Previously.....

On Thursday I went for a looong walk in the walks to clear my mind and help with some inspiration. The woods were just so glorious in their Autumn colours and frequently I had to stop and breathe in the delicious scents and sounds, the tranquility filled my soul from the tip of my head to the soles of my boots.



This is one of my favourite paths. Sadly, my camera just doesn't do it justice.



This tree was an entire metropolis for birds and squirrels and all manner of insects.



Up close, you can see the swirly,gnarly tangle of it all.



Further on through my walk, I came to an enchanted bridge. Taking a deep breath, I ducked low, made my wish and walked beneath it.



Into an ancient grove of Yew trees, magical and wise.



The walk took me deep into an old farm estate where a couple of my friends are lucky enough to have cottages. I was out for over two hours and my legs really ached, but my spirit was soothed and I felt connected to the Earth and for the first time in ages I felt real - really real :)

Good news.

YAAAY! Remember the job I mentioned a week or so ago? Well, the interview was today and I got the job!!! I'm totally shocked, but so very happy. Now I can tell you all about it. It's as a Classroom Assistant, which basically means helping the Class Teacher with pupils that are falling behind, or struggling with their work. It was only when I was filling in the application form, a few weeks ago, that I realised just how well I could handle the job. I was a childminder for four years and have been helping out at my children's schools for - well - ever! Initially it's just a temporary post, but with the possibility of more work in the New Year. It's also only part time, so I can still paint, sculpt and sew, WOO HOO! I'm a happy bunny tonight :)

Introducing.....

I know I said I'd show you this after next week, but I can't wait that long! After a perfect photo opportunity today, I thought it was time to unveil the new addition to our household.

She was supposed to be fae and delicate, but somewhere along the way turned into Gothmela! She has been simmering in the back of my mind for months and her head and shoulders have been in construction for a while, but I couldn't work out how to put her together until a few nights ago when all the pieces came together, literally!

She is part polymer clay with a felt body and bendable arms and legs.



She is only a prototype, and so is happily staying with me, in the kitchen, causing havoc whenever she can. I say happily, but she's kind of dark and moody, loving to watch Twilight and sighing heavily over Edward and planning evil ways to do away with Bella, as she is a far better match, if only she were a little bigger!


I blame Sting's new wonderful album, which was playing softly in the background for this dark turn in my work. The album isn't dark at all, it's a roaring fire on a stormy night, a hot glass of mulled wine after a walk in the snow and I've listened to it four times already today :) But I drifted off as I worked, and Gothmela was the product - EEK! What is lurking in my psyche today?

Ooops!

The deadline for my Business conference has slowly crept up on me while I've been off playing at chopping up clothes. EEK! How did that happen? When I sit and spread out my work, I realise that I'm not as prepared as I wanted to be. Posting may be a bit sporadic and distracted this week as I pull out my creative thinking cap and get on with the job in hand. I need to have a basic website organised and a few small examples of my art to show the business advisor.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll get out of the course, but I suppose I'm hoping to do a bit of networking and sell a few prints while I'm at it!

A little project I've been working on for a few months is coming to fruition after a few sleepless nights which had me sculpting and creating in my head. Thank you feverish cold for my divine inspiration ;) Pictures coming soon after the conference, but for now, I'll drag my unreliable attention back to my web design. :)

Award.

Phew, this must be a record! Three posts in one day. Well, I am tucked up, back in bed after blowing around the garden like a paper bag, making sure the hens and rabbits had deep warm straw beds to snuggle into for the night. They are happy now, and so now it is time for me to collect this award, which was given to me over a month ago!

Many thanks to the lovely Pixiedust from Faerienuffstuff for giving this to me :)

I'm to list seven things about myself and then pass the award on to other bloggers that I feel deserve it, then they post a link back to me and pass it on.

I have many people that I'd love to pass this on to, but instead I've narrowed it down to the creative folk who have helped me most this year.

The following bloggers have been incredibly helpful and supportive of my efforts this year and have been guiding lights along my often dark and insecure path:

Karen of Moonlight and Hares,

Danielle of Notes from the Rookery,

Julia of East of the Sun, West of the Moon,

and my dear friend, Gretel of Middle of Nowhere.

Lastly I'd like to award the Fairy Shoemaker of Fairysteps, who has inspired me to chop up my wardrobe and have fun with my sewing machine :)

So, here are the seven things

1. I'm a massive Sci fi geek and Trekkie! (although real geeks apparently are called Trekkers!)

2. My first hearthrob was Tony Curtis (sigh!)

3. I always wanted (and still do) to be a Superhero.

4. I long to visit Arizona.

5. I LOVE Christmas with an almost obsessive passion!

6. I love food almost as much as Christmas.

7. I love second hand things, especially books.

That's it for me, the last one seemed especially hard to come up with, as it's not easy narrowing yourself down to just a few statements. I hope the rest of you have an easier time of it, and I look forward to reading what you write :)

Finished.

I suppose there is an advantage to being poorly, and it's that things get finished! I sat down with my sewing boxes, all three of them (!) and finished off these cute little hearts and then listed them in Etsy and one of them in Folksy. I'm not sure if I'll keep the Folksy shop going, as I can't tell if I'm getting any interest on there, although I like the fact that I don't have to convert the money to dollars, so we'll see how it goes in the coming months. I want to list more items and see if I can't crack this selling lark, especially with Christmas fast approaching!






They both work out around £5.00, give or take a few pennies in the USD conversion and can be scented with vanilla or cinnamon.

Weather.

I woke this morning to a steely sky, wind lashed and ragged. As I poured my tea the darkness moved in from the West, a rolling grey cape snapping and driving the storm before it. The first drops hit the roof in bursts of Flamenco steps, then, drumming and clapping built to the final torrent before the wind chased it on over the village to perform to other houses. Following a little behind, came the rushing, cheering, crowd, their footsteps settling to a steady patter, softening moving on until all that's left is the quiet rain.


We have severe weather warnings all over the Country today, so please stay safe everyone and if you can, stay warm and dry inside.

Tangerine Dream!

I've been dyeing clothes again! What I should have been doing this week was painting and paperwork, but as usual I let myself be distracted by the great wardrobe makeover! Soon I'll be the Queen of all procrastinators (almost there!).

In reality, this long sleeved t-shirt is a much more vibrant shade of tangerine and is perfectly wonderful. I only really want the sleeves, for another project, but the body will be used too as it's worked out so well.



This was my first attempt at revamping the wardrobe. It's a very old t-shirt and was actually my first ever attempt at tye dyeing. I took off the old raggedy and tight neck line and zig-zag stitched it, stretching the fabric tight to give it a frilly edge.


I bought this t-shirt already dyed, as it was only £2. but have only worn it once because I hated the neckline. I love it now and it looks great on me.


Here is the jumper I felted, complete with new covered buttons and flowers covering up the old button holes. The felted flowers are in a burnt orange and go so well with the soft green. The only trouble is, that I have to lose some weight to wear this, as it's shrunk a little too much. I may ebay it instead!


This has been my favourite jumper for about 10years, but frankly it was looking tired and dated.



New buttons and a funky trim should see it through another 10years (eek, I'm cheap!).


And finally, as promised from the last post, here is Toffee, revved up and dragging me out of the gate in his rush to be ridden. Oh no, it was the other way round! I'm not pulling him hard, just a gentle encouragement, but he can be sooooo stubborn!


Note: no saddle, I was just too darn lazy to put it on him and we both prefer it without in any case. It's not like he's going to run off and dump me!

On another note, I've succumbed to my son's horrible cold and an hour last night in the pouring rain supporting my daughter in her Hockey match did little to help. Her team won though, so I wouldn't have missed it for the world :)

Busy bee!

Oh I've had such a hectic time of it lately. More clothes have fallen victim to the scissors and I hope to get some pictures uploaded of actual finished items. I did go a bit far with the dark green cardigan and daughter gasped in shock when she saw it, and not a good gasp either! It may turn into a handbag yet, or even a small purse!!!

I've had the son home from school today, and it looks like he'll be home tomorrow too, which is ok as I love to spoil him and look after him as he's usually off doing his own thing and it's good to have him trapped in my company.

I've still got my fingers crossed for the job I've applied for, and although my CV was well recieved (apparently) I've yet to have an interview as the person responsible has been off sick. I'm fairly hopping with tension, which has given me a stiff neck and trouble sleeping again! The only thing to do was take Toffee for a quick ride around the block, leaving hubby to make cups of tea for the darling son and keep him supplied with tissues. Toffee was less than enthusiastic, but did seem to have fun after a while. I'll update with some pictures later, but I'm too tired to dig the camera out at the moment.

I have a good but busy day planned for tomorrow too. A couple of jumpers to finish, a good tidy up around the house and a little voluntary work in the afternoon. Bliss :)

Have a good day tomorrow everyone, TTFN :)

Copyright.

