dixi giveaway!

PICTURED ABOVE: mila deer head bracelet, amity cross ear cuff, gigi little mouse ring, roma vampire teeth ring.

The lovely ladies at Dixi are once again offering you lot the chance to win a piece of jewellery of your choice from their shop! They have some amazing pieces - there really is something to suit everyone's tastes.

All you need to do is:

- visit Dixi's Jewellery Shop and then comment here with your favourite jewellery item.
- make sure you leave your email address so that we can get in touch if you win! :)

This competition is open to all readers, international included, and will run until next Tuesday the 7th of February, when I will pick a winner at random!

And if you don't happen to win, or can't wait that long, you can still use the code BEINGLITTLEDIXI to get 10% off your order, PLUS I can offer you a FREE SHIPPING code for orders over £8 - just enter LBL&DIXI at the checkout! (Free shipping code only usable during this giveaway)

Good luck!

there is no greater love.

Valentine's Day is just over two weeks away, so you have just enough time to find or make the perfect little thing to give to your loved one. I've been looking around internet land for some cute ideas, and here are some of my favourites (I especially love the arrow ring, and anything edible!) Click on the images to be taken to the source!

There are loads more cute present and DIY ideas online, including these sweet envelopes and this cute paper aeroplane!

waiting for spring.

A totally Primark outfit here! Ooooop! Just goes to show that you don't need to spend a fortune to look good eh? Which is great when you have very little money, like me! Most of this outfit is from ages ago so they won't have it in store now, except the brogues!

I feel so fancy in this frilly daisy print playsuit. I wish spring would hurry up! I need warmth!

rediscoveries.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that on Sunday I had a bit of a clear-out of my clothes. This obviously included having to try on lots of things to see if they still suit me, which is when I rediscovered this polka-dot playsuit that I made myself, and this Lazy Oaf sweatshirt that I bought years ago!

blanket.

Here is my new fringe! As I mentioned yesterday, I've been trying to grow my fringe for a while, but I caved and chopped it off! To be perfectly honest, I felt totally wrong not having a fringe, so I'm glad it's back!

Just casually standing in front of my amazing new crochet blanket right there. I LOVE IT. I got it on Friday from Totnes market. I bought it off a man who I've never seen there before - he sells fur coats and these blankets. But my favourite bit about him were his different coloured eyes! He was a real character.

I got new sheets and pillowcases for my bed too, and now it's so comfy and cosy I want to stay in it forever!

the garden.

WEARING: cardigan, belt, tights & shoes - primark ; top - new look kids' section ; shorts - charity shop (cut off lee cooper jeans)

Making up for barely blogging recently by doing two posts in one day? Why not. I feel like I'm dressed like a garden today - brown shoes & tights are the soil, green shorts are the leaves and grass, daisy print top...

I'm wearing my new brogues from Primark! I got them on Saturday and couldn't work out if they were ugly or awesome, but I decided on awesome. You can't really see them in these photos though so I don't know why I even bothered mentioning them.

After I took these photos I got in a rage and cut my fringe off. I've been trying really hard to grow it, but it was looking SO awful and messy that it had to go! (I also had to change my top and cardi because they got all itchy with bits of hair) I'll show you my new fringe soon!

artist showcase #10

This week I'm talking to one of my favourite people, and a bloody wonderful illustrator, James Davies...

1. Can you give us a little bit of your background?

I was raised in the muddy Welsh countryside, and since I’ve always lived really far away from everyone, drawing has always been a great companion. I started drawing tractors as soon as I could pick up a pencil, and haven’t stopped since. I graduated in 2009 from UWE Bristol, where I met Lyzi! There, I realised that picture books were where I wanted to be, so that’s what I’ve been aiming for since. I’m happy to say it’s finally paid off!

2. Did anything in particular make you go into illustration?

I just love drawing, simple as that. And I’m not cool enough to be a rock star.

