Sunday 30 October 2011

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! Seeing as it's that spooky time of year, I thought I'd take this opportunity to post about some of my favourite witchy/Halloweeny (is that a word?) things...

First up, has to be my 'The Worst Witch' book collection by Jill Murphy. I can't begin to tell you how much I loved these books when I was younger and I have to admit, I still read them every now and then.


I love, love, love the adorable Mildred Hubble and her poor cat Tabby, who hates to fly...


Jill Murphy is such an amazing artist and writer. I could look at her illustrations for hours. She certainly inspired me to draw and make up my own little stories when I was younger.

On that note, here are a few of my own witchy pictures...


(just a little pencil sketch)

(another one...)


A close-up of 'Flo from my painting 'The Rain Spell' (available from my website kerriwinderdesigns )


A snippet from one of my watercolour paintings (that will be uploaded to my website soon)

Two of my favourite film witches, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman from 'Practical Magic'


I loved the set to this film, especially the gorgeous house...


I'd love to live it that house, how amazing would that be?

I think I might of spotted a real haunted house the other night. I was driving back from town and stopped at a set of traffic lights. I looked to my right and saw this house.


I have never spotted this house before, even though I have pulled up at those set of lights many times.  There was just something about it that made me think of ghosts!?!


Luckily I had my camera to hand... I half expected to see a face in the window staring back at me as I drove away....SPOOKY!

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!
x

Saturday 29 October 2011

Meet Rocky!

I've been following  Geninne's Art Blog She is such an amazing artist and I love looking at her work.  In a previous post she showed some little pebbles that she had hand painted, they looked so lovely. 
So, when by chance  a really nice looking rock (or a really large pebble? I'm not quite sure what it is?) came along I grabbed it!...literally. Tom tried to make me feel bad by saying that it was part of a garden display but in my defence the rock/pebble in question was significantly far away from the rest of its gang, therefore I believe that it indeed wanted to be snatched and shoved under my jumper to live the rest of its days on my deck....  Anywho, I got home, got my paints out and started painting right away...


What a beauty eh?  I think you would have to agree that this rock/pebble is begging to be jazzed up?

It became quite clear early on that I needed to use a finer brush, this wasn't exactly how I had pictured my beautiful rock/large pebble to look after my handy work...but still I persevered...

here it is finished...what do you think?

I think Rocky likes his new home...I might need to 'find' him some new friends soon though...


Wednesday 26 October 2011

New York, New York...

I’ll apologize in advance for this smoochy post, but I feel it has to be done .
This time 2 years ago me and Thomas eloped to NYC to get hitched... It was so exciting!

Planning the wedding was so easy , I did it all from my living room in our little flat in Wanstead - London (where would we be without the Internet?)  We booked a celebrant,  Julie Laudicina who was so fantastic and helpful and lovely , we couldn’t have picked a better one if we tried.
After a little bit of searching we managed to book  The Rooftop Garden,230-Fifth for our venue and was lucky enough to have Jack Toomey as our main contact who was also so helpful and lovely and ended up as one of our witnesses.
The only other person there was the talented Corinne Botz, our photographer. I believe in fate and I feel so lucky to have found her through a conversation with a work colleague who had lived in NYC for many years.  I contacted Corinne and she agreed to be our photographer as well as our other witness. Corrinne made us feel so relaxed and we all had so much fun walking around Madison Square Park afterwards taking and posing for photos.  It really was the best day ever and the photos were amazing.

Here I am, choosing flowers for my bouquet from a stall that was a few minutes away from our hotel...

I made my bouquet and Tom's buttonhole myself  (being a florist for 5 years comes in so handy)


Before we exchanged vows...(a little nervous!!)

After we exchanged vows...

Outside for some photos on the rooftop (still snogging of course...)



Madison Square Park...

On our way back to 230-Fifth...

