Inktober 2018 Round-up - Days 1-10

I began Inktober with the best of intentions to draw everyday, however, as it often does things got busy and I've fallen behind. I will still complete my list of 31 prompts, it will just end up being 'Inkvember' instead of 'Inktober'!!!
Here's a round-up of my drawings for days 1-10...

Inktober 2017 Roundup

I took part in Inktober again this year - a month long drawing challenge where thousands of artists (both amateur and professional) from around the world make a drawing in ink every day of October and post their pictures online.  Last year I joined in but didn't quite manage to do a drawing every day, so this year my aim was to just do something, even if it was small, every day - and I did it!
I kept my drawings small this year, so it was more realistic to be able to finish them. Mostly I was drawing in the evening and I have to admit there were a few nights when I was feeling tired and not particularly wanting to pick up my sketchbook, but I didn't want to miss a day.
I think it's a great challenge to take part in and I'm sure my drawing has benefited, it's also nice to draw just for fun on a variety of subjects.  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you will have already seen my drawings, but I wanted to share just a few of my favourites here too.  Which ones are your favourites?

Inktober 2016 Round-up of my Drawings

This year I decided to join in with Inktober for the first time - Inktober is a drawing challenge started by Jake Parker to make one ink drawing a day for the whole month of October. (You can find out more about Inktober and see Jake's fantastic artwork on his website).
I wanted to join in with the challenge to practise my own ink drawing and to have some fun drawing different subjects. It was also great to see what other people were drawing each day.  I started the challenge with good intentions to draw every day, however, I did fall behind and ended up continuing the challenge into November. I have been posting pictures of my drawings onto my facebook and instagram pages but thought it would also be good to share a round-up of them all here...

(Days 1 - 9)

5 Things to Love About Autumn

Autumn isn't my favourite time of year, as soon as summer starts to fade and the days begin to get shorter, colder and wetter I start to feel a bit sad at the thought of next spring being so far away. However, rather than dwelling on the negative, I thought I would come up with a list of things to love about Autumn. I actually do really love having 4 different seasons with all the changes in weather that brings.  I think I would get bored pretty quickly if everyday was the same!

Positive Thinking - You Can't Use Up Creativity

Does anyone else worry that they will run out of ideas?  When I think about it, that's a silly fear really - just think of how much creativity is in the world and how much inspiration, the number of paintings in galleries or craft projects on Pinterest!  As creative people, we may have times when we don't feel inspired, or motivated to be creative but trying something new can often be the spark to get things going again.  Since I usually have a long list of things I want to make, paint or draw, I should probably trust in this more!...

You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have. - Maya Angelou

Stop Worrying About What Could Go Wrong...

I thought it was time I did another 'Positive Thinking' post (the last was back in February - how time flies!).

If you're like me you'll easily come up with a million things that could go wrong; "but what if....".  It might happen, or it might not.  Worrying doesn't really help but it can sometimes be hard to stop.  I try to remind myself of these words, and focus on something more positive.

Stop worrying about what could go wrong and focus on what could go right.

Learn how to make your own sketchbooks

I have been making my own little books and sketchbooks for years and there are so many different techniques to try.  Once you learn the basics you will find that you can use your creativity to make each book totally unique!  Back in January I shared a tutorial on how to make really simple matchbook notebooks and today I will show you how to make something a little more complicated, using a stitched technique - but once you get the hang of it you can use it to make your own sketchbooks, notebooks, journals and more!

You will need:
paper for the pages (I used 140gsm cartridge paper)
strong thread (I used Gutermann's extra strong polyester thread)
pencil
ruler
pin
needle
craft knife and cutting mat
greyboard
linen / cotton fabric (for the spine)
decorative paper (for the cover - I used wallpaper)
PVA glue

1. Start by cutting your paper for the pages.  Cut all pages to the same size.  My paper was approximately A3 in size - so the finished sketchbook will be A4.  But you can make books any size you like!

2. Split your paper into sections - I used 4 sheets per section, with 5 sections in total.  Fold each section in half.

3. Take 1 section, open it out and mark holes, for sewing along the centre fold using a pencil. Repeat this for all sections.  You need an even number of holes, spaced the same for each section - so measure carefully!  These are the measurements I used for my pencil marks: measure from one end and mark at 1 inch, 2 inches, 3.1 inches, 4.1 inches and 5.2 inches. Repeat, measuring from the other side - so there are 10 dots.

