Chickens needing a home. Can you help?

I have been researching keeping chickens for a while now and have decided that when I have the coop and hen house ready I will be re-homing some ex-battery hens. The problem is, right now, I'm not ready to home any chickens and I have just heard about a bit of a crisis on the chicken re-homing front in the UK. The Little Hen Rescue group have managed to get a farmer to agree to allow them to take 11,000 battery hens for re-homing, but they only have until the 29th of June to find homes for those hens. Do you keep hens? Are you in a position to take any? Please only offer if you truly can offer some hens a home for life. These hens will probably be in bad condition when you get them, but with some TLC and good housing they can flourish.


So if you are in the UK, and you can give some chickens a loving home, please do get in contact with Little Hen Rescue and help them to give these hens a second chance at a happier life.

I've found some fellow chicken lovers, who have paid an homage to the hen in their work.

Look at this stylish looking black and white hen from Sharon Montrose. What a fabulous photo of a hansom lady!

Prince Design UK made this pretty little chick clay bowl. It's just so gorgeous with it's flower eye and leaf feathers.

Tara Lewis quite obviously has spent plenty of time studying this chicken. This portrait is great! This chicken has it's eye on you.

Ahh this shy little chicken from JooJoo is hiding behind it's wings and a tree. I think a nice bowl of food and a few chicken friends would make him feel better.

Show your love for your hens by wearing this beautiful lampwork chicken around your neck. This was created by Night Owl Jewelry. Cluckingly good, don't you think!

Chickens are great creatures and they make fantastic pets. Not only do they eat all the slugs in your garden but they sometimes lay eggs too. If you have the space and the time to dedicate to some hens please, please seriously consider taking some of these battery/barn hens. They need a forever home and some love and they will flourish.

Written by Lynne of Pirate Pixie Crew and Hyperloop Hoops

Flickr Finds

The Flickr group is going from strength to strength. We have so many talented people posting photos of their work into the pool, I couldn't resist sharing some more of them with you today. If you want to join the group just to chat and make friends with lots of fabulous artisans, you're most welcome and if you are someone making, crafting, painting, photographing, videoing, sewing, weaving... etc and you want to get your work seen by more people join the group and show us what you make.

I can't tell you just how much I adore the work of Sianburys without sounding like a stalker. Her sock monkeys are so perfect! The details are amazing. She takes such care to make each one individual and distinctive. This one is Dr Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Isn't he just delightful!

Jenny Foreman Textiles has posted a few of her lovely chicken paperweights on the group pool. I nearly put the Pink skull and crossbones on the blog but thought I'd pick out this pretty little strawberry one as I'm always picking the pirate influenced items to share. This chicken would be great when doing the weekly paperwork, to stop the paperwork getting all jumbled up.

Ali Bali Jewellery makes such stylish pieces of jewellery. This one caught my eye because of the lovely orange carnelian stones. I'm really not one for busy jewellery and the simplicity of this piece's clasp also appealed to me. This is a very chic piece.

Steam Punk Glass is another person that has added a lot of pieces to our Flickr Group Pool. He seems to be able to capture whole universes inside tiny pieces of glass. They are so stunningly beautiful. I have no idea how he does it and in all honesty I don't want to know. It would spoil the magic. This marble has a nebula inside it.

Creative bag makers always will gain my support. Why? Because the more beautiful fabric bags that get made and used, the less plastic bags will be created and used. See the Wood created this fabulous red leaf shopping bag. It's stylish and washable and if a great reason not to use another plastic bag ever again when doing the groceries shopping. Ditch the plastic and get buying bags from See the Wood and other bag fabric creators.

Flickr is a great site for sharing and the best part is you can use it for free. Come and join us on the group and participate in showing your love of handmade, vintage and recycled goods with us. We'd love to see you there.

People Starting out on the Journey of online sales at Etsy.

There are now hundreds of thousands of sellers trying to get noticed on the Etsy website and it's really not that easy. What with all the search function problems and the batch listings, it can become quite disheartening when you are starting out. I decided today to pick a few people with 5 or less sales to feature. They all have some gorgeous goods for sale and I think they deserve more sales than they currently have, so even if the item I don't feature doesn't grab you take a look through their shops and see if you can't find a perfect gift for someone you love.

This funky onesie is made by Jpline. Her shop is chock full of beautifully hand crafted baby goods and I really can't understand why she hasn't had any sales. I wish her well in the future, because her goods do truly deserve to be snapped up.

Give someone your heart this Christmas with FeltCreations detailed felt brooch. The stitching in this ladies work is so fine and carefully done. I work with felt and I know how hard it is to make such detailed pieces. Look through her shop and see for yourself.

Don't you just love these Sophista-birds from Katezila?! The monocled dude in the middle looks so pompous, he's divine! They look like they should be in leather wing backed chairs in a gentleman's club all clucking at each other about the youth of today. Fabulous work Katezila!


These stylish little drop earrings are from GMAjewellery and in such a difficultly large category in Etsy of jewellery it's very hard to be seen. I think this lady deserves more views and sales, so go along and check her out. She has got a good eye for colour, balance and shape.

This beautiful wedding dress appears in shanasshoebox. Hers is a shop filled with a variety of goods from clothes to bags, Jewellery to shoes. Take a look around and see all her goodies. This dress is stunning!


The man himself, at work, and this man is Jesse Mosher. His shop has been on Etsy since January and is full of his gorgeous artworks. All the pieces are made from reused or refinished materials and are painted on plywood. He's subjects in the main deal with portraiture and he will take on commission orders. How about a family portrait?

Another person fighting to get seen in the Jewellery section is Rozzie. These berry hoops earrings show her love of textiles silver and beads. Many of her pieces follow this theme. Most of her pieces are one of a kind so you are unlikely to see someone walking toward you wearing the same jewellery as you if you purchase goods from her.

Now all these people I've featured today have shown that there are some great new sellers joining Etsy every day, so take the time to look around and dig out some of the new gems joining up on Etsy to sell.