doodling on the road

While we were away in April I sorted out a little craft kit for myself, with a few pens, pencils, buttons, needle, note cards, three moleskin notebooks for gifts/swaps, vintage book paper, thread and thread cutter. Things that were small and I knew that the needle and tiny thread cutter were safe to take on the plane with us. Mostly I doodled in my sketchbook on the flight (when not occupied watching half a dozen films that I wouldn't have paid good money to sit in a cinema to see).

After the initial zombie state when I had a few minutes time here and there I pulled out my collection of assorted craft supplies (which I kept adding to as we went to thrift shops and estate sales) and went to work doodling and sewing buttons and letting my imagination roam.

I had a slight obsession with doodling little imps, I even doodled an imp on a plastic travel bag for Harrison before we left on holiday. It was nice and I was glad that I remember to bring craft supplies with me. In the past I have traveled with knitting, which is good but I loathed the circular knitting needles that were the safest to go through security without being confiscated.

The crochet hook and book didn't work out so well as I just got fed up of not understanding the Idiot's Guide I had bought and read a magazine instead.

If you are a crafter travelling I think it's important to bring something crafty with you, even if it's only a notebook and pen to roughly sketch ideas. I find that my creative sparks when we are away and bumming around various coffee shops. and then more coffee shops... and possibly a few more too. I have quite a bit of blogging and crafting to catch up on but I was sorting out the rogue pile of holiday stuff on my desk and found some of the doodles and button cards that I brought back with me.

I suppose I best go hand some laundry out and get a few more housey jobs done before Matt and Harrison get home from getting haircuts. I will cry and rage if the Boy's hair is too short...*sob*

etc magazine, coffee and dreaming of zines

etc magazine

This afternoon my friend Claire popped by for coffee, gossip and to bring me my very one brown paper wrapped copy of etc magazine. Claire wrote, edited, and photographed the magazine along with Deb of Fabulous Places. We drank coffee, attempted to sit in the garden for all of 2 minutes before the cold breeze drove us to huddle on the sofa gossiping and dreaming. I flipped through the magazine cooing over photos, places and food while we chatted. The magazine is lovely Claire did a brilliant job, I do think I should probably have gotten her to sign it for me before she had to trundle off to fetch her son from school.

brown paper parcel tied up with ribbon

and paper straws

We had a great chat about the magazine, about the desire to do something just a little bit more than what we both do now. I tried to convince her to start writing a book or the next issue of the magazine, to include a few tutorials for crafting, gardening, and woodworking, etc. I talked of my desire to do more writing and wish to if not write a book than to have my crafts and stories included in book, magazine or zine form. I showed Claire the zine book that arrived in the post minutes before she arrived. It's been a dream of mine for awhile to turn my little stories into a little booklet/zine but I had difficulty wrapping my brain around the idea and quickly went on to other things.

doodle of Merle the Ghost Boy

(he's a typography nut you know)

Talking with Claire has made me think again that I want to do a little bit more that what I am doing and that I want to try to make a zine and if possible submit some writing somewhere. I'm not sure where yet, but I will think about it and in the mean time I'm going to draw more and write more too. Yesterday I drew Merle the ghost boy on a book page and thought that perhaps I should doodle all of the dolls I have made recently. Perhaps they would make nice post cards with the stories on the back? Or just the illustrations to their stories if I turn them into a little zine. What do you think lovely readers? If I made a little zine would you buy it from me? Would you like me to write you a story or blog post for your blog? Am I just dreaming?

I may not be dreaming right now, my tea is cold and my biscuit is long gone.

one blue bottle

vintage blue bottle

From as far back as I can remember my parents have always taken me to yard sales, estate sales, garage sales, flea markets and thrift shops. It was always a new adventure, to look on with curious eyes at the things people once cherished and collected now marked with little price stickers and intent to bargain and haggle. I miss a good flea market or garage sale, the occasional car boot sale here just isn't the same. They overflow with electronics, burgers, and the plastic toy paraphernalia that plague any parents' life. Toys and more plastic toys but you never seem to find the really interesting things, like broken clocks, walking sticks, crusted up pocket knives, strange kitchen gadgets, bizarre woolen hats, and ancient tattered cook books.

