duck eats cat!

ordinary kittens may well run and hide, but 

   ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

   ━━━━╺ ━━━

    ┠SUPER SNEAKY┨ 

   ━━━━╺ ━━━

   ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

is (suprisingly) keen to be in on the action

  ...our house this morning   

nb. apparently she is now named 

'Super Sneaky' 

(instead of just plain old Sneaky) 

because of her newly-developed 

SUPER KITTEN powers...

or her ability to leap from chair to couch

sparkle and spin

images found here 

One of my all time favourites!

Feeling afluent this week?  There's a 1957 edition up for grabs here .

More gorgeous vintage children's book illustrations via this flickr set.

{first toys}

These are among the very first toys I ever made...

    they were created for small dreams ...

    that was 2006 and Ari was barely one year old...       

                   

I can't wait until I get a new computer and can start 

                            loading all the photos, and sorting out my online portfolio.

   I have so many creations filed on disc that I haven't looked at for years,

it will be just like visiting long lost friends again  :-)     

Art + Toys

some wonderful playthings...

Theatre De L'Adventure

colouring book from this store

very cute memory game here 

beautiful tin teaset available here

and the vilac guitar can be found here 

more designs by the wonderful 

& extroadinarily multi-talented 

♥ Nathalie Lété ♥ 

(click here)

{Happy Bunny Day} 

Beci Orpin notebook here 

check out Beci Orpin's 
wonderful website here 

Dreams Come True

I know it's Disney, I know, I know! 

But I saw 'The Princess and The Frog' 

for the first time with Ari yesterday, 

on the big screen, and I was touched.  

It was showing in conjunction with

here 

which is exhibiting at ACMI until the 26th April.

There's as much beauty in this movie, 

in it's art and quality of storytelling, 

as in wonderful Disney Classics 

like Bambi, Snow White and Cinderella

and I wanted to share a little of it with you....

My poor boy's been sick in bed all Easter holidays

with the flu, pretty rough when you're a preppy!

I was so looking forward to taking him to see this 

on the big screen, and we almost missed out.

We rarely go to the cinema, it's so expensive

but  ACMI kids' flicks  are very cheap!

'Tangled' is now showing in the ACMI cinema.

Nathalie Lété

by french artist Nathalie Lété available here from PAUMES

(click on the blue to view)

Oh my goodness!

via this etsy shop  SOLD

...more kooky rabbits, how i do love the bunny season...

FLEUR HARRIS

OH MY !

more Fleur Harris  wonderfulness... 

                              (click here)

wouldn't you love to see her illustrate children's books?

JUMP

take a lʘʘksy here at The Picture Book 

so cute!

This print is by Christina Gordon of Jam Fancy. 

You can view and purchase her prints here,

take a peek at her blog here and view 

her other wonderful creations via flickr here .

Her ceramic creations are just incredible...

as are her dolls and soft toys.

Her work reminds me very much of 

Yoshitomo Nara 

...only perhaps more inspired by dolls and toys 

than animals and children, as in Nara's work.

This has been one of mine and Ari's 

favourite stories for a long while now.  

The story is sweet and simplistic.  

It's all about the pictures really... 

well, it is a picture book after all!

And speaking of Yoshitomo Nara I have been 

coveting the below two items for quite some time....

Aren't they adorable? 

Out of my financial reach at the moment :-(

but if you're feeling cashed up, 

they are available here, as is the picture book....

kooky spooks

Back in 2006 a young lady by the name of Fleur Harris released 

a limited collection of the cutest little monsters you ever did see.  

Unfortunately, I believe that they are no longer availiable for purchase.

However all members of the kooky spooks gang were available here 

and Fleur's current blog and new website are just filled to the brim 

with wonderful eye candy and all sorts of cool stuff 

.......so be sure to take a peek!

Mister Fancy Pants

So Cute!

This illustration reminded me so much of Ari,

that I just had to share it's loveliness with you.

It's from the lovely Jam Fancy,

and it's available here .

dolly LOVE

NB: This post has been forwarded from 'Welcome to the Dollhaus'...
(It was originally posted on Sat 1st April 2011 at 1:30pm).




I love dollies, it's true. 

Not the hideous collectible kind that one might find in the back 

of old women's weeklies, but 1960s pose dolls?   yes please!

Justine's collection of reproduction Blythe dolls?   hell yeah! 

And dismembered vintage bisque dolls or parts there of 

always provoke a strange kind of yearning in me.... 

a yearning for what, exactly, I'm not quite sure, but there is something so strangely beautiful and disturbingly alluring about decrepid old porcelain ladies, that I  find  myself trawling far too often through the... 

Etsy vintage doll listings 

I could go on and, as my blogging progresses, I probably will, but for now I'll leave you with the above link and the handmade eye candy below

let's not forget the homely beauty of the traditional cloth doll

via wovenplay  

makers of beautiful sustainable children's wear, 

and on occassion doll clothes,

and Jess Brown : the doll maker

SO

because I love dollies, and I most probably like princesses too 

(as I am a girl) my thoughtful little man drew these for me today...

'prince and princess dolls"

standing outside their palace

(the signs say 'PALACE' and "enter here")

'princess dolly in polka dot dress'

(these are very much responsible for the above dolly ramblings)

TODAY

We did loads of drawing, then we watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (but we covered our eyes during the scary bits) 

We ate vanilla plum jam on crusty bread ( jam made from the fruit of a wild cherry plum tree that grows in our garden ), we rescued a beautiful black and white moth from a spider's web, we played with Sneaky, our crazy kitten and chatted to our budgies Coo Coo and Loco. 

Then Ari had a bath with his new favourite sailing ship (Batman's boat-mobile) and I watched the sun set over the distant hills while I cooked pasta in our country kitchen and drank sweet chai tea.

Somedays life is just good, and I am thankful to be mama to such a 

precious little soul.

goodbye, sweet boy

Last week we farewelled our lovely friend, Mac.

He was not our dog.  He belonged to our neighbours. 

But he was one of the most beautiful dogs 

that I have ever known and I will miss him dearly.

He lived across the road but he was always at our place.

His family worked full-time and so he was always about.

The boys who had once played with him are now grown up 

and I think that he was a bit lonely when we first met him.

Over the past year we all became the best of friends.

Whenever I'd stroll these four acres, he'd be at my heels

and at night he'd patrol our border (as well as his own)

and give the resident fox hell, I am sure.

And Ari loved Mac as much as a boy has ever loved a dog.

It doesn't feel the same to be out in the garden now.

And the path that he had worn, running from his door to ours,

has already grown over with new grass and wildflowers.

Oh how sadly he is missed.