beat it, creep!

Check out this most excellent Wanda patch that I've ordered from witchhboy...

It'll look so ace on my derby bag or I might sew it onto a shirt, I've not decided yet.

I kinda wish I'd got one of every colour so I could make a Wanda patchwork...

You can get your own right here.

You know you want to! And if you don't want to then shame on you.

Doppelganger zine - call for entries

My my, Miss Franipeg has been a busy bear!

Ever since our first conversation about zines she's been working on a new idea for a cool artists' book, called Doppelganger. It started off with my comment "wouldn't it be cool to do an Exquisite Corpse type thing as a zine..." and from that she built an extraordinarily more awesome idea...

This here be her call for entries to the book - you can see the full deets here.

The gunslinger shown in the pic (but is he a ghost? You'll have to wait and seeeeeeee!) is Fran's own entry for the book, which I think is a superb start.

The entry I am proposing will be totally different, but that's part of the fun - to see how people react to/adapt the initial brief. Mine will probably include a unicorn... Or perhaps a ghost-icorn... who knows!

If you'd like to contribute some artwork, and have your illustration bound into a neat book and sold at conventions around the country (excellent publicity, methinks) then go have a look at the Doppelganger FB page and Doppelganger blog.

I'll update when I've decided on my final illustration for the book... ooh, exciting!

the gift of (somewhat hideous) owls

I'm not quite sure how it's possible, but I seem to have inadvertantly forced my lovely friend Laura to start collecting owls. It could be partly due to the fact that they are still just about everywhere at the moment despite my attempts to pass the title of internet's best bird to the more-deserving pink parrot, and partly because I find them popping up in the most ridiculous places/situations.

The first owl I ever gave to Laura was a housewarming gift - a fairly hideous, but somehow also wonderful, kitsch owl-shaped teapot. I gave it to her with the proclamation, "if you think it's too hideous, I'll gladly take it back home with me". Amazingly, she accepted it and it has lived on her bookshelf ever since.

Since then, every time I see a hideous/fabulous owl in any form I will almost definitely buy it for her...

Wonderful crocheted owl magnets? I bought her two.
Insane looking enamelled owl beads? She'll be getting them very soon (shhh!)
A weird owl head on a key pendant? How could I possibly resist?

You've got to admit - the owl head on a key is pretty special just on its own, but perhaps it'd be even better with a bit of snazzing up... let's add some Swarovski crystal eyes... and some more crystal beads... and perhaps a couple more charms... and a nice long chain so it's nice and obvious if she ever wears it... PERFECT!

I can't wait to let my imagination and bead box run wild with this - I'm sure she'll love it!

all the fun of the Zombie Rockin' fair

I thought perhaps I should share some pics from Zombie Rockin' - these photos are all from Joe Pop who makes wonderful kitsch cards - go check him out!

Clockwise from top: the fab Naughty Monsters stall featuring monster and zombie plushes by my awesome friend Emma, my gorgeous friends Kate of Kate's Fascinators and Alice of Stitch Your Soul, various zombie-inspired costumes, and finally it's me in my derby gear all calavera-ed up.

It was a day of immense fun, hence the lack of photos - we were all too busy chatting/selling/making friends with random members of London Rockin' Rollers who turned up *swoon*

I didn't get any pics from the day of Miss Fran of Monsieur Monsteur, Nicola of More Brains, Vicar or Fabrice of Kaiser Calavera, but they were all there too...

Woooohoooo, a fun day indeed!

a rather bizarre illustration request

I try and make an effort to draw birthday cards for friends and family, and it's usually incredibly amusing to be told what the boy wants me to draw for his friends or family's cards. The planned drawing for his younger brother's birthday next week was no exception.

"Wolves and tanks are manly, right? Could you draw a picture of a wolf driving

or riding in a paintball tank? It doesn't have to be realistic..."

Having had no experience of wolves driving or riding in vehicles of any sort, I found this a slightly difficult request, though of course the fact that it "didn't have to be realistic" (!) was something of a bonus. It's not easy to know how a wolf would look inside a paintball tank, or the angles at which his paws and tail would poke outside the tank opening, but hey ho, it didn't have to be realistic, and realistic it certainly was not.

In the end my "wolf" looked rather more like a dog than I had hoped, but I think the general gist is there, even if it was a fairly ridiculous concept to begin with...

walnut whippin'

Now that summer has decided to turn up it's getting a bit too warm to risk sending chocolate in the post - which is a shame as I had just bought this to send to my mum, who is rather a fan of the walnut whip...

I guess I'm just going to have to keep it all to myself. Darn it.

Shakespeare with a 90's twist

Our first trip of the year to Shakespeare's Globe was to watch my favourite play, King Lear. I studied it for my English Literature ‘A’ Level, and have seen as many versions of it as I’ve possibly been able. The last version we saw was while we were in Jersey last year, where we were embraced by an actual storm halfway through the performance.

This version is The Globe’s touring play - and the main reason I wanted to see it was because Lear is being played by none other than Joseph Marcell!

