little denim bag

 I made this bag for a 13 year old friends birthday out of some old fallen apart jeans.  To make the front of the bag I drew black outline, coloured it in on the computer, printed it onto transfer paper and ironed it onto some denim.  My daughter decided  it needed a butterfly to brighten it up.  The pattern for this one came from a japanese book from the library.  It is meant to be bigger and have a little drawstring purse in its body, which is really sweet, but it would have swamped this bag and its wings would have been too flopsy.

 I used some grey lace from my stash and coloured in some black stripes onto the side panels.  The strap is made out of a faded thick silk scarf. 

The lining of the bag has a little pocket to put an ipod or phone into.

D&G Autumn winter/12

I am reposting this D&G fashion collection from a pair & a spare because it was so gorgeous.

to see the rest of the collection click on the link.

I want a dress like this!  The socks are cute, and I am sure I have an old brown velvet curtain in a cupboard somewhere. I could mock up one of these.  

more running

It may seem that I have done nothing but run recently and it is beginning to feel like that a bit.  Every morning I get up and put on my running gear, instead of my usual glamourous attire (ho ho).  But have a race to train for in a few weeks and this is the last chance saloon to get in shape for it.  (Race makes it sound like I will be hoping to win, which is not the case.  I am hoping to complete the course , not coming last, not injuring myself and being able to run the whole way. This morning was no different, I went to bed last night looking forward to getting up and running for >2hrs, I didn't feel quite the same enthusiasm in the cold light of early morning, but I dutifully got up, got into smelly running gear, put on my little bag with water bladder and a high energy snack and off I went, without dog or friend.   

 I did ponder, after an hour of uphill running, shuffling and some walking, that maybe all this uphill stuff was a bit over the top, the training plan said "2hrs 15mins undulating", it depends on your ideas about undulating, but there seemed to be a lot of up and no down.

 nice views though

All photos taken on my, previously mentioned, cell-phone which is really bad quality.  

Running down however was a piece of cake and I felt like one of the vampires in "Twilight" sprinting through the forest.  What I looked like is another matter.  It was much prettier on the way down too, lots of native bush, pretty trees, rocky uneven terrain, and some flat bits. 

I am now a bit tired.  

running

This morning was more running at 6.15am in the dark.  We ran on the roads waiting for the sun to rise, but 40 minutes later it was still dark.  In the end we went off road in the dark and eventually the day broke, hoorah.  The dogs had fun. We are training for this race.  I ran it with a friend last year and it was such fun.  Despite the cold and the pouring rain, it is in such a beautiful area that it was easy to be distracted by all the beautiful trees and moss and mountains, until my Hamstrings seized up. 

Some photos of the area we will run, the family went for a holiday up there a while back which was really nice.

Beautiful and a quite uneven and undulating track.  

today

Today I went for a 2hr 15 min run, up a steep hill and down the other side.  Me, the dog, a friend and her dog.  It wasn't meant to be so long but we got a bit carried away with a new track and got a bit lost, and had to ask some council men in a truck which way to go.  They thought we were quite amusing, two daft women running around in the middle of no-where.
I'm not sure what Mollie (dog) thought of it, she has been doing a bit of running now but not so far, and up such a big hill.  She has had fidgety knickers all evening, so I hope her little skinny doggy legs are not aching.

I must admit that these photos were not taken today, but I am un-willing to carry a camera and while running a big run (for me, I am sure most of the runners where I live would snoof at me calling this a big run).  A camera is too bulky.  Which is rather a shame, as we run in the most beautiful places, and today the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky.  And we were in the middle of nowhere, but so  high we could see the sea over the other hills.

life drawing

While cleaning out the dust balls from the wardrobe (previous post) I came across some life drawings I had done a couple of years ago.  It was the best class ever, the teacher was brilliant  and had us doing lots of quick furious sketching, painting etc.  Anyway I had a trawl through them and I decided to throw these ones away, so I photoed them and put them on here, dodgy ones and all so they are not gone completely.

 above, this makes me think of a Scooby-Doo monster.

 When I got home from class I would always stick my favourite one of the week on the wall so I could think about it.  This horrified the children and their friends, having a naked lady on the wall, which I thought was funny.

tattoo roses doodling

I had some tattoo books out from the library ( I do like the library) because I love tattoos, I have two really crumby ones I had done in my youth and need covering so I am on the long term pondering about what to have over the top.  Having spent twenty-four years with one bad one I am not keen to spend the rest of my life with another one I do not like.  It seems to be quite hard to find designs that I do, so I am trying to design one myself.  I have a fancy for a really big one, I get all over-excitable when I see some those lovely sleeves on people, well some of them.  Adding to my procrastination and confusion is the fact there are so many different styles that I like, could end up like a dogs dinner.  The traditional, hearts, anchors, ships.  The new skull style.  I quite fancy something girly like a piece of old granny china.  Japanese designs, waves, blossom.  The beautiful Pacific big blooms.  Oh My!

Three rose designs I like at free fashion updates.  I like the traditional rose look.

Nice Japanese cherry blossom and waves at J Spooner

 Also love these Traditional  American style and the old Sailor style tattoo.

these three from nordic-tattooists-a-their-drawings.  The heart is so cool.

Roses. butterflies, blossom, Japanese clouds.  Am I allowed to mix it up?  All ideas that I have consistently loved for a long time.  Important I think.

mehndi sketches and doodles

Following on from my post about mehndi, I did a few sketches, of the different elements that make up the designs, and then played around with them.

I need to play around with scale a bit more, I need a new black felt pen or three, mine has run out of ink. And I need to do lots more, not all dolly faces!  I shall get the news print out.

where am I?

I have lapsed into some sort of twighlight world of listlessness.  I am doing things but have nothing created to put on this here blog that are worthy of showing anyone.  Will pull my socks up and try to do better!  I have taken the dog for a sprint around the park in the rain, tidied the kitchen and am putting off the rather unpleasant chore of dealing with the dust balls lurking under all the shoes, boots and crepe paper (yes crepe paper) at the bottom of the wardrobe.

 I inherited it from someone lovely, and I have run out of space in the kitchen cupboards, so it is in the wardrobe (on my husbands side, of course).  I think the graphics on the wrappers are so pretty, especially the colours above.

my Fly shoes.  I do wear these quite a lot.

This heel always feels so high to walk in, I am not sure how other girls cope with those really high thin heels.

I have had these for about 10 years, but they are so pretty, but feet shredders, not for much walking.

my sisters wedding 3 years ago, nice but high.

5 years

6 years, vintage looking, v pretty.

I think I was pregnant with nine year old when I bought these.

 I think I have no shoes until I get them all out, its a bit of a sorry collection and I never wear any of them really, I live in my birkenstocks and trainers in the summer, I am a sorry excuse for a woman really I know.  But they are in there covered in dust if I should ever feel like making an effort.  I do have a couple of pairs of nice winter boots!