Natfly in Autumn

We did it again. Natalie & I went out to shoot one thing and then this happened..

I felt compelled to do some composite work after being inspired by one of Brooke Shaden's workshops that I've seen numerous times on Creative Live (if you've not heard of Creative Live before I URGE you to check it out!). Composite work isn't new to me, but it can be time consuming. In my college days I would spend hours on just one image and found it really therapeutic. Watching a few photographs turn into art over the course of the edit for me was magical but it's not something I can justify using the time for anymore.. why. is. that? This image combines only around 6 or 7 images and was a fairly straight forward edit. We shot it on a total whim whilst setting up a different shot all together and I love the result.

Here's a lil'shot of me that Nat took from the same session. Autumn is so pretty.

Image ©Natalie Miller

Photos at Goodwood

Miss Miller and I ventured out to the woods at Goodwood. This particular trip was supposed to be Nat's day.. I wasn't supposed to be shooting, I was supposed to be helping but then we found this creepy area of part built shelters and then this happened.  

Seriously, I love it when we do this. Every photo-outing together is different, but usually goes a little something like this:

• Have one goal in mind. 
• Plan entire trip around said goal.
• embark on journey.
• Shoot something entirely different. 

I have so much love for this girl, she keeps me motivated and inspired. We bounce ideas off of each other and although a lot of my ideas are completely ridiculous, she gets it and manages to somehow keep a straight face whilst we attempt said ridiculous shoot, whether or not it works out. 

She's the number one reason I still find the time for photography (and by this I mean, actually get out and shoot something for fun and not work-related). It's not that I don't want to, I love taking photos and I truly miss the 'old days' where I would shoot self portraits weekly, or set up a photoshoot just for the sake of creating beautiful pictures, but finding the time around everything else can be hard - I seriously need to schedule some time in to do this more often!

Huge news for Jackdaw Bindery!

TRYING NOT TO FAINT HERE.. It's been SO hard to keep schtum about this.. SO HARD and I still can't believe it myself I'm literally in daydream mode here, but after a couple of weeks of incredibly hard keeping quiet I can finally reveal that Jackdaw Bindery is

ETSY'S FEATURED SHOP!!!

I've been reading Etsy's articles about the wonderful designers, artists and makers who sell their amazing work through etsy for so long it was a huge shock to the system to be contacted myself about little old ME being featured. I still don't believe it but now it's finally been published I'm just sitting here in silence staring and thinking.. *ME... THAT'S ME!* 

My good friend Natalie Miller came round to drink tea and shoot some beautiful photos of me and my studio that I'm so thankful for. If you're interested to know more about myself, Jackdaw Bindery and how it all happened, you can read the whole article on the etsy blog.

Still letting this sink in. The support for my journey so far has been amazing so thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has supported me, even in the tiniest way, thank you thank you thank you ♥

These are a few of my favourite things . . .

Some of my favourite handmade, illustrated and hand-printed items I've collected over the past couple of years. I love the thought that a lot of the items I own aren't also owned by the masses and I love supporting artists and designers around the world. Of course, this is no where near all of the incredible handmade goodies I own, so I'll have to do a follow-up post in the future with more!

 From top left in a sort of.. wonky clockwise direction:

• My well-loved typewriter illustration bag by Ceridwen Design. This has been thrown around in my bag and in the washer so many times and it still has tonnes of life left in it!
• Super cute chasing foxes coasters by the ever-talented and lovely Caleighill. I also have one of her crazy-odd creature prints, 'Creature Hoarder' up on the wall and I love him so!
• Quite possibly the most beautiful and comfortable shoes I own, my Audrey sandals. Handmade here in the UK by eco-concious Cholesburys using recycled leather and a gorgeous vintage Liberty print.
• Layered wooden fox brooch by Martin Tomsky who has managed to transform his illustrations into these amazing laser-cut brooches and wall art. The rest of his work is totally worth checking out to really appreciate the impact and depth he manages to create with just one material!
• Hand screen-printed tank-top by Mon Shop. I picked this up from their stall at Camden Stables Market and seriously had to hold myself back from buying just about everything I saw there!
• 'Things We Found in the Field' pocket mirror from The Aviary.. I think I have like.. 4 of these all in different designs, they're all so pretty!
• Gorgeous barefoot sandals. I bought the pattern from Isamo Crochet knowing full well I can't crochet to save my life. Thankfully, a lovely lady from Mauritius crocheted these for me and sent them all the way to the UK for me! Lucky lucky me, I'll be wearing these on the beach this Summer!
• Just for fun, temporary butterfly tattoos from The Aviary. I originally bought these as a gift but they umm.. accidentally stayed in my stash here instead.
• 'Hello' Soap dish by Stone's Throw Ceramics. It's actually a spoon rest, but I bought it to use as a soap dish and now I've seen it with jewellery in, well I think I might have to buy another for my dressing table! When I first came across this I was actually browsing Etsy for something totally different - then this popped up and I had to have it, I love everything about it! Check out Susanne's Octopus mugs too, they are SO COOL.
• Last but not least, my go-to piece of jewellery that I wear pretty much every single day. My archery bow pendant from MisoPretty - I'd had my eyes on this for months and finally caved and treated myself! Archery has a special place in my heart since my grandmother gifted me my own bow many years ago. ♥

TUTORIAL - Felt Heart Garland

It's probably not the first time you'll have seen a tutorial for these super sweet heart garlands and it certainly won't be the last but I figured I'd make a shiny new one whilst I played! This garland is so easy you'll wonder why you haven't made one before and it'll only take you around an hour or two at most and the result is SO PRETTY!

You will need:

• Strips of felt in your chosen colours, I used 10cm strips of woolfelt from The Eternal Maker in Driftwood, Mediterranean Mist and Ruby Red Slipper and still had leftovers for other projects! 
• Thread to match
• Sewing machine
• Scissors / Rotary Cutter/ Cutting mat
• Beading thread (or any heavy weight thread, even fishing line!)
• Needle

Ok so first things first, we're going to chop down some of that felt. I started off with Ruby Red Slipper, I halved it to get a 10cm x 45cm strip (discard one half for now), then halved again so I was left with two strips of 5cm x 45cm, again discard one of these and halve your remaining strip so you're left with two 5cm x 22.5cm strips.

Next up we're going to do some sewing! Thread your machine with a thread that matches your felt and with one strip on top of the other, sew one of the long sides around 3/16ths of an inch from the edge. Because we're going to be cutting through this later you'll want to sew a second row of stitches so it's extra secure.

Now, this is where the magic happens! Remove your strip from the machine, open the strips and fold them back on themselves so you've got a long heart shaped tube! 

Cool huh? Next up you need to sew the bottom of your heart in the same way around 3/16ths of an inch from the edge remembering to stitch a second row.  Snip all your loose ends and lay your heart tube flat on a cutting mat. Using a ruler, cut your tube into 2cm slices.

Repeat with your remaining colours! I varied the sizes of mine, for Driftwood I used 4cm x 22.5cm strips and for Mediterranean Mist I used 7cm x 22.5cm strips. I also made another strip in Ruby Red Slipper this time 10cm x 22.5cm.

For the larger hearts I stitched a second row where the top of the heart forms at 5/15ths of an inch from the edge to give them a bit more shape.

Next you have two choices, to have a vertical or horizontal garland. I've shown both variations here for comparison! For the horizontal Garland, arrange your hearts in a fashion you're happy with.

Cut around 1.5m of beading thread, knot a loop in one end and thread your needle on the other, begin threading your felt hearts onto your needle and thread making sure to stay relatively close to the top of each heart otherwise they'll want to hang upside down!

Continue until you've got as many hearts on there as you like, tie a loop at the end of your thread and there you have it, one cute Valentine's Garland!

So pretty! For the Vertical garland, loop one end of your thread as before and simply thread your hearts from top to bottom instead! You could finish these off with buttons, beads or anything you like!

This tutorial was originally written by myself for The Eternal Maker and can also be found here on their blog.