Knickers!

I'm right in the middle of parcelling up a few packs of undies, and sending them off to a charity called Smalls for All, and thought I'd share the link with you in case you wanted to help out.

You can read all about this wonderful charity here.

Could you donate some knickers or pants?

Until next time
♡

A Peeking Pixie & a confession about inspiration

Hullo friends!

My head is all hurty from trying to install a widget on my website...I tried and tried then tried some more but I still couldn't get it to work [I suspect I'm being a bit dim] - thankfully, Martin (tech support) is on it, I hope!

Sooo whilst he does his thing, I'll tell you about my pixie pal.

When did I first spy him? Let me look [flicks through sketch book] ahh yes...I first spotted the wee fella on the 22nd of April of last year (yup, 2011). I finished doing what I was doing and rushed off to jot him down along with some ideas and then forgot about him for a few weeks.

He must have been whispering to me because, on the 9th May, I had another sketching session of another couple of ideas. And that was it. He whispered every once in a while just as a gentle 'don't forget about me' reminder, but I could never find the right way to create him...you now, I couldn't fix on the appropriate medium (is that correct?)

Then yesterday, after having a couple of attempts at lino cutting, the night before [well technically it was Soft Cut cutting but what they hey] I decided to have bash at turning my wee pixie pal into a stamp.

He was ever so fiddly for a novice like me and I was quite concerned that I would fail to capture his little expression - shy but hopeful, and so very inquisitive - but I did! I confess to having done a number of little happy dances accompanied by excited giggles. I think George worried his old mum had finally lost her marbles [ that happened eons ago but let him have his illusions ;)] and happily set about printing some little Moleskine journals had been waiting for just such an occasion.

So he's free, my little Peeking Pixie has been let loose in the world and I think he's going to have a blast.

Okay, the confession about inspiration time....this is where I first saw him, well actually just the top of his hat [he was too shy to peek properly at this point].

Can you see it?

This is the view from where I was *ahem* sitting [yup, I was 'paying a call' as the polite folk say...hey inspiration crops up when you least expect it!]

After I'd showed George my stamp yesterday evening, he then excitedly took me on a tour of all his Door Pals...you know the little creatures and people who hide in the knots and grain of your wooden doors? No? Go and have a look now [when you've finished reading], I bet they're dying for you to finally find them! We have some shared ones and we each introduced one another to new Door Pals. Ahh, he is his mother's son, poor kid ;)

Top left: this is a strangled goose to me but to George it' a ghost

Top right: we both have this one - a big beaked bird with a raised eyebrow

Bottom left: a little critter with a brown muzzle and a crazy-dude fur fringe

Bottom right: this one is George's own and his favourite...two peachy bum cheeks ;)

Do you see creatures and friends in strange places? Do share...

Sarah
x

Lambs and daffs

Evening!


I've had a bit of a break from Ditsy Bird for the past couple of months...it was a conscious decision due to problems I'd been having with my right arm. It seemed sensible to cut right back on the sewing, cutting, drawing and painting until it was better, as doing any of the aforementioned delights definitely made it worse. *sad face*
Whilst I was on my sabbatical I had a good long think about the future of Ditsy Bird Designs.
It was becoming startlingly clear that I couldn't, and would never be able to, run the business as a full time affair - simply because, the act of creating large numbers of designs for bulk/wholesale orders would cause me all sorts of RSI related issues. *sob*

This is when I did all sorts of unexpected soul-searching whilst morphing into a domestic goddess to take my mind of the lack of creating in my life. Initially, I considered packing it in altogether...but that was rash & foolish! How could I not 'make' - it's what I do, who I am! I mean...I'd go spare if I had no creative outlet at all...and what of all the 'poof' ideas that pop into my noggin from time to time...what would happen to them? Who would give them life?
Nope. That would not do. Not at all.
So...another long think later plus the interjection of the idea-at-the-back-of-my-mind-that-wants-to-be-heard and I finally came to a decision.
I would continue Ditsy Bird Designs for my pleasure, for a bit of money and in order to help. "Help?", I hear you ask. "How so?". By donating 20% of all my takings to charity is how.

