Februaaaaaawhatsthatnow?

WHAT! February already? 2013 is going so fast and with my tax return having taken up pretty much all of January I'm excited to get started on new things. To kick things off I just had to share what I've been doing this afternoon because it's way too cute not to. Meet Fox - how sweet is he? He's not finished yet but I had to post a quick photo! All hand drawn, cut and sanded, he needs a bit of varnish and he'll be good to go to a new home (unless he permanently attaches himself to a chain around my neck, fine by me!). The start of a new collection? Maybe!

On another note, exciting times - I logged onto Etsy today to find that one of my leather bound books was featured on the front page yesterday and as a result someone snapped it up super quick! Below is the treasury in question, lots of beautiful items in there to peruse if you have the time. I'm excited to say I've bought a bunch of new materials for more books so they should be ready for the shop in no time. New colours for Spring yey!

♥

New Year, New Stuff

Wow ok, 2012 whizzed right by without even stopping, did anyone see where it went? As usual, in typical 'me' style, not only is my New Year blog post a week late but also my 2012 New Year goals were swept away when life took over. Here they are in all their un-finished glory and underneath, whether I achieved them or not:

• Explore the United Kingdom
  Nope - This makes me sad.
• Keep a journal
  Nope (although I have acquired numerous pretty books with the intention of using them as a journal so the thought was there).
• Take more photos
  Nope. Wait a minute, does photographing stock count? No? Then nope.
• Shoot at LEAST 3 personal photo stories
  First thoughts, nope. Then I looked at my flickr and YES! BIG FAT CHECK. Thanks to Caroline, Lizzie, Francesca and Fru.
• Discover amazing music and art
  Music, yes. Art, not so much.
• Blog more
  Nope, only half of the previous year's total, this makes me sad too!
• Organise my studio
  For a short while it looked beautiful! Not so much any more. So - Nope.

Other than these little mainly-non-goal-achieving-set-backs, what DID 2012 bring? Well now. Three house moves? yes. New 'other' job? Yes (and I love it). Road-tripping to the South of France? Yes. Holiday in Devon? Yes. Christmas in Dorset? Yes. It has been a rather busy and stressful year I'll admit, we seemed to be moving home every couple of months and I can't quite figure out whether this is funny or not (most probably not) as my brain is all fuddled with moving in-out-in-out of places so many times over two years (yes, we moved more the previous year too), but we've ended up right back in the same home that we left back in 2011! Living out of a suitcase and boxes isn't too bad but it'll be nice to finally unpack for the last time until we find the perfect place and BUY it!

Anyway, this year I'm not going to set goals, resolutions or any of that sort of thing as they don't seem to work for me! Instead I'm just going to write a nice list of 'things' that I can look to for inspiration to get stuff done (yes that's sort of a list of goals but if I don't call them goals then I can pretend they're not goals - ok?).

• File tax return - this one's always fun
• Be Healthy - sort of easy
• Be Happy - always easy
• Say hello to old faces and new - yes please
• Try to blog at least once per week - feature post, photo post, tutorial post go go go.
• STOP buying new fabrics and use the ones you've got - this is a biggie!
• De-Stash (as a result of the above) 
• Do not move again for at LEAST 12 months
• Shoot some pretty photos!

January has been a busy one so far and as a result I've had to take my made to order books out of the shop to allow myself the time to get other stuff done, they kept me super busy in the run up to Christmas - so busy in fact that I'm nearly out of the lovely leather I'd been using so I may need a totally new best-seller all together!  Ooh what'll it beee WHAT'LL IT BEEEE?

I've put a bunch of cool stuff into the sale here, there is a lovely 20-50% off selected items. 
Once I've crunched some numbers I'll be preparing new designs ready for spring, totally can't wait. 

Happy 2013 ♥

Autumn Adventures

Fru & I went into the woods for a wander.

♥

Don't get your Knickers in a twist!

Wow OK, so back in college during my fashion and clothing course I decided I wanted to have a go at making some undies when I had a chance. Well, I finished that course over five years ago now and either this is my absolute worst ever case of procrastination OR I must've been a seriously busy bunny since then. I like to think it's the latter though the former seems much more realistic. My to do list pretty much goes to the moon and back a few times and unfortunately cool stuff like this just get pushed way back and gets all dusty and forgotten about. 

For the first time in a few weeks I've found myself with a spare couple of afternoons to play with so grabbed the opportunity and spent my free time pattern cutting. It took me a while to get my head around it all again, I'm a bit rusty on the drafting front as I haven't actually sat down and done this properly since college so this was a really good exercise for me and once I got back in to the swing of things I was on a roll! After my fourth draft and a pile of toiles made up in hideous fabrics I finally cracked it ('scuse the pun) and here you see my very first totally finished pair of knickers! These were made using a cute vintage bed sheet I had sitting around and some lace-edged elastic. There are definitely a few things I need to adjust but in general I'm really happy with how they've turned out and I'm so excited to expand this project, I've got some cool things in the pipeline revolving around these little panties! - What do you think?

And just because this is super adorable, this little fella was mooching about in the garden today, HOW CUTE IS HE?

Don't mix him up with your knickers though . .

♥

DEAREST JACKDAW PRINT SALE

It's SALE TIME at Dearest Jackdaw! Not only do I have various items in the sale of my etsy shop already but I now have tonnes of prints with a whopping 50% OFF! I am selling all of my remaining stock from my print shop "What the Jackdaw Saw". I've gone through each and every print and grouped them into sets of images that compliment each other and look just as good together as they do apart. Just click here and use the shop section menu on the left hand side to navigate your way to the sale. Absolutely perfect for gift giving, stocking fillers, adding a little bit of colour to your home, office or studio. Come and take a peek!

. . DEAREST JACKDAW PRINT SALE . .

SEWING MACHINE IS HOME IS HOME IS HOME ♥

Good news, after going two and a half painful months without my beautiful sewing machine I finally have her back and SHE WORKS AGAIN, YEY! I'm so excited to get on any make lots of new things I've been dreaming up in her absence. To celebrate her return I've been on a couple of recent supply splurges (definitely not necessary based on the state of my studio right now, there is stuff pouring out of every nook and cranny. Who am I kidding.. Of course it was necessary!) so have lots of cool stuff to create some beautiful new bits and pieces.

Whilst attempting to clear up my workspace this afternoon to make way for her majesty, I found these little pendants I made back in the Summer hiding at the bottom of one of my stock drawers so they've gone into the shop today! I've also revised all of my postage costs to keep the costs as low as possible for my customers.

In other news, M and I are planning a collaboration for the near future. Hopefully it'll be ready for the new year and we're both very excited about it, I won't go into too much detail right now but soon soon soon I promise. Until then ♥

TUTORIAL - Paper Mushrooms

These. Are. Awesome. Big and little paper mushrooms perfect for table decorations at weddings, parties or for your mantle. So VERY easy to make too - read on to find out how!