I still haven’t worked out what to do when I grow up! I’m mainly a writer, an artist, and a fairytale dressmaker with various crafty hobbies! Here (and on YouTube) I share bits of my life, thoughts, and what I’m learning along the way. Let’s find magic and inspiration; join me for this creative living adventure!

 

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Glastonbury festival wedding dress
Making the Glastonbury Festival bag dress – version 2
June 19, 2019
Wishing Glastonbury Festival isn’t over, on the Monday afternoon when most people have gone home, the kids and I usually take a walk through the festival site. It’s sad to say that some people STILL aren’t taking any notice of the ‘Love the farm; leave no trace’ mantra, and during the years when we were given free tote bags on arrival, unfortunately many were left behind. Rather than let them go into landfill, from 2015 to 2017 I decided to pick up as many as I could carry to turn them into a festival dress…
camera choices for bloggers
Finding the perfect camera system for youtubers, vloggers, bloggers & photographers.
June 17, 2019
Are you a blogger, photographer and vlogger? The big camera question! Do you, or do you not carry two cameras around with you at all times? Are you struggling with choosing which camera you need? I love photography and want to take with me a decent dslr to shoot in raw with a choice of lenses and allow me to take creative photos for my personal enjoyment as well as for my blog. However, I also vlog most of my life for my YouTube channel, and need to carry a camera for that as well. Can we combine them both? What should we do?
Painting a fairytale! Mixed media process video ~ Art studio vlog
April 29, 2025
Hello! Hope you're having a good week. This is the first painting I showed my friends! Here's the mixed media and oil painting process I used to make a fairytale painting. I really feel I'm finding my style now. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Behind the scenes of an artist's life! Paint swatching, photographing art, testing ink & studio tidy
April 22, 2025
Things are different now - there's some big news in this video! And I swatch my professional Winsor & Newton artist watercolour paint, and take photos of my recent landscape and abstract floral art ready for my website - see them at https://www.helenhobden.com/ I test some beautiful metallic ink from Ferris Wheel Press, and carry on tidying my art studio! As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Following a How To Create An Abstract Floral Painting workshop & more + Tidying up my art studio
April 17, 2025
This is the Abstract Floral painting workshop by The Milan Art Institute I am following: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral/jojKXnz6/7Vqa9f6vKfq3WYcs and then I painted eight more! I also said "I can't believe I'm showing you this!" when I started tidying up my art studio! Please don't judge me! My abstract floral paintings are now on my website - click 'read more' for the links below. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Styling a hippy maxi dress
Styling a hippy maxi dress
May 20, 2019
I bought this dress from a magic shop under the shadow of a pirate castle in Lanzarote when we were on holiday last year. By that I mean that it was one of those shops with a tiny front and a little plank door and you have to duck low to get inside. Then you find the shop is massive and goes back and back and back until it comes out onto another street entirely. Anyway, it was from there, but if you want to try and hunt it out out, the label says Elora…..
Glastonbury Festival site panoramic photo
Glastonbury Festival site, Panoramic photo 3, 2019
May 14, 2019
It’s fun to see the second team of fence builders have started on the opposite side of the Glastonbury Festival site this morning – it amazes me how they manage to make it meet – I suppose they must stop at an entrance gate. Anyway, I’m a bit embarrassed to confess that the tall tower in my Instagram Story yesterday, I think is just an electricity pylon that’s always there! It just looked different from a different angle and in the evening sunlight! The scaffolding construction though is definitely new….
official Outlander outfit
Styling khaki check / tartan for spring – an Outlander outfit
May 14, 2019
Have you seen the Starz Outlander series on telly? Or read the books by Diana Gabaldon? Chris and I have watched the four series through twice, and have begun to listen to the audio books in the car on our little jaunts around the country! When a clothing catalogue from the company EMP came through the door last November and I was browsing through for Christmas presents for the kids, I literally squealed in delight when I saw a page full of official Outlander clothing!….
Massive craft paper haul! ~ Mixed media painting process ~ Making a clay pot ~ Art vlog
April 8, 2025
Hello! This week in my crafty vlog I have a massive decorative craft paper haul to show you - mostly from Prima and Stamperia, ready to make some journals. I show the mixed media art process of my next painting, which has a magical storybook feel. And Rain and I go to the Somerset Brick and Tile Museum in Bridgwater where I made a clay pot and some Christmas stars, and she made a soap dish. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Swatching & trying new art supplies! ~ Brusho powders & paint spray ~ New art notebook!
April 1, 2025
Hello! This week I'm unboxing and trying out some new art supplies and swatching some old ones as well. Some Derwent Inktense pencils; Colourcraft Brusho crystal colour pigment powders; SprinkleIt metallic and iridescent powders, and Brusho acrylic mist spray paints. I also start a new notebook for my art ideas, and I receive my Milan Art Mastery Program certificate. Hope you have a good week! As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
Mixed media art process of a deer painting ~ Visiting Hauser & Wirth art gallery in Bruton
March 25, 2025
Hi! This week I'm painting a deer in a wild landscape in watercolour, ink, gouache, crayon & other mixed media materials I can't remember! I also visit the Hauser and Wirth art gallery in Bruton, Somerset and see the exhibition by Phyllida Barlow with family; and we see the autumn colours at Stourhead in Wiltshire. I chat about appreciating (or not!) different types of art. As always, thank you so much for watching and spending your time with me! Please support this channel for free by subscribing, clicking the thumbs up and the bell notification button. If you enjoyed this one, please share the link with your friends. Thank you! :) For extra free content, videos and behind-the-scenes updates, sign up to my newsletter here: https://helenhobden.substack.com/ To bring an enchanted world into your life with beautiful art on your walls, browse my paintings here: https://www.helenhobden.com/ If you would like to watch an extra 60 or so sewing and art videos, please go to https://www.patreon.com/HelenHobden Handmade by me: Browse for your unique bohemian clothing purchases here: https://threadsofafairytale.com/ If you'd like to know more about the online art course I took for a year and a half - the Mastery Program by the Milan Art Institute, please follow this (affiliate) link: https://milanart.samcart.com/referral... Tip jar! If you would like to contribute to my hard-drive fund to help keep this channel going, it would be gratefully appreciated. :) https://paypal.me/Oshun
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