Mobiles

It's been a little while since I posted any crafty things around here. It's not for lack of action. I've been prolific at beginnings. Knitting cardigans, continuing this blanket, sewing baby pants and the latest... an Origami mobile. The problem is that I haven't been very good at finishing anything. Anyway, because I'm still really at a wedding Leeds, I thought I'd post about my current obsession with Origami and Kusudama.

I started this last weekend with Matthias. He quickly declared that Oragami was not his thing and left me to make my Cheery Blossom Kusudama. I like it, but it's a little big for the tiny little space I've carved out in our apartment as the Baby's space. So before trying again I've stalked the pages of Etsy and come up with a delicious selection of Origami mobiles to base my "in the making" mobile on. I'm thinking about some kind of combination of #2 and #3, although I'm still in love with the idea of a Kusudama featuring somewhere.  Like I said, it's a work in progress. And if all else fails, I can always just buy one that's already been made by one of these crafty ladies.

1. Rachel Schell  2. Spare Bedroom Studio 3. MamaX2 4. Gin and Rummy

Blog Break #3

"Autumn Picnic" by Andi Watkins 

Etsy Shop: AndiWatkins4Sale

"Wine Maker's Bicycle" by photoamato

Etsy Shop: Photoamato

 "A Picnic of Peaches" by ADK Mama

Etsy Shop: adkmama

 

This is what I'm looking forward to come July. Hot weather and a lovely big glass of red wine - something big and bold which lingers on the palate and smells like blueberries and chocolate. And if it takes my fancy, I might have a second glass just to make sure it's okay for everyone else to sample too.  I'm not greedy, I'm more than happy to share, but only after I've checked that the bottle isn't corked.  Perhaps we can pack a picnic or ride our bikes down to the park. We'll watch the sunset, eat roast beef sandwiches and generally have a grand old time.  Sounds like you kind of thing? I'll meet you there. My shout.

Blog Break #2

I'm nesting at the moment.  Cleaning and writing lists and spending insane amounts of time surfing around the internet looking for "things".  Half the time I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but it's an interesting process trying to work out what one 'needs' and what one 'wants' when welcoming a little person into your world for the first time.

One of my biggest wants was been an wall mural for the Bean's room.  We're planning on turning our currently (small) guest room into Bean's room, but are keeping the guest bed  in there so that we can still have people stay for the weekend. While the Bean is still small I figure s/he won't mind where s/he sleeps and giving up the room up for an aunty, grandparent or dear friend for a night or two won't be too much of a bother. Whether said guest will want to stay in a small apartment with a newborn is another question entirely. But I digress. The wall mural. You'd think finding a gender neutral, not too kitch and bilingual friendly wall mural wouldn't be too hard.  Ha! Guessed wrong. This task has kept me busy for far longer than I'll choose to admit and even had me thinking about designing my own English-German friendly alphabet mural myself.   That was until I stumbled across Rebecca Peragine's shop on Etsy and her website Children Inspire Design.

Rebecca creates all of her artwork from recycled magazines and prints her Number Wall Cards and Alphabet Poster in eleven languages - most of the European languages plus Chinese and Hebrew. I almost did a happy dance when I stumbled on her sight.

Her pictures are simple and cute but not too twee, I like the neutral colours and love the nature theme.  Now I just need to decide whether I should get the Alphabet in English and the Numbers in German, visa versa, the numbers in both languages... oh the possibilities are endless and will keep me nesting unproductively for a little while yet.  

If numbers, language and the alphabet aren't really your thing - Children Inspire Design also create some very cute nature and doll prints too!

Nest Doll Prints

Blog Break #1

While I'm on holidays I thought I'd do a few posts show-casing some of the wonderful Etsy photography and mixed-media/print sellers that are around the place.  First off, Anne Duflos from  the Etsy shop AnneSolfud. 

I'm a little bit smitten with Anne Duflos's work at the moment - she sells under the name of AnneSolfud on etsy and I love the way she plays with the line between painting and photography. 

Beautiful dreamy work to feed your Spring-time dreams this Monday!

All pictures are copyright of Anne Duflos.

MayaLee Photography

These photographs are from the very talented Swedish Photographer Lotte.  I won a giveaway on her blog a few weeks ago (I'm having a lucky streak, seriously) and the print that I ordered from her etsy store just arrived.  It also came with two additional postcards which are just as lovely as the original print.  I'm considering putting the two postcards in some Ikea frames and taking them to work for my office walls.    The other day a male colleague told me that I need some more "pretty things" in my office.  At the time I found this mildly amusing and a tad offensive, but on reflection I think he might be right. Anyway, Lotte has a beautiful blog where she posts pictures from around her home town in Sweden, as well as pictures from her portrait sessions.  If you're after some girly prettiness, check out her Etsy store. The prints are even better looking in your hand than on the screen.

Etsy
Blog

Photo Credits: MayaLee Photography

Pasando... and other stuff

Hello! And a special big hello to everyone who popped over yesterday from 'For the easily distracted'. I did a guest post for Rhianne yesterday but in the blur of yesterday's "busy-ness" forgot to tell you all about it.  If you missed it, you can read it here. Anyway, I had such a wonderful response to yesterday's post and now have a few new followers, so I can only assume that you are "Rhianne's friends".  Hello and welcome.

And... in other exciting news "that" forest photo has been picked in Simplicity's "top 5" photos for last weeks photography challenge. This was the first time I have entered anything in one of Faith's challenges, but I saw the theme ("Light") and it was too good an opportunity to pass up.  You can imagine I was totally bowled over when I saw it had been picked in Faith's top 5 for the week.  You can vote for my photo as your favourite here (I'm shameless).

But onto more important (or at least interesting) things.  Do you know Anika Toro?  She's a photographer and mixed-media artist and I'm a little bit smitten with her work.  I've been meaning to post about the cool 3D cards that I won in a giveaway she was having for ages, but I keep forgeting to take photos of them when it's light.  I've now given up on that idea and instead posting using her photos.  Her cards are really very cool though - you should check out her etsy store for 3D-cards and other nifty stuff.

One of the things that I really appreciate about Anika and her blog Pasando is that she is whole-heartedly believes the "whatever camera in your hand is a good camera" manifesto that I was raving on about here.  She is currently doing a 'creepy countdown' on her blog where all of her photos are taken using her phone camera and then manipulated using "something".  To be honest I have no idea how she creates her creepy images but they are pretty scary for someone with an over-active imagination. Perfect for this time of year!

For more of Anika you can find her at these places.

Etsy
Pasando blog
ACoLab

Photo credits: Anika Toro

Cowls keep your neck warm

I first arrived in Berlin in November.  It was cold and despite Matthias picking me up from the airport with my winter coat, I was woefully unprepared for the biting wind and damp.  I can remember looking at all these uber cool Berlin women walking around with oversized cowls that looked so toasty warm and knew that this is what I wanted, perhaps even needed, to keep away the  monotonous grey.  But despite my initial convictions, I never got around to buying or making one.  This year it's on the top of my list of "things to make for me".  Yesterday I went looking for a pattern, and although I didn't find exactly what I wanted, I reckon I'll be able to improvise using bits and pieces of these three;

Burberry Inspired Cowl - The Garter Girl

Mobius Cowl - Bernat Design Studio

Nelly Knits - Chucky Seeded Cowl

I also did some Etsy window shopping (who can resist).  I love colour of the first cowl and think the pockets in the second one are so clever; perfect while waiting for the train or bus when it's not quite cold enough for gloves, but your hands still get cold. 

 

  Little Birdie Design Studio - Etsy shop here

Antika Moda - Etsy shop here

Swak Designs - Etsy Shop here

I guess if I don't get around to knitting mine, I can always buy one on Etsy - the only problem would be choosing which one to buy.

Woolly Wreaths

 

Is it too early to be beginning to think about Christmas?  I know it is  still  three months away, but I've already started thinking Christmas.  I have an excuse, kind of, in that I'm going to be in Australia from mid-November to mid-December which means that when I get back from holidays it'll definitely be Christmas and I'd like to have everything ready so it won't be too stressful coming back to work and christmas and the cold. Besides, I like to plan and I love to make lists.  So I've started my hypothetical Christmas List, which involves making and creating many, many things that I realistically don't have time to make or create.  But one of the things on the top of the list  which  I've been wanting to make for a while is this; a woolly Christmas wreath.  This one is made by the ever-so-clever Katie Runnels over at The Constant Gatherer and she has a tutorial for making this wreath.  And I'm going to.  It's on the list.

etsy love

I've been stalking a few artists on Etsy today in search of inspiration, ideas and techniques for my next mixed-media piece.  So far I've been doing all my work using photoshop, but I love the way these three artists have combined photos, paint and digital manipulation to create some wonderful pieces.  I'm slowly starting to amass quite a large collection of bits and pieces of paper from paper swaps and flea market finds.  I think the next step is to buy a canvas, or a piece of wood, and try my hand at something like this.

 

Michele Maule

Velvet Morning

Bright Day

etsy love : belle and boo

Happy Monday!  I'm in Copenhagen having a long weekend, attending a wedding (yippee!) and generally having a delightful time.  Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some photos to share.  In the meantime, here's some etsy love for you.

