Gimme Gimme Gimme - GIVE AWAY!

It's high time i had a GIVE AWAY on my blog - don't you think?!
I have been meaning to do one for a long time so apologies it hasn't arrived sooner.
And just LOOK at the lovely pile of Woodland Whimsy... A Woodland PinPot!
Charming little fella that can sit on your sewing table and hold your pins neatly in place. I use mine all the time and love it to bits.

There is also a pile of Woodland Butons for you to use: Reds, browns, greens and the odd dotty surprise PLUS a giant button...

And a little mini pile of woodland-esque felt to use for something fun?

... and last, but by no means least, these 2 super cute wooden pegs. One has a tree design on top and the other and toadstool house (very kawaii or decole)

I am possibly too kind, i know :) but generosity is in my nature.

So, to ENTER: simply leave me a comment (a pleasant one please) and even tell me what you think my blog should have more of / less of to help me improve it. Also... leave your EMAIL ADDRESS or how will i know how to contact you if you win? No catch - entries from worldwide happily accepted.

A genuine draw will take place - (i'm real honest) - and i will let you all know after midnight UK time on Saturday 30th May.

Thanks for joining in the fun x

I have to talk about Julie Arkell...

There are lots of things that I love.....
Dressing up - Being with my Baby - Walking the dog - Tea - Sewing... (that list continues for an age and is evergrowing...) ...and on that list, very near the top, there is the work of Julie Arkell....

I don't even know what to say about her work.

It leaves me speechless.

I am utterly compelled by it. I look at this book alllllll the time. I think about her alllll the time. Images of her work pop into my head day and evening. I am so envious that I am not her but I am so grateful she is who she is otherwise she would never have produced such craft.

All i can do is show you a few images from the small booklet i have. Even if the quality of these photos were better or brighter, they still can't match up to the 'real thing'.

I'll try to tell you what her work makes me feel of:

Think about an eldery lady who has sadly passed away, and you have been asked if there is anything you'd like from her attic before they clear it all and sell the house. There are dusty trunks filled with old lace, postcards and buttons.... there are toys, handmade from paper, wearing woolly hats. There are rabbits - on wheels! that you can pull along with string. There are wooden block clowns with frightening inter-changable heads... you find old letters and postcards from seaside towns and brown-edged photographs of a slim man whose name has carelessly been forgotten. There is a whole world of childhood all huddled and stored in paper. The stories of Summer days spill onto the wooden floorboards as you remember the taste of home-made lemonade and the smell of someones old house-coat.

Twee? maybe. But i think there is also a sinister or 'sad' edge to her work that i fail to capture in words. The sadness is a sort of frustration, like when you can't remember the name of something and it 'kills' you to rack your brain!!

You might also think I am mad, and you know Julie Arkell's work and it isn't at all how I have described... maybe my descriptions say more about me than they do about the artist?
Ah well, look her up and see for yourself. Decide if you like her too?

Julie Arkell.

Born in London 1955

more stuff: http://www.earthangelstoys.com/html/julie_arkell_-_paper_mache.html

and here: http://theconstantgatherer.blogspot.com/2008/04/julie-arkell.html

and look at her here: http://lovelytextiles.blogspot.com/2008/06/julie-arkell-knit-to-embroidery_25.html she herself is beautiful... damn my envy of her brilliance.

Ahhh Julie Arkell, thanks so much for making the world a better place to be x