The Artist Within The Scientist

Hello 2012!

2012-01-17T15:08:00.002Z

The first 2 weeks of 365

Paris

2011-10-02T18:24:00.000+01:00

Sunsets and washi tape

2011-10-01T12:32:00.000+01:00

Might have been seriously neglecting the blog... but I have been scrapping. Lots!

Majorly coveting these stamps!

2011-09-15T16:27:00.002+01:00

Mainly for that camera.

2011-09-11T16:33:00.000+01:00

So here's the scrapbook I've just finished. Used a book that I bought from paperchase a few years ago. Love the way it's worked out. Am trying my best to just go with the flow rather than meticulously planning pages which I used to do. I might not be crazy about every single page the whole book makes me smile. More photos to follow soon.

And here's the beginnings of my attempts at a more SMASH approach to art journalling.

This blog is back in session

2011-09-09T00:47:00.000+01:00

After 3 long years at university, I finally seem to have realized how to scrapbook with limited stash. Well better late than never I guess. It's a shame the blog trailed off throughout my university days. It would be nice to have more memories of the last three years written down. For that reason, I've also revived my art journal in a rather different way. The all new SMASH books have inspired me to loosen up and realize that my journals aren't meant to look like the finished product. They're meant to represent my daily thoughts and my random inspired moments.

My trusty pink laptop recently went crazy and I'm now using my mum's laptop which doesn't have an inbuilt card reader or a webcam or bluetooth (I've been very spoilt). Will attempt to dig out my camera lead tomorrow and start uploading some piccies!

An afternoon in the sun

2010-06-23T13:35:00.001+01:00

Yesterday afternoon I met up with two of my closest friends from home and had an absolutely amazing afternoon just chillaxing in the garden. We baked brownies and jigsaw roll and hung out in the garden for literally hours listening to music and chatting.

Hope

2010-06-23T13:25:00.001+01:00

Hope is a weird thing. At the moment I'm full of hope which fills me with a bizarre sense of euphoria. I can see the future panning out in so many ways. Education-wise, careers-wise and with various other aspects of life. But hope also leaves you so open and vulnerable. It leaves you flying high with a massive drop below you if hope leaves you and your wings stop working. It makes you do stupid things and it makes you interpret things in bizarre ways. But it's necessary for life I guess.

2010-06-20T00:39:00.001+01:00

I'm home.
I'm happy to be home with my parents...but...
I'm already missing everyone far far far too much and it's only been a day. My uni friends have come to mean so much to me that it's untrue.
It's weird not hearing my best friends in the rooms next door.
It's weird not bumping into people when getting milk from the kitchen.
It's weird not being able to reach most of friends' rooms in less than a few minutes
It's weird living in a building with only 2 other people
It's weird not having my bike- I don't feel as mobile as I do in Cam
It's weird knowing I've only got just over a week before I head halfway round the world for 2 months
Life is weird
and yet I love it.

Home is where the heart is and therefore I've got 3 homes.
Cam
Macc
S'pore
<3

Over and out

I'm missing out...

2010-06-16T11:32:00.001+01:00

...on what's meant to be the best week of the Cambridge calender. The week when everyone's finished exams and is having the time of their lives. The last week to spend with friends before the long months of the summer holidays. Especially considering I'm spending 2 months of my summer on the other side of the globe and won't even be able to enjoy the occasional meet-up with people.

I've missed both performances of the play that I supposedly produced
I've missed our college garden party
I've missed the may ball that I was meant to attend
I've missed going punting last night to watch fireworks

I'm experiencing May week through everyone's facebook photos and bawling my eyes out everytime a new album is posted.

I know there are thousands and thousands of people out there who are much worse off than me when it comes to their health. But sometimes I really wish I had a different body. A healthier model which doesn't inevitably get ill. I was so proud of myself, so pleased, that I didn't get ill throughout exam term, that I made it right to the last exam healthy. Maybe that pride, that happiness jinxed it all. Or maybe, as the biologist in me advocates, adrenaline carried me through the revision and exams and possibly into the week after exams. Then the adrenaline petered out and my body simply crashed.

So yeah...

2010-06-14T17:36:00.001+01:00

I think I said something about posting more once exams finished but I'm afraid it's been a bit of a whirlwind.
A whirlwind that's left me in bed for 3 days with some sort of virus that's stopping me from attending the ball that I was seriously looking forward to. Ah well. I managed to sell my ticket with less than 12 hours to go and I'm sure the girl who's bought my ticket will enjoy it far more than I would've and at least I'm getting my money back.

One thing being ill has shown me yet again is how truly amazing my friends are and how much I mean to them. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my friends a hell of a lot on a daily basis but there's nothing like being helpless to show you just how much they can be there for you. I also have an annoying habit of underestimating how much I mean to people. I know that most of my friends mean the world to me but I always seem to assume that I mean a lot less to them. It's something I really need to do less because in a way by underestimating what I mean to my friends, I'm underestimating them.

I've formed friendships at uni that are going to last for years if not decades. Friendships that will last through the good and the bad times. I've got friends that have sat with me for hours in hospital/at the doctors but that I've also sat with chatting about absolute nonsense for hours on end. Friends that will come running when I'm in so much pain I can barely move but who can reduce me to hysterical laughter in the blink of an eye. I truly truly cherish my friends so much. These girls and guys I've lived with for the last 2 years have become a different sort of family.

Next year, a lot of my close friends who happen to be linguists will be spending a year abroad. I don't even know how I'm going to cope the few months of the summer without everyone, let alone another year after that without some of them. Hopefully I'll be here in 4th year but I'm afraid the odds are against me. I really really want to do a management masters but considering it's one of the best courses in the world with only 40 places, I can but hope.

I'm done

2010-06-02T11:42:00.002+01:00

I'm on pause

2010-05-22T12:17:00.001+01:00

So the 365 challenge just didn't happen. I let it fall by the wayside and just generally forgot about it. To be honest that's what's happened with a lot of aspects of my life over the last 2 months. I haven't been drawing, taking photos, painting, generally crafting, mucking around on photoshop, reading fiction, listening to enough music or watching enough movies. Every spare minute has been spent either letting my brain just go numb or sharing some precious downtime with my amazing friends. Why has my life been so busy you ask? Because I have been revising like an absolute lunatic. A fact that I am so so so happy I have actually done because my first exam of the year is in just over an hour and I feel as prepared as I realistically can be. This feeling may fade completely when I sit down, wait for the signal and turn over the front page but hopefully it won't. I've kept my nose to the grindstone for so long that I think I'm actually going to feel extremely lost come my last exam a week from Tuesday. However I feel so proud of myself. I've worked harder than I ever have in my life. Hopefully I get the grade I need to do Zoology next year but all I can really do is my best. I've done that so far and I'm going to continue to do that for the next 10 days.

Once those 10 days are over I can finally hit the play button on my life again. Life will suddenly explode into a whirlwind of activity. I'm producing a play which needs publicity and stash(hoodies/other garments relating to a society or production - pretty sure it's Cam slang), I'm going to a ball, I've got various punting trips and movie sessions planned and there's also all the other things that will crop up in the 2.5 lecture-less weeks. I'm also going home for a weekend after exams finish which should be good fun.

