Holiday Last Posting Dates

Are you the UK and need to grab that gift super fast for Christmas? Choose shipping option Royal Mail specialdelivery® next day upon checkout. You’ll get next day delivery* right up until 21st December if you place your order before 2.00 pm!

*You’ll need to be certain that someone will be at the address to sign for your parcel if you choose special delivery.

Related posts:

Feed and Website Changes

I’ve been tinkering under the website hood in the hope of making things clearer and more user friendly for you guys – there’s a few differences in what you’ll be seeing in different parts of the site – and if you visit the website via a feed reader there are interesting new possibilities there too!

I’ve got brand spanking new feeds up and running specifically for the Nature Blog and the Craft Diary. Only want the nature posts delivered to your feed? Subscribe to the Nature Blog feed below! Just interested in my crafty exploits? Subscribe to the Craft Diary. Don’t want to miss a single thing?  Subscribe to the site feed and you’ll be sent everything! (If you are already subscribed, don’t worry! You’re already getting the full site feed and you don’t need to do a thing).

Subscribe to the Site Feed Here

Subscribe to the Nature Blog Here

Subscribe to the Craft Diary Here

In the Shop I’ve simplified things so that you can now browse Jewellery and Homewares separately, plus there’s a new Jewellery collection called Geek Love which includes cufflinks… at last I have some man-friendly products in store!

I’ve also been tidying up the home page and I’m going to give the Nature Blog and Craft Diary slightly different looks, but that’s enough blogging about blogging.  I’ll be back later this week with some actual pictures and writing, I promise.

Related posts:

Blogiversary…now we are 2!

Today I settled down to do some much overdue writing for this blog when I noticed there was something familiar about the date.  After a bit of embarrassed rummaging I found that yes indeed, today is the second anniversary of The Birds In The Meadow.

It’s so easy for me to let dates like that go by,  if I know what day it is at all I consider that good going. I missed the first anniversary and the fact that I’ve made it this far without celebrating seems wrong, so I’ve decided to have a whole week of festivities!

But before I write any more about that I’m going to think about these two years past and why blogging, crafting and this site mean so much to me.

To me, this site is…

• A diary. I never realised just how much blogging would become a record of some of the best bits of my life. I don’t write about much personal stuff here, but looking back over what I’ve written I see that this blog has grown into a living souvenir of big adventures, small insights and those ephemeral little things spotted along the way. Just looking back over these two years in the blog is often enough to keep me going when life feels rough.
• An open window. Through writing here I’ve also been given the chance to enter the insightful, funny, imaginative inner worlds of other people who write their own blogs. Some of these discoveries have been truly inspirational in ways that go beyond anything I could write here, and to those whose blogs I read I have to say a really big thank you for letting me in. Your candour, humour and warmth make being stuck behind a computer for several hours a day a far more rewarding experience, and encourages me with my own efforts.
• An apprenticeship. Since I opened the shop I’ve watched my practical crafting skills go from strength to strength. The imagination and diligence it takes to ensure that everything is robustly made and true to my recycled, repurposed or vintage ideal has tested my patience, tenacity and occasionally the will to live, but it’s been worth it just to know that what I make does not, as the old chestnut goes, cost the earth. What’s even better is knowing that there are people out there who care about these things as much as I do, and are prepared to take a chance on ordering from a small scale designer like me.
• A place of learning. I’m no wildlife expert; I have curiosity and a keen eye, and these things alone have got me a long way in the past. As a direct result of writing here and reading other nature blogs, my curiosity had become voracious and I realise with each passing day how little I know but want to know. I’ve learned more about insects and wildflowers in these past two years than I probably learned in the lifetime that went before,  but I’ve barely scratched the surface. I read field guides as if they were novels and devour literature on local wildlife wherever I go, but I’m still hungry. The learning I should have started in childhood only really got into full swing quite recently, and as direct result of researching stuff to write about here, I’m musing very tentitavely on taking some higher education.

In honour of these things and many more, I’d like to offer you a generous slice of cake, a glass of whatever takes your fancy and a toast to all the good things that blogging and the internet can bring. Remind me of some more! What are you raising that glass to?

Related posts:

New Vintage and Steampunk

At last I got my tool box out this week and actually made some new things! It felt good to have my pliers in my hands again. Here’s a couple of new jewellery pieces… I just got them uploaded to the shop.

The above necklace is called “Open the Garden Gate” and is made of vintage and salvaged materials. It’s a one off!

My favorite though is this bracelet, which I called Temporal Anomoly. Again, it’s made mainly with salvaged and vintage parts, including a lovely champagne watch dial and little bits of mechanical gubbins from inside the watch.

I’m so tempted to keep it for myself… but I wont. If I kept all the things I make for the shop and then don’t want to part with, our poor little flat would be even more of a magpies nest than it is right now.

Related posts:

Shop Holiday Dates

Orders made in the shop between the 9th – 16th April will not be processed until 17th April at the latest… I’m going away, and although the shop will remain open for browsing and purchasing I won’t be able to send out your parcels ’till I’m back!

Related posts:

Next Page »