Coloured scribble and snickers smoothie

Today I am posting about smoothies because I tried a new one yesterday, mostly because we'd had raspberry based smoothies for two days, then I went and bought some more raspberries, but I wanted a change! (I could have got strawberries but I thought, yum, I like raspberries, then realised we'd had a rather raspberry heavy week! At least it's all healthy!) 

Anyway...snickers smoothie! Three bananas, three teaspoons of peanut butter, three teaspoons of coco (not drinking chocolate!), a couple of handfuls of baby kale and some almond milk. (I always fill our blender up to the 3 cup mark, once I have put the other ingredients in, but it's about 500ml)

It was very yummy! Probably because it's not quite a healthy as our normal smoothie, but still healthy!

I also did some scribbling with coloured pens yesterday.

I wanted to see what some of my previous scribble techniques would look like if I used colour. I really like the circles! 

I also started a kind of zentangle, but as they are a very specific technique and I have messed about with it here, I'm not sure it it strictly speaking a zentangle, more a filling in with patterns and colours! If you're not sure what a zentangle is, this website has some good information http://tanglepatterns.com/zentangles/what-is-a-zentangle

Interestingly it felt a bit restrictive so I may not finish this one. I feel at the moment that I want to be a bit more free, a bit more random, a bit more go with the flow!

If you want find out more I can recommend this book about zentangle, which helps you get started and helps you develop and personalise the technique. You can get it on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Zentangle-Day-Relaxation-Inspiration/dp/1592538118/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471592610&sr=1-1&keywords=one+zentangle+a+day

I don't get any money for plugging Amazon (I wish!) but I do love to share a good resource...it comes from being a librarian's daughter! 

Have a fun and creative weekend! 

Paint...everywhere!

Yesterday's creativity was mostly aimed at helping Simon be creative.

I made a breakfast smoothie...back to khaki I'm afraid, as it had strawberries in it!

Simon and I then did some painting. We went into the garden and I put down a plastic cloth and a big piece of paper and put some paint in a dish. I stripped Simon down to his nappy and let him get stuck in!

We had a great time! Simon preferred to paint his body rather than the paper, and he liked the paint being squirted directly on to the paper rather than in the dish. He found it easier to move around like that, and kept asking for 'bore' which means 'more!'

This was the final masterpiece, and he was so pleased with it! 

After our last go at paining like this (see my post 'plagiarism and getting messy' http://joscreativeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/plagiarism-and-getting-messy.html) I tried really hard to just relax and go with the flow, and I think I did well, as Simon was basically a multicoloured baby, and I had a fair bit of paint on me too. I'm glad we were outdoors though, as when it came time to wash off the paint I discovered it stained - Simon now has a tide line of brown round his tummy where his nappy was, and I have stained trousers! Thank goodness it was a hot day, the paddling pool was out and Simon quite likes being squirted with the sprinkler on the hose! Once the worst was off I cuddled him up in a towel and up into the shower to warm up!

As the saying goes 'you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs' and if you are going to be creative you have to be able to cope with mistakes, stains, disappointments, disasters, successes and going with the flow.

When I was doing my final piece for my Foundation diploma, I so didn't want to do an installation...it was just too art studenty. And what did I do? Take a look here http://joscreativeblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Foundation and at other June 2012 posts. I remember a sense of inevitability that it HAD to be an installation, as in the piece wanted it. It wasn't my choice, other than I went with it, but it was the way the art work needed to go. I hadn't really experienced that before, but it is exactly what happened. 

Smoothie...and it isn't khaki!

Here is yesterday's creativity!

It's a mango, banana, almond milk and kale smoothie...and it's a beautiful shade of green...and it's not khaki! It was also delicious!

That was all yesterday. No baking, no drawing, no colouring and a dinner of ready made pies, oven chips and baked beans. And I had a great day!

Noticing my creativity is not another stick to beat myself with, it is just noticing; no judgement, no guilt, just awareness. Good lesson learnt! 

