toadstools in frames

Just a quick post to show you some of my toadstool paintings sitting in brand new frames. I think they look so different. I was sitting in the living room looking at them and it was like I was looking at something someone else made. I didn't feel like I had made them because they look nice.

more to come soon as desperately trying to finish stuff off for tommorow.

why has this image turned out so big? I'm not getting along with blogger at the moment.

Lattes, Ikea jars, and hidden mushrooms

another toadstool painting

M did take me for a Starbuck's we sat together happily at the new one by Ikea Nottingham, sipping from wintery red cups and listening to Christmas music while looking out over the half empty car park pretending we were in America. I had a red cup with a latte (extra shot please)in it, and I was happy. Then we dragged ourselves around Ikea in search of a desk for the bedroom and I wanted some of the little glass gars with lids ( canning jars) for some Christmas crafting.

The desk ended up being a full serve item so we must have waited twenty minutes or more for them to bring two small flat packed boxes while I sat there being thankful that I don't still work there. M will be spending the rest of the day reading flat pack instructions and grizzling at said instructions, while i carry on playing with beads for a stall I have over the weekend.

my little seahorse

The toadstool painting and the seahorse are from a few days ago, I misplaced them and forgot about them until this morning. I used to doodle seahorses all the time when I was little, that and erm unicorns. But anyway I have been really busy stocking up on bracelets and beaded pendants, with a few key chains and mobile phone charms mixed in. Pictures soon I promise. I best go as I'm being shouted to sort something out.

Toadstool in Teal

teal toadstool

The last toadstool I did went for a custom order so it dissapeared before I could take a semi-decent picture of it so what's a girl to do? Why paint another one of course. Its really simple but I love it, I only wish I could take a picture to show how pretty these painted pages really are.

A little Cheer

little owl is a bit previous on Christmas

My computer is fixed, as least for now! I don't know where I picked up some nasty virus from but I have managed to fix it myself... well RegCure did all the work, I'm just happy I could run it because I couldn't turn my computer on for three days! Now I have literally tens e-mails to reply to....so I have been missed, though mostly by amazon apparently.

little robin

Here are a few of the painted pages that I finished off over the weekend, so at least I had something to do while unable to be on my poorly little laptop. I'm not happy with the reindeer, he turned out somewhat menacing, which I'm pretty sure reindeer aren't supposed to be. I love how the robin turned out though, and little owl decked out in his Christmas hat. They have been painted on pages from a vintage 1950 copy of Alice in Wonderland.

one slightly demented looking reindeer

A Chair, a Book, and some Paintings

chapel chair

A few weeks ago in our wanderings H and I went to Arkwright's Mill in Cromford, Derbyshire, for little lunch in the cafe and so H could have a wander around the exterior of the Mill. There is a small Charity shop for the mill, a tiny little room filled with books, bric-a-brac, a little thrifting was called for. Sitting forlorn and dusty in a corner behind some truly hideous pottery was this little chapel chair. It was love at first sight, and a bargain at £15. I have seen others for anywhere between £50 and £100 so it was definitely a keeper.

1950 copy of Alice in Wonderland

My Mother in Law helped me clean it with some wire wool and oil it down and it sits happily beside the fireplace. M isn't entirely convinced, but I think its fits perfectly into the house it just needs a little cushion on it to make it perfect. Along with the chair I bought a copy of Alice in Wonderland from 1950, its battered and torn in places, so it was the perfect to tear up and stain for my vintage book page paintings.

pages from the above book stained and painted

Which as you can see above is exactly what I did, painting some toadstools for a custom order. They turned out brilliantly especially the teal one, though for some reason I can never seem to photograph the book page paintings to do them any justice. I stained another dozen or so pages in the same tea staining sitting so might attempt to sketch out some doodles to paint on the pages. I really want to paint more toadstools though, no particular reason I just really like them, I definitely need to do some more teal ones, I love teal and mixing toadstools, teal, and tea stained book pages just seems to fit together so well.

what Katy made me

Katy's wreath

Look what Katy made for me, this brilliant wreath from her lovely wreath tutorial. Katy came to visit me with the little ginger one in tow, last Friday. I made lunch and attempted to make some soy coconut cookies, that turned out more like little coconut rocks, they tasted good, and were surprisingly fluffy in consistency but resembled rocks. She has a dairy allergy so I hand to scramble up into town to fetch some soy milk and soy butter/margarine, and pay the carpet vampire(honest he looks like a vampire) for my lovely new living room carpet.

I hope she had a nice time, and a nice natter I know I did, it was nice to get to know your friends better and to talk girl/craft talk over coffee, coconut biscuits and shiny cobs. Hopefully she didn't think out house was too boring.. as only the downstairs is mostly done and upstairs.. well lets not go there. She did say she liked my quilt, sadly not homemade, my mother got it from Target for us the year we were married. In the clearance sale naturally.

look at my pretty fireplace

I will have M take some proper pictures of the downstairs when we finished painting the skirting boards, hang the curtains up, and badgered M into putting some more pictures up on the walls. I need some more accent pieces, some cushions and throws to make everything cozy.

turquoise and red jade bracelet II

This weekend I didn't get very much done craft wise, the above bracelet which I love with the remainder of my turquoise beads, and I framed one of my vintage book page paintings. Technically that was an accident though as I ripped the page and hastily trimmed it down and stuffed it in a frame and it sits in the box room waiting to be placed somewhere.

framed toadstool painting on vintage book paper

thanks for popping by my house Katy!

