Bird Bird Bird, the Bird is the Word...

In keeping with my new efforts to be more organised and consistent, I'm going to aim to update the Doodle Olympics every Wednesday, along with anything else I've been working on. In theory it will be called "What's going on Wednesday", but I'll probably stick to more decorative titles, just for fun. 

Day 131 of the Doodle Olympics: So after the last doodle in the last post, I decided that I was quite taken with birds, so began drawing them... daily... :/ I like this guy, like the other bird he wears a jumper, and I like to think that he is flapping out his wing, and saying 'Aww shucks - you guuuuyyyss'. 

Day 132 of the Doodle Olympics: "But I don't want to go in the water"

Day 133 of the Doodle Olympics: This little chap, looks down on people a bit (not literally of course, he's too small). He thinks he is right about everything, but I'll let you into a little secret... he is nearly always wrong, but there is no telling him!

Day 134 of the Doodle Olympics: This guy is looking pretty worried, his wings are all up in the air, and he has got himself into as bit of a flap, maybe he has just seen the peacock below...

Day 135 of the Doodle Olympics: This Peacock is a real lady... or is she?? We all know that the flamboyant peacocks are the males - just saying! 

Day 136 of the Doodle Olympics: Derren the duck, he doesn't dare to swim - What is wrong with him?

Day 137 of the Doodle Olympics: This dashing fellow is Speckled Spencer, he likes tea, crumpets, and a spot of afternoon dancing.


Other things I've been working on... Popping my Zombie Kitty Plays Cupid collage onto Society6, I mentioned that I had finished it last week, but it is now available online. I've also been reading Steampunk Accessories, and making appropriate notes, in order to write a review for UK Handmade. It is proper homework, that is why I'm allowed, tea, strawberry milk, and a cookie! :)

Bears, Bees & Birds - One day my titles will begin with another letter other than 'B'

Day 123 of the Doodle Olympics: It's another one of those weird tall trees, that looks a bit like a beanstalk. It isn't supposed to be a beanstalk, birds don't nest in magic beanstalks, so I've been told anyway. 

Day 124 of the Doodle Olympics: So I started to consider what it would be like to have a pet bear. At the moment we have other people's cats using our garden as a public toilet, it is a tad annoying, and I bet they wouldn't do it if we had a pet bear. No - we don't need to go into where the bear would toilet - details, details *rolls eyes*.

Day 125 of the Doodle Olympics: Of course bears, adult ones at least, are usually on the large size, so I began thinking about bears in every day confined spaces, like baths...

Day 126 of the Doodle Olympics: ... single beds...

Day 127 of the Doodle Olympics: ... and one man tents. I imagine this would make a bear quite grumpy.

Day 128 of the Doodle Olympics: I may have been watching Bee Movie, so I may have drawn some flowers, and I may have drawn a bee - of sorts - and I may have written 'Buzz' a few times... which actually just makes me think of Toy Story...

Day 129 of the Doodle Olympics: So, following on from the above image, this doodle was of flowers sans bees, to illustrate how bee numbers are in decline - no sorry, I jest, it was just a doodle of flowers. On a serious note, the decline of bees is a very sad business, that I'm very unhappy about. 

Day 130 of the Doodle Olympics: I love this guy. I love that he is clearly some kind of big geek beak, with his waistcoat, bow tie, and woolly jumper with floral motif. I have a real obsession for birds with big beaks at the minute, while the beak on this guy is more 'toucan-esque', the one thing in the world, that I wish I could change (aside from loads of stuff like ending famine, cruelty and war), is the lack of Dodo bird, I would have loved to have seen a Dodo. :(

Hello 30s - Day 289 - 302

It's back! Hello 30s! I have finally given out all the cards and presents, that I have taken photos of, so I can now continue with my daily photo challenge, without spoiling any surprises, yeay!!! I do need to get a wriggle on though. The project ends this month, and I already have over 50 photos stored up, that need to be posted. Spit Spot!!

Day 289:

Candied walnuts! I made these for a salad, possibly the tastiest salad, that I have ever eaten. 

