Adam The Doddles Man and his trusty pooch Rover

I've always been fascinated by drawing forms, they aren't just an artists tool but are art all by themselves, Adam The Doodles Man and his very lovely dog Rover are no exception! I couldn't wait to free them from their very modest packaging and if I'm honest, have a little play with them!

They soon found their pride of place upon my fire place, they have already welcomed in two birthdays and the beginning of Christmas and never look out of place.
I will often catch the girls playing and chatting with them and we have a lesson planned in the new year for our community group on Famous Artists so these will be coming along for a drawing workshop with some very lovely children.

Adam the Doodles Man is the perfect companion to help you with your figure drawing. Made of stainless steel wire connected at the joints with aluminium rivets, his fully adjustable joints and limbs will hold any pose for as long as you need. He never rusts, never rests, never eats and never sleeps, so will always be on hand whenever you need him!

The Doodles range also includes Rover the Doodles Dog, together the pair make an ideal gift for any budding artist!

If men and dogs aren't really your drawing thing then fear not, Homerama have robins and reindeers in their online store, who doesn't want little moveable, metal animals dotted all over their house whether they are artists or not?!

After browsing the web I also found some snowmen, SNOWMEN!!!
These have to be the coolest gift for artists, lovers of finer things and general weirdos like myself!

I can't wait to build a collection of my own, and i plan to create some gorgeous line drawn images for gifts next year, Thanks Adam The Doodle's Man for inspiring me to create something new!

Handbag Compacts

With progress on my shiny new shop coming along nicely ive been "trying" to make good head way with my stock and the gift range.
And looky what arrived yesterday... our shiny new customisable acrylic handbag mirrors. I am working on a little pouch for them, thinking one that can also be used as a coin purse too with a parisian feel, i think though with the cost it would be a good idea to offer these as an additional cost instead of adding it on to the mirror price. They wont break and shouldnt scratch much either so not essential to the care of your mirror.
anywho take a look see and let me know what you think! these are available for pre-order if you just have to have one now!!! POA lizipants@yahoo.co.uk

day 14... fathers day makes

So i had all these fabulous ides for fathers day this year as we where hand making but i realised a few days a go that we are away that weekend and with wholesale orders mounting up and the usual jewellery work i wont have time to do what i had in mind so me and the girls rustled up something cute for him today!

This is a photo that i took this afternoon and edited with a light sepia tone filter and printed on to photo paper. mounted it into the frame (these r 1.99 from b and m bargains!) they super glued our message in scrabble letters to the glass and the wooden frame.
We then made this cute card!

I hand cross stitched the little picture of daddy and we stuck it onto some photo paper. We then printed out a cloud and some cute little birds and glued them down. We then used magnetic scrabble letters from the travel edition to spell out our message and pop the girls names on. Its no Picasso but its cute... i just hope he likes it!! And the girls had fun!!!

Lxx

Post 2 of handmade year

Yesterday was Sunday and i was under strict instructions not to "social network" in any way shape or form... well u all know i did so that didn't go to well did it!... but it did reflect in my blogging :s so to make up to it today we have a few things going on, first off is my first EVER swap post (coming soon!) and i will endeavor to list an item a day Mon-Fri.
Also i will be doing a little post on a craft once a week that i will be making during my year of handmade!!

So yesterday, just to keep you up to date, was pretty boring! We got wet going for pet food... we have a few not mentioning the kids ;) then we came home and i worked ALL day!!
I made a start on @createdotnet 's custom order of 6 round yellow cushion covers... long story short i ran out of binding (bugger!)
I then made a start on the pearl bracelets that are mounting up. Got 3 out of 8 done.

So now its monday and due to the horrendous 80mph winds and torrential rain this morning i kept the girls off school, slap my hands and tell me off all u want but i ask anyone to walk over half a mile to school in heavy wind and rain then we will see what you'd do!
So kids entertained, fed and watered i managed to sneak this little cutey in...

Ive aptly named her Bunty!! i had forgot just how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE cross stitch and now i have all these wonderous ideas i want to do, what i do need tho is some gorgeous vintage frames (swap anyone???)

Hope you like her and thank you to all the support ive been getting regards to the handmade year... its exciting and fun, though not sure how long that will last, already seen some GORGEOUS shoes i desperatly want! And keep up the hard work to all the lovely ladies who have decided to get on board and do it themselves!

Even the hubby seem margionally interested in what im doing, vowing that the kids are now on a health kick, no sweets or choc! So far so good :)

L xx

Featuring....@BabyCalenders

Baby's First Calender is one of the most ingenious baby gifts I've come across in a long time.  Its a fully customisable baby's first year calender where you can add photos, personal info, you can add dates and milestones and it even has an integrated baby thermometer.

 This amazing calender arrives in a corrugated printed cardboard tube, that has been made from recycled products no less, and gives you the basic info of whats inside. There are contact details and product details along with lovely pictures and photos.

 The Gorgeous woodland characters are so cute and really bring this calendar alive. The simple room thermometer is  a life saver with young babies, i wouldn't be without one with a young baby now. Its so easy to let them get to hot and this will give you peace of mind.

The stickers provided give you the months of the year so you can place them to fit your babies birth etc. The cute little milestone stickers are a real treat and the boxes are plenty big enough for you to write your own appointments or milestones.

There are two places along the bottom for your own photos and babies birth details, on the other side is baby at 1 years old.

Its not just practical but its a keepsake to map your new babies first year of life. They grow so fast those special milestones are often forgotten in a haze of sleepless nights and projectile vomit.  It's the perfect gift for that mum and dad to be or just a gorgeous keepsake for yourself to look back on when they are 16 and wonder where the time went. Any parent to be should not be without one of these awesome calenders. I just wish something of this size and simplicity was available when my girls where younger, they all would of had one!
You can buy yours now direct from http://babysfirstcalendar.com or contact @BabyCalendars on twitter for more info.


One lucky reader can win this amazing baby keepsake... all you have to do is tell me why you think you deserve to win and follow @babycalendars to be entered to win! Winner chosen at random at Friday 11th March.