it's a beautiful autumn day here in eastbourne, i'm about to go for a lovely long walk along the beach. i love finding interesting bits of wood, draging them home (my husband paul loves me!)and making them into silly objects for the garden.

it's the school holidays and i've just come back from a short trip to the wairarapa with my mum, nephew and sons. it's been quite cold and rainy so i grabbed the opportunity to visit one of my fave second hand shops. i was thrilled to find these classic annuals, i love the colours and style especially the very trendy lady in her state of the art kitchen!i can see she is already multi tasking, it's obviously not a new thing!, i also found a couple of other cool items which i will post tomorrow. the shot of the beach is of us cooking dinner on a fire on the beach down by lake ferry, it's a beautiful rugged part of new zealand right at the bottom of the north island.

thanks for asking about the products on my last post, if you go to www.lanternstudios.com

you will see them and how to purchase.

i'm not sure if you have seen these!

this sweet little cross is a project that my very clever sister jutta created for the sunday school children to make this easter at church.she's amazing at finding simple materials such as drinking straws, coloured wire and pretty sequins and making them into something very unique and special, this reminds me of mexican craft work, which i love!

HAPPY EASTER to you!

the kids and i made these easter biscuits as gifts to family and friends,it warms my heart to see my 15 year old son delicately decorating cookies!

i showed you these pieces a few days ago, well here they are finished. i had real trouble photographing the owl one, my camera doesn't like the dark background, i think i'll give it another go today. i've got 3 more to post and i'll do that tomorrow. by the way, all these birds are native to New Zealand, alot of them live in the hills behind our house, they each have their own character!

it's the school holidays and my boys are already fighting over the computer so i'm posting early!

i don't know about you but as much as i appreciate all the computer has done for my career, i wish it wasn't so much a part of our children's life. i am probably the meanest mum in the world, only allowing my boys on for an hour a day but they are both very creative and i just don't want them to fill every spare moment staring into a box.

here are a selection of repeats i've been working on...

thanks again for your lovely comments!
it's my son Austins 15th birthday today my i can't believe it, time certainly flies!
my younger son louis plays saturday morning soccer and while he's warming up with his team i use the opportunity to sneak down to the closest junk shop. today a found the cutest vase (german made) it goes wonderfully with the bowl don't you think! it has the same rough textured glaze with a smooth glossy side.

i've spent the last couple of days reworking my native bird series i created a while ago, they have proven popular in new zealand and i thought i'd now sell them as originals, i haven't quite finished them so i'll show you the final result tomorrow!

as you can see, my circle fascination continues!

i have been playing around with simple shapes, circles mainly, i don't know why i have such a drive to create circular things at the moment, i won't try and read anything into it!

craft ideas

Craft tip of the week!

sign writing film is amazing stuff! it's available in tons of colours, its amazingly easy to use and is very durable. visit your local sign writing company, they will most likley have scraps and off cuts that they will give to you cheep or you can purchase it by the meter.

i use it for all sorts of things, for instance, the little white table is covered in glass. i've simply stuck strips on the underside to give it an individual look.

the rubbish bin is for food scraps for our worm farm (hence the apple),

we kept getting the bins mixed up! worms don't like egg shells!

you can use it outside too as it's designed to handle all weather conditions,

i LOVE it!

a huge thanks to www.printpattern.blogspot.com for the lovely feature!

i just have to post this shot of "ruby loo loos, goody two shoes"

ruby for short, she isn't a puppy any more but gosh she's cute! she belongs to my amazing artist friend annie hayward, i'll be featuring her work very soon, i think you'll like it!

i can't believe it, easter is just around the corner, spare a thought for us at the bottom of the world instead of spring blossoms and spring sun it's autumn! still, we manage to have a lovely time , especially this year as it falls in the school holidays!

it's nearly 5 and i've got to get the dinner started! i just have to post these images of one of my latest series of birds and brollies!

plates

i spent ages rummaging around today looking for plates left over from my mosaicing days, iv'e taken photos of them as you can see, i've diddled around with some of the colours too, it's given my a cool idea, keep watching , i'll show you the results in the next few days!

thanks Helen and Alice for your kind comments!

I like Ellen Scissorhands! i might have to be Ellen scalpelhands though, i have the scars to show for it!