us, we

so far this year i've managed to see, visit & hang out with so many of the people that matter to me. my family, extended family, all of my old flat-mates, most of my close friends from university, creative types i've met since, my best friend from school, people i've met via the internet. one of my resolutions this year was to visit out-of-town friends, & those who were close by too, & it seems i've managed to get on top of this goal already. i'm looking forward to more visits already lined up in future.

of course, it's not always so easy to be able to visit people thanks to clashing schedules, the cost of travelling and distance. there's always good old snail mail to fall back on however; not quite as great as meeting face-to-face, but one step better than an email or text message. until 5 february, if you buy any two cards in my shop, i'll send along an extra random one for free. good for writing to someone to let them know what you've been up to & how ace you think they are.

hello 2011

happiest of new years to you, friends! 2010 was far & away my very favourite year that i've had. i met so many great & inspiring people, looking back over the last twelve months makes me feel very lucky. i brought the day in with my best friend & good company. we set off lanterns into the new year's sky, then huddled around a fire & ate roast chestnuts. it was excellent.

in keeping with the last couple of years, here's my list of 25 thing to do whilst i'm 25. i'm excited to get started! i'm also setting myself a goal each month in 2011, but will cover that some other time.

1. buy a plant each month - includes houseplants, flowers, herbs & edible things
2. make trips to visit out-of-town friends (& those who live close-by too of course)
3. reach 550 sales on etsy - ambitious, but a good challenge
4. add 12 new items to my shop
5. make a poster print - minimum A3/three colours
6. print tote bags - bought bags months ago, must use them
7. do taxes quarterly
8. learn to use my sewing machine - plus sub-goals:
9. make a lightweight summer dress
10. make a tie for alan
11. make something using fabric printed with my gocco
12. make fabric using spoonflower
13. floss!
14. join the library
15. avoid mass-produced clothing - buy direct from makers/second hand/sustainably
16. buy food from local sources/businesses & smaller supermarkets
17. go foraging
18. massive clear out of workspace
19. visit london with alan
20. make a recipe box
21. read the self-sufficient-ish bible & infuse it’s advice into my life where i can
22. keep lists of all the books i read & films i watch
23. redecorate the kitchen (rollover from 2010)
24. stay in a wooden cabin/tipi (rollover from 2010)
25. get a massage (rollover from 2010)

to give a little help to goal #3, if you use the code HAPPYNEWYEAR in my etsy shop, you'll get 10% off your purchase if you order before 8 january. hurrah!

thanks for all your support, comments & purchases over the last year. 2011 is going to be excellent, i know it.

petite noël

i think i've just about recovered from helping to organise craft markets this december - classique noël, an intimate jewellery event on 5 december, & petite noël, a handmade market just in time for christmas on 15 december.

as you may have guessed, i only took part in petite noël, & trust me when i say i'm not being biased - it was a great night. though we've not had feedback from everyone yet, the general consensus from both sellers & visitors is high-five-heck-yes. the vendors were brilliant, the handmade goods were wonderful & well crafted, the music was great, the crowd was ace & the hall was busy from start to finish - i'm only sorry i couldn't peruse my fellow seller's stalls for more goodies, but i could barely escape from my own table. i had a lot of lovely customers, a few who stayed for a chat & most people i spoke to left with a little something. postcards were the main sellers, but prints, notebooks & cards found new homes too. take a peek at the blogs of my fellow dundee jamboree organisers, nikki & lauren. those two juggle these events with jobs/studies + personal practice - & they do it all so well!

december has been a good one, but a busy one. along with writing approximately a million christmas cards, learning some new skills, having one of the busiest months in my shop so far & all journeys taking an additional ten minutes or so due to all the snow, a project i'd hoped to repeat after the last two years - every day a drawing in december - has fallen by the wayside (though i do have a few images still to upload). but i'm not going to beat myself up about it - one of the things i think i need to do in 2011 is find a little more focus, make more time to see friends/have fun & to remember not to sweat the small stuff.

anything you can do

hurrah! at long last, i've started screen printing again. as much as i love my gocco, it felt so good to produce a print that is larger than A6 in size. a simple two colours, i got an edition of eight prints out of this session, with a few extra prints that weren't registered well enough to make the cut, but will be available at craft fairs where people can see the print for themselves. i can't wait to get back into the print studio & print some more. the above print is available on etsy for just over £20. since it was a test as well as a finished print, i feel okay with letting it go at a lower price.

been busy the past couple of weeks. spent the weekend in edinburgh/fife. went to view the new analogue books show, turn up the colour, & also visited edinburgh printmakers and the lovely new hannah zakari shop. had my first ever coffee (yes) at peter's yard, & after wandering around edinburgh with alan for a while, we made a stop on the way to visit my sister to walk along the coast, so nice to be outside by the sea. an ace weekend.

