My favourite artist is...

 ...the one and only Rob Ryan. I first came across his work at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park back in 2009 where he had a special exhibition.


 I instantly fell in love with his amazing paper cuts and beautiful verses.

There were only a few Rob Ryan products around when I first came across his work but now there's lots! There is a lovely range of greetings cards available now so I bought some and framed them in the lounge.

I have a collection of Rob's books too. I often look through them first thing on a morning and find something meaningful and inspiring for the day. 

In 2011 we had a lovely trip to London and went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition which is an annual event which I absolutely love! Rob had some of work was displayed there too.

I could just admiringly stare at them all day!

We also visited his shop on Colombia Road in London...

...it was a Sunday and the most amazing flower market was there. 

It was so pretty and I can still sniff them now ;-)

Never forget: Everything is going to be OK. 

xoxo

Made It Flaunt It!

I have a big obsession and love for making things. I have a few favourite crafts (although I like almost anything) and these include scrap booking, card making and Decopatch. However my biggest hobby has been making decorative and magnetic pegs sets. I've been making these for well over a year now and they have been very popular. I sell them on Etsy - please take a look if you're a Cath Kidston and / or Liberty fan! Also for the whole of May a set of my magnetic pegs are showcased on Made It-Flaunt It with a link to my shop! 

The one craft essential that I couldn't live without would have to be washi tape! However there is a limited supply of it in England so I usually buy from sellers in Japan or America. I'm starting to panic because I'm running very low! I have a question for you, what's your favourite craft essential and why? 

It's May!

You know what that means...! It's 30 days until my 30th birthday party which is going to have a Great British theme in line with the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. There will be lots of street parties up and down the country. My party is going to be in my garden and I still have a lot to organise but I'm excited anyway. These salt dough decorations were kindly made for me and will be hanging from some trees and scattered around! 

Oh I promised I would upload pictures of the chair that I got from a charity shop for £3. It took me several weeks on/off to Decopatch it but I got there in the end! 

The back side! It was quite relaxing to do as it's such an easy (and addictive!) craft. 

 I added the papers to it section by section until I was happy that I'd done enough. It's now in my craft room next to my table with the vintage typewriter on. 

Also! Thank you to Rusty and Kendra for the mail. I enjoyed reading it this morn and wrote back straight away. Happy days xoxo

A bit of this and a bit of that

Well the Easter holidays are drawing to an end and I've started preparing more lessons! I think this next half term is going to be very busy, you know when you have a feeling... Anyway, I'll show you some things I've been doing and making recently...The books that I requested from the library are arriving slowly but surely. I need to make some of these hehee! Funny little things!

 Last time I was writing to my pen pals I realised that I was running short on my selection of papers and cards. I decided to make a new batch for next time! I enjoyed making things different to what I normally do. These french pictures came on an A4 sheet for 25p - there were 15 in total, what a lovely bargain!

 I also used a sheet of Chinese pictures which are printed on really good quality vellum. Again, these were 25p for a big sheet! As you can see I love washi tape, it's my favourite most used crafty bit ever and I'm running low on it. Boo!

 I took a photo whilst I was sat under a blossom tree the other week. My friend asked for a copy (which I'm going to frame for her) and I've made her some cards with the photo on too.

The photo...

Have you heard of Moo? They make lots of personalised items with photos on. I managed to get a freebie of business cards. It's nice to have some cards with pictures of my makes on because it makes it more individual. I can 'refer a friend' if you'd like to get some special offers...just let me know!

 Pen pals! You've been asking about what books I like and am reading currently. Well! I got given a voucher this week so I got these four books. Sophie Kinsella is my favourite fiction author, I especially loved the shopaholic series. Turns out Sophie now also writes under the name of Madeleine Wickham so it's opened up a brand new selection of books!

 This is my post office bag! This was it full to the brim of all your letters to send! They're on their way gang!