I was thrilled to find out this morning that I'd been included in this gorgeous treasury by illusio and that my beloved acorn necklace has sold.
As I've always been quite shy I've never been one for shouting from the rooftops for people to look at what I do, but recently I've been thinking that I should try and increase the views of my work. Just by chance and coincidentally I recently discovered project wonderful. Am I the last to know about it? It's an amazing way to increase exposure for your shop or website although it's a little bit addictive. You bid for advertising spaces on websites of your choice so you can experiment with who is the best audience. You can track the number of clicks and views for your placements. It's an exciting and interesting way to go about it and you don't have to spend a lot of money. It really does make it fun!
Have a lovely weekend x
Please forgive me for this blatant self advertising but I'd like everyone to know that there will be free shipping at bird ahoy etsy shop from now until Tuesday 1st December to anywhere in the world so if you've had your eye on anything now might be a good time to sort out those Christmas presents or treat yourself. I also love to do commissions so if something you like has sold or you have your own ideas please get in touch. Have a lovely weekend! Bye for now.
Not far from me is a beautiful forest. It has been waiting for me to rediscover it all this time. It is full of childhood memories, of sampling sweet chestnuts and kicking leaves.
How could I have forgotten how much I loved it here? Somewhere my imagination can run riot with an endless source of inspiration.
And now in it's magnificent Autumn clothes soon to be shed. I had forgotten just how comforting it could be to walk everyday submerged in nature, soaking in all the goodness.
I used to be under the impression that all the forest looked the same and I'm gladly mistaken. The different places, nooks and wide spaces, lakes and streams, hills and winding paths take me by surprise. 
With the ever changing light it appears different each time I wander, always trying to lose myself. It's getting increasing difficult as the paths start to fit together like a jigsaw in my mind. But I love it here, it feeds my soul. The gorgeous earthy smells make me happy, walking in the rain is surprisingly good. All thanks to my pup who is becoming a lovely companion.
I have started making earrings again thanks to a lovely customer who made a special request. After our wedding last year when I made all the female guests a pair of earrings as a favour in the final hour, I fell out of love with the process. I'm grateful for the little push, something else I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed. I've also been experimenting with leaves, inspired by the forest, pushing them into polymer clay to capture the texture. What I'd really like to try is PMC, I like the idea of recycled silver. Maybe I will treat myself to a pack and have a play.
Bye for now, have a lovely weekend.
Now it's past the event I can show you this pebble necklace I made for a friend's birthday. I thought she'd like a retro inspired design and this stem pattern was the result. I've decided to make another like this but next time remove the centre of the leaves for a simpler look.Have a lovely weekend... we're off to the beach!
Look what was swimming around in our pink trug which had a couple of inches of rain water in it! 
A cute little newt! I think it's a common newt but I've never seen one before so I'm not 100% sure. There's no pond in our garden so it was a nice surprise. It has now been moved to safety away from puppy eyes!
I've just had a lovely surprise... I was on the front page of etsy again!!!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here are all the lovely picks chosen by Fern of The Wellington Boot. Thanks Fern for including me!! You made my day!!
What do you think? Please excuse the wonky camera angle... the image is a proper rectangle in real life. Rather than the usual white I chose some gorgeous coloured paper with a slight texture to print my carved lino on this morning as a bit of an experiment. The different colours go beautifully with each other. I'm thinking it would be lovely to have a set of different carvings on toning papers as a series.
The ink is still drying on this one... I love this olive green paper. I used the back of a wooden spoon as a brayer. I do have a fancy baren but my spoon is so much better! I don't know why that is, maybe it's because it's how I learned to do it. Maybe one day I will have a proper press... something to dream about. Or should I say, never lose hope ;-)
This is what I've been up to over the last couple of days or so, planning and carving a new block print. I think it's almost finished. I had designed it in my journal/sketchbook, it's basically a notebook I bought which has all different blue and turquoise pages and I tend to use it for everything... list making, rubber stamp thinking, to do lists, ideas when they strike me, designs for cards, prints, brainstorming... etc. This time when I was re-drawing my design onto the lino I completely changed everything except the bird about 5 times until I was happy, remembering to put the text so it read backwards. What I do is carve to a point where I can't bear it and have to make a print to see how it's looking, then carve a bit more. This is waiting for a test print to see if it's finished after I carved the top section away. Hope so!
