New Art Print & A Very Special Painting

I went for a little exploration down the road the other day and found this great framed print in a charity shop. I think the original's by Brueghel the younger, but if anyone knows for sure please let me know. The information on the back says it's called 'Village Festival', but I'm not sure that's actually correct. Either way, I think it looks pretty neat.

Currently, it's propped up on a chest of drawers in the hall until we get a chance to hang it up properly.

Speaking of which, we finally managed to hang up this painting of my dad's in our living room. It's a space scene he painted years ago and I just love it. Actually it was Tim who asked if we could have it when he saw it in my dad's garage (we're both huge lovers of science fiction so it the space theme really appealed to us) and Dad was delighted that someone wanted it. My sister has another painting of his in her flat too which makes it even cooler. I wish he would paint more though.

Recent CDs January 2014

Here are some recent arrivals I got in the post. I've been wanting these babies for ages (except the last one which only just came out), but I've only been able to justify buying them recently.

1. The Ruins of Beverast - Rain Upon The Impure
2. The Ruins of Beverast - Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite
3. Ascension - Consolamentum
4. Vastum - Patricidal Lust

Here are some sample songs from each album:

Tombstone Locket

Before Christmas, I treated myself to this tombstone necklace that opens like a locket. I haven't put anything inside it yet. I think it'll probably end up being either a photo of Tim and me or a little quote from scripture. Not sure yet. Either way, I love this necklace!

Shoes For Too Fast

As some of you already know, I'm a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. I while ago, having worked with them before, I was asked to design some high heels for the awesome alternative clothing brand Too Fast. The final result was this rib cage high heel shoe you see below complete with a silver spine-shaped heel. It was pretty exciting to receive in the post, I can tell you. I also received the multi-coloured shoe further below which I did not design, but which contains a Too Fast Brand logo I designed.

You can see more photos on my website here, along with my other stuff.

Stamp Your Own Wrapping Paper

To save a bit of cash this year (if not time), I decided to buy some cheap brown parcel paper and some black tissue paper to make my own hand-stamped Christmas wrapping paper. I used a small knife to sculpt heart shapes out of erasers and bought some cheap ink pads in gold and red.

You need to use a very fine knife. The shavings will get everywhere so do the carving over a piece of scrap paper.

The tissue paper was good for wrapping the more delicate presents before wrapping them again in the brown paper. Again, I did the stamping over a large piece of scrap paper so that the ink didn't seep through to the table as the tissue paper is very thin.

I also found an old office stamp with letters so I could make the words 'Merry Christmas' for the little gift tags.

The stamps don't last very long since the erasers can be quite crumbly (I'm going to have to try some linoleum or rubber for a longer lasting stamp), but for a one-off project that's all you need really. They're also really versatile since you can make anything. Here's a little skull stamp I couldn't resist making.

Gingerbread Christmas Tree Decorations

This year, I thought I'd have a go at making some gingerbread Christmas tree decorations. I used this great recipe (I had to add extra flour though as the dough was too sticky at first) and had enough left over to give to some away too.

I just heard that my wee niece was helping my sister put them on their tree yesterday. How cute is that! The best thing is that they make the whole room smell like gingerbread.

And after finishing our last little bit of Christmas shopping last night, Tim and I (finally) got our tree up. I'd bought some pastel multicoloured lights for it the other day along with some tiny baubles in different colours to make it a little bit more cutesy-looking this year. The long teal coloured baubles were a lovely present from one of Tim's sisters.

Here's a gingerbread heart nestling in the tree. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the tree is black, of course.

Finally, after completing all our Christmas shopping last night, I bought myself a Christmassy treat in the form of a gingerbread muffin from Costa which I only got round to eating this afternoon. I felt a bit cruel eating the cute little gingerbread man on top, but I coped.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I made a chocolate chip cookie cake yesterday following this recipe from Love, Life and Sugar. Again, I was working with what I could find in the cupboard so it wasn't as chocolatey as it should have been since I didn't have many chocolate chips in the house. Despite that, it was still really tasty and was an exact mix of cookie and cake! Exactly what you want from a chocolate chip cookie cake, really...