This Week I...

I kinda miss posting three times a week, something I chose to stop doing when I finished uni because I wasn't creating new things as frequently to include in three weekly posts.

That hasn't changed a few months on, but I've decided to add a bonus weekend post to share what I've been up to that week, even if it's not art/craft related.

I get to post three times a week, and you get to find out a bit more about my life via these phone pictures.

So here we go. This week I...

Helped put up the open exhibition at the arts centre.

I don't think I ever told you guys that since August I have been the newest intern at the Letchworth Arts Centre. I've been volunteering there since before I went to university, but instead of going in one day a week I now go in two and a half days a week and I get paid for it. Boomtown.

Along with catching up on sleep to get over jetlag, I also caught up on the tv I missed while I was on holiday, and I did so whilst doing a very paper based project.

I caught up with my friends over a meal for my friend Steph's birthday.

Giant pizza for one anyone?

I returned to the fanciest dentists ever.

And my friends and I went out on Saturday night to continue Steph's birthday celebrations. I commend her for making her birthday last the whole week. I think it's something we can all aspire to.

What did you get up to this week?

Photo book

When I saw this handkerchief journal on A Beautiful Mess I knew that I just needed an excuse so that I could make one myself.

A friend's birthday is the perfect excuse

Instead of using a handkerchief, which I didn't have, I just sewed the cover out of a piece of fabric.

I put some thick card into the front and back so the the cover wasn't floppy.

This was my first time using the zig-zag setting on the sewing machine. It was very exciting.

I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me.

For the pages I did like the original tutorial did and used pages from an old book.

Now some people have a big issue about destroying old books. I don't.

Sorry!

I have one old book that I bought for £1 and whenever I want to use book pages, which isn't all that often to be honest, I use them from that one book.

I used 12 book pages as that's the maximum amount that the sewing machine needle would comfortably go through.

I used this book as a photo memory book for my friend Stef.

 

I put one photo per page and added some coloured paper for added interest.

I also wrote the date and occasion because as we get older it's going to be harder to remember this stuff.

I mean, Stef's 23 now! That's almost ancient!

Nashville!

I'm back from my holiday!

Did you miss me?

Now, I don't know how interesting people find other people's holiday photos, but I'm going to share just a few of mine anyway and give you a little recap of what I got up to.

Today I'll show you Nashville.

It's fair to say I was pretty excited to be in Nashville.

My first impression was that it was so warm! Even at 6 o'clock in the evening when we arrived.

My second impression was that everyone was so friendly! Mainly the bus drivers, who were super helpful. We used buses the whole time we were there, not one taxi, and I'm very proud of myself for figuring out the public transport system.

Downtown Nashville is awesome!

There was live music coming out of every bar as you walked along the streets.

And it was country music. And I knew the songs. That doesn't happen in England.

It was great not to be the minority when it comes to being a country music fan.

(Note how I'm not wearing tights or a cardigan even though I packed plenty. It was like a proper summer!!)

That's me with Taylor Swift's actual laptop!

Boy oh boy, exciting stuff.

That was at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum which had an exhibition of all of Taylor's costumes and props from her Speak Now tour.

That's my sister Joss and I on stage at the Grand Ole Opry!

We took the backstage tour which was very informative and I especially liked the video pieces by Blake Shelton.

You see the circle of stage we're standing on that's different to the rest?

That's a piece of stage taken from the original home of the Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, so that everyone who performs there gets to stand on the same stage as the greats.

That evening we saw the show at the Opry which was amazing.

The performers were Lori Morgan, Riders in the Sky (they wrote the 'Woody's Roundup' song from Toy Story!), Jimmy Wayne, Connie Smith, Bill Anderson, Kellie Picker (pictured), and Dierks Bentley. So good!

The highlights for me were Kellie Pickler singing 'I Wonder' and Dierks Bentley singing 'Home'. I love those songs.

On one of the days we walked round Hillsboro Village which is full of lovely little shops.

It's also where the Pancake Pantry is.

So good!

Go on their website and listen to their theme song. It is hella catchy.

One evening we were walking round our neighbourhood, which was basically Music Row, and I noticed the building which houses Big Machine Records. That's the label Taylor is on.

I'm not a stalker, I just recognised it from google maps....again, not a stalker.

We were also walking around hoping to catch a glimpse of filming for the new tv show Nashville (which I watched the pilot episode of on the flight over). They were setting up equipment at the top of our road but we didn't manage to see any of the actors. Still very exciting!

On our last full day in Nashville we saw the Kings of Leon!

They were being awarded a star of the Music City Walk of Fame.

We only found out about the event the day before.

Check it out; it's Caleb!

In the evening my sister and I watched to local news to see the coverage of the event and to our surprise there was a shot of us!!

Check out this clip and see if you can spot us.

(Here's a clue - we're both wearing hats!)

So that means we're pretty much famous now.

And then it was on to New York, but I'll leave that for another day

Blog Break

Things are going to be pretty quiet around here for the next two weeks as I'm going on holiday!

First stop; Nashville!

The Wreckers are promising that things are sweeter in Tennessee. Are they talking about the pancakes...?

I'm planning to go to the Country Music Hall of Fame, see Kellie Pickler and Dierks Bentley at the Opry (!!!) and hope that Taylor's in town and I happen to bump into her.

Then on to New York!

I hear that the streets will make me feel brand new and I'll be inspired by the lights! I guess we'll see!

I'm gonna go to some galleries, go on some tours, and my sister's going to stalk Jake Gyllenhaall as he's in a play over there at the moment.

You can follow me on twitter @lisaharrold to find out what I'm up to!

Photo transfer

You may have seen tutorials for transferring photos onto canvas. The first one I can think of is from A Beautiful Mess.

I'd bought some small canvas boards from The Works on sale and decided to use one to display one of my favourite photos from the end of uni.

The tutorials say to use a gel medium, and I happen to have some from a pack I got given in my first year of uni. It's meant to be mixed with acrylic paint to create texture I think, but I've never used it.

I printed off my photo using a laser printer. That bit's important. You also have to remember that the image has to be in reverse. I say this because I forgot and had to print it out again.

Then I generously covered the canvas board with the gel medium and put the photo on top.

Once it had dried over night I dampened the paper and started rubbing it off.

Elsie says to expect an imperfect image but I was surprised by how well the image had transferred.

I decided to add paint to the image. It is on a canvas after all.

Using acrylic paint I filled in the white edge of the canvas board and then went over some of the photo.

You can see the difference between Natalie's face, which is mostly still the photo, and my face which I've painted over.

I added paint to large areas, like my dress and skin, instead of trying to recreate some of the details like my eyes. I think combining paint with a photograph creates an interesting look.