See, it is not always doom, gloom here! I made this little pink 'bunny' today for a friend who's recently had a baby. I haven't made anything soft and squishy and cute for ages....I think the last things were a load of faceless dolls at uni...and they definitely weren't cute. Very squishy...but not in a nice way! I actually really enjoyed making something completely different. As you can see from the pictures, he isn't perfect - his face is a bit squished, and the green flowery bit is not in the 'correct' place. In fact he doesn't look much like a bunny either, and nothing at all like my original sketch! But I love him any way.....although not too much as I have to give him away tomorrow. I might just have to make myself one later on!


He (well his head) does bear an uncanny resemblance to Julie Arkell dolls - although completely unintentional. I only noticed when I got buried under a pile of books whilst looking for a card that I've hidden somewhere and the cute Julie Arkell book landed at my feet!

when it rains it pours...

Well, actually it snows!.....but really everything seems to have gone wrong at the same time. I shall not go into details, but the past week has not been fun at all! Fingers crossed the rain will stop! I want sunshine and light please!


What with everything going on this week I've hardly got any of work done although I'd planned on doing loads. One thing that went wrong was my computer dying on me - I finally fixed it (it decided to behave after I threatened to throw it out of the window) but this somewhat hindered everything I usually do - I really wasn't aware how much I depend on my computer until it was gone! It's still not back to it's usual self, it's running very slowly, but for now it is OK. And since it has been fixed I've got none of 'my' work done because my parents B&B website needed an overhaul so I thought I'd get that done before my computer completely dies on me! It's pretty much finished now, although my mum now wants a fancy picture gallery too (I wish she'd have told me before I started as it'd have been much easier!) Anyway, if anybody fancies a break in Scotland visit the website ;)
I really do need to start getting myself organised! (do I say this every blog post??) It is finally decided that I will be moving to Edinburgh in a month!!! Argh! I'm moving in with my sister until I can get myself sorted out. In the mean time I'm applying for jobs there, so I will have something to start when I get there. It's pretty nerve racking. I haven't really had to do any moving on my own for a long time, apart from the move home...and then I was coming home, so it really doesn't count!

i need to wake up...

The past few days have been really great, and really awful all at the same time. My sister and her fiancé came to visit - I haven't seen them for nearly a year, so that was fabulous. It's a shame we don't see them very often.

On the bad side of things, we've had somebody staying here (my parents run a B&B) who I was not at all comfortable with. Neither was my mother - but we put up with it for the couple of very uncomfortable days he was here. Mainly because they are too nice to say anything and don't like to cause a scene. I've had very little sleep the past few days, I don't think they really realised how much it bothered me, but I obviously take after them, and not wanting to cause a scene have kept mostly quiet. The house is ours again for now, thankfully.

Anyway, with my sister here, and holidays, and snow, and my mums birthday (and lack of sleep) everything has got pushed to one side. Today is a day to organise, and sort myself out.

I return.....

Well, I'm back, and being the useless tourist that I am this is the only photo I have of my time spent in Edinburgh - exhibition and all!
The exhibition was at the GRV and went well, there was some really interesting work from artists and philosophers and was followed up by good conversation, good people and good coffee!
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to visit much else - I had planned a trip to the museum of childhood and a few galleries, but the set-up took a lot longer than anticipated, as it usually does.

I returned to a nice surprise - another Etsy frontpage, thanks to CuriosityKilledthecat full of gorgeous things from UK etsy people. From top left; Lupin, Abibasnal, Seaurchin Supples, Me, swank, hippyofdoom, siansburys, laurafallulah, greygoat, cutedesigns, illustratorjen and KMCdesigns.

Today I have been getting back into the swing of things, and got quite a bit done today after imposing a ban on unnecessary internetting! The ban will continue - as I quite like being productive!! This necklace was inspired by Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which I stole/borrowed from my sister this weekend. She recommended it after seeing my 'Button it' locket and it kept me company on the train ride back home. Go read it - it's good!


I just hope for better weather tomorrow, so I can take better pictures of my productivity and list them all! But not too good, otherwise I can't see what I'm doing in my studio until about 3pm when the sun moves! I really need to get a curtain in there!

close

New in the shop!

Quick post just to say I'm still alive!! I'm busy preparing for my trip to Edinburgh. I'm only going for 4 days, but it's taking a lot of preparation!

Big plans are afoot which I shall hopefully be able to divulge soon !

Etsy Front Page

So apparently I was on the front page of Etsy today - and missed it!! Pah! But yay anyway!

I am tired and liable to rant and ramble about silly things...

