8 things to do to make you happy on a gloomy day

If you, like many others find gloomy days hard then this post is for you! Today has been a rather gloomy and cold day so I thought we all needed a little cheering up.

1. Soup. For those of you who like soup you will agree it is perfect for warming you up on a cold winters day.

2. Blankets. Gloomy days are a perfect excuse to get your favourite blanket out and snuggle up!

3. Hot water bottles have to come next on the list. What is better than soup, a blanket and a hot water bottle?!

4. A loved one. As it gets closer to Valentines day a loved one is the perfect thing to add next to this recipe! However if you do not have a partner right now, a family member, friend or pet is still wonderful!

 

5. COLOUR!! Colour is a big part of feeling happy, expressing feelings, thoughts and memories. Colour surrounds your whole life, encompassing it with joy, sadness, anger, happiness.... The list could go on. Colour can invigorate the best, or the worst of memories, but, since there is no way of escaping it, embrace it with all you've got!

6. The evenings are still dark but don't have to be depressing! Look out your window and see all the pretty lights, the patterns they make and the magic they create! If your lucky enough to live in a secluded area look up the stars. See how many you can identify, maybe even try to count them!

7. Indulge in some comfort food! Comfort food can make you feel so much better after a hard day.

8. Lastly, if its raining take some time to watch it. Wrap up warm, get comfy and just watch. It makes the most amazing noise and patterns as it runs down your window. When I was younger I used to pretend that the droplets were having a race, and I'd follow two to see which one won! I'd highly recommend it, it kept me occupied for hours!

Hope this made you a little happier and inspired you to try some of the things I've suggested :) Have a happy rest of your Monday!

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning." 
(Albert Einstein)

Love and hugs, Sam xx

Crochet Pattern

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful time :)

I've been busy crocheting and I thought I'd share a pattern with you. Its for an alien called 'Blarg'

Skill level:

Basic skill needed
 (feel free to ask advice!)

Materials Used:

DK yarn in any colour you'd like your Blarg to be

4mm crochet hook

Some stuffing (I use an old pillow)

An embroidery needle

Key:

ch - chain

dc - double crochet

st - stitch

ss - slip stitch

htc - half treble crochet

dc2tog - decrease two together

Pattern:

Head

Round 1 - Make a magic ring with 6dc

Round 2 - 2dc in each st around (12dc in total)

Round 3 - *2dc in first st, 1dc in next* repeat from * until end

Round 4 - *2dc in first st, 1dc in next 2 st* repeat from * until end

Round 5 - *2dc in first st, 1dc in next 3 st* repeat from * until end

Round 6 to 12 - dc in each st until end

Round 13 - *dc2tog, 1dc in next 3 st* repeat from * until end

Round 14 - *dc2tog, 1dc in next 2 st* repeat from * until end

Turn on side, insert eyes and stuff

Round 15 - dc2tog until hole is closed

Antennae
5ch, 3 htc in second ch from hook, ss in next 3ch then fasten off.

Sew to top of head and enjoy!

 

 Hope you all have fun making them, and please feel free to share your pictures!

Much love, Sam x

Happy Christmas!!

Sorry I've not posted much recently, my health has been very low, and I've trying to save the little bit I've had to survive Christmas! I just thought I'd do a small post to let you all know I am still here!
Have you all had a nice Christmas? I hope so! Mine has been lovely :-) Just relaxing lots with my partner Roxi, watching movies and Doctor Who!

I have some pictures of a few things I have recently made so will put them up soon with a longer post! :-)

I hope the new year brings me a few more followers ;-)


Much love, Sam xx

Photography

I thought I'd share with you a few of my photography pictures. Ever since being little I have always loved photography and took pictures of everything. The hardest thing about getting so ill was having to step back a little from taking pictures so I could focus on getting better. My illness has caused me to lose a lot of eyesight leaving me partially sighted, but i still take pictures whenever I can! When I get better my dream is to be a professional photographer. I love nature, scenery and macro shots, I also like to take a lot of 'alternate perception' photo's. I usually see things people don't, or things that they ignore. I find beauty in things people find horrible. I also like to take pictures of natural situations that people are in, rather than them smiling at the camera.
So here are a few of my pictures, I hope you like them!

Please leave a comment, I would love your feedback!

Much love, Sam xxx

Blue Robin Christmas Card

We got back from visiting the gift fair in Birmingham on Saturday, and I've just recovered enough to make another Christmas card :-)

                And here it is!

 

The card follows a blue theme and I have distressed the edges of the paper by tearing, rolling then inking. I got this lovely sketch from 'Cute Card Thursday' (See below).The outside is inked with brown and a little silver and the inner papers are inked with blue.

The robin is an image from my new Honey and Hugs stamps and is coloured with promarkers and copic markers. I decided this image looks better without shading. The paper is from my stash and so is the bow, sentiment and ribbon.

I would like to enter it into the following challenges:

Scrap Creations - Blue and White/or Silver

A Spoonfull Of Sugar - Anything Goes

Promarker Challenge - Old and New (Old papers and sentiment, new stamp)

Pollycraft Challenge Blog - Blue

Cute Card Thursday - Sketch

Creative Inspirations Challenge - Anything Chrismassy/Winter

Stampin' For The Weekend - Winter

Thank you for taking the time to read :-) Please feel free to follow me! My one follower is looking lonely ;-)

Much love, Sam xx

Christmas is Getting Closer!

With only 38 days left until Christmas I decided to start making my Christmas cards! Its later than I normally start but my health has held me back this year. Never the less I still plan to have all cards made and sent by the end of the first week of December! Hopefully I'm not being too optimistic...
Anyway, here is the card I made last night:

I used Stamps and paper from the Honey and Hugs collection and coloured them in with Copic markers and Promarkers. I added subtle shading to the deer and presents, and accentuated the eye and dots on her scarf with a white gel pen. I added Sakura clear glaze to the dots on her scarf and the dots on her back. Green and silver glitter was used for baubles on the tree, and I inked the 'Happy Christmas' words with a red ink pad to help them stand out a bit more.

Here is a closer image of the deer and tree.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
crazy 4 challenges - Christmas
polly craft challenge blog - Glittery Christmas
ooh-la-la-creations challenges - Reindeer
cute card thursday - Anything Goes
sketch saturday- Sketch
the secret crafter saturday challenge - Sparkle and Shine
ABC Challenge - H is for Holidays
copic creations - Shading

Thanks for looking, Sam xxx

Busy busy busy! (and Emma's birthday present)

Hello! Sorry for the very very late second post!

Happy belated Halloween and Bonfire Night! :)

Well since my last post (has it really been that long?) I have been to Wales for 3 weeks (woo!) My Mum owns a caravan there so we went to stay for a while! I did much resting and much shopping! The weather was mostly cold and rainy, but we had some sun. We didn't get chance to go to a firework display so no lovely photo's of that, but I do have some photo's of my sisters birthday present I crocheted :)

It was meant to look like her dog, Dodger, but it doesn't much... However she loved it all the same! The card I was making ended up turning into a picture which I framed for her:

I drew her myself based on a stamp I liked, but since I didnt own the stamp I found it on the internet and copied it the best I could. She is coloured in with promarkers and copics :)
What do you think?

Thanks for reading! Much love, Sam x