A Book of Dolls

I started making Star Heart Dolls in 2010, before that I had attempted making dolls, but they were not very successful or attractive. I was inspired by the lovely dolls I found on crafting blogs, particularly Jess Brown in America and Tiny Concept in Australia. When I had made 52 dolls, one for each week of the year, I complied my 'Book of Dolls'. Below are a few of the pages from that book. The book has since become the basis for my YouTube video 'A Time for Dolls' which you can find here.

 

London Walks: Ruislip Woods

London can feel overwhelmingly built up sometimes and it's always nice to find a breathing space. We visited Ruislip Woods in the Spring of 2017.

We were looking for bluebells, which we found. We also had tea and chips in the cafe by the lido.

  

There are several woods that make up Ruislip Woods. We concentrated on wandering around Park Wood, it's an easy walk and you are never that far away from back gardens and civilisation in general.

Stargazing on SoundCloud

It is ten years, this August, since I first delved into Social Media, when I uploaded my animation Ballet Class onto YouTube. As a sort of celebration, I have joined SoundCloud and uploaded an old favourite song I have written, Stargazing, you can find it here. I don't know if I will upload any more, I will see how it goes. You can find our slide show of the song, featuring Amy's childhood Planet project pictures, here.

Stoic quotes and mindfulness plus

I have expanded my reading beyond the Stoics to include Christian philosophy, Buddhism, mindfulness, ACT and anything else I find helpful. Some of their quotes I find very comforting and I have been working on a new Pinterest board to celebrate these wise words. I thought some of the pictures were quite pretty, but the Stoic quotes, while being so wise, didn't have such inspiring images to accompany them. I thought I would have a go myself and impose some of my favourite Stoic quotes on to a few pictures my daughter took in Ruislip Woods. I hope you find them enjoyable.

These and other wise quotes from Greek philosophy, Buddhism, Christianity, mindfulness, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and other sources of spiritual, philosophical and psychological good are available on my Pinterest board: MindfulnessPlus .

The Bogginsthrops and other curiousities

I wrote the Bogginsthrops and other curiousities when I was a teenager and recently drew illustrations for each of the seven characters. The Bogginsthrops were a family of three brothers and one sister and the curiousities were their three friends. Below are brief descriptions of the seven characters, I may develop their stories further in the future.

1. George Bernard Shaw Bogginsthrop
'The neighbours didn't like the eccentric, hippi, vegetarian philanthropist who practised his sitar in the middle of the night and meditated whenever there was a convenient moment free from the worries of mankind.'

2. Emily Bronte Bogginsthrop
'Emily Bronte Bogginsthrop was a very nice, acceptable girl who tried hard to be a social misfit like her brothers.'

3. Edgar Allan Poe Bogginsthrop
'Edgar had only to pop his head round the front door and he would receive apprehensive glances from the neighbours who passed by, even from the lady who carried her pet albino rat underneath her fur hat.'

4. Walter de la Mare Bogginsthrop
'Walter was of a very nervous disposition, he chain smoked roll-ups and had a terrible railing cough.'

5. Ciggy
'Ciggy Fagash, otherwise known as Diaphragm Sam or just plain Dire, sang, mumbled, shrieked, snarled, screamed and generally played havoc with the unfortunate listener's eardrums, it was quite a feat in itself that the group managed to keep in time and occasionally in tune.'

6. Acid
'Acid was always in a bad mood and Emily sympathised with Ciggy for having a sister like that.'

7. Patti
'The girl had dark hair and pale skin, she wore dark clothes and was bony in places.'