Friday 31 December 2010

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2011. I will be back in a couple of days with a 29 project update and other bits and pieces.
New Year Cat
^ New Year Cat ^

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Turn of the Year Sale!

2011 is nigh upon us and here's a little treat for you to say thank you for your continued support in 2010 --> 20% off any order over £15 using the code HELLO2011!
Turn of the Year Sale!
Visit the shop!

Also, with all of the pre-Christmas hoo-ha I forgot to mention this online radio show I was interviewed for! It is a 3 part program for BBC Blast about using your creative talent to make a living, and contains audio snippets from me and other creative and business types. Have a listen HERE!

It's strange hearing my own voice!

29 Project: Days 212 - 217

I hope everyone had a super Christmas with lots of festive cheer and time well spent with family and friends? Ours was very nice and I was thoroughly spoiled with beautiful books, pretty things for our home, soft things to wear, vouchers to spend and a pair of posh thermal breeches to keep me warm when I am riding...and lots and lots and lots of chocs and sweets!

I have a 29 project from the last week here to show you now, and check back later for a little end of year treat I have lined up for you!

29 project: Days 212 - 217...

Day 212: Tuesday 21st December - Rosette Decorations. My mum likes to make use of Pia pony's winning red ribbons by hanging them up with her Christmas garlands every year!
Day 212 - Rosette Decorations

Day 213: Wednesday 22nd December - Lights in Truro. A bunch of us went for a festive pizza dinner followed by some late night shopping, which went swimmingly, with even the hardest people to buy for sorted. Ace!
Day 213 - Truro Christmas Lights

Day 214: Thursday 23rd December - Pressies. Gifts under the tree...ever so exciting! Present wrapping was followed by a Christmas eve's eve night out which was much fun indeed...
Day 214 - Pressies!

Day 215: Friday 24th December - Nativity. A little scene outside the chapel in our village. Mark and I were headed to the pub where we didn't do very well in the Christmas music quiz, but instead won some rosé and Fererro Rocher's in the raffle.
Day 215 - Nativity

Day 216: Saturday 25th December - C H R I S T M A S!!! (Can you tell yet how much I like Christmas?) In the morning we drove up to North Cornwall to see Mark's dad and go for a little beachside drink and then headed back to my folks for the afternoon for more gift giving, eating and game playing. Awesome. Here is my brother, his lady and my dad watching a miniature helicopter flying about the room:
Day 216 - Christmas Time

Day 217: Sunday 26th December - Boxing Day Feast! Boxing day was another lazy day spent visiting Mark's mama, where we munched a lovely spread of cold meats, home made mince pies and cheeses. In the evening we went to see friends in Falmouth for another hearty feast and general merriment until the wee hours...a brilliant way to end the weekend.
Day 217 - Boxing Day Feast

Day 218: Monday 27th December - New Vase. Home again and here is the AMAZING new vase Mark bought me! It's a Rob Ryan design and I love it so much, we had to stop off on the way home from Falmouth and buy some flowers just so I could make use of it immediately!
Day 218 - New Vase

Tuesday 21 December 2010

29 Project: Days 200 - 211

Ahhh! Today was the last Christmas post day and now I feel like I can start winding down for Christmas. It's been a crazy season, thank you all who have supported Bonbi Forest this last month or so (indeed, this last year!), you have run me ragged and made me a very happy lady. THANK YOU!!

I have a few things to show you next week and a heads up to look out for too...but before all that: On with the 29 project, days 200 - 211...

Day 200: Thursday 9th December - Where the cat has been. This must have made for some cold paws!
Day 200 - Where the Cat Was
Day 201: Friday 10th December - New things I will be playing with soon! The mirrors that is...I have been waiting to crack on with this little project for MONTHS! January is looking exciting to me, wait and see...(remember that little bird?)
Day 201 - New things to play with soon...
Day 202: Saturday 11th December - How to recycle a fridge: Use it as a store cupboard for bicycle paraphernalia like Mark does. Handy.
Day 202 - How to recycle a fridge...
Day 203: Sunday 12th December - A day off for Christmas Tree shopping! How exciting is this? A field full of little trees ready to be chopped, decorated and admired. We followed this by a roast with friends and then watched, like the reality TV fans we pretend we are not, the X-Factor final. A very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.
Day 203 - Christmas Tree Shopping
Day 204: Monday 13th December - We decorated the tree! I love this time of year.
Day 204 - Tree!
Day 205: Tuesday 14th December - Scarf tags. I am very happy with these:
Day 205 - Scarf Tags
Day 206: Wednesday 15th December - Ugh! A little corner of the studio chaos...when all the packing is done and the tees and jewels re-stocked I may find time to clear some of this chaos away! The rest of the studio is mainly piles of tees and far, far, far too many cardboard boxes for a room this size...
Day 206 - Ugh! A small bit of the studio chaos
Day 207: Thursday 16th December - Bjorn Wiinblad plaques! After seeing a friend's completed collection earlier in the year I have really wanted to start my own...They are a lovely set of twelve (more about which I will have to create a whole new post for!) and these are my first two. I have more on the way and I can't wait, L O V E them!
Day 207 - Bjorn Wiinblad plaques
Day 208: Friday 17th December - A rare kind of beauty. This stunner is the angel that perches atop my folk's Christmas tree every year. I think she may be older than me. Check out her stylish stapled dress and her coquettishly angled halo!
Day 208 - A Rare Beauty
Day 209: Saturday 18th December - This last weekend Mark and I took lots of Bonbi goodies down to the Jubilee Wharf Christmas fair in Penryn for two days. It's always a fun fair and it's really nice to go back and catch up with some old faces and see some of my favorite customers who come back year on year. Here I am showing you my best pulling in the punters face:
Day 209 - Jubilee Fair
Day 210: Sunday 19th December - Jewels at the fair. I always like how they look all hanging together...
Day 210 - Jewels on display
Day 211: Monday 20th December - Good colours. Back to packing the last few orders and I liked how these unfolded jewellery pouches looked lined up like this. Pretty.
Day 211 - Good Colours

I think that's enough for now...I will be back with more and a few peeks of the things you can expect in the shop soon. I hope everyone has a good few days finishing off the last of their shopping and wrapping and general festive preparations!

Monday 13 December 2010

Look what has galloped in to the shop, just in time for Christmas!

Here they are and available to buy --> Equus scarves!
Fuchsia Equus Scarf
They come in two colours, turquoise and fuchsia and feature a whole herd of little horses and zebras cavorting around in a field of graphic blooms and leaves...you can see and shop them in the accessories section of the shop.
Turquoise Equus Scarf
Turquoise Equus Scarf
Fuchsia Equus Scarf

I'd love to know what you make of them?!

I hope everyone had a great weekend...Mark and I had a fun one which included hunting for our Christmas tree in a field of other Christmas trees. I am very much looking forward to putting it up this evening, yay!

Friday 10 December 2010

29 Project: Days 188 - 199

...and here's the rest of the last couple of weeks 29 project update, which is a feast of more of my hit and miss photography and things that have been going on around here, ha!

I know I mentioned it a while ago now, but really, I WILL be putting the new scarves in the shop this weekend for last minute pressies, so please stay tuned for that...As well as sorting them out I will be doing some more painting, seeing friends and going to get a Christmas tree, which is always a delight. I hope everyone has a super weekend!

On with the 29 project: Days 188 - 199...

Day 188: Saturday 27th November - Leaving a snow dusted Truro. Enroute to London for the BUST Magazine Craftacular. At this point there was only snow in the North and Scotland and bizarrely (seeing as we are always the last to get snow, if ever...) in Cornwall!
Day 188 - Leaving a Snow Dusted Truro

Day 189: Sunday 28th November - BUST! Here is a not great picture of the stall which by this late point in the day was looking somewhat mauled and sparse. The Craftacular was great and so, so busy! I had lots of long-time-no-see friends come along to say hello and met so many friendly faces. It was tiring but much fun indeed. Mark and I and our friend Natasha were also given the wonderful hospitality of the lovely Zosienka for two nights as well whose work and sweet blog you should check out, it's pretty ace indeed.
Day 189 - BUST Stall

Day 190: Monday 29th November - Home again to a snowy Truro. Again I was amazed that there weren't any snow sightings for the entire journey until we arrived back in Truro! (I understand this was a situation that changed over the next 24 hours however) I was glad we borrowed my folks big car, I don't think our little Punto would have been too happy reversing up this icy slope at all.
Day 190 - Home to Snowy Truro

Day 191: Tuesday 30th November - Busy Packing. Well while I was away it seems you guys started your Christmas shopping in earnest and the packing marathon (that continues still, and which I am so grateful for, thank you!) began good and proper...
Day 191 - Busy Packing

Day 192: Wednesday 1st December - During a little tee photo shoot I moved a chair and found that the floor was multi-coloured with stray scarf threads from my sewing and hemming the other evening...
Day 192 - Threads

Day 193: Thursday 2nd December - Furry pony ears! Jenna and I were marveling at how furry little Carries ears get in her old age. They look pretty cozy to me...
Day 193 - Pony Ears

Day 194: Friday 3rd Deember - Pub Quiz. I always enjoy our local pub's Pub Quiz. It alternates between music week and general knowledge week. I think this week we had the grand total of 25 out of 60. Pretty poor form!
Day 194 - Pub Quiz

Day 195: Saturday 4th December - Cliff. Or Clifford or  Mr Wifford, or Wiffy. Showing off some quality in front of the fire sleeping in his own special way:
Day 195 - Mr Wifford

Day 196: Sunday 5th December - The first of the pressies! Wrapped in time to go in the mail for our Aussie family who are Mark's brother Ian, his lady wife Natalie and their bambino, Morwenna...
Day 196 - First Pressies

Day 197: Monday 6th December - After a day of packing lots of lovely orders I sat down to some quiet time sketching in the evening. Ahhhh.
Day 197 - Sketching

Day 198: Tuesday 7th December - Icy Icy. Beautiful frost on frost at the place where I went for a lesson on Miss Pia. they live in a valley there where the sun comes around late in the day and too weak to melt the frost from the night before. This was so pretty!
Day 198 - Icy Icy

Day 199: Wednesday 8th December - New fringe! After only starting to grow it out a year ago, and then pondering it for weeks I took the plunge and reinstated my fringe. Goodbye boring hair and hello instant style for a wash n go girl like me. Yay!
Day 199 - Fringe again

Sunday 5 December 2010

29 Project: Days 181 - 187

At last! The first part of a VERY long 29 project update for you...I think this must be the longest it has been for me not to have updated, but you guys have been keeping me very busy with Christmas orders (thank you!!!) and the like, and before I realised a very long time had passed.

