Spring Fling

Empathetic Eyes Crew Sweatsh... ruffeoheartsli... $150	Weather Pattern Leggings Hiyakee $18	Pink and grey happy and angr... ruthbroadway $35	DOG quote poster 2 -DOG post... nicemiceforyou $20
stride goldlion $10	Felt Garland - Bright Geomet... littlenestbox $30	Geometrical cushion decorati... HomeLivingIdea... $35.4	Contemporary Stained Glass S... TheRoundWindow $27
Yellow, Pink and Mint Leathe... SmArtAnna $42	Monochrome Postcard Set 2 seventytree $5	Composition 2 Print jaimederringer $25	tote bag 'graphic flower... jenielsen $14.95
little teardrop cup gemmafarrellce... $18	Tiger Tiger - A4 Print ThePocketMoney... $10	9" dia x 7" high &... MintprintStore $53	Vintage 80s 90s Caboodles Ca... twinheartsvint... $48

I still like to make the occasional Etsy treasury. I find it strangely relaxing, and it's nice to dig out some items that have been lurking in my favourites for a while. This time I broke the rules and put some of my own stuff in, mainly because I was running out of pink, yellow and turquoise things.

Little Green Men (and women).

It's good to see I'm not the only person who gets excited about the little differences between countries when travelling.

Maya Barkai's Walking Men Worldwide project is a collection of pictograms of the green "WALK" person from around the world.

It's fun to play spot the cultural differences.  Some are rushing impatiently to get across the road, while others are sashaying elegantly, with all the time in the world. Some have graceful posture and fabulous outfits, others are boxy and clumsy. A handful of them are women (hello there jaunty Miss Amersfoot from The Netherlands).  I'm not even sure what Andorra's is.

More of Maya Barkai's work can be seen here.

Can't Get Enough Of (#3)... Les Glass

For various reasons, fused glass objects and panels rarely appeal to me.  But these spoons by Australian glass artist Les Kendall are delicious.  I love their wobbliness, juicy colours and geometric patterns.  I want to hear the chink of glass on ceramic as I stir my coffee, and feel the cold smoothness of the glass in my hand.

Amsterdam

A few pictures from our weekend in beautiful Amsterdam.  

The most perfect city for walking and eating a huge bowl of pea and ham soup and drinking a cold beer and walking some more and poking around in funny little shops and then maybe a coffee and some cake and a bit more walking. 

First time away from the kids for a whole weekend, meanwhile they had a brilliant time with my super lovely sister and family.

Flying: Flybe from Exeter

Staying: Lloyd Hotel

Eating: Lion Noir, Kantjil

Made By Node - Limited Edition Rugs at The Design Museum

Rug designed by Chamo

I'd love to see this - a collection of rugs designed by some of my favourite artists and produced by Node, a company set up by illustrator Chris Haughton and Akshay Sthapit (an entrepreneur based in Kathmandu).  Their aim is to connect designers and artists with traditional Nepalese carpet makers to produce stunning contemporary hand-knotted rugs.  Their rug makers are founder members of Fair Trade Nepal.  In addition to ensuring fair wages, employees are taught literacy and skills, and their work supports a school and an orphanage.

The collection is being launched at The Design Museum, London on the 5th March.  The artists involved are:

Beatrice Alemagna | Sanna Annukka | Lesley Barnes | Petra Borner | Chamo | Benji Davies | Chris Haughton | Clayton Junior | Jon Klassen | Micah Lidberg | Joe Magee | Geoff McFetridge | Neasden Control Centre | Patternity | Craig Robinson | Serge Seidlitz | Marcroy Smith | Kevin Waldron | Donna Wilson

Further details can be found on the Node website, along with some amazing images of the rugs in production on the looms in Nepal. 

Recreating Locations

Last night, we saw out 2012 by watching Moonrise Kingdom.  I absolutely loved it.

Today, we saw in 2013 by driving over to the Isle of Portland - it's about as close as you could get to New Penzance Island in the UK... with its stripey lighthouse and secret coves.

Wish we'd brought a record player though.



*map of Portland from here.

*stills from Moonrise Kingdom from here and here.

Contemporary Stained Glass Cactus/Succulents

Just finished making this set of 3 little plants in their pots.  They originated from a page of cactus / succulents doodling I did a while ago, but then I cut my hand doing a repair job and couldn't finish making them.

So it feels good to get them listed finally, and now I can move forward with my next new design which has also been hanging around on the back burner for ages.  More of that soon.

Some other nice plant-y things....

from here

from here

from here

I'm also really enjoying Little Green Shed Lou's Nature in the Home series - have you seen it?

Simple Things

Handmade Striped Apple ... rhubarbandappl... $21.00	Happy Snow Ball Doll furzechan $35.00	Four Blocks 1 - print mrseliotbooks $14.50	Happy Poison Bottle HermanMarie $35.00
Cafe Apron - Oyster Lin... STUDIOPATRO $68.00	grey feathers - an orig... cathycullis $22.00	Hand Printed Linen Cush... hellomilky $40.00	house on the rock - wo... mywhiteroom $15.00
Wooden geometric Neckl... JullMade $19.00	Vintage enamel number s... CuteOldThings $11.00	organic baby bib (city) downhomeamy $20.00	Sea Scallop Envelope Cl... romawinkel $32.00
Striped Ceramic Pot - S... VanessaBullick $34.00	Making Art 2 - SET of f... folklorelove $12.00	Girl bonnet, winter hoo... arch190 $19.20	Happiness Stitch-A-Smil... thesmallobject $8.00

Some recent favourites on Etsy.