The Doodle Bug

I absolutely had it today.  I was itching to do something creative, be it crochet, draw or bake!  I decided to have a little play around with my graphics tablet, since I've been so busy I've neglected the poor thing (sorry S!  Promise I'll use it more!)

I play DDO (that's Dungeons and Dragons Online) and I have a buddy on there who I met recently, we'll call him C (I'll have a whole alphabet of chums soon!) Anyway, when I mentioned to him that I loved being creative and drawing, he asked me if I'd draw him and I said yes!  Here is what I came up with for my mmorpg/guitar playing friend!

I'm really thrilled with how this came out!  I've never drawn a guitar before so it was a little tricky but fun to figure out!  I got to try a lot of different techniques too, like smudging chalk for shading.  After my little play today, I've fallen in love with my graphics tablet and drawing all over again (^_^) I'm definitely going to practice more and hone my doodling, it's so relaxing and so much fun to do (^_^) I haven't shown this to him yet but I hope he likes it!

I hope you guys are having a great Saturday and have lots of lovely things planned for the rest of your weekend!

xoxo

♥Ắçĕ♥

Monday Must Haves #15

I've been thinking a lot about art journalling recently (I say thinking about, since I've not had a moment to myself lately!) It's something I've been interested in doing and I've read a lot about it on various websites and blogs!  I'd love to really explore that creative side of me which I've never had the chance to before and see what comes from it.

This week, Monday Must Haves is focussing on art journalling and all the incredible supplies I've been drooling over the last few days!  A girl can dream, right?

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♥  I am both terrified and fascinated by zombies, it's a real love-hate relationship!  This blank journal would be ideal for starting an art journal and it would make me smile every time I looked at it!

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♥ These are the cutest tapes I have ever seen.  Washi tape is so versatile and would completely liven up a journal, cards and scrapbooking, I'd use it all the time!  I've wanted to experiment with washi tape for a long long time but I'm finding it quite tough to find locally.  I think I'm going to have to look abroad to get some (I can always sneakily get it delivered to S in America and get him to send it to me!)

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♥ Being a girl who goes nuts over anything stationary related, I would *love* to add these gorgeous embroidered papers to my stack.  These would come in so handy for art journalling, since they add colour and texture to the pages, which is something I would want from my art journal.

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♥ Speaking of texture, wouldn't these brightly coloured threads be awesome to include in a journal?  One thing I really love about art journalling is how mixed-media it is.  I tend to stick to pen & pencil on paper when I'm creating but this would open up a whole other world for me!

Ooh, I'm all excited now!  I think I'm going to have to spend my day away from work tomorrow just relaxing with a journal and my creative imagination (^_^) I hope you guys are having a wonderful Monday and have a great week ahead!  Mine is full of work (which makes a change *chuckles*) so I'm anticipating being very tired and desperately looking forward to my Saturday off - yay weekend!

xoxo

♥Ắçĕ♥

Monday Must Haves #1

It feels like I have been away forever!  Work has been completely mad, getting used to being in the store, closing up by myself and preparing for a visit from someone in senior management.  Around my work, I've been trying to fit in writing a letter to my spangly new pen pal, making holiday plans with my boy and working on my crafting!  I've sorely neglected my blog because there simply aren't enough hours in the day that I'm not busy doing other things or sleeping *chuckles* What I thought would get me back into the swing of regular blogging would be to start a little weekly post of things that I've seen around and about and am currently lusting after!  So, here we are, starting today with - 

Yay!  I *finally* got a weekend off last week and, after catching up on loads of sleep, ironing and other chores (as well as spending a really awesome Sunday with my Mum for Mother's Day - we rocked it with white wine, dried fruit and nuts to snack on and an incredibly competitive game of Scrabble) I got a little bit of time to head out and pick up a few things for my holiday.  I can't believe it's April already, this time next month I'll be hanging out with my boy in sunny NJ (^_^)

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I *love* jumpsuits at the moment!  I actually bought this one on Saturday and have lived in it since - it's comfy, cool and will look awesome with a cardigan and flats or wedges and a big, light sun hat.

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I'm loving long at the moment and this maxi dress is gorgeous - I'd team it with a light green cardigan for cool summer evenings and some pretty gladiator flats.

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I've wanted a mood ring for ages and this one is *so* pretty.  I've only ever seen plain beads in mood rings before, I love the floral pattern that makes this one so different!

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The nerdy, Super Mario playing girl in me *adores* this.  I don't think I'd ever take this off, it's just freakin' awesome.

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This piece of art has such beautiful colours in it.  I'm not usually a fan of more abstract work but this one really caught my eye.  It's gorgeous, if only I had somewhere to hang it!

I hope everyone is having a great Monday and that their week is getting off to a really good start!  I'm excited that time is rolling by so quickly at the moment because the sooner I get to be with my boy again, the better (^_^) For me, this week is going to be about working hard but also making some more time for myself, to have a little pampering, a little quiet me-time and to get properly cracking on my letter writing and crafting.  Have a good one guys!

Luff

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you're all having a wonderful day, no matter what you're doing (^_^)

My cat Emmy:A little Valentine's lurve:Creative BootCamp inspiring word - 'Flow'

Today feels pretty awesome so far.  I weighed myself and I lost a pound *yay* so now I'm exactly 160.  Awesome sauce!  Only 20 pounds to go before I reach my healthy target weight, woo!

My boy and I set a date for my trip to see him!  I'm flying to America on May 3rd (^_^) I am *so* happy!  We'd been discussing a date for me to go for ages.  March was in the running for a while but things didn't work out quite as planned, so now it's May!  Which means only 2 and a half more months of Skyping and daily e-mails to go before I get to give him the biggest, most epic hug ever.  Yay!

My job has been kind of sucking at giving me hours this month - I work on a zero-hour contract so I only work when there is work available, which can mean days and days of nothing at all - which means I have had lots of time to pursue my creative ideas and talk to my boy but also means less money (-_-) It was pretty tough for me to get this job so I'm sticking with it as best I can for now, but having a job with so little stability is another reason I'm so excited to learn more about developing and running a successful creative business.  I know it won't be easy, it'll take a lot of time and hard work, but I know it will be so incredibly rewarding and such a pleasure to undertake every single day.  I just really hope I have what it takes to make it work!

Edit - Throughout today, I've been thinking (it doesn't happen often so I thought I should document it) about what it is to be called an artist (courtesy of Creative BootCamp) I wouldn't have called myself an artist yesterday.  But now, I think I would.  Here's how my thought process went when I asked myself "What does it mean to be an artist?" :
To me, an artist is a person who focusses their working life on creating their own personal ideas through various mediums and communicates them to the outside world (I'm *hoping* to focus my working life on it!)
An artist is someone who seeks to inspire (I'd be thrilled if I did), to create beauty (yeah, that's a definite), someone who loves what they do (that's me for sure) and who does it *because* they love it (ding ding ding!)
I think I found it difficult to call myself an artist because a) I'm not a painter/musician/traditional artist and b) I always felt that, to be called an artist, someone else had to give you that title, rather than giving it to yourself.  But now, I really do think that even though I'm not a traditional artist and even though no-one has ever called what I do 'art' or me an 'artist', I think that by creating something, by taking ideas and making them a physical reality, by producing something that I hope makes other people think, inspired, happy...I think I can call myself an artist.
What do *you* think it means to be an artist?  Would you call yourself an artist?
Thank you for reading!