Drawing Calendar: March

This post is the third edition to my 2015 drawing calendar. I explained everything January post. This month has been a busy month for school and i had to go to A&E for my bad foot. I had fun drawing this month because more exciting things happened each day. Sometimes, if i've been slacking on the drawing on the weekdays, i watch TV and fill in the gaps on the weekend.

-Noki's first training lesson
-Phone went in the dish washer
-Went to A&E
-Maths Test
-Painted my self portrait
-Got my maths test back
-First long dog walk in ages
-Made marmalade
-Bought a cauliflower
-Went to the globe theatre
-Last fitness P.E lesson
-Grade 4 saxophone exam
-History essay
-House party
-Slept for 5 hours
-Head hurts
-Irish face painting
-Running test in P.E
-Met a new friend (lol)
-Got my eyebrows done
-Worst party ever in the cold
-Got a cold
-Misfits Marathon
-Ill
-Cornrows
-Last food tech lesson
-Party at the bandstand
-Jazz concert
-Went to a french brasserie
-Brother came home
-Windiest day i've seen

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Drawing Calendar: February

This post is the second edition to my 2015 drawing calendar. I explained everything January post. February had my birthday in so i found it hard to keep up with all the dates but i have finally finished this month. If you don't think you can keep up with it every day or you like writing a diary then you could occasionally draw pictures to remind you of how you felt that day or what made you smile.

-Met an Akita and Husky club at the park
-Got Indian takeaway
-Noki's first snow
-Did well in fitness class
-Got my hair done
-Prepared for my birthday party
-My Hawaiian party
-MY BIRTHDAY
-Maths revision
-Pizza with the pals at lunch
-Volleyball dive
-Made potato cakes
-Train to Leeds on my own
-Walk around leeds and got food
-Boat broke down at rowing
-Prepared for the dance audition
-Ate a green pancake
-Opticians and dentist and orthodontist
-Saatchi Gallery
-Walk with friend
-Wedding Dress exhibition
-Prepared for school
-First day back
-Irish dancing lesson
-Irish Dancing audition at school
-Parents evening
-Got into the dance show and took Noki to the vet
-Wrote four blog posts

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My Hawaiian Party: Games

Although i am fourteen, i really wanted all the childish party games. Only the best parties have pass the parcels. Everyone enjoyed playing and reminiscing over playing these games in our childhood. For most of the activities, i made some part of it. Here are the games that we played:
Pass the parcel
Musical bumps
Musical statues
Doughnut game
Pin the tail on the stitch
Hawaiian Quiz

Around the centre of the pass the parcel were sweets and hibiscus temporary tattoos and the middle was a pair of Stitch slippers. We made the games less childish and more fun just by being older. I also had the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack for all the games; it mostly consisted of Elvis. For the doughnut game, i decorated the string with small, paper flip-flops. I painted the large picture of Stitch for the pin the tail on the stitch with oil paint and water colour. There was also a lot of dance routines being created.

Drawing Calendar: January

For a few years i attempted to keep a diary but i just felt like i had nothing to say and it was just full of me complaining about teachers. Last year i decided that i would start to keep a calendar and occasionally draw a stick man or write a sentence in the squares everyday. This evolved into colourful drawings. It is my second year of doing this and i find it so lovely to look back on and see very clearly what i did on each day. Although i just do silly cartoon, it is still very fun to have a reason to do a little bit of drawing every day. As you can see some days i literally did nothing except homework and a dog walk.

-Watched Breakfast at Tiffany's
-Found a new walk to do with Noki
-Got four more piecings
-Did a lot of homework
-First day back to school
-Finished my 18 page Geography essay
-One of the fastest at the 12 minute run in P.E
-Learnt about pasta in Food Tech
-Tried out for Cross Country
-Watched The Theory of Everything
-Drew a skull for art homework
-Found £20 on the floor
-First cricket club of the term
-Chosen for the P.E trip to Devon
-Got two teeth taken out
-Went for a walk up a massive hill
-Planned my 14th birthday party
-Went on a walk with my best friend
-Noki Vomited
-Noki got spayed
-Test for contact lenses
-Food Tech was cancelled
-French Homework and doughnuts
-Went to Kenwood House
-Run with Noki
-Choose my GCSE's
-Got my report
-Funniest Geography lesson ever
-Made stir fry in Food Tech
-Got my contact lenses
-Dirty Dancing sleepover with my three best friends

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My Photo Wall

Finally, the Christmas holidays have come so i have time to have a huge clear out. I started cleaning my room on Monday and it took me two whole days. I never want to clean again. Cleaning and getting rid of old things brings me so much satisfaction because you start to see the results straight away. My room looks a lot less cluttered and i finally had time to look through my disposable camera photos and put some onto my wall.

