My Big Fat Scrummy Bookmark!

I have to be honest, I've been struggling this week (really struggling!!) to do anything creative. No matter how hard I tried nothing seemed to happen for me, not one brush stroke, not one little sketch, not even one silly little doodle...zero.  But alas, just as I was about to collect up all my paints and pencils and my tatty old sketch pads and place it all on eBay for $7.50 My Mojo came waltzing back in  (hurrah!!) I don't know where it's been the past 7 days, (a trip to Fiji?...watching the world cup perhaps?) but I am sure glad to have it back. The return of the Mojo has made me very happy let me tell you. I don't often get 'creative block' (thank heavens) so when it does happen it throws me completely off kilter.  Anyway enough of that, here's what I've been working on today...

BOOKMARKS!!!  (yep I drew and painted all of the above today) 

I've been wanting to design some bookmarks for a while now. I thought it would be good to have some little extras with me when I do the markets. Here I am half way through one of my cake designs.

Before it's been outlined...

All finished...
I hadn't planned on doing more than one cake design but I loved the first one so much, I decided to do a range...

Here they are... I can't decide which one I like the best...at the moment it's the chocolate one!

And here are my Ssssssssnake bookmarks...(see what I did there?)

I hate snakes. These two are nice, friendly ones though (you can tell by their skin!)

I want to design a few more before I get them printed... I'll post the others once they are done which should be soon (assuming my Mojo doesn't have an around the word trip booked in the near future :0)

Happy Friday everyone! x

Introducing James Donnellan

I always knew that my lovely brother-in-law James was pretty 'arty'  but had never seen any of his paintings until recently.  Here are some examples of his work...  I'm blown away.

I really like this painting... unfortunately, James has sold it already :0)

This is also one of my favourites, I love the bright contrasting colours...

I think James definitely has his own individual style of painting which I think will appeal to a lot of people. If you want to contact him regarding his artwork, his email is: jamesdonnellan35@hotmail.com

James, I look forward to coming home to Ireland next year to see more of your artwork (and the family of course), just don't sell more pictures than me...otherwise I'll be jealous xxx

A Perect Getaway

So, you know what it's like when you need to book a place to stay and you search the Internet looking for somewhere suitable. Unless it's a recommendation from someone it's always a bit of a gamble isn't it? And lets face it, a lot of times when you arrive the property or the rooms look nothing like they did on the website (well this is certainly the case in my experience - but then I think I have been a bit unlucky in the past) Anyway, me and my sister Jo decided to treat ourselves to a night away for some relaxation (and in Jo's case to get in a good nights sleep something she hasn't had since her 9 month old daughter arrived :0)

I wanted somewhere fairly close to Jo as we didn't want to spend hours on the road . After some Googling I came across a place called  Ambiente in Matakana. It looked really nice so I called up and made a booking for the bed-sit suite.

We were  greeted by Lesley the owner and showed to our room which was gorgeous.  The room was spacious and immaculate with lovely views and lots of  nice little extra touches such as little scented lavender bags and chocolates next to the bed, a complimentary bottle of wine and silk robes and slippers. Our private bathroom was just across the hall from our room and once again no detail had been overlooked. The bath mats were soft and fluffy, the towels were crisp and clean and the spacious shower was lovely and powerful.

The next morning we had our continental breakfast upstairs in the dining area and had the pleasure of Lesley and Normans company.  Overall our experience at Ambiente was fabulous and I would highly recommend it. The owners, Lesley and Norman are lovely and made us feel so welcome and relaxed during our stay.

The bed was soooo comfy and even had an electric blanket...

The robes and slippers were a lovely little touch...

I loved this picture, that was painted by Lesley's mum...

A nice bottle of wine on arrival...don't mind if we do!

The view from our room...

Chocolates next to the bed (which lasted 2 minutes...max!!)

So if you fancy a night away from the chaos and a bit of time out give Ambiente a call... I don't think you'll be disappointed!

I Heart Helena!

Don't you just love Helena Bonham Carter? I do.  As well as being one of my all time favourtie actresses she is also such a style icon. I know she isn't to everyone's taste but I love that she isn't the norm and doesn't want to be.

It's so refreshing to see her amongst all the other perfectly turned out actresses, walking a red carpet in something different in her own quirky way...

I love this shot of her and her husband, Tim Burton... what a  fabulous pair!

