Hey...

...I got my new ring on

and suddenly everything is right!

(apologies to Paolo Nutini!)

 

:)

just for me...

I read somewhere in someone's blog over the past couple of days, that it's important to do something just for fun (rather than for work/to fill an order etc)...so I did!

Here's my very own Ditsy Bird Designs hand painted canvas tote ~

 

 

 

 

She's hanging up on a light switch in my kitchen at the moment, brightening the whole place up with a dash of much needed spangly colour on this grey, grey day!

In fact, I enjoyed my 'play time' so much that, I'm thinking of doing another for one of George's friends...It's her birthday party tomorrow night so I thought maybe a big, bright, butterfly bag filled with goodies might be in order!?! ♥

Have you treated yourself lately to some self crafting, painting, sewing, baking?? If so, do share!!! :)

29/01/09 update

these are the pics of the birthday bag I made...

 

  

Thankfully, the little girl in question was pleased with her monogram tagged Dotty Bird bag :)

Bribery? Heck yeah!!!

So, George isn't too keen on doing his homework this week...choosing his fave character from a fairy tale, drawing them and writing a bit about why he chose them, words that describe them and what he'd change to make them better. And...if he feels up to it (don't give him the choice!!!) maybe writing a new fairy tale with the new improved version of the character in it.

Now I was looking forward to doing this! George LOVES drawing so point 1 was easy peasy. George usually loves making up and telling stories, so I thought the rest was a done deal. But not on Saturday, or yesterday.

And I do hate it when he gets in a total funk and starts crying coz, well, then I've lost haven't I?!?!? If I force him to do it, it'll be run-of-the-mill, no-extra-effort, zero-personality work. It will totally lose any potential magic and even the colouring in will be naff! In essence, he'll let himself down.

SO...bribery!

I finally got him to draw something...

Pretty cool I thought, and then I had an idea. So, we scanned in George's drawing and then printed the characters out separately on transfer paper. I then set to making hand puppets on the STRICT proviso that, tonight, he does the writey bit with NO fuss!

[artist's note: this piggy has a scared face 'cause his house is made of sticks!]

We shall see, but in the meantime, here's George doing his impromptu mid-breakfast puppet show...

"Little pig, little pig, please let me in"

[scared faced pig!]

This pig made his house out of sticks

[scared faced pig!]

"Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin! I will not let you in!"

[happy faced pig...bricks you see!]

A puppet show is a great way to start the week...I can highly recommend it [though you may end up running to school as we did :) ].

Happy Monday!!

=]

PS don't use old transfer paper...takes ages to iron on and then you end up gluing down the edges of the image! D'oh!

masks...masks...masks...yay...yay...yay...

 

Big Ted reclining mid-shoot

Yay! I am finally on with listing the face masks I have been working so hard on...on Etsy for the moment but I'm hoping to get some onto my other shops too. I feel like I've neglected them a smidge :(

Anyhoo, back to the "yay!"

These were the first batch that I started in October last year...and I was soooo chuffed with them! After a few trying on sessions with George, the odd tweak or two have been implemented (eye hole placements and my aliens now have dangly tongues, at George's suggestion).

 

Bleuhhhh!!!! Cool huh?!

So far, I've managed to sort the photos and listing blurb for Owl and Red Alien but there are more to come!!!

 Robot

 

Green alien

Now, you may have noticed the presence of a modelling bear..? Let me explain...

When the first batch of mask pals was complete, George was properly excited (I mean properly, 'boinging up and down on his knees' giddy) and declared that, were I to need pics of them for my shops, he would model for me! "I'd even wear the butterfly" he declared, head bowed...if that's not love and support, then I'm jiggered if I know what is!

Whilst his offer of help was heart burstingly fablious, I had a think about it and came to the conclusion that, the novelty of helping Mum out would soon wear off.

[Enter Stage Right: Big Ted] and that is how I have a modelling bear. Though he has his problems with pink and spangly too, as you will see as my listings continue!!! ;) He is quite vocal and fancies himself as a bit of a comedian.

 

Pink elephant

 Flutterby

So there you have it...my news for this Friday!
Hope yours is going well and you're all ready for the weekend.
Have a good one!
:)

Doormat delights...

How lovely it was to come home from work yesterday, to a package on the doormat...for little old me!

OK, fair enough, I had purchased it so the surprise wasn't that huge...but you never know just when parcels will decide to drop in so, it's still exciting to receive one, and regardless of whom the buyer may be :)

Anyhoo, said package was from the lovely Lucie at Summersville...the clever designer and screen printer of delicious fabrics.

