Handmade Monday Link Up

Firstly I'd like to say hello to my new followers and say a big thank you to all who left comments on my previous post.

This week is Handmade Monday 51, Wendy's Linky Party has been very successful and I would like to say another BIG thank you to our weekly host Wendy, you will find the link to her blog at the bottom of this post.

Not much new to show you this week, I've been busy doing more Fairy Doors  and Personalised Hearts  for the run up to Valentines Day. But I did get a nice surprise in the post this week.........

A picture of Nanny and Grandad 

This is from our grandson, ok I know I'm biased but isn't it lovely? My daughter drew the outline ready to be coloured in.

He is 21/2 years old and chose the colours himself.

Grandad is wearing a hat and I am wearing a jumper and jeans and he said I am wearing a belt. I love the imagination of children.




I've also been busy doing sketches this week, not for anything in particular but more of an enjoyable exercise. I love doing quick sketches of anything that takes my fancy, I usually limit myself to an hour or less on each sketch, sometimes the limit is as low as 5 or 10 minutes. For the last few months the only sketches I've done are for my Plaques and although I enjoy doing these sketches they don't really stretch me. I believe that a good sketching technique is a good way of getting quick and varied ideas stored away for future use and something you can build on. I also believe that to get a good sketching technique, like any thing else, takes practice. Sometimes when doing a 'quick' sketch it is hard to know when to stop, hence the time restrictions. So over the next few weeks I am going to hone my sketching abilities, scan some of the results and hopefully show you some of my efforts in a future post.

I have linked this post to...

1St Unique Gifts

I hope you can pop over and have a nosey.

Jan xx

A Red Heart and a Liebster Blog Award

I recently had a lovely surprise, I was given an award for my blog,
I'd like to thank the wonderful Jo at  Pickle-Lily for choosing me for this lovely award........

You can find her post about it  HERE

 Please see edit at the end of this post

The origins of the Liebster Blog Award are a bit unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, which makes sense as Liebster is a German word meaning 'dearest' or' favourite'. It is a fun way of putting the spotlight on up and coming blogs. The 'rules' (or guidelines) are simple and don't include finding weird and wonderful facts about yourself....

1- Choose FIVE up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster Award to. 

2- Put their links on your blog and let them know that you have done this.

3- Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. 

4- Post the award on your blog.

 

Here are my choices for the Liebster Blog Award. I found this a hard task to do.  

I have a lot of favourites to choose from and the 5 I have chosen are:-

 

1.  Anita at itsamistry design studio

 Anita is very creative has some beautiful jewellery on her blog, she sounds fun too. 

2. Fiona at Sugar for my Honey

 I love the beautiful photographs taken around her North Wales home.

3. Claire at Ragbags and Gladrags

 A very versatile lady,  Claire can make something wonderful out of nothing,  and I love her Butterfly Paintings too. 

4. Sam at Hettiecraft

A blog I enjoy, I especially like her 'distressed' images.

5. Polly at PollyKay and Sidders

 If you like toys, dogs or cats you will love this blog 

So that's my choice, I really hope you can all pop along and show your support  and say 'helloooo to them all.

Just to finish off this post and as the Leibster Award has a Heart LogoI thought I'd show you one of my Hearts. 

This is a blank that can be decorated or personalised in any way or any colour you want, there are more of these in my Folksy shop *HERE* or through my Facebook *HERE*

Edited to include......
I have recently been awarded the Liebster Award from two other bloggers so I would like to add their links here and thank them very much for passing on the award to me.
They are.......

Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts and Sarah at Dragonfly Jersey

I wish you all a good and happy week

Jan X

A Lion and a Monkey on a canvas

Hello all, I hope you are well, yesterday I decided to put some of my canvases in an album titled (unsurprisingly) 'Canvases' on my Facebook page, I've only got a few on there for now but I will be adding more. I put the Beach Huts, shown in last weeks post, in the album and plan to put these ones HERE into it sometime this week.

The canvases below were painted quite a while ago as a commission which was a direct result of being seen at a Craft Fair, a lady seen some of my work and wanted a Name Canvas for her little boy but wanted a different canvas for each letter of his name, she also requested a lion face and a monkey face painted in orange and yellow on 2 more canvases, so 7 canvases in all. I emailed my ideas across to her and this is the set she chose.
Isn't technology great for this sort of thing, at one time I would had to set up a meeting or post via the pigeon and the whole process would of taken weeks, now things are more instant.

The Lion on canvas

The Monkey on canvas

The first 4 canvases

The stem of the leaves running through the painting are done as a continuous line

The last 3 canvases

Each canvas measures 8 x 8inches with a deep edge and the Lion and the Monkey can be placed at either the beginning or the end of the set.

The finished set

This post is being linked to Wendy's wonderful linky thing... so please pop over and take a peek at what everyone else has been up to this week..

Take care all

Jan X

A Canvas for a gift

Gosh, the week has gone by so quickly, there have been a few frosty starts and some lovely sunrises, I keep telling myself that I need to get out early and take some early morning photos but I peep my head out of the door at something silly o'clock and dive straight back into the warmth.

This week I thought I'd show you a canvas I painted in December. A few weeks before Christmas I was contacted by a customer who had previously bought one of my Beach Hut Magnets, she had also seen one of my Beach Hut Canvases. I was really pleased when she ordered one as a present for her Mum.

The beginning of the canvas

She chose a 8 x 8" deep edged canvas.

The start of the detail

The canvas is painted using Acrylic Paint.

The finished Canvas

I was really pleased with the finished painting and more importantly, so was the customer, I hope you like it too.

I have linked this post to 1st Unique Gifts so please pop over and say Hi to Wendy and check out all the other great blogs that take part.

Wishing you all a great week

Jan x

1st post of the New Year

Hello all, it's already one week into 2012 and this is my first post of this year.  

2011 was a good year for me, I started a facebook page for Handcrafted by Picto, I took the plunge and opened a couple of online shops, first with Folksy  and then with Wow Thank You.
I also done a few Craft Fairs (some more successful than others) and Art Exhibitions,  it's been a learning curve and one that I have enjoyed immensely. I also started this blog which has proved to be so much fun, it has helped that I take part in Handmade Monday which as most of you know is a very successful 'linky party' hosted by Wendy.

My 'makes' for this week are a couple of Plaques done for a January and a February Birthday.

Zak is an Arsenal 'The Gunners' Supporter

Curtis wanted a Crocodile

I have spent the year indulging in my passion for painting and made lots of new friends along the way. So, what will the next 12 months bring? that's a question that none of us really know the answer to but I hope and strive for more of the above.

 Wishing you all a brilliant 2012

 Jan X