It's all about the feathers and leaves...

This week and next are turning out to be quite the busiest weeks of the year so far (they probably aren't, but it seems that way...), not just with work but with people to see, places to be, horses to compete and other things.

This weekend is Mark's birthday and I have a dressage competition up in Devon, and then at the beginning of next week we are taking a flying visit to Brighton to visit our friend Natasha who's birthday it is as well, and then I will be back for more horse training...that will add up to quite a bit of tooing and froing!

In the meantime I have added some more jewellery to the shop! Two lovely new bracelets and a feathery necklace...

The first bracelet is the Autumn Bracelet, a piece of Autumn beauty for your wrist (above) and the second is a limited edition Feather Nest Bracelet (below. Edit - All sold out now, thanks!). It is made with vintage chains and has pretty feathers and a little bird with beautiful pacific opal Swarovski crystals...I'm so pleased with these two :)

I have also added yet another feathery creation to the jewels section of the shop in the form of this Feather and Feather Necklace. It has a large detailed brass feather with a smaller silver plated one and a couple of sparkling Swarovski crystals (I love my Swarovski's, gorgeous colours and so much twinkling!)...All these pieces are available in the jewels section of the Bonbi Forest shop. I hope you like them!

So what with all the goings on this weekend and next week, I just wanted to give a heads up that because of this (and what with the Royal Mail's planned postal strikes on Thursday and Friday) any orders placed today and tomorrow will ship on Saturday morning and any orders from Friday onwards will ship next Thursday...phew!

Things I want - Donna Wilson's fabulous knits!!

This cooler weather has got me thinking about big cozy knits and warm blankets to cuddle up under on the sofa as the nights draw in and I was reminded of the work of Donna Wilson, whose work I cam across a little while back. I immediately fell in love with the colours she uses and the offbeat lines in her drawings, and I also adore the kind of clunkiness that the knit fabric gives her designs.

Top of my list of desire is the Rainy day blanket, oh and the Up the Garden Path blanket and perhaps a set of her glasses too for supping sweet warming concoctions of rum and ginger or bourbon based beverages...


...and her creatures. My goodness, so amazing. That cat's face cracks me up!

Visit Donna's site HERE there is a ton more lovely craziness to inspire :)

An English Garden...

I have a new necklace in the store...An English Garden.

Since Autumn is here and the flowers are fading and wildlife is either flying away or beginning to hibernate, I wanted to create something that evokes a feeling of spring and summertime past.

It is super pretty and has a silver plated pendant with cream vintage acrylic blooms on one side and cute etched leaves on the other. It swings from a dainty silver plated chain along with opaque turquoise Swarovski, a little brass bird and a sparkling red Swarovski butterfly...I hope you like it!


See and shop An English Garden HERE!!

Forever...

My latest painting!

'Forever...' In a little cocoon there they will stay, bright and marvelous for us to behold.

Ella May

Every few days I take 1/2 hour out to have a peruse and catch up on some of my favorite blogs. I don't read them everyday because despite it being way to time consuming (so many favorites!) in a funny kind of way I get a bit OVER-inspired and end up with so many half formed and hair-brained ideas I don't know where to begin. Despite being someone who makes lots of different things, I have to dedicate time to concentrate on one. thing. at. a. time. or my studio becomes a mass of half finished chaos...

Anyway, the reason I started with a little musing about blog reading is that I came across these photographs by Ella May on one of my favorite blogs, Modish (which is actually where the blog relevance ends...I like to waffle, see!) and have absolutely fallen in love with her use of light. It's just beautiful:

Celestial Asymmetry

So, they are finally in store - a selection of the latest Bonbi Forest earrings, hurrah!

It seems with making these that my obsession with all things celestial, asymmetric and bird like has continued...I hope you like them! Here is a peek at a few here and there are more in store HERE!

Coming sooon....!

The past couple of days has been a jewellery making extravaganza for me. I will be adding new pieces over the next week, including lots of new earrings which the shop has been seriously lacking since it opened!

Here is a peek at a pair of the newest...They are based on a lovely long asymmetrical set I made for myself a while ago that sit prettily in long hair and look so elegant with an up-do or shorter hair. they'll be in store tomorrow!

One table saved...

Last week I saw this little bamboo table sat in the garden at my folks house and after a some investigation I was horrified to discover it was en-route to the bonfire! I have been looking for a table just like it for our bathroom, one with wheels and a cute rack underneath for towels and the like...it had to be saved!!

I brought it home and gave it a clean up. I got rid of the dust and cobwebs and sanded the rust of the caster wheels and then gave it a good coat of white satinwood paint which took about 24 hours to dry.

I wanted to make it pretty for the bathroom and so gave it a little sprinkling of pink, green, grey and black leaves on the top and down the legs, with cute sprays on the side of the rack underneath...

It looks so lovely in our bathroom, which is a little dated in the decor stakes - we rent our home you see and it can't be changed :( - but the table adds a personal pop and I'm really pleased with it. Yay!

It is the genuine 70's article and came from a set of bits and pieces my parents had when they bought their first house. They still use the bamboo framed mirror, but there was a coffee table with a glass top, and a tall bookshelf corner unit with a round top too. I was told today that the bookshelf is actually in mine and my brother's old treehouse, so I am going to venture up there and if it's not succumbed to rot or anything else horrid (that goes for the treehouse too - the tree has grown and pushed it to one side somewhat. Safety may scupper the rescue mission!) it shall be saved too...watch this space :)

Cupcake Sunday...

It is a well known fact among my good friends and family that I have just about the sweetest tooth going and so, I am unable to resist anything remotely sugary treat-like. I particularly adore anything sugary and gingery and despite not being the most naturally talented in the baking stakes, I was most excited to find this easy gingerbread cupcake recipe.

The recipe comes from a book called Cupcakes (of course) by Susannah Blake and is really easy, even for people who aren't that great at baking like my good self :)

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Icing - By Susannah Blake:

Makes 12

60g Butter
50g Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
2 tbsp Black Treacle
1 tsp Ground Ginger
80ml Milk
1 egg, beaten
2 pcs Stem Ginger, drained and chopped
115g Self-Raising Flour

You will need 12 cupcake cases and a 12 hole muffin tin.

Preheat the oven to 170ºc (325ºf, Gas 3).

Put the butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle and ground ginger in a saucepan and gently heat until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk then beat in the egg and stem ginger.

Sift the flour into the mixture and fold in. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes until risen and a skewer comes out clean and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the decoration you will need:

2 tbsp Lemon Juice
200g Icing Sugar, sifted
2-3 pieces of Stem Ginger drained and chopped

Pour the lemon juice into a bowl and gradually sift in the icing sugar, stirring as you go until smooth, thick and spoonable. Spoon the icing over the cakes, top with a few pieces of stem ginger on each one and leave to set...

Et Voila!

The book has so many gorgeous looking recipes in it with beautiful photographs and can be bought from Amazon HERE!

Yummers!