a warm and cosy house

After a little bit of pottering about, trying to find some easy to use, transferrable background and an trying to think about an appealing way to showcase some of what some ware, tadaaaa - I present you with my little paper house votives:

and a couple more

Morocco-cococo

So, we are planning our annual holiday. Initially our plan was to go to go to the Lebanon (after my boyfriend read Dom Jolly's "Dark Tourism"), but it seemed to be a little bit on the expensive side for flights and hotels and then I have slight reservations about some parts of the country.  I compared and contrasted with Morocco and Malaysia and we couldn't help to take Thailand into the fold, since we had such a great time there last year and rates are very reasonable. In the end Morocco won. Moroccan interior style seems so charming, probably not all to appropriate for a Hampshire Cottage, but you don't always have to go wall-to-wall with a trend. The geometry of objects and the colour combinations are going to be spectacular. I have not idea of the smells, yet, but anticipate to have my senses tickled.

The X-Factors

Oh what a cheesy line, but I've been temporarily gripped by Cross Stitching again, after stumbling over a French Pattern Company and falling in love with their retro-patterns: Sajou. So, I've decided to cross stitch a calling card, assembling patterns, alphabets and embellishments in order to fill the space. Oh, their stuff is so super-cute, I'm like a kid in a sweetshop. They offer some free alphabets, too and some pattern griddle, so that one can draw up first and then put it onto the linen.
Another good source that I've come across recently is a tool for quilt making by the V&A, and have started to put flower motives to the linen, but it needs a little more tweaking. I thought to take the camera to work, when I go in by bike and stop off to take pictures of seasonal plants and flowers. For the last attempt I had a picture of a bunch of forget-me-nots, which are one of my all-time favouties. Anyway, I'll post some pictures tomorrow to illustrate.

Kite flying

Today I thought about kite flying. The weather was quite dark and gloomy, but no rain. There was a scent of of decomposing foliage and growing moss in the air. And the wind picked up. My Dad, my sister and I often went to fly a kite (I remember a plastic Hawk) in autumn and I never managed to properly get it off the ground. Nevertheless, I later on tried to craft a kite with a timber frame, rice paper and a beautiful tissue paper tail...unfortunately those things never got off the ground (they just looked pretty)...a bit like penguins. Anyway, here's to the clever people who understand physics and aerodynamics.

http://www.belleandboo.com/

Shopping

Today I went to London to get a couple of props and more paper. Well, props, because i would quite like to shoot a few quality photos for advertising the paper-cuts and paper, well....you might have guessed. So, VV Rouleaux was on the list, plus Liberty's, the Paint Library and an Arts Shop in the East End Atlantis Arts. I always think that I spend a fortune at VV Rouleaux, but that indulgence of mine is relatively inexpensive. Am in a little strop with the Paint Library, for their somewhat quirky opening times. Wanted to paint some old shoe boxes and decoupage them with Vintage Lemonade Labels, from the 1920's. Will have to settle it with Fired Earth in B&Q tomorrow. Showed one of my friends the new votive design and got a slight damper... it's not made out of kevlar and therefore probably not suitable to hold a tea light....we'll see.

a little more text

Crikey,  my fingers are twitching with excitement as I'm writing my first snippets of blog. It's a funny thing to recognise that there are a few more fellow crafters who would like to make crafting a purposeful pursuit, and with the ultimate goal to give up a job. Crafting has been around me since I was little. My parents were into pottery in the 70's, with a kiln in the garden (and at my Dad's school, which worked out better if I remember correctly), the kiln in the garden then got used for Pizza making. My mum's more into textiles: knitting, quilt making, embroidery, crotchet. My Dad's walked the woodwork trail: cabinet making and now sculpting. They are quite creative and since my Dad's a teacher (and teaches woodwork) and my mum's retired, they have plenty of time to indulge in their little projects. My Dad sells his sculptures, gives workshops and my mum helps him with the crafts fairs. They do it for the fun of it - now I think I would like some of that, too. They live in Germany and it's only recently twigged that I could mould my own way. I like to paper-cut and cross-stitch, package, to potter around in the garden, pick flowers and arrange them nicely and I like to decorate and make my home look pretty. I shall share some of my finds. Take what you like and leave the rest. x

Toe in the water

Dip-dip-testing-one-two