let the blogging break commence

I think there must be quite a few bloggers taking a blogging break over the summer. Mr Pippa has some time off work, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to take a break and have a go at something else. Not that sketching is new to me, but I just haven't been doing it lately. So when I return I will have lots of drawings to share with you. Well...that's what I'm aiming for anyway.

I'm one of these indecisive souls who can never decide what to draw: whatever I pick never seems to be the 'right' thing. At first, I used the EDM challenges; even then I would find myself wasting time trying to choose a challenge from the long list. Which is why I did this (below). I put challenges 1-100 into a grid; printed them off; chopped them up; put them in a matchbox and...

...voila! I will use this little box of challenges. The rules are thus: whatever challenge is taken from the box (and I must pick one at random, possibly with my eyes closed), that's the one I have to do. Whether I'm in the mood or not. Those are the rules.

If you would like to print off the challenges and make a 'challenge box' like mine, I've uploaded them as an image onto Flickr. Go on. You know you want to.

coolest wallpaper ever?

No, it's not a poster, it's actual wallpaper. How cool is that?! I'd quite like to frame this sample. 

That's all for today. Have a nice one :o)

hooray for lovely friends

As I explained not long ago, I had to stop making the sock creatures because I had completely run out of stuffing. Look what arrived in the post yesterday afternoon...

...not only the biggest bag of stuffing I have ever seen in my life, but also some googley eyes and some bells and some black felt! Thank you so much Sian! What a wonderful, kind, generous friend you are. If only the world had a few more people like you in it. Thank you :o)

I've been struggling to create anything the past couple of days. I am so so tired. I feel as though I have bulldog clips on my eyes. I've been wanting to make something special for my mum but trying to squeeze creativity from this exhausted brain is like trying to get blood from a stone right now. As I don't really have anything crafty to show you, I will share with you the books I read this month...

I wonder which books I will end up reading next month. 

I am going to put the sewing machine on and get back to making monkeys. Thank you, Sian. I'll have that Etsy shop up and running in no time!

I cut up magazines for fun

Mr Pippa and I love pretty house magazines and often dream of how we will decorate our house. Previously, we kept cut-up bits of magazine in a folder but that was just no fun. So I made an ideas book. We call it our 'dream house book' and we like to flick through it whilst drinking tea and dreaming. We like to dream.

the last of the sock creatures

Hello. My name is Gilbert Green and I am a sock monkey. Although I appear to be a solemn character, I enjoy a good satirical comedy as much as the next fellow. I enjoy good wine, good cheese and a good book. I am an excellent listener and enjoy company. My favourite colour is blue. Which is annoying.

No, this is not the last sock creature I will ever make; I have plenty more socks waiting to come alive. But alas, I have now completely run out of stuffing and I don't know when I'll be able to get more. Woe is me! I am hoping to get all of the creatures onto Etsy eventually, but I'm in for a busy few weeks so it will probably be nearer the end of August. I can't believe I'm actually going to have an Etsy shop! I have absolutely NO IDEA what to call it though. I thought of  Pippa's Long Stockings (a play on Pippi Longstocking, of course) but I'm not sure. Any ideas? I'm absolutely rubbish when it comes to thinking of names (hence my very dull, but self explanatory blog title!). Argh! Too much pressure! What are your thoughts?

+edit+ I just realised that I never told you how I made these little creatures. I used a pattern similar to the one available on Biscuit Monster (a new fave blog of mine). Although, mine aren't nearly as professional as hers. She actually knows what she's doing!

more sock creatures

I can't believe it's been a week and a half since I last blogged; I haven't even been away anywhere exciting. We've been having a bit of a spring clean and general sort-out so I haven't been able to be as creative as usual. Also, I've run out of stuffing so I'm having a forced break from making sock creatures. Which is a shame. But before I ran out, I was able to make a few friends for the original sock creature. 

A sock frog! Well, that's what I was aiming for. I'm not sure whether or not anyone would be able to guess what it was. I think he looks as though he needs something extra. I might have a go at giving him a little belly. We'll see.

What a friendly bunch. Aren't they cute?

anyone fancy a cuppa?

I thought I'd show you the pictures I took yesterday of my newly painted cup and saucer in action. We ran out of milk though, so I decided to have peppermint tea instead. It was very enjoyable indeed.

I wanted to show you that the underside of the saucer is also painted - here it is! I'm not a huge fan of ginger biscuits but recently I have really been craving them. I had a craft day with the lovely Sian on Tuesday and what did she offer me as soon as I stepped through the door? A cup of tea and some ginger biscuits! Hurrah for Sian! 

Time for a brew, me thinks...

it's all about the polka dots

This weekend, I did a spot of ceramic painting (can you see the pun in there?). I wanted to experiment with creating polka dots... and it worked! "How did you do it?", I hear you cry. Well, here's how...

Choose what it is you want to paint. I think white is the best background colour to have. But I'm sure cream would look good too. I chose a plain cup and saucer from Ikea. 

Get some circular stickers and stick them on. These stickers aren't anything fancy. I think I got them from the Post Office (I've had them a while).

Pick the colour you want. I chose light blue (as you can see), so that meant mixing the colour first. I use water soluble ceramic paint so that if I make a mistake, I can wash it all off and start again (which I did!). It also means that I only need to use water to thin it. Don't wait for the paint to dry - peel the stickers off as soon as possible, otherwise they end up peeling the paint off.

The paint has to dry for at least 24 hours before it is baked in the oven. Once it's been fired, let it cool and then it's done!

Hurrah!