Make your mark

I wouldn't consider myself an artist but sometimes I'm inspired to do something a little different to sewing and playing with fabric. I'm a great lover of marker pens - mainly to write on boxes of children's clothes and toys - but they can give really good creative results too.

I've just come across this great how to tutorial from Whipperberry on Infarrantly Creative on how to create use a sharpie pen to make a permanent design on ceramic and it reminded me of something I made last year, while I was both pregnant and just about to move. 

At the time I was inspired by the work Esther Coombes who draws directly onto vintage plates and crockery creating beautiful and recycled homewear items.

I have to admit, I stole her idea of garden stakes and one evening picked up a pen, during the pre- moving stress and started to draw (not that well admittedly!) on pieces of smashed up plates that had been chipped, with the help of a few gardening books.

Esther's design attached the crockery to a wooden stake, but I luckily found a bag of lovely ornate forks in one of our kitchen drawers, so I decided to use those as the stems insetad. The results are lovely and since they have been packed away for a year will make some lucky gardening friend a crafty Christmas gift.