Friday 19 February 2010

Etsy interview...

Those lovely peeps over at the handmade wondermall Etsy, have featured an interview with me on The Storque blog! Hurrah!

You can have a read and see a huge picture of my face HERE!

Below is a peek of the wedding invites I have been designing for our forthcoming nuptials...I'm very excited about screening them next week! (The 'she said yes' thing is a reference to the fact that Mark has been very patient for quite a number of years...!)

Thursday 18 February 2010

Holy Moly!

I was downloading what seemed like a zillion photos from my camera the other day (to make room for me to take a zillion more photos) and came across this picture which I had totally forgotten I had taken.

It's of a t-shirt of Mark's that bears my VERY FIRST SCREEN PRINT from about 5 years ago. I taught myself to make emulsion screens and screen print at home and I remember thinking 'How hard can it be?'. Well, not very hard once you get the hang of it, though I probably shouldn't have chosen to do a two colour print as my first one, but being the impatient sort I am, I must have been keen to get cracking on the project I had in mind for it (which I think was a cushion cover, hence the flat top on the cloud).

Anyway, Mark sometimes still wears this tee! It was really very old when I first printed on it (which is why he let me print on it!) and is now full of holes where it has worn through, but he loves it so I let him be.

I think one day when it's really falling apart and can't possibly be worn ever again I am going to frame it and hang it on the wall as a reminder of the mad-cap, paint everywhere, working in far too small a space, experimental start to what has now become my livelihood!

Wednesday 17 February 2010

Yellow Trees and a quick catch up...

My my, well I have been away from the old blog for a little while...this last week or so has been so busy! My Eskimo Kiss tee was featured on The Guardian website last Tuesday which prompted a flurry of kisses being sent far and wide and left me little time for much else...(there aren't many Eskimo Kiss tees left now and I won't be making more...)

I realised I have been neglecting to mention all the kind words and blog posts I have been receiving lately and thought it high time I sent a little love back. Have a look at these blogs and websites, there are some wonderful finds and images there:

We Love Indie: HERE and HERE
Indie Quarter
Poppytalk
Ulixis Craft blog
Claire Caudwell
My Owl Barn
Pepermint
The Baking Bird
and the Amelia's Magazine blog <-- This post is a very funny and lovely take on Valentines!

So that's all for now...I'm working on re-stocking the shop, painting some new things and some new and rather lovely tees for Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip which will launch at the beginning of March. Hurrah!

I shall leave you with these images at the top up there and down below here of the low sunlit trees from yesterday evening...Yellow Trees and an angry grey sky (which proved to be a much quieter beast than it looked!)

Monday 8 February 2010

...and the winner is:

Drum roll please...the winner of the first ever Bonbi Forest giveaway, chosen by the trusty random number generator is comment number 39, who is buglet23. Congratulations!!! If you are the lucky buglet23 please can you contact me and I will get your winnings on their way to you...

Thanks so much to everyone else who entered, your lovely comments made me smile so much!

I shall leave you with a link to an amazing jeweller's shop that I came across at the end of last year and that I have been meaning to share for ages: Ysé Jewellery. I am lucky enough to have a sweet fella who took note of the daft email I sent him with the subject line WANT!!! and he bought me these beautiful golden deer head earrings for Christmas:

See more Ysé beauty HERE!

Saturday 6 February 2010

Embroiderys...

I have started doing some embroidery which I am finding a very nice pastime of an evening...I am just playing at the moment at embroidering the circular patterns I like to use in my paintings and drawings, I think they are coming out quite well!

The aim is to fill a square of fabric with them and turn it into a cushion cover. You can never have too many cushions...

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't already (See the post dated 1st February). Comments must be received by 6pm tomorrow evening and I will announce the winner on Monday!

Friday 5 February 2010

New World

The other night Mark and I sat down to watch New World, a 2005 film by Terrence Malick (He of The Thin Red Line fame...). We had had it kicking about the house for a long time and the DVD cover made it look like the kind of film I really wouldn't enjoy all that much (a historical battle film) but I was persuaded to watch it eventually and I sure am glad I did!

There are some battles - as is the case when a film centres on the discovery of the Americas - but essentially it is a fictional drama and romance film based on the real life characters of Pocahontas and captain John Smith played by Colin Farrell and Q'Orianka Filcher (who was amazingly only 15 when they made this...). While there isn't much dialogue, the performances are brilliant and it is full of Malick's absolutely beautiful cinematography and dreamy sequences.

What I loved most about it was the reference to mother nature all the way through...amidst bloody battle scenes there were quiet flickers of grass blowing in the breeze or a beautiful sky, a gentle reminder that while man struggles on this earth there is an all encompassing force much more powerful than we will ever be. It's really very inspiring and I recommend it highly...just have some tissues at the ready though, it's quite a moving one.

Thursday 4 February 2010

Goodbye goodbye...

Goodbye, Goodbye Visitor. Wrapped up all pretty in some hand printed fabric and tied with a suede wrap and off to a new home...

Monday 1 February 2010

A birdy giveaway...

Well, I thought it was high time there was a Bonbi Forest giveaway and here it is!

It's got a sweet birdy theme and the winner will receive an 'A Little Bird Told Me So' Necklace and a pair of my new hand printed love cards...

To enter, visit my shop and then come back here and tell me your favourite item by leaving a comment...easy peasy! Comments must be in by 6pm GMT on Sunday 7th February and will use a random number generator to pick the winner who I will announce on Monday the 8th...

Have fun looking and good luck!

**COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED!** I will announce the winner tomorrow, Monday 8th February...