A flock of owls

Recent birthday cards, made from a template by Craftwork Cards.

Birdie paintings

When I got my blue birdies, I knew I had to paint them! For a long time I have admired the paintings of Carol Gillott, and the blue birdies reminded me of some of her watercolours - wish my paintings were half as good as hers, though! I've started a new large watercolour Moleskine with these paintings, and I may fill the whole thing with paintings of the birds from different angles!

Birthday birdies and more

Here are some of the great things I got for my birthday on Thursday. Harajuku Lovers perfume (I think this is the cutest one of the lot, good choice Mum!), Ikea bowls, a card from my old friend Jane (who also just had a birthday), two wonderful little blue birdies by Lomonosov, and a wonderful blue birdie card made by Mum (I think this is her best card yet!).

Twenty years later

I had so much fun last night with my high school friends Angela, Lee, Pamela, Tracy and Katrina. Katrina is the only one I have seen since we left school 20 years ago! We met up again through Facebook, and we are hoping to organise a reunion for later in the year.

Laptop bag

I decided to make myself a laptop bag - but something a bit different from the usual boring black laptop bag. I'm pleased with how it has turned out. There's only one minor problem - the zip won't close when the laptop is inside! But I'm not too worried about that.

Spring display

This is a little spring display I've been working on, and to which I may add some painted wooden eggs if I get round to doing them. The tree I bought at Ikea to use as a Christmas tree, but I knew it would look good at any time of the year. Under the tree are my two Unazukin dolls, my snowdrop design Wemyss cat, my Wemyss rabbit, and a little tiny rabbit that is one of my "Easter animals" - a collection of little china animals I was given as a child.

Decorated clips

A very quick and easy project - binder clips decorated with paper and coated with Mod Podge. I would have made more if I'd had more clips.

Cute stuff

Some cute stuff I bought today: desk calendar, bento box, tea towels, charm from a Chinese supermarket, wrapping paper. I had been looking for a slightly bigger bento box for ages, and this one was perfect (and seriously cute!).

Japanese craft magazines

I've wanted to buy some Japanese craft magazines for a long time, after seeing pictures of them online, and finally got round to doing so. I challenged myself to buy them from Amazon's Japanese site (although with the price of postage it's not something I'll be doing often). I found a tutorial that guided me through the process of creating an account on the site, and after that everything was quite easy (the checkout process is mainly in English).

The magazines are beautiful to look at and full of great ideas, and many of the instructions consist of diagrams. I'm not sure whether or not I will use the patterns or just use the magazines for inspiration. I'm having fun trying to read the katakana (the characters used to transcribe foreign, usually English, words).

Birdies reduction print

After the lino prints I did recently, I was keen to try a reduction print. But before trying it on a larger scale with lino, I decided to do a small scale eraser carving to try out the technique. This is about two inches square.

First I carved the moon, which I wanted to remain white, then printed with a beige colour (I used rubber stamping inks). On this print, my favourite, by chance the centre area also remained white, which I think frames the birds very well. Next I carved out the whole of the sky, and printed in brown. I then carved away everything except the birds and the water, and printed with turquoise. Finally I carved everything else away to leave just some waves and the wings of the birds, and printed in dark blue.

Warrior woman continued

I've had a few problems with this drawing of a woman making miniature terracotta warriors. I've found her half-shut eyes difficult to draw, and I got a bit carried away with her hair and carried on into the area of her hand and sleeve.

My first lino prints

This was my first attempt at lino printing. I had everything I needed except the lino, so I got a couple of small pieces last week and made these at the weekend. It was a lot easier (and less messy) than I had expected, and now I have lots of ideas in mind for when I get more lino.

Blue birdie tin

Kschocolat in Glasgow were selling their orangettes off cheap. After I finished them (they were delicious) I decorated the tin.

Hobbycrafts and Creative Stitches

On Thursday I went to the Hobbycrafts and Creative Stitches craft fair at the SECC in Glasgow, and here's what I bought - lovely papers and fabrics, pens, glue, a template (I'm not showing what it looks like because it may be getting used for some cards later this month) and some very reasonably priced wooden eggs (just 40p each). I'm making a little spring display at home, and the eggs will form part of that once I've decorated them.

Although I enjoyed the fair and bought plenty of stuff, I feel it could have been so much better if there had been more of a variety of crafts represented, and I think the retailers should be thinking of how they can attract a younger audience (who perhaps have less time for crafts but more disposable income). The majority of people attending the show were middle aged to older women, which is not surprising given the traditional lean of the crafts represented. About 90% of the Hobbycrafts hall was devoted to card making / scrapbooking / decoupage. While these are crafts that do interest me, I would also have liked to see other crafts, for example polymer clay. I also think there could be some more masculine crafts, such as those incorporating technology. And while the Creative Stitches hall had more of a variety, it would have been good to see some more hip, modern designs.

What I did find impressive were the displays of recycled crafts and embroidery, in particular the Glimpses of China embroidery competition winners. The one stall that really stood out for me was Homespun Hearts where I bought the wooden eggs.

Drawing in progress

This is a drawing I am working on, of a woman making miniature terracotta warriors.

Moo two

Here are my second set of Moo cards. My favourite is the one at the bottom right.