Well, it's been a quiet couple of weeks, after that somewhat crazy week of events and parties. I had a birthday. That was exceedingly quiet, because I didn't mention it to many people. They always forget anyway, because they get wrapped up in worrying about Christmas, so I decided to avoid the disappointment of people forgetting by just not mentioning it in the first place. I did have a nice cake, though.

Christmas itself was also quiet (except for El Tim's extremely loud video games, oh ow, my head), and New Year's Eve was so quiet that I spent it in bed, finishing a trashy Len Deighton novel. I checked the clock when I finished it, and by incredible timing it was exactly 11:59pm, so I watched the digits tick over to the new year and went to sleep.

I'm not big on celebrating New Year's anyway, and I'm certainly not one to make resolutions. It seems like such a weird time to make them, in the middle of winter when most sensible mammals are hibernating. It's the time of year when you're more inclined to curl up with hot chocolate under a duvet, and eat lots of stodgy food, because spring is still a couple of months away and there's not enough daylight or fresh fruit and veg to start a whole new regime. At least, if you're trying to eat seasonally, anyway, which I try to do. And even if you're not, there's still the weather to contend with. I don't know about you, but monochrome grey skies are the biggest demotivator I face.

Springtime is a much better time to make new year's resolutions: in the natural world everything is starting over and fresh, which seems like a great subconscious encouragement to starting over and fresh oneself. Dead of winter? That just seems daft, especially when January first is really such an arbitrary date. Who chose it? And why then? I have a feeling this is something I once knew, but I've forgotten it now.

by Thomas Nast [via]

Father Christmas Tree by Saul Steinberg, who is also the subject of an exhibition on in London, at the Dulwich Picture Gallery until February 15th. (I've not been to that one yet, either, but I'm looking forward to seeing it.)

I think that's your lot for today. Something smells reeeeally good here, and I think dinner is about to be served. Om nom nom. HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Was back at the St Aloysius Social Club again on Saturday, this time for the Bust Christmas Craftacular. More crowded than the previous two events I'd been to there recently, and entry wasn't even free this time! Although they were handing out a guide to the tables. It was a pretty shoddy guide, though, two pink pieces of A4 (why did it have to be bloody pink?), printed on all sides and folded in half. Out of the resultant five pages remaining after the table guide and front cover, there was exactly one devoted to information about the event and the stall-holders — the rest was all bloody ads! On top of that, there were no actual issues of the magazine on sale anywhere, which was a bit annoying since I haven't got this month's yet. (In theory, they could even have been handing them out to interested people the way that the folks from Nude have done at the last few similar events. But they should at least have been on sale.)

Those gripes aside, there was a lot of good stuff on show, and I saw quite a few things I coveted for myself, although often the stalls were so crazy busy I ran out of energy just trying to get a look at them… As it happened, I had less than a tenner on me, and I was planning to also go to the WeMakeLondon fair on the same day, so I didn't spend a lot. But I did pick up loads of business cards, so I can do another long post of crafty handmade goodness full of great places for you to chuck your cash at.

Prick Your Finger – they stock yarn from British sheep, including rare breeds and hand-spun wool. The site is Flash-only though, which is really annoying!

Kirsty Kirkpatrick – "an anti-landfill fashion label," apparently. Reclaimed bits and bobs usually turned into jewellery, for sale here. It's mostly a bit fussy for my tastes, but I like some of the wine box necklaces.

Tatty Devine – I do like the sense of play that the TD jewellery has, but I also think it's too expensive! It was great to see the pair of them playing "Craft Doctor" to help people fix their problems, though, and they did seem like really approachable women, which was nice, too. But I find myself wondering who actually makes their stuff these days, since they are both so busy running the business and putting on exhibitions and participating in events like this and being interviewed in fashion magazines and so forth that they surely just don't have the time to make all the jewellery as well?

The Great Cake Escape – these girls have been getting loads of press, so I'm sure you know all about them already. Here's some from earlier this year.