Good Spirit

Gilbert the Ghostie

I'd like you to meet Gilbert the Ghostie, he is a little bit shy and tends to wear his heart o his sleeve. Well he would if he had sleeves that is. He is a bit rubbish at being scary, in fact he is proably more afraid of you then you would be of him. He loves musicals, spagetti westerns, hot cocoa, and popcorn. You can often find him wandering round the forrest singing show tunes to his friends the trees.

onyx, orange carnelian, and sterling silver, bracelet

I know its over a month until Halloween but its my favourite holiday of the year, candy, coustumes, monster movies, more candy whats not to love about it? The bright orange carnelian faceted bades arrived in the post yesterday from Bobbi and I couldn't wait to pair them with some black onyx for a scintalating Halloween treat.

Gilbert on a small recycled paper notebook

And here is Gilbert again, gracing the cover of a tiny recycled paper notebook that has been floating around various boxes since well before the move. all items with any luck should be uploaded to etsy later this afternoon.

Small Town Hauntings

Haunting in a small town

This is me kicking ideas around, its not a finished piece by any stretch but I like the idea of a small town being haunted by some small rather lonely looking little ghosts. This will be filed away for a later date.. quite possibly indefinitely. The actual piece is a little better than it appears here.. I can't get any kind of decent light, at little sunshine would be nice.

Burnt Coconut and Other Follies

Little White House II

This is the second little white house I have painted. The first one went to live with Annie of Overmilkwood fame, as a gift for being so sweet, and for being my biggest jewellery customer. Thanks Annie!

Sigmund the squirrel

I didn't like Sigmund when I first painted him, but somehow he seems to have grown on me.

the masked woman

I'm not sure about the masked woman yet, she just doesn't match the sketch I did which I prefer, perhaps she was just meant to be the sketch, to be in ink and pencil without any fussy bit of acrylic paint.

I know its a horrible horrible picture, don't look at it too long or you may cry, but this is the first mail label design I have come up with that I really like. I may go back to the drawing board though if the quality of this image is anything to go by. Before I ask M to scan it for me.

I bet you are wondering about the burnt coconut bit in my title? maybe just a little.. we I managed to almost burn a batch of coconut cookies. rescused them just in time, before they became burn to a crisp. Its how today seems to be going, nothing over the top bad, just a teensy bit off.

its your last chance to leave a comment on my illustration giveaway, I will draw the lucky winner in the morning, I would say bright and early, but the only one that is bright and early in the morning here is H, I need several cups of coffee before I'm even halfway human.

Peridot, Cherries, and Twigs

peridot and cherry adventurine commissioned bracelet

twig painted page

p.s. don't forget to leave a comment on the illustration giveaway for your chance to win an original or a print.

A Love Song, a Giveaway, and Some Painted Pages

a love song

This post is my 240th, and though I was going to wait for my 250th post for a giveaway I want to give something away now.. I have had a phenomenally good week, 3 of my bracelets have sold in the framing gallery, I won two giveaways, the adorable fabric bookmark from Sarah at pink-petal-designs, and the amazing retro cups gocco print from junecrafts.

Two of my closest friends gave me presents yesterday, a lovely cupcake notebook from my friend Ali, and my friend Frizbe gave me a Supernatural (tv show) latte cup.

So I would like to spread the good karma around and do a giveaway for this original painting of two little birds on a vintage Brahms tea stained music page or a print of any of my previous painted pages. all you need do is leave me a comment with your e-mail, and I will draw the winner next monday.

p.s. I will be doing another giveaway for my 250th post, so keep checking back and leaving comments.

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the redhead

So what else have I been up to today while the house is empty, aside from some random jobs about the house I dragged my paints out and along with the love bird painting I did this one of a redheaded woman that looks oddly like Dana Scully. It must be a subconscious thing from seeing the trailer for the new X-files movie that will be hitting theaters sometime soon.

argus camera

M has a collection of old cameras, some work, some are for display purposes only, I filched this argus out of the cabinet this morning and painted. I have the feeling M may lay claim to this painted page, or request I paint a Leica instead. In fact I best put the camera away before I get paint on it.. or coffee.

yo ho whoooo

Oh and I have found little owl playing pirates and stealing my jewellery this morning as well. Naughty Owl!

thanks everyone for visiting my blog, looking at my illustrations, my jewellery, and genral craftiness.

giveaway now closed... thanks everyone!

