finds from the weekend

On saturday I went for a wander around Brighton with a few friends and ended up picking up a variety of treats (mostly unnecessary but delightful items). Here are the highlights:

some flowers to decorate derek's my bike with


an inflatable chicken for the kitchen
don't ask what possessed me to buy this - i like the bright colours though.


a floral patch to decorate some clothing
i bought a mens cardigan from primark for £6 (i figure BIG cardigans are in at the moment) and i thought i could add some flowers. these yellow ones are especially lovely.


a new dress


and last, but definitely not least my new pigeon hat


how amazing is this??? I found it in snoopers paradise for £2. of course it's not meant to be a hat, it's a hunting decoy, but i think this is a much friendlier use for it. I've put up a picture of me modeling it here.
I bet you are all very jealous, no?

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lunch

last wednesday i had my lunch in the park and practiced drawing with my left hand.
i think i'll try to do it more often.

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i like sitting down

all in a row

For a project I am working on at university.

today i feel slow (like a snail)

book fair

Just an update to let you know how I got on at the recent Press & Release artists book fair in Brighton. I held a stall there with a group of friends from my MA course so we had quite a wide selection of books & ephemera for sale which I think was a good plan. I made some books & cards & stickers:


I wasn't sure how popular the fair was going to be, or what kind of crowd it was going to attract, so I went down the small & inexpensive pathway (as there are oh so many students in Brighton) and I did quite well. I managed to sell quite a lot of items and I even sold one of my books to a representative from the Tate library. This means that in a few weeks time my book will have been catalogued and will be part of the Tate Artists' books collection. Exciting news!

The books I made were based around the topic of collective terms for animals as I found a lot of the names were quite interesting & often a bit bizarre (e.g. a parcel of penguins). I created 4 different mini-books - jellyfish, magpies, snails & mallards - all using a variety of illustration techniques, and I packaged them up with a gift card & some stickers. Here are some spreads from the books:


I think this is a series I'm going to try and add to over time as I really enjoyed illustrating the animals and there are a lot more interesting collective terms to explore. In fact a lot of people didn't believe that they were real terms and thought I'd made them up.

Now I'm considering listing some of the left over items from the book fair in my etsy shop, but I'm not sure how well they would sell on etsy - any opinions? Thanks in advance.

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i saw three ships...

i collect shopping lists

Since moving to Brighton I have started picking up shopping lists whenever I spot them on the floor at Sainsbury's, or anywhere else around town. I've now accumulated quite a collection and I am planning to create a mini-project about them (or using them) at some point.

They are really rather interesting objects and it's nice to notice the differences between a very neat & organised list and the ones that are a lot more messy and confusing. I also love the different scraps of paper that people choose to write their lists on.

So, I just thought I'd tell you all about my project in case any of you happen to find any lists while you're out and about. I've already had a couple of friends bring my back lists from other parts of the country and I am looking to make my collection a lot BIGGER.

So if you do find any and you fancy contributing then drop me an e-mail or leave a comment - i'd greatly appreciate it.

super!
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things that i find pleasing

this AMAZING cuckoo clock my dad brought back from switzerland for me:


flowers on my wall:


RSPB charity badges:


lucky finds in the open market:


I found this cardigan for £2. It needed a bit of fixing up as the sleeves were very wide, but I've put some elastic in now and it's looking much better. Perfect for keeping warm at an evening barbecue on the beach.
and finally...a JELLYFISH costume for my end of year party (here are some sneak peeks):




I'd just like to thank jane asher!

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a book fair

Not many posts of late I know - the weather has tempted me away from the computer and I've been having a very pleasant time in the sun. There is a lot going on in Brighton at the moment with the Festival and the Festival Fringe, and today The Great Escape begins - I'm off to pick up my wristband in a short while and am quite quite excited. I'm going to see iron & wine tonight!!!

So I'm afraid there won't be much from me over the next few days. I'm also quite busy making books as I am taking part in this wonderful book fair next weekend:


It's at the Phoenix Arts Centre in Brighton so if you are in the area please pop along. I've got a stall with some talented folks from my MA course and the book fair accompanies a book arts exhibition which is on at the centre all month - definitely worth a peek I'd say!

So, yes - I'm going to get back to work now...busy, busy. Here's a sneak peek of some things I'm working on though:


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one week later

I just realised I haven't posted anything since last Monday so apologies for that. I've just had a rather pleasant weekend which included the 1st barbecue of the summer on saturday and a lot of watching one foot in the grave on dvd. (probably not everyone's idea of a good night in but we enjoyed it thoroughly!).

I forgot to take my camera out to the barbecue so don't have any summery photos to share yet, but now we've had the first I'm sure there are many more to come...

...in the meantime here are some bits & pieces from last week.

some peas in a pod I knitted a while ago.

a new basket i bought from a flea market.

some little animal heads i cut out of some wrapping paper. I think they might come in handy for decorating cards and presents.

And here are some more wreck this journal bits & bobs:


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pottery painting

Last week I went pottery painting for a friend's birthday and I just got my finished plate back.
It's not perfect but it came out better than my last pottery painting attempt and I'm quite looking forward to eating cheese and biscuits off it - yum yum yum.

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wreck it

more photos
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ring ring

I'm going to visit brighton museum today. They have an exhibition on showcasing the little black dress through the ages - it sounds rather nice.
Hopefully I'll have some photos to share later on.

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more wrecking

see my progress through the book so far in my flickr set

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blog header

i just can't decide on what i want as a header for my blog at the moment....i seem to want to change it every few minutes.

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sushi go round

It was my friend Sam's birthday last friday and he is a big sushi nut so I got out my knitting needles and made him a plate of food he can keep for ever (or discard if he wishes of course).

Unfortunately the pattern I used last time I made sushi is no longer available so I had to improvise. I think it all worked out quite well though!



photographs courtesy of sam.

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fruit cocktail

spell it out

here are some more additions to my etsy store (i think i'm getting carried away).


I'm selling these scrabble magnets on their own & in sets of 3. I think they make nice little extras for birthday presents and such like - I already sent some out as part of my pay it forward packages last week.

I've had a few sales on etsy so far (the dominoes are selling well) and am currently trying to build up the number of items in my store - so there will probably be more to come soon!

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stuffed animals & skeletons

some photos from my trip to the booth museum: