More Etsy Goodies

           I have still been so busy sorting through all of my stuff (my house will soon be half empty.) I can't believe it's February already. The quicker this year goes the better, and we will be even closer to our move to England.

    Even though I have been clearing out very large amounts I haven't stopped buying completely. Etsy continues to tempt me!

      Of course I continue to add to my Miss Bumbles collection (I now have over 90!)

        Another shop I love is Boopsie Daisy. And I thought I would share with you the four dolls I have from this shop.

My very first doll was a custom made black cat called Pawlie.

Next I was luck enough to grab Gimmick from the 2012 Halloween range.

This custom made doll is based on my cat, Ruby and her love of Malteser sweets. 

I snapped up Drippy the gingerbread girl at the same time as Ruby.

    I have yet to take pictures of all my dolls. All pictures belong to Boopsie Daisy, find her Etsy shop here.

      Although I can't start another large collection, I do have a few more dolls on my wishlist.  I'd love a Marie Antoinette doll, an all white witch like a previous Halloween doll and a little French girl. I'm sure there will be more to come this year!

Busy January

              January seems to have flown by so far. I am back in clearing out mode. And have more stuff listed on ebay and a few bits in a local auction. I still have quite a lot to get rid of so I thought I'd better start now!
      Anyone who knows me knows how much I love black cats. I have a large collection of black cat stuff that I've been collecting since I was a teenager.
I thought I would collect them until I was an old lady. But I've decided that the collection has to go! I have about 90% of my collection set aside and ready to go up for sale in the next couple of months. I have items from 1929 to the present day.
      But who needs all that stuff when I have the two best black cats in the world!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

Hope Santa was good to you!

Etsy Art I Love

         As I've mentioned before I've always wanted to be able to draw but just can't. I had a lovely art teacher at school. We had a lot in common. He loved cats and we both wanted to be a vet (although neither of us became one!)
       I remember an art test in which we had to draw a pot of pencils, sounds simple enough. Not for me. The pot turned out just about okay but every single pencil I drew turned out bent! And that was with quite a lot of effort on my part.
         My art teacher knew I couldn't draw and he was nice enough not to laugh. Needless to say I dropped art as soon as I was allowed to!
       I still love looking at art. And I love browsing and buying from Etsy. Here are some of my current favourites that I would love to have around the house.

Paris Print from Daniela Volpari.

Hare Preparing to Box, Original Black and White Charcoal Drawing from Rachaelizaart.

Mr. Pickles, The Guinea Pig At Black Walnut Manor Disappeared For Eleven Days, Surviving On French Nougat from janethillstudio.

Mary Poppins Guinea Pig - "Mary Popcorns" from whenguineapigsfly.

I'm Sorry Kitty Cat Girl Art from Pinkytoast.

Orange Cat Kitty Biscuits Vintage Style Label from toadbriar.

Black Cat Ice Cream Company original graphic art giclee archival signed artist's print from geministudio.

Photographic Print - Cat in Glasses 2 from instantt.

Black Cat Art print WINDOW WATCHER from lewfoster.

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff!

                Just when I thought I was winning my battle against stuff, more pops up! I was hoping to have finished clearing out by the end of this year but that's not going to happen. Yet more stuff went off to auction last week and more ebay items posted this week.
          I have made a big dent in the amount of stuff I have but I am getting so fed up with it now. But at least there are two furry things who love it when all this is going on...

                    Violet loves to watch the action from the top of the door.

     Hmm...   This looks interesting.

         But I am really motivated to finish clearing out. We are aiming to be settled in England by August 2014 and I can't wait. I am hoping to have only eight boxes of stuff belonging to me on the removal van... we'll see how that goes!

Quirky Cotton Creatures

         I have still been very busy clearing stuff out (I swear it's multiplying!).  At least I can say I haven't been shopping at all on the high street, in fact I don't even miss it. But I have still been buying goodies from my favourite place, Etsy.
         I have just made my first purchase this morning from a shop that I have loved for a while. It is no secret that I have a serious love of anthropomorphic food and this shop has had many brilliant pieces. But the one I fell for is Miss Kandi Apple. I love candy apples anyway (I think that comes from my Halloween obsession) and the fact that this one was anthropomorphic was the icing on the cake!

She even has a "peanut" skirt. 

But it didn't stop there. I bought two other pieces that I've had my eye on for a while. Halloween was over too quickly for me, it always is. And even though it's only seven weeks until Christmas, my head is still in Halloween Land.

It is very easy for me to fall for a black cat but I don't have anything like this in my collection. So I had to have little Simon.

Lastly I bought this Lovely black widow spider. I'm not very keen on real spiders but I seem to be quite fond of them when it comes to Halloween. And I have a good few spidery bits in my collection.