Pseudomuch

2010-04-07T01:49:00.003+01:00

Ok the last few days at home and my first day here have not gone well
I'm downgrading my 365 challenge
1 photo a day- compulsory
The photo of myself/something arty can be considered a bonus
However with the downgrade comes an upgrade of sorts
Any photos must come with some explanation re. my life at the moment
Anywho- photos will follow tomorrow

DAY FIVE 28/03/10

2010-03-29T12:55:00.003+01:00

DAY FOUR 27/03/90

2010-03-29T12:52:00.003+01:00

DAY THREE- 26/03/10

2010-03-29T11:25:00.003+01:00

As I mentioned- this was my hiccup day :S So here's 3 pretty photos taken in York.

DAY TWO - 25/03/10

2010-03-29T11:20:00.003+01:00

Oooh

2010-03-28T22:18:00.002+01:00

Ok the good news is I'm sort of keeping up with this 365 thing.

Although minor slip on Friday but I will persevere and there's a bunch of very nice pictures of York that can make up for it.

The bad news is that I haven't been able to spend much time with my darling laptop in the last few days as I was in York for 2 days and then I've been spending time with my darling family today.

So photos will appear tomorrow!!

Over and out

365- Day 1

2010-03-24T16:00:00.005Z

ooookaaaay.... posting daily is not happening.

The end of last term was beyond insane

And now I'm home.

But i'll be back before I know it and then life will get more insane.

So right now I'm starting project 365.

I know most people start on the 1st of Jan but ah well... this is me. I'm different. So 24th of March it'll be.

So my project 365 is a bit adventurous

1 random photo

1 pic of something crafty- collage, doodle etc.

1 pic of me(eek!)

Yes I'm being serious

And this includes the whole of exam term

Including exam week(and a half)

It takes 10 seconds to take a photo

And 5 minutes to do a quick collage/sketch

So here goes

Good luck to me
Day ONE

Absent

2010-02-26T13:20:00.003Z

Ooops I did it again...
I let the bloggywog slip for a while. But to be honest everything has slipped over the last two weeks. Time spent with friends, sleep, sanity, the diet.
I was ill for a week two weeks ago and I've spent the last 2 weeks getting back on track with work which took a heck of a lot of motivation, a lot of chocolate and far too many library hours. But it all worked. I've passed through the cloud of essays and am now faced with the dazzling sunshine of my usual 3 a week. And on a similar thread the weather seems to be getting better me thinks. I actually had to carry my coat around on Wednesday! Although today seems to have brought gale force winds(fun cycling!)... but I'm sure Spring will get back on course again soon.

2 weeks till the Ball. Can't wait. It's gonna be absolutely fantastic. I'm dining too. Much fun. Only problem is I am in desperate need of shoes. And I don't mean in the usual sense of I'd really like a new pair of shoes- I mean in the I don't actually have any to wear. I ruined my only pair of smart heels at the last ball I attended. And by ruined I mean that they wore down to the metal spikes- you actually could've killed someone with them. Shoe shopping has not gone well so far. I need to have another attempt sometime soon before the situation really gets desperate.

Anyways- over and out
But first here's a pic of the amazingly random snow on Monday(yeah when I said the weather is getting better...)

P.S(keeping up with the Ps)

2010-02-13T17:26:00.004Z

I am now officially on a mission to lose weight...

A few ground rules

-No wimping out of cycling back and forth to town more than once a day

-At least one trip to Girton each week- maybe combined with a swim! (shock horror!)

-No more college deserts- if I'm really hungry then a yoghurt will suffice

-On that note- no chocolate under 70% allowed in my room

-Buy and eat fruit

-Cut down on the lucazade + Sprite

-Wake up 15 minutes earlier and do 15 mins Yoga

-If I'm not that hungry then a salad/soup will do for a meal

-Cut down on paninis

Pens, Pants and Pedestrians

2010-02-13T15:45:00.004Z

So here's a picture of the amazing pens I mentioned in my last post:

Edited to add: I now just start rambling BIG TIME

On a more annoying note all 3 pairs of jeans(yeah I don't normally call them pants but I liked the alliteration in the title tehehe) I have with me in Cam have spontaneously developed horrible rips in them- all in the same place. Have deduced it's because of cycling.

Anywho- Today after my Saturday Psych lecture and a delightfuly lunch with Mads at EAT I decided against my better judgement to go shopping for jeans. Up until a few years ago I absolutely loathed any semblance of clothes shopping. I am ashamed to admit that even when I was about 16 my mother was still buying most of my clothes- simply because if she didn't I wouldn't have actually had anything to wear. Then at some point of my later teenage years I developed a liking for shopping. And along with it I developed some sort of fashion sense. A fashion sense that I am told is actually quite good... I don't really care since I really do dress for myself and not for anyone else. I like bright colours, I like rather random combinations of clothes and I really like layering clothes- and no one is going to tell me not to I'm afraid.

Anyhow- back to the topic at hand. The point of that rambling tangent was to explain that the loathing for clothes shopping I used to have still comes creeping back whenever I actually need something in particular. The problem is that I have a randomly shaped body. I'm in between sizes, my top half and bottom half are always different sizes. My weight yoyos quite a bit and even at my slimmest I still have big hips and boobs. All this means that when I have to shop for something in particular I tend to get very very peed off.

So today I first ventured into M&S. Some might argue that M&S isn't really aimed at my generation but I absolutely love their jeans. Mainly because I'm not a fan of having my slipping halfway down my bum when I try to sit down. Two of my recently destroyed jeans were lovely per una jeans that have lasted me quite a few years. And they're comfortable. However today M&S just wasn't up to the mark (no pun intended). I couldn't find a single pair of per una jeans(might have been looking in the wrong place) and all their others that I tried just would not fit. I also stubbornly refused to try on any 16s as all my current jeans are 12s or 14s.

Having left M&S in a state of dejection I journeyed on to the wonderful world of New Look in memory of the third destroyed pair. Out of 5 pairs tried on, only one fit and I really didn't like the look of them. Having resigned myself to buying a not-that-nice pair so I'd actually have some jeans to wear I left it behind to go draw out some cash.

At which point I passed dotty Ps. Since DP have been increasingly kind to me over the last year or so I decided to have a peek at their range of jeans. 10 minutes later I'd tried on 3 pairs of different style size 14 jeans and they all fit almost perfectly. Whoooooppeeeeeeeee :) I then deliberated for a few minutes over which of them I could actually afford and left with one pair of bootleg jeans and other straightcut.

-Mission accomplished-

A rant about the complete incompetance of any shopper/tourist pedestrians in Cam was going to follow the shopping story but considering how long that went on for I think I won't bore you(which is probably just me in a few months time) with it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Normal function has resumed

2010-02-12T21:07:00.003Z

Oooooooooh(yeah random)

Back to lectures and such today so therefore normal blog posting must resume. Had a rather insane yet brilliant psychology practical today involving lots of logic puzzles... YAY!

Ok I really haven't actually got a clue what to write today so I probably shouldn't write anything or I'll actually start rambling.

But oooooh bought another pack of ridiculously expensive drawing pens as an I'm Well Again present to myself... colourful ones :D

The sun has got his hat on

2010-02-11T21:22:00.005Z

Hip hip hip hooray
The sun has got his hat on
And he's coming out today/to play/ whatever the lyrics actually are

I feel so much better. Not quite 100% which is what I'm hoping tomorrow will bring after a good night's sleep but the fluey-ness has definitely left me which is always good. 3 more days of antibiotics to go and then the blasted microbes that have taken up residence in my lungs will have been annihilated. Ok that last sentence sounded a bit creepy but ah well. Bacteria - pah!