Caz Potter – the site is not online yet, which is annoying because I can't remember what she sold, but it should be ready next week…

Eclectic Eccentricity – despite the somewhat cringeworthy slogan ("jewellery with inspired kookiness"), these were the prettiest and most original of all the reclaimed jewellery stalls, especially the lovely, lovely lockets, which I coveted, oh how I coveted. But I don't even wear the locket I do have. Having said that, I totally fell in love with this fabulous octopus necklace when I saw someone wearing one recently, and I'm delighted to discover where it came from. And the prices are really reasonable, too!

Moxie – a one-stop shop for beauty products, they sell on behalf of others, but the prices are in sterling which makes it easier than converting the dollar when buying direct.

Mr Wingate – great t-shirts and tea-towels featuring modernist buildings and alt.London landmarks. I nearly bought a tea-towel featuring an illustration of The Macbeth as it was only a fiver, and I've seen some insane gigs there. But I don't need any more tea-towels. Nice business-card, too.

Hellomemo – all sorts of lovely stuff, from knitted ice-cream brooches to notebooks. I like the bird cushions.

Made By Kate – cute monsters made by Kate.

Bbel – pretty jewellery, with lots of birds. I really liked the acrylic pendants. And the business-card is handmade; collage on one side and rubber-stamped on the other. Nice!

Carte Couture – funny sewn collages. Just don't mention furries.

Pom Pom International – rather silly but fun craft project created by Amy Lame, making great use of the ol' social media and the international craft scene, huzzah!

Experimental Letterpress Workshop – I bought some nifty letter-pressed gift-tags (five for a quid! Bargain!), and they gave me a nice catalogue, but it only features things to buy in bulk, which is a pity 'cos their stuff is nice, so hopefully they'll do more craft fairs as well.

Battenberg – new clothes and toys made from… old clothes and toys. Also, cutest business card alert!

Anthony Zinonos – illustration and collage. Quite fun.

I Like Pens – cards and notebooks in that fun, "naive art" illustration style that is so popular these days.

Lady Luck Rules OK – another stalwart on the "small craft company makes big" front, with stock that changes with the seasons, so I don't always like it. The customised babushka doll pendants they have at the moment are pretty though, and although I didn't buy it, the mirrored owl pendant just absolutely hooted Jeremy's name.

Love From Hetty & Dave – another owl here, a brooch handmade from coloured leather, was what caught my eye. I've been noticing owls a lot in illustration and design this year¹, so I passed comment on it with the designer, Zoe Larkins, mentioning that they've even been seen as Christmas decorations in Selfridges and Paperchase. She said she thought it was because owls were quite wintery creatures, and wasn't surprised at the numbers that have been showing up in design because "everyone likes owls, don't they?" (I'm not sure they do, but I do, so seeing them everywhere is quite cool.)

Custom Made UK – loads of fun stuff. And speaking of owls again, I totally fell in love with their owl tote! They've got a thing for the babushka dolls as well.

Kandy Diamond – I liked the crayon scarves. Also the purveyor of Sugar Paper: Things To Make and Do. I bought the recent winter edition, which came with a free "I <3 craft" badge.

Jess Turnbull – I so almost bought one of her fabulous flamingo brooches for Beth but I couldn't decide if the pink mirrored one was perhaps a bit too fabulous, if you know what I mean! They're only £6.00 though, and some of the other jewellery is fun too.

I didn't even make it to the WeMakeLondon event, because it finished at 5:00pm and not 6:00pm, which seemed a bit early for a Saturday in December. So I ended up throwing down my readies on some nice art paper in Paperchase instead. Which is fine.

