Let's be golden

Christmas is coming! Oh gosh, it's so close. I have been working all week, and I finally have a weekend off. So I am excited to have a Christmassy weekend.

I have been getting so Christmassy. All my presents are wrapped. I purchased hot chocolate, marshmallows, and candy canes for Christmas Eve. Filled a giant stocking for David, as he's never had a stocking before...NEVER. Listening to Cameron Mitchell and April Meade's Christmas album on repeat, it's perfect. Watching Jingle All the Way and Elf, my favourite Christmas movies. Making paper chains and paper snowflakes. Wearing my Grinch t-shirt all day. Sending out blogger family packages. Finding all the old Christmas decorations from my childhood. Wrapping brown paper packages with string. Making Christmas coffees. And just feeling so happy. Full of Christmas spirit.

Lots of good things have been happening. I recently had a few pieces in an exhibition which was called gold. Going to the private view, and seeing people view your work is always a weird experience. I just got an email saying I sold some work from that show. It's a great confidence boast, and tells me that I need and should keep making work. I am an artist now. 

Christmas Crafternoon

So it's December, and time for my wonderful friend Charis's Crafternoon. I was even more excited this time round because it was the Christmas themed one! And extra long too! I walked into a room full of smiling and happy faces. Everyone was super excited to get crafty. I was given a super hot cup of hot chocolate, and was told to visit the mini food bar with mini chocolate treats. And of course candy canes. I brought marshmallow snowmen biscuits with me.

After lots of treats we finally got started on the crafts. We created a lovely fabric bauble, tied up with sparkly ribbon. We also added glitter to a porcelain snowflake. Both of which will hang in pride of place on my tree.

Then after the decorations we got to decorate gingerbread houses. I have always wanted to do this, ever since I was a child. The day had finally come. Lots of yummy treats to be used to decorate the house. We got into teams to create our house. Using icing to stick the decorations on, we all were having so much fun. Plus getting high on all the sugar. The results were super.

We ended the afternoon with hot spiced fruit punch and swapping secret Santa gifts. The whole afternoon made me really excited for Christmas.

It's starting to feel like Christmas

Spent the day by the seaside. I had to pop into my new favourite vintage style tearoom, The Vintage Empire. Vintage Christmas decorations and lights were all around. It felt like walking back in time to Christmas from long ago.

Being greeted by friendly faces was lovely. Wonderful hot local tea served in pretty mix-matched teacups plus Christmassy music was a gorgeous mix. It made me want to go home and make paper snowflakes and paper-chains. I know how I will be spending my weekend now, making paper decorations and drinking gingerbread lattes.

I have brought all of my Christmas presents, and I just need to finish wrapping them. I'm really starting to get that Christmassy feeling. I love this time of year.

Come fly with me

Talking to far away friends always makes me want to hop on a plane and visit them. I am missing America quite a lot this year. Not going this year has been hard. I can't wait to visit my friends next year. Having friends so far away can be wonderful in the sense you enjoy the time with them when you see them. Problem is that you can't just ring them up and meet for a coffee. Well, maybe a Skype coffee date, but even that I hard to plan. This Tuesday I will be buying gifts and writing Christmas cards for my far away friends/family. I'm looking forward to finishing my Christmas shopping off, and wrapping my last gifts.

Let's wrap

It's December, and Christmas is coming. I'm finally spending some time wrapping up my gifts for my friends and family. I love making presents look so beautiful.

My mum brought me some wonderful Christmassy tape, so I wanted to use them to jazz up my presents. I find wrapping presents really relaxing, and after a long day at work it's a nice way to relax. Wrapping listening to She and Him's Christmas album while sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows is a dream. I'm definitely getting that Christmas feeling.

Made In Herne Bay

On Thursday I was invited to an event called Meet the Makers, which was organised by a fabulous group of people called Made In Herne Bay. The event was a chance for local artists to come together to sell their work in a wonderful venue all together. Plus local restaurants and tearooms had stalls too. 

When you walked into the event, it was buzzing. So many happy smiley faces were all around. Seeing faces I knew and chatting to them was super. 

My favourite stalls included Kate Samuels. She had these beautiful enamel plates with wonderful designs printed on. The colours always stand out. My favourite pieces of hers are a plate with tiny birds flying, and a piece that says 'you make my heart sing'. So gorgeous.

It was lovely to see the owner of the cutest shop in Herne Bay, Sarah of Pebble and Dash. Sarah sells my work in her shop, and she informed me that night she had sold a piece of my work. So that was a nice surprise. Pebble and Dash sell the best local artwork, beautiful cards and such pretty jewellery.

Another of my favourite artists on the night was Jenny Samuels. Jenny is such a lovely lady. She creates beautiful designs based around HB. She prints and embroiders onto cushions. She is always a joy to talk to.

It was nice to be recognised by the tearoom and deli staff of my favourite places to eat in Herne Bay.

I have spoken about The Vintage Empire before, because it's just perfect. Such a lovely vibe in a beautifully decorated tearoom. I mean who doesn't want a cup of tea or chocolate milk and biscuits?! Plus the lovely guys from The Green Door Deli were also there. As everyone in HB knows, TGDD is the best place for sausage rolls and marshmallow cake.

Lots of talking, cupcake eating, purchasing little gifts, and enjoying the whole vibe of the evening was had. I cannot wait for the next event. 

Let's be creative

I'm so happy to keep seeing this image pop up all over my Instagram and Twitter. The image is by Lhdesign_ 

I am proud to finally call myself an artist. I have been trying for quite a while to feel like one, and I now do. Making art makes me happy, and being able to share my artwork with others makes me happier. I have just started selling my own work, and it's so important to me. I think it's so wonderful to see artists, crafters and other people sharing this image over the Christmas period. 

I have been working hard on creating work. I create paper collage inspired pieces. I have always been influenced by the materials I find. I am consistently on the look out for the perfect pieces and items to join together. I am heavy inspired by the sky and clouds. I enjoy working with paper. After trying lots of different mediums, I now know that I am very good at putting items together, layouts and creating something new out of found materials/images.

I am currently getting work ready for another exhibition, and that's getting me very excited.

You can purchase my prints and cards from my Etsy store, the link can be found on the right bar of this blog. Thank you for everyone who has supported me with my art. You are all wonderful.

Perfect stranger

Oh Comely is a beautiful magazine. It always celebrates the little things in life. It's a wonderful arty and life driven magazine. 

I was really excited to be a part of Oh Comely's perfect stranger swap. All you had to do was sign up and you would be assigned a partner. You could choose whether you wanted to send a gift box to someone in this country or far away.

I filled my box with sparky items, floral pencils, one of my cards, animal themed gifts, lots of little chocolates, Christmas decorations and a felt fox. I had lots of fun putting the swap together. Half the fun is waiting for a package in return.

The Green Door Deli adventure

Being by the seaside is perfect. I feel like I am ready to move. I always loved the idea of the city life, but life by the sea is calling me. Art groups and new connections make it even more appealing. 

But anyway, I found the cutest little deli yesterday. It's called The Green Door Deli, which can be found in Herne Bay, Kent. From the outside you can't really see what you can expect. As soon as you walk through the door the food smell hits you. And the gorgeous smell of coffee.

Cute waiters in aprons meet you, and ask you to take a seat. They then hand you a menu filled with so many options.

At the desk there was an array of different foods. I picked a Christmas gourmet sausage roll. In the cabinet next to the savoury items were the sweet ones. Inside was slices of different flavours of marshmallow cake, salted caramel tarts and other beautiful decorated cakes.

The walls are decorated in a beautiful simple style. You feel very relaxed while sipping your coffee. Places like this are wonderful. A little hidden gem by the seaside.

That Christmas feeling

Spent the other day with my favourite in Canterbury. We did a little bit of Christmas shopping and treated ourselves to lunch. Oh and Christmas drinks from Starbucks. First eggnog latte of the season, and boy was it worth the wait. Mmmmm mmmmm. Perfect. 

We visited one of our favourite cafés for lunch. We had tea and coffee before our meal. We had a beautiful view of Canterbury out of our window in our favourite window seat.

We had wonderful tea, and gorgeous food. It was lovely and relaxing, watching the world carry on around us. Then we purchased a macaron on the way out, to fuel our shopping afternoon. 

I love going shopping in the evenings, it just makes me feel more Christmassy.

Coffee for two

On Tuesday after work, I hopped on a train to meet my gorgeous friend Ella for coffee. She took me to the cutest little place in Canterbury. It's just along the cobbled streets. When you first walk in the smell of delicious coffee hits you. The decor made me feel like I stepped into a Wes Anderson film. The wallpaper made me smile, and also remind me of Garden State in a strange little way.

We had coffee and a long conversation about life and such. Enjoying the peace and quite and watching it get dark. It's really starting to feel more Autumn, and very Winter like. Christmas is on it's way. I'm excited for Christmas drinks, shopping, writing Christmas lists, and listening to festive songs. Roll on Winter.

You know

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

-Dr Seuss

Monday adventures

Monday was a good day. I really needed some time to relax. I woke up Monday morning and enjoyed a lay in, while David brought me breakfast in bed. Watched a few episodes of Comic Book Men and just relaxed. We then nipped into town and I sold some of my art work, and I was walking around the corner and saw that this beautiful 1940s Tearoom. It was The Vintage Empire tearoom in Herne Bay, Kent. 

I had to go inside, and dragged David in. We were greeted by a lovely lady. We sat down at this pretty little table with floral wallpaper all around, and 1940s music playing in the background. We had a wonderful local tea and an apple tea. Oh, and plus a cupcake. It was a cute little place where you could purchase 3 biscuits and a glass of milk for 80p, you could also purchase chocolate milk in a carton. So many teas to choose from. We were given vintage teacups and beautiful teapots.

It was so nice just to relax into a peaceful place. It was a perfect day. Work has been so stressful recently, I can feel myself getting really worked up. Sometimes you just need a day to just get back to being yourself. Monday was perfect.