Love, Love, Love...

I'm a little behind spreading the love. But I had the most loveliest Valentines with the boy. We hadn't booked anywhere to go out to dinner but, he pulled it out of the bag and cooked me a beautiful steak dinner. And man this boy can cook!!! Something he's been hiding very well for the last two years!

I was very spoilt! I got a beautiful bunch of red roses, a lovely soppy card (which made me weep), my dinner cooked for me and an early birthday present!!

We are off to see bloc party in London this Friday!! I cannot wait! As much as I love living in the countryside I do love the City. I'm someone who needs to be overwhelmed with interesting things to look at. We're staying until Monday as well, so we have two whole days trawl around. I've planned for us to visit Spitalfields market on Saturday and then definitely take a trip down brick lane to the Sunday market. And we're seeing one of my all time favourite bands, it's going to be the best weekend ever!

We also celebrated our two year anniversary on Valentines day. It feels like so much longer. I'm thankful that we have each other everyday. 

Amy xx

My studio...

I am fortunate enough to have a whole room to use as my studio. I do share it with a couple of bags intended for Ebay and shelves worth of the boy's old WWE wrestling videos. But in all it's my own little room to get  creative in.

I often feel guilty that I don't spend enough time in it. Our house is always cold and the thought of leaving the living room (especially in the winter months) is never very inviting!
Today however, rather than dashing up and down the stairs grabbing materials and tools, I've settled my self down working. And it inspires me so much.

I'm actually sewing t-shirts for our WEARECHAMY Etsy shop. But when I take a moments break, I find myself rooting through my desk remembering pieces of art I want to make and in a couple of cases need to finish!

I'm pretty messy when I work. But it's just me, I've tried a billion and one times to put things away as I go but after about 5 minutes it's a bomb site again! Really I think it's the nature of my work and myself. It's very eclectic and having bits around me inspire me!

So today I thought I'd show you a few bits and bobs that are lying around before I give it a spring clean... (the pictures are a bit rubbish they're taken with my iPhone)

Blonde hair, Black hair me

  

Frames that need filling

      

Old Full Sketch books and my current one

                                                        

          

My dolly from my pram when I was a wee lass.

 My Beautiful Diana Mini (who needs using more!)

and an old altered ornament made by me.               

                                                                                            

The artwork from my little sisters tattoo,

an old piccy of me and my best buddy Cat.

One of my little antique box of treasures!

 This is where I've been working today on my beautiful old Singer.

And the company I've had today... 

Little Turk giving me the Stink eye!!

Amy xx

         

WEARECHAMY...

A while back me and the boy decided to set up an Etsy shop together. It's a little venture we're trying out  in the hope that one day it will grow and evolve so that one day we may end up working for ourselves. It's all very new to each of us, making, managing, promoting etc etc plus both holding down full time jobs!

For me it is also another little creative outlet. I can sell my paintings and drawings that don't really fit in with my other artwork.

I thought I'd share a few things we have in the shop at the moment.

Anchor Gloves £5

Tote Bags £8 

Kitsch ornaments (various) £5 - £10

Limited signed prints from £3.50

At the moment we are working on some clothing and accessories that we hope to get in the shop in the next week. We already posted a sneaky preview on our WEARECHAMY facebook page and have had some people order outside of Etsy meaning that we've delayed the listing. 

We update the Facebook page all the time with sneaky previews and new listing so go hit the like button and keep up to date with what we're up to.

Amy XX

Yesterday's painting...

I promised to share the painting I did yesterday with you so here it is....

I'll be making prints and putting it on tote bags for our WEARECHAMY Etsy shop soon. We also have a facebook page that we update regularly, and if you don't have an etsy account we can take orders through privately messaging us. 

Amy xx

Today's finds...

Me and the boy love to look for odd bits and bobs from charity and antique shops to fill our growing house with, and today we stuck some gold!!

Firstly we found this lovely floral granny chair for just £10. It looks pretty new and it didn't have any nasty crumbs living underneath the cushion which was a bonus!

We also found this lovely vintage tray (not that we use trays!) It has the most beautiful pattern and we picked it up for just £1!!

I will have to start throwing some lunch time tea parties so it can get some use!

Amy xx

Change...

I think that everyone gets the need now and again to change something about themselves. And today I changed my hair!

The last time I dyed my hair was from black to ombre. I was a bit naughty and did it myself at home, but I was penniless and impatient!! That was well over a year ago, and my own hair has grown out a lot since then (its dark blonde naturally) and it takes to bleaching quite well.

It's always a bit of a gamble doing it at home and because it's so long its very fiddley. But all went well and I'm pretty happy with the out come.

This is how I did it - 

I used 00B Max Blonde by Schwazkopf Live XXL to bleach my hair. It took two bottles because I have a lot of hair and it's very long. I left it on for an hour, and wrapped it in cling film to keep the moisture in (if bleach dries it stops working).

This happened....

Then I used 87 Mystic Violet by the same brand, and mixed it with lots and lots of tresemme conditioner, so that it would come out a lot lighter. I would have used some of the little pots of pastel colours you can get but I know they're only semi permanent. As I use head and shoulders to wash my hair semi permanent dyes would last no time at all. So the permanent dye mixed with conditioner was the way for me to go.

And this happened....

The light wasn't so good it's a lot lighter than in the photo, and I'm hoping after a few washes it will be more pastelly. I'm sure you'll see the progression through my posts.

Amy xx

What I've been up to...

My critics (my mother!) said I wouldn't make it but I did! Against nature and it's snowy glory I made it all the way from Devon to Hereford and then all the way to Leeds and then back again all in one piece. I had a lovely time with two of my best girly friends from University.

Natassia who lives in Leeds, is now a tattoo artist. She is one very talented lady and she put a lovely tattoo on my foot, which did make me twitch lots (whilst in progress) and I had to walk about like the elephant man for a couple of days!! But it was completely worth it to have some of her brilliant artwork on me forever!

This is what she did -

By Natassia Wild at Ultimate Skin, Leeds

Now I'm back I have a whole week off of work which I am going to fill up with being very creatively productive!!!

Today me and the boy have been making t-shirts for our etsy shop WEARECHAMY. My old electric sewing machine died on me a while back, but Chay bought me a beautiful old hand crank Singer sewing machine a few Christmas' ago which I finally got to give a spin today! and horaaah it worked!

This was the outcome - 

We're going to crack on with it so that we can have them in the shop by the end of the week!

And now I am doing another painting for the shop, maybe to put on some totes??? I'm also putting together some art work to put up in the cafe I work at. So I will more than likely be making these into prints. Will put a piccy up next time.

Until then, 

Amy xx