Busy Preparing For Christmas....

Well, I have been working all hours trying to get a whole load of designs finished so that they can be printed in time for me to be making a bunch of different goodies for the baubley Bungay Christmas Street Market
I shall be having a stall with my lovely mother-in-law, who is a crafter and whizz on the sewing machine! My creative craftsman father-in-law will have some little wooden carved items on the stall too - if time allows - they still have settling into a new home to do...


Here's a pic of one end of Earsham Street; it's a really pretty, very attractive little town and my in laws have just moved there... So what better way to announce their presence than for them to meet people at the funkily-famous, friendly fair all along Earsham Street.
There are already lots of lovely independent stores and galleries selling a myriad antiques, gifts and art as well as interesting eateries, delightful delis and a hearty wholefood shop

  


Cork Brick Gallery
Everywhere you look in Bungay you see pretty vernacular houses and cottages that tell the story of a long history. From the front, my in laws' place is ostensibly Georgian - but some very old beams hint that maybe the facade was added later.

Bridge Street from the hermitage
I found the website of a mother and daughter team Farrell and Holmes, who make beautiful handmade fabric and paper gift items who are obviously way ahead of us (well, me at any rate) - check them out here - they'll be at the Bungay Christmas Street Market too - on Sunday 2 December
And here is a little tiny snippet of some of what I have been working on - but this is not what they'll look like when made into charming cards, bibbling badges, snazzy sticker packs, natty notebooks or tumbley tree bunting - oh my do I REALLY have to do ALL that? In just five weeks



Yes, I do

All Hail For Autumn: A Charming Walk...

We had a lovely walk in early autumnal sunshine - it's warmth sweetening blackberries and peeling off my cardigan!
There were fungi everywhere - Fly Agaric and Puffballs in the wooded bit and big brown roundy ones that obviously go crinkly with age, which I don't know the name of out on the heath, embraced by moss and heather:









By the time we got to the lakes - we had passed more red autumn lovelies; shiny rose hips of orange and vermilion, neat and tidy rosy-red hawthorn berries and glamorous back-lit honeysuckle berries. Even the bramble leaves were looking cheeky in splendiferous ruddy redness:






We visited the lakes, collecting suitable stones as we went. Stones are so very just right for throwing into lakes; splishing and glopping deliciously. 





Later we strode purposefully towards home with rose-bud cheeks and blackberry-juice lips! Such is the sweet innocence of an early October walk on your big brother's sixteenth Birthday.

Tiny And Out In The Sticks But Not Insignificant

Had a sweet visit to a most delightful little purpose-built museum for the housing of a collection of all things shell with my lovely colleague and the - all very good at drawing this year - students. 
The Shell Museum building


This pretty Victorian lady with a charming innocent expression stands atop the glass cases with her own glass dome to protect her from the ravages of dust and intrigued fingers



I adore this beautifully crafted collage set on a gorgeous bright coral background sitting squarely between the two places that are artisan and kitch - fab!
It has given me a whole lot of inspiration.... There are little shell characters that remind me of souvenirs from by-the-sea-side holidays too


And lastly - look at these little things - baby toes - oh! Just adorable...the cotton wool...the preciousness of it all!