Little Bead Boxes by Julia S. Pretl

I am blown away by these stunning boxes by an artist based in Baltimore City Julia S. Pretl who has been beading since late 1980s. She hand-makes these boxes with thousands of tiny beads in varied shapes and sizes from the basement of her house. Each box is one-of-a-kind which features intricate designs such as owl, insects, birds, animals and patterns in array of colors. 

After 15 years of beading she realized that she could combine her passion with her training in graphic design and technical illustration to teach others. She now writes books, creates patterns and conducts occasional workshops. She has written four books in which she shares techniques and tips for the beginners as well as advanced beaders. The patterns of the boxes shown above and many more can be purchased from her website.

'Birds on Wood' by Maggie Hurley

California based artist Maggie Hurley went to school at the Laguna College of Art and Design in Southern California. If her work looks familiar to you then it's because she has contributed her wonderful work to our past Owl Lover calendars. She works in various styles and mediums. Some days she likes to work with watercolors and some days she'll sculpt something out of clay. 

Her work is whimsical often inspired by the natural world. Her newest series 'Birds on Wood' feature watercolor portraits of birds on wood block. 

Artist shares: "Birds are fascinating creatures! When I was a kid, I spent a considerable amount of time nursing the birds my cat brought home back to health. Today, I like to feature them in portraits that I paint on small wood blocks. 

I’ll enlarge the eyes a little bit or do something to make it more charming. I appreciate all the people doing Audubon-style illustration, but I like to give it a little more personality. My interest lies in trying to find a relatable expression on a face that shares so little with people."

Her artwork can be purchased at affordable price starting at $40. Because there are so many lovely birdies from barn owl, spectacled owl, kingfisher to white peacock, she offers a subscription service called Bird in a Box. With the subscription you will get a new bird print on wood each month for just $25 per month! That's great!

New Work by Jennifer Davis

'Owls'

'Rabbit'

'Pig'

'Lion'

'Oh my dog'

You all know how much I admire Jennifer Davis's work. These are some new paintings by her that I came across through her online store, and I am sure you would love them too! These whimsical characters seem to be from another planet playing a role in a story. You could hang them together to create a unique space that will be a great conversation starter.

Slastidolls by Inna

Inna is a very talented artist based in Czech Republic who creates hand embroidered toys. She uses natural fabrics like linen, cotton and felt in making of her lovely creatures. The owl and deer sown above are from the series "Friends from the forest" and the bird, mouse and dog are from "Luna and friends" series. I love how she uses different fabrics for creating different body parts of the animals - linen is generally used to make the body, and plain or polka dot fabric for the feet or horns. At the end, careful and delicate hand embroidery stitches give the facial features to the characters and bring them to life. 

Inna has an online store under the name of Slastidolls where she sells her handmade toys, dolls and other hand-embroidered accessories.

Petit Collage: Puzzle Special

Tin canister puzzles by Petit Collage is the newest series of puzzles. The tin canisters are adorned with charming characters in bright and joyful colors. The puzzle canister consists of 64 sturdy puzzle pieces made from recycled paper printed with vegetable inks. The best part is that the tin box features a slot in the lid which can be doubled as a money box! The tin canister puzzle comes in four designs - "Owl Family", "Story Time", "Into Space" and "Royal Castle", here.

Lorena Siminovich designed in her signature style the perfect mini puzzles measuring 6"x6" making them a portable toy for kids to carry with them anywhere. Available in over 12 beautiful designs such as "Reading Owls", "Reading Bear" etc. The mini puzzles is an ideal birthday or baby shower party favor. 

When the kids are ready for a bigger concept there are the floor puzzles by Petit Collage with 24 chunky pieces that can be very helpful in getting the little ones familiarize with the owls and other forest friends, farm animals and dinosaur kingdom. Available in 10 designs.