Baking

Today I made apple, pear and blueberry muffins, in two sizes! Simon loved the little ones! Weightwatchers recipe so made with fruit not added sugar and with low fat spread. Yum! (Just as a side note, I made the easiest dinner ever because I used up my cooking energy making these...pasta with fried ham and mushrooms, covered in grated cheese)

I also made a khaki smoothie - blueberry, banana and baby kale.

I also went all arty and took some photos around the house.

I like this because the cushion was made from a t shirt I wore when I was pregnant which said 'dream big'...Just reminded me to think about what my dreams are. A bedroom without piles of clothes? Time and space to make stuff? Mmm, needs more thought!

My creative corner of the spare room...plus two cupboards full of fabric, art materials, puppets etc

Now some arty bathroom shots!

And a random brick left as a trip hazard by Simon!

Budding African violet...I think the window sill is too sunny for it!

Leftovers from the muffins!

I'd forgotten how much taking photos makes you look. My phone is full of Simon snaps, although even with him I try and get the interesting shot of him covered in dinner, or looking cute when asleep! We are so spoilt with digital cameras and cameras in our phones now. You can snap away, experiment and try things without worrying about the cost of the film. And you can delete or keep as you wish!

Classic movie quote!

"Jules, y'know, honey... this isn't real. You know what it is? It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge."

This quote is from a film which was a big part of my teenage years. If you don't recognise it, I will tell you at the end of this post! 

Why am I quoting it? Because I feel like some of the angst of the past few weeks has been St Elmo's Fire. The stress levels are falling now the house is all finished and in order to keep the adrenaline levels up I whipped up a storm about nothing. But the stupid thing is, I don't want to live on my nerves. I want to be fun, lighthearted, relaxed. 

The main thing I've felt that God has been saying to me recently is 'Stop digging!' Stop looking for problems, stop poking beehives with sticks, stop looking for problems when there aren't any. Instead, lift up your head, look around, rest your dirty and battered hands in your lap and just notice where you are and how great it is.

I did some drawing in my journalling Bible about this. The story is in Matthew chapter 8, and describes Jesus and the disciples, some of whom were very experienced fishermen, in a boat in a life threatening storm. Jesus is asleep and the disciples are going crazy with panic, thinking they are all about to die. They wake Jesus up, and he is a bit surprised, asking why they are in such a panic. He then commands the wind and waves to stop...AND THEY DO!!!

Here's my picture for these verses.

I illustrated these verses because Jesus is in my self created storm. He has the power to tell it to stop, to be still. The blustering lies and thoughts, the thundering emotions are stilled because Jesus is more powerful than they are.

I'm watching the storm calm already. The air feels fresher, I feel invigorated now the danger is past, and as if I have been bought somewhere new by the storm; not shipwrecked, but to a new quay, a new fishing ground, a new beach to land on. Exciting, huh?

In the midst of this storm of my own creating, has there been some other creating going on?

Yes!

Another khaki smoothie - strawberry, banana and baby kale with almond milk

I put down some weed proof membrane for a fruit and veg container garden. Simon helped by putting little bits of soil in flowerpots and by dabbling his hands in the cold paddling pool water and the muddy soil,where I watered the plants.

I made a pork casserole type thing using the leftovers from Sunday. I added chick peas, onion, red pepper and chopped tomatoes, chucked the lot in the slow cooker (I have an instant pot which is one of the best kitchen gadgets ever, as in ever!) and 3 hours later we had pork casserole!

Oh, I nearly forgot...

The quote is from the classic 80s Brat Pack movie St Elmo's Fire! If you guessed correctly have some Brownie points...or a chocolate brownie...or a glass of wine. If you didn't guess correctly, or have no idea what I'm talking about, then have a chocolate brownie or glass of wine anyway, and go and watch the film! 

Sneak it in when you can!