¹In fact, I've been meaning to collect all the ones I've spotted on ffffound into one special blog post, with links to all the originating illustrators, but I keep forgetting to get around to it

I'm not planning on sending any Christmas cards this year (although I did design some), but I really like these Modernist London winter cards by designer Stefi Orazi. There's even one of the Isokon Flats 'round the corner from my house. [via]

I kind of fell in love with the the smaller charm bracelets and necklaces made from vintage trinkets and reclaimed jewellery at the Vanity Found table. They're pretty, and the charms are quite unusual. I particularly like the "tea for two" series, pictured below. Her business cards were also cool, and succinctly combined two of my favourite things, with contact details rubber-stamped onto the backs of found photographs. Such a great, and simple, idea — I'm almost tempted to steal it to make my own business cards, instead of ordering them through Moo next time…

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Ninja Bunny by Philip Spence is a comic all about the adventures of a cute, but evil rabbit with killah skillz. I like the badges. Badges and mini comics make good stocking-fillers!

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There are some interesting accessories made from recycled fabrics at Conversations With Flowers, like this fabric foliage bracelet.

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Julia Pott is an illustrator who makes art books which you can buy at her shop. They're a cross between travel sketchbooks, graphic design illustration and autobiographical visual notes, as far as I can tell. Worth a look for an unusual present, as they're less than a tenner.

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Jessie Chorley, makes art books and jewellery. I like the fairy-tale brooches.

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I also fell in love with some of the whimsical jewellery made by her studio mate Buddug Wyn Humphreys, especially the pretty pendants and brooches printed via enamel transfer.

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Mary Kilvert does pretty, feminine illustration and seems to favour birds quite a lot. She has an Etsy shop where you can buy lovely low-cost pocket mirrors and badges. This sausage dog badge set is a winner.

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Naomi Ryder does embroidery illustration. You might have seen her recent magazine work for things like Plan B. She doesn't have an online shop as such, but you can order work to commission.

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I bought this cute and funny little Gocco Print (below) from cactus hands for the princely sum of 50p, but she also had some lovely Christmas stockings on sale, made of unusual printed fabric for £8.00 each. Which would be perfect for you to buy for Crimbo, so Santa can fill them up, except her shop doesn't seem to be online yet. Shame, that. (She was also one of the Craftwerk organisers, but the other site doesn't seem to have anything on it apart from the flyer for Sunday's event, either. Ah well.)

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Annoyingly, the mmmbiscuits site seems a bit broken, as there aren't any proper links to the illustrations, which is a shame because I like her drawing style and wanted to show it off a bit here. She also makes and sells ugly-cute monsters, some of which can be used as pendants, like this one pictured.

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Really cute accessories from creamrose, mostly made from buttons with appealing illustrations on them. They have a great range of hairclips, earrings, badges etc. which are all quite affordable and would fit in an envelope for easy sending. I like the pretty, girly flowery hair-clips made from vintage buttons, like these yellow chrysanthemums:

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There was something incredibly familiar about Anke Weckmann's illustration, but I couldn't work out where I'd seen it before. It occurs to me that it's the kind of thing that shows up on ffffound from time to time. She has an Etsy shop where you can buy cool prints and brooches, like "this girl", pictured below:

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Handmade books and screen-printed cards from Alex Czinczel. I loved the tiny hand-bound Alphabat book (it would make a lovely poster too!), and the little book with the embroidered illustrations, but I couldn't really afford one, so I settled for a screen-printed chinchilla postcard at 50p instead. There's a fun quirky sense of humour about her work, though. Look! A dog playing the piano!

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This postcard image (below) actually shows up in the photo in Wednesday's Comiket post, because it was too big to add with all the business cards, but I actually bought it at Craftwerk. Great use of colour from Karoline Rerrie, but unfortunately her site isn't working either so you can't buy anything from her just at the moment. But when it is, you should! She also does a fun x-rated comic called Nurse Pussy.

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Xtina Lamb also doesn't feature in the photo at the top of this post because , being a friend of mine I already knew who she was and how to find her wares, but she's definitely worth a mention in this list because her handmade books and prints are ace! Plus, she sells hand-printed bunting at £2.50 a letter and you can buy the bunting-tape and threaders off her as well. Everyone needs a bit of bunting joy (and I'm not just saying that as an excuse to use my "bunting" tag again!)

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You can also find quite a few of these talented ladies on Flickr if you run a search for them.