You might not recognise the name, but I kid you not – King Lear was played by GEOFFREY from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air! Can you believe it!?

get your zombie on

If you're free and in London this bank holiday Monday, come and visit Zombie Rockin' at The Lexington, Angel.

There will be lots of stalls selling zombie goodies - including a few of my friends: Nicola will be selling cute gory accessories, Kaiser will be selling papier mache sugar skulls and screenprinted t-shirts, Emma will be selling her monster plushies, Joe will be selling his kitsch cards and Kate will be selling her gorgeous rockabilly fascinators.

There will also be all sorts of ghoulish activities, with a film screening and plenty of music (plus I think I heard a rumour about a bit of burlesque!) in the evening.

The FB page is here, if you want more deets.

In anticipation, my desk has been covered in things like this for the last week or so:

It looks as though it will be an ace day out! Hurrah!

investigation: how many birds can you get away with in one outfit?

So: being "on trend" might involve wearing one or two pieces with a theme, right? Well what if you wanted to be all on trend? Would wearing clothes/accessories all in the same theme be mega awesome or just ridiculous?

I've sketched an approximation of a chart to help us decide...

1 or 2 birds = on trend
3 or 4 birds = complementarily on trend
5 or 6 birds = a little bit keen
7 or 8 birds = getting a wee bit silly
9 birds or above = possibly excessive

...but then there's a glitch in the results and once you hit 21 you're back to awesome!?

Oh look at that, I even have an example of a 21 bird-ed outfit!
Coincidence? Um... no.

What birds do we have here then?

// jay earrings // dove collar clips // cockatiel collar // pink swan cardigan // swallow bag // 

// pigeon brooch // flamingo eyelash tips // parrot vest top // all the birds skirt //

// bluebird shoes // finch scarf // crane cuff // penguin phone case // toucan keychain //