It was also possibly the unhealthiest salad I have ever eaten. 

Ho hum! 

These walnuts were so yummy, that half of them didn't even make it into the salad. I found the salad on Shutterbean, make it, it has sweet sugary walnut goodness AND caramalised onions! 

Day 290:

Drawing chickens. Did you see the last Hello 30s post? The one where we looked after chickens? Well that gave me an idea. I had taken some photos of the chickens, so decided that I would try and paint them, for future sister-in-law's (Sandra) birthday. I haven't had to draw or paint anything in a while, so practice was needed. 

Day 291:

I also had to practice painting chickens (on paper silly, I didn't paint any real chickens). All I have at the moment are watercolours, which I find quite difficult to use. I am an oil, or acrylic kind of girl, a bit slap dash, and heavy handed. 


 Day 292:

Meet Floss. Yes she is a bit of an odd little chicken. She was a runt, that should have been for the chop, but Sandra saved her. Floss sometimes get a bit confused, and thinks that she is a cockerel. 


Day 293:

After an hour long walk, and feeling quite disappointed, that I had remembered to take my camera along, but had found nothing of interest to take a photo of. I came across these two swans, and their healthy brood of cygnets, right by my house. 

Day 294:

My Precious!! These are my thumb rings, I love them. They have been lost for so long. I had desperately searched high and low, in a Gollum like fashion, and had just about given up. That was until we decided to do some painting and decorating in our bedroom, and moved everything out. 


 Day 295:

As I mentioned above, painting and decorating, which, as always, turned the house completely upside down. 


 Day 296:

I went along to the first UK Handmade Surrey Artisans meet up, and as well as meeting some lovely creative ladies, I also came away with a stash of cake and biscuits - can't complain ;)


Day 297:

Oh the excitement! You know how it is, when your days are being governed by DIY, it just isn't THAT exciting... but parcels are exciting, even if your parcels are full of door handles. It certainly breaks up the monotony of door painting.


Day 298:

More cake!!! I had taken a cake along to the meet up, boyfriend was a bit put out, so I had to make him another. This is how I know, that this vanilla pound cake is quite good, as boyfriend isn't usually a big fan of of sweet things. Oh, and anyone that thinks vanilla pound cake is a plain cake, shame on you!!! 


Day 299:

Going through the family photos. This is my Mum and I... not that she is going to appreciate me putting this on here. I had spent the day getting her birthday present finished and ordered. I was lucky to have this photo, it was one of a group, that I had sneaked out of the house on one of my last visits. Even trickier was sneaking them back. My folks are planning on moving, and everything is packed away in boxes. I had to hide an envelope on top of a wardrobe, and tell my dad where to find it, so he could put them away. Very James Bond!


Day 300:

The Arty Street Party in Reading organised by Jelly. I went along with the lovely Anna from UK Handmade (and Sakura Jewellery) to help spread the word about UK Handmade. Had a great day, meeting lots of wonderful creative people. :)


Day 301:

It's those door handles again! Honestly, black door handles, hard to find and expensive. (Wickes and Homebase both do some, but do any of them do a matching bathroom privacy lock - noooo!). Oh and you see that door, that was brown... and now... it's not :)


Day 302:

Birthday card for Sandra. As well as painting chickens, I also made a chicken card. You can probably see a theme developing... it is a good job she likes chickens really :) 


Right, only so much blog you can put in one post, there will be another update soon! :)

Birds and the Beads...and Spiders?

I am currently spending this week getting very excited, as it is this weekend that my friend's hen party finally arrives! :) Other half is being left to do some much needed weeding, while I scoot off to eat, drink and rock! I am spending a lot of time making piles of things I need to remember to take with me - fairy wings anyone??

Other than planning girly escapades, I have also been thinking about starting up another shop, possibly on Folksy. I don't want to start anything until the Hen party is out of the way, but I would really like to get some of my beads out there. With that in mind I have purchased some lovely little organza gift bags from IslePac. I am super pleased with them, I thought they were very reasonable at 19p each, and they arrived the day after I ordered them, I don't think you could ask for much more than that.

I have also had my clay out again, playing with the big block of Premo Sculpey Frost I had hanging around. I had planned to make a cane I had thought up a little while ago, but it ended going in a slightly more organic direction, which I am very happy with, I just know if I had tried to make it, it would have become a very graphic pattern similar to my other beads, but the patterns on these are much looser and less structured.

I have named the beads Daisy, and as always there is a little bird to match.

I love the quality of the Frost clay, it develops little specks and superficial cracks just like frosted glass, which I found particularly effective when blended with some blues, as you can see in the beads below (Cathy). They still all need a good sanding and finishing but I am hoping that they will come up quite glassy.

Thought I would also share a picture of Geoff. It appears he is now sharing the spare room with me, making messy webs everywhere, he isn't particularly chatty but he doesn't interfere or get in the way either, so we are getting on fine. So for those of you not so fond of our 8 legged friends, don't scroll down :)

Birds and the Beads

All I seem to be doing at the minute is buying, or planning to buy. I have birthdays coming up over the next month, and have had a lovely time over a Folksy choosing special gifts. I can't wait to share some of the goodies that I have bought from some of the lovely sellers, but that will have to come in a later post, as I would hate to spoil any of the surprises I have planned by putting up images.

Using Folksy has proven to be incredibly easy, I was quite interested to see how it all works, as I am debating whether to set up shop on there myself. So far I am getting a good feeling, 'I' want to buy from there, so it can't be a bad place to start.

Other than shopping lists, I have been making more beads and more birds, keeping myself busy, until I can afford to buy a few more supplies. I have also had a little bit of freelance Graphics work which I have really enjoyed, I love having a variety of things to do.

Firstly here are my Penny beads, they came about over the easter period, inspired by speckled hens and speckled eggs (particularly the ridiculous amounts of mini eggs I consumed), they also feature my first pillow beads. I am really pleased with them, they take a little longer to shape, but I do find it quite relaxing.

Next we have my Leah beads, a lovely range of golds, pearls, golds and creams. There is a fair amount of translucent clay in there too, which I love to use, as it gives the impression of depth to some of the patterns. It also feels much softer and smoother than the others clays, this can be a bit of a problem as patterns can begin to blend and blur too easily if you handle it too much (that is why there are no pillow beads), but it is wonderful to touch. I was also purposefully trying to experiment with a more neutral palette, as I am normally drawn to my bright colours.

I used the same clay cane to create this little fellow, alas, he doesn't have a name at present. He is similar to the circle birds that I created previously, but smaller, and therefore, made entirely of polymer.

Finally, these are my Lulu beads, which I adore because they are so bold and make a statement. To me, they screamed 60s, so Lulu was the only name I thought appropriate.

True to current form, there is a bird (penguin specifically) to match :)

Uri & Friends

Well it is a truly miserable day outside, but all is well inside, as Uri my little bird friend, finally has some bird friends of his own.

I would like you to meet Ulrich,

and Una (yes we are going for the less conventional gender/colour combinations - controversial!).

They are hanging out doing bird things, twittering (amongst themselves, they don't know how to use a computer yet)...

...and formation standing (they can't actually fly either - poor things).

I can't wait to get my site up and running so I can pop them on, and hopefully find them kind bird loving homes!

Bits & Pieces

I have been busy with lots of bits and pieces over the last few days. Firstly I thought I should make some more friends for Uri, so I have a couple more birds to finish off either today or tomorrow, just need to decide what colours they should be?

I have also made an effort to get a small batch of beads created. These lentil beads are in the "Rachel" range, so called as my friend Rachel asked if she could have some jewellery, using red and white beads, as a wedding present. That was in August, and poor Rachel is still waiting, oops!

Finally, I have been trying to create lots of little patterns and characters from felt. I have a pile of felt left over from uni (I left uni over four years ago), and I have been trying to find a use for it for ages, hopefully now I can start working my way through it. I love these little guys, my hand sewing has never been a forte of mine, but I do love a bit of blanket stitch!