Happy Solstice!

Happy Winter Solstice

Today my daughter drew the name of the give away winner out of a hat. She picked two names that had snagged together, so there are two lucky winners!

And the winners of my Give Away are:

Walk in The Woods

and...

Caio Fernandes

Congratulations! Please drop me a line to say whether yo would like a scarf, scarfette, or felted jewelry and also which colour scheme you would prefer, and I'll get busy right away :) Please also email me your postal details.

Have a great Solstice, Christmas and New Year Folks, sending festive hugs and love x

Leaves in Snow

Lucky Me!

I won Karin Bartimole's blog give away. I feel so lucky, and I love the recycled theme and ethical ethos behind the give away. Christmas tree decorations made from recycled bottle tops and other materials, paper that contains seeds and can be planted (wow, I love!), A hand made book made from recycled cereal boxes, I will certainly have fun journaling in that. Some surprise art goodies, and a gift from Unicef where the proceeds go towards helping save the lives of children.

Thank you Karin. This year, Christmas has been all about ethical spending and environmentally friendly, and home made gifts so I am delighted with Karin's offerings.

I love Karin's artwork, I find the way that Karin is able to paint feelings and physical sensations unique. Please visit Karin at BEYOND WORDS to see what I mean. You won't be disappointed!

If you are intrigued by paper that contains seeds to be planted you may like this little Welsh company that sells Sheep Poo Paper! Yes it sounds gross, but it is clean and sterile, made from sustainable sources that leaves our precious trees be, and some of it contains wildflower seeds that can be used to plant when the paper is no longer in use. I get a real kick out of the idea that you can send wedding invites on this paper :)


For those of you that have not entered my Blog Give Away, there is still time. The draw will be made tomorrow. Don't forget that it is possible to get extra entries by becoming a follower of Made4Aid, sporting a Made4Aid button on your blog and writing a post sign posting your readers to Made4Aid. Read HERE for further a details and leave a comment to enter.

The prize will be worth it! You can choose between a piece of felted jewelry, a scarf or a scarfette that will be made especially for the winner using their choice of colours.

Thank you :)

Felted Lovelies Laced with Silk

This year I am making as many Christmas presents as I can. Its a bigger task than I thought. We will be spending Christmas in Anglesey with my grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and maybe more... I'm really looking forward to it. I've counted at least 12 people that I will see on he day that I don't usually exchange gifts with ,but I have this self made rule. If I'm lucky enough to spend Christmas day with someone, I like to give them a gift.

Here are 7 of the necklaces I have made. They are all felted wool beads with pale pink silken detail. Its a look that I had tried to achieve in earlier pieces of jewelry where I used alpaca wool. Alpaca wool doesn't get the same satisfying result as silk for this effect. Its too hairy.

The felted wool and silk beads feel very warm and luxurious, almost like a hug.

If you haven't already put your name down for my give away there is still time. Just click HERE and leave a comment. The draw will be made on 21st December. Good luck.

Odin

Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows

For nine long nights,

Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odhinn,

Offered, myself to myself

The wisest know not from whence spring

The roots of that ancient rood

They gave me no bread,

They gave me no mead,

I looked down;

with a loud cry

I took up the runes;

from that tree I fell.

Odin's Gift to the World

(Excerpt of W H Auden & P B Taylor's Translation of The Havamal)

Theme Thursday - Friends, & a Give Away...

Its Theme Thursday time again and this week its all about friends. Earlier today I visited Lettuce and was moved by her post explaining what blogging has come to mean to her. It mirrors so many of my own feelings about the circle of friends I have come to know and love within the blogging community. I have found friends here where I never expected to find any. I have been blessed with support, words of kindness and wisdom, inspiration and free tuition. I am so thankful for the things I have been able to learn from you all and the chain reaction of creativity that has been borne between the pages of your blogs.

I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to do a blog give away to thank you ll and by way of showing my appreciation to all of you. There are no rules to this give away. You don't have to follow my blog. You don't need to visit again. If this is your first visit here, don't let that prevent you from leaving a comment to enter this give away. All are welcome! I do have a cheeky (optional) incentive however :)) let me explain:

• Each person that leaves a comment will have one entry to the give away
• Each person that is a follower of made4aid, has a made4aid button on your blog or writes a post signposting your readers to made4aid will get an extra entry
• To clarify, if you leave a comment and are a follower of made4aid you have 2 entries, if you leave a comment, follow made4aid and have a made4aid link button on your side bar then you have 3 entries. If you have left a comment, follow made4aid, have a made4aid button and write a post, well then, you are super and I'll go right ahead and give you 5 entries!
• Remember, these are just incentives and not conditions. Leaving a comment alone will give you an entry

I will make the draw on 21/12/09 in celebration of the winter solstice. I will be giving away a felted scarf, scarfette or piece of jewelry (please state your preference and favourite colour). I will make the felt for the winner using the preferred colour scheme of the winner that can be tailored for gender too. I will post out the felt during the first days of January.

Ok, now thats enough of my shameless promotions. Its safe to keep reading future posts, I won't be bigging up any more charities for a while. There have been so many of late because I have a real bee in my bonnet about ethical spending at Christmas time. I hate to see people getting into debt, maxing the plastic and stressing over expensive presents that are often unwanted, unused and unloved. But we love our family an friends and love giving presents don't we?


The picture above was taken at Stonehenge this year during the Gorsedd of Bards of Cor Gawr midsummer gathering.

Calling all Artists!

Merino wool dyed in turmeric powder

Needle flt painting made entirely from naturally coloured wool or wool dyed with plants and vegetables

Needle felted tree using Naturally coloured wool or wool dyed with plants and berries

Blue Faced Leicester wool needle felted into beads (no dyes used)

This post is inspired by the the Blog 'Natural Dye Inks'. When I work with wool, the pieces that give me the greatest satisfaction are those that are the most environmentally friendly. I love to see felt that has been made from natural wool tones or coloured with eco-dyes. The blogs that I get most excited about seeing newposts from on my blog roll are the ones that teach me how to make environmentally friendly dyes myself such as Mama Ladka, Growing Tyffu, Riihivilla, Dying with Natural Dyes , India Flint and others.

Now that I have started painting too, I often wish that I knew where to buy or how to make environmentally friendly paints. I was delighted to see a new post on Natural Dye Inks today, and then saddened to see that there have only been two posts this year.

Eco Art is so uplifting and rewarding that I'd love to see projects like 'Natural Dye Inks' thrive.

If you have any tips such as where to purchase, how to make or which websites to visit and books to buy on paints, inks, coloured pencils, pastels or any other environmentally friendly art material please post a comment sharing your knowledge, or better still hop over to Natural Dye Inks and lend them your support.

Thank you x