Tag: whimsical (page 1 of 2)

The Girl with Seven Horses

The Girl with Seven Horses, is a photography series that I have fallen in love with! The imagination to visualize your clothing in such a way that it creates this “believable” object, astounds me. A mitten as a hoof? Adorable!

The horses are all “wearing” her clothes that blew away from her clothesline in a storm and now the girl has gone out searching for them traveling all over to collect her horses. I hope your weekend is as magically adventurous as this story and image series!

To find out more go here.

Bringing the Outside In

It is always nice, but especially, at this time of year, to bring the outside, indoors. I can appreciate that it is not always easy for some of us. I live in a very tiny cottage and there is not always space to have what you want.

This idea, however, would work for anyone. I saw it on the lovely One Pearl Button Blog. Everyone has bits and bobs laying around the house they can use. It doesn’t have to be an apothecary jar, it could be a giant old jam jar, or your Nana’s favourite mixing bowl. It could be old plastic farmyard animals that are laying around, your children don’t play with any more, instead of the cupcake toppers.

It is simply, just a little way to bring the outdoors in, to create a whimsical world and bring a smile to your face every time you see it!

Go to Alli’s site for further information.

A Little Pixie Dust

This little pixie elf is making me smile today. Hillary’s blog always makes me smile. When I can get to my felt again, I want to try my hand at making a little version of her for myself.

I know she would cheer up any little place she rested and I bet she has plenty of pixie dust hidden up her sleeve for a little Christmas magic!

Be sure to check out Hillary’s gorgeous website Wee Wonderfuls and book!

A Gift from St. Nicholas

Yesterday, was St. Nicholas Day. Some of my most cherished childhood memories come from this day. We headed out into a very frosty wintery wonderlandy Monday morning to catch our bus to school. It was just too cold to be out, it was a morning to be snuggled in bed with hot chocolate and Christmas music, but off to work we went.

I headed up to my cupboard and once I dumped my stuff on my desk, I began to start taking down signs that were posted on Friday about classroom changes. As I walked out onto the landing of the back stairwell to remove my last sign, something flew up out of nowhere and perched on the ledge that leads out to the conservatory.

It was a fat little robin red breast. We chatted to each other for a few moments and with a little turn of his head he hopped along the ledge and disappeared through the elfin sized gap, where the new building meets the old and flew away.

Thank you, St. Nicholas, for you know how much I love British robins and how much more I wanted to be cozy in bed yesterday morning, that little present made me smile all day!

The Electra Gypsy

I have wanted a bike for ages, but, unfortunately there is no space inside the cottage or a safe place outside to keep one. But, if I could have a bike, I think it would be this:

Look at the gorgeous basket, those giant wheels and those lovely painted flowers. This is an Anne of Green Gables bike (just minus the red streamers)! Isn’t it just dreamy!

Lost Things


Angela Kohler directed this video and it is so wonderfully dreamlike, especially with a song by A Fine Frenzy. I love Angela’s photographs there is such a magic to them, like this one:

and this one:

the colors just seem to dance and the 1950’s-esque quality is dreamy. I found this video on the Bloom & Blossom blog and it made me smile! I love the whimsy of it all, especially the whale and the teacup roses in her sunset red hair!

I think there just might be a black hole hiding all of those lost things! One, surely must be in my purse because things go in there and sometimes they never come out, just like the socks the washing machine seems to eat….

Blanket Statement

This morning the sun is shining yet again, the little pot of bulbs by my front door are ready to pop open and a rap at my racing green door was opened to find my jolly postman waiting for me with a parcel in his hands.

What was in my delicious parcel? This:

It was written by the lovely Vicki Haninger, who runs the Turkey Feathers Blog and the Pattern Bee web shop where she sells wonderful vintage and retro embroidery designs.

I have been desiring this little book ever since I saw her cute elephant doll, sweetly dressed for a party with a heart bejeweled crown on her head. But you could not get it in England and I could never find it when I went home to visit. So, thank goodness you can now get it through Amazon UK, that makes me 1 very happy camper!

