Santa's Sleigh a Christmas Tree and a Little Elf Doorway

Hello everyone, this is my last post before the Big Day. I hope you all get a visit from the big guy on his Sleigh

Santa's Sleigh

I wish you good cheer around the Christmas Tree

A Christmas Tree

And here's hoping that Santa's Elves and the Winter Fairies have come through the Christmas Door to see if you have all been good boys and girls

Santa's Elf Door

I have lots of lovely followers and have had great comments & feedback throughout the year and I'd like to wish everyone a  

Wonderful Christmas

and lots of good wishes for a Brilliant 

 

2015

Have Fun and Take Care

Jan x

Christmas Decorations for the Christmas Tree

Who has a Christmas Tree?

Who likes Tree Decorations?

Did I hear you cry "me" and "I do"?

So just for you, here are some hand painted decorations..

Firstly here are some of the popular Cheeky Snow Chappies

A Trio of Cheeky Little Snowmen

How about some Cats in Hats

Kitty Cats for the Christmas Tree

 

Next up is a Cute Christmas Penguin

A Penguin in a Santa Hat

and the last one for now is a Sweetly Singing Robin

A Christmas Robin Singing his Sweet Song

 
Some of these are in my one line shops, you will find the links in the Right Hand Column or if you want something similar making or personalised you can contact me either through my shops or on here.

Jan x

I've linked this post to Handmade Harbours Blog Hop so settle down with a beverage of your choice and have a nose at lots of great craft blogs x

Away with the Fairies

I'd like to show you one of my painted plaques, this is a commissioned plaque for a business, the colours were chosen by the customer, aren't they lovely.

The pink and green work so well together.
I decided to keep within the chosen colour scheme when painting the Ladybirds, also known as Ladybugs, I've seen these sweet little critters dressed in red, in orange and in yellow but I do love these pink ones.

I thought a couple of cute little toadstools would look good with the plaque, they can sit on a shelf near the sign, of course they had to be matching colours, have you spotted the little Faery Door on the tree trunk?

Here is a closer look at the Toadstools. These were very well received and now live in Australia.

I'm off to get more painting done......


Jan x

My Pumpkin Patch Post

It's that time of year again, that spooky fun time. Each year I have a table at a local Pumpkin Patch Event, you can check out their Pumpkin Patch Facebook Page Here, it's held every week end in October, this year I've only managed a couple of week ends but non the less I've had a great time. Here is one of the wooden pumpkins I made......

My Hanging Pumpkin

So many pumpkins to choose from.......

Pumpkins Galore

I love this Haunted Caravan, a great opportunity for family photographs.....

The Haunted Caravan

I love all the different sizes and shapes, great names too, green button, turban, Italian Snake and Speckled Swan are just a few.....

Gorgeous Gourds 

These are some of the signs I made for the event, these are all 13 x 51/2 inches (33cm x 14cm)....

Hand painted Halloween Signs

...................

A few more Halloween Signs

Like the sign says, have a Happy Halloween

Jan x

I've linked this post to Handmade Harbour's Link up  do pop over and check out some great posts

Pretty Pink Princess Palace

A Palace for a Princess, in this case the Princess was a cat whose young owner requested a plaque to attach to a cat house. As usual I discussed what style and colour was wanted. I started with a few scribbles and sketches then emailed a copy over to my lovely customer for approval before I set about painting this pretty pink princess palace. (I've purposely faded out the full name on these photo's)

Pretty Pink Edging

A Pink Palace

A Pretty Pink Plaque

This plaque was an order through my WowThankYou On-Line Shop I finished it off with a little bit of sparkle, because everyone likes a bit of sparkle don't they? then a couple of coats of outdoor varnish.

Take care....

Jan x

I've added this post to a great linky party HERE...

Hellooooo, I'm back.....

Gosh it's been so long since I've wrote a post, I've got a lot of catching up to do. I've still been around and been busy with a few orders and commissions but I haven't been doing much networking and some work has had to be put on the back burner for a while. But before I tell you why, do you remember the cute little collared doves that had a disastrous nesting experience ? well things turned out ok in the end...

After getting 2 lots of eggs destroyed by larger birds and persevering with a third nest the story ends well.

Here is mum with her 2 'babies', both parents have been spending lots of time in the garden feeding the chicks, they must be doing a great job as the chicks are growing quite rapidly.

Mum has a damaged foot, it's probably due to the ongoing battle with the magpies.







The chicks have started feeding themselves as well as still pestering mum and dad.
They're also just beginning to get their distinctive black collar.











