I won I won!

That's right! I won this gorgeous necklace made by Emily of the Etsy shop 'NestingEmily' in a recent giveaway.. The pendant is made of porcelain and has a blue glass inlay, I love the long chain that it comes on..I have worn it every day since it arrived, it came all the way from Canada..I love that about Etsy and crafting...I own things that were created by people who live far far away..Things that were created with love, time and care. Much better than owning something made in a factory don't you think?

Thank you Emily for my necklace :-)

To see more of Emilys work visit her Etsy shop.

What are you all up to this weekend? My sister is coming to visit from Devon, she has not been to my house or met the Arthur cat yet so it's all very exciting! I have the wine and chocolate at the ready for a girls night in. :-)



Happy Saturday people! **

PS:don't forget there is only a few days left to get 20% off in my Etsy shop! Using the code SILLYMOO.

Look what I found

Pssst.. Look what I found! Cute isn't it? It was chucked out on the street. Good news for me. I think I have finally have somewhere to put all the things that sit on the floor beside my bed..You know, my diary, a stack of unread books, letters, lip balm & random pens and hairbands.... Those things that just seem to end up there..

The plan is to clean it up, paint it (maybe a coral colour)? and then distress it a bit..Maybe..Or I might just change my mind completely and leave it as it is...After cleaning it up of course.

I love the different sized drawers.

And it's little rounded feet.

Happy evening folks :-) ***

Melanie Deegan /Sophie Ryder & Nicola Hicks

I'm not long home from work, spent this afternoon cleaning and organising the pottery, still so much to do... I thought i'd draw for an hour or so this evening, so I was trying to draw a profile of a girl and as usual I was getting infuriated by it. So I took a break and came across some images by the artist Melanie Deegan online. Melanie Deegan makes wire sculptures that she builds up with other materials to create this interesting effect. To me they look quite dark, a bit nightmare-ish, and sinister. Whilst also being quite amazing to look at.

Her work reminds me very much of the work of Nicola Hicks and Sophie Ryder, two of my all time favorite sculptors.

 
Crawling Lady Hare by Sophie Ryder Via here

Greyhound Sculpture by Nicola Hicks Via here 

I hope you like...Now getting back to that drawing.. I really think I need to go to life drawing classes again you know... Sometimes I get a strong feeling within my art that I need to go in a certain direction. At the moment I'm craving a more traditional, realistic drawing style. Does anyone else get that too? Also I've wanted to start a big painting for a while now.... I'll have to add that to my creative project list! The never ending creative project list...... ;-) Have a good evening all **

Oh how I love tiny bunting!

I also love big bunting, fabric bunting, lace bunting, paper bunting, animal shaped bunting...You get the picture.. ;-)

My mum and step dad came to visit for the weekend, and whilst the men were watching 127 hours (The one where the chap falls down the rock, and has to saw off his own arm with a blunt pen knife...Not for the squeamish, but an amazing story all the same)! My mum and I made tiny paper bunting! We made some using blue twine and old maps of devon for my kitchen windows. Then we made some using left over scraps of wrapping paper for my living room. So simple yet I love them! 

Its added a bit of color and fun to the house. I really can't wait to get all the floors/walls done, and the log burner put in the living room. I've been putting off adding any sort of nice bits and bobs until then, as I know it'll all have to be moved...

I also got this crochet blanket from a vintage shop in the Clifton Mall in Bristol yesterday, it's so nice and colourful. Sweet don't you think?

I've had a nice weekend  & I hope you are all having lovely weekends too******

PS: Don't forget there is 20% off in my Etsy shop until the end of August with the coupon code SILLYMOO.

Pink poppies remind me of frilly knickers

Its true, they do! ;-)

I drew some today and here is the outcome, I can't decide on the background colour. I at first went with this blue but then my other half suggested this yellow. I think they both work.

What do you think?

This will be one of the new prints in my Etsy shop come September. I'm really enjoying drawing flowers at the moment, I had a craft night last night with a friend who does embroidery. I was working on my crochet. I can now do two different types of crochet stitch. I'll be crocheting swans and horses before you know it (haha)! maybe a bit adventurous! However I am working on getting a decent patchwork blanket done by winter.

I am very excited about trying out embroidery at some point in the future. I'd like to embroider some different images onto hoops to put on my living room wall...It always looks good right?

I hope all is well with you guys? I'm just trying get my head round lesson ideas for my new job starting this term. Did I tell you? I 'm going to be a  part time pottery teacher in the mornings then an LSA (teaching assistant) for the rest of the time. Its all very exciting but requires some organizing on my part.

