January thoughts

Celestine has been wearing her new rainbow jumper a lot lately. She's making an effort to brighten up January. And it's been working. The day after she put it on the sun came out!  

Here she is frolicking about in the woods. She does love to frolic.

At the beginning of January Henry and I went up to Nottingham to visit his Dad and Gran. We took his Gran out for the day for her birthday. We thought she might like to visit the dolls house emporium in Derbyshire so we drove there. (wasn't even my idea honest!) I had never been there either and I really enjoyed going too as I've bought things from their catalogue for years. It was nice to see the actual shop and headquarters and look at all the displays. I bought this little snowman mug for Celestine. She can have it as a Christmas present this year haha. Always the forward planner. Well there's no point in giving her a snowman mug in January is there!   

Actually it was a good thing we went to The Dolls House Emporium shop when we did as we discovered it is closing down- would have never got to see it otherwise. My castle is from there!

After that we drove into Derby and went to a posh department store called Bennetts where we had lunch. We wanted to take her for afternoon tea really but it was the wrong time for afternoon tea. I had a smoked salmon sandwich anyway which was delightful. 

During this time Henry and I had another spate of house hunting. Occasionally we have a house hunting surge before we come up against an obstacle and realise we still can't actually get a mortgage yet for one reason or another. But anyway to cut a long story short, it helped us discover and realise where we DO want to live as soon as we can afford to buy. Which feels really nice. We both think it will be the perfect place. And in the countryside too!

I can not wait until we have our own house. Mainly because I want to put all my pictures up on the walls! And have a studio of my own instead of cramming everything into the bedroom. 

Work wise this month I have been working towards the front cover of my Witch Cat sequel and also doing a lot of work on my dino kids. I have had a new idea of a story for them and I feel very inspired! It's nice to have a bit of space and time to work on them properly and give them all my attention. I had so much work on last year that I think it gave me creative block a little bit. It's hard to be inspired and think up new ideas when you barely have enough time to get all the work you're supposed to get done done.

Also I am practicing drawing 2d pictures as I have been working in 3d for so long. It feels good to be able to just sit down and draw something on a flat piece of paper rather than have to make it all in 3d. I do need a lot of practice though. I feel very nervous about just drawing flat pictures as I haven't done it for so long.

I will upload some stuff I've been doing soon.

My friends Sian and Dave came round the other week. Sian brought her penguin who has been a promised friend for Celestine for quite a while! He took a long time to arrive in the post though. They had a pretend pink tea party together and then compared sledges. Dave brought his little lego man and we had a nice evening eating pizza and chocolate gateau and snapping photographs of our small people/creatures!

Celestine was very pleased to finally meet penguin. (She painted him a tiny mug with a penguin on it for Christmas) I think they will get on! (Below photo taken by Dave)

Now that it's January it suddenly feels like the wedding is much closer. It's now THIS year! Five months away! Before I wasn't thinking too much about it but now I am really excited. Some days I find it hard to concentrate on work becasue I get obsessed with doing wedding stuff. I have a compulsive mind where I can only focus on one thing at a time. I am aware how much stuff there is to be done. I need to gem up a lot of things too which will take ages. I did buy all the bridesmaid shoes this week though and thought of a way to sparkle them up with stars and glitter diy style! I also bought a HUGE armful of glittery roses (fake obviously!) in the post Christmas sale which are all the exact wedding colours. Very pleasing. They are quite literally dazzling. I will be keeping them to put in my future house after the wedding for sure!

This time last year Celestine was sledging! So were Henry and I. There hasn't been any snow this year actually. To make up for it I drew this little sketch of Celestine with her sledge. 

She wasn't very impressed. She said pale blue is not her colour and doesn't suit her at all. She said she wanted a tartan or leapord print coat instead. Much more stylish. So I did another version.

She was right. She does suit tartan much better!

And that's all I can think of! 

Hope you're having a great start to the year...

X

Goodbye 2013!

2013 has been a year of 'getting ready.' I knew it was going to be a year of getting ready and preparing when I went into it and it has been just that! 2014 is the big one you see- it's the year I get married, buy a house (hopefully!) and it's the year my first picture book comes out.  So a lot of this year has been spent working towards these things.  It's been a good one though. And here are the highlights:

I'll start with my castle as that was one of my new years resolutions. I really made good progress on it this year!  I didn't finish it as I hoped I would but I am still pleased with how far it has come along. At the beginning of the year it was still just a bare empty shell.

My other resolution for this year was 'career.'  I think I did alright on that one too.  I was a LOT busier the second half of the year than the first but I knew that was going to happen.  Overall this year I have completed two picture books and various other spreads/sets/covers too.

I spent an intense six weeks during the summer creating the sequel to Witch's Cat.

I also did a lot of work for the Glitterbelle (princess) books this year. Overall I really enjoyed working on these books even if at times it got a little stressful! I'm really proud of what I managed to create for these books. I learned a lot doing it too!

A big highlight of this year was going on holiday to Cornwall with friends. It was just such a wonderful holiday and I just adore the place we went to so much.  

Henry and I went on some nice walks this year... and so did Celestine.

We went to a ball in London with my whole family. I wore a black starry dress which I designed and my mum made for me. Also tried out black hair for the occasion (not such a good idea dying it the morning of the ball but never mind...) Henry had a matching starry bow tie.

I ran two different craft clubs in two different schools this year which was great experience even though the children in one of the clubs were very very naughty.

It was a really sunny summer. I did loads of cycling and we did loads of swimming. Celestine did lots of boating.

I discovered some new books (Catharine Susan) and rediscovered my love for some old ones (Tottie, Mrs Pepperpot) 

I made quite a few little animals out of fimo this year which I was pleased with. They are addictive to make!

Celestine had a birthday and had a little teaparty with her mouse friend Matilda.

I was very pleased with my Tinkerbell pumpkin for Halloween this year.

Henry and I bought a car!

I discovered this ring on ebay and didn't win it but then got it for Christmas! It got me thinking about being a jewellery designer for a while.

I tried to draw one picture of Celestine per week but um didn't manage it! I was pleased with some of the ones I did draw though.

I went to Kensington Dollshouse fair in London with my friend Sian and also up to Miniatura in Birmingham.  And to a couple of other local ones where I found the most amazing miniature books.

We went to Bruges this year and we also went skiing in France with my family.

We went sledging. And so did Celestine.

Also this year: I finally got to ride on my beloved carousel this winter! And we had a really nice Christmas- the first Christmas Henry and I have spent together. I made Henry a crazy massive birthday cake which took all day. We went on a lovely trip to Bekonscot model village with friends which was fun. We did some wedding planning and bought the wedding dress. New characters emerged for a book idea I have in my head- just a personal one for my own fun. I bought an underwater camera. I did a LOT of gemming up of things and collected a lot of swarovski stars and crystals. I discovered Celestines feet fit into playmobil sandals which pleased me. I went down to Bath to help direct the photography for the Glitterbelle picture book. We took a trip to St Albans in the rain. Ate quite a few pasties. Discovered a new way of making the most amazing chocolate icing ever. Decided on and booked our honeymoon. Celestine had a birthday. We visited Bakewell. I discovered Tulsi chai tea and sparkly hair extensions. Want some!

aaaaand that's all I can think of and I think that's enough!

My new years resolution for this year is to READ MORE. I have been awful at reading lately and I don't want to be. I want to read more books! 

I hope you have had a great 2013 and I wish you all the best for 2014!

X

Gold and Gems

This year for Christmas Henry and I gave his mum a clock becasue she needed a new one. We thought she would like a bit of an opulant clock so we searched on ebay and found a good rococo gold one.  When it arrived I re painted it a nice gold as I thought the original gold colour wasn't that nice. Also it had spots all over it to make it look vintage or whatever. But I didn't think the spots looked very good. Why would you put spots all over a lovely gold clock?! 

So yes it got a new coat of gold paint. Then Henry varnished it and then I decorated it with gems! We were both very pleased with it. it is very sparkly. I think it is beautiful and I want one for my own future house now!

Theses photos don't really do it justice. It was a bit of a hard thing to photograph. 

Celestine was extremely jealous of the clock. It is exactly the sort of clock she would like for herself in miniature.  To appease her I made her a gold dress with gems on it.

Here's what the clock looked like before:

and after...

 I much prefer it after- I wish you could just see how sparkly it is in real life!

Celestine was very sad to see it go. But she'll at least get to see it again next time we visit Henry's mum!

Bruges

Just before Christmas Henry and I went on a short trip to Bruges. We went there with his dad who drove us all the way there and back! It was so windy on the way that our ferry was delayed by two hours. When I went out on deck it was SO windy I could barely stand!

When we got to Bruges we met up with Henry's Dad's friend Carole who is Belgian. She was very nice. She took to Celestine and bought a music box for her to use as a bed! 

Bruges was such a nice place. I really liked it. The shops were exciting, the food was delicious, the buildings were pretty, there was chocolate round every corner and there were lots of things to see.  

on the first night we went out for dinner and I ordered scampi. Bruge's idea of scampi is big prawns in garlic butter.  Not quite what I was expecting but definitely much nicer. It was very rich though.  It was a really nice little restaurant. For pudding we had sabayon which was also delicious- made of egg whites and white wine and sugar. I have never had that before but it was certainly worth trying! Also we had frites- of course.

The hotel foyer was very festive. It had a christmas tree in it and a twirly staircase.

We had nice breakfasts there both mornings. There was cheese and salami and fruit and croissants and such. I enjoyed having cheese and sun dried tomato for breakfast as a novelty.

There were some fabulous shops in Bruges selling all manner of christmassy and sparkly and wooden ornaments. We spent a long time in the Christmas shop! I bought a gold glittery rocking horse ornament. There were also a few miniatures in the same shop. I bought some miniature plates and cups and things for Celestine patterned with Father Christmas.

I love all the wooden toys and ornaments there were in Bruges!

^^ Celestine was fascinated by them too ^^

I rather took to these little green cricket/grasshopper (?) figures below in one of the Christmas shops,

Along with buying Christmas decorations we also bought lots and lots of chocolate! Not all for ourselves- we bought a lot of it as presents for people but we did buy a bit for ourselves too. And I can tell you now it's the best chocolate I've ever tasted in my life. I don't think I'll be able to eat normal chocolate again now! Nothing beats belgian chocolate and we were spoilt for choice with chocolate shops round every corner. Luckily Henry's dad has been to Bruges many times before and knew all the best places to get the best chocolate.

Bruges was so pretty at night. It really lives up to it's name of being a fairytale city. We went on a horse and carriage ride round the city at the end of the day when it was getting dark. It was fun to ride in a horse and carriage and to see all the Christmas lights from it.

Bruges is also famous for lace. There were lots of lace shops there. I bought a star and moon bit of lace- not an expensive handmade bit or anything but still really pretty.

We stopped for a cup of tea in a teashop after the horse and carriage ride to warm up. I had lime leaf tea I think.  There were chandeliers in the teashop. I noticed a lot of chandeliers in various places round Bruges actually. My favourite was a big multicoloured one.

Celestine stopped for tea too. She was tired from all her shopping!

There's the multicoloured chandelier (below) I wish I could have one in my future house!

Other things we did in Bruges: venerated the blood of Christ at the Basilica, saw the Madonna with child statue by Michelangelo, had a lovely lunch of parma ham and mozzarella salad, had a lovely dinner of steak and frites. Best steak I've ever tasted! The food really was all amazing in Bruges.

On the way back home we stopped at Carrefour and bought lots of cheese and wine (for Christmas!) and some things for lunch which we then snacked on the entire way back home. It was good we bought so much food actually as our ferry was cancelled on the way home from bad weather. We had to go on the tunnel instead and then sat for two hours in a traffic jam.  At least we did get home though! I know some people didn't.

All in all it was a marvellous trip and I would like to go back to Bruges one day- especially just before Christmas again. It was a lovely festive thing to do.