4. Use a sharp pin (or an awl if you have one) to make holes through all sheets in each section, through your pencil dots.

5. Tie a knot in your thread and start sewing from the outside of the section to the inside, through your first hole.

6. See image 6 for my numbered diagram of the holes - sew in this pattern: up hole 2, down hole 3, up hole 4, down hole 5, up hole 6, down hole 7, up hole 8, down hole 9 and up hole 10.

Tip! Remember to keep pulling your thread tight as you go along, for a neat finish.

7. Now start to join the second section to the first.  Go down hole 10 in the second section, up hole 9, down hole 9 of the first section, up hole 10, down hole 10 of the second section, up hole 9 then down hole 8 of the second section.

8. Continue up hole 7 in the second section, down hole 7 in the first section, up hole 8, down hole 8 in the second section, up hole 7 and down hole 6 in the second section. Continue in this pattern until the first two sections are joined together.

9. It should now look like picture 9.  It might sound complicated, but it's easier once you try it for yourself and see the pattern working.

10. Repeat the same stitching pattern to join section 3 to section 2 and so on, until all sections are joined together. Tie a knot in the thread to finish off.

11. The spine of your book should look like image no.11.  Make sure that any time you need to start or finish the thread, the knot is on the outside.

12. Now you're ready to make the cover.  Start by trimming the edge of your book so the pages are even.

13. Cut 2 pieces of greyboard, slightly larger than the size of your book.

14. Cover the greyboard in your decorative paper (I used some bargain wallpaper I bought for £1 ages ago).  Also trim a piece of fabric for the spine, slightly longer than the book and wider than the spine.  I used a scrap of cream fabric which I think is linen and works well for this.

15. Fold over the ends of the fabric, so it is now the same length as your book and the raw edges will be hidden inside.  Glue the fabric along one side at a time.  I don't glue the actual spine, but along the  edge of the page close to the spine.  Leave to dry.

16. Glue the covers to the front and back pages.  Tip! - Leave to dry under a heavy book or board.

Finally I decorated the front cover of my book with some pretty tape...

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and feel inspired to try making some books yourself.  If you share your makes on social media, use the hashtag #myhfcmakes - I would love to see them! (You can find me on Instagram and Facebook)

Happy Leap Day!

I couldn't let the day pass without posting something on my blog, so here's a quick drawing from my sketchbook - Happy Leap Day!

Find What Feels Good

Yoga With Adriene and 'Find What Feels Good' are the inspiration for this post, which is part of my new series on positive thinking.  I love these words as they not only encourage you to do things that make you feel good, but also to look for the good in a situation that maybe doesn't seem good at first.  Not that I am able to do this all the time, but it is something to aspire to.  I had fun playing with watercolours writing these words in my sketchbook too. :)

This week I completed Yoga Camp with Yoga With Adriene (an online series of yoga videos).  I managed to keep up with it everyday for 30 days and even completed the longer 40-50 minute sessions!  I say this with a sense of achievement because although I did her 30 days of yoga last year it took me longer than 30 days and I have struggled to keep up with some of the longer sessions before.  I'm not a sporty person, but after discovering Yoga With Adriene I have found a form of exercise that I actually enjoy and want to do!  I can follow the online videos at my own pace, in the comfort of my home.

Adriene encourages you to 'Find What Feels Good' and this is what I love about her videos!  I enjoy her humour and positive approach to teaching.  She guides you through the yoga poses and suggests alternatives if you're finding something difficult, encourages you to keep trying and it's not about being able to make the perfect pose - it's all about the process, how you feel.  Since doing yoga I have noticed that I am getting more flexible and stronger, I notice that certain poses are not so hard as they used to be, and it does feel good!  I still have plenty to practise and work on (which is good too); pigeon, side plank, seated forward fold and crow are some of the things I would like to improve.

30 days of Yoga Camp was also about using positive mantras, each day had a different mantra and I found these to be really beneficial too.  Yoga isn't just about getting yourself physically fit, but taking care of your mind too.  I do find that yoga can help with anxiety; the exercise, moving with my breath, practising the different breathing techniques and positive mantras - these are all things I can take and use off the yoga mat as well.

I liked how setting myself the challenge of Yoga Camp kept me motivated with doing yoga everyday and I want to keep that up.  I've been doing some of the videos from Adriene's Post Yoga Camp Playlist and I think I will do the original 30 Days of Yoga (from last year) again.

Do you do yoga?  What are your experiences of it?  If you're interested in having a go I can definitely recommend Yoga With Adriene! 

Namaste!

Positive Thinking

The subject of this post is something which I have been thinking about for some time, but it has taken me a while to find the right words and work out exactly what I want to say.  I started this blog mainly for my work; to share things I have designed and made, so I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about other things and mention something that I've not talked about with many people in 'real life' let alone online. But I want to try, because I read other people's blogs and find it helpful finding people with similar experiences and I don't want it to be a big secret, something to feel ashamed of.

I suffer from anxiety.  Some days it's not too bad and others it can affect me a lot.  Everyone experiences anxious thoughts at some time, but if you have experience of anxiety and panic attacks you will understand what I mean, how unpleasant it is and how much it can affect your life; the things you do.

Maybe it seems silly, that it's taken me such a long time, and a fair bit of worrying, to actually not say very much.

I wanted to mention it though, because it was the motivation for an idea of a new series I want to do on positive thinking.  Whether you have trouble with negative thoughts or not, positive words and phrases can be really beneficial.  So I'm starting a new series of hand drawn, positive words, phrases and quotes as a way to both help myself and as a way of sharing positivity with you.  It will also be an opportunity for me to practise my hand lettering.

I already have some ideas of words and phrases I would like to illustrate, but I would also love to hear what positive words, quotes etc you like.  Leave a comment below and I might illustrate them in the coming weeks.

P.S.  I couldn't help having the Morecambe and Wise song 'Positive Thinking' in my head while I drew this :)

Rainbow Colours and Free Printable Planner Page!

I can't get enough of bright, rainbow colours at the moment!  They are such happy colours, especially good to see on a dull winter's day.  I've been having fun experimenting with colour this week, working on some new designs which I can't share with you yet.  However, I have also been using bright colours on some printable planner pages which I can show you!

I started off designing some printable planner pages to use myself and decided to make some to list in my Etsy shop too.  I have added printable monthly, weekly and daily pages as well as a 'things to do' list and notes page.  They all feature a rainbow watercolour spots design and come as A4 sized sheets.  I am using them for both my own personal goals / reminders of things to do as well as for my business.  I wanted to keep the designs quite simple and undated so that they can be used year after year and for a range of purposes - such as home management, meal planning, small business, fitness planning and more.
This is what the monthly planner pages look like...

And these are the weekly, daily, 'things to do' and notes pages...

All of my printable planner pages can be found in my Etsy shop here.

As a special offer to my blog readers I am making the year planner page for 2016 (which is also in my printable planner set) available as a FREE printable!

The year planner has a box for each month (no dates included) - which you can use to write important dates, goals etc.  You could print it to go in your planner or pin it on the wall.
It comes as an A4 sized page (29.7 x 21cm / 11.7 x 8.3 inches) - and can be printed on other sized papers, such as Letter, by using the print size 'to fit' setting on your printer.
You can download the PDF file here - you can view and print the planner page with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
I hope that you like it!

*** Please note: this free printable is for personal use only! You can print it as many times as you like for your own use, but you may not redistribute it in any form (digitally or printed) or modify or claim it as your own.  If you would like to share the planner page on your blog, Pinterest etc please include a link back to this page (not the download link). Thank you!

Hello 2016!

I hope that it's not too late to wish you a Happy New Year!  I took a couple of weeks off over Christmas/ new year so it was back to work on Monday.  The last few days were spent catching up with paperwork and writing out my plans for the year before returning to my blog.

The new year is a good time to freshen things up and it got me thinking to all the things I want to do, for work and my own personal goals.  I've not exactly set myself new year's resolutions; my plans are more like a continuation of building on things I started last year plus a few new things I want to try. It's easy to be hard on yourself if plans/ goals didn't go as you wanted, so instead I'm trying to look at things more positively and see things I haven't achieved yet as goals to still be worked on, and the new year is just giving me motivation to get going! (I think this might also have something to my sister, who is a Primary School teacher, talking about the 'growth mindset' she teaches to her children; encouraging them, when they find something difficult, to say they can't do it yet!)

I also like to reorganise things (and make them look prettier!) so was looking forward to the start of the new year to tidy up, change things around in my art room (and house), put up new calendars and use new planners.  I had this pretty diary for Christmas to use for work - I love the colours on the cover...

I seem to have been on a mission to make everything more colourful this week!  I designed new planner pages (calendars, to do lists and business records sheets) all in a rainbow of bright colours. So far they are just for me to use, but I will be adding printable planners as a new product line to my Etsy shop soon.

Before I get going with all the new things for this year I thought I would just take a quick look back at 2015...

Last year I set myself a goal of blogging at least once a week, well I managed 49 posts in 2015 so I wasn't far off that goal and it was more than I managed in 2014.  This year I hope to meet, and exceed, the goal of 1 post a week.

I took a look back at the top 5 popular posts of 2015...

5 Printable Advent Calendar Village

In this post I shared how to make the colour in printable advent calendar village I designed.  This will be coming out again next Christmas!

4 How to make 'Celebrate' card

This was one of the first things I made using my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine.  I used the machine to cut some of my designs on my Christmas cards and I plan to use it in more tutorials this year.

3 May Review

This was the surprise entry to my top 5 posts - I didn't think any of my monthly reviews would be in the top 5! In this post I took a look back at some of the things I did in May, like new designs I had been working on and photos from my garden.  I haven't decided if I will continue with the monthly reviews this year, instead I may include the things I covered in the reviews in shorter, separate posts spread throughout the month.

2 How to Make: Dragon Cut and Sew Plushie

One of my proudest moments of 2015 was seeing the Dragon Cut and Sew Plushie design I made rank in the top 10 of Spoonflower's contest and in this post I shared a tutorial on how to make him.  I was also thrilled to recently see that 2 of my dragons had been made up and sent to Spoonflower for their Softies for Mirabel handmade toy drive.  I hope that the children who receive the toys will love playing with them!

1 DIY Upcycled Jar Flower Vase

There were several other posts which I particularly enjoyed working on in 2015; like the Halloween Cookies and 3 DIY Picnic Ideas, but this one for painting and upcycling jars was the most popular post of 2015.  I hope to be sharing many more craft projects and tutorials in 2016!

September Review

The weather has been so good recently it's hard to believe it's Autumn and October already!  Here's a look back at some of the things I did in September...

New Designs...

I had fun coming up with new designs for Halloween printables, and released 3 new products in my shop (scrapbook papers, digital stamps and an invitation design).  Here's a peek at my sketchbook...

The other new designs I worked on in September are still a secret so I can't show you these yet - sorry!

Spoonflower...

I entered 2 Spoonflower contests - 90s Nostalgia and Ditsy Lizards.  Thank you if you voted for my Ditsy Lizards design - it came 72nd out of 240 entries (with 137 votes). Spoonflower always have such varied themes for their contests which are great for inspiring new designs.  I would have liked to have had a go at their State Fair theme, but unfortunately didn't have time to enter that week.  I have added drawing fair ground rides to my to do list though (which is getting very long!).

When Spoonflower recently had a free swatch day I sent for a sample of my Botanical Sketchbook design.  It's printed on their new Poly Crepe De Chine fabric; a sheer, light weight fabric featuring vibrant colours and a delicate drape.  This sample shows just a small part of my design, which is now available to buy on a variety of fabrics as well as gift wrap and wallpaper from my shop.

Blog...

I shared a tutorial on how to make a Halloween card with my new printables last week, and I'm preparing more Halloween ideas to go on the blog in the next few weeks.  I'm also preparing a new sewing tutorial, here's a sneak peek...

Baking...

It was National Cupcake Week (14-20th September), which was the perfect excuse (as if any was really needed!) to bake and eat cupcakes with my sister.  We went for rainbow coloured cake mixture, decorated with butter cream and sweets for a sugar overload.  Generally, I do like to cook / bake healthier things though!

Social Media...

I'm still working on my goal of learning to use social media better.  I'm planning on joining Instagram soon, something I've been thinking about doing for a while.  As I'm more of a visual person I think it might work well for me. Apparently Instagram is the fastest growing social media network, which is encouraging and it was interesting to see BBC Breakfast talking to the co-founder of Instagram this week too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34399089  Do you use Instagram?  Which social media network is your favourite to use?

Before joining Instagram I want to get a few other jobs ticked off my list first, like updating my website which I'm in the process of now.
I've found lots of inspiring articles on Pinterest on using social media, business tips and ideas on how to be more productive (which is particularly useful!).  See my Pinterest board on business, blogging and social media tips here:

Follow Hazel's board Tips - Business, Blogging & Photography on Pinterest.

I'll finish off September's review with some photos I took of the "supermoon" and lunar eclipse.  Since the event is rare, and won't occur again until 2033, I thought I would make the effort to wake up in the early hours of Monday morning (around 3am) to watch it.  We were fortunate to have mostly clear skies so had a good view of the Earth's shadow crossing the moon and the moon turning red/orange...

I was only using a compact digital camera, so didn't get the best photos, although I did manage to get some better shots of the moon the following night...

August Review

Another month has flown by and it’s September already!  That means it’s time for a look back at some of the things I did in August…

New designs, Spoonflower…

I don’t like to waste things so when I realised that I was running out of space in my current sketchbooks I decided to make myself a new one from spare pages left at the back of some old uni sketchbooks.  I used to like making books but hadn’t done any in a long time, it got me thinking about putting together some different book making tutorials – I’ve added that to my ‘to do’ list!

I used my newly made sketchbook for drawing ideas for Spoonflower’s annual Fabric8 contest.  This year the theme is Botanical Sketchbook, so I took inspiration from my garden and drew some of the plants, flowers and vegetables which I grow…

Here’s my final fabric design… Unfortunately it was not picked to be one of the 100 semi-finalists (there were close to 800 entries!), but I will still be making it available to buy from my Spoonflower shop in the near future.  (I took advantage of Spoonflower’s Free Swatch Day and ordered a sample.)  I am also planning to create some coordinating designs to form a small collection around this one.  The 8 finalists in the Fabric8 contest have now been chosen.  They are all lovely designs, you can see them here.

In August I also entered Spoonflower’s ‘Butterfly Coordinates’ contest – thank you if you voted for my design!  My entry came 78th (with 109 votes) out of 274 designs – you can see all of the other entries here.

Baking…

I baked a banana, blueberry and walnut cake which I shared the recipe for last week.  You can see more recipes I have shared on my blog in the past here.

Knitting

When I was recovering from being unwell in July I started knitting a cardigan.  After a bit of a false start (when I got in a muddle having dropped some stitches only a few rows in and had to start again) it’s going well now.  I’m knitting with Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK which is a gorgeous soft yarn.  I would usually avoid wool because I’ve found it irritates my skin, but this yarn is so soft – hopefully it will feel good to wear too!

I’m using this Drops pattern, which I’ve pinned to my Knit and Crochet board on Pinterest along with other knitting and crochet patterns and tutorials…

Follow Hazel's board Knit and Crochet on Pinterest.

Other things…

A few months ago I wrote about trialling Adobe Illustrator and wanting to try Serif’s DrawPlus X8, well I now have the full DrawPlus program and have been really happy with it so far.  Learning how to do new things is so exciting and satisfying too – there were a few things I wanted to be able to do with DrawPlus but I wasn’t sure if I could.  It doesn’t work in exactly the same way as Illustrator but I have worked out how to convert my scanned line drawings to vectors and draw scalloped circles!

Well, I think that’s about it for August!  August was a bit of a disrupted month work wise, but I'm starting to get back into a more normal routine again now it's September, so hopefully you'll soon be seeing more new designs and craft projects / tutorials I have planned to do on my blog.

