‘Down to the woods’ is the latest collection of art works by Cotswold artist, Michelle Peters.  Woods and forests are cities for a wildlife. They provide homes and shelters for all manner of flora, fauna and fungi. They inspire, delight and restore.   These paintings are a celebration of Puzzlewood and other parts of the Forest of Dean and the magic to be found there. They depict a love of discovering British wildlife hidden in the woods from our native red squirrels to the local non-native reindeer of Pershore. This collection has taken just under a year to complete and compris ..read more

“Afternoon of the fawn” is a new collection of art works by Cotswold artist, Michelle Peters, playing on the title of the French poem L’après–midi d’un faune (or “The Afternoon of a Faun”). The poem written in 1876 by French author Stéphane Mallarmé, later set to music by Claude Debussy, describes the sensual experiences of a faun who has just woken up from his afternoon sleep and discusses his encounters with several nymphs in a dreamlike monologue. Substituting the mythical faun for a fawn – baby deer – these gouache studies depict scenes from an afternoon in the for ..read more

So in the midst of a global pandemic where you are stuck inside how does a clayartist fill their time? You commit to making 52 clay elephants, obviously. At the tail end of 2019, before the words ‘Covid’ and ‘Global pandemic’ had reached the depths of the Cotswolds I stumbled across Katie Oskin or Kater’s Acres #2021pcchallenge. (Pc being polymer clay) https://katersacres.com/polyclay/pcchallenge/2021-polymer-clay-challenge/?fbclid=IwAR20SOKvIF9dcpD7wpniJuCTyaVwtB2aLFnN3cZyQ9iS0xIxo5v7vPeF5Y8 Very simply, Katie encouraged us to dedicate just one year to our craft by produci ..read more

Can you believe its five years since my pebble pets starting rocking around the world. So for fun here are my top 10 pebble pets of all time. Does your fave make the list?* #10 Shamrock This shamrock pebble pet certainly does having made it into the top 10 chart from some 200 varieties of pebbles created. Unique in that he comes packaged with some tiny shamrock wishes in his bag. A little lucky charm to hide away in the pocket he was introduced for St Patrick’s day 2018 and hops across to Ireland regularly #9 Robin With his beautiful glittery red chest and copper hues, Robin is a super s ..read more

One thing is for sure – the Bujo movement is bigger than ever and so is the market for Bujo supplies I can hardly believe its been 2 years since I discovered bullet journalling. Like so many others, I’m smitten and not quite sure how on earth I ever managed without it. I’ve learned a lot along the way from my Bujo heroes who continue to motivate and inspire me and I have bought a LOT of stationery. This post contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission for products purchased through those links at no extra cost to you. I only link out to products I have personally used or ..read more

Gnome, Tomte, Nisse, Dwarf – they go by many names and are appearing with a multitude of cool gnome art creative twists Gnomiacs anonymous I confess, I am besotted with Gnomes. Quirky cute little bearded men enjoying all the great outdoors has to offer. Germanic in origin, fishing in the neighbours pond with his typically ruddy cheeks, boots and happy wrinkled face. Brits like me will be familiar with this guy. Used to watch over crops and livestock, often tucked into the rafters of a barn or placed in the garden. But, there is so much more to our bearded buddies! They are abundant in popular ..read more

Owls are the little black dress of the crafting world. A timeless classic that never goes out of fashion albeit in variations on a theme; snowy white, tawny, grey and brown. It’ll be owl about feathery fads this season This post contains affiliate links. This means at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission for purchases made through these links.  Owls dominate the crafting world. From owl pom poms and tote bags to cute crochet patterns. They are theme for all seasons but seem to come into their own in Autumn. So much so, I’m celebratin ..read more

https://www.madebymecrafts.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Mindful-Mandalas_2.mp4 The world’s gone mandala mad. And whether you fancy colouring them, painting them, crocheting or even wearing them, there’s a perfect mindful mandala moment for you here. This post may contain affiliate links which means I earn a small commission for items purchased through links at no additional cost to you. I’ll only recommend items I use or have seen used. Dotting My Instagram feed has been flooded with images of these stunning rocks for a while so I was keen to give it ..read more

Fan art has a special place in our hearts. One artist captured mine in an instant with a painting of a kid in a bin ‘Is that a Craig Davison I spy in the background?’ Of all the comments I expected during our Christmas Facebook Lives, this was not one of them. We counted down 24 sleeps with our beautiful hanging fabric panel revealing a different clay goody each day. Tucked away in the background  was one of two Star Wars themed works by the Sheffield-born artist, Craig Davison. The recognised one – my personal fave – ‘Don’t put the ‘BLEEP’ lid on’.   Its true that n ..read more