Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday is a weekly drawing challenge and every Friday a new topic is posted and you have one week to come up with your own unique interpretation and share it on their home page.

I've been following Illustration Friday on Facebook and their website for a while now and enjoy seeing how creative everyone is. I love seeing all the different interpretations of a topic and the different mediums and styles that are used. I have never joined in, until now (feeling brave and throwing some of my creativity out there lol)

This weeks topic is Metropolis

This topic instantly made me remember an abstract I had created in Visual Communication class in college. (so hope this is allowed as I never created it this week)

A new arrival

Since Buzz sadly went to Rainbow Bridge I was adamant I would never get another dog, I couldn't go through the heart ache of losing another. I still have wee Shug and we have some great times, but I could see wee Shug was missing having a doggy companion and I felt that I was ready too for another dog. The decision was made to rehome a dog, but we wanted one as young as possible, with no real preference to breed but a border collie would be great. We looked at a couple of rehoming websites but there on the SSPCA website was a young border collie that had not had the best start in life.

To cut a long story short we we were given the the opportunity to rehome this pup if Shug got along with him and we could show him how to be a playful fun loving good behaving pup. So for the last week Shug and I have been going to see him, walk him, play with him and help to start teaching him right from wrong. He's still young and has a lot to learn, but with my guidance and wee Shug as a pal he will hopefully turn out to be as well behaved as Buzz was and how Shug is now.

Today he came home with us, so Shug would like to introduce you to his new pal Sam (whose name might change). I'm sure we are all going to have a lot of fun and good walks together :)

Shug and Sam playing in the garden

Beautiful proud wee Shug

My Amaryllis has flowered

I love how an amaryllis grows so quickly and I love it even more when the large buds burst open to reveal the beautiful flowers. this year my flowers are white and delicately edged in pink.

Did you grow an amaryllis this year?

Vintage wallpaper discovered

I live in a croft on a Scottish Estate in Aberdeenshire, not sure how old the building is, but I have done some research and so far found out it is at least 151 years old. The part of the house that is my kitchen, originally wasn't even attached to the main part of the house, I think it was an outbuilding. There was also a lot more out buildings than we have now, with one of them being a Smithy's which was situated in the corner of our garden. I'm curious to find out more so will be doing some more research.

We've been having some problems with damp on the back wall of the croft, even though there is a path and a small retaining wall as the ground is higher than the building. The Estate have put in a field drain along the garden but it is debatable as to if this is working how it should. The joiner has also been and taken down the back walls to the bare stone and replaced them with plasterboard and insulation.... yay insulation.

The downstairs bedroom had old lath and plaster, which really was in need of being replaced. I found it interesting to see the bare stone walls, I wonder if this is how the first tenants saw the inside of the croft or did it have lath and plaster walls?

The other room to be done was my art/computer/dining room (which was recently decorated!). In this room the joiner found that it was plasterboard on the wall and shouted me through to see the old wallpaper that was on the wall underneath. This stone wall had been plastered straight onto the stone and then wallpapered. 

Here's a couple of close up images of the wallpaper. I wonder how old it is?  Who put it up?  Who lived in the croft at the time? The colours are quite bright, but faded in some places. I love it. The joiner (whose name is Steve) managed to peel a couple of bits off for me and I think I might frame them and hang them back on the wall after it's been decorated.

FACT: plasterboard didn't start to be used until the1930's, but this doesn't mean that the paper is earlier than the 1930's because things don't happen fast around here and the plasterboard might not have been put up till 1960's or 70's.

When I took the close up photos I noticed that there was another layer of paper starting to peel away from the pieces I had. I'm not liking the wallpaper as much, but I would love to know the answers to all my previous questions about this paper too.

We now have two rooms with lovely insulated plasterboard walls which can now get decorated. I'm especially pleased the bedroom is at last going to get done because once it's finished we'll have somewhere for visitors to stay.

I'm happy about my new walls and the Estate are going to be looking into where the water is coming from that causes the damp and how they are going to deal with it, so hopefully it is dealt with fairly soon.

If anyone has any idea about the date of the wallpaper please leave a comment and I am going to do some more research as I'd like to find out as much as I can about the croft.

Art Abandonment

I belong to a group called Art Abandonment, where artists from all over the world abandon art or something they have created for a lucky unsuspecting person to find. I have not abandoned anything for a while but last night I had the chance to abandon  2 of my digital art images in a local primary school. I placed them near 2 classes that are doing Space as a project. Children and teachers are on holiday at the moment, but teachers go back 2 days before the children. I wonder if a teacher will find them or a child when school starts again.

They have a label saying "Pick me up, Take me I'm yours, Hurry before someone else does" and also a label explaining what Art Abondonment is all about. There is also an email address if the finder wishes to send a message. To find out more pop over to Facebook, Art Abandonment and Art Abandonment UK.

Could Spring be on its way?

The snowdrops seem to think so, as they are all making an appearance.

Tutorials

From time to time I will add tutorials to this page for various crafts. I will be creating a video soon to show how easy it is to create a string of bunting from one of my Instant Download Bunting sheets in my shop.
To get this page started here is a video I created quite a while ago showing how to create a Never Ending Card

WOW! really cannot believe that it has been so long since I last blogged....

I have been busy though, I finished college last year and now have a HND in Visual Communication. I was offered a place at Abertay University to do a Degree, but unfortunately had to turn this down as I was moving back to Aberdeenshire. I am still hoping to gain my Degree somehow.

I'm loving living back in the countryside, but not loving the snow that we have at the moment. I have been busy designing papers that can be instantly downloaded from my shop, I have also added a few more instant download bunting designs. I have lots of ideas bouncing about in my head so there will be more being added to my shop soon. The latest  items to be added to my shop were Little Pastel Paper Packs, these are 12" x 12" papers which are ideal for digi scrapping, but can also be printed off on A4 paper to be used in scrapbooking, card making and other papercrafts. Pop over to my shop for a wee peek

I am aiming to be a better blogger and blog at least once a week, not always about my shop though, as I live in a beautiful part of Scotland and I love to take my camera out so be prepared for some photos of what I see when I'm out and about. Also the odd post about any other creative work I do, which can be graphic design, mixed media art, art journalling and cooking.

until the next blog entry.....bye for now :)