A.W.O.L

2010-02-10T20:07:00.005Z

Just thought I should pop in to say that the reason for my absence is due to another blasted chest infection(ooh what a surprise...bleh).

Normal operation(well normal for the last 2 weeks or so) shall resume when my antibiotics finally kick in, normal breathing resumes, I stop coughing all through the night and actually sleep again and when I have the concentration +an attention span that allows me to focus on anything more challenging than movies I've seen before and kid's films.

Over and out and back to watching Sex in the City the movie...

Psychologists

2010-02-05T15:37:00.003Z

"So often in developmental psychology people insist it must be one of the other, when it is probably both"

Cross out developmental and you pretty much have psychology summed up. It all boils down to stupid debates about pointless extremes. I love psychology I honestly do. But the sheer pointlessness of the debates abundant within the science just bore me. Really.

And that dear readers(have I even got any? Shout if you're reading this...or better yet comment since I might actually know then :P) is why I find animal behaviour so much more interesting than human psychology.

Hugs and kisses

Thank you

2010-02-03T22:15:00.003Z

This book was one of my birthday presents off my parents. Started reading this last night and just couldn't put it down until I literally had to get to sleep.

The first 80 pages have made me laugh, smile and cry.

And they've also made me incredibly thankful for the life I lead. Every now and then something comes and smacks me in the face, reminding me just how lucky I am. It's gender inequality that hits me the hardest.

I'm not spoiling the plot by saying this because it's on the blurb but in the book, a 15 year old Afghan girl gets sent off to marry a 40+ year old man in a city far away from the only place she's every been able to call home.

Situations like that just get to me so much.

Parts of me just cannot come to grips with the sheer injustice of it. And the sheer normality of it for some people in the world.

And yes the sheer enormity of the difference between my life and the lives of so many girls my age in the world. So many girls my age will have already been married off with multiple children, living in absolute poverty. Whilst I'm sat in my university room typing on my laptop having just eaten a chocolate bar and completed a presentation on Lepidoptera.

I complain about my life so much considering just how lucky I actually am. Considering how blessed a life I actually lead. Let this post be a reminder to me that I love my life.

Because trust me, I really truly LOVE MY LIFE. Was that clear- I LOVE MY LIFE. I have an amazing family spread across multiple continents. I love them all so much and I know that I am so loved. I have so many amazing friends in Singapore, home and at uni. My uni friends made me feel so unbelievably loved on my birthday. Not that I don't feel loved every other day of the year. But to have so many people strive to make that day special for me was amazing.

I have never ever gone without anything I have needed. I complain about my bad health and insane immune system but I have always had access to amazing healthcare. At the risk of sounding morbid I can say with quite a lot of confidence that if I had been born into true poverty, I wouldn't have survived past infancy.

I've had access to an amazing education in 2 amazing countries. An education that has led to me studying at one of the top 4 universities in the world. Yes my degree is hard work. Really really hard work sometimes. But I enjoy it. I love the subjects I'm studying and when I get stuck into it, I even enjoy most of my work. No one was lying when they said University = the best years of your life. I'm so so grateful that I got this opportunity.

I'm not really looking forward to joining the real world. But I know I've been given all the skills and resources I could possibly need for surviving in the real adult world after graduation.

I'll stop the appreciating semi-rant now and actually go to bed.

But once again

I LOVE MY LIFE

I'm not going to say that I'll stop complaining. Or that I'll appreciate my life every waking second of everyday. But deep down, I know how lucky I am.

Thank you Universe for everything you have given me.

Over and out...

Butterflies, fairies and rainbows.

2010-02-02T15:55:00.003Z

Today's cycle in to lectures was thankfully less eventful than yesterday's. Still quite painful though. It hadn't occured to me that that horrible feeling you get when a partially healed graze on your knee would basically happen every 2 seconds whilst cycling. Ok- disgusting image over. Went for waffles with Gnomes for lunch. YAY!

I'm now off to retrieve my (hopefully dry) washing from the tumble-dryers and then attempt to create a presentation on the insect order Lepidoptera- a.k.a butterflies,
fairies and rainbows
and moths for all those normal non-zoology-ish people in the word. Despite Em commenting that such a task sounds as magical as talking about fairies and rainbows- it really isn't. But still- PRETTY PICTURES :P

Well done me

2010-02-01T14:52:00.003Z

This morning I fell off my bike.

Badly.

Spectacularly.

Painfully.

I successfully managed to cycle into town over quite icey roads without so much as a bad swerve which meant I might have been a bit too pleased with myself which might have caused me to have a serious disagreement with a kerb. A serious disagreement which has caused the chain to come loose from my bike. Fingers crossed one of my friends actually manages to fix it before I have to cycle home later this evening. Oh and I also caused a lot of damage to myself in the form of 2 quite deep cuts on a shin and a really bad graze on my other knee.... but that will heal and definitely won't cost any money whereas any damage caused to bike most definitely won't. Neither will the damage caused to my relatively new leggings which had to be replaced.

On a nicer, more optimistic note...
3rd blog post in 3 days.
Go me!

Say what?

2010-01-31T12:51:00.004Z

Yesterday was good fun. After skipping my lecture and not really doing any work in its place, I went to the cinema with some of my friends. The National Theatre have started doing these live satellite broadcasts of plays to cinemas around the globe so we went to see Nation by Terry Pratchet. It was good fun :)

Today is going to be less fun. LOTS of work to do. Which I'm off to do now.

Today

2010-01-30T11:25:00.001Z

"Today I turn 20

Today I stop being a teenager

Today I don't feel any different than I did yesterday

Today I resolve to blog more

Today I resolve to keep ahead of my work"

So I wrote that 4 days ago on my birthday and promised myself I was going to update everyday. Um...yeah that happened. I need to keep writing. I know I can write essay-style but I'm not sure if I'm actually capable of everyday communication any more and I'm determined to submit and article for bluesci next month so...yeah

I've decided I really really need to open my curtains in the morning. Because I somehow managed to wake up at half 9 and not look outside until I reached the bike sheds at 10:55. At which point I realised that there was snow on the ground- and that the roads hadn't been cleared yet. So considering I'm not the best cyclist in the world meant I chickened out and skipped my lecture(which was starting at 11).

I'm now off to write an essay on the lecture I should be in right now so guess I'm not missing out too much.

So...

2009-10-16T16:26:00.004+01:00

I'm a bit more settled into the new year now...

I'm taking time out to be arty(photos soon) which generally keeps me sane

I'm possibly taking a bit too much time out since I've been in charge of the decorations for a Back to School themed event for tonight.

Here's some pics of some layouts that I made before I came back to uni:

First one is quite basic. the title and the file folders were hand drawn and hand cut. Then some buttons which i sewed on and some Hambly rub ons. Oh and some pattern paper which was hand scalloped and stapled on. Fell in love with that spotty paper which is why it's on both layouts. Can't remember the name or manufacturer though.

The second one was a bit of an experiment. The text background was made using glimmer mists and then black watercolour patterns painted on top. Added dictionary definitions(cut from a real dictionary!!), some stickled embelishments, a chipboard title and some dymo text.