Over to my news.....  some of you may know that my husband rides a motorcycle, while out on a nice sunny day a couple of months ago he was knocked off his bike by a motorist coming out of a farm track, the car driver didn't see him, well long story short hubby was in the hospital for a while with a broken back and a smashed ankle, he is, I'm happy to say, on the mend but it will take quite a while for things to be anywhere near normal. He has pins and plates in his ankle and a back brace on, according to the specialist he was lucky it was a 'nice clean break' So as you can imagine, things have been a bit traumatic and emotional around here. But like the doves, perseverance, a great fighting spirit and stubbornness, as well as our brilliant NHS, will make help make things right in the end.

Now on with the crafty bit.....

At the start of this post I said that I'd been getting on with a few commissions, I'll be showing you some of these over the next few weeks but to start with, here are 3 of my Fairy Doors....

Small Personalised Fairy Door

Personalised Medium sized Fairy Door

 

Medium sized Tooth Fairy Door

Hopefully I'll get around to see some of the blogs that I follow and I've also added this post to the Handmade Harbour Linky Party so I'll see you there.

Take care out there

Jan x

Painted Mdf for Shaun

Helloooooo all, I'm not around every week at the moment, I'm keeping busy making and painting, I hope you have been busy too. I've also been away visiting family.

It's a really short post this week and I thought I'd show you all a personal make.

Mdf painted shapes, initials and names have been very popular this year, I made this one for my grandson.....

I painted it in a 3D style and I'm pretty pleased with the result, so was Shaun.

He's a big fan of all things Minecraft and even had a Minecraft Bouncy Castle at his birthday party....

........ and lots of fun was had by all.

See, I told you it was a short post.

Take care and have a great week.

Jan x

I'm linking this post to the Handmade Monday over at Handmade Harbour

Toadstools for door or drawer pulls...

I love toadstools, especially the Fly-Agaric, they are often associated with Fairies and Fairy Tales and have a magical quality about them. I always paint them on my Fairy Doors so I decided to do a few door pulls to match....

Toadstool Door Pulls

I painted 2 different sizes, 30mm and 40mm.

Door Pulls in different sizes

They come with screws to fit onto a door or drawer.

Door Handle with a screw fitting

They could even be used as an ornament on a shelf.

A Door Pull as a Toadstool Ornament

I have decided to pop a couple of these in my Folksy Shop and will paint them to order, they don't have to be the traditional Red & White, I can paint them in any colour combination. I had fun taking the photographs, I collected bark, moss and Ivy from the garden to use as props, I was really pleased with how they turned out so I used one for my Facebook Cover Photo. If you haven't already seen my facebook page you are always welcome to pop over to say hello.

I've linked this post to the weekly link up over at the Handmade Harbour Blog

Have a great week

Jan x

Plaques for an Outdoor Play House

I've been busy painting more outdoor plaques, I love the pink edging on this plaque, this one is for a garden play house, it's the second one I've made for Dolly, the first one was painted back in September 2011, now Dolly has a sister a new plaque was needed, you can see the first  Dolly's House Plaque here.

Outdoor Play House Plaque

I love that my customer has come back to me 3 years later requesting another plaque and something I was really pleased to do.

A Garden Plaque with Glittery Edging

This next plaque was requested for a Garden Play House with a 'Wizard of Oz' theme but instead of Toto I was asked to have a White Westie in the picture....

'Over the Rainbow' Play House Plaque

There is glitter paint on the rainbow and the water droplet. I received a phone call from my customer who was really pleased with the plaque for her grandaughter and gave me wonderful feedback.

A Chunky Outdoor Plaque

The glitter doesn't show up very well in these photographs, if you have any hints or tips how best to photograph glitter and sparkle I'd love to hear them.

I'm linking this post to the Handmade Harbour Link-up, I do hope you can join me.

Jan x

The importance of proof reading and double checking...oh and a Purple Cupcake Plaque

Ok we all make mistakes at times...
I received an order via my facebook page for one of my cupcake plaques, we sent messages back and forth, we sorted out the colour scheme, the wording (without an apostrophe in the name), I wrote it on my 'To-Do' list and set to work,

My To-Do List

I sketched it out, prepared the wood, painted, varnished, glitterfied, attached the hanging cord and bow and was pleased with what I'd done. I took photo's, the colours were scrummy, the cupcake looked yummy, I wrapped it carefully and popped it in the post.

It arrived safely at it's destination and I received a lovely message from my customer...

'I just received the Plaque and it's Lovely. The only thing is, it says Kellzies Kitchen instead of Millzies Kitchen. Other than the name I love it'!! 

Oooops, wrong name!!

  
Oh poop and a big ooops, nothing for it but do it again, I really have no idea what happened, I can only think that the lack of chocolate in my diet is playing havoc with my concentration. So the moral of the story is, double check and triple check as you go along, or EAT MORE CHOCOLATE!!

The correct Cupcake Plaque

Mmmm Yummy Cupcake

The correct plaque has now arrived to my lovely customer Millzies Cakes  over on face book, she has a lovely page filled with delicious looking cakes. The 'Kellzie' Plaque has been returned and I will use it as a sample to display on my table at any craft fairs... but of course, if anyone knows a Kellzie??  

Don't forget to pop over to Handmade Harbour's Link -up  where you'll see lots of other great blogs.


Jan x

Plaques for a Treehouse & a Garden Shed

I love this sunny weather we are having, it's been a great week, it's lovely to get some work done outside, I managed to get a bit of gardening done as well as finishing and photographing these latest plaques, this Treehouse Plaque was a commission...

Our Treehouse Plaque

No Adults Allowed

Creepy Crawlies in the Tree

and the Dad's Shed Plaque, done in the same style, will be going into my Folksy Shop it would make an ideal gift for Fathers Day.

A exterior Plaque for Dad's Shed

On Sunday a group of us took a motorcycle rideout to a show, on the way we stopped for breakfast at a sweet little diner, I couldn't resist taking a few photo's of the brilliant decor.

The Lollipop Diner (on the A143 Suffolk)

That's all from me for now, I'm popping over to Wendy's Link up over at Handmade Harbour

Jan x

Guy Martin's Big Brew and a Man Cave Plaque

Now that the weather is improving (honestly it is) the hubster and I are out and about most week ends, my husbands passion is his motorcycle and last bank holiday week end (3rd May) we took a small part in Guy Martins Big Brew, a charity bike ride raising money for research to find treatments for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Guy Martin had a huge accident at the Isle of Man TT in 2010, he had suffered broken vertebrae but was lucky he wasn't paralysed, he is now an ambassador for Spinal Research.  This is a few of us stopping off at our village post office and tea rooms for tea and cake.

Guy Martins Big Brew, Local Ride Out

 I chose this commissioned plaque to show you this week....

Man Cave Plaque

I'm busy painting outdoor plaques and Fathers Day gifts at the moment so I hope to show you some of these next week.

Meanwhile an update on my Nesting Collared Doves, not good news I'm afraid, the first egg had hatched and mum was feeding a tiny little chick but the nest was so open it was spied by the bigger birds, both of the Doves are fine but the nest was raided, mum and dad put up a good fight and lost a few feathers in the process but lost the chick and the 2nd egg. It could of been either the Magpies or the Sparrow Hawks but that's nature, although I have taken the hanging basket down for now and hopefully the doves will find a more secure or secluded place for their next attempt.

Wishing you all a great week

Jan x
I've linked this post to Handmade Harbour Link Up

A Plaque for a Garden Play House

I had a wonderful returning customer who wanted a Plaque for her daughters garden play house, the brief was quite loose but she'd like it to include a watering can, sunflowers and grape hyacinth.

Outdoor Play House Plaque

 I emailed a sketch to my client and got the go ahead, we decided on lilac for the edging.

Grape Hyacinth & Glitter Paint

The Plaque is larger and chunkier than the usual size I make, this is approximately 8 x 5 x 1/2 inch, for those that use metric this is 20 x 12 x 1.3cm. It has been finished off with a dabbling of glitter and outdoor varnish.

Sunflowers and Toadstools

I love a sparkle of glitter on outdoor items, especially when we have a bit of sunshine. It was really well received and I got such lovely feedback. I love it when my customers are happy.

I'm popping this post over to the Handmade Monday Link Up over on the Handmade Harbour Blog

Update on last weeks Collared Doves Post... She is still patiently sitting on the nest, aka, hanging basket. The male comes along occasionally to give her a break and she goes off to (presumably) eat, on her return she sits for a few moments on a garden post preening her feathers, father then flies off and she resumes her nesting.



Have a great week

Jan x
 

Collared Doves Nesting

No new makes from me today but I just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a very Happy Easter, I haven't had any chocolate eggs but I have a couple of real eggs in the garden..

Collared Dove Eggs

These belong to a lovely pair of Collared Doves that have decided that an old hanging basket is the ideal place for them to nest, they are only a young pair and this is probably their first 'nest'. They have added nothing to the grass and weeds that were already growing in the basket.

Dove in the Garden

The basket is hanging a couple of feet away from my kitchen window, they have got so used to me that they don't fly away when I open or close the window, they don't even fly away when I am out in the garden unless I'm hanging washing out but as soon as I walk away from the washing line the lovely little dove is back sitting on the eggs.

Collared Dove sitting on eggs

Happy Easter to all who read this and to everyone who takes part in Handmade Monday




Jan x