Flowers, Birds and a Small Miracle (365 / 261 & 262)

I fixed my camera! Hurrah!

I was just about to look up new cameras when I thought to google my camera model and the fault and lo! apparently the "lens error" message I was getting is basically the last words of the type of camera I have (a Nikon Coolpix) and short of taking the whole camera apart (or getting Nikon to do so) the only solution is apparently to bash the camera and hope for the best. I crossed my fingers, gave the lens a good whack and it turned on immediately and seems to be good as new. "Give it a good kick, that'll fix it" is not the most sophisticated advice but it did seem to work... I shall start checking out digital cameras just in case I have to make an emergency purchase but it's nice to have the camera panic over for the moment. God bless the internet.

So, here's what I've been working on for the past couple of days:
Lots more hairbands, and some poppies to use for making bracelets. Lots of nice relaxing beading, and making larger and more dramatc hairbands proved lots of fun. The new poppy ones are made with my "large" size poppies (3 inches / 7.5cm across) and the cherry blossoms are double the size of my cherry blossom brooches (the one with the leaves is about 4 inches / 10cm across). My mother suggested they'd make a great alternative to a hat or a fascinator for summer weddings or a day at the races. My cherry blossom design is one of my most-worn favourites so I definitely want to make myself one of these to keep for just such an occasion...
I also found an almost-finished butterfly in my wip box - previously intended for a brooch or an ornament I thought it would make for a dramatic hairband, so I gave it a try:
In other news: the incredibly talented Geninne has put limited edition prints of her amazing 20 birds series up in her Etsy shop. I'm so glad it's my birthday soon so I get to treat myself! I couldn't afford all 20, but I ordered my favourites (yay) and a girl can dream... right?

UPDATE: My dahlia and poppy designs are now available as a sewing pattern... and the cherry blossoms are coming soon! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns