Cherry, Fruit And Olive Plates (And More Thank Yous!)

Pressies From Maisy Lee :)

I'd like to start by thanking all the people who left lovely comments and congratulations on my last week's Handmade Monday post x You may like to know that it was the very deserving Helen Small who won the Circle of Love Giveaway in the end - well done Helen!


Incredibly, i began this week with the rather wonderful news from a lovely lady called Donna that i had won ANOTHER blog giveaway! It was on her blog, Maisy Lee Designs. She has only recently started this little window into her crafting world and i love reading her posts, as they always put a smile on my face :)  She has a beautiful way of looking at life!


The prize for the giveaway was fantastic - the choice of anything from her Folksy shop! It was really hard to choose as everything she makes is so lovely, but in the end i went for this beautiful hand embroidered rainbow campervan pin cushion, pictured here with all the lovely extra goodies she sent me - i can't tell you what a lovely package it was to receive, it felt like my birthday!

Thank you Donna! I'm completely in love with my new pin cushion, and was very touched by the love and care you put into sending it to me :)

A Peaceful Leaf

I discovered Lindsey Harris's beautiful and original garden collage photography when i came upon her Etsy shop, 'A Peaceful Leaf' by chance a couple of week's ago. I found her work both touching and inspiring, and was really happy when she agreed to me doing a feature on her work on my blog.

I published the feature this week - it includes some fascinating insights into Lindsey's inspiration and working practices as well as lots of her stunning photographs - if you have a moment, you can find it here - you'll never look at leaves the same way again! Lindsey is the loveliest person and i know she'll really appreciate any comments you feel inspired to leave (pardon the pun!)

Painting Plates

My own creative expression this week has taken the form of some experimental plate painting (try saying that quickly three times!). I ordered a set of six porcelain side plates recently as i have been enjoying mug painting and fancied branching out, and have been looking forward to getting started on this project.



I don't know about you, but in our house side plates are generally used for putting little snacks on - frequently to eat on the sofa in front of the TV of an evening! So, the first i came up with was this fruit design - the perfect plate for a fruity snack (why do apples taste better when they're cut up..? or maybe i'm alone with that one... :))

I was pretty pleased with the cherries on the fruit plate so next came a cherry only design (a fruit you always need a plate for because of the stones!)

Then along came another... i'm toying with the idea of selling these in pairs, but i do find it hard to get them looking exactly the same when painting freehand so i'm not too sure if this will work. My other half says that this is part of the 'charm' although he also thinks i should find some more 'rustic' looking plates for these designs.. what do you think?

On the theme of 'things with stones' i also came up with an olive design which i rather like.

I'm thinking that it might be quite nice to create a set of four side plates each with a different design.. i'm itching to do some 'sweet treat' ones too - expect to see cupcakes and other yummies on a plate here soon!

Thanks for listening all! I'm off now to Handmade Harbour to link up to Handmade Monday and find out what everyone else has been up to - I really look forward to hearing all the news each week, and to reading the lovely comments that people leave here on my blog :)  its good to talk!