2009-10-10T10:25:00.003+01:00

I need to paint

cut, paste

CREATE

big time

I'm itching to just sit down and make SOMETHING

But life's getting in the way

10 things

2009-09-16T21:12:00.005+01:00

10 little factoids about my life at the moment

Tomorrow I'm off on holiday with my parents. Totally can't wait for a week in a gorgeous apartment by the sea- just hoping the weather lives up to our expectations. Not looking forward to the 6 hour drive as much :S ... I think the 3+hr drive to Cambridge is long.
Between packing for Devon and starting to pack for Uni my room is a complete utter dump at the minute- you can see very little floor.
It suddenly really truly hit me how much weight I've gained recently while I was trying on old clothes today. Really scarily hit me. Not gonna let it get to me though. Just gonna cut down on the junk and ramp up the exercise. :D Less chocolate, more fruit.
My back is killing me... haven't got a clue what I've managed to do.
I'm already missing my 'home' friends since I probably won't see any of them until Christmas
BUT- I am soooo looking forward to seeing everyone at Uni. I am very ashamed at how useless I've been at meeting up with anyone. It's just difficult with everyone spread round the country and such ridiculous train prices- even with a railcard
I need to do some SERIOUS reading over the next week. Anyone care to explain to me how it is that Uni finished in June... and I have managed 1/3 of a book out of the 20-30odd science books sat on my bookshelf?
I can't wait to go to my first crop! Didn't think I'd ever actually make it to one but looks like I might in November.
I think a one week break from the internet is going to do me good. If there is internet access on holiday I am promising myself that I will ONLY check my emails and facebook- and only once a day.
Doing this has made me realise how little is going on in my life :P

the Stopover

2009-09-14T23:26:00.005+01:00

Do you occasionally make a page that you just absolutely love. Where everything has just come together perfectly. Well i absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this page. Maybe because the photos are all pretty awesome... which is probably since my brother took 3 of the 4.

Which- moving slightly off topic- reminds me... I realised today that I haven't printed a single picture in over a year... which is about the time I've been seriously into photography. And then I wonder why I now think most of the photos on my scrapbook pages are pants?

Lately I haven't been writing much on the blog. Just been posting photos and such. Mainly because I think no one wants to read my ramblings but I've decided I am going to write more from now on. :)

Ok tired ramble over :D

The page below is using photos from a stopover in Amsterdam on the way to Singapore in April 07. We had a 7 or 8 hour stopover so we actually ventured into the city and had a wonder around. It was my 2nd time in Amsterdam and I love it just as much as I did the first time. It truly is one of my favourite cities in the world. Lots of scraps on this page :) Along with some making memories wordfetti stickers, papermania bikes and some glimmermisted lace(offcuts from "breaking free" that happened to be on my desk. Oh and the title was made using double sided letter stickers and that foil transfer stuff. That I am well and truly in love with.

And here's a journal page as well. Pretty simple, no writing. Lots of watercolours, some Stazon round the edges, some stickles, an American Crafts thicker, an unidentified heart sticker and a Hambly rub-on :)

GlimmerMists

2009-09-12T00:25:00.004+01:00

Am rapidly getting completely and totally addicted to glimmer mists. Despite only having 3 colours I'm managing to use them on almost everything i create nowadays. It really is worrying :P I just love their versatility... They're also brilliant for making things match.

Here's a couple of layouts that got attacked by the glimmer:

Coloured one of the paper flowers and the ribbon and rikrak and added some quirts of colour to the rest of the page. Also did some foiling on this page- something else i'm getting addicted to :P

Sprayed the lace on this page red and then sprayed the background paper with blue

Created the bacground on this layout by laying out embroidary floss bobbins as masks and spraying over them with blue and green.

Chester

2009-09-12T00:20:00.003+01:00

Been meaning to blog my haul from a day trip to Chester last weekend :)

-Got 2 lots of fabric, a bunch of metal and wooden embellisments and some buttons from Liberty Bell in the town centre.

-A load of lace, rick rack and various embellishments from the indoor market.

-An amazing brush/pen holder(99p!), 4 canvases and a nice sketchpad from the Works.

-4 sets of mini alphabet stamps(1.49 each) and some glue dots from the Papermill shop.

Oh and I also got this pretty cool book for 2 quid. It's full of comic strip-esque advice collumns from the 50s. Enjoyed reading it and now can't wait to use it on some layouts/journal pages.

Point Blank Period

2009-09-11T12:03:00.004+01:00

Absolutely loving this new challenge blog :)

Here's my attempt at the first challenge:

I WANT!!

2009-09-10T23:51:00.004+01:00

I really

really

want these...

But do i dare splash out...?

I heart paint

2009-09-10T21:40:00.004+01:00

I have fallen majorly in love with using paint on scrapbook pages. I love dry-brushing acrylic to grunge things up or to edge a page or pretty much anything else I can think of. And I have recently discovered the absolute joy of usying watercolours to add hints of colours :)

For this page I cut out strips of paper from an old book and then watercoloured over them. I also stamped circles using black acrylic and a bottle cap :)

For the page below I added some paint to the foam flowers and also edged the page

Had a lot of fun with this last one just generally experimenting. I bought 2 reels of this rainbow ribbon years ago and haven't really used it at all. For this layout i just kept twisting and staple-ing it all around the page to create a border. Then grunged it up with white and black paint. Also edged the title and photos using paint.

Inspired

2009-09-08T10:08:00.005+01:00

1. joyously., 2. Untitled, 3. quote a "week", 4. quote a "week", 5. Untitled, 6. Kinderdijk Sunset, 7. Autumn Light, 8. Autumn..., 9. birdcage

8, Eight, Lapan, Acht

2009-09-08T09:42:00.003+01:00

Haven't done something like this in ages... so thought I would and then print it out and slap it in my art journal :)

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Going back to uni and seeing all my friends
2. Helping with freshers' week
3. Seeing lots of my old friends tomorrow
4. Going to Torquay on holiday
5. Starting new subjects(with no maths!!!)
6. Oceans marathon in about 4 hours!! :P
7. Hopefully finally going to my first crop
8. Making the most of my last few days at home

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Had a frappe at Costa with Cat, Pip and Jo
2. Went charity shop hopping and found quite a few scrapping goodies
3. Watched History Boys with Dan

4. Helped Cat organise a meal for tomorrow
5. Had cheese and crackers for lunch
6. Did salsacise
7. Read a book that i REALLY should have finished by now
8. Started my letter to my college kids

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Spend my life scrapping(but not have to worry about money)
2. Lose some weight
3. Have longer hair(assuming I hadn't cut it all off last year)
4. Run... properly without getting an asthma attack
5. On the same thread... be around cats and dogs without getting an asthma attack
6. Generally be healthier
7. Sweat the small stuff less
8. Keep in touch better

8 TV shows I watch:
*I completely go off TV when i'm uni but at home-
1. The Mentalist
2. Dexter
3. NCIS
4. Burn Notice <3 5. ANTM 6. Dragons' Den 7. Mock the Week <3 8. Eastenders... but only if i'm in the room while my mum's watching it 8 things I collect:

1. Stickers
2. Clothes(well it looks that way)
3. Paper(it's taking over my life!!)
4. Books
5. Jewellery
6. Movies... well i'm trying to build up a collection
7. Pens(again...taking over my life)
8. Various other crafty things

What are 8 things you are excited about?
*I'm going to try and not make this exactly like the first set
1. The future
2. Going back to Cambridge
3. Hopefully getting to make a pot on holiday
4. Maybe finally getting my etsy shop sorted out
5. Cycling everyday
6. History and philosophy of Science!! Completely new subject
7. Getting to study psychology after a year away from it
8. Seeing all my uni friends that i have missed FAR FAR too much

2009-09-06T22:33:00.001+01:00

or Forks

Golden Oldies

2009-09-06T17:52:00.004+01:00

Was looking through my old scrapbooks and thought I'd upload a few old pages. It was interesting seeing how my style has changed over the last 3 years :)

Feel free to have a look at the Flickr set

Been productive

2009-09-05T01:09:00.003+01:00

12 scrapbook pages and several art journal pages to photograph and upload

Oh and i've started covering a cupboard door with scraps and such.

