Appologies to my followers

As you can see Ivys Attic has come to a bit of a standstill. Amongst other things i think trying to maintain three blogs was getting a bit much. I am trying to discover a way to integrate all three so i can simplify. I believe there is a way but have yet to try it. Thanks for your interest and patience but in the mean time please stop by http://fotf-constellations.blogspot.com/ to see what else i have been up to :)

The goose is getting...

Good morning, well how much thought have you given to Christmas, none, nope well i guess you are with the majority in that sense lol. Meet Lauren. I think i came across Lauren via another blog or a comment on a blog but was instantly attracted to her lovely art, some of which is festive and some pretty and patterened. I knew she would be perfect for my Christmas in July feature. Here is a bit about Lauren:-

I'm an Illustrator/Surface Pattern Designer that works from home! I trained at Huddersfield Uni (Thats 10yrs ago now... oh where has the time gone?) I achieved a first in BA Hons Surface Pattern..... I loved it!! Anyhow after this I got a job in London designing print for Fashion, painting straight onto fabric. This was fun for a while but I missed the variety of designing on paper and in Photoshop! So I decided to try my luck else where! I got myself a Licensing agent and set about learning to design for the greetings industry! So 10yrs on I've been lucky enough to sell designs world wide, mostly in America but quite a few here 2. Its Christmas most days in my world..... but the odd bit of floral or birthday mixed in for good measure! Today I'm designing pop-up and 3 fold greetings cards....... eeek! I love cats, music and red wine!!! 

I'm sure you can see why i love Laurens work so much just wish there was somewhere i could direct you to that you could purchase some of it. In the mean time you can check out her blog here

Thanks for sharing Lauren :)

Yes it's that time again - Christmas in July

Please meet Elizabeth, she is the founder of Childrens Woodland a company she created when she was only sixteen! I chose this piece originally to feature in last months Childhood favourites theme but due to lack of other posts saved it for Christmas in July. The reason i love this story is as a child we had this on a Disney album read by Jimney Cricket. I'm pretty sure if i remember this right when we were quite young we made a little display on a table with Christmassy things, snowy sheets with little lights and played the story whilst watching the scene (which probably didn't do anything compared to the animated things we have now). I'm sure we loved it all the same. So it's one of several things that i carry with me and makes me feel good when i read it to my son at Christmas time. Anyway this is a bit about Elizabeth and her company...

Creating handcrafted keepsakes is a pastime that has been passed down from one generation to the next in my small, Michigan family. That is one important reason why Children's Woodland is still a family owned and operated business.
I created Children's Woodland in 1996, when I was just sixteen years old and began by selling my cloth activity books at local craft shows. My customers were impressed with my attention to detail at such a young age and over the years my enjoyment of creating unique and well-made toys has not changed.
Today, after selling my products on eBay and Etsy.com and the debut of the Children's Woodland website, the main focus of my toys is still to teach as well as provide hours of enjoyment. It always makes me happy to know that my toys are being enjoyed by children as much as I enjoyed creating them.
Thank you for taking the time to visit us here at Children's Woodland! - Elizabeth Cole


I hope you will stop by and check out all Elizabeth's creations, you can check out her web site here. I'm sure you will find something suitable for the youngsters in your family whether it be for Christmas or any special occasion :)


HO HO HO...

The Interval - Festive Candle Jar Set

Ok so my childhood favourites seems to have come to a standstill, not for want of trying. I did have some Moomins lined up but since i got no reply from the store at Etsy it leaves me with a missing week and since there seems to have been a distinct lack of things that grabbed me with this theme I'm gonna have to re-think things. So with Christmas in July looming i am sharing one of my creations for this week. This is my Festive Candle Jar made using a re-cycled jar, Lili of the Valley die cuts and lots of enthusiasm. I personally love this as i do the Wedding Belles set i did this week found over at my main blog Constellations. Hope you like them :)

Childhood Favourites...

Meet Stupid Cats, Michelle or rather Bagpuss created by Michelle. This month or three weeks possibly as we are now a week into this month is all about childhood favourites and i couldn't resist including Bagpuss in this showcase. As i child i loved to watch Bagpuss in the shop with Emily and Professor Yattle and i have a Bagpuss clock in the bedroom that my son loved to play with until we took the batteries out. It was so loud when Bagpuss yawned lol.

So here is a little about Michelle and her work. Btw Michelle I'm thrilled to read that you write, i love to write too :)

I've had a passion for drawing since I was small, but it wasn't until I was living in Iceland in the 1990s that I got involved with a group of creative folk who suggested I tried selling some of my work in a local gallery. I was quite stunned when people actually started buying my pictures! I drew the first stupidcat in 2001 after a fellow artist introduced me to the crayon/ink technique that quickly became my preferred medium, and sold quite a few locally. I've been back in the UK for some years now, and it's only recently that I've started drawing again - mainly due to being made redundant and suddenly having a bit of time on my hands. I came across Etsy by accident one day, and thought "Hmmm, well it's worth a try!" so started popping out a few stupidcats. I've been delighted with the wonderful feedback I've had from fellow Etsy folk, and also with the lovely comments people leave for me on the stupidcats Facebook page, and on Twitter - it's given me the confidence to pluck up the courage to book a stall at my first ever craft fair in early June, which I'm very excited about. I've also been bouncing off the walls for the last few days after logging into my email account to find that I'd had my first sale on Etsy - hurrah!
When I'm not drawing (or working - I've managed to find a new full time job at last), I write stories for children under my pen-name of Rose Appleby. I was extremely lucky recently to actually secure an excellent literary agent after only sending out three manuscripts - I can't quite believe that myself yet!
In a nutshell, I'm just someone who loves words and pictures, and likes to make people smile. Oh yes, and I love cats of course. The stupider the better!

Thanks Michelle for letting me share your work.Please stop by Michelle's Blog and Etsy Store linked at the top of the post.

I just had to include this Vampire cat my son would just love to see this lol :)

For those that have never seen Bagpuss here is a snippet :)

All behind like the you know what

Sorry folks, I'm a bit behind with posts on Ivys Attic. I intended to have April off and seemed to have spilled over into May. I will be back. Once we are in June i will be back with more exciting things to feed your minds :)

Is there anything in particular you might like to see theme wise. July will be a festive theme, Christmas in July, it's a good time to start thinking about ideas of which i have lots already.Let me know what you think :)

Double Trouble

Meet Linda, i know you can phone a friend if you wish but i'm sure you can see from the featured pieces why i asked to feature Linda's work on Ivy's Attic, i think this actually covers the theme of Celestial and my love of owls.

Here is a bit of information about Linda and her work.

Scrimshaw is the name given to handiwork created by sailors, the indigenous art form of the
American Whaleman, who, in his idle hours of cruising for whale, devoted himself to fashioning articles and jewelry of whale ivory.

"The American Whaling Fleet ceased to exist in the last century, however, this art is being carried on by modern American artisans on materials that do not endanger any species.

Linda Layden has been a full time professional scrimshander for over 30 years. Her work is sold in fine gift shops, galleries and museums and found in many private collections. Her Etsy shop, www.lindalayden.etsy.com makes her work available directly to you and she welcomes custom orders."

Please take the time to stop by and check out Linda's other lovely pieces.Thanks for sharing Linda :)