illustrated ornaments

a little toadstool

I have been having a play around with making a few more scrap fabric ornaments for gifts. This time with more illustrations done with permanent ink on a plain linen blend fabric. I ironed (shock horror) the doodles to set the ink, though not fabric ink this time just several art pens I have kicking about the house, well not actually strewn about the place, that would be too messy they are tucked away safely in a little blue zippered pouch with Russian dolls machine embroidered on them by the very talented Anna from the Russian doll swap ages ago... though for some reason I can't find where I blogged the pictures.. hmmm blogger being evil again I assume.

a cup o' joe for M

Hopefully M isn't snooping on my blog, he doesn't visit very often anyway so I should be OK to blog this little coffee cup ornament that I made for him.. its only going to be a glorified tag on his present but still its nice to keep some secrets for Christmas.

a little pug for my mother

I posted the pug ornament off to my parents yesterday so I doubt it will make it to Idaho before Christmas but one can hope. all set for Christmas? er no not really but I'm trying to be.. though I think I'm getting a cold which is just what I need in the two weeks before Christmas.

an owl in a tree

This little owl in a tree is my favourite, its from a quick sketch I did while at a abysmal fair after I had exhausted my supply of beads to make more jewellery and it was better to draw something than to sit twiddling my thumbs. I best get going now I have brownies in the oven and they need checking then I have snowman cupcakes to make... I may blog the recipes later in the week!

one blue bottle

vintage blue bottle

From as far back as I can remember my parents have always taken me to yard sales, estate sales, garage sales, flea markets and thrift shops. It was always a new adventure, to look on with curious eyes at the things people once cherished and collected now marked with little price stickers and intent to bargain and haggle. I miss a good flea market or garage sale, the occasional car boot sale here just isn't the same. They overflow with electronics, burgers, and the plastic toy paraphernalia that plague any parents' life. Toys and more plastic toys but you never seem to find the really interesting things, like broken clocks, walking sticks, crusted up pocket knives, strange kitchen gadgets, bizarre woolen hats, and ancient tattered cook books.

I had a troll through the charity shops in town and found not a single thing I was willing to part with my money for, until I went for a browse around the big antiques shop across from the co-op. The majority of the shop was filled with clocks (sorry daddy none of them are broken and in need of fixing), ugly vases and furniture. The clocks I don't need, the vases were indeed hideous, and the furniture to heavy to carry home. There used to be a lovely battered green wooden chair that I fell in love with months ago, but it was missing today from its place outside the shop. I did find one blue bottle in a dusty corner and took it home with me. I didn't particularly need a vintage blue milk of magnesia bottle, but it is pretty and now its mine.

the real reason bees buzz

With the kitchen being done the last few days I have gotten little to no crafting done other than a few random doodles I have photographed in today's dismal light. Apologies for the bad photos. I did get a spot of good news today. Anita the lady who owns the Framing gallery I have some of my jewellery with has asked me to bring in more stock next week and paid me some commission on my jewellery that sold last month. Which is great seeing as I have been meaning to bring her some more jewellery for the past three weeks. Its nice to know someone wants my jewellery as I haven't had a sale on etsy for months and not a single enquiry through folksy, aside from bills of course.

I'm off to go store some more pots and pans away,joy, and see what I have to christen the kitchen with as a first meal. I have a bag of toll house chocolate chips that I have been hording for months but I'm not going to use them until the kitchen is decorated and completely finished. Then I will share some pictures, I promise.

Gilbert's Pumpkin

Kid Swap Goodies for H

goodies wrapped up in re-purposed paper patterns
A few days ago Mr. Postman arrived with a parcel filled to bursting with gorgeous goodies from Australia, from the lovely Cass. Please visit her blog because the pictures she has are far better than mine, as H ran off with half of the wonderful things she made before I could take a proper picture of them.

Skippy the Kangaroo

H adores Skippy and has put him up on the shelf in his room to keep him nice and safe. But the best items sent in H's opinion, and he is very opinionated, are the cape/apron, he has been running all over the garden and into town wearing it, and the football satchel, that I haven't photographed as H ran off with it to fill with treasure, and bits for "machine" making.

Super Cape/Apron

And lucky girl that I am Cass even included two little goodies for me, a little wrist bag that I am quite infatuated with, M thinks I've gone quite off the rails, reversing it inside and out again and again. The only problem is its small and I'm not sued to carrying anything less than a full arsenal of things in massive handbags. I will just have to learn! And a lovely little recycled craft notebook... I love, love, love notebooks, they make me happy, there is nothing better than a new untouched notebook to write in, or just hug. so thank you so very much Cass, and I promise your swap will be in the post later today. And thanks go to Chloe for organizing such a fantastic swap

wrist bag and notebook for me!

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red wooden bead necklace

And just to let you know what I have been doing these last few days since organizing the fairy tale swap. I have done an commissioned order for a red bead necklace, though I haven't been able to get a hold of the woman who ordered it, so I have left it at the framing gallery and asked them to deal with her as she was their customer. I'm quite please with how it turned out, and if the woman who ordered it doesn't want it then the shop said they would be happy to place it on display.

Most of my time has been spent with H, playing Super Mario on the DS, fighting evil baddies with jedi lightsabers, building complex machines, out of ribbon, garden hose, and broken toys. Tuesday was meant to be a great family day out to see the knights at Warwick but the weather was so awful we diverted to The Bull Ring in Birmingham for some Krispy Kreme donuts, cinnamon jelly belly jelly beans (for me), and Starbucks in the borders bookshop. That has got to be my favourite thing in the world, sitting in a book shop drinking a cup of coffee, the scent of espresso and books mingling together. heaven

I also brought home a few goodies from paperchase, some recycled cotton paper postcards to doodle on, some blank mini cards and envelops, and some blank mini notebooks to doodle on, as seen in the two images below. Little Owl on a notebook.