Been meaning to ever since i read this

Hmmm

2009-09-01T21:45:00.002+01:00

Managed 4 completed layouts, 1 half completed layout and the start of a mini book....

Maybe it'll happen tomorrow

Mission Impossible?

2009-09-01T11:08:00.001+01:00

The mission....

10 layouts...

in one day...

....we'll see

first things first get off the computer and tidy my room

LOVE LOVE LOVE

2009-08-31T00:47:00.005+01:00

Birthday Mini!!

2009-08-25T14:08:00.003+01:00

I finished it :D

It's completely totally mad

And I'm not quite sure whether I like it

It is growing on me though :)

Here's the cover- rather different from the original cover I posted a few days ago but :)

And here's the pages:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Treasure

2009-08-24T22:51:00.002+01:00

An old layout

2009-08-24T22:48:00.003+01:00

An old layout that I quite like :D It was in response to the second Creative Type prompt. Intended to keep up with all the prompts but life sort of got in the way.

Yup...

2009-08-24T22:45:00.001+01:00

Please

2009-08-22T22:09:00.002+01:00

....ignore my blog layout for the next few days

Am fiddling around with it and sorting out a proper header and background but might take me a while :D

Work in Progress

2009-08-16T10:32:00.003+01:00

I'm working on a mini book of my 18th birthday.... since I realised that it must have been a moment of madness that made me think it would be a good idea to fit everything onto 3 or 4 layouts

Ended up just making piles of photos all over my bedroom floor

A few of the pages.... just going completely mad with this book tbh. Watercolours, acrylic, lots of wrapping paper and cards left over from my birthday :)

It's scary to think I'm now in the last few months of teenage-dom.... someone please stop the clock... I don't want to turn 20

There's something about...

2009-08-14T15:32:00.005+01:00

...MUSIC

TMS mini book

2009-08-14T14:25:00.008+01:00

Photoshop elements

2009-08-03T11:37:00.007+01:00

Rant

2009-07-29T12:43:00.004+01:00

Something I've been wondering for a while now...

Who came up with the design for wire bound notebooks/sketchpads/scrapbooks?

EVERY wire bound notebook I've ever owned has lost it's back cover...

Pics of the TMS mini book, a random scrapbook page and a page from my India slbum when I've tidied my room and bothered to go hunt down my camera

XXX

Back in the swing of things

2009-07-27T23:46:00.003+01:00

Soooooo.... I've been back from the lovely Lion City for 5 days now.

Missing Singapore a hell of a lot but at the same time I'm loving being home for a decent length of time.

I've finally managed to almost finish unpacking from Uni and Singapore so my room is now in a state suitable for crafting(WOOOOOO!!!).

Decided I'm going to spend my time at home this summer finishing up the million scrapping projects I've got sat around all over my room. And top of my list are my India and Paris scrapbooks and my TMS minibook.

Here's a bad(taken using my webcam) pic of the cover of the minibook. Will take decent photos of the whole book when I've finished the last 2 pages :)

5 things I love right now

2009-06-11T08:27:00.003+01:00

The fact I spent three hours sat around in a pub with friends yesterday and none of us needed to run off to a supervision or practical, to hand in an essay or questions or do anything. It was brilliant. Also love that I spent more on my desert than I did on my meal... but ah well.
I'm scrapping again! I dug out my Paris/Venice scrapbook that I've been banned from all term and have started cutting into photos. Woop! It's nice to have the time to think a bit more about art.
One of my old school friends is arriving today.
I'm going out tonight for the first time since... o-m-g.... the end of last term since I didn't manage to go out at all over the Easter hols.
The banksy book I found in a charity book store yesterday in amazing condition for less than half the price

7 hrs 39 minutes

2009-06-09T08:52:00.001+01:00

Till i am free till October

What a glorious thought

Off to cram

Ok...I'm doing away with the no posts promise...

2009-06-03T20:44:00.001+01:00

This morning's exam was in fact horrific... worse than yesterday though I can't decide if that's because I felt more prepared for this one. I looked at the essay questions and just thought ... i'm screwed. But it's over which is the most important thing. NO MORE PHYSIOLOGY!!!!! returned a bunch of textbooks to the library and boy did it feel good.

After the exam trauma I (understandably I'd like to think) went shopping for some retail therapy. Of course unlike any 'normal' girl my retail therapy did not involve clothes, shoes or anything else fashion related. I bought...
-A scrapbook magazine
-A sheet of stickers
-2 sharpie dual end markers
-A pack of fabric flowers that were on offer
-A really cute little notebook with birdies on it that has plain kraft paper inside(art journal me thinks :P)
-An amazing photo album with a camera print that I'm gonna use as either a scrapbook or an art journal. It's got some black pages, some white and then some sort of divided plastic pockets. Could be interesting. Not sure whether to use it for 6th form pics since it probably would work...hmmmmm
-A (just under A5) kraft ring binder thing from Paperchase and some lined white and plain kraft paper inserts for it. Planning on using it as an art journal thing for when I'm in SG for a month. Have plans for the cover and plan on fulfiling them post exams(TUESDAAAAY!!!)

Couple of recent art journal pages. Also told myself I'd stop art journalling over exams but I've needed it more than ever. First page is about how much basic parts of everyday life you seem to forget once you start cramming.
This quote definitely made me feel better when I came across it this morning. It's easy to think about how much more work I could've been capable of this year but I'm not regretting my first yr at uni. It's been truly fantastic.

Yeah.... about today's exam. Hardest exam I have ever sat in my life. Period.
Felt like painting a few days ago. It's been ridiculously hot these last few days(today's been rather miserable though).

After yesterday's exam :S
Random pic of me that I found... do i like it? Can't quite decide. Think i look a bit out of it. And knackered. Which I am at the moment. Mentally, physically and emotionally drained. So off to bed with a mug of chamomile tea and my scrapbook mag. Peace out...

I know...

2009-06-01T11:15:00.001+01:00

...i said that was my last post
...but i'm stressing(and therefore not working- yes makes perfect sense....not) about tomorrow
...and I found this:

I'm afraid...

2009-05-31T21:18:00.001+01:00

...this is my last post for a while
until the 9th of June... when i will be freeeeeeeeeeeeeee ...... until the beginning of October!!! :O

My life at the moment:
- I have a really random tan from revising in the sun yesterday.... and I think I may have actually burnt a little and I'm sure it'll truly show itself mid exam week.

-I have a huge poster of the human body on my wall that I've finally finished, a plant revision poster on my floor, countless metabolic pathways on my noticeboard and a folder full of mindmaps... and not nearly enough of any of them actually in my head... but ah well

-I'm wishing exams over and they don't even start till Tuesday.

