Leaflike

You're probably thoroughly sick of photos of rubbish, but here's one more mattress photo...I couldn't resist jumping out of the car to photograph it.  

The swooshy patterns looked just like the leaves on the gingko tree across the road from it:

 Now I need to work out what to do with all these mattress photos.  I'm hoping to make some more cards like the ones in this post, maybe postcards this time...

My Creative Space: My foxy valentine

 

I've been playing around some more with my fox heart drawing.  I've painted the foxes with watercolour, put it on a background and I'm experimenting with some hand-drawn text, typed text and different messages.  I should really hurry up and get it printed! 

 

  I'm thinking about turning the foxes into a fabric design too...I've got Heather Ross Prints out from the library and it has a great looking tutorial for turning drawings into fabric designs in Photoshop.  Some op shop finds today have got me itching to do some sewing too!

How about you, what have you been making?

Joining in with My Creative Space today over here. 

Happy Thursday!

Blueish

When I got home from the Auckland Art & Craft Fair on Saturday night I felt strange not having to frantically print and turn my house into a crazy production line. So I got out my rubber stamps and some offcuts of card and made these little gift tag cards. They kind of match some of the other blueish things I've been photographing lately...

Oh and I'll be stallholdin' at the St. Heliers Bay Christmas Market this Sunday. It's from 10-3 at the Tamaki Ex-Services Association Hall, on the corner of Turua St. and Polygon Rd. Pop in and say hi if you're in the neighbourhood!

Bird watching

This is a treasure I've carted around through moving house many times...I can't remember where I got it, maybe the dearly departed Rainbow op shop. It's a little pack of cards for identifying birds, with beautiful watercolours and descriptions on the backs:

Aren't they gorgeous?

I really like the idea of slipping these into your pocket if you're going out birdwatching. The packet says the series also has wild flowers, British wild animals, and dogs. Now doesn't the idea of carrying around cards for identifying dogs seem creepier somehow?

Prints in the shops

Just a note to say I've stocked up my Felt and Etsy shops with my new "A Little Bird" series of cards today...
...and Kate from Dash Robin designs is having a very generous giveaway of a custom-made bird brooch. I do believe it closes today so pop over there if you'd like to enter!

My creative space, the biggest embroidery hoop I've ever seen, and a winner.

My creative space today is more of a potential creative space. Yesterday, on an epic op-shopping trip, I found the biggest embroidery hoop I've ever seen! Here it is, looking bigger than the house!

The ladies in the St. Vinnies were all excited that I might use it to do a giant embroidery. I disappointed them by saying that I'm going to do a big screenprint on calico and use the hoop to display it.

Thank you for all your comments on my giveaway post - I had fun reading about your collections! Today I closed my eyes and drew a winner:

Congratulations Melissa, you've won a pack of my 'A Little Bird' cards! Send me your address to millicentcrow (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll pop those in the post for you.

To see other people's creative spaces take a look over here...

My creative space, a runner duck, a giveaway

Have you ever read Duck, Death and the Tulip? It's a beautiful but slightly disturbing kids' book, featuring my favourite kind of duck, an Indian Runner. These ducks have been described as "a wine bottle on legs", "the closest thing to a penguin" and "a bowling pin." I decided to have a go at drawing one this week and here it is:

Which reminds me, I've still got a crazy-coloured duck skirt that's way too small for me that I need to do something with. I'm getting a bit of a collection of skirts that need to be turned into other things!

I picked up my new "A Little Bird" series of greeting cards from the printers on Monday and I thought I'd have a bit of a giveaway. I've got a pack of these cards up for grabs (one of each of the designs pictured below) and I'll post them anywhere in the world. If you'd like to go in the draw, all you need to do is leave me a comment telling me something that you collect. Me? Green china that looks like it's made of leaves, green cardigans, royal memorabilia, Crown Lynn swans, old photos...
I'll draw a winner next Thursday evening.

To see other people's creative spaces take a look over here.

Happy Thursday!

My creative space

In my creative space today I've got some finished bird ladies, all ready to be sent off to the printers and made into greeting cards. They're the ones I was working on here and here. There was another one, looking all pirate-like with a parrot on her shoulder, but I decided that she looked too belligerent to be on a greeting card. I couldn't decide what kind of occasion she'd be appropriate for!

Right now I've got the proofs from the printers sitting beside me, exciting!

To see more creative spaces, take a look over here, at the "our creative spaces" blog.

Happy Thursday!

My creative space

Another week, another bird woman, with a crow this time. I'm working on a few of these at the moment and I'm going to make them into cards, collaged with old fabric. I was really excited to find this fabric on an old mattress in the inorganic rubbish collection over the weekend, and ended up with *ahem* 74 photos of it. And a little strip of the fabric. Just in case!
To see other people's creative spaces take a look over here.

Happy Thursday to you!

My creative space

When I lived in Wellington, I would always see a guy walking around with a little blue budgie snuggled onto his shoulder. It always looked like it was whispering secrets in his ear.

I drew this kind of old-fashioned version last night - I'm going to cut out this old-fashioned lady, and her budgie...
...collage them onto one of these floral fabrics (some of which I photographed from old mattresses in the inorganic rubbish collection)
...and make her into a greeting card. She's got a few sisters too; I think one of them is going to have a crow on her shoulder, another a macaw and another a sparrow.

To see other people's creative spaces take a look over here.

Happy Thursday!

Smiling Victorians giveaway

I've listed some of my Smiling Victorians cards in my Felt shop today and I thought I'd have a little giveaway so someone can win a pack of them too. The pack has one of each of the cards pictured and the cards are blank inside. I'll post anywhere in the world and to enter you just need to leave me a comment telling me one thing that made you smile in 2010. I'll draw a winner on the evening of Xmas eve. Good luck!