A Few Of My Favourite Things...

When Spring is in the air it's time to tidy, clean and dust!

And as I was flicking my duster around I thought I'd photograph some of my favourite treasures while the sun was shining!

I think that this little lass must have come off a cuckoo clock but she seems quite happy perched on the edge of my shelf.

(Can't resist a pair of children's shoes!)

This dolls' house is very useful for my scrips and scraps.

(Apologies for the scary clown, I bought him years ago because I was going to use the pieces of beautiful vintage fabric that he's made of, but then he looked at me with those evil clown eyes.........)

This (1960's?) Swiss wall plaque was going to be thrown out by the lady working in the back of the charity shop but I saved him!

(It always worries me about what treasures are thrown away and not even put on the shop's shelves for folks like us.....)

My beloved Sylvac bunnies that I've collected since I was a child.

Some Christmas decorations should be left out all year!

A duck on a caravan, what's not to love!?!

I hope you've enjoyed my little snapshots, have a lovely Sunday chucks X

Shop Love!

I'm a huge fan of Boyes, a chain of shops across the north of England.

There's a real old fashioned charm about these stores, (they also have a brilliant haberdashery department and seem to sell everything, including hair rollers!)

They even have a Boyes museum in Bridlington and I was fascinated by the vintage packaging.

Ooo...look at the paper!

Don't you just wish that shops looked like this now!

 'Cheese!'

I always stock up on their notebooks when I visit, I'm sure they're from the 1960's don't you think!

(By the way, this isn't an advert or anything like that, I just wanted to share the photos with you all!)

X

Gelli-Plate Printing Workshop At The Steel Rooms:

I just thought I'd let you know about a gelli-plate printing workshop that I'm teaching at The Steel Rooms on May 18th.

(Hope you don't mind me mentioning it!)

I really love this method of mono-printing as it's so forgiving...

if you don't like something, you just print over it!

It's a really spontaneous and playful way of printing, and it can often spark new stories and characters...

just like this chap here.

 I photocopied him from an old photograph of a brass band.

I think he's rather handsome, and I imagined him breaking hearts across the the land as they travelled from band stand to bandstand during the summer season!

This printing method is also great for creating abstract compositions and experimenting with different colour palettes.

I'm really looking forward to chucking some paint around, and I promise to blog about our arty shenanigans too.

X

The Suffragette:

I really enjoyed stitching this piece as I really didn't have a clue what it would be about when I started.

I began by stitching a face without a drawing to refer to and it took me quite a while to work out who she was.

As soon as her eyes appeared I knew she was one determined woman!

It certainly isn't the most efficient way to work, but sometimes not having a plan can lead to quite unexpected results (and quite a lot of unpicking!)

I hope you like her.

Wishing you a very creative weekend.

X