not to add the teeth.

For the pattern on the arms and body I drew on the felt with pencil and then got stitching.

I decided to add some felt teeth too in the end.

 The whole thing took a few days overall with a shop run for more thread/felt, that and it was all hand stitched as I don't have a machine: but there is something strangely calming about stitching with Schubert in the background :D

The head and arms were tacked on fairly messily and if I do something similar again then I will be attaching the flat head and arms before filling with stuffing or practising ladder stitches.

 Finished pictures are here:

Flash adding some light

Challenges for September

Since I feel that I work better with a goal in mind, for September I will shall be participating on some craft challenges already set by other craft blogs/pages which I enjoy.

Firstly Susan Owenby (Google community) has a fantastic idea for producing any type of craft that is Geeky and you are passionate about... so there is an amazing scope for ideas here. Due by 15th September:

Crafter's Corner Cafe

Also check out her awesome craft blog here: The Bored Zombie

Secondly the wonderful blog & facebook group by Aniko Kolesnikova is hosting the monthly competition and for September the theme is Cute animals. Since air-dry clay is also allowed then I shall be contributing this time around instead of just watching from the sidelines. Though the creations by this group are really worth looking at anyhow :)

My Clay Fantasy Blog

Also check out Aniko's fabulous work here: The Mandarin Duck

 So those are two community challenges for this month but I am also adding one of my own and that is to watch some tutorials and have a practice with some wire work jewellery. I had a little play for the first time today and created this inspired by my friend Hels who I also think might join in with the geeky challenge this month.

Check out her blog here:  Creative Chaos

Hels inspired necklace

A little messy but we all need to start somewhere. This necklace was centred around some pretty buttons I found :)

Last days of Spoonchallenge

All caught up with the spoonchallenge now and these are my final offerings:

Day 19 - Landmark
I didn't really feel like drawing something sensible today so I went along with the theory that the Disney castle is as good as landmark as any and it was fun :)

Day 20 - Selfie

I wasn't sure where to go with this prompt and since I was in a silly mood anyhow then I am offering this doodle of the spirit of myself rather than a realistic version :P

Well it has been a fun month of drawings that I would probably have not have done without the nudge so thank you Spoon flower & everyone else who joined in, it was lovely to see all the different interpretations of the prompts .

Day 17 & 18

Two more for the catch up, I think the other two can wait for over the weekend..

Day 17 - Taxi

Day 18 - Map & legend

Catch up Day 16

So it's been a busy week and looking to be a busy weekend so here is the first catch up

The day 16 prompt was Skyline

I did start a sketch at work of my outside skyline but it felt a little too depressing so I waited and then inspiration struck

Vin Diesel! *wolf whistles* .. er I mean Fast car chase films sure

Fast & Furious

So here is my Skyline

Yer ok so it's a Nissan Skyline ...no it's not cheating..

Day 14 & 15

Okies all caught up, some classical music and an afternoon of drawing and reading magazines has been lovely and relaxing.

I did find out that I need to have a lot more practice if I want realistic proportion though...or just a lot more practice drawing overall. Funny how when you are a kid its something you want to do all the time but being an adult means that you wait for a nudge to do so.

Well thank you Spoonchallenge for giving me the nudge, and one more week to go :)

I thought I would also include my failed cat drafts too - 

Attempting a Zulian tiger from game graphics is bad

WoW merged with He-man? Hmmm

Final piece for Prompt- CAT

Cartoon cat it is then!

For Day 15 the prompt was Fish:

My offerings for this were

Got to love a Dory!

Ah I love Dory - always reminds me of my mother somehow haha

Dory classics

Day 13

Ok so running late with this one and I have another 2 prompts to catch up with but I think sometimes it's best to do things when you feel like it rather than feeling you have to.

So today I managed to clear a small space on the craft desk in order to spread out my pencils and create..or in this case copy ;)

For beetle I was thinking ladybug or scarab beetle maybe...something that would not creep me out to draw. But whilst looking into some Dürer prints I stumbled across this inspiration:

Albrecht Dürer 

So not as good of course but here is my version :)

This was the drawing with water colour pencils,
which I was going to leave alone as I was scared 

of ruining it with the paint.

However I decided to go for it after all and I am
happy with the outcome. Never used the black before
and the colour was so intense but just right for
this stag beetle.








Onto the next prompt :)

Day 12

Hodgehegs!!!

Ok then the prompt was Hedgehog, but still, I am loving this animal theme.

Went back to the pencils for this one as it's easier to make spikes with them :D

My offering for Day 12:

Fingers crossed for an otter or an owl ... 

Ooo I almost forgot I have a matching sharpener for this sketch too ... well it made me smile anyhow :)

Day 11

I was nearly late for this one as I am growing so used to being a day behind, but a friend reminded me.

Well actually I was wondering why she wanted to draw a platypus .. but then I realised this was actually the Spoonchallenge prompt.

So here is my somewhat evil looking platypus:

Day 10

The prompt for Day 9 was toast.

I was not feeling very inspired yesterday and managed a lackluster doodle or two

 





So I left it overnight and now after watching Vikings (and quite a dramatic and wincing episode) I feel a bit more inspired for this prompt.

My late offering is now:

Rwwwaar

Day 9

The prompt for Day 9 called for Tea.

I started out trying to create the drawing in water colour pencils; which didn't work out as I sketched it on thin paper rather than water colouring paper .. oops.

So then I started a sketch with a comedy style teapot, however after my boyfriend commented on it's spout looking like an elephant I gave up on that idea too. Well I adapted it anyhow..

Here is my finished piece of er tea inspired art

Day 8

Short and sweet today the prompt was arrow. Though I did continue with the week theme of text and gave homage to a meme.

Just incase anyone is confuddled by this

Explanation

Day 7

Posting a little behind however Day 7 prompt was use of Book. I had thought I would try and find out my Alice in Wonderland copy for a big picture but after running out of time it got squished down to a doodle of a book. But I did sneak a rabbit in at least ;)

Er Day 6

So obviously this will look a short month but even creative souls need weekends off! :P

The challenge is running prompts from Monday - Friday however I will stick with the numbering days now.

And this week we have something a bit different a a prompt. Using text in our drawings and todays prompt Lemon just kept bring me back to Meatloaf being stuck in my head.

And just incase this is confusing
Meatloaf's Lemon inspiration

Day 5

The quick late night scribble to catch up :D

Oh the prompt was river..

Day 4 meh

Today the prompt was landscape and I tried but couldn't finish the 'sensible' one

My mind is in a strange place today hence my landscape offering will be:

Day 3

Day three equals tree!

Do you think they did that to make it rhyme? :D

Well just a simple drawing today but a chance to try out my new Sharpies

Day 2 Spoonchallenge

Today the prompt was mountain. I had thought that a nice grey sketch might pass for a rock but the pencils had managed to escape! Guess I will find them at some point soon under a mound of new craft stuff or stuffed down the back of a chair ...its not mess it's creativity, honest.

So water colour pencils to the rescue for today:

Taking up a challenge month

After dipping my toe in the waters of drawing again, I feel I should at least try to make a small effort to get used to trying to draw something...anything really.

Then I stumbled upon Spoonflower who not only sell a fab range of materials but also are hosting a monthly challenge to try and give people like me some inspiration (and an emailed nudge) to create something.

So the plan is to post up a pic throughout the days of August with a theme suggested by the Spoonchallenge. Be it a doodle or an actual picture, I think it is at least a step in the right direction to boost creativity.

If you would like to join me then here is the link:
Spoonchallenge for August

And here is my first offering for the theme of Cactus

Water colour pencils

When I was younger I loved to draw and always wanted to try my hand at painting however it was often a messy affair and consequently replace by 'magic painting' as soon as possible. For anyone that doesn't know this basically means using water to paint over some grey pictures to release the colour. So as a kid I was pretty happy with that but it does mean that now I still feel like a small child when attempting to use grown up paints.

Then I started to notice more craft projects were using water colour pencils and wondered if these would help me get back my art groove, and I am glad to say that I am now a convert!

Well thanks to some great inspiration and tutorial videos found on the net.

The pack of pencils from WHSmith that are currently on sale

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/whsmith-watercolour-colouring-pencils-pack-of-24/product/28497318

Video tutorial from the fantastic Frugal Crafter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91vHOqZYo38&sns=gp

My efforts after watching the video

And beginning to get a little more practice; inspired by Leonardo Pereznieto  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxLUb0PYmPY

Before adding the water

After the water & added a border of blue around the fish

 My thanks go out especially to -

 Bob Davies for showing the basics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRVkG6HhwBE

Lindsay The Frugal Crafter - For an amazing assortment of craft tutorials & an addictive blog <3

http://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com/

Leonardo Pereznieto for sharing videos on his fantastic artwork

https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoPereznieto