Presenting the new Finch Five Website and blog!

I have finally made the Finch Five website live!!! This is a major achievement for me as it was such a steep learning curve. I had never used Wordpress or the Headway theme before, not to mention messing about with bits of code! It was a lot of fun to do from designing my new logo to creating all the graphics to making my portfolio and finally putting the site together. The site will continue to grow as I add to my portfolio too.

I have a new blog on the website where I intend to write regularly about the things I have previously written about here with patterns and illustrations thrown in to the mix. I hope to do features with my favourite designers and illustrators too and show where my inspiration comes from.
Please do come over and have a look around and don’t forget to bookmark my new Finch Five blog!
I won’t be posting here at bird ahoy anymore. Thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to read my posts here and an extra special thanks to those who have left comments. Please join me on my onward journey!

cream or jam first?

I had a cream tea yesterday in Chagford to celebrate one of my patterns being featured in the new MOYO, a magazine about surface pattern design. We had our usual discussion about whether the cream or jam should go on first. Whichever it tastes just as good!

Sprigmug  © Lesley Todd 2012

Lots of fab work from my fellow students is also on show in the magazine so if you’re interested in joining the new round of the Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design (ABSPD) courses that are about to begin why not take a look… Congrats to everyone who got featured!

A screenshot of the magazine… my pattern is 2nd row, 2nd down.

“MOYO, the world’s first online magazine dedicated to surface pattern design! Packed with interviews, design briefs, colour challenges, art reviews, student showcases, design tips, inspiration, trends and more.”

I had a lovely few hours exploring Chagford which is on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. It’s a fabulous place, full of quirky shops, galleries, teashops and pubs. People are very friendly here and there is a great arty vibe. It is unusual for a small place to have so many independently owned shops selling everything you could think of or need. It would be an amazing place to live surrounded by lush countryside, maybe one day…

We found this Swedish mid century tray by Konga Princesse in one of the shops and decided to take it home.

We also visited Stone Lane Gardens where there are sculptures to be found hiding in the trees. I fell in love with the work of Tati Dennehy, nature had added it’s own flourish to her work and it couldn’t be more perfect in this woodland garden.

Sculpture by Tati Dennehy

I also fell for this beautiful owl sculpture, I’m afraid I don’t know the artist’s name. Please leave a comment if you know.

Gorgeous patterns to be found in nature… will definitely be using this as inspiration!

Bye for now and if you’re in the UK have a wonderful bank holiday weekend!

colour love from the rhs tatton flower show

Garden designed by Foundation Degree Garden & Landscape Design Year 2 students and built by Reaseheath College.

I had lots of fun recently gathering inspiration at the flower show which takes place just down the road from us at Tatton park. I love seeing the amazing spaces the garden designers come up with and their innovative ideas. There really is so much inspiration for patterns and colour schemes to be had – I took loads of photos! But this was my favourite garden. The colours just popped. The photo bottom left shows a really interesting structure built for insects and wildlife to inhabit. And I love the painted bench!! Gorgeous colours that were echoed around the garden.

sketchbook honey bee to thank you card

I recently bought myself some new Triplus pens and they have completely changed the way I use my sketchbook. I just love them! I use them for drawing, sketching out ideas, trying designs for pyrography, list making and lots more.

I drew this bee in my sketchbook, the amazing thing about drawing is that you notice and learn so much more about the subject you’re studying. For instance, I never knew that bees had little claw-like feet and such hairy legs!

I scanned my drawing into Photoshop and after a bit of tweaking came up with this which I liked better for what I had in mind.

It was one day last week, we were walking Floss and got talking to a man outside his house who owns a chocolate factory (can you imagine how lovely that would be?!). He told us he keeps bees so he can use the honey in his confectionery. I’ve always been interested in beekeeping so asked him lots of questions and then as I was getting round to asking him if he sold the wax (thinking that it would be great to use on my pyrography being so local) he fetched us a jar of honey and wouldn’t take anything in return.

A thank you card! I hope he likes it.

And to think, that honey might have been made using the flowers from our garden! How ace is that? I’ve never tried local honey before. It doesn’t taste like any honey I’ve tasted before and it’s delicious.

hibernation!!

I've just been woken out of my temporary blogging hibernation with a jolt! I have won the most beautiful amazing giveaway at the Mimilove blog!! I really can't believe my luck!! As I just said to Karen, I haven't won anything for a long time so I must have been saving all my luck up for something really wonderful! If you've not seen Karen's stitching and painting magic before go and take a look, it's really amazing artwork!! And to top it off I won a lovely book as well so maybe there will be some stitchery going on around here soon too!

Here I have been braving the cold and ice of the forest every day with the wolflet. The freezing fog has created the most amazing winter wonderland, with mini icicles adorning every leaf, twig and branch.

These photos of the rose are from last week before the real deep freeze kicked in. Needless to say, the rose is now hibernating too.

I've just been cutting out a freezer paper stencil with a scalpel knife. I'm typing this while I'm waiting for the paint to dry on the t-shirt. I'm so impatient that I have to distract myself so I don't pull the stencil off too soon and ruin it. There are also some silver metal clay presents in the works too but I will post about that another time so as not to spoil any surprises.

Keep warm and snug wherever you are! I am off to celebrate my win with a hot chocolate!

fruit-ion... bead magazine and pie!

Here's the article about my pebbles in Bead Magazine (issue 25)! It has been months in the making, so long ago that I thought it had been forgotten about and wouldn't happen, especially as Jean Power (the old editor who originally spotted my work on Etsy) left the magazine halfway through the process. But here it is!!! And I'm so pleased!!!

Mr P made me a lovely apple pie with some windfalls from the bramley tree I used to climb when I was a kid in my parents' garden. The pastry was extra tasty having cinnamon added to it and it was not too sweet, not too tart, just right. Loving the bakery typography! There's no mistaking it's a pie ;-) It's fab having a husband who can cook. It's a military operation clearing up afterwards but I find that funny and Mr P looks great in his stripy apron.

happiness!

My little robin pebble made it onto the front page of Etsy this morning in a really lovely seasonal looking treasury. What a great start to the weekend!

My mum and dad brought me some sweet, delicious damsons and a bottle of homemade apple wine yesterday with strict instructions to drink it a little bit at a time in case it's like rocket fuel! It was so potent last year that one glass blew my head off. It is delicious and sneaks up on you because you really can't tell how alcoholic it is. I think a good weekend will be had. :-)

autumnal pebbles

Yesterday I saw the most beautiful fly agaric fungi in the forest. They were HUGE! And so many of them! I've never seen so many in one go. That'll teach me not to carry my camera with me. I will have to take it with me later to see if I can get some good photos. So anyway, I decided to celebrate with a mushroom pebble.

This new bird pebble I think is my most favourite pebble to date. It has a curved line running all the way round it and I wanted to make use of it in my design. Really pleased with how it's come out. Anyway, into the etsy shop they will go.

The very exciting news I was talking about...! There is an article about my pebbles along with an interview in Bead Magazine (UK issue 25 - published today). I haven't had a copy in my hands yet but the proof looked ace. I can't wait to get hold of it so I can show my mum. I think she will cry!! They are also having a give away of 3 of my pebbles. If you see it please give me a shout and let me know what it looks like :-) I can't stand the suspense but I won't be able to get a copy until the weekend. Eek!

tea for my valentine

I organised a surprise lunch for Mr P yesterday while he was out. I've never whizzed round the kitchen so fast (though I made some of it in advance to hide away in secret spots around the house) and I had fun making it look special, my mum lent me a gorgeous tea set to make it all perfect, I hung up some bunting, lots of heart shaped food. I'm not sure who got the most enjoyment out of it, me or Mr P.

Hope you had a good weekend, whatever you did, if you celebrated or not.

Say it with pebbles

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

sunshine blog award

The wonderful Heartful Blogger has very very kindly given me The Sunshine Blog Award! I've put it in the sidebar. What a lovely award to win! Thank you!

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world - it makes me very happy to think that I inspire someone with this website. I know this isn't really following the rules to the letter but I'm going to list 10 blogs who inspire me, some old favs and some new-to-me. Some of them have already received the award.