-I'm envying the Arts students who have mostly either finished or are finishing in the next few days. Love them though.

- I've decided that my stress levels must be on a negative feedback loop since they're oscillating up and down. I get really stressed then decide that exams don't matter so go all mellow then think ARGH i'm too relaxed and get stressed agin.

-The weather in Cam is AMAZING ...

-Um... I'm really really REALLY happy that one of my best friends is coming down to visit post exams

-I'm craving psychology

-My facebook language is still set to Pirate and I'm still managing to get vast amounts of joy from that trivial fact.

-I'm off to bed

Sayonara me hearties

Um...well

2009-05-30T14:33:00.001+01:00

I didn't make it to the library this morning...
Well... actually... I did make it to the library only to realise it didn't open till ten...
So then I came back up to my room and then I ended up lay outside on the grass working not very productively for about4 hours... with lunch in the middle of it... did have a couple of debates about Freud.. amongst other things.
Now i'm back in my room, having been driven in by the fear of heatstroke of some sort... at least i don't have to worry about getting burnt

So thought I'd upload a few more pics then attempt to get up the motivation to finish getting myself through the genetic revolution. The problem with living in a country that often has utterly terrible weather.. is that when you do get good weather all you want to do is enjoy it. And unfortunately the good weather is always in the run up to the exams.

So many ideas... and a complete lack of time

2009-05-30T08:40:00.001+01:00

I've been dreaming up quite a few scrapbook projects over the last few weeks. Wish I didn't have to wait till the end of July to put them into practice but have still had fun planning. They include a handmade scrapbook of my first year of uni, a mini book of some of the more random Girton(and Cam) moments, a mini book of the holiday I went on with my friends last summer and a hell of a lot of individual pages. Oh and I'd also like to scrap some of the mountain of Sixth Form photos I have before I forget all the memories that go with them.

Exams start in 3 days! I wish I was a bit more panicky because it might make me a bit more motivated. But I am working... LOADS. I'm working harder than I've ever worked before so que sera sera(however you spell it). I just really want them to be over. I'm bored of revision. Getting very near the point where I'm bored of science altogether. Bored of the library. Bored of writing notes and making revision posters. Just...bored.

So i'll stop moaning before I scare anyone away. On the flip side- I can't wait till MAY WEEK. Which is actually in June but I learn't a long time ago not to argue with Cambridge traditions. If they want to call a week in June May Week they will do. If they want the week to start on Thursday and end on Wednesday, they will do. :) But Mayweek is gonna be awesomeeeeeee!! Garden parties, a ball, a random tour round all the colleges, a treasure hunt, punting and a whole lot more fun on top of all that.

And my parents are coming down a day early so they can see Cambridge properly before they cart me and all my stuff back up north. Then I get a day at home before I'm off to Singapore for a MONTH. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO. Not only do I get to see all of my mum's AMAZING family, this time I'm also going with 2 friends. Which is gonna be so much fun... especially since it means I've got an excuse to be amazingly touristy. :)

This post has turned out waaaaay longer than I expected. So... here are a few more journal pages:

Pretty self explanatory page I guess. I'm not reeaaaaly vege. I eat fish and practically every other form of seafood available. I don't eat meat mostly just as personal preference. But on this occasion I just randomly started craving chicken so I went with it.

Finally did something on the cover of my art journal :)

Sketch of bit of an acident earlier this week. It was one of those classic moments where you can see everything happening before your eyes but you're completely incapable of stopping it.
The journalling on the left hand side of the page was written the night that I came down with labryinthitis. When I thought it was my own fauly. And the right hand side was written when I realised that something really was up with my inner ear.
In response to a music prompt on one of the many websites I stalk. Can't remember for the life of me where it was though.

Me and a few of my friends started a tradition of going to the Waffle House for lunch during cells practicals every Wednesday. And on our very last one last week me and a friend had to go and have the amazingly indulgent Emma waffle.
Just reminding myself not to let the little things get to me. Especially at the moment when exams have everyones brains in a bit of a pickle and everyone is a bit highly strung.

Simple- just felt a bit nyeargh...
Over and out....
and off to the library

Some journal pages

2009-05-29T20:54:00.001+01:00

Evidence that it truly is exam term....
I.e. I've needed all the escape I could possibly get...and there's more I need to upload as well :)
...while still attempting to get some revision done... which um... didn't really happen today... though I did go swimming and play ultimate frisbee so I'm going to say the health benefits of today made up for the lack of actual work :P

Anyway... here's some journal pages:

Sparked off by the Andy Warhol quote "Art is anything you can get away with" It basically turned into a ramble about the fact I can't think of a definition of art.
I just did a random painted background and then decided I liked it as it was so left it.
Response to a quetion I got asked at formal hall a few weeks ago. Why do I wear bindis?

There's a field in the middle of Cambridge by a very busy road. And... in the summer it has cows in it. It's just so bizarre and weird especially since people cycle and walk through the herd all day and there isn't much of a fence to the field. But...ah well... Cambridge is definitely not the most normal place in the world.
A Beautiful South quote "The whole place is pickled, the people are pickles for sure"More tomorrow. I'm off to get a ridiculously early night in the hope of being up at 7 at the latest!

It's not all roses

2009-05-29T20:33:00.001+01:00

Latest Gutter Girl promt attempt :)

The prompt was 'It's not all roses' and the song Rock Bottom by Eminem. I thought about adding in some of my own journalling as well as the lyrics that I used but there was so much that I could say and wanted to say that I just started to go round in circles so I decided to just stick with the Eminem lyrics and an Anastasia line as the main title :)

Plain

2009-05-22T16:09:00.001+01:00

The plain-ness of this blog is starting to bug me quite a bit....
But gonna have to wait till at least the 9th of june b4 I can muck around with html

ArtJournallingRevisionEtc

2009-05-22T10:26:00.001+01:00

Art journalling is rapidly turning into my little haven in the midst of the madness that is Easter term @ Cambridge.

Even in the midst of my room which currently has a gigantic A1 revision poster of the human body spread out on the floor with physiology books, notes and pens scattered around it, with the piles of more revision notes on my desk, post it notes with chemical structures and formulae stuck haphazardly on to most surfaces including my laptop and kettle and the sickly yellow exam time table pinned up on my notice board...

All I have to do is take out my journal, grab some pens or paint and some leaflets and magazines and suddenly that is all that exists for those 5 or 10 minutes. It truly is an amazing feeling to feel such a massive escape from... well reality... I guess. From the reality of the sheer amount of information I need to learn. From the reality that I've got to sit 5 3hr exams that are all gonna be more difficult than any exam I've ever sat before....

But... seriously... I'm not panicking too much about exams. Que sera sera and all that jazz. What will be will be. I want to pass... doing well would be nice but I'll be more than happy with passing. Cos I truly can't wait to get stuck in to my subjects next year. The subjects I'm well and truly interested in... no more plants, and only the occasional mention of biochem or physiology.

Psychology, Animal Biology and History and Philosophy of Science here I come...

...well... oops... providing I pass... back to my respiration notes I guess... Lung volumes woop!

-Ramble over-

-Over and out-

The sun has broken through the clouds

2009-05-11T19:44:00.002+01:00

In more ways than one
Today was sunnnyyyyyyyyyy
And i am feeling a million times better than i've felt all week

In between a lecture and a supervision and a practical and sitting in the library today I went shopping for a file. Just one ringbinder that i needed.

