This month on emuse

This month had a bit of a relaxation theme:
Emma's box of calm
Relax stones
Desk photos
Mindfulness colouring book review
Calm book review

I also posted about some of the fun places I've been and things I've done recently:
Fashion illustration workshop
The Great Tapestry of Scotland
Kwang Young Chun exhibition
Bernat Klein exhibition
Stargazing

I had some more Sunday self-portraits:
Rainbow
#iwillwearwhatilike

And there was a bit of drawing:
Flask drawing
Drawing people

This month I have been mostly...

I had a couple of weeks off work this month, so I did all sorts of fun things, including going to some exhibitions (Escher at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Elements jewellery exhibition), getting my hair cut (I went to the hairdressers for the first time in 20 years!), went to an introductory Rock Choir evening, had a Japanese lesson, went a few places with my parents, went for walks, got my shed roof replaced, and just generally tidied up around the house and garden. I also took part in the #DIYCreativeClub challenge on Instagram.

Sunday self-portraits: #iwillwearwhatilike

Over the month of August I took part in #iwillwearwhatilike on Instagram. This was organised by Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb, in response to a ridiculous article telling women in their 30s and 40s what they should not be wearing.

I took part in about 2/3 of the items, depending on what I had in my wardrobe. Some days I used photos I had taken on previous occasions. It was great to see lots of women around my own age wearing all the items we are not "supposed" to wear, having fun doing so, and looking fantastic!

Short dresses

Lots of colours

Short skirts

Rainbow hair

 Booty shorts

Long hair

Leopard print, hoop earrings, scrunchies and blue eyeshadow

Pink, mis-matched socks, bedazzled items, crop tops

Instagram day in the life

On Saturday the 8th August I took part in the #igdayinthelife challenge that Marceline had organised, taking a photo each hour during the day. Here's her post about her day, and here are all the photos everyone took. I had a busy day, so there were plenty of opportunities for taking photos!

8am Porridge in bed!

9am Admiring my Asiatic lily while enjoying a cuppa in the garden

 10am Heading out

11am Great Tapestry of Scotland exhibition

12 noon Arriving in Edinburgh and making my way up the Fleshmarket steps

1pm The old quad and Hanna Darboven exhibition

2pm Curry at the Mosque Kitchen

3pm Kwang Young Chun exhibition

4pm I was at this show about Marie Curie

A photo posted by Emma Reid (@emusing_emma) on Aug 8, 2015 at 9:35am PDT

5pm Hit my step count goal for the day

A photo posted by Emma Reid (@emusing_emma) on Aug 8, 2015 at 10:28am PDT

6pm Train home

A photo posted by Emma Reid (@emusing_emma) on Aug 8, 2015 at 11:42am PDT

7pm Home, and my Birchbox had arrived!

A photo posted by Emma Reid (@emusing_emma) on Aug 8, 2015 at 12:38pm PDT

8pm Avocado on corn bread

9pm Young Montalbano on TV

A photo posted by Emma Reid (@emusing_emma) on Aug 8, 2015 at 2:36pm PDT

10pm  Young Montalbano on TV, in bed!

Emma's little box of calm

I knew that the first few weeks of term were going to be really busy at work, so I made up this box of calming items to help me relax!

I took a shoe box, and filled it with small items that would be good stress-busters, including:

The Mindfulness Colouring Book and some coloured pencils

Calm book

A crochet kit from Mollie Makes

Some relaxing CDs

A box of Zen Again tea bags

Aveda Stress-Fix lotion

A favourite lip balm

A solid perfume

Some sweets

Semi-precious stones and beads

Tisserand De-Stress roller ball

Bach Rescue Remedy spray

Kalms

4-head headache stick

Some bubble wrap

A lavender bag

Mini-easel and Japan photos

Small books of poetry and haikus

It's a good idea to think of the different senses when making up a box like this, for example:

Taste: Tea, sweets

Smell: Lavender bag, perfume or essential oils

Touch: Hand cream, worry beads

Hearing: CDs

Sight: Photos

Also think of activities, such as colouring-in or crocheting.

