Ugh

Sorry I haven't been posting much this week- got not one but two infections (throat and water) according to the doctor so I'm on antibiotics for 7 days. Feeling pretty rubbish to say the least. I have so much to write about but it will have to wait (things I bought in Rome; my new cushion & curtain; Bird ATCs; New card design; Easter). So come back soon and hopefully I'll be a lot better in a few days.

Roma!

Tiramisu, pizza, ciao, prego, piazzas, columns, ancient, Colosseum, Panthenon, Trevi fountain, fun, laughter, Spanish steps, ice cream, shopping!

Shop Update!

Yes I have at last added a new item to my Etsy shop ETA: the latest Springette is there too now!

This card is available now:



And this guy will be following soon (just need to make another one as my boyfriend stole this one send to his brother):Here is Springette No.8, available now in my shop (image is clickable):

Introducing: The Springettes!

Thanks to Rhi's great idea I've decided to name all my little wire/spring people the "Springettes". And I've been making and drawing more- I've started adding other elements to them such as tickets and buttons. I'd love to know what you think. Depending on feedback, they may start making an appearance in my neglected Etsy shop. I'd like to make some more colourful ones that may appeal to kids and there will be some pink ones in support of my Moonwalk (maybe wearing bras if I can come up with a simple way of making them!)







I'd love to know what you think!


P.S. Rhi- keep on eye on your post, there'll be something appearing soon as a thank you for the name :)

Puppy love...

Now to the question- are we having one? Ben's Mum thinks we will but we haven't made our mind up yet, they're pretty irresistible though!

Illustration Friday: Total

Here's my illustration for this weeks IF theme. Total love.

Walking and creating to fight Breast Cancer

As some of you may remember, last year I took part in the Playtex Moonwalk in aid of Breast Cancer. It's a 26.2 mile walk starting at midnight (hence moonwalk) where participants wear decorated bras and walk through the night to raise money for breast cancer charities.

Here's a picture of me and the girls I walked with last year...



We're aiming to complete it a little quicker this year as 9 hours was a very long time (we were stuck in a queue for at least an hour of that time). It happens on the 19th May so we've got quite a lot of training to do before then (walking 10 miles today).

Now on to the "creating" part of the title of this post. I was looking around Etsy the other day and came across this beautiful pendant by tvtrayart.
I bought one to wear when I do my walk as all proceeds from the sale of the pendant go to the fight against breast cancer. It's a personal cause for Susan- her Mother is currently fighting the disease and she has made pendants for all the girls in her family to show their support.



So if you can spare a few pounds/dollars please support the fight against breast cancer by buying a pendant or by sponsoring me. Thank you.

Mother's Day cards

Well it's nearly Mother's day in the UK (which reminds me, I need to post the birdie one off to my step-mum) so here are the other two cards I made:



butterfly made from fabric, ribbon and buttons- for my boyfriend's Mum.



flower made from fabric and a button- for my Mum.

Hopefully all my "Mums" will like them!

Birds, birds and more birds...

I've had a bit of a thing for birds this week. It started with this pen drawing in my lovely new moleskine sketch book.



The one on the right was from my imagination- oh dear! The one on the left was from a photo- a vast improvement.

I then used that sketch to make this one from fabric and vintage sheet music. It's a Mother's day card for my step-mum.



And then, based on my little Wire friend, I drew this:

Illustration Friday: Wired

I missed last weeks theme but I'm back again with this weeks theme of "Wired". This little guy was drawn in black pen and I imagine him to made entirely of coiled wire:



Now I need to think of a name for him- any ideas?

Lots of things to show today...

Well my laptop is still poorly but luckily with Ben still away I can pinch his desktop! So, on with the photos I promised yesterday. First up, my wonderful package from Rhi of lovelyheads. Her and Flo were running a competition that I was one of the winners of and my prize is beautiful:



This gorgeous bag was accompanied by a little felt pouch full of delicious jelly beans (which got eaten very quickly!).


A close up of the beautiful heart on my new bag :)
















Next up are two photos of my messy study/craft room. Beacuse I work in here as well as craft/paint, it's a complete tip! I need to tidy it up and organise all my supplies really. Maybe next weekend!





So I have been doing some creating in this chaos and made this patchwork purse based on the one in the Crafter's Companion (my new favourite craft book):



I'm going to give it to my Mum for Mother's day I think (next Sunday in the UK).

I bought a cork noticeboard last week and now have started my very own inspiration board after seeing lots on other peoples blogs:



The little felt pouch at the top is the one Rhi made me. Her parcel was wrapped up with the heart trim and orange flower with the "You are beautiful" card added as well! I was a very happy girl when I opened it all yesterday.

This has turned in to a huge post so I'm going to leave you now to enjoy the rest of your weekend. x

Lots to say and show

But very little time. Off out in a bit but coming soon:

• pictures of my new "inspiration board"
• pictures of my messy craft room
• a new sewing project
• gorgeous goodies from Rhi

Have a great Friday. x

P.S. my laptop has keeled over, luckily we have a desktop and the laptop is working in safe mode so I'm busy backing up all my files now to the desktop. Fingers crossed it'll be well again soon.

Lazy days...

I've been off work all day today, and I'm off all day tomorrow aaaaannnnd all day Monday! Woo, 5 day weekend. :)

So today I woke up earlier than usual (why does that happen when you don't need to get up?), read my book for a while, hoovered a bit (strange thing to do before eating), had some breakfast, caught up with some blog reading, had a hour-long bath with more reading (rudely interrupted by my boyfriend calling from his snowboarding holiday in France), did yet more cleaning, chatted to my friend, made a birthday card and wrapped a present (for a friend coming over tonight), took a walk to my local shop and back, had bacon sandwiches for lunch (and a creme egg), watched Neighbours, went to Tescos (bought birthday cake), made my bed, read Good Food magazine (domestic goddess), watched a bit more TV, wrote this post!

Tonight I have two friends coming over for Mexican (fajitas & tacos), followed by birthday cake- yum!

Tomorrow morning will start with a breakfast (ooh got some bacon left) with my friend who's staying over and then we'll be going for a training walk as we're doing the Moonwalk again this year (26 miles).

Busy busy.

Oh yesterday this top and the top and shorts in the second photo arrived from La Redoute... bring on Spring/Summer.

I'm in awe!

So I love the combination of fabric and paper as I've talked about before. But I have never seen such amazing collages as these before...


SNOW by Laura Breitman

Yes that really is fabric! See the detail shot:


See more of her work here.

I found this amazing artist via whipup.net

Oh and she runs workshops too, if only I could afford the plane trip!

Lots of links...

I use Bloglines to read the many blogs I'm subscribed too and often tick the box to save posts to read later. So here are a few of the interesting posts I've been saving to read again...

A tutorial by Anna-Marie Horner on how to make perfect fabric circles.

How to make your own envelopes by Kitschy-Koo.

A polymer clay button tutorial by Crafty daisies.

The most beautiful and inspiring studio I have ever seen.

Cute little terrarium by The Small Object Steno Pad I don't really know what a terrarium is but I like it! It reminds me of the bottle garden my Granddad used to have.

Tired today

So I don't have much energy but I have lots to do...



I have a feeling only about half of this will get done!

Make your own here.

Illustration Friday: Communication

I've been seeing lots of people's work on various blogs with their submissions for Illustration Friday so I thought I'd take a look.

Well the theme is "Communication" so I immediately thought of one of the Zetti ATCs I made called "Too much TV".