What did i come out of whs and paperchase with? Well...

The folder I needed(the purple one) and then another folder I just couldn't resist... isn't it lush? Even if one of my(obviously male) friends thought it was horrific.
A sketchpad because I'm worried that my , not even half full, art journal is going to be filled up
...and a pack of paintbrushes and some red acrylic paint
4 packs of stickers and a scrapbook magazine(no photo)

I've decided i'll justify all this as a "woop you're well" present to myself :P

The weirdness

2009-05-05T13:55:00.001+01:00

Tis weird...
Back at home- craft stuff is literally taking over my room.
There's cupboards and shelves lining an entire wall that are pretty much filled with embellishments and paper and pens
And now I've started art journalling at uni with such a limited supply of materials, I sometimes feel almost freer(is that a word) because I'm thinking more about what I'm creating and less about what I'm using to create it.
Which has lead me to think up of my ten essentials:

1- Pritt stick
2- Masking tape
3- Some sort of surface- e.g. sketchpad/paper
4- Black marker
5- White pen
6- My date stamp(woo)
7- Paintbrush
8- and paint surprisingly
9- Colour pencils
10- Glitter glue (cos it's just a bit random)

Anyway random post almost over
On the health front... I'm feeling worse than yesterday... which ISN'T good
At all
Nyeargh
Well...
I may or may not see a doctor today... bleh
Depends on whether I get through the system now that swine flu panic has taken over the world.... all I want is to have someone tell me if there's anything they/I can do so the room doesn't start moving the moment I move my head in any sort of direction.

Dizzy

2009-05-04T11:54:00.001+01:00

On Saturday night I ended up at the fair on Midsummer's Common with a bunch of people from the Orielton trip. After a few rides I started to feel slightly dizzy but figurred it was just from spinning around and turning upside down. Except... it got worse and worse... and yesterday I pretty much couldn't walk in a straight line.

Well... it turns out there's something wrong with my inner ear... possibly a viral infection. Don't quite know whether the rides triggered it or if it's a massive coincidence.

So the revision and work is on hold for a bit... though I do have 6 DVDs worth of David Attenborough so I can feel vaguely productive on the work front. Better get off the com before the room starts spinning again.

xox

I <3 Colour

2009-05-02T09:03:00.001+01:00

I love colour
So so so so much
The brighter and bolder the better

It makes me feel happy
It makes my revision a lot more bearable

I haven't got a clue how I survived on a wardrobe that was 90% black... when now it's a mixture of greens, pinks, oranges and various prints and patterns. I own more coloured tights than I do neutral ones.

Gotta love the pic of our garden the day my mum decided to wash all our scarves

Various revision cards... that I should probably look at a bit more. Might sink it more than just sat on the shelf :P

Couple of journal pages :)

2009-04-27T20:06:00.001+01:00

Random Thoughts:

-Exam term would be alot less stressful if we didn't have supervision work on top of revision
-Beautiful South summed up Cambridge/Girton perfectly with the lyrics "The place is pickled, the people are pickled for sure"
-I should be starting a 3 hour maths paper instead of writing this
-I think I will actually go and do that
-People are weird

Doodles, Ultimate Frisbee, Art Journals & Stats

2009-04-24T13:02:00.001+01:00

Well I'm back in the swing of Uni :) It's definitely dawning on me that this is really it... my first exam term. But at the same time I am REFUSING to let it get to me. I can only do the best I can do... and I can only work as hard as I sanely can. There is absolutely no point in pushing myself to breaking point to try and get a first. So... I'm following Cam's favorite motto... work hard, play hard.
Had 2 lectures and a supervision(well it got cancelled but i spent an 1hr 30 mins getting there n back!!) today and managed 3 hours of stats but also played ultimate frisbee for an hour and a half which was ACE. Didn't take my inhaler either and yet didn't get too breathless.

On a more Arty front... I was looking at A level chemistry notes and couldn't believe how much I doodled on my chemistry book cover :And I've also started an art journal and am LOVING it :) Here's my first page. Click on the image if you want to read the journalling. The promt was from The Story Matters if i'm not mistaken.

Need to grab a photo of the next page as well :)

Me and My Dad

2009-04-14T09:32:00.002+01:00

Paradox

2009-04-14T09:28:00.001+01:00

I scrap the most when I'm really busy. It makes absolutely no sense when I first think about it.
But... I'm normally busiest in the run-up to exams. A time when my brain is in danger of exploding due to the sheer amount of science it has to learn and remember
.
And scrapping or any other art form is my coping mechanism. It keeps me as sane as possible during the crazy weeks. Which is why I've decided to start an Art Journal these 2 months. Just for the joy of creating after 2 hours of maths or physiology

In between my revision in the last week at home I made the layout below. It's another one i can't quite decide if I like or not. It just looks a bit messy... and not in a good way. But it was fun to make! Am trying to slowly bring myself round to the idea that my layouts don't have to be conventionally pretty or amazingly composed. It's enjoying the process of putting something together that matters. Especially since it's the layouts I enjoyed making the most that i look back on in fondness.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

2009-04-11T10:44:00.001+01:00

Spotted this video on this blog

Too much flipping Stash

2009-04-03T13:27:00.001+01:00

I'm setting myself a challenge
A serious scrapping challenge
That by the end of Summer... when I go back to Cambridge, I will have completed 100 challenges from the How much is too much blog...
Because after years of spending far too money and being a magpie, scrapbooking stash is slowly but surely taking over my room...

So... watch this space :)

A glimpse

2009-03-11T00:37:00.002Z

I've finally been able to get a glimpse of my 2nd published layout :D

Blue skies and sunsets

2009-02-28T08:46:00.001Z

I'll get round to uploading actualy artysy-crafty things eventually i promise :) Need to post some pictures of the masks I made for myself and some of my friends for a masquerade ball and some of my Paris&Venice scrapbook but for now... here's some photos:

My New Baby

2009-02-11T22:06:00.001Z

My new camera arrived in the post today!!
Despite the fact that it was dark by the time the battery had charged up, I still went for a wander through the woods to have a little experiment. Mainly ended up having alot of fun with the shutter speed.

What Henna Has Taught Me

2009-02-07T22:45:00.001Z

I've been fascinated with Henna ever since I got the first henna tattoo that I can actually remember. I think I was about 7 or 8 and my grandma drew me a simple crescent moon on one hand and a star on the other. Years later and my teenage cousins were wielding henna cones that allowed them to draw much more intricate patterns. Every Eid I'd end up with swirling leaves and flowers decorating my hands courtesy of either one of my cousins or a woman in a market somewhere.

Then one day while I was in Little India with my mum, I asked if I could buy a henna cone. I'd always been arty and it struck me that I should have some luck with henna tattoos. Over the following few weeks I practiced on myself which didn't go unnoticed by my wonderfully large extended family. People started to constantly coerce me into doing them a henna design despite my protests that I wasn't any good. When I moved back to England I used henna tattoos as a fund raising tool, first for charity and then for Young Enterprise.

And as they say... practice makes perfect. Though I definitely wouldn't say I'm perfect... but I'm alot better than when I started. The one thing I love about henna is that it has gifted me with the ability not to be too much of a perfectionist. When you're working on someone's skin you can't take too long and it's often embarassing if you have to wipe everything off and start again. I've learnt to turn mistakes around into something that looks good. And it's that that's given me the confidence as an artist that allows me to take acrylic paint to a t-shirt or a permanent marker to a pair of shoes with little if no planning.

