Merry Go Round - Inspiration: pinboards, journals, folders etc

It's time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of 10 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month's question that myself and other merry-go-rounders will answer is "What inspires us? - a peak into journals, pinboards, folders or wherever we keep our little snippets of inspiring stuff...

My everyday visual "pinboard" is, in fact, a nest. Well, it is Birdland!


I have this little nest hanging from my ceiling in my studio. The ceiling to start with is very low and you can only stand up in the room right in the middle.....but I hang this nest that is very difficult to avoid and inside go little "trinkets" that I like and make me think of new designs.

Inside there is a kaleidoscope, a yo yo, a couple of birds, frog, horse, flower, car, truck, duck, spinning top, windmill, mannequin...and a few other snippets! I enjoy a little rummage through when I'm looking for inspiration.

I also have a couple of folders and little books that I keep ideas in.

And inside I scribble! Alot of my scribblings are words - quotes or song lyrics or poems or ... Quotes and poems are increasingly inspiring to me lately.... I love collecting quotes as I come across them - the little stack of green cards in the photo is a different quotation on each page...some in different languages too....

And then two books that I have that I find inspire me are:


Hmm. What does this say about me? I guess there isn't the usual "cut this out from a glossy magazine"....But if I am struggling for a new idea ( and thankfully, I don't seem to struggle very often) I suppose it is toys, kids illustrations, and quotes that are great sources of inspiration for me.

I photographed all these items on this little rug that only just fits in my studio. This is where I sit and rummage through my nest, folders, leather books and nursery rhyme books when I'm looking for new ideas! So now you can picture me, sat on the rug, reading nursery rhymes....

Let's go and see what inspires the other merry go rounders in their art. Here are their links:

Fabienne at Easterya http://easterya.blogspot.com
Wendren at Wren http://thewrendesign.com/
Sara at Sara's Texture Crafts http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Marian at Florcita http://florcitasart.blogspot.com
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Charlotte at FancyPicnic http://fancypicnic.blogspot.com
Lily Pang at Lily Pang Art http://lilypangart.blogspot.com
Jenny at Jenny Karlsson design http://designjennykarlsson.blogspot.com/
Nikki at Beaded Zen http://beadedzen.blogspot.com

Mum's the word - or Mom's the word!

Yes, I often feel like I have become bilingual - speaking English and American! What with mum and mom, and laugh lines and laughter lines and - way too many examples to mention!!!!

Then last night we were going out and were told there was a "no host bar". What on earth does that mean? Nothing to us!!! Luckily our electrician friend was here working on the kitchen and so we asked for a translation! A bit like when you buy tickets and they say "Will Call". Even though we know what that means now, we still don't get it!!!!

Then when we went for a walk to collect the news paper the headline on the front was "Furlough Friday...." Again - we are stumped!!! No idea what a Furlough is - but now we do!!!!

But all that has nothing to do with my new necklace - just waffling! Sorry.

Anyhow - here is a lariat style necklace I created for all those moms and mums out there. It shows three silver charms of children's toys - a train, a rocking horse and a bunny.

To bring back memories of your kids or possibly dreams during expectancy!

Mother's charms

I seem to be getting more and more commission work to make individual charms for people. They generally tend to involve creating a silver miniature version of something that is meaningful to the person or their friend - ranging from either a pet, to a child's favourite toy, to a silver version of a larger household item, to........

I'm thinking that commission charms is something I could get more into. I do like making things only once, and it's great to hear people's stories behind what they are choosing me to create. I'm doing one this week - but I'll write about that later..... Lovely story behind it....

Anyhow, in the meantime, I've created some simple toy charms that would be suitable for a mother's charm bracelet, or one could go on a bookmark, or key ring or.....

Here's a little toy train



















A plane




















A doll's house



















And a rocking horse.



















Sweet little reminders of your children.......