Wednesday Whizzy

After a slightly later start than intended (crap nights sleep) I chugged down some sort of super-smoothie and laced up my sneaks. I'd already mapped out an 8k route by the river, round Chorlton Water Park and back. I started out thinking, 'hmm, maybe I could just do 6k and work up to 8', but I kept going and started to actually enjoy it! Woo! My reward was spotting some little mystery fledglings, goldfinches and a heron! One of my personal favourites. I didn't want to stop running in case I crumpled to the ground, so no photos, but here are some snaps of things I've been working on. I'm excited to go to the studio tomorrow as my light tent and lights have arrived, fingers crossed for mega professional photos!

Monsieur Le Fox in printy progress

Monsieur Le Fox bibs

Printing up little robots

It's a...FROG!

Froggy bibs

Printing bunnies

Fox posters, freshly printed!

Darlo Days

Right, so I have missed a couple of days Juneathon blogging, but in my defence I've been away and still done exercise!  Had a lovely weekend in the North East.

Darlington has a proud railway history! Choo choo.

 Bridge over the River Skerne. One of the worst names for a river ever? Andrew makes everything look wonderful though.

A trip to Barnard Castle and obligatory photo of the silver swan! I recently read Peter Carey's The Chemistry of Tears, which made me see the automaton in a new light. The Appleby Fair is approaching, so we saw some amazingly mulleted youths racing through the streets. Unfortunately they were too fast for me to get a photo.

Half hour swim on Sunday morning at Bannatynes gym. Pretty luxurious compared to Chorlton Baths!

Playing with my Dad's collected of cameras, inherited from my Grandad, Victor.

 Tio Pedro! (note the bottle of tequila).

Hiya! 

Yesterday my only exercise was a scoot round the shops, that counts right?! I bought a watch so I don't always have to take my phone out running with me, plus I faced my fears and bought some new jeans! Why is it so hard to buy jeans?? This morning I did a crap 25 minute jog, my legs felt quite stiff, not sure why. I have an 8k scheduled tomorrow, so fingers crossed I feel better! I've also signed up with Runkeeper, not sure what I'm doing with that though, will figure it out later...

Juneathon No. 1!

 Good morning! Today is the 1st of June and thus the beggining of Juneathon. I saw it mentioned on Twitter and thought it seemed like a bit of fun (?!). Maybe I was still on a high after the Great Manchester 10k. Basically you do some form of exercise everyday in June and blog about it. I'm training for the Great North Run in September so it will hopefully spur me on for my first ever half marathon and also breathe a bit of life back into my poor old bloggy.

Beautiful day for it! I got up early and set out for my 5k route - walking 5 minutes from my flat to Longford Park. Not a cloud in the sky! I decided to run free and easy, with no headphones so I could enjoy the birdsong.

If only my legs were this long in real life. I headed up towards Streford to get onto the canal.

I didn't see my old pals/arch enemies the Canada geese this morning, so didn't have to fear ending up in the canal.

I always think this looks very British! Anyways, I popped off the canal onto Hawthorne Lane and through the ees then back home. An enjoyable 30 minute jog.

If you would like to sponsor me for the Great North Run, my Just Giving page is here. I'm raising money for Diabetes UK.

Off to Darlo today, as my Auntie and Uncle are visiting from Mexico! They only come over about once a decade, so I'm very excited.

Winners!!

Hello and Happy Friday! I picked out the winners of my give-away a while ago now, but then got too busy/distracted/lazy to post them. Sorreeeee! So here they are:

Cristina has won Mr Owl poster - hoot!
Danielle Wood has won the Lion - roar!
Dan Lord has won Tiny Tiger - grrr!
and Mammasaurus has won the Koala print! G'day mate!

Get in touch with your postal addresses via email you guys, I will send your creatures to their new homes! 

Thanks to all for entering and have a lovely weekend x

Screenprint Giveaway!

Oh, poor, neglected blog! I think I've had blog fear, after so long using twitter and instagram, the thought of sitting down and typing more than 120 characters feels a little intimidating! The irony is that I actually enjoy writing and looking back on blog posts. So I do solemnly swear to make more of an effort from now on! Well, I have something nice to make up for being silent for so long. A giveaway! Woohoo! At the beginning of the year I invested in a bit of new equipment - a spring-loaded drying rack and some freshly exposed screens, which make my life a lot easier and mean that I can print lovely, high-quality posters.

I have one of each design to give away, for a chance to win just leave a comment saying which one you would like, Koala, Lion, Owl or Tiger! I will announce the winners in a week's time.

The posters are available to buy from my website and Not On the High Street Store.

Win a tee for free!

The super-groovy blog Kid Independent contacted me to ask if I would like to be part of their month-long giveaway of kid's t-shirt's from around the world. I said yes, sounds swell, and merrily posted Tiny Tiger off to Australia to seek fame and fortune. To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is pop on over to the blog and VOTE FOR ME!

Crafting History

Here are some photos of the process of making my piece for the Crafting History exhibition that opens at the Craft Centre on 14th July. The tenants were asked to respond to the Collecting History exhibition that is currently on at the Craft Centre as part of our 30 year anniversary celebrations. I chose to create an intricate papercut depicting 18 fish representing our 18 studios and celebrating the past life of the building as a fishmarket. All the fish are native to British waters and many would have been served up here at some point (except the Pike!). As part of the exhibition the public sent in words that they feel represent the Craft and Design Centre. Each fish contains one of these words. I enjoyed the challenge of making something away from my usual practice and it has proved really satisfying. Come down on Saturday 2-4 to see all the work made plus ceramics by Carys Davies and help us celebrate!