A couple of days ago I was looking through etsy and I came across "Belle and Boo", a beautiful shop run by artists Mandy and Kate.  They currently work out of Mandy's flat in London and design prints, postcards and pillows (!) that are influenced by vintage children's books.  Many and Kate also have a really cute blog called Belle and Boo.  I'd love to get my hands on one of their prints, would be fantastic on the wall of a little person's room, or perhaps mine.  You're never too old, right?

Images from Belle and Boo

etsy love : ruffles and bows

I'm a bit obsessed with frills, ruffles and bows at the moment.  I'd love to be able to wear a cute summer dress with ruffles and bows, but sadly I think it would just look silly.  Or at least, I'd feel silly wearing them.  But on a bag?  On a bag, I could definitely do.  

All found on etsy.

by Bay an Hippo

by Peace lovn Polkadots

by Davie and Chiyo

by Bay an Hippo

etsy love

I thought I had well and truly left my crochet mojo behind with the potholders, but it seems that it's back.  You see, I've seen a few crochet "adorned" clothes popping up here and there in the shops this summer.  Every time I  see them, I hear a little voice in my head saying "You know, you could make something like that.  You could buy a plain t-shirt and crochet a few bits and pieces , sew it together and 'Prest-o'.  It - you - would look fabulous (darling). And everyone would ask you where you'd bought your t-shirt and you'd be able to say you made it. More fabulous-ness (sweetie)."  It's usually at this point that grumble-bum, negative Clare steps in and protests away loudly with disclaimers about it taking too long, not having enough time, it looking silly in the end etc etc etc.  Thankfully the celestial stars must be favouring my positive vibes because I've been checking out what's on Etsy.  I've even gone so far as to delve into my statsh and made a couple of little crochet circles. If I keep this up it's possible, maybe, I might have a t-shirt by the end of summer.

studio35

LaWood

Anais Viva

SamandSara

mixed media

I'm currently thinking about what my next 'creative' project will be and contemplating experimenting with mixed media.  It seems to be the perfect way to combine my love of paper, photography and vintage, as well as  sing up all the tiny bits and pieces of "things" that I tend to keep because I can't bare to throw them out.  There are so many great artists inspiring me at the moment, but here are two of my favourites.

Labokoff creates these stunning digitally patined photographs of Paris and the surrounding countryside.  She has an etsy store and website where she sells her prints.  I think these would look great as a set hanging framed on a wall somewhere.  There is such a poetic feel to all of her work and yet its somehow still very much grounded in this world. 

I also love this mixed media print by Liesl Pfeffer, also found on etsy.  Liesl is based in Australia but currently travelling around the states on holidays.  Check out her cute blog for more about her art and travels. I really, really like the print below - so much so I'm close to buying on as a belated birthday present to myself.

 What are your feelings on mixed media? Love it or loathe it? Any favourite artists?

maps galore

Ever since I was little I've been obsessed with maps.  I am terrible at reading them, but I love looking at them.  I especially love vintage maps, and everything vintage map inspired.   In my fantastical dream house, I'd have a library with an open fire and a big globe you could spin, plus half a dozen or so maps on the walls.  A-hem. When I dream, I dream big!  In the meantime I'll just oogle over these lovely etsy finds.

 Shannon Rankin makes these beautiful prints - vintage maps with embroidered thread.  Would look so lovely framed and sitting in someone's study/office.

Here's my confession for the day - my 20 year old self didn't really like Paris.  I remember feeling a little bit sheepish and embarrassed that unlike the rest of the world I didn't really "get it".  Glad to say that my 27 year old self loved it.   Armed with money, time and two lovely girl-friends we hired an apartment on I'sle de Paris and I discovered eveything there is to love about the city - coffee, cobbled stone streets, delicious crepes, art and stunning architecture at every turn.  Now I'd gladly wear this cute necklace by Carol of Rose Creek Cottage.  

My Mum bought Matthias some cufflinks for his birthday which are a little like these ones - only the places are towns near my parents' farm.  I smile everytime I see him wearing them - little pieces of 'home' travelling around the streets of Europe.  There are lots of them around on Etsy - these are by Sherry Truitt.

In case you want to document your travels, Oliver Jeffers has created this Map to World Domination where you can colour code where you've been, "headquarters" and your "next target".  Might be fun to have a competition with your nearest and dearest to see who has 'conquered' the most places on earth.  (found via exPress-o)

I think Handmade Romance has my favourite 'map' thing at the moment.  She's in the midst of planning, crafting and decorating for her wedding and as part of the decorations she's making Paper Heart Garlands from old Atlases.  Her and her partner got engaged overseas and other than looking great, it's a great reminder of all their travels together.  Probably incredibly time-consuming but the end result will, I'm sure, look fantastic.  Have you got any other favourites?

PS.  I'm travelling for the rest of the week and leaving my beloved Mac at home for my work computer (not a Mac).  Posts are planned but replies will be light on.  oxox