geometric stitches

A very dear family member is sick and I'm having a slightly strange few days where I'm finding I can't concentrate too much on anything. However, I stumbled across the incredible work of Maria Aparicio Puentes this morning and felt I simply had to share with you. She stitches onto found photographs. I find her work truly inspiring.

You can read about Maria's creative process here.

Oh, and the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that my blog header has changed. I will tell you more about that in the coming days...

paula mills home tour

Welcome to another week! Are you snowed in? I hope wherever you are you are warm and safe. Here's something to make us feel warm and cosy. Recently spied on sfgirlbybay, the amazing home of artist Paula Mills. You can see the whole tour here. Be sure to also check out Paula's beautiful work.

sally elford

I love mutual admiration! I had an email from Twitter the other day to say that Sally was now following me. I always check out any new follower so hopped on over to Sally's profile and then to her website. There I discovered her beautiful mid-century modern inspired screenprints and giclee prints. I immediately wanted to blog about them...

FISH POOL

FEATHERS AND FLORA (MUSTARD)

Imagine my surprise when I went to her 'news' section to see my own prints staring out at me! She'd beaten me to it! I wouldn't have known about that if I'd not followed the links, and I wouldn't have discovered Sally's beautiful work. In the few emails we have now exchanged, I find I really like Sally and feel we have much in common as artists. Social networking can be good sometimes!

MAGPIE'S TREASURE

DANDELION (MUSTARD)

Many of Sally's themes are based around nature, but she does have the odd non-nature inspired piece, such as this personal favourite of mine...

TIME FOR TEA

Be sure to have a look at more of Sally's fine work here.

unique art

I simply wish I had a spare four hundred bucks for one of these amazing beauties from Spencer Studio.

YOUNG BALLERINA DANCING NEAR WATER

WOMAN WITH CHINOISERIE WALLPAPER

DESERT LANDSCAPE

shortbread buttons

And while we're on the subject of recipes... such a beautiful blog this. And amazing shortbread buttons, with a full tutorial and this beautiful illustration, courtesy of the super-talented Eva Juliet. Yours free to download!

kareem rizk

A few years ago I came across the work of Melbourne-based artist Kareem Rizk. I used to have one of these lovely bird images sitting on my desktop for simply ages, I loved it so much.

Bird No.1

Bird No.2

Bird No.3

Bird No.4

Bird No.5

Bird No.6

Today something accidentally made me find him again and I'm so happy I did. Amongst his many achievements he's collaborated with another favourite artist of mine, Eduardo Recife. Why not pop on over to Kareem's website to have a closer look at his amazing work!

budget art display

There are hundreds of great art prints out there all looking for a home. Not only can collecting them be a costly business, but framing can certainly put an extra strain on our pockets. Here are some nifty and stylish ideas for hanging art on a shoestring.

on clipboards

brightly taped or with a simple bulldog clip

from wooden clothes hangers

or trouser hangers

or buy them cheap from a thrift store and give them a lick of paint!

the talented miss viviane schwarz

My lovely and talented friend Sofia told me about her lovely and talented friend Viviane the other day. Viviane is a children's book artist and author and I instantly fell in love with her delightful illustrations, but especially her beautiful books.


There Are Cats In This Book and There Are No Cats In This Book are two of my favourites, full of humour and wonderfully clever use of layout and format. Here is a little video of her reading her book with cats in:



Psst... if you hang on til the very end you can also see her read her book with no cats in too!

Viviane is a keen knitter like all the best people are. If you'd like to knit her cats, well she's even thought of that as well!

Poppytalk Look Book

Wow... what a gorgeous cover was my first thought! The latest lookbook from Poppytalk Handmade is for the current Affordable Art & Home exhibition. Featuring beautiful ceramic vases from one of my favourite Etsy stores, Dahlhaus, this e-book really stands out. So much to enjoy inside as well... why don't you take a peek... (click below)!

Open publication - Free publishing - More vintage

Paper Roses

I am just in awe of some people's abilities to create beautiful things... amazing paper-cutting is just one of the things multi-talented artist Carol Gearing does. Pop on over to her Flickr stream to see more...





Have a Happy Easter everyone!

Prints to die for!!

These incredible prints were produced by Stukenborg. They are infact letterpress impressions of dice printed on a Vandercook 317!




The dice are arranged on the bed of the press, and the ink is rolled directly onto the face of the die for each impression. Amazing huh!