A Celebratory Shopping Spree

Most of the money I've earned from writing Super Cute Felting will be spent on sensible/boring things like paying rent and bills and taxes (I'm doing my accounts this week: ugh!) ... but I wanted to spend it on something special, too.

I always have a long wish list of prints from artists and illustrators I've discovered on Etsy or elsewhere online, so I decided to treat myself to some art:

A fox and a wren from KateFete.


Kate's work is so charming, if you're a bird fan you must check out her lovely brooches.

Seed and Sow from Swallowfield. Just gorgeous.


And three birdie prints from Geninne.
I bought some of Geninne's birds a few years ago, they're on display in our kitchen, I love them and they're always much admired by visitors.

As well as enjoying these prints for their own awesomeness I'll always connect them with that lovely happy "finished book" feeling. I can't wait for them to arrive!

Have you bought any art / discovered any artists on Etsy lately?

Pretty Pictures

Saturday was another "tax day" - it's going quite well, just slowly as I plod my way through my accounts and working out what I'm supposed to be doing! In a way I am sort of enjoying it - I like organising things and writing things up into tables and stuff like that (it's just a shame there are no bar charts involved, I like a nice bar chart). Just a bit more to go and I'll actually be ready to start filling in the forms, haha.

I escaped the accounts madness for a bit by popping into town to buy a few "bits" - some more parcel tape, some black felt, some prittstick and a few picture frames. Nothing too exciting but it did allow me to make a start on getting this lot framed and ready to go on the wall:
Please excuse the grainy photos... dark rainy days + trying to take pictures of glass (so you can't turn the indoor lights on) = very bad photos. The two groups of pictures are going up in my (slightly retro) kitchen, either side of this poster from Present&Correct. Two advertising posters from my grandparents' village Post Office, three pages from "The Good Housewife's Enyclopedia" (published in 1963), and six delightful bird prints from the lovely and super-talented Geninne (my birthday present to myself earlier this year). I am still umming and ahhing about which order to hang the birds in, but I can always change my mind once they're up, I guess!

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