Yesterday just seemed to fly by as we had a play date in the morning, and then me and Simon both crashed out for an afternoon nap! Zzz! Can't be creative if you're too tired, so these naps are important! 

I did make smoothie for breakfast...blueberry cinnamon, but I forgot the cinnamon, oops! And it was khaki...

I also did some lettering practice.

I recently started Bible journalling, which is illustrating, making notes, writing things in your Bible. My handwriting needed some improvement as it is sadly underused these days! (When I was a teacher and regularly using a black board - yes, I am that old - and a white board it looked quite good...now not so good!)

The key to good lettering is practice and experimenting, so here's the lettering I tried, complete with crossing out where I didn't like the result.

And what about the sneaking it in? I did the lettering in 5 minutes while waiting for Adrian to come and join me on the sofa to watch an episode of Death in Paradise! I'm learning to snatch those opportunities when I can!

Plagiarism and getting messy.

Ok, I admit it...some of the creativity I'm posting today is plagiarised from an up and coming young artist. Tuesdays are always an easier day for creativity as Adrian is out at an evening class, so my time is all my own.

Here is 'my' first bit of creativity from yesterday 

I took Simon to Tiny Towner which is happening every Tuesday morning during July and August at the Towner Art Gallery (here's their website http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/)

They had a great sensory room with mirrors and fabric and books and cushions and lights, and a messy room with the chance to paint with your feet, hands, fingers, bottom, elbows, nose etc etc

As you can see Simon had a great time...and he got messier from here! He loved squishing the paint between his fingers more than mark making, although it was interesting to see his reaction to the cause and effect of paint on your hands being put on paper.

My reaction to his getting this messy was also interesting. I've worked hard on being a relaxed parent, but this made me twitchy. I worried about staining and about me getting messy too. Whenever I do anything like painting, dyeing fabric etc I try and wear old clothes or an apron, and now I don't do too much of that I don't have 'art' clothes that can get messy! I need to remedy this, for myself and for Simon. He needs to be able to just enjoy these experiences, and getting muddy at the park or in the garden and SO DO I! Removing blocks to creativity is essential if I am going to have it in my life.

What else did I create?

Another khaki breakfast smoothie - banana, mango, spinach and almond milk. Very yummy as the mango was really, really ripe, but not pretty, so I will spare you another khaki smoothie photo!

Spinach and cheese filo tart - forgot to take a photo till we'd eaten most of it!

According to the recipe book, it was supposed to be ideal finger food for Simon, but I don't think he read that page as it was rejected without tasting it! Adrian liked it though!

I also unpicked and redid the stitches on the I spy quilt, no new photo as it's the same as the other day! I hate unpicking, but it definitely looks less wrinkled.

I also did some what I call 'colouring' (it is colouring) while watching a couple of episodes of Miranda - such fun! 

Creativity on a busy day

Yesterday was crazy busy...swimming lessons, lunch with Adrian, a play date with a friend and then popping in to pick up a bib I'd left at another friend's house.

So did I do anything creative?

Yes!

I made a strawberry, banana and kale smoothie! We've been having green smoothies for breakfast for a while. I guess they are called green because of the kale or spinach because they always look this colour! It's a shame because this one started out a beautiful pink but once the kale got involved, it was khaki breakfast time!

Simon had a brief nap before swimming (as in I put him in his cot and he burbled for 20 minutes before I decided a nap just wasn't going to happen!) so I did a couple of lines of quilting on his I spy quilt....which I now have to unpick as they ended up horribly wrinkled and even a good press did not solve the problem! Oh poop! Such is the challenge of using 4 way stretch fleece as a quilt backing! But it's just soooo fluffy and such a cute design that I will just wield the seam ripper and sort out my stretchy wrinkles! (On the quilt not on me...)

I decided to do my blog about the previous day so if I sneak in any cheeky creative stuff later in the evening it can all be included. So bring on Tuesday and let's see what I can create today!