I had a troll through the charity shops in town and found not a single thing I was willing to part with my money for, until I went for a browse around the big antiques shop across from the co-op. The majority of the shop was filled with clocks (sorry daddy none of them are broken and in need of fixing), ugly vases and furniture. The clocks I don't need, the vases were indeed hideous, and the furniture to heavy to carry home. There used to be a lovely battered green wooden chair that I fell in love with months ago, but it was missing today from its place outside the shop. I did find one blue bottle in a dusty corner and took it home with me. I didn't particularly need a vintage blue milk of magnesia bottle, but it is pretty and now its mine.

the real reason bees buzz

With the kitchen being done the last few days I have gotten little to no crafting done other than a few random doodles I have photographed in today's dismal light. Apologies for the bad photos. I did get a spot of good news today. Anita the lady who owns the Framing gallery I have some of my jewellery with has asked me to bring in more stock next week and paid me some commission on my jewellery that sold last month. Which is great seeing as I have been meaning to bring her some more jewellery for the past three weeks. Its nice to know someone wants my jewellery as I haven't had a sale on etsy for months and not a single enquiry through folksy, aside from bills of course.

I'm off to go store some more pots and pans away,joy, and see what I have to christen the kitchen with as a first meal. I have a bag of toll house chocolate chips that I have been hording for months but I'm not going to use them until the kitchen is decorated and completely finished. Then I will share some pictures, I promise.

Gilbert's Pumpkin

Kid Swap Goodies for H

goodies wrapped up in re-purposed paper patterns
A few days ago Mr. Postman arrived with a parcel filled to bursting with gorgeous goodies from Australia, from the lovely Cass. Please visit her blog because the pictures she has are far better than mine, as H ran off with half of the wonderful things she made before I could take a proper picture of them.

Skippy the Kangaroo

H adores Skippy and has put him up on the shelf in his room to keep him nice and safe. But the best items sent in H's opinion, and he is very opinionated, are the cape/apron, he has been running all over the garden and into town wearing it, and the football satchel, that I haven't photographed as H ran off with it to fill with treasure, and bits for "machine" making.

Super Cape/Apron

And lucky girl that I am Cass even included two little goodies for me, a little wrist bag that I am quite infatuated with, M thinks I've gone quite off the rails, reversing it inside and out again and again. The only problem is its small and I'm not sued to carrying anything less than a full arsenal of things in massive handbags. I will just have to learn! And a lovely little recycled craft notebook... I love, love, love notebooks, they make me happy, there is nothing better than a new untouched notebook to write in, or just hug. so thank you so very much Cass, and I promise your swap will be in the post later today. And thanks go to Chloe for organizing such a fantastic swap

wrist bag and notebook for me!

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red wooden bead necklace

And just to let you know what I have been doing these last few days since organizing the fairy tale swap. I have done an commissioned order for a red bead necklace, though I haven't been able to get a hold of the woman who ordered it, so I have left it at the framing gallery and asked them to deal with her as she was their customer. I'm quite please with how it turned out, and if the woman who ordered it doesn't want it then the shop said they would be happy to place it on display.

Most of my time has been spent with H, playing Super Mario on the DS, fighting evil baddies with jedi lightsabers, building complex machines, out of ribbon, garden hose, and broken toys. Tuesday was meant to be a great family day out to see the knights at Warwick but the weather was so awful we diverted to The Bull Ring in Birmingham for some Krispy Kreme donuts, cinnamon jelly belly jelly beans (for me), and Starbucks in the borders bookshop. That has got to be my favourite thing in the world, sitting in a book shop drinking a cup of coffee, the scent of espresso and books mingling together. heaven

I also brought home a few goodies from paperchase, some recycled cotton paper postcards to doodle on, some blank mini cards and envelops, and some blank mini notebooks to doodle on, as seen in the two images below. Little Owl on a notebook.