May Review

Another month has passed – it’s 2nd June today which means summer (meteorologically speaking) has officially begun in the UK!  It doesn't feel particularly summery here though - very windy, overcast and not that warm - I'm hoping it will be improving later in the week!  The start of the new month means that it is time for a little look back at some of the things I did in May…

New designs / illustrations…

I’ve been feeling quite inspired lately with ideas for new designs – I just need the time to be able to work on them all!  I did manage to add several new designs to my shop in May, filling out some of my existing collections – like the Elephant baby shower designs…

This is the ‘mint’ collection, it is also available in blue and pink.  The set is available as instant download and includes ‘hello baby’ bunting, cupcake toppers, thank you cards, wishes for baby card and baby predictions card.

I also added some new Sunflower themed designs – an invitation and set of cupcake toppers which can be customised with your choice of messages.

As the end of the school year approaches I thought I would add some thank you teacher printables too – so made these Sunflower (Thank you for helping me grow!) and Apple (Thank you for being a great teacher!) designs.  They can be customised with a personalised message too…


My London Calling range of designs continues to be popular in my shop, so I decided to add a couple of new items; a sheet of printable journal cards and a sheet of printable labels…

This printable box design was also new and features my illustrations of budgies…


Spoonflower fabric...

I entered one Spoonflower contest in May, with a Mermaids theme.  Initially when the results were announced Spoonflower only showed the designs in the top ten, but I noticed today that they changed their mind after several complaints and have now posted a list with all the entries.  I suppose that it doesn’t really matter where my entries come in their contests, but it is interesting to see how well they do.  My mermaids design came 158th out of 365 entries.  By the way, I realised that I hadn’t mentioned about the results for the previous Spoonflower contest I entered (Flowers for Mom border print).  My design came 52nd (out of 315 entries) with 159 votes.   Thank you if you voted for my designs! :)

Having created new designs, particularly for contests, over the last few months I had built up enough of a collection to send for a new swatch sampler from Spoonflower.  The samples arrived last week!  I’m always a little uncertain as to how my designs will look printed on the fabric – how the colours will look etc.  I was really pleased with how this batch of designs turned out on the Kona cotton!

The Steampunk Valentine design was already available to buy from my shop, but all of the other designs are new in my Spoonflower shop – like this sheep design…

You can buy them on a variety of types of fabric as well as wallpaper and gift wrap. 

When I test out new designs from Spoonflower I usually order a swatch sampler of 15 designs, so they arrive on one large piece of fabric.  I feel like I can’t spoil the fabric by cutting it up, but the large sheets are a bit unwieldy, so I decided it was about time I made a start on doing something different with them.  I’m working my way through my swatches, cutting them out with pinking shears, I will then organise them into collection by theme and make them into little books – much easier for flicking through myself and for showing other people.  I’ll post some pictures when I’ve finished sorting them out!

Blog DIY Tutorials

Last month I introduced my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and posted a couple of diy tutorials; making a Dragon from my cut & sew fabric and a birthday card inspired by citrus colours.  I am currently working on some very exciting new DIY projects and I will be sharing the tutorials later this month!

Garden

May is a very pretty month for our garden – although it is a bit overgrown the flower border has been filled with pink and purple aquilegia, corn flowers and forget-me-nots which give it a very cottage garden feel!  The laburnum is lovely too – full of bright yellow flowers which the bees seem to love as well.

My seedlings are growing well – there will be lots of work over the next few weeks to get everything planted out and all the smaller seedlings potted up too.  I’ve been experimenting with some tips I came across for growing different plants, controlling weeds and pests like aphids.  I think I may do a few garden posts in the future sharing the tips I’ve found that work – hopefully they might be interesting / useful to people.

I picked the first strawberries from this year’s crop in our greenhouse – they smell so lovely, I wish I could bottle scents for storing memories as well as taking photos…

Other things…

I’m still trialling Adobe’s Illustrator program, as I talked about in this post last week – 10 days left of the free trial for me to play!  I still want to try Serif’s Drawplus too.

I had the urge to do more drawing last week – actually it was after seeing some amazing Caneletto paintings on The One Show last week.  So I got my sketchbook out in the evening and did some drawing from pictures I found on Pinterest.  They’re just for fun but it did make me think about working on some new illustrations and maybe going back to work on some new Hexley things again…

I will end May’s review by leaving you with one of my Pinterest boards – something for Budgie lovers!

Follow Hazel's board Budgies on Pinterest.