Charmaine Zoe's Marvellous Melange of Bloggy Stuff: 2015

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Blowing the Budget on Art Materials on Amazon!

I couldn't resist visiting Amazon today and peeking at the Boxing Day Deals. When what should I behold but a complete set of the Faber Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour Pencils for half price!

Now these are normally far too expensive for me to even consider but when I saw the complete set of 120 was available at a price that worked out at £1 each (plus £5 for the box!) I just couldn't resist them! AND THEN I saw they also had the 72 set of Derwent Inktense Watercolour pencils priced at £20 less than normal - so of course that had to go in the basket as well.

Quickly followed by a (after all got to have something to carry them in!)

and a Waterbrush set

not to mention a

So I'm afraid I've pushed the boat out quite a lot. I justify it to myself that I would never normally be able to afford these sets so although they are still not cheap by any means at least I don't feel excessively guilty in treating myself to them (only a little bit and it helped most of my family and friends know they can't go wrong giving me Amazon vouchers for Christmas LOL!)

Can't wait until they arrive on Tuesday, and in the meantime I'm watching lots of coloured pencils tutorials on YouTube! You might wonder what brought on this sudden interest? Well, it was a visit to the Cumberland Pencil Museum while we were in Cumbria, home of Derwent pencils - and seeing all those gorgeous boxes and sets for sale in the museum's shop. I did purchase 3 small sets of 12 each of the Inktense, Watercolour and Metallic pencils while I was there, but that merely whetted my enthusiasm :-) Sadly I've learn't that the Museum was affected in the recent horrendous flooding in Cumbria and is closed for refurbishment until at least March - how sad is that?

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

New Kaleidoscope Kreations by CharmaineZoe Video

Just uploaded a brand new Kaleidoscope Kreations video to my Youtube channel. Great for relaxation or meditation as it has a lovely ambient style soundtrack, very zen and the constantly changing patterns and colours have a hypnotic effect. If you weren't relaxed at the start, you will be by the end. These new ones only last 5 mins and this is the first of a new series I will be uploading over the next few days. I hope you enjoy it. If you would like to see more visit my Youtube channel at "Kaleidoscope Kreations"

Elephants of Mfuwe Lodge

Just blown away! I think this has to be one of my all time favourite animal videos! Every year when the mangoes are ripe a family of wild elephants visit Mfuwe Lodge. Led by their matriarch Wonky Tusk they carefully make their way through the Lodge's reception area and onto the the grounds where the mango tree stands.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Incredible Distances!

Fascinating and exciting as I find this latest discovery of what may be a similar planet to earth I have to laugh at the way they bandy phrases like "1,400 light years away" like there's the slightest possibility of us ever visiting it. Bearing in mind that a light year is actually 5.88 Trillion miles, and if you were to start counting out a pile of stones of ONE trillion at 1 a second it would take 31,688 years and you wouldn't finish until the year 33,703 AD (321 generations hence) and probably end up with the equivalent of Mount Everest. So multiply 1,400 by 5.88 trillion and that's how far away it is! And this is the closest one they've found. Don't get me wrong, I am in constant awe of these discoveries but the thing that really blows me away are the incredible distances we're talking about when it comes to space :-)

Kepler 452b revealed as most similar planet to ours ever found with a 'substantial opportunity for life'... but its days may already be numbered.

Sunday, March 01, 2015

St. Patrick's Day Info

As I was born in Dublin and I'm Irish through and through I shall be celebrating St Patrick's Day on March 17th. I've found this great infographic as well as featuring some of the lovely vintage souvenirs that are available from my GIFT STORE at Kaleidoscope Kreations on Zazzle.
We'll start with an interesting video that tells the story of St Patrick and his day. Oh and by the way don't call it St Patty's Day, it's St Paddy's Day!