For lovers at anytime and a big Wolf Moon...

Well, I have finally got the shop updated a little with some of the new Love themed stuff I have been working on, new I Love You Letter Lockets with colourful blooms (and a smaller version too for the more discreet among you) and some cute as pie cards!

There is a whole new selection of the lockets which can be seen and shopped HERE. The little ones are so sweet and dainty, they look like little doll purses.

I have also been putting those lovebirds drawings I mentioned a couple of weeks ago into some good use and have hand printed a batch of cards for you. My first cards! They were so fun to do and I'm really pleased with how they came out...They are silk-screened with water based inks onto recycled card and come with a pretty pale duck egg blue recycled paper envelope. Get yours HERE.

You may have noticed that last night saw the first full moon of the year. I love the Native American names for the moon and this one is known as the Wolf Moon. Apparently it was the biggest full moon we will see in 2010 due to its orbit, it's a bit sciencey that but goodness it was so bright! I took this picture at about midnight last night out of our window and looking down towards the sea. My, it was beautiful.

Canvassing...

It was a very lovely surprise last week to discover that some kind soul had nominated me for the Poppytalk blog's virtual design awards, The Poppies! The purpose of the award is to bring attention to all of the great handmade wares and artists out there, which is a very good thing indeed.

I have been nominated in the categories of Affordable Art Artist and Favorite Handmade Textiles and would love, love, LOVE your vote if you haven't voted already...You can vote for me (BONBI FOREST) in Affordable Art, HERE! and Handmade Textiles, HERE! You can vote once in each category per IP address until tomorrow...Thank you so much!!!!

In other news, this year I have decided that I will be working along the lines of a theme a month, creating new drawings, artwork, jewels and prints along my chosen theme for the month and updating the shop with all of the goodies. I only decided to start doing this a couple of weeks ago so the amount of work I have for the January theme is a little thin, but as a start I have been working along the theme of Love, what with Valentines day impending and so forth...

The little lovebirds drawings I have made - and the forthcoming cards I have been wittering about - were done with this in mind, and I have been painting with ye olde Gouache again (more on that at a later date). I will also be adding some more of the lovely I Love You Letter Envelope Lockets to go in the store too, of which there is a sneak peek of them blooming some pretty blooms and awaiting the transformation into necklaces below...

The shop update WILL be happening this week (I promise!) and I will also be holding a little giveaway to coincide with it. Stay tuned peeps, stay tuned.

I already have a theme decided for February, but if you have any ideas of themes I could incorporate throughout the year I'd love to hear your thoughts?!

...

Happy Monday!

I heard today is meant to be blue Monday? The bleakest day of the year. I hope you have all managed to avoid the blues, they ain't too good. It was a beautiful sunny day here which was enough to lift my spirits...Hurrah! Anyway, I just wanted to give a little heads-up about a couple of things today which are as follows:

Sometimes people like to ask me questions about stuff, so I opened a Formspring account where you can ask me things about Bonbi Forest and me and other creative stuff. If you want to ask a question of me, fire away here and I'll do my best to answer them for you --> www.formspring.me/bonbiforest

Also: A few people have been wondering if I will ever have the lovely Autumn bracelets in a silvery shade...well, I do! I have made a batch and will be putting them on the website tomorrow...here's a peep:

...and for a little bit of eye candy frivolity, look at these beads that arrived today! I love beads...I will be making jewel-like things with them soon, but for now they are just so pretty as they are :)

One for the lovers...

Here is another in what is becoming a little Lovebirds collection:

It's an older drawing idea of mine that I never really found a worthy use for...these two little bird beans sat in a tree under a brolly. I love them so much and think they have finally found their purpose as lovers on a print and a card. Just in time for Valentines yeah?

In my last post I mentioned that I would have the hand printed cards of these latest two drawings in the shop by the end of this weekend...well, I've had to put it back a couple of days but they will definitely be in this week. I'm really looking forward to making them!

All You Need Is Love...

I have a new print in the shop! With the impending Valentines day in mind I thought that it was about time I made a few love fueled items for the store...This print will be available as a hand screened card by the end of the weekend too, along with another little design I have been conjuring.

I will also have the Love Letter envelope necklaces back in stock very soon as well...stay tuned!

You can purchase the 'All You Need Is Love' print HERE!!

A few new things...

Hello! I hope everyone had a good weekend?

