Secrets of a Butterfly

Sheepskin boots,vintage cards and tea cups

Most of us know how beautiful books by Ryland Peters & small are and how evocative their photography is. They produce address books and a limited range of notecards,some of which have proved easier to come by than others. i finally tracked some of the vintage flea market style ones that i've been after for ages,i bought them from a UK website shop Glint. They come in a very useful box and are in a set of 4, here are the other designs...

I treat myself to a new pair of Uggs this week from Love from Australia, in a caramel brown colour. They have ties that wrap around and i'm loving them.I should probably join an Ugg fan club if there is such a thing!

I'd like to recommend a group of 3 female singers and their sweet gentle music. They are called Aurevoir Simone and i've been listening to their album lately...you can hear it on their website.

I've been thinking about saving up for an ipod,and am looking at the new i pod touch,does anyone have one and have any feedback on it? please leave a comment, as i'm interested in how you've found it.its one thing reading reviews but nothing beats a friends recommendation does it.

I made a card today for a family friend Auntie Olive, she is an amazing person, very giving and very much a part of her church and singing in the choir, she has various health problems but somehow never complains and always has an open house and heart for others. She has been very kind to me over the years and never forgotten me during the years when i was too ill to be around. sometimes out of sight is out of mind for people i've discovered, even relatives that you would have thought would remember you,don't always! it can be an interesting experience, and one where you have to just realise that some people seem to have more of a brain wired for considering others feelings and thinking about them, and some don't. It turns out its not a personal thing against you, it just is the way it is.  Once i realised this i felt less upset by it.

I still find that sometimes i have to balance out how much i think about people and try not to 'give' too much. I have had to learn to allow room to 'recieve' too. We need to live both roles don't we. On  a small scale and on a big one too, like how much we let in the Universe to support us.It has to fill our cup before we can share anything with others....

That kind of leads me full circle back to Auntie Olive who is very much connected to her God and her faith sustains her from the inside. That ease of faith and feeling comfortable with life is very inspiring. Its something i couldnt relate to when i was younger, until i came to know God/Universal Source of Love, in my own way and through my own experience. Now i understand where she gets her Light and energy from and how she manages all she does even at 90 years old! She always seems to trust and know she's taken care of and doesnt seem to live with fear. Her face is always happy and she delights in life. So i wanted to make a special card for a special lady... i used some vintage wallpaper, and vintage lace. With some cream pressed flowers and i tried a new idea of a button closure with a ribbon loop.   thats all for now, keep in touch,kat xx

kayo & leona

Kayo Tamaishi is an illustrator; she was born and raised in Yokohama. I found her work on Moo and ordered some as postcards. This one above is a particular favourite but so many of her designs are wonderful that its hard to choose. Alot feature rabbits too which certainly captured me,being a bunny fan. Here are 2 more of her postcards on my wall,i also got some stickers of hers,i love moo,its just it can get addictive!

This one of the couple together is on my noticeboard,she really should sell on etsy or something but when i googled her there was very little that came up. She must sell more in her own Country. I certainly hope her popularity grows so we see more from her. I think she has done some T shirts which would be so cool.

As you can see i have a picture on the board of Leona who i think is Amazing, she is so graceful and i find her so inspiring. Her voice makes my spine tingle when she sings and i love her album. Its the best i've heard since the album of the same name by jewel in the 90's.It was certainly worth the wait from when she first won Pop idol to when it came out last year.i have her song  "Better in time" as my ring tone now, replacing Take thats song from the Stardust film. This is what it says on her website at the moment...

'Leona’s debut album Spirit has gone straight in at the top of the American album charts! Not only is she first British female to achieve such an amazing feat, but she is the first British artist in history to debut at number one! '

If thats not inspiring, i don't know what is!!  love kat x

Congratulations & Thankyou

Thankyou for all the wonderful anniversary wishes for my blog's 1st birthday. I have used a random number generator and the winner is........Philippa! Congratulations and the butterflies will set off on the journey flying down to you soon.

Philippa has only recently begun her blog,A little place of my own in December last year,she has a beautiful photo of the Angel of the North as its banner,(she moved from here to the South)do stop by and say hello if you fancy welcoming her to blog land.

My health has been a little rocky lately,mainly a dip in energy levels, hence my abscence both out in the real world as much and out and about amongst my friends here in Blog land, if we should call it that ( any other name suggestions, as thats a bit naff sounding!),but it was just so fitting a time to recieve the heartwarming messages you all left for me and it kept me connected and cheered. i hope to be back to myself soon,but as with this illness and recovery from it, its all about just feeling your way and taking things slowly so i can't really tell for now. I just wanted to give a little explanation really for my quietness, i look forward to visiting you more often soon,like i normally do, in the meantime i know you will all understand and are wishing me the best. BIG THANKS ,luv kat xx

p. s. happy birthday emily thinking of you today,here's the notelet set i made for Em's present...

bye for now

This Spring's colours and sights

a little daffodil in our back garden to put a touch of yellow and sunshine on the blog today and to give that spring feel thats in the air. Thanks so much to everyone for the wonderful anniversary comments you posted. I want to say a special thankyou to Emma Louise who typed out a lovely poem about deer that she said had the same magic as she finds in my blog. I was very touched and tried to respond but it bounced back so i think your email address was wrong, could you, if you read this EmmaLouise, email me(link top left of the blog) or leave another comment. There is another week before the draw for the garland so i will just continue with my posts as usual,then let you know next weekend who's won..

This beautiful spread was in Red magazine this month and i love the way the yellow and turquoisey blue work together There are yellow and blue flowers in our garden at the mo, nothing fancy just some tubs of grape hyacinths and mini daffodils but they do bring in some much appreciated colour here and there.

The bunnies have been out in their run alot more and soaking up the sun which i'm sure is as good for them as it is us we got them a wooden mini hut that attaches to the side of the run and so they can shelter in there should the wind get too much or a cat appear! Jasp went in when an aeroplane went over as i don't think he's remembered that they arent a threat.Here's some more photos i took of Whisper (white/girl) and Jasper (grey and white/boy) on May 1st we will have had them one year!

Just to finish here's a picture of some lambs we saw in a field last week,i've never seen any so close to before,they had little coats made from see through plastic to keep them drier and warmer. Apparently it means alot more of them survive than they do without the protection. The sheep themselves were surprisingly loud!The countryside is not always quieter than the city it seems! But the little ones were extra cute when their tails wagged so fast back and forth when they began feeding.

Here's me down at the riverside last week.

So thats my spring theme update and i will put some more shots on my flickr pages i think. I've been making mosaics up  with some of my photos using fd's flickr toys which i discovered when Julie used it for some of hers.its another little addictive thing to do with Flickr and there are other effects you can do to photos with it too.such as blur the edges or frame them in a stamp design, or a film border.Thanks for your company today. have a pleasant weekend,love kat x