Graffiti

I've just come back from an amazing trip around some European cities I've never visited before. My boyfriend and I decided we needed a break as it's been a tough couple of months, so we scraped our savings together and booked our train tickets to take us to Paris, Berlin and Prague (very low carbon footprint by the way and a great way to see the beautiful landscapes). We saw so much it hasn't really sunk in yet - it was a scenery, architecture and history overload!

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my favourite graffiti from our travels. I'm like a geeky graffiti-spotter - I just need an anorak and a notepad. Maybe I should start up a new blog 'Graffiti from around the world'? Someone's already done it I'm sure, and I couldn't afford to travel about all the time anyway!

The pictures above are all from Montmartre, Paris. Below are some from Oranienstrasse in Berlin.

I love the image of the dog with wings - I want my own srcappy looking mutt with wings and stars on his side! Failing that, I would settle for a cat that poops glitter.

And last but certainly not least a piece of the Berlin Wall. We went to Checkpoint Charlie and the museum there. It was so moving to see how people were separated by the politics of the period and still attempted to cross the border despite the risks. Berlin has placed a brick path which crosses pavements and roads showing where the wall used to stand. It really hits home when you see just how Berlin was carved up and how the people suddenly found themselves on opposite sides of the wall.

Folksy Friday

Okay, so I know it's a bit late but here's my first Folksy Friday! :) I chose these items ageeeeeees ago, but have been in the kitchen making brownies and lamb curry, and watching Indiana Jones (love this film!) so have only just got around to uploading it. Slackity slack slack! :)

Here are my favourite little bits of awesome oddness from Folksy this week! I'm a big fan of Little Black Heart and her monster cards are so cool!

Lemur Lady's Awesome Emporium (awesome name) makes some gorgeous bags and cushions, my fave being the one with the skulls (naturally!).

I've also found a new shop which looks pretty cool - Sock 'n' Soul - loving the DJ doll! Amazing packaging too, looks just like the packaging I get with some of my vinyl figurines. Kudos for the attention to detail there, Deviant Panda likes this :)

Uniquely Different's bag is just gorgeous (I overuse this word sometimes I know, but I sincerely mean it every time!!!) I've a big big fan of this bag and my boyfriend has just promised to buy it for me for my birthday (It's on the 5th of May so I hope I won't be too late!) so follow the link and look at the OTHER bags pretty please, but leave this one for me! :)

What can I say about the Doki Doki headband from Janine Basil? - the woman makes good headwear, and this is a factoid :)

And last but not least I had to include the amazing illustration by Nitemare Designs - I love this style, it reminds me of Junko Mizuno of whom I am a big fan :)

Enjoy and have a lovely Easter weekend!

DP xxx

The Panda's back with some little monsters!

Hello hello,

It's been a little while huh? I've been pretty busy lately dealing with non-Deviant Panda issues so I haven't had time to make anything new for a while, but all that is coming to an end now and I'm itching to get Panda-ing again! :) Got lots of ideas, lots of shiny new supplies, and in a week's time I'll have alot of free time on my hands! I finish my day job on 15th April (now long now!!) so I'll be a lady of luxury soon. I get a payout from work too so I have some capital behind me so I'll be making some tough decisions soon, like whether or not to push my jewellery as a full-time occupation or whether to supliment my income with a part-time job, hmmm....anyways, lots to think about! :)

I've booked myself and my OH a holiday first though - we need it after the last couple of months! - We'll be travelling to Paris then to Prague, before staying in Berlin and then back to Paris. We are both very, very excited and it'll be our first foreign holiday together. I will be shutting the shops while I'm away (30th April - 14th May) so if you need something now get in there quick! ;)

Oh yeah, did I mention shops? Yes, I think I did! That's because I'm not just on Folksy now but Etsy too! I thought it was about time to start expanding so I'd like to say hello and welcome to all International friends and fans. I've put a little link to the side which you can click on to go to Etsy, or just click here: Deviant Panda on Etsy

Whilst setting up I took the opportunity to have a look around and oh my goodness gracious, there is such a wealth of talent!! I made a treasury (I love this feature, I could make lists of pretty things all day!) going with a theme of little monsters. I love wierd little dolls, pictures and things that you sometimes just can't catagorise! Looking around the many wierd and wonderful things on offer at Etsy I had to put my favourites into a list and I'd to share it with you here! If you like Deviant Panda's you will love these! :) Enjoy!

