COMPETITION WINNER

Thank you for all your entries - PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE TO ENTER.

The winner is Nikki Hagan, congratulations Nikki! Your little bird will be winging it's way to you as soon as I have your postal address.

COMPETITION - one more day

Thank you all so much for your contributions to my cause, I have a total of 85 entires and £218!!

There is one day to go, the end for the draw will be   MONDAY 1st OCTOBER - 6pm GMT.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND MONEY AFTER THAT TIME. 

I have to have a cut off point to choose the winner and get the money to my friend, but also checking the total every couple of minutes has been very exciting and incredibly distracting!! I haven't got any work done this weekend!! I need to do some so I can pay my own bills!!

I hope hearing this story and being part of something positive that could actually help this one person, might have inspired you to do more for the homeless in your city. It has me!

In London we have many charities working to support homeless people - helping find them homes, helping them with addiction, with mental health issues, feeding them, and some just offering comfort and kindness.

You could do your little bit by buying the Big Issue each week, or setting up a monthly direct debit of as little as £2 to one of those charities, or if time is all you have you could help at a food shelter - I was hugely proud when my little brother started doing this.

Reading your messages it obviously struck a chord with you all and wasn't just about winning my little bird. Let's see what more we can do!!

But on the subject of the little bird, one day to go till I announce the winner!!

Best of luck!

xx

COMPETITION

I am opening up a raffle for which the prize will be this little bird. The raffle is to raise money for my local Big Issue seller. For those not in the UK the Big Issue is a magazine for homeless people to sell in order to make money to help themselves off the streets.

For just £1 you will stand the chance of winning this little bird... sound good??

I've been buying the magazine from the same guy for over a year now and enjoy our chats each time I pass,

usually he has a good old laugh at me and all my bags, trekking to and from the studio!

The other week when I stopped he told me his world was caving in on him as his benefits had been stopped and they are what pay his rent. The money he makes selling the BI buys his food, so without the benefits he faces eviction from the place he has made his home.

He had some pretty traumatic things to deal with in his life, I know because we've talked about them, and as consequence he suffers from mental health problems. 

The government have decided that because he is on medication for these problems he no longer deserves the benefits and should get a job... knowing him the amount I do I'm not sure that's a possibility for him at this stage sadly.

We have really started to see the cold weather here now and he faces a very real possibility that he will be back living on the streets at the worst time of the year.

There isn't really very much I can do for him myself and I'm finding it very hard to accept... 

... but the other night I had this idea and I hope you will feel you'd like to help.

To enter my raffle it will cost you £1, which can be donated to me via my Paypal site, and your name will then be entered into the draw.

On Monday night, 6pm GMT, the competition will close and when all the names are taken, I will draw one at random and that person will receive this little bird.

All money taken will go to him.

So would you like to help?????

I really don't know what else to do for him.

It will only cost you £1 and you stand the chance of winning this pretty little bird to the value of £120!!! Good deal huh?!

To donate £1, please log onto your Paypal account and choose to 'send funds', enter my email address: abigailbrown81@hotmail.co.uk, and choose to send £1. 

When all the money is collected and I've drawn it out as cash, it will be given to Michael with a little note that explains where it all came from. 

The more of you that take part the bigger the difference it will make... so please join in.

Thank you!

x

Photo Shoot

Last week I had a little photo shoot at my friend's house. Kate and Adam are the people behind Dead Dolls Club and Tinker Tailor. As well as upcycling old bits and bobs into beautiful items for the home they run pop-up drinking and feasting events... they are a team to watch out for!

With £500 they turned an empty building into a home and the results are delightful. It was the perfect location for photographing some of my British Birds collection... although a few more tropical species sneaked in too.

Here are a few of the shots. They'll be used for a new range of postcards, notecards and a gift voucher I'm launching in October, just in time for xmas. I hope you like them!

Here's one of the little friend they made...

Too early to think about Xmas?!

Now I know it's still Summer and no one wants to think about the cold months coming... really... but I wanted to encourage anyone thinking of ordering a little bird for a Christmas present this year, to think about doing it in the next couple of months. I continue to make my work entirely myself and during busy periods this gets increasingly difficult. Unfortunately last year I had to leave some Christmas wishes unfulfilled and I really want to avoid that this time.

My normal making time for orders would be 4-6 weeks, so during a busy time that increases.

If at all possible please think about placing an order in September/October, if it's too early to have saved up I do offer part payments so you can pay in instalments to spread over a few months. Email me for details.

Also available again this year will be my sets of wooden Christmas tree decorations, £20 for 4, £30 for 8. I'll also be introducing gift vouchers this year, they'll be appearing on my website in the next month.

New Species!

A very special friend of mine got married this weekend. She's a Yorkshire lass such as myself, who fell in love with New Zealand on a trip after university and took herself bravely back there alone to set up a  new life for herself. She's a talented artist and a beautiful friend and I was delighted to be asked to make her some birds as her wedding gift.

Emma wanted one bird to represent her roots in England and one bird to represent that of her husband's in New Zealand. She chose the Blue Tit and the Fantail.

Here's a photo of the little fellow himself...

You can find him in my shop if you would like one yourself...

...and here's a look at the pair atop the wedding cake...

If you would be interested to commission a wedding duo please get in touch.
Cake photo by Craig Goode

V&A - 'Stitched Specimen' workshop

On Thursday 20th September I will be at the V&A running a little workshop making butterfly brooches. It's free to take part and will run from 11am until 4pm... hope to see some of you there...