This little post is in response to Elizabeth's comments about copyright.

I know that there's a certain risk, publishing my art on the web, but in order to get my work known, I have to weigh up the risk against the benefit of maybe selling some of my pieces or somehow generating some interest. This is the problem facing many artists today, and there are several I know publishing their lovely paintings knowing that their style is instantly recognised as their own. My most special work is kept very much just for me.

It's all about respecting ideas and having a sort of honour. That's all I'm asking for, for my blog and others :)

In between.....

In between butchering, sorry customising, my clothes, I've managed to squeeze in a little artwork as well.

I've joined a great group called The Meandering Moleskin and it's gathering momentum now, as we each paint some pages in our Moley and then pass it on to the next person on the list. At the end, we will each have our own Moley back, filled with each others art.

I've noticed that others have painted one long picture, covering their allotted pages, but I wanted to paint several different, smaller ones, as I had so many ideas to fit in. I've discovered that I like painting small fiddly pictures and so I'm going to force myself away from this for a while and go for something larger and more challenging!

My first picture was based around Merlin again. Well, he is an endless source of inspiration :)
Unfortunately, I had a few problems with the paper, as it really isn't suitable for watercolours. The paint either slides off, or instantly soaks in showing all brush strokes, good or bad. In the end, I used pencils as this was easier to control.


A curious faery,



and a faery kitty with a goth Angel! These last two were inspired by a photographer whose pictures I came across years ago, but sadly his name escapes me, otherwise I'd link to his work.



As always, please respect my designs and please don't copy or reproduce them. Thanks :)

Fun with Fabric.

Today I had a fun time playing with the t-shirts I dyed in the Summer. This picture doesn't do the bright colours justice, but I thought it was time I sorted them out and shared them here. They are all made from brand new, plain white t-shirts and were originally going to be for sale. I want to do a lot with them before that though, and their progress will be shown here.



Here are two vests that will most likely have a little embelishment in the form of fabric paints and may end up in the Etsy or Folksy shop.



This long sleeved t-shirt is a purply colour with a laced up design on the sleeves. I don't think it needs much doing to it.


This one is strictly for me as I just love it to bits. This photos doesn't show how vibrant the colours really are.


This is a lopsided picture of my favourite shirt. I bought it from a market stall specialising in Fair Trade goods, and the colours are a yummy mix of oranges and browns. However, it looks like a sack of spuds on me, so I'm going to radically customise it.



Which brings me nicely to these next two items. Remember the two cardigans that I felted on a hot wash? Well, this one shrunk from a large man's size, to something that would fit my daughter. I've set to with the scissors, and have lots of ideas for it, but that will have to wait until tomorrow!


This was the baggy cream cardigan that went in with the green one above. I had planned to dye it a dark orange, but instead it turned a lovely grey/green colour as the colour leaked from the one above. I've made some orange accessories and will show you the progress as the days go by. I've a huge stash of clothes to work through, so it should be interesting in the next few weeks as I enrich my boring wardrobe with as little cost as possible.

The beginning and end!

Samhain, pronounced sowain, means the beginning and end of things, the year and the wheel. It begins as soon as it gets dark on the 31st of October and generally peaks at around midnight when the veil between this world and others are at their thinnest. Superstitious people used this to their advantage and carried out all kinds of rituals including eating an apple at midnight while gazing into a mirror to see their future spouse, gazing into a dark mirror or bowl of water to see their future and invoking dead spirits to tell their fortunes. This has always been problematic though as spirits have a sense of humour too, and not all spells work out the way we would expect them too, so as the saying goes, 'Be careful what you wish for.'

In the Pagan calender it was believed that tonight was the beginning of the wild hunt. When the horned god rides with his hounds and gathers the souls of those who linger and those who are unwary. Modern Pagans set themselves a challeng to represent the hunt and try to have it completed around the time of Samhain or very shortly after. This can be anything based around nature, as in clearing an area of litter, tending to plants or something more complicated and personal. This time of year can be as general or personal as desired. For me, my favourite all time movie is Hocus Pocus, as it sums up modern expectations with the darker more unpredictable side of magic. Often we dabble in things we know nothing about, hmmm sounds like human nature to me!

This morning was foggy and very atmospheric. I loved the little drops of water on the nettles


and Hawberries.



The Magic Road was truly magical in the mist.







Tonight, I threw on the stripes for an evening Trick or Treating!