Apart from that I am still very s..l...o...w..l...y painting the house..Upstairs hallway today!  Enjoy your evening/morning/day, take care & do something fun :-)


** me

Caravans and flowers

Howdy, hows things?
I had an amazing crafty day yesterday with my friend lili, we made apple & 3 berry pie complete with pastry top with pastry decorations (stars,planets,aliens..we got a bit carried away)! We also got stuck into some clay work and I made a vase in the shape of a shark! Silly, crafty fun! I forgot to take my camera but lili took photos so I'll try to remember to post! Today I have been working on my weaving, (yes that's still going on...I keep making mistakes then taking it apart)... :-/ 
I'm also knitting and crocheting squares for a patchwork blanket + trying to do some drawing too! I've just finished this drawing of a caravan that I thought I'd share.I'd love to have a caravan. Oh so cosy!

There's not much else to say folks, except I hope your enjoying your weekends. I've just been introduced to the band 'this is the kit' and i'm quite obsessed! I've been playing this song on a loop...

Cheerio :-)

Peacocks and clouds

Something that I've been working on, I know your shocked..Its not anything sewing related! It is a bird, not the usual sort of bird that I like to draw but still, a bird.

I hope all is well out there? Its gloriously sunny then all of a sudden very cold and gray here, it's as if someone keeps turning the lights on and off! I 'm going to see some good friends that I haven't seen for 6 months or so this evening, very exciting! Plus I get to stay on a farm, doubly exciting!

I can't wait to restock my Etsy shop, but for now don't forget that there is 20% off in my Etsy shop until the end of August with the code SILLYMOO.

Have a wonderful sunny day everyone ***

ps: Sorry for the poor photo quality I don't know whats up with me lately.Maybe I need to wear my glasses more..Or just not rush around so much! :-/

Time to 'fess up' (& 20% off at my Etsy shop with code)

Hi all, how you doing?

I feel its time for me to 'fess up' so to speak! I have been thinking of writing this post for a week or so now but as it happens something else has happened today that I need to tell you about too..So its a double 'fess up!

Well I have been wanting to explain my lack of art work here on my blog. I'm sure you have noticed that any sign of me actually making work has sort of trailed off lately...This has been replaced with me just posting about things I like, which is all good sometimes as I do love writing about other artists now and again, just not ALL the time.

The thing is that I just have not wanted to do any artwork for a few months now, I think it's because I've been really busy (tired, stressed) and I have just felt unable to do anything. I know everyone gets this now and again so I'm not going to dwell too much on it I just wanted to acknowledge that this has been going on.

I also have been avoiding my studio using every excuse under the sun not to go in there and work.

* I don't have the internet out there (do I need the internet to make work?no).
*there's no music out there (I can take the radio out with me)
*I need shelving/more storage (translates as its a complete mess and I can't face tidying)!
*It's annoying going from the studio to the house each time I forget something......blah blah blah..

These are all terrible excuses and I know it. If you'd of asked me before we moved into this house I would of said it was my dream to have a proper art space..Now I do have one and I make terrible excuses not to use it. :-/

Well all of my art materials and the space were in a complete mess. Really, such a mess and this was one of the main reasons I didn't like being out there. So today I got up and spent 5 hours tidying it up..I'm so happy that I did! I went through bags of tangled wool, spools of thread, found lots of things i'd thought I had lost, put things neatly in big clear containers, labeled things, hoovered everything and wiped everything down...I even got rid of the many spiders that had made my studio their home (sorry spiders)!

Then after all this I sat down with some paper and did my first drawing in too long. It feels like I'm on the up with my art again. Yay!

There it is, my once messy studio (and Ben gardening)!... But look now..

 

 I know I have far too many books...I'm a book girl you see, not a bag or shoe girl. My book buying has calmed down considerably over the past few years thankfully! Above is a close up of my pin board. If you've ever done a swap with me or I've bought something from you and you've included a note you may find it on here. Its really inspirational seeing the notes and cards from other bloggers and online sellers up there.

Etsy shop update

Okay so the other thing I wanted to tell you was that I was contacted by a potential customer earlier on today asking about my shipping costs. She was a bit confused by them. So was I when I looked into it!!! It seems I had misunderstood the 'combined shipping' set up and so my shipping for anything over 1 item has been ridiculously high. All corrected now though, and i'm so thankful that my mistake was pointed out!!

To celebrate all the things mentioned in this post getting sorted out, I have decided to offer 20% off anything in my Etsy shop (redeemable at checkout) for the rest of august. All you need to do is enter SILLYMOO in the coupon code box!
 

To visit my Etsy shop click here

What a day!  :-)

Lets play dress up

I came across these photographs today via this board on Pinterest. They are from the Wovenplay online catalog. Wovenplay make the most beautiful children's clothing using handcrafted textiles & local, natural materials. You can view their website here.

The photography is by Alexandrena Parker

So beautiful!