A Few Lucky Finds

Those that know me well will be aware that my weakness is second hand or the new trendy term 'thrift' shopping. Recently I had been bemoaning that I am finding it increasingly hard to find good stuff these days, so boy was I surprised by this weeks haul- all of it picked up by the by-  i.e. not on a specific outing to go 'thrifting'!

Whilst donating a few bags of stuff to a charity shop these Hans Bolling 'Optimist and pessimist' figures were a great find for £2! I love architect designed teak birds and monkeys etc so seeing these two on the shelf in a local charity shop made my heart beat a little faster! I am not entirely convinced they are genuine as no makers mark, and aren't their wee faces just a little bit wonky? I love them nonetheless!

The white sugar bowl is JG Meakin- I love their 60's and 70's patterns- so a steal at 50p. Its also in my favourite blues and greens- I saw it through the window en route to pick Finn up from nursery. Oh and the trivet picked up for a £1 when I had Finn in to buy a few reward kids dvds at the local Oxfam post very sore tetanus shots (he was so brave!).

All of the above sort of makes up for the elusive Braun Aromaster coffee maker I have been seeking (and losing) on Ebay for some time now. Serendipity I think....

Birthday Owl

Have you noticed there are owls everywhere? Owls and birds in general are some of my favourite motifs in art, I always gravitate to owl cards, jewellery, tops for Neve. But as I say they are everywhere, imagined in so many unique ways. Some of my favourite designers have tackled them at least once, either realistically or in a pared down stylised way. So I wanted to create my own for a recent card made for a fellow owl lover friend and found it quite difficult to be original. Anyway this is the little creature that appeared- derivative certainly but unique in his own way! Funnily enough he was the first of my rough sketches and I just liked his naive wee shape. Here is an image of the finished card- extra pattern etc courtesy of craft paper. And for now he is the blog header too!

Family Life- the new extension

Here are a couple of pics of the new extension. Needless to say on a lovely sunny day in July when for some inexplicable reason things were VERY tidy. Its not what I am looking at just now let me tell you! This big box on the back of our house has improved life in so many ways. The space, the warmth, access to the garden- the actual process was a walk in the park to thanks to great builders. We missed them when they went! More pics of the dining room part that is in the old house in due course.