Christmas Mini Craft Fair

After the disappointment of last week's fair being cancelled (due to a power failure at Bungalows and Bears, some pesky workmen had been digging up the road - and the cables!) we are rescheduling the fair to take place this weekend instead.  So pop down to Bungalows and Bears and grab yourself some last minute Christmas bargains this Saturday. Click here for more details.

Fantastic Plastic

I am obsessed with shrink plastic at the moment and hve been experimenting with buttons and charms etc - I need to perfect it and try clear plastic and other colors too, but I'm really enjoying making these, especially the girl charms at the top. 

These are now on sale at my etsy shop

Pattern paper mache

I've gone a bit (experi) mental this week and started papier macheing old pattern paper to make it stiffer and made these oddball things! 

Mermag - my new favorite blog

I cant believe I only just found Mermag blog - its so inspiring, Merrilee is a real talented lady, a designer, illustrator and painter, who makes so many wonderful things and paints lovely pictures too! and she has made the most fantastic octopus costume for her son - you have to see it! Go check her blog and be inspired.

Competition time .....

This isn't one I'm running as I haven't got myself organised enough yet to start running competitions but if you fancy a bash at designing a Christmas card, wedding invitation, business cards or an invitation card you could be in with a chance of winning an i-pod touch and other goodies!! Woo Hoo!!  The competition is run by Optimalprint.  You have til 24 Nov to submit your entries - time to get your thinking caps on and get designing!! For submission and contest details visit: http://www.optimalprint.co.uk/en-GB/design-contest 

Halloween Spooktacular ....

Have lots of fun this Halloween. I made these last year, they are pretty rubbish but I like the shape of the ghosts - got to work on much better version for next year.

Home Sweet Home

Lovely images from Home Sweet Home- hundreds of great images to inspire you with links to where the images came from originally - loads of inspiration to get your mitts on!

Rosie James aka Stitchdraw

Rosie James aka Stitchdraw is the talented illustrator who 'drew' these images of her workspace/shed and commuters waiting for the train with her sewing machine.  You can also see her work on Etsy. (via Poppytalk)

Don Shank

Love this cover from Don Shank for the Yuki 7 character created by Kevin Dart which contains contributions from many artists.  Love the style!  He's got plenty of other fab paintings you can see on his blog too and he has recently opened his online store where you can purchase some of his prints, including the one above.

Mystery in the moonlight

I should have saved these 'til Halloween but couldn't wait to share ( and I will probably forget!) Found these lovely images via ffffound and Haute Macabre. They feature Claudia Schiffer and were shot for a Harpers Bazaar magazine shoot - I love this old style which I think has been recreated so well here.

Been busy....

... making bunting/mobiles using scraps of paper and lace etc, got carried away with with a few old wooly jumpers and a bit of old vintage clothkits fabric and made cushions and the blanket/throw - perfect for winter.(The cute little nelly I got from Kiss Prudence at one of our Craft Candy fairs). Also found this desk in a skip, me and my boyfriend went out under the cover of darkness to 'steal' it and then I sanded it down and then rubbed emulsion into it, to try and achieve the shabby beach feel (is that even a description??).

Workshops

Just some shots I took today for future workshops I hope to do - paper jewellery, more big brooch workshops and new shoe customisation workshops.

Blissful Blankets

I have become a bit obsessed with making blankets and quilts at the moment using old wooly jumpers and vintage fabric and I decided to look on the web for inspiration.  Here are a couple of quick faves.

Turkish Bath - Peshtemalis, a type of turkish bath towel, but I think it'd make a cute light blanket

Snitch Snotch - detailed quilts with stitched vintage doilies and images

Helmouse - a nellyphant made from vintage blankets

Parasol Mag

Alert: Cute new mag in town!! Parasol Mag. Go and get yer mitts on it!  Created by the talented lady behind the Print a Day Blog - Last year she diligently designed a lovely print a day for a whole year which she showcased on her blog - It was a totally more successful project than my new years resolution for 2009 which was to do the same, but I seem to end up doing lots in one go then no patterns for a month and by the time I get back to the computer I've forgotten how to use illustrator again, so most of mine have been relegated to the waste paper bin!

Swarm

I adore this furniture made using old tapestries and paintings.  The furniture is made using reclaimed items found in old antique stores and dutch markets.   Swarm, aka Leslie Oschmann, used to be the Visual Director for Anthropologie and you can see the great and unique design which is often seen in Anthropologie's amaaazing goods.  I found Swarm's work on a blog, and I'm sorry but I can't remember whose, where it was included in a short film which was part of a series of films by the current visual director(??) for Anthropologie who spends 6 months of the year travelling round the world in search of great finds for Anthropologie - they are interesting videos to watch, except I can't find the link for it anymore, which is fairly useless.  If anyone knows what I'm talking about(!!) and has a link, please do leave a comment and I can add it to the post.

Update: I found the link to the short films from Effortless Anthropologie, a great blog dedicated to all things flowy and Anthropologie, the series of films is called Man Shops Globe - I want this dude's job - it is, quite possibly, one of the best jobs in the world!!!!!  But as my parents say, 'I want never gets'!....Oh well...........