Some might say that i was stealing,

 but in fact i think i was performing an at of citizenship!

okay it was maybe stealing a little bit but, 

there is a cottage at the end of the street 

which is abandoned and there is a huge lilac bush 

which spills over onto the street and does mean you have to step onto the road to get past, 

now i "liberated" loads of the flowers, 

but whose to say that i was not clearing an 

obstruction from a public foot path and doing the public a service.     ; P

Still the whole house smells lovely.

These are two of my latest purchases from etsy 

and i did not "liberate"  these   : D

The first, is two bars of delicious soap, from oliveandoats 

she also included a free organic lotion bar, how kind, 

and the second is a key fob, 

cos i am guilty of leaving them lying anywhere so hopefully...   ?  

anyway this lovely wee package came from jimmypickles. 

This is my swim it forward, swimmy,

 the idea is very simple if every etsian made and forwarded an

 orange fish in theory every etsian in the world

 would have one one their desk!

(and who does not want that i ask you!)

So i am going to send mine off tomorrow to FeltLikeStitchin , 

and will in turn receive one from Benconservato. 

I'm sure it will be wonderful and i'll let you know when it arrives. 

If you want to join in just follow the link to the ongoing forum post.

Lucky me, i find my self in this deliciously bright and wonderful treasury tonight.

Curated by blowegeri whose own shop is full of beautiful paintings.

I love the tiny wee dodgy painting and the ceramic mug is gorgeous but 

how i do wish i had both the hips and the nerve to wear a tutu! 

 ( i know, i know, they are meant for children but... a girl can dream)

 : )

My sister and niece came for a visit this weekend and we got up early 

on Sunday morning to go Dolphin watching in the Tay estuary, 

on the east coast of Scotland (where i live). 

We spent an hour watch these beautiful  creatures glide effortlessly through the waters.

 They were very nosey came right up to the boat, much to our delight!!!

They feed on sea trout, which are in abundance this year so we were fortunate enough 

to watch a pod of about 40 bottle nosed dolphins, 

mothers and calves, adolescents and mature adults playing in the mouth of the river. 

They belong further north but travel down from the Murray firth for 

the fish between the months of April and September 

so still plenty of time to book another trip i think!

I am one of the original members of the brand new Scottish etsy group McEtsy , it aims to unite all Scottish crafters and artist on etsy to help promote their work and provide a community for them to share ideas etc. There are only 11 of us so far but i'm sure the community will grow, already though there is a nice selection of handmade, supplies and vintage.

Above you see work/objects from, fairyrade, SpiderlingArt, Fugsly, Mochadesigns, Little shopofdelights, ME, Artisanne,  Mollymoovintage, Pumpkinsputnik, Rubycquins, Gorjuss x 2.   

I have been a little remiss with my blog in the last week or so but the 

weather has been great and it is hard to stay tied to the computer but i promise i'm making a real effort to get back up to date with my and your blog! 

 So what have i been up to ?

Well at the weekend i saw Michael Buble in Glasgow, he was great and sang all my favourites.

I've been knitting a pair of slippers, i know, i know, they don't look like much but the still have to be felted, i'll keep you informed of how they look when finished. The wool is unwashed icelandic and millie seems to love it, she keeps lying on it and sticking her head in to the skein, as funny as this is it is not very helpful!

So i felt a new pair of shoes was in order : )

But it's not all spend, spend, spend i have been working too, no honest i have!

i have been customizing one of my prints for a wonderful etsian.

But then i did buy this fantastic classic pull along toy

 for no reason other than i wanted it and it was in a sale.

What about you what have you been up to?

Just a wee thank you to Leanne at  Leannegraeff  who gives my prints a wee plug in her blog  today : ) 

She makes a point of promoting a fellow member of the etsy printmaking team, printsy,  every Thursday so keep up to date with her and you never know which wonderful printmakers she might throw your way!

I suppose we all think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence at some times in our life but my friend was stating recently that her house was not very big or fancy in comparison to other friends houses and yet to me it is charming, pretty and always welcoming. So with this in mind i have been trying to take pictures of their home so that i can put them altogether a book to surprise her and her family. It is not always easy to explain why i suddenly want a photo of their teapot collection etc, so since the family is away on holiday this week and i have keys to the house so that i can pick up the post, water plants etc i took the opertunity to gather as many images as i can. Here are just a few.

My friend Dave has a small gift shop in the picturesque Dunkeld, Perthshire, it sells hand made produce, much like Etsy. As you might imagine that covers everything from prints to ceramics to jewellery to knitted goods and a whole host of other things besides. Mainly local/Scottish crafts people but not exclusively.

He has been on holiday this past week so i worked in the shop for a few days to help out.

man i was like a child in a sweetie shop!!!!

I was so tempted  to take one of everything home   : )

It has rained here all day, i mean it did not stop for a moment!!!! 

 yucky yucky yucky 

Still, i got a new piece of linoluem the other day, so i cut it into more manageable pieces, and continued my series of prints of iconic British food, this time Heinz baked beans, my freind's wee one came round with a thank you card she had made and a package came in the post with new beads : )    I also listed two new prints. Now if it had been beautiful and sunny would i have got as much done?      

  But please Lord let it be nice tomorrow, pretty please.

Good morning,  wanted to draw your attention to a lovely etsy shop called zukzuk.   Helen does the most wonderful pen and ink drawings and sell prints of them. There is a selection of subject matter and styles. She also contributes $1 from every sale to Amnesty International, so feel free to buy, buy, buy in the knowledge that you are helping others too : )  She is very friendly and modest, visit her blog for more information about her and her work.

I had a great Sunday, hope you did too!

also

feel free to give my " A dress makes no sense unless it inspires a man to take it off you" treasury some lovin : )

I thought i would share with you some of my newest creations, i don't tend to sell jewellery very successfully on etsy but...     hope springs eternal ; )

These are some of the prints i purchased from etsy a few weeks ago, all framed up. (One of the frames i bough in the charity sop for 25 pence, i cleaned and painted it and ta da). 

I'm pleased with them and find myself looking at them often.