So here we go part one now and part two in a day or so: 29 project: Days 181 - 187...

Day 181: Friday 19th November - Drawing with pencils again! I haven't drawn with just pencils for a long time and had a really strong urge to do just that and so a couple of pencil drawings I made. I kind of like them but need to do more refining before I let them loose on here...
Day 181 - Drawing with Pencils again

Day 182: Saturday 20th November - Flood damage in Portloe. Our little village was quite hard hit by the storms this week and the harbour suffered a lot. Water came rushing down the hills on either side, tearing up the road, washing a car into the sea, leaving a fishing boat wrecked and filling the hotel with 3 feet of muddy water...Luckily no one was hurt but homes were ruined and possessions lost. Weather is a powerful beast sometimes!
Day 182 - Flood Damage in Portloe
^ This is also the halfway point of the 29 project...Goodness, that means I have only 6 months until I embark on a new decade. I'm not sure if I'm very happy about that at all. Eeek!

Day 183: Sunday 21st November - Bonfire! I liked the smoke amongst the winter trees...
Day 183 - Bonfire

Day 184: Monday 22nd November - Charlotte's Tea House. My friend Helen was visiting from London and I dragged her around town to go fabric shopping. We stopped off for a bite to eat at Charlotte's Tea House in Truro which is always a delight.
Day 183 - Tea House

Day 185: Tuesday 23rd November - Pretty light. The combination of leaves and low light at this slightly grubby window where I wash my screens and squeegees is always a pleasing view and this evening was no exception!
Day 184 - Pretty Light

Day 186: Wednesday 24th November - Making screens for the scarves which I showed you a peek at here. I hope to have time to get them in the shop this week in time for Christmas gift giving.
Day 185 - Making Screens

Day 187: Thursday 25th November - Hard ice. First came floods and then came the ice. Brrr!
Day 186 - Hard Ice

Day 188: Friday 26th November - Sewing and hemming and getting the scarves ready for the BUST Craftacular...
Day 187 - Sewing and Hemming

Well that is it for now...I will post this week just gone in a couple of days!

Friday 26 November 2010

I am quite excited about...

....new scarves! If you are coming to the Craftacular on Sunday then you will be the first to see them in person. They'll be available in the shop next week:
New Scarves are almost here!

BUST!

I should have posted this a little earlier in the week but time seems to be running away with me somewhat at the moment...

This weekend I am packing some bags full of Bonbi goodies and heading to the big smoke of London to set up shop at the BUST Magazine Christmas Craftacular, which I am very excited about. We had a great time at the summer one and I am anticipating a good fun weekend!

The Craftacular is at the York Hall in Bethnal Green (a short hop, skip and jump from the tube station!) and there will be 70 stalls selling the wares of independent designers and makers from across the country along with crafty workshops, a bar, dj's and dancing...if you are in the area do come along, it's only £2 to get in and the first 100 through the door get a free goodie bag too!

If you do come along, come and say hello to me and Mark -->

Come and see me at The BUST magazine Christmas Craftacular!

I will have a 29 project update soon for you...it may be before I go or it may be when I get back. So much for my resolve to keep on top of it on a more regular basis eh? Anyway, either way I have lots to show you!

Friday 19 November 2010

29 Project: Days 177 - 180

The forthcoming weekend is going to be quite busy for me I think, there will be some printing with friends, curry eating, horse duties amongst other things, and I have some new drawings swimming around in my head that I want to get down. I hope to be able to show some peeks next week...I hope everyone has a great weekend!

In the meantime, here is the latest installment of the 29 project: Days 177 - 180.

Day 177: Monday 15th November - New jewellery. I made up some batches of these today, they are detailed in my last blog post and are now available in the shop!
Day 177 - Making New Jewellery

Day 178: Tuesday 16th November - Riding. I have got Miss Pia to look after for the next couple of weeks. We are training hard for a competition at the beginning of December and she is also learning new things - flying changes & half pass for those in the know. It's very exciting.
Day 178 - Horse Duty

Day 179: Wednesday 17th November - Parade of Lights. It's not the best picture (from my phone I'm afraid) but on Wednesday evening we went to Truro's parade of lights. It had a dragon theme and there were some impressive entries! Thankfully, since it was so cold Mark and I and some friends managed to book a table at Pizza Express that was timed nicely with the parade and watched the whole thing from the warmth of the restaurant. Win indeed!
Day 179 - Parade of Light

Day 180: Thursday 18th November - I returned home from a long day to find this beautiful Rob Ryan exhibition card in the post box. My friend Laura had been to the show and nabbed one for me. She is very lovely.
Day 180 - Kissers