Hello again

Hi, firstly I must say sorry for not posting on my blog for quite some time, life and all that, you know how it goes.I want to say a big thank you to all you lovely people who have stuck with me and continued to drop by, I will try my best to post at least once a week from now on. As you probably know I have had to retire from teaching due to ill health but the up side of that is I am able to put more time into my own practice. I am also just about to open a shop on Folksy called 'Four foot and a house brick' it should be up and running by next week so please drop by and have a look. Here is a sneaky peak at some of the things I have been making.

Lovely little crochet pots with lots of different uses.

Hand cut lino prints with an embroidered surface.

Lastly pretty crochet pot stands to protect your table or

maybe hang on the wall.

Thanks for dropping by.

Here's a little bit of fun when your left with just one glove! I'm sure you can think of ways to produce different animals from the instructions. 

5. Turn a Glove into a Chipmunk

Thank you to www.blog.mad4flash.com

Enjoy your weekend and feed those creative juices.

Midweek meander.

Lets get in the mood for making stuff, here are some great ideas from www.designsponge.com . The instructions can be found by clicking on DIY on their site.

First a recycled basket, we all know the well known online book seller that fills their parcels with this lovely brown paper packaging, I save it all the time for bookmaking and collage.

Scandinavian felt craft bag.

Nest of felted bowls.

Lovely colours.

This is how they started out!

Lots more at www.designsponge.com

What can you make this week?

Bread and Jam.

Here's a lovely new Friday find, beautiful hand printed gifts from' Bread and Jam'. I just love this stuff it has so much more soul than mass produced items. Made from hand cut blocks each piece is individual with the variation that you get from a hand printed item, beautiful. These will definitely be on my wish list, what a delight to receive, the prices are good too what more could you want!

Take a look for yourself this new company are expanding their range all the time. www.wearebreadandjam.co.uk

Skinny Flower Writing Set.

Wooden Hand Printed Pencil Box.

Hand Printed Manila Notebooks.

These notebooks have good quality paper and priced at £7.50 for two who needs a more expensive brand!




And, to get  you in the mood for a creative weekend a lovely little film from the Russian artist, sculptor and animator Arseniy Lapin, what story would you weave around such a magical, mystical animation?




Enjoy yourself this weekend.

Fun things I'm loving this week, hope you enjoy them too.

 The concept behind this work makes me smile.
Source unknown.

'Feeding the Rooster'. Laura makes Pictures.

'Snow foxen' Abigail Brown.

Fun stuff, Julie Arkle.

Sock bunny. Source unknown.

Eye candy

With all this cold weather we have been getting and my life being in such a muddle I thought it would be nice to look at some wonderful stuff from the brilliant Dottie Angel, so pretty and so spring time inspirational.

www.dottieangel.blogspot.com

Just a little note from me, for those of you who live around the 'STUDIO 15' area I have a blog linked to the courses we are running with more information and images on whats available. Interested then take a peek www.studio15workshops.blogspot.com

Do what you love doing the most this weekend

failing that sit in the warm and contemplate stuff,

whatever you choose have a great one.

'Contemplation seems to be the only luxury that costs nothing'.

Dodie Smith.

Ready to seize another year.

(image Robert Peters)

Happy New Year to all you lovely people out there, all these things and more.

 I hope that you had a good time and are excited and refreshed at the thought of another creative year ahead, seize the moment as they say! One of my big loves is printmaking in all its forms and diversity and lino cut printmaking is easily accessible to everyone who fancies a try. The materials are cheap, you need very little specialist equipment and the results- well take a look and see for yourself.

I adore old hand printed book covers, the linear quality and the colours.

Image thanks to www.allthingsconsidered.co.uk

These lino cuts look so simple and in one sense they are, but they can be very time consuming take a look at the process in the video by printmaker Bill Fick.

Anatomy of a Linocut by Bill Fick from Jim Haverkamp on Vimeo.

And now for more colours, an easy introduction to reduction prints.

Printmaking Project from Janine Campbell on Vimeo.

Beautiful naturalistic prints from Angie Lewin, I was lucky enough to get her book and its well worth a look, beautiful.

REMEMBER
A CREATIVE LIFE IS A HAPPY LIFE.

Merry Christmas.

This week will be the last week that I will be blogging for a while, I'm taking a break until the New Year to enjoy the festivities with my family. These posts will be all about making your Christmas special by creating and decorating your home with love and care, I have tried to find some great DIY ideas that are more about inspiration than hard work so feast your eyes and your senses.

Beautiful diy patterned candle.

1. You will need a candle block, spoon, candle and napkins.

2. Cut the napkin in the shape you want.

3. Keep only the top layer of the napkin.

4.Place the napkin where you want it on the candle.

5. Heat up the spoon on one side.

6. Melt the napkin onto the candle using the other side of the spoon.

Natural and simple but oh so effective.

Christmas with a Norwegian twist, all these great ideas and many more from

 www.stylizimo.com