Erin McGuire

I thought I'd share the beautiful and charming work of Erin McGuire.

Isn't this cute? I have a real weakness for hedgehogs at the moment. Anyway you can find mre of Erin's glorious work at emcguire.net.

On my travels I often see things that capture my imagination. A recent one was this shop window at Bora, I think it's the combination of the cut out tree, the swing and the relaxed pose of the mannequin - but I just love it. It's only a small window but it's used to maximum effect. There are scarfs and clothes rolled up like flowers and tucked amongst the branches.

My friend Emma at the Lock Gallery is arranging an event for a breast cancer charity, something very close to my heart I was delighted to help out by providing an illustration. As far as I can tell there will be corsets/basques made by artists and crafters which will be exhibited or modeled. I might even make one myself.

Brighton

I've had a long week full of lots of trivial and annoying things, so when Saturday came round and the sun was still shining I decided that it was time to head to the sea.

All troubles seem blown away in the sea air, and Brighton is one of my favourite places so I was totally in my element. I roamed the beech and then went along The Lanes which are a network of streets with some of the most eccelctic shops you'll find anywhere. Unfortunately I had to come home again, but still feel uplifted by my adventure.

Springy spring spring

Last weekend I went to Kew Garden's for a glorious day out. It was sunny, and warm and the plants there were amazing. There were thousands of Crocus.
The hot houses were fantastic too. My favourite ones were the Victorian ones, covered in statues and embellishments and made of lots of panes of glass. Inside they were like little patches of paradise, water features, fragile and exotic flowers and so many shades of green:

I spent most of the day there, walked until my feet ached, and still didn't see everything. I want to go back at late summer/beginning of autumn and see how it changes.

Chin up

Some little force seems to be working against me *and now it's against my car. The poor little thing got clamped on my own drive way... how unlucky is that!!! So I've paid a huge release fee, that I couldn't afford and sulked for a couple of hours.

Enough is enough though, tomorrow may well be Friday the bloomin 13th but I'm not buying it, I'm not taking part, not letting anything get me down tomorrow. I am going to have a good day, even if every possible thing goes wrong. I am going to have a Monty Python spirited day - looking on the bright side, stiff upper lip, chin -up, chest out, maybe a bit of a funny walk.


*I even got stuck in my own bathroom because the door handle broke.

The universal balance

I does seem to be a universal truth that once you get one thing sorted in your life another goes wildly out of control. I am experiencing a bit of this Yin-Yang living at the moment and feel slightly dizzy from all the ups, downs and spinning around. I guess I could so with a break but even they seem to be hectic... more planning and maybe a dose of single mindedness wouldn't go a-miss right now.

Birds!

The Sun is shining

I feel so much better today than I did last Friday. The sun is shining and while it isn’t warm out it does feel gloriously bright and fresh. I always feel so positive on a day like this – like something exciting will happen, or a big adventure will start…

I’m planning to make up for everything I didn’t do for my birthday this weekend, so my to do list reads something like this:

• Sleep in
• Birthday breakfast of Croissants
• Drive back home
• Play with my little niece and marvel at how much she’s grown
• See my parents
• Eat out somewhere lovely with my Boyfriend
• Go to proper old fashioned pub in Kenilworth and catch up with friends I haven’t seen in ages.
• Have a Sunday roast with family
• Drive home and snuggle on the sofa

Hand rendered type

I finished this last week but didn't get round to posting it. I enjoyed doing it so much that I think I'd like to do more typography (it's just a matter of finding time, there must be a spare five minutes of the day I'm not using). Any way here it is, with all it's glorious wings, clouds, swirls and tear drops:

Bad Birthday

It was my birthday on Friday, look at some of the lovely cards I’ve been sent:
And this absolutely gorgeous Momiji bag from given to me by my lovely friend Erica. We both love the quote 'we lie on our backs watching the clouds. our lovely day.’

Unfortunately I got ill the day before my birthday so all celebrations and work were put on hold as I was flat out under a blanket. I spent the whole weekend looking pathetic, with my boyfriend equally afflicted. I’m only just beginning to feel my old self now. All reunions with friends are rescheduled for next weekend, and in the mean time I have a massive backlog of to-do’s to catch up on.

I had the delight of being featured on the Etsy weekend deals, which was a fantastic boost, the same deal is running next weekend too. Thank you to everyone who made orders, enquiries and sent lovely messages it really is a good feeling that there are people out there who like what I do.