I'm not saying that it's foolproof. Sometimes I might completely ruin the surface I'm working on... or in the case of a henna tattoo have to wipe the henna off and ask the person to go wash their arm so they don't end up with an orange blotch the next morning.

And I'm also not saying that perfectionism with art is a bad thing for anyone else. But for me... this works :)

ETA: I think henna designs have also taught me alot about manipulating simple shapes to create a larger, more complicated, design. It's amazing how some swirls, dots, circles and a couple of lines can transform themselves into some of the most complex Indian Mandalas. And thirdly... they've taught me to know when enough is enough.

Success Stories

2009-02-07T20:35:00.001Z

And while my BOB entry might have been unsuccesful... I managed to be one of the runners-up in Scrapbook Magazine's "Scrapbooker of the Year" competition with the following 3 pages:
This was the one that was actually published:

I have also, apparently, had a page published in the Readers' Gallery of Scrapbook Inspirations though I haven't seen the issue yet. I'm meant to be getting a copy of the magazine at some point so we shall see. It was for a stamping themed Gallery since the flowers and the snail were stamped, coloured in with water colour pencils and then handcut.

Best of British

2009-02-07T20:03:00.001Z

These 6 pages were my (unsuccesful) entry for Scrapbook Inspirations latest 'Best of British' competition. The first one "It's my Reality" was done just after result's day last year when I realised that all the wishing and hoping was truly over. That I really was going to Cambridge. It's quite weird looking back now, considering I'm almost halfway through my second term and it all just seems so normal. It's easy to forget how uncertain everything was throughout sixth form.

The second page was a heck of a lot of fun to put together. Theres sequins, sequin waste, shiney paper, metallic paint and a whole lot of glitter glue to make this page look as futuristic and funky as the photos. Again, it's quite an interesting one to look at since the pics were taken halfway through my 2 months of being extremely ill at the start of year 13.

This page took me ages to get around to doing and even once I'd started it I kept changing my mind about how I actually wanted it to look. It's very busy for me and took a lot of time considering all the hand cutting and sewing but I love the finished product. My 18th birthday was totally mad and the page definitely conveys that feeling.

Sort of self explanatory. "The Perfect Pic" shows my attempts at getting a decent photo of my nephew and cousin while Otis messed around and Dayana just attempted to drink her milkshake.

"Dots and Dashes" is just about my love of writing. A career option that I'm seriously considering once again since it's occured to me that a science degree doesn't have to end in a lab.

"Fragile" is one scrapbook page that I created solely for cathartic reasons. Quite unusually for me, the journalling is the focus of the page with the photo almost added as an accent. A few days before I wrote the text and created the page, I'd ended up being driven to A&E in an ambulance after the worst asthma attack that I can actually remember. This was after 18 months that hadn't been too kind healthwise leaving me feeling rather sorry for myself.
It's another page that's quite weird to look back on now since I'm just finally on the road to recovery after a week dealing with a virus turned chest infection.

Customised Converse

2009-02-07T19:54:00.001Z

I've never quite got on with blank surfaces that have even the slightest possibility of being decorated or customised in some way. Which means that somewhere in the back of my head I have a plan for every blank file, top, notebook or bag that I own and occasionally one of these plans actually gets realised. Thanks to the fact that Sharpies have finally arrived in the British Isles I managed, in the course of about 3 weeks, to completely cover a pair of converse in my usual doodles.

Lets Get This Party Started

2009-02-07T14:47:00.001Z

In Summer 2007 I went out to India for 3 weeks as part of a youth exchange. It was an absolutely amazing and truly life-changing experience and obviously brought up all sorts of ideas for the scrapbooker in me. I decided that I'd use this scrapbook, more than any other, to experiment with different techniques and just generally have fun. I also chose to use a wire bound scrapbook since it allowed me more freedom in terms of having bits of the page that lifted up etc. Despite the fact the pages may not be quite as polished as some of my other layouts... here's a selection of some of the completed pages. :)The diversity of the Indian Landscape is so astounding that it definitely warranted a page of it's own. This was my first attempt at using alphabet stickers as masks and I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. The main photo lifts up to reveal some more journalling in addition to the poem that's visible.

'Prawns' is one of my favourite pages that I've ever created and yet I've never quite understood why. There's something about the simplicity of it that I just love. It was the first time I threw caution to the wind and drew out my own title. The photos were taken on a prawn farm we visited.

I'm not quite sure whether I like this page or not. But... maybe the mixed feelings about the page and the messiness of it reflect what the page is about. Which would be an 8 hour train journey from Chennai to Madurai the day after we'd arrived in India. Considering I'd spent the day we'd arrived in India in bed recovering from a pretty bad allergic reaction... the train journey was a bit of a shock to the system and yet also an amazing experience. The page design itself was the result of a (rather failed) attempt at printing onto acetate to create my own rub-on to form the clock background. I ended up having to fill half of it in with pen but ah well.

I love the colours in this page soooo much. It was one of those rare moments when the image in my head, of a page reflecting the colours of the parachute, actually somehow made it onto paper. The blue card with "Our Debut" and the journalling opens out to reveal even more small photos.

Which came first...

2008-11-27T15:00:00.001Z

I'm not too sure which came first really.... The idea for this scrapbook page or the idea for the blog. I guess I was just generally thinking about the arts-sciences divide. I'm an extremely arty person. I always have been and I'm guessing I always will be. But i'm also at university doing one of the most challenging Science courses around. The joint obsessions with all things arty and sciency make me who I am. I've been meaning to set up a seperate blog for my arty escapades for a while. When my darling brother made himself one it spurred me on a bit.

The Artist Within The Scientist

Hello 2012!

Paris

Sunsets and washi tape

Majorly coveting these stamps!

This blog is back in session

An afternoon in the sun

Hope

I'm missing out...

So yeah...

I'm done

I'm on pause

Pseudomuch

DAY FIVE 28/03/10

DAY FOUR 27/03/90

DAY THREE- 26/03/10

DAY TWO - 25/03/10

Oooh

365- Day 1

Absent

P.S(keeping up with the Ps)

Pens, Pants and Pedestrians

Normal function has resumed

The sun has got his hat on

A.W.O.L

Psychologists

Thank you

Butterflies, fairies and rainbows.

Well done me

Say what?

Today

So...

10 things

the Stopover

GlimmerMists

Chester

Point Blank Period

I WANT!!

I *heart* paint

Inspired

8, Eight, Lapan, Acht

Golden Oldies

Been productive

Hmmm

Mission Impossible?

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Birthday Mini!!

Treasure

An old layout

Yup...

Please

Work in Progress

There's something about...

TMS mini book

Photoshop elements

Rant

Back in the swing of things

5 things I love right now

7 hrs 39 minutes

Ok...I'm doing away with the no posts promise...

I know...

I'm afraid...

Um...well

So many ideas... and a complete lack of time

Some journal pages

It's not all roses

Plain

ArtJournallingRevisionEtc

The sun has broken through the clouds

The weirdness

Dizzy

I <3 Colour

Couple of journal pages :)

Doodles, Ultimate Frisbee, Art Journals & Stats

Me and My Dad

Paradox

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Too much flipping Stash

A glimpse

Blue skies and sunsets

I heart paint