Some of the photos are from my childhood and some i took a few weeks ago. It features pictures of my friends, pets, holidays and family. The best thing about this wall is that it's very personal and you can change it very easily. I attached mine with Blu Tack but alternatively you could use a cork board and pins. You could make a theme for the wall or add gem stones or homemade bows around the photos. Everyone that enters my room is drawn to it and it brings back so many good memories.

p.s hope you had a really great Christmas

Crumble-Topped Mince Pies

These mince pies are different to the normal ones you buy in supermarkets; the top is made from a delicious, nutty crumble. Although, it may sound like too much, they taste amazing and are not as sweet and filing as regular mince pies. You could make them with friends or bring them to a family gathering. The next Christmas food i am going to make is cranberry sauce.

You Will Need (makes 24):
Frozen short pastry
A big ol' jar of mincemeat
60g Butter
Pinch of Nutmeg
Half a Teaspoon of Cinnamon
35g Soft Brown Sugar
60g Plain Flour
60g Ground Almonds
35g Walnut Pieces

To Make the Pies:
Firstly, cover your entire surface in flour and dust your rolling pin. Then grease your muffin cases with butter. Remember to touch the pastry as little as possible; especially if you have warm hands. It will be less crumbly and melt-in-your-mouthy if you have handled it too much. Take your rolling pin and start rolling. It should be as thin as you can make it before it breaks (about 3mm). I used a cookie cutter that had scalloped edges to cut out the bottom of the pies. The scalloped edges made them look 'merrily-festive' (is that a thing? Can i say that?) Finally, take two spoons and put a small amount of mince in each pie.

To Make the Crumble:
Mix the Butter and sugar together. First, i used my hands to break up the big pieces of butter, then i used a fork to mash the sugar in and make the butter soft. After than, i crushed the nuts into smaller pieces and mixed the other ingredients to the butter and sugar. You then sprinkle the crumble over the mince pies and put them in the oven for 15mins at 180 fan oven.

In case you hadn't noticed, i post every tuesday and saturday so check back on those days.

Christmas Potato Printing Labels

I love Christmas tags and they are really fun to make with friends. I remember doing them a lot when i was younger. I made a hedgehog and a rabbits head for my mums birthday card.

Firstly, i decided what objects i wanted to carve onto the potatoes. I chose the easiest possible objects (stars and a tree) because it is very difficult to do detailed designs on a very small potato. I then drew them onto the inside of half a potato. After that, i got a knife and cut out everything outside of the lines. I painted the shape on the potatoes and printed it onto the brown tags. Some of them i personalised with my metallic pens. 

I love potato printing because it's an easy way to make anything look like you have spent lots of time on it even if you haven't. They work for every occasion and even work on textiles. You can make really basic designs or complex ones. It so simple to create any repeated pattern. One idea you can also do is print the wrapping paper with the same print as the tag so they are matching. 

Christmas Sprout Tags

What would Christmas be without sprouts? dunno...maybe pleasant.

Since i do not like brussels sprouts but they are really Christmassy, i thought it would be fun to incorporate them into some sort of Christmas DIY. There wasn't many things i could think of except making little felt sprouts but i don't see why anyone would need one of them...they would be kinda cute though. I then thought of putting them on Christmas present tags. Here is how they turned out.

Some of the sprouts i printed out and some i made from felt. To make them i bought these brown tags from my best friend, eBay. Next, I printed out photos of sprouts and cut them out. I arranged them into lines and stuck them on the brown tags. On one or two sprouts on every tag i made it out of felt or covered it in glitter. Another option is that you could change the white string to a festively coloured twine or ribbon. Another thing i did to make them more personal is to write a christmas joke on the back.

These tags were really quick to make and i think they are really funny and delightful. It makes a change from boring baulbaul tags from M&S and looks like you have made an effort. Maybe now i will like sprouts.

Snowy Wrapping Paper

I adore wrapping presents for my family because it's something you can do alone. I like to sit in my room with the doors closed and listen to Christmas music. I don't like anyone knowing what i am getting anyone else. While wrapping every present, i just imagine their faces when they open it and how they will react. Every year i make my family two presents each and buy one. I think it's more personal that they are homemade. I thought that this year, the present itself shouldn't be the only personal thing; i decided that i was going to decorate my own wrapping paper.

This homemade wrapping paper was super easy to make. I ordered the brown paper from eBay for under £3. I then got a pencil with a round rubber at the end and dipped it into the white paint. I dotted it onto the paper so it looked like snow. On some of the snowballs i added glitter. After that, i brought this christmas themed twine that i thought would look really festive and would add some colour to the basic wrapping. 

I went for a more simple effect of snow because the present is the main part and i wan't it to be really simple but still Christmassy. A benefit of having homemade wrapping paper is that you know what presents are given from who and it makes them really individual and unique. Another way to wrap up your presents is my using fabric. This saves paper (less dead trees) and means you can reuse it to make something else.