I wanted to try and create a contemporary looking bee home. I came up with an idea to make a stylised 'log' shape to hold bamboo canes in, and I've created the Purple Bee Log House. The depth of the log means the canes are nice and long so the bees can get right in to lay their eggs in their chambers and they are safely away from the entrance. This house is designed for mason bees who are solitary bees (meaning they don't live in communal groups like honey bees in a hive, and they don't swarm). They are non-aggressive bees, so they are perfectly safe to have around in the garden. The bees will lay their eggs in the canes, then block the entrance hole up to keep their growing youngsters safe until they emerge in spring. 

One of the worst things that can happen to the eggs over winter is getting wet. The canes have been set back inside the log to give them an overhang of protection from the wood surrounds. The bee log entrance needs to be sited facing as close to south as possible to protect it further from the prevailing winter weather. If the weather is really bad, the log can be taken down and stored somewhere dry, like a shed or garage, and put back out in early spring when the young bees hatch out. The gaps in between the canes could also be used by ladybirds and lacewings to overwinter in. All in all, loads of beneficial insects could benefit from this log house, and your garden could benefit from free aphid eaters, and fruit, veg, and flower pollinators to give you a bumper crop and a great flower display.

I have just started listing a new smaller size in my Ripple bird bath range. This would still be perfect for smaller birds like sparrows, robins, and blue tits to bathe in. The larger birds can still use it to drink from too, as can other wildlife. This one is called Laguna Ripple because the colours used are the watery colours of a Lagoon. 

This is another in my Bookmark / Suncatcher card series, where the card design can be removed and used as a gift suncatcher, or bookmark. Continuing with the garden / nature / wildlife theme that I try and stick to in my shops, this one has a design of three viola flowers, hand painted in deep rich blue and golden yellow which are really intense when the light shines through them. A great, unique card/gift for a gardener, or flower lover, avid book reader, or just anyone who likes something a bit different. 

This suncatcher / bookmark has a design that started out with me trying to create a stylised, 'out of focus' flower garden picture. That then evolved to using dots of colour, which I then decided looked great in uniform rows.