Monthly Challenge update-the sequel

More fabulous entries to the monthly challenge have appeared in the Flickr group photo pool, which is just great! I love all the different takes on the same topic. If you are still working on your entry or this is the first you have heard of this challenge you still have until the first Monday in April to join in with this months challenge "New Beginnings".

Catching Apples AKA Fleassy AKA Malay, is a lady I met on-line a couple of years ago and I have to say over that time she has wowed me many times with her beautiful work. The leather brooches above are fab. I think I like the tree best, but then again the sun if great too... but the leaf is also... hmm I can't decide. Fleassy's skills with silver, copper and jem stones have always impressed me.

Paper Street created this utterly divine collage for the challenge. It was inspired by the poem Shadows by D H Lawrence

And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.

And if, as weeks go round, in the dark of the moon
my spirit darkens and goes out, and soft strange gloom
pervades my movements and my thoughts and words
then I shall know that I am walking still
with God, we are close together now the moon's in shadow.

And if, as autumn deepens and darkens
I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems that break in storms
and trouble and dissolution and distress
and then the softness of deep shadows folding,
folding around my soul and spirit, around my lips
so sweet, like a swoon, or more like the drowse of a low, sad song
singing darker than the nightingale, on, on to the solstice
and the silence of short days, the silence of the year, the shadow,
then I shall know that my life is moving still
with the dark earth, and drenched
with the deep oblivion of earth's lapse and renewal.

And if, in the changing phases of man's life
I fall in sickness and in misery
my wrists seem broken and my heart seems dead
and strength is gone, and my life
is only the leavings of a life:

and still, among it all, snatches of lovely oblivion, and snatches
of renewal
odd, wintry flowers upon the withered stem, yet new, strange flowers
such as my life has not brought forth before, new blossoms of me

then I must know that still
I am in the hands of the unknown God,
he is breaking me down to his own oblivion
to send me forth on a new morning, a new man.

Beautiful!


Lucy Jackson Designs has joined in with the challenge by creating a newly designed bag from re-purposed T-shirts. I love the choices of colour and the pretty little flower on the bag sets it all off perfectly. What a great way to give life back to unneeded t-shirts.

Isn't it great that we have so many talented people in the world. Join in with the challenge and see if you have any hidden talents you'd like to share with us!

Written by Lynne of PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops

Oops a blooper

Yesterday for a spring clean I decided to change the template of the blog and make it look a bit cleaner. Sadly the template I uploaded had very thin side bars and some of the elements I needed to put in them didn't fit. After tweaking it a bit and not getting very far I asked Jon to have a look at it. So far it still isn't fixed and is a bit messed up. Please bear with us, we will get it fixed very soon. I mixed up loads of code and Jon is going to putting it right again in his tea & lunch break. That will teach me not to fiddle with code when I don't know what I'm doing.

Aprons

It’s nearly mother’s day, and I’ve been uncharacteristically organised this time round. I’ve made my mum an apron out of some gorgeous Klippan fabric (I’m hoping that I, characteristically, never got round to telling her that I write on a blog, so she won’t be reading this). I thought I’d have a nosy at other peoples’ aprons, and here’s what I found…

Really stylish and simple – I think this apron from La marquise des anges is one of my favourite items. I always love flowery, girly designs, however when it comes down to it I always want to wear more understated but stylish designs like this.

If like me, you want to make your own apron – this apron sewing pattern from Sew Liberated could come in very handy. It’s more than just a standard apron, not only has it got much more shape and style but it’s also reversible – perfect for a making a pressi.

Boojiboo makes a perfect apron for the sophisticated amongst you… you can cook for a dinner party and still look elegant once the food is on the table, without even taking your apron off. This is just one of the many vintage inspired designs from this seller.

Bebe & Alice have used some gorgeous fabric to make this eye-catching half apron. The aptly named spring fling apron is just perfect for this sunny weather!

This design-an-apron from Blueberry Park is a great idea for kids. You get a plain apron and all you need to make it look ace (fabric, beads, buttons and thread)! A craft project and a practical item of clothing for a little messy one. This shop also contains some other great make it yourself kits, including bags and bunting

I’m now very tempted to buy myself one of these cute aprons. I’m not sure if I even own an apron – that shows how much real cooking I do! Maybe a great apron will make me into a great (or at least a more enthusiastic) cook!

Written by Rose of FeltGiraffe

MISI - Make it, Sell it and buy it for your man.

MISI is a relatively new site, based in the UK, created by a very talented lady called Emma, for people to sell their handmade goods through. The site is growing steadily in size and gaining a lot of publicity, due to the hard work of Emma and the sellers on the site. I had a look around the site this morning and found some lovely goods there. There are many talented artisans on the site. I have picked out some items to share that would make fabulous gifts for the men in our lives.

Maria Clark Bespoke soap has this large gift box of organic soap made especially for the man that likes to be well groomed. The perfectly simple no nonsense wrapping and the fresh woody tone scents of the soaps would appeal to any man.

I adore this! This hand crafted birch wood stool of ODE by Jolyon Yates really caught my eye. I think Jon would love one of these. It would make a perfect place to perch his behind whilst he cooks his sausages over a camp fire, but would look equally spectacular in the finest furnished modern living room. See more Stunning craftsmanship here!

The Chocolate Truffle Co. makes the most yummy truffles. Ginger is one of mine, my brother's and Jon's favourite flavours, so these may end up in our stomachs before very long. Christine's shop is full of delicious goodies if ginger doesn't tickle your taste buds. Go and take a drooling look!

The mini is an iconic car and I think most men look at them with fondness, so this card from TillerGirl would be perfect to give as a birthday card to your dad, brother, son or partner. They will be sure to be please to receive it.

Here's one for all those ageing air guitar players. Pretty Lil Stars has created this vinyl record clock. The recording is from those old face painted rockers Kiss. The clock has a quartz movement, so it will keep good time. Go on, treat that rocker in your home.

Take a few moments to click through the goods on MISI and see for yourself the talent held within the site.

Written by Lynne of PiratePixieCrew & HyperloopHoops

Photography weekend

This weekend Jon and I spent a while photographing my new hats. As we live in such a pretty area we went out to take the photos down by the canal in our village. There is a bridge there where we can set up out supermodels and take shots with the trees and water in the background. When we got there I was really saddened by what we found. There was litter and rubbish everywhere. Why are human beings so dirty, messy and lazy? Anyway, We managed to take the photos and avoid most of the litter and fly tipping. It made me stop and think, what I could do to try and help prevent the rubbish being dumped all over our environment and clear up what is already there? Other than going out there with some heavy duty gloves and rubbish bags I couldn't come up with much. Any good ideas gratefully received.

On a happier note, here are some of the photos of my latest creations for the Pirate Pixie Crew.





Now all I need to do is get more stories and line art up on the new site and I will be able to do the big launch of the site. Everyone that buys a hat from Captain Skulduggery Dug becomes a member of her Pirate Pixie Crew and the site will hopefully soon have members only portions where crew members can read more adventures and colour in more picture and hopefully, if the programming goes right, will be able to add their names into the stories, so they become part of the adventure.

So many plans, so little time, so little coding skills!

Now I need to try and come up with a solution to the rubbish, and fly tipping problems in out little village. Where did I put those big rubber gloves?

Written my Lynne of the PiratePixieCrew and Hyperloop Hoops