Clutter City Crafty fun day!

Excitement abound! It was the second Clutter City Craft Fair yesterday at Norwich Arts Centre and boy - what fun we had! We were 'clap bang' in the centre of the main performance hall and met lots of lovely new people on surrounding stalls (Amy 'Heavenly Hotcakes' McLachlan Sayer) who's scrummy cakes I got to eat all day long - including the cherry topped one above!!

Also nice seeing regular fellow crafters, like flame haired Flamingo Amy looking as glamorous as ever with her stunning hair pieces and also lovely Jessie Begley and her sweet handmade books! But mainly it was a day of welcoming new yet old faces to our merry band. Friendly fellow Art school chap Dave Bushell (yes - that's him in the photo pondering what he's let himself in for!) became the latest human FCF member to offer up his wondrous talents - returning all the way from Canada just so he could get involved!! I was also dead (sorry!) proud to introduce a new taxidermy member - Gladys the Red (squirrel) who got introduced to Larry the Grey. Was more amicable than expected 'though eye contact was strictly limited to side way glances. We braced for it to kick off between them ... (looks like Gemma's cowering slightly in the above pic!)

Altogether a top day - especially because I ended it in the best possible way - dancing my blue tights off all night long at a friends 50's - themed b'day bash held in Take 5's Crypt - a darn fine start to bank holiday weekend. ^^

Fellow local Illustrator of major talent

Just had to get a heads up on a great artist, especially as we seem to share the same interests - brown paper and birds being right up there! This is one seriously talented Illustrator ... go look up Sweet Loon Bird and also check out her website: Olivia Jeffries.

Bob takes off on a long migration

Some thing very exciting is happening to one of my favourite creations - Bob the Blackbird. Yesterday, a lovely lady bought Bob from Etsy and now he is winging his way to live with her - all the way across to the other side of the world, in no other than Tasmania! I have to admit that there is a smattering of envy emerging on my part - imagining the exciting adventures he's going to have in such an exotic place - Tasmania is after all the stuff of legends!

Well I wish Bob the very best of luck on his long journey. I know I won't be the only one to miss him. I just hope I manage to bring another like him into being!

In other news I went to the cinema last night to see Private Property a French film which left me with so many questions (nothing unusual for a French film I guess) but I must say that I really enjoyed the mystery and also the great conversation I had with dear Creative Writer friend Claire. And to top it off I even ate tempura halloumi. A pretty good day all in all. Oh and this morning I doodled some rabbits for a secret project...(it's a present for someone!)

Baaaah!

It was my neice's birthday last week and as we have some ultra cute lambs bounding about in a field near us, I thought it would be a nice idea to make Charlotte her own little baby sheep!

Her mum used to have a floppy tiger at around the same age as her and she doted on it so much that I was inspired to make my first proper plush toy. I drew quickly first (as you can see) and then just went for it and was actually surprised by how well it all came together in the end.

I made the little fellow from an old dressing gown in that ultra fluffy toweling material - that I decided to recycle because I had tea stains on it in places that wouldn't budge! The ears were also made out some brand new (too small!) brushed cotton pijama bottoms - so she's the perfect eco friendly bed fellow!

There was something bizaarely magical about watching the funny thing seemingly to come to life out of nowhere - it almost felt frankinsteinian! When I gave it to Charlotte I explained that the wee lamb actually had the same birthday as her was aged 0! She was a bit confused but it was great to see how much she loved Daisey (wierdly she named her this after I had spent that very morning drawing and making daisys - spooky!) and aparently she hasn't slept without floppy wee creature since her birthday last wednesday. I think it's sparked something off - watch this space for more cute creature antics!

We went twitching today!

Bank holiday weekend has been such gorgeous weather, so we decided to make the most of it and go for a bit of twitching! I've been meaning to get down to Strumpshaw Fen for ages because it sounded like the perfect bird reserve - half woodland and half wetland. We cycled (only 6ish miles each way) there and with binoculas in hand strode out in high spirits anticipating bird action of some description. I think we may have been a little overly optimistic. We're not seasoned bird watchers but it wasn't like we were expecting them the put on a show or anything! Just would've been nice to have been able to say for certain what we saw!

Everytime we caught sight of something and pointed our binoculars in the general direction, the little blighter would duck behind a branch or fly away!! We might have seen some warblers and a fly catcher. We definitely did see a shadey looking robin who looked like he's been in a territorial fight - not at the reserve - but from the pub garden bench we sat at enjoying an ale afterwards!! A nice reward for a day of not quite seeing some birds! I was inspired to sketch a comic pic to express a bit of irony!

Back from Holiday!

Morning all!

I was up at 6 this morning and woke to see the sun's orangey golden rays to welcome me to the world - all is good! Just got back from a holdiay in France - was wonderfully relaxing but decided it's a good idea to get back into getting up early again now as I can get lots done in the mornings! We had lots of fun and capers including seeing a carnival not mention visiting the relatively new Machines de Nantes a place of mind blowing spectacles. Imagine a giagantic elephant beautfiully crafted in wood and metal stomping alongside you - that's just the begining for this incredible project inspired by Jules Verne. I just can't wait to see the massive tree house they have planned...! In other exciting news from my partner's home town - the brilliant Velibe cycles rolled out across Paris last year have also now arrived in Nantes - yay! Not out till next week, when I'm sure like in Paris, they will take the city by storm! They're called Bicloo and I think they look even nicer than the Paris ones ...

Fresh Fine City talent!

Must tell you about a talented gal called Kate Seaward I met on Saturday at the 'Everybody Likes eggs' fair - she is the newest member of Fine City Friends and just like Gemma, Anthony and Helen, she is darn lovely! She seems to like pens a lot, and also tea and cake which I think is no bad thing! I think her website is well worth a look - go have a butchers there now!

Thinking of dodos

The last couple of days my mind been full of birds! They seem to be everywhere at the moment and as a bit of a geeky bird fan, it's got me wanting to indulge in some bird story ideas. One bird in particular keeps coming to mind - the dodo! So I've done a little dodo doodle!

Weirdly I 've just discovered a band of the same name and completely love them - I take that as a sign if there ever is such a thing! Someone on emusic described the band as 'psych-folk-pop with a blues rock twang' which is a pretty accurate description of this top drawer band! Go look them up - they're super great!