How cheesy is that picture? Thank you daughter :)



She looked a lot better than me though. Here she is with her best friend (in the hat) :)



And then what all good Witches love at the end of the evening. Feet up with a glass of mulled wine :)



Oh, and lastly, the disappearing hamster. Magical!



Does anyone else think he's grown. A lot!!!



I hope you all had a magical evening and that the coming year brings all that you could wish for, with a safe and warm Winter ahead. May your store cupboards be full and your provisions be plenty :)

Happy Samhain.

Blessings of this magical day to you all :)

I'll be back a little later with a fuller post, but this morning it's all go. I'm off to pick up my new glasses, so I can actually see what I'm painting/sewing now! Then it's off to our nearby market town for the opening of our Potters Exhibition. I'm not exhibiting this year, for many reasons, and so I think I'll be enjoying myself far more without the usual stress and strains. I'll be dealing with refreshments of mince pies and mulled wine. I know it's a little early, but this is our 'nearly Christmas' exhibition :)

This afternoon will be spent preparing to take the children out, maybe trick or treating, or setting up our garden to recieve the visitors or maybe both :)

Goodies!

There is a lovely shop near to where I live with the cute name of Thistle. It used to belong to a chain of wool and fabric shops, but was taken over a couple of years ago as a private venture and it's far better now, with all kinds of wonderful little goodies that suddenly I can't live without! It's a tiny unassuming shop that is a little let down by it's outward appearance and surroundings on a busy main road in a little place called Cowplain. But once you walk through the door you are transported to an oasis of craft and charm. The owner is so helpful and friendly and if you are ever passing, please drop in. They will mail order goods, but as yet have no website.

The walls are stacked almost to the ceiling with wool.



There are racks of yarn and bolts of gorgeous fabrics,



and buttons galore. I had to write about this little shop because these small businesses are in danger and they cannot easily compete with the big shops like Hobbycraft and some of the larger department stores, and they really struggle compared to on line shops, having overheads eating into their profits. If you have a little shop like this near you, please support it, or maybe pay a visit to Cowplain and look for Thistle :)



More goodies today. I went to a couple of Charity shops and found these gorgeous pure wool sweaters. Along with a library book called New Clothes from Old, I plan to turn these into something a little more stylish. I was inspired by a couple of posts on Fairysteps blog, and decided to have a go :) I have heaps of clothes that I was going to donate to the Charity shops, but I may well be recycling them for myself.

At the moment these sweaters are in the washing machine on a boil wash! Who knows what will happen next :)


Some homemade goodies now. A couple of felted friperies for the Etsy shop.


I'm just waiting for a delivery of charms to finish these off, but as you know, the posties are a little unreliable at the moment!!!


Finally, a pumpkin pincushion waiting to be finished and turned into something ghoulish :)

Lemons.

You know that saying, 'When life hands you lemons, make lemonade'? Well that's been swirling around my head this morning, and I have to think that blogging friends and the wonderful communities that build up are just like lemonade :) Kind words, advice and sometimes even gifts can give us the lift we need to get through.

So for everybody needing a lift today here's something that made me hoot with laughter, click on it to read the small print :)

Run.

I'm trying to decide if a morning run will clear my head or make it worse. I'll let you know in a while!!!

UPDATE: Jubbley says no, stay here and feed him cornflakes, so we will run later (daughter and I) and instead dig the bikes out for a misty morning cycle. That sounds more civilised doesn't it :)

Bits and Bobs!

This is a post of some random pictures of the last few days. I've been a bit under the weather and have a terrible, trembly head this morning. Not quite a migraine, but not affected by tablets either, so I'm just putting up with it and drinking gallons of ginger and lemon tea. I appologise for any mistakes, as my typing is terrible and I may not be able to correct all the mistakes.

As promised here is daughter in best scarey mode. She was worried that her boyfriend wouldn't like her dressed like this, but as he was a ghoulish zombie, they made a perfect pair :)


Here she is looking sweet again and surprise, surprise, with Jubbley!


Can you believe I allowed this at the breakfast table. If you click on the picture, you can just make out that he is eating a cornflake! Aren't they adorable? :)


It was magical at the field this morning, and despite the pouring rain, I just had to get my camera out. Yesterday these mushrooms were like little towers reaching toward the twilight sky. Today their canopies opened to shield the fairies from the rain.


Here is my hand as a guide to size.



I so love the view from underneath. Lucky fairies to live here :)