So, sitting down with a steaming cup of tea, I tore into this package like a child on Christmas morning and I flipped through, oohed and aaghed and then I flipped through again and oohed and aaghed some more.

What a sweet treasure this book is and the other ideas it has already started spawning in my head… it is really adorable!

If you can’t wait to get your hands on your own copy, you can already begin making a project from her book. She offers this darling little lambkin pattern on her website. It looks like something straight out of a vintage shop. I can just see the 1950’s little girl it belonged to in her pink coat and matching bonnet with this little lamb tucked under her arm.

I can’t wait to get started making some of the projects out of here. But, first there are bears and bunnies to be made for RosaBlue, so I am busy happily stitching away!

Click on the Lambkin for a pattern and directions:

I’m "Cut-Out" for It!

While attending the NEC a few weeks ago, we found the wonderful stand that sold Rob Ryan’s gorgeous cards! I have liked him for awhile now and love that he is doing cards, which are an affordable luxury to the masses.

I have always loved the art of paper cutting and have always liked that Rob Ryan takes this to a whole new level. His cards have such an air of whimsy to them. I used to sit at my kitchen table when I was little, cutting out heart garlands and angel garlands, making snowflakes to dot around my room. I loved the crunch of the scissors through my paper and the never quite knowing what the final product would look like, or if the garland would even stay together, or had it been cut to close to the edge?

Although, I know he uses a knife, I started out with scissors before I upgraded… I would trace a pattern onto my paper and slowly begin to cut away sections of it with my craft knife. Maybe this was why I loved printmaking so much? One flick of the wrist and your image was created by what you left untouched around it, or by you carving that away and leaving your image raised and ready to be inked.

I can’t wait till some of these arrive in my friend’s shop, I want to stick them up in frames. I have a card obsession you see! I collect cards I love. Some have been with me since my days in College and carried on to me obtaining my Master’s pinned into my little board of inspiration, of reflectiveness, of happiness.

I have a box of cards that slowly as I find the right frames or homes for them they go out, one by one, some being changed around with the seasons.  These cards in his new collection are just beautiful! So, I can’t wait to get my hands on them, especially “City Story”, we are eternal newlyweds and this card really appeals to me!

gcr1316citystory
  “We had nothing, we had not much, we had enough, we had everything. This was our city story.”

 

Visit his site to learn more about him.

I Wanna Hold Your Hand!

Aren’t these Valentine’s from Martha Stewart adorable? They made me think of being little when my art teacher would have us make all kinds of things out of our hands; turkeys for Thanksgiving and Rudolphs for Christmas.  This is a cute carry on from that. You would even make them more grown-up looking by adding on jewels for rings and bracelets if you were giving them to grown-up girlfriends.

Another sweet idea I saw were these Valentine’s matchboxes on Inchmark.  They are too cute and if you combined them with the new lace paper cutters from Martha you could really dress these up, by cutting out trim in a Valentine’s themed craft paper and wrapping them around your matchbox “gift” boxes.

Speaking of Valentine’s gifts, one of the little projects I mentioned I was working on, I finished yesterday morning. It has taken me a bit of time to complete, I have had to steal away time when my Valentine hasn’t been around. I am going to tie it to his Valentine’s surprises! Shhh! Its a secret!

To make your own Valentine Hand Cards click here:

To make your own Valentine’s matchboxes click here:

I Missed It!

Oh, yet again the gorgeous and creative Jennifer Murphy did a Holiday update and I missed my chance to get a little Valentine person.

Her work is sweet and whimsical, and would easily pass as a vintage piece. The animals have such kind faces, each with their own personality, they are a treasure to behold. I just wanted to share a few pics from her upload to bring a little sunshine into your day; if it is like mine, it is a extremely cold day, although the sun is sprinkling through the patches of clouds and giving the morning a warm glow.

We are getting ready for SNOW, it is supposed to come this weekend, so we might be frosted in for Valentine’s Day…. The Eastern Seaboard blizzard is heading our way, Brrrrr! If, looking at these little figures doesn’t make you feel warm and cozy inside, I don’t know what will?

To visit her adorable Blog and links to her website please click here: