Some winter advice..

Just thought I'd share a drawing I did for someone, (I'm posting it to them tomorrow!), some tips on how to enjoy these cold winter nights! Sorry it's a bit dark, the light in my room is far from bright at the moment!

Snow days

On Saturday the snow finally arrived here in Nottingham. In fact, the temperature dropped to -9 C which is pretty unheard of in these parts! Brr! I had a fun weekend visiting friends in Leamington Spa, watching 80s films and eating homemade curry. This evening I made a lovely sweet potato soup, the thickest soup I've ever made! Getting into pyjamas as soon as you get home from work is the best.

Lovely letters.. and a drawing

Recently i had a couple of lovely letters through my postbox. The first was from Siobhan, which arrived in this very pretty envelope. She also included a yummy looking recipe for Banana Bread! Thanks Siobhan!



I also received a sweet letter from Nicola, with these cute little drawings on it! I love getting post like this and I am working on both replies as we speak! Hurrah for snail mail.



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Oh and here's a little drawing I did of how I spent last Saturday, including jumper shopping, witnessing a huge protest in the Market Square and getting thoroughly fed up of Christmas shoppers in town!

Dark nights and fairy lights

On Wednesday night me and some friends went to watch the Christmas lights being turned on in Nottingham. Sadly it was a bit of a letdown as no D-list celebrities seemed to be in attendance and by the time the lights came on we were all a little chilly... but the Market Square was looking festive nonetheless! It's not managed to snow here yet but perhaps it will this weekend!

Film Thursday: Night on Earth

Night on Earth is a film by Jim Jarmusch, which portrays five different taxi journeys in different cities across the world; LA, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. Some of the stories are funny, such as the German taxi driver in New York who cannot really drive, so his passenger has to take over.. who then discovers the driver used to be a clown before he moved to America.


Others are more moving and sad. In the Paris segment an African taxi driver picks up a blind woman who talks to him about life and how being blind doesn't hinder her, but makes her feel things more than he does.


Jarmusch said of the film,

"I love cities, they are almost like lovers. I'm attracted to many cities I've been in, often cities other people don't like at all. I like Detroit and Gary, Indiana, cities other people would avoid like the plague. The cities become characters even though they're enclosed in a cab, the atmosphere, the colour, the quality of light in each city is very different and has a different effect on the people who live there and on your emotions when you are there."

I won't give any more away about their stories (although the LA one starring Winona Ryder was the weakest, I found), but I'd definitely recommend watching Night on Earth, and it's made me want to watch another Jarmusch film soon (maybe Coffee & Cigarettes, has anyone seen it?)

Graphic Novel: Fun Home

I recently finished reading Fun Home, a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel about her experiences growing up in a funeral home (it's all a bit Addam's family for a while!). As the story unfolds Alison writes about the day she realised was a lesbian and reveals more about relationship with her father, whose life is more complicated than it would first appear. If you thought your childhood was unusual or difficult, then I'd recommend reading this as it will put it all into perspective!

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Craft Magazine: Cloth

I recently had chance to look through a new UK craft magazine called Cloth. Alhough it's a bit smaller than I'd imagined it has some nice tutorials inside, (including how to make Tony the sausage dog, woo!) and some good sewing basics at the back. I have to admit, I've been rather lazy with my sewing machine lately but I think it's about time I re-threaded it and got working on some new projects! The projects inside look really fun and include some good ideas for customising clothes, and interviews with other designers.


Has anyone else got any good magazine ideas which provide inspiration for crafty projects?

Christmas Jumpers...

This weekend was cold and misty, and I enjoyed staying in, watching DVD's and playing on the xylophone cosied up with a cuppa. On Saturday we went on a mission to find the perfect Christmas jumper. My favourite was probably the one Tom tried on below, which had the word FUN emblazoned in the front!

The jumper i settled on, yay!

Tom drawing with Mr Frank watching..

Finger Puppets!

Jack Wendy & Danny

Here are some cute finger puppets I spotted on etsy recently - they're also magnetic so can be arranged on the fridge to make a scene! There are numerous bands available, as well as this set of characters from The Shining. They're all available from PintassilgoPrints.

Above- Kurt and Krist and David

Various Bowie incarnations...

Squid vs Shark

How awesome are these squid & shark outfits?! The squid is comic artist Lucy Knisley and the shark is her housemate. Just look at their kitty's face on the photo below!! Have a lovely Friday peeps x

Film Thursday: Another Year (+ two!)

Last night i watched the latest film by Mike Leigh, Another Year. The film centres around 4 seasons in the year of a happily married couple's life, in which they are visited by numerous friends and relatives who all have their own personal problems. Mike Leigh is known for quite gritty and sometimes slightly depressing films, but this one has quite a few funny moments, as well as some sadder ones.


The 'Winter' part of the film (which is also the saddest, erk) is shot in Derby near where I grew up (in fact my dad's friends who own our old house were approached by the film makers, who offered them money to shoot in the house but in the end it was a bit too modernised inside to use!)

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Also this week I watched a couple of other good films, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (above), starring Audrey Tatou (recommended by Jane!) about a woman who falls in love with a doctor, but all is not quite as it seems, as the second half of the film reveals.

... and My Left Foot, which won Daniel Day Lewis an Oscar for his performance as Christy Brown, an artist suffering from cerebral palsy. It was a really inspiring film to watch.

Winter days and nights

Last week I fetched my old 60's record player from home and had a great time jiving round my room to old Devo and Jonathan Richman records!

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I had a chilly but relaxing weekend mainly spent playing boardgames (including The Game of Life... has anyone actually ever made it right to the end?!), walking a lovely little dog and eating a tasty roast dinner. Now the nights are drawing in all I can think about is bubble baths and making soup.

Rosie..

and Pip. Just look at that face!