In December 2010, my lovely mum got some truly shitty news. She was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, a terminal form of cancer in the internal chest wall (for Mum...it can appear elsewhere), usually caused by exposure to asbestos. See...shitty! There then followed tests, a couple of operations to slow down the bugger's growth and a course of chemotherapy. All of this knocked the stuffing out of my lovely mum for a good few months. But by the end of the year, things were looking up. A cruise with her sisters starting the happy times off perfectly! Then she regained her strength, started to put weight back on and had pink cheeks for the first time in nearly 18 months...yay! Since then, Mum has continued to improve and as of today is looking & feeling tickityboo, with each consultation with the oncologists concluding with 'stable no growth'. Fantastic. *delighted sob* The latest appointment, two weeks ago had Mum coming away with an appointment not for 2 or 3 months later but 6 months. Hoo-bloody-rah-yay!!! *happy dance*

It's been a really tough sixteen months for all concerned (and wow,how far those ripples spread!) but weirdly it's also been a wonderful one. We've been reminded of just how supremely amazing our large and bonkers family is, and just how many fantastic friends we have. But it isn't over and it won't go away. And this is the thing with Mesothelioma...there simply is no cure. It's for that reason amongst many others that I've decided to try and raise money for the Mesothelioma UK Charitable Trust - to raise awareness (we'd never heard of it until the diagnosis!), to support the amazing work they do and to give something back for the fabulous care Mum has had, and will need in the future.
I couldn't find a super-fabby way of doing it so...I will be totting up any takings at the end of each month and, if there are any, I will be paying 20% of it into my Just Giving account.


Ditsy Bird is very much still up and running but with a different agenda and at a different pace.
Thankfully, me being me and stockpiling products as I do, I have lots of stock ready made to add to my shop - I will be slowly working my way through brooches, hair clip, gift tags, cards, masks, necklaces, rings, embroidered hoops, paintings and whatever else I can find...adding them as I go.

Why the lambs and daffs then? Well, that's because I love Spring (even if it is so terrifically wet) and wanted to share the love with a discount on my wares! If you enter the code LAMBSANDDAFFS at checkout on the website or in my Etsy shop, you will get 20% off your order. 


Well I'd best get back to the listing before the call of the sofa and Fringe gets too strong! Have a lovely weekend.


Thanks for popping by...cheerio for now!
x


UPDATE: I forgot to say that I when to see the doctor today (finally) about my arm, she told me that I have tennis elbow. Hmph. Could be worse tho ;)

Inspired by a child...

My son, George, was watching the telly a while back, when he suddenly stopped playing, turned to the TV and declared "I care!".

An advert about a child having to do things an adult would normally be responsible for, and having no childhood to speak of, was being documented with the catch phrase "who cares if...".

Well the advert worked and George was sucked in and has since been desperate to help...and not just children! He would like to donate to the Dog's Trust, sponsor a child and adopt a tiger, to name but a few of his 'giving' wishes.

George then started coming up with ideas of how he could help...drawing pictures to sell like Mummy, giving up his pocket money and so on.

When George's step mum was pregnant, he drew two bears...Cuddle Me! teddy and Hug Me! bear - I took the deisgns, traced them onto canvases and painted them...Cuddle Me! in pinks and Hug Me! in blues.That way, whichever 'flavour' the baby turned out to be, it's big brother could give it a painting designed by him :).

On the most recent occasion of a charity conversation with George, we came up with a plan:

1) I would list both Cuddle Me! and Hug Me! on my webshops on Etsy, Coriandr and Folksy, and would donate the profits of any sale of these two designs to the NSPCC.

2) for Christmas 2010, George would design a Christmas card and then we'd make a chunk of them and they too would get listed to sell.

Well, it's a little too early to be thinking about Christmas 2010 (!) so we've tackled the first idea...and here they are - both bears are now for sale in my little web shops

Thanks for reading and here's to George and his plans!

x