3. What inspires you?

My environment. I live on a kind of animal sanctuary, full of rescued creatures with various “special” conditions. My characters are always based around them and their stories, I find them fascinating. When I work, I try to make pieces that I would have loved as a kid; full of details, with new things to find every time you look. Oh, and I love Mr. Bean.

4. How do you work?

My work all starts with pencil drawings, which are usually done in bits over numerous sheets of printer paper (I get a bit anal when I try to do it all in one). I then add some shading in with coloured pencil or watercolour, then scan it in. In Photoshop I stick in the midtones and highlights, then stick on some textures - usually more pencil scans.
All this between changing the cat litter, eating rice pudding, and doubting myself.
I listen to audiobooks and podcasts when I work, and a good dose of Radio 4 (when it’s not melodramatic period drama full of crying.)

5. What's your favourite medium to work with?

I recently discovered coloured pencil, which I’ve somehow avoided until now. I got a beautiful set of Caran Dache “Supracolour Soft” watercolour pencils and my work’s improved since. Can’t beat the trusty 0.5mm Pentel P205 pencil though, it’s always with me.

6. Which piece of work are you most proud of?

My first attempt at a picture book; Monster and Grub. It’s not my best work by any means, but it got a Highly Commended award in the Macmillan Prize and made it really clear that picture books were something I could do.

7. What are you up to right now?

Suddenly it’s all taken off! I signed last summer with the Bright Agency, who are the nicest bunch of people I’ve ever met. They’ve been so encouraging, and I currently find myself working on loads at once. Super busy until the summer. I also spend a lot of time walking our eight dogs and talking to the three cats about their lives.

8. Anything else you think we should know?

I can’t burp.

You can find my website/blog here, and my twitter here. Get in touch if you like!

red letter day.

WEARING: coat - charity shop ; fur stole - diy ; top, belt and shoes - primark ; skirt - zara ; maroon supersoft tights - peacocks.

Hello my lovelies, sorry I've been so absent lately. I've felt ridiculously tired and uninspired, and therefore felt like I've had nothing to blog about. BUT I'M BACK!

This is one of the coats I found in a charity shop recently, and I finally got around to cutting this fluffy leopard bit off an old cardi. I think they work together really well.

On the days that I've worn something other than PJs/jeans & a tee recently, I've been enjoying dressing tonally. Different shades of reds and greens have been my favourite.

A quick Happy Chinese New Year to all those celebrating at the moment!

Also, the Being Little Shop is finally open again! I'll be working on some new items this week, but for now take a look at the quote cards! Perfect for Valentine's Day, no?

Quotes below by Helen Keller and Albert Schweitzman. Also a little sneak peek of the blanket I bought from Totnes market on Friday!

artist showcase #9

This week, I asked lovely Karys to answer a few questions about her creative endeavours.

1. Can you give us a little bit of your background?

Surprisingly my least favourite subject at school was art, so who knew I would end up here. I have always been more creatively minded, rubbish at reading maps but can recall a place by seemingly insignificant details or very particular images.
I studied Fine Art at college for 2 years, worked my socks off in a gap year to fund my education (no fancy travelling stories I am afraid) and am now in my final year on a Fine Art degree at a specialist arts university, which I beyond love.
All my work tends to be very fragile, a nightmare for transporting! I am interested in using different contexts to inform my practice, such as an archival process, archeology, alchemy and the laboratory trope - using repetitive and demanding meticulous investigations, in order to create a series of test pieces.
The idea of an impossible process is something I am constantly looking to.


2. Did anything in particular make you go into your field of work?

I have always been a collector, and understanding why and how I can translate and incorporate this into my practice, has brought my working style to a new level.
I am often very print and textile based, but I accumulate and have a constant desire to reclaim, this engagement with material is really important to me.

