Pottery Potterings

A few weeks ago I started a pottery evening course at the art college and I'm really enjoying it. I'd done a bit at school but had never used a wheel before. It was a bit daunting but I was pretty pleased with my first attempts at a bowl and a pot. Last week we made tiles and learnt how to press mould a plate, and this week we glazed our pots. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out after they're fired.

Year of the Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate the Year of the Dragon, here are a couple of images from great dragon-based films; Pete's Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon.

Happy New Year!!!

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas & aren't still hungover from New Year's Eve. We've had a great start to 2012 at 44 as our Yellow Owl Workshop stamps have been featured in the February issue of Easy Living magazine! Yellow Owl Workshop have also got lots of new stamp kits coming soon, all in lovely new packaging. I'm busy ordering lots of gorgeous & unusual Valentine's cards and can't wait to show you what I've found. We also have the Top Drawer trade fair coming up soon so we're very excited to see the new products from existing suppliers as well as hopefully finding some new ones.

Advent Wreath

This is our entry for the Advent Wreath Festival at the local church! I made it by cutting out a circle of cardboard, then tracing round it onto the back of this lovely Christmas paper by Solitaire. I scribbled around the inner and outer circles to create more of a look of bushy foliage, then cut out the paper and glued it to the cardboard. I had some paper left over so I cut out some extra robins and pine branches to stick onto the wreath. Lastly, I added a loop of cotton twine to the back of the cardboard for hanging. This would be a great way to recycle your used wrapping paper if it's too nice to throw away. (Paper and twine available to buy at 44)
The lovely people at Solitaire have featured our wreath on their blog here.

White Rabbit Teahouse, Nottingham

Yesterday we were very excited to discover this tiny tea room on a side street in Nottingham. The salt & pepper bunnies, on each table, were so cute and the sails on my windmill teaspoon actually spun around! We had cups of tea & coffee and delicious toasted tea cakes with lots of butter. We'll have to go again to try the lunch menu and the handmade cakes which looked wonderful on glass stands on the counter. Find out more about the White Rabbit Teahouse here.

Fox in the snow...where do you go?

This wonderful wintry card by Jon Klassen for Red Cap Cards reminds me of one of my favourite Belle & Sebastian songs 'Fox in the Snow'. It's available to buy here. It's also featured in Elle Decoration magazine this month.

Autumnal Fog

The Medieval Bishop's Palace in Autumnal fog.