A Little Giveaway to Welcome the Spring!

Hello lovely people, as promised here's a little Giveaway to welcome the springtime!
To Enter all you have to do is post a comment and your name will be entered into the draw. This giveaway is also running on my Asthecrowfliesart Facebook page and on Instagram (see links in the sidebar), so to have another chance of winning you could just head over and like/comment/share.

Giveaway Heart!

The draw will be called on 11th February with all the names going into the hat. The lucky winner will get this lovely heart and will also be able to have the back of the heart customised by me. (pyrography names, dates, quote, symbol... that sort of thing!)

 

So good luck folks! 

Being a Magpie and New things for sale!

Don't you just love surveying your crafting goodies? The tools, shiny and beautiful components that will one day be brought together to make something totally new and unique. I AM a confirmed magpie and have to admit to loving colourful and shiny things, but equally I love the raw, natural finds, like shells and driftwood, stones and pebbles. They have a different energy that I love, maybe because they are gifts of nature and carry the elemental energies within them? Who knows... I just love 'em!

Over the last few days I been busily beavering away at getting my Etsy store up and running again. I've dabbled with it in the past, but I have a determination about me to try and get it right this time. Creating listings, taking nice photos and trying to bring a cohesive feel to the store takes a lot of time and energy which I have to admit I would sometimes rather be spending on making things, but alas, it is a necessary evil in order to get my finished crafts out to the public. It's getting there and now has quite a few new things to see.

A brace of Hares are running over to the Store. (have you guessed I LOVE hares yet?)

A Water Elemental Spirit Doll soaking up the Rainbow energy.

Pyrography Wooden Spoon for all of those Kitchen Witches out there!

So there's just a small selection of the new bits and bobs listed. I have about 2 or 3 items that I'm working on at the moment so I'll maybe introduce them in my next post along with a giveaway, so keep an eye out!  Keep well, be creative and find joy in the things you love! xxx

A Little Altar Plaque/ Tile for Imbolc & Ostara

Small, round reversible altar plaque/tile to celebrate Imbolc and Ostara

Well of course I couldn't resist a little play with the pyrography again today! This time I worked with a beautiful small Beech wood roundel. It's such a beautiful wood to burn on, smooth and close grained, it doesn't give me any of the problems you get with open grained and resinous woods such as pine.

So, it was my idea to make a little something for Imbolc. The first Sabbat in the Gregorian calendar year, which is usually celebrated each year around February 2nd . Imbolc has ssociations with the goddess Brigid (pronounced Breed), light & candles, milk, and the returning of the sun after the dark winter months showing the early signs that Spring is on it's way.

An obvious choice for me was to use a variation of Brigid's cross. Usually depicted or created as a four pointed cross, usually woven from straw or reed in a similar fashion to traditional 'corn dollies.'

As these little rounds of wood are so lush I obviously couldn't resist burning something on the reverse side too so I came up with a cunning plan! Originally my thinking was to create eight round tiles to celebrate each of the eight Sabbats, so I thought why not have two of the Sabbats per tile, genius eh!

Reverse image to celebrate Ostara 

The sabbat of Ostara, falls at the Spring Equinox around 21st of March. Symbols of fertility and new life are often used to mark this Sabbat, when the fullness of Spring has finally begun to drive off the dark ravages of wintertime. Hares, lambs, chicks and eggs are often used as motifs for this festival and there can be no doubt that the modern day celebration of Easter has taken taken this on board, after all we are no stranger to Easter bunnies, and chocolate Eggs, YUM!

My take on Ostara sticks with this theme, with the hare/rabbit symbolizing fertility and the nest of eggs marking the beginnings of new life.... there is some interesting mythology regarding the Hare laying eggs.... but I'll leave you to discover that for yourself if you are curious enough!

I think that I will possibly put some words on the edge of the plaque as it has a decent enough space. Which of course means I'll have to get my brain in gear, so don't panic if you hear a whirring sound sometime soon! 

Anyhoo! I guess that's enough rambling from me for today. I'm going to have to sort out the designs for the remaining six sabbats....  so, I will of course, post updates as and when the creations appear! Thanks for popping by, see you again soon! xxx 

A Happy & Creative New Year to All and A New Blog for Me!

Well here it is, the first post of my new blog!
I'm quite excited.... I've had a couple of arty craftsy blogs before, but eventually life got in the way which meant that I didn't have time to be creative, let alone write a blog. It was a shame, but that was then, and well, time has moved on and I'm back to being creative and finding a bit more 'Me Time', so I've decided to create a brand new blog to celebrate.

I'm hoping it will be a bit like a crafting/creative journal for me and maybe there will be something of interest for you? Who Knows!

One of the crafts that has really captured my interest of late is pyrography (the art or technique of decorating wood, leather and other materials by burning a design onto the surface with a heated metallic point). I'd never done any before but a friend of mine does Solar Pyrography (using a magifying glass and the sun to burn designs onto wood). So I ended up having a go!
I liked the technique but unfortunately for me I like to be creative when I feel like it, so with our lovely English weather not always playing ball it wasn't quite right for me. Anyhoo.... not to be put off, I did a bit of research on the web and found that the tool I needed to give me all year round pyrography. So I now have a variable temperature pyrography pen and no longer have to wait for the Sun to put his hat on! (Peter Child is the make or pyrography machine if you are interested). Below are a few bits I've created in the last month or so. I will be putting most of my creations into my Etsy shop as I go, but will probably preview them here first!

A small wooden box with running hare and crescent moon motif.

A little decorative hanging  running hare with beads and ribbons.

So as you can imagine I've been buying various plain wooden items so that I can decorate them to within an inch of their life. It gets quite addictive you know... I find myself having to drag myself away from my craft room because it's silly o'clock.., these days there is always the faint smell of woodsmoke trailing after me! 

I've also found that because the pyrography pen that I use has variable temperature it enables me to draw and shade as I would with pencils, giving a lovely sepia toned finished to the 'drawings'. 

Below is an A4 picture burnt onto 3mm Beech wood ply. It has now gone to it's new 'Mum', my dear friend Becky who is mad on dragons. It was a Yule gift, which she's just getting framed. I'm looking forward to seeing it in a frame and in situ when I go up to see her at a couple of weeks time. 

Now I've got to come up with an idea for little gift for her, for Imbolc.

Fly Me to the Moon A4 on Beech wood ply sheet.

I'm going to try to keep the posts regular so please pop by to see what's been brewing....mmm .. that makes me think of a nice hot cuppa! Have fun, be creative and I hope to see you again soon! xxx

P.S. There's going to be a collaborative giveaway occurring shortly.... stay tuned for more details!!