Guerilla Gardening

Well, I was going to do a post on winter warmers and lovely knitwear, but I've decided that spring is (or should be) just around the corner so a post on how to brighten up our urban spaces would encourage that spring sun to shine on us!

GuerillaGardening.org was started as a blog around 6 years ago and provides tips and information on how to get involved in illicit cultivation around your cities. 

This photo was found on the Aitoa Arkkitahtuuria, a Finnish blog (in English) with some great posts on 'Green Architecture'.

Photo from the Heavy Petal blog - a colourful US based blog about gardening, seeds and the great outdoors. 

Seed Bombs are a brilliant way to get started and you can buy them ready made, or make your own at home, check out this video at the Guardian online for your DIY instructions.  You just take a walk around the city and lob them into any spaces that look like they need a bit of greenery.

This is technically a Seed Ball, as pictured and described on the Heavy Petal Blog here, but a Seed Bomb is exactly the same thing, you just happen to throw it into spaces which are not your garden.

Another guerilla gardening tool is moss grafitti, you can see the Heavy Petal post on this here, including a recipe for making your moss starter.  This is a photo of someone embellishing someone else's work!

If we're talking about graffiti then I have to post some photos of one of my favourite kinds.

Photo courtesy of cherryflava

Photos courtesy of craftism blog (this blog has some really interesting posts - the author is doing a thesis on the relationship between design and vernacular craft and posts about her research so far)

For more projects going on within visual resistance, check out the Just Seeds website, they are a US based Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative, you can read about their projects here, including drawing resistance and the God Bless Graffiti Coalition.

Ofcourse, if this post is going to finish on a note of visual resistance, I should ofcourse provide a link to the greatest of them all, Banksy.  I lived in Bristol for five years at the time when Banksy was getting well known but not quite the global recognition he has now, I LOVE his work and seeing it around my favourite city was always a joy. I have in my possession several of his books, and the dialogue that accompanies the artwork is inspiring, insightful and full of political humour and common sense, check them out from your local independent bookstore!

Circles and Squares

Lovely designs, available as postcards or printed on T-shirts and Hoodies. 

Check out their shop Circles and Squares here

Road Trip II

I can't remember how I first came across all the mountains, it was a link from another blog, and since then I have regularly dropped by to see the lovely images that Amy collects.  From here you can see some beautiful finds, including these books from whale heart 

and the Dictionary Book by Sam Winston

                                                     

 'Like people, the alphabetically constrained words yearn to release their individual potential. They want to escape the dictionary’s regimentation and come together to tell a story. But when the words break free, so do their letters. They scatter and tumble across the page, reflecting meaning through visual representation. For a time it’s wild and exciting but when things look to be getting out of hand the Alphabet arrives to remind everyone of their responsibilities. Order returns… but the world and it’s words will never be quite the same again.'

                                               

Dictionary story book is available to buy here

From here, I was inspired to look up some handmade books on etsy and found these lovely bright bingo books from somavenus

                                           

And if, like me, you've been thinking about giving bookbinding a try - check out this website for loads of information, tips and supplies, edenworkshops

   

Creative Play

I recently bought this lovely book by Keri Smith, which emphasises the need for creative play in our everyday lives.  See it on her website here.

So, for your fix of creative play, here are links to one of my favourite sites for tutorials and ideas - www.craftgossip.com.  This site collects tutorials, home made designs and lovely quirkiness from all over the web.  I particularly like the recycled crafts section and the edible crafts section.

Heart cake, posted on craft gossip and originally found on i am baker where you can find the tutorial to make it.

Love letter cake, posted on craftgossip and originally found on giver's log.  Made with food colouring and edible paper - brilliant alternative to a valentine's card!

Kiss Kiss

I've been working on the spring/summer pieces and am designing some new wrap necklaces.

This is a sneak preview of the kiss kiss necklace, it wraps around twice with two solid silver kisses resting on the neck and hangs low on the chest.

I'm hoping to get the new designs in the shop for easter.

Thanks to all the blogs which have featured Bbel recently, the fox stole still seems to be a favourite amongst other bloggers and I was thrilled to be featured on Covet & Want.

Since then, I have been inundated with orders and requests for the fox stole - I am currently sold out and am catching up with orders.  I am hoping to have it back in the shop in March - until then let me know if you would like to order one and I'll make sure you're top of the list!