So here goes in no particular order:

1. The Hermitage This is such a poetic, authentic, deeply touching blog.
2. Leanne Wildermuth makes incredibly beautiful, detailed paintings of people's pets. I love seeing the work progress through different stages to the finished piece.
3. Driftwood is a fab blog written by Tess who often makes me laugh out loud.
4. Shadows and Clouds is a long time favourite, always inspiring with beautiful photos and thoughtful words.
5. Julie Whitmore Pottery is a lovely new-to-me blog showing fantastic creations and the ideas behind them.
6. third bird Fabulous design blog from a wonderful textile designer, lots of contemporary patterns and inspiring posts.
7. the life and times of sticks and bricks If you love furniture makeovers, seeing poor unloved pieces made new and reworked you will adore this blog.
8. Sweet Designs never ceases to amaze me with the jaw dropping dessert tables that she creates along with her team.
9. Missed Connections A project of fantastic illustrations based on messages left by strangers on missed connections websites. I really love this concept!
10. mimilove Another new-to-me blog with fresh inspiring artwork... a mix of watercolour painting and embroidery. Lovely!

Hope you enjoy the links ♥

little fox pebble and the inspiration behind it

Here's my new little pebble necklace, based on the sighting of the fox from my walk I wrote about in the last post (click on the photo for more details of the necklace).

I thought I'd show you the picture I took of the fox, although it's a bit blurry I was still so happy to get a photo of the little fellow. We were almost at the edge of the field when Mr P spotted him. I think he must have watched us all the way across, sat so silent and still. It really made my day ♥

mini moo love

So excited to receive a new box of moo cards this morning! I love the new style cardboard box, much better than the old plastic one, and prettier too.
And the tiny index cards!! Very cute and a great idea for keeping the best ones separate!

And now you can upload your own design for the back of the cards they're even more versatile! I chose to add another little photo to the back and keep the typeface the same as my shop and blog header. I do love them, I think it's genius being able to have a different photo on each card if you wish.

Now, back to work I must go or Floss won't get her walk in the forest.

salt and mist

There was a magical mist that shrouded the sea in mystery at the weekend. It seemed to suck the colour from the land.

Floss loves the freedom of the wide open space to chase balls and sniff at seaweed.

Where as some of us like to be chased by waves, I'm usually to be found beach combing.

The mainland was peeping through the sea mist.

After such a beautiful but monochrome day it was such a contrast and surprise to see these colours. We found a comfy spot on a rock and cozied together to watch the sunset. Does it get anymore beautiful?

Ah bliss!

Bye for now.

snowy loveliness

I must confess that all this snow might be my fault.

You see, back in the Autumn I made a wish...

... for my pup, Floss, to see snow for the first time.

And it has certainly come true with bells on!

Recently, Crystal from Bead Happily Ever After contacted me to ask if I would do an interview for her blog about creativity and pebbles. Of course I jumped at the opportunity! I feel very honoured. She asked some fun questions and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I never thought I would have so much to say. If you would like a look it's here.

Well I think it's time to make myself a hot chocolate and get cozy by the fire. Bye for now.

another year older

Definitely more wrinkles than last year but no point obsessing over them! I had a lovely time on my birthday. For the first time in years we went to pizza hut for lunch where we had the tastiest pizza ever. Now usually I prefer thin base pizzas but this time we had a deep pan and ohhhhhhh it was delicious! I interrogated the waitress as to how they make them so tasty but she wouldn't tell me! Said it was a secret. I think it would be worth getting a job there just to find out!

The other real high point of the day was this amazing place. Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure this is where they filmed the recent newspaper advert with the little boy pressing his hand up against the glass as a shark swims past. I tried to get Mr P to reenact it but he was too shy!

The tunnel where you can stand on the conveyor belt is amazing to go through. I loved seeing the fish swimming in shoals around us.

Mr P kept pretending to be eaten by the sharks. Can't take him anywhere ;-)

I laugh every time I look at this!

In the evening Mr P had booked a table at a swanky restaurant not far from where we live but we both admitted later that it hadn't been half as good as pizza hut! I know pizza is very calorific, but after eating onion soup which was literally a bowlful of cream with onion flavouring and gruyere I thought I would have to spend 3 hours on the dance mat the next day to burn it off!

So here I am, a little bit older. More comfortable in my own skin, more aware of who I am and that's it's ok not to be perfect and perfectly fine to make mistakes. It's all just a series of experiences, good and bad. I like to think when something bad happens that to balance things up something good will happen at a later date, especially when you have a run of bad luck. Like yin and yang. My french teacher used to say you make your own luck and I suppose that's true to a certain extent but you can't control everything. So that's how I deal with it. Incidentally I don't spend my life worrying that if things are great something will go wrong! That wouldn't work at all! Hopefully this will be a great year. There are some exciting things planned already!

Listen to me rambling on! Anyway, have a lovely weekend everyone whatever you're up to. :-)