Cuteness in pink and green

I finally succeeded in crocheting a ball shape, and it became this little cake. I also decided I needed something to keep my crochet hooks in, so I made this little green fellow, based on the pig ipod cozy I had seen on the Craft magazine website.

Little bluebirdie and friends

Inspired by some of the carved stamps I've been looking at on Flickr recently, I have been carving some eraser stamps of my own this weekend, including this little birdie.

Moo tin

I was keeping my eyes open for something to carry my new Moo cards in when I saw this little tin of mints in Harvey Nichols. It's the perfect size, and I've decorated it with one of my favourite origami papers.

Fruitigurumi!

I've just started trying to teach myself amigurumi and this little lime is the first attempt that's worth showing off. The last time I attempted crochet was when I was at primary school. I think I need a lot more practice, as I started out trying to make a ball shape and this is what resulted! If anyone knows of a good tutorial for someone starting amigurumi, let me know, as I think I need it!

Pas du plaisir du chocolat

Today was a pleasurable day, but a little disappointing. I'd decided that today would be the day I would buy myself chocolates from Plaisir du Chocolat, a little chocolaterie on the Royal Mile that I'd been meaning to go to for ages, but I found out yesterday when I tried to look at their website that they had recently closed down. So I treated myself to the above goodies from the Harvey Nichols food hall instead.

The main part of the day, however, was spent at the Edinburgh College of Art degree show. I felt a lot more inspired by this show than the Glasgow one, but perhaps I was too distracted by the Charles Rennie Mackintosh architecture of the Glasgow School of Art. One person whose work I made sure to check out was an old schoolfriend, Fiona McGarva, who was exhibiting her blown glass "spaceships", which were really cool. Fiona was there, and it was great to catch up with what she and some of the other people we were at school with had been up to.

Some of the other work I found inspiring was Celia Richards' sheet music with the notes cut out, which looked beautiful hanging in a window. I also loved a huge painting with buttons attached to the surface, which was by Japanese student Maki Hamada. I also enjoyed looking at all the work by those doing Illustration, in particular Laura Clark.

New banner

I decided to add a new banner to my blog, so I created a new collage specifically for it. Here's a closer look at part of it.

My moos!

I ordered some Moo cards, and they arrived a few days ago. I chose a few of my handmade cards and collages to go on them. They look so cool and the paper they are printed on has a really silky feel. Now I just have to remember to give them to people!

Kawaii Kutie

After spending the afternoon with Mum looking at other people's felt toy designs on Flickr, I came up with the idea for this doll and made it when I came home. It's a bit rough and ready, but it was really just an experiment and I will polish it up a bit more if I make more of them. The doll is double sided - one side happy and the other side sad. I've called her Kawaii Kutie - kawaii being the Japanese word for cute. She's pictured here with the owls Mum made for me.
The doll was based on this little design I did a month or two ago:

Glasgow School of Art

I visited the Glasgow School of Art degree show yesterday. It was great to finally get a chance to look around the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building, although I might go back sometime for one of the guided tours as I'm sure there were a lot of details I missed. There were some great views across Glasgow, and the light in the studios at the top of the building was amazing. The art which was on display was mostly from the Fine Art course. After looking around there I went across the road to another building where ceramics and illustrations were on display. Unfortunately I did not discover where the jewellery department was until after I came home!

Lychees, celery and Norwegian brown cheese

When I saw these lychees in the supermarket I knew they would be really interesting to draw. There was only one slight problem - lychees are one of the few foods that I don't like, the others being celery and Norwegian brown cheese. I had only tasted lychees once, about 20 years ago, when I was in the Guides and we had an international evening with foods from around the world. After tasting those tinned lychees, I swore I would never eat them again. But these fresh lychees were so beautiful that I decided I would give them a second chance. It turns out that they are not at all unpleasant to eat! Maybe I will give celery another chance. And if I ever go back to Norway I might try the brown cheese again too.

Frothy green tea

A few days ago I received an order from Mount Fuji, an online Japanese food store, including a bento box (which is far too beautiful to use as my everyday lunchbox) and some matcha green tea powder. Tonight I made a bowl of lovely frothy green tea, and some little marzipan flowers to eat with it.

We're a Crafty family!

These owls were made by my mum, from these instructions by Moonstitches after seeing them on the Craft magazine website.

My brother had told us about Craft magazine about six weeks ago, I subscribed immediately, and my first copy arrived today. I've recently been a bit unenthusiastic about buying magazines in general, because they often seem to have very little real content, and the articles seem to have been written with only the purpose of filling up space in the magazine. But Craft is such a refreshing change. It is filled to overflowing with not just pretty pictures but with a lot of informative articles. Each and every page is full of inspiration, and now I want to make cute kitties, start a collection of Blythe dolls, investigate the workings of my sewing machine, make finger puppets with glowing cheeks, and much more. Craft also has a brilliant website, which kept me well occupied while Mum got her turn at reading the mag.

Lucky bell

This was drawn for Everyday Matters challenge #123 - Draw a bell. This tiny little lucky bell which I got free at Mount Fuji hangs above a mirror in my bedroom. Everyone in the tour group got a bell and for the rest of the holiday they jingled about hanging from our bags. This was a lot more difficult to draw than I thought it would be.

Turtlemania!

I didn't realise until recently that I have built up a little collection of tortoises ... or are they turtles? Except the three matching ones at the front which I bought in Japan last year, they date from my early childhood. The green/yellow/orange pair are going to live in my kitchen from now on, where I have a little shelf that is my corner of kitsch! The blue one, along with a matching red one for my brother, was knitted by my mum.

Hot and Spicy

These little chillies were almost too pretty to cook with! So I decided to draw them first.

Contrasts in Asian Cinema

This weekend I've been watching two DVDs from the Tartan Asia label, which could not have been more different from each other.

First I watched "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter,... and Spring", a Korean story of a Buddhist monk and his young apprentice. I had never heard of this film before, and was attracted to it by its title, which almost sounded like a haiku, and by the stunning scenery in the photograph on the cover. The film was every bit as beatiful and serene as its cover. The action all takes place around a tiny monastery floating on a calm lake, surrounded by mountains. There is very little dialogue in the film, letting the pictures speak for themselves, so I think it would be a good film for people who haven't watched a lot of foreign language cinema.

At the completely opposite end of the spectrum was the all-singing, all-dancing zombie horror family comedy "The Happiness of the Katakuris". This was the craziest, weirdest, most indescribable film I have ever seen! I like films that are a bit out of the ordinary, and this film certainly could not be described as ordinary. I loved all the characters, and the song and dance routines were just crazy! In a strange way some elements of the film somehow reminded me of my favourite film "Amelie", although this was a very different film. I think this is the sort of film that people either love or hate.