WOYWW #460: Brown Bag Journal (part 2)

I thought I'd better check in today, lest people forget I ever existed!  I've been settling into my new routine post homeschooling. My son has been back at school for almost two weeks now and he seems to have fitted in quite well. Although I have more free time now, with the school bus leaving at 7:30, I no longer have the luxury of a lie-in, even when I work afternoons. Inexplicably, even though I wouldn't have to get up until 6.30, I always wake up at stupid o'clock and have trouble going back to sleep, so I tend to get up at around 5 a.m. and sometimes even earlier. So here I am writing this WOYWW post at the crack of dawn.

I haven't been active in my craft room lately - I need to find my mojo - but I managed to snap this photo on Sunday. I was prepping some tea bags to be used as tiny canvases, but that's as far as I got with them. Oreo was keeping me company - you can see that his two white eyebrow whiskers have now begun to grow back!

Although I haven't created anything new recently, I still have some projects I made over Christmas that I'd never shared. Some of you might remember my paper bag journal from last year - I'm now ready to show you the flipside.  It was done in a similar fashion with lots of little scraps and images I had lying around, with not much planning or specific intention, therefore the pages may look a bit random.

I'm planning to make a flip-thorough at one point, but for now you'll have to content yourself with another video I'm sharing from Facebook (I hope that's OK!). It shows an easy technique of painting a realistic cat portrait. I might try this with Oreo if I can get his head through a canvas, but somehow I doubt it would be possible! Other cats seem to be a lot more laid back about these things.

If this made you smile, I've done my job today :)

Thanks for visiting - I'll be around later in the week - happy WOYWW!

UPDATE 22/06/2018
I have just now uploaded part 2 of my flipthrough - it only took me 3 months!

WOYWW #457: A Quick Catch-up

Hi Everyone! I know I've been AWOL for a while, but I thought I'd check in today with WOYWW. I got up at 5 am especially - ok, the truth is I couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought I might as well just get up. So here I am with the obligatory and all-important desk shot!

I've tidied up my desk a bit - can you spot anything new? It's that day-light lamp in the corner - I've been coveting one for ages and since it was my birthday yesterday I got hubs to buy me one. My first impressions are very good - we'll see how it fares long term. Also new is that mini bunting hanging from my shelves. I cut the shapes with a Crafter's Companion mixed media die-set from my grungy gelli prints.  I had a bit of trouble with those dies - they are thicker than normal and they were hard to put through the Big Shot, even though they claim to be compatible. In the end I had to experiment adjusting the thickness of the sandwich to wind them through safely. Anyone had the same experience with those particular dies? Here's a closer look at my lamp and the bunting:

I also made a quick tag on the go, just using left over paint and things I'd found on my desk. This is why I keep all those scraps lying around, although they can get a bit overwhelming after a while. I used a piece of canvas for the tag and stuck a dried up paint circle from my paint tubes around the hole. Those of you who use acrylic paints will know what I'm talking about! 

That's all the creativity that took place in the last three weeks, I'm afraid. In between home schooling and working I don't have much time left for hobbies. The good news is that my son's been offered a place in Year 8 at the middle school, so now we're just waiting for his bus pass to come through and that will free up some of my time. The double good news is that he's also been accepted at the high school from September, so it seems we're all sorted on the school front. Both schools have outstanding ratings, which is why it was important for us to get him in and opted for homeschooling while on the waiting list. 

Most of the UK had some snow last week, so I'm looking forward to seeing all your snowscapes! Here's mine of a fox prowling the grounds behind our house. The first one was taken from inside, but then I braved the elements and went outside in my cream coloured onesie (I just hope the neighbours didn't see me LOL!) I must have blended well into the snowy background because the fox didn't spot me and I was able to get quite close. I even had to make a noise for him (or her?) to look at me. I just wish I'd had my bigger camera with me - these were taken with just my pocket Nikon. 

I've also got a short video of Oreo - we were trying to get him to come out from under the sofa with some Dreamies, but we couldn't trick him!

Thanks for visiting! I will return all visits if you leave a comment! 

See you all later when I'm back from work!