'Little Monsters!' by DeviantPanda

Deviant Panda likes monsters. Little furry ones, Big slimy ones, and everything in between! Look at these gorgeous monsters in all their wierd and wonderful glory!

Necklace Brain Mons... AlyshellsCraft... $12.00	Monty the baby blue... MonstersEtc $38.00	Big Pink Monster an... jasonedwarddav... $16.00	Yeti Monster rekhagarton $7.50
Monster Tea Party F... whimsicalFanta... $15.00	Felt DiDi Doll - He... FeltLikeStitch... $13.00	Fleece Felt Handmad... pasha13 $25.00	Doug the brown mons... MonstersEtc $38.00
Mound of Monsters -... OopisNein $50.00	Paul the mini monst... MonstersEtc $20.00	Fuzzy monster trio ... CrankyPickle $20.00	Cute monsters godzi... theGorgonist $3.00
Pirate Monster Bulw... ClosetHeadCase $8.00	two green monsters.... lulufroot $30.00	Monster Giclee Prin... twistyfishies $23.00	Zombie Cake Toppers... licoricewits $45.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

The Panda Is Still Alive!

yup, yup, yup - I'm still here, been pretty quiet of late on the ol' blogging, tweeting, facebooking, folksying, shouting-from-the-hilltops front, but my regular boring life has reared it's ugly head and gotten in the way of the cool and interesting part of my life. I work in the public sector to pay the bills and guess what? Spending cuts are a-coming, happy days! Well actually, spending cuts have been snipping the joy out of work for the last year or so, but just before Christmas it was announced that 450 jobs would have to go (great timing powers-that-be, just in time for the festive season). So we were all asked if we would like to leave in a 'voluntary' exit scheme and given 2 weeks to mull up the pros and cons of impending unemployment. deep joy.

After a LOT of uhming and ahing I applied for the initial 'application sifting, procrastinating' stage (this is the civil service after all) thinking "what the hell, it'll give me more time to make a decision because I'm rubbish at making important decisions about my future". And then, I got through the application process! Thanks department heads, it's good to know that nearly 4 years of hard graft, and smiling through gritted teeth at every shocking management decision was for nothing after all, am clearly not worth keeping, hmmmm. So now me and my OH are planning for the future, I'm waiting for a final 'compensation/redundancy-but-not-actual-redundancy' offer to be made (just gimme the effing money 'kay?) and I am outta there! Goodbye time recording, goodbye case work, goodbye flex time, goodbye efficiency savings, goodbye IT system which isn't fit for purpose, goodbye mid-year reviews, goodbye lovely colleagues, goodbye monthly team meetings, goodbye technical manual, goodbye O.R. Norwich!

Still, me and a mate/colleague who is in the same position have joked that when the office decides to recruit temps (when they realise they don't have enough staff to do the work) we'll be first in line! :)

So all in all this is why I've been so quiet - got alot on my plate trying to figure out the next stage of my life, figure out what it is that I ACTUALLY want to do as a full time job and planning a holiday for me and my OH (who incidentally works at the same office but has decided not to leave so that we have a stable wage coming in, GODBLESSHIM) for after I actually leave my job in April/May. Ideas for Deviant Panda come up now and again and get scribbled down ready for my triumphant return to the cool and interesting part of my life, but for now I'm concentrating on me and mine. :)

The shop is still open (I can still cope with putting stuff into envelopes and going down the post office!) but new stuff may have to wait for now!

Take care you gorgeous guys and gals, see you on the flipside!

Kate xxx