Roll Up, Roll Up...

Thanks to everyone who came to Birkenhead Artisan Market on Saturday. Despite the rainy, windy start there was a steady stream of people throughout the day... I'm looking forward to the next one already.
Here is a photo of me and my nephew Billy who popped down to see me :0)

Can I Sit Down Now Please?

What a day I've had.  Who'd of thought getting prepared for a market would be so time consuming (and tiring!) I've honestly been at 'it' all day... Here's what I've been doing...

Making my price tags: I did want to hand write each one, but after doing 2 opted for typing and printing them out instead :0)  I did however hand draw in pen the bow and ribbon effect on each one before mounting them on dark grey card, then cream card. For some reason this photo wouldn't upload the right way around?

Made some little weights to hold down my plastic frame holders: I poured some rice onto clingfilm, and then wrapped it all up into a ball, covered it in fabric and tied it with some ribbon. I made 2 of these before tying a long piece of string between them both. I'm going to place the string over the tops of the frame holders and let the weights hang down either side of the table to keep them in place...clever eh!

Decided to see whether listening to some music might make me work faster, so put on the new Chilli's CD, 'I'm with you' (which I love)

 

Attached all the price tags to my pictures...

Ironed my tablecloths (which I'm not gonna post a photo of, coz that's just boring!!!) Boxed up all my prints/frames...

 

Collected up all the 'stuff' I'm gonna need tomorrow...

As well as all the above I also had to cut backs for some of my prints (I love my new guillotine) before putting them into plastic sleeves, go and see the nice man in the post office to get some $5 notes and load up the car.  Now do you see why I am tired?  Oh and just one more thing, I spotted this beautiful fabric lantern shade which I just had to buy (while I was in Spotlight buying frame stands earlier today)

Right that's it, I'm off to order a pizza, get in my comfy's and watch the game... If anyone fancies it I'll be at Birkenhead Artisan Market tomorrow from 8 onwards...wish me luck! x

Severly Side-tracked

I went out this morning to get a whole load of art supplies. I had to make a stop off at spotlight to get some white fabric to make a table cloth for Saturdays market. While I was there I spotted a lovely red pom pom trim which I just had to have, this then led to me buying some gorgeous floral fabric to go with it.  As soon as I got home I unloaded my car, plonked everything everywhere (frames, cardboard, frame stands and a huge bag of stuffing!) and before I knew it, I was cutting out a pattern to make myself a pom pom trimmed cushion. I've been wanting to make one for a while. 'It wont take me long' I thought confidently. At this point I should probably mention that I am fairly new to this sewing business and that I have never used any kind of trim on my cushions before... and now I know why. It took me forever!! I had no idea how tricky this would be!  I was supposed to be framing my prints this afternoon (whoops!)

Anyway I have to say I absolutely love how it has turned out. I wont be making any to sell but I am very happy to have this one sitting on my bed!

 Here's the fabric I used and the gorgeous red trim that got me into this mess...

Sewing the trim onto the front side of the fabric...

The front of the cushion, before the back fabric was added...

The back of the cushion...

 So what do you think?

The Big Book of One Pot

My poor hubby has just got over the flu (and yes it was proper flu...not just a bad cold!) he was unwell for almost a week...most unlike him.  Anyway being the super duper nurse that I am when someone is sick I decided to make him a good old fashioned stew, to help get his strength back. So, I reached for one of my favourite cookbooks, 'The Big Book of One Pot' and decided on a 'Irish Stew'

This is what the picture in the book looks like...

And here is how my stew turned out...and it was YUMMY! I even went one step further and bought some lovely chunky bread and warmed it in the oven before smothering it with real butter...

Hubby gobbled it all up and said it was one of the nicest stews he has ever had, quite a compliment coming from an Irishman!

It's so easy to make, here's all you need you just bung it all on a pot (that's my Jamie Oliver talk) and shove it in the oven on low for a few hours...voila! (PS I used beef instead of lamb, left out the parsley and added a tea spoon of Bovril)

We're Going On A Vase Hunt

Over the past few years I've become addicted to rummaging around charity shops to find little bargains. Recently I've been a bit obsessed with finding old vases. Here are some little gems I picked up recently...

I paid $2 for the two vases on the left and $1 for the ones on the right... Not bad eh!