espresso got framed

espresso vintage painted page in frame

Doesn't it look fantastic? I think so anyway.. although it won't hang on the wall until we move. I had it framed for M as a gift.. then gave him the invoice for it as well... He was most amused, but can you blame me? he does get a discount with the framers via the studio. A bit of good news as well, three of the bracelets I took in for display and sale at the same framing gallery have sold! I am so very pleased at that, unbelievably happy, and she has requested some more bracelets at the end of the month to mix with whatever is left. I was so happy, but I was not going to spend my heard earned jewellery money on the framing of the pic for M.

beautiful bookmark and crocheted brooch

A little while ago I said that I never win anything, and apparently that is not true because I won this beautiful bookmark and crotcheted flower brooch from Sarah at Pink Petal Designs, that the postman delivered to me yesterday morning. Thank you so much Sarah, the book mark is on its way to nestling between the pages of my latest book purchase, the new Laurel K Hamilton Anita Blake novel.

and last but not least this is one of the little purple peppers growing in my green house, I shall miss that greenhouse when we move.

espresso and flowers

espresso shot glass

red flowers on teal

Sorry about the slightly odd angles these pictures were taken with. The light was very poor this morning, and I was in desperate need of more coffee. This is the second painting I have done of one of M's espresso shot glasses, its such a simple image yet I adore it and I really really want a cup of coffee now. The red flowers on a teal painting is so vibrant, I love red and teal together, I may just need to order some more beads and made some red and teal jewellery... mmm yummy.

I have some lovely beads that I purchased at Spellbound Beads in Lichfield on Saturday, we went to the Medieval Fair, and got utterly soaked, at one point I had to help hold down a jewellery stall, because the wind was gusting so fiercely that some of the stock was blown to the pavement. It was still good fun, H loved it but was a little disappointed that there was no jousting or strawberry stall like last year.

Red

Red Riding Hood

The Button Thief and other Characters

The button thief is now hiding in a willow tree. I think she is perfect now... the willow branches fill the rest of the page and compliment one very cheeky pretty little thief. I shall be adding some prints of the button thief to my etsy shop tommorow, along with the original multi-media illustration, and things are in the works to get some button/badges made, and possibly some cards as well..oh and some jewellery too. so keep an eye out.

the contessa

The contessa is greatly displeased with me, for reasons known only to herself, I have messed about with this painting four times she has gotten better but something isn't quite right yet. And the 80's chick was inspired by an ad in a magazine, the add didn't look anything like this, and it wasn't from 1985 either but apparently she just couldn't live without permed hair.

80's chick

Spilled Coffee

Flapper Girl

I posted the flapper girl image a few posts back with a half dozen or so other painted pages, but I wasn't very happy with her something jsut wasn't quite right so the other day armed with a cup of black coffee I restained the page, and I think she looks finished now. Then I was doodling a skull while watching that show about the real crystal skulls with out Indiana Jones attached, so I painted it and added some black vines as you do.

skull and vines

And last but not least I have dragged out poor Lulu again, and added a little detail to her eyes. I think she looks alot better now, and the painting looks much nicer than the colours have come out in this image. I still don't know what I will do with her, I can't see putting her up in the house any where, especially with this move in the future. I haven't really had many sales recently so I'm not sure about putting her up in the etsy shop though I could do with the craft money she might provide if she sold. Though What I would price her at I don't really know. She is 11x14 in and is acrylic and ink on a canvas wrapped board. any offers?

Lulu

the ghost flower and the faery

ghost flower

I'm tired I want to go to bed but M is working late, and I can't settle and be happy till he is home and accounted for. I have all ready written the post once and accidentally deleted it, so I'm afraid you will have to do with the far less witty and slightly substandard version which is this.

I painted the flower last night while M watched something boring about rockets. Not that rockets are that bad but when it comes to educational shows I prefer antiquities, bones, crystal skulls, mammoths, and all things generally ancient and crumbly, while prefers to watch How its Made, rockets exploding, or some horrendously mind numbing show about WWII. yawn. I finished the flower this morning with my favourite black ink pen, the flower wasn't meant to be white but just turned out that way, it has a sort of 70's feel that I quite like.

The fairy has been giving me trouble, its a sketch that I stained with tea and added a few details in ink. She was meant to only be a sketch, but when I tried to paint her on a music sheet she went all wrong, and didn't want to be a painted version so for now she is just another picture on my amassed pile of pictures I don't know what to do with.

more beady things, and recipes coming soon... and who knows I might even drag out my knitting again.

faery

Classics for the Modern Consumer

Starbucks hunts the great white whale

Moby Dick

Don't Fear the Reaper

Death and Instructions

pages and pages

sorry I don't know how to straigten these out in blogger, I should have made a template and one image instead of 8 diffrent ones. This is just a preview of what I have been up to over the weekend, a few need a bit more work and tweeking. My favourite is the little pug Percival, though he turned out a bit more portly than I inteneded. Oh and M says the black and white flapper looks like Kelly Osbourn, not sure about that or if its a compliment or not.

I have beads and toggles that jsut came in the post and we are off to my favourite book store in the world in a minute. Scarthin Books.