Happy Monday

Daisy and I made cakes yesterday.  Lots of them.  We decorated them with buttercream and added lots of sprinkles. 

It was just what I needed - some creative baking time, watching Daisy select and individually place every type of decoration on one cake, and then pick one to devour.

The simple pleasures in life are amazing.

Love and peace to you all

Helen xx

Let us eat cake

I have too many things going on at the moment so the best thing to do is eat cake I say!

Happy Friday xx

The return of the blogger and a weight update

Wow I can't believe my last post was the 29th April - just where has the time gone.  For me it's just whizzed by and has encompassed so much.

I am going through lots of journeys at the moment and one of them is my day job.  People have been made redundant and we are going through a massive restructure.  Believe it or not I am a part qualified accountant (story as to why I am only part qualified will be shared another time) but suffice to say it's a far cry from being creative.  So by the time I get home from commuting into London, I can be pretty much done in.  Which has been the pattern of late.  So much so that I was completely and utterly exhausted and came down with a throat infection.  A week at home sleeping and because I can never get away from it at the moment, working in between sleeps, has helped me get back to normal.  It's a pattern of mine that I need to break.  I exhaust myself which in turn forces me to rest.

I have lots of other things going on right now that are taking up my creative time, and I won't bore you with them, but instead I wanted to share something positive.  I am not sure if you recall this post whereby I declared my intention to lose weight.  Well I am delighted to say that since Christmas I have lost 2 stone!!!  YUP!  28lbs of me has gone and boy am I feeling so much better.  And I have decided to be brave and share a picture that was taken of me just before Christmas.  It's hideous and really made me want to lose weight.  And when I look at it, it spurs me on to keep going.

And here is me now, taken with me being 2 stone lighter!  Look, I have a chin and a jawline! Amazing.....I knew it was in there somewhere!

I still want to lose more weight and will keep on this journey.  The good news is that I am cooking up some really tasty dishes which I promise to share.  I will be the guinea pig and if I think they are good I will share them.

Well thank you for stopping by and not giving up on me.  I am not going to beat myself up for the lack of blogging and creativity, but instead do what I can to rectify it.

Have a lovely Wednesday and I will leave you with this quote that I have just found.....enjoy xx

Love is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends - Anon

Sunday Sketches

Time for Sunday Sketches and this week I've included a sketch of an Octonaut - Kwazi to be precise.

I offered to do a large Happy Birthday banner for Ollie's 4th birthday party which is in the middle of June and I thought I ought to get sketching and get some ideas down,  I didn't get time to put some colour on it, but will post it up and probably some others another time.  If you click on it you should get a larger picture.

I hope your Sunday is going well.  It's a rather wet one here so it's housework, film time with Daisy and then some ironing for me.  Still, I'd rather do that on a rainy Sunday than a sunny Sunday.

Please join me at Sophia's blog to check out the others.

Happy Sunday xxx

Lynne Chapman - How to draw a cat!

Following on from my post the other day where I shared a video of the very talented Lynne Chapman showing us how she draws her dragon, here's another video......this time on how to draw a cat.

As always, well worth a watch.

Have a fab day - I an heading to Brighton to spend it with my best mate - a day for the girlies.

Take care xx

St George's Day

On Saturday our local high street was closed for St George's Day celebrations and Jim was asked by the local business association to take some pictures. We were going to attend anyway and thankfully the weather was okay......a few drops of rain, but nothing compared to the last few days.

There was a procession lead by some proudly dressed gentleman (please forgive my lack of military knowledge).

My favourites, the Harley-Davidson bikers - the sound of their engines really was like music to my ears.


The Harley's were behind some wonderful old vespa's and other scooters with an amazing amount of lights. (I love the hooters on this one).


The Morris Dancers were really very brilliant and this chap turned and beamed at me as I took his photo.


The cakes were yummy.


Daisy pondered over her choice.


And chose one with a red rose with lots of cream and silver glitter.


And Ollie had fun on the teacup.



All in all it was a fab day. These are just some of the pictures I took and I am already looking forward to next years.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Helen

Sunday Sketches

Happy Happy Sunday to you all. I am liking this habit of posting an entry for Sunday Sketches. Last year I did quite a few but other stuff just got in the way so it's great to feel like I am back!

Here's the finished Desert Island Pip. Had fun again just letting my imagination run free. Wonder if she will find any treasure?

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. We went to the local St George's Day celebrations yesterday and had a fab time. Jim was taking pictures for the local Business Association and I snuck a few in too. It really was a great procession and I especially loved the Harley's and the mopeds at the end. The noise was deafening but absolutely wonderful. I will post some more pictures soon but in the meantime, please head over to Sophia's blog to check out the other entries.

Happy Sunday.

Helen x