Doves, Dogs & Disappointment..

I had a couple of bracelets to make as a commission (not shown) and then as all my lovely boxes of beads were there in front of me, got carried away using some adorable little vintage brass dove charms from My Vintage Charms. I have made a necklace with gold-plated wire and purple glass beads together with small faceted AB glass beads. The charm on the necklace is a pair of doves holding a tiny heart. For the matching earrings, I have used separate doves with purple glass hearts. Very pleased with how these turned out - very delicate and sparkly! Necklace £15, earrings £5 both + p&p

I have been making these little chaps this week. The first one is in a grey chenille yarn and he is quite small having been knitted on size 14 needles (those of you who knit will be sucking in your breath - yes it was very fiddly!) He has a blue leather collar with shiny ID disc. The second dog is made with an incredibly soft eyelash yarn which feels like down. He does have the jointed legs somewhere under all that fur! I trimmed the face carefully in order to sew on the features and was pleasantly surprised to find that some very authentic looking doggy eyebrows appeared! He also has the leather collar and ID disc, and both of them will be sold for £15 when they have their baskets, blankets, coats, bowls and toys as usual.

Finally found out today about the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year Exhibition - my painting didn't get accepted. Very disappointed, and wishing the lady on the phone hadn't raised my hopes irresponsibly!! Never mind, keep plugging away....let's hope one of my other 'hopefuls' is successful.

This is the 199th post on this blog - the next one will announce a giveaway. Only one of you has suggested a 'prize' - it would be nice to hear some other ideas! Come out of the shadows and leave a suggestion, go on, I dare you!