strange but lovely london

so sometimes as i have said in the past i hate London...but sometimes it just makes me stop and stare...and this happened a couple of days ago when i was walking through Trafalgar square on my way home...now i have walked past this many times and thought it looked interesting, but today it just looked amazing..it was the sunny bright conditions mixed with a bright blue sky that just made this sculpture, called model for a hotel really come alive...this is on a plinth in Trafalgar square where every year a different artist gets the chance to display a creation...not sure who this is by but i really like it and how it contrasts with the old buildings and monuments around it...

i have been a crafting

so I'm normally a lazy bugger who does not do much at all and does it all with a smile...but the last week or so has seen me making some lovely stuff...if i say so myself, and these pillows are the result of the work in progress i showed you last week..made from many different leathers and placed together in a mosaic style, they create a unique design that is one of a kind...they are 10 inches square and for sale in my shop now..


and i also made in the same style these coasters,..i dont really ever see ones i would want to use in my house...and this usually results in circular stains on many surfaces..but these ones not only stop these stains, but they look really different and unusual...and i like that, they are also here for sale..

i want it i need it buy me it...

more goodies for sale

so i just had a knock at my door and it was a delivery man bringing me some goodies that i have bought to sell in stevensstuff...it was a box full of vintage cotton spools...and before i could say thanks very much, the box was open...the spools were sorted and pictures were taken and they were listed in my shop...alongside some fantastic fabrics that i have lots of...i might make some treasures for myself from this lovelies...yo know where they are if you want them...they are here...

work in progress

so i don't just sit around watching murder she wrote all the time..i sometimes do some crafting whilst i watch murder she wrote...and this is some work in progress that has been burning a hole in my head for months now..i first did something like this ages ago and i finally found some nice cotton drill to use so here we go again..this time I'm doing a small collection of items...so watch this space....

mariah carey madness

so London is a big fun place and sometimes when you least expect it, you can be witness to some crazy things...and yesterday was no exception...what your about to watch is the madness that was the arrival of miss Mariah Carey to the in store signing of her new single...the shop was Selfridgess, which to any of you that know is possibly London's biggest store...it really is massive and its slap bang on the busiest street in London, oxford street,...now id like you to believe that i came across this scene by chance..but the truth is i knew all about it because my David is a big Mariah fan and he was inside waiting for her to arrive so he could get his single signed...and i wanted to see the madness for myself and film it for him...now what you cant see on this video is that the police had stopped the traffic for her arrival...and it was only when she was out of the black cab she arrived in that they let the buses pass...now a warning...its a bit shakey and its a bit loud...and no that's not me that's screaming....

new and old at the same time..

so i made another bag/purse/wristlet thingy...as usual i did not follow a pattern or any rules..i just used what i had and and an hour later this was born..I'm not afraid to admit that i sometimes wish i was a girl so i could use such things..but I'm a big hairy bald man who just would look silly...but its in the shop now so all you ladies out there can get it if you want...

and the other things in this collage are new in stevensstuff,...now don't tell me that the mouse don't make you smile...again its one of those things that has already got a place in my heart, but i just have no space left for an ornament of a mouse...wearing a hat and yellow trousers...and this jug is just dying to be filled with cream and used in some fancy high tea ritual..the kind where the cups are so small they force you to hold out your little finger like posh people do...

liberty love

so i went into liberty's a few days ago to see an exhibition called china design now, the main part i wanted to see was by an artist called martin wolf who has used gazillions of plastic toys that were all mass produced in china, apparently according to the brochure he has used over 20.000 toys and has attached them to a wall inside the shop....and it was quite brilliant and full of fun....

in amongst the toys were photographs that he took in the factories that made the toys..

so of course whilst in liberty i had a wander around and saw some incredible things that made my heart beat faster than I'm sure it should....this really is one of the most inspiring shops in London....just look at these lovelies...

and the fabric department never fails to enlarge my pupils to soak everything in....

and the furniture as always makes me want to pull on a balaclava and hold the place hostage until they give me what i want....

new treasures in stevensstuff

just a quick today as I'm about to whip my Davids ass at tennis on the Nintendo wii he bought with his nice bonus from work...i love that he gets bonuses every year...but am i even more Happy that he bought us a new Henry hoover...or actually does that make me really sad that a hoover excited me...?
anyway..look at whats new in stevensstuff...i just listed this load now...go and grab it while you can...

i made more art...then squashed it

so yeah i have made some more squashed art..its a fun and very effective way of creating a unique interesting effect that brings the birds to life..if you know what i mean...but this time instead of being on a nice canvas board and using lots of colours , this time i ripped some pages from a fab japanese comic and simply used black...i wanted to do something quick that is still an original and something i could sell for only a small amount, in this case only $10.00.they are now in the shop where i hope someone will give them a home....

new stuff in stevensstuff

so i just listed some new stuff in stevensstuff and im getting more enjoyment from this vintage empire im building than any handmade stuff has given me recently...not that ill ever stop making things...its just fun spotting something in a box at a junk market or thrift shop that i know will scrub up nice and look good in a photograph and potentially make me some disney dollars...for my holiday which is now only just around the corner...what do you think....

and no sooner did i list the little wooden houses..and they sold within hours...

this made me smile

so i just wanted to show this picture...sometimes i just have to grab my camera and snap an opportunity..and thanks to my cheese, this was possible...shes cute but i still kinda hate her 50% of the time...

i made cakes

so i was sitting here with a full on runny nose, constantly sniffing and feeling all grotty...i thought to myself i should get some fresh fruit and get some vitamin c inside me...and then i slapped myself around the face and knew what i had just thought was stupid...what i really wanted was CAKE....I LOVE CAKE,..so i sprinted to the cupboard, hurdling over the dog to where i knew my David had put the cake mix he bought me last week...and not 25 minutes later i had made these ....

so yeah they looked nice and i could easily have dived head first into them..but i was so not finished..out came the sprinkles and marshmallows and white chocolate buttons and i ended up with these...so much better...

so finally when i was happy with them, i put on the kettle and served myself up a cup of tea and had some much needed cake, all nicely presented on a lovely plate and in a vintage cup that is actually now for sale in me shop...id like you to believe i only had 1 cake...but nah, i had 3...each one gone in 1 mouth full...yummmmm.

some red mutha

so this weekend just gone me and my David went to not so sunny Brighton to visit my friends red mutha who have just opened a new shop,..Red, yeah that's her name, and her hubby Dan run a very brilliant business where they customise clothes by adding frills and trims and skulls and...well you name it and they do it, and they do it very well, hence the opening of the new shop....check out their website to see what they do...

i actually painted a picture

so a few days ago i took a few minutes out of my incredibly busy life to sit down and make some art...and I'm not joking when i say a few minutes, because i don't know about you guys but sometimes too much thinking results in too much of nothing, well it does with me...so i got a lovely canvas panel from the local art shop, and took some paints and just did it...the paints are in a tube so you can use them like a pen,and before it dried i sandwiched it between a magazine and pressed down hard as i wanted a squashed end result...and this is what happened...like most of my work...it was and is a happy accident...and its in the shop now...I'm gonna do more of these as the finished picture has a certain naive quality about it..