Inspiration Please, Friends!

The children's bookcase I am working on. Where should I go from here?

Hi Folks! Tonight I have been busy painting this cute children's bookcase we picked up from the school next door to us.  Perfect for three home schooled children who love books.  

Today has been a really book themed day, actually.  I took my children to the little local library and they signed up for 'The Great Reading Race' competition which the library are running at the moment.  Then the kids chose about a million books to take home (hey, I'm not complaining...I would rather they read books than watch DVDs)  and then on the way home, we passed the primary school next door and lo and behold they were getting rid of all this school furniture. For free! Most of it was pretty useless, but we grabbed this cute little book shelf.  It even has cubby holes in the back to put more stuff inside!! 

My husband said 'We can just stick it in the garage to store things, it's pretty ugly'.  'Oh no', I said, 'I will paint it!'.  'Yeah right' he said, looking at me sideways with a smirk.  My husband knows my bad habit of not finishing things. We have a lamp sitting next to our bed with a half finished painted design on it that has annoyed him for years.  However, this time I was feeling very inspired.  I grabbed the paint, rolled the bookcase out on the grass under a tree (it has wheels too!) and my two eldest and I began to throw on some paint.  They (aged 4 and a half and 6) both now have pale purple acrylic tinges in their hair and the youngest was almost completely covered in paint splodges when he finished, but we had a great time.  It's all part of the homeschooling experience, right? 

Children's bookcase.  View from the front.

Children's bookcase, with books added.

Anyway Once we got the main colour on and they all went to bed,  it was brought inside for some details.  Here is what I have come up with so far.  What do you think?  I was aiming for a sort of 'books flying through the clouds and off into the distance' sort of effect.  These are just the outlines.  Now I need some advice.  What should I do next?  Should I add more details, some shading, some different colours? Should I paint over it and start again? Or should I just leave it the way it is?  I really am a bit stuck and need some inspiration, to prove husband wrong and finish the project.  Waiting eagerly for your comments!!

Regards,

Stitching in the Children's Ward.

Hi everyone...Long time no blog! I have been making things, though.  Perhaps not the sort of thing that you are used to seeing on Miraculous Mosquito...but I thought I would show you anyway.

The pear needle book I made
in the hospital.  You can see I am still
practicing my blanket stitch!

We have been going a bit 'felt crazy' around here lately (by we, I mean myself and my 6 and 4 year old).  I recently paid a visit to my favourite shop in the whole world, called 'Pete's Emporium'.  It used to be a tiny little shop in Porirua (just north of Wellington) jam-packed full of all sorts of bits and pieces.  Now it has moved across the road to a bigger space, and good ol' Pete has expanded his range of items, in particular the art/craft/fabric/sewing section which I spend most of my time in.  There I picked up a whole lot of felt in many different colours, then on my way home I dropped in at my local library where I grabbed the reserved books they had kindly saved for me.  One was a book about how to make felt toys and other groovy things.

This little guy turned out kind of cute, I thought :)
His body is stuffed with polyester stuffing, and his tail is flat.

My kids just borrowed a book from the library called 'Jolly Olly Octopus' I think
that is where the inspiration for this came from.

These clouds are just flat, stitched around the edge, with a white side and a blue side.

   Recently I have been spending a bit of time in the hospital with my daughter and son who both have asthma and have had some nasty attacks lately.  There's not much do do there while you are cooped up in a small curtained cubicle waiting for the next inhalation of Ventolin.  Beforehand, waiting at home while the ambulance was on its way and I was making sure I had everything packed in my overnight bag, I decided I was not going to spend another night in the children's ward with nothing to do but play games on my phone while my eyes turned square.  I grabbed the felt toy book, a bag of felt, and some needles and embroidery thread.  At least I could teach myself to do something while I was there.  I made a really cute felt needle book with a pear on it which, although not perfect by any means, didn't turn out that bad and I was happy with it.

This little fishy turned out a bit weird
but I like his shape.

I have always been a bit scared of sewing for some reason, but now I am really starting to enjoy it, and my children also ask if they can do some as well when they see me stitching away.  Encouraged by that mild success I decided to make something a bit more detailed, and when I got home from the hospital I decided to make an interactive toy for my children.  I made some fish, an octopus, and a few clouds, which I am somehow going to make into a sort of picture which will either be attached to a wall or made into a 'quiet/soft book'.  The kids will be able to attach the fish and other objects onto an ocean themed fabric/felt background wherever they want, with snaps and velcro.  I've got a few more ideas...a guy fishing in a boat...a giant clam with a pearl inside....etc etc! Now to actually FINISH it....that's my REAL challenge !!  If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you will probably know that finishing things isn't exactly my speciality, but I'm getting there.

