52 creative projects : 6/52 - cloud badges

Recently I have been buying handmade brooches from Etsy, including this awesome hedgehog one from Debbie Greenaway and this lovely fox one from Layla Amber.  I have been looking for a new brooch to buy but then thought why not have a go at making one myself.

I have some white air drying clay that I had left over from a Christmas DIY and thought I could do something with that.  I decided to make a series of cloud brooches with different emotions.  I have done something similar to this before but out of felt but unfortunately I don't have any photographs of them as I sold them all.

I rolled out the clay and drew a simple could shape onto card to use as a template.  I cut out 5 cloud shapes, a lightening bolt and a few raindrops out of the clay and then left them to dry for a few hours.

Once dry I used a porcelain painter pen to draw on the eyes and mouths giving each of the clouds a different emotion.  Rather than using paint I decided to use nail varnish for the cheeks and other details to add some colour.  Once the faces were dry I gave them a thin coat of mod podge and stuck brooch pins to the back using a hot melt gun.

52 creative projects: 5/52 - journey map

This project is along a similar theme as the fourth project.  I had bought two of the same frames and was planning on hanging them together.  This time I wanted to make something for Dan.

In 2011 Dan went on a motorbike road trip to Germany with a group of his friends, the Bratwurst Blitz.  Even though he had a broken tumb and couldn't ride his own bike it is one of the most memorable experiences of his life.  I wanted to do something to record his trip other than the customary photo albums (which he has).

So I printed off a map of the UK and Northern Europe and asked him to mark out (roughly) the route that they had taken to get to Germany.

Once he had done that I hand embroidered the route and put it in the frame, along with photographs of him and his friends from the trip.

52 creative projects: 4/52 - favourite places

For this project I have continued with the theme of DIY art for the walls of our house.

For this one I wanted to show some of our favourite places. I spent a while looking for the right kind of frame for this project and ended up buying a couple of picture frames from Ikea (the other is used in another project).  When I knew what size frame I was working with I then found some maps of the places I wanted to use.  Then using the Photoshop custom shape tool I created heart shaped sections of map, printed them out and popped them in the frame using the mount that came with it.

I love this idea and we can always change the images in the frames as we discover new places.

52 creative projects: 3/52 - lyrics canvas

I haven't posted a creative project for a while.  It's not that I haven't been doing them, I've just been waiting for some good weather so I could taken some photos that looked half reasonable.  Luckily today is a lovely day (Spring is on the way) so I've been doing some catching up.

For my third project I wanted to something big and this idea came from something I saw on A Beautiful Mess.  Because we rent at the moment we are limited as to what we can put on the walls and I wanted something to hang on our very blank looking living room wall.

It was really simple to do.  Choose some lyrics that you love, get a canvas suitable for the space you want to fill (I got the biggest I could find), prime the canvas with white acrylic paint and once dry paint the lyrics using black acrylic in your own handwriting.

 This is such a simple idea and easy to do.  I'm really please with how it turned out and Dan likes it too.

illustration friday: storm

This weeks Illustration Friday theme is storm so I thought I'd share this illustration I did a little while ago.  What really happens when it rains?

darwin doodle

Today is pancake day.  But it also happens to be International Darwin Day in honour of Charles Darwin's birthday.  He would of been 204 today!

So to celebrate I did a little doodle...

At first I drew this guy, I know dinosaurs weren't really Darwin's thing but I really like them.  After a little thought and a helpful comment on Twitter from Loubilou I had another go and came up with this...

A Primate Pancake Party to celebrate Mr Darwin's birthday!

Happy Pancake Day (and International Darwin Day) to everyone! *nom nom*

colour inspiration: tea time pastels

I am currently working on a new set of illustrations and wanted to try a new approach to colour.  My work tends to be quite bright, using strong, bold colours, but for this set of illustration I felt that a different approach was needed.  So I have been collecting some colour inspiration.

Lately I have been drawn towards a much more muted palette, dusky pink tones, pale blues and and soft greys.  A simple but pretty combination ready for Spring, which I think will be perfect for what I am working on!

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