I was also tempted by this sweet fried egg and may just have to buy him too at some point.

Please note all pictures belong to Spun On Cotton. You can find her Etsy shop here.

         If you haven't visited this Etsy shop already I highly recommend you do. You are sure to find something you love. Or a quirky Christmas gift for the person that has everything. 

          I can't wait for my parcel to arrive!

An Early Birthday Gift For Me

     I have still been adding to my collection of needle felted items from Miss Bumbles. I now have a second cabinet to put them in (which is much bigger, so I have plenty room for more!)
        My Mum very kindly bought me my most recent custom order for my birthday and luckily I was allowed to have them now. The custom order consisted of:

     This beautiful Queen Of Hearts kitty comes complete with flamingo mallet and a hedgehog croquet ball. The detail in her dress is amazing.

     This Mad Hatter kitty is just gorgeous. I love the colour combination. And he even has a little hand painted cup.

This little cat burglar is just so sweet. He looks full of mischief. He is based on both of my cats as they can break into any room or cupboard.

And last but not least is this Big Hairy Scary Spider. I love the expression on his face. He also has a skull on his back which you can't really see in this photo.

      I have already asked for another custom order which will hopefully be ready before Christmas. I am really excited about it. I also have a gardening guinea pig on the way which I can't wait to see. Miss Bumbles' guinea pigs are so cute, they make me want a real one.


    Here are some photos of the rest of my collection including an early piece from 2009 which I picked up from ebay. He is a rather sweet tortoise holding a lovely juicy peach.

Ruby Bunny Ears Portrait

       I have cut out all other forms of shopping completely but Etsy continues to be my downfall. I have realised that it is impossible to ban myself from Etsy, so I've stopped trying!

      One of my latest purchases was from Water In My Paint. I have a French squirrel painting from this shop which I love. For my next purchase I wanted a custom portrait of one of my cats.

      I decided to get Ruby done wearing a pair of red bunny ears. And I couldn't be happier with the finished painting. It's amazing, it looks just like Ruby!

      I can't recommend this shop highly enough. The painting was ready so quickly and arrived in the UK very fast. I will be going back very soon to get Violet done too.

   The shop has lots of other lovely paintings too. Click here to visit the shop.

Halloween Excitement

     It's that time of year again when I start to get really excited about Halloween. It will be slightly different for me this year because as much as I love it when the shops get their stuff in, I won't be able to buy much. There is no point being on a shopping ban and then buying mountains of Halloween stuff.
       That said I have bought more Halloween goodies from Etsy. I was lucky enough to purchase more of Miss Bumbles' delightful Halloween pieces.

I think this little black cat with a Halloween treat in the form of a mouse head is my favourite.

Another lovely black kitty sporting a pumpkin skirt and showing off her skull garland.

I love the little details on this Guinea Pig devil, the red whiskers and beard and the forked tail.

This little pumpkin Guinea Pig was just too hard to resist.

And lastly is this very witty headless Guinea Pig. His little smile is so sweet.

All pictures belong to Miss Bumbles you can find her Etsy shop here.

       This lovely lot will be arriving with several more pieces which include a very exciting custom order. 

    I have collected quite a few different things over the years. But I have never enjoyed collecting anything as much as these woolly wonders! Here's hoping there are more Halloween delights to come...

Etsy Buys And Finds

    I have been clearing out once again. And I have been trapped in a sea of ebay items. I am now up to a total of 81 sold items. I still have plenty of stuff to go but I think it's time for a little break.       
     It's quite strange to have gone from somebody who loved shopping to somebody who loves getting rid of stuff.
    I no longer look at shops in the town centre and I never even look at websites I used to buy from all the time (ASOS, Topshop etc.)  When I decided to go on a shopping ban at the beginning of the year, I didn't think I would manage to stick to it so well and end up wanting to get rid of most of the things I own!
      It hasn't been a complete ban and I have still been buying a few things from Etsy. Most of these things have been gifts. But I have still been adding to my favourite collection (I always will).  
     One of the other things I have bought is a doll from Boopsiedaisy. I have liked a lot of the dolls from this shop but had never bought one. So I decided to make my first purchase a custom order. And I asked for (you guessed it) a black cat doll. I'm so glad I decided to get this doll made (her name is Pawlie), she is so cute. I would recommend this shop if you are looking for something cute and quirky.

Pictures belong to Boopsiedaisy you can find her shop here.

I thought I share a few other cute finds that I love but won't be buying!

I really like these anthropomorphic macarons and cookies from SandraArteagA. You can find her Etsy shop here.

And I have been quite tempted by these gorgeous vintage French knife rests in the form of cute little cats. They are From LaManche and you can find her Etsy shop here.