gingerandgeorge

Sneaky P

I’ve been moonlighting again. If you want to see what this little bit of aprony goodness is all about, head on over to Banana Frog for more pics and a quick how-to.

The view from my part of the world

It's been a stormy sort of a week so far. 

More soon. 

News and briefs

Hola, lovely and much-appreciated readers. How are you? I am in frantic mood today, cleaning round the boxes like a loon in hopes of passing the forthcoming parental dust-check test. Both my parents and Mr P’s mum are visiting this weekend, so this is just a quick halfway-house of a post, pointing you towards a couple of things you might like to take a look at.

First of all, there’s this little bit of colourfulness over at Shimelle's – very happy when she asked me to contribute to her Month of Colour a few weeks ago (and hello if you’re visiting here from there). Should I admit how much childish glee I’ve had inviting people to go and look at my underwear over the last few days? Probably not.

There’s also a new post over at The Copy and Paste Project, all about my freshly-discovered love of (gasp!) yellow.

Even if you can’t be bothered listening to me blether on about the wonders of custard, mustard and retro acid-brights, it’s worth a visit for the freebies you can win – a handmade, raw-edge cuff or the very sweet Little Yellow.

 A couple of longer posts heading this way next week, including one last Month of Colour-inspired hoorah, and a fun idea for using digi-kits to make your own desktop wallpaper and folder-buttons. Until then, wish me luck on the dust inspection – there’s every chance I’m going to need it.

 

Emma in Wonderland

Inspiring me today are these amazing pics of Emma Watson from the US edition of Teen Vogue. 

Damn Atlantic. 

How do you know you're spending too much time online?

When you cook your boyfriend dinner and the first thing he says after clapping eyes on it is, 'you should take a photo for your blog'. 

I still did, though.

 

(Recipe very loosely based on this one, but with a heap of green veggies and some pesto instead of bacon on top.)

Have you . . .

Taken up the challenge?

Seen this prettiness?

Been inspired?

Given this a go?

Shopped here?

Heard this?

(NB. There's a clue in one of these pictures to a mini-tutorial I've got planned for next week. If you want to have a shot at guessing which pic/item it is, I'll be sending a small and relevant prize in the direction of one sharp-nosed commenter.)

x

In which I write a title that doesn't over use the letter 'k'

I have been something of a blog-whore this week, writing it up here, there and all over the place. In the interests of sharing, and pointing you towards some Banana Frog freebies, I thought I’d post a couple of sneak peeks, along with relevant links.

An Alice in Wonderland-inspired project over at Copy + Paste, along with Julie’s beautiful layout.

And this pendant-y post in the Banana Frog Stamping School. Yep, they let me play teacher – possibly a mistake, given my leanings toward bossiness, but no-one's been hurt so far. I dug out the modelling clay and Shimelle’s Backgrounds, one of my favourite stamp sets, to make the two necklaces above, plus the faux-bois version below.

The very jolly news is that not only do you get a rambling tutorial (because my bossiness lends itself well to instructions), you can also snag yourself the chance to win the woodgrain pendant, along with a set of stamps and a block of clay to try the technique out for yourself. Pretty good, no? The competition’s open until midnight (UK time) on Wednesday, and all you need to do is head over to the Frog blog and leave a comment.

Bonne chance and à bientôt, mes amis. 

Kitschy ink

This is my beautiful little sister.

 When we were growing up, the deal was I bossed her around and she let me. (Sweet, I know.) These days, she’s much less of a pushover which, considering I’m every bit the control-freak I was back then, is probably a good thing. So, when I needed a model for some Kitschy Digitals projects a few weeks ago, I was a little bit surprised and a lot grateful that she was so willing to  put up with me telling her what to do, how to stand and when to smile.

The cardigan (made using the silhouettes from this kit as an appliqué pattern) was one thing…

…but letting me paste temporary tattoos about her person in spots of my choice? Now that’s sisterly love for you.

The ‘to-do’ list was inspired by one I spotted in Paperchase a few weeks ago. Despite owning enough notepads to rewrite all seven Harry Potter books in half a dozen different languages, I’m constantly scrawling notes and reminders on my hands (in my defence, they’re much harder to lose than bits of paper). I also love lists, so the memo-slash-list-slash-hand-tattoo seemed like a thoroughly ingenious idea, albeit one that could use a bit of prettying up. I added a tiny re-coloured detail from the Olivia kit to my basic list design, but it would work with all sorts of icons – clip-art and dingbat fonts, as well as other Kitschy Digitals kits. If you want to try something similar, here you go with the basic template, ready to add whatever prettiness you like.

Download To-do list (blank)

And because I know how smart you are, the answers to your very insightful questions are (one) I found the tattoo paper here, and (two) my sister is a leftie, hence her list being all ready to fill in on her right hand. If you’re not similarly sinistral, you’ll probably want to tattoo your left palm instead.

 

Kokeshi a la Kirsty

I made this little line-up a few months ago,  ready for an appearance in the May issue of Aquila magazine, one of my loveliest regular clients. Like so many other things, the original models are in a box at the moment, waiting until I can find them a suitable spot in Casa Chaos. Considering I don't even have a desk for my office yet, the chances of them seeing daylight this side of early June are minimal. So for the time being, they're getting an airing and a sharing here. 

I had a lot of fun putting them together (Fimo and acrylic paint, plus a few bits of haberdashery, since you asked) and have plans to make more in a non-worky vein just as soon as the occasion calls for it. 

More new projects coming in the next day or so. You might want to wash your hands out dig out a felt-pen in preparation... 

Back for good (and possibly a little light evil)

Me? I'm 

• tired, but happy   
• finally living somewhere new
• in chaos 
• back online, after almost a week without broadband (oh, the horror!)
• slowly easing back into life – a new sort of normal, but normal nonetheless
• full of redecorating ideas
• in desperate need of decent shelving for all my poor, still-boxed books
• using two piles of said books as bedside tables (for now)
• unsure where several important items have gone – cushions, my favourite shirt, embroidery stuff. I have, thankfully, found my hairbrush at last.
• living in a house where the only mirror is my boyfriend’s tiny shaving one 
• planning a trip to IKEA at the weekend
• hoping to find a few good local junk/antique shops soon
• wishing the sun would come out again
• posting a fun little project at Banana Frog later on
• thinking I should have mentioned my new blog project sooner. It’s pretty – go and see.
• not planning to be away so long next time
• or to move house again until I can afford an assistant to take care of everything for me, including the monster stress
• done for now.