Lovely light

Handmade light by 7GODS
{Via: ohjoy!}

Recycled

A clock made from an old bike wheel - very clever!
Pixelthis

Peanut

A handmade porcelain peanut necklace - who wouldn't want one.
By London based The Automatic Crystal.

Wishing for...

By CaitiJo

Lovin these...

Great handmade cards and posters over @ Orange beautiful.

To hang on the tree

Love these little handmade birds to hang on the christmas tree by Catsmiaow.

All I want for christmas...

Handmade: The Fraulein Tote by Moop.

A painting a day

These are by Abbey Ryan - he paints something everyday and posts it on his blog.

Illustration

Third Drawer Down are a Australian company that reproduce artwork by contemporary artists as limited edition screen prints onto everyday items like teatowels and pillowcases. Very sweet.

Material things...paper

I love mobiles and these are lovely ones - handmade from recycled magazine pages by Heather Frazier.

Material things....silk

Found these fabulous lamps by David Raine via Hidden Art. They are hand moulded from torn silk.

Handmade Art

Mandu Budan is a Canadian artist who works primarily in acrylic. Painting abstracts of 'the landscape, emphasizing and rearranging the elements to show the beauty of the landscape in unexpected ways'. I think they are fabulous.

Rainbow choker

Using colourful antique glass beads and hand-dyed silk German jewellery designer Ursula Hofmann creates these spectacular pieces.

Material things...paper

How great are these - Chris Galmour creates life size sculptures entirely from cardboard!

Celebrating traditions.....smocking

My mom makes lovely smocked dresses for my nieces but here is modern twist on smocking which I could not resist. Jewellery handmade from recycled silk by Czech designer Eva of Tinctory. A fantastic modern twist on a traditional craft - just love it!

Modern birds

Handmade for the birds...

#1 is my favourite – by a great new online shop The Modern Gardener - their handmade architectural birdhouse is made from certified sustainable teak.

#2 is by Amy Adams of Perch! Designs and handmade in Brooklyn NY (but also available through The Modern Gardener)

#3 is a terracotta ball with white glaze and handmade in the UK by Green&Blue.

Celebrating traditions......quilting

I love upholstery - but this is such a cool idea combining traditional upholstery with a modern form of quilting - now that is clever. The idea is that of Lisa Whatmough - who has set up shop in East London and has called it 'Squint' (thats the last thing I want to do - my eyes were popping out of my head!).

Each piece is meticulously made in England and traditionally upholstered, with tied springs and hand stitched seams. Aren't they gorgeous?

Material things....ceramics

Aren't these beautiful - both the ceramics and the photography. They are by Japanese (now living in Brisbane) ceramic artist Kenji Uranishi.

Limoncello Alchemy

Ingredients:

• 750 ml bottle of grain alcohol
• 7 or 8 large lemons
• 5 cups water
• 3 cups sugar

What to do:

• Wash the lemons thoroughly.
• Using a peeler, take off the skins being careful not to get any of the white lemon “pith” onto your peelings (it will add bitterness to your limoncello).
• Put the peels into a large jar with the alcohol and seal the lid tightly. Put the date on the bottle.
• Put the jar in a cool, dry place for one week - once a day, shake the contents well to mix everything. You’ll notice the colour of the liquid changing to yellow and the colour of the lemon peels fading.
• One week later, dissolve the sugar completely in water by heating it on the stove. Then cool the sugar-water mixture to room temperature.
• Strain the lemon peels out of the alcohol and then mix the alcohol with the sugar-water. Usually the colour of the alcohol changes from clear yellow to cloudy yellow when it’s combined with the sugar-water.
• Pour the mixture into bottles which can be sealed tightly and store them in the freezer. If the limoncello is kept “frozen” until serving it becomes thick and syrupy. Take out of the freezer a little while before serving.

Note: pure 96% alcohol must be used and it should be diluted only after extraction, as 40% vodka does not extract all the oil flavours from the peel.

Check out this link: There are great photos of all the steps.

Found

Edouard Martinet creates these little metal creatures from materials found in junkyards.