creatively, i've been trying to squeeze in doing work. i'd love to be able to tell you that i managed to prepare a brand new zine for the zine workshop at welcome home on sunday, but alas, my schedule has worked against me. never mind. you can still come & hang out & make stuff with marceline & i. she's been much more organised than me & is unleashing a new zine at the workshop. stop by & say hi if you can.

weekend away

feeling good after a long weekend away. spent time napping & sleeping accompanied by the sound of the tide, on beaches, drinking beer & not worrying about how i've barely done any work lately & how much i need to tidy. have given up on a book i was struggling to get into for months & have started reading something new. making pacts with myself to spend less time procrastinating online. funny how just a few days away from routine can make everything feel better.

few little things:
- this illustration by jack hudson is seriously smashing, it's fun to momentarily get lost in a piece of work.
- these hand-drawn badges by ruefive are close to destroying my much needed buy-less-things mentality.
- if you didn't manage to catch the first edition of lizzy stewart's wolfdream gocco print then have no fear, the second edition is just as beautiful.

beach in april

coming back to 7˚c weather after blue skies in new york wasn't great, but scotland hasn't let me down this weekend. it was so nice out today that my boyfriend & i went to the beach, thus getting me one step further in my list of things to do this year: #5 is 'visit three beaches', so that's one down, two to go.

it's been a pretty good week. the organisers of jumpers & jamboree (that's lauren, nikki & me) have announced the date of the next event: big top jamboree is going to take place on may 17, & we're looking for submissions! have a peek at the blog to find out more.

i also scored off #20 from my to-do list by opening a folksy shop earlier in the week. i'm giving it a trial period to decide whether i want to keep it or not. if you missed out on getting a free copy of climbing out of a canyon in my etsy shop a few weeks back, here's another chance; the first five orders from my folksy shop get a free mini-zine!

couple of other things: i took part in now now's zine showcase a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't attend thanks to being away. also, one of my older pieces (bottom left hand corner) was in design week last week, which was my submission to 'how many ways can you draw an apple?' by something to do zine. would have been better if they'd actually credited all the artists properly, of course. sigh.

i think i should probably try to update more often to save having so many catch-up posts!

hello 2010

it's official; happy 2010 everyone! after a quick blog wrap-up yesterday, this post is looking at the coming year. a new year means a nice new list of things to do. i didn't complete that many of the things on last year's list, thanks to some vague plans & last minute additions, but i've been preparing for this year's & i can't wait to start! here are twenty four things i wish to achieve before 2011:

1. learn to crochet (i did do a crochet class... i just didn't retain anything i learned at it!)

2. start screenprinting again

3. visit canada

4. do my 09/10 taxes before july

5. visit three beaches

6. exhibit my work three times

7. redecorate the kitchen

8. knit/crochet a hat for my friend's baby (due in june)

9. clean down sides of cooker though alan did this!

10. stay in a wooden cabin/tipi

11. visit the deer centre in fife

12. make it to 150 sales on etsy & then some! 269 by the end of the year

13. (start to) learn to drive

14. less buying, more saving for adventures!

15. pay off my student loan

16. clean out inbox & unsubscribe from old mailing-lists done, though it's building up again

17. phone home more often

18. less online procrastinating

19. make wrapping paper at christmas

20. open a folksy shop

21. make it to 20 sales on folksy (had 14 sales before i decided to close up)

22. get a massage

23. read twelve books didn't keep track, but hope i managed this

24. monthly bookkeeping

ps. i'm having a new year sale in my shop! there's up to 20% off everything until january 7.

woah

oh me oh my, how long it has been since i posted! i could make my excuses, but i'll spare you. all you need to know is that things will continue to be a bit quiet on the blog front, thanks to starting a new job at the world class dundee contemporary arts (commonly & locally known as dca). i've much to learn & a busier routine to get used to but i'm very excited, about working at a place i've visited often & enjoyed over the past few years, & for what's to come in my future of working there (especially considering it's dca's tenth birthday this month: the celebrations ought to be ace!)

speaking of birthdays... mine was yesterday! it being my first day at work kind of overshadowed it, but i met up with some favourites for some non-alcoholic drinks on sunday night, got some lovely gifts, & shared a chinese in the comfort of my living room with my family & flat-mate yesterday evening. i also received many birthday wishes, messages, & texts. i know some awesome people. :)

anyway, until i get settled over the next few weeks, drawing/blogging/browsing is to be put on the back-burner for a while. it may be nice to take a necessary break, & hopefully i can return to my to-do list with renewed energy & motivation.

hello 2009

it's the new year! it's time to make some promises for the next 365 (well, 361) days. i never used to make resolutions, but i feel a new number is a pretty good starting point for a giant list of to-do's & pledges. inspired by this lady, i have decided to use my age as a goal for the coming year. as i'm turning two-three in oh-nine, i have made a list of 23 things to achieve (will fill in the final few when they come to me). in no particular order:

1. take part in the pikapackage project (sadly didn't, but i'd still love to do this when it next happens)

2. visit another country (money & new job meant the only places i managed to visit this year were the isle of skye, manchester & newcastle. so, unless england counts, didn't manage this!)

3. learn a new skill (i've learned marketing skills, the pen tool in photoshop, but not a "skill" as such.)

4. gain my french 1 certificate (oh no, thanks to getting a new job i didn't manage this either!)

5. open an online shop (hooray! opened my etsy shop in september)

6. achieve fifteen sales in said shop (this, but double + more)

7. produce at least one significant piece/body of work a month (i like to think i've done the equivalent of this)

8. take more pictures (i've not taken nearly as many photos as i used to in previous years)

9. stretch my ear piercings to desired size (not quite there, but almost. not rushing anything)

10. send more letters in the post (i definitely did this, hooray!)

11. try five new recipes (alan does more of the cooking for us, which i'm eternally grateful for, but i did manage to cook/bake more than five new recipes, & they were delicious)

12. completely re-do website (done!)

13. make things: make cosmetics, make gifts, bake, etc (thanks to knitting & baking i achieved this, but also focused on giving gifts that people wanted/needed rather than just any old thing, plus second hand finds)

14. read twelve new books (i don't think i managed this. i've read more than twelve, but some were re-reads - including re-reading one of my new reads!)

15. do something for charity (apart from donating money, didn't manage this to the extent i wanted)

16. have a thorough de-clutter of my belongings (did this, will continue to do so)

17. learn more, & illustrate my findings (didn't really have time to set up any projects like this sadly)

18. make a big change (new job! just one of many changes this year)

19. have my work shown in three places (done!)

20. post on sea legs at least twice a month (failed, ha. poor sea legs)

21. spend more time in the great outdoors (i probably spent more time in doors this year thanks to working 37+ hours a week, but i have tried)

22. take on marceline's zine challenge (done!)

23. get hair cut at least three times (failed, i only got two)

some of the above are a bit vague, but i want to leave some space for chance. some also aim a bit lower than i originally planned, but i want my goals to be attainable. out of last year's resolutions, the only thing i didn't do was learn to knit properly. & seeing as i can knit a scarf anyway, i deem last year's resolution list a success.

have you any resolutions, dear readers?

apprenez

i'm starting french classes tonight. i'm a bit nervous, as i haven't done french since i was fourteen, when i was in second year, the year we had ten different french teachers for a menagerie for reasons. wish me luck!

in other things, it truly feels like autumn now. it smells like autumn, there are leaves to trudge through, the air is super cool when it hits the back of your throat as you breathe in. i have the beginnings of a cold, but it almost feels appropriate. it's time to break out the gloves & lemsips.

the mountain goats - riches & wonders

notes of interest

• i am twenty-two!
  
• it seems my goal of displaying work in three different places will happen quicker than i imagined! one, in my degree show. two, concept work i did for an animation team last year is to be shown in aberdeen. & three, down at the new blood convention/show down in london in june.
  
• which leads me to, i'm going to london in june! i'm rather excited & nervous.
  
• it's four/five weeks until my hand-in. i'm just nervous. so much to do in so very, very little time.
  
• i have knitted two scarves since my resolution, & have started another today.
  
• i'm starting to stretch my first lobe piercing on my left ear! slow & steady, although i do feel impatient.

sigur rós - untitled six

resolutions

2008 has been 90% swell so far. new year was brilliant, my best ever with a few of my very favourite people. a lack of alcohol intake due to working the next day, but for extra pay i can't complain too much.

uni has had its highs & lows already; there have been a couple of troublesome weeks where motivation levels were non-existent. but as of this week things are a the best they've been this semester, so i hope it only at least continues.

in other adventures, within the first week i managed to leave the country, just like last year, although not quite as far. gay paree was joyeous, & it was just lovely to be somewhere else, as well as somewhere so pretty. i'm planning on return later in the year, fingers crossed.

i have got resolutions for this year. i just haven't written them down yet. so now i'll try, despite the late hour & need for sleep:

- visit at least three different countries

- display my work in some form at least three times

- stretch my first lobe piercing

- begin learning french, finally

- learn to knit, properly

- use my time more constructively than i currently do

- decide what to do in the second half of 2008!

- make the most of the next four months, because after that so many people won't be in my life as often as they are now.

belle & sebastian - i'm a cuckoo