Snatched moments of creativity

Recently I've found myself spending more time on the behind the scenes areas of Ditsy Bird, than on the actual creative side - developing my tech skills; scanning in designs; planning; organising my storage and filing of my digital designs; working on streamlining processes and so on.
This has meant that I'm spending less time drawing and painting than I would like, and have been finding ways to snatch back some time to get creative.

Sofa doodling is an absolute favourite of mine!
I have a lap tray that lives under the end of the sofa nearest to the lamp, and you will often find me sat there late in the evening, cross legged, sketchbook on tray and pen in hand.

It's not brilliant for my posture, but is wholly necessary for my mind - a little art therapy goes a long way to relaxing the shoulders, unclenching my jaw, and silencing the brain chatter.
I tend to do this when we're watching (I use this term loosely as far as what I'm doing is concerned) something that doesn't require my full attention...what I like to call soufflé telly - looks good but is mostly wind and puff.

I suppose I use the film or whatever is on, more as an audiobook than for watching, and it is good company for the evenings when I'm home alone - plus it gets me out of My Room, and my head out of Ditsy mode.

Other creative opportunities are the times when I take George to his piano lessons, or to the gym, and there isn't enough time to go home and back during the lesson. Piano isn't brilliant as it's only 30 minutes - and honestly, by the time I've replied to IG comments, I barely get chance to get my pad and pen out.

Gym time however, is most excellent!
I park in Aldi car park for this, as the gym is on a main road, and I usually go in and do a shop whilst George is getting fit on the treadmill. This week though, we'd already done a food shop so I stayed in the car and had a wonderful, uninterrupted hour of fountain pen doodling. Though for a moment there I sat staring at the blank page, pen in hand, and with zero inspiration to draw.

Argh!
I went with the fallback of 'draw an old favourite', and was soon lost in the process of slowly doodling seedheads, breath slowing, shoulders falling, completely in the moment, and oblivious the cars pulling in and out around me.

I'd love to know how you make sure you find time to do the thing you love?

Until next time,
Sarah
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A free printable for subscribers

Hello there!

I have had plans for years, to set up a mailing list of subscribers, with the intention of sending out a monthly newsletter to those lovely people who sign up.

I'm still working on what to put in said newsletter, but if you want to be on the list for when I launch it, then do please head over here and sign up!

One of the things I intend to do, is to send occasional little treats to my subscribers, and I'm kicking this off with a free printable...

The printable comprises two A4 pages - one with gift tags and one with bookmarks (these could be used as larger gift tags) in four exclusive, Ditsy Bird designs.

If you'd like to get your hands on these, simply head over to the Newsletter page on the website, and enter your details. Once you've confirmed your subscription, you'll be given a link to click, which will take you to the document. You can then print from there, or download it to your computer to print at a later date.

If you share images of the tags and bookmarks, do please tag them with #dbdsubscribers, as I'd love to see what you do with them!

If you have any thoughts on what you would like to receive as a subscriber gift, I'd love to know - either leave a comment below, drop me a line, or leave me a comment on IG.


Sarah
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Scrapbooks as sketchbooks

Morning!

I bought a new scrap book at the weekend, which I wanted to try out as a sketchbook - the paper inside is so beautifully smooth, that I find it perfect for pencil sketches, dip pen and fountain pen drawing.

There is no texture to the paper - which is something I would normally actively seek when creating products - but I love the smoothness of this thick paper/thin card for when I'm doing carefree doodling, in order to wind down of an evening, or to warm up my hands before working on a commission.

The other joy of this particular book, is that it is so very beautiful!
Just look at the cut out detail on the cover! And birds! I do love a bird or two.

The pencil sketches were drawn with my Pentel 120 A3DX propelling pencil, using 0.3mm lead. I love how delicate the lines look, and how much detail you can get with such a fine line.

The fabulous turquoise pencil is just there to look pretty ;)

I also wanted to test how well the paper would stand up to ink, so I got out all my pink inks (acrylic and bombay) and had a play - not one came through the back of the paper - and I also tested liquid watercolours as well as high flow acrylics. Same result.

Now I'm not suggesting we all ditch our traditional sketchbooks, I'm just saying that it's worth keeping an eye out for scrap books and photo albums in the sales, as often they have really good quality paper/card in them, which is perfect for doodling on.

This bird design was purchased from a Paperchase outlet shop for £5 - half it's original price of £10 -but it is available HERE on the Paperchase site for £7.50 in the sale.
The hard back cover is very sturdy (and gorgeous) and made up of the deep turquoise hard back inner, sandwiched between two layers of kraft card.
Spiral bound, so I can work on it with the spirals at the top, which stops them getting in the way whilst I draw.

It also has a beautiful ribbon to tie it up, which protects the inner sheets from getting marked or damaged.
There are 40 sheets to work on, and honestly, the paper is of such good quality that I could work on both sides if I so wished - I tend not to do this though, as you can get pencil and pen marks rubbing off on to the page below if you do that.

I've been using scrapbooks as sketchbooks for a while now - my first one had black paper pages inside it, and is fantastic for practicing with all sorts of different pens to get new, fun results. But that's a post for another day!

Materials used:
Vintage dip pen - these can be found quite easily on eBay
Birds scrapbook
Pentel pencil
FW ink pearlescent pink
FW ink fluorescent pink
Liquitex acrylic ink magenta
Dr.PH Martins Hydrus watercolours magenta
Golden High Flow Acrylics magenta
Dr PH Martin's Bombay inks
Caran D'ache Grafik HB pencil
The links are just for reference, so that you can have a look at the materials online...they will be available from other shops, so it's always worth looking around to find a price that suits!


Sarah
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February Desktop Calendar

Good morning!

I realise I'm a couple of days late, but this month's desktop calendar is now ready to download...
simply click on the image below :)

Wishing you a fruitful month full of love, fun and laughter!

Sarah
♡