The Alice Experience

Spring inspired, I have been busy drawing and printing some new cards for the shops.

I came up with a birthday card for my brother, and this dream big card for my sister who is trying to get her book published at the mo.

We also took advantage of the national trust free day this weekend

and went along to see Antony house in Cornwall.
They recently filmed the new Johnny Depp film, Alice in Wonderland here and i have been dying to go and have a sneak peek at the goings on there.

There was a mad hatters tea party going on, croquet on the lawns

and whimsical mushrooms, topiary tea cups and butterflies scattered around the beautiful grounds.

There was also some amazing gnarly ancient trees which have been there since 1721 when the house was first built.

Ill leave you with my crafty Exploits for the week.

Meet another whimsical character of mine not quite as cute as the white rabbit but possible looking as mad as the hatter.


I also made a baby sleeping bag for a customer order out of this great Ikea fabric.

Its so cute and cosy I would like an adult size one.
I am sad to say that i have nearly ran out of this fabric so alass it is not to be, boo hoo.

A bit of inspiration

I found myself going through some old sketch books of mine, I'm glad i did keep them

after all.

They nearly went out in the trash on a recent clear out.

You can't keep every idea you ever had, you would need a whole library.

I have two projects on my mind at the moment.

I want to make some adult size summer dresses for the shop
and i want to get back to this kids book idea i had last summer.

The clothes were the reason for going back through my old sketch books

and the kids story book is the reason for the next picture.

aren't the illustrations great.

They came out of the book "The Opposite" by Tom Macrae and Elena Odriozola.

If my books illustrations are half as good I will be happy.

The plan so far is to use finleys pictures as inspiration.

He keeps drawing these funny creatures which he calls Flum Flums.

and apparently they like socks.

Lets see were this crazy plan takes me.

And look were i found Merry whilst going through this inspirational burst.

I thought she had been quiet, i looked round and she had gone into the kitchen.

So after following her through discovered her at the sink ( which was full )

She had put loads of things in dish water.

Look at the guilt on her face!

happy house day

Shark.

bees, flowers, bird and car.

We have all done a spot of drawing today, including little Merry.

I scanned in Finley's pictures and he coloured them in on the computer.
That kept him amused for hours while i cleared some room in the garden for some frog Spahn.

I hand drew some peacocks and other pictures on some shrink plastic to make up more jewelry to sell.

We have all been quite constructive today. I love the days in after a hectic weekend when the kids are happy I'm getting stuff done and the sun is shining.

ahhhhhh peace rains down.

I have also been making tea cosies for another shop along with

Quilted coasters and cushions, dropping them in this week to the shop

fingers crossed they sell.

wonderful wales

We have just come back from wales and soaked ourselves in the culture and art of all things Celtic. visited an old roman baths and amphitheatre and stopped in Cardiff museum to look at the dinosaurs.

The museum is the one things i miss the most about living in Cardiff. it is massive, amazing and inspirational and all for free. I pretty much lived in there whilst on my degree.

After refreshing my senses in wales It was back to Cornwall.
I did start on some stock and made a few kids clothes then went into

my bleak winter beaten garden to look for signs of green life.

Not much green but plenty of brown sludge and dead stuff, what a state.

I pulled up the last of the vegetables and thought about this years crop, fancy doing some interesting veg this time like pink beans and purple carrots.

There is nothing like a veg patch stew to warm the cockles.

Starting the new year

Its taken me ages to get to grips with the start of the year.
I'm usually bursting with ideas and crazy unrealistic ambitions by now.

But i still feel the urge to hibernate.

I think all the snow has thrown me off course.

Still not de-frosted.

I have been drawing a little, as my art cards are doing well in the

shops. Unfortunately no great bursts of inspiration as yet.

cupcakes and cornish coast

My friends little girl had a 4th birthday party the other week

and as she loves dressing up and having toy tea parties. I thought

I would make her some little cakes and a cute apron.

I had some cath kidston remnets left from some cusions ,made for one

of the shops (Adorn in saltash) .

so I used this to trim the apron and painted up a wooden box for a tray.

I was quite pleased with the end result, might make some for my shop?

A break in the weather also allowed us to have a day at the beach, my favourite place

to be in cornwall in winter.

The beaches are dead and the sea can be dramatic and beautiful this time of year.

I love going to watch the hugh swells that come with the season.

Although the sea was relativly calm the treturus walk down to boiler bay was

a tad scary.

The cliff is a sheer drop at some points and the scrabble down was very dodge but

fun.

I have also been clearing out this month ready for christmas.

I seem to hoard so much stuff it just bursts out the boxes and

litterally has broken my shelf through sheer weight.

I decided enough was enough and started putting together these "create something" packs.

I have already sold three on my etsy shop so think it was a good idea however you can guess

what the money is going on, catch 22 i think?