I've been fairly busy the last few days, although it's the kind of busy that seems to show no finished result. I was like this at uni - constanly busy, but people (well other students, the tutors were aware I was working) always commented on the lack of work I had done, or lack of work I had to show. I apologise for being able to look lazy whilst I work, I apologise for appearing to take day long coffee breaks and most importantly I apologise for not churning out shit. I've been thinking about college a lot recently. I suppose it's because I am waiting quite anxiously to hear about my MA (although it is not yet mine). I loved it, I loved the tutors, but the other students...maybe I shouldn't go there! If you've got nothing nice to say and all that.

Anyway....I have lots of ideas whirling around my head, things that don't quite make sense to me yet, but will hopefully transform to fully formed ideas after a little more thought and reading and scribbling and writing.

I'm off to Edinburgh next weekend, my work is going in an exhibition about which aims to ask the age old question - What is Art? run by the Philosophy Society. It should be interesting. I'm exhibiting The Family (book with mouse to give it it's common name!), although I am changing it a little before it gets shown. I've also been volunteered to advise on the hanging of the work, as this is the first exhibition they've put on and at the end of the day are philosophers, so are much better at thinking about things than actually doing them! I can just imagine them in a huge debate about which is the right screw to use or something!
So anyway, three days in the Capital, which means culture, people, excitement, activity! What shall I do....must find out what else is on, as my last visit was spent mostly hungover, well actually mostly drunk and the remainder hungover thus missing a great deal of things. This time shall be different. If I say it with enough conviction, it will become true!

I'm currently listening to Blue Mountain by Michael Hurley - such a beautiful song and such a beautiful, honest voice. Espers have also done a version, which is also good, but not quite as good as Mr. Hurley.

I am going to go and get myself lost in my journals again now. I love working, thinking, imagining when I'm tired - it brings a whole new perspective to things.

tagged!

I just realised I was tagged by chocolatecanary ( a month ago! whoops!)
So here we go....

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. 2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. 4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I collect dead things - mice, bees, flies - you really never know when they'll come in handy!
2. I'm a vegetarian (although my mother still serves me meat!)
3. I have a ridiculous amount of cardigans - mostly black.
4. I've been dyeing my hair since the age of 10 - but it's been mostly black since I was 14
5. There was a huge poster of me pond dipping (for insects and fish- I just realised that makes it sound a bit like skinny dipping!) at the age of 8 wearing a yellow and white striped rain coat in the entrance of Kingsbury Waterpark for at least 10 years - it may still be there!
6. I like most types of music - just don't try and make me listen to free form jazz
7. I have at least 30 colours of eye shadow but only wear one.

Hmmm....now who to tag?
abibansal
sneddonia
kmcdesigns
thecuriousrabbit
fuzzydragons
hippyofdoom
quintessentially

........

I got started on lots of new things today - I can't just do one thing at a time, it's impossible! Each thing I start gives me new ideas, so they either get noted down for the future, or get started pretty much straight away. I did manage to finish a couple of lockets, well one - and one is almost done, and another few are drying.
I finally got round to making some new screens - I'm planning to go back to a few altered books and re-work them. But they're also currently drying in a dark drawer.
Maybe I end up doing so much because so much of what I do involves waiting for things to dry, so while I wait I start something new! Ok, well that doesn't sound like loads, but I'm not about to write a list of what I did today - really this blog needn't get any less exciting!

I feel a little deflated this evening, I think it's because I'm on my own again tonight...I don't know 2 days with company and now I can't seem to function on my own!

I think I shall just disappear now and go and read - 'The Princess and the Goblin' which my mother has leant me.

more treasure...

The weekend has been fabulous, it's not quite over yet, but my friend is now headed back down the motorway, so it really is.
We went in search of an antiques fair/junk shop/car boot sale in Elgin - we really didn't know what to expect. It was a 2 hour drive, plus an hours walk around the town trying to find it (being slightly distracted by coffee and fabric shops). By the time we finally did find it - at around 12pm, everybody was packing away which was slightly disappointing as the advert I'd seen said the place was open until 4pm. But most of the stalls that were left open were fantastic - old china, silver, books, pictures, frames - really everything I've wanted the car boot sales I used to visit every Sunday morning to be! If only we'd got there sooner, we'd have had a much better chance to look. Right at the back of the place was a shop, which appeared to be the only permanent fixture, if it wasn't permanent - then I'd hate to be responsible for clearing it away!! It was absolutley packed full of stuff. I managed to find a few little treasures amongst it all - doilies, picture frames, a bag full of vintage sewing things. I really wish we could have had longer to look....

It's been quite a good weekend for acquiring treasure! As well as the market finds, my friend kindly brought up a lot of things I'd not been able to fit in the car when I moved - the other half of my knitting machine, sketchbooks, boxes of things I collected for my art - so not new things, but things I've not seen for a while. Plus on our return last night I'd got lots of parcels full of vintage jewellery findings, and other exciting things for me to make into wonderful things for the shop.