// peacock tights // magpie necklace // robin hair clip // hummingbird watch //

// blue tits purse // chickadee belt buckle // barn owl ring //

~~~

Sadly, I only own a handful of these items myself, so I imagine that would only get me into the "a bit keen" range... more birds needed, methinks!

paper stop motion animation

I spied this video on Beautiful/Decay - isn't it just incredible?

Shugo Tokumaru “Katachi” from Kijek / Adamski on Vimeo.

the newest & awesomest addition to my snowstorm collection

Check out this incredible double snowstorm which was kindly brought back from Florence by my friends Mahdi and Susie. I'd never even seen a double snowstorm before, and now I own one! Awesome!

This is officially my new favourite snowstorm. I loooooove it!

Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium

A few weeks ago I donated some monies to an awesome project I saw on indiegogo... and I got my perks in the post today...

I'm not sure Yoyo was impressed with the delivery - but I'm sure she knows she's still my favourite meower!

Yep, you read that right! Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium - the first cat cafe in England - received all of the necessary funding and will become a reality hopefully later this year!

Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe! Cat cafe!

Anyone want to come visit it with me?

amazing Pokémon cross stitch

It's my little brother's 22nd birthday tomorrow. He has loved Pokémon pretty much forever, and lately he's become interested in crafty things too (though I can't tell if it's ironic or not...)

I really wish I had the patience to make him something as awesome as this Pokémon cross stitch - which took Linda 8 months to make, but I reckon it was totally worth it. Perhaps he'll get one for his 23rd if I start it soon!

Amazing, non?

such a guilty pleasure...

bouncy bouncy fun times

It was a drizzly grey morning as we left to meet Laura for bouncy bouncy fun times at Hampstead Heath. We weren't at all sure if it was going to be worth it upon seeing the stretching queue of people waiting and the impending dark clouds overhead, but we patiently waited in line, willing the clouds to hold out for just a little while longer.

We reached the front of the queue and the giddiness of excitement overtook us. With our shoes tucked neatly behind the small fence surrounding the bounce area, we leapt onto the air-filled monument and the senses went crazy. Bouncing as an adult is vastly different to memories of bouncing as a child, but no less gleeful.

We can't have been on the thing for more than about 15 minutes, but man did we get a lot of bouncing done in that time - there was regular bouncing, landing on your bum bouncing, trying to jump up from a seated position bouncing, and at the end we even had a race around the inflated stones.

As the whistle blew to signify our time had come to an end, we felt the first splodges of rain. Perfect timing.

must have: an inflatable Stonehenge adventure!

You might not have heard the name Jeremy Deller, but you may well have heard of his most recent project. In April, the Turner Prize winning artist constructed a life-size inflatable Stonehenge in Glasgow.

Yep, it's just like Stonehenge but in bouncy castle form! Bouncy Stonehenge, or Sacrilege to give it it's proper name, is currently in London for the London 2012 Festival, and will be travelling around the rest of the country until the last day of the Paralympics on 9th September.

Once you've had your Stonehenge bounce, you can print yourself off a certificate of participation from the website, and even an emergency beard to wear, if such a thing is necessary.

If you're hoping to visit, the remaining tour dates are below:

1 August – Hampstead Heath, London
31 July - Ravenscourt Park, London
1 August - Hampstead Heath, London
2 August – Clapham Common, London
4 August – Southwark, London
5 August – Hillingdon, London
7 August – Newham, London
9 August – Crystal Palace, London
10 August – Alexandra Palace, London
11 August – Christchurch Green, London
12 August – Lee Valley Park, London
18 August – College Green, Bristol
26 August – Belfast
9 September - Preston

I'm planning on visiting on 1st August at Hampstead Heath, and maybe even again on 10th at Ally Pally - so if any of you are about, come join me!

doorbell faces and eyebombing

A few years ago, while on holiday in Venice, I got a little bit obsessed with photographing doorbells. OK, so that sounds a bit crazy, but I promise it wasn't as weird as it sounds - if you've ever been to Venice, you'll know that Venetian doorbells have the cutest little faces - and I just couldn't resist!

Here are some of my favourite examples, all taken with my lovely LC-A+

They are just so charming! I could have used rolls and rolls of film on just doorbells!

I've not thought about those little faces for a long time, until I very recently came across a little project called Eyebombing.

According to the website:

"Eyebombing is the act of setting googly eyes on inanimate things in the public space.
Ultimately the goal is to humanize the streets, and bring sunshine to people passing by."

Awesome, non?

I haven't yet done any eyebombing myself, but it's only a matter of time...

Have any of you come across any eyebombs in real life?

Would any of you be interested in joining me on an eyebombing day out?

just a little kickstarter update

I've recently fallen back in love with Kickstarter: the thought that I can help people with their most awesome projects makes me really happy and proud - it's so nice to be able to get involved in creative projects, plus it's super inspiring to think that one day maybe I'll have my own Kickstarter project and other people will be able to help me with it.

Have a little look at my most recent favourite Kickstarter projects:

{crowded teeth fancy stamp ring}

{the kite machine}

{help chef bizzaro millinery go crazy}

{makey makey an invention kit for everyone}

{hexy the hexapod low cost six-legged open robot}

{birds of finland summer residency }

{creating origami a foldable sonata in paper}

{the ghostbusters proton pack project}

{Karen Townsend and the Recordions}

{payday photo zine}

Have you sponsored any projects lately?

gnomes, gnomes, gnomes - how do you like it, how do you like it?

I've never been sure if garden gnomes are absolutely incredible or totally creepy. I would like to think that most people enjoy their charms: that little hat, those big boots, that cute chubby-cheeked face (?) but I also completely get why people might think they were freaky.

Despite that, since moving to a flat with some outdoor space at last (woop!), the only things I have really wanted out there are some strawberry plants and a garden gnome. I'm not exactly sure why, but they are the things I feel it is necessary to have. I'm a grown-up now, after all... and grown-ups have garden gnomes, right?

Do you think it would totally defeat the object of having an outdoor space if I were to fill it with terrariums?? Because if not then I could get all kinds of different shaped terrariums and have a different teeny weeny gnome hiding inside each one. Think of the fun!

Gnome Trapped in the Terrarium print by Michelle of My Zoetrope

1// pottery gnome garden stake by Tasha McKelvey
2// gnome home ceramic house by The Little Red Door
3// mini garden gnome for potted plants from artknacky
4// Barry the gnome by Kat of ratbeankat
5// tiny lone gnome by Jessica of yellowtangerine
6// rainbow toadstools by Kat of ratbeankat
7// three tiny gnomes from poplaucard
8// three teeny tiny gnome houses by Kat of ratbeankat
9// mini gnome with a sage hat by Gwen of Gnotable Gnomes

And since woodland themes and the like are so "in" at the moment, it would seem gnomes are everywhere - not just in the usual places - check these out...

gnome infestation // Mochimochi Land
the travelling gnome // knitted toybox
bunny gnome // Moon's Creation
Frida the gnome // yoborobo
lady gnome suncatcher // recircles
maths gnomes // forestmother
gnerdy gnome necklace // egyptianruin
gnome false eyelashes // EyelashJewelry

How do you feel about gnomes? Cute or creepy?

flash cards as wall art

Although my hallway still has no colour on it (and don't think I've not been thinking about it!) - I've decided exactly how it's going to be decorated... I recently came across these amazing prints of collective nouns for animals from Woop Studios...

     

     

     

{A} {O} {R} {S} {U} {X}

...and although I would love to have enough honk to afford a print of each letter of the alphabet, at £79 a pop I just don't think that's a possibility.

While perusing the shelves of Magma the other day, however, I came across a set of flash cards of these same illustrations - hurrah, no need to spend £2054 on all the prints - the flash cards are just as lovely, though a much smaller and cheaper alternative, and this way I get to have all 26 letters of the alphabet illustrated on my walls, rather than just the few I super duper like.

All together I imagine they will take up the entire length of the hallway - and I reckon they will look amazing! If you have a nice big space, why not buy one of their awesome posters like this one or this one.

What do you think of the idea? Awesome sauce or ever-so-slightly ridiculous?