I hope this gives some ideas of what you could put in your own box of calm!

Clangers books, old and new

I've got a little collection of Clangers books now! I've had the Clangers craft book for a few years, it was a perfectly chosen Christmas present! But the other two Clangers books are recent acquisitions so I thought I would tell you a bit about them.

When the Clangers came back on TV, I looked online for any Clangers related stuff, and found this vintage Clangers annual from the year I was born! I love its retro illustrations, and the introductions to all the characters. I'm a wee bit worried about what's happened to Uncles Copper and Brass Clanger, though, as there's no sign of them in the new series!

This week, I received a brilliant surprise from the Clangers (or, rather, their representatives on Earth!). "The Brilliant Surprise", to be precise! This is a large square softback book, with colour illustrations throughout, which has just been published by Ladybird. It costs £6.99.

Being interested in illustration, that was the first thing that caught my eye about the book. I really loved how the illustrator simplified the knitted texture of the Clangers, using just a few brush strokes.

Now I just have to decide whether Auntie Clanger keeps the new book for her own collection, or passes it on to the the new generation of Clangers fan in the family!

Disclaimer: I received The Brilliant Surprise free for review purposes, but all opinions are my own.

Sunday Self Portraits: Rainbow

I took these photos while taking part in Not Dressed as Lamb's I Will Wear What I Like in August. Catherine was inspired to create this challenge after reading an article with a list of all the things you "shouldn't" wear after the age of 30 or 40. You can see everyone's Instagram photos at #iwillwearwhatilike.

One of the things that we "shouldn't" wear at this age is more than 3 colours at a time, so this outfit was my attempt to prove that wrong! I wore blue glasses and cardigan, green t-shirt, yellow pendant, red belt and lipstick, black trousers, and my Rainbow handbag which was a fantastic charity shop find! And earrings in rainbow colours too!

My wonderful teal shed door made a great backdrop as always, and it was a great chance to get a photo of my Asiatic lily - I bought this in a sale for 99p last year and wasn't sure if it would flower again, but it has (despite me giving it no attention or water at all, I just left the pot lying at the bottom of the garden and hoped for the best!).

Japan photo display

When I was thinking of ideas of calming things to have on my desk during a busy time at work, I realised that I needed to create the atmosphere of calm I feel the moment I walk into a Japanese shrine or temple. So what better way to do that than using my photos of Japan!

I hadn't got round to getting any photos printed from my second trip to Japan (apart from an album I had printed). So this was the perfect opportunity to go through my Kyoto photos and choose some that I'd like to print. I chose those photos that made me feel most calm when looking at them. Once the photos were printed, I displayed them on a tiny easel. I change the photo at least once a day.

Another thing I did was to use my photos from Kyoto as wallpaper on my computer, changing randomly. I was amazed how many details I spotted in the photos that I hadn't ever noticed before! Even photos that seemed quite ordinary have something within them that catches my eye and makes me smile or say "Wow! I hadn't noticed that!"

Book review: Calm

I had headed to Urban Outfitters to pick up another book I'd seen there, I can't even remember what it was! But this book, Calm by Michael Acton Smith, caught my eye instead with its bold but simple cover design.

On flicking through it I realised that this book was very interactive. There are lots of pages through the book where you can fill in the highlights of your day. There are pages to draw or write specific things on, and lots of activities to try.

The first page that really caught my interest in the book was the one where you can design your own treehouse. I decided to draw a Japanese-inspired treehouse in an acer tree, with tatami mats and shoji screens. I also used watercolour on this page. It only warped the paper a little, which was good.

Now that I've filled in one page of the book, I can't wait to try more of the activities in it, like pressing flowers, designing my own island, creating a tattoo design, creating doodles around fingerprints, and much more!