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and got changed before heading out to Times Square for a slap up meal  - Cheeseburger , Fries and a bottle of champagne :0)

I know it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I LOVED my wedding day and I would not have changed a single thing.
The next day we were back in our jeans and t-shirts and continued being tourists in the most amazing city in the world.



Every now and then I would look down at my left hand and at my gorgeous vintage wedding ring and think ‘Did we really just do that?’ We didn’t tell any of our friends or family until we got back, I think some of them are still in shock!
 I Love you New York City!  Thanks for being part of the best memory of my life so far….


Monday 24 October 2011

Here She Is...

Here is my latest picture...

What do you think?

I really enjoyed painting this one...


Here's the sketch that I worked from...


I always love painting in red, there's something so strong and bold about the colour..


Almost there...
All Done!  (this picture will be uploaded to my website soon)

Wednesday 19 October 2011

It Happened Again!

Seriously, I think I have a problem.  I just cant resist these gorgeous old fashioned fabrics...I don't know whether it's because they remind me so much of my Grandma, that I find the patterns comforting or whether I am just drawn to the beautiful vibrant colours (Just how beautiful is that blue??)

 
There I was,  innocently shopping around for some fabric for my 'Tooth Fairy' pillows (more about them tomorrow) when I heard something calling me... 
'Look at me,' it screamed, 'Look how pretty and lovely I am.' 
I tried to resist, but after more teasing and yelling in my direction, I had to take a peak.
Now some of you will know from a previous post that this has happened to me before.  I go out looking for one thing and end up getting completely sidetracked and come back with yet more vintage style floral fabric.  I gave myself a stern talking to and did the right thing........went straight to the counter and paid for 2 metres!

Totally forgetting about my 'Tooth Fairy' pillows and my day's schedule, I ran (well drove) home and started making  (yep you've guessed it) another vintage style cushion (well, you can never have too many can you?... the more the merrier, thats what I say!)

(Front & back)

I've decided to make 4 for our garden chairs...


So, what I would like to know is whether there is anyone else out there who suffers from this same addiction or is it just me?
x

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Meet 'Little and Lucia'

Say hello to Jess & Lucy (a.k.a 'Little and Lucia') I am very lucky to have had these girls as my neighbours at the Birkenhead Atrtisan Market for the past 2 weeks.

(Lucy on the left, Jess to the right)

They both make and sell the most gorgeous clothes for children as well as lots of other lovely goodies...
Here are some of Jess' creations. Little 'Tooth Monsters' and some knitted 'Lego' doorstops. I particularly love the doorstops, how cool would one of these look in a child's bedroom?

And here are some of Lucy's designs...

Introducing 'Glitzy' one of Lucy's gorgeous Ponies. Each one is hand made and different to the last. I'd love one of these for myself :0)


And some beautiful handmade one off bibs.

To contact Jess or Lucy, you can visit their Facebook page here where you can find lots more photos of their fabulous creations.

Last Saturdays market went well despite once again being hit by unexpected heavy showers. Here's hoping for lots of sunshine at the next one!

(my new picture board made it so much easier to display my pictures...thanks Tom x)

Saturday 15 October 2011

A Lovely Sunshine Day!

I've had a lovely day. We spent the morning Skyping our best friends in London (sorry guys, I hope the curry wasn't too cold? and thanks again for the centipede improvisation ;0)  Then I met my friends Shy and Treena for a lovely lunch and a good old gossip session. Then me and the hubster went for a lovely long walk along Muriwai Beach.  It makes me sooo happy to know that summer is just around the corner, let's hope its a good one!



A walk along the beach just isn't the same without an ice-cream is it?



Taking in the gorgeous views from a lovely little sunny spot.

I love days like today, I always seem to be so busy lately, it's nice to take some time out.


Now, I just have to say how sad I am to hear of the passing of the amazing Betty Driver (a.k.a Betty from Coronation Street)

Corrie just won't be the same without her, she was in the show for over 40 years! I can't believe she was still learning her lines and serving her famous hot-pots at the grand old age of 90!!!  RIP Betty, you are an inspiration to us all x