I treated myself to Scandi in London bus red and Sweetheart in Plum...with no real plan in mind of what to do with them, just the desire to have them in my stash, "just in case".

[♥If anyone does decide to join in with me on the Pay it Forward currently running, I'm thinking, something rather special could be made with one or both of these. How could it not be?!♥]

Now, I thought I loved the London bus red when I saw it in Lucie's shop, but I LOVE the plum...plum and oatmeal! Looks great on fabric and sounds like a yummy fruit crumble pud too!!! All hot and sticky and maybe with a big dollop of custard! Yum!

Lucie also has an equally delicious looking blog with pics of her work and little updates on life in Summersville...grab a cuppa and pop on over for a nosey.

The fabric pieces haven't made it upstairs just yet...they're way too pretty to hide away in a drawer! Instead, they are laid out on my table, cheering me up with their joyful patterns and gorgeous tones as I pass by living my Friday life.

Right, on with some proper work now...

Pay it Forward

All aboard the Pay it Forward train...I've joined in with Kellie over at 74LimeLane!

and here's how it works...

I will make something for the first 3 people who comment on this post...

I have a whole 365 days in which to achieve this...

What I make and when it arrives is a total surprise (of the best sort...I lurve happy surprises)

What you have to do if you decide to join on, is...

You must also Pay It Forward! Naturally.

Write a post on your blog about it, do the same for your first 3 comments and keep the fun rolling on!!!

I can't think of anything nicer than the postman knocking at my door unexpectedly, parcel in hand and a whole load of Pay it Forward love(liness) inside. Ahhh. I'm already excited!

So, come on and join in - you've got a WHOLE year to do it in...not exactly a challenging deadline (though it would be interesting to find out how many packages end up being Christmas related from this PiF choo choo ;)

Comment below to join in the fun...All aboard...

Candy colour adornment...

New heart pin listed today on my Etsy Shoppe...I made one for myself and then made three more!

This is the square buttoned one...I do love it even though I say so myself. Maybe that's a little wrong but hey.

Feedback is always welcome...helps to keep me on track!
TTFN
Sarah
:)

I.AM.A.ROBOT. II

Oops forgot...blurb then pic, not t'other way round!
>
> Been working on my face mask designs this afternoon and thought I'd
> try one on for size (even tho they are meant for kiddy winkles).
> This is Robot in red with a teal nose and yellow and green mouth.
> Beep...bleep...bideep
> :•]
>
> Sent from my iPhone

I.AM.A.ROBOT.

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

Late night rumbly tumblies UPDATE...

My advice to you is this - never underestimate the power of the humble
boiled egg. :)

Late night rumbly tumblies...

I've got the nearly-bedtime-munchies! All this thinking and planning
and organising ideas for the year ahead, can make a girl peckish. In
an attempt to stay away from the 'baddies ' drawer (previously known
as the 'goodies' drawer), I'm having a boiled egg!
I'll let you know if it works or whether the call of the 'baddies' is
too strong!!!

Alien heads!!!

Ahhh, that's better...a lovely little painting session done and two
new Alien Head canvases completed.

New year's Resolution Complete...check

Well it looks to me like the "get cyber savvy, link your blog and Facebook pages, get going on Twitter and get blogging" Resolution gets a big fat tick from me!!! And we're only 12 days in to the year. Get me! Sooo imppressed.
Oooo, does this mean that my "stop procrastinating and just ruddy do it" Resolution is on it's way to be ticked too? How exciting.
Blimey it's quarter to one and I've STILL not made it into my studio to 'create' (this year in fact :-O ). Plenty of tidying and cleaning has been done (lots of lovely project sheets up and written on, plus marketing trackers and inspiration sections) but nack all creating. Hey ho, at least I've got the admin side of things fettled and now I can create at will.
I'm off now to make that steaming cup of builders tea and head on up there for a couple of hours before I go collect Gorgeous George from school.
TTFN and happy Tuesday to you all
x

By George I think she's done it...

wahoo it works :)

Blog to Facebook

wow - got distracted way beyond books and painting - been trying to set up my blog so that it feeds in to my Facebook page...fingers crossed!
PS I know it seems like I'm slacking but actually this is on my 2010 Resolutions list!
x

Paint or Read???

oo oo oo first entry to studio this year delayed due to Amazon delivery of lovely books...Softies by Therese Laskey and Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo...paint/read paint/read??? Tricky decision...may need a cuppa tea to help me make it :)