3. What inspires you?

The idiosyncratic, the fantastical, residue and the trace.
In day to day life I find curiosity in unlikely places, even in an art gallery, I get stuck looking at a collection of dust in a corner rather than any painting.
I find myself fascinated by the idea that all items in our museums were pulled from dust and were hidden in waste. Navigating through a junk shop is one of my favourite past times.


4. How do you work?

I hardly stop. I experiment and investigate constantly to see where things will end up. I use a very broad lexicon of materials. I have 7 toolboxes (2 extra large) full of tools, I am quite handy to be friends with in that sense! I use anything from melted soap to translucent bathroom sealant and gold leaf, but my work always comes back to textiles, I knit and sew a lot and this always influences my practice. I also really enjoy writing, and my dissertation, which is hopefully getting published, is all about our proximity with dust.
Even though this, and addressing issues such as our obsession with cleanliness, greatly interests me, it is probably the worst conversation to start at a party. When I am making I like to be warm and cosy with a handy supply of Snickers bars, when I am writing I listen to French Electro as loud as it will go, we all have our quirks.

5. What's your favourite medium to work with?

I love tracing paper and printing onto things I shouldn't. I have fedmany things into my printer which it does not thank me for, having broken and jammed it more times than I can count.


6. Which piece of work are you most proud of?

More than anything I am most proud of my writing. I never thought I would be as interested in theory and research as I am now, I never thought I would be able to contribute new information to a field, and I never thought someone would want my work to be published. Finding through writing and investigation has made an unbelievable difference to my life and how I view everyday, so much so that I now want to go on to study Phd. I can't afford it right now, but once I have a stable job I am aiming to continue and save up to either work on my doctorate full time or part time. It feels like the next step for me, and there is nothing I want to do more.

7. What are you upto right now (work-wise)?

At the moment I am looking at the dissection of dust and the discarded and in particular the contents of vacuum cleaner bags, looking at how a separation of the individual elements can bring each fragment back to the pure. A sanitation occurs and each vital part no longer seems dirty. I am looking at dust in transformation, the potential it holds, and the energy spent to create it.


8. Anything else you think we should know?

The best advice I was given at university was that if you are stuck, which often can hold you back for weeks on end, just make anything. It will always lead to something new. Never give up, and even if what you are studying isn't the most exciting party topic, if it holds your curiosity that is all that matters!

See more here:

Website.
Blog.
Twitter.
Email: [email protected]

thai vegetable soup.

Sorry about the severe lack of blogging this week - I've felt really exhausted and unmotivated! One of my best girls (HI CHARLI!) reminded me that I took photos of a really yummy soup that I made on Tuesday. So here you go!

I basically had some vegetables I needed to use up, and initially I was just going to make a curry, but then I decided a soup would be more fun, as I hadn't made one in ages! I got to make it in my new orange pan too!

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
Ground cumin, ginger, coriander and cayenne pepper to taste
Half a red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced
Peppers
Courgette
Chestnut mushrooms
Boiled potatoes
Butter beans
Chickpeas
Vegetable stock
Fresh coriander
Creme Fraiche
Salt and pepper

Method:

• Cook the chilli, garlic, onion and spices in a little oil for a couple of minutes.
• Add the peppers, courgette and mushrooms, stir well and cook until soft.
• Throw in the butter beans, chickpeas and potatoes, and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Make some vegetable stock, and pour it in. Make it as liquidy as you want!
• Stir in as much fresh coriander, creme fraiche and salt and pepper as you fancy, let it simmer for a few minutes, and then EAT!

It lasted me pretty much all week! So simple, so yummy and warming, and good for you! (Just in case you're on a new year health kick!) Let me know if you make it!

happy days.

Today is my big brother's 26th birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY! We had a little celebration at my mum's on Sunday, which involved a couple of beers, lamb tagine and a yummy chocolate cake. I'm very proud of him, and I decided Evie looks like a pink marshmallow. She's just delicious. I also gave gim the finished hummingbird watercolour, and he seemed pretty pleased :)