I have added a few new things to the shop today with more on the way over the next week. First up are a couple of cute as you like Fly High Bracelets. They feature a sweet soaring swallow on a dainty chain with a sparkling Swarovski bead in either amethyst or light peach...I like the subtlety of these two. They can be bought in the Jewels section of my shop.

I have also made a print of my Triangle Dog monoprint. Is he dreaming of geometry? Who knows, but I enjoyed drawing him!

Purchase a Triangle Dog of your own HERE.

Just a quick post today, but I am also going to be holding a little Bonbi Forest giveaway soon..What do you think? I've never done one before and have been thinking about it for a while. Sometimes it's good to give a little, you know? I shall keep you posted...

Oh Snow!

So, as many of you are aware the UK is pretty snowbound...even down here in Cornwall, which is rare indeed.

When it's like this we can't put the horses out in the fields as the snow balls up in their shoes and creates mini icy stilts which isn't good for them at all. Because of this the last couple of days has seen us juggling stables so they all get a change of scenery during the day...bless them!

While we haven't been suffering with the worst of the snow down here on our little peninsula, we have been stricken with icy roads and frozen snow slush. With this in mind I just wanted to let you know that I will endeavor to get orders out as quickly as possible whilst we wait for the big thaw, but aside from my trips to the post office being a little more perilous than usual, please be aware that the Royal Mail are experiencing disruptions to their services in some areas as well (Please see their website HERE for more info) so your orders may arrive a little later than usual...

In the meantime, here are some shots of the late evening and early morning snow and sky we've had...for all it's coldness and disruption, the wintertime weather is very, very beautiful:

There's a few more images of this ilk over on my Flickr page too: Bonbi Forest Photostream.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year one and all!! 2010, my goodness.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was lovely, a proper chill out, even the dinner making went well. I had an extraordinary sense of calm for the entire proceedings seeing as I was cooking for my mum and future mother-in-law (down to the fizz perhaps?), but everything cooked and browned wonderfully and it was all on time. A combination of massive fluke and beginners luck I think!?!

(Mark's Mama's pooch, Kizzie, Letting off some steam...)

On boxing day we took a walk on the beach which is when I took the pics. The sky was so dramatic with the low sun and impending rain clouds...beautiful.

(Mark and my Papa and dramatic sky!)

New years eve was spent with friends and New Years Day hanging out at the local. Good times, but I'm always sad when the festivities are over.

2009 was quite a varied year and I wanted to do a years round up (much like THIS ONE over at Miso Funky) but alas, because I'm not the world's best diarist, instead I just have a list of significant things that made my year what it was:

• Moving into a new home. It was new years resolution number one and was completed by January 5th. I wasn't nearly so efficient for the rest of the year!

• 2009 was the end of an era pet wise. My family lost our beloved old animals Jay Jay pooch and Penny barn cat. They were so dear and are much missed.

• Qualifying Pia for my first national dressage championship. We came 2nd at the regional champs with a score of 72.97%. Unfortunately I was so nervous at the Nationals I froze and didn't ride well at all. We came about half way though, so it wasn't too embarrassing!

• In other horsey news, Lauder and I scored our first 70% (70% is kind of the Dressage score holy grail) and then managed it again a few weeks later. It's been a great year for us both and we also competed in our first Prix St Georges tests. They are so hard but I'm so pleased to have managed to be competitive at that level. It's very satisfying.

• Getting in the Grazia magazine fashion top 10! A wonderful bit of press that lead to me being a mental bracelet making machine for 2 weeks. Seriously, I was dreaming of chain and jump rings and feather charms for weeks afterwards...

•Mark and I deciding that after nearly 11 years together it was high time we got married. It is now less than 5 months to go til the big day...eek!

• Closing the BF Indie Emporium. A sad decision for me, but happily it's worked out. I'm painting and drawing and making again, hurrah!

• Seeing Marks brother who lives in Australia again for the first time in 3 1/2 years. That was lovely!

• ...and my little brother becoming the Australian F3 champion!!

Anyways...I am easing back into work and in traditional style I have a Bonbi Forest sale on! A little thank you to everyone who bought Bonbi stuff and supported my ventures in 2009. You can get 20% off your order until January 10th using the code HAPPYNEWYEAR at checkout...hurrah!

I think that's enough for now, sorry it's such a long one. One of my new years resolutions is to blog more little and often...lets see how THAT goes!