Peaches

Ooo what an awful few days at work...these floods have caused real havoc and it took me 2 hours to get home last night which is double the usual time...then this morning I had a horrible early start of 5.45am to make sure I got to work on time as all the trains were cancelled and I had to get a rotten coach instead! And then I get home tonight all tired and moody, only to find I've been sent a beautiful new friend from the lovely, generous Ladysnail.




Thanks Ladysnail! She will be a big sister to this cute keyring I got for Christmas.

Looking after Chip

This afternoon James and I went round to look after a very cute little bunny called Chip. He belongs to our good friends Kate and Si and is their new house rabbit. They're away in Paris for the weekend so we agreed to pop round to feed, water and entertain Chip. Do look at Kate's website by the way, she's a very good illustrator and she has a lovely hand writing style too. Even the note she left for us is done in her quirky, illustrated way.

Anyway, onto Chip. He was very difficult to photograph as you can see...
Leave me alone!

Didn't you hear me??

Ok, you can photograph me but I'm going to move.

You may be holding me but I can still turn my head away!

Mmmm...hay!

He was very well behaved at first and we let him out to run round the flat. I think all the attention Chip got made him over excited as he then had a mad pooing session and we had to put him back in his cage and quickly clean up so that Kate and Si won't suspect anything when they return! Shhh, don't tell them!

Happy New Year

A new year is like a blank canvas, just like these Russian dolls I got for my birthday. January is a great time to decide what you will change this year and to reflect on the past year. I don't make resolutions but I have decided that I need to make time for myself to do crafty, creative things in my spare time. I have lots of craft projects which I never got round to last year so I am going to make sure I do them this year, I MUST! I have want to make cushion covers, a sock monkey, a jewellery stand, recover my noticeboard and also do some illustrating.
My first project is to paint these brilliant Russian dolls. They are quite small- the smallest doll is about 3cm high (or should I say short)!

One of my Christmas presents was this beautiful book illustrated my Mary Blair and published in 1961. I love the illustrations which are quirky and stylised and yet I think they still look fresh and modern too. I love the sweet little song sheet at the back of the book!If you are interested, you can see some more of Mary's gorgeous work here. Mary was an American artist who did work for Walt Disney, working on Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. She also illustrated packaging and greetings cards. It's really lovely stuff so do look if you get the chance.

Vintage fair

Ooops! Is it really that long since I posted on my blog? Yes. Sorry. I'm always so busy with this full-time work malarkey and most nights by the time I'm home I just want to flop onto the sofa and drink cups of tea (always with biscuits.) But I've been meaning to blog about my finds at a vintage fair I went to about a month ago at Leeds Town Hall. It was great and I could've spent a lot of money so I had to restrain myself. There were lots of beautiful things there from bags to clothes to collectables and I did fall in love with a mirror compact that was £110. I didn't come home with that but I did get these:


A black glove box decorated with a painting of a bird and some flowers (I have a mild obsession with birds!) and a pretty mirror.
These aren't vintage but I thought they were cute:


And James bought this fully working retro phone:

Ladysnail strikes again

Look what the lovely Ladysnail sent me on Saturday! Along with a good luck card for my new job she gave me these fabulous momiji stickers. I love them! Anything Japanese sends me into a spin but these are extra special as they were a surprise from a lovely blogging friend. Do check out Ladysnail's blog and Etsy shop which sells cool toys and she has just added some handmade cards which are gorgeous. By the way Ladysnail, I have the Peaches doll so now she has her own sticker too! Thanks x

Take a sidestep to your right

Now, everyone has a list of blogs they like and always visit and that's fine. But it can all get rather incestuous with everyone having all the same blogs on their lists and so I thought it would be great to find a blog I've never read before and share it with you. Then you can discover new blogs and maybe introduce me to some too. It's taken just three clicks to find this blog. I clicked onto Monkee Maker's blog (which is really funny and one of my faves and definitely worth checking out if you want a laugh), then I chose to click on Little Cotton Rabbits, which led me to Little Thing's blog which is truly lovely.
Hope you think so too. Where will three clicks take you?

Somewhere over the rainbow

Well. My first week is over and I am loving my new job. Here are some reasons why:
1. Lovely people
2. Very interesting, exciting work
3. Lots of freedom to create
4. Money
5. 9- 4.30, yes, you read that right!

I haven't been this happy in months. I feel like I have finally found the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow.