Drawings from my sketchbook

I thought I'd post some sketches I did a while back - some a few years old, others a bit more recent - I was experimenting with portraits as I hadn't done any since my A-Levels. The portraits are all from photos of my niece and nephews.

Ollie

Oliver is my sister Rebecca's middle son. It was my first attempt at sketching a portrait - some of his features are a bit off and his mouth didn't come out as well when I photographed this sketch but it was my first one so I was quite pleased with how it turned out.

Sammy

Samuel is Rebecca's youngest son. This one makes everyone laugh as he looks so round and chubby, but I only had a tiny passport sized photo to draw from and he was just a little baby with not much hair! He 4 years old now with beautiful blonde curls. I've noticed I've got a tendancy to make the eyes really big in all my portraits - something I'm going to have to take care over.

Thomas

Thomas is Rebecca's eldest son and again I've gone a bit mad with the eyes, but it is a good likeness (I wish I could find the photos I used as a comparison but you'll just have to trust me!)

Lucia

Lucia is my sister Elise's little girl. This is my favourite sketch - I really enjoyed doing it, even the difficult fabric. Elise even recognized the top she was wearing as I spent loads of time on the detail.

Callum

This is my sister-in-law Sonya's eldest Son. This was from his school portrait - when he was told to smile he did a big grin to show all his teeth - funny how kids do that!

Kieron

Kieron is Sonya's youngest son. I've had to re-do parts of this a few times - I made hm look a bit like a chip-monk at first, so I've done some more work on it and was happier, but as with Ollie's picture, it looks a bit strange on screen - his features are a bit uneven. I must keep practicing then!

I have my youngest nephew, Harrison, via by brother Paul, and my eldest niece, Jordan, via my baby sister Bobbey to draw yet - plus Bobbey's got another one on the way, so they should provide me with lots of practice! All of my siblings have kids but I haven't started my family yet and I'm the eldest (by 7 mins to my twin Elise), and I'm starting to get on a bit, so I'd better get a wriggle on!

Quick sketch of my hand - veins to rival Madonna!

Bowl of fruit (apple and grapes)

Peacock feather

This is my most recent sketch and it took quite a while as the individual pieces that make up the feather are very fine. I used a hard pencil to draw those lines, so they made an impresson in the paper and when I came to do the shading, it made a nice effect.

I get completely lost in time when I'm sketching - much as I do when I'm crafting, and time simply flies. It's very therapeutic though I always end up with a sore neck and back from sitting too long - I never learn!

One day I might get brave enough to progress to colour and do some paintings but for now I'm sticking to my pencils as it's my favourite medium.

Tan xxx

New Cards

I've made some more cards and I'm really pleased with how these two turned out.


Little Birdie

I made this for my friend's 21st Birthday and have to admit that I pinched the design from a favourite blogger of mine called Kath on the Fiskarettes blog site as I love it so much. I didn't have the same materials so I used a free backing paper I downlaoded, and made the flower myself from petal shapes I cut from paper, and I stamped gold flowers on white card for the paper trim. I cut the scolloped edges by hand as I don't have the Fiskars cloud scissors that Kath used (I've bid for them on eBay though and hope to get them soon!).

I made another version for my Nan's birthday but instead of 'a little birdie told me...' I wrote 'Happy Bird-day' on it instead. Hope you don't mind Kath!


King of Sleep

This is my first go a designing a scrapbook layout style card. I made it for my sister's fiance for his Birthday. I used a photo of him having a sneaky snooze (his fave past time) and used denim backing paper and decoupage elements (moon, hat) downloaded from free digital craft sites, printed a poem about sleep onto white card using a nice calligraphic font, and double embossed a crown in gold using a free stamp received in the Nov issue of Craft Stamper.

I distressed all the edges and the sleep poem paper using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Antique Linen and Walnut Stain (more eBay bargains) using a makeup sponge and cut a 'K' out of patterned paper. I wrote the rest of the bits n bobs on the card myself.

I'm very pleased with this one as being new to crafting I'm still struggling with ideas and inspiration, but I don't want to copy other people's ideas, and this layout came to me as I was messing around with various elements I had in my kit.

My first cards

I've started making cards recently and decided to post some of my first cards made for my family.


Cupcake card

This was my second attempt at a card and I made it for my sister-in-law. The design and materials came from the Jan 08 issue of You Can Craft! magazine, great for getting started in card making as it supplies all the materials you need to make the cards in the magazine.


Oriental Birthday Wishes

I made this using the free stamp in the October issue of Craft Stamper - my favourite magazine out of the 5 or so that I've read so far. I haven't sent this card to anyone yet - it's in my stock of spare cards for emergencies (I'm terrible at remembering people's Birthdays!)


Thinking of You

I made this for my Nan who is having an operation at the end of the month - I wanted her to know I was thinking of her. This was the first card that I designed myself and I also made my own butterfly embellishments using blending chalks and sparkly paint from Hobbycraft, which I then punched out using a butterfly stamp. I love the Woman in Repose stamp - I got it on eBay and nearly missed out in the bidding war!!!


Birthday Boy

I made this for my nephew Thomas using a design and materials from the Jan 08 issue of You Can Craft! magazine. I didn't have any blue card so I edged my white card stock with Blue Encore! Ultimate Metallic ink, another eBay bargain.

Hubby's off to New Zealand

I haven't posted anything since I set up this site, so I thought I'd start making posts - mainly for myself at the moment, then once I've got some decent content, I'll start publishing it everywhere for people to see.

We've been trying to relocate to New Zealand for several months, but with the market crash our house hasn't sold and we've been stuck here. However, we need to start paying the bills at our house in NZ, so Rob has booked his flight and will be moving there in just over a week.

I've got to stay behind to tie up loose ends - plus I'm waiting to have my gall bladder removed so I can't leave until I've had my op, and with no date from the hospital yet I'm stuck here for now. We'll just have to cope with Skype and webcams while we're apart. It's going to be tough as we haven't spent more than one night apart since we got married in 2006, but we'll get through it as it's for our future. Still, the first few nights at home alone are going to be tough!