Hope you are all having a great day (or night!)
Regards,

Moleskine Experiment #3 - Fancy Heart

A quick painted doodle in my Moleskine Experiment series.  A fancy heart.  Because we all need a little love :)  Watch me painting it here....or better yet, watch the whole playlist just for fun!

Lots of Love 
                   from 

Moleskine Experiment #2 - Paisley!

Paisleys are great, aren't they?  I love 'em.  If I see anything in a shop with paisleys on it, it immediately catches my eye.  They are so much fun to draw, because they have a lovely flowing shape, and you can make each one totally different just by changing the pattern.  Once you have the general shape down pat, you can then add whatever your heart desires. 

 As part of my Moleskine Experiment series, I doodled this particular one on a recycled cardboard folder, using 'gesso' paint which had been watered down so that it flowed just so.  What do you think about this design...should I use it to paint on my Moleskines? Let me know in the comments below...and don't forget to watch the video and share it with your friends.

Happy doodling...

Regards,

Time For A Change.

I was staring at that great big blue pencil on my blog banner the other day and suddenly decided...It's time for a change!  I was feeling in a mostly black and white mood that day and so, voila!  I snapped my fingers and lo and behold, I found myself looking at my new banner and background.  As you might already know, I'm the sort of person who gets lost in details.

Details... I just had a flashback ! I remember my Dad asked me to paint him a sign for a garage sale one day when I was a teenager.  His words to me were 'Daughter dear, could you paint me a sign for our garage sale....oh...and please...just plain writing this time....don't EMBELLISH IT!!!'.  Well, yes I did make that sign, and I tried my very best to make it plain so that it was easy to read from a passing car.  However, my Dad made that fatal mistake of leaving me alone too long with a paintbrush in my hand after the words 'garage sale this Saturday' were carefully and neatly painted.  I mean, a few curls and swirls here and there couldn't possibly hurt anyone, could they?  Doesn't everyone like a bit of decoration in their life?  Surely those big lovely bold letters were meant to be embellished?  When my Dad came back to check my handiwork he laughed, rolled his eyes and shook his head. 'You just couldn't help yourself, could you!' he sighed.  'It's OK Dad, you can still read the words on it....just...hehe' I answered sheepishly. 

It was the same in classes at high school.  I would often hand my notebook into the teacher and get the same written comments when my book was returned:  'A beautifully decorated notebook...it must have taken you hours to do this.  But where's your homework??'  It was the same with assignments.  And exam papers.

The other day I made a chicken and vegetable pie with homemade pastry.  It was delicious...I wish I had've taken a photo of it to show you.  I was going to actually, but by the time I had turned around to get the camera it had been sliced into pieces and served onto everyone's plate.  Anyway I think the main reason I go to the trouble of making a pie with homemade pastry is so that I can doodle on it.  This one looked great.  It had hearts, flowers, swirls, dots....the lot! All sculpted in pastry and coated with a layer of beaten egg to make it go extra crunchy on top.  I think I spent more time decorating the top of it than it took me to make the actual pie.  It was so much fun though.  Edible doodles...now there's a thought!  Maybe I should get into cake decorating or something, I could really go overboard with my embellishment addiction with that hobby.

Oops!  That was a long flashback.  Get to the point, I hear you shout.  Ok well, the blog's new look.  I spent some time thinking about making it sleek, stylish, and shiny-looking, sort of minimalist and nice and simple.  A place to rest your eyes, a vacation from the craziness that is the internet.  I really did try.  But it just wasn't me at all.  Who am I trying to kid? So instead, I went in totally the opposite direction and crammed as many doodles in as I possibly could.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!  That's better!  Glad I got that all out of my system.

Let me know what you think about the new look, in the poll to the left (if it is still there by the time you read this article).  Or better still write a comment below.  I would love to know what you think :)

Regards,

The Ultimate Doodling Playlist!

First of all I want to give a big HOWDY to all the new MM blog subscribers.  You have probably found yourself here because you are a keen doodler like me, or maybe you just like to look at all the pretty pictures.  Whatever the reason, I am glad you are here in my little corner of the internet.  Welcome to the workings of my brain hehe.
Anyway, I'm not sure if you have discovered it yet, but over on my YouTube channel, I have a playlist just fort the serious doodlers out there, called 'Dangerous Doodles'.  Make sure you check it out if you haven't already, and feel free to leave comments and share with your friends.  Hope you like it!

Regards,