I read that it's important to get your puppy used to everything you like to do!We took her into town as well and can I just say that if you happen to be a single man looking for a partner then the best thing you could do is get a puppy! Every time I went into a shop I'd come back out to find Mr P surrounded by women!! Seriously, I've never met or talked to so many people since we got Floss, it's completely changed our lives! Not just that, but the world in general seems so different now we've got a dog. I look at everything in a different light. And going for walks is a real joy now we know we can let her off the lead and she won't just run away. She trots along merrily, stopping to sniff this and that and then runs to catch us up. Now we go for a walk every evening we realise what we were missing before when we just flopped down on the sofa. We never thought to go for a short walk. It was always about long walks at the weekend. Short walks just never entered into it. But we've found out it's so relaxing to go out before tea and discuss our days, get some fresh air and see Floss enjoying herself. It's fab!I know this blog has been all about Floss for the last few posts and I hope you're not getting bored of it. My life really is centred around her at the moment but hopefully I'll have some other things to post about soon! Bye for now!
So yesterday evening, a week after her final vaccination, Floss had her very first walk. It was a very exciting affair with so much to sniff and explore as we walked down the road to the park. Near the end Floss met an adult dog for the first time (other than her mother of course). It was enormous compared to her, a St Bernard I think! And she rolled over on her back and waved her legs around. I think I would have done the same!! :-) Do you think she's grown? Each morning she seems to have got longer! I'm sure she's turning into a sausage dog!In other news I've just discovered spotify. What a revelation! Love it! Currently listening to the first of a million kisses by fairground attraction. Have a good day. Bye for now!
How wonderful is this drawing?!!!! I am so excited to have won Leanne Wildermuth's weekly giveaway!!! I now have a beautiful reminder of how Floss looked the first week we brought her home. It's only been 7 days since the photo was taken and already she has grown. I will be able to look back on this time and remember it fondly! The likeness is spot on don't you think? If you've never seen Leanne's work before go and have a look at her amazing paintings of animals with their gorgeous intricate detail. I've been a fan for years now and I'm really chuffed to have had a pet captured by her!
Floss is doing great. We went to a puppy party last night at the vets which is supposed to give them a positive experience before they have to go and have anything unpleasant happen there. Floss had a lovely time playing although she did get pinned down by her ears at one point by a jack russell puppy. One of the disadvantages of having big ears I suppose!! :-DWell I'm off to give Floss her tea, so bye for now!
This little puppy is the new member of our family! Her name is Floss and she is an absolute joy (with a bit of mischief mixed in!). I can't take my eyes off her for a minute when she's awake she's into everything!! I couldn't believe it when she climbed into this flowerpot, she makes me laugh so much and she's clever too. Floss has already learned how to stay and come in only one day!! I'm so proud of her. I think we're starting to understand each other!Anyway, must go as nap time is almost over and I must take her outside. Bye for now!!
A lovely day was spent with my friend who has a narrowboat. It is a work in progress, a labour of love. It's dusty and smokey and full of spiders, nooks and crannies. Chugging down the canal I watched out for canalware art, little floating gardens and enticing names like Margarite and Midnight. Feeling myself being sucked into this other nomadic world of friendly words, folk art and music, nature playing out everywhere. Walking along the towpath we passed a beautiful boat, the owner smiled and halfway down the side was open, displaying her wares. I gasped when I saw it all, painted in traditional patterns, castles and roses and handmade rope fenders. A floating studio, what could be more romantic? They were on their way to the folk and boat festival in Middlewich to see what they could sell. I wish I'd asked to take a photo. With the boat moored up by the pub (in the last photo) we sat on one of the benches while we waited for lunch watching the sparrows and robins hunting for scraps around the beer garden. Good times!
I will be back soon with tales of the camping trip we took to celebrate our anniversary (with a lovely stay in a country house for the day itself) so until then... have a good week!
