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...

Swallows and cameos

Some brooches that I made on Friday. Cabochons, cameos, and a feather like the one I made for the Flowerpress brooch swap. Broochmaking is quite addictive!

Runner duck notebook

After I drew my runner duck the other day, I couldn't resist making myself a little runner duck notebook. It's just a cheap notebook from the supermarket covered with the image, photocopied, and a bit of duraseal. 'Scuse my messy durasealing, I'm a bit out of practice!

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!

Sardines

Although I'm not a piscivore, I really love looking at the cans that tinned fish comes in. The colours, the writing, the pictures of the fish - taking photos of them has often been known to slow down my grocery shopping.


I think it'd make great fabric, don't you?

Swapped

I posted off my brooch for the Flowerpress brooch swap the other day and here are a couple of pictures of it:

That stuff behind it is a gocco-printed card it's attached to.

Here it is in action, modelled by Mr. Millicent Crow.

It's a screenprint on calico, backed with a piece of recycled wool felt. I've got a similar one myself, with a swallow on it, I might have to make myself a feather one too! You can see other people's brooches for the brooch swap here, they're lovely.

Thanks again for organising the swap, Susie!

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!

Today

Today, wearing my polka dot stockings...
I posted the brooch I made for the Flowerpress brooch swap off to Australia...

Safe travels, little brooch!

Hands up

If you're one of those people who hates finding single gloves on the ground you might want to avert your eyes for a minute...

These are mostly from our trip to Melbourne a few months ago.

I love these eerie disembodied hands...they were in a shop window in Prahran

This one above's closer to home - at the Shaky Isles on Customs St, where we had lunch today and watched the world go by in the rain...

And we spotted these in the St. Kilda Community Gardens. They're a bit spooky too!

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!

Around the neighbourhood

Around the neighbourhood

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!