29 Mar 2013

The Shard, Ally Pally and forgetting to concentrate...

Well, this weekend, I am doing a bit of work on my London landmarks "collection". I haven't managed to get very far with it up til now. I'm going to France next weekend and I'm hoping there'll be lots of time to get my ideas down on paper seeing as there will be a whole collection of Kordels available to palm my children off on. I just have to get the ideas in my head first....
 
If you've had a look at my Facebook page then you may have seen the photos I put up a while back of my first London papercut. The idea wasn't really that difficult to come up with. For my Dad's birthday, my brother, sister and I bought him a ticket to go to the top of the Shard. So, I thought I would do a cutting of the Shard! I already had a photo of the view from when we last went into London, I just had to draw it and cut it.





My next London landmark in progress is Alexandra Palace. If you're not familiar with it (what, you mean you've never been to the Knitting and Stitching show / Darts / the Bonfire night German Beer Festival?!), it is quite a dominant landmark around the part of North London where I used to live. I remember a particularly scary New Year's Eve there about 5 or 6 years ago when we walked up to the top of the hill to try and see all the midnight fireworks from across London, but were instead treated to a group of drunk Polish blokes setting off rockets from their hands about two feet infront of us!!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlexandraPalace.jpg


It's quite spectacular. Anyway, earlier this week I started sketching out my Ally Pally creation. I spent ages on it! Here it is;


I had a great time getting all the details right, finding loads of photos of this lovely building and the beautiful window. However, I had sudden thought about an hour in. How on EARTH was I going to cut this out?! I'd been merrily scribbling away as if I'd been drawing for drawing's sake, forgetting that I need to cut the thing out. I usually try and pretend that my pencil is a knife so that I don't cut the bits I'm not meant to. Not this time for some reason, so I'll have to go over it again. Good job it's a long weekend......
 
Speaking of which, Happy Easter everyone!

25 Mar 2013

The scalpel is back in action....

To prove that I haven't completely forgotten the reason why I started this blog, I thought I would show you some of my latest handiwork.
 
I recently had a commission from a very proud Aunty to celebrate the arrival of her little niece Jasmine. As it has now safely arrived with its new owner, I am allowed to show some photos!
 
As usual I started with some scribbles in my sketchbook. Unusually, I managed to escape the house on my own for a couple of hours and did most of the drawing while sipping cappuccino in a bookshop cafe. As it was a Saturday afternoon, it got rather busy so I ended up sharing a table with a lady who looked over my shoulder, made appreciative noises and asked me if I was an illustrator! I WISH I was that good at drawing. I also wish that I hadn't gone out without my business cards that day...... Oh well.

 
 

 
 
I realised as I was about to put the finished article in the post that I hadn't taken a single photo of my work in progress. Not one! I usually enjoy snapping away so I can look back on what I've done, so I guess I must have been so engrossed in my work that my camera didn't even cross my mind. So, I'm sorry for the rather hasty slightly out of focus shots....

 
Here is the finished article. I hope Jasmine's mummy and daddy like it enough for it to go in her bedroom :-)

19 Mar 2013

A Breath of Fresh Air

Apologies for the long gap between posts. Real life has taken over unfortunately, leaving little time for the internet, or anything creative, so I just thought I'd let my poor little blog know that it hasn't been totally forgotten and share some photos.

The grey sky has been reflecting my mood of late, so today I was rather relieved to see a bit of sunshine for the first time in days! I've been rather under the weather and my poor children have been cooped up indoors since before the weekend, so with the big one at nursery, I wrapped up the little one, shoved him in the buggy and took a lovely stroll.

I took a few photos on the way, as I rarely go for a walk just for the sake of it, and am usually late for something when I take the path I did today. This is one of my favourite views of St Albans. You can just about make out the Abbey sitting above the allotments.

 
The next few photos are probably going to be stored away in my head to give me some ideas for a future papercutting project. I don't know if my mind is now starting to think in silhouettes, but those shadows made me want to get my knife out!
 
 
 


 
Despite the lovely sunshine this afternoon, I have just heard that there might be more sleet and snow coming our way tomorrow. Boo hiss........



1 Mar 2013

Raindrops on Roses

No, I'm not about to burst into a Julie Andrews number (though the amount of Mary Poppins we've been watching in this house lately, it's not that a ridiculous situation to find myself in), I want to tell you all about the beautiful shop that is stocking a few of my cards.

 
Raindrops on Roses is a shop like I've never come across before. I don't know if they exist all over the place and I've never noticed, but believe it or not, it is a charity shop. Looking at the stylish decor, and high end (and brand new!) products, you would never guess, but all of the profits go to Herts against Cancer. Now, I do love a good traditional charity shop (I had no choice really, as until about a year ago, my Mum was the manager of the Grove House Hospice shop in Harpenden. I am not sure my Dad owns any clothes that aren't second hand.....) but I think this is such a good idea. Many of the products on sale come from local designers/makers too, so not only are you supporting a good cause when you buy from them, but supporting the local economy. Win win!

 I took a few snaps when I went in there this week to share with you. There is a HUGE range for kids - clothes, toys, presents etc. I love the car guitar babygro.
 
 
 

 
And not forgetting that it's Mother's Day soon, there's plenty here for your Mum. The Gin and Tonic hand cream is especially nice. I bought some for a friend's birthday and I had to stop myself licking my hand when I tried it. Yum.
 
 
 
  


















Oh, and while you're there, you may as well stock up on some lovely greetings cards. Unique paper cut designs, don't you know.....