Secret Swap

I recently participated in the fabulous UK Secret Swap. Organized by UK people on Etsy, the UK Secret Swap is similar to a secret Santa idea. Basically, all that want to take part tell the organizer, then he finds out from them what type of item they would like to receive. Then, from this information, he works out who should get something from which seller. Each person makes something to send to the person they're allocated, and each person also receives a handmade item for themselves. If that makes sense!

I sent out a beaded heart to the lovely designsbylucy:





And received a gorgeous tiara from the fabulous bizzybeetrinkets:

It was rather exciting getting the package. She'd put little hand-drawn flower stickers on it:



And when I opened it up there was, in this beautiful little box,



a little tiara,



and a little pin:



I have no idea when I will wear this tiara, apart from modelling it for Flickr photos of course,





but, as Bee says in the thank you note, "I know a tiara isn't the most practical of items but I wear mine when washing up and you have such fabby hair that I couldn't help but make you one." Bless her :D

Day2Day - Take Five Ordinary Beauty

A few days ago I joined a lovely little group on Flick called Day2Day - Take Five Ordinary Beauty. The group is dedicated to the beauty of ordinary things, a concept I am very interested in myself. As an artist, I see the beauty in everything (or at least try to), and therefore look forward to participating in this group in future weeks. So here's my first five days:

I love painting, and often feel that the paint palette can become an artwork in itself. An idea which inspired Monday's shot:



Lying back on the sofa in my boyfriend's games room, I noticed the interesting patterns created by the old lampshade on the ceiling. Hence Tuesday's photo:



I took Wednesday's photo for the simple fact that I love my bed (I'm quite lazy). I've been wanting this beautiful item for months, and my man finally bought it for us last weekend:



The fourth day, Thursday, is nothing more conceptual than ornaments in our living room:



Friday was another lazy day, and I thought my sparkly new slippers and favourite black PJ bottoms symbolised that quite well:



There's been no real visual theme to these first 5 days, but